
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.

Experts examine a departing DC-9 in Detroit which gets lost in the fog and ends up in the path of an oncoming 727.

On 25 July 2000, a Concorde operating as Air France Flight 4590 stalled and crashed into a hotel in Gonesse shortly after takeoff from Charles de Gaulle Airport, killing all the 109 people on board and 4 on the ground.

Following three air crash investigations in which examiners are pushed to the limit to crack the cases.

Just after takeoff from Honolulu, TransAir Flight 810 loses power and ditches in the Pacific; both pilots survive, blaming dual engine failure-but when the Boeing 737 is recovered, the wreckage reveals a different cause.