QF72 | Hero pilot Kevin Sullivan's quick thinking saves 315 people | Sunday Night

it's just after lunch onboard Qantas flight 72 from Singapore to Perth Qantas flight attendant fuzzy my Ava is busy attending to passengers in the cabin pastures for you madam if I can make your flight a lot easier I'm your man and I thought was gonna be another great day popping the cockpit has everything captain Kevin Sullivan has just climbed back into his seat after a rest break when suddenly the planes autopilot disconnects autopilot what appears to have disconnected and then we started getting stall warnings and then we started getting over speed warnings and then it happens the plane it started going down pitching down violently down denies for the first time the previously untold story of choruses worst ever accident bang my head went through the cabin ceiling how a plane went psycho injuring 100 passengers and crew you died six or seven times on the operating table I'm lucky to be here alive and destroying once happy lives it got to the point where I tried to take my own life the heroic pilots who fought against his own plane to save his passengers and crew the automation is there to keep you safe it was actually trying to kill us and how the lessons of Qantas flight 72 have gone unheeded all of us are deeply sorry for the lost wife with two planes crashing within six months of each other killing all 346 people on board when you see what's happening with the 737 max accidents they're the same they were in no-man's land they didn't know what was happening and their instinctive reaction to pull back and stop the ground from hitting them was not enough to save the day Kevin Sullivan doesn't fly anymore what happened that day in the skies over the Indian Ocean has affected him profoundly I could have hidden it but I think it's more courageous to be honest with yourself and honest to say yeah I'm it's it's affected me I don't shirk my responsibility as a commercial pilot in the captain I reached the point where it was best that I stopped growing up in California Kevin always dreamed of being a pilot and by his early 20s he was a top gun fighter pilot in the US Navy as a f-14 pilot in the Cold War I flew off aircraft carriers the landing area moves at night you can't see the landing area until you're actually on it we were essentially at war we trained and flew to that level of extreme readiness then came an opportunity to fly Mirage jets as part of an exchange program with the Royal Australian Air Force it's a speed machine at low level I've been very fast over 600 knots 1,200 kilometers an hour the young American loved Australia and those jets so much he ended up settling here after you Kevin thank you how did you organize this what do you think yeah it's pretty special the mirage 3 then she is we called it the French lady where the Aussies did and I do too [Music] we can't stand on the seat you need a degree just to get in 35 years along life's runway and Kevin Sullivan's love for his French lady hasn't dimmed it's just like getting into a Formula One car you don't have much room it becomes part of you not a bad place to hone your skills there's no automation on this thing if they don't know how to fly this one by hand I tell you Kevin eventually moved on to a job with Qantas flying its biggest passenger jets by October 2008 he's had decades of experience as a commercial pilot but it's his time as a Top Gun that will prove crucial we're coming up to the northwest coast of Australia we could see it out the windscreen and the ocean was calm and blue on this clear blue day at the controls of a Qantas Airbus captain Kevin Sullivan is about to be tested in the most dramatic way possible disconnected when was the first indication of trouble the autopilot disconnected and then we started getting stall warnings it sounds like stall stall means the plane will stop flying it will start to go down and then we started getting over speed warnings at the same time it's impossible doesn't make sense to me because over speed is you're at your maximum limit and stall it means you're at your minimum speed limit best officer to the plot next place and then the plane started moving and initially it was a dip and then it started going down pitching down aggressively and violently down it generated enough force that we had to brace ourselves against the instrument glare shield to stop from basically hitting the ceiling even with our seatbelts secured I was accelerating down towards the Indian Ocean and certainly my wind screens were filled with the Indian Ocean QF 72 is in a distance and refusing to let Kevon take control this is my broad understanding so the planes flying along the sensors are giving some sort of information of the computer system that the plane is pointed upwards so it tries to overcorrect and and then obviously points you back down is that is that a fair summary yes in a way it's saying sorry keV I'm protecting you so I'm not gonna let you stop me like the Hal 9000 you know in 2001 Space Odyssey where they've asked him to open the pod bay doors and mmm houses I'm sorry Dave I can't let you do that I'm pulling back on the stick and I'm saying hey Hal stop moving the nose and it's like I'm sorry keV I can't let you do that but no way is this proud ex-fighter pilot going to let a rogue computer beat him I was in a near death position and I was going to fight to the death to make sure that didn't happen Qantas flight 72 from Singapore is cruising comfortably at 37,000 feet [Music] in just over two hours the Airbus a330 will land in Perth it's been a routine flight some of the passengers on board are off duty quaters staff returning from holidays among them Bruce South caught a flight services manager traveling with his wife Caroline aircraft was flying flattened stilt men I watched the glass of wine said they was adorable but up in the cockpit the planes flight control system is going haywire aircraft computers a telling captain Kevin Sullivan his plane is about to stall and then the plane is hurtling down towards the Indian Ocean there wasn't really any first sign it just happened like the hand of God had just pushed the aircraft down there was no wall that's going as a roller coaster was just like slam Bruce is wearing his seat belt but Caroline is just coming back from the toilet I remember getting hit on the head with the plane and I just went bang and before I could think bang again and then the third bang my head went through that didn't happen ceiling after the third time that hit me on the head I pretty much was knocked out an off-duty quota spoilers Peter Casey and his wife Diana a Qantas customer service manager have left their seats to say hello to flight attendant Fuzzy's my over fuzzy gotta love you understand they're checking out the catering as he does the three was chatting away I pasted my meal in the oven I was focused on the time while you see cuz I was hungry and then when I saw the exact time on it was 13 seconds and that's when I saw the corner of my eye someone has just showed up and I just sort of looked down and like the plane was like disappearing from my feet I heard a slight change in the airflow of the airplane and is interesting in the next year you know what Papa we went I must hit Tommy I must hit the ceiling because I just was knocked out the three of us top of the ceiling probably only four seconds but it seemed like an eternity the Casey's daughters 17 year old Becky an 18 year old Elise are at the front of the cabin the first nosedive my sister she grabbed on to the bottom of her chair and she looked up at me as I was on the top of the aeroplane you were actually pinned to the ceiling yeah I feel like forever it did felt like a few minutes Kevin Sullivan is desperately trying to take back control of his plane we're basically fighting for our lives at this stage they had a very quickly discover what part of the airplane was trying to kill them and how to stop it from doing so if there's any other pilot who understands exactly what captain Sullivan is facing it's the other Sally captain Chesley Sullenberger lost both his engines in a bird strike and had to land his plane in New York Hudson River captain I'd like your insight if I could I'm trying to tap into I guess the anguish of that moment what it must have been like for the pilot well the first it would have been confusing surprising a huge startled factor and then one would immediately begin to act to regain control of the airplane Kevin Sullivan's next moves is completely counterintuitive instead of pulling back on the control stick he lets it go I have a choice to make do I hold on to it or do I release it and my military training for out of control is to release neutralized controls it works the plane is no longer falling from the sky but now passengers back down to the floor we heard an almighty crash coming from the cabin and that was the people's bodies that was the galleys coming apart and it's it sounds like a 40-foot shipping container full of cutlery and glass that is sent down a ramp into a brick wall just came crashing down my sister she was eating and her fork went in my arm got a bit stuck when I came down the little things that you remember when I came back down I hit the armrest yeah and then I realized that my bones and clicking in my back and I realized that there was something terribly wrong very wrong I couldn't move off the floor that this staff were asking me to go back to my chair and I couldn't get up at all I couldn't move my legs at all your legs weren't working nope my ankle was broken so my ankle was just sort of hanging eventually another passenger came and picked me up and put me in my chair hit the the galley bench that's what woke me up all I could hear was the crushing sounds when he is growing I don't know what the heck is going on all I see is blood rushing into Peters head and Dianna she's unconscious and you know I see the the two girls I was looking after oh man one of them who was said on the Aussie she stuck her hand out to me and she was just just crying and to me that's like my own my own daughter you know anybody I mean I just couldn't do anything and I just felt so helpless because I couldn't move back in the cockpit Kevin Sullivan has pulled the plane out of its death dive what the hell was that but he's still fighting for control it's the primary flight computer now we're in this revolver of faulting systems in effect this is a total system collapse the plane is starting to melt down automatic brakes not working let's get us back up to 37,000 feet I'm still pretty coherent and yes my cages are a little bit rattled because we don't know what's happening and just two minutes later don't you do it it happens again I'm basically a passenger I'm an observer now the automation that's there is supposed to be keeping me safe not putting me into harm's way and I got very angry I thought it was the end really it was so violent you thought you were going to die I think being so young as well not having experienced life outside of high school yet you don't really know what to expect in the big world and honestly I just thought that with it well I could hear was the sounds of the sounds what we were gonna die but you just hope to god that it happens quick in death yes and not to I don't want to feel any pain I was frozen like a block of ice just waiting for it to happen once again Kevin Sullivan's military training saves his plane we have lost Auto pitch trim but he has no idea if or when it will happen again sorry reset no don't everyone responds to trauma differently kevin sullivan cracks a joke he picks a line from another of his favorite movies flying high sniffing glue first officer peter Lipsett had been on a break when the plane went into its dive he's injured but he makes it back to the cockpit that's a shit fart out there I think I've just broken my nose congratulations we're in trouble I made the assessment that we're in trouble and I've never used those terms in any situation prior to that in my extreme flying career Evan Sullivan is in the fight of his life the quaters captain has twice managed to stop his out-of-control plane from plunging into the Indian Ocean he needs to get his 315 passengers and crew down onto the ground fast before it happens again he heads for the nearest airport the are wif base at lea month on Western Australia's northwest coast I couldn't risk exposing myself and the passengers to an out-of-control airplane any longer than I had to and Leier month was just off our left wing and that's where we decided to go in the cabin behind him more than 100 passengers are injured many have been knocked unconscious others have broken bones and bleeding wounds passengers to fasten seatbelts immediately Caroline South Court is in absolute agony her back is broken and a single piece of skin is keeping her foot attached to her leg but she has no choice she has to sit in her seat I was really worried my bones are gonna go through my spinal cord so I had to hold myself up on the on the armrest for I think it must have been 45 15 min it would have been easy because she said she could physically feel and hear her spine just grating like that against it yeah very funny noise prior to that I've never had pain bad pain so it was a matter of life and death it's a it was a matter of suck it up princess you've gotta do something here Caroline now notices that her nearly severed left foot is facing backwards during all this pain she looked down at the ankle and said that's not right not happy with that she pulled the ankle forward rotated it then clicked it back in the place reset it I think there was no choice it was it was vital died in the rear galley Peter and Diana are all badly injured Fuzzy's is desperate to get to the two unaccompanied children he is looking after but his legs won't work I could even move I wanted to I tried so much to reach out and I knew I could not move Peter is bleeding profusely from a head wound diana has suffered a badly injured back and shoulder somehow she finds the strength to help the people around her I tell you what Diana man she was incredible she's like she might me up Hulk you know a you know a gentleman came out of her and and like she could lift anything you know and she made it happen and I can hit Donna saying okay Fazio next man she was incredible tell you right now man that lady deserves recognition of what she did pretty amazing wife you have there very proud Diana Casey is one of the true heroes of this story but you won't hear her speak it's a slap in the face to Diana's extraordinary courage but Cuates has refused to let Diana or any of its current staff be interviewed for this program as a former employee fuzzy me over isn't bound by such small-minded constraints how on earth did she manage to get fuzzy if you'll allow me a reasonably big unit up off the ground into the seat Oh bang she just sort just grabbed my pants you know and grabbed I just grabbed me you know and like I felt like was being pulled by you know by by six foot eight athlete you know in Dean she just looked at me and she just saw pieces we're gonna be okay and she gave me a kiss on the forehead said you'll be that you're gonna be fine in circumstances like that the pilot in the cockpit gives an order for people to sit down and medially well that's what they're gonna do but in this circumstance there were people who are unsecured and she took it upon herself to break the protocol because they need to and I totally completely agree with that there's a need to to care for people are needed to be secured final check with dozens of his passengers requiring urgent medical attention Kevin Sullivan now has to land his crippled Airbus a330 on that remote airfield at lea month okay we're on visual approach manual thrust manual fitchburg is now flying his aircraft entirely by hand but Kevin knows that at any moment the planes computer might try to wrest back control you know thousand feet but now we know that at this point if something happens we don't have the altitude to recover don't you do it [Music] I remember when we lay into everyone class [Applause] Kevin's Joe is outstanding and what I would believe to be immense pressure did you allow yourself just the briefest moment to look down at your arms and legs and think my goodness I'm a lot no I made another quip I did my Arnie investing impersonation from True Lies I said yeah I did a pathetic sight when the otherwise dull day as we were rolling down there joking yeah I'm serious yeah of course because yeah that's my okay so that's my release only now is Kevin Sullivan able to walk back through his aircraft to inspect the damage I call it the walk that changed my life it's quite confronting the interior of the cabin was almost destroyed there are holes above the seats where passengers heads have punctured the plastic and there's lots of them of course there were children the children were had huge contusions on their heads where some were bleeding and the parents are holding their children trying to confirm console them as I walk past and the look of what you did to my kid is will never leave there was almost a moment for you as you made that walk where you you felt it that your heart was breaking is that true yes [Music] timeout so this is a critical part that's a valid question I imagine that's one of the most significant moments of your life I'm the head honcho I'm the one that has to show leadership and strength but it's pretty hard when emotional chunks are being ripped off you as you move through the airplane Qantas flight 72 has landed at the remote Lee month airstrip on the northwest coast of Western Australia captain Kevin Sullivan has brought his plane down safely but with so many lives in the balance the emergency is far from over local rescue crews swarm through the plane the emergency services kill came on board and it was like it was chaos the pain the pain was unbearable I think I nearly passed out and in each minute I got a morphing stick stuck in my mouth you suck on it big fella I imagine that was a pretty big relief yeah she's sucking epic for luck on that big fall in the terminal captain Sullivan grabs a megaphone and addresses the passengers who have made it off the air bus uninjured I made some comment about the runway looked pretty damn good to me as we rolled out for landing and at that point everybody was cheering again kevin is relieved to be on the ground but he now knows what was happening in the cabin while he was wrestling for control of the plane more than 100 passengers are injured some critically they were accelerated into the ceiling and was such a force that their heads broke through the plastic not soft savvy Asian Greg plastic the most seriously injured our ear lifted to Perth by the Royal Flying Doctor Service among them Caroline's south cot the pain in my back it was pretty bad I could remember just fighting to keep breathing because the thought if I stopped breathing I'll go unconscious and then no one's gonna get me back you're initially thinking about well what's post-injury gonna be like how's she gonna walk and it will she walk and all that and then they take it to the next level and say do it well know what we're saying here is it her survival is in doubt and that's what I mean that's when you you do freak she's rushed into emergency surgery with a broken back her life is slipping away you died six or seven times on the operating table I'm lucky I can walk and I'm lucky to be here alive how would you describe the surgery that Caroline went through in her graphic terms yeah they kept me down here and they put on me visits on the table so they could get to it like your spines on your back as it were knows but the injury had to be addressed from the front of the spine so they had to do all that and then put everything back in place and stitch her up they've put on the table and did their work and then they put it back in again threw it back in but there's pain behind Caroline's laughter her body is a miracle of surgical architecture they were able to replace my vertebrae with a cage and biological cement and bone from my hip that I can even move it's not 100% but it's better than it was like this again since then there's the mental anguish nowadays Bruce and Caroline livers near recluses on their property in Queensland it's one of the few places they feel safe [Music] Becki refuses to fly and lives with the trauma every day I can see how painful it is these memories that you still living with it's still very real very berry how was this changed you I'm quite an emotional ball now um I saw psychologists they diagnosed me with PTSD it's not a fun thing to have when you're 17 I was medicated until I was pregnant with my first child that's when I had to come off them and yeah it's not a nice thing you're a teenager flight attendant fuzzy my Ava can't work anymore because of his injuries I had to replace both knees I've now got two titanium knees and I I ruptured spleen in my my spine I I have seven damaged discs that's the pain I I get every day and they trigger on the the nightmares and the fresh bags it's really severe it's really bad I came to sleep properly at night I toss and turn and that's when I the flash base come and so in order for me to get around that I keep hitting the wall just to ground myself Jay fussy that is an enormous thing for one person to have to deal with even now you're still having flashbacks still hitting the wall man it got to a point the seriousness of it they've got to the point where I I tried to take my own life I ended up in ICU for a coma for a week and because I couldn't take it any longer that the pain was unbearable I've been medically retired as well and I thought to myself what's happening it was like I've been just discarded you know some of the victims of qf 72 received six-figure payouts but not fuzzy as an employee Cuates offered him just $33,000 a settlement he rejected on legal advice in the end this proud man was left with nothing [Music] fuzzy do you feel as though you were properly supported like I said you know I have a grocery speakable qantas it's a tough question I know yes I can see that even now you're reluctant to criticize the airline that you loved but the reality is that for you some support any support would have made the world of difference it would have helped me my family a great deal to be honest [Music] kevin sullivan didn't suffer any physical injuries but the events of that day continued to haunt him three years ago he made the difficult decision to stop flying he hold on to those images those memories as if they were yesterday and that's just what your brain does when you're in this sort of near-death traumatic experience your brain records in high-definition and it stays in there it doesn't go away Qantas flight 72 was cruising at 37,000 feet when the on-board computer suddenly went haywire sending the plane hurtling down the Australian Transport Safety Bureau blamed incorrect data to the emergency but it hasn't been able to explain how or why it all sounds eerily similar to the recent bowing max crashes in those two cases flight computers reacted to faulty data the pilots couldn't regain control of their planes and 346 people died it's important also to remember that while humans are often the least predictable part of the safety system they're by far the most resilient and adaptable the ones who can confront a challenge they've never seen before and in a short period of time figure out a way to solve even that crisis captain Chesley Sullenberger the hero of the Hudson River Landing believes that replacing pilot skills with increased automation is a fatal mistake what we have learned in aviation is that automation does not decrease errors but it changes the nature of errors that are made as we use more and more technology in the cockpits we must always make sure that the humans are in complete control of the aircraft and his flight path as a former elite fighter pilot Kevin Sullivan had the skills to bring his plane down safely the passengers and crew of QF 72 know they were incredibly lucky this guy saved my life and he did an opportunity to be here and I'm breeding I'm here I'm here in the flesh because of that man Fuzzy's my iva is now campaigning to get captain Sullivan and his flight crew the recognition they deserve I think they deserve the Qantas Dimon chairman award and also the cross or Bella I believe that's the Australians Australia's highest civilian bravery award so if you're out there please sign a petition so it'll help give chemistry and acknowledged and wickedness protective way our lives carry Union yep everyone does do you think he should be recognized for that absolutely no idea you definitely save 250 people's lives yep hero definitely definitely without a doubt what would you say to him thank you give him a big hug [Music] Becky can't get on a plane to deliver that hug but fuzzy my Ava has bravely cast aside his fear of flying and flown from New Zealand to thank his hero in person and I know you still think about the passengers they're very top of mind for you we actually have one of them here now to say a bit of a hello is that right he's just over there over your left shoulder [Music] [Laughter] [Music] he has been dying to see you fuzzy is this the first time you've flown is this right I mean time to meet up with you you're the reason I'm here if it wasn't for you given we would not be here and I'm serious and I don't think you might say that you know a job and get paid for it wow this is very unique and that's why I was so passionate and try and get this in the public realm to get the Qantas group in the Australian government to to acknowledge and recognize you because this is something unique it's it's unheard of you know and that's why I'm so passionate and I will never give up I will never give up you brother will never give of it and those calls for recognition are taking off what Kevin Sullivan achieved that day has come to represent a line in the sand for pilots who refused to relinquish any more control of their planes to computers captain Sullivan from one sullied to another I congratulate you on having built and led your team well and facing such an extreme crisis on cue s72 keeping your passengers and crew safe and since your former US Navy naval aviator and fighter pilot Bravo Zulu I salute you you

Channel: Sunday Night

Views: 1,928,417

Rating: 4.7910128 out of 5

Keywords: Sunday Night, Channel 7, Australia, Australian News, world news, story, stories, Melissa Doyle, Matt Doran, QF72, QF 72, Qantas, fight, plane, airplane, emergency, disaster, autopilot, malfunction, 737 Max, Airbus, Boeing, travel, airline, GA200, FAA, jet, software, IATA, JT610, ET302, black box, engines, wings, cockpit, cabin, Captain, Pilot, Kevin Sullivan, Fuzzy Maiava, Perth, Singapore, documentary, Air Crash Investigations, nosedive, injuries, injured, joystick, control-stick, panic, descent, aviation safety

Id: 0cS1SMptlnQ

Length: 40min 24sec (2424 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 03 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/Igloooooooooo]

Little bit of excitement otherwise dull day.

Cool to see a Yank flying(flew) Down Under...