In the Shadow of War - MH17 Tragedy Unravels Dark Secrets | Mayday Air Disaster

we're clear to Russia a commercial airliner goes down over a war zone in eastern Ukraine nearly 300 innocent lives were taken so there has to be a credible International investigation there was a lot of speculation that the aircraft was shot down but you want facts F him investigators are determined to get answers for the families of the 200 198 victims it was very important to explain what had happened there were so many people whose lives were destroyed by this crash crash but they face roadblocks at every turn one of the first things you do is the security of the uh the wreckage area and this was not possible here how can we conduct an investigation without seeing the wreckage [Music] [Music] I'm looking forward getting home and seeing the kids and eating a proper homecook meal do you have any other plans for the weekend absolutely nothing which sounds perfect Malaysia Airlines flight mh17 is 2 and 1/2 hours into an 11 and 1 half hour trip from Amsterdam to koala lumo the cabin is filled to capacity with 283 passengers onard board all done are you bringing the drink card again soon of course what can I get you I'll have a beer please most are Dutch tourists planning to connect to vacation spots in Australia Thailand and Indonesia European Travelers on holiday would have been the perance of of the folks on board certainly there were some business people but for the L share of the passenger there people on vacation mh17 schedule flight path takes it across Eastern Europe Central Asia and the Bay of Bengal before reaching Malaysia's capital quala [Music] Lumpa the weather's suckly ahead can we get around it captain Eugene chuin Leong has been flying from Malaysia Airlines for 24 years his first first officer mood ferdus Abdul Rahim is a promising new addition to the airline nepro okay to track two Z miles left for weather Malayan 17 okay clear to avoid Roger Malaysian 17 the first officer is being groomed to become a Captain so generally speaking in a copet it is not unusual to have a captain with a large amount of flight experience as compared to that of the first officer they're piloting a Boeing 777 one of the safest planes in the world the Triple 7 is also very fuel efficient making it a popular choice for Long Haul flights like this one is Malaysia 5 or 6 hours ahead guess I'll find out when we get there we could make up time if we move to 340 if it gets to there faster then why not now flying in Ukrainian airspace mil 17 is level 34 nonstandard available the pilots request permission to climb a th000 ft where they can fly faster to make up time the Skies over Ukraine are busy today the local controller is not able to Grant the Malaysian Pilot's request Malaysia 17 340 is not available Roger maintain 330 well we try we'll Nick it up over Russia looks like clear is sailing from here though Ukraine has accused Russia of supporting armed separatists in eastern Ukraine both nations are still cooperating when it comes to commercial Aviation the controllers both on the Russian side and Ukrainian side were still handling traffic off to each other so uh despite the threat commas was still in progress to point Romeo November Delta perfect thank you the Ukrainian controller gets word from his Russian counterpart mh17 is cleared to the next radar Point alayia 17 proceed direct Point Romeo November Delta Romeo November Delta Malay 17 we're clear to Russia the crew had just transmitted a nominal Air Traffic Control transmission they were not aware of any threat at that point it was routine and mundane here you go thank you very much Malaysia 17 depro radar please come in Malaysia Airlines flight mh17 has fallen off radar Malaysia 17 the radar here please come in the air traffic controller makes a call to report The Disappearance [Music] [Music] he [Music] [Music] that's yours car Bon kiss is a senior Dutch investigator first time that I heard about the accident was when we arrived at our holiday place in Spain oh no my first reaction when I saw the news was of course a disbelief there's been an accident I have to go back I thought how is it possible that passenger aircraft ending up like this Fire's burn in eastern Ukraine where Malaysia Airlines flight mh17 fell from the sky around the world reaction is Swift nearly 300 innocent lives were taken men women children infants who had nothing to do with the crisis in Ukraine their deaths are a outrage of unspeakable proportions the news hits especially hard in the Netherlands 193 victims were Dutch when I turned the news on at home some of the first pictures on TV were of Dutch passports that had been found in the fields and that moved me quite a bit at the time it became clear to me how big the disaster was was a tragic event for the Dutch people and certainly emotionally I'm sure it took its toll the Dutch safety board has already mobilized an air accident team terrible evid indicates that the plane was shot down by a surfaced air missile that was launched from an area that is controlled by Russian backed separatists inside of Ukraine we also know even with the immediate speculation that the aircraft was shot down investigators have important questions to answer they need to understand why a passenger plane was flying over a war zone and most importantly they need to bring home as much evidence as possible for Dutch families who've lost loved ones in this investigation it was very important to explain what had happened there were so many people whose lives were destroyed by this crash hello the Dutch safety board is located in the hag they set up another office in Kiev to help Ukrainian investigators what's the startus Sir yeah I'm settled in the operation a center but there's been a change the Dutch team soon discovers that its role will be larger than expected Ukraine they've asked us to lead the investigation with suggestions from all sides that the Downing of mh17 was intentional they have inherited a difficult situation these are from the crash sites there was a lot of speculation in the media that the aircraft was shot down but as investigator you want facts speculation clouds the Mind finding answers won't be easy the crash has dramatically escalated tensions between Russia and Ukraine Russian backed militants and Ukrainian forces have been battling in eastern Ukraine for 4 months mh17 crashed right in the heart of the disputed area in the region of donet site looks like another Farm they're all in the eastern part of Ukraine investigators are worried about how they can conduct their work in the middle of a war zone here that makes six crash sites wreckage is scattered over a 19 square mile area we know one thing for sure this was an inflight breakup when we looked at the the photos we saw that they were spread out over a big area so that meant that it had been an inflight breakup instead of a crash hello this is the dsb how soon can we get to the crash sites to find out what caused the breakup Dutch investigators need to see the wreckage I'm sorry I don't understand what's impossible they can't get access to the crash site they're still in a complex negotiation process with government authorities and local officials what' they say change the plan we can't go during a normal investigation one of the first things you do is the security of the uh the wreckage area and this was not possible here how can we conduct an investigation without seeing the [Music] wreckage days after the crash of mh17 in eastern Ukraine Dutch investigators are nowhere to be seen without access to the wreckage they risk losing crucial evidence it's important that the pieces of wreckage remain undisturbed they are silent Witnesses pieces of wreckage tell you what happened total picture of all the wreckage together gives you a total story despite the setback the Dutch team refuses to let any speculation about the crash affect their investigation best bet it was shot down proving it without any wreckage is nearly impossible they may be able to disprove other theories being floated in the media speculation that flight mh17 may have encountered severe weather or a technical malfunction or some other rare Calamity okay let's start eliminating other possibilities and um we'll see what we're left with we started from from square one and we look to all the possibilities one by one in a very structural uh manner let's zoom into the crash area we had to do this because we were not assured that we would ever could go there so we thought everything we can find about this crash side we we need together so this is mh1 17's intended flight path now this is the weather at the time of the crash what about lightning let's check the ATC reports oh look here this is their intended path right into the storm but they requested a deviation the crew circumnavigated the thunderstorm which is a normal uh operational action they bypass the stor it wasn't lightning anything the main inst truers we chose to follow the the normal procedures that we use in an investigation so that means that you check the maintenance of the aircraft if there had been repairs that perhaps could have influenced the plane on this flight these are some of the cleanest occurrence reports I've seen the technical log is the same this was a well-maintained airplane we didn't find any worthiness or maintenance factors that could have factored in investigation they even look into the remote possibility that mh17 was hit by a meteor if it was brought down by a meteor this is how we'll know Ultra noise from the day of the crash Ultra noise is a distinct sound wave that can be measured when a meteor decelerates as it enters the Earth's upper atmosphere it could happen once every 60,000 years it is possible except not this time there was no meteor activity that day at all three possible causes no likely explanations for what brought down mh17 those were all excluded because of the evidence we found it did not match the expected evidence you would see with these kind of uh uh possible causes a few days later the the investigation gets a break militants in Ukraine have recovered the black boxes and handed them over to Malaysian authorities it's a major development for every aviation accident fly data recorder and corate force recorder are very important in this case they were I would say extremely important the black boxes could hold vital Clues to what caused the fatal crash the Malaysian transfer them to the Dutch safety board the critical devices are then sent to the United Kingdom for analysis we could download information from recorders in the Netherlands but we don't have the sophisticated instruments that they have a few days later the investigation takes another turn everybody ready clearance is finally granted to visit the crash sites the moment we got permission to go to the crash site we worked out a plan with the goal of gathering pieces of wreckage carrying out some local investigative work and then taking the wreckage back to the Netherlands for further investigation off we go but then yet another change of plan hello you can't be serious with the bitter ongoing conflict between Ukraine and russian-backed militants the situation in the area of the crash is changing on a daily basis found had our safety couldn't be guaranteed you can't enter an area without permission and that goes against your nature because you want to achieve your goal D and the difficulty here of course was that we were in another country with a wreckage we had no access to that was an extra challenge I can tell you that in the Dutch city of einhoven the first remains of flight mh1 17's victims have returned home the pressure on the Dutch safety board is about to intensify let me we we the families that lost other family members crew members that were aboard the aircraft they want the answer they want some kind of resolution so that they can put this horrible tragic event behind them uh they want more than the mere facts they want something to help them put this issue to rest while in investigators have still not seen any physical wreckage they do now have access to the flight recorder analysis so not a single warning everything's fine and then it it just stops unfortunately the FDR data gives them nothing new to go on according to the flight data recordered data uh we're looking at an aircraft that was flying straight in level there were no malfunctions recorded and the the aircraft systems and the engine system function normally until the recorder just stopped abruptly investigators hope the cockpit voice recorder will provide something more Romeo nov Delta Malayan 17 listening to a CVR the recording is not an easy thing to do because you listen to voices and you know that within minutes or seconds those people were fatally injured on the other hand that's what you need to do that's your [Applause] job be clear to Russia nothing after that there were no conversations about emergencies or failures or any other risks that they were discussing it was a completely normal conversation so what time does it end the exact same time the FDR cuts out the timing tells them that whatever happened to flight mh17 it was extremely sudden with the instantaneous and combined failure of both the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder that's indicative of loss of electric power simultaneously which is analogous generally with a catastrophic event investigators suspect that the plane was likely brought down by either a bomb or a missile wait play it again they wonder if any clues can be uncovered through an even closer analysis clear to Russia you hear that investigators discover two sound Peaks just before the recording stops can you figure out where that's coming from the cockpit has four microphones investigators hope to triangulate the location of the Sound by measuring when the spikes hit hit each microphone now by triangulation of the data of this disinformation you can pinpoint the uh location of the source of the of the sound peak in space so where did the sound originate from let's look at the seconds before the class can you bring up the cockpit please investigators now realize they're onto something big it hit the captain's mic first then and moved back through the cockpit it looks like the sound came from in front of the captain outside of the airplane that was very important because it was uh one clear indication that um the source of the thing that happened to this Aeroplane came from outside that seals it an explosion outside means it must have been shut down shot down by what we need that wreckage but there is uh one other place that we can [Music] look without access to wreckage on the ground investigators turn to forensic analysis of debrief found somewhere else inside the body of the cockpit crew the autopsy was very important and different source of Investigation results they hope the gruesome task can help them identify what kind of explosive weapon took down mh17 they find hundreds of similar looking steel fragments lodged within the [Music] bodies but in the captain's body they find something else some something that stands out in the body of the captain there was a specific fragment that was unique uh in comparison with the other fragments we'd found it had a specific shape and form investigators don't know what it is but they do know from the CVR that the blast hit from the captain's side of the cockpit if the distinctly shaped fragment can be matched to the weapon used in the attack it could would be a crucial clue we were getting more and more effects that showed that something from the outside had brought the aircraft down a full closure to this incident is absolutely vital therefore the ultimate action of finding who were responsible and bringing them to justice despite having strong evidence pointing to a missile in order to prove their Theory investigators will need to see see the wreckage but so far they still haven't been able to gain access to the crash sites regardless of all the media and political pressure you still have to do your job starting with the foundation investigate based on facts all of the pressure that's put on you to come up quickly with conclusions you have to [Music] disregard almost 4 months after the crash of Malaysia Airlines flight mh17 Smith's here investigators finally get the break they need that is wonderful news permission to travel to Eastern Ukraine thank you we're a go we're allowed in for real this [Music] time on November the 4th Dutch investigators finally arrive at one of the wreckage sites their priority is to find pieces from the front of the aircraft the cockpit they hope that wreckage will tell them more about the blast they heard on the CVR but they have very limited time to collect evidence from this and five other sites yeah dsb to base we have landed [Music] out stay away from over there there are landmines the SES are located in territory controlled by separatist forces the front line is less than a mile away what was that artillery being fired across the border there was still fighting in the area we heard artillery and Small Arms fire for that reason we also wore FL jackets it was crazy because you'd hear the noise and it meant at that moment people were getting wounded or worse before you put anything on the truck you show us got it complicating matters local soldiers are watching their every move around the world people are pointing fingers at the separatist forces they may not want the investigators to find anything that could incriminate them you're in a war zone you know there's interest from the local leaders and others you're unaware of it means you don't speak freely about the work you're [Music] doing you see [Music] these make sure this gets on the first truck there were a number of pieces of wreckage that were very important for our investigation and we also tried to take as much with us in the time that we [Music] had is Malaysia 5 or 6 hours ahead guess I'll find out when I get there NE at the crash site I actually didn't feel anything even though I really wanted to we tried to do the work very respectfully because we knew what had happened there what part of the plane do you think this is this is not part of the plane this is steel not aluminum put this on the truck any items we thought weren't from the aircraft we loaded onto the truck we tried to behave as normally as possible what is that I think it's from the BPU bypass exhaust board okay can go then the investigators receive one last crucial piece of evidence on the last afternoon of the last day of the end of the mission one of the local helpers brought us the window of the cockpit he found it in the village of petka where we were not allowed to go you're kidding me and that was the moment I'll never forget you have the biggest piece of evidence in your hands supplement in homeand I only saw the holes and the sadness of that piece of wreckage Ron Smith saw how important it was for the investigation it was a strange mix of [Music] emotions after months of trying investigators have finally managed to bring pieces of wreckage from Malaysia Airlines flight mh17 back to the Netherlands the they focus on the section of the aircraft that they believe was closest to the blast all of the wreckage that was from the front of the aircraft was analyzed very precisely now which part do we need next they start reconstructing the cockpit the goal of carrying out a reconstruction was to show the world what happened to the aircraft what was the impact you can make an animation you can visualize it but the real pieces of wreckage speak a lot more as the Reconstruction takes shape a startling picture emerges other than where it broke up there's no damage on this side okay guys around yeah the left side of the cockpit has sustained heavy damage blast deposits yeah and you see how the metal is buckling in here near the supports and the holes hit by a pressure wave all those penetrations that was a horrific site you see the devastating power of the hundreds of objects that penetrated the the front of the aircraft and and where the uh inflight breakup started that's overwhelming but it's also a very good proof of what actually happened with the Reconstruction nearly complete investigators separate pieces of shrapnel made of steel from the aluminium shell of the aircraft these steel pieces have to be from the Warhead for investigators there is no longer any doubt a missile brought down mh17 take a look at this another piece from the missile yeah I think so but this looks different I've seen this kind of piece before we found in a specific fragment unique in shape and form the bow tie or butterfly fragment which was the same kind of fragment we found in the body of the captain I need to get this analyzed okay let's start stringing it investigators use a technique called stringing to pinpoint exactly where the missile exploded [Music] that's a technique with forensic investigation to give an impression what the origin of the high energy objects was came from 3 m to the left and 3.7 m above the tip of the nose the stringing investigation results pointed out that the origin of the objects were from the left above the co cockpit it matched also with the investigation results we got from the cockpit voice recorder the cockpit reconstruction has given investigators a much clearer picture of how flight mh17 was blown out of the sky with a fragmentation type Warhead the Warhead detonates and between 7 and 8,000 of these preformed shaped fragments are dispersed against the target at very high velocity each one of these fragments is specifically designed to rip through aircraft aluminum investigators know that the bow tie shaped pieces of shrapnel found in the captain's body and in the fuselage may be the key to solving the next step of the mystery what kind of missile did you come [Music] from next again wait wait stop [Music] there it is the bow Tire France we found were related to one certain type of Warhead so there was no doubt about the Warhead that was used in this case a boot missile the fragments are from the Warhead of a book surface to a missile system it's made up of hundreds of low tie and square-shaped metal fragments that explode when the missile gets close to its Target there's ample evidence that the russian-backed militants have access to this type of weapon a separate judicial inquiry is tasked with determining if they actually fired it they estimate that its probability kills about 95% the weapon actually detonates based on a proximity fuse as the aircraft uh and the target seemed to emerge at that point the weapon is geared to [Music] detonate is Malaysia 5 or 6 hours ahead Romeo November Delta Malayan 17 we're clear to Russia these high performance missiles actually will encounter a Target at speeds and EXs of Mach 3 there would certainly be no capacity or expectation uh for the flight crew to even know that they're being engaged by such a weapon investigators turned to experts at the Netherlands national Aerospace lab to try to pinpoint the geographic area where the missile was launched the plane was flying at 33,000 ft adobas at a ground speed of 494 knots by simulating the flying conditions at the time and calculating the speed and impact points of the missile scientists are able to figure out the missile's trajectory so it came from this area they came up with an area in front of the the airplane about 320 Square kilomet it was in East part of Ukraine confirming that the missile was shot from the heart of the conflict Zone leaves one lingering question if the airspace over Ukraine was so dangerous why was Malaysia airlines flying there in the first place y now that they know flight mh17 was shot down by a surfac to- a missile investigators look into why Malaysia Airlines was flying through a conflict Zone in the first place Security Service report skip to page 24 the investigators work with the Dutch intelligence service to come up with a detailed picture of Ukrainian air space leading up to the crash this is unbelievable they learned that 3 days before the mh7 disaster separatists shot down a Ukrainian military cargo plane if Ukraine knew that planes were being shot down why didn't they close the airspace good question searching for an answer investigators request a list of notams notices to Airmen from ukra Ukrainian air traffic control the area over Crimea was closed so why not the a no time is issued to let the aviation industry know if any airspace is restricted there were two nms for that area on July 1st they closed it below 26,000 ft and on July 14th they raised that restriction to 32,000 ft in other words Ukrainian authorities were responding to the threat by restricting flights at increasingly higher altitudes but crucially they never closed the airspace completely airlines that undergo flight operations contested airspace are looking at the threat assessment they're being advised what the threats are and they expect some level of predictability who else is flying that day I'm not going to believe this all these Airlines flew over Ukraine that week no that day they all flew over that exact area before mh17 was shot down on July the 17th the day mh17 was hit by a missile 160 flights crossed through the exact same airspace despite previous attacks on military aircraft no commercial airlines had opted to avoid the area Neo okay to track 20 miles left for weather Malaysia 17 okay clear to avoid Roger Malayan 17 Malaysian Airlines was not doing anything different than 160 other flights that had transgressed that airspace the same day they were not The Lone Ranger in that airspace it just so happened to be that they were in the wrong place at the wrong wrong time only military planes had been shot down and all of them were flying a lot lower than 32,000 ft so everyone thought commercial planes above that would be safe exactly the aircraft was flying over a conflict Zone like all other airlines were doing more or less all of them because they expected it's to be safe to fly that in its final report the Dutch safety board calls on airlines to improve their risk assessment capabilities so they can better understand the dangers posed by military threats they also suggest Airlines regularly publish flight paths so consumers can make much more informed decisions about flying over conflict zones preventing aircraft from flying in in unsafe airspace is a difficult thing to do the only possibility is sharing all available information worldwide between all the States involved 15 months after 298 people were killed the Dutch safety board invites families of the victims to see the reconstructed mh17 cockpit it was a book missile and they showed us the fragments uh the fragments were inside the plane and uh also the uh the crew it's a difficult moment for family members but investigators hope it can provide them with some closure we have seen a lot of information in the media and that what we thought might be the truth that's uh been confirmed as the accident report is published a criminal investigation into who was responsible for the deadly attack remains unresolved I was proud that I could could take my part in such an important investigation for the Dutch community and especially for the the families of the victims and to provide answers to Aviation safety that we can prevent this in the future

Channel: Mayday: Air Disaster

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Id: -Yb13fN7zLo

Length: 42min 34sec (2554 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 27 2024