- 2 days ago
Air Crash Investigation - Season 26 Episode 1 - Norwegian Nightmare WiderøE Flight 839
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Short filmTranscript
00:01A private charter jet is flying 15 passengers to Aspen, Colorado for a party.
00:07This flight really captured the public attention because of the people on board.
00:13Poor weather makes the landing a challenge for the experienced pilots.
00:18Can you see out there at all yet?
00:20No.
00:21Aspen is considered one of the most dangerous airports in the country.
00:25As the plane nears the runway, the controller watches as disaster unfolds.
00:31What are they doing?
00:38Investigators examine the Gulf Stream's wreckage for answers.
00:42I don't see any issues here.
00:45When they learn about the passengers' behavior...
00:48We're running out of fuel here for the birthday boy!
00:52The moving parts of this mystery fall into place.
00:55That clearly had to put some pressure on the pilots to say,
00:58All right, this is not looking good.
01:01Me, me, me, me, me!
01:06Oh, up!
01:093-1-0, we're out of here.
01:10We're out of here.
01:11We're out of here.
01:12We're out of here.
01:13We're out of here.
01:14We're out of here.
01:15We're out of here.
01:16The sun has just set over the Colorado mountains.
01:28Avjet November 303 Gulf Alpha is nearing the end of its journey to Aspen.
01:34Well, there's the edge of the night there.
01:38Yeah.
01:40Captain Robert Frisbee has almost 10,000 flying hours to his credit.
01:46What time is official sunset?
01:49He and First Officer Peter Kowalczyk have been flying together for close to five months.
01:56628.
01:57Both pilots have been with Avjet for less than a year.
02:04The small charter airline is based out of Burbank, California.
02:10Avjet catered to high rollers, business people, people who could afford to charter a jet.
02:16People who had to get there in a hurry, but do it in style.
02:21Running out of fuel here for the birthday boy!
02:24A Miami financier chartered this flight for 14 of his friends to attend a birthday party at an exclusive venue in Aspen.
02:35This was a group of friends who seemed to have had tremendous early achievements and accomplishments,
02:42and they were really going to go places.
02:46So 4,800 pounds, 126.
02:49It was 50.
02:50It was 50.
02:51You know what? I adjusted it, because the fuel was way off.
02:56The pilots are flying a Gulfstream 3.
03:01The Gulfstream is a luxurious plane that, you know, people see in the movies,
03:07and people think high rollers and movie stars flying.
03:10But it's a workhorse plane. It actually has a good reputation.
03:13It's a 90-minute flight from Los Angeles to Aspen.
03:22Gulfstream 303 Gulf Alpha.
03:25Aspen, reduce speed to 210 or slower.
03:27The controller slows down the Gulfstream to maintain a safe distance from the other planes heading into Aspen.
03:37210 or slower, 3 Gulf Alpha.
03:4017 minutes from landing, the pilots begin their descent.
03:51Aspen-Pitkin County Airport, also known as Sadi Field, is about 3 miles northwest of Aspen.
03:58Landing on its single runway is a challenge.
04:00Aspen is considered one of the most dangerous airports in the country.
04:08The runway is not long, and it is in close proximity to high terrain on all sides.
04:17Hey, do you remember that crazy guy in the Lear when we were in Aspen last time?
04:22It was, I can see the airport, but he couldn't see it.
04:30Set you up on the approach?
04:31Okay.
04:33The landing is made even more difficult, with the final stage needing to be carried out visually.
04:39As the plane nears Aspen, a beacon guides it to the airport,
04:44but it doesn't lead it directly to the runway.
04:46Once the airport is in sight, the pilots must line up with the runway visually.
04:53Because of the high terrain and close proximity to the final approach course,
04:58the minimum altitude is a couple thousand feet above the ground,
05:02and we must be visual by that time to safely continue our descent down to a landing.
05:08And tonight, the weather isn't making landing any easier.
05:12And if at any time it's snowing, it's very hard to acquire that visual reference to safely descend further to a landing.
05:27Residential noise restrictions around the airport leave the pilots only nine minutes until the landing curfew at 6.58.
05:35The crew is cutting it close.
05:38Can you see out there at all yet?
05:42Uh...
05:45No.
05:49Gulfstream 3 Gulf Alpha, heading 050.
05:53Heading 050, 3 Gulf Alpha.
05:56As the pilots prepare to line up with the runway, passengers get ready for landing.
06:02Okay, synchronizer's off.
06:12There is just enough fuel for one landing attempt.
06:17After that, the pilots will have to divert to another airport.
06:21Okay, it's off.
06:25Hydraulic pressure's good.
06:27Gulfstream 3 Gulf Alpha, turn heading 1-4-0, intercept final approach course, maintain 1-6-000.
06:35Eight minutes from the airport, the controller gives the crew clearance to commence the approach.
06:411-4-0, 1-6-000, intercept final approach course, 3 Gulf Alpha.
06:461-6-0, 1-6-0.
06:471-6-0, 1-6-0.
06:481-6-0.
06:491-6-0.
06:501-6-0.
06:56As the pilots get their final intercept to the airport...
06:59Challenger 7 Juliet Alpha, you have the airport in sight.
07:04Another aircraft, also on approach to Aspen, updates the controller.
07:10That's a negative. Going around.
07:13Those pilots aboard their landing, because they can't see the runway.
07:19Attention all aircraft, last aircraft went missed.
07:24What?
07:25You went missed.
07:26Went missed?
07:27Damn.
07:29That's not good.
07:31If you can't successfully land the aircraft, then a missed approach is a procedure that pilots
07:40will execute to return to a safe altitude.
07:44As the Gulf Stream gets closer to the airport, the weather deteriorates.
07:49COF Stream 3 Gulf Alpha, 5 miles from Red Table, cross Red Table at or above 1-4000, clear VOR DME Charlie approach.
08:10The controller clears the pilots to begin the final approach, 11 miles from the airport.
08:15You have to be configured properly at the right altitude, at the right speed.
08:22Otherwise, you are expected to execute a missed approach.
08:27Red Table at 1-4000, cleared for VOR approach.
08:30Gulf Stream 3-0-3 Gulf Alpha.
08:34Here we go.
08:37As the pilots get closer to the airport, they're counting on the weather to improve for their landing.
08:43Sending to 1-4000.
08:48Problems can escalate very quickly when flying into Aspen.
08:52There's really no room to recover without breaking off that approach or trying it again.
09:00Landing flaps.
09:02Landing flaps.
09:03Just over two minutes from landing, instruments have successfully guided the pilots to the airport.
09:10Now it's up to them to identify the runway.
09:12You see the runway?
09:13Gulf Stream 3-0-3 Gulf Alpha, you have the runway in sight?
09:22Affirmative.
09:23Yeah, now we do.
09:24Runway in sight, 3 Gulf Alpha.
09:25Gulf Stream 3-0-3 Gulf Alpha, visual.
09:26Roger.
09:27One thousand.
09:28One thousand to go.
09:29The pilots are now less than a minute from landing.
09:42At the last moment, they realize something is wrong.
09:57Whoa!
09:58Whoa!
09:59Whoa!
10:00Whoa!
10:01Whoa!
10:02Whoa!
10:03Whoa!
10:04Whoa!
10:05Whoa!
10:06Whoa!
10:07Whoa!
10:08Whoa!
10:09Whoa!
10:10Whoa!
10:11Whoa!
10:12Whoa!
10:13Whoa!
10:14Whoa!
10:15Avjet 303 Gulf Alpha crashes just short of the runway at Aspen.
10:20at aspen aircraft identification gulf stream 303 gulf alpha aircraft location it was north of the
10:29runway approximately the shale bluffs area emergency vehicles rush to the scene in the
10:37hope that there are survivors of the crash of avjet 303 gulf alpha
10:50but all 18 people on board are dead all 15 passengers the two pilots and the flight attendant
10:59this flight really captured the media and the public attention because of the people on board
11:13there were a lot of very young talented people
11:18put everything from the tail section over there
11:25by the following day investigators are on site
11:31thousands of passengers fly charter airplanes every year encompassing 2.5 million flight hours annually
11:42so trying to understand why this accident occurred was significant
11:47let me see that within hours the plane's cockpit voice recorder or cvr is retrieved from the wreckage
12:00let's get the data pulled from that asap what about a flight data recorder
12:05looks like there wasn't one okay because the airplane was manufactured in 1980 and registered in 1981 it was not required to have an fdr
12:25while the cvr while the cvr is sent for analysis investigators from the national transportation safety board wonder why
12:32the pilots weren't able to land safely the plane crashed 2400 feet from the runway
12:40when an aircraft crashes short of a runway especially a sophisticated airplane like a gulfstream jet
12:45a number of questions arise here how did they get there what possible factors could the crew have
12:50uh was there some sort of a failure in the aircraft take a look at this what do you think caused that there's a deep ground scar at the crash site
13:03that would do it investigators conclude that it was formed when the left wing hit the ground
13:12hit the ground when an airplane comes through trees or vegetation as it approaches the ground
13:20it cuts off branches and we can look at those branches and the angles that are made
13:26to understand the airplane's attitude as it came into the ground and its descent profile
13:34left wing struck the trees at about
13:36which 49 degrees that's a hell of a bank
13:49there's no operationally relevant reason for an airplane to be banked at 49 degrees
13:55that close to the airport or that close to the ground maybe they lost control of the plane
14:01when we see an aircraft in a abnormal attitude uh we've got to look at did something happen where
14:09you know the pilots couldn't keep it level the plane's position gives investigators a promising lead
14:17engine failure
14:20the loss of thrust resulting from an engine failure on one side can yaw the airplane and if not appropriately
14:27managed by the pilots in a timely fashion can lead to a loss of control aside from the impact damage
14:37there's no sign of fire to the exterior the team studies the engine's compressor blades
14:43to determine if the engines were functioning when the plane hit the ground
14:49when the gulfstream 3's engines are working the compressor blades spin in a clockwise direction
14:55if the engines were still functioning when the plane crashed these blades would be bent
15:00counterclockwise or in the opposite direction
15:07you know these are all bent counterclockwise so it wasn't engine failure
15:14our examination of the engines showed that there was no pre-existing damage no evidence of an in-flight
15:21fire and also showed that they were operating normally and at high power at the time of the impact
15:28let's take a look at the rudder
15:31an airplane operating at a low airspeed while the rudder moves to an extreme limit could introduce
15:38a rolling moment or also stall one of the wings which would further exacerbate the rolling moment
15:46investigators examine the actuator that controls the rudder's movement
15:53piston is completely intact no sign of any damage
16:01there was no pre-existing conditions or failures that would have explained the accident the airplane was
16:08functioning normally if mechanical failure didn't cause the roll what went wrong on approach
16:16determining the airplane's flight path helps us understand how that airplane got to the accident
16:21site what was it doing where was it flying how fast was it going have a look at this radar data
16:33with no flight data recorder investigators turn to aspen's radar information to reconstruct the gulf
16:40stream's descent profile using the radar position and time so the altitude and position of the aircraft
16:48the performance engineers can extract the speed of the aircraft how fast is it descending is that
16:55appropriate for the approach that they're trying to do here's what we've got
17:04this is the approach they should have flown
17:05aspen investigators examine the path the pilots were required to follow into aspen
17:14due to the rising terrain away from the airport aspen at this time had a step-down approach which
17:20from a profile looks like stairs the pilots will step down to an altitude based on the terrain availability
17:29pilots cannot descend below that altitude until they reach another fix or another distance
17:37and
17:41here's the descent the pilots actually flew
17:44the radar data shows the avjet flight deviated from the published descent profile
17:49four miles out they dropped 300 feet below the minimum and a mile later they dropped 900 feet below
17:59the minimum altitude and they stayed that way they flew in very low
18:06if you go below a minimum altitude before you are allowed to then you no longer can guarantee the safety
18:14of that aircraft
18:22why would they do that
18:25because the pilots did not fly this approach to standards we wanted to look into their backgrounds
18:30and training to better understand why the accident may have occurred
18:35why did the pilots of avjet 303 gulf alpha not follow the prescribed approach procedure into aspen
18:50the captain passed his last proficiency check so did the first officer just a couple months ago
18:58investigators learn that all avjet pilots are trained to land in mountainous terrain like aspen
19:06and they both flew into aspen together twice before without incident
19:11no accidents no reprimands
19:16even the captain's driving record is spotless
19:21so looking into the background of this flight crew we really didn't see anything that stood out they
19:25were both well qualified well trained and experienced to fly this airplane and make this trip
19:30and they both got plenty of sleep before the flight so fatigue isn't an issue in fact i don't see any
19:37issues here
19:41this doesn't make any sense
19:46why would two well-trained pilots fly so recklessly below the limits
19:49no matter whether you're a charter pilot or an airline pilot or even just a personal general aviation pilot
19:59you know our number one job is safety uh regulations are there for a reason
20:04what is it that could lead a good flight crew to go beyond those safety limits
20:09okay so we know the pilots landed at aspen twice before with that incident what was different this time
20:21maybe they were trying to get eyes on the runway
20:23it was important to understand exactly what was going
20:39on with the weather in terms of the layers of clouds whether they were solid or broken
20:45to understand what capability these pilots may have had to see objects on the ground
20:53the crash was at 7 0 2 pm back it up to about 6 30 pm
21:00they would have been flying in and out of some pretty heavy cloud here
21:03so maybe they didn't have a clear line on the runway
21:08okay but these are seasoned pilots they should know if you don't see the runway you don't try
21:12to land on it and yet they did try to land on it and they missed by almost half a mile so
21:17did they see the runway or not
21:22we should talk to the controller
21:27an air traffic controller can tell you what the visibility is what the weather conditions were what
21:33other airplanes were doing in terms of uh coming into the airport and provide eyewitness testimony
21:40about the time of the accident but they also can help us understand communications that they had with
21:45the airplane
21:49so did they give you any indication at all that they were having trouble seeing the runway
21:54no quite the opposite i asked them if they could see the runway and they confirmed that they did
21:59golf stream three gulf alpha you have the runway inside
22:04yeah runway inside three gulf alpha
22:07golf stream three gulf alpha visual roger
22:09i made extra sure to confirm because i couldn't see them the weather was so bad
22:21did you have any reason to doubt the pilots
22:24not at the time but here's what's so odd they confirmed they had visual but then when they came
22:32out of the clouds they were headed to the right of the airport
22:45what are they doing
22:46i don't think they realized they weren't headed for the runway until the last second
23:02when we put those pieces together you know that the pilots did report on the radio they had the
23:06runway in sight we had to ask ourselves did they really did they really see the runway um
23:11might they have engaged in a little wishful thinking
23:16this leaves investigators with a troubling question
23:23they couldn't see the runway why did they go ahead with the landing
23:27maybe they were under some kind of pressure
23:31we needed to know the purpose of this flight its schedule and the pilots activities before they
23:37departed for aspen looking into what happened before the flight took off from la can help us
23:45gain insight into what might have been going on during the flight
23:54so sorry to keep you waiting no problem at all
23:58to understand why the pilots were so intent upon landing in aspen
24:03ntsb investigators speak to the avjet coordinator who managed flight 303 gulf alpha
24:11the charter coordinators communicated with the pilots moments before the flight departed los angeles
24:18they would have insights into what was concerning the pilots what they were trying to accomplish
24:25and some of the decisions being made did you talk to the captain on the day of the flight
24:31oh yes and there were some problems right from the start really how so well the flight was supposed
24:37to leave at 4 30 at 4 15 he called to say the passengers still hadn't shown up
24:46if the passengers don't show up soon with the long taxi out to the runway
24:50we won't make it to aspen in time so what are you suggesting well we may need to divert
24:55the captain was worried that because of the 7 pm noise curfew at aspen he might have to go to rifle
25:04instead which is about 60 miles away so he knew about the noise curfew and he had a plan to divert if
25:10he needed absolutely
25:14they knew that rifle colorado airport was nearby they had planned for alternatives even before they
25:19left which is exactly what a crew should be doing when did the passengers board
25:26they didn't start boarding till around 4 30. then what happened about 10 minutes later i got a phone
25:33call from the client's personal assistant and he told me the client was very upset
25:41what's this about diverting to rifle what do you mean
25:46once the passenger is boarded there was a call by the charter customer's assistant
25:51the pilot expressing
25:56concern that the crew had told the passengers that they might have to go to another airport
26:03welcome welcome given the delay in boarding looks like we may have to divert the rifle
26:07so the client had his assistant call me so my boss wants you to tell the pilot to
26:20well keep his mouth shut around the passengers and if he has anything to say save it until he gets there
26:27and then they can talk it over understood there's nothing to worry about i'll take care of it
26:33thank you very much for letting me know
26:38so of course safety comes first but we wanted to keep the client happy
26:44did this make it back to the captain yes i called him right away
26:47the client's very upset he doesn't want you speaking to any of the passengers anymore
26:53only to him understood okay don't mention diverting thank you so much yeah
27:04he was worried that he was going to disappoint our boss
27:08maybe even get into trouble for upsetting the client but he wouldn't get into trouble
27:13in a charter operation the needs of your passengers are front and center you're fully aware of them
27:20and in a situation where a group of people are going to add dinner and that's the only reason
27:26they're taking this trip if they can't satisfy that timeline then there was no point of being on that
27:33aircraft the captain was told not to upset the passengers did that instruction affect his decision
27:40about diverting his plane to rifle and so this was all before they took off yes and was that the last
27:47time you spoke to the captain no he called me again on route to aspen and what time was that
27:556 30. we'll be landing in aspen in about 20 25 minutes but we'll have to spend the night there
28:03no problem i can book your rooms hey how are the passengers are they still upset
28:08i don't think so what about the client i had a talk with the client it's just really important
28:16to him that we make it to aspen apparently he's dropping a substantial amount of money on dinner
28:23the client didn't want to go to rifle rifle was more than 60 miles away it would have taken them too
28:28long to get there i see okay wow thank you very much for your time happy to help
28:40although the pilots would be aware of the needs of their passengers at no point can that supersede the
28:47professionalism of that crew your primary and only real job is the safety of that aircraft
28:53you know it seems they were under a lot of pressure to land not only before the flight began but
29:01even during the flight crash happened more than half an hour after that last call from the plane
29:10did commercial pressure influence the pilots to make a risky decision that cost the lives of 18
29:16people you know this comes up all the time charter pilots often voice on chat rooms and complaint lines
29:25that they are pressured to keep people happy and do really difficult things just to satisfy a demanding
29:32customer and it's dangerous
29:36they still had time to correct the situation so what happened in these final 30 minutes
29:46it's here ntsb investigators turned to the cockpit voice recorder of avjet 303 gulf alpha to understand
29:57why the pilots chose to land instead of diverting we could learn about the crew's decision making and
30:04what they were doing from their conversations with each other um you know how they were planning and using
30:11the information that was coming in as they approached aspen you know what let's pick it up before they
30:16begin their final descent
30:28hey do you remember that crazy guy in the leer when you were in aspen last time it was i could see the
30:34airport but he couldn't see it pause that
30:39so 14 minutes before the crash they're ridiculing another pilot who tried to land without the runway in
30:49sight why did they do the same thing at that point they were still in the mode of we're gonna do this
30:58right and even sort of made a joke about this one guy that didn't do it right
31:07okay
31:11okay we'll shoot it from here i mean we're here but we only get to do it once
31:15all right once and then we get a rifle right yeah it's too late in the evening to come around
31:21so right there they're talking about doing a missed approach that was at 6 50 so two minutes later
31:3512 minutes from the airport the pilots confirmed their plan to divert if they needed to
31:42as the crew was approaching aspen they were getting the idea that the weather was getting more
31:47difficult to get in and and they were having a conversation about this they mentioned again
31:51well we might only have one shot at this and we have to go to rifle they were really saying the right things
32:01attention all aircraft last aircraft went missed
32:06what you went missed you went missed damn that's not good
32:12nine minutes from crashing they know the plane in front of them couldn't land and they know it's a
32:23bad sign for them
32:26that clearly had to put some pressure on them say all right this is uh this is not looking good
32:33it should have those pilots starting to get into the mindset of executing the missed approach
32:38rather than landing the aircraft so they know they shouldn't attempt the landing either
32:43up until now they've been doing everything right by the book yeah i wonder what changed
32:51investigators discover something unusual in the cvr transcripts huh
33:00looks like the flight attendant brought someone into the cockpit
33:02about eight minutes before the accident somebody came into the cockpit one of the passengers
33:12thank you very much
33:21you think it's the client
33:25it's possible
33:26having somebody else up on the flight deck as you're conducting an approach into mountainous area
33:36at night in poor weather is not a good idea
33:44did the presence of a passenger in the cockpit play a role in the crash
33:57weather's going down they're not making it in as the crew got closer to aspen the weather worsened
34:05making it more dangerous for planes to try to land oh really oh really
34:15the only conversation that should be going on is between the crew about aspects of the flight here
34:21having someone up there questioning their decision making questioning you know the weather and the
34:25operation um is just such a distraction and a pressure to them
34:30as the pilots approached the airport the situation intensified
34:36challenge your 98 romeo you're number one
34:4098 romeo negative visual on the mist
34:44they learned that the plane ahead of avjet 303 gulf alpha also missed their approach because they
34:50couldn't see the runway it's too dangerous to land on that runway under these conditions so what happened
35:04are we cleared to land not not yet we just missed guy in front of us didn't make it either
35:10oh really
35:16okay so it sounds like this guy is sending the pilots a message exactly
35:21oh really may not sound like much but after all those other things that had occurred
35:28i think oh really was a warning shot get this thing in aspen
35:35but the pilots still had one more chance to implement their backup plan to divert to another airport
35:44where's it at
35:45so obviously they still can't see the runway
35:53to the right to the right
36:02so instead of executing a missed approach they're still looking for the runway which is actually to
36:07their left there was a river valley and some roads nearby might they have seen something they thought was
36:13the runway you know some lights of the village or whatnot they believed they saw the runway but that
36:17wasn't correct they just keep flying lower and lower looking for the airport
36:25they were just under way too much pressure to make good decisions
36:31they had the night curfew they had a the time pressure pressure from the client as well
36:36um and then with the weather coming in and out as they step down they'd catch glimpses now and then of
36:43the ground 500 rev plus five think rate think rate 22 seconds after crossing the missed approach point
36:57avjet 303 gulf alpha hits the ground
37:06so in los angeles they were ready to divert
37:30and then they get chewed out for talking about diverting and the client tells them how important
37:37the dinner is topping it all off the passenger enters the cockpit so by the time they get to aspen
37:43they were bound and determined to land
37:49sadly they turned it to the pilots they were ridiculing
37:54all indications
37:55from our investigation showed that these two pilots were good pilots once the crew descended
38:04without the runway in sight
38:08the accident was inevitable
38:12they just kept pushing and step by step it got worse and worse until they descended too low
38:19despite the pressures the pilots were under to land
38:23there was one more safeguard that could have prevented this tragedy you're not going to believe this
38:39investigators of avjet 303 gulf alpha examine a safety notice for aspen airport that might have
38:46prevented the crash
38:51notam is an official notice to airmen
38:55that's a notice put out by the faa to tell pilots about some abnormality in the airspace system
39:02an approach procedure has been changed the navigation aid is out all sorts of things
39:09two days before the crash a notam was issued with a warning about landing at aspen
39:14as far as i can tell it says circling na not authorized at night so in other words they should
39:23never have been flying into aspen at night in the first place it said that circling not authorized at
39:30night this approach is only a circling approach even if you elect to land straight in it actually had
39:37the effect of making that approach not authorized at night the crash was at 702 pm what time was nightfall
39:46nightfall was officially at 6 55. that's seven minutes before the crash why didn't they follow the notam
39:55investigators examined the gulf stream's briefing records to see if it included the most recent notice
40:07it looks like the first officer did receive the notam over the phone before the flight
40:12so who knows if he passed it on to the captain
40:17notams are hard to read there's a lot of extraneous information in them they
40:21they tell you about everything from a burned out light bulb on a tower 15 miles away to the
40:27runways closed and everything in between and what about the controller
40:36notams are also distributed to atc facilities they need to know about
40:39things that affect the airspace as well
40:42it never got passed on to aspen atc
40:54the reason the tower didn't get the notam is it was supposed to get sent by believe it or not facts
40:59and for whatever reason didn't get sent to the atc facilities that that needed to know
41:04had the controller received the notam it might have prevented the crash in the final analysis
41:13investigators conclude the probable cause of the accident was the flight crew's operation of the
41:19airplane below the minimum descent altitude without an appropriate visual reference to the runway
41:27this accident happened because the captain did not go around did not conduct a missed approach
41:32had he done that they would have gone to rifle and the passengers may have been frustrated may
41:41have been angry there might have been a big conversation but they would have been alive
41:49investigators also believe external pressures played a role in the pilot's decision making
41:56we call it get there itis they were close to the destination almost there and the pressure on
42:02people to make the decision nothing broke nothing really failed other than just the decision making
42:08under pressures of get there itis as a result of this accident avjet restricts flying into aspen
42:18between sunset and sunrise the faa also revises its specifications for flying into aspen with a minimum
42:26visibility of five miles and a cloud ceiling of at least 4 400 feet above ground now required for landing
42:37you see the runway this is to ensure pilots always have a clear view of the runway before landing
42:45thank you very much avjet also takes steps to prevent unnecessary distractions in the cockpit during the flight
42:52after the accident the company issued a bulletin changing their rules that no passengers
42:59were allowed in the cockpit okay guys let's finish up tomorrow
43:07well the ntsb has also made a number of recommendations on improving the notum system making things a little
43:13bit more graphical and easy to use so that people can sort them out rather than just reading a list
43:18the lessons serve as a warning to all other pilots who interact with passengers
43:27i think the message of this flight is there is no dinner date engagement or birthday party that is more
43:35important than the lives of your passengers on the plane and the pilot has to be tough enough to stand up
43:42to that because the passengers just don't know they're not pilots and they do not know that their behavior is
43:48endangering their very lives but it did help change the law and change how the faa operates in many aspects
43:57and for that we're thankful
44:12so
44:21you
44:23you
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