
Statistically, traveling by airplane is safer than driving and other forms of transportation, but when something goes wrong during a flight, it can be catastrophic with potentially hundreds of lives at stake. This series examines some of the world's worst air disasters, using official reports, transcripts and interviews with people involved to tell the stories of midair mishaps and discover what went wrong in each case. Episodes include a discussion of how the weather affects flights -- including stories of aviation disasters and near-misses -- and a New Year's Eve flight that fell from the sky into the Florida Everglades.

When former race car driver Niki Lauda's planes nosedives into a Thai jungle, a one-in-a-million failure reveals a weak spot in every Boeing 767; radio silence between pilots and air traffic controllers send investigators hunting for answers.

Passengers and crew escape a jet that skid off the runway before catching fire.

A cockpit window on British Airways Flight blows out, partially ejecting and injuring the captain; the co-pilot completes an emergency landing.

Air accident survival stories; keeping passengers and crews alive when disaster strikes.