Military Mistake That Cost Hundreds of Lives | The Accident Files

just another hazy day a high-speed Collision over the California desert tears two planes apart what the hell were those guys doing up there time we're going down 7 years later a 727 and a Cessna crash into a San Diego suburb how did this happen again when two passenger Jets Collide in India it's the world's deadliest midair Collision two fires on the ground confirm with thousands of flights in the air every day investigators need to find out where the system failed before another disaster occurs forget the red tape this is in the interest of Aviation safety and saving [Music] people Los Angeles International Airport Hughes air West flight 706 prepares for takeoff there are 44 passengers on board the flight is traveling from Los Angeles to Seattle with several intermediate stops welcome aboard folks we'll be getting on way any minute now the former Air Force pilot Captain Theodore Nikolai is in command today he has amassed more than 15,000 flight hours airwest 706 red cleared for takeoff Runway 24 left climb via heading 250 Roger 24 left climb heading 250 first officer price Brunner has even more hours in the air than Captain Nikolai weather's looking clear all the way to Seattle throttles are all [Music] yours 8 KN at 6:02 p.m. the dc9 lifts off from LAX turn right heading 060 aw 706 red right 060 The Heading takes the plane West over the Pacific Ocean before turning Northeast towards its First Stop Salt Lake City 4 minutes after takeoff first officer Brunner contacts a different Control Center North of LA Los Angeles Center good evening air West 706 red turn left heading 040 until receiving dagg the controllers guide the dc9 out of Los Angeles in addition to air West uh the radar controller may have been talking to five or six other Jets climbing out towards the Northeast uh in addition to to a small number of crisc crossers back and forth through the airspace suddenly an emergency alarm warns the controllers that a plane in their airspace may be in trouble at this point we look back where airw 706 is the target's missing the radar control said something like use a 706 reset your transponder radar contact lost there's no answer awest 706 radio check how do you hear me no answer this is getting bad now we've lost a Target and we've got no Communications with the aircraft moments later the crew of a nearby military plane calls in devastating News Center we've just seen a an explosion on the side of a mountain the dc9 with 49 people on board has slammed into the California Hills that air West just explode it had crashed for some reason and we had no idea whatsoever the national Transportation safety board assigns one of its top investigators to the case yeah got it take it second world war Navy pilot Dick Baker San Gabriel mountains the crash site is in a remote area of the San Gabriel mountains a few miles from the town of duartte California in the hours after the crash Witnesses come forward insisting they saw a midair collision between the dc9 and a fighter jet investigators are stunned how did a fighter jet and a passenger your plane end up on a collision course okay thank you bye-bye a call from a nearby Marine Corps Base provides a key detail El Toro is missing a jet an F4 Phantom hasn't made it back to nearby El Toro Marine Corps Airbase it's the military's most advanced fighter capable of outmaneuvering almost everything else in the sky in the 70s there was lots of military training going on in Southern California because there were clear skies and lots of desert out there that they could train over investigators learned the identities of the f4s 2 crewmen Marine pilot James Richard Phillips and radar intercept officer Christopher shees watch him remarkably after the impact fact Lieutenant sheis was able to eject from the doomed fighter dick Baker the Marines send their own man to help with the investigation Lieutenant Colonel Jack zeik investigators hunt for Clues as to how these two planes collided but recovering the wreckage from the remote crash site will take time the first rescue workers had to hike 6 miles to get to the scene they reported only the tail section intact no signs of life a day after the crash investigators get a chance to talk to the accident's sole survivor the dc9 hit us like this his nose to our tail hold on back up a bit tell me exactly what happened Lieutenant she claims that his aircraft was not at fault on the day of the crash she was flying in the rear seat of the F4 copy Rick climb the 15,000 27-year-old Lieutenant Rick Phillips is in the forward seat flying the jet they're on their way back to home base El Toro California climbed to 15,000 ft here she uses his radar to scan the ground below he would have his head down in the radar scope doing ground mapping and then the front seater would be primarily visual because he knew that he lost that extra set of eyes uh that was down in the radar instead of looking out for other aircraft that's when I first saw the dc9 came out of nowhere and slammed into US 5 seconds later she ejects I got out Rick didn't the F4 was not equipped with a black box that can confirm she's story and the high-speed impact obliterated the jet leaving no clues luckily the team recovers some of the wreckage of the dc9 including the black boxes but they're badly damaged and offer little help Hughes air West engineer Dave neson is brought in to see if the wreckage supports the young Lieutenant's Story by reconstructing the dc9 newon might be able to explain the angle of impact climbing through 15,000 ft just another hazy day 10 days after the crash Searchers find the nose of the dc9 it's a critical piece for the Reconstruction it reveals a large gash slicing through the cockpit looks like the stabilizer cut the plane in two so if they hit like this they F4 had actually penetrated the dc9 on the left side a few feet from the nose so frankly F4 hit the dc9 rather than the dc9 hitting the F4 off the nose of the airplane and that took away all the controls in the airplane as some of the observers underground said it was like a Falling Leaf till he hit the ground investigators know that she was wrong about who hit whom but why couldn't the pilots see each other and avoid a deadly Collision investigators are under pressure to explain how a dc9 and and an F4 fighter collided over California they wonder how fast the planes were traveling at the moment of impact the F4 is coming in at 420 knots from the north slightly East dc9 it's coming in at 320 knots from the southwest this closure I was able to uh calculate the closing speed of these two planes was roughly 1,000 ft per second in the seconds before the crash Lieutenant she likely had his head down checking the ground below on his radar pilot Phillips is likely scanning instruments at 15 seconds the F4 is 1/10 of an inch big in the window tiny 10 seconds 3/10 of an inch still tiny but maybe now we can see it 5 Seconds the entire window's filled the probability of these two aircraft U either one detecting and avoiding the other was slim and none investigators suspect the design of the dc9 cockpit with its Wide Window dividers may have made the visibility problem even worse you can't see it here right here the F4 would have been hidden or here it's completely obstructed for close to 25 seconds just another hazy day watch none of the pilots had enough time to see the oncoming plane but air traffic controllers are supposed to keep planes a safe distance from each other so why did they fail to separate the planes air West 706 red turn left heading 040 and until receiving dag the controllers reveal to investigators they couldn't see the F4 either why did the F4 the Marine aircraft not show up on the radar what the hell happened investigators examined the radar equipment used at the control center what they discover is alarming it was nothing more than World War II technology and temperatur generated by this equipment would cause the equipment to drift drastically to better understand what the controllers could and could not see investigators test the technology by flying an F4 along the flight path on that fateful day did the outdated radar pick up the F4 uh was that something there the F4 is traveling almost 500 M an hour the F4 does six runs but the controller can barely track the fast stealthy fighter it might have been a planing maybe not it could just be interference that was shown frequently on the radar a single blip means absolutely nothing we have to have a history of blips to see that it's actually traffic investigators conclude it would have been almost impossible to detect the fighter jet as it streaked across the sky he's all alone and no one knows he's there to make matters worse in 1971 military Pilots were not routinely briefed on civilian air traffic routes we should stay clear traffic if we cut East Los Angeles she tells investigators that they hope to avoid commercial air traffic by skirting the city unintentionally they flew into one of the airport's busiest Lanes why the F4 crew not get a hold of an air traffic control guide to let them know where they were and what they were doing the terminal area chart would show those departures but the military doesn't have those because they don't operate out of Los Angeles International Airport investigators uncover a dangerous flaw in the American Aviation system the military and civilian control centers don't communicate with each other bang the pilots had no idea they were flying towards each other at the same altitude could we've done anything different no absolutely not it was just something that happened we could not have changed it not [Music] us the exhaustive investigation produces two separate reports one civilian and one military they cover every detail of the deadly accident how military and civilian authorities failed to communicate they had planes flying in the same airspace was that something there how controllers couldn't track the supersonic fighter jet and why the crew of a dc9 with 44 passengers on board never saw them [Music] coming the reports lead to important changes in the rules governing Aviation military Pilots as a result of this accident everybody had to be on radar control and that means being controlled by red air operators on the ground military Pilots are now advised of all restricted air traffic Zones near Commercial airports and the restricted airspace at busy airports is expanded to include more of the surrounding area Hughes air West was sold in 1980 and eventually folded into Northwest Airlines but the legacy of the company's deadliest accident endures one of the things that came out of the Hugh a West F4 midair Collision was the need to have better communication between the aircraft craft that are flying and with air traffic control tragically it wasn't one that was implemented perfectly in the future 7 years later California residents face another disaster as two planes Collide over San Diego Pacific Southwest Airlines flight2 is on an early morning run down the coast of California from Sacramento to San Diego approach PSA 18 two coming out of 95 descending to 7,000 airport is in sight first officer Bob Fox is at the controls of the Boeing 727 Captain Jim mcferon has been with the airline for 17 years psa2 cleared visual approach Runway 27 thank you cleared visual approach 27 there are 128 passengers on board including 30 Pacific Southwest employees an approach controller at a facility north of the airport monitors flight 182's approach until further Adis the approach control facility is quite busy and that's stressful because you're handling so many different airplanes in the same airspace when the controller spots a cesser flying ahead of the 727 he makes sure they can see it PSA 182 traffics at 12:00 fre miles out 1,700 got it traffic Insight okay sir maintain visual separation contact Lindberg Tower 1 33.3 have a nice day okay visual separation means that the pilot has another aircraft in sight and acknowledges it got it once the visual approach is accepted by the pilot uh he's then responsible for maintaining separation from that traffic with the plane now less than 5 miles from the runway way a controller in the airport's Tower takes over to guide the flight in for landing PSA 182 cleared to land play two clear to land gear down suddenly first officer Bob Fox spots a distant plane there's one underneath I was looking at that inbound over [Music] there t we're going down this P okay we'll call the equipment for you get over here the approach controller's radar reveals that the 727 has collided with the Cessna break yourself hundreds of people watched in horror as the two planes collided and crashed into a quiet San Diego residential neighborhood 144 people are dead including seven on the ground 22 homes are destroyed it's the biggest airline disaster in American history to date the PSA accident in 1978 I think was a Lynch pin when the United States government and Aviation World in general figured out we have to do something about this 2 hours after the crash NTSB investigator Wally Funk arrives from Los Angeles the accident scene was horrendous there was so many bits and parts and pieces around not only the aircraft but the homes Funk needs to confirm that the wreckage of a small plane found six blocks away is in fact what collided with the 7277 we had paint transfers we had pieces and parts from the two different aircraft yes this was an absolute midair Collision there's no doubt about it but how did these two planes end up on a fatal collision course we had to visualize from a very mangled mess of metal where the two came together fortunately the 72 Seven's black boxes are recovered from the crash site and rushed back to Washington DC for analysis meanwhile senior NTSB investigator Philip Hogue joins the team he's eager to speak with the approach controller can you show us the two flight paths so the 727 was flying East to do a turnaround and land on Runway 27 and the was flying Northeast but it was Miles Ahead of the 727 they should have missed each other by over a mile to verify the approach controller's account investigators review a transcript of his conversation that day it confirms that both Pilots knew each other's positions PSA 182 traffics at 12:00 3 miles out 1 700 got it but if both planes knew of each other why did their aircraft Collide investigators question why the approach controller didn't warn the pilots when they were dangerously close especially since his radar would have sounded a proximity alarm didn't you get any warning we did we ignored it well when the alert sounded I I mentioned it to my [Music] supervisor [Music] alarm again I talked to both planes PSA 182's confirmed a visual sighting of the Cessna we're not expected to contact the pilots if they're flying by visual rules uh not to mention we get about 13 alarms a day so the approach controllers Overlook the alert but they contact the Cessna and remind them of the nearby 727 traffic in your vicinity PSA jet has you in sight he's descending for Lindberg but at that exact moment the plane Collide get over here investigators now interview the tower controller to better understand why he also failed to warn both Pilots they discover he relied on an even less sophisticated radar the tower controller did not have the Collision alert system at the time when the controller saw the planes within a mile of each other he made contact warning the 727 PSA 182 traffic 12:00 1 mile assessment I think he's passing off to our right yeah if the pilot says he's passing off to our right this implies that he's still maintaining visual separation was his responsibility and you would not worry about it after talking to both controllers investigators still have no answer to the key question in the midair Collision who crashed into whom now let's have the next acetate please but when they calculate the two plan's actual radar track the answer becomes clear some reason the 727 has rear ended the Cessna the cessate never passed off to the right he was always in front of PSA I was looking at that inbound over there the 91 ton aircraft flying at 160 knots slammed into the much slower and lighter Cessna the PSA crew when they acknowledged they had the Cessna in sight at that moment became responsible for keeping the airplane sep separate trafficing say so how did the veteran 727 crew lose sight of a plane directly in front of them in Washington NTSB investigators review the recovered cockpit voice recording of PSA Flight 182 all right get it they hope the Pilot's conversation will explain how they lost sight of the Cessna are we clear of that sesna supposed to be oh yeah before we turn downland I saw about 1:00 probably behind us now 35 seconds before impact the PSA crew think they've passed the Cessna it was right in front of them the whole time investigators wonder if something was preventing the pilots from seeing the much smaller plane the 727 when it's it's flying in level flight is a slightly nose up uh condition so that the pilots as they look out they're looking over the nose of the airplane was the nose the aircraft high and they didn't see the Cessna they may not have realized the Cessna was as close as it was the team conducts a visibility study to determine how long the PSA crew could see the Cessna through their windscreen after measuring and photographing each Pilot's view they plot the cessna's location on the photos in 10-second intervals what they find is surprising the PSA crew could see the Cessna for a much longer period than they expected 170 seconds of Clear View how did the pilots lose track of the Cessna when it was in view for almost 3 minutes searching for answers investigators go back further in time on the cockpit recording 182 traffics at 12:00 3 mil out 1,700 got it traffic Insight 85 seconds before impact the 7 27's Pilots spot the Cessna flying ahead of them okay sir maintain visual separation contact Lindberg Tower 1 33.3 the crew must now keep the cessar in view while performing other tasks in preparation for landing Lindberg PSA 182 downwind the wings uh need to be configured the landing gear must be lowered systems have to be adjusted so it's it's a busy place but at this critical moment no one is keeping an eye on the Cessna is that the one we're looking at yeah but I don't see him now the Cessna should be right here in front of them the Cessna was visible just at about the windshield level of PSA and it's really incredible somehow they lost sight of it okay can you show me how you normally adjust your seat please to better understand how the PSA crew lost sight of the Cessna investigators take another look at the cockpit visibility Pilots come in all sizes and shapes they learn quickly to adjust the seats to the position that's comfortable some Pilots want to sit lower so they can see their instruments better when they recalculate the cessna's location on the windshield based on the crew's seat positions they make a shocking Discovery in instead of 3 minutes the crew would only have seen the Cessna for 5 to 10 seconds even if the crew had leaned forward to check for the plane investigators believe the smaller plane may have been camouflaged by the background they' become harder to see and the terrain makes it even more so is that the one we're looking at yeah I don't see him now the fate of flight 182 now depends on the captain clearly Comm communicating this to the tower I think he's passed off to our right the controller would have been able to see that the Cessna had not passed the 727 on his radar so why didn't he take action okay we had him there a minute ago investigators compare two separate recordings of the conversation between the captain and the controller okay Chris let's hear the cockpit first I think he's passed off to her right passed I thought I heard passing before double check that please [Music] I think he's passed off to our right he still saying pass let's compare it with the tower because I think I heard passing investigators make a startling Discovery he's passing up to it right passing I was right it does sound like passing radio static caused the radio controller to hear the word word passing not passed the air traffic controller heard it is he's passing off to our right that indicated that they still have visual contact with him he would believe that the pilot was being able to maintain the separation was his responsibility and you would not worry about it in the spring of 1979 investigators finally conclude who was at fault the determination of the board's report is very clear that the crew obviously did not see the aircraft Cessna in time to divert it away from a catastrophic accident recommendations in their report focus on improving the air traffic control system in San Diego PSA 182 also helped fuel the search for new technology 3 years after the accident a safety device called tcas or traffic collision avoidance system is developed and later installed in all passenger aircraft all airliners are now equipped with fairly sophisticated collision avoidance systems they have the ability in the cockpit to get instant feedback to avoid other airliners including instructions as to what they should do to avoid that airliner 279 good day unfortunately in some corners of the world Aviation developments don't come soon enough in 1996 tragedy strikes again when two passenger Jets Collide over India in De Gandhi International Airport New Delhi a Gateway to [Music] India just past 6:00 Saudi Arabian Airlines flight 763 takes off into the sunset get up get up clear on left Captain Haled Al shuali Powers the Boeing 747 away from the runway his co-pilot nazia Khan handles all radio communication 289 passengers on board are traveling to Dahan Saudi Arabia 27 good day shortly after takeoff approach controller VK datter guides the plane away from the airport Saudi 763 approaching flight level 1 Roger climb flight level 140 clear to climb 140 Saudi 763 after reaching 14,000 ft the crew request permission to continue their ascent Roger maintain flight level 140 stand for in order to coordinate incoming and outgoing traffic datter wants the Saudi flight to stop climbing Saudi 763 will maintain 140 the controller is concerned about another plane a Kazakhstan Airlines illusion 76 passenger jet which is coming in for landing at Indira Gandhi airport he wants it to pass 1,000 ft above the Saudi flight before landing after that he'll let the Saudis continue their climb kazak 1 1907 now reaching 1 15 46 miles from Delta Papa November Roger maintained flight level 1 15 identified traffic 12:00 reciprocal Saudi Boeing 747 data warns the kazak Flight of the nearby Saudi jet how many miles traffic is at 8 mil level 140 but seconds [Applause] later a massive explosion tears through the Saudi jet both the Saudi and kazak flights have vanished from the controller's radar sa 763 kazac 1907 report position so I watch The Sweep again they were not there at all a call from a nearby US Air Force pilot confirms the worst two distinct fires on the ground two planes have gone down over chadri in the hours following the horrific Collision recovery teams find the wreckage of the kazak and Saudi aircrafts 4 and a half miles apart the two planes were carrying 349 people there are no survivors it's the worst midair Collision of all time the death toll is terrible it's terrible if it's several hundred it's terrible if it's even one person but what has to be true no matter how many people are killed in the v is what are we going to do about the next morning Captain KPS n is one of the first investigators on the scene I was G horrified it is something which I can't explain investigators have two separate crash sites to examine but they know one cause will explain both accidents thankfully the black boxes from from both aircraft are found while investigators wait for the data to be recovered they focus on conversations between the two planes and the air traffic controller hi I'm VI data how was it they want to know everything that data did on the night of the crash was traffic heavy evenings are always busy unlike most modern systems D's radar doesn't track a plan's altitude instead controllers write a plane's last reported position on a strip of paper this is the kazak one and this is the Saudi one kazak 1907 now reaching 1 15 data was supposed to ensure that the two planes were 1,000 ft apart as they approached each other Roger maintain flight level 140 standby for higher to confirm dat's in instructions investigators reviewed the air traffic control transcripts they learned that data gave the two planes the proper directions Roger maintained flight level 140 stand by since his radar system doesn't display altitude there was no way for him to tell if the planes followed his orders mostly there and there as close as you can get it one of the planes must have drifted from their assigned altitude but which crew is responsible for the Fatal Collision investigators in India catch a break when Engine pieces of the Saudi aircraft are found near the beginning of the Deb field it reveals that they were some of the first pieces to come off the plane after the Collision the significant point of contact was between the tail of the Isle 76 and the wing portion of the boing 747 of Saudi the tail of the kazak plane appears to have pierced through the left wing of the Saudi jet surprisingly the kazak flight wasn't above the Saudi jet when they collided as air traffic controllers [Music] thought between two aircraft the requirements specify a vertical minimum separation of 1,000 ft investigators wonder which plane was at the wrong altitude unfortunately the recovered cockpit instruments provide little help in verifying the aircraft's positions at impact I can't find anything too much damage I agree look at this Having learned all they can from the crash site the fate of the investigation Now lies in what details are stored in the flight data recorders 3 months later data from both the kazak and Saudi black boxes is successfully downloaded in order to avoid any suggestion of bias the boxes are analyzed in England by the experts at the air accidents investigation Branch 279 good day they concentrate on the data from the Saudi flight 763 first Saudi 763 approaching 140 for higher Roger maintain flight level 140 stand by PR Saudi 763 will maintain 140 both the CVR and the flight data recorder revealed that the Saudi Pilots received clear instructions from the controller and followed them maticulously it had the leveled at its assigned altitude of um 14,000 ft uh and continued to Fly level but when investigators examine the kazak's flight data they discover that it ascended to just over 1,000 ft below assigned altitude putting it within 10 ft of the Saudi flight to understand why the kazak plane was below its assigned altitude investigators turned to the cockpit voice recorder kazak 1 907 report level passing passing 2 4 kasac 1907 because the illusion is a modified military plane it has another unusual feature a position for a radio operator in the cockpit jagor rep handles all Communications for the kazak flight as they near the airport rep gets in touch with approach controller data I told uh kazak to descend and maintain flight level 1 15 that is 15,000 FT kazak 1 1907 now reach 1 15 it's 1 1 minute before the impact and the kazak plane is in position 1,000 ft higher than the Saudi plane but investigators know that instead of leveling off the plane continued to descend as it does data issues a traffic warning to the kazak pilots identifi traffic 12:00 reciprocal Saudi Boeing 747 and 10 Mi likely to cross another 5 miles report if in sight he tells them to watch out for the Saudi flight but the kazak jet just keeps flying lower ahead ahead suddenly the radio operator recognizes the plane is flying too low keep the 150 good not the set accelerate but his warning comes too late get to the 150 because the 140 one investigators are stunned why weren't the pilots monitoring their altitude report 8 Miles they go back to earlier in the recording while rep communicates with the ground neither the pilot nor co-pilot confirm the altitude instructions switch on the pilots are busy discussing arrival procedures rep appears to be the only one focused on their altitude what the level what level were we given the final report points a finger squarely at the crew of the kazak plane the kazak Pilot's failure to maintain altitude led to the deaths of 349 people investigators are also critical of the outdated radar that was being used in New Deli today new new radar systems allow controllers across the country to see an airplane's flight number altitude and heading preventing midair collisions from ever happening again it's not a matter of who did something wrong it's a matter of how can we change the way we do business to make sure this can't happen again not that it is unlikely but that it can't

Channel: Mayday: Air Disaster

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Id: M9cZyjYoJ7k

Length: 42min 35sec (2555 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 06 2024