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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.
00:32What are they doing?
00:38Investigators examine the Gulf Stream's wreckage for answers.
00:42I don't see any issues here.
00:44When they learn about the passengers' behavior...
00:49We'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,
00:58Alright, this is not looking good.
01:24The sun has just set over the Colorado mountains.
01:27Avjet November 303 Gulf Alpha is nearing the end of its journey to Aspen.
01:34Well, there's the edge of the night there.
01:38Yep.
01:40Captain Robert Frisbee has almost 10,000 flying hours to his credit.
01:46What time is official sunset?
01:49He and First Officer Peter Kowalczyk have been flying together for close to five months.
01:56628.
01:59Both pilots have been with Avjet for less than a year.
02:04The small charter airline is based out of Burbank, California.
02:10Avjet catered to high rollers, business people, people who could afford to charter a jet.
02:16People who had to get there in a hurry, but do it in style.
02:21Running out of fuel here for the birthday boy!
02:25A Miami financier chartered this flight for 14 of his friends to attend a birthday party at an exclusive venue
02:33in Aspen.
02:35This was a group of friends who seemed to have had tremendous early achievements and accomplishments,
02:42and they were really going to go places.
02:46So 4,800 pounds, 126.
02:49It was 50.
02:51You know what? I adjusted it, because the fuel was way off.
02:56The pilots are flying a Gulfstream 3.
03:01The Gulfstream is a luxurious plane that, you know, people see in the movies,
03:07and people think high rollers and movie stars flying.
03:10But it's a workhorse plane. It actually has a good reputation.
03:15It's a 90-minute flight from Los Angeles to Aspen.
03:23Gulfstream 303 Gulf Alpha, Aspen, reduced speed to 210 or slower.
03:29The controller slows down the Gulfstream to maintain a safe distance from the other planes heading into Aspen.
03:38210 or slower, 3 Gulf Alpha.
03:4517 minutes from landing, the pilots begin their descent.
03:50Aspen-Pitkin County Airport, also known as Sardi Field, is about 3 miles northwest of Aspen.
03:58Landing on its single runway is a challenge.
04:02Aspen is considered one of the most dangerous airports in the country.
04:08The runway is not long, and it is in close proximity to high terrain on all sides.
04:32The landing is made even more difficult, with the final stage needing to be carried out visually.
04:39As the plane nears Aspen, a beacon guides it to the airport, but it doesn't lead it directly to the
04:46runway.
04:48Once the airport is in sight, the pilots must line up with the runway visually.
04:53Because of the high terrain and close proximity to the final approach course, the minimum altitude is a couple thousand
05:01feet above the ground,
05:02and we must be visual by that time to safely continue our descent down to a landing.
05:09And tonight, the weather isn't making landing any easier.
05:15And if at any time it's snowing, it's very hard to acquire that visual reference to safely descend further to
05:24a landing.
05:28Residential noise restrictions around the airport leave the pilots only nine minutes until the landing curfew at 6.58.
05:36The crew is cutting it close.
05:40Can you see out there at all yet?
05:44Uh, no.
05:49Cost stream 3, Golf Alpha, heading 050.
05:57As the pilots prepare to line up with the runway, passengers get ready for landing.
06:11Okay, synchronizer's off.
06:14There is just enough fuel for one landing attempt.
06:17After that, the pilots will have to divert to another airport.
06:21Okay, it's off.
06:25Hydraulic pressure's good.
06:27Gulfstream 3, Golf Alpha, turn heading 140, intercept final approach course, maintain 16,000.
06:35Eight minutes from the airport, the controller gives the crew clearance to commence the approach.
06:42140, 16,000, intercept final approach course, 3, Golf Alpha.
06:50One, 16,000.
06:56As the pilots get their final intercept to the airport.
07:02Challenger 7, Juliet Alpha, you have the airport in sight.
07:05Another aircraft, also on approach to Aspen, updates the controller.
07:10Uh, that's a negative.
07:12Going around.
07:15Those pilots aboard their landing because they can't see the runway.
07:21Attention all aircraft.
07:23Last aircraft went missed.
07:26What?
07:27You went missed.
07:28You went missed?
07:30Damn.
07:32That's not good.
07:34If you can't successfully land the aircraft, then a missed approach is a procedure that pilots will execute to return
07:42to a safe altitude.
07:45As the Gulfstream gets closer to the airport, the weather deteriorates.
07:59Gulfstream 3, Golf Alpha, five miles from Red Table, cross Red Table at or above 1,4000, clear VOR DME
08:07Charlie approach.
08:13You have to be configured properly at the right altitude at the right speed, otherwise you are expected to execute
08:25a missed approach.
08:27Red Table at 1,4000, cleared for VOR approach, Gulfstream 303, Gulf Alpha.
08:34Here we go.
08:37As the pilots get closer to the airport, they're counting on the weather to improve for their landing.
08:45Ascending to 1,4000.
08:48Problems can escalate very quickly when flying into Aspen.
08:52There's really no room to recover without breaking off that approach or trying it again.
09:00Landing flaps.
09:02Landing flaps.
09:04Just over two minutes from landing, instruments have successfully guided the pilots to the airport.
09:10Now it's up to them to identify the runway.
09:14Can you see the runway?
09:21Gulfstream 3, Gulf Alpha, you have the runway in sight?
09:27Affirmative.
09:28Yeah, now we do.
09:29Yeah, runway in sight, 3 Gulf Alpha.
09:32Gulfstream 3, Gulf Alpha, visual.
09:34Roger.
09:39The pilots are now less than a minute from landing.
09:53At the last moment, they realize something is wrong.
09:58Go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go!
10:16Avjet 303, Gulf Alpha, crashes just short of the runway at Aspen.
10:23Aircraft 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
11:27by the following day investigators are on site
11:33thousands of passengers fly charter airplanes every year encompassing 2.5 million flight hours annually
11:42so trying to understand why this accident occurred was significant
11:51let me see that within hours the plane's cockpit voice recorder or CVR is retrieved from the wreckage
12:00let's get the data pulled from that ASAP what about a flight data recorder
12:10looks 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
12:35the plane crashed 2,400 feet from the runway when an aircraft crashes short of a runway especially a
12:43sophisticated airplane like a Gulfstream jet a number of questions arise here how did they get there
12:48what possible factors could the crew have was there some sort of a failure in the aircraft
12:56take a look at this what do you think caused that there's a deep ground scar at the crash site
13:06that would do it investigators conclude that it was formed when the left wing hit the ground
13:14when an airplane comes through trees or vegetation as it approaches the ground it cuts off branches
13:22and we can look at those branches and the angles that are made to understand the airplane's attitude
13:28as it came into the ground and its descent profile left wing struck the trees at about
13:36which 49 degrees that's a hell of a bank there's no operationally relevant reason for an airplane to be
13:53banked at 49 degrees that close to the airport or that close to the ground maybe they lost control of
14:00the
14:03plane when we see an aircraft in a abnormal attitude we've got to look at did something happen where
14:09you know the pilots couldn't keep it level the plane's position gives investigators a promising lead engine 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 aside from
14:35the impact damage there's no sign of fire to the exterior the team studies the engine's compressor
14:42blades to determine if the engines were functioning when the plane hit the ground when the Gulfstream 3's
14:50engines are working the compressor blades spin in a clockwise direction if the engines were
14:56still functioning when the plane crashed these blades would be bent counterclockwise or in the
15:01opposite direction you know these are all bent counterclockwise so was an engine failure our
15:14examination of the engines showed that there was no pre-existing damage no evidence of an in-flight
15:20fire and also showed that they were operating normally and at high power at the time of the impact let's
15:28take a
15:29look at the rudder an airplane operating at a low airspeed while the rudder moves to an extreme limit could
15:38introduce a rolling moment or also stall one of the wings which would further exacerbate the rolling moment
15:47investigators examine the actuator the controls the rudder's movement business completely intact
15:56no sign of any damage there was no pre-existing conditions or failures that would have explained the
16:06accident the airplane was functioning normally if mechanical failure didn't cause the role what went wrong on
16:14approach determining the airplane's flight path helps us understand how that airplane got to the accident
16:21site what was it doing where was it flying how fast was it going have a look at this radar
16:29data with no
16:33flight data recorder investigators turn to Aspen's radar information to reconstruct the Gulfstream's descent profile
16:43using the radar position and time so the altitude and position of the aircraft the performance engineers
16:49can extract the speed of the aircraft how fast is it descending is that appropriate for the approach that they're
16:57trying to do here's what we've got this is the approach they should have flown investigators examine
17:08the path the path the pilots were required to follow into Aspen due to the rising terrain away from the
17:16airport
17:17Aspen at this time had a step-down approach which from a profile looks like stairs the pilots will step
17:25down to an altitude
17:26based on the terrain availability pilots cannot descend below that altitude until they reach another fix or another distance
17:37and
17:38and
17:41here'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 and a mile later
17:56they dropped 900 feet below the minimum altitude and they stayed that way they flew in very low
18:06if you go below a minimum altitude before you are allowed to then you no longer
18:13can guarantee the safety of 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
18:40why did the pilots of avjet 303 gulf alpha not follow the prescribed approach procedure into Aspen
18:50the captain passed his last proficiency check
18:53so 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
19:05and they both flew into Aspen together twice before without incident
19:11no accidents
19:13no reprimands
19:16even the captain's driving record is spotless
19:20so looking into the background of this flight crew we really didn't see anything that stood out
19:24they were both well qualified well trained and experienced to fly this airplane and make this trip
19:31and they both got plenty of sleep before the flight so fatigue isn't an issue
19:36in 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
19:53no 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
20:05could 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
20:17what was different this time
20:21maybe they were trying to get eyes on the runway
20:24pull up the weather
20:35it was important to understand
20:38exactly 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
20:50to see 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
21:04so maybe they didn't have a clear line on the runway
21:07okay but these are seasoned pilots they should know if you don't see the runway you don't try to
21:12land on it and yet they did try to land on it and they missed by almost half a mile
21:16so
21:17did they see the runway or not
21:21we should talk to the controller
21:26an air traffic controller can tell you
21:29what the visibility is what the weather conditions were what other airplanes were doing in terms of
21:36coming into the airport and provide eyewitness testimony about the time of the accident but
21:41they also can help us understand communications that they had with the airplane
21:49so did they give you any indication at all that they were having trouble seeing the runway
21:53the runway no quite the opposite i asked them if they could see the runway and they confirmed that
21:59they did golf stream three gulf alpha you have the runway in sight yeah runway inside three gulf alpha
22:06golf stream three gulf alpha visual roger
22:13i made extra sure to confirm because i couldn't see them the weather was so bad did you have any
22:21reason to doubt the pilots
22:24not at the time but here's what's so odd they confirmed they had visual but then when they came out
22:32of the clouds
22:33they were headed to the right of the airport
22:45what are they doing
22:54i don't think they realized they weren't headed for the runway until the last second
23:01when we put those pieces together you know that the pilots did report on the radio they had the runway
23:06in sight we had to ask ourselves did they really did they really see the runway um
23:11might they have engaged in a little wishful thinking
23:16this leaves investigators with a troubling question
23:22they 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 insight
23:45into 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
24:17they would have insights into what was concerning the pilots what they were trying to accomplish
24:25and some of the decisions being made did you talk to the captain on the day of the flight
24:32oh yes and there were some problems right from the start really how so well the flight was supposed
24:37to leave at 4 30 at 4 15 he called to say the passengers still hadn't shown up
24:45well 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
24:58the captain was worried that because of the 7 pm noise curfew at aspen he might have to go
25:03to rifle instead which is about 60 miles away so he knew about the noise curfew and he had a
25:09plan to
25:09divert if he needed absolutely
25:13they 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 they didn't start
25:26boarding till around 4 30. then what happened about 10 minutes later i got a phone call from the client's
25:34personal assistant and he told me the client was very upset what's this about diverting to rifle what do
25:44mean once the passengers boarded there was a call by the charter customer's assistant expressing
25:56concern that the crew had told the passengers that they might have to go to another airport
26:03welcome welcome given the delay in boarding looks like we may have to divert the rifle
26:12so the client had his assistant call me so my boss wants you to tell the pilot to well keep
26:21his mouth
26:21shut around the passengers and if he has anything to say save it until he gets there and then they
26:28can
26:28talk it over understood there's nothing to worry about i'll take care of it thank you very much for
26:33letting me know so of course safety comes first but we wanted to keep the client happy
26:43did 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
26:52only to him understood okay don't mention diverting thank you so much yeah
27:04he was worried that he was going to disappoint our boss maybe even get into trouble for upsetting the
27:10client but he wouldn't get into trouble in a charter operation the needs of your passengers
27:17are front and center you're fully aware of them and in a situation where a group of people are going
27:23to add dinner and that's the only reason they're taking this trip if they can't satisfy that timeline
27:30then there was no point of being on that aircraft the captain was told not to upset the passengers
27:37did that instruction affect his decision about diverting his plane to rifle and so this was all
27:44before they took off yes and was that the last time you spoke to the captain no he called me
27:50again
27:50on route to aspen and what time was that 6 30. we'll be landing in aspen in about 20 25
28:00minutes
28:01but we'll have to spend the night there no problem i can book your rooms hey how are the passengers
28:07are they still upset i don't think so what about the client i had a talk with the client it's
28:15just
28:15really important to him that we make it to aspen apparently he's dropping a substantial amount of
28:20money on dinner the client didn't want to go to rifle rifle was more than 60 miles away it would
28:27have taken them too long to get there i see
28:32okay wow thank you very much for your time happy to help
28:54you 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
29:09did commercial pressure influence the pilots to make a risky decision that cost the lives of 18 people
29:17you know this comes up all the time charter pilots often uh voice on chat rooms and complaint lines
29:25that they are pressured to keep people happy and do really difficult things just to
29:30uh satisfy a demanding customer and it's dangerous
29:36they still had time to correct the situation so what happened in these final 30 minutes
29:47it's here
29:50ntsb investigators turned to the cockpit voice recorder of avjet 303 golf alpha to understand why
29:57the pilots chose to land instead of diverting we could learn about the crew's decision making
30:04and what they were doing from their conversations with each other um you know how they were planning
30:09and using the information that was coming in as they approached aspen you know what let's pick it up
30:16before they begin their final descent
30:28hey do you remember that crazy guy in the lear when you were in aspen last time
30:33it was i could see the airport but he couldn't see it pause that
30:43so 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
30:57do 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
31:26so right there they're talking about doing a missed approach that was at 6 50 so two minutes later
31:3512 minutes from the airport the pilots confirmed their plan to divert if they needed to
31:42as the crew was approaching aspen they were getting the idea that the weather was getting more
31:47difficult to get in and and they were having a conversation about this they mentioned again
31:51well we might only have one shot at this and we have to go to rifle they were really saying
31:56the right things
32:01attention all aircraft last aircraft went missed
32:06what you went missed you went missed damn that's not good
32:16nine minutes from crashing they know the plane in front of them couldn't land and they know it's a bad
32:23sign for them
32:26that clearly had to put some pressure on them say all right this is uh this is not looking good
32:32it should have those pilots starting to get into the mindset of executing the missed approach
32:37rather 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
33:05about eight minutes before the accident somebody came into the cockpit one of the passengers thank
33:12you very much
33:20you think it's the client
33:25it's possible
33:28having 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
33:43did 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
34:04making it more dangerous for planes to try to land oh really oh really
34:15the only conversation that should be going on is between the crew about aspects of the flight here
34:21having someone up there questioning their decision making questioning you know the weather and the
34:25operation um is just such a distraction and a pressure to them
34:30as the pilots approached the airport the situation intensified
34:36tongues are 98 romeo you're number one
34:3998 romeo negative visual on the mist
34:43they learned that the plane ahead of avjet 303 gulf alpha also missed their approach because they couldn't
34:50see the runway it's too dangerous to land on that runway under these conditions so what happened
35:04are we cleared to land not not yet we just missed guy in front of us didn't make it either
35:11oh really
35:16okay 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
35:28i think or really was a warning shot get this thing in aspen
35:34but the pilots still had one more chance to implement their backup plan to divert to another airport
35:44where's it at
35:48so obviously they still can't see the runway
35:53to the right to the right
36:01so 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
36:12was the runway you know some lights of the village or whatnot they believed they saw the runway but
36:17that wasn't correct they just keep flying lower and lower looking for the airport
36:24they 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
36:41they'd catch glimpses now and then of the ground 500 rev plus five think rate think rate
36:5222 seconds after crossing the missed approach point avjet 303 gulf alpha hits the ground
37:24so
37:26in los angeles they were ready to divert
37:32then they get chewed out for talking about diverting and the client tells them how important the dinner is
37:37so by the time they get to aspen they were bound and determined to land
37:49sadly they turned into the pilots they were ridiculing
37:53all indications
37:56from our investigation show that these two pilots were good pilots once the crew descended without the runway in
38:05sight the accident was inevitable
38:11they 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 prevented the crash
38:48a notum notam is an official notice to airmen
38:55that's a notice put out by the faa to tell pilots about some abnormality in the airspace system
39:01um an approach procedure has been changed the navigation aid is out all sorts of things
39:08two days before the crash a notam was issued with a warning about landing at aspen
39:15as far as i can tell it says circling na not authorized at night so in other words
39:22they should never have been flying into aspen at night in the first place
39:25it 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
39:42the crash was at 702 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
39:59investigators examined the gulf stream's briefing records to see if it included the most recent notice
40:06it 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
40:16notams 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
40:28in between and what about the controller
40:35notams are also distributed to atc facilities they need to know about things that affect the airspace
40:41as well
40:45it never got passed on to aspen atc
40:54the reason the tower didn't get the notam is it was supposed to get sent by believe it or not
40:58facts
40:59and for whatever reason didn't get sent to the atc facilities that that needed to know
41:05had the controller received the notam it might have prevented the crash in the final analysis
41:13investigators conclude the probable cause of the accident was the flight crew's operation of the
41:19airplane below the minimum descent altitude without an appropriate visual reference to the runway
41:26this accident happened because the captain did not go around did not conduct a missed approach
41:34had he done that they would have gone to rifle and the passengers may have been frustrated may
41:40have been angry there might have been a big conversation but they would have been alive
41:49investigators also believe external pressures played a role in the pilots decision making
41:56we call it get there itis we 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 get there itis
42:13as 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
42:36you 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
42:53after the accident the company issued a bulletin changing their rules that no passengers were allowed in the cockpit
43:01you see it okay guys let's finish up tomorrow well the ntsb has also made a number of recommendations
43:10on improving the notum system making things a little bit more graphical and easy to use so that people
43:16can sort them out rather than just reading a list the lessons serve as a warning to all other pilots
43:23who interact
43:24with passengers i think the message of this flight is there is no dinner date engagement or birthday
43:33party that is more important than the lives of your passengers on the plane and the pilot has to be
43:40tough enough to stand up to that because the passengers just don't know they're not pilots and
43:47they do not know that their behavior is endangering their very lives
43:51but it did help change the law and change how the fa operates in many aspects and for that we're
43:58thankful
44:24so
44:25so
44:40you
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