
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 Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crashes shortly after takeoff, the catastrophe leads to the grounding of the entire Boeing 737 MAX 8 fleet.

A complex recovery operation is launched to find out if a 747 which disappeared into the Indian Ocean was carrying illegal weapons.

Three flight crews face impossible odds: a Boeing 707 loses engines over the Alps as fire spreads, Air Astana 1388 goes out of control over Portugal, and a bomb on PA 434 severs control cables and blasts a hole in the fuselage.

A Boeing 737 leaving Panama City crashes into one of the most remote and treacherous jungles on the planet.