Mega Disasters - Florida Swamp Air Crash

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America Florida Miami International Airport May 11 1996 11:30 a.m. for 24 year-old Jay Smith is being dropped off by his good friend Scott flamin Jay is on his way home to Montgomery Alabama tomorrow is Mother's Day and his whole family are looking forward to seeing him especially his mother Susan who dotes on him he is a wonderful child I could not have asked for a better son he is perfect in every way Jay checks the bullet for his flight ValuJet 592 due to leave at 1:00 o'clock he's there in plenty of time because security is especially tight at the moment the 26th Olympic Games starts soon in Atlanta and already the FBI have arrested right-wing militants and discovered hoards of bomb-making equipment Islamic terrorists Ramzi Yousef is also in the headlines he's accused of trying to blow up the World Trade Center the FBI believes that members of his gang could still be at large and ready to strike airliners are thought to be a prime target booked on the same flight as J Smith a Sioux and Ron carpenter they got married just three days ago on a cruise ship in the Caribbean Sue's brother Mike is delighted for them she was never happier in her life and I don't think Ron was either they had common interest enjoyed being together there was such a good match also traveling to Atlanta there are several children among them Andrew Leonard his brother Jeremy and sister Tabitha she turns 13 a week today in total 105 passengers are about to board the aircraft it's a Douglas dc9 32 a twin-engine jet with a distinctive T tail stabilizer at the rear the dc9 has been in service for over three decades and was once a mainstay of American domestic aviation but it's history is not without incident since 1966 77 BC nights have been lost with more than 1,800 fatalities now 27 years old this particular plane has clocked up over 68,000 hours in the air and is currently owned by the budget airline valujet 1:25 p.m. flight attendant Mandy Sommers welcomes the passengers aboard her bubbly personality the scent of the nickname mrs. valujet she's only had the job for a few months but she's hoping for promotion soon she just knew it wasn't really where she wanted to be in her life I guess she envisioned it as something more than it really was when she actually started at the gate ramp agents load the dc9 s Ford cargo holds with passenger baggage 23 kilos of u.s. mail and some aircraft parts three tires and several cardboard boxes labeled comments short for company material the cockpit this afternoon is captain candalyn Kubek she has 2,000 hours flying time on DC nights and within valujet she's famous for her dedication to the job she couldn't get it out of her blood she was destined to fly and just wasn't happy any other way the day before kandi celebrated her 35th birthday her crew threw her a surprise party on board the plane at Dallas and wanted her to go line dancing but typically she refused she said they knew better that I will never go out the night before flight and the aircraft is 30 minutes behind schedule have been some minor mechanical problems the jets autopilot isn't working properly a fuel gauge in cabin phone or apps and there's been a Fault in the hydraulics backup service checking through the systems his first officer Richard Hazen he's an Air Force veteran with 20 years of aviation experience behind him faulty equipment is not an unusual state of affairs at valujet the carrier sells low-cost air parts using old planes bought from around the world its fleet is among the oldest in America averaging 26 years and they've been recent incidents just under a year ago an engine exploded on another dc9 while it was on the runway at Atlanta seven people were injured by flying debris and the Federal Aviation Administration as the carrier under investigation 1:32 p.m. opa-locka airfield 16 kilometers from Miami International Daniel mu hope and his friend rick de Lisle get ready for a pleasure flight in daniels piper arrow light aircraft 1:41 mechanics can't fix the autopilot before the flight so the flight crew disengages the other faults are not serious and the plane is ready to go captain Kubek and first officer Hazen go through their final preflight checks preparing for takeoff 144 p.m. after 44 minutes delay ground control finally clears like five nine to co-sign critter for takeoff now the flight crew begins a taxi the 48 tonne plane towards the runway and wait for their takeoff slot 2:03 63 minutes after the sheduled departure time the dc9 begins to accelerate down the runway and captain Kubek gently eases its nose upwards at last flight 592 is on its way Levite attended Jennifer Stern's makes the customary reassuring announcement to passengers captain Kubek puts the plane into a climb heading for its cruising altitude of 10 of the half thousand metres expedition partner j smith of his fellow passengers sit back relax and prepare for the 92 minute flight to Atlanta but a to 10:00 p.m. just minutes not to take off people start to smell smoke flight attendant Mandy summers attempts to reassure the passengers but the temperature is rising and the smoke is getting thicker by the second ValuJet flight 592 with the carpenter's Jay Smith and 107 other passengers and crew aboard is in serious trouble - 11 p.m. the situation is getting worse on board the dc9 bound for Atlanta smoke is rising from the cabin floor and it's getting thicker at the same time there's a problem in the cockpit the pilots hear a loud bang on their headphones they know there's a problem with the plane's electrics because the battery charger has activated trying to restore power then smoke starts to seep into the cockpit but if I mention we need to be to return to man the International turn left heading two seven zero seven down will God probably you have it's clear something is badly wrong let's look at a cabin three kilometers away Daniel knew hooks is at the controls of his light aircraft he sees a large jet making a turn we're flying along and around my 10 o'clock position I saw an aircraft manoeuvring along the canal to 11 and 30 seconds onboard the dc9 Kubik struggles with the aircraft it seems a zipper controls are no longer responding normally in the cabin the temperature is rising Spyke attended Jennifer Stern's bursts into the cockpit she's desperate to know why the pilots are not lowered the passengers oxygen pilots refuse they realize they're not going to make it back to Miami and desperately ask for the nearest airport instead his position in the light aircraft it's obvious that Daniel Mool hoped there's a crisis unfolding before his eyes this guy is out of control 2:13 p.m. on the canal below Chris Osceola is ad fishing with his Uncle Sam Nelson when he sees the dc9 a sampler this plane the aircraft swoops just a few 100 Weejuns over the two fishermen I don't see flames I don't see smoke the landing gears up he stood some odd maneuvers out here to 13 and 34 seconds on board the stricken plane the passengers and crew that pass out to 30 and 42 seconds just 9 minutes and 27 seconds after takeoff like five nine - crashes into the Florida Everglades these photos taken from the light aircrafts just seconds after impact show only a dark pool of fuel on the surface of the swamp from his plane Daniel move upped radios ground control of Miami and tells them he's just seen a plane crash he stays above the site to help the emergency services locate the spot fisherman Chris Osceola also takes a photo when the two men climbed to the top of the levee everything is eerily quiet the swamp has simply absorbed the 48 tonne aircraft and not to see anything at all or hear anything I mean it was just you hear birds chirping you see you know but you could smell the jet fuel the crash site is 270 meters away from the nearest levy and 14 kilometers from the nearest road rescuers can only reach it by airboat and helicopter they're confronted by a horrifying scene sergeant Felix Jimenez from the miami-dade police is one of the first to arrive as we got closer to the crash site I could determine that there was an aircraft that crashed but it was all in very small pieces good evening well if you've been with us for the afternoon you know that there has been a terrible air crash just northwest of Miami International Airport of valujet dc9 with a hundred nine passengers and crew bound for Atlanta went down in the Everglades at midday as the network's get hold of the story searches continue to look for survivors until the light fails it's a hopeless task not so far been able to find any victims any survivors any bodies within hours the dreadful news begins to reach the relatives susan smith discovers the terrible truth about her beloved son and a phone call there was horrible screaming and i realized that it was my daughter she told me that a plane had gone down coming from miami and at the moment she told me that in my heart I knew that it was the plane that Jay was on Jay Smith on his way home for Mother's Day has had his life cut short before it could really begin at her home near Atlanta Georgia captain Kubiak's mother Marilyn also gets the dreadful call I really threw myself on the floor and beat the floor and in despair this just can't be true it's I'm having a dream a nightmare this is not real just one of the children to die tabatha Leonard is killed just a week before her 13th birthday with despair come demands for an explanation why did flight 592 plummet from the sky just minutes after takeoff why were two such experienced pilots unable to save the planet now by rewinding the events of that fateful day and going deep into the investigation we can reveal what really happened to ValuJet flight 592 advanced computer simulation will take us where no camera can go into the heart of the disaster zone 1,500 kilometers to the north in Washington DC National Transportation Safety Board expert Greg Feith watches the news from Miami he's led two major investigations for the Safety Board before but he already knows this one will be a uniquely difficult challenge as I was running around my house packing to leave and having all the TV's on and they were showing aerial views of the accident site all I could wonder as an accident investigator is how am I going to conduct this investigation when I don't see any visible wreckage as Greg assembles the Safety Board's Rapid Response Team an NTSB official catches the scene with a home video camera just two hours after the loss of flight 592 they're enroute to Miami and flyover the crash site on the way it's a sobering sight with over 800 DC lines in service finding out just what happened is a matter of urgency but with a crash site like this Greg knows you'll have to build up a picture of what happened piece by painstaking piece all the information that you get all the evidence that you develop is equal until such time is that the story line the facts support a particular story line the hole in the swamp is 40 meters long and 12 meters wide wearing special biohazard suits to protect them from spill aviation fuel searches walk shoulder-to-shoulder combing the murky water but the swamp proves almost impossible to penetrate beneath the water lies a thick layer of matted vegetation Sawgrass cuts and tangles the searches as they try to move forward what is your full name please chessy Lowell Fisher and your occupation as the search for clues gets underway safety board experts make it a priority to interview the last person who spoke to flight 592 air traffic controller Jessie Fisher they discovered that the crew had reported smoke on board minutes before the crash smoke suggests one thing loud and clear a fire somewhere on the plane so the focus now becomes what's the origin of the fire that would create enough smoke for the crew to not only notice it but have to report it one answer that Lyon valujet's all too recent history could this be a repeat of the 1995 incident could some kind of engine failure have led even indirectly to the loss of a second aircraft within a year it's a frightening prospect the valujet alone have 47 other dc-9s in their fleet could they all have faulty engines perhaps thousands more passengers are at risk conditions at the site where ValuJet 592 crash and are hazardous there's a constant threat from alligators attracted by the search activity the wreck and its contents armed guards are deployed to keep the Predators away to make matters worse the airboats and search teams are stirring up the SIL player reducing visibility below the water from just a few centimeters to zero then in an attempt to see through the murky water the team brings in ground-penetrating radar they make a depressing discovery below the water level is a thick layer of mud and below that if two meters down is solid limestone the plane has smashed into thousands of pieces as it hit the rock below the team starts to piece together all the recovered debris a nearby candle Tamiami Airport where safety board specialists will examine it closely but early analysis of the engine wreckage offers little hope of an easy answer plane debris Sawgrass and swamp mud have become buried deep in the engine casings Greg Feith knows that this is only likely to happen if they were working normally on impact while he can't rule out some sort of engine malfunction it's looking less likely as the cause of the crash solving the mystery will require all the experience the NTSB have to offer so senior board members like John Bowyer a dc9 expert are drafted in even for him the huge loss of life is hard to accept you still feel the pressure on your emotions knowing that 110 people have died right in this area where you'll work in way of recovering pieces and it does eat on you for all the investigators the search for clues is a grim task every time I went out to the accident site knowing that there were a lot of children on this flight and you see the remnants it was it was very emotionally it's it's very heart tugging it was very very difficult every single day gradually the relatives and public learned the full horror of the tragedy when you go through something like this you would give anything to have those people back in your life I can remember seeing those images of the crash and it tore me apart I tried not to cry in front of my mother I would go in the shower at night and just sob slowly sections of the dc-9 begin to take shape on the floor of a hanger the investigators painstakingly recover decontaminate and identify thousands of pieces there are two parts that would help the investigation more than any other the flight data and cockpit voice recorders but the black boxes as they're often called remained stubbornly hidden in the swamp without them it would have made the investigative process very difficult because they were gonna provide us with a lot of information the team carry on regardless and find that even without the black boxes the wreckage in the hangar does begin to yield useful information metal seat frames of melted carpets and fuselage coverings have burned intensely it becomes clear that the smoke the first officer hazen reported has indeed come from a devastating fire one hot enough to melt aluminium they estimate temperatures in the cabin area must have reached at least 815 degrees Celsius but even for dc9 expert John Golia the source of such an inferno is a mystery we know that there was an intense fire what that meant how that happened was eluding us then as one of the police teams fans out across the muddy pools of swamp water an officer steps on something solid a moment captured on camera it's the FDR or flight data recorder a major find we got a box if the box survived the crash intact it'll provide the team with key technical data from the flights including airspeed altitude and the plane's movements in the air crucially it'll tell them whether the plane's engines failed but when technicians and officials at NTSB headquarters in Washington get their first look at the flight data recorder they're not optimistic this flight data recorder took a severe hit and when we first saw it in the laboratory we had great concern that we were not going to get the data off of it while they wait the NTSB team consider a new sinister options the fire was so sudden and the loss of control so complete that a bomb has to be a possibility will the United States have to tell the world the terrorists are active in the southern states Greg fight must find the secrets to the crash of flight 592 what could have happened to an ordinary dc9 on a routine flight to Atlanta might this vast swamp be the scene of a crime one of the things that we need to identify is whether this is a pure accident or an intentional act if it's an intentional act that means it's criminal Islamic extremists ramzi yousef is awaiting trial for the first bombing of the World Trade Center and plotting to blow up American planes but although Yousef is no longer at large other terrorist cells continue to present a threat in this period of time we also had a new element to be concerned with and that was the continual intelligence briefings that we have been receiving about threats to aviation in the United States Robert Starr leader of a group calling itself the militia at large of the Republic of Georgia was arrested two weeks ago seized as part of the operation but dozens of pipe bomb components with the Olympic so close a major airline bombing would be just the type of attack needed to spread fear and anxiety of the games working closely with FBI agents at the scene investigators send samples of debris from the crash crater to an FBI lab there they'll be analyzed for traces of explosives it's a tense time for the investigators but then comes a major step forward after hours of delicate work the NTS b--'s analysts have managed to extract the data from the damaged flight data recorder the evidence is start the aircraft seems to have been suffering multiple mechanical and electrical failures for over two minutes even the FDR itself seems to have failed about 55 seconds before intact but the safety board can now finally rule out engine failure as the cause of the disaster the performance data on the FDR showed us that the engines were running so far they know there was a fast burning and very hot fire and that the engines seem to have been functioning on impact but they have little else to go on there are still many mysteries about flight 592 if only they can find a second black box the vitally important cockpit voice recorder they might find the missing clues they so desperately need the flight data recorder won't tell us what was actually happening in the airplane the cockpit voice recorder could give us a clue as to what the origin of the fire was because the crew would have been talking about things that were taking place as the salvage teams continued to search the swamp the investigators look for clues elsewhere they know that valujet is under investigation over its poor safety and maintenance record there were problems with this valujet operation virtually every week before the accident there was a real concern that was valujet shorting on maintenance were they doing things in the interest of money rather than safety that was a very big concern throughout the process of this Accident Investigation Greg and his team examined the planes a recent fault history can they find the answer to the crash here sure enough they discovered the dc9 did have several problems prior to takeoff and that the plane had been delayed as a result they find that the planes autopilot have been malfunctioning for two days the pilots log states that when engaged it made the plane pitch up and down mechanics try to repair it but failed so 5 9 2 s crew followed standard procedure and flew in manual mode instead the team also discovered that the fuse for the hydraulic backup system blues but this time mechanics did manage to repair it although it seemed a promising lead they can find nothing in the maintenance log that explains the crash it was clear that singly or collectively none of those would have caused a fire on the airplane then the results come back from the FBI lab and the investigators the organizers of the Olympic Games even the federal government can breathe a sigh of relief this was not an incendiary type device or an explosive type device that put the fear and aside for us as investigators that we were going to be looking at it from a different perspective they can now rule out a terrorist attack as the cause of the crash but faith is still no nearer to solving the mystery finding the cockpit voice recorder or CVR is still their best hope in the search for the cause of the disaster by Sunday made the 26th the search has been going on for more than two tough frustrating weeks today the search party is one man short so sergeant Jimenez the policeman who had been one of the first on the scene after the crash volunteers to go back into the swamp the search was very difficult it's 80 and 90 degree weather high humidity almost every day we had thunderstorms and we had to evacuate the crash site finally comes the break everyone has been hoping full ice in a very short prayer and as soon as we resume the search I stuck my probe in the water and I knew I had hit metal I reached down followed the probe and pulled out the CVR it's not just the policeman's prayer that's answered it's also a major turning point for the team the voice recording gives the investigators a chilling insight into the last moments of the crew first they discover that captain Kubek and her co-pilot Richard Hazen knew they had a problem at 2:10 p.m. when six minutes into the flight when they heard a strange noise on their headphones then the plane's battery charger kicks into life it's another clue the battery charger would start if there was a loss of electrical power could an electrical fault that caused the fire after all the dc9 was 27 years old and carried kilometres of cable a faulty wire in or near the passenger cabin might have caused a spark and started the blaze it's a long shot because pinpointing such a short circuit is extremely difficult but spurred on by the cockpit conversations and the FDR record Greg tells the investigators to probe the remains of the wiring and the circuit breakers much of the wiring has been badly damaged or completely destroyed the rest is in bits on the hangar floor but for the team they could still be clues to be had because it's broken in ten places that doesn't mean it's not going to tell you a story every one of those pieces when you decide to look at him has a story to tell but try as they might they can't find any evidence for a short-circuit it's another dead end once more they return to the cockpit voice recorder nearly three minutes before the crash flight attendant Jennifer Stearns opens the cockpit door it's clear that the passengers in the cabin are the first to be overcome by smoke to fight this places the fire somewhere behind the pilots the investigators at Kendall Tamiami concentrate on the area around the Jets passenger cabin what they discover is shocking the fire was so intense e'er that the floor has literally melted away could something beneath the passengers feet possibly in the forward cargo hold have started the fire it's an unlikely scenario this compartment is officially known as a Class D hold completely airtight it also has a fireproof landing any blaze here to quickly burn itself out through lack of oxygen but fight decides to check it out anyhow we had to go back to the manifest we had to see what was in that forward cargo hold the safety board studies the paperwork to see if the forward hold contained anything suspicious it indicates that in the hole were 28 kilos of mail and some passenger baggage but with a bomb or incendiary device already ruled out investigators move on the manifest also shows two consignments of aircraft parts in the department instantly they see something suspicious three tires from another dc9 the transportation tie should be filled with nitrogen and under inflated or they can burst an oversight here could possibly be the cause of the disaster but the record show that the ground crew followed correct procedure another promising lead has gone nowhere the shipping ticket also lists five cardboard boxes full of parts labeled oxygen canisters loaded in the hole at first Greg and his team have no concerns they think they're empty steal oxygen cylinders has fitted to many different kinds of play but then the whole investigation takes a dramatic turn these are not simply oxygen cylinders in fact they're chemical oxygen generators small metal canisters containing a volatile and potentially hazardous mix of compounds investigators are horrified that changed the whole complexity and complexion of the investigation when installed the generators supply oxygen for passengers in an emergency they're attached to a face mask with a thin rope that connects to a firing pin if passengers pull down on the masks the pin is released starting a chemical reaction which produces oxygen during use to generate a surface temperature can reach 260 degrees Celsius could the spare generators housed in the hole have somehow activated and burst into flames there's just one problem with this theory the shipping ticket lists all the generators as empty so they couldn't have been hazardous or could they investigators the interview staff from valujet's maintenance company sabretech based in miami they discover that the generators in the boxes onboard flight 592 have been removed from - McDonnell Douglas md80 - Jets because they were out of date the rules for disposal are clear they should either be activated and disposed off properly or made safe by fitting small safety caps over the firing mechanism sabretech produces work cards confirming that the generators were properly dealt with but then comes a remarkable discovery salvage teams recover 28 of the generators from the swamp 18 almost intact Greg and his team examine them carefully to their amazement they discovered that nine of the twenty-eight shows signs of activation at least some of the oxygen generators could not have been empty as the shipping ticket set when they questioned the sabretech workers further they admit that they did not fit any safety caps on the canisters they just duct-taped the cords round the metal canisters or cut them and stuck the ends down with tape then they signed off the work cards even though the correct procedure hadn't been followed finally a stock clock packed them loosely under a layer of bubble wrap I couldn't understand how the process could break down so substantially in the carelessness that originated on the shop floor could escalate to getting these oxygen generators on the airplane but so far it's only a theory Greg and the team don't know for sure whether an activated generator could produce enough heat to start a fire this point in time nobody really had a good understanding of what happens when these oxygen generators start producing oxygen the NTSB embarked on a critical experiment they construct a replica hold of the federal aviation authorities fire test facility near Atlantic City technicians place 28 generators in a box and cover them in bubble wrap they pull a wire connected to the pin of one generator and retreat they have high hopes but the generator heat produces just a small fire and a little smoke none of the other generators activates and the Box doesn't catch a light Greg's Theory doesn't seem to be standing up that first test was discouraging you tend to start to question are we really going down the right Road with the public the airline industry and friends and families of 110 people pressing for answers the NTSB are facing a crisis the mystery have--what down ValuJet 592 is proving a tough nut to crack early results from the fire test facility suggest that the chemical oxygen generators simply don't create enough heat to start a fire Greg and the team have to try again they have no alternative they repeat the test but this time they copy the conditions in the holes more accurately they use more generators baggage and an airplane tire this time the fire takes hold in just a few minutes after 10 minutes the roof of the test hole is at 1,100 degrees Celsius a minute later it's Clyde another 430 degrees thirty seconds more and the temperature is too high to be measured accurately by the lab equipment then after 16 minutes comes a noise that provides the last clue the tire in the recreation of the hole as burst the oxygen generators did have the capacity to start and sustain a fire you have a hundred and forty-four little blow torches in essence and the intensity of the heat escalated from what we found in post accident testing to over 3,000 degrees investigators now know the critical chain of events that led to the crash at flight 592 now they know why a fire started on board the plane what fueled it and why the pilots lost control of the aircraft leaving everyone on board seconds from disaster May 11 1996 one hour to disaster but sabretech driver pulls up at gate g2 at Miami International Airport with valujet cargo for flight 592 inside the boxes are a hundred and forty-four out-of-date oxygen generators loosely packed a ramp agent places them around a large airplane tire the pilots are unaware that they have a dangerous load on board 30 minutes to go as the plane taxes to the runway the loose packing an unsecured cargo Schultz one of the generators into action it begins to eat up 11 minutes to disaster the plane taxis to its takeoff position in the hold the surface of the metal generator gets hotter and hotter soon the heat ignites the cardboard box and bubble wrap and the blaze begins 10 minutes to disaster flight 592 takes off from Miami Airport even though the hold is airtight the fire is not blazing fiercely sustained by the oxygen produced by the generator three and a half minutes to go the sound heard by the crew is one of the tires in the hole bursting just as it did in the lab test the battery turkeys kicking in everything the battery charger can't help the stricken gesture as the fire is consuming everything in its path including the control cables that run to the rear of the plane captain kubeck begins to lose control of the aircraft temperatures in the hole have now reached more than one thousand six hundred and fifty degrees Celsius in the cabin passengers are becoming desperate as they choke on the toxic fumes flight attendant Jennifer Stern's rushes into the cockpit but the pilots refused to drop the masks knowing that oxygen would only make the fire worse one minute from disaster the cabin floor burns it begins to give way seven seconds to disaster now no one is in control of the plane the crew are probably unconscious overcome by toxic fumes given off by the aircraft's interior pivots seconds later flight 592 nose dives into the Florida Everglades at eight hundred kilometres an hour nearly three months after the crash relatives hold the mass funeral for 48 of the victims whose remains are interred together valujet eventually takes over another company and becomes AirTrain sabretech is fined $500,000 for its part in the tragedy but goes out of business before the money is ever paid since 2001 fire detection and suppression systems have become mandatory in the United States it takes a dramatic event to move the regulatory authorities to change and in this case it took the loss of 110 people

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Channel: Mega Disasters

Views: 1,028,343

Rating: 4.5411744 out of 5

Keywords: Mega, Disasters, Florida, Swamp, Crash

Id: ndfTF7-fqnQ

Channel Id: undefined

Length: 45min 34sec (2734 seconds)

Published: Sat Oct 08 2016

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