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Air Crash Investigation - Season 26 - Episode 03: Peril over Pakistan (Airblue Flight 202)
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00:02The plane came flying out of the bottom of the cloud at 4,000 feet per minute.
00:06Pull up, pull up!
00:07Nuremberg Air Service Flight 108 breaks apart while the pilots attempt to land at Dusseldorf Airport in Germany.
00:17All passengers and crew are killed.
00:21Because of the size of the accident site, we use the grid to identify the positions of every part of
00:29the wreckage.
00:31Investigators reconstruct the plane to determine what happened.
00:36There must be a thousand pieces in here.
00:41Over here.
00:42They uncover evidence of a one-in-a-million failure that should not have brought the plane down.
00:48The pilots had no chance to control the aircraft in a proper way.
00:54I think under these circumstances, there was nothing they could have done.
01:00D-Day, D-Day.
01:04Pull up!
01:073-1-0, grab in the air, so I'm going to put my car on.
01:101-2-2-0.
01:111-2-0, 1-2-0.
01:23It's an hour before sunrise at Hanover Airport in West Germany.
01:31Nuremberg Air Service Flight 108 prepares for the first flight of the day.
01:42In the cockpit is 36-year-old Captain Ralph Borstorff.
01:47How's the weather looking?
01:49And 28-year-old First Officer Sybil Hale-Man.
01:53They each have 2,500 flying hours.
01:57Should we clear sailing?
01:59Both of them would be fairly typical, what you would see in commuter operations, people
02:05starting their careers and getting ready to move up.
02:08The weather forecast predicts calm skies, with only a slim chance of thunderstorms near their
02:14destination.
02:16It might get a bit rough on landing because of some turbulence and a chance of thunderstorms,
02:20but it's unlikely.
02:21Just 10%.
02:23Sounds good.
02:26A 10% chance of thundershowers.
02:29It's a 10% chance.
02:30You want to know about it, but it's not something you're going to put too much thought into.
02:34Before Flight 108 can depart, snow and ice that accumulated overnight are removed.
02:44This flight was a full flight.
02:46It had 19 passengers on board, all of those being business people.
02:50It's a 40-minute flight from Hanover to Dusseldorf, a major business hub on the Rhine River.
02:58We started the route in 1987, about six months before this flight.
03:04We had very weak train connections between the east and western parts of Germany.
03:09So from the very, very beginning, we had full airplanes.
03:14Flight 108 leaves Hanover at 7.15 a.m., 15 minutes behind schedule.
03:22Flaps.
03:28Retracted.
03:30The pilots are flying a Fairchild swear engine Metroliner 3.
03:34It's a powerful turboprop plane designed for short commuter flights.
03:40The Metro 3 airliner is a perfect scaled-down airliner.
03:44It hauls 19 people fast, fuel-efficiently.
03:46All the creature comforts of a bigger airline.
03:49From the very beginning, I was impressed by the airplane.
03:54It was extremely well-designed.
03:56It was flexible, it was fast, it had a good pressurization.
04:01So everything a pilot likes, the airplane has.
04:07It takes 10 minutes for Flight 108 to reach its cruising altitude of 14,000 feet.
04:16It will stay at that altitude for only 15 minutes.
04:22Well, no rest for the wicked.
04:26We'll have the descent checklist, will you?
04:29Regional flying is generally an hour and a half or less,
04:33leading to increased workload for the time that you are in the air.
04:39Check the radar.
04:42The captain notices some weather on the radar.
04:46Thunderstorm could be rolling in after all.
04:48Maybe.
04:50Doesn't look particularly bad.
04:52I'll check the ATIS.
04:57ATIS continuously broadcasts updated weather conditions at the destination airport.
05:03At one, two, gusting two, four.
05:04Visibility, ten.
05:06Sky condition, broken clouds at 1,500 feet.
05:11Nothing but a thunderstorm.
05:13We should be fine.
05:15Okay.
05:17We'll continue with the approach.
05:20Their expectation was that the weather was getting better
05:22and that any thinner showers hadn't really materialized.
05:26Good morning.
05:27This is your captain speaking.
05:29We have begun our descent into Dusseldorf.
05:31Please ensure your seatbelts are fastened.
05:34Should be landing in about 15 minutes.
05:4430 miles from the airport.
05:47Dusseldorf, good morning.
05:49Requesting to send to 3000, NFD-108.
05:52First officer Hale-Man contacts the Dusseldorf approach controller for landing instructions.
05:58NFD-108, good morning to you.
06:00You are cleared to 3,000 feet and currently number three to land.
06:06Copy to send to 3000, number three to land.
06:10When ATC gives us an indication of where we are in the order for landing,
06:14it helps us set up.
06:15It helps us get ready.
06:16It helps us know when you're going to start putting flaps and gear down.
06:20Three minutes later...
06:23Localizer alive.
06:27Flight 108 lines up with the runway's center line.
06:36Establish on the localizer.
06:40The first officer checks on the weather.
06:45Looks like a thunderstorm has moved right in front of us.
06:51Might be trouble.
06:55Thunderstorms have to be treated with respect.
06:56I mean, they can produce hail.
06:58They can produce downdrafts, tailwinds,
07:00overpowering what the airplane is capable of doing.
07:04The captain decides to maneuver around the storm.
07:14The problem was, it's a big thunderstorm in the approach sector of Dusseldorf.
07:20They shouldn't fly through thunderstorms.
07:24In the Dusseldorf control center...
07:27NFD-108, please switch to tower control.
07:30Frequency 118.30.
07:33The approach controller hands over flight 108 to the tower.
07:38NFD-108, confirm switch to tower control.
07:42Frequency 118.30. Bye.
07:49Moments later...
07:51Flight 108 disappears from radar.
07:59Seven miles northeast of Dusseldorf airport,
08:03a maintenance worker at a sewage treatment plant
08:06hears the sound of an approaching airplane.
08:10Flight 108 breaks out of the clouds in a steep dive.
08:15500!
08:16400!
08:18300!
08:19Pull up!
08:23The plane pulls up just in time.
08:28The plane came flying out of the bottom of the cloud at 4,000 feet per minute.
08:31The G-force it would have taken to overcome that,
08:34to pull the airplane nose back up,
08:35it was violent.
08:37The sound of the engines recedes into the distance.
08:42That flight would have been sheer terror.
08:45Sheer terror for the people in the back, sheer terror up front.
08:48You know, you went from having a visual reference to thinking you're good,
08:50to all of a sudden you're back in the cloud again.
08:53A minute later, the plane returns.
08:57This time, flight 108 spirals out of control
09:02and breaks up.
09:04No, no, no!
09:06It's a horrifying sight.
09:08I can't even imagine what the person watching that would be thinking.
09:10Two minutes before dawn,
09:13flight 108 slams into an open field on the banks of the Ruhr River.
09:26The wreckage is scattered over a wide area.
09:31First responders make their way to the crash site.
09:35All 19 passengers and both pilots are dead.
09:41The metroliner itself is broken into thousands of pieces.
09:46You're seeing that parts are distributed throughout the area.
09:52You'll start collecting all the parts,
09:54mapping where they are,
09:55and trying to put this puzzle back together again.
10:04Investigators from Germany's Air Accident Investigation Unit, or FUS,
10:10begin mapping the wreckage of flight 108
10:13to determine what caused the accident.
10:16The first step was to identify the positions of every part of the wreckage.
10:24And because of the size of the accident site,
10:27we used the grids,
10:28and we were able to get the information
10:31where every piece was at the accident site.
10:37Much of the plane, along with its black boxes,
10:40are badly damaged.
10:43The recorders in this aircraft aren't the new digital type of recorders,
10:48which record 300, 400 parameters.
10:50This was the old foil-style recorders.
10:54You had altitude, airspeed,
10:56you had heading,
10:57some information, you had g-loads.
10:59You didn't have the data we have today by a long shot.
11:03The black boxes and the debris are sent to a warehouse where investigators begin their analysis.
11:12Once the parts are recovered, taken to a facility,
11:16you can then clean where the fractures, where the separations are.
11:20You can look at where a part broke apart.
11:25The wings, the engines, the tail sections, separated from the aircraft.
11:33Investigators try to confirm witness statements that the plane broke up before it crashed.
11:41This piece looks compressed, like it came from a high-energy impact.
11:52What that indicates is this intact piece of wreckage did not go to the accident site with the rest of
11:59the airplane.
12:01For sure an in-flight breakup.
12:04The team is now convinced that Flight 108 broke up before hitting the ground.
12:10The question is, what led to that?
12:13Is there any evidence of a pre-existing failure that would have led to the accident?
12:19Hey, can you bring that piece over to the table?
12:23Did a design flaw or some kind of failure create a fatigue crack, causing the wings to break off before
12:31impact?
12:34Even though the airplane is fairly new, you don't rule out anything.
12:37Was there a flaw in manufacturing?
12:40Was there a full drill where it shouldn't have been drilled?
12:43Was there some other issue that would cause a crack to start growing very early in the aircraft's life?
12:49Well, this doesn't look like a fatigue crack at all.
12:55It can only mean one thing.
12:58Overload fracture.
13:04Overload fractures can occur because the airplane's exceeded speed limits,
13:09flight control inputs are severe, severe turbulence can cause overload,
13:15and sometimes you have a combination of all three coming together.
13:19Hey, can you get the lights?
13:22What pushed this plane past its structural limits?
13:26Investigators examined the plane's flight path for clues.
13:34Nothing unusual here.
13:38The flight path from departure, en route, to arrival for landing seemed normal.
13:46What happened to this part, the end of the flight?
13:54Oh, look at that.
13:55They discovered that the pilots flew an erratic flight path before the plane crashed.
14:02That would certainly cause a structural overload.
14:06Agreed.
14:08The crew was on approach and now suddenly goes through some very tight maneuvers and you piece that together with
14:18the wreckage you found and where it was found.
14:21And that gives you a much better idea of what led to the accident.
14:27Investigators speak to the controller who oversaw the approach of flight 108 to determine what might have caused the unusual
14:35flight path.
14:37Tell me about the night of the crash.
14:39Tell me about the night of the crash.
14:40There was thunderstorm activity from about 7.40 until just after 8 a.m.
14:49Did your other flights run into any trouble?
14:52They reported moderate icing and turbulence, but everyone else landed with that incident.
14:58Okay.
14:59No go-arounds, no missed approaches?
15:03No.
15:03Okay.
15:04No.
15:06But about six miles out, a 7.37 got hit by lightning.
15:14Dusseldorf approach, Lufthansa 1354.
15:17We just experienced a lightning strike at 3,000 feet, six miles final.
15:22No immediate issues.
15:24Lufthansa 1354, Dusseldorf approach.
15:27Roger, let me know if you're required further assistance.
15:31Typically when we're concerned about thunderstorms in the airport vicinity, it's not much about the lightning.
15:36It's more about the winds and the wind shears that can be powerful enough to push the airplane into the
15:39ground.
15:40Since airplanes are made of aluminum, which conducts electricity, most lightning strikes flow over the skin of the fuselage and
15:48safely exit through the tail.
15:51I remember one occurrence of flying, the aircraft got hit by lightning.
15:54There was a sudden flash outside the fuselage.
15:58You could hear it.
16:00And the airplane kept on going and there was no associated damage to the aircraft and we continued on.
16:09Did you report the lightning strike to flight 108?
16:11Yes.
16:13NFD 108, the preceding landing experienced a lightning strike about six miles final.
16:19Dusseldorf approach, we copy and are looking outside, NFD 108.
16:26For flight crews, it is not abnormal to deal with thunderstorms and to deal with the probability of some lightning.
16:33This flight was very, very usual.
16:36Okay.
16:37Great.
16:38Thank you for your time.
16:41If it wasn't the weather that caused the pilots to push the plane past its structural limit, what did?
16:51Will flight 108's black boxes provide clues as to why the plane broke up mid-flight?
17:00It's not looking good.
17:03How so?
17:07The flight data recording and the cockpit voice recording both stopped two minutes before the plane crashed.
17:13At the exact same time that the plane started flying erratically.
17:19A total power failure?
17:22The CVR and the FDR get their power from two separate sources.
17:27So the fact that both these recorders stopped at the same time indicates whatever happened affected both electrical systems, not
17:35just the one.
17:37The Metroliner's electrical system is powered by two generators.
17:41In the event of a power failure, two batteries act as a backup system.
17:48But if it was a total power failure, that means the backup system failed as well.
17:55How's that even possible?
17:58From the perspective and the explanations coming from the manufacturer, the possibility of a total electrical loss was very low.
18:07But during the course of the investigation, we understood more and more that it could be that the flight crews
18:13had a total electrical loss.
18:17Investigators consider the effects of a total power failure.
18:21They would have lost most of their instruments.
18:24Well, except their vertical speed indicator, the altitude and the third attitude indicator.
18:32Our Metroliner's have been installed with a third independent artificial horizon.
18:40It used bleed air coming from the engine.
18:43And as long as the engine was running, the artificial horizon was working as well.
18:48Totally independent from electricity.
18:51The standby non-electrical artificial horizon could have been used by the crew to help keep the aircraft level and
19:00straight.
19:03And then the complexity of this accident gets into, why didn't the crew effectively use that standby?
19:10But even with limited instruments, who's to say they could have even seen them?
19:14Oh, good point.
19:16The lights that illuminated the instruments may not have been working.
19:19Huh.
19:22You need those instruments, and if you can't see them, then you don't know if you're up or down.
19:26You're flying blind at this point.
19:40To confirm the unlikely finding of a total electrical failure, the team examines light bulbs from Flight 108's instrument panel.
19:50If the light bulb was on when the plane hit the ground, the hot and pliable filament inside would be
19:56stretched.
19:58But if the light was off, the cold, brittle filament would break upon impact.
20:07All these filaments are broken.
20:11The outcome was that we found no bulb which was under electrical power during the impact of the aircraft.
20:23Investigators now have conclusive evidence of a sudden total power failure.
20:31But what could have caused it?
20:34The controller did tell us that another plane got struck by lightning.
20:41Maybe this one did too.
20:43A lightning strike outside of the aircraft could lead to a problem with the electrical system inside of the aircraft.
20:51If the electrical field of a lightning strike is very, very high, could be induced into the aircraft.
21:02Investigators search for evidence of lightning, striking the fuselage of Flight 108.
21:10There must be a thousand pieces in here.
21:14It's a painstaking process.
21:17Lightning could have struck anywhere.
21:19Lightning marks on the skin would look like a circle.
21:23You'll see the paint burned.
21:25You may see some localized melting of the metal in that particular area.
21:35Over here.
21:40What do you got?
21:42I found it.
21:45Huh.
21:46Once you've found a piece of metal in the lightning strike, it's like, okay, where does it go on the
21:50airplane?
21:51What's in the proximity of this?
21:52Is it next to the electronics?
21:56Is it next to hydraulics?
21:58Where is this lightning strike occurring?
22:01The only way to determine where the mystery piece comes from is to reconstruct sections of the airplane.
22:11At the time of this accident, reconstructions were fairly typical.
22:16Mainly, we didn't have as much data as we have now.
22:19So reconstructing it made sense.
22:30I think I've got it.
22:32Investigators match the piece of the plane to the left side of the fuselage, forward of the wing.
22:38This is where the lightning strike.
22:42But could a lightning strike in front of the left wing actually cause a total electrical failure?
22:49There are power system lines running right behind where the lightning struck.
22:54Can't be a coincidence.
22:57Is it possible that that lightning strike entered the electrical wires on the other side and therefore led to the
23:05lost electrical power?
23:06So that would have been the real focus of the investigation at this point.
23:16Investigators examine what remains of Flight 108's electrical wiring in search of evidence that the lightning strike jumped from the
23:25fuselage to the electrical system.
23:29You would look for the insulation material on the outside and burned away.
23:35Is there melting inside the wires, evidence that somehow electrical energy got through the insulation barrier, into the wiring, and
23:45then was starting to actually melting the wires locally?
23:49How odd.
23:51No signs of arcing.
23:56We checked the wiring, we checked the electronic components available from the wreckage for some indication for electrical overload.
24:13Finding any lightning damage to the wiring?
24:15Not yet.
24:17It's very possible that once the lightning gets into the fuselage, you may not see any direct impact in that
24:24area.
24:25It flows into the aircraft, and so even wiring that's close by may appear to be unaffected.
24:32But now this high energy has gotten into the airplane, and the question is, where does it go?
24:38Maybe I can find something in here.
24:41After we found no evidence for damage in the wiring based on the lightning strike, we had to do a
24:51deeper investigation within the systems.
24:54And that means we had to look for damages in the avionic components.
25:02The team now focuses on even smaller components of the electrical system, the diodes.
25:10Let's check this out.
25:15A diode is an electrical component that allows current to flow in one direction only, preventing reverse current flow that
25:24could damage circuits or create malfunctions.
25:30If the diode is working properly, there should be resistance to high current flow in one direction and not the
25:37other.
25:42Only 50 ohms. Almost nothing.
25:46Now the reverse.
25:55Also 50 ohms.
25:58But investigators discover low resistance to current flow in both directions.
26:04It's shorted.
26:10The outcome of our investigation of the diodes was that all diodes were open in both directions.
26:18That means the diodes were shorted.
26:21The question now was why we decided to take these to a manufacturer and to ask them to do a
26:31deeper investigation.
26:35Results are in.
26:37To better understand why the diodes shorted, they examined test results provided by the manufacturer.
26:55Once you've seen that a diode has failed, then you can do tests and research on a good diode to
27:01see how much energy it would take, basically, to fry that diode.
27:07Voltage tests are done to determine if the cracks in the diodes were the result of a lightning strike or
27:13something else.
27:15A thousand volts.
27:18A thousand volts.
27:18Investigators learn that when more than a thousand volts are applied to a working diode, it will crack.
27:24A lightning bolt can carry hundreds of millions of volts, more than enough energy to crack the diode.
27:30It must have been lightning.
27:33The damage of the diodes only can be produced by high voltage.
27:42Could it be possible that high voltage would be produced within the aircraft?
27:48And the answer was, you know, it could be only produced by the lightning strike.
27:56Basically, if the lightning hit the aircraft, flowed through the system, it impacted the diodes, which fried them, cracked them,
28:06took them offline, and that shut down the electrical systems on the aircraft.
28:13The odds of lightning taking out an entire electrical system are next to impossible.
28:19And yet, that's what happened.
28:23But this doesn't explain why the crew flew into the thunderstorm in the first place.
28:29Okay.
28:32The primary rule is, if you see a thunderstorm, no matter what its size, you avoid it.
28:38You go around, you divert, you hold, you do whatever you can.
28:44You do not want to fly through a thunderstorm.
28:53You do not want to fly through a thunderstorm.
28:54Investigators examine Nuremberg Air Service's flight operations manual to understand why the pilots of Flight 108 ended up in a
29:02thunderstorm.
29:03I do not get it.
29:05It clearly states flights in or near a thunderstorm should be absolutely avoided.
29:09So why didn't they do the sensible thing and go around the storm?
29:14At that time, they had several possibilities.
29:18One possibility was just to prepare if they would fly through the thunderstorm,
29:23what could happen, what they have to do, what they have to prepare.
29:27Another possibility could have been just to divert to another airport.
29:33Let's have a listen to what the pilots were saying about the storm.
29:41Check the radar.
29:43Thunderstorm could be rolling in after all.
29:46Halfway through the flight, the crew learns there's adverse weather ahead.
29:51Maybe.
29:54Doesn't look particularly bad.
29:58I'll check the ATIS.
30:00The crew checks Dusseldorf Airport's weather service.
30:04Information Bravo at 070.
30:06But there's no indication of a thunderstorm.
30:10Once they got the ATIS, their expectation by us was that the weather was getting better.
30:14Broken clouds at 1,500 feet.
30:18Nothing but a thunderstorm.
30:19We should be fine.
30:21The captain considers the information and makes his decision.
30:32They just assume best-case scenario and don't do a proper briefing.
30:37As professional pilots, we always brief each other based off the worst conditions.
30:40You never know if that 10% probability of thunderstorms actually happens.
30:43And if it does happen and it's too late, you don't have time to brief it.
30:5211 minutes later, the situation becomes more critical.
30:57Proceeding landing experienced a lightning strike about six miles final.
31:02If I were the crew and I were on approach and the precision traffic in front of me were to
31:06get struck by lightning,
31:07at that point I would initiate a missed approach, go around and hold somewhere and figure out what we're going
31:11to do
31:11because the weather at that point is moving on to the approach path.
31:14You need to take that pretty seriously.
31:15But that's not what the pilots do.
31:19Dusseldorf approach.
31:20We copy and are looking outside.
31:22NFD 108.
31:28Hey, did you hear what happened to Walter last weekend?
31:31Yeah.
31:32Not surprised.
31:34Hold on.
31:35They should be talking about deviating or go around here, not someone's weekend.
31:40They should have been deciding where they were going to go and what they were going to do
31:43instead of going down this rabbit hole.
31:44They just thought the other person's comfortable with it and will continue going if they're comfortable.
31:47I'm comfortable.
31:49Investigators continue listening to the CVR as the pilots prepare for landing.
32:10You're left of the center line.
32:11What?
32:13You're left of the center line.
32:15You need to turn right.
32:16The captain started deviating to the left, apparently without telling the first officer
32:20of his plan.
32:21I don't want to go in there.
32:22I'm trying to get around it.
32:23We're too close to the runway.
32:24You can't change course now.
32:28Sounds like the captain is trying to deviate around the storm.
32:31And the first officer isn't on the same page.
32:34It's a bad idea to try and re-intercept the approach when you're already unstabilized.
32:38It's just a bad idea.
32:39You just do a go around.
32:39Oh.
32:47Okay.
32:48I hear you.
32:52Again, no discussion of their options.
32:55There's some tension in the cockpit.
32:59There's some issue between the captain and the first officer.
33:03We don't know exactly what it was, but clearly this was not conducive to the crew working
33:12together to determine what was the best course of action.
33:15So now, the captain turns the plane directly into the thunderstorm.
33:24Hold on tight.
33:25Here it comes.
33:33Neither crew knew what the other one was doing.
33:35They hadn't briefed for the weather.
33:37They didn't have the plane set up for flying around in the vicinity of thunderstorms.
33:41And they just kept going.
33:49Why wasn't this crew on the same page?
33:51Why wasn't this crew on the same page?
33:56My understanding of the investigation team at that time was the communication between
34:02both pilots was not in a way as it should be.
34:07What'd you find?
34:10Well...
34:11Investigators examine personnel records for insight into the pilot's working relationship.
34:19the captain had a total of 2473 flight hours but only 277 hours in the metro three
34:30that's not a lot of experience on type no it's not the fo had basically the same number of flight
34:41hours but over 1300 hours in the metro investigators discover that the first officer had much more
34:54experience on the metro liner than the captain with the crew having such an imbalance in the time
35:01the first officer is going to feel like they could be the captain that they got passed over for the
35:05upgrade they have more experience on the routes they have more experience on the plane more
35:08experience with the airline even in this case she probably didn't trust his handling of the
35:15aircraft that's never good in a cockpit did the pilots imbalance in experience make it difficult
35:24for them to cope with a lightning strike so they start making their descent here
35:35investigators examine how the pilots of flight 108 flew the plane as they entered the thunderstorm
35:41and then a minute before they lose power they start ascending again why would that happen
35:49let's hear what happens here
36:00okay glider life quarter flux
36:10selected three minutes from the airport the captain begins configuring the aircraft for landing
36:16and half flaps
36:22half flaps please as they descend towards the runway the captain rushes his flap settings the plane is now
36:31climbing instead of descending the captain requested the next flap setting half flaps the airplane then
36:40ballooned up climbed in altitude 400 feet i'm not sure that was so good the captain trims the plane's nose
36:49down to counteract the increase in altitude
36:52in response to the 400 foot climb the captain trims the airplane rather than just putting a few bits of
36:58electric trim in he holds the electric trim pitching the nose down quite substantially
37:03he then adds even more nose down trim
37:06he then adds even more nose down trim
37:11we're still slightly high
37:19okay
37:20descending
37:24with all that trim the captain has added the plane is in a nose heavy position when the lightning strikes
37:30the plane is in a nose heavy position when the lightning strikes
37:41so now the captain loses the ability to recover
37:45when the lightning strike happens
37:47he loses electrical power
37:49so he may have a lot more heavier flight controls
37:52than he was prepared for
37:55and when the lightning strikes
37:56the instrument lighting fails
37:58making the instruments impossible to read
38:03there's no emergency procedure in the metroliner manual
38:05that tells you what to do if all your batteries fall offline
38:08you're a test pilot and at that point you use your pilot experience
38:12one of the things to do was for the non-flying pilot
38:15to get a flashlight
38:16to illuminate the standby instrument
38:19to help the flying pilot out
38:21the flashlights weren't found
38:24we don't know if they were on the aircraft or not
38:26the power failure cuts off their ability to see
38:29and to communicate with each other
38:31they couldn't hear each other
38:34we've lost electrical power
38:38we have nothing
38:40you've got a crew that can't communicate
38:42because you've lost the intercom system
38:43you've got a headset on
38:44and the metro is a very noisy cockpit
38:46so you can't hear the other person
38:47and what they're saying to you
38:48if they couldn't see their instruments
38:50or hear one another
38:52could the pilot still fly their plane?
38:56they have aileron and rudder controls
38:58which aren't electrical
39:00their engines are still running
39:03the runway is about seven miles away
39:07they should have been able to use the controls
39:09they did have to land the plane
39:12they still had control over the ailerons
39:14over the rudder
39:15it was difficult but technically still flyable
39:18but without the ability to see their instruments
39:20they'd have no way of knowing where they were
39:27seconds later flight 108 is diving towards the ground
39:33the pilots had no chance to control the aircraft in a proper way
39:39because the light for the third artificial horizon was not there
39:44and they had no visual ground contact
39:47and I think under these circumstances
39:49it's nearly impossible to control the aircraft
39:55investigators finally understand
39:58how a lightning strike caused a fatal crash
40:09you're left of the center line
40:11what?
40:12it starts with a poorly functioning crew
40:14you're left of the center line
40:16you need to turn right
40:17I don't want to go in there
40:18I'm trying to get around it
40:19we're too close to the runway
40:20you can't change course now
40:22okay
40:23I hear you
40:25instead of giving him the advice
40:27or the two crew mentality
40:29that we're not where we should be
40:30we shouldn't be here
40:31the first officer chose to go the other route
40:33which was shut down
40:34and only make the minimum calls
40:35which were deviation calls
40:37half laps please
40:43the pilots decide to fly their nose heavy aircraft into a thunderstorm
40:52a powerful lightning strike
40:55we've lost electrical power
40:57causes a total power failure
41:00we have nothing
41:02and the disoriented crew
41:04where are we?
41:05I can't tell
41:06loses control of the plane
41:11500
41:13400
41:15300
41:15pull up, pull up, pull up
41:21after you've been struck by lightning
41:22you've got winds that are gusting all over the place
41:25it starts to become a pretty violent situation pretty quick
41:28the combination of turbulence
41:30and the pilots blind actions lasting more than a minute
41:34sends the plane into extreme turns and banks
41:40are we banking?
41:41can't tell
41:41what's the escape?
41:43don't worry about the scene, just pull
41:44you think you can trust your senses but you can't
41:46you don't know if you're banking to the left
41:48you don't know if you're banking to the right
41:49you can't tell if you've got a nose low or a nose high
41:52you can think you do
41:53you can think you trust it
41:54at the end of the day
41:55your gut instinct will be wrong
41:57the plane is so overloaded
42:00with the g-forces in these turns
42:03it broke up
42:06yeah
42:16pull up, pull up
42:18I'm crying
42:20you're looking at a g-load that literally ripped
42:22the engine pylon off the wing
42:24that literally broke the wings bar
42:26the strongest part of the airplane
42:27broke it like a toothpick
42:28that way exceeded what the aircraft manufacturer ever designed that airplane to go through
42:49the main conclusion of the report by Germany's air accident investigation unit is clear
42:55the crew flew into a thunderstorm even though they could have flown around it
43:02you have two fairly experienced pilots that they never ever should have been in that situation
43:07there were red flags throughout
43:09if anything can be learned from this one
43:10you got to speak up on a two crew airplane
43:12you can't let the other person take you to the scene of the crash
43:16in their recommendations
43:18in their recommendations
43:18the FUS
43:19reiterates the need for training
43:21and manuals that clearly describe how to operate in and near thunderstorms
43:28this is a very different crew
43:30than we see today
43:31who are well trained in copyright resource management
43:34who work together as a crew
43:36and the systems change for the better
43:39and the airplanes are much better
43:42as for Nuremberg air service
43:44the company soon replaced the remaining metroliners in its fleet
43:48I made myself one of the last flight with the metroliner
43:52I had some tears in my eyes because I think it was on the aircraft's fault
43:56or that is another flight
43:59I had a car run
44:00you
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