The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety recently had their 50th anniversary, and to taut the progress of car safety design, they've set a 1959 Chevrolet Bel Air versus a 2009 Chevrolet Malibu, and shared the crash test videos on YouTube. [more inside]
posted by filthy light thief on Sep 28, 2009 - 85 comments

"The unburied come back to haunt us." On July 2, 1937, Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan took off from Lae, Papua New Guinea (map) in their Lockheed Electra en route to Howland Island (map). They were never seen again. [more inside]
posted by kirkaracha on Sep 22, 2009 - 27 comments

Loved Nanaca Crash? Want to hurl a turtle instead? Toss the Turtle will be right up your alley. Easy concept, shoot turtle from cannon and watch him bounce and blow up as he careens across the screen. Enjoy!
posted by schyler523 on Sep 11, 2009 - 23 comments

Have you ever wondered what happens when a freight train drives through a tornado? Let me show you (2:01 SLYT)
posted by P.o.B. on Jul 10, 2009 - 122 comments

The Austin Lounge Lizards are Too Big To Fail. (SLYT)
posted by telstar on Jun 8, 2009 - 16 comments

Remember that cool house from Ferris Bueller's Day Off? Yeah...well it's for sale. Great house as long as you don't have a frustrated teenager and a Ferrari.
posted by punkfloyd on May 26, 2009 - 76 comments

90 minutes of rally car crashes. That is all. [via]
posted by schyler523 on Apr 29, 2009 - 106 comments

The sky is a really big place, right? So how did a Boeing 737 and a Legacy 600 private jet manage to collide head-on at 37,000 feet over the Amazon jungle in Brazil? William Langewiesche's detailed analysis of the 2006 crash--which killed all 154 aboard the 737--provides some answers. [more inside]
posted by flug on Mar 27, 2009 - 22 comments

Australian auto website offers anatomy of a crash-- a point by point account of what happens during an accident, up to and including the moment you realize it's happening. [more inside]
posted by puckish on Feb 19, 2009 - 15 comments

Peter Wallison, an economist who arguably predicted the housing crash and bailout in 1999 explains his current views on the crash: "Other players...played a part" but "...government policy over many years--particularly the use of the Community Reinvestment Act and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to distort the housing credit system-- underlies the current crisis."
posted by shivohum on Feb 11, 2009 - 98 comments

Known as Black Box in the UK, Survival in the Sky was a four-episode 1996 series about commercial aviation accidents and the investigation of their causes. (Two additional episodes were filmed in 1998.) Not currently available on DVD, five of the six episodes are available in their entirety on YouTube (links within). [more inside]
posted by maxwelton on Jan 17, 2009 - 12 comments

US Airways Flight 1549 has crashed into the Hudson. Fortunately, it appears that everyone has survived. The culprit appears to be a bird strike from a flock of geese (as opposed to a single bird, which airplane engines are built to withstand). [more inside]
posted by kdar on Jan 15, 2009 - 169 comments

History Repeats Itself in Different Hues -- a readable Q&A data dump comparing the economics and policy responses of 1990s Japan and current events
posted by troy on Dec 19, 2008 - 6 comments

Bleed The World
posted by fearfulsymmetry on Dec 11, 2008 - 20 comments

By one measure, this stock market is as bad as any in the last 180 years.
posted by CheeseDigestsAll on Dec 9, 2008 - 21 comments

Russian professor and information warrior, Igor Panarin, has predicted the collapse and breakup of the USA. (Potential artists' renderings 1 2) The interview was originally reported in the Russian newspaper, Izvestia. (Google Translated) The prediction has been met with varying levels of credulity, scoffed at by some and embraced by others. The prediction, which goes so far as to speculate exactly how the US might reorganize, was posted to Drudge and has offended many bloggers who, while excited by the prospects of secession, are insulted by the insinuation that the south may go Hispanic and not Confederate.
posted by Telf on Nov 26, 2008 - 106 comments

Influential billionaires like Carl, Thomas, Kirk, and Warren have been losing their shirts. And it's being felt around the world. [more inside]
posted by gman on Nov 20, 2008 - 65 comments

The "Crash at Crush" was the intentional head-on crash of two Katy locomotives on Sept. 15, 1896. The results were not quite what Agent Crush had planned. Scott Joplin wrote The Great Crush Collision March [more pictures] to commemorate the event and it was also an inspiration for 'Head-On' Joe Connelly. [more inside]
posted by tellurian on Sep 17, 2008 - 45 comments

And you may find yourself behind the wheel of a large automobile | And you may find yourself in a beautiful house, with a beautiful wife | And you may ask yourself... Well...How did I get here?
posted by unSane on Aug 19, 2008 - 68 comments

Stock Market on Crash Watch due to a Hindenburg Omen. [more inside]
posted by Lord_Pall on Jul 7, 2008 - 57 comments

On June 22, 1985, Air India flight 182 left Montreal en route to Delhi with 329 passengers aboard, most of them Canadian. Four hours later, an explosion in the baggage compartment destroyed the plane, killing all on board. Premiering tonight on CBC television, this documentary (trailer) recounts the final hours, days and weeks before the plane disappeared off Irish radar screens. It reveals the story of how Canada’s first major counter-terrorism operation failed to thwart the conspiracy and details the errors that resulted in the world’s most lethal act of aviation terrorism before Sept. 11. (previously on MetaFilter) [more inside]
posted by netbros on Jun 22, 2008 - 31 comments

The Next Bubble: Priming the markets for tomorrow's big crash. A layman's primer on the genesis and future of today's economic troubles, at Harper's Magazine.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken on Mar 13, 2008 - 79 comments

It started with some broken bones and then Austrian skier Matthias Lanzinger had his lower leg amputated yesterday.
posted by gman on Mar 5, 2008 - 53 comments

While the US equities markets were closed on Monday for Martin Luther King Day, stock markets around the world took a nosedive, losing billions in equity; the markets in Australia, South Korea, Japan, China, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Germany, France, the UK, and more countries have dropped at least 5% each (Canada only fell 4.75%), even though most of those markets had already been seriously down for several days prior. India has been hit particularly hard, at one point down a whopping 11%, tripping their markets' automatic "circuit breakers" for a mandatory time-out period, before scraping back up to close at 8% down. US futures markets are currently predicting a 650+ point drop just at the open Tuesday morning, before even a single trade goes through. [more inside]
posted by Asparagirl on Jan 22, 2008 - 306 comments

On Nov 22, 1968, exactly 39 years ago, on a reasonably clear, uneventful day, a new JAL DC-8 descended toward the SFO airport. The landing was so well executed that no one was hurt when the pilot landed the plane into the San Francisco Bay, several miles from the airport. What explanation did 15 year veteran pilot Captain Kohei Asoh give for his botched landing? It was so unusual (especially in this day and age), so refreshingly honest, that it came to be known as the Asoh Defense. Amazingly, the plane was recovered, refurbished, and was in service for another 35 years.
posted by eye of newt on Nov 22, 2007 - 50 comments

RC Model Crashes [youtube] B-52, P-51, RC Model crash filmed with an on-board camera, Monoplane crash, Thunderbolt crash, Dogfight and mid-air collision
posted by KokuRyu on Oct 25, 2007 - 16 comments

It was twenty years ago today... [more inside]
posted by Mutant on Oct 19, 2007 - 27 comments

The first Grand Theft Auto.
posted by potch on Oct 9, 2007 - 28 comments

1995 world Rally Champion Colin McRae has died in a helicopter crash with his 5 year old son.
posted by gergtreble on Sep 15, 2007 - 54 comments

Crash tests. Exactly what it sounds like. Double-Link-YouTube-Filter.
posted by dersins on Jul 31, 2007 - 28 comments

Consumer Reports has videos of over 150 different models of cars and trucks in crash tests. If you drive something much larger, learn about train crash tests, or, much more dramatically, watch crash tests of trains carrying nuclear flasks and airplanes. After you have seen it done, try to achieve the most dangerous crashes yourself with the Truck Dismount freeware game. [previously on truck dismount and airplanes]
posted by blahblahblah on Jun 11, 2007 - 19 comments

Has Australia's largest cycling club attempted to cover up the possible causes of a fatal crash at its latest event? The Canberra Cycling Club's press release says that the race was conducted in accordance with Australian road rules. Their photo gallery for the event certainly shows small groups of riders keeping to one side of the centre line. Local sleuths The RiotACT say different.
posted by obiwanwasabi on May 3, 2007 - 65 comments

While the Queen was in New Zealand on Christmas Eve 1953 a lahar destroyed a rail bridge in Tangiwai. When the Wellington to Auckland Express tried to cross the bridge, the resulting accident killed 151 people. On behalf of her mother, Prince Andrew is currently in New Zealand, commemorating a hero, and another lahar has errupted, from the same volcano. The death toll is zero.
posted by Samuel Farrow on Mar 18, 2007 - 13 comments

What's worse? MySpace or American Idol? How about a website that finds all the MySpace pages for those aweful American Idol contestants (you know- the ones we are supposed to laugh at because they suck)?
posted by BrodieShadeTree on Jan 19, 2007 - 11 comments

Twenty-one years ago today a plane crashed in Gander, Newfoundland. The flight carried American soldiers heading home for the holidays, returning from a mission in the Sinai. Called the worst aviation disaster on Canadian soil, the crash killed the 248 soldiers and 8 crew members aboard. On December 16th, mere days after the crash, President Ronald Reagan gave a speech at Ft. Campbell, Kentucky, to comfort the victims' families. As time passed, however, some of the families demanded answers from the US Government regarding the circumstances of the crash. In 1989, Robin Tallon, member of congress from South Carolina, assisted the families' by bringing the matter before Congress - and also sending a letter to then-Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney (scroll down page). In 1992, a Time Magazine article addressed forensic evidence which supported the idea of an on-board explosion prior to impact, as well as the flight's connections to Iran Contra and the terrorist group Islamic Jihad. This article also discusses the book written on the crash by Les Filotas, a dissenting member of the air safety board. The question was brought forth again in 1993, with a bill introduced requesting that a commission be formed to further investigate the circumstances of the crash. As with any disaster with unanswered questions, conspiracy theories abound. To this day, many of the questions surrounding Flight 1285 remain unanswered. While the crash may never be fully explained, one certainty remains - for the families whose loved ones never came home for Christmas, the twelfth day of the twelfth month will never be forgotten.
posted by SassHat on Dec 12, 2006 - 22 comments

In a corporate jet flying 37,000 feet above the Amazon rainforest, I heard the three words I will never forget: “We’ve been hit.”
posted by NotMyselfRightNow on Oct 3, 2006 - 70 comments

On September 2nd at 10:41 p.m. PDT the ESA's Smart-1 will crash into the moon. While no one is certain how bright the impact will be, some believe it may be visible to amateur astronomers. We've discussed this before, but tonight's the night!
posted by quin on Sep 2, 2006 - 17 comments

US Navy Saftey Center Photos of the Week. Or: A Nearly Comprehensive But Not Entirely Inclusive Manual of Instruction On How to Qualify for a Darwin Award.
posted by loquacious on Jul 26, 2006 - 22 comments

Scratch one Enzo Ferrari. Dodgy Swedish game-maker kisses Malibu telephone phone at 162mph.
posted by soiled cowboy on Feb 28, 2006 - 44 comments

The impressive Gimli Glider. Yes, seriously: it can be a glider. An amazing story of a commercial pilot with mad emergency landing skillz.
posted by five fresh fish on Feb 21, 2006 - 42 comments

The Hitachi Hard Disk Drive Knowledge Base does very little to distinguish itself from other knowledge bases, except that it includes some fantastic examples of what your hard drive may sound like when it's dying or dead. Note: all links except first are .wav (via)
posted by furtive on Jan 23, 2006 - 20 comments

"We tacitly agree to accept a certain level of carnage in order to use the highways in ways we value." [pdf, 750kB] Three particle physicists analyze data from crash tests and crash statistics, and show that pickup trucks pose a much greater risk to other drivers than any other type of vehicle, even SUVs. [pdf, 880kB] Also, I found some totally rad videos of airplane crash tests from nasa. Sweet!!
posted by sergeant sandwich on Jan 19, 2006 - 23 comments

A student has been charged with felony for posting a link to his school's web site and telling others to hit the F5 button to refresh and crash it. Irony ensues as Fark, Digg, and Slashdot crash the high school's web site by linking to it. A news video with more information here.
posted by banished on Jan 6, 2006 - 67 comments

Photos of the outcome of a motorcycle merging with a car @ 155 miles per hour.
posted by jonson on Dec 6, 2005 - 110 comments

Airliner crashes in western Venezuela — A passenger plane crashed in remote western Venezuela with 152 passengers aboard early Tuesday, an aviation official said. A top government official said it was unlikely anyone survived.
posted by Rothko on Aug 16, 2005 - 40 comments

A Helios Airways Boeing 737 crashed into a mountain in Greece this morning. It is reported that there were 115 passengers and 6 crew aboard. According to the folks on airliners.net, shortly after take-off, the pilots reported some sort of problem with the cockpit air conditioning. Radio contact was then lost. The Greek air force scrambled two F-16s; the pilots reported that when they looked through the cockpit window they could see the co-pilot slumped forward across the controls, and no sign of the captain. The airliner subsequently flew into a mountaintop near Athens.
posted by cstross on Aug 14, 2005 - 45 comments

Passenger plane on fire at Toronto airport. About 200 people on board.
posted by ori on Aug 2, 2005 - 56 comments

When you're in Iraq and have a bit of free time on your hand there's really only one thing you can do. Shame it crashed the Ministry of Defense computers.
posted by movilla on May 20, 2005 - 31 comments

The Oops List. Enjoy the pure pleasure of the misfortune of others.
posted by srboisvert on Apr 20, 2005 - 23 comments

Not guilty. It's been nearly 20 years since Air India Flight 182 crashed into the ocean off the coast of Ireland, killing all 329 people aboard, after a bomb went off in the luggage compartment. Today, the two main suspects in the case were acquitted. Families of the victims are upset, disgusted. Of the 329 victims, 82 of them were under the age of 12. Let's take a moment to remember them; victims of one of the worst terrorist acts prior to September 11th, 2001.
posted by juliebug on Mar 16, 2005 - 53 comments