Smithsonian HD Network

Pilots are prepared to cope with a range of emergency scenarios, but failures in training can lead to catastrophe in the cockpit.

After taking off from Taiwan, a China Airlines 747 suddenly disappears from radar and crashes, killing 225 people.

A 747's cargo door opens at 23,000 feet, causing an explosive decompression that ejects nine passengers from the plane.

When Air Transat Flight 236 runs out of fuel over the Atlantic, its pilots desperately try to keep their Airbus A330 in the air until they reach land.

The U.S. Aviation Weather Center in Kansas City, Miss.; the importance of accurate weather forecasting to the aviation industry.

On 10 January 2000, Crossair Flight 498 crashes just two minutes after takeoff from Zürich, Switzerland, while heading for Dresden, Germany, killing all 10 people on board.

A false warning in the cockpit triggers a series of pilot errors, sending a commuter plane crashing by the runway of an Amsterdam airport.

When a turboprop stalls and crashes into a North Carolina forest, investigators resort to a risky test flight-and uncover an industry-wide safety problem.

A plane with members of the Manchester United football team crashes while heading home from Yugoslavia, killing 23 aboard.

On 28 December 1978, the crew of United Airlines Flight 173 are preoccupied with a landing gear problem as the aircraft circles in a holding pattern in the vicinity of Portland, Oregon; it runs out of fuel and crashes in a sparsely populated area.

Colgan Air 9446 nosedives into the waters off Cape Cod just minutes after takeoff following a four-day maintenance stop.

When John F. Kennedy Jr.'s Piper Saratoga crashed in 1999, the NTSB faces big pressure to find the wreckage and the cause.

Relying on instinct rather than the rule book, three flights end in tragedy when crews improvise on their final approach.

A passenger ferry sinks after crashing into rocks off the coast of a Greek island, killing 82; it leads to a shocking investigation.

While landing at a notoriously tricky Alaskan island airport, the pilots of a twin turboprop can't stop their plane.

Near the end of its flight, Continental Express Flight 2574 suffers wing damage and goes into a dive falling out of the sky.

When an American cargo plane crashes moments after takeoff, investigators uncover a systemic problem with aircraft maintenance.

A Boeing 767 crashes miles from a South Korean runway; the investigation leads to contradicting stories between the surviving pilot and air traffic control.

Take a cruise where the guests choose the ports to visit and the captain and crew work overtime to make it happen.

The only cruise ship designed specifically to navigate the treasures and dangers at the southern tip of South America.

Cruise among the icebergs of Greenland and the Canadian High Arctic aboard the expedition cruiser Ocean Endeavour.

The Sky Princess carries passengers from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to three Central American stops.

The world's latest, most-advanced expedition cruise ship Roald Amundsen whisks passengers on an adventurous voyage to Antarctica.

Costa Diadema's seven-day cruise around the Mediterranean offers Italian delights to its passengers and challenges to its captain and crew.

Passengers are treated like royalty on Indian Railways' Maharaja's Express.

The prairies of Canada; the deserts of Australia; the cold of the Norwegian Arctic Circle; the steepest slopes of the mighty Swiss Alps.

A trip aboard one of the world's most expensive and sought-after train rides details the journey for both passengers and crew.

The Norwegian Breakaway cruise ship sets sail on her first voyage, and her captain faces a tough decision when a North Atlantic tempest forms.

Follow the building of the Norwegian Breakaway at Germany's Meyer-Werft shipyard; it is the largest ship they've ever built and they have only 18 months to finish it.

The world's most adventurous cruise ship, MS Fram, battles ice-choked fjords of Greenland to visit wildlife and icebergs.

The Carnival Vista is the new flagship for one of the world's largest cruise lines, carrying more than 4,600 passengers and boasting 10 restaurants, nearly 2,000 staterooms and a crew of 1,400.

A crew of 2,200 on the Symphony of the Seas tends to more than 5,500 passengers as they sail to ports in Spain, France and Italy.

The T-38 jet trainer is the ultimate test for any pilot wanting to join the world's elite club of fighter jet pilots.

Norway's Bergen Line stretches from Oslo to Bergen, passing through 182 tunnels; Nordland Line transports passengers and freight; Flam Railway boasts one of the steepest railway climbs on Earth.

Norwegian Joy sails amid icebergs in Alaska's Inside Passage, treating guests to glaciers, humpback whales, and the largest zip line in the world.

The Paul Gauguin offers five-star luxury while sailing near the coral reefs, mountainous islands and tropical playgrounds of French Polynesia.

Exploring Vietnam by rail aboard the Reunification Express; a three-day ride from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City rich in views of rivers, rice paddies and dragon fruit orchards; steeped in the nation's war-torn past.

On Europe's high-speed rail network, between Barcelona and Madrid, crews work to expand the infrastructure for a new train.

New luxury liner Le Soleal navigates the uncharted waters of Indonesia to give her passengers one-of-a-kind encounters at exotic destinations.

Royal Clipper is the largest sailing cruise ship in the world, celebrating tall ships of the 19th century while offering modern-day service for its guests.

This 50-year-old ocean liner offers off-season Baltic tours, battling unpredictable weather to deliver one-of-a-kind experiences.

Set a course for breathtaking sights on Koningsdam's 15-day voyage from Amsterdam to the northern tip of Norway.

A 1.2-million-square-foot office building balances precariously on a 39-foot wide base in Chicago; a building named Pterodactyl lands on top of a Los Angeles parking garage; the world's longest suspension footbridge.

Examine the sightlines in Los Angeles's SoFi Stadium, which sits right in the flight path of LAX; celebrate the ingenuity of the inexperienced crew that built a monumental skyscraper in Malta; visit a forest tower designed for testing elevators.

Challenges beset a sculptural new transportation hub for New York's World Trade Center; Amsterdam gains a building inspired by a mountain valley; a new launchpad for space travel prepares for liftoff in the New Mexico desert.

A sculptural high-rise with rippling balconies breaks the mold in Chicago; Mammoth machines bore 26 miles of tunnels for an underground railroad beneath London's city streets.

Visiting Australia's One Central Park, the Oslo Opera House and the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco to reveal their architectural secrets.

An unstable high rise, an otherworldly museum, and a towering cliffside elevator.

An in-depth look at how things are repaired.

Mike in north eastern Australia, going on and under the water, into labs and onto construction projects working with specialized teams as they tackle the daunting challenge of saving dying coral on the incredible Great Barrier R.

Mike Davidson embarks with the team to one of the most extreme, avalanche-prone ski mountains in the world: Snowbird; they battle to keep the steep and deep slopes safe with shovels, snowcats and even a WWII Howitzer.

Mike Davidson goes to the biggest automated package sorting facility in the world - UPS Worldport in Louisville, Kentucky. Two million packages go through here every day.

Witness amazing buildings, bridges, lifts, and other structures that pushed structural concrete engineering to the edge.

Defy gravity in an Amsterdam high-rise that hangs 164 feet above the water; marvel at three interconnected towers in Chicago that have a road running through them; examine the revolutionary framework of Paris' controversial Pompidou Centre.

Celebrating one of humanities biggest engineering achievements, the International Space Station, a meteor proof lab bigger than a football field, constructed by astronauts traveling 250 miles above us at 17,500 miles an hour.

On inadequate foundations, San Francisco's MOMA triples in size creating an exterior light enough to prevent collapse; a 1970s Sydney skyscraper is recycled into a 21st century tower; in Dallas, a five acre park is created.

A London railway station; giant Singapore biodomes; eye-catching hospital in Las Vegas.

Colgan Air 9446 nosedives into the waters off Cape Cod just minutes after takeoff following a four-day maintenance stop.

A team of experts investigates in detail the carnage of a cargo plane; an anonymous tip helps explain why a cargo plane crashed just moments after taking off from Miami.

A look at three deadly air disasters that are caused by misunderstandings between pilots and air traffic controllers.

A commuter turboprop crashes onto hilly terrain in New Zealand; the search for answers inevitably leads to the cockpit.

Joining NTSB and military experts as they work together to uncover how a fighter jet could collide with a civilian flight.

Landing at one of the world's most challenging airports, a passenger plane comes in like a fighter jet and crashes, killing 51 of the 71 people aboard.

On Jan. 3, 2004, Flash Airlines Flight 604 banks to the right just after takeoff and crashes into the Red Sea, killing all 148 people on board.

History's most terrifying air disasters, and the investigations that followed, are revisited and reexamined.

A look at how the role of battleships changed over the course of the First and Second World Wars.

From tests in the River Thames, to the German's deadly U-boat attacks in World War II, this episode explores the silent threat of submarines.

It is considered the largest sea battle in history: the Battle of Leyte Gulf in WWII was three days of ingenious strategy and white-knuckle combat between warships, aircraft and kamikazes.

Stories of espionage at sea, including deadly U-boat cat-and-mouse games during WWI, the sinking of the Lusitania, a gun-smuggling private yacht that made history, and liners turned troopships.

The legendary Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, which pitted Napoleon's French ships against a British armada under the command of Admiral Horatio Nelson.

A portrayal of a crucial September 1950 military operation that helped the UN and ROK gain the upper hand over North Korea in the Korean War.

During the Vietnam War, the United States needed a helicopter that could defend itself; the AH-1 Cobra, the world's first pure attack helicopter.

Electronic warfare aircraft; the EA-6B Prowler; the EA-18G Growler.

The history of the longest serving bomber in the U.S. military: the B-52 Stratofortress.

The 50-year evolution of the Army's top transport helicopter, the CH-47 Chinook.

Exploring the world's top close air support aircraft, which enter battles at a minute's notice.

The history of the KC-135 Stratotanker, the 60-year-old aerial refueler that keeps fighter jets flying.

The Marine Corps' V-22 Osprey.

The F-15 Eagle's conquests in Iraq, Yugoslavia and even space.

Rare archive footage charts the German Army in 1940 as it unleashes a new Blitzkrieg tactic.

Cameras roll as Nazi Germany launches an all-out assault on the Soviet Union.

Footage of life and death on the battlefield of El Alamein and behind the lines in the African desert.

The story of the greatest tank battle the world has ever seen.

Eye-witness accounts from those who fought in the US military's bloodiest battle on the European front in World War II.

Incredible footage, colourised for the first time, chronicles the final days of the Third Reich and the brutal battle for Berlin, though German defeat looked certain. Nazi soldiers persisted fighting despite the inevitability of their downfall.

Innovative engineering allows the P-38 Lightning to fly faster and climb higher than any other WWII warplane; a twin-propeller fighter with heavy armaments packed into its nose, the P-38 becomes one of America's premiere combat planes during the war.

The AH-64 Apache, one of the most heavily fortified and well-armed helicopters ever built.

Exploring the history of the F-18 and how the U.S. Navy's dual-role aircraft has dominated both the air and the battlefields for over three decades.

The inside story of the Harrier, the world's most famous short takeoff and vertical landing fighter jet.

An aerial tour over the places made famous by America's most influential men and women.

A view of Idaho from the air reveals a state filled with agricultural fields, lands untouched by human hands, and riches in the form of gold, ski resorts and spuds.

Louisiana's wetlands and underwater oil fields.

A coast-to-coast aerial journey across America, visiting locations made famous by movies such as Rocky, Citizen Kane, Forrest Gump and others.

Explore the forests, shores, bridges and tunnels of one of American's 13 original states, New Jersey.

Home to some of America's highest mountains; Mount St. Helens.

Natural wonders, manmade marvels, hidden treasures and places of inspiration.

When a British tycoon and his family die in a 2017 Australian seaplane crash, investigators spend over two years searching for the reason behind the tragedy.

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

Three devastating crashes make front-page news around the globe; the media frenzy puts intense pressure on investigators to uncover the causes.

History's most terrifying air disasters, and the investigations that followed, are revisited and reexamined.

Three flight crews face impossible odds: a Boeing 707 loses engines over the Alps as fire spreads, Air Astana 1388 goes out of control over Portugal, and a bomb on PA 434 severs control cables and blasts a hole in the fuselage.

History's most terrifying air disasters, and the investigations that followed, are revisited and reexamined.

A look at the fate of United Airlines Flight 232 which crashed into Sioux City's runway in 1989; it caused a subsequent explosion that left 111 people dead.

Colgan Air 9446 nosedives into the waters off Cape Cod just minutes after takeoff following a four-day maintenance stop.

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.

On July 11, 1991, the crew of Nigeria Airways Flight 2120 unsuccessfully tries to return to the airport after a burst tire creates an in-flight fire which causes 247 Nigerian pilgrims and 14 crew to perish.

When the crash of a commuter plane in Georgia kills a NASA astronaut, a four-term U.S. senator and 21 others, the disaster grabs headlines around the world.