The Discovery Channel used a remote control to crash a Boeing 727 passenger jet on purpose into the Mexican desert. It's all part of a scientific experiment. Investigators are looking for ways to improve safety and survival rates in real plane crashes.
"There's only so much you can do with computer monitoring, so to get the data, you actually need to crash an airplane into the desert," aviation expert Steve Ganyard explained.
Four pilots parachuted away just moments before impact. Crash test dummies sat in passenger seats. The plane, rigged with cameras, went down head first so that it would break apart and give aviation experts a better idea of what was survivable and what wasn't.
