
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.

Flydubai Flight 981 enters a rapid descent and crashes nose-first at Rostov-on-Don Airport in Rostov-on-Don, Russia, after aborting its second landing attempt in poor weather conditions.

A billion-dollar Stealth Bomber crashes at a U.S. Air Force base-the costliest aviation disaster ever; bad data misleads a charter flight into a Portuguese mountain; conflicting alarms send a cutting-edge jetliner plunging into the Atlantic.

Investigators struggle to understand the unusual flight path and Himalayan crash site of Thai Airways Flight 311.

With hidden flaws buried in their navigation systems, three planes suffer catastrophic computer errors that force investigators to dig deep for clues.