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Communication is essential in aviation. When there is no clear exchange between the tower and the cockpit, catastrophic accidents can occur rapidly. In the first part of this special, Mayday – Alarm im Cockpit reconstructs five tragic aircraft accidents and demonstrates the changes they prompted for air traffic controllers.
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00:08They are the traffic cops of the skies, keeping planes on course, guiding them to safety and
00:24safety and keeping them apart.
00:30But the system has reached a breaking point.
00:33What is it?
00:42If there is another major airline accident, it's going to probably originate from an air traffic control problem.
00:49There are too many planes.
00:52The tools controllers use to track them are inadequate.
00:57The failing system is putting passengers at risk.
01:02Now the race is on to fix it before disaster strikes again.
01:35Russia.
01:38John F. Kennedy International Airport.
01:41One of the busiest in the world.
01:44More than 1,200 planes use JFK every day.
01:49In the sky, they're stacked up for kilometers, waiting to land.
01:54On the ground, dozens more are waiting to take off.
01:58The constant stream of airliners can tax the abilities of even the most experienced controllers.
02:06The picture, as it's called, that they have to maintain in their head of everything they're controlling, where everybody is,
02:12their speed, their
02:12altitude, their separation, also includes constant back and forth talking to the pilots.
02:18And this is a matrix of information flow in and out of their brains that's just amazing to watch.
02:23For the team of air traffic controllers in JFK's tower, it's just another day at work.
02:31It's a job that gets more demanding with each passing year.
02:35On a busy day in most centers and most departure and arrival controllers, you're saturated.
02:41You've got people talking as fast as they can.
02:48And that's where errors come in.
02:53Over the last decade, there's been a 25% jump in traffic at JFK.
02:59And New York's not alone.
03:01It's a trend that concerns some industry experts.
03:08One of the things that I do as an aviation analyst is try to keep a good lock on what's
03:12happening.
03:13Watch where the weak spots are in the system.
03:16If there is another major airline accident, God forbid, it's going to probably originate from an air traffic control problem.
03:24The solution to the looming crisis is being developed here.
03:28The William J. Hughes Technical Center in New Jersey.
03:32It's the workshop of America's Federal Aviation Administration.
03:37The center has been involved in every major advance in air transportation system technology since 1958.
03:46Airport design, aircraft safety and security, communications, navigation.
03:56Scientists at the William Hughes Center have tackled aviation's most difficult problems.
04:02Today, this plane is at the heart of one of the largest projects in the history of the FAA.
04:08They're using it to design a new air traffic system that will help manage more traffic safely.
04:19A two- or three-fold increase in the number of aircraft flying is certainly within the range of possibility
04:26in the next couple of decades.
04:29Together, test pilots and researchers need to figure out a safer way to get airplanes into and out of America's
04:35airports.
04:37What they've come up with is a system called NextGen.
04:43NextGen will supply pilots with the tools and information they need to make many decisions that are now made by
04:48controllers.
04:51At its heart, it's a sophisticated piece of equipment that will soon be added not to towers, but to planes.
04:59To see if it works, test pilots have to take it for a ride.
05:07Researchers have installed a revolutionary navigational computer in the back of this executive jet.
05:12We're currently flying over Delaware.
05:15It's called ADS-B.
05:17It stands for Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast.
05:21It's a sophisticated GPS receiver that paints a detailed picture of any plane anywhere near this flight.
05:28So the pilot has what we call situational awareness of what's flying around him.
05:33The aircraft then broadcasts that position once a second.
05:35So any other aircraft flying within RF range of that aircraft now knows its position as well.
05:42There's nothing like this in any cockpit today.
05:46Because it's still experimental technology, the FAA is testing this system in the cabin of the aircraft.
05:52If tests like this succeed, it will someday be in the cockpit of every plane in America and eventually around
05:59the world.
06:01The computer the researchers are putting to the test today is the central element in the most significant retooling of
06:08the American air traffic control system in half a century.
06:18In the few years in which they have been operating, the airlines have discovered that their efforts to improve comforts
06:23and services...
06:24After the Second World War, Americans were travelling by air in booming numbers.
06:30The earliest air traffic controllers stood next to runways.
06:34They waved flags to guide planes in.
06:38As traffic increased, pilots also began to use radios to stay in touch with airports.
06:45The first air traffic control towers were built as more and more flights had to be handled.
06:52Airports had become very busy places, and air traffic was beginning to overwhelm controllers.
07:04June 30th, 1956.
07:07Los Angeles International Airport.
07:10TWA Flight 2 lifts off eastbound for Kansas City.
07:23The TWA Flight is a Lockheed Super-Constellation.
07:28One of the most advanced commercial airliners of its time.
07:34Just minutes behind TWA Flight 2, United Airlines Flight 718 takes off from the same airport on its way to
07:42Chicago.
07:44The system to track both of the planes is far from high-tech.
07:48The air traffic control center consisted of a room with a map spread out on a table,
07:54and the air traffic controllers were moving markers on that map to indicate where each airplane was in its last
08:03known position.
08:04The pilots radio their position to company dispatchers.
08:09Controllers use this information to get a rough idea of their flight paths.
08:14They were on radar for a while in Los Angeles, but once they got outside that area, there was no
08:20radar.
08:21They were flying under visual flight rules.
08:23The rule is called see and be seen.
08:27So, I see you, you see me, we stay apart, and we're responsible for our own separation.
08:33And except for a few radars in certain parts of the country, controllers didn't really know where the airplanes were.
08:38They were estimating on their reports.
08:41As the two planes get closer to the Grand Canyon, the distance between them disappears.
08:48Both captains were used to showing the canyon off on a clear day.
08:52They could move the airplane to the left, move it to the right a little bit, point out the canyon
08:57to people and get them to ooh and ah.
08:59The United flight closes in on the TWA plane from the right, unaware their paths are about to cross.
09:07People on one side of the DC-7 would have been able to see the oncoming constellation.
09:14They would have seen an airplane against an azure sky with fluffy clouds coming closer and closer, and they would
09:21have felt the impact.
09:24The Grand Canyon is a graveyard for 128 passengers and crew of two airliners, which crashed on peaks little more
09:31than a mile apart.
09:32None survived. None survived. It was the worst commercial air disaster in history.
09:38The Grand Canyon crash created huge banner headlines across the nation and a lot of pressure on the government to
09:45do something.
09:46We needed radar. We needed to buy it and get it deployed throughout the United States immediately.
09:51We had to change the system, and we had to do it fast.
09:57Following a lengthy investigation, the stark conclusion was that the crash happened because the two planes were outside of so
10:04-called controlled airspace.
10:10TWA and United collided over the Grand Canyon primarily because neither they nor the control system had the ability to
10:17know where both of those airplanes really were.
10:19Once the planes left the small area being monitored by controllers, no one was paying attention to where they were.
10:27The see and avoid principle is a fraud, and it always has been.
10:31The fact is, the faster you go, it's a big sky, you've only got 180 degrees of peripheral vision, and
10:37you can't see and avoid everything up there.
10:41In the wake of the Grand Canyon accident, American airspace was blanketed by radar.
10:49Planes were more stringently confined to air corridors, highways in the sky.
10:55The air traffic control system we have in the United States today was designed with the Grand Canyon accident in
11:03mind.
11:03That crash determined how far apart airplanes should be spaced, and where radar dishes and air traffic control centers should
11:11be built.
11:13It also resulted in the formation of the Federal Aviation Administration, the FAA.
11:23But now, 50 years later, the system needs to change again.
11:31Today, the system falls short of the public's expectations being congested, slow, clunky, unpleasant.
11:48As planes fly faster and higher, it becomes harder for controllers to track their movements.
11:56I think in many respects, we're in a very similar situation to where we were in the 50s.
12:01The system has to change massively.
12:04And the change must happen soon, before we are faced with a major air accident that could take the lives
12:11of hundreds of people.
12:15The technology on board the FAA flight might be the solution to the overtaxed air traffic control system.
12:22Test pilots regularly take to the skies to help researchers prepare the new system for America's airliners.
12:28The beautiful thing about ADS-B is it gives the pilots in the cockpit and the air traffic controllers basically
12:34the same picture.
12:35ADS-B is more than a map of other planes.
12:38The idea is to show pilots what now only air traffic controllers can see.
12:44Data about the planes that are in a pilot's airspace.
12:49With ADS-B, you'll see who that other aircraft is. You'll see an identifier on it.
12:56You'll be able to see planes on runways. You'll see planes in the traffic pattern and you'll get a better
13:02feel for what's going on around you, especially if you're in an uncontrolled airport.
13:06We can also see map information. We can see navigational aids. We can also see other airports.
13:13Giving pilots all that information in the cockpit will allow them to make decisions about how to get to their
13:19destinations quickly and safely.
13:23The current system relies on radars for the detection and tracking of aircraft.
13:30And radar was a great technology in 1940, but fundamentally it's very sloppy.
13:35Today, ground-based radar bounces radio signals off an airplane to calculate its position. It can be off by as
13:43much as two miles.
13:44That's why we keep aircraft three miles or more apart, because we're just not that confident of the solution.
13:51With next-gen, an onboard GPS unit will constantly receive signals from a GPS satellite.
13:59This will tell pilots where they are, down to within a few hundred feet.
14:04With a more accurate picture of airspace, airliners will be able to fly closer together.
14:13The FAA hopes this will help relieve the congestion at busy airports.
14:19Today, only controllers have an accurate picture of air traffic.
14:24They use this information to guide pilots around potential problems.
14:30The pilots themselves have no way to independently confirm where they are in relation to all other flights.
14:36They must rely on controllers to tell them.
14:39The weakness of the system was exposed years before next-gen tests began.
14:52Labor Day weekend, 1986.
14:54Aero-Mexico, 498. Traffic.
14:5610 o'clock.
14:57Approach controller Walter White guides Aero-Mexico Flight 498 in for a landing at Los Angeles International Airport.
15:07The airspace around LAX is very tightly controlled.
15:13It's called the TCA, the Terminal Control Area.
15:19As Aero-Mexico Flight 498 closes in on the airport, Walter White sees a plane he does not expect on
15:26his radar.
15:27Uh, one approach on a flight from Fullerton.
15:30Cruising altitude is 4,500. We'd like to follow.
15:33Okay, you are right in the middle of the TCA, sir.
15:35Roman 66 Romeo, I suggest in future you look at your TCA chart.
15:40There was an aircraft that was east of the airport, which he became involved in, that was what they called
15:46a violator.
15:47In many cases, the air traffic that was crawling across his screen, even with transponders, were not reporting altitudes.
15:56Walter White hustles the small plane out of the controlled airspace.
16:00You just had an aircraft pass right off your left above you at 5,000.
16:05And we run a lot of jets right through there at 3,500.
16:08But White doesn't realise that there's another plane, dangerously off course.
16:13We should be able to see the ocean by now.
16:16Take a look at the map and look around the 4 or 5.
16:19A Piper Cherokee is cutting across the approach to LAX, oblivious to the danger.
16:26The Aero-Mexico Flight is just minutes from landing.
16:38Aero-Mexico 498, Los Angeles approach.
16:41This can't be.
16:43The jet plunges towards Cerritos, a suburban community of Los Angeles.
16:54Aero-Mexico 498, Los Angeles approach.
16:58I'm sitting there talking with the two departure controllers, and I'm not really thinking, and I hear Walter say something
17:05like,
17:05I think I lost one.
17:08Aero-Mexico 498, Los Angeles approach.
17:11That immediately got everybody's attention, so I looked at the radars and could hear him calling,
17:16Aero-Mexico 498.
17:22The crash devastates the community of Cerritos.
17:2615 people on the ground are killed in the disaster, along with all 64 people on the Aero-Mexico jet.
17:36The Piper Cherokee is found in a nearby schoolyard.
17:39All three people on the small plane have been killed.
17:43The National Transportation Safety Board questions Walter White about what he saw on his radar display.
17:50At any time, did you see the Piper Cherokee on your scope?
17:56No. No, sir. The Piper's target was not displayed.
18:01It is my belief that it was not on my radar scope.
18:05He was positive that the aircraft was not there for him to see.
18:12But when investigators finally get the air traffic control radar records, they conclude the Piper should have been visible.
18:20Did you see the Piper Cherokee on your scope?
18:24No, sir.
18:25But that doesn't mean that the target isn't there.
18:27A blind spot is only an instantaneous thing. It's not a continuous thing.
18:34He was looking at one and trying to keep it clear.
18:38Lost track of another one and just happened to be at the same altitude as the approaching Aero-Mexico jet.
18:49It was a one in a billion chance, but that one in a billion came up that particular day.
18:58The collision over Los Angeles drew attention to weaknesses in the radar systems used by air traffic controllers.
19:05And led to some much needed improvements.
19:08Mode C Intruder is an automated program that is now incorporated in all our major radar facilities.
19:14That if an aircraft should inadvertently intrude, the controller will now be given a visual and an aural alert.
19:24Thus giving him time to provide a timely warning to the pilot.
19:30After the collision over Los Angeles, radar systems at the airport were upgraded.
19:38The next generation of air traffic management will only use radar if the GPS system fails.
19:46Next Gen is also targeting another weakness in the current system.
19:50The radio.
19:53Today, pilots and controllers use radios to talk to one another.
19:57We're now descending to 190.
19:59The system depends on clear, precise language.
20:03Misunderstandings are common.
20:04And they've caused some of the most tragic air disasters in history.
20:10As the FAA test flight flies high, west of Atlantic City, its radio keeps the pilots in touch with controllers.
20:18Inspector for sequence for the downwind for runway 22.
20:22Okay, 1-0-0, clear for the ILS.
20:24But in the air traffic system of the future, pilots and controllers will communicate less frequently.
20:30The controller and the pilot can now work together to resolve issues instead of wasting a lot of time explaining
20:36what the issues are.
20:37Mistakes can be made for a number of reasons.
20:41English is the international language of aviation.
20:45But pronunciation, accent and emotion alter the way any language is spoken.
20:51Nowhere is this better understood than in the air traffic control tower at John F. Kennedy International Airport.
21:05The airspace above JFK is frequented by one of the most international collections of pilots in the world.
21:13Maintaining clear radio communications can prove challenging to controllers here.
21:19There's pressure because that's the business they're in.
21:22The business is moving passengers from A to B.
21:24That's what the airlines are paid and the controllers are paid to help that work.
21:29When pressure mounts, small misunderstandings can have enormous consequences.
21:36January the 25th, 1990.
21:40In the skies over New York.
21:42To expect for the clearance time in 20 minutes.
21:46I think we need priority. We are passing out of fuel.
21:49Avianca 052, roger.
21:52Avianca 052 is trying to land in New York.
21:56But a driving rain is delaying air traffic into and out of the area.
22:02The flight began in Colombia.
22:04On its way to New York, it's been routed through a series of holding patterns by air traffic controllers.
22:11Bad weather is delaying landings all along the northeastern seaboard.
22:16There was a system moving through the Great Lakes, moving east.
22:20There was a couple other systems converging.
22:23And a lot of times they'll converge in the New York area there and the whole northeast will go down.
22:32Avianca 052, roger.
22:33And what's your alternate?
22:34We said Boston, but we can't do it now. We'll run out of fuel.
22:41The pilots are growing increasingly desperate for clearance to land.
22:45Avianca 052 only has...
22:46They've used up almost all of their fuel while waiting their turn.
22:49Set him up to his alternate.
22:50What is his speed now?
22:52I'm not sure, to be honest.
22:53Slow him to 180 knots and I'll take him.
22:56After more than an hour in holding patterns, controllers finally give the pilots of the Avianca flight permission to land.
23:03Avianca 052.
23:04Ascend and maintain 3000.
23:06Ascend and maintain 3000.
23:07But in this critical handoff from one controller to another, no one mentions that the plane is running out of
23:13fuel.
23:13Avianca 052 heavy. Contact Kennedy Tower 1190.1. Good day.
23:21At JFK, only one runway is being used for landings.
23:25Weather at the airport is making approaches difficult.
23:31Avianca 052 heavy. Kennedy Tower 22 left.
23:34You are number three following 727 traffic on a niner mile final.
23:38Avianca 052 heavy, roger.
23:40Avianca 052, say airspeed.
23:43145 knots.
23:44Are we clear to land, no?
23:45Yes, sir, we are clear to land.
23:47Stand by.
23:48The Avianca crew, when they felt that they were being handed off to an approach controller now and given a
23:54heading and a lower altitude, I'm sure in their minds they thought, well, they even commented on a cockpit voice
24:01recorder, we're being handled or we're being taken care of.
24:07Four kilometres from runway 22L, and with fuel running dangerously low, the flight hits ferocious winds.
24:15This is the wind shear.
24:17A dramatic change of winds throws the aircraft off its descent path as it makes its approach.
24:23Glide slope.
24:24Glide slope.
24:25Glide slope.
24:26Glide slope.
24:27Glide slope.
24:28Runway, where is it?
24:30I don't see it.
24:31Look.
24:31I don't see it.
24:32The plane is thrown towards the ground by the winds.
24:35Look.
24:36Look.
24:39The airplane was about 200 feet above the ground, about two miles from the runway, which was well below the
24:45glide slope and very dangerous.
24:47So the airplane almost crashed on its first approach.
24:50Give me the landing gear up.
24:51Landing gear up.
24:56When you get a missed approach, it changes the whole ball game.
25:01Request another traffic matter.
25:03Executing a missed approach.
25:05Avianca 052 heavy.
25:06The fuel tanks aboard Avianca Flight 52 are all but empty.
25:11Another approach on the airport will be nearly impossible.
25:18Controllers in New York will have to try once more to get Avianca Flight 52 safely to the ground.
25:23That's right.
25:23To 180 on the heading.
25:25And we'll try once again.
25:26We are running out of fuel.
25:28These guys were out.
25:29They didn't say we were out.
25:31And he allowed the approach control to vector them way out in the original pattern and 15 miles north of
25:38the outer marker again.
25:40Advise him.
25:41We are in an emergency.
25:41Do you tell him?
25:42Yes, sir.
25:42I already advised him.
25:44But the first officer neglects to use the word emergency in his radio transmissions to the tower.
25:50He only mentions that his fuel is low.
25:53Avianca 052 heavy contact approach on 118.4.
25:55Approach.
25:57Avianca 052 heavy.
25:58And it was apparent from the voice recorder transcript and tape that the captain was not understanding the first officer's
26:06radio communications that were being made in English.
26:15Flame out!
26:16Flame out!
26:17Flame out on engine number four!
26:19The engines quit when they're finally starved of fuel.
26:22Flame out on engine number three!
26:26Show me the runway.
26:28We just lost two engines and we need priority, please!
26:32Avianca 052.
26:33Turn left heading 250.
26:35Intercept the local line.
26:36Fire.
26:37Fire.
26:39Fire.
26:40Fire.
26:42Fire.
26:42Without engine power, Avianca flight 52 crashes into a residential neighbourhood on Long Island.
26:48Fire.
26:52Fire.
26:58Fire.
26:59Avianca 052.
27:00Radar contact lost.
27:03Fire.
27:04Yes hello, I live in Cove Neck in Oyster Bay and there as a plane crashed in our yard in
27:10front of our house.
27:1485 of the 158 people on board survived the crash.
27:19Throughout the night, rescue workers pull them from the wreckage.
27:29Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board arrive within hours.
27:35They remove the cockpit voice recorder from the wreckage.
27:45The condition of the aircraft was really astonishing to see that that much of the structure was left in the
27:53condition that it was in.
27:55It hit right on about a 28-degree embankment, and with the wings and all the other trees, it only
28:01slid 28 feet, so it hit and stopped instantly.
28:08The NTSB investigation reveals that controllers didn't transmit vital information to one another.
28:19Radio communication, one of the most vital parts of air traffic control, failed the passengers and crew.
28:27Trying to avoid those kinds of mistakes is a key component of next-gen.
28:35Radio communication will largely be replaced by an exchange of electronic data.
28:42Automation is extremely important, and in the future, it's going to be able to get rid of the type of
28:47errors that occur
28:48when you put massive pressure on a human being to be 100% perfect.
28:56With the elimination of radio chatter, air traffic control towers of the future will be very quiet places.
29:07Controllers on the ground will still be needed to move planes in and out of airports.
29:12But with more accurate information at their disposal, and less need to talk to pilots,
29:18they'll be able to handle far more flights than they do today.
29:25On board the FAA's flight, the new GPS-based technology gets the ultimate test.
29:34Without any warning from air traffic control...
29:37Do you see him, Ben?
29:37No, I don't see him yet.
29:40There he goes.
29:41Oh, there he is.
29:43They notice another plane, just 400 feet below.
29:47In the back of the jet, the next-gen system detects the other plane.
29:53Had the system been in the cockpit, it would have shown the pilots its precise location.
29:59Without it, they rely on a piece of technology called TCAS to warn them of the danger.
30:05Using signals transmitted from plane to plane,
30:09the traffic collision avoidance system warns pilots when other planes are too close.
30:15TCAS gives the pilot a traffic advisory at 45 seconds before the potential collision.
30:20And then at approximately 25 seconds or so before the potential collision,
30:24a resolution advisory is given to actually tell the pilots to climb or descend
30:28to avoid the altitude of the other aircraft.
30:33And normally air traffic will call that to us, but they didn't even call the traffic,
30:37so that TCAS helped a lot.
30:39TCAS can help pilots of approaching planes avoid collisions.
30:42But with the new system, pilots will be able to prevent their planes
30:46from getting dangerously close in the first place.
30:49You know, with ADS-B, we're going to be able to see that traffic on the display.
30:54Today, the system works perfectly.
30:57The pilots of the test flight see the danger and avoid it.
31:02TCAS can help pilots avoid a collision,
31:04but having it on board is no guarantee that an accident won't happen.
31:27In the cockpit, co-pilot Jan Palladino is having trouble maintaining radio contact
31:38with air traffic controllers.
31:41He tries different channels, but still no one responds to his radio calls.
31:50It's unusual for pilots and air traffic controllers to be out of contact
31:53for such an extended period of time.
31:55Brazilia, November 6, 00, X-ray, Lima.
31:59November 6, 00, X-ray, Lima.
32:01Finally, after 12 attempts, Palladino gets through to controllers.
32:06No, accept.
32:07Contact 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 6, 5.
32:13Sorry, save frequency one more time for November 6, 00, X-ray, Lima.
32:17But Palladino can't understand the garbled radio transmission.
32:23Brazilia, November 6, 00, X-ray, Lima.
32:25Then the signal disappears altogether.
32:30The jet follows the Brasilia air corridor en route to Manaus.
32:35But traffic along this corridor runs in both directions.
32:38November 6, 00, X-ray, Lima.
32:39The airway system between Brasilia and Manaus is very simple.
32:43It makes airplanes fly northbound, maintaining even levels,
32:50and airplanes flying southbound, maintaining odd levels.
32:55A little more than two hours into the flight, disaster strikes.
33:05The concussion itself seemed to affect every atom in my body.
33:10The end of the wing was chopped off, and it was serrated.
33:14It looked like it had been chewed off.
33:16The legacy jet has struck an oncoming Boeing 737.
33:20Keep going!
33:21Goal flight 1907.
33:24With 154 people on board, the goal flight spirals out of control.
33:31The pilots of the smaller jet don't know what they've hit,
33:34but their business jet is still flyable.
33:36Sit down back there!
33:39I got it, I got it.
33:40Just let me fly the thing, dude.
33:42All right?
33:42We're descending, I want to get down.
33:43Okay, it's yours, it's yours.
33:47The crew locates a runway at a military base in the middle of the jungle.
33:51November 6, 00, X-ray, Lima, declaring an emergency.
33:54We need to land at Sierra Bravo, Charlie, Charlie.
33:56Is that your report?
33:57Affirmative.
33:58The pilots of the executive jet attempt an emergency landing.
34:01Here we go.
34:02Hold it, let's dump the flaps at the top of the flare, right?
34:04So give me nine on the flare.
34:05See, you give me nine when we hit the flare.
34:07Yeah, you got nine, you got nine.
34:07Everyone sit down back there!
34:09When you land under those sort of circumstances,
34:11you're landing faster than you normally would.
34:13You're coming down like gangbusters.
34:24Good.
34:25You got it.
34:28Hold it.
34:29You're good.
34:34Whoo!
34:38Good job.
34:39Oh, man.
34:49At Brasilia Air Traffic Center, controllers have lost track of goal flight 1907.
34:55Manaus, there isn't any goal.
34:57I can't see anything here.
34:59It's on its way.
35:00So it's already in my area?
35:02For over half an hour.
35:06Anxiety was high, and controllers were confused about what to say.
35:10They didn't know what was happening.
35:15Troops locate the wreckage of goal flight 1907 deep in the Amazon jungle.
35:22There are no survivors.
35:30Investigators learned that the legacy jet and the goal flight
35:33were flying along the same air corridor in opposite directions.
35:381,000 feet of altitude is supposed to separate them.
35:43Investigators interviewed the pilots of the business jet.
35:46We are proceeding northwest on course to Manaus at 37,000 feet.
35:50Okay, we are attempting to contact Brazilian control.
35:52Did you say you were flying at 37,000 feet?
35:56Yes, that's right.
35:57Flight level 370.
35:58We never moved from that.
36:04The pilots of the executive jet filed a flight plan
36:07in which they would fly at 37,000 feet until they reached Brasilia.
36:14There, they would descend to 36,000.
36:17The flight plan calls for you to descend to 360 at Brasilia.
36:22Why didn't you?
36:23We weren't told to.
36:24Before we took off, we were cleared for 370 all the way to Manaus.
36:28That's what we did, sir.
36:30Air traffic control can always deviate from the flight plan
36:33because they have best knowledge of the actual traffic situation.
36:38We were not told to descend, and we did not descend.
36:46Once we knew for sure that both planes were flying at the same altitude,
36:50we knew there would be a lot to investigate on the side of air traffic control.
36:57Can you call up the legacy jet screen for me?
37:04On the radar screen, we see the altitude, the speed,
37:07and the transponder information of each plane.
37:13Images show investigators what air traffic controllers saw
37:17on their radar screen before the accident.
37:20One symbol stands out.
37:23The set on the air traffic controller's screens
37:25indicates that the airplane he's looking at has lost its transponder.
37:32Roger.
37:33Transponders give controllers exact information
37:36on the altitude of the flights they monitor.
37:40Investigators learned that the transponder aboard the legacy
37:43had been turned off.
37:48Possibly due to the captain's inexperience with the new jet.
37:52Still working out the kinks on how to work this flight management.
37:54Without information coming from the jet's transponder,
37:57the air traffic computer displays the altitude the plane is supposed to be at
38:02according to the flight plan.
38:05But it's actually flying 1,000 feet higher,
38:08right in the path of the goal flight.
38:12The Brazilian controllers did not verify the legacy jet's real altitude.
38:17Nobody did anything from the ground,
38:19which is where we expected it to happen,
38:21to save these two airplanes from being head-on at the same altitude.
38:24Zero X-ray limo.
38:40Back over Atlantic City,
38:42pilots are preparing to bring their test flight in for a landing.
38:47Today, the flight has to stay within tightly confined boundaries
38:50set out by air traffic controllers.
38:53But when all aircraft are equipped with ADS-B,
38:57that won't be the case.
38:59If the aircraft could fly on a path that was optimum for them
39:04and optimum for the traffic system,
39:08we could use a lot more of the airspace than we do today.
39:12We're going to have airplanes flying directly to where they need to fly
39:16and computers keeping them apart.
39:18At the FAA,
39:20researchers have been designing systems that get flights from A to B
39:23in a whole new way.
39:25Right now, there's no way for controllers to know the exact location of a plane.
39:30That's why flights are confined to pre-set highways
39:33to keep them from colliding.
39:36With GPS-based next-gen,
39:38a pilot can follow any route he chooses,
39:41provided there aren't any other planes in his path.
39:45He can choose a much more direct route to his destination.
39:49If we could have airplanes going in all directions
39:52and more efficiently, directly to where they want to go,
39:55we would be able to double, triple, maybe even quadruple
39:58the number of aircraft that we could safely handle in the skies at one time.
40:03By charting their own route,
40:06ADS-B will allow pilots to keep a safe distance from other planes
40:09without having to stick to a pre-set highway in the sky.
40:13Maintaining that distance is important
40:15because even the best technology can't keep airplanes apart.
40:23July 2002.
40:26Bashkirian Airlines Flight 2937
40:29cruises westbound through the night sky for Barcelona.
40:33The Tupolev 154M carries 69 people.
40:38Most of the passengers are Russian children
40:40travelling on a summer holiday.
40:44Meanwhile, a DHL cargo aircraft
40:47travels north towards Brussels.
40:50The two flights are supposed to pass each other
40:52over Lake Constance in southern Germany.
40:57But air traffic controllers have failed to notice
41:00that both flights are at the same altitude.
41:03The controller is distracted by another flight.
41:06At a second station, he assists a late arrival.
41:10What is your present heading?
41:14It was a standard practice at the ATC company
41:17that at night, one air traffic controller
41:20was responsible for controlling the entire airspace of ATC's.
41:25Aboard the Tupolev, the pilots have spotted an intruder.
41:30Look, look at that.
41:31And it's closing in, fast.
41:33500 meters.
41:38On board the DHL cargo plane,
41:41the TCAS computer is issuing an urgent warning.
41:44Descent.
41:45The system is designed to warn pilots of an oncoming flight.
41:49Increase, descent.
41:51And what to do to avoid collision.
41:53600.
41:54TCAS, descent.
41:58When the air traffic controller returns to his position,
42:01he sees the conflict.
42:03The flights will cross paths in less than a minute.
42:067.
42:06Descent flight level 350.
42:09Expedite.
42:10I have crossing traffic.
42:11The Russian captain obeys the controller's instruction to descend.
42:16But his TCAS system is telling him to climb.
42:19Climb.
42:20It says climb.
42:20Climb.
42:21The Russian crew has 35 seconds to decide
42:24whether to obey the air traffic controller or the computer.
42:27Level 350.
42:29Climb.
42:30Climb.
42:30Descent level 350.
42:32Expedite descent.
42:33He's guiding us down.
42:36We're not accustomed to not trusting controllers.
42:41In civil aviation,
42:43there were lots of situations
42:44when pilots didn't follow instructions of the controller.
42:47And that led to plane crashes or other accidents.
42:52Expedite descent level.
42:54Under pressure,
42:55with just seconds to decide,
42:57the Russian pilots follow the controller's direction.
43:01At the same time,
43:02the DHL jet is also descending.
43:05Increase descent.
43:07Increase descent.
43:09Increase!
43:14He's going below us.
43:17Increase climb.
43:18Increase climb.
43:19What is it?
43:22Hit him up!
43:24Climb, he said!
43:25Climb!
43:26Descent.
43:27Descent hard!
43:42Uh, bravo, tanko, Charlie.
43:43Two, nine, three, seven.
43:46Bravo, tanko, Charlie.
43:49Go, Charlie.
43:52Both flights crash near Lake Constance in Germany.
43:5771 people are killed.
43:59But there are no survivors.
44:02The collision leaves air traffic experts at a critical crossroads.
44:09If I have to summarize the advice that we gave the world.
44:14If a warning comes from ACAS, pilots should immediately follow it at all times.
44:21If the Russian pilots had followed the computer's instructions, the accident would not have happened.
44:28With the benefit of hindsight, you always ask yourself, could we have done more?
44:32And an accident is a wake-up call for everybody.
44:37The disaster highlighted the potential value of automated systems, and proved again how fatal human errors can be.
44:47It's an important lesson for the developers of NextGen.
44:52Technology can provide humans with information, but can't control what they do with it.
44:58You're before landing.
44:59Over Atlantic City, the FAA jet is on its final approach.
45:03Runway is clear.
45:04Bring the flaps to 60.
45:06Its two-hour test flight has brought NextGen one step closer to being installed on commercial airplanes.
45:18Nice job, guys.
45:19Two reversers.
45:21Speeds at 90.
45:22I got you.
45:26Over the past 50 years, air traffic control has evolved tremendously.
45:35Human error.
45:40Technical difficulties.
45:43And poor communication.
45:46Have taken the lives of hundreds of people.
45:49And uncovered deadly weaknesses in the current system.
45:56Today, those weaknesses are one step closer to being fixed.
46:00I think the NextGen system, as it has evolved now, is really going to be excellent.
46:04It's going to start in the direction that we need to go for the future.
46:09The elements that make up NextGen will be introduced slowly over the next decade.
46:14Piece by piece, a whole new system of air traffic control will take shape in the U.S. and ultimately
46:21around the world.
46:24That's what airplane people do.
46:27They react to the challenge and develop a new way of flying.
46:32If NextGen lives up to its promise, that new way will mean fewer delays and ultimately fewer accidents.
46:40Thank you so much for seeing the new way of flying.
46:41Thanks for joining us.
46:42Bye-bye.