Rating:

0.0 (0 votes)

SONORA, MEXICO - This past weekend, the Discovery Channel took a trip south of the border to crash a Boeing 727 passenger jet in a remote area of the Sonoran Desert - in the name of science.

The 170-seat jetliner was packed with scientific equipment and rigged to be piloted remotely once the pilot evacuated and parachuted out, according to a news release on Discovery.com.

The plane was crashed in an unpopulated part of the Sonoran Desert of Baja California in Mexico, chosen after an international search because it offered the perfect conditions for the project, the release states.
An international team of experts will collect the data and evaluate the plane's crash-worthiness, and the effect of a crash on the human body, the release states. The goal is finding new ways to help increase passenger survivability.

Above: Raw video of the Boeing 727 crashing in Sonora, Mexico. Courtesy YouTube and FUEGO343

The crash site was manned by security teams, as well as Mexican police and military officials, and following the crash, the plane will be salvaged and an agency will carry out an extensive clean-up operation, Discovery Channel representatives state.

"This ground breaking project features an actual crash of a passenger jet and explores the big questions about how to make plane crashes more survivable. It's the ideal premiere episode for our Curiosity series that stirs the imagination of our audience, bravely asking questions and fearlessly seeking answers. This latest production captures that audaciousness perfectly and I can't wait to share it," said Eileen O'Neill, Group President of Discovery and TLC Networks.

Read more about the crash, and Discovery's upcoming series, here.