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00:00A 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.
00:17Can 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.
00:56That clearly had to put some pressure on the pilots to say,
00:58all right, this is not looking good.
01:02BD, BD!
01:03The sun has just set over the Colorado mountains.
01:27avjet November 303 Gulf Alpha is nearing the end of its journey to Aspen well there's the
01:35edge of the night there yeah captain Robert Frisbee has almost 10,000 flying hours to his
01:44credit what time is official sunset he and first officer Peter Kowalczyk have been flying together
01:53for close to five months 628 both pilots have been with avjet for less than a year the small
02:05charter airline is based out of Burbank California object catered to high rollers business people
02:14people who could afford to charter a jet people who had to get there in a hurry but do it in style
02:19running out of fuel here for the birthday boy a Miami financier chartered this flight for 14
02:29of his friends to attend a birthday party at an exclusive venue in Aspen this was a group of
02:37friends who seem to have had tremendous early achievements and accomplishments and they
02:42were really going to go places so 4,800 pounds 126 it was 50 you know what I adjusted it because the fuel
02:54was way off the pilots are flying a Gulf Stream 3 the Gulf Stream is a luxurious plane that you know
03:06people see in the movies and people think high rollers and movie stars flying but it's a workhorse
03:11plane it actually has a good reputation it's a 90-minute flight from Los Angeles to Aspen
03:18Gulf Stream 303 Gulf Alpha Aspen reduced speed to 210 or slower the controller slows down the Gulf
03:31Stream to maintain a safe distance from the other planes heading into Aspen
03:35two one zero or slower three gulf alpha 17 minutes from landing the pilots begin their descent
03:49Aspen Pitkin County Airport also known as Sardi field is about three miles northwest of Aspen
03:58landing on its single runway is a challenge Aspen is considered one of the most dangerous airports in the country the 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 it was I can see
04:25the airport but he couldn't see it set you up on the approach okay the landing is made even more
04:34difficult with the final stage needing to be carried out visually as the plane nears Aspen a beacon guides it to
04:43the airport but it doesn't lead it directly to the runway once the airport is in sight the pilots must
04:51line up with the runway visually because of the high terrain in close proximity to the final approach
04:57course the minimum altitude is a couple thousand feet above the ground and we must be visual by that
05:03time to safely continue our descent down to a landing and tonight the weather isn't making landing any easier
05:13and if at any time it's snowing it's very hard to acquire that visual reference to safely descend further to a landing
05:24residential noise restrictions around the airport leave the pilots only nine minutes until the landing
05:34curfew at 6 58 the crew is cutting it close can you see out there at all yet
05:41uh no cost stream three golf alpha heading zero five zero heading zero five zero three golf alpha
05:56as the pilots prepare to line up with the runway passengers get ready for landing
06:03okay synchronizers off there is just enough fuel for one landing attempt after that the pilots will
06:19have to divert to another airport okay it's off hydraulic pressure is good golf stream three golf alpha
06:30turn heading one four zero intercept final approach course maintain one six thousand eight minutes
06:36from the airport the controller gives the crew clearance to commence the approach
06:41one four zero one six thousand intercept final approach course three golf alpha
06:47one six thousand
06:51as the pilots get their final intercepts to the airport
07:00challenger seven juliet alpha you have the airport in sight another aircraft also one approach to aspen
07:08updates the controller those pilots aboard their landing because they can't see the runway
07:19attention all aircraft last aircraft went missed
07:25what you went missed went missed damn that's not good if you can't successfully land the aircraft then
07:38a missed approach is a procedure that pilots will execute to return to a safe altitude
07:44as the gulf stream gets closer to the airport the weather deteriorates
07:59cost room three golf alpha five miles from red table cross red table at or above one four thousand clear
08:06for VOR DME Charlie approach the controller clears the pilots to begin the final approach eleven miles from the airport
08:13the controller clears the pilots to begin the final approach eleven miles from the airport
08:18you have to be configured properly at the right altitude at the right speed otherwise you are expected to execute a missed approach
08:25red table at one four thousand cleared for VOR approach gulf stream three zero three gulf alpha
08:32here we go
08:34as the pilots get closer to the airport they're counting on the weather to improve for their landing
08:40sending to one four thousand
08:47problems can escalate very quickly when flying into aspen there's really no room to recover without breaking off that approach or trying it again
08:59landing flaps landing flaps just over two minutes from landing instruments have successfully guided the pilots to the airport
09:09now it's up to them to identify the runway
09:12now it's up to them to identify the runway
09:16you see the runway
09:19Gulfstream three gulf alpha you have the runway in sight
09:24affirmative yeah now we do runway in sight three gulf alpha
09:30Gulfstream three gulf alpha visual
09:34the pilots are now less than a minute from landing
09:41the pilots are now less than a minute from landing
09:54at the last moment they realize something is wrong
09:59I have jet three zero three golf alpha
10:14crashes just short of the runway at Aspen
10:21Aircraft identification Gulfstream 303 Gulf Alpha aircraft location it was north of the runway
10:29approximately the Shale Bluffs area emergency vehicles rush to the scene in the hope that
10:38there are survivors of the crash of avjet 303 Gulf Alpha
10:51but all 18 people on board are dead all 15 passengers the two pilots and the flight attendant
11:06this 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 put everything from the tail section over there
11:25by the following day investigators are on site thousands of passengers fly charter airplanes
11:37every year encompassing 2.5 million flight hours annually so trying to understand why this
11:44accident occurred was significant let me see that within hours the planes cockpit voice recorder or
11:57CVR is retrieved from the wreckage let's get the data pulled from that ASAP what about a flight data
12:05recorder looks like there wasn't one okay because the airplane was manufactured in 1980 and registered
12:21in 1981 it was not required to have an FDR while the CVR is sent for analysis investigators from the
12:30national transportation safety board wonder why the pilots weren't able to land safely the plane
12:36crashed 2400 feet from the runway when an aircraft crashes short of a runway especially a sophisticated
12:44airplane like a Gulfstream jet a number of questions arise here how did they get there what possible
12:49factors could the crew have was there some sort of a failure in the aircraft take a look at this
12:57what do you think cause 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
13:13when an airplane comes through trees or vegetation as it approaches the ground it cuts off branches and we
13:22can look at those branches and the angles that are made to understand the airplane's attitude as it came
13:29into the ground and its descent profile left wing struck the trees at about 49 degrees
13:42that's a hell of a bank
13:44there's no operationally relevant reason for an airplane to be banked at 49 degrees that close to
13:56the airport or that close to the ground maybe they lost control of the plane
14:04when we see an aircraft in a abnormal attitude uh we've got to look at did something happen where you
14:09know the pilots couldn't keep it level the plane's position gives investigators a promising lead
14:16engine failure
14:20the loss of thrust resulting from an engine failure on one side can yaw the airplane and if not
14:26appropriately managed by the pilots in a timely fashion can lead to a loss of control
14:34aside from the impact damage there's no sign of fire to the exterior
14:40the team studies the engine's compressor blades to determine if the engines were functioning when
14:45the 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 counterclockwise
15:01or in the opposite direction
15:07you know these are all bent counterclockwise so
15:10was an 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
15:27let's take a look at the rudder
15:31an airplane operating at a low airspeed while the rudder moves to an extreme limit
15:37could introduce a rolling moment
15:40or also stall one of the wings which would further exacerbate the rolling moment
15:47investigators examine the actuator that controls the rudder's movement
15:52the piston 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
16:07was functioning normally
16:08if mechanical failure didn't cause the role what went wrong on approach
16:16determining the airplane's flight path helps us understand how that airplane got to the accident site
16:22what was it doing where was it flying how fast was it going
16:28have a look at this radar data
16:30with no flight data recorder investigators turn to aspen's radar information to reconstruct the gulf stream's descent profile
16:44using the radar position and time so the altitude and position of the aircraft the performance engineers can extract the
16:51speed of the aircraft how fast is it descending is that appropriate for the approach that they're trying to do
17:00here's what we've got
17:04this is the approach they should have flown
17:07investigators 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
17:30pilots cannot descend below that altitude until they reach another fix or another distance
17:37and
17:38here's the descent the pilots actually flew
17:44the radar data shows the avjet flight deviated from the published descent profile
17:51four miles out they dropped 300 feet below the minimum
17:54and a mile later they dropped 900 feet below the minimum altitude and they stayed that way
18:02they 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 issues 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
19:58pilot you know our number one job is safety uh regulations are there for a reason what is it that
20:04could lead a good flight crew to go beyond those safety limits
20:11okay so we know the pilots landed at aspen twice before with that incident what was different this time
20:18maybe they were trying to get eyes on the runway pull up the weather
20:34it was important to understand exactly what was going on with the weather in terms of the layers of clouds
20:43whether they were solid or broken to understand what capability these pilots may have had to
20:50see objects on the ground the crash was at 702 pm back it up to about 6 30 pm
21:00they would have been flying in and out of some pretty heavy cloud here so maybe they didn't have
21:05a clear line on the runway okay but these are seasoned pilots they should know if you don't see the runway
21:11you don't try to land on it and yet they did try to land on it and they missed by almost half a mile so
21:16did they see the runway or not we should talk to the controller
21:26an 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 about
21:40the time of the accident but they also can help us understand communications that they had with the
21:45airplane so 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
22:00golf stream three golf alpha you have the runway in sight
22:04yeah runway inside three golf alpha golf stream three golf alpha visual roger
22:09i made extra sure to confirm because i couldn't see them the weather was so bad did you have any reason
22:21to doubt the pilots not of the time but here's what's so odd they confirmed they had visual but then when
22:31they came out 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 this 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 gain
23:45insight 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
24:27did you talk to the captain on the day of the flight oh yes and there were some problems right
24:34from the start really how so well the flight was supposed to leave at 4 30 at 4 15 he called to say
24:40the passengers still hadn't shown up
24:45well if 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
25:09he 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 once the passenger is boarded there was a call by
25:50the charter customer's assistant expressing concern that the crew had told the passengers that they
26:00might have to go to another airport welcome welcome given the delay in boarding looks like we may have to
26:06divert the rifle
26:13so the client had his assistant call me
26:17so my boss wants you to tell the pilot to well keep his mouth shut around the passengers and if he
26:23has anything to say save it until he gets there and then they can talk it over understood there's
26:30nothing to worry about i'll take care of it thank you very much for letting me know
26:34so 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
26:49the 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 he was worried that he was going
27:06to disappoint our boss maybe even get into trouble for upsetting the client but he wouldn't get into
27:12trouble in a charter operation the needs of your passengers are front and center you're fully aware
27:19of them and 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
27:32aircraft 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
27:546 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
28:10i don't think so what about the client i had a talk with the client it's just really important to
28:16him 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
28:28too long to get there i see
28:32okay wow thank you very much for your time happy to help
28:37although the pilots would be aware of the needs of their passengers at no point can that supersede
28:47the professionalism of that crew your primary and only real job is the safety of that aircraft
28:55you 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 uh voice on chat rooms and complaint
29:24lines that they are pressured to keep people happy and do really difficult things just to uh satisfy a
29:31demanding customer and it's dangerous
29:36they still had time to correct the situation so what happened in these final 30 minutes
29:42it'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 what
30:04they were doing from their conversations with each other i mean how they were planning and using the
30:11information 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
30:42so 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
31:47more difficult 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
32:22and they know it's a bad 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
32:59looks 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
33:56weather's gone 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
34:20having 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
34:36tongues your 98 romeo you're number one
34:4098 romeo negative visual on the mist they learned that the plane ahead of avjet 303 gulf alpha
34:48also missed their approach because they couldn't see the runway
34:51it's too dangerous to land on that runway under these conditions so what happened
35:04are we cleared to land not not yet you just missed guy in front of us didn't make it either
35:11no really
35:12okay so it sounds like this guy is sending the pilots a message exactly
35:23oh really may not sound like much but after all those other things that had occurred i think
35:29oh really was a warning shot get this thing in aspen but the pilots still had one more chance to
35:37implement their backup plan to divert to another airport where's it at
35:48so obviously they still can't see the runway
35:53to the right to the right
35:55so instead of executing a missed approach they're still looking for the runway which is actually to
36:06their left there was a river valley and some roads nearby might they have seen something they thought was
36:12the runway you know some lights of the village or whatnot they believed they saw the runway but that wasn't
36:18correct 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 uh pressure from the client as well
36:36um and then with the weather coming in and out as they stepped down
36:40they'd catch glimpses now and then of the ground 500 rev plus five think rate think rate
36:5322 seconds after crossing the missed approach point avjet 303 gulf alpha hits the ground
37:10so in los angeles they were ready to divert
37:32then they get chewed out for talking about diverting and the client tells them
37:36how important the dinner is topping it all off the passenger enters the cockpit so by the time
37:42they get to aspen they were bound and determined to land
37:49sadly they turned into the pilots they were ridiculing
37:54all indications
37:57from our investigation show that these two pilots were good pilots once the crew descended without the
38:04runway in sight the runway in sight the 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 there was one more safeguard that could have
38:25prevented 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 notam is an official notice to airman that's a notice put out by the faa to tell
38:58pilots about some abnormality in the airspace system an approach procedure has been changed a navigation aid
39:05is out all sorts of things two 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
39:22they should never have been flying in aspen at night in the first place
39:26it said that circling not authorized at night this approach is only a circling approach even if you
39:34elect to land straight in it actually had the effect of making that approach not authorized at night
39:40the crash was at 7 0 2 p.m what time was nightfall nightfall was officially at 6 55
39:51well that's seven minutes before the crash why didn't they follow the notam
39:58investigators examined the gulf stream's briefing records to see if it included the most recent notice
40:04it 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 they tell you about
40:22everything from a burned out light bulb on a tower 15 miles away to the runways closed and everything in
40:28between and what about the controller notams are also distributed to atc facilities they need to know
40:39about things that affect the airspace as well it never got passed on to aspen atc
40:48the 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
41:06had the controller received the notam it might have prevented the crash
41:10in the final analysis investigators conclude the probable cause of the accident was the flight
41:17crew's operation of the airplane below the minimum descent altitude without an appropriate visual
41:24reference to the runway this accident happened because the captain did not go around did not
41:31conduct a missed approach had he done that they would have gone to rifle
41:37and the passengers may have been frustrated may have been angry there might have been a big conversation
41:43but they would have been alive
41:49investigators also believe external pressures played a role in the pilots decision making
41:56we call it get their itis they were close to the destination almost there and the pressure on people to
42:03make the decision nothing broke nothing really failed other than just the decision making under pressures of
42:10get their itis
42:14as a result of this accident avjet restricts flying into aspen between sunset and sunrise
42:20the faa also revises its specifications for flying into aspen with a minimum visibility of five miles
42:28and 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 bullet in 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 a date engagement a birthday party that is
43:35more important than the lives of your passengers on the plane and the pilot has to be tough enough
43:41to stand up to that because the passengers just don't know they're not pilots and they do not know that
43:47their behavior is endangering their very lives but it did help change the law and change how the faa
43:55operates in many aspects and for that we're thankful
44:11so
44:31you
44:41You
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