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00:02Controllers in Islamabad watch as Air Blue Flight 202 head straight towards a massive hill.
00:09He's not turning.
00:14They issue urgent warnings.
00:17Turn left immediately.
00:18But fail to prevent a disaster.
00:20You're going down!
00:30It's the worst accident in Pakistan's aviation history.
00:36When investigators listen to the CVR, they hear the pilots realize they're in danger.
00:42Terrain, sir!
00:45Took steps to avoid it.
00:47Turning left.
00:49But were unable to save the lives of 152 people.
00:54Why aren't we turning left?
00:56The crew knew what they had to do.
01:00They had reported that they were doing what they were supposed to do.
01:04And yet, the aircraft continued to fly in the wrong direction.
01:10BD, BD!
01:14Oh, fuck!
01:17I need a one-zero gravity.
01:18I need a one-zero gravity.
01:19I need a one-zero gravity.
01:34Air Blue Flight 202 begins its early morning descent towards Islamabad, Pakistan.
01:46There are 146 passengers and six crew on board the Airbus A321.
01:57A Blue 202.
01:59Expected arrival to ILS runway 30, followed by circling a post to land runway 12.
02:05Understood.
02:05It'll be ILS down to minima, and then left downwind.
02:10okay
02:13captain pervez chowdhury is one of the airlines most experienced pilots
02:20najam koreshi is a former air blue pilot who flew with captain chowdhury
02:26captain chowdhury had a lifetime of experience flying with the pakistan international airline
02:31he had a very successful carrier and he was pretty much approaching the end of his carrier
02:45first officer syed ahmed has less commercial experience he's a former f-16 fighter pilot
02:52and squadron leader in pakistan's air force air blue two zero two clear to three nine hundred for
03:00ILS two three zero clear to descend to three nine hundred
03:11he had about three hundred hours on the time so just brain-new learning the differences
03:15between the a force line and the commercial line
03:20pakistan's capital Islamabad is a city of more than eight hundred thousand people it's surrounded
03:27by the himalayan foothills to the north and northeast
03:34the mountainous terrain means the only approach to Islamabad's runway is from the south due to the
03:42wind direction today planes are landing on runway one two they must circle the airport and make a visual
03:49approach to the other end of the runway
03:54it is always safer to land with a headwind as compared to a tailwind
03:59when the winds change beyond a certain limit the air traffic controller will switch the runways
04:05that will ensure the plane lands in a headwind
04:11thick clouds envelop the airport making landings difficult
04:16China southern is going around and diverting back to Urumqi
04:20China southern confirming diverting back to Urumqi
04:24attention all landing aircraft
04:27China southern is diverting due to weather
04:31if at any point you lose sight of the airfield
04:35you should abandon the approach completely and carry out the missed approach procedure
04:44flight 202 is now less than 10 minutes from landing
04:54you're down
05:04the plane reaches the minimum altitude to which the pilots can descend without the runway in sight
05:12as soon as you see the runway
05:14you turn right
05:15and then after that you're supposed to keep the runway in sight
05:19commencing right turn
05:21heading 352
05:25call it in
05:28air blue
05:292 O 2
05:302
05:300kgạnh
05:30DC
05:40Felicia
05:46captain
05:47chowdhury
05:48initiates the first turn at
05:50the circling approach air
05:52blue 2
05:53continue on the circle for landing on runway one two caution low clouds and
05:58visibility maintain visual with the airport even in the poor weather it is
06:05up to the pilots to decide whether they should continue the approach or not
06:09depending whether they have it on the inside the controller expects to see the
06:18lights of the Airbus as it flies past the airfield he's approaching the no flies
06:35or not of the airfield instruct him to turn left immediately flight 202 is much
06:43further north than expected and needs to turn left for the approach to runway one
06:48two air blue 202 turn left heading 180 confirm he has visual with the ground if
06:58not instruct him to climb and execute a missed approach air blue 202 confirm you
07:04have airfield in sight the controllers had radar they could see what the aircraft
07:11was doing they could see that the aircraft was not doing what the
07:16procedure said they should be doing ask again air blue 202 please confirm you have
07:23visual with the ground he's confirming visuals he's not turning controllers can see that flight
07:46two zero two is rapidly approaching the hills north of the airport in the cockpit the pilots are struggling to
07:59turn their plane away from the mountains ahead
08:04one of the north of the airport in the airport but they are struggling to turn left
08:06where is the aircraft coming up?
08:16where is the aircraft in the plane?
08:17we are turning left
08:18terrain ahead
08:20pull up
08:22terrain ahead
08:23terrain
08:23terrain sir
08:24pull up
08:26Instruct him to turn left immediately.
08:30The controllers can't believe what they're seeing.
08:34Here's a guy with 25,000 hours, and he's flying directly towards a mountain.
08:41In the cabin, passengers have become aware that something's not right.
08:51They're approaching the 5,000-foot Magala hills.
08:56Terrain ahead. Pull up.
08:59Sir, we are going down.
09:00Sir, we're going down.
09:02The message from radar turn left immediately.
09:04Terrain ahead. Pull up.
09:06We're going down.
09:21Flight 202 has crashed into the Magala hills, seven miles from the airport.
09:29The wreckage lies at an altitude of nearly 3,000 feet.
09:34It will be difficult for rescuers to reach the site.
09:41We couldn't get access to it with a car or a truck.
09:46Even with helicopters, there was no place to set down.
09:51So the only way to get to the accident site was with a long, slow climb.
09:58It takes more than half an hour for rescuers and volunteers to make their way up the steep hill to
10:04the crash site in hopes of finding survivors.
10:17When crews do reach the site, they find a scene of complete devastation.
10:33152 people died in this accident.
10:36It's the worst accident in Pakistan's aviation history.
10:45Why did a modern airplane fly into well-known mountains north of the airport in Islamabad?
11:00Investigators arrive at the accident site to study the wreckage of Air Blue Flight 202.
11:09When an aircraft flies into mountains, there are really two areas that we're looking at in terms of the root
11:15cause.
11:17One is a sudden and unexpected loss of control.
11:23The other would be the aircraft has actually stayed in control of the pilots and still somehow been flown into
11:29a mountain.
11:34An analysis of the engines shows that they were fully functional at the time of impact and capable of producing
11:41maximum thrust.
11:46Okay, good work, everyone. Start heading back down.
11:50Right. So the stabilizer was set at 3.5 degrees nose up.
11:55Landing gear was down. Engines at climb power.
12:00So configured for landing, but climbing at full power.
12:06In examination of the electrical and mechanical components that we could find, there was no obvious damage or mechanical failure.
12:16They were trying to land here.
12:20But then they slam into the Margulah Hills, seven miles north of the runway.
12:27How did they get so far off course?
12:32For an approach that was supposed to be a very tight approach because of the existence of the hills, that
12:41is extraordinary.
12:44They were approaching from the southeast for a landing here on runway 12.
12:56Scattered clouds, rain.
13:00Visibility was at 3.5 kilometers.
13:04Challenging conditions.
13:08Could the cloudy conditions have been a factor in the accident?
13:14When an aircraft flies into high ground, one thing that is almost certainly a factor is poor visibility.
13:23Low cloud, fog, call it what you will.
13:28Visibility would have been an issue.
13:30But you don't need to see the Margulah Hills to know that they're there.
13:39Everyone knows towards the north, east of the runway, there are mountains.
13:43They're clearly marked on the maps.
13:46Terrain ahead.
13:47Start with it going down.
13:49Pull up.
13:51Pull up.
13:57Can the controller explain why the crew of Flight 202 couldn't avoid the mountains?
14:04Radar control informed him he'd be doing the circling approach to runway 12.
14:09A blue 202 expect arrival at ILS 30, followed by circling approach to land runway 12.
14:17And he understood the approach?
14:19Yes, sir.
14:20He did.
14:22Understood.
14:23It'll be ILS down to minima.
14:26And then left downwind.
14:30And then?
14:31That's when I assume control.
14:34As he began the right turn to the circling approach.
14:41The circling approach involves four carefully timed turns.
14:46The first to the right, followed by a left turn that takes the plane parallel to the runway.
14:52The two final turns lined the plane up for the landing on runway 12.
14:59Pilots must keep the runway in sight for the duration of this approach.
15:07After about a minute, I expected to see him fly by.
15:13But he never did.
15:16I asked the crew if they had the runway in sight.
15:18And they confirmed that they did.
15:21Air blue 202, please confirm you have visual with the ground.
15:28Air blue 202, visual with the ground.
15:32But he kept flying further and further away from the airport, directly towards the hills.
15:40After breaking off from the approach, they were supposed to turn after 30 seconds.
15:45Instead, they kept going for almost two minutes.
15:49We tried to stop him several times.
15:54It was too late.
15:57Message from radar, turn left immediately.
16:08We couldn't prevent...
16:13What happened?
16:20It's all here on the radar track.
16:29Crew knew what they had to do.
16:32They reported that they were doing what they were supposed to do.
16:36And yet, the aircraft continued to fly in the wrong direction.
16:42Terrain ahead.
16:45Pull up.
16:47How could the pilots have ended up so dangerously off course?
16:58Investigators look into the background of Flight 202's pilots
17:03to determine if the approach into Islamabad was mishandled.
17:09The captain had years of experience with major airlines.
17:15Captain Chowdhury has been flying for more than 40 years.
17:19He has accumulated more than 25,000 flying hours throughout his career.
17:25But only about 1,000 of those were on the Airbus.
17:33The first officer, however, is a whole different story.
17:38First officer, Syed Ahmed, had far fewer hours than the captain.
17:43The former fighter pilot had recently joined the airline
17:47and had accumulated only 286 hours on Airbus A320 airplanes.
17:56Two very different pilots.
17:59One, during the end of his career,
18:02with thousands of hours of experience.
18:04And the other, just starting off his commercial career.
18:08But neither of them had a ton of experience with the Airbus A321.
18:16Did the pilot's lack of experience on this type of plane play a role in the accident?
18:25Experience is generally considered to be an asset.
18:29The only potential downside is that, of course,
18:32if you've got a lot of experience of one particular thing,
18:35it actually might be more difficult to learn how to operate this new type of aircraft.
18:48Okay.
18:50So they're supposed to perform their approach within this area.
18:54Anything beyond this is outside the airport's 4.3-mile protection zone.
19:00Okay. Let's see his track.
19:04Investigators examine Flight 202's radar track
19:08to see how the pilots set up their approach.
19:11All right.
19:13So they make their first turn here
19:19and then head straight out of the protection zone.
19:24Then this left turn takes them directly into the Marghala Hills
19:31The radar track shows that the pilots flew closer and closer
19:36to the mountains surrounding Islamabad.
19:39Wouldn't they have gotten a warning that they're approaching the hills?
19:48Yes, sir.
19:50It should have sounded 60 seconds before impact.
19:56The enhanced ground proximity warning system looks downward
20:02to see the height that you're at above ground,
20:06but it also looks ahead to see any terrain that you're flying towards.
20:14If they got a warning,
20:17why didn't they try to pull up or turn
20:21to avoid it?
20:25Did the pilots of Flight 202 get any warning of an impending collision?
20:32The crew would have been given pictures on their navigation display
20:36of the approaching terrain,
20:38and they would have been given aural warnings.
20:42So since they flew directly into the terrain,
20:46has the enhanced ground proximity warning system completely failed?
20:50What was it?
21:01Don't leave me in suspense.
21:03Don't leave me in suspense.
21:03Did they get any ground proximity warnings?
21:07They sure did.
21:11Terrain ahead.
21:15The cockpit data shows that in the final minute of the flight,
21:19the crew got 21 separate warnings about the rising terrain ahead.
21:29Okay, so that answers that.
21:34Over 21 times, we saw terrain, terrain, pull up, terrain ahead, pull up.
21:40There's no way that the captain missed that warning.
21:44The enhanced ground proximity warning system was working properly.
21:48Terrain ahead.
21:50If the warning system was operating, why would the pilots ignore it and allow the accident to happen?
21:56Terrain ahead. Pull up.
21:58If you hear a full terrain pull-up warning from the EGPWS, the reaction should be immediate.
22:05It should be to apply full power, pull the nose of the aircraft up, get it moving away from the
22:10ground.
22:11And that should be done before any questions are asked.
22:19Why didn't the crew of Air Blue Flight 202 act on terrain warnings and steer their plane away from the
22:27mountains?
22:28Islamabad, Air Blue 202.
22:31Investigators listen to the cockpit voice recording.
22:33What are current conditions, please?
22:36Air Blue 202. Visibility is now 3.5 kilometers with rain.
22:40Wind 16 knots, 050 degrees.
22:44Runway 12 currently in use.
22:47They focus on how the crew set up for landing.
22:51It'll be runway 12.
22:53Yes, and visibility is correct.
22:58The weather was marginal, and marginal weather makes you nervous, because you don't know whether you're going to be able
23:05to see anything at all, and the captain clearly was nervous about this approach.
23:13Did the captain proceed with an approach he wasn't comfortable with?
23:17Set waypoints for runway 12, radial 026, five miles abeam.
23:45It didn't make any sense for the captain to be entering waypoints into the flight management system.
23:51The circling approach is, by definition, a visual approach, so there is no way that any pilot would normally do
23:58this.
24:01Then, just two miles from the airport, the pilots of Air Blue Flight 202 hear of a flight landing ahead
24:09of them.
24:10We advise that a TIA 737 has landed on runway 12 safely.
24:17Commencing right turn, heading 352.
24:23That could have caused the pilot to say, hey, if they can get in, we can get in, too.
24:29Wait, stop, sir.
24:30So, he starts his turn later than usual, half a mile from the runway.
24:42Instead of breaking off early, they had to continue on because of the low visibility and low ceilings.
24:48And they did not break off to the right until the last possible point, which was at the end of
24:52the runway.
24:55Concerned with poor visibility, Captain Chowdhury makes a baffling decision.
25:00Switch into nav mode for managed approach to runway 12.
25:05So, there he goes, switching to nav mode. He can't be visual.
25:11Carrying out the circling approach using the autopilot to navigate is a violation of procedures.
25:20As soon as you select the nav mode, the plane starts to fly the pre-programmed waypoints.
25:26And at this point, Captain Chowdhury is a normal flying visual approach.
25:31Okay, sir.
25:36But, are you visual?
25:39I have a visual.
25:44Chowdhury insists he can see the runway, but investigators are certain he could not.
25:51They can't see the airfield any longer because they've just got to the far side of it.
25:55There is no airfield in sight.
25:59So, instead of turning left to fly parallel with the runway, he keeps flying in this direction, moving further and
26:09further from the airport.
26:30As the captain struggles to turn away from the hills, controllers become concerned.
26:38Air Blue 202, confirm you have airfield in sight.
26:42What should I tell him, sir?
26:45Terrain ahead.
26:46Tell him.
26:47Tell him.
26:48Pull up.
26:49The crew doesn't reply straight away.
26:52Probably because the first officer knows full well that no, they don't have visual contact with the airfield.
26:57But he waits for his captain to tell him what to say.
27:01Air Blue 202, please confirm you have visual with the ground.
27:04Terrain ahead.
27:06Pull up.
27:06Air Blue 202, visual with the ground.
27:11In the end, the crew tells air traffic control that they are in visual contact with the ground.
27:19Now, that's not untrue, but it's not the same thing as being visual with the airfield.
27:23It feels more like a reply designed to get air traffic control off their backs.
27:28Sir, we are approaching terrain ahead.
27:31Yes, I know.
27:32We are turning left.
27:33Pull up.
27:34Pull up, sir.
27:35Sir, pull up.
27:36The captain says he's turning left, but he keeps flying directly towards the hills.
27:48Investigators are unable to explain why Captain Chowdhury could not alter his course and steer away from the mountains.
28:02The final minute of the CVR reveals a picture of chaos and confusion.
28:08Pull up, sir.
28:10Sir, pull up.
28:14They're applying power, trying to climb.
28:23Sir, we're going down.
29:01All they had to do was turn away from those hills.
29:09Despite reacting to the terrain warnings, the pilots could not steer their plane away from the mountains.
29:27Will flight 202's flight data recorder explain why Captain Chowdhury didn't or couldn't turn and avoid the mountains?
29:37Can we see the altitude, please?
29:41The minimum altitude is 2,500 feet.
29:47Investigators can see that Chowdhury dialed in an altitude below what's permitted.
29:52There's only one reason it would drop below that.
29:58Commencing right turn.
30:01Heading 352.
30:07There's no earthly reason for doing it, because the minimums are there for a very good reason.
30:13The only reason why they ever break the minimums is because they can't see the ground properly and they want
30:19to get closer to it.
30:21Can we see the flight path?
30:25You see, he's way off course, in heavy fog, and has clearly lost visual.
30:33Let's see the autopilot modes.
30:38So, he asks the automation to take over.
30:46More than four miles off course, Captain Chowdhury makes his biggest error by switching modes on his autopilot.
30:55The captain switched from heading mode to nav mode.
31:00And the aircraft turned left to heading of 300.
31:07Towards the mountain.
31:11The airbus now makes a left turn towards a predetermined waypoint, bringing the flight dangerously close to the mountains.
31:21He's approaching the no-fly zone north of the airfield.
31:26From this point on, air traffic control continued to urge the flight to turn left,
31:31because they knew they were in the vicinity of the high mountainous terrain.
31:35Terrain, ahead.
31:37Pull up.
31:38Ablo 202, turn left, heading 180.
31:41Terrain, ahead.
31:41Why aren't we turning left?
31:43Pull up.
31:46Can we see what he's selecting?
31:51He's dialing in a left turn.
31:59Captain Chowdhury uses his heading knob to turn the plane sharply left away from the hills.
32:08But the plane, it keeps flying in the same direction.
32:12It's not turning.
32:14It's not turning.
32:24He's still in nav.
32:28Investigators realise the captain forgot that his plane was in navigation mode and not heading mode,
32:35which is required to turn the aircraft.
32:37If the aircraft is flying in nav mode, it will keep on flying on its predetermined course,
32:45whether or not the crew change the heading select.
32:50Terrain, ahead.
32:51Why aren't we turning left?
32:53Pull up.
32:55Captain Chowdhury doesn't realise that his inputs are futile.
32:59Pull up.
33:01Pull up.
33:02In order to get from nav mode into heading mode, you pull the knob out, and that engages heading mode.
33:08Pull up.
33:09He forgot to pull it out.
33:12He realises his error and pulls the knob here at 40 seconds before impact.
33:26Ah.
33:28When Captain Chowdhury tries to correct his error, he only makes a bad situation worse.
33:36Sir, turn left.
33:37Oh.
33:38Why, sir?
33:39Turning left.
33:45Captain Chowdhury has dialed in so many left turns that his last input is now to the plane's right.
33:54The airbus takes the shortest route to get to that heading, directly towards the Margala Hills.
34:05He's in heading mode for the rest of the flight.
34:13The investigation saw that the captain was so reliant on the automation that he was trying to turn the aircraft
34:18to the left.
34:20Asking why the aircraft wasn't turning to the left.
34:22But he didn't even use his side stick and actually turn the aircraft to the left manually.
34:28Why aren't we turning left?
34:30Terrain, ahead.
34:31Investigators now know why Captain Chowdhury was unable to turn left and avoid the mountains.
34:37Pull up.
34:38But one question remains.
34:40Why didn't the first officer recognize the mistakes and do something to correct them?
34:45Sir, we're going down.
34:47Pull up.
34:52100 knots.
34:54Check.
34:55Investigators find a possible explanation for the first officer's puzzling behavior.
35:00V-1.
35:01At the very start of flight 202.
35:05Rotate.
35:07As it took off for Islamabad.
35:10The flight starts with the pilots working efficiently as a crew.
35:15Positive rate.
35:17Gear up.
35:23Gear up.
35:24Gear up.
35:27The take-off from Karachi is textbook.
35:33From initial pushback startup and all of it to take-off, everything seemed normal.
35:42We are clear to climb to flight level.
35:44Explain to me why that is blue, but the other symbols are white.
35:50The pilot's cordial relationship soon changes.
35:56Sir?
35:57There, on your display.
35:59Why is that symbol blue, but the others are white?
36:02You should know why that is.
36:05I believe it's because the flight plan defers from the current route.
36:09No, that's wrong.
36:10It's because it's the one being navigated towards basic.
36:15Do you know how to modify this point?
36:19From the main menu?
36:21No, you don't need to return to the main menu.
36:23You can do it on the screen.
36:26What did they teach you in that so-called training of yours?
36:31Captain Chowdhury is heard quizzing and berating his first officer.
36:37This wasn't normal behaviour.
36:39It seems it was only really for the purpose of putting his first officer in his place,
36:46making sure he knew who was in charge and to do as he was told.
36:52What's he doing?
36:55If you don't know how to use the flight management system,
36:59then what use are you in the cockpit?
37:01You might as well go back and help the girls serve tea.
37:18What about maximum thrust available for climb?
37:21Can you at least tell me what that is?
37:23This has been going on for nearly an hour now.
37:26Told you.
37:30Radio ahead to Islamabad for the weather.
37:34Do you know how to use the radio?
37:35Yes.
37:40Captain Chowdhury is a very experienced pilot.
37:42He should know that this is not how he behave on the flight deck of an airliner.
38:02Investigators wonder why Captain Chowdhury would act so aggressively towards his first officer.
38:08He was recently treated for diabetes and hypertension, but deemed fit to fly.
38:17Anything?
38:18Pilots who flew with him said he was demanding, sometimes difficult, but nothing at this level.
38:27Maybe it had more to do with him.
38:31Could the first officer's background have affected his captain's attitude towards him?
38:41In Pakistan, there has been a hidden rivalry between Air Force pilots and the people who are in the commercial
38:48side already.
38:50They feel that the Axe Air Force guys, they are taking away their opportunities.
38:58Investigators believe that the captain's abusive behavior might explain one of the mysteries of this tragedy.
39:05Why first officer Ahmed never took control of the plane.
39:12All the first officer had to do was to take manual control of the aircraft and fly it away from
39:17the mountain.
39:20Investigators scrutinize first officer Ahmed's actions leading up to the crash of flight 202.
39:26His first officer told the captain to pull up three times and turn left, twice.
39:33But he never says he's taking control.
39:41If I was the first officer, I'd take over the control, pull back on the side stick to create the
39:47max performance maneuver, apply it to the thrust, and keep climbing till I'm clear of the hills.
39:54The team believes the captain's behavior earlier in the flight explains why the first officer allowed him to mishandle the
40:02approach.
40:03If you don't know how to use the flight management system, then what use are you in the cockpit?
40:12We have the captain's behavior, which was so overbearing, so autocratic, so nasty,
40:19that it served to completely shatter the self-confidence of the first officer.
40:25First officer Ahmed allows procedures to be set aside.
40:30Switch into nav mode for a managed approach to runway 12.
40:35Okay.
40:38Sir.
40:39And then fails to take control when his captain flies the plane directly towards the mountains.
40:47He was so worn down by the captain's harsh behavior that he just couldn't stand up to him.
40:53He became a bystander.
40:59The first officer clearly knows that what they're doing is wrong.
41:03He knows that his captain is disoriented, that the aircraft is on a collision course with a mountain,
41:10and yet, somehow, he doesn't have it in him to intervene.
41:17Terrain ahead.
41:18Pull up.
41:19Sir, we are going down.
41:21Sir, we are going down.
41:23Three and a half minutes after the start of the approach.
41:26Pull up.
41:27We are going down.
41:28The Airbus slams into the hills,
41:33killing everyone on board.
41:41This is one of the most extraordinary accidents I've seen.
41:48There were no technical factors in this accident.
41:53There was nothing wrong with the aircraft.
41:56There was nothing wrong with the engines.
41:58It was all a matter of human misjudgment and human error.
42:10If he doesn't try the approach in nav mode, there's no accident.
42:16All the warning signs were there, telling them what to do.
42:22It should have been easy to recover.
42:25Very.
42:27If he hadn't taken his first officer out of the picture,
42:31different outcome.
42:34Absolutely incredible.
42:41It's hard to believe that somebody of his experience
42:45would make so many errors
42:48and mishandling of the aircraft.
42:53It just defies logic.
42:58The final report into the crash of Air Blue Flight 202
43:03makes several recommendations to Pakistani airlines,
43:06including better briefings on the circling approach procedures
43:10and better crew management training.
43:15This accident shows that cockpit management
43:18and the atmosphere in the cockpit that's set by the captain
43:21is just as important as an operating aircraft
43:24and operating engines.
43:26And in 2018, the airport in Islamabad
43:30is replaced with a more modern airport
43:32with two runways that are well away from the hills
43:35that claim the lives of the 152 people
43:38on board flight 202.
43:44As I learned more,
43:46I really felt extremely bad.
43:51I felt very sad about that loss.
43:59It was a preventable accident.
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