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On 3 December 1990, two Northwest Airlines jets collide in heavy fog at Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport after Flight 1482 mistakenly turns on to an active runway while Flight 299 is taking off. 8 of the 44 people on board Flight 1482 are killed; all 154 people on board Flight 299 survive.
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00:01A DC-9 crew lost in the fog at Detroit Airport...
00:06What runway is this?
00:08...ends up on the wrong end of an active runway.
00:12I don't know!
00:21The horrifying collision kills eight people.
00:25A tragic event occurred, but that's just really the tip of the iceberg here.
00:30When investigators dig into the crew's background...
00:33Power controller said, you were on fire, eject. Bam! Like, wow!
00:38He's a little brash, a little cocky.
00:40...they are shocked by what they uncover.
00:43He's clearly embellishing.
00:45Does the sequence of events leading up to the crash start with the relationship between the pilots?
00:52We're not sure.
00:54Exit that runway immediately, sir.
00:56D-Day, D-Day!
01:02Oh, fuck!
01:03D-Day, D-Day, Speed?
01:04D-Day, Speed recover this...
01:05D-Day, Speed.
01:06Custom, you're on, what are we doing?
01:09A D-Day, Speed.
01:11D-Day, Speed.
01:13D-Day, Speed.
01:15Detroit Metropolitan Airport
01:26Parking brake
01:29Set
01:31The crew of Northwest Airlines Flight 299 prepares to depart for Memphis
01:38Throttle
01:40Idle
01:42Captain Bob Ouellette
01:44First Officer Bill Hagedorn
01:46And their flight engineer
01:48Have been delayed for more than an hour
01:50By a last minute change of aircraft
01:52Fasten seatbelts is on
01:56Checklist complete
01:57They're finally getting underway
02:03Northwest 299 was a non-stop flight to Memphis
02:08About a two hour flight
02:09One of your bread and butter routes for Northwest Airlines at that time
02:13Detroit's airport is one of the biggest in the U.S., servicing millions of passengers every year
02:19It's also the hub of the nation's fourth largest airline, Northwest
02:27I would describe Wayne County as a pretty busy airport
02:33Man, I don't think I've ever seen fog this bad
02:45In the tower controllers are dealing with fog that's blanketed the entire airport
02:51It's so thick they can't see the planes they're guiding
02:56The only way they could know where the aircraft were on the airport
03:01Was to have the pilots give them positions as to where they were
03:05Northwest 299 ready to taxi
03:09Northwest 299 Metro Ground taxi to runway 3 center via Oscar 6 Fox and X-Ray
03:16The ground controller clears flight 299 to taxi to the active runway 3 center
03:31It will follow a series of taxiways known as Oscar, Foxtrot and X-Ray that will take it to the runway's threshold
03:41The whole purpose of taxiways is to provide movement or aircraft kind of like highways to and from the runways themselves
03:48Basically roadways for aircraft to move around on an airport
03:52We have to move around on an airport
03:59Northwest 299, what's your position now?
04:04Northwest 299, what's your position now?
04:07Okay, we just turned down onto X-Ray 299
04:11Roger, switch to tower control 118.4
04:14Roger
04:15As flight 299 nears the runway threshold
04:20Control of the plane passes from the ground controller to the tower controller
04:27The 727 is now at the runway threshold preparing for takeoff
04:35All set to go back there?
04:41Yes sir, ready to go
04:42Okay
04:43Tell them we're ready to go
04:45Tower Northwest 299 is ready on the center
04:49If an aircraft is ready for departure
04:52They will call the tower
04:53I'll say we're at the end of the runway, we're ready
04:56Northwest 299 Metro Tower
04:58Runway 3 center, clear for takeoff
05:02Roger
05:04Flight 299 is cleared for takeoff
05:07The 727 is seconds away from leaving the ground
05:2680 knots
05:28When a flight crew is in departure mode, advancing the throttles, speed is increasing
05:35But danger lies ahead
05:39A DC-9 is stopped halfway down the runway
05:46It's carrying 40 passengers
05:53In the cockpit, Captain Bill Lovelace and First Officer Jim Schiffens are lost in the fog
06:01This is a runway
06:02Yeah
06:03This is a runway
06:04Yeah
06:05Oh no
06:06Oh damn
06:07There's very little time to avoid a collision
06:23The pilot turned to the left
06:28Maybe he was actually trying to lift that right wing up over that DC-9
06:32Inside the DC-9, it's chaos
06:47John Iso, one of the flight's 40 passengers, has no idea what's happened
06:59There was an explosion
07:00And all I thought was the engine blew him
07:05He's in shock and unsure what to do
07:09I sat there for a second, I was kind of dazed
07:13And then all of a sudden hear click, click, click
07:15I said, oh yeah, I guess I better get out of here
07:18He's stunned by what he sees
07:20I saw a light, thin light between the fuselage, like it was sliced
07:26I looked back and I saw fire coming in the back of the plane, like a blowtorch
07:33Coming up, I said, hey, I can't stay here
07:38Northwest 299 aborting, there's an aircraft on the runway and we struck his right wing
07:49Incredibly, damage to the other plane is limited to the wing
07:53And none of the passengers or crew are injured
07:57The 727, it was virtually intact except for a pretty good chunk of one wing
08:03It's a different story on board the DC-9
08:10John Iso realizes to his horror that the passenger opposite him did not survive the accident
08:22Everyone sitting in window seats on that side of the plane is severely injured or dead
08:30Went to the emergency wing exit
08:36And I was just starting to dismantle it
08:38And a person jumps in front of me and he's flailing around there and says, hey, easy, easy
08:43So I took it out, I threw the door on the wing, I said, go ahead, buddy
08:46And he went out, starts walking down the wing
08:48In the tower, controllers are trying to get help to the two damaged airplanes
08:55Northwest 299, copy, emergency vehicles are on the runway
09:01Northwest 299, Roger
09:04When you hear about something like this, your heart goes out for the folks that are involved
09:08Not only the passengers on the aircraft and their families, but also the air traffic facility that was involved
09:13It's devastating for them
09:19John Iso has escaped the burning plane
09:23Through the emergency wing exit
09:25All right, come on, let's go, let's go
09:26Now he's helping others get away
09:30I'm on the ground and I saw a gentleman that must either jumped or pushed
09:34You could tell he broke his leg
09:36So I went over and I got him, moved him away from the plane
09:39As the inferno rages on
09:45Firefighters and emergency response teams race to the scene
09:52But the heavy fog makes their job much harder
10:04The aircraft was virtually burned out
10:06The passenger department was gutted
10:08We knew we were going to lose a lot of evidence because of the fire
10:12The accident site is a scene of complete devastation
10:16Good evening, it was a nasty day at the Detroit airport
10:23Rain and fog and confusion
10:26Confusion that ended with a collision and death
10:29Two Northwest airliners trying to take off cooked each other
10:32John Iso survives
10:36But eight other passengers are killed
10:38Making it the deadliest incident of its kind on U.S. soil in almost two decades
10:43A collision on a runway is known as a runway incursion
10:52Since one of the planes is clearly not where it should be
10:55Runway incursions are a particularly difficult problem
11:01The reason is is that aircraft on runways are traveling at such high rates of speed
11:06If the aircraft come into contact there, there's going to be many fatalities
11:11The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, or NTSB, opens an investigation into the accident
11:24727's wing sliced right through the fuselage
11:28Bob Benzen will lead the investigation
11:30We obviously knew what happened in a gross sense
11:34Two aircraft came together and a tragic event occurred
11:39For Benzen, the incident is an eerie reminder
11:43Of an investigation from 13 years earlier
11:48It was the worst accident in aviation history
11:53March 1977
12:02Two Boeing 747 jumbo jets collided on the resort island of Tenerife
12:10The crash occurred when a KLM jet initiated its take-off run
12:14While a Pan Am jet caught in thick fog was taxiing on the same runway
12:20Five hundred and eighty-three people were killed
12:43The accident at Tenerife affected everybody in aviation
12:50It's always in the back of your mind that this could happen
12:54That an airplane can inadvertently take off on a runway
12:57That's not clear
12:58Since fog was a significant factor in the Tenerife disaster
13:04Investigators need to find out what role the weather played in the Detroit accident
13:10Operations investigator Richard Rodriguez joins the investigation
13:17From the weather service reports
13:19The visibility was a big problem at Detroit on this morning
13:23Visibility was three quarters of a mile an hour before the accident
13:27But then it drops to a quarter mile
13:30A quarter mile was the minimum
13:33We did understand that it was very, very foggy out there
13:36So our job was to try to figure out the overall condition of the weather at the airport
13:42And then most specifically at the departure end of the take-off runway
13:46He learns that in the minutes before the collision
13:50Visibility dropped to the minimum level allowed at the airport
13:55Everybody agreed that the visibility was at least one quarter mile
13:59That would allow operations to continue
14:02Before the accident, every other aircraft that took off
14:06Had no problem at all finding the end of the proper runway and departing
14:11But our men in the DC-9 didn't do this
14:16Investigators need to find out exactly how the DC-9 ended up in the path of an oncoming 727
14:23Did air traffic control lead them astray?
14:27We're hoping to find out from the controllers what they are thinking
14:31As they issue instructions to the crew
14:34I cleared them to use an Oscar 6 box trot and x-ray to runway 3 center
14:40The ground controller gave Captain Lovelace and First Officer Schiffen's
14:47Specific instructions on how to get to the runway
14:50RFOS 1482 taxi to Oscar 6 to Foxtrot
14:55Report making the right turn on x-ray
14:57Oscar 6 to Foxtrot, report x-ray
15:01They learned that the DC-9 and the 727 were both supposed to follow the same route
15:10It seemed to be going smoothly at first
15:14Northwest 1482, what's your position now?
15:18But when asked for an update from the DC-9's crew
15:22We're headed eastbound on Oscar 6 here
15:27Ah, eastbound on Oscar 6
15:32Their position report didn't make any sense
15:36They announced that they were eastbound on Oscar 6, which was an impossibility
15:42It's a northwest, southeast-oriented taxiway
15:45You can tell by the comments that were made by the crew
15:48That they had no idea where they were
15:50Okay, I think we might have missed Oscar 6
15:54There's a sign here that says, uh, the Aeros to Oscar 5
16:03The folks in the tower realized that the pilots in the DC-9
16:10Were probably becoming a little confused about where they were
16:13Instead of going straight down Oscar 6, the aircraft turned left and approached taxiway Oscar 5
16:26The controller pinned down their location to be on the outer taxiway at Oscar 5
16:32I realized they had made a wrong turn, so I gave them directions to get them back on track
16:37Northwest 1482 at Oscar 4
16:39Make the right turn onto X-Ray
16:41Report crossing 927
16:43The DC-9 was then directed to continue straight to Oscar 4
16:50Turn right onto X-Ray
16:52Cross inactive runway 927
16:55And then follow X-Ray back to the runway for takeoff
17:02Roger, at Oscar 4, make the right turn onto X-Ray
17:06The DC-9 radioed back, okay, I understand, or something to that effect
17:10And everybody calmed down and thought that they had to straighten everything out
17:14But somehow, five minutes later, flight 1482 ended up right in the middle of the active runway
17:23An airplane to be on an active runway, uh, when they shouldn't, um, somebody did something wrong
17:34Investigators need to know what happened in those five minutes
17:41They interview the crew, starting with Captain Bill Lovelace
17:48The captain was kind of a mild-mannered fellow, he loved to fly
17:52We hoped we would find out, why did you miss all this and wind up on an active runway?
17:58I wasn't familiar with the layout of the taxiways and runways
18:03They learn he was new to the airport in Detroit
18:07So I asked my first officer, where have you been flying out of?
18:13Where have you been flying out of?
18:15Uh, Memphis and Detroit
18:17Good, you can help me find my way around these taxiways here in Detroit
18:21I sure can
18:22I thought, great, someone in the co-pilot's seat who knows where he's going
18:26But, uh, we still got lost somehow
18:30The first officer had bragged about his knowledge of the airport
18:34That would have enhanced the likelihood that the captain would have trusted the first officer to help navigate in Detroit
18:42So why wasn't the first officer able to guide the DC-9 across Detroit airport?
18:48The investigators hope Jim Schiffens, the first officer on the DC-9, can give them the answer
18:58He was a little brash, perhaps a little cocky
19:01Uh, I wouldn't say a know-it-all, but he'd been around the horn
19:06Captain Lovelace misunderstood
19:09What I meant was, I knew the procedures for pushing back from the gate
19:14Not the physical layout of the airport
19:18They learned the first officer was also inexperienced with the taxiways at Detroit
19:23It's hard to look at what the first officer did
19:26Feigning confidence about his knowledge and was clearly unsupported when he himself wasn't sure
19:32Investigators conclude the first officer misled the captain, intentionally or not, about his knowledge of the airport
19:40The captain can be faulted for excessively trusting the first officer
19:46The first officer clearly contributed by claiming expertise that he did not have
19:51How'd we end up with two guys in the cockpit, who don't know the way around?
19:55Investigators now wonder why neither pilot knew the layout of Detroit's airport
20:01A major hub for Northwest Airlines, the company where they both worked
20:08Our DC-9 crew was really not familiar with the Detroit airport
20:13And then you bring in all the other things, like low visibility
20:16It all comes together to create a dangerous situation
20:20Investigators try to understand why neither of the pilots of Flight 1482 knew the layout of Detroit airport
20:39Are there gaps in their training or experience that could account for it?
20:44They study the personnel files of the DC-9's crew
20:51Medical leave
20:54The captain has been on medical leave for six years
20:58Six?
20:59Yeah
21:01He just started back to work
21:03In fact, Flight 1482 was his first unsupervised flight since resuming his duties
21:11He was very grateful to get back to work
21:15He knew he had catching up to do because the procedures had changed, modernized
21:21Investigators then look into First Officer Schiffen's background
21:28They discover he was an ex-military pilot who had joined Northwest earlier that year
21:34The first officer had an Air Force background, B-52s and T-38 Talons and quite an extensive experience
21:41He also was an experienced pilot, except not in the DC-9
21:47He only had a few hundred hours at most in the right seat of a DC-9
21:52Both pilots had tons of experience, but they were both new recruits to Northwest
22:02That doesn't explain how they got lost on a routine taxi
22:08The pilot's experience alone doesn't provide enough clues to determine what went wrong during a routine taxi
22:15Investigators need to look elsewhere
22:18It was paramount for us to try to figure out exactly where the DC-9 was almost to the second during the whole sequence of events here
22:27We had some help from the tower, not a lot
22:30Because they couldn't see what was going on
22:32By listening to the cockpit voice recording
22:35Investigators hope they will be able to figure out where the DC-9 went astray
22:41All ready?
22:46Yeah
22:47Okay, let's begin
22:53I haven't even got a uniform yet
22:55Even before 1482 pushes back from the gate, investigators hear a conversation that gets their attention
23:02Not even a jacket
23:05Captain Lovelace had returned to flying so recently, he hadn't yet received the Northwest uniform
23:11Nah, only got my old company's jacket
23:14The cockpit voice recorder recorded the last half hour of voices in the cockpit
23:20So we got to know a little bit more about the crew members in a more casual setting before they really started taxi
23:27One thing I miss, I've always flown with an ejection seat
23:31I've used it twice
23:33As the pilots waited, the first officer began to boast about his military service
23:43Yeah, I bet that was scary when you punched out
23:46Man, I got shot down once over Southeast Asia
23:50I didn't have time to get scared
23:52Oh, is that right?
23:54And then, uh, when I was flying T-38s one time
23:57I had an engine fire
23:59Tower controller said, you were on fire eject
24:02Bam!
24:03Like, wow
24:04Wow
24:06At that time, in the NTSB, a lot of us had, uh, military backgrounds
24:11He and I were in the same place at nearly the same time
24:14So, my ears perked up
24:16How long were you in the service?
24:1820 years
24:19Retired as a lieutenant colonel
24:21Yeah, you can stop it there
24:26Is he some kind of war hero?
24:28Sounds like it
24:29Let's look at his military record
24:31Check out his story
24:33To bail out or eject out of two different airplanes
24:36You know
24:37That's very rare
24:39So, it started to make me look a little askance at what's going on
24:46Investigators wonder if the first officer was being honest about his military record
24:52They study his military discharge form
24:55Check this out
24:56Check this out
24:57He's clearly embellishing
24:59It turns out that he didn't bail out of any aircraft at any time
25:04He said that he retires as a lieutenant colonel
25:08Well, in fact, he retires as a major
25:11We even have a phrase for that stolen valor
25:14It kind of set things on edge a little bit for us
25:16Why would he lie?
25:17Why would he lie?
25:19That's a good question
25:21Benzen rechecks the first officer's file for any clue
25:26Why would somebody give themselves a higher status than they were really entitled to?
25:32Why would they brag about things that didn't happen to them?
25:34He was still on probation
25:38So he needed the captain to give him a good report
25:40I think the first officer was bragging to impress the captain
25:45Because the first officer was still in his probation stage
25:48And a bad mark would be tantamount to not getting a career with Northwest Airlines
25:59The boasting is not normal for a professional commercial pilot
26:04But it doesn't explain the cause of the crash
26:06No coming!
26:17Let's continue
26:20After sitting at the gate for 40 minutes
26:23The DC-9 gets the call to taxi
26:27Northwest 1482, right turn out of parking taxi to runway 3 center, exit ramp at Oscar 6
26:33Okay, let's see where they go
26:36And let's confirm any directional changes with the FDR data
26:40Investigators combine the cockpit voice recording
26:44With the heading changes from the flight data recorder from Northwest Flight 1482
26:49To better understand the plane's every movement on the ground
26:53Every time the compass swung, we could see the aircraft turning almost in our minds
26:57He had to be on this taxiway if it's this heading
27:01Had to be on this taxiway if it's another heading
27:03So it worked out well
27:07Three center, exit the ramp at Oscar 6
27:10Did you get all that?
27:12Yeah, but I'm going to need you to have it
27:14Just kind of wind around here
27:15And Oscar 6 is going to be right around the corner here
27:17Okay
27:20Just kind of stay on the ramp here
27:22Okay, Jim, you just watch, make sure I go the right way
27:27Okay
27:31Investigators discover that as they began to taxi
27:34Captain Lovelace asked his first officer to navigate
27:39The first officer was correct in offering up help to the captain
27:43And the captain was correct in accepting the help
27:46I mean, this is just the way things should work
27:48This didn't surprise us
27:49Uh, left turn or right turn?
27:53Yeah, well, this is the inner taxiway here
27:55We're still going for Oscar 6
27:57So...
27:59Left turn?
28:00Yeah
28:01Before, we'll talk 2
28:03Questions 1
28:12So...
28:13When they should go straight through Oscar 6
28:16They turn off it
28:18And go east
28:20Seems like the first officer is calling the shots
28:22the shots just keep going straight okay it was a gradual thing at first first officer was kind of
28:37taking on a bit more responsibility a bit more a bit more and then he started to direct the taxi
28:43itself we're headed eastbound on oscar 6 here just as the controller said you can't go east on oscar
28:526 oscar 6 runs north-south northwest 1482 you were on the outer taxiway yeah that's right
29:01the investigators next here the course correction that was supposed to get flight 1482 back on track
29:09northwest 1482 at oscar 4 take the right turn on x-ray report crossing 927
29:16roger at oscar 4 make the right turn onto x-ray
29:23the dc-9 crew was definitely told to continue eastbound and make a hard right turn onto x-ray
29:35to get back on track so what do we do here make the right turn report crossing 27
29:47the captain is now relying completely on his first officer
29:55once you break down the dialogue between the captain and the first officer in the dc-9
30:02it becomes very obvious that this role reversal was was pretty total by the time the accident
30:10occurred the reversal was complete
30:11there's oscar 4 this is x-ray
30:19the first officer was pulling him around by the nose so to speak and the captain was simply
30:27going along as a personal note uh i liked the captain very much he was a very uh sweet and gentle
30:36person but that was sort of his undoing the fact that he did not exercise his authority in any forceful
30:43but did that passiveness cause them to miss the crucial right turn
30:53okay so the last instruction was that oscar 4 turn right onto x-ray
31:02northwest 1482 cross 927
31:06this is should be 927
31:12you sure that's what he said yeah yeah this is 927
31:20in the fog the crew is still struggling to follow the controller's directions to get back to the runway
31:27right over here then yeah that way
31:32i think we're on x-ray here now
31:39there is no way they're on x-ray
31:43they never make it onto x-ray
31:47the investigators learned the dc-9 crew wasn't able to navigate the critical right turn onto x-ray
31:54that turn onto x-ray was quite a difficult turn it was not a 90 or 70 degree turn that pilots are used to it was about 120 degrees
32:07what runway is this turn left over there
32:12now wait wait that that's a runway too
32:16they are totally disoriented
32:19tell them we're out here we're stuck
32:22somehow
32:24they've made it here
32:26we've got two planes facing each other on the same runway
32:34but there's signs and surface markings all along here
32:38i don't get it
32:40when an aircraft gets lost on the airfield usually the pilots will spot signs or something like that
32:45help clarify the position in the controller's mind where the aircraft is exactly
32:50so
32:52investigators are baffled
32:54why didn't the airport signage and runway marks prevent the pilots from losing their way
33:00this is a runway
33:02to better understand why the crew of a dc-9 couldn't follow the signage at detroit metropolitan airport
33:16let's do this
33:18investigators retrace their route
33:20the only way to fix this in our minds was to perform what we call a taxi demonstration
33:28we get in a dc-9 taxi around the same route that the accident aircraft taxi down
33:34we get there
33:36wow
33:38will you look at that
33:40at the oscar 6 intersection
33:42where flight 1482 made the initial wrong turn
33:44rodriguez finds something disturbing
33:48they discover that the yellow taxi center line the dc-9 was supposed to follow is badly faded
33:56we noted things like painted markings on the taxiways that were worn in places
34:02i could barely see on a bright day
34:06it was obvious that if we got confused in broad daylight with no fog perfect visibility
34:14that the issue was more acute when you could barely see your hand in front of your face out there
34:20now investigators make their way to the oscar 4 intersection where the dc-9 crew failed to make that critical right turn
34:38so which way is the oscar 4 sign point right or straight ahead
34:48rodriguez discovers the signage at the intersection is deficient
34:56it was amazing the problems with the signage when you get to oscar 4
35:02it's just a very wide mass of concrete with no lighting and no indications of where they are
35:10now we're supposed to turn right on x-ray
35:18it's actually back there
35:24the investigators find that if the plane actually reaches the oscar 4 intersection
35:32they've already missed the right turn to get onto x-ray
35:36and the only right turn here gets you onto the active runway
35:44the team determines the signage on oscar 4 contributed to the dc-9 crew getting lost
35:50instead of turning right on x-ray the crew passed x-ray and turned up the active runway instead
36:04but i believe we're on a runway
36:06okay are you on the taxiway or the runway
36:10ground it looks like we're on
36:122-1 center here
36:14northwest 1482 you say you're on 2-1 center
36:16i believe we are we're not sure
36:18yes we are
36:20northwest 1482 exit that runway immediately sir
36:26when you have multiple intersecting runways the only way for pilots to really be certain of where they are
36:32is to have unmistakable signs that offer pilots clear and readily interpretable information and that's what was missing in this accident
36:42but there's still an unanswered question about the tragedy
36:48northwest 1482 exit that runway immediately sir
36:52once flight 1482 reported being on the runway
36:56why didn't air traffic control stop the other plane from taking off
37:00they should have been able to stop that aircraft and avoid a collision completely
37:06oh damn
37:10i don't go
37:12to understand what happened just before the crash
37:20yes absolutely no question about that
37:22investigators interview the tower controller responsible for clearing the 727 for takeoff
37:30we found out there was a plane on the runway
37:34the dc-9's crew informed the ground controller sitting next to the tower controller that they were lost on the runway
37:46north was 1482 exit that runway immediately sir
37:48uh i've got a lost aircraft out here
37:50it may be on the runway
37:52okay all aircraft on this frequency just stop stop your taxi right now please
37:56investigators learned the ground controller stopped all taxiing traffic around the airport
38:02but the 727 had already switched to a different radio frequency and didn't hear that instruction
38:08the tower controller never issued his own warning to the crew
38:14the tower controller had a decision to make and decided to not do anything not say anything for the aircraft
38:26investigators now question the tower controller about why he didn't warn the 727 that there was a dc-9 lost on the runway ahead of them
38:36i thought they were already airborne
38:42the controller said nothing because he figured that the 727 had already taken off and was airborne
38:48because it had been a full minute since he cleared the 727
38:54the tower controller thought the plane had taken off
38:58but the 727 was still at the runway threshold
39:00i think they would have been able to stop that aircraft
39:04or at least eased over to the left side of the runway
39:08as they continued to roll out and aborted takeoff
39:12now investigators need to know why it took the 727 so long to begin its takeoff
39:18let's hear it
39:20let's hear it
39:22they listened to the plane's cockpit voice recorder
39:26to determine what happened just before the plane began its takeoff roll
39:30they learned that shortly after getting permission to takeoff
39:40final items
39:42anti-skid
39:44on
39:45the crew of the 727 delayed takeoff to perform a final checklist
39:50takeoff check complete
39:52with thick fog obscuring the runway the tower controller did not know they had not yet taken off
40:08but was the checklist the only factor that affected the plane's takeoff
40:14definitely not a quarter mile
40:16investigators also discovered that the pilots noticed the fog was getting worse
40:22they knew that they needed one-fourth of a mile of visibility forward visibility
40:29before they could takeoff
40:31but when they got to the end of the runway
40:33it became very very iffy whether they had that type of visibility
40:39but nonetheless they went ahead and took off
40:42investigators finally think they know what happened on the day of the collision
40:57now what runway is this this is a runway
41:03yeah
41:04yeah
41:05turn left over there
41:06yeah
41:07turn left over there
41:08no way that's runway two
41:10a dysfunctional and disoriented DC-9 crew mistakenly taxied onto an active runway
41:1680 knots
41:23a 727 crew took off invisibility it knew was below minimums
41:31i've got a lost aircraft out here it may be on the runway
41:41okay all aircraft on this frequency just stop stop your taxi right now please
41:46and a tower controller failed to warn the 727 crew about the lost plane on the runway
41:52because he thought the 727 was already airborne
41:56oh no
41:57oh damn
41:58took all of these things in sequence for this accident to happen
42:01and that's one of the things that makes it unusual
42:05not just the number of errors but their uniqueness and what it says about human interactions
42:10that's really remarkable
42:12in the end almost everybody involved this accident did something wrong
42:41there really just are no heroes in this one
42:48and uh flying was my life
42:54captain bill lovelace never worked as an airline pilot again
43:00neither did first officer jim shiffens he became a first responder and firefighter
43:09in the aftermath of the crash detroit metropolitan airport improved signage
43:14and now uses highly visible reflective paint for all airfield markings
43:21all u.s airports are required to use the same signage to avoid confusion
43:26the confusing oscar 4 intersection was rebuilt
43:34dozens of u.s airports have installed new technologies that allow controllers to monitor taxiing aircraft
43:41ground radar with audible and oral warnings as well to tell controllers of an impending collision
43:47is in place at most major airports at this point in time
43:51and that's gone a long ways to preventing actual collisions from happening
43:58after a warning
43:59so once it's in place
44:05it's not going to be good at all
44:07the best it is
44:08you
44:10you