A Shocking Discovery After Crashing In The Mediterranean Sea! | Flight 1153 | Mayday: Air Disaster

foreign Italy an ancient Port Town on the Adriatic Sea where the past meets the present just north of this historic City Bari international airport serves 10 major airlines and more than one and a half million passengers each year one of those carriers is tunisia's tune into Airlines Captain Shafiq garbi is a pilot with TuneIn Turf today he's in command of flight 1153 the 45 year old Tunisian is a military trained pilot with a Flawless flight record 's co-pilot his 28 year old Ali kabayir I 400 kilograms 2700 total yes foreign and his co-pilot flew from Tunis to Bari this morning to collect 34 Italian passengers now they're going to fly them to Gerber a Tunisian resort island [Music] among the passengers is 31 year old police officer Lucas cucarini his girlfriend Paola is traveling with him thank you our first choice was in German it was Cape Verde the thing with Cape Verde is that it was a period of terrorist activities the flight would have left from either Rome or Milano since they're two large airports Paola was afraid that there would be an attack so we chose not to go to Cape Verde for sure it was my first trip with Paula we met the previous winter we had plans to marry the following year to tighten your belt pull on the loose end of the strut [Music] gentlemen your life vests are located beneath your seats to inflate the best pull firmly on the red cord only when you're leaving the aircraft if you need to refill the vest blow into the mountains yes lbb flight 11 to 53 permission for takeoffs Roger that clear for takeoff final prep for departure the crew is flying a French made ATR 72 the small turbo prop is perfect for short flights it doesn't need a lot of Maintenance or guzzle a lot of fuel just after 2 30 in the afternoon the plane takes off 49 minutes after takeoff flight 1153 is 400 miles away from its destination Gerber so we started chatting with other passengers we were all excited we talked about the vacation like Luca and Paula Barbara Baldacci is on her way to Gerber for a vacation with her fiance Francesco Barbara was 23 years old she was on the verge of realizing her lifelong dream of graduating in biology after writing her final exam she decided to take this vacation with her fiancee Francesca Francesco then 75 miles from the nearest land and 23 000 feet above the sea stops working we've lost into let's get to 17 000 feet dui1153 request one seven zero DUI Captain Gabby begins an emergency descent sending one seven zero when you have a single engine flame out you would descend down to a lower altitude the air is thicker if the propeller is more efficient under current conditions the ATR 72 can best fly on one engine at an altitude of 17 000 feet our reliever flight idle start button the crew struggles to restart the right engine negative check but then less than two minutes after the first engine quits it's flamed out both of the plane's engines have stopped [Music] they suspension is our first thought was of a terrorist attack since there were so many at the time we tried to figure out what was happening so we looked towards the cockpit to see if someone was trying to sabotage the plane is now falling to the Sea at 800 feet per minute we have lost both engines request immediate landing at Palermo the crew still hopes to reach an airport but they have 70 miles of ocean to cross before they're Overland crews are trained for almost anything there's a checklist for them to follow to solve most problems including what to do when both engines die both engines flame out checklist fuel supply check the pilots don't know why their engines have stopped the only clue they're getting is a low fuel feed warning at low pressure warning light tells the pilot that there's low fuel pressure going to the engine now that could be a mechanical problem or that or that could be a contamination problem the crew follows the steps laid out by the manufacturer to re-light their dead engines fuel supply check power lever flight idle start button engine relay negative get chokery the captain asks the cabin crew to bring the onboard engineer shock rehabui to the cockpit Palermo approach this is tui1153 we have lost both engines requesting immediate Landing closest airport is in Palermo on the Italian island of Sicily Tui or 1153 Palermo affirmative you are clear for landing Palermo approach what is our distance to the airport your distance to Palermo is now 48 nautical mile an ATR 72 will fall from the sky at a predictable rate one foot down for every 16 feet forward 48 nautical miles is further than the plane can glide I think we're gonna make it [Music] if they can't restart their engines soon they'll be forced to ditch in the sea foreign decision to make because it's the hardest thing to do you have as well as waves wind is anybody going to see you how long can the plane float for Landing a passenger plane on water is extremely dangerous in 1996 an Ethiopian Airlines pilot was forced to bring his 767 down on the Indian Ocean ditching was recorded by a tourist on a nearby Beach 50 people survived but 125 people died the crew of this small plane doesn't usually include an engineer when there is one on board he usually travels in the cabin I remember this person looked at the stewardess and shook his head as if saying no after the second engine had shut off [Music] that gesture showed there was nothing left to do the crew of flight 1153 has tried all it can they're running out of time and options flight engineer shokri habui has joined in the struggle to get flight 1153's engines started you've run the checklist yes the captain hopes the engineer will know something that isn't covered by the checklist attempt to restart the engines right engine first fuel supply Check Engine 2 start power button on engine relay negative Palermo approach tui-1153 any closer airport where we can land at 1153 Palermo airport is the closest airport we're not going to make it prepare to ditch [Music] no one said anything I noticed something wasn't right because the two engines shut off more than once I tried to get the stewardess's attention asking what I should do if I had to put on the life jacket if I had to stand if I should take off my shoes I got no answer she was in shock and started to cry yeah the senior flight attendant does give the passengers Direction the captain has decided to land the plane I'll let you imagine the Panic on board people were screaming and crying please [Music] there were people in the front seats that had a baby girl she had been playing and was so excited to now see the panic in her mother's face made me feel so sad tui1153 what is your fuel load cockpits fuel quantity 1800 kilograms Captain garvey's fuel gauge shows that he has plenty of fuel but for some reason neither engine will restart just 10 minutes after the trouble began the plane is 7000 feet above the ocean and falling outside it's completely silent but in the cabin there's Panic these remain in your seats with your seatbelts fastened my first instinct was to undo my seatbelt to prevent getting trapped when we hit the water I didn't want to be trapped in my seat and go down in a horrible way but secondly I put on my life jacket and quickly blew it up I did this to soften the blow of the impact [Music] you saved your nests until you left the plane a plane ditching at Sea will more than likely fill with water that's why safety procedures call for passengers to only inflate their life vests once they've cleared the plane otherwise they could become trapped inside the flooded fuselage and drown and drowned after surviving the initial impact negative the dead engines aren't the only problem confronting the crew many of their instruments get their power from the engines now the engines some vital gauges are dead on a two engine flame out you go on your standby instruments which is you have an attitude indicator you have an altimeter fuel supply check the crew continues to try to restart their engines but it's become clear that they've run out of time they're not doing anything confirm distance please your distance is now 20 miles boats I see boats choosing to ditch near a ship or a vessel is not written in any checklist it's just good airmanship because the rescue can start immediately and it increases your chances of survival Palermo approach it's tui1153 if you can't make it to the airport we see two boats on the left side we're going there if you can please call Captain garbi turns his plane towards the boats [Music] can you send helicopters or something similar fast fast fast you imagine see all Marine units aircraft in distress 20 nautical miles of Palermo even before the plane hits the water Rescuers are on their way I had very little information we didn't know the nature of the crash or anything about the plane a lot of press dump although it's a rare maneuver there is also a checklist for ditching a plane in the water before ditching the crew ensures all landing gear is retracted to help the plane land more smoothly Landing your lever up when Pilots ditch they want their airplane as streamlined as possible so that it Glides across the water when it hits not only monitor the systems on the plane they also have to assess conditions at Sea they don't want to hit a wave head-on perpendicular to the to the waves or swells with the aircraft it's like hitting concrete the plane will break up passengers can see what's coming [Music] I was hanging on tight to the seat in front of me and through the window I could see the impact was imminent the crew is 700 feet above the sea you're with me Ellie huh careful shockery ready ready here we go this is Messenger in the name of God merciful merciful at a speed of 145 miles an hour the plane collides with the sea foreign consciousness [Music] I woke up in the water I was two or three meters underwater um I came up to the surface wearing only my pants I had lost my life jacket and clothes on impact I got to the surface and grabbed onto a bed I was in shock I was surrounded by everything my thoughts were constantly with Paola I thought I was going to die because I was spitting blood I felt my lungs filling with blood didn't God B survives but has been seriously injured co-pilot Ali kabaya has also survived but flight engineer shakuri habui is killed no one aboard the nearby boats saw flight 1153 crash into the sea the plane has broken into three pieces the tail section and much of the fuselage sink to the Bottom of the Sea but the largest section containing the two Wings stays afloat it becomes a makeshift life raft for survivors but not all of the passengers have survived many haven't made it out of the plane and to the surface foreign are on Route including Admiral Vincenzo Pache of the Italian Coast Guard Rescuers must travel 26 miles through Heavy Seas to get to the crash site the sky was very visible but the water is agitated this caused some problems to the recovery Mission helicopter pilot Stefano borigana is one of the first to arrive at the scene the approach control asked us if we were aware of digital aircraft out of the cost of a Palermo and if we were able to help them to locate the airplane when we approached the airplane we could see the wings floating [Music] there were several people in the water around the aircraft all floating and everybody with their jacket inflated burigana spots Lucas guicherini floating away from the main wreckage there was one man without his jacket and he was the farthest from the airplane I decided to go over him and throw one of our life jacket to him the Coast Guard arrives and begins pulling survivors from the sea the actions of the people in the water made us very agile because of what they were doing we ourselves did not panic we had the calm collaboration of all these people because despite what happened they knew help was coming and they would be rescued within the hour the crash site is teeming with Rescuers they search for survivors from the water and from the air [Music] 23 people are pulled from the Mediterranean Sea but 16 have died in the crash including Paula de chaola my relatives told me a couple days later while I was still at the hospital I had no reaction tala was gone [Music] um I reacted when I got home when I got home and went to the cemetery I realized what was happening that's where I got really down Barbara Baldacci and her fiance Francesco are also killed it seemed impossible that this terrible tragedy would happen because Barbara and Francesco were great swimmers [Music] they used to go underwater without any problems how is it possible that many on that plane saved themselves and they didn't I was stunned and incredulous it's quite likely that none of those who died ever had a chance to swim to safety their serious injuries would have prevented them from escaping after the plane hit the water [Music] in this accident most of the survivors were seated in the rear of the plane most of those who died up front those sections along with some valuable Clues are now at the bottom of the sea the one section that didn't sink is towed to the port in Palermo and taken to a nearby hangar a team of Agents from Italy's National flight safety agency the ansv begin looking for leads their job find out why flight 1153's engines stopped in mid-flight we need to collect as much as evidence is possible in order to fulfill two main counselors what happened and why had it happen they are led by Chief ansv investigator Vincenzo Panetta I ever know the day after the accident on the seventh very early in the morning a flight test engineer by training Panetta has led several air crash investigations engines and Central fuselage of tune into flight 1153 have been recovered the rest of the plane lies somewhere off the Sicilian Coast the main challenge of the investigation was the fact that the flooded recorder and the copy was recorded and also the front fuselage were 1500 meters Under the Sea while the Italian Navy conducts a deep water surge for the rest of the wreck and The crucial black boxes Italian investigators are given some assistance by the plane's European manufacturer atr's Giuseppe calderelli is here to find out if there's a flaw with the company's plane anytime it is an accident and also one people die for me is a big accident worldwide hundreds of ATR 72s cross the skies each day those aircraft have a very uh sound structure and robust systems and are very cost efficient together Panetta and calderelli set out to find why both engines on such an advanced airplane died in mid-flight three we have lost both engines before it happens again Captain Godby how are you I'm getting better thank you investigators want to know what happened in the cockpit of tune into flight 1153 when the engines died without the cockpit voice recorder they must rely on the Recollections of surviving passengers and crew members the main course could be a lack of fuel but according to Captain Shafiq garbi lack of fuel was not the problem what were your fuel readings the fuel quantity indicator said 1800 kilograms of fuel what is your fuel load fuel quantity 1800 kilograms fuel supply check was there any warning that you were low on fuel there was definitely no low fuel warning just a low feed pressure light the absence of a low fuel warning and the presence of a low feed pressure warning is a major clue these set of alarms usually indicates that there is a problem in feeding the engine with fuel since the planes gauges indicated that there was fuel on board that did not get to the engines atr's Giuseppe calderelli looks for floors in the Fallen Plains fuel delivery system four years earlier an Airbus operated by Air Transat developed a leak in the fuel line that feeds the plane's right engine over time the plane leaked all of its Fuel and both engines failed the pilots were forced to Glide their plane to an emergency landing that incident has a lot of similarities to the tuneinter crash Giuseppe calderelli's team looks for breaks or blockages in the fuel lines and evidence that the fuel pumps malfunctioned and stopped fuel flow to the engines while calderelli waits for technicians to complete tests on pumps and lines Panetta decides to start a new line of inquiry thank you he explores the possibility that the fuel that was on board was somehow contaminated contamination can derive for more four or five different sources kerosene-based jet fuel is very delicate if stored or transferred improperly it can be polluted with water sand or fungus even sticky residue from the hoses of refueling tankers any of these could prevent the fuel from properly igniting and could have caused the engines to shut down 400 kilograms the plane last took on fuel in Bari samples from the tanker that supplied it are taken for testing Panetta needs to prove that one of these contaminants got into flight 1153's fuel prevented combustion and caused both engines to fail thank you sediments can be transferred from a tanker truck to the aircraft so the fuel filter can be clogged and so the engine can have some problem technicians remove the truck's fuel filters to look for evidence of contamination things are swabbed for sticky residue or colonies of microorganisms and submitted for testing at an Italian Air Force Laboratory foreign the fuel is filtered for minute particles suspended in the fluid [Music] and carefully examine for impurities [Music] trucks filters are also inspected for residue or sediment from the tanks meanwhile in Palermo calderelli and his technicians have completed tests on flight 1153's fuel lines and pumps the tests are thorough the results conclusive [Music] the fuel feed line were okay were no no leak if the fuel delivery system was working and the two pilots remember having ample fuel the fuel quantity indicator said 1800 kilograms of fuel then why had the engines failed when test results from the Bari fuel tanker come in they too are conclusive the fuel filters hose couplings and tanker fuel at Bari airport are clean so a fuel contamination as a source of double engine for the mount That Was Then excluded at this point the investigators still don't know what caused the Downing of tune into flight 1153 but something has been eating at Panetta if the plane was filled with fuel and since the fuel is stored in the plane's wings why did the wing section float floating on the wing indicates that the weight of the wing was not so high we have been called by ATR that if the amount of Fuel That was supposed to be into the wing around 2000 kilograms were home the fuel tanks the wings may be not be able to to float Panetta suspects the plane didn't have as much fuel as the pilots thought but he doesn't know how that could be two weeks into the investigation Panetta gets an important lead in the case after two weeks for the event we received the summer technical documentation from the aircraft operator according to the logs Captain Garvey flew the same aircraft the day before the accident after that flight he reported a problem with his fuel gauge when he left the Earth of the day before he reported that the right display the float indicator was out of service so it need to be replacing the fuel quantity indicator or fqi is a gas gauge that tells Pilots how much fuel is left on board [Music] the lights on the fqi were malfunctioning and Captain Garvey made a note of this in the maintenance log we were able to see that the fuel quantity indicator was a change it the day before the event the maintenance log raises the possibility that the fqi that the mechanic installed was not the right one for the plane it doesn't seem to have the right model number tune in tear flies two models of ATR aircraft the ATR 42 and the larger atr-72 the fuel quantity indicators for each plane look identical except for a different model number at the top of each unit [Music] the ATR 72 should have a model number 2500 but according to the logs mechanics installed a unit with the model number 2250 instead tune into his maintenance logs offer a valuable clue [Music] but for Panetta there's no definitive proof that the wrong fuel quantity indicator was installed on the plane it could have been a mismatching that aircraft documentation so we need to prove that there is only one way to know for certain whether flight 1153 had the right fuel quantity indicator go find it at the bottom of the sea we need of course to recover the wreckage from bottlene aircraft to see physically see what was the fuel quantity indicator installed on on the aircraft not until three weeks after the crash to investigators recover wreckage from the sea the data from the plane's black boxes confirms what the pilots have been saying there was no warning of low fuel so there appeared to be enough fuel to make the flight the black boxes can't solve this mystery investigators hope that the tail and front section can they are hauled aboard a naval vessel from the sea [Music] the moment the cockpit is hauled in Panetta is there there's only one thing he wants to see inside so why the wreckage was recovered from under the sea and put on a sheep deck I realized that as a matter of fact I feel quantity indicator for an ATR 42 was installed it was like we found the Smoking Gun the wrong fqi was installed on flight 1153 Panetta finally has the break he's been looking for the atr's fuel quantity indicator collects data from sensors in the fuel tanks and calculates how much fuel is in the tanks but since the fuel tanks on the 42 and the 72 are a different size all quantity indicators can't be swapped between them technicians conduct refueling tests with the wrong fqi installed on an ATR 72. and the results are chilling the results show that if you install an fqi type will say 42 on an ATR 72 airplane if I have no fuel into the aircraft in the fuel tanks we did zero fuel the fuel Quant indicator show me 1800 kilograms precisely the amount of fuel that the captain reported having when his engines flamed out cockpit fuel quantity 1800 kilograms investigators conclude at 23 000 feet above the Mediterranean the wrong fuel indicator led the crew to believe that they had ample fuel when their tanks were actually empty engine relay negative they're not doing anything the engines could not possibly have been restarted with hundreds of ATR 42s and ATR 72s still flying the implications are Stark could there be other planes flying with the wrong gauge first safety recommendation was to mandate all operators that use ATR 42 and 72 aircraft in their Fleet to check whether the right field Quant indicator was was installed on the aircraft Panetta and calderelli have uncovered the error that caused both of flight 1153's engines to quit in mid-air foreign but the case isn't closed standard flight procedures should have uncovered the error before takeoff and prevented the disaster Captain garvey's aircraft went in for repairs in Tunisia the night before the crash the plane's fqi indicated 790 kilograms of fuel in the tank after the new fuel quantity indicator was installed it showed that there was almost four times as much fuel on board 3100 kilograms the following morning Captain Garvey noticed that the fuel levels had gone up he assumed the fuel had been added but when fuel is added to an aircraft a refueling slip must be left in the cockpit [Music] where is the refueling slip the pilot asked to the Florida dispatcher where was this refueling sleep but the fried dispatcher was not able to find these refueling sleep I'll get to you when you get back from German Roger that there was no refueling slip because the plane hadn't been refueled in spite of regulations the captain left without that vital piece of paper there are some standard regulations requiring the pilot to take off only when he is sure about the quantity of fuel with the wrong fuel indicator on board and less fuel than he believed Captain Garvey makes it to Bari Italy and tops up his plane for the next leg of the trip to German how much sugar you're adding 400 kilograms 2700 total believing he has 2700 kilograms of fuel on board Captain garbi begins his flight to Gerber if the correct fuel quantity indicator had been installed the captain would have known that he had only 540 kilograms not nearly enough to make the crossing tui1153 request immediate landing at Palermo we've lost both engines [Music] Panetta's investigation comes to a close he draws up his final report his colleague Giuseppe calderelli voices a bold View even with no fuel and dead engines flight 1153 could have made it to land the aircrafter was in a position that allowed to reach Palermo cui1153 calderelli wonders if the pilots did everything they could have to get the plane safely to Palermo tuy115 through investigators get some unexpected Answers by having seasoned pilots fly the exact same flight with the exact same problems second engine has gone off so Vincenzo Panetta's investigation into the crash of tune into flight 1153 has uncovered the events that led up to the accident now he and Giuseppe calderelli need to resolve one question did mistakes made by the pilots cost people their lives We're not gonna make it prepare to ditch calderelli and his team study the plane's specifications and draw a surprising conclusion flight 1153 could have been able to Glide to Palermo according to manufacturer data an ATR is able to Glide three miles for every thousand feet of descent but the Tailwind that day flight 1153 could have been able to Glide 70 miles to Palermo the crew might have been able to make it we'll ever up so what did the pilots done wrong to answer that question Panetta and calderelli recreate flight 1153 in the flight simulator at the ATR facility in France foreign test pilots try to Glide an ATR 72 for 70 miles from the altitude at which flight 1153 lost its second engine [Music] the simulation was requested to see the range of the aircraft starting from the second engineer portable engine females you have to be very um aware of the configuration of the aircraft in order to keep as much as possible the altitude and distance to to fly before the crash stop engine number one has flamed out with both engines out the priority is to keep the plane gliding as far as necessary to do that Pilots can change the angle of their windmilling propellers you have the maximum grade performance when you minimize the drag and it's very important to think to feather the proper in order to reduce the dryer Feathering the props involves changing their angle Against the Wind the maneuver reduces drag when you want to feather the propeller inflates you first have to reduce the power lever to idle and put the condition lever back to feather position the crew did not feather their props when their engines quit the wind Milling propellers created enormous drag if the crew of flight 1153 had feathered their props they may have been able to Glide further than they did let's get to 17 000 feet by the time captain godby's second engine flamed out he was just below 22 000 feet to further reduce drag at that altitude the plane should be slowed to 158 miles per hour the atr-72's ideal gliding speed surprisingly to Glide as far as possible a pilot doesn't want to fly as fast as possible faster a plane flies the more the airflow pushes against it creating resistance every plane has an optimal speed to achieve the furthest Glide the crew continued flying up to 55 miles an hour faster than their optimal gliding speed that added to the drag on the plane and reduced the distance they could Glide by Feathering his props and reducing his speed a simulator pilot in France was able to get the plane as far as Palermo you're with me Ellie huh careful flight 1153 hit the water 26 miles from Shore well short of what the plane was capable of achieving the simulation confirmed that the crew might have been able to make it to land [Music] the critically possible to reach the cost but it was also very difficult to achieve that result simulator Pilots had one big advantage over the crew of flight 1153 they weren't in a life or death situation and they knew they had to Glide instead fuel supply check but Captain Garvey didn't know he was out of fuel he didn't think he'd need to Glide to Palermo garbi focused on restarting the engines instead Feathering the props isn't part of that procedure if the captain had known he was out of fuel he might have acted to maximize Glide instead once he realized that his engines wouldn't start his Focus was on trying to find a place to ditch the plane Captain guard B also had to contend with a lack of instruments as well as radio interruptions kilograms most importantly Captain Garvey had the lives of his 34 passengers to consider of course is much easier to cope with that kind of situation on the simulator because if you do wrong if you cross the aircraft you had the magic button rights reset everything is okay again and that's very different in the real life with passengers behind and when it's your life confidence is now 20 miles We're not gonna make it the simulation highlights the importance of proper training to deal with unlikely situations such as a twin-engine flameout Innovation is a very rare event Vincenzo Panetta's report urges Airlines to train their pilots how to ditch without engine power better pilot training is just one of 17 safety recommendations in the accident report perhaps the most important that ATR redesigned the fuel quantity indicator to prevent a fuel quantity indicator type 42 on a 72 aircraft then vice versa to prevent mechanics from installing the incorrect part Panetta believes that the only answer is to design the fqi's so that they only fit on the plane they're meant for nine men face charges of criminal negligence for the Downing of flight 1153 including the tune into a mechanic who installed the wrong fqi and Captain Gary [Music] I'll get to you when you get back from German Roger that there is no single cause of the accident this accident like maybe other aircraft accident was determined by a series of actual a series of event linked one to each other this is unheard of okay I would have accepted the engine braking or a window shattering but to have people die because of a lack of fuels we remember this to avoid such other tragedies so that when you board a plane you don't have to endure anything not even the simplest things because it is the simple things that can be avoided tragic events like this should not happen attempt to restart the engine the crash of Flight 1153 was caused by a series of grave errors on the ground and in the air but the flight data recorder does show that the crew's last move before hitting the water was absolutely perfect here we go according to developable evidences the fly data or order and also some statement released by the crew that survived the aircraft touched the the sea first with the the real part of the aircraft at an attitude which is compatible with the optimum pitch altitude of the aircraft which is 9 degrees Captain Garvey raised the plane's nose up to nine degrees at the last possible moment so instead of plowing into the sea his plane glided along the surface of the water [Music] the maneuver likely saved lives by allowing more passengers to escape the ruined aircraft his flying may have prevented this accident from becoming an even greater tragedy thank you foreign

Channel: Mayday: Air Disaster

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Id: SI2YdVKFKyg

Length: 48min 57sec (2937 seconds)

Published: Wed Feb 01 2023