- vor 22 Stunden
On 19 August 1980, Saudia Flight 163 suffers an in-flight fire in the cargo hold. Despite returning to Riyadh International Airport, the flight crew fail to perform an emergency evacuation, and the aircraft bursts into flames on a taxiway. All 301 people on board die from smoke inhalation.
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00:00soon after departing Riyadh the pilots of Saudia flight 163 get terrifying news fire fire in the
00:15cabin a fire in the cabin isn't spread very very rapidly fire equipment is in standby positions
00:22and ready the passengers were probably terrified they're able to return to the airport
00:28okay we are shutting down the engines now and evacuating but only minutes later
00:34Saudia 163 do you read everyone on board is dead none of it made any sense investigators discover
00:43critical evidence on the cockpit voice recorder it's just smoking the aft he continually downplaying
00:50the situation if he had gone back to see for himself then perhaps things would have been different
00:57it's 20 past nine on a hot evening at Saudi Arabia's Riyadh International Airport
01:27Saudia 112 line up and hold clear to leave Riyadh via Derma climb and maintain 350 left turn from
01:39takeoff in the tower controllers are handling a full roster of flights most are scheduled after sunset when
01:47the heat dies down everything is running smoothly until a recently departed Saudia flight calls in go
01:59ahead 163 we're returning back to Riyadh which changes everything clear to reverse course back to Riyadh
02:06this is extremely dangerous it doesn't get any more serious than this this is basically a pilot's worst
02:22case nightmare okay cleared back you can descend to any altitude you'd like 163 we can descend to any altitude
02:30when an aircraft reports to the air traffic control tower that they have a fire on board
02:37they clear other airplanes out of the way and that airplane is given top priority to land and an evacuation
02:44should then ensue the flight originated in Karachi Pakistan before stopping over in Riyadh it was heading to Jeddah but now must turn back
02:55your number one for landing 163 Saudia flight 163 is a tri-star L-1011 the L-1011 as a three-engine wide-body long-range
03:15transport airplane he was designed to go very long distances carry hundreds of people had excellent
03:22performance and mechanically reliable there are 287 passengers on board and some at the rear of the
03:33cabin are having difficulty breathing the smoke is the first indication of a fire the pilots reported to
03:41air traffic control the passengers were probably terrified and the aircraft needed to be on the ground as
03:47soon as possible 38 year old captain Mohammed Ali Hawaita is the pilot flying he's been with Saudia for 15
03:56years and is now responsible for getting the plane and passengers back safely 26 year old first officer
04:05Sami Abdullah Hassanane is the pilot monitoring how many passengers on board I would declare an emergency
04:17yeah American Bradley Curtis is the flight engineer you really could not fly an airplane like the L-1011 without a
04:31flight engineer to manage all of the aircraft systems that modern-day aircraft were all done by
04:38automation flight 163 is now less than four minutes from the airport please stay in your seats
04:46emergency crews are standing by
04:52as the smoke in the cabin increases the purser does her best to prepare passengers for landing
05:21place your hands behind your head head between your knees
05:28Saudia 163 has been on fire for at least 17 minutes
05:36a fire in the cabin can spread very very rapidly
05:42it can be very difficult to contain so it becomes a race against time
05:52Saudia 163 fire equipment is in standby positions and ready please advise the fire trucks to be at the tail
05:58of the airplane after touchdown please
06:05the L-1011 touches down 16 minutes after the crew first called in the fire
06:13tower could you advise if there's any fire in the tail of the aircraft
06:20can you advise if there's any fire in the tail of the aircraft
06:22stand by
06:23guys do you see a fire in the tail
06:25the controller checks with the fire team on the ground
06:29we don't see flames
06:31no no fire
06:33they say no nothing they can see
06:35163
06:36Saudia 163 now turns onto a taxiway
06:41and comes to a stop
06:44once the aircraft comes to a full stop
06:48it theoretically should be able to be evacuated in under 90 seconds
06:53Saudia 163 do you want to continue to the ramp
06:57or do you want to shut down
07:01stand by
07:03okay we are shutting down the engines now and evacuating
07:06okay Saudia 163 understand you are holding and shutting down
07:10affirmative and evacuating
07:14when you have a fire in the cabin
07:16the available oxygen is being eaten up very quickly
07:20passengers cannot breathe
07:23they are being overcome by smoke and fumes
07:27and you have to get the doors open and get people out
07:32the plane's doors remain closed
07:36the fire is spreading
07:38there's fire in the tail
07:41tell them to turn the engines off
07:43firefighters are unable to approach the plane
07:46with an aircraft of this size
07:48even with those engines at idle speed
07:51they can actually still suck individuals into the engines
07:56captain said he's switching off the engines and evacuating now
07:59put the fire out please
08:00we can't because the engines are still running
08:03the engines are still running I can hear them
08:06so as these toxic substances continue to build such as carbon monoxide
08:17eventually you lose consciousness and you and you die
08:22Saudia 163 do you read
08:25Saudia 163 do you read
08:27shut down the engines
08:34there's no response from the cockpit
08:36and no signs of an evacuation
08:39so none of it made any sense
08:42three minutes and fifteen seconds after stopping on the taxiway
08:46flames consume the aircraft
08:55not a single person escapes
09:00my heart breaks for them
09:04the next morning the scale of the devastation is clear
09:09the fire has obliterated the upper fuselage from tail fin to cockpit
09:16all 301 people on board are dead
09:21it's the second deadliest single aircraft disaster to date
09:26it was a very tragic situation
09:29it was just inconceivable to everyone
09:32it's now up to investigators to sift through the smoldering wreckage
09:37to find out what happened
09:39flight 163 had two main questions to present to the investigators
09:44one was why the aircraft came to a stop and didn't evacuate the passengers
09:50and the other was why was there a fire on this aircraft in the first place
09:59the National Transportation Safety Board or NTSB
10:02and the aircraft manufacturer Lockheed
10:05send investigators to Riyadh to help the Saudis determine the cause of the catastrophic fire on flight 163
10:12the Saudis were in charge according to international rules
10:18but they didn't have a lot of major aircraft accident experience
10:21so the US NTSB supported them and helped them with the investigation
10:26just some soot black box should be fine
10:33crew were found in their seats
10:36but look at where the passengers and some of the flight attendants were found
10:39investigators discover that passengers had moved forward and gathered near the doors
10:45after the airplane came to a stop there must have been mass confusion
10:52did they try to open the doors
10:55doesn't look like it
10:57none of the emergency handles were pulled
10:58the fact that no one attempted to open the doors from the inside of the aircraft
11:06leads me to believe that they were already incapacitated and could not open their doors
11:13they examine the devastated cabin to figure out how the fire started
11:19looks like someone tried to put out the fire
11:21looks like someone tried to put out the fire
11:26the roof was totally gone
11:28the sides were gone
11:30everything was burned away
11:34the seat frames
11:36but the fabrics were all burned away
11:41total destruction in the cabin area
11:46there's something at the back you're going to want to see
11:53well
11:59what do we have here
12:01when we got to the back part of the airplane
12:04on the left side in the aisle
12:07was a hole in the floor
12:09looks like the fire came up through the floor
12:13the hole is the investigators first clue about the origin of the fire
12:28yeah we need to get down there
12:30appeared to me that's where the fire started under that hole
12:34because a fire burns up not down
12:38so that made us want to know what was beneath that hole
12:47be careful there
12:49investigators examined the cargo compartment below the rear cabin
12:54looks like the fire burned a hole in the compartment ceiling
12:58right here
12:59fuel lines are scorched
13:05the throttle and flight control cables are damaged too
13:08on a tristar
13:11the control cables throttle cables and fuel lines
13:14run through an eight inch space above the rear cargo compartment
13:18did a burst fuel line cause the fire
13:23when investigating any fire you're looking for the the causes that may be very obvious
13:34engineering things mechanical things that you look at to try and see if you can eliminate those sources of fire and ignition
13:42investigators also discover a burned out hole on the left side of the compartment
13:49it's like a burst hydraulic pipe
13:54some melted wires
13:55maybe an electrical short
13:57hydraulic leak cause the fire
14:00when we looked inside that cargo compartment
14:03there were all kinds of possibilities of what could have caused the fire
14:08they remove the charred mechanical components for further testing
14:15as part of the investigation
14:21there were several things we wanted to eliminate
14:24at the start
14:25including
14:26was it electrical failure
14:28was it a hydraulic systems failure
14:31or some other mechanical failure
14:34if there is a fault in one of the systems on this plane
14:39then the tristar fleet
14:41nearly 200 planes flying worldwide
14:43could be at risk as well
14:48we've got the results
14:51lab tests have been performed on the fuel electrical and hydraulic systems from
14:56Saudia flight 163
15:01no detectable evidence that the fuel system leaked
15:08what about the electrical system
15:10no there were no shorts
15:13and the hydraulic systems were also fine
15:17the tests we conducted
15:19indicated that all the failures that occurred
15:22with the systems were caused by the fire
15:25they did not cause the fire
15:27so the fire
15:31must have started inside the cargo bay
15:34we need to rule out a bomb
15:39a bomb expert from the UK
15:44was brought in
15:45and his expertise is
15:48determining if there was explosives
15:50or incendiary devices
15:52nine months earlier
15:55the great mosque in Mecca
15:57was seized by insurgents
15:58who called for the overthrow
15:59of Saudi Arabia's rulers
16:01hundreds of worshippers were killed
16:04did extremists plant a bomb
16:07in the luggage compartment
16:08of this flight
16:09headed to Mecca
16:10no evidence of a timing device
16:13no structural damage
16:15no structural damage
16:16suggesting an explosion
16:17no small fragments in the structure
16:22so no bomb
16:27the bomb experts
16:28did an exhaustive search
16:29and examination of the wreckage
16:31including
16:32was it electrical
16:33his investigation revealed
16:35no explosives
16:37no incendiary devices
16:39let's check previous cargo fires for patterns
16:49good idea
16:51are there any clues from cases similar to that of Saudi flight 163
16:57we looked at previous in-flight fires and fires on airplanes and cargo compartments
17:04to see what caused those
17:06to see if it would point us in a direction
17:12matches
17:13matches
17:14matches?
17:15take a look
17:16last year British officials identified three different incidents
17:19in which matches had started a fire in luggage
17:21being loaded onto a plane
17:25hard to believe this is even possible
17:27we had one incident where the luggage was thrown into the cargo pit
17:34it started smoking
17:36and then caught fire
17:37and
17:38matches in those days
17:40were not
17:41safety matches
17:42today
17:43it will not ignite
17:44unless it's on a special
17:45uh
17:46fabric
17:47you ready?
17:49investigators test how easily matches could ignite
17:53hit it
18:07with something hard
18:08and poof it would catch fire
18:09that was the non-safety matches
18:10it surprised us that the matches could catch fire so easily
18:14so it was a serious hazard
18:21the theory that matches were the source of the fire seemed possible
18:28passengers on this particular flight were likely to pack them in their luggage
18:32many of the passengers on the airplane were pilgrims heading to Mecca
18:38and they would have had stoves with them to cook when they were camping out
18:43they would have had matches to start the stoves
18:46matches seem like the most likely cause
18:53mm-hmm
18:55we didn't find any evidence of matches causing the fire
18:59but obviously that evidence would have been destroyed
19:02but it was a pretty good hunch on our part
19:06but if some luggage actually caught fire
19:11would it be enough to bring down a sophisticated jetliner?
19:15fire in a cargo compartment isn't supposed to be able to spread
19:20the compartment should have sealed off and starved the fire of any oxygen
19:29maybe the compartment's fire suppression system failed
19:34unlike the airtight cargo holds at the front of the airplane
19:41which were designed to hold cargo containers
19:44the aft hold was designed for passengers baggage
19:47and any pets they were traveling with
19:50the aft cargo compartment was different
19:54than all of the other cargo compartments on this aircraft
19:57because it was designed to be able to hold live animals
20:02so it was pressurized and it had a source of fresh air
20:07an inlet fan and three valves allow for air flow
20:13but if smoke sets off one or both detectors
20:17the fan stops and the valves close
20:20sealing the compartment and cutting off the supply of oxygen
20:23in the case of flight 163
20:29obviously something in that self-extinguishing system
20:33did not take place
20:35and the fire continued
20:38ok, let's see if they work
20:41investigators test both of the cargo compartment's smoke detectors
20:46to determine if they are functioning properly
20:48ok, that one's working, what about the other one?
21:05smoke detectors were working
21:07there must be another reason why oxygen continued to fuel the fire
21:11maybe there was something wrong with the compartment itself
21:16good point
21:18let's find out
21:20smoke detectors were working correctly
21:23but the fire spread
21:25even though it was supposed to have been self-extinguished
21:28and we needed to find out why
21:30let me check the specs
21:33investigators examine the specification of the rear cargo compartment on board
21:40Saudia flight 163
21:42to better understand how it's designed to contain a fire
21:45according to this is considered a class D cargo compartment
21:50designation states that a class D compartment is 500 cubic feet
21:58what's the size of the L-1011 compartment?
22:03the L-1011's cargo compartment is 700 cubic feet
22:10the cargo compartment on the L-1011 is 200 cubic feet bigger than its original design
22:17we determined that the original certification of a class D cargo compartment
22:23was based on smaller airplanes
22:27over the three decades since 1950
22:30the aircraft design changed
22:32it grew in size
22:34including the class D cargo compartments
22:37if the compartment was larger
22:40that means there's more oxygen
22:42maybe that fueled the fire instead of extinguishing it
22:46it appears that the bigger the aircraft got
22:49the bigger compartments got
22:51there was no modification of the self-extinguishment of the compartments
22:56investigators recreate a cargo compartment that matches the specifications of Saudia 163's aft cargo bay
23:06to test its ability to self-extinguish
23:09matches and an igniter are placed inside the compartment to start the fire from a safe distance
23:15okay let's see what happens
23:22let's see if the fire extinguishes
23:28it's progressing quickly
23:41as investigators expected the fire does not burn out
23:43a small fire that in a normal class D compartment would extinguish and burn all its oxygen up in a large compartment it wouldn't do that it would have too much oxygen
23:58it's burning through the fire resistant liner
24:05the L-1011 construction of the cargo compartment included the use of a Nomex liner that's used for fire suits and it was thought that that would protect the compartment and allow for this self-extinguishment
24:23instead of burning out it burned through the liner in 2 minutes and 59 seconds
24:40that explains why the fire wasn't contained
24:44well we were quite surprised by the findings of our tests of the Nomex
24:51it failed visibly and permit the fire to spread much quicker than we had suspected
24:57the extra oxygen in the larger compartment fuels the fire intensely and long enough to penetrate the Nomex liner
25:05progressing into the sidewall ceiling and damaging the plane's components
25:12at the same time smoke escapes the cargo compartment and seeps through the air vents into the cabin
25:18eventually flames penetrate the cabin floor
25:22why the pilots didn't stop and shut the engines down sooner
25:30which would have prevented the fire from spreading throughout the plane
25:33now remains Saudi A163's biggest mystery
25:37why there was not an immediate stop and an attempt to evacuate the passengers
25:42all these things make no sense
25:45what was your first indication that there was a problem
25:52investigators turned to the air traffic controller for further details
25:5612 minutes into the flight the crew reported a fire in the cabin and asked to turn back
26:02we had Saudi A163
26:05go ahead
26:07A163 were returning back to Riyadh
26:11clear to reverse course back to Riyadh
26:13request reason
26:14Saudi A163 we've got fire in the cabin and please alert the fire trucks
26:20the approach back was normal
26:24so is the landing
26:26how did they sound
26:27the communication seemed normal
26:31Even after they stopped on the taxiway.
26:34Saudia 163, do you want to continue to the ramp, or do you want to shut down?
26:40Stand by.
26:42Okay, we are shutting down the engines now and evacuating.
26:46And you couldn't see the fire?
26:48Not until after they had stopped.
26:50The plane just sat there with the engines running for another three minutes.
26:53When they finally shut them down, I guess it was too late.
26:57It's still not clear why the engines were not shut down sooner.
27:05Or why the plane wasn't stopped on the runway right after touchdown.
27:11The captain's decision not to stop the aircraft immediately after landing and evacuate was reckless and irresponsible, in my mind.
27:19It is imperative that you get the passengers out as quickly as possible.
27:24While investigators will never know why the engines weren't shut down in time,
27:30could something have prevented the pilots from stopping the plane earlier on the runway?
27:37Nothing unusual here.
27:39They scrutinize the recorded flight data.
27:42Looks like a normal flight.
27:44Do we have the data on the braking system?
27:47Maybe the brakes failed.
27:48Here it is.
27:52Did the brake hydraulics fail, preventing the pilots from stopping the plane?
27:57See for yourself.
27:59Our examination of the airplane revealed that the braking system was working fine,
28:04and the pilot could have easily stopped the airplane on the runway.
28:08It's as if the crew was flying a plane that wasn't even on fire.
28:12Why did they allow the aircraft to roll to the end of the runway,
28:19and then to taxi on to a taxiway,
28:23and then take over three minutes to shut the engines down?
28:27All of these behaviors are not consistent with how most crews, if not all crews,
28:34would handle an emergency like that.
28:38We need to find out what went on in that cockpit.
28:40I'll check on the progress of the CVR download.
28:46The investigation now hinges on the cockpit voice recorder, or CVR.
28:52Can it explain why the pilots treated the landing like a normal flight instead of an emergency?
29:03You review the recordings?
29:07Oh, yeah.
29:08You need to hear this for yourself.
29:10Investigators listen to how the crew of Saudia Flight 163 dealt with the onboard fire.
29:18Let's start from when the smoke alarms go off, seven minutes into takeoff.
29:22BF cargo.
29:35Smoke detection, BF cargo.
29:43Now it's A.
29:45That's both of them.
29:46Hold on.
29:46Hold on.
29:50The alarms go off long before they report a fire.
29:55They got two smoke warnings, and then there was a five-minute and 30-second delay before they turned around.
30:04By the way,
30:04The captain sounds skeptical.
30:12I would say so, yeah.
30:13What's the procedure for it in the checklist?
30:14There isn't anything about it in the abnormal procedures, huh?
30:15There isn't anything about it in the abnormal procedures, huh?
30:27Nothing about it.
30:32Pause the recording.
30:36They waste time going through the smoke alarm procedures before deciding to turn around.
30:39And on top of that, they're looking in the wrong place.
30:42They should be looking in the emergency section.
30:46There was obvious confusion between checklists.
30:49The emergency checklists need to be immediate action.
30:53And the abnormal checklists are actions that you take to avoid getting into some sort of an emergency condition.
31:03There's a lack of urgency here.
31:10Shall I go back there and see if I can smell something?
31:14Okay, sure.
31:18Okay, if I can see or smell anything, I think we better go back.
31:23Okay, sure.
31:32Forty seconds later.
31:37Yeah, we got a fire back there.
31:39We do?
31:40Yeah, we do.
31:44It's okay.
31:45Tell control we're heading back.
31:48The captain is surprised to learn there's a fire.
31:51Only then does he turn the plane back to Riyadh.
31:55It's been five and a half minutes since the first alarm.
31:59I would declare an emergency.
32:03Yeah.
32:03Declare to reverse course back to Riyadh.
32:06Request reason?
32:08Declare emergency.
32:13Fire.
32:14Fire in the cabin.
32:15The engineer has already told him there's a fire, and his purser has corroborated that.
32:29Captain doesn't declare an emergency.
32:32And it happens again.
32:33Uh, cue it up to 22.50.
32:38Fifteen minutes into the flight.
32:39Did we declare an emergency?
32:46Negative.
32:48Okay.
32:49The fire trucks will be waiting for us, though.
32:51Yes.
32:55The captain is ignoring his crew.
32:58In the 1980s, the captain was God on the airplane.
33:03There was never any discussion about including any other crew members in his decision-making process.
33:10And arrogance and hubris may very well have played a large role in this.
33:17It gets even more disturbing when the captain is asked about evacuating.
33:21Play those selections.
33:26Shall we evacuate?
33:29It's the purser in the cockpit again.
33:31Can we evacuate all the passengers?
33:33Flaps 10, please.
33:34The captain ignores the purser's question.
33:40When we're on the ground, yes.
33:44Flaps 10?
33:45The captain was asked a total of seven times if an evacuation was going to happen.
33:54And each time, he ignored the request.
33:57There were two other people in the cockpit.
33:59What were they doing?
34:00First officer, not much.
34:01I would declare an emergency.
34:06Yeah.
34:08Declare to reverse course back to Riyadh.
34:11Request reason?
34:12Declare emergency.
34:18He never once challenged the captain's stubbornness.
34:22The first officer was silent and passive.
34:26The captain just left the first officer completely out of the picture and continued to fly.
34:36What about the flight engineer?
34:39Reviewing the transcripts, investigators discover a troubling pattern.
34:44If anything, he made the situation worse.
34:46How so?
34:47By repeatedly downplaying the situation, continually saying things like, no problem.
34:51Less than a minute after the flight engineer reports fire in the cabin, the captain asks him to do another check.
35:00This time, he returns with a different assessment.
35:05It's just smoke in the aft.
35:08Okay.
35:09We're going back to Riyadh.
35:10Okay, no problem.
35:14Everybody's panning in the back, though.
35:18No problem.
35:19No problem.
35:21No problem at all.
35:22Downplaying the severity of the situation can most certainly affect the captain's perception of what exactly is going on.
35:36What happens on the ground?
35:37Well, it's hard to know.
35:39Play from the 500-foot alert.
35:44500.
35:45And 500?
35:47Hydraulic.
35:48You've got low pressure on number two.
35:50Looking good.
35:52Tell them to not evacuate.
35:59Place your hand behind your head.
36:02Head between your knees.
36:04No need for that.
36:06We're okay.
36:07No problems.
36:09No problem.
36:13Minimums.
36:13Minimums.
36:17100.
36:18100?
36:19100.
36:2150.
36:2150?
36:2240.
36:2340?
36:2430.
36:2530.
36:2530.
36:34The fire is so severe at this point that it burns through the CVR's electrical.
36:38Just before touchdown, the fire destroys the wiring that powers the cockpit voice recorder.
36:46It's a setback for the investigation.
36:48We have no idea of the chaotic nature of what was going on in the cockpit at that time.
36:58He wasted five minutes deciding to turn around.
37:01He wouldn't declare an emergency even though he's been told there's a fire in the cabin.
37:05He failed to evacuate everybody on that plane.
37:08And the other pilots did nothing to change his thinking.
37:09And the other pilots did nothing to change his thinking.
37:12What kind of emergency training did this crew have?
37:15Let's pull our files and see.
37:24Investigators examine the pilot records of Saudia 163's crew members to determine if they were properly trained to deal with a fire.
37:32Yeah.
37:33Hmm.
37:34This does not look good.
37:37The first officer was dropped from pilot training, but reinstated two years later as a result of committee action.
37:43Committee action.
37:44I have a different term for committee action.
37:48It's friends or family.
37:50He wanted to be a pilot.
37:52He was going to be a pilot.
37:54And someone helped him become a pilot.
37:59It's nothing compared to the flight engineer.
38:01Listen to this.
38:02Failed to qualify as a captain and first officer.
38:05Was only hired by the airline as a flight engineer after paying for his own training.
38:10The flight engineer was also another incompetent person.
38:13He flunked previous training and he paid for it out of his pocket to become certified as a flight engineer.
38:21The captain's training history is no better.
38:25The records show that the captain's qualifications were also questionable.
38:30Slow to learn.
38:31Needed more training than normally required.
38:34Difficulty varying from a set pattern.
38:36The captain's training record indicated that he was indecisive and slow.
38:43And that was all reflected in the events of this accident.
38:46All three of these guys were extremely weak.
38:53None of them should have been in the cockpit.
38:56And certainly not three of them together.
38:58It was literally a crew pairing of an accident waiting to happen.
39:03If anything unusual was going to occur, these people were going to descend into some state of confusion.
39:13Which is exactly what happened.
39:14Because the cockpit voice recorder failed just before the Tristar landed, the investigation was unable to determine why the captain didn't order an evacuation.
39:29But they did point to his actions as contributing factors.
39:32It is possible that the captain was in denial about the severity of the fire and the situation in the cabin.
39:43But if he had gone back to see for himself, then perhaps things would have been different.
39:50The other thing to consider is that air crews realize that if they shut an airplane down on a runway, that that effectively closes the airport.
40:01These are things that could put your job in jeopardy.
40:06So who really knows what his logic was?
40:10But what is certainly clear was this captain was definitely not in command of this emergency.
40:19Even though investigators are unable to confirm that matches were the source of the fire, they do recommend improvements for all cargo compartments.
40:28To make the cargo compartments safe, you had to put a fire extinguisher in there, detectors and extinguishers.
40:37And that's what we recommended they do.
40:40They also recommend removing the Nomex liner.
40:43The investigation went back to the manufacturer.
40:48They identified a way to improve the resistance of the compartment to replace the Nomex and return the compartment to a full idea of self-extinguishment.
41:01The Federal Aviation Administration, or FAA, considers the recommendations.
41:09But it's not until 1998, almost two decades later, that the FAA changes the regulation.
41:16Now, all cargo compartments on commercial airliners must contain both fire detection and fire suppression systems.
41:25In the aftermath of the tragedy, Saudia asks Bob McIntosh to revamp its safety training and procedures.
41:32I was hired to form a corporate safety department, and it was my pleasure to do that for my six years there.
41:44There were numerous lessons that we learned from how cargo compartments are designed,
41:51and much better designed flame retardant materials are now used throughout the cabin.
41:59Our aviation system is safer because of this accident.
42:02All those things are wonderful takeaways from a very, very tragic situation.