
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.

Martinair 495 crashes on a rain-soaked runway in Portugal, showing how weather can doom a landing; American 1572 hits a storm and loses both engines amid a tower shutdown.

An examination of three crashes that occurred when pilots battled against their sophisticated aircraft.

A private jet attempting to compensate for a late approach to the airport, slams into an Ohio apartment building just a couple of miles from the runway.

A high-stakes demonstration flight in Indonesia turns catastrophic when a Russian jet slams into a mountain.