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A look at accidents and incidents where problems with the interface between crew members and onboard avionics are a factor, and the causes of those problems.

Air Disasters

Who's Flying the Plane?

A look at several air disasters that involved small components that failed; accidents caused by minor defects or errors; how the follow-up investigations led to changes that have made flying safer.

Fatal Flaw

The 2000 crash of an Alaska Airlines plane just off the California coast leads to a disturbing discovery about the company's cost-cutting procedures.

Cutting Corners

A Swissair passenger jet catches fire midflight and crashes into the Atlantic, leading to one of the largest investigations in aviation history.

Fire on Board

Turkish Airlines Flight 1951 stalls and crashes less than a mile from the runway while approaching Amsterdam Airport Schiphol.

Who's In Control

US Airways Flight 1549 suffers a bird strike with a flock of Canada geese, causing both engines to fail.

Hudson River Runway

A British Airways Flight's engines failure to respond cause the plane to crash-land just short of the runway.

The Heathrow Enigma

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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.

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Bad weather and a series of errors lead to the 2001 crash of a plane on its approach to Zurich Airport.

S18 E1 | Cockpit Failure

E24 | Who's Flying the Plane?

E23 | Fatal Flaw

E11 | Cutting Corners

E9 | Fire on Board

E6 | Who's In Control

E5 | Hudson River Runway

E2 | The Heathrow Enigma