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Three catastrophic runway collisions raise the same pressing question; a look at how two planes end up on the same runway at the same time.

Air Disasters

Runway Collisions

Three planes are brought down by ice and it's up to investigators to determine how modern aircraft could possibly end up with frozen wings.

Frozen Wings

Three crews experience the same devastating event; but with radically different outcomes when an engine falls off their commercial airplane.

Engine Gone

Three flights ending in tragedy, prove that minor missteps during takeoff can have disastrous consequences.

Take Off Tragedies

A trio of crashes reveals that when the nuts and bolts of maintenance go unchecked, it can spell catastrophe.

Maintenance Mistakes

Mid-air tragedies are particularly horrifying when they occur over a community, and rain terror on the people below.

Death from Above

From the wreckage of three airplane crashes, survivors emerge to tell harrowing tales and provide critical data about what to do in an emergency.

Survivors

Following three horrifying crashes, investigators uncover fatal flaws in the very operations designed to prevent aircraft from flying into mountains.

Mountain Impact

Three horrific aviation disasters are all linked to breakdowns in vital security measures.

Lapse in Security

Airplane crashes involving high-profile passengers put added pressure on investigators.

VIP on Board

When critical instruments in the cockpit can't be trusted, the consequences can be fatal.

Instrument Confusion

When an aircraft loses total engine power, a pilot's training can make all the difference in the world, but it's still up to investigators to determine what went wrong.

Engines Out

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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.

S20 E17 | Death from Above