Air Canada Flight 797's Toilet Ignites Mid-Flight | Mayday | Wonder

paper was light gold in medieval times [Music] oh no tobacco sugar [Music] that everything we thought we knew about the world might turn out to be completely wrong [Music] smoke fills a passenger plane 10 kilometers in the sky we're on mayday we're going down electrical systems shut down as the smoke spreads the crew tries desperately to land their stricken plane emergency landing put your head on your lap we're going to need fire trucks they're standing by for you what seemed like a small problem at first has become a life or death struggle for everyone on board air canada flight 797 [Music] hey early evening june the 2nd 1983 suppertime aboard air canada flight 797 captain donald cameron has been working for air canada for 17 years and has flown almost 5 000 hours on a dc-9 but it doesn't mean he gets to eat first how'd you see for nice before he can dig in his first officer claude we met will have to finish good the jet is in the middle of a flight from dallas texas to montreal with a stopover in toronto the heavy cloud cover below hides some light showers but at their cruising altitude of 10 000 meters the view is clear and bright the dc-9 is only half full today with 41 passengers scattered throughout the plane can i have some tea please 24 year old diane fadley is an active member of the juvenile diabetes foundation we have a number of different fundraising activities and once a year they have a large conference and at this time it happened to be in toronto raymond chalifoux is 23 and recently married an engineer he's returning home from his first ever business trip it was a little bit frightening both for me and for my wife i was supposed to be gone four or five days so first time we were separated for a long period of time so uh it was it was kind of uh insecuring for me yeah and a few rows further up sits a growing legend in the world of folk music stan rogers is just 33 but his career is beginning to take off outside of his native canada i think stan's best known songs celebrate ordinary people the songs are really about ordinary people rising to the occasion and becoming heroes on their own just before seven o'clock the plane is a little more than halfway to toronto what was that it's right there i see it right there yeah three circuit breakers have popped out like fuses they protect delicate electrical circuits on the plane from becoming overloaded like a machine gun yeah [Music] the three breakers are for the flushing motor in the toilet at the rear of the plane cameron decides to give them a few minutes before he tries to reset them again you know sometimes it overworks and overeats and then the breaker popped and then you uh it cools off and then you push the breaker and everything is fine so put the snag in the block book and that's it someone must have pushed a rag down a toilet or something jammed it and it overheated cameron thinks that something must be stopping the motor from working properly but it's not an emergency toilets get blocked all the time several minutes pass as the plane continues on its way to toronto flight attendants laura kayama and judy davidson are busy serving up dinner in the cabin in the cockpit it's captain cameron's turn for dinner but first he wants to reset the three circuit breakers without them the toilet won't work the rest of the flight could get uncomfortable for the passengers pop says i push it he's given it more than eight minutes but whatever is wrong with the washroom it isn't fixing itself in the cabin one of the passengers complains about a disturbing odor yeah that is a strange smell let me take a look connie kirsch a texan headed for a business meeting in toronto is seated at the back of the plane i had smelled a peculiar smell where i was sitting and i it struck me as odd actually it was a wiry smell it wasn't a smoke smell a wisp of smoke is leaking out of the washroom the smoke and the acrid smell of burning plastic takes davidson by surprise this is much more than just a clogged toilet other passengers are beginning to notice the smoke and the suffocating smell [Music] sergio there's a problem in the washroom judy says there's a fire okay i'll be right there chief flight attendant sergio benetti is in charge of the cabin crew as a precaution we're moving everyone the smoke is noxious and overpowering benetti can't see any flames he sprays the fire extinguisher into the tiny washroom trying to coat every surface [Applause] as soon as i said as fire extinguisher something went through my mind there is definitely something wrong the guy seemed to have the thing under control so he's gonna do his job and things will be business as usual it's two minutes past seven just 11 minutes since the circuit breakers first popped out laura kiyama brings captain cameron the disturbing news excuse me captain there's a fire in the washroom in the back they just went back to go put it out you want me to go back yeah go a fire on board an aircraft is one of the worst situations any crew can face the plane is some 10 kilometers high what starts as a spark can turn deadly in a few short minutes but at the moment cameron doesn't know how bad the situation is you gotta remember in 1983 there people were allowed to smoke in the aircraft and there had been a number of uh incidents of this sort of in in the industry so it it really didn't alarm me that much we met finds the situation is worse than he expected i didn't see any flames when i opened the door before but i spread it really good with the fire extinguisher do you think it was a cigarette in the garbage no not really okay [Music] can't get back there smoke's too heavy i think we'd better go down but flight attendant sergio bernetti has a very different assessment of the situation you don't have to worry i think the smoke's easing up it's a confusing moment for captain cameron some components do fail from time to time that are not severe or serious enough to cause an emergency descent that's a pretty serious thing when we met and benetti were at the back of the plane the smoke seemed thick but now it appears to be subsiding okay it's starting to clear now but i'll go back and check if that's okay yeah that's okay take these goggles i'll leave my mask on go back wherever you can but don't get yourself incapacitated no problem no problem if it's just a broken toilet motor cameron can still make it to toronto but if it's more serious he'll have to land immediately before the small inconvenience becomes a deadly problem june the 2nd 1983 air canada flight 797 cruises through the early evening the flight has taken an unsettling turn wisps of smoke are gathering at the back of the dc-9 an acrid smell is spreading through the cabin the crew is growing concerned they've already moved passengers towards the front of the jet as far as possible from the creeping smoke captain donald cameron is waiting for an update from the back of the plane when suddenly he's got a new problem the master warning light is on electrical systems throughout the plane including some in the cockpit begin to fail the airplane basically lost all its sophisticated navigation and attitude information so i was left very suddenly with i think three engine entrance instruments per engine and four flight instruments which were very primitive they they were what you would might have flown a world war ii bomber with with his electrical systems starting to shut down cameron calls the nearest ground control memphis center this is a aircanada797 air canada 797 indianapolis center go ahead yeah we've got an electrical problem here we may be off communication shortly stanford co-pilot claude we met is at the back of the plane the washroom door handle has become hot to the touch he doesn't even risk opening it faced with a potential fire on board the crew have no choice but to land their plane as soon as possible i don't like what's happening i think we'd better go down we're going to be making an emergency descent breathe the chemical as soon as the decision is made another warning light goes on they've just lost most of their emergency power we're talking about multiple uh failure here and it's it's starting to be complicated so we're going down and obviously we have to land mayday mayday mayday a small problem has snowballed into an all-out emergency mayday mayday this is louisville control over el canada 797 we have a fire on board we are going down can you possibly make cincinnati roger that cincinnati is 46 kilometers away they can make it captain cameron begins an initial descent to 1500 meters the crew has switched to emergency battery power but many of the planes instruments aren't functioning so all we had left was a dc immer power and that's only good for radios basically it's not only instruments cameron finds that a critical piece of his plane isn't working properly the horizontal stabilizer on the tail of his dc-9 is frozen cameron uses the part that's still working the elevators to make the plane dive but like a car that's lost power steering the aircraft resists as cameron pushes on the controls they push back with a pressure equal to 20 kilograms the airplane became very heavy and i took my total concentration to fly the airplane an acrid bitter smoke is creeping forward from the back of the plane and seeping in from the seams in the fuselage ceiling it hovers like a cloud over the passenger's heads incredibly harsh smoke that was really irritating your throat you had to take really really small small breaths otherwise you would choke i could see it rise it was traveling along those luggage racks you know coming forward the smell of burning plastic fills the air dropping oxygen masks could make the situation worse i could have deployed the oxygen mask for the passengers but it's forbidden you're only allowed to use the oxygen mask in case of a massive or a massive decompression or a lost cabin pressure not for fire i was crying and scared i wasn't hysterical the gentleman sitting next to me explained to me that if i would not cry and if i could you know conserve my not breathe so fast that it would conserve the oxygen would help us and not to worry that the flight attendants they really know how to handle these sort of situations as the electrical malfunctions ripple through the plane the pa system shuts down flight attendants struggle to shout directions but it's getting more and more difficult to breathe [Music] in 1983 it's not standard procedure to tell passengers how to open the emergency doors but in this case the two flight attendants are taking no chances as smoke begins entering the cockpit the captain's situation is becoming critical for the first time we met talks to the cincinnati airport approach of canada 797 we're on may day we are going down air canada 797 cincinnati approach land runway 36 ils and the equipment has been alerted do you have time to give me the nature of the emergency we have a fire in the washroom we're filling up with smoke right now same type of aircraft number of people on board and amount of fuel we'll copy that later we don't have time gregory karam is the approach tower controller he's the lifeline for the struggling jet he can't see the plane on radar yet but he knows it's in trouble [Music] there was really no mayhem whatsoever no screaming nothing at all in fact it was very quiet and calm and again i was terrified at that point almost 13 minutes after seven karem catches sight of flight 797 on his radar air canada 797 you are now fully identified this will be a no gyro radar approach for runway 27 left descend now to 3 500 feet your position is now one two miles southeast of the airport the crew needs to be guided in from the ground struggling to see through the dense smoke they could easily veer off course karen will talk them down watching them every step of the way in the cabin the smoke and heat are becoming unbearable my thought was well we're gonna crash they won't be able to identify myself because i didn't have my papers with me so i stood up i took my wallet in the compartment and put my jacket on so that they could identify my body i knew at that point that's when i decided i felt that i was not going to make it because i felt i would never see my family again and the situation just seemed very impossible stan he certainly had a sense of his own mortality and he's hated to fly but the demand for stan was growing so he was flying more often and he certainly had a sense that with so much traveling his risk is elevated where's the airport 12 o'clock and eight miles there canada okay we're trying to locate it we're going to need fire trucks they're standing by for you can you give me the number of people and amount of fuel we don't have turn left now you are one half mile north of final approach [Music] [Applause] finally the crew see the airport okay we have the airport the tower has you in sight you need not acknowledge further transmission from the air canada you are cleared to land you are four miles from the airport good luck [Music] in a thick haze of smoke and soot flight attendants laura kayama and judy davidson feel their way along the aisle trying to reassure the passengers they can't get past the 12th row the smoke and the heat are overwhelming i was praying the whole time dear god please help us land this plane please get this plane safely on the ground [Music] uh i can't see can't breathe death absolutely crossed my mind but hang in there don't give up i've been married for less than a year and it's already over so i started breeding as little as i could and start thinking seriously at my wife fighting the reluctant controls captain cameron's strength is being pushed to the limit 797 the tower has you inside [Music] now squinting through the smoke the crew of flight 797 land hard at 20 minutes after seven the air canada plane is on the ground it's less than 30 minutes since the first sign of any trouble on board flight 797 when we touch the ground i assume that we're safe now now let's get out of this airplane but inside the plane the smoke isn't letting up passengers are undoing their seat belts and trying desperately to escape i got up out of my seat and i remember putting my hands up on someone's back and it was like waiting in a line and i knew that was one line i didn't want to wait very long so i turned around and went the other direction not knowing i was actually heading towards the front of the plane [Music] sergio benetti is the first one to the door he helps gasping passengers escape the cabin is pitch black and burning hot [Music] in the cockpit the crew quickly shuts the plane down the first officer escapes through the emergency window it's a five meter jump to the ground passengers have opened three of the over-wing exits but even with the doors open the exits are all but invisible the smoke is too thick [Music] i saw a light and it was the door that had opened someone had opened the door i realized what it was ran to the door and held my health i just put my face out so i could breathe [Music] passengers who have found the exits slide off the wing and stumble to safety on the ground laura kayama and judy davidson frantically move passengers away from the deadly plane fire rescue vehicles surround the plane they douse the plane's exterior and the ground beneath with foam fearing a fuel fire or worse an explosion through the cockpit window we met can see captain cameron sitting in his seat looking dazed and slumped towards the wheel first thing that got my attention was to see uh don's face in in the window and uh realized that he was not completely conscious i couldn't get out of my seat i'd start and i'd get my arse up in the air like that and i'd be pushed back by the i have no idea it was an invisible force but it was probably smoking fire desperately trying to save the captain's life we met tells firefighters to cover him with phone it was this soapy ice cold mixture that drenched me it works cameron stirs and climbs out through the cockpit window [Music] barely 90 seconds have passed since the plane landed when suddenly the whole interior of flight 797 ignites the flames roll through the cabin like a train captain donald cameron is the last person to get out of the plane alive we knew there were people in the airplane unfortunately at that point that that was uh that was finished the cabin fire breaks through the top of the fuselage [Music] black smoke can be seen for kilometers flight attendant laura kayama begins to count i will remember these words forever she told us to line up so that she could count the survivors if there were survivors obviously they were that [Music] including the crew there had been 46 people aboard the plane but there aren't 46 people on the runway [Music] i really thought that if the pilot could land the plane we would all get off but i knew when i looked around i didn't think we were all there [Music] the passengers who escaped the plane suffer from smoke inhalation and minor injuries but most are not badly hurt [Music] it was almost like if you got off the plane nothing was wrong i mean there was maybe a sprained ankle maybe someone had a broken arm or something you made it and you were completely fine or you didn't make it the young man next to me that helped me with my breathing techniques didn't survive that was a real tough blow because i know for one i believe he played a big part in my survival i guess it was around midnight i decided to call air canada i said i'm trying to find out if a friend of mine was on this flight in cincinnati and she said are you a member of the family i said no i'm just a close friend and she said do you know if his wife is alone and i said well yes and she said well she may need somebody with her stan rogers the rising musical star didn't make it off the plane [Music] cincinnati ground this is captain of the air canada flight that's on fire here captain cameron radios cincinnati ground control from an emergency vehicle near his plane he has a sobering message seems there are 23 people left on board the aircraft is there a scheduled carrier runs into here that could be made and sheltered through our stranded passengers it's pretty cold out here [Music] what began with a simple electrical problem has taken the lives of 23 people what caused the deadly fire what went so horribly wrong the investigation will uncover the plane's troubling history this dc-9 had another serious accident just a few years before [Music] in june of 1983 a strange smell in the back of an air canada dc-9 quickly turned into an all-out emergency for 15 minutes passengers and crews struggled to deal with thick toxic smoke as it rolled through the plane flight 797 made a remarkable landing only to burst into flames 90 seconds later 23 people didn't escape the plane now the burnt shell of the dc-9 sits on the runway at the greater cincinnati airport it's one of the most disturbing airplane disasters in years within the hour investigators from the national transportation safety board are on the scene the first grim task of the investigators is to recover the bodies of the dead 21 canadians and two americans [Music] many are burned beyond recognition [Music] almost all of the victims are found in the front half of the plane between the wings and the cockpit [Music] some are still strapped into their seats others are found in the isles and even though all the passengers had been moved up earlier in the flight two bodies are found near the rear beyond the wings because of the dense smoke in the cabin the passengers couldn't see well enough to find the exits and two passengers went beyond the over wing exits and succumbed to the environment investigators take blood samples from the bodies they find deadly levels of certain chemicals that were produced as the plane burned when we did toxological studies we were able to determine that there were some significant high levels of cyanide and fluoride in the blood as well as carbon monoxide it's not known if the toxic fumes killed the passengers all that's certain is that they were unable to escape before the flames tore through when i went on board i was just struck by the accurate smell it was kind of eerie because there was a lot of fire damage a lot of the fuselage was burned the interior of the juice cabin was burned down to the tops of the seats [Music] with the bodies removed investigators begin digging through the wreckage to try and find the cause of the fire among them are members of the fbi [Music] they were investigating to determine whether terrorism might have been a factor so they were on scene right away looking at the aircraft to make that determination the fbi examines pieces of the plane's floor samples of water from the washroom even a plastic vial found on the floor the fbi became involved very early because of the possibility of a crime taking place takes precedent over a accident they were looking for anything that would have to do with an incendiary device or a small explosive device or anything that could be fused to start a fire they determined that there was no evidence of any crime being committed it was probably accidental ignition and so they then left and ntsb took over the accident having discounted the possibility that the fire was deliberately set investigators consider the next obvious cause a cigarette when smoking on planes was still allowed the most common source of fires in a washroom was the trash container [Music] investigators examine the trash container and find that the top is burned away but the trash chute and the container behind and below the sink are intact inside the container are remnants of paper scorched but not burned the fire could not have started here [Music] with the most obvious potential causes discounted investigators begin to comb through the wreckage looking for what had started the fire [Music] studying the history of the plane hill uncovers some startling facts in the year before the accident 76 separate maintenance issues had been written up in the plane's logbook all were dealt with but still it's an unusually high number of problems the plane's troubled history didn't end there four years earlier the rear bulkhead had failed causing an explosive decompression the crew had to make an emergency landing it knocked out a lot of electrical cable and hydraulics and stuff like that and the guy did a hell of a job bringing it back to boston the plane was repaired and put back into service but hill focuses on the wires that had to be stitched together after the accident a bad repair job could have been the cause of the fire there were wires that ran through there that had been cut spliced back together investigators study all the wire splices they can find on flight 797 that weren't destroyed in the fire but they find no evidence of arcing or short circuiting it's another dead end investigators turn their attention to the cockpit voice recorder and the popping circuit was breakers it's right there i see it right there yeah like a machine gun yeah the circuit breakers trip as a precaution when they begin to overheat the circuit breakers turn off cutting electrical current to the motor it's a safety feature so the motor won't cause a fire pop says i push it investigators need to know if the breakers were tripped by a fire that had already started or was the motor itself the problem the ntsb build a mock-up of the plane's washroom and force the flush motor to seize they want to see if it could have started the fire the seized motor reaches a temperature of 428 degrees celsius it's hot but it's not hot enough to ignite parts of the washroom around the motor [Music] as they listen to the cockpit voice recorder investigators uncover a puzzling clue three minutes before the circuit breakers popped the recorder picked up another noise it was the sound of electrical arcing like static repeated eight times the noises weren't audible to the crew hidden from view on any airplane is a river of wiring investigators focus on a cable coming from a generator below the washroom floor insulation had rubbed off two wires making it possible for sparks to be produced sparks that could start a fire there was evidence that there was some electrical arcing but it could have occurred after the insulation had burned on those wires in spite of countless hours of investigation and numerous tests in the end the ntsb can't pinpoint the exact cause of the fire there simply isn't enough evidence [Music] just because of the vast amount of damage that was done in that concentrated area around the lavatory where the fire burned for a long period of time and possibly destroyed any of the evidence of where the fire actually ignited even if they'll never know the exact cause of the fire investigators try to understand how it could cause so much damage there had been heat and smoke but no one had seen any flames until an explosion ripped through the jet when you have a fire that has incomplete combustion when when it has a lack of oxygen they will produce combustible gases those gases then can collect especially in the crown of an aircraft the fire had burned out of sight behind the washroom walls and the smoke hot gasses and fumes intensified and spread inside the wall space from the washroom through to the cabin walls those spaces acted as a sort of chimney for the gases and smoke that the fire was creating although the fire remained concealed behind the walls and ceiling panels the smoke and hot gases entered the cabin through every scene gathering in the upper space in the cabin and pressing down on the passengers the inaccessible areas and the cabin area are all linked together through small cracks and crevices and small openings uh the plane is one big pressure vessel with everything being the same equilibrated to the same pressure so smoking gases in those areas would fairly quickly start to permeate into the passenger cabin when the doors were opened during the evacuation an unlimited supply of oxygen was suddenly available to feed the fire the more intense the heat the more oxygen hungry a fire becomes the gas is ignited with the force of an explosion once you have a flashover you produce heat toxic gases and you burn up all the oxygen in the cabin and it becomes non-survivable [Music] the technical part of the investigation is complete but there are still a lot of questions about how the crew responded to the fire the first office is it's starting to clear now and at that point i reckon that the fire was under control could they have done more to prevent the tragedy on board flight 797 [Music] [Applause] in 1983 a washroom fire on an air canada dc-9 filled the plane's cabin with smoke [Music] the crew struggled to land the plane but a flash fire ripped through the jet moments after it came to a stop 23 people were killed there was a fireman powering at us i think the quote was she could blow at any minute [Music] ntsb investigators are unable to definitively pinpoint the cause of the fire but after reviewing all the information they have they're ready to release their report the report on the lethal fire aboard air canada flight 797 is published a year after the accident it's a landmark in aircraft safety but it immediately makes for controversial headlines the ntsb points out that the source of the smoke was never identified either by the flight attendants or the first officer the captain was never told nor did he inquire as to the precise location and extent of the fire which had been reported to him and with that in mind what type of fire did you believe that you have the bin fire mayday mayday mayday and the report asks a hypothetical question canada 797 we have a fire on board we are going down can you possibly make cincinnati roger that if he'd begun to descend sooner could the captain have landed at standiford field airport in louisville kentucky it was a few minutes closer the report and the media attention it gets are devastating to captain cameron and his crew soon after the report is released there's an outcry among pilots in the industry they resent its implied criticism of flight 797's crew and the suggestion that they could have begun their descent five minutes sooner several months later the airline pilots association submits a petition that defends cameron and the crew it makes an impact the ntsb released a revised report including the petition by the airline pilots association in the petition first officer we met writes an impassioned defense of landing the plane where and when they did the issue wasn't only the distance to the nearest airport but the required rate of descent as it was the plane barely made the descent to the greater cincinnati airport [Music] still the national transportation safety board's revised summary doesn't pull all its punches pointing a finger at captain cameron the report states that the time taken to evaluate the nature of the fire and to decide to initiate an emergency descent contributed to the severity of the accident twenty years later the statements still stings i i'm glad they were all the people that got off got off i'm very sorry the people that didn't get off didn't get off because we spent a lot of time and effort getting them there that really bothered me [Music] all i know is that i did the best i could along with the comments on the performance of the crew the ntsb recommends a host of safety improvements [Music] perhaps if the flight had been full someone would have noticed the smell of smoke sooner but what the washroom of flight 797 could have used was a smoke detector they weren't standard throughout the industry but after flight 797 attitudes and regulations changed even though flight attendants did receive some training and dealing with fires aboard a plane it didn't go far enough but what was more obvious the flight attendants weren't properly equipped to attack fires without full-face masks and oxygen they couldn't be expected to fight fire while holding their breath in the years after flight 797 attendants received better equipment and training the cabin crew had also made split-second decisions that helped save lives moving passengers further up the plane and handing out wet towels minimized the effects of the toxic smoke their decision to tell passengers to open the emergency exits over the wings was not standard procedure but it let some passengers escape more quickly and was eventually adopted as a routine practice finally it became obvious from the location of some of the bodies that passengers died because of precious seconds lost trying to find the exits in the pitch dark what would have made a difference track lighting on the floors and bumps along the overhead bins that identified the rows with emergency exits features that would eventually become standard as a direct result of 797 a number of rules were changed including a more stringent test for seats a heat release and smoke requirement for cabin interior panels requirement for smoke detectors and lavatories and hail on fire extinguishers in the cabin but the changes were too late for those who died on flight 797 like the man sitting beside connie kirsch months after the crash his wife tracked connie down she said i just understand my husband was the one that was next to you and i just wanted to know what how was he what was his spirits and i said he was in great spirits he's very nice he let me sit next to him and explain to me how to breathe that was really difficult you know and the guilt that i carried for a long time was difficult but i'm past the guilt but i guess when you go back to it you think about it like this in detail you're right back there stan rogers was another victim of flight 797 he would never be able to fulfill the promise of his life and growing career [Music] i loved his generosity and his loyalty as a friend as an artist he was perhaps one of the best songwriters this country's ever produced and it was really an incredible pleasure and honor to be working with him he still gets lots and lots of airplay and so his his legend grows [Music] sometime after the accident two air canada employees show up at diane fatley's door in dallas they brought my bible it's dark because it was burned and singed but it's a paperback bible and it it did not completely burn up this is just a reminder to me that god was with me and i believe he protected me and you know he he was there with me [Music] captain cameron and his crew eventually received six separate awards for their heroic actions on flight 797 including recognition from the royal canadian air force but they're all still haunted by the nightmare you feel responsible there's no no question you feel guilt you're willing to give your license uh you you feel very uh very small until you get all the facts together and because it's a puzzle for you you know you're as much as a victim in this you're not supposed to fly airplane in that condition you know so you're as much as a victim as the passenger and it becomes i think it becomes all of our our problem and we're all part of a solution [Music] it's just a shame we didn't get everybody out still bothers me [Music] you

Channel: Wonder

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Keywords: Wonder, wonder channel, survivial videos, survival stories, outdoor channel, extreme documentary, mayday air crash investigation, mayday air disaster, air crash investigation, air crash investigation full episodes, air crash documentary, air canada flight 797 air crash investigation, air canada flight 797 mayday, air canada flight 797 landing animation, air canada flight 797 accident report, air canada flight 797 stan rogers, fire fight air canada flight 797

Id: eUD3ZkuOPEY

Length: 50min 18sec (3018 seconds)

Published: Thu Sep 09 2021