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00:00A 737 cruising above the Indonesian jungle suddenly plummets from the sky.
00:07An Airbus A320 crashes into the French Alps.
00:14That must be horrible, knowing that they were going to die.
00:18Malaysia Airlines 370 vanishes over the Gulf of Thailand.
00:22What do you mean we lost track of something as big as a 777?
00:26At first, these accidents make no sense to investigators.
00:30What's going on?
00:31The findings shock the industry.
00:34The only way that this airplane could maintain a nose-down attitude was if somebody had flown it into that position.
00:42Human beings are complex entities.
00:44You'll have a certain percentage of them who will do things that are completely off base and unexpected and reprehensible.
00:56Oh, fuck.
00:58AA 1038.
00:59We're being at the end of the flight vehicle.
01:03The reconnaissance of South Africa.
01:05880 orbit.
01:07After a routine takeoff from Jakarta, Indonesia, Silk Air Flight 185 reaches cruising altitude.
01:14After a routine take-off from Jakarta, Indonesia, Silk Air Flight 185 reaches cruising altitude.
01:28Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. This is your captain. My name is Zui Ming.
01:34On the flight deck this afternoon, with me is First Officer Duncan Ward.
01:37The Boeing 737 is carrying 97 passengers and 7 crew to the airline's home base, Singapore.
01:49The flight should take about 80 minutes, heading north over the rainforests of Sumatra to Singapore's Changi International Airport.
01:59We'll be cruising today at 35,000 feet.
02:02Zui Ming was an experienced Singapore Air Force pilot. He'd been in their aerobatic team.
02:10He was always listed as an above-average pilot.
02:14Today's First Officer is 23-year-old Duncan Ward.
02:18The New Zealand-born pilot has been flying with Silk Air for little more than a year.
02:23Duncan initially found flying at the age of about 14.
02:29Suddenly he had a purpose in life. I think that's the best way to describe it.
02:4030 minutes after take-off, Jakarta Air Traffic Control makes its last scheduled radio call to Flight 185.
02:47Silk Air 185, maintain 350. At party, contact Singapore 134.4.
02:54Silk Air 185, roger. 134.4 before party.
03:04Moments later, while cruising at 35,000 feet, the plane unexpectedly banks sharply.
03:09Cabin crew were probably serving lunch at the time with carts in the aisles. It would have been horrific.
03:22The aircraft would have been inverted.
03:25Anything unsecured would have ended up in the ceiling.
03:31What happens to all of the people who might be standing up, to the people who are not buckled in,
03:37it doesn't bear careful examination. It's too horrible.
03:52All 104 passengers and crew have been killed.
03:57The 737 is submerged beneath the murky, muddy waters of Indonesia's Musi River.
04:04The 737 is submerged beneath the murky, muddy waters of Indonesia's Musi River.
04:07It was just something that, as a father, was so horrendous that it just has an enormous psychological effect on you.
04:21Investigator Santozo Sayogo takes charge of the team from Indonesia's National Transportation Safety Committee.
04:29Empty those bags.
04:32Put it with the other bags for processing.
04:33What we did is to go to the crash site, observe, and then record and preserve anything that we can use for the later investigation.
04:47Investigators need to find out why Silk Air 185 fell from the sky on a calm, clear day, without any sign of trouble.
04:55Because the 737 is American-made, U.S. Air Accident Investigator Greg Fythe is called in.
05:03It's good to see you.
05:05One of our primary concerns was trying to get the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder,
05:09because that was really going to help in establishing the course of the investigation,
05:15what directions, what elements that we really needed to focus our energies on.
05:19Searching the Musi River for the two black boxes is a physical ordeal.
05:26The visibility in the water was basically six inches in front of your face.
05:31They had to swim down and feel on the bottom, in the mud, what they thought were pieces, grab them, and bring them to the surface.
05:38On day five of the investigation, a major breakthrough.
05:46The flight data recorder, or FDR, is finally located in the river's muck.
05:51I can confirm. It is the FDR. Slightly damaged, but it doesn't look too bad.
05:57We sent the flight data recorder to our laboratories at the National Transportation Safety Board
06:02because the Indonesians didn't have a lab facility like that.
06:06While divers continue desperately searching for the other black box, the cockpit voice recorder, or CVR,
06:15Silk Air flight trainer Peter McMillan begins analyzing Indonesian radar returns
06:20and discovers the plane took a bizarre and dramatic dive.
06:28Good Lord. Take a look at this.
06:31The first 35 minutes are completely normal, but the last 30 seconds of the radar plot paint a terrifying picture.
06:40The aircraft disappeared from radar returns when it went below 20,000 feet.
06:50But when the aircraft left 35,000 feet to below 20,000 feet,
06:55it gave an approximate rate of descent of over 30,000 feet per minute.
07:00The maximum rate of descent is normally in the order of 5,000, 6,000, 7,000 feet per minute.
07:05So this was at a descent of great magnitude.
07:08Investigators can only wonder what was going on in the cockpit.
07:12Something only the CVR, still buried in the mud, can tell them.
07:17We are not very optimistic because of the situations at that time.
07:24Then, on the final day of the dredging operation...
07:27The CVR was found under 27 feet of mud under the bottom of the Moosey River.
07:43It was very fortunate.
07:46It will take time to extract the CVR's information.
07:49In the meantime, investigators have received a printout of the plane's airspeed, altitude, direction,
07:57and dozens of other parameters from the FDR.
08:00What happened here?
08:02They told me that the flight data recorder was stopped in the air.
08:08For the first 34 minutes and 14 seconds, all the flight parameters are normal.
08:13Then the FDR stops working.
08:15And then the plane starts to plunge.
08:19Investigators are baffled.
08:26Ready when you are.
08:27The mystery only grows deeper when investigators listen to the cockpit voice recorder.
08:35Some water?
08:37The last noise that we heard on the CVR recording
08:40was the snap of Sue's shoulder harness hit the floor.
08:45After that, the cockpit voice recorder stopped.
08:49That's it?
08:51Just like the flight data recorder, the CVR stops abruptly, but six minutes sooner than the FDR.
08:58That's almost impossible.
09:03So the question was, why did they stop?
09:05Did something happen in the air to the electrical system that caused the power to shut up?
09:11To test the plane's power systems, technicians overload the CVR's electrical circuit
09:18to see what it takes to trip the breaker.
09:20They discover that a power surge can cause a circuit breaker to pop with a distinct sound.
09:37We can clearly hear the signature voice of the circuit breaker pop out.
09:44But when they listen to the final seconds of the silk air recording, there is no signature sound.
09:53That told us that the electronic device did not fail from an overload
09:58where you get a surge in power that could have popped the circuit breaker.
10:02If there was no power surge and no other fault with the 737's electrical system,
10:09how could the FDR and CVR fail?
10:14Investigators face a disturbing possibility.
10:16You know what this means.
10:19I do.
10:21The black boxes didn't fail.
10:23So were they turned off on purpose.
10:30Investigators confront the terrible possibility that one of the pilots on Silk Air 185 crashed the plane.
10:41They use a Boeing flight simulator to examine their troubling theory.
10:47Okay.
10:49Let's input Silk Air flight 185.
10:51We took the data that we were able to get from the radar information
10:54and we fed it into this motion simulator
10:57to try and understand better the flight path of the airplane
11:01during its spiraling descent into the Moosie River.
11:05They test more than 20 different scenarios
11:08and find there's only one way to make a 737 drop as steeply and quickly as Silk Air 185.
11:14This time, no failure.
11:17Sustained pilot input only.
11:21It takes an extraordinary effort.
11:23But by rolling the plane sharply to the right
11:26and accelerating to top speed,
11:28the test pilot can match the Silk Air profile.
11:31The only way that this airplane could maintain a nose-down attitude
11:36and a high-speed dive
11:38was if somebody had flown it into that position.
11:41It's a shocking conclusion.
11:48One of the pilots crashed the plane on purpose,
11:51killing everyone on board.
11:53But now investigators must find out who.
11:56Was it the captain?
11:57Or the first officer?
11:59The last conversation on the CVR indicates that first officer Ward was alone
12:09shortly before the plane went into a dive.
12:13Silk Air 185, maintain...
12:15Five minutes later, Ward was still on headsets.
12:18Silk Air 185, roger.
12:201.34.4 before party.
12:22And two minutes after that,
12:23the plane fell into a dive.
12:25But tell me a bit about Duncan.
12:30Throughout our investigation, we are looking at both pilots,
12:33their professional background, their personal background,
12:36what activities they were performing in the days before the accident.
12:41And did he seem at all depressed in recent weeks?
12:44There's nothing in Duncan Ward's personal or professional record
12:48to raise any concern.
12:50Su Wei Ming was a married father of three school-age boys.
12:57Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.
12:59This is your captain.
13:00My name is Su Wei Ming.
13:02At Silk Air, the former Air Force Top Gun was on the fast track.
13:07But his personal finances were a disaster.
13:10We learned that the captain was under significant financial stress
13:16about the time of the accident.
13:19The trouble stemmed from high-risk online securities trading.
13:24Over the last four years, Ming had lost more than a million dollars.
13:28Shortly before the accident, for the second time in 1997,
13:32Captain Su's trading privileges in the Singapore stock market
13:39was suspended because of debts that he'd accumulated.
13:43On the morning of the flight,
13:46Su Wei Ming had promised to repay the debt
13:48as soon as he got back to Singapore.
13:52Though circumstantial, investigators are convinced
13:55the evidence points to only one possible scenario.
13:58Su Wei Ming is responsible for the murder of 97 passengers
14:02and six crew.
14:05But how exactly did he manage to carry out
14:08such a horrendous crime?
14:13Without the CVR, no one can know for certain
14:16what happened aboard Flight 185.
14:18But investigators have a likely scenario.
14:22Went back for a while.
14:24Here's your lunch.
14:24If he was going back, his right hand
14:28would have probably been within inches
14:31of the cockpit voice recorder circuit breaker.
14:41Ming needs to get Ward out of the cockpit.
14:45Duncan, there's a problem in the galley.
14:48He could easily have said to Duncan Ward,
14:50the girls want to see you in the back,
14:52there may be a leaky tap or something like that.
14:54All the person remaining in the cockpit has to do
15:04is to lock the door.
15:15The cockpit voice recorder was no longer recording,
15:18the flight data recorder was no longer recording.
15:20Seconds after disabling the FDR,
15:25Ming puts the 737 into a hard right roll.
15:30He placed it in an inverted dive,
15:32approximately 80 degrees, nose down,
15:35and if you had to use considerable force
15:37on the control column to keep it there.
15:40Duncan Ward has no hope of saving the plane.
15:43I know that he would have done whatever he could.
15:47In less than 60 seconds,
15:49Captain Su Wei Ming takes his 97 passengers
15:52and six crew members to their deaths.
15:55The systems that are in place to choose pilots,
16:00it's a heavily regulated system.
16:02But like any system involving human beings,
16:05on occasion, human beings slip through the system.
16:10Driven wings, this is Marseille.
16:11Come in, please.
16:14What's going on?
16:16Open this damn door!
16:18It's a sunny morning at Barcelona airport in Spain.
16:28After start checklist.
16:31Anti-ice.
16:32Anti-ice off.
16:34Rudder trim.
16:35Rudder trim is zero.
16:36The crew of German wings flight 9525
16:41is preparing for departure.
16:44Most of the 144 passengers
16:47are from Germany and Spain.
16:50On board the flight to Dusseldorf
16:52is a group of German high school students
16:54who've just finished a cultural exchange.
16:57Seat forward, please.
17:00Yeah.
17:02Singer Maria Radner
17:03is travelling with her husband and young son.
17:06The rising opera star
17:08just completed a string of performances in Spain.
17:11I was very proud of Maria.
17:16It made me so happy
17:17that she had chosen a profession
17:18that she truly loved.
17:20Making music and using her beautiful voice
17:23to bring people joy.
17:29Flight attendants,
17:30please take your seats for takeoff.
17:32Captain Patrick Sondenheimer
17:34is a former Lufthansa First Officer
17:36who recently transferred
17:37to German wings.
17:39You have control?
17:41I have control.
17:43First officer Andreas Lubitz,
17:45who has been with the airline
17:46for just over a year,
17:48will handle the flying.
17:50As a co-pilot,
17:51you're learning every hour,
17:53every day, on every flight.
17:55V1.
17:57Rotate.
17:57Just after 10 a.m.,
18:03German wings flight 9525 gets airborne.
18:09Autopilot on.
18:11Autopilot on.
18:13The plane is bound for Düsseldorf,
18:16flying northeast over the Gulf of Lyon
18:18towards the French Alps.
18:20It should land in just over two hours.
18:2527 minutes into the flight,
18:28the plane reaches its cruising altitude
18:30of 38,000 feet.
18:36Air traffic control in Marseille
18:38tracks the plane as it crosses France.
18:40Good morning, German wings.
18:42Direct Bermar.
18:46Four minutes later,
18:48the controller in Marseille
18:49notices flight 9525
18:51is dropping steadily.
18:53In just minutes,
18:54it's lost 10,000 feet.
18:56German wings,
18:57this is Valseille.
18:58Come in, please.
19:00We've got a problem here.
19:02German wings,
19:02unresponsive,
19:03descending rapidly.
19:05German wings, come in.
19:06Do you read me?
19:13Are we landing already?
19:16It seems odd.
19:17We shouldn't be.
19:24The control center
19:25is now in emergency mode.
19:27Driven wings,
19:28this is Marseille.
19:29Come in, please.
19:31The airbus is hurtling downwards
19:33at maximum operating speed,
19:35an astonishing 350 knots.
19:39German wings, come in.
19:41The plane has dropped
19:42below 7,000 feet.
19:47Pull up.
19:49Pull up terrain.
19:53We've lost contact.
19:54The first helicopters
20:15that flew over the site
20:16found just sort of
20:17an aircraft obliterated
20:19and, you know,
20:20just shattered
20:21into small bits and pieces.
20:23It was pretty immediate
20:26that they concluded
20:27that there couldn't possibly
20:28have been any survivors.
20:31Among the dead,
20:33Maria Radner
20:34and her young family.
20:41You're overwhelmed by it.
20:43You cannot think about anything
20:45other than the death
20:46of your children.
20:46It's the worst air disaster
20:55on French soil
20:56in more than three decades.
21:01France's accident investigation agency,
21:04the BEA,
21:05combs the site
21:06for the black boxes.
21:07At the same time,
21:14investigators turn
21:15to the radar data.
21:17Let's see how this plane
21:18is flying.
21:21They study the flight path,
21:23noting altitude,
21:24time,
21:25and direction.
21:26What they find
21:28is a straight,
21:29controlled path
21:30downwards.
21:32Completely under control
21:33right up until the end.
21:34Have we got through
21:37the maintenance yet?
21:40They wonder
21:41if a mechanical failure
21:42might be to blame,
21:43something the crew
21:44could not control.
21:49One theory
21:50fits the strange flight path,
21:52loss of cabin pressure.
21:54We've got a problem here.
21:56German wings,
21:57unresponsive,
21:57descending rapidly.
21:58When the airplane
21:59depressurizes
22:00and the pilots
22:01do not get
22:02enough oxygen,
22:04they will suffer
22:05from hypoxia.
22:06In other words,
22:07they will lose consciousness
22:09in a very short time,
22:10depending on the altitude
22:12of the airplane.
22:13At flight level 380,
22:15they will lose consciousness
22:16within about
22:1710 to 15 seconds.
22:19German wings,
22:20come in.
22:21Hypoxia would explain
22:23the radio silence.
22:26We found it.
22:29Investigators
22:29will be able
22:30to test that theory
22:31because at last
22:32searchers have found
22:33the cockpit voice recorder.
22:37Are we ready?
22:39Captain is mic one,
22:40first officer is mic two.
22:4680 knots.
22:48Cross checked.
22:53V1.
22:54Rotate.
22:54The take-off
22:56shows no hint
22:57of any trouble.
23:02Then the captain
23:03leaves the cockpit
23:04for a break.
23:06You can hear
23:06noises of a person
23:08going out
23:09of the cockpit.
23:13And from this point,
23:15the cockpit
23:15gets very quiet.
23:20Moments later,
23:21the plane
23:21starts descending.
23:22The cockpit
23:27microphone
23:27picks up
23:28the sound
23:28of the first officer
23:29breathing,
23:31evidence that the plane
23:32did not suffer
23:32a fatal depressurization.
23:38German wings,
23:39this is about to say.
23:40Come in, please.
23:42He's not starved
23:43for oxygen,
23:43no loss of cabin pressure.
23:45Why isn't he answering
23:45ATC?
23:46To unlock the door,
23:58the first officer
23:58needs to flick a switch.
24:04But there's no response
24:05from Lubitz.
24:08Why isn't he
24:08unlocking the door?
24:13Lubitz!
24:13The plane is now
24:18well into its descent,
24:20speeding towards
24:21the Alps.
24:23The sound of the banging
24:25grows louder and louder.
24:27Hearing the banging
24:28on the door
24:28is quite disturbing
24:30because it's not
24:32what you're used to
24:33listening to
24:34when you listen
24:35to CVRs.
24:35Investigators are forced
24:49to consider
24:50the unthinkable.
24:54Pull everything
24:54we've got on Lubitz.
24:56I wonder if you had
24:57just a few moments
24:58to talk.
24:58The BEA's job now
25:00is to find out
25:01why a 27-year-old pilot
25:03with a bright future
25:04ahead of him
25:04would lock his captain
25:06out of the cockpit
25:07and deliberately
25:08crash the plane.
25:12Investigators need
25:13to learn why
25:14first officer
25:15Andreas Lubitz
25:16would lock his captain
25:17out of the cockpit
25:18and crash
25:19German wings
25:20flight 9525.
25:24Police search
25:25Lubitz's apartment
25:26for clues.
25:30Okay,
25:31let's see
25:32what we've got.
25:32They go back
25:34seven years
25:35to Lubitz's
25:35basic training.
25:37Just two months
25:38into training
25:39he broke it off.
25:40He didn't return
25:41for nine months.
25:44It was for medical reasons.
25:46Depression.
25:49The records reveal
25:51that Lubitz suffered
25:52such a severe depression
25:53he was hospitalized.
25:55treatments included
25:59antidepressant drugs,
26:00psychotherapy
26:01and it emerged
26:05as well
26:05that he had actually
26:07had suicidal thoughts.
26:10He later applied
26:12to resume his training
26:13but needed
26:14a new medical certificate.
26:16He was still
26:17on antidepressants
26:18in early 2009.
26:20He had to provide
26:21a doctor's note.
26:24Lubitz got the clearance
26:25from his psychiatrist.
26:27He had a certification
26:29from his treating doctor
26:31that said
26:31that he was fully recovered.
26:34Lubitz received
26:35regular medical exams
26:36from company doctors.
26:38His last checkup
26:39was seven months
26:40before the crash.
26:42The medical examiners
26:44that saw him
26:45all thought
26:45he was fit to fly
26:46and as a matter of fact
26:47he flew safely
26:48for several years.
26:51But digging deeper
26:52into Lubitz's records
26:53investigators learned
26:55that in the months
26:56leading up to the crash
26:57he seemed to take a turn
26:58for the worse.
27:00He was convinced
27:01that perhaps
27:01he was losing his eyesight
27:03and yet
27:03nothing was found
27:04that was abnormal
27:05about his eyesight.
27:07He was becoming
27:07increasingly frightened
27:09to the point of desperation
27:10that his career
27:12was going to be disrupted.
27:13He saw something like
27:1641 different doctors
27:18complaining of the same
27:19symptoms
27:20and same issues.
27:24Investigators uncover
27:25even more disturbing evidence
27:27in Lubitz's apartment.
27:30What have we got here?
27:34A recent doctor's note
27:36advising the disturbed pilot
27:38not to fly.
27:40This note was issued
27:41just days before the crash.
27:43Some of his treating physicians
27:46had recommended
27:47that he stop flying
27:48perhaps
27:49enter a hospital
27:50a psychiatric hospital.
27:53Lubitz consulted
27:54dozens of doctors.
27:55Why did none of them
27:57contact the airline
27:58to raise the alarm
27:59about the pilot's
28:00spiraling mental state?
28:02In the German system
28:04doctors can potentially
28:05face prosecution
28:06if they breach
28:08their patient's
28:09medical confidentiality.
28:10investigators may have
28:13mapped out
28:13Lubitz's psychological
28:15collapse
28:15but what exactly
28:16was going on
28:17in the cockpit
28:18right before impact?
28:22Investigators need
28:23the second black box
28:25the flight data recorder
28:26to crack the mystery.
28:29After a 10-day search
28:31it is finally recovered
28:33from the crash site.
28:34Investigators hope
28:38the FDR
28:38can paint a picture
28:39of what the first officer
28:41was doing
28:41in the final moments
28:43of the flight.
28:48100 feet.
28:50Right after the captain
28:51left
28:52he set the altitude
28:53to 100 feet.
28:58Alone in the cockpit
28:59Lubitz drops the altitude
29:01to its lowest setting
29:02and cranks the speed dial
29:04several times
29:05until it reaches
29:06maximum operating speed.
29:08He was conscious
29:10to the very end.
29:12He was actively
29:13controlling the plane.
29:16Open the door.
29:19It's locked.
29:19Something's wrong.
29:23Open the door.
29:25Lubitz.
29:26What are you doing?
29:27Let me in.
29:27Let me in.
29:29The captain can see
29:33how dangerously low
29:35the plane is flying.
29:36Open the door.
29:38Lubitz.
29:41Get me the crash act.
29:43Open the door.
29:44Come on.
29:46Open the damn door.
29:49Come on.
29:55The captain
29:56was of course
29:57desperate to getting
29:58into the cockpit
29:59and he knew
30:01that this
30:01descent was continuing.
30:03Open this damn door.
30:06The captain crew
30:07was watching them.
30:08That must be
30:09horrible for them
30:10knowing that
30:11they were going to die.
30:15German wings,
30:16come in.
30:16Do you read me?
30:17He wanted to do that
30:46on purpose
30:46on purpose
30:47and he had planned it
30:48to not only
30:49himself
30:49but 149
30:51other people
30:52with him.
30:53I love you.
30:55Every night
30:58when I go to sleep
30:59I see a picture
31:00in front of my eyes.
31:02The three of them
31:03are crashing
31:04into a mountain.
31:06This image
31:06never goes away.
31:08The crash of flight 9525
31:15raises hard questions
31:17about the sanctity
31:18of doctor-patient
31:19confidentiality
31:20and whether doctors
31:21should alert airlines
31:23when necessary.
31:24The issue remains
31:25unresolved.
31:26It's important,
31:30vitally important
31:31for the investigative
31:32team of any accident
31:33to rule nothing in
31:35and rule nothing out
31:36until the evidence
31:37points in a particular
31:38direction.
31:40Malaysia 370,
31:42do you come?
31:43When Malaysia Airlines
31:45Flight 370
31:46vanishes
31:47over the Gulf of Thailand
31:48What do you mean
31:49we lost track
31:50of something as big
31:51as a 777?
31:52the investigation
31:53leads to a chilling
31:54theory.
31:55Kuala Lumpur
32:00International Airport
32:02Malaysia
32:02Malaysia Airlines
32:06Flight 370
32:07is completing
32:08final preparations
32:09for a night flight
32:10to Beijing.
32:12Would you fasten
32:13your seatbelt now,
32:14please?
32:17227 passengers
32:18are on board.
32:21Fuel pups.
32:23In the cockpit
32:23Check.
32:24Captain Zakhari
32:26Ahmad Shah
32:27is in command.
32:28An experienced
32:29pilot who's been
32:30with the airline
32:31for 33 years.
32:35Flap set.
32:36First officer
32:38Farik Abdul Hamid
32:39is flying a
32:40Boeing 777
32:40without an instructor
32:42for the first time.
32:43Forward takeoff
32:44checklist complete.
32:46We're ready to go,
32:47Captain.
32:47Good.
32:50Malaysia 370,
32:52runway 32, right?
32:53You are clear
32:54for takeoff.
32:58Malaysia 370's
32:59flight path
33:00will follow
33:01the air corridor
33:01that runs
33:02northeast
33:03over the Gulf
33:04of Thailand
33:04before continuing
33:05on to Beijing.
33:07The trip
33:08takes about
33:08six hours.
33:13Malaysia 370
33:14maintaining level
33:15350.
33:1620 minutes
33:19after takeoff
33:20they reach
33:20cruising altitude
33:2135,000 feet.
33:24When you get
33:24a big jet
33:25up to altitude
33:26and you've got
33:26her on autopilot,
33:27you've leveled off,
33:28you've run
33:28your cruise checklist,
33:30it really is time
33:30now to kind of
33:31throw the straps off
33:32and relax a little bit.
33:33As the plane
33:40crosses the Gulf
33:41of Thailand,
33:42controllers in
33:43Vietnam
33:43will take over
33:44from controllers
33:45in Malaysian airspace.
33:50The controller
33:51in Kuala Lumpur
33:52makes one last
33:53transmission
33:53at 1.19am.
33:55The crew
34:06is expected
34:07to contact
34:07Vietnamese controllers
34:08in less than
34:09one minute.
34:14But 19 minutes
34:16go by
34:16and still
34:17no word
34:18from flight 370.
34:22Controllers
34:23in Vietnam
34:24and Malaysia
34:25tried desperately
34:25to reach the plane.
34:27Malaysia 370,
34:29do you copy?
34:31There's no response
34:32from the cockpit
34:33and no sign
34:34of the plane
34:34on radar.
34:36Flight 370
34:37has vanished
34:38without a trace.
34:43Ladies and gentlemen
34:44of the media,
34:46we are
34:47deeply sadden
34:49this morning
34:51with the news
34:51on MH370.
34:55Stunned family members
34:57demand answers
34:58from the airline.
34:59But for now,
35:00the airline
35:01doesn't have any.
35:04Flight 370
35:06seems to have
35:07just vanished
35:07into thin air.
35:10Malaysian authorities
35:11launch a massive search.
35:15Australia,
35:16the US
35:16and China
35:17join the hunt.
35:18There's no sign
35:21of any wreckage.
35:23Good evening,
35:24ladies and gentlemen.
35:27But three days
35:27after the plane's
35:28disappearance,
35:29the Malaysian military
35:30released their radar data.
35:32It appears
35:33that three minutes
35:33after its last radio call,
35:35Flight 370
35:36inexplicably
35:37made a sharp turn
35:38off course.
35:40It's a startling development
35:41that fuels
35:42a whole host
35:43of theories.
35:44The moment
35:45that it appeared
35:46that there was
35:47a shadowy trace
35:47of this airplane
35:48making a left turn
35:49immediately after
35:50the last radio call
35:51with air traffic control,
35:53the possibility
35:53of hijack
35:54jumps into your face.
35:56Fly this plane
35:57to Australia now!
36:00Crews have a number
36:01of ways
36:02to send out
36:03a distress signal.
36:04But air traffic controllers
36:06never received
36:07any emergency call
36:08from Flight 370.
36:09For the same reason,
36:12an on-board fire
36:13almost certainly
36:14did not happen.
36:18The main problem
36:19with the fire scenario
36:21not seeming likely
36:22to me is
36:23the number one thing
36:24is that
36:25there was no radio call.
36:28With an on-board
36:30emergency unlikely,
36:31authorities focus
36:32on a disturbing lead.
36:34120 Dexamo 9.
36:36Good night.
36:37Good night.
36:38Malaysia 370.
36:40Two minutes
36:41after the last
36:42voice communication
36:43from the cockpit,
36:44Flight 370's
36:45transponder
36:46cuts out.
36:50Transponders
36:50transmit information
36:51like flight number
36:52and position
36:53to controllers
36:54on the ground.
36:56Even more troubling,
36:57a few minutes
36:58after the transponder
36:59cuts out,
37:00the signal
37:00from the ACARS
37:01system also
37:02switches off.
37:07ACARS,
37:08aircraft communications
37:09addressing and reporting
37:10system,
37:11uses satellites
37:12to transmit
37:13technical information
37:14between the ground
37:15and the aircraft
37:16in flight,
37:17but does not provide
37:20constant location data.
37:23Turning off
37:23the transponder
37:24is extremely
37:24straightforward,
37:25extremely simple,
37:26even on a sophisticated
37:27jet like the 777.
37:29Turning off an ACARS
37:30is not so simple.
37:31It takes a lot
37:32of knowledge.
37:32The only purpose
37:35of these systems
37:36is to communicate
37:36with the ground
37:37and there's no
37:39obvious electrical
37:40connection
37:41while both
37:42would be going out
37:43other than
37:43a human involvement.
37:46Investigators
37:46are faced
37:47with a terrible
37:47question.
37:49Was all contact
37:50from Flight 370
37:51cut off
37:52intentionally?
37:53Experts suspect
37:57that someone
37:58on board
37:59Flight 370
38:00turned off
38:00the plane's
38:01transponder
38:02and ACARS
38:03system,
38:04which transmits
38:04technical information
38:05between the ground
38:06and the aircraft.
38:07And then the investigation
38:11takes another
38:12disturbing turn.
38:14In London,
38:15Inmarsat,
38:16the company
38:16that runs
38:17the ACARS
38:17satellite network,
38:19makes a startling
38:20discovery.
38:22Even after the plane
38:23disappeared from radar
38:25and its transponder
38:26was shut off,
38:27its ACARS
38:28computer continued
38:29to answer
38:30automated pings
38:31from a ground
38:32station every hour
38:33until 8.19 a.m.
38:36It's done
38:37through an invisible
38:38handshake or ping
38:40between the network
38:41and the unit itself.
38:43The aircraft
38:44was continuing
38:44to signal
38:45a request
38:46for service,
38:47not for minutes
38:49up to the loss,
38:50but for over
38:51seven hours
38:51after it had
38:52disappeared
38:53from the radar
38:54system.
38:56It's a shocking
38:57discovery.
38:59Flight 370
39:00did not crash
39:01in the Gulf
39:01of Thailand,
39:02but was in the air
39:03for another
39:04seven hours.
39:06Suddenly,
39:07a search area
39:08focused around
39:09the South China Sea
39:10could now sprawl
39:11from the Indian Ocean
39:12to the South Pacific.
39:15What could have been
39:16happening on board
39:17all that time?
39:19We now know
39:20that it went
39:20in a certain direction.
39:21We know that it went
39:22thousands of miles
39:23out there.
39:23It flew for hours.
39:25Whether anybody
39:25was alive or not,
39:26we don't know.
39:29Further investigation
39:30shows that after
39:31the last radio call
39:33and first turn-off course,
39:35the plane made
39:36another two turns
39:37in the next 90 minutes,
39:39taking the plane
39:39west and then south.
39:42Those turns strongly
39:44suggest someone
39:45in the cockpit
39:45deliberately flew
39:47the plane off course.
39:48to evade detection.
39:56In my mind,
39:58somebody did this
40:00and it was a pilot,
40:01whether it was one
40:02of the two individuals
40:03up front who were
40:03charged with keeping
40:05that plane safe
40:06or whether it was
40:06somebody else
40:06we do not know.
40:07flaps set.
40:13Between the two pilots,
40:14the captain
40:15and the first officer,
40:15the first officer
40:16was an exuberant,
40:17brand new,
40:18young pilot
40:19who was just getting
40:20ready to get married.
40:20There are absolutely
40:21no earmarks
40:22that would be consistent
40:23with either
40:24a religious zealot
40:24or somebody
40:25who wants to end
40:26his life,
40:27let alone that
40:27of everybody else
40:28on board.
40:29If the first officer
40:30is cleared of suspicion,
40:32the captain
40:32becomes the prime suspect.
40:34Could you grab me
40:35a coffee
40:36while I finish
40:36checking this?
40:38Yes, captain.
40:39The captain of the flight
40:40has an authority.
40:41He is the pilot
40:42in command of the flight.
40:44He can direct
40:45the first officer
40:46to go back
40:47to the cabin
40:47for various reasons,
40:49whereas the first officer
40:49cannot.
40:51You're right.
40:56I can get a coffee
40:57for the captain.
41:00Alone in the cockpit,
41:02it would have been simple
41:03to switch off
41:04the transponder
41:05and change course
41:06towards an area
41:07with little radar coverage.
41:18If the captain
41:19of Flight 370
41:20took control
41:21of the cockpit
41:22and hijacked
41:23his own plane,
41:25the crew would have
41:27been powerless
41:28to stop him.
41:30As far as communication
41:32from an emergency basis
41:33from the cabin crew
41:34to the ground,
41:35you're almost always
41:37going to be unsuccessful
41:38with a cell phone.
41:40Hey, captain,
41:41open up in there.
41:42And there really
41:43is no method
41:44of just picking up
41:45the phone,
41:46bypassing the cockpit
41:47and calling the ground.
41:48You're pretty much
41:48along for the ride.
41:50And the captain
41:51has a potentially deadly weapon
41:53at his command.
41:55Captain,
41:55open the door.
41:56He can control
41:58the flow of air
41:59into the cabin.
42:08The Malaysian flight
42:10was flying
42:11at 35,000 feet.
42:13This is higher
42:14than Mount Everest.
42:16And without oxygen,
42:17you can expect
42:1830 to 60 seconds
42:20of useful consciousness.
42:21A loss of oxygen
42:24in the cabin
42:25would have triggered
42:26the release
42:26of oxygen masks,
42:28but passengers
42:28would have run out
42:29of oxygen
42:30in about 12 minutes.
42:34With the crew
42:35and passengers subdued,
42:37it would have been
42:38a simple task
42:39for the captain
42:40to fly Flight 370
42:41into the night,
42:43possibly never
42:44to be found.
42:45The whole world
42:46has an interest
42:47in what happened here,
42:48in finding out
42:49what happened,
42:49so that we can start
42:51to prevent it
42:51and see that
42:52it never happens again.
42:55This disappearance
42:56remains one of the
42:57greatest aviation
42:58mysteries of all time.
43:04There are
43:05six accidents
43:06over the last
43:0740 years
43:08around the world
43:09that have aspects
43:10of a deliberate action.
43:13Compared to the number
43:14of suicides
43:15in the general population,
43:16suicidal pilots
43:17are statistically
43:18almost non-existent.
43:21But every now
43:22and again,
43:23these pilots
43:24emerge from obscurity
43:25to inflict
43:26their horrific plans
43:27on innocent passengers.
43:29All the industry
43:30can do
43:31is remain
43:32as vigilant
43:32as possible.
43:34Suicide is so rare.
43:37It does happen,
43:39and once it happens,
43:40the industry
43:41tries to learn
43:42from it
43:43and bring in
43:43more scrutiny
43:45of individuals'
43:46performance,
43:47both physical
43:47and mental,
43:49to try and
43:50see those warning signs
43:52as quickly as they can
43:53and deal with them.
43:54...
43:55..
43:56..
43:56..
43:57..
43:59..
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