Avianca Flight 52: The Tragic Plane Crash That No One Can Agree On | Mayday S2 EP6 | Wonder

[Music] we are in an emergency [Music] avianca flight 52 is in trouble the crew is exhausted they're over new york city and almost out of fuel are we cleared to land no yes sir we are clear to land tell me things louder because i'm not hearing it they're cleared to land soon the nightmare will be over gear down quite slow 500 feet the captain desperately searches for the runway at kennedy airport lights but he can't find it don't see it now they're battling violent wind shear this is the wind shear they're going to crash the plane has hardly a drop of fuel left they cannot land flight 52 is about to crash somewhere over new york how could that happen even the world's finest aircrash detectives will never agree about who is to blame relevance of testimony south south west of kennedy airport with a track brought up [Music] january the 25th 1990 air traffic controllers have been nervously tracking a massive low pressure system approaching the northeast coast of america there was a system moving through the great lakes moving east there was a couple other systems converging and a lot of times they'll converge in the new york area there and the whole northeast will go down the weather is already near the safe minimum to land a plane flights will have to be cancelled or delayed the terminals will be choked with thousands of angry passengers despite the terrible weather the air traffic managers in washington dc order controllers at kennedy airport in new york to set a high landing rate air travel is vital and they're under tremendous pressure to delay or cancel as few flights as possible there's pressure because that's the business they're in the the business is moving passengers from a to b that's what the airlines are paid and the controllers are paid to help that work management in washington dc is pressuring new york to take on more flights than they feel is safe despite the weather they want them to land 33 aircraft per hour we don't like it we're going to have the worst possible conditions for landing aircraft at kennedy airport we can't use runway 13. we have to use runway 22 because of the conflicts with other airports and because of the winds we don't like the rate of 33 an hour 33 is it and you'll take it scores of overseas flights with thousands of passengers are already on their way they have to land somehow what are we gonna do with foreign traffic we'll just give them airborne holes well we we know we're gonna have wind shear and missed approaches and this is gonna be a very bad day i've got very bad vibes about this day no 33 you'll shake it and that set the scenario at about seven or eight in the morning before we left man again at seven or eight in the morning the scenario was set for this accident to happen but within the next few hours fog and low clouds have closed the main runway at jfk now whatever their bosses say the controllers won't be able to land 33 aircraft an hour [Music] 2400 miles to the south in colombia it's a warm sunny day with not a cloud in the sky avianca flight 52 is now boarding passengers for new york among them miriam and luis montoya and their two young daughters i remember during that day in the morning before we boarded the flight i talked to a friend that was going to pick us up at the airport in new york he told us the weather conditions were bad the temperature was very low and it was rainy and it was going to be foggy after a short business trip nestor zarato is traveling home to new york i received a telephone call telling me that if i could be in the airport in half an hour and not ask any questions or request anything i would get on on the direct flight to new york [Music] in the cockpit flight engineer mattias moyano monitors the loading of over 13 000 pounds of fuel making a total of 80 thousand pounds enough for the journey plus an extra two hours flying time [Music] bianca zero five two heavy request clearance for take-off runway 11. just after three o'clock in the afternoon avianca 52 takes off from medellin with its maximum allowable fuel load the colombian airliner heads north of the united states with 158 passengers and crew by early evening deteriorating weather has made flight operations at jfk appalling continue to the left heading two three zero vectors and holding for cameron again with no way of turning back the overseas flights aircraft are forced to circle round endlessly waiting to land turn left there is a wind shear alert on final at 1500 feet turn left controllers work frantically to keep track of the growing number of aircraft now in the skies over new york times 251 you are clear to land mother nature gets involved problems develop the tension gets higher the pressure gets higher decisions become more critical jfk any idea how long this delay is going to be i talked to someone else over there no idea i'm holding over here delay's indefinite due to the weather the the traffic's missing the approaches they're going around i i just can't give you a good answer your guess would be as good as mine that's the best i can tell you jfk airport in new york now only has one runway for landing and aircraft are queuing up to use it in the near blackout conditions several planes have to abort their landings which only adds to the delays on flight 52 they know none of this the crew neither receives nor requests the weather for new york or for their alternate airport boston in this case avianca 52 had the capability of calling several different stations or could have called their own dispatch operation in miami and got an update on the weather we don't really have any evidence that they checked with anyone to get the updated weather for jfk and and their alternate boston it's inconceivable to me that someone with a responsibility of other people's lives would fly into a deteriorating condition without checking about hey do we have a way out of this place avianca 52 enters the airspace near norfolk virginia after four hours in the air new york city is now less than 40 minutes away 51 year old captain laureano caveadis is a seasoned pilot who's been flying with avianca for 27 years but his english is poor all communications with air traffic control will be handled by the 28 year old co-pilot mauricio klotz the third man in the cockpit flight engineer matthias moyano is experienced but like co-pilot klotz he has only four months of flight time in the 707 they were a highly experienced flight crew who had been into new york several times previously on behalf of avianca so they were familiar with the route and the procedures and highly experienced pilots washington good evening bianca 052 heavy flight level three seven zero i think is zero five two heavy washington center roger i think is zero five two i'd like you to make a right 360 degree turn and i need you to get a pencil ready for holding instructions at norfolk okay 360 degree right turn at norfolk avianca zero five too heavy thank you zero five two you're ready to copy your holding instructions go ahead sir right over here zero five two you are clear to the norfolk vortech hold self on 174 with right turns and 20 mile legs flight 52's troubles are about to begin they're being diverted out over the atlantic ocean near norfolk virginia and placed in a holding pattern here the aircraft will fly an elliptical racetrack pattern while it waits for further instructions from air traffic control they don't know about the bad weather ahead but with enough fuel for more than two hours of flying there's no cause for alarm [Music] this area in the northeast corridor of the united states is one of the most congested airspaces in the world incoming traffic from overseas is routinely directed through a pipeline of controllers before being cleared to land at one of three major airports in the new york area jfk guardia and newark tonight avianca 52 will come under the direction of more than six controllers each of whom is trying to get the aircraft now circling over new york safely down on the ground it's indefinitely holding out this time zero eight zero we just had three missed approaches on two two right we just went below the minimums we just had four misses on two two right which is our primary runway the visibility is getting worse and it's worsening all right how many are you holding we're still holding the 12 or 13 we had earlier we're expecting some pretty lengthy delays another hour so while air traffic controllers try to cope with the increasing backlog of flights avianca flight 52 circles for 19 minutes over the virginia coast waiting for permission to continue its journey to new york civilian 052 expedite descent through level 33 just leave flight level 330 within three minutes please okay we'll leave 330 in um within three minutes bianca zero five too heavy the avianca jet is on its way to new york at last but they have no idea of the trouble that awaits them [Music] avianca flight 52 is on its final approach to new york unaware that conditions for landing at jfk are barely above the safe limits to land a plane it's a pitch black night with heavy mist rain and sudden violent winds this is central assuming how your weather was doing up there it's pretty bad at this point we got all sorts of wind shares and missed approaches in the runway you're still trying on a 30 rate yeah yeah rather unsuccessfully at this point the winds are starting to pick up 20 of the guy's attempted approach went on a miss when the northeast goes down it goes down that goes down for a big area and a lot of quick decisions have to be made you just can't say wait a minute stop everyone's in route the plane has now almost used up the fuel plan for the journey and will shortly start eating into its reserves the crew is considering diverting to their alternate airport in boston just 210 miles from new york washington center bianca zero five two heavy yeah zero five two heavy go ahead do you have any information about delays to boston i'll check that sir thank you the washington controller asks his assistant to check on the conditions at boston but he gets distracted juggling other aircraft and forgets all about avianca's request [Music] while flight 52 is left waiting for an answer that never comes their precious fuel supply is slowly draining away [Music] ask him about boston again did you ask about delays at boston or are we going to approach kennedy okay 0-5-2 it looks as though new york center may have to hold you for possibly up to 30 minutes expect clearance on course just momentarily with uh stands right now an additional holding of at most 30 minutes with that in mind you want to check on an alternate airport i believe boston is i'll check on boston okay we're now descending to 190 and expecting information about boston okay zero five two i've been advised boston is open and accepting traffic if you do need that as an alternate airport okay stand by a minute flight engineer moyano begins to calculate how much fuel they'll have after an additional 30 minutes of holding even before they can respond washington control directs them to another holding location i think is there all five too heavy make a right turn now to intercept the cameron to arrival cleared on course maintain flight level one niner zero flight 52 is now off the new jersey coast in an area known as cameron less than 45 miles from kennedy airport but it seems as far away as ever during all those holding times i was praying and trying to see where we're going to land i mean when we're going to be on the ground i don't want to be here anymore ladies and gentlemen this is your captain i apologize for the delay but it appears we're going to be holding as we wait our turn to land in new york please remain seated with your seat belts faster than we should have you on the ground shortly thank you there was a point where the captain announced that there was traffic in in the new york city area and that we would be on hold for a while and he would get back to us it will be the last communication the crew has with the passengers flight 52's situation now goes from bad to worse avianca zero five two descend and maintain one fourth it's handed over to the new york controllers who even on a good day can be intimidating and today is not a good day there are up to 39 aircraft trying to land and dozens more on the ground waiting to take off heavy angle zero five two expect for the clearance at zero one three nine bianca zero five two heavy roger tired and frustrated the crew of avianca 52 continues to circle the crowded airspace over new york while they wait for clearance to land after more than five hours in the air luis montoya is anxious to get his wife and two young daughters on the ground and back to their home in queens as the flight started to prolong we started to feel uneasy my wife was carrying the baby at all times and we were wondering what could be happening after all they weren't giving us any information and most people began to feel nervous new york center finally gives the crew of avianca 52 the message they've been waiting for hey bianca 05 too heavy aviar kennedy is 2400 feet can you accept an approach that's an affirmative sir they think they're finally in the clear then calamity the foul weather and zero visibility forces several aircraft just ahead of them to abandon their landing attempts and make a second attempt the controllers have bad news for the colombian airliner continue to the left heading two three zero vectors holding it cameron again another hold okay two three zero vectors for holding it cameron kennedy bianca zero five two avion zero five two go ahead thank you sir you have any estimate sir uh heavy angle zero five too heavy i might be able to get you in right now stand by thank you the crew wait silently and hope but when the reply comes it's more bad news uh avianca zero five two we just got off the line uh it's indefinite holding at this time the avian 0-5-2 turn left heading 0-9-0 hold that camera and maintain one 1000 they've been held up for 48 minutes on the way here now they've been circling around for another 25 minutes only a few miles from the safety of jfk airport they were progressively moving toward jfk and they were held in the air for three times this certainly would put some stress on the crew uh as to fact they want to go from a to b they don't want to fly in a race track for an hour just holding at 8 55 the cockpit voice recorder begins recording the last 40 minutes of flight 52 the crew at this stage seem resigned or are perhaps too timid to complain moments later avianca is given more unwelcome news uh avionk zero five two expect for the clearance time zero two zero five expect for the clearance in 20 minutes it's now that the stress level in the cockpit begins to rise zero two zero uh well i think we need priority we are passing out of fuel if young052 roger um how long can you hold and what is your alternate okay stand by a minute the flight engineer quickly calculates the remaining fuel yes sir i will be able to hold for five minutes that's all we can do aviance zero five two roger and what's your alternate we said boston but it's uh full of traffic i think uh alternate again it was boston but uh we can do it now we'd we'll run out of fuel avion zero five two uh clear delana kennedy via heading zero four zero maintain one one thousand at speed one eight zero the avianca crew when they felt it they were being handed off to an approach controller now given a heading and a lower altitude i'm sure in their minds they thought well they even commented on a cockpit voice recorder we're being handled or we're being taken care of it's okay if i send four more of your way uh casino i'm back in the hold again i i got four in the stack and there's no end in sight i i can't give you times i'll be guessing if i did this guy's killing me avianca zero five two only has five more minutes in the hole uh you're gonna be able to take him or i'll set him up to his alternate what is his speed now i'm not sure to be honest with you holding speed slow him to 180 and i'll take him uh say again slow him to 180 knots and i'll take him you guys holding a lot man we're holding all up and down the coast all right it's good practice man but in this critical handoff from one controller to the next there is no specific mention of afianca's critically low fuel nobody told the next controller that so the next controller when avianca came in on the frequency the controller just said right i've got you proceed to kennedy or i'm going to put you in a hole and put them in a holding pattern over the last approach fix the options were gone now the aircraft could only get into kennedy [Music] maybe i could descend and maintain seven thousand descending to seven thousand a bianca zero five too heavy avianca zero five two before you go there is a wind shear alert on final at fifteen hundred feet turn left heading zero nine to zero left heading zero nine or zero avianca zero five too heavy the high level wind shear was passed on early on so he was aware of that but the low-level wind shear below 500 feet was not passed on during the entire flight from colombia the plane's autopilot has been unusable it was reported after the last flight but aviance's maintenance men failed to fix it after more than six hours of flying manually the physical and mental stress is beginning to take its toll on captain caviades to me it's inconceivable someone would have to fly at boeing 707 without an autopilot i mean that's a high workload in smooth air after more than an hour and 17 minutes waiting for clearance to land the crew of flight 52 believe controllers on the ground are at last aware of their fuel emergency and are clearing the 707 for a priority landing in the cabin the flight attendants and passengers have no idea that their plane is dangerously low on fuel then they go around procedure is stating that the power be applied slowly in the cockpit the crew now hastily discussed the go around procedure what the manual says they must do if they can't find the runway through the fog and low clouds and have to go around a second time it's standard applied slowly and to avoid rapid accelerations and to have a minimum of nose up attitude to maintain what minimum minimum nose up attitude that means flight engineer moyano is concerned that if the captain were to pull up the plane's nose too sharply all the remaining fuel would slosh to the back of the tank causing engines to stop covered on fuel during the go around what it means is it doesn't contain fuel for feeding itself and a out could occur and it is necessary to lower the nose again right now we are proceeding to the airport inbound we have 27 17 miles roger this means we'll have hamburger tonight descend and maintain uh descend and maintain three thousand ascendant maintain three thousand avianca zero five two heavy three thousand feet they got us they're already vectoring us no they are descending us and they are giving us priority avianca zero five two heavy contact kennedy tower one one nine point one good day only minutes before landing flight 52 is handed off to a jfk tower controller whose shift is about to end avionics zero five two heavy kennedy tower two two left your number three following seven two seven traffic on a niner mile final zero five too heavy roger can i lower the landing gear yet no i think it's too early if we lower the landing gear we have to maintain a very high nose attitude so desperately low is their fuel that the first officer wants to delay putting down the landing gear which will increase the aircraft's drag requiring more power and using more of what little fuel they have remaining i was so happy for me it was like a joy i mean we're going to land soon and this is going to be end evian 052 what is your airspeed bianca zero five two one four zero knots bianca zero five two can you increase your airspeed one zero knots one zero okay one zero nuts increasing increase increase ten knots more tell me things louder because i'm not hearing it lower the gear gear down [Music] three zero five two two two left win one niner zero at two zero cleared the land clear to land avianca zero five two heavy wind check please one niner zero at two zero with the weather deteriorating and flying on fumes the crew of flight 52 will have only one chance of getting their 149 passengers safely on the ground avianca zero five to say airspeed one four five knots are we cleared to land no yes sir we are clear to land standby flaps 50 landing checklist complete it was extremely important that avianca 5.2 landed on their first approach jfk the voice recorder revealed that the captain was certainly quite concerned about the fuel state and he was talking aggressively with the first officer putting out flaps getting the airplane configured the flight engineer had to know they were out of fuel and when they came in for the first approach it was time for the flight engineer to say this is the only approach we're going to be able to make and he didn't give me 50. collapse 50 now all set for landing standing by for lights slightly below glide slope 1000 feet above field instruments cross check slightly below standby for lights standby the wind is slightly from the left 190 to 20 below glide slope with about 10 minutes of fuel remaining and just two miles from the runway flight 52 finds itself flying into violent wind shear forcing them to slow the plane down they were getting like 60 knots of wind on the nose and then as they descended on down through about 500 feet to the ground they were down to 20 knots so that that's 40 knot change and a thousand feet of elevation that's a lot this is the wind shear now the wind changes direction it's pressing them down towards the ground quite slow 500 feet the captain desperately searches for the runway but it's shrouded in low clouds and fog the plane's warning system is telling them that they're about to crash [Music] [Music] 500 feet just two miles from touchdown flight 52 has been caught in violent wind shear to save the plane captain caviades applies full throttle burning up more of the plane's precious fuel give me the landing gear up blending gear up [Music] [Applause] [Music] the airplane was about 200 feet above the ground about two miles from the runway which was well below the glide slope and very dangerous so the airplane almost crashed on its first approach when you get a missed approach now it changes the whole ballgame request another traffic pattern executing a missed approach caviar zero five too heavy the operation of pulling the plane up in the midst approach was a very violent one it was a very steep climb so we're all thrown back by gravity towards the back of our seats something's going on here anything you know we're going to crash this is terrible i mean we start praying in and then i pass out they couldn't handle it anymore as captain caveadis pulls back hard on the yoke to climb to safety the 707's remaining fuel is forced to the back of the tank and away from the fuel pumps you cannot accelerate the aircraft forward rapidly and you shouldn't pitch it rapidly smooth with a nose smooth with a nose you have less than 7 000 pounds you have to be very careful or you can slash that fuel to the back of the tank and unport the inlet to the engines flight 52's violent climb to safety has both frightened and infuriated the passengers [Music] my baby daniella also started to feel uneasy and began to cry we began to get the feeling that something was about to happen [Music] and we began to say the lord's prayer i don't know what happened with the runway i didn't see it i didn't see it either i didn't see it [Music] you were making a left turn correct sir tell them we are in emergency two thousand feet that's right to one 180 on the heading and uh we'll try once again we are running out of fuel okay what did he say i already advised him that we are going to attempt again if i said we had an emergency do you tell him yes sir i already advise you but the tower controller at the end of his shift transfers avianca 52 to his counterpart in approach control they'll have to begin all over again contact approach on 118.4 approach 052 heavy we just missed a missed approach and we are maintaining two thousand flaps fourteen zero five two heavy new york good evening climb and maintain three thousand advice and we don't have fuel climb and maintain three thousand uh we are running out of fuel sir okay fly heading zero eight zero did you already advise him we don't have fuel yes sir i already advise him we are going to maintain three thousand and he's going to get us back as they get back in the pattern and circle the field and come back in again that again adds to the traffic jam that was being created at kennedy airport avianca zero five too heavy yeah i'm gonna turn you about 15 miles northeast and then bring it back onto the approach is that okay with you and your fuel what did he say the guy is angry uh i guess so thank you very much these guys were out and they didn't say we were out and he allowed the approach control to vector him way out in the original pattern and 15 miles north of the outer marker again flight 52 is instructed to fly a long approach pattern for another landing attempt the plane is down to its last dregs of fuel as the crew waits for final clearance from ground controllers [Music] in their minds that they were being handled and taken care of and they had enough fuel to go around and shoot the approach but on the way they were given a 360 turn because of traffic spacing and then they would run way out towards long island and vectored all around which was equivalent to holding for another 15-20 minutes did you get clearance yet can you give us a final yet avianca zero five too heavy anyhow zero five two affirmative sir turn left heading zero four zero climb and maintain three thousand negative sir we are running out of fuel okay turn left heading three one zero sir set flaps fourteen okay number two for the approach i just thought to give you enough room so you can make it without having to come out again okay we're number two and flying three six zero now hey bianca zero five two heavy turn left heading three three zero the lights in the aircraft start to flicker a sign that the engines are being starved of fuel 330 on the heading avianca052 once there's no fuel flowing through the pump out of the tank an amber lake comes on to tell you that tank is empty flame out flame out on engine number four name out on it play modern days number three the passengers can hear the sound of the engines beginning to shut down when the engines went off i looked over to the lady that was sitting next to me and i asked her to give me her hand and i philosophically accepted you know i might die here this is it the lks052 we just uh lost two engines and we need priority please turn left heading two five zero intercept the localizer two five zero roger select the ils from the outer marker maintain two thousand until established in the localizer cleared for ils two two left when all the engines flame out the generators fall off the line uh a considerable amount of power has lost electrical power's loss in the cabin the screams the crime and then this terrible sound of the wind against the fuselage as the plane drops from the sky zero five two radar contact lost and the ankle is missing due to the weather thing yeah having echo 52 lost an engine we're trying to find out why yeah we're no longer talking to avionics 15 northeast of kennedy hey clipper 18 turn left heading 1-8-0 six and a half hours after leaving colombia avianca flight 52 is missing somewhere over new york [Music] yes hello i live in covenant in oyster bay and there is a plane crashed in our yard in front of our house when i woke up i was the first thing that i did i was i put my hand away in my back and i was bleeding i said oh my god we crashed but my legs were broken and i had you know blood all over the place the seat where my daughter was sitting was totally destroyed by pieces of steel that happened to have come from the wings i found my baby daniella amongst the pieces of a torn up twisted chair and i picked her up like this and she was drenched in blood [Music] avianca flight 52 has crashed on long island new york less than 17 miles from jfk airport from deep in the woods medical technician bob o'brien can hear the survivors before he can see the shattered 707. what i first heard was there were just some people who were crying in pain but it was apparent immediately what had happened when the plane hit the mountain and just stopped dead [Music] it just fell out of the sky that's how witnesses describe the crash of avianca flight 52 a strangely silent crash there's not a big fire here that will make it easier for investigators to examine if there were any gas or engine problem there have been reports of lightning in the area just before the plane went down the controller's union says that kennedy is critically understaffed a problem that is compounded by bad weather rescuers have not yet given up on finding more victims first thing i remember is that i looked up and i saw a priest he was praying for me and i was lying down on the ground right above us i saw three or four helicopters flying over us over here i managed to get up on top of the fuselage and there's that door handle that says in case of emergency pull here so i pulled that door handle and that door handle just went the door came open about four inches and then i was able to flip that over and i could just see piles and piles of people strapped in their seats the extreme g-force of the crash has broken off the cockpit and catapulted it through a stand of trees and into the deck of a home some hundred feet from the impact site we couldn't get into the into the cockpit to get to the uh the pilot in the co-pilot all those chairs they all just hit that cockpit door and just piled into that fuselage and just that all that added weight and all that inertia now just took over in the front of that just popped it off and it rolled to its left side and stopped up against the tree i saw some cables and i saw a big hole in the fuselage over the passengers that were sitting next to me who were kind of unconscious and on top of me was this guy who was bleeding and big guy i don't know who he was but he was on top of me but i was sitting i pulled myself with those cables to towards that hole which was over the wing i started screaming hey help me out help me take me out of here and then somebody when they realized that i was alive they they removed the i mean they took away the guy who was on top of me and they they took me out of the airplane at that moment a fireman was climbing on the wing and he saw me and he said there's a guy here and he pulled me out 37 fire and rescue companies from nassau county are quickly mobilized the rescue is the largest pre-911 operation of its kind in the new york area that little girl was sitting up on the fuselage and she was crying madre mean madre and that imprint of horror just was you know you're just in your mind's eye focus right back in on i saw me madre i saw her mother and i know what that little girl was seeing it was horrible enough for me and i'm a professional rescuer i realized that my baby was dying so i began to scream please help me i had to baby here please [Music] the plane has crashed in the wealthy neighborhood of cove neck near the home of the father of tennis star john mcenroe medics set up a makeshift triage unit on his lawn when daylight breaks 10 hours later 85 survivors have been pulled from the wreck the lead flight attendant is the only member of crew to survive the crash of the 11 babies on board flight 52 all but one are found alive among the dead are several passengers with drugs hidden inside their bodies known as drug mules they're poor people paid by the colombian drugs cartels to smuggle cocaine into the united states it became an issue later on they posted police officers at the mall because they were afraid that the the drug cartel would come in and try to steal the bodies because they were worth a million dollars a piece and they were waiting for this shipment and there were a lot of them [Music] bob o'brien scours the tail section for survivors and finds faa investigators struggling to remove the aircraft's black boxes i grabbed the handle and just pulled the whole box out and took that out and brought that out the door and gave it to them even as people are being pulled from the wreckage the on-site investigation begins in charge on the ground is barry trotter of the national transportation safety board a former airline pilot trotter became an investigator after losing his right arm in a motorcycle accident the condition of the aircraft was really astonishing to see that that much of the structure was left in the condition that it was in it hit right on a about a 28 degree embankment and with the wings and all the other trees it only slid 28 feet so it hit and stopped instantly unaware of the details of avianca's troubled flight investigators quickly find a valuable piece of evidence you could look at the engines right away and you could tell the engines were not turning so there was no power on the engines that was the first first big clue [Music] trotter and his team examined the fuel tanks and find just a few gallons of jet fuel still on board it becomes clear why the 707s engine stopped turning but the question of who's to blame is still to be answered [Music] in the community of covenant new york salvage workers begin the task of dismantling the shattered remains of abianca flight 52 but there's still one critical question who is responsible for flight 52 running out of fuel and causing the death of 72 passengers and crew the answer will be worth millions of dollars and affect dozens of lives at the lab of the national transportation safety board in washington dc investigators are eager to recover data locked inside the two black boxes the most telling of these is often the flight data recorder which records critical information such as the plane's altitude airspeed and heading when we recovered the flight data recorder and brought it to our lab in washington we opened it and found that the the foil wrap had was not hooked up so someone had actually intentionally taped the end of the foil so it wouldn't fly around and put it back in the airplane without the crucial flight data recorder investigators rely heavily on flight 52's cockpit voice recorder which is found with more than 40 minutes of voice recordings of the crew and communications between the first officer and air traffic controllers and it was apparent from the voice recorder transcript and tape that the captain was not understanding the first officers radio communications that were being made in english everybody wants to blame the pilot but he may be the last person to make a decision and the scenario which caused him to be in that position where he makes the decision was created by several other people along the route the captain asked the first officer about nine times or clarify information or repeat it or to pass on information we are going to attempt again if i said we had an emergency do you tell him did he make a conscious decision to run out of fuel no he was sucked into a situation by the air traffic controllers where he ran out of fuel once the airplane got into the jfk area there was certainly a serious breakdown in communications on the part of the pilots within the cockpit on the part of the pilots talking to controllers and controllers talking to the pilots and the controllers amongst themselves because there were handoffs and some of the urgency was not passed on within the controller's system so we had multiple breakdowns in multiple areas here that ultimately led to this accident the cockpit voice recorder reveals a crew desperate to land the 707 in near zero visibility and in extreme wind shear without the aid of an autopilot in this case the captain had a difficult time maintaining the glide slope during the approach with the wind shear didn't see the airport and had to make a go around that almost doomed the airplane at that point the information being given to pilots on route was a wind shear up as high as 1500 feet but their pilots on approach were in counting windshear as low as 300 feet and that wasn't passed on to the avianca pilot the crew of flight 52 is caught off guard as they descend below 500 feet and slow down a violent vertical wind forces them towards the ground nearly causing the plane to crash two miles short of the runway ironically avianca 52's lack of fuel resulted in no fire or explosion saving the survivors from almost certain [Music] if the flight would have found some level ground it was conceivable he would have slapped the fuselage down and slid to a stop with no fuel there would have been no fire and i think it's very possible that most of the people would have survived in that case as the hearings into the crash begin lawyer george tomkins is confronted by controllers who maintain that the avianca crew failed to use the word emergency instead using the word priority to communicate their situation the government took the position that the pilot never declared an emergency so no one knew that he had a problem but saying you're getting low on fuel and saying you're getting you cannot make your alternate the word emergency is not necessary to say negative sir we are running out of fuel we just lost two engines and we need priority please and they thought they were telling them when they said we need priority espanol in spanish for us the word priority means first attend to me run to me i need you right now i don't know if priority in other languages means that you can wait to me priority means a priority if you ask a child what is a priority to you what are you going to say he doesn't need to say an emergency avianca052 only has five more minutes in the hold uh you're gonna be able to take him or i'll set him up to his alternate what is his speed now i'm not sure to be quite honest with you holding speed the ntsb concludes that air traffic's handling of avianca 52 was proper considering the information they were getting from the flight crew many of the passengers are shocked and outraged by what they feel is a gross injustice but air traffic control is found blameless [Music] avianca sues the federal aviation administration which employs the air traffic controllers saying they should have done more when flight 52 told them they were running out of fuel the faa settles and ends up paying around 40 percent of the estimated 200 million dollar compensation due to the victims if you listen and read the tapes of the transcripts of the tapes of each arrow traffic control center along the route and the final the new york tracon new york tower kennedy tower you'll find 20 places where this accident could have been avoided if somebody had done something differently among the 85 survivors who escaped the shattered remains of flight 52 are the montoya's two daughters [Music] daniela the baby covered in blood is now a healthy teenager preparing for college the day just before the flight we took a long trip to visit the virgin mary this is a very important sanctuary in midland perhaps it was a miracle of god and the virgin that the four of us survived it was a miracle and we feel blessed by that for many of the survivors recovering from their injuries has been easier than coming to terms with the reason why flight 52 ran out of fuel i had to learn to walk from scratch it's difficult enough to deal with the injuries it makes me very angry to think that the plane went down with 161 souls and had almost half the people lost their lives because because of a word [Music] you

Channel: Wonder

Views: 1,330,572

Keywords: Wonder, wonder channel, survivial videos, survival stories, i shouldn't be alive, wonder i shouldn't be alive, outdoor channel, extreme documentary, Mayday, Mayday TV series, mayday tv show, plane crashes documentary, plane crash, plane crashes new york, avianca 52 air crash investigation, avianca 52 deadly crossroads, avianca 52 crash, avianca flight 52 documentary, vuelo 52 avianca mayday

Id: x9v6yJQ7Weo

Length: 51min 43sec (3103 seconds)

Published: Thu May 20 2021