Inventing the jet engine came with a few disasters

"Houston, we've had a problem": Those words, uttered by Apollo 13 astronaut Jack Swigert on April 13, 1970, were a prelude to one of the most thrilling rescue operations in human history.

A deadly leak on Apollo 13 endangers the entire mission (4:16)

A thorough examination of the wreckage of TransAsia Airways Flight 235 has so far failed to yield any clues about its February 4, 2015 crash. If NTSB investigators are going to arrive at answers, they'll need to expand their thinking.

Crossing off reasons why TransAsia Airways Flight 235 crashed (3:14)

Until January 30, 1968, the Vietnamese New Year had always brought an informal ceasefire. But this year, the cessation of hostilities would vanish in a deadly attack on the U.S. Embassy in Saigon.

The New Year's attack that turned the tide of the Vietnam War (2:48)

A solider stationed in Iraq set out to find a solution to the deadly ambushes that were plaguing U.S. convoy trucks. His journey led him to a Vietnam vet, who became a mentor and a friend.

A U.S. soldier in Iraq turns to a Vietnam vet for answers (3:56)

It's September 26, 1997 and Garuda Indonesia Flight 152 has just been instructed by air traffic control to turn right onto a vacant runway. Inexplicably, the captain ignores these instructions—with disastrous consequences.

An incorrect turn ends in a deadly disaster (3:45)

Thrust reversers are only supposed to deploy when a plane is landing. Did one of the thrust reversers on US Air Flight 1016 activate prematurely? And did that contribute to the crash on July 2, 1994?

Did a faulty thrust reverser bring down Flight 1016? (2:49)

Even before everything started to go wrong, many thought that with the mission number 13 and the launch time 13:13, Apollo 13 was tempting fate.

The superstitions surrounding Apollo 13 (1:52)

In the midst of a fierce storm, the pilots of US Air Flight 1016 are given permission to land. Moments later, the plane crashes, killing 37 people. NTSB investigators want to know what air traffic control knew—and what they told the pilots.

Why did this pilot land in the middle of a violent storm? (3:35)

In 1965, U.S. Navy pilot James Bond Stockdale was captured by the North Vietnamese and taken to the infamous "Hanoi Hilton" prison. When his wife, Sybil Stockdale, approached the CIA with a cryptic message from her husband, she was confronted with a life-changing decision.

How a Navy wife saved her POW husband in Vietnam (4:35)