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On 31 March 1992, Trans-Air Service Flight 671 suffers an in-flight separation of its two right engines while en route to Kano, Nigeria, forcing the pilots to make an emergency landing at Istres-Le Tubé Air Base in France. The number three engine detached due to metal fatigue and tore off the number four engine.
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00:00An emergency above the French Alps strikes Transair Cargo Flight 671.
00:13There was an enormous bang and the aircraft almost inverted.
00:18Mayday! Mayday! Mayday!
00:21The crew needs to land, but are flying blind.
00:25Cargo 671, we have no radar contact.
00:28They stood a very real chance of hitting a mountain.
00:31Then they discover something even more horrifying.
00:37I saw nothing in the number four engine position. The wing was clean.
00:43Assuming the worst, the first officer leaves a clue for investigators.
00:48I took the photograph because I wasn't sure what would happen next.
00:53If somebody might find the camera, they'd see the truth.
00:58Mayday! Mayday!
01:01Full stop!
01:03Transair Flight 671 is preparing for takeoff at Luxembourg Airport.
01:10The forecast says we'll get some weather in an hour.
01:19As we cross over the Alps. Typical.
01:25Captain Ingemar Bergland is a highly experienced Swedish pilot who has been flying Boeing 707 aircraft for over a decade.
01:34The captain had been a military pilot, and then he'd been on air transport flying for most of his working life.
01:41His experience was pretty vast in Africa and in Europe. He knew the routes and he was a very good pilot.
01:46Cabo 671, you are cleared for takeoff. Runway 24.
01:55671, cleared for takeoff. Roger.
01:58First Officer Martin Emery is an accomplished British pilot who has worked as an instructor and an air traffic controller.
02:13Ready to go.
02:20The first officer had about 10,000 hours, about half of which was on the Boeing 707, so he was very experienced too.
02:31V1, 170, rotate.
02:42The Boeing 707 is a long-range aircraft powered by four Pratt & Whitney engines.
02:49It was a very basic aeroplane, very strong, very reliable, and could carry 40 or 50 tons of freight.
03:00Assisting the pilots is flight engineer Terry Boone.
03:03The Boeing 707 didn't have much in the way of automated systems, but this meant that there was a whole panel sideways in the flight deck in which the flight engineer had to operate every system manually.
03:20He was probably one of the most experienced Boeing 707 flight engineers in the world.
03:27Today's flight is a seven-hour journey from Luxembourg to Karno, Nigeria.
03:34Feels a little heavy today.
03:39Well, do you see what's loaded back there? It's all oil weather equipment.
03:44Yeah, not the light kind.
03:47Flight 671 is operated by the newly formed Nigerian company Transair Limited.
03:54Their client, Carbo Air Cargo.
03:57Transair had only been formed a few weeks before this incident.
04:02It was purely for the oil industry to transport a lot of equipment down to Nigeria for the oil works.
04:09This was an extra special flight in that it was carrying equipment that would have helped Nigeria in their modernizing.
04:15Carbo 671 levels off at 29,000 feet.
04:22The flight plan indicated with the weight of the aircraft we should stay at a slightly lower than normal flight level for the first part of the flight until we burned off fuel and then we could gain a higher flight level.
04:38The other guy's in the back.
04:41Good. He made his coffee.
04:44Also on board are a cargo supervisor and a maintenance engineer.
04:48I like them more every day.
04:51So the five of them were knowledgeable about the 707.
04:55They were knowledgeable about this sort of ad hoc air cargo work.
05:00Although they hadn't met until a fortnight previously, I think they worked well together as a team.
05:07Over the Alps, the weather deteriorates.
05:10Pretty much ground level up to about 33,000 feet was in cloud and the cloud was rough and turbulent.
05:24Couldn't buckle up until we're above it.
05:27Good idea.
05:30We engaged our five-point seat harness rather than just the four-point harnesses that we normally keep on to a top of climb
05:37and then moved our seats forward to be really guarding the controls in this turbulent area.
05:42It was getting quite rough.
05:43Ask if we can go to 33.
05:47Cabo 671, request flight level 330.
05:53671, roger. Climb to flight level 330.
05:57Climb 330, 671.
06:00The requested climb was to go up another 4,000.
06:16One hour into the flight, just as the plane reaches 33,000 feet.
06:21There was an enormous bang, followed almost immediately by another one, and the aircraft absolutely rolled to the right.
06:46The captain uses all his strength to level the plane.
06:49Had the captain not reacted as quickly as he did, the aircraft could have rolled over, in fact inverted.
06:58Engine fire!
07:01Engines three and four show signs of fire.
07:07While the flight engineer deals with the engine alarms,
07:10the first officer checks on the engines.
07:15I saw nothing in the number four engine position.
07:22Number four engine has left the wing.
07:29Mayday, mayday, mayday. Cabo 671.
07:31With reduced engine power and an unbalanced configuration, the flight drops out of the sky in an uncontrolled descent.
07:40The descent rate was horrific.
07:42I think I saw 8,000 or 9,000 feet per minute.
07:47It's diving quickly towards the French Alps through heavy cloud.
07:51They need to get out of the mountains, and they can't see outside because of the thick cloud.
08:00They need the air traffic controller to give them a direction in which to head for a safe haven, for a safe airport.
08:07Mayday, mayday, mayday, mayday. Request descent for radar landing.
08:15The ground service can follow your track over the ground you're heading, heighten the speed from our transponder.
08:22They can point you to the nearest available runway.
08:25But air traffic control has bad news.
08:34Cabo 671, we have no radar contact. Say your position, please, sir.
08:39They can no longer see flight 671 on the radar.
08:44With nobody able to give them a direction to steer, they stood a very real chance of hitting a mountain.
08:50The plane's radar transponder has failed.
09:03I was considering which direction we could go to avoid the mountains.
09:07It was very scary.
09:08It was very scary.
09:16The situation is dire enough that the first officer records the damage to the wing.
09:24I wasn't sure what would happen next.
09:27I believe that if anything ended, like the flight before we were ready,
09:31somebody might find the camera and then they'd see the truth.
09:42Flight 671 is in an uncontrolled descent over the French Alps.
09:46With thick cloud and no transponder for the controller to guide them,
09:51the crew is flying blind.
09:53Mayday, mayday, mayday. Request descent for radar landing.
09:57The flight engineer attempts to get the transponder working again.
10:03He suspects there is a power issue.
10:06The reason the air shuttle control lost the radar initially was probably because the electrics powering the radar failed when engine number four fell off.
10:17The flight engineer redirects the power to engine one.
10:25We've selected the essential power selector to engine number one, which had an operative electrical generator.
10:34It works.
10:36Request descent radar landing.
10:38Roger.
10:39Turn left heading south to Marseille.
10:41The controller directs flight 671 to Marseille airport, 75 miles away.
10:47You turn left 180.
10:51Okay.
10:57There was immense relief as they descended out of the cloud and finally could see the mountains around them.
11:03But relief is short-lived after the first officer gives the right wing a further inspection.
11:13We've lost both engines on the right wing.
11:16What?
11:17With a five-point harness, you are slightly restricted, but I did manage to look right over my right shoulder and both the engines were off the wing.
11:27The wing was clean, which was a really big shock.
11:30We've lost both engines.
11:32Both engines?
11:33Just about the worst thing that can happen in an airliner is to have an engine depart from the aircraft.
11:41The only thing worse than that would be to have two engines depart from your aircraft.
11:46With only the two left engines functioning, control of the plane is compromised.
11:51When you've lost both engines from the right wing and still have a lot of thrust from the engines on the left wing, it upsets that balance and causes the aeroplane to turn and to roll very powerfully to the right.
12:08Getting the aeroplane to turn left is a huge ask under these circumstances.
12:13Flying the disabled plane is testing the captain's strength.
12:27The Boeing 707 has all manual flying controls.
12:33It's very heavy to fly when everything's working well.
12:37When you've lost two engines on one side, it's virtually at the limit of physical capability.
12:43To keep flight 671 in the air, the crew decides to reduce its load.
12:58This aircraft was carrying a very heavy fuel load and it was imperative to reduce that fuel load.
13:05But it requires a precise calculation.
13:08They need to leave themselves enough fuel to reach Marseille and land safely.
13:13112 tons is the maximum safe weight at which they can land.
13:18If they're any heavier than that and hit the ground hard, they would be sliding along the runway on their belly, shedding fuel and burning.
13:25This is not a position you want to be in.
13:26The process is time consuming.
13:27As flight 671 completes its left turn towards Marseille, Captain Berglund reduces power in the two left engines.
13:44They had to reduce the power on the left engines.
13:47They had to reduce the power on the left engines to give themselves a chance of staying upright and going in the direction they wanted to go in.
13:55Reducing airspeed means an increase in the angle of descent.
13:59Unfortunately, this of course meant they then descended more rapidly.
14:07They have to land soon and they have to land somewhere very nearby.
14:12Airspeed isn't the crew's only concern.
14:14Request the weather.
14:16Give me the weather for Marseille.
14:18671.
14:20I really needed the weather at Marseille to make a plan for an approach to land either direct or a circuit or whatever we could do.
14:28But air traffic control isn't responding.
14:31Request weather.
14:32Request weather.
14:33Mayday.
14:34Mayday.
14:35Mayday.
14:36671.
14:37Request weather.
14:43It was quite a tough call to actually get the instant weather at that moment at Marseille Airport that we needed right now.
14:53Making matters worse, the fuel dump is not going as expected.
14:59Fuel tank number one isn't discharging.
15:03It became evident to the flight engineer that the number one fuel tank wasn't emptying.
15:11This would cause a lateral imbalance across the aeroplane, which is not a good thing.
15:16I've got limited maneuvering.
15:21You stopping?
15:23Yeah.
15:24Yeah.
15:25The flight engineer discovers that a circuit breaker has popped.
15:37By pushing the circuit breaker back in, he was able to reactivate the number one fuel pump and get the fuel jettisoning from all four tanks simultaneously.
15:47Flight 671 is 30 miles from the runway in Marseille.
15:55Mayday!
15:56Mayday!
15:57Mayday!
15:58Mayday!
15:59Mayday!
16:00Mayday!
16:01Mayday!
16:02Mayday!
16:03Mayday!
16:04Mayday!
16:05Mayday!
16:07Mayday!
16:09Mayday!
16:26It was really a no-go.
16:28Cabot 671, what is our distance to the runway?
16:3322 miles per landing, sir.
16:36We had no plan B at that point.
16:40That was a nasty moment.
16:42What we wanted was a runway, and we wanted it quickly.
16:53Hey, you see the airfield?
16:56I don't see it.
16:59Flight 671 is in a rapid descent with limited maneuverability,
17:04less than 9,000 feet above southern France,
17:07when the crew finally gets a break.
17:11I looked through, just plowed underneath us,
17:14and I glimpsed some ribbon black tarmac.
17:17It was a runway.
17:22Cabot 671, we have an airfield ahead.
17:24What is our airfield?
17:25It's a military airfield until 12 o'clock for six months.
17:32Can we land that?
17:33No, it's too short, too short.
17:36How long is the runway on this military airfield?
17:3813,000 feet.
17:40Oh, yeah.
17:41Okay.
17:42Runway at Istra is long.
17:46It is France's flight test center,
17:48and it was also a space shuttle alternate learning ground.
17:51It's probably the biggest airport in Europe.
17:53It's probably the biggest airport in Europe.
17:55Military airfield, mayday, traffic 671.
17:57The first officer makes contact with air traffic control at Istra Airport.
18:02671, this is Istra.
18:05You are cleared for arrival.
18:07Runway 33.
18:10We're just overhead.
18:11What's the wind?
18:12The wind is...
18:15330, 10 knots, gusting 1 to 4 knots.
18:18We'll make a left-hand pattern from the west.
18:22Yeah.
18:24The French military air traffic controller was one of my gang.
18:27I thought he was great.
18:29We turn left to land.
18:30Yes.
18:30As they start their turn,
18:33the crew lowers the plane's flaps in preparation for landing.
18:38The wheels were down and locked,
18:40and the flaps were coming down
18:41so Captain Berglund could have more roll control.
18:44But when the flaps are extended,
18:46disaster strikes.
18:51There was another big explosion,
18:54which tried to roll us right again.
18:57Yeah.
18:59Turn left.
19:01Turn left to land.
19:05Turn left.
19:06I'm trying.
19:08Turn left to land.
19:09Left turn.
19:09Yeah.
19:15Oh, we missed the runway.
19:18They're unable to line up for landing.
19:29671.
19:30We have fire on board.
19:31I confirm.
19:32Fire on board.
19:33I could hear the fire,
19:36but I didn't say anything.
19:37We need another runway.
19:40We need another runway.
19:40We need another runway.
19:41We need another runway.
19:41Take runway 15.
19:43Wind is 320, 10 knots, cleared direct.
19:47After failing to make a hard left for a landing on runway 33.
19:52The crew attempt to circle back and land on the runway's opposite end, known as 1-5.
19:59The captain doesn't have the captain.
20:00The captain doesn't have the strength to make the turn on his own, but the first officer has an idea.
20:06I said, I'll take the power, and Captain Berglund said to me, be careful.
20:11I said, I will.
20:12I promise.
20:12The first officer adjusts the throttles to help steer the plane to the runway.
20:18And bringing back number one, advancing number two, it actually turned the airplane left, and he could fly it going towards the runway, which was a miracle.
20:25It truly was.
20:28It's a race against time to get the plane on the ground before the wing is incinerated.
20:38Good descent.
20:39You are on axis.
20:42Flight 671 is flying 50 knots faster than normal landing speed.
20:53Captain did a perfect landing, kept it just left of the center line.
20:57And we were safely on the ground, at a great speed, but we were on the ground.
21:02If they don't brake soon, they will overshoot the runway.
21:06Without hydraulics, they have only the plane's emergency brake to reduce speed.
21:12There was no anti-skid protection.
21:13That would have meant that the tires would start scuffing and bursting, which would then reduce their ability to slow down.
21:23Stopping was the only thing that mattered.
21:25You want both cross reverses?
21:27The flight engineer wanted to use reverse thrust on the two left engines because that was the only way he could see of slowing down.
21:34No, cut the engines.
21:35The first officer didn't want him to do that because that would pull the airplane off to the left of the runway.
21:41I've just left engine two.
21:42As a compromise, they used reverse thrust on the inboard left engine, the number two engine, which did help reduce their galloping speed, but pulled the airplane off the runway to the left.
21:56The aircraft did come to a halt in the mud.
22:03I realized that we were on fire and it was burning and belching smoke and flame.
22:16We needed two, get down, get out and get away.
22:18With two missing engines, a wing on fire and no brakes, flight 671 has landed in Eistre, France with its cargo and crew safe.
22:33To actually have two of the four engines fall off the wing, virtually unheard of in the history of aviation.
22:40The heroic escape from death makes headlines around the world.
22:46As French investigators arrive, they're faced with an important question.
22:50What caused two engines to fall off a plane?
22:54Losing two engines is a huge thing.
22:57So the investigators had quite a big task to establish what had happened and more importantly, why and how to prevent it happening again.
23:10The damaged 707 is moved to a hangar to be examined by the BEA, France's Air Investigation Authority.
23:20The level of damage on this aircraft was very close to looking like a total structural failure.
23:36I've got something.
23:37Investigators make an early discovery about the fire on board the plane.
23:43These wires from the cable loom short-circuited.
23:46That, plus a fuel leak from near the engine three area, caused the fire.
23:50Good work.
23:52When the engines came away from the wing, they tore with them electrical wiring.
24:01Some of that wiring still had power available.
24:05When the flaps were extended, leaking fuel made contact with live wires and ignited.
24:14Let's get this cleaned up.
24:15Get a better look at what tore the engine loose from the wing.
24:23Investigators are counting on the plane's flight data recorder to provide more information.
24:27Okay.
24:29Let's see what it can tell us.
24:41It looks like engines three and four were producing thrust right up until here.
24:489, 10.50 a.m., one hour into the flight.
24:51The FDR data reveals that both engines stopped working almost concurrently.
24:57The flight data recorder basically showed the engines operating as normal when they left the aircraft.
25:07To understand why two perfectly functioning engines detached from the 707's wings,
25:18investigators need to find the missing engines.
25:21Here's the flight path.
25:22Hi.
25:27This is where they probably fell off.
25:29I'll send a search and recovery team out there.
25:4224 hours into the investigation,
25:44the engines of flight 671 are located on a mountainside near Seyderon, France,
25:5055 miles northeast of where the plane landed.
25:53Investigators found the engines about 800 meters apart.
26:02That's very close.
26:04Their locations also suggest the engines detached at almost the same time.
26:09While the team waits for the engines to be recovered,
26:12they turn to the crew for further insight.
26:17We were climbing to 33,000 feet to avoid some pretty bad turbulence.
26:20The engines, suddenly there were loud sounds.
26:32I saw engine four was missing.
26:37You reported the engines missing at two different times.
26:41Is it possible you were mistaken?
26:43It's possible.
26:45The harness I was wearing kept me from getting a good look out the window at first.
26:48You said you were climbing to avoid turbulence.
26:50How bad was it?
26:52It was severe.
26:53I wouldn't want to go through that again.
26:56They'd flown through extremely heavy turbulence of a level not normally encountered.
27:05So there were two cumulonimbus clouds here and here,
27:10and they went up past 33,000 feet.
27:12Investigators examined the weather conditions at the time of the incident.
27:19Looks like there was also a 90-knot jet stream over here.
27:29They discover that Flight 671 flew through two weather conditions
27:34when they reached 33,000 feet.
27:36Those two conditions would have generated severe turbulence.
27:41But then you'd think it could withstand the turbulence.
27:44Did two colliding weather conditions tear the engines off the 707?
27:49Let's see what the engines can tell us.
27:50Hey, boss.
28:05Close examination of the engines gives investigators an important new clue.
28:12You see this dent on engine four?
28:14Its shape and diameter match a dent on engine three.
28:18So does this white paint.
28:19You could tell from the shape of the damage
28:24and from transfer of white paint from one engine to the other engine
28:30that the number three had struck the number four engine and separated it.
28:37Investigators now need to find out what caused engine three to detach.
28:46Looks like a clean break of all four fittings.
28:48Each engine is attached to a pylon.
28:53The pylon is then bolted to the wing using four large fittings.
28:58During Flight 671, all four fittings broke on engine three.
29:06Now, three of the four fittings broke like this one.
29:09You can see from the surface they broke from stress.
29:10This mid-spar fitting is different.
29:18There's some distortion here.
29:20It likely broke from a fatigue fracture.
29:22You could see some characteristics, surface-wise, coloration-wise,
29:31that were consistent with the fatigue cracking.
29:33Over time, the inboard mid-spar fitting on engine three was weakened
29:41because of a crack caused by metal fatigue.
29:44When it snapped off in severe turbulence, the other fittings broke too.
29:49As a metallurgist, I want to take a closer look at these things.
29:54Okay, let's see what we got.
30:05To establish a detailed history of Flight 671's broken mid-spar fitting,
30:11investigators use an electron microscope to examine it.
30:14I can see multiple arrest lines.
30:18With each takeoff and landing, the crack grows a little bit.
30:23It leaves a mark.
30:25And each little stress cycle makes the crack a little bigger.
30:31These are likely from the flights the plane flew
30:33since Transair put it back in service a few weeks ago.
30:36What about before that?
30:39As the team continues examining the cracked mid-spar fitting,
30:42they make an unusual finding.
30:45It looks like corrosion.
30:49The plane had to have been exposed to moisture over a long period of time.
30:52All right.
30:54Well, looks like the previous owner had the plane in storage
31:00for 13 months prior to the incident.
31:04Where was it stored?
31:09In a field in England.
31:12Steel will corrode if it's in a salty atmosphere
31:18or a very moist atmosphere.
31:21This particular aircraft was stored
31:23at airfields which weren't far from the sea.
31:27That explains corrosion.
31:31What about those?
31:34Those little marks?
31:36Near the bottom of the fitting,
31:38they discover several tell-tale marks.
31:41Those are corrosion pit marks.
31:45Corrosion pits are tiny holes that appear in metal
31:49after water has gained access to that metal
31:53and caused corrosion to take place.
31:56And the pit can be the start of a long crack.
31:59And in this case, there were corrosion pits that grew into one crack
32:05and eventually fractured amid spar fitting.
32:08So when did these pit marks start to develop?
32:10Well, it's hard to pinpoint exactly.
32:12Given their distance from the arrest lines,
32:14it suggests that the pitting started even before the plane went into storage.
32:17The crack doesn't occur in storage.
32:21The oxidation does.
32:24So that tells us the cracking occurred before storage.
32:29Well, probably years before storage.
32:34He's sitting through a time bomb waiting to blow.
32:38So how did the maintenance team miss it?
32:43This just arrived from Transair.
32:45Maintenance records.
32:47Well, let's have a look.
32:49Investigators want to know if poor maintenance on Flight 671 contributed to the crash.
32:54You start to look at the age of the parts that fail
33:00and what was the maintenance requirements for those parts.
33:04And did they play a role in the accident?
33:09In the 1990s, Nigerian airlines like Transair
33:13gained a reputation for poor maintenance.
33:17For a while, Nigerian airways were in fact banned from United Kingdom airspace.
33:24Corrigan, this Transair didn't do a mid-spar maintenance check.
33:30Transair had only owned that airplane for a very small amount of time.
33:34So it's unlikely that they've performed any maintenance on it.
33:38So maybe Transair inherited the problem before it was owned by them.
33:45Looks like the previous owner did two maintenance checks.
33:49One on October 10, 1991, when the plane was in storage.
33:52And the other in May 1990, before it went into storage.
33:57The team learns that the plane passed two maintenance checks
34:01in a two-year period prior to the incident.
34:05If the metal fatigue started before the storage,
34:08the maintenance checks should have caught the problem.
34:12There were certain cracks that should have been picked up, which weren't.
34:15Then, one month into the investigation,
34:20another 707 loses an engine.
34:23The incident is similar to what happened to Flight 671.
34:27During take-off from Miami International Airport,
34:31the number three engine is torn off the wing
34:33and then hits engine four.
34:35With the Miami accident,
34:38the pilots managed to land the aircraft safely
34:40with no one being hurt.
34:44The NTSB investigates
34:46and discovers that a broken mid-spar fitting
34:48also caused the engine to fall off the wing.
34:52This was perhaps history repeating itself.
34:55French investigators review the NTSB's preliminary report,
35:06curious about the Miami plane's maintenance history.
35:09Maintenance on the 707 in Miami
35:11was performed 328 flights before the accident.
35:14Which is well within the 600 flight recommendation by the FAA.
35:17They discover that the plane had also passed maintenance checks
35:22and reported no fatigue cracking or corrosion.
35:27In both the Miami accident and the French accident,
35:33the mid-spar fitting had failed with a very similar way
35:37and had also been maintained as specified
35:41by the FAA and Boeing Aircraft Company.
35:44Perhaps they weren't maintaining properly.
35:49At the time, the mid-spar fittings were required
35:54to be inspected in a close visual examination.
35:59Basically, you gain access to the fitting,
36:03you wipe it off the best you can,
36:06and what you can see is what you examine.
36:10Was there a problem with the inspection process?
36:15Investigators interview a maintenance supervisor
36:17about how engine fittings are approved for flight.
36:22So, how do you inspect the fitting?
36:24You're supposed to carry out a close visual inspection
36:26for cracks on the exposed surfaces of the fitting.
36:30And?
36:31Well, cracks can start on the inside of the fitting.
36:34So why is that a problem?
36:35Well, it's a problem, because you can't see inside
36:38unless you remove the engine and the pylon from the wing.
36:42It's a troubling discovery.
36:45The mid-spar fitting is normally inspected
36:47by removing a panel on the pylon,
36:50but the entire fitting cannot be seen from the access panel.
36:54The engine and pylon need to be removed
36:56to check for cracks on the inside of the fitting.
36:59Boeing did not require disassembly of the mid-spar fitting.
37:09Their risk assessment basically said
37:11it's not worth it on this old airframe.
37:15So there could be 707s out there
37:17with cracks in this fitting that no one could see?
37:19Yeah.
37:19As an investigator, you always have to wonder
37:25how many more engines are going to fall off of 707s.
37:38Listen to this.
37:40Investigators of Flight 671 do a deep dive
37:43into the history of the Boeing 707's mid-spar fitting.
37:46There have been reports of more than 35
37:49cracked mid-spar fittings on the 707.
37:52These planes are at the end of their life cycle.
37:55The 707 in Miami had flown over 50,000 hours.
37:58The Transair 707 had flown more than 60,000 hours.
38:02This was an old fitting on an old airplane
38:05that had been designed a very long time ago.
38:08When they didn't know how these materials would age,
38:11the consequence of this,
38:12and perhaps not the best maintenance or inspection,
38:15meant that eventually this fitting just gave up.
38:19By 1992, most 707s were considered too old to fly passengers
38:24and were converted to freight transport.
38:29We need to make sure this doesn't happen again.
38:34Investigators conclude that a hidden fracture
38:36in the mid-spar fitting almost took the lives
38:39of the five men on Transair Flight 671.
38:48The fate of the plane is sealed
38:50when a maintenance inspection fails to catch the fatigue crack.
38:55Ask if we can go to 33.
38:57The 707 is pushed to its breaking point
39:02when two weather events collide.
39:07The in-flight turbulence was the last little bit
39:12that was necessary to cause fracture.
39:15Basically, it was the last straw
39:17that held this pylon together.
39:20The weakened mid-spar fitting finally breaks
39:24and both engines are lost.
39:30If not for the heroics of the crew,
39:33the plane would have crashed.
39:34The 707 is not an easy airplane to fly
39:39when everything's going well.
39:41It's a very difficult airplane to fly
39:43when things are going wrong.
39:45I've got limited maneuvering.
39:47You stopping?
39:50Yeah.
39:51Captain Berglund's skill and stamina prove remarkable
39:54as he physically keeps the plane stable until landing.
39:58From the beginning of the incident
40:01to when they finally landed on the runway, 24 minutes.
40:0524 minutes that most pilots
40:08wouldn't have had all those things happen to them
40:10in an entire career.
40:11He was just one fantastic pilot.
40:18Carvel 671, we have no radar contact.
40:21Say your position, please, sir.
40:23Throughout the harrowing flight,
40:25flight engineer Boone troubleshoots and fixes
40:28key systems.
40:30The flight engineer looked at his panel
40:32and came up with the solution
40:34as to why the radar wasn't working.
40:37You turn left, 180.
40:40Okay.
40:46Hey, you see the airfield?
40:48And First Officer Emery's quick thinking
40:51and intuition proved vital.
40:53Carvel 671, we have an airfield ahead.
40:55What is that airfield?
40:56It was an absolute genius decision
40:59to land at a military base with a long runway.
41:06It shows an awful lot about the spirit of pilots
41:11and survival, that they somehow coalesce together.
41:13They all use their own individual skills.
41:15The B.E.A. recommends that inspections of the current mid-spar fittings
41:25be modified to enable the detection of hidden cracks
41:28or be replaced by reinforced fittings.
41:31The F.A.A. decided to mandate replacement of the mid-spar fittings
41:40with a new and improved mid-spar fitting,
41:43which did not require inspections that were ineffective in the first place.
41:50In 1992, the crew of Transair Cargo 671 received the Hugh Gordon Burge Award
41:57for outstanding airmanship.
41:59This flight was a heroic achievement
42:02where the crew have recovered from a virtually impossible situation
42:07and they deserved the awards they got.
42:10So, a lot of luck and a bit of teamwork
42:13and a bit of shouting and a bit of action,
42:16but a happy landing.
42:17Thanks for having me.
42:18Bye.
42:22You
42:24You
42:24You
42:28You
42:29You
42:30You
42:35You
42:40You