Nerve Center - Season 1 (2011)

Its call sign is ATL and it manages 2,700 take offs and landings everyday. An army of airport staff oversee a quarter of a million people who pass through its gates, as well as their luggage and their safety. There are more planes in the air and on the ground Friday evening when the world's busiest airport is strained to capacity. The only way to handle it is to keep a cool head.

They get more than 160,000 calls a year, an average of 438 a day. Washington DC's FEMS is one of the busiest all-hazards agencies in the US. When they're not putting out fires, rescuing people from collapsing buildings or determining the contents of a suspicious package left on the steps of the White House, they protect the district during special events at the nations' capitol.

Spread across 4300 acres of land, and 3200 acres of water and boasting 9 container terminals, the Port of Los Angeles - known affectionately as "America's Port"- is the biggest, busiest and most significant gateway to the North American market. With 500 million dollars worth of cargo passing through the LA wharves everyday, a delay at this port sends a ripple effect through the U.S. economy.