
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.

A plane carrying Mexico's interior minister crashes into Mexico City's financial district.

A twin-engine jet slams into an Ohio apartment building in a tragic perfect storm, raising questions about speed, power, and fatigue; a turboprop crash exposes an industry-wide issue; at Guantánamo Bay, a cargo plane goes down near the Cuban border.

When a 737 careens off the runway in Indonesia, investigators uncover a shocking explanation for the crash.

A look at the fatal consequences that can occur when a fire breaks out on a plane; three flights that erupted in flames and the investigations that changed aviation forever.