Have you ever wondered what would happen if the plane you were on crashed? Does bracing really help? Where’s the best place to sit? And, fundamentally, are planes designed so that you could survive?

In the premiere episode of “Curiosity,” which airs on the Discovery Channel at 9 p.m. ET on Sunday, an international team of experts explores these questions by deliberately crashing a full-size passenger airplane into the remote desert along the U.S.-Mexico border.

The experiment of crash-testing an entire plane, something not tried since NASA did it in 1984, looks at what happens during a plane crash and the science behind passengers’ best chance for survival.

We have early details, ahead of the show airing. Check out the story, videos and interactive of what happens.

(Photos by Vance Jacobs for the Discovery Channel.)