- [Flight Controller]
Confirm descent from 11,500, let me know when you are
positioned over Oksibil. - Oksibil, we won't be over the airport, we're going to fly direct to
our left base leg to runway 11. - [Flight Controller] Copy that. - Left base leg? That's not what it says in the charts. - They took a shortcut? (whooshing)
- [Pilot] It'll crush! (plane crashing)
(passengers screaming) - [Narrator] Pakistan
International Airlines Flight 268, is in route to Kathmandu,
the capital of Nepal. (airplane engine roaring) On the flight deck, Captain
Iftikhar Janjua, is in command. (humming) He's a former Officer in
the Pakistani Air Force, who's now a Senior Pilot
Instructor with the airline. The First Officer is Hassan Aktar, a junior pilot with the airline, with almost 1500 hours
flying the Airbus A-300. (sinister music) Flight 268 leaves it's cruising altitude, as it begins the approach into Kathmandu. (sinister music) In 1992, Kathmandu
Airport doesn't use radar to track its planes.
(sinister music) Every movement, planned or otherwise, must be accurately reported
by the flight crew. The mountains surrounding
Kathmandu require pilots to make what's known
as a stepped approach. Pilots must descend to a
series of lower altitudes at certain distances from the airport. (gentle music) - Here it is. Watch my levels. - [Narrator] The details
of the stepped approach are laid out on a chart for the pilots. The crew works its way through
the steps towards Kathmandu, approaching from the South. (sinister music)
(airplane engine roaring) They should be touching
down in about six minutes. (airplane engine roaring) - Alpha Charlie Hotel,
continue to taxiway number two. (gentle music) - [Pilot] Foxtrot 268 is at 10 miles. - Report your level. (gentle music) - We've crossed over 8,200 now. - [Flight Controller]
ROGER, clear for final, report four miles, runway 02. - We'll call you at four
miles, Pakistan 268. Clear for final, runway 02. - Runway 02.
(sinister music) - [Narrator] Flight 268
is now less than 10 miles from the runway. (airplane engine roaring) (gentle music) Air traffic control waits
for the flight crew's next position report. (sinister music) Three minutes go by. Flight 268 should have reported that they've reached the next step by now. - Pakistan 268 tower. (sinister music) Pakistan 268, this is tower. (sinister music) - [Narrator] As the minutes ticked by, air traffic controllers come
to a horrifying realization. (sinister music) Flight 268 is missing
somewhere in the Himalayas. (sinister music) It doesn't take much time for Kathmandu air traffic
controllers to get word. (sinister music)
(whooshing) That PIA Flight 268 has crashed,
somewhere in the Himalayas. (airplane engine roaring) Within hours, the
plane's wreckage is found on the side of a mountain. (sinister music) The flight was carrying
more than 20 tons of fuel, and the plane is completely
consumed by fire. (sinister music) All 167 people on board have died. (sinister music) Nepalese soldiers have retrieved
the aircraft's black boxes from the wreckage of PIA Flight 268. Investigators look at
the plane's flight path, as the crew prepares for landing. - They started their descent. At 16 miles out they're at 10,500 feet. Then down to 9,500 at 13
miles, 8,200 at 10 miles, then quickly down to 7,500
until impact at 7,280. - [Narrator] The data
reveals an astonishing fact. - So a thousand feet too
low, right from the get-go. Wait a minute. There you go, perfect match. (humming) They were flying the
approach but one step ahead. - What if the problem is the
actual approach chart itself? - [Narrator] To avoid the
mountains surrounding Kathmandu, pilots follow an approach chart, about the size of a large postcard. It provides the specific
altitudes pilots must take at set distances from the airport. They study the same chart
used by the flight crew. - So is, let's say, 8,200
feet, the right altitude for 10 miles or eight miles? It's hard to say. - Even harder when it's actual size. - [Narrator] Investigators need to know how the crew would have
prepared themselves for the complicated approach. They examine the cockpit layout of an identical Pakistan
International Airlines, Airbus A-300.
(gentle music) - There's no place to clip
an approach chart here. There is just here, and now
only the captain can see it, and he'd have to keep turning his head. Unlikely they used that. More likely he put it here. - [Narrator] The other clip
is a full three feet away from either pilot. - That's not much better. It's almost impossible to read, and that handle is blocking
the descent profile. - [Narrator] They learn that
Pakistan International Airlines has only two places for
pilots to clip their charts. Both positions make it very difficult to read a four inch wide piece of paper. (gentle music) - Could it be? - [Narrator] Then quite by accident, the investigators discover a key clue, regarding the pilot's misreading
of the approach chart. (gentle music) - This definitely makes
it look like 10,500 is the correct altitude at 16 miles. - [Narrator] Robinson finally
has a theory he can put to the test. (airplane engine roaring) - Kathmandu tower, good afternoon. Pakistan 268, 25 miles at 11,500. - [Narrator] Just a few
minutes before impact, the first officer reports being
25 miles from the airport, at the correct altitude of 11,500 feet. - [Flight Controller]
Pakistan 268 report 16 miles, wind 180, expect Sierra approach. - We've recorded 16 miles,
expecting Sierra approach. Sierra approach, commander. - [Narrator] But when the captain looks at the approach chart, his
thumb may have obscured the correct next altitude. (sinister music) - Here it is, watch my levels. - [Narrator] Now, instead
of maintaining 11,500 feet, Captain Janjua dials in the
next altitude on the chart. - Descending to 10,500. - [Narrator] Oblivious
that his plane's approach is now one step ahead. (sinister music) The crew has now made a fatal mistake, unaware, the airliner is now descending towards a violent collision
with the side of a mountain. (airplane engine roaring) 33,000 feet above the border
between Norway and Sweden, a CRJ 200 jet cruises on autopilot, during a late night mail run for one of Sweden's
largest cargo companies. - ILS approach to runway 01
inbound heading 009, minimum- - [Narrator] It's been a routine flight, and the plane is expected to land in about 30 minutes.
- For the next approach, we need to climb and turn right. - Acknowledged. And according to us, we can
expect light wind and zero... - What the hell? - [Narrator] Suddenly,
the captain sees his plane is in a steep climb. (alarm beeping) He pushes the nose down. (alarm beeping) - What?
(alarm beeping) - What? (sinister music) (airplane engine roaring) - [Narrator] The pilots
can no longer make sense of what the plane is doing. - [Recorded Voice] Bank angle. (alarm beeping) - Mayday, Mayday, Mayday, Air Sweden 294. Mayday, Mayday, Mayday! - [Flight Controller]
294, understood, mayday. What is the nature of
your emergency, please? (sinister music) - [Narrator] The plane loses
almost 10,000 feet of altitude, and speeds towards the ground at more than 450 miles an hour. (alarm beeping)
- Whoa. - [Recorded Voice] Bank
angle, bank angle, bank angle. (airplane engine roaring) - [Narrator] West Air Sweden Flight 294. (airplane crashing) Hits the ground at
almost 600 miles an hour. The plane is a obliterated. (sinister music)
(helicopter engine roaring) It takes three hours before
rescue helicopters arrive. Even from the air, it's obvious the pilots could not have survived. (gentle music) The next day, a team of investigators from the Swedish Accident
Investigation Authority, known as the SHK, arrives
at the crash site. (pattering) Investigators waste no
time analyzing the wreckage to pinpoint the northbound
plane's orientation as it crashed. (sinister music) - That's the front of the plane, so they were traveling East. (sinister music) This is the left wing, all right. - [Narrator] But it's in the wrong place for a plane flying East. This is Arvidson's first
clue about the accident. The left wing is found in
the South end of the crater, and the right wing is in the North end. For a plane traveling East, it should be the other way around. (sinister music) - If they were coming in this way, and the left wing is over there, then they must've been upside down. (sinister music) - [Narrator] The position of the wreckage and the size of the
crater, paint a picture of a plane hitting the ground
off course, upside down, and at a blazingly high speed. (airplane crashing)
(engine exploding) (sinister music) Incredibly, both of the planes black boxes survived the crash. They're sent to France, where
the data can be downloaded. (sinister music) Investigators hope the
data will shed light on why the plane was so
badly out of control. Investigators in Stockholm,
try to understand discrepancies in Flight 294's flight data. - Right here, the data
shows a steep pitch up but the plane flies level and
then pitches down, not up. (airplane engine roaring)
(screeching) - [Narrator] Investigators soon discovered that it's not just the
pitch data that's off. (gentle music) - Right here, heading
in roll and wonky too. (gentle music) - [Narrator] All four parameters
come from what's called an Inertial Reference Unit or IRU. It's made up of gyroscopes
that provide information to the cockpit displays and
to the flight data recorder. There are two IRUs, one
for each pilots display. - The FDR gets its data
from the captain side IRU. - [Narrator] The captain's display and the flight data recorder,
both get their pitch data from the same source. (gentle music) - No, this is what the captain was seeing. - [Narrator] Investigators are coming to a troubling conclusion. The captain's instrument
was telling him the plane was pitching up when it
was still flying level. (airplane engine roaring) And that it was rolling to the right, when it was actually rolling left. (gentle music) - What the hell? - [Narrator] It's now clear the pilot was receiving bad information
from a faulty IRU. (alarm beeping) Is it possible, the first officer was too? (alarm beeping) - The F.O.'s instrument has its own gyro. - [Narrator] Investigators
learned that IRU-1 was only feeding the captain's instrument. A second IRU feeds the
first officer's display, and is not recorded by
the flight data recorder. - So is it possible that
both sides could have failed? - [Narrator] If the first
officer's instrument was correct, he should have seen that the plane was flying straight and level. So why did he allow the
captain to push the plane into a high-speed dive?
(airplane engine roaring) To find out, the team recreates
the flight in a simulation, based on the data from IRU-1. - Okay, start the animation. - [Narrator] It paints an
almost incomprehensible picture. - Three seconds after his
instrument shows a pitch up, he pushes the nose down. - [Narrator] When the
captain pushes the nose down, his ADI continues to show a pitch up, so he keeps pushing the plane into a steeper and steeper dive. (airplane engine roaring) - And they begin to roll to the left. (airplane engine roaring) - [Narrator] The plane continues to roll, until it's on its back. - Eventually, they do
reach a speed of 508 knots. (sinister music)
(airplane engine roaring) - [Narrator] Flight 294
hits the ground, inverted, at a speed of almost 600 miles an hour. Investigators can now see what happened, but they still don't understand why the failure of a single instrument led to such a sudden and catastrophic crash. (airplane engine roaring)
(gentle music) - How do you go from level
flight at 33,000 feet to a thousand kilometers
per hour impact, in one, one minute, 20 seconds? (humming) (airplane engine roaring)
(sinister music) - [Narrator] Uni Air Flight 873. is nearing Hualien Airport in Taiwan. - Lapse 11. (sinister music) - Lapse 11. (sinister music) - [Narrator] The crew prepares
to land right on schedule. (airplane engine roaring)
(sinister music) But as they close in, the
first officer struggles with the landing. (sinister music) - Too high. - Too high.
(sinister music) (airplane engine roaring) (thudding) (humming) - You are sinking too fast. I have control. - [Narrator] The captain
takes over the controls. - You have control.
(sinister music) - [Narrator] The captain
engages the thrust reversers and hits the brakes.
(screeching) Plane touches down with
plenty of room in the runway to come to a stop. (humming)
(screeching) (airplane engine roaring) But as the plane slows. (airplane engine roaring) (thudding) (engine exploding)
(passengers screaming) (sinister music) - What the hell? (airplane engine roaring)
(passengers screaming) - [Narrator] A fire erupts
immediately and spreads quickly. (passengers screaming) Passengers instantly panic. (sinister music)
(passengers screaming) (engine explodes) Moments after the fire
starts, the power goes out. - Mayday, Mayday, Mayday!
(sinister music) (humming) - [Narrator] Black smoke spills from the steel rolling airplane. (humming)
(passengers screaming) Panic is as dangerous as the fire. (sinister music) - You have to stay calm. - [Narrator] The terrified passengers aren't waiting for the plane to stop. (coughing)
(passengers chattering) They rush for the exits. (sinister music) Seconds after the blast, the
plane comes to a complete stop. The captain issues the order. - Evacuate, evacuate, evacuate! (passengers screaming)
(clattering) - [Narrator] The 90 passengers
and six crew members, only have seconds to escape. (passengers screaming)
(sinister music) The captain is the last crew
member to leave the aircraft. (sinister music) (indistinct) Stayed in the aircraft,
and made every effort to make sure everybody was off. (coughing)
(sinister music) (coughing) - Anybody there!
(sinister music) - [Narrator] It takes more than an hour, to contain the massive fire. (sirens)
(humming) By the time it's out, only
59 of the 90 passengers are accounted for. (sinister music) (sirens)
(sinister music) When firefighters finally
extinguished the massive inferno, they board the ruined plane, looking for the missing passengers. (humming) To everyone's relief, there are no bodies aboard the burned wreckage
of Uni Air Flight 873. The missing passengers are located. (camera clicking) But it could have been much, much worse. (sinister music) Taiwanese and American
investigators are struggling to determine what triggered
the massive explosion aboard Uni Air Flight 873. They turn to the black boxes for clues. (humming) - [Flight Controller] Calling
tower, good afternoon. - [Narrator] And its investigators listen, they soon discover it's uneventful. (airplane engine roaring) Except for a somewhat bumpy landing. (sinister music) After touchdown, the captain
engages the thrust reversers and hits the brakes.
(thudding) - [Pilot] What the hell?. - It came right out of the blue. - [Narrator] There was
absolutely no hint of trouble, before the explosion. (thudding) The sound itself could be the biggest clue on the audio tape.
(clicking) (sinister music) It wasn't the very rapid high
frequency spike of a bomb. (buzzing) - Send it in for analysis, please. (buzzing) - [Narrator] The sound of the
explosion on board Flight 873, is compared to sounds of
various types of explosions. (humming) (engine exploding) (humming) - [Investigator] We determined
it was a gaseous explosion. (whooshing) - [Narrator] But the flight data recorder shows no irregularities
with the fuel systems on Uni Air Flight 873. - Whatever it was, exploded here. - [Narrator] Investigators
now focus on the overhead bin above seat 8-B. They wonder if someone brought
explosive materials on board. (sinister music) Investigator Tony James, decides to examine the
burnt-out plane for clues that may have been missed. (ominous music)
- Yes. - [Narrator] James focuses on the area around the overhead bin at row-8. On the far side, underneath seat 7-C, he spots something unusual. (ominous music) - I Found something. - [Narrator] It's not
the look of the fragment that grabs his attention, but the smell. (ominous music) (wheezing)
- It smells like gasoline. (tinkling)
(humming) - [Narrator] The bottle
fragment was found in row-7, just one row forward of the exploded bin. (sinister music) Could this be the source
of the gas explosion? (sinister music) Investigators order up a chemical analysis of the bottle fragment.
(sinister music) The fragment is soon identified
as coming from a bottle of a common brand of laundry bleach, but lab results show that it
wasn't bleach in the bottle. - No question about it, it's gasoline. - [Narrator] It's a remarkable discovery. An innocent looking 750 milliliter bottle, is now the prime suspect in
the accident investigation. Investigators believe
someone swapped the bleach for gasoline.
(sinister music) - The gasoline could have
leaked out during the flight. (gentle music)
- Maybe. - [Narrator] The team gets
their first big break, but it raises new questions. Why would anyone bring
gasoline onto an airplane? (humming)
(popping) - Parking brake.
- Set. - [Narrator] Detroit Metropolitan Airport. The crew of Northwest Airlines Flight 299, prepares to depart from Memphis. (sinister music) - Man, I don't think I've
ever seen fog this bad. - [Narrator] In the tower,
controllers are dealing with fall that's blanketed
the entire airport. The ground controller clears Flight 299 to taxi to the active runway 37. (sinister music) It will follow a series of taxiway, is known as Oscar, Foxtrot an X-ray, that will take it to
the runway's threshold. - Northwest 299, what's your position now? (airplane engine roaring) - Okay, we just turned
down on to X-ray 299. (airplane engine roaring) - ROGER, switch to tower control 118.4. - ROGER.
(airplane engine roaring) - [Narrator] As Flight 299
nears the runway threshold, control of the plane passes
from the ground controller to the tower controller. (sinister music) The seven to seven is now
at the runway threshold preparing for takeoff. (airplane engine roaring) - Northwest 299 Metro
Tower, runway 3-center, clear for takeoff.
- Radar. (airplane engine roaring) - [Narrator] Flight 299
is cleared for takeoff. (airplane engine roaring) (sinister music)
(humming) The 727 is seconds away
from leaving the ground. (sinister music) But danger lies ahead. (airplane engine roaring) A DC-9 is stopped halfway down the runway. (sinister music) In the cockpit, Captain V. Lovelace, and first officer James
Schifferns, are lost in the fog. (sinister music) - This is a runway.
- Yeah. (airplane engine roaring)
(sinister music) (humming)
(sinister music) (airplane engine roaring)
- Oh, no. (sinister music)
- Oh, damn! - [Narrator] There's very little
time to avoid a collision. (sinister music) (humming)
- Oh, God, oh, God! (airplane crashing) (passengers screaming)
(humming) - [Narrator] Inside the DC-9, it's chaos. (passengers screaming)
(sirens) - Firefighters and emergency
response teams raise to the scene. (sirens) Eight passengers are killed, making it the deadliest incident
of its kind on U.S. soil, in almost two decades. (sinister music)
(sirens) - Okay, let's see where they go, and let's confirm any directional
changes with the FDR data. - [Narrator] Investigators combine the cockpit voice recording
with the heading changes from the flight data recorder, to better understand Northwest
Flight 1482's every movement on the ground. (humming) - 3-center, exit the ramp at Oscar-6. - Did you get all that? - Yeah, but I'm gonna need you to help. - Just kind of wind
around here and Oscar-6 is gonna be right around the corner here. - Okay. - [Narrator] Investigators discover that as they began to
taxi, Captain Lovelace, asked his first officer to navigate. - A left turn or right turn? - Yeah, well, this is
the inner taxiway here, we're still going for Oscar-6. - So left hand? - Yeah.
(humming) (airplane engine roaring) - So when they should go
straight through Oscar-6, they turn off it and go East. - [Investigator] We're headed
eastbound on Oscar-6, here. - Just as the controller said,
you can't go East on Oscar-6. Oscar-6 runs North-South. - [Investigator] Northwest 1482, you are running out of the taxiway. Yeah, that's right.
(sinister music) - [Narrator] The investigators next here, the course correction that was
supposed to get Flight 1482 back on track.
(humming) - Northwest 1482 at
Oscar-4, take a right turn on X-ray report crossing 9/27. (airplane engine roaring) ROGER, at the Oscar-4, make
the right turn onto X-ray. (airplane engine roaring) (sinister music) - [Narrator] The DC-9
crew was definitely told to continue Eastbound and make
a hard right turn onto X-ray, to get back on track. (sinister music) - [Captain Lovelace]
So what do we do here? - You make the right
turn, report crossing 27. (airplane engine roaring)
(sinister music) - [Narrator] The captain is now relying completely on his first officer. - Okay, so the last instruction
was at Oscar-4 turn right, onto X-ray. (sinister music)
(airplane engine roaring) - This, it should be 97. (humming) - You're sure? - Well, that's what he said. (airplane engine roaring) Yeah, yeah, this is 97. - They are totally disoriented. - [First Officer Schifferns]
Tell them we're out here, we're stuck. - Somehow, they've made it here. - And we've got two
planes facing each other on the same runway. (sinister music) But there's signs and surface
markings all along here. I don't get it. (airplane engine roaring) - [Narrator] Why didn't the
airport signage and runway marks prevent the pilots from losing their way? - This is a runway. (airplane engine roaring) (humming) - [Narrator] Just after
midnight, AIRES Flight 8250 is carrying a plane load of
tourists and locals from Bogota to the small Colombian
Island of San Andres, an ocean playground in the Caribbean Sea. (airplane engine roaring) There are signs of a
thunderstorm in the distance. (thunderstorm rumbling) Now past the halfway point of the trip, the captain is increasingly
concerned with the possibility of heavy storms gathering
over their destination. (sinister music)
(thunderstorm rumbling) - It doesn't look like
we're gonna get any relief from the storm. - Yeah, lots of activity tonight. - Get a report from San Andrés, for me. - Okay, I'll ask. (sinister music) - [Narrator] The San Andrés
air traffic controller, is also keeping a close eye
on changes to the weather. - [First Officer Schifferns]
San Andrés, good morning, AIRES 8250. - Go ahead. - [First Officer Schifferns] We wanna know how the weather is at the airport, please. - AIRES 8250, there is a thunderstorm over the airport right now. - Okay, ROGER, thank you. - Gear down. (thunderstorm rumbling) - [Narrator] The weather in
San Andres is changing fast. - AIRES 8250, there is now
heavy rain at the airfield and visibility will
reduce to five kilometers. (airplane engine roaring) - [Narrator] In deteriorating conditions and just seven miles from landing, the captain confirms the procedure, in the event they have
to abort the landing at the last minute. - In case we miss the
approach, we go right, correct? (sinister music) - Yes, correct, sir. - [Narrator] 500 feet from the ground, the crew spots the runway. (thunderstorm rumbling)
(sinister music) The captain lines up this plane. (sinister music) - AIRES 8250, winds at
60 degrees, at 50 knots. - [Narrator] Then the wind picks up. - 50 knots head on. (sinister music)
(thunderstorm rumbling) In case of winds here we use
maximum flats for a go round. Don't touch flats or gear. - Agreed, yes, sir.
(sinister music) - [Narrator] Caught in a sudden deluge, visibility decreases again. (sinister music) - Pres. - Look out captain.
(sinister music) - [Narrator] The first
officer now realizes they are too low to make a safe landing. (sinister music) - [Flight Controller] 40.
- Can we make it? (sinister music) - [Flight controller] 20. - Fly, captain. - [Narrator] The captain goes
back on his control camp. (sinister music) But it's too late.
(sinister music) (passengers screaming)
(humming) At 1:47 a.m. AIRES 8250
slams into the ground, with 131 passengers and crew on board. (thunderstorm rumbling)
(air plane crashing) (sirens)
(distant chattering) In the aftermath of the
recovery, one passenger is dead after being hit in the
chest by a tray table. (sinister music)
(camera clicking) A second passenger, who is
severely injured on impact, dies in the hospital, two weeks later. (sinister music) The Colombian Aeronautical Authority needs to find out what brought down, what are the most widely
used passenger planes on earth.
(camera clicking) (airplane engine roaring) AIRES 8250 has crashed, just shorter touchdown in San Andres, and broken into three pieces. (upbeat music) While wreckage crews transport the debris to a nearby facility for analysis, investigators wonder what
role the severe weather played in the accident. - Can I show you this?
- Um. - [Narrator] The team
already knows the weather was changing quickly,
just before the crash, but they need to determine
if the air traffic controller kept them up to date. - I updated them regularly
once they were in my airspace. (sinister music) - [First Officer Schifferns]
San Andrés, good morning, AIRES 8250.
- Go ahead. - [First Officer Schifferns] We wanna know how the weather is at the airport, please. - Okay, AIRES 8250, wind calm, visibility more than 10 kilometers, there's scattered clouds at 1,500 feet. There's some bad weather
near the airfield, but right now there's no rain. Every time the weather changed,
even a bit, I told them. (sinister music)
- Gear down. (sinister music) - [Traffic Controller] AIRES
8250, there's a little drizzle over the runway. - A little what? - Drizzle.
- Uh. - [Narrator] Minutes later, it turned into a full blown storm. - AIRES 8250, there is now
heavy rain at the airfield, and visibility will reduce
use to five kilometers. - Did they seem concerned
about the weather? - No, they didn't sound overly concerned. I was very careful to
tell them everything. - [Narrator] Investigators need to know if there was lightning near the 737, as it approached San Andres. (sinister music) - Sure, it looks like lightning. (upbeat music) The timing fits. (upbeat music) - [Narrator] The team
studies the static wicks from the accident plane.
(camera clicking) Static wicks are located
on the trailing edges of airplane wings, and
help discharge any buildup of static energy. - If the plane was struck by lightning, they should be melted or burned. - [Narrator] But they're not. Investigators can find no signs
of a direct lightning here on the aircraft surfaces. - They're clean.
(humming) - [Narrator] The team was still has a lot of unanswered questions about the weather, at the time of the accident. (sinister music) Wind shear is a phenomenon
in which the winds direction or speed changes extremely, abruptly. (humming) The team learns that just
two minutes before the crash, as the storm built, winds near the runway where gusting. (gentle music)
(birds chirping) Digging further into the flight data. - So lots of headwind, but almost no downdraft. - [Narrator] Investigator
Julian Oberry, discovers, the powerful winds we're
hitting the plane head on, not from above. (door creaking) - Not enough to slam them to the ground. (humming) - [Narrator] May 18th, 2011. - [Traffic Controller] Sol Flight 5428, you are clear for takeoff. - ROGER Sol Flight
5428, clear for takeoff. (humming)
(sinister music) - V1, rotate.
(airplane engine roaring) - [Narrator] At 8:05 p.m.
Sol Flight 5428 lifts off from the airport in Neuquen.
(airplane engine roaring) - Pass the. (airplane engine roaring) - [Narrator] The plane
will fly directly South from Neuquen to Comodora
Rivadavia, on the Patagonian Coast. As per their flight plan, the Saab 340 will climb to a cruising
altitude of 19,000 feet. (airplane engine roaring)
(sinister music) - It's like we're picking up some ice. - Other than to worry,
but we were expecting some light icing. - It should be better
when we get to 19,000. - [Narrator] At 19,000 feet,
water droplets freeze solid, which keeps them from
clinging to the aircraft. (airplane engine roaring) (sinister music) (humming)
(sinister music) - Building up some ice on my wing. - Okay, let's get it down
to where it's warmer, to melt it off, as to descend
to a lower altitude, 14,000. - ROGER. - [Narrator] Then.
- Feel that? - [Narrator] The situation
suddenly changes. - Propeller is vibrating. - [Narrator] The pilots
feel some vibrations. It could be a sign of ice
building up on the propellers. - Put them on max.
- ROGER. (sinister music)
(airplane engine roaring) (alarm beeping)
- Whoa, hell! (sinister music) (alarm beeping) - What's wrong?
- I don't know. (airplane engine roaring) (airplane crashing)
(passengers screaming) - [Narrator] The turboprop
is suddenly pitching down and banging.
(airplane engine roaring) (passengers screaming)
(alarm beeping) - Go back, go back, go
back, I'm controlling. - [Narrator] The pilot
struggled to get the plane under control.
(airplane engine roaring) - Come on.
- Come on! (airplane crashing)
(passengers screaming) Come on, come on. - [Captain Lovelace] Come on! Come on! (airplane engine roaring) (engine exploding) - [Narrator] The turboprop
crashes and explodes, in a remote region of Patagonia. (humming)
(sirens) Argentina's Civil Defense
Agency sends emergency crews to the crash site. (sinister music) But because of its remote
location on a desert plateau on Rio Negro province, it
takes hours for them to arrive. (helicopter engine roaring) When the crews do arrive, they
find there are no survivors. (sinister music) - Okay, let's have the flight path. - Yeah. - [Narrator] Investigators
now turn their attention to the weather conditions in
the night of Sol 5428 crash. (ominous music) - This is the flight path
in Neuquen to Comodoro. Look, what's waiting for them here. They flew right into this cold front. - [Narrator] Investigators
wonder if the pilots were aware of the icing conditions,
and took the proper steps to protect the plane. It's something only one person can answer. (upbeat music) The airlines flight
dispatcher provided the crew with crucial information. Investigators discovered the report the flight dispatcher provided did not indicate the
potential for severe icing. - The report you gave them
suggested icing would be mild, but it was actually severe. Where did you get your report? (whooshing)
- [Narrator] Team learns that because the airport's
meteorological office closed at 4:00 p.m. the weather report
that is partially provided, was more than five hours
old and no longer accurate. But establishing that
the pilots encountered more severe weather than they expected, is not enough to prove that
ice brought down their plane. (airplane engine roaring) In icing conditions, pilots use the plane's
anti ice protection. (airplane engine roaring)
(tinkling) On the Saab 348 that consists
mostly of nomadic boots made of rubber. The boots inflate and break up the ice on the wings leading edge. (humming)
(sinister music) But did a malfunction
of the ice protection bring down Sol Flight 5428? (airplane engine roaring) (chattering) - Sol Flight 5428, Mayday, Mayday, Mayday! (airplane engine roaring)
(chattering) - [Narrator] Investigators
of soul Flight 5428, scour the records for confirmation, that a failure in the
ice protection system brought the plane down. - All that survived are the valves. (ominous music) - Okay, let's get them checked out. - Yeah. (ominous music) (upbeat music) - [Narrator] The primary
function of the valves is to control the flow of pressurized air that inflates the ice protection boots. (upbeat music) Was there a problem with the valves? (upbeat music) When they test the valve components, it's discovered that
enough pressurized air was passing through the
valves to inflate the boots. - Take a look, no failures.
(popping) - [Narrator] If the pilots
knew they were flying in ice, and the ice protection system was working, then ice alone doesn't
explain the accident. (airplane engine roaring) Cougar Flight 91 prepares for liftoff. This is a commuter run from
St. John's Newfoundland to offshore platforms in
the Hibernia oil fields. (airplane engine roaring) The Hibernia oil fields are
170 miles from St. John's. By helicopter, it's
only a 90 minute flight. So for workers on oil
rigs, it's the primary mode of transportation. (helicopter engine roaring) 28 minutes into the flight,
Cougar 91 is leveled off at the standard cruising altitude. - 9,000 feets. - 9,000 feet, copy. (sinister music) Three weeks on, three weeks off. Life on a rig. - I don't know what's worse. Three weeks off, I get bored. - [Recorded Voice] Gearbox
pressure, gearbox pressure. - MGB oil pressure. Emergency checklist.
- Huh. - [Narrator] Well,
First Officer Lanouette, looks for the checklist. - Get us in the Cougar 91, Mayday. - [Flight Controller] Cougar 91, go ahead. - So we have a main gearbox
oil pressure problem, request immediate
clearance back to take off. - Cougar 91 ROGER, you can
make a right turn heading 300. - [Narrator] The controller contacts the Search and Rescue
Headquarters in Halifax. - Halifax Gander Center,
we have a Mayday call from a Sikorsky S-92, currently
on return to St. John's, main gearbox problem. - [Narrator] The pressure gauge indicates that the main gearbox oil pressure is well below the normal
range of 45 to 70 PSI. - Confirmed, MGB oil temperature,
greater than 130 degrees. - [Narrator] But the reading
on the temperature gauge is not what it would
be, if there were a loss of oil pressure. - [Flight Controller] Cougar 91, dispatch. - Cougar 91. (sinister music) - Rescue is asking if ditching
is imminent, probable, or possible. - [Pilot] Dispatch 91, ditching is possible. - If possible, can you
update our senior pilot on the situation? - [Pilot] Dispatch, I think we have an oil problem, or an oil
sense pressure problem. - Matt, can you describe the symptoms? - The gearbox oil
temperature is still normal, I don't think we've lost
all the oil in the system. I'm on a heading for closest landfall if this go South on us. - [Narrator] Cougar 91 is still 35 miles from the nearest land. But now. - Oh, hell. - Dispatch, we're ditching. - Ditching airspeed 122, Matt. (humming)
Raise, raise, raise, raise! (beeping) (airplane engine roaring)
(airplane crashing) - [Narrator] The passengers
and crew of Cougar 91 are now trapped inside
a sinking helicopter. (humming) (sinister music) 17 people are dead. There is only one survivor. The close knit offshore
oil community is shattered and looking for answers. The answers lie 554
feet beneath the surface of the Atlantic Ocean. Investigator Allen shocks
recovery of Cougar 91, provides a big break in the investigation. - Huh. - [Narrator] Within days
of the wreckage recovery, the helicopters manufacturer, Sikorsky, has questions about the crash. - That's right, the whole main gearbox. Sikorsky. All right, yeah, good. Yeah, we'll be expecting you, great. - They're coming? - Yeah, and the FAA,
they wanna take a look at the whole main gearbox. (sinister music)
- Yeah. - [Narrator] It turns out, Sikorsky, and the U.S. Federal Aviation
Administration or FAA, are extremely interested in
the same piece of wreckage as Cunningham. (airplane engine roaring)
(sinister music) Investigators learn that
eight months earlier, a Sikorsky S92 in Australia,
got the same gearbox warning. (sinister music)
(sirens) - [Traffic Controller] Gearbox
pressure, gearbox pressure. (airplane engine roaring)
(sinister music) - [Narrator] But that S92, reached land in less than seven
minutes without incident. (sinister music) The circumstances are identical. Is there some flaw in the
design of the main gearbox? - So what went wrong? - Right here, the oil filter bowl. - The filter bowl, filters the
11 gallons of oil circulating through the main gearbox.
(sinister music) It's fastened to the
gearbox with three studs. The investigators now focus
on this key component. - Here we go.
(sinister music) Wow, two other studs are gone. - [Narrator] This discovery
confirms what investigators saw in the FDR data, an
extremely sudden loss of oil. They now have concrete
evidence that oil leaked, because of the broken studs. - So what made the studs fail? - What is the meaning of it? - These ones, titanium. - This looks like galling. - [Narrator] Galling is
a form of wear caused when two surfaces are
moving against each other, particularly, two different
metals under pressure. (upbeat music) Titanium is prone to galling, especially, when in contact with steel. (sinister music) Sikorsky studied the Australian
helicopter's broken studs, and concluded the galling was caused by the steel nuts used to fasten them. (sinister music) - You can take a look at this. (sinister music) - Alert to operators of the S
92 replace all titanium studs within a year or 1200 flying hours. (ominous music) - [Narrator] Six weeks before
the Newfoundland crash, Sikorsky issued an advisory
to swap the titanium studs for steel studs. - They knew the studs could fail. (ominous music) - Sikorsky said that the
titanium studs would last at least a year. Cougar got the replacement parts, but maintenance, didn't think
that it was urgent enough to replace the studs immediately. - [Narrator] The question
now is why did Cougar delay replacing the studs? (airplane engine roaring)
(creaking) - No, hell. - Dispatch, we're ditching. (airplane engine roaring) (sinister music) - [Narrator] Sentani Airport
in Papa Province, Indonesia. (airplane engine roaring) Trigana Air service pilots,
Captain Hassan Newton, and First Officer Aria
Din, are on a short layover before their fifth flight of the day. (airplane engine roaring) (gentle music) The pilots have already flown
four short flights today. (gentle music) This leg will take them
back to a remote airport in the Oksibil area. The plane reaches its cruising
altitude of 11,500 feet. The flight is so short. The captain is already
preparing for the descent into Oksibil. without the aid of
advanced landing systems seen at bigger airports,
pilots flying into Oksibil must keep the runway
insight, during the approach. (sinister music) (airplane engine roaring) (upbeat music) - Wings there are 1250,
confirmed descent from 12,000, report when you are
positioned over Oksibil. - [Narrator] Five minutes later,
the air traffic controller at Oksibil realizes Flight 267 hasn't reported in as expected. - Hey, this is Oksibil, we've
lost contact with Flight 267. Have you heard from the pilots? (sinister music) You haven't? We might have a problem here. (ominous music)
(popping) - [Narrator] Word of the
missing plane travels fast. As the news spreads, investigator is with Indonesia's
National Transportation Safety Committee. The KNKT fear the worst. Flight 267 was only 15
miles from Oksibil airport, when it last checked in
with air traffic control. But search efforts come up empty. (airplane engine roaring)
(sinister music) Until a pilot flying out of
Oksibil airport spots smoke billowing from nearby Tango Mountain. (sinister music) (phone ringing) - Yeah. 140 degrees, 29 minutes,
51.18 seconds East. Okay, got it, thank you. (popping) - [Narrator] The wreckage is
at approximately 8,300 feet on a ridge of Tango
Mountain, 10 nautical miles from Oksibil Airport. (sinister music) (gentle music) A search and rescue team
takes a KNKT investigator to the crash site. (gentle music) At over 4,000 feet above ground level. There are no roads, runways or clearings. The only way to get to
the crash site is on foot. (humming) The team finally reaches the crash site. (humming)
(sighs) A field of debris, stretches
through Tangos thick forest. (sinister music) (popping) (phone ringing)
(beeping) - Go ahead, Oksibil. - Ricardo, we've reached the crash site. No survivors. (humming) - [Narrator] KNKT investigators
are facing intense pressure to determine why Flight 267 crashed, without recorded flight data. The planes cockpit voice recorder
is investigators last hope to learn what was happening in the air, at the time of the crash. (gentle music) Fortunately, the CVR data
is successfully recovered. - All right, we're ready? Okay, play it. (gentle music) - [Narrator] The CVR
contains two hours of audio, including from the two flights
prior to the accident flight. - [Pilot] I'll call down and
let them know we're coming. - [Narrator] Investigators first listened to the pilots flight into Oksibil, from earlier in the day, in
the hopes of finding clues. - [Pilot] Oksibil, Trigana 267. - [Traffic Controller]
Trigana 267, Oksibil coming. - We are beginning our
approach, would like to descent from 11,005 feet. - [Traffic Controller]
Control descent from 11,500. Let me know when you are
positioned over Oksibil. - Oksibil, we won't be over the airport, we're going to fly direct to
the left base leg to runway 11. - [Traffic Controller] Copy that. - Left base leg. That's not what it says in the charts. - They took a shortcut? - [Narrator] The CVR
reveals that the pilots made an intentional deviation
in their approach, during their prior flight into Oksibil. (beeping)
(sinister music) The official approach directs aircraft to fly over the airport and
then circle back and land. (sinister music) But on the earlier flight,
the pilots flew directly to runway 11 without looping around. (sinister music) - So they take the same shortcut
for the accident flight. - [Narrator] The last flight proceeds much like the cruise
earlier flight into Oksibil. - [Pilot] Get time for the family. - [Narrator] Investigators listen closely for any signs of danger. - [Pilot] Yeah, looking
forward to some time off. Been very busy, these past few weeks. - [Narrator] It's what they don't hear, that raises questions. - They're not doing their
approach briefing and checklist. (upbeat music) - [Narrator] The team
now knows that the crew missed a crucial step on their approach. (airplane engine roaring) While listening to the
final moments of the crash, investigators make a baffling discovery. (airplane engine roaring) - That's it?
(sinister music) Happened so fast, it sounds like they didn't
even see the mountain. (sinister music) (airplane engine roaring) (sinister music) (engine exploding) (sinister music) - [Narrator] There is still
no evidence why LAM 470 flew into the ground, in Namibia. The investigation moves from
the field to DAAI offices in Windhoek, Namibia. (crumpling)
(gentle music) - Is this the last inspection? - Looks like it. - [Narrator] They begin looking into the way Mozambique Airlines
was maintaining the plane. - November 28th. - Day before the accident. - Everything seems to be done by the book. - [Narrator] The Embraer
190 purchased brand new, just a year ago, has a spotless record. (sinister music) - Yeah, there was nothing
wrong with the aircraft. (airplane engine roaring) (gentle music) - [Narrator] With no evidence
of a mechanical problem, the team turns its attention
to outside factors. They review meteorological reports from the day of the crash. - All right, Dennis, the
data from Mon Weather Station is in. - [Narrator] Did bad weather
bring down Flight 470? - Great, why don't we start
from the takeoff in Maputo? (clicking) - [Narrator] The teams
grows through a series of satellite images, spanning
the duration of the flight. (sighs) - Just some scattered clouds, 3000 feet, throughout the flight, nowhere
near their cruising altitude. (sinister music) What was the wind like? - Nothing stronger than 11
knots, so no problem there. (popping) (sinister music) (airplane engine roaring) - [Narrator] With both the machine and the environment ruled out, investigators have only
one more avenue to pursue. - Okay, let's look into the pilot records. (humming) - [Narrator] Were the pilots
responsible for the crash of Flight 470? (airplane engine roaring) (sinister music) Investigators consider,
if the pilots of LAM 470 played a role in causing the crash. - Captain Herminio dos Santos Fernandez. - Born in Mozambique, 49 years old. (papers crumpling)
(sinister music) - Here we go. - [Narrator] How familiar
was captain Fernandez, with the Embraer 190? (airplane engine roaring) - Positive rate. - Gear up. - Gear up.
(airplane engine roaring) (sinister music) - [Narrator] The team's
scrutinizes his pilot records. Captain Fernandez was
not only well-trained. - 2,500 on the Embraer 190. - 9,000 flight hours, total. - [Narrator] He was a
very experienced airman. (papers crumpling)
(gentle music) - Investigators have exhausted
all available avenues of inquiry, and come up empty. (gentle music) - Any news on the recorders? - Not yet, but I'll check in. - Okay. (airplane engine roaring)
(sinister music) - [Narrator] Search and
rescue aircraft deploy, to try and find Mozambique
Airlines Flight 470. (sinister music) (upbeat music) But it's park rangers, in Namibia is remote
Bwabwata National Park, who first come across
a tangle of wreckage. (sinister music) It's clearly Mozambique
Airlines Flight 470. (sinister music) (camera clicking) All 27 passengers and the
flight crew were dead. (sinister music) The site is in a roughly
280 mile strip of Namibia, straddling Botswana and Angola, putting the investigators
from Namibia's DAAI in charge. (sinister music) - Okay, you got a lot of ground to cover. (sinister music) Let's find the point of impact. - [Narrator] The team
combs through the debris for any clues that could
help explain the crash. (sinister music) The last radar applied to
the flight showed the plane was in an unusually steep
descent, moments before the crash. (sinister music) But the crash site adds important details. - Okay, so the plane came down there, and was headed in this
direction, towards Luanda. - [Narrator] Flight 470
was headed in the direction of its destination. It was not off course. (sinister music) Investigators look for
other wreckage patterns, to see what else they can learn. - Right there. - At the point of initial impact, investigators find two
nearly identical pits. - 32 feet. (sinister music) That's the distance
between the two engines. - [Narrator] It's an important lead that shows the investigators the way in which the plane hit the ground. (airplane engine roaring)
(airplane crashing) (sinister music) Investigators study the actual
shape of the crash site. - Okay, we're 487 meters from
the first point of impact. - [Narrator] The wreckage
pattern is long and narrow. The extensive trail of debris
leads to one possibility. - Maybe they were trying to land. - [Narrator] To answer that question, the team examines the landing gear. (sinister music) - Tires are blown. No damage to the treads,
no puncture marks. They were retracted. This wasn't an emergency landing. (sinister music) - [Narrator] It's the first tangible clue about what the pilots may have been doing. - They weren't trying to land. Why were they coming in so fast? (airplane crashing)
(screeching) - [Narrator] In Douala, Cameroon, Kenya Airways Flight 507, is
almost an hour behind schedule. (airplane engine roaring) - Ladies and gentlemen,
we are going to wait for the weather conditions to
improve, before we take off. - [Narrator] A severe storm must pass before the pilots can depart. (sinister music) - Tower, Kenya 507. Looks like there's a break in the weather, requesting startup. - [Traffic Controller]
Okay, 507, startup approved. (upbeat music) - Startup checklist, quickly, please. (upbeat music) (sighs) - Generators on.
(clicking) - [Narrator] A few minutes
before midnight, Flight 507, is finally ready for takeoff. (sirens)
(humming) - Okay, take off thrust is
set, speed building on board. - [Pilot] Check. - 80 knots. - Check. - V1, rotate. (sinister music) - [Narrator] Just after midnight,
Kenya Airways Flight 507, finally departs for Nairobi. (sinister music)
(airplane engine roaring) - Abdallah!
(alarm beeping) - [Recorded Voice] Bank angle, Bank angle. - [Narrator] Suddenly,
the 737 rolls dangerously, to the right.
(sinister music) - Abdalla! (sinister music)
(alarm beeping) - [Narrator] The captain
fights to level the plane. - [Recorded Voice] Bank angle, bank angle. - [Narrator] But it continues banking further and further right. (airplane engine roaring)
(alarm beeping) - [Recorded voice] Bank angle, bank angle. - [Narrator] Despite the pilots
efforts, they keep rolling. (airplane engine roaring) (alarm beeping)
- [Recorded voice] Bank angle. - We're crushing!
- [Recorded Voice] Bank angle. - Yeah, we are crushing! - Left, left.
- [Recorded Voice] Bank angle, bank angle.
- Left correction. - [Recorded Voice] Bank angle, bank angle. (alarm beeping)
(airplane engine roaring) - [Narrator] Five hours later, the controller in Douala
is ending his shift. (upbeat music)
(phone ringing) - Doula tower. (upbeat music) No reason I can think of,
they should be there by now. - [Narrator] Kenya Airways Flight 507, should have landed in
Nairobi, 45 minutes ago, but the plane has still not arrived. - Sure.
(sinister music) - [Narrator] And no one even knows where to start looking for it. (sinister music) Two days later, search teams
finally locate the wreckage of Kenya 507.
(gentle music) It's three and a half miles
Southeast of Douala Airport. The 737 has crashed into a mangrove swamp, and is submerged in mud and water. There are no survivors. The crash of Kenya Airways Flight 507. (gentle music) A key piece of evidence has quickly found the
737 Flight data recorder. (gentle music) - Well, looks pretty good, considering. (gentle music) - [Narrator] Technicians
in Canada have been able to extract the FDR data. (sinister music) Any malfunction warnings during the flight would provide an important clue. - No warnings. - [Narrator] They find no
signs of any system failure. As the team continues
looking through the data. - And look at this. - [Narrator] They discover
that just over a minute into the flight, a different
kind of alert did go off. - Bank angle alert at an
altitude of 2,800 feet. - [Narrator] For investigators, this is their first real
clue about what happened to Flight 507. (sinister music) Any roll exceeding 35 degrees
is considered extreme. (sinister music) - Once reaching that angle, a warning alerts pilots of danger. (alarm beeping) - Rotate. - [Narrator] When investigators
review the pilot's inputs after takeoff, they make
a critical discovery. (dramatic music) - Gear up.
- Okay. - He was turning left from the
moment they left the ground. (dramatic music) And then he keeps making
corrections to the left. - It looks like he's trying
to keep the plane level. - [Narrator] But what caused
the slow roll to the right, in the first place? (gentle music) (tapping) - Bingo, it's the way
the flaps were written. Give it a slight break roll. (airplane engine roaring) - [Narrator] The flaps
increase a planes lift at slower speeds. (sinister music) On this particular airplane, the left flat provided
a slightly more lift than the right one. (sinister music) This discovery explains why the captain kept his
control column turn to the left, immediately after takeoff. (sinister music) - Well, that's weird. - [Narrator] But it doesn't explain, and even more puzzling
element of the flight data. (gentle music)
- Look at this. Captain's controlled
wheel inputs seem to stop. It's like you just let go of it. Six degrees, right, he does nothing. 11 degrees, 15 degrees,
20 degrees, 30 degrees, and still nothing. - [Narrator] As the plane's
bank angle approach 35 degrees, neither pilot took action to stop the increasingly dangerous roll. (alarm beeping) - [Recorded Voice] Bank angle, bank angle. - Whoa, Abdallah! - [Narrator] Until the
bank angle warning sound. - [Recorded Voice] Bank angle, bank angle. (sinister music) - And then he does this,
right, left, right again, left again. (alarm beeping)
(sinister music) - [Recorded Voice] Bank angle, bank angle. (alarm beeping) - [Narrator] The data
paints a baffling picture of the one and a half minute flight. (airplane engine roaring) - Who flies like that?
(sinister music) - That was puzzling to us, so it really highlighted
that we need more information and a lot more data, and
that data is the CVR. The CVR is what tells us the conversation, what might they have been looking at? (sinister music) - [Narrator] But after weeks
of searching the crash site, there's still no sign to
the cockpit voice recorder. (sinister music) (gentle music)
