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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,
00:58All right, this is not looking good.
01:02D, D, D, D!
01:06Oh, fuck!
01:09D, D, D.
01:24the sun has just set over the colorado mountains avjet november 303 gulf alpha is nearing the end
01:32of its journey to aspen well there's the edge of the night there yeah captain robert frisbee has
01:42almost 10 000 flying hours to his credit what time is official sunset he and first officer peter
01:51kowalczyk have been flying together for close to five months 628. both pilots have been with avjet
02:01for less than a year the small charter airline is based out of burbank california
02:10amjet catered to high rollers business people people who could afford a 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
02:32exclusive venue in aspen this was a group of friends who seemed to have had tremendous early
02:40achievements and accomplishments and they were really going to go places
02:46so 4800 pounds 126. it was 50. you know what i adjusted it because the fuel was way off
02:56the pilots are flying a gulf stream three
03:01the gulf stream is a luxurious plane that you know people see in the movies and people think high rollers
03:08and
03:09movie stars flying but it's a workhorse plane it actually has a good reputation
03:15it's a 90-minute flight from los angeles to aspen
03:22gulf stream 303 gulf alpha aspen reduced speed to 210 or slower
03:29the controller slows down the gulf stream to maintain a safe distance from the other planes heading into aspen
03:38210 or slower 3 gulf alpha
03:4417 minutes from landing the pilots begin their descent
03:50aspen pitkin county airport also known as sardi field is about three miles northwest of aspen
03:58landing on its single runway is a challenge
04:03aspen is considered one of the most dangerous airports in the country the runway is
04:11not long and it is in close proximity to high terrain on all sides
04:18hey do you remember that crazy guy in the lear when we were in aspen last time
04:23it was i can see the airport but he couldn't see it
04:30set you up on the approach okay
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 because of the high
04:55terrain and close proximity to the final approach course the minimum altitude is a couple thousand
05:01feet above the ground and we must be visual by that time to safely continue our descent down to a
05:07landing
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
05:27residential noise restrictions around the airport leave the pilots only nine minutes until the landing
05:34curfew at 6 58 the crew is cutting it close can you see out there at all yet
05:49no cost stream three golf alpha heading zero five zero
05:53heading zero five zero three gulf alpha as the pilots prepare to line up with the runway passengers get ready
06:02for landing
06:11okay synchronizers off there is just enough fuel for one landing attempt after that the pilots will have to divert
06:19to another airport
06:24and hydraulic pressure is good
06:27golf stream three gulf alpha turn heading one four zero intercept final approach course maintain one six thousand
06:35eight minutes from the airport the controller gives the crew clearance to commence the approach
06:41one four zero one six thousand intercept final approach course three gulf alpha
06:51one six thousand as the pilots get their final intercept to the airport
07:02challenger seven juliet alpha you have the airport in sight
07:06another aircraft also on approach to aspen updates the controller
07:11uh that's a negative going around
07:14those pilots aboard their landing because they can't see the runway
07:21attention all aircraft last aircraft went missed
07:26what you went missed went missed damn that's not good
07:34if you can't successfully land the aircraft then a missed approach
07:38is a procedure that pilots will execute to return to a safe altitude
07:45as the gulf stream gets closer to the airport the weather deteriorates
07:59coast stream three gulf alpha five miles from red table cross red table at or above
08:04one four thousand clear vor dme charlie approach
08:17you have to be configured properly at the right altitude at the right speed
08:22otherwise you're expected to execute a missed approach
08:27red table at one four thousand cleared for vor approach gulf stream three zero three 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
08:44sending to one four thousand
08:48problems can escalate very quickly when flying into aspen there's really no room to recover without
08:56breaking off that approach or trying it again landing flaps landing flaps just over two minutes from
09:05landing instruments have successfully guided the pilots to the airport now it's up to them to identify the runway
09:14you see the runway
09:21off stream three gulf alpha you have the runway in sight
09:27affirmative yeah now we do yeah runway in sight three gulf alpha
09:32call stream three gulf alpha visual roger one thousand one thousand to go
09:39the pilots are now the pilots are now less than a minute from landing
09:53at the last moment they realize something is wrong
09:57go
10:15Avjet 303 Gulf Alpha crashes just short of the runway at Aspen.
10:22Aircraft identification Gulfstream 303 Gulf Alpha.
10:26Aircraft location, it was north of the runway, approximately the Shale Bluffs area.
10:35Emergency vehicles rush to the scene in the hope that there are survivors of the crash of Avjet 303 Gulf
10:42Alpha.
10:50But all 18 people on board are dead.
10:54All 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.
11:23Put 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.
11:53Within hours, the plane's cockpit voice recorder, or CVR, is retrieved from the wreckage.
12:00Let's get the data pulled from that ASAP.
12:03What about a flight data recorder?
12:10Looks like there wasn't one.
12:13Okay.
12:16Because the airplane was manufactured in 1980 and registered in 1981, it was not required to have an FDR.
12:26While the CVR is sent for analysis, investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board wonder why the pilots weren't able
12:34to land safely.
12:35The plane crashed 2,400 feet from the runway.
12:40When an aircraft crashes short of a runway, especially a sophisticated airplane like a Gulfstream jet, a number of questions
12:46arise here.
12:47How did they get there?
12:48What possible factors could the crew have?
12:51Was there some sort of a failure in the aircraft?
12:54Is there some sort of a failure in the aircraft?
12:56Take a look at this.
12:58What do you think caused that?
13:00There's a deep ground scar at the crash site.
13:06That would do it.
13:09Investigators 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
13:20it cuts off branches and we can look at those branches and the angles that are made
13:25to understand the airplane's attitude as it came into the ground and its descent profile
13:34left wing struck the trees at about
13:3949 degrees
13:43that's a hell of a bank
13:49there is no operationally relevant reason for an airplane to be banked at 49 degrees
13:54that close to the airport or that close to the ground maybe they lost control of the plane
14:03when we see an aircraft in a abnormal attitude uh 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
14:15lead 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
14:33aside from the impact damage there's no sign of fire to the exterior
14:40the team studies the engine's compressor blades to determine if the engines were functioning when
14:45the plane hit the ground when the gulfstream 3's engines are working the compressor blades spin in
14:53a clockwise direction if the engines were still functioning when the plane crashed these blades
14:59would be bent counterclockwise or in the opposite direction
15:02you know these are all bent counterclockwise so it wasn't engine failure
15:13our examination of the engines showed that there was no pre-existing damage no evidence of an in-flight fire
15:22and also showed that they were operating normally and at high power at the time of the impact
15:28let's take a look at the rudder an airplane operating at a low airspeed while the rudder moves
15:35to an extreme limit could introduce a rolling moment or also stall one of the wings which would further
15:45exacerbate the rolling moment investigators examine the actuator that controls the
15:51rudder's movement this is completely intact no sign of any damage
16:01there was no pre-existing conditions or failures that would have explained the accident the airplane
16:07was functioning normally if mechanical failure didn't cause the role what went wrong on approach
16:16determining the airplane's flight path helps us understand how that airplane got to the
16:21accident site what was it doing where was it flying how fast was it going have a look at this
16:29radar data
16:32with no flight data recorder investigators turn to aspen's radar information to reconstruct the gulf
16:40streams descent profile
16:43using the radar position and time so the altitude and position of the aircraft the performance
16:49engineers can extract the speed of the aircraft how fast is it descending is that appropriate for
16:56the approach that they're trying to do
17:00here's what we've got
17:03this is the approach they should have flown investigators examine the path the pilots were
17:09required to follow into aspen
17:13due to the rising terrain away from the airport aspen at this time had a step-down approach which
17:20from a profile looks like stairs the pilots will step down to an altitude based on the terrain availability
17:30pilots cannot descend below that altitude until they reach another fix or another distance
17:37and
17:40here'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
17:54minimum and a mile later they dropped 900 feet below the minimum altitude and they stayed that way
18:02they flew in very low
18:06if you go below a minimum altitude before you are allowed to then you no longer can guarantee the safety
18:14of 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 so 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 no 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 they
19:25were 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 in fact i don't see
19:37any 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
20:25pull up the weather
20:35it was important to understand exactly what was going on with the weather in terms of the layers
20:41of clouds whether 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 so maybe they didn't have
21:06a clear line on the runway okay but these are seasoned pilots they should know if you don't see the
21:11runway
21:11you don't try to land on it and yet they did try to land on it and they missed by
21:15almost half a mile so
21:17did they see the runway or not we should talk to the controller
21:26an air traffic controller can tell you what the visibility is what the weather conditions were what
21:33other airplanes were doing in terms of uh coming into the airport and provide eyewitness testimony about
21:40the time of the accident but they 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
21:54no quite the opposite i asked them that they could see the runway and they confirmed that they did
22:00golf stream three golf alpha you have the runway in sight
22:04yeah runway inside three golf alpha golf stream three golf 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
22:21to doubt the pilots not at the time but here's what's so odd they confirmed they had visual but then
22:31when
22:31they came out of the clouds they 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 might they have
23:12engaged
23:12in a little wishful thinking this leaves investigators with a troubling question
23:22they couldn't see the runway why did they go ahead with the landing maybe they were under some kind of
23:28pressure we needed to know the purpose of this flight its schedule and the pilots activities before
23:37they departed for aspen looking into what happened before the flight took off from la can help us gain
23:45insight into what might have been going on during the flight
23:54so sorry to keep you waiting no problem at all to understand why the pilots were so intent upon landing
24:02in aspen ntsb 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 to
25:03rifle
25:04instead which is about 60 miles away so he knew about the noise curfew and he had a plan to
25:09divert if
25:10he 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 until around 4 30. then what happened about 10 minutes later i got a phone call from the
25:34client's personal assistant and he told me the client was very upset what's this about diverting to
25:43rifle what do you mean once the passenger is boarded there was a call by the charter customer's
25:51assistant expressing concern that the crew had told the passengers that they might have to go to another
26:01airport welcome welcome given the delay in boarding looks like we may have to divert the rifle
26:12so the client had his assistant call me
26:16so my boss wants you to tell the pilot to well keep his mouth shut around the passengers and if
26:23he
26:23has anything to say save it until he gets there and then they can talk it over understood there's
26:30nothing to worry about i'll take care of it thank you very much for letting me know
26:38so 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
27:09upsetting the client but he wouldn't get into trouble in a charter operation the needs of your
27:16passengers are front and center you're fully aware of them and in a situation where a group of people
27:23are going to add dinner and that's the only reason they're taking this trip if they can't satisfy that
27:29timeline then there was no point of being on that aircraft the captain was told not to upset the
27:37passengers did that instruction affect his decision about diverting his plane to rifle and so this
27:43was all before they took off yes and was that the last time you spoke to the captain no he
27:49called me
27:50again on route to aspen and what time was that 6 30. we'll be landing in aspen in about 20
28:0025 minutes
28:01but we'll have to spend the night there no problem mike and bookie rooms hey how are the passengers are
28:07they still upset i don't think so what about the client i had a talk with the client it's just
28:15really
28:15important to him that we make it to aspen apparently he's dropping a substantial amount of money on dinner
28:23the client didn't want to go to rifle rifle was more than 60 miles away it would have taken them
28:28too
28:28long to get there i see okay wow thank you very much for your time happy to help
28:39although the pilots would be aware of the needs of their passengers at no point can that supersede
28:46the professionalism of that crew your primary and only real job is the safety of that aircraft
28:55you know it seems they were under a lot of pressure to land not only before the flight began but
29:01even
29:02during 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 satisfy a demanding
29:32customer and it's dangerous
29:35they still had time to correct the situation so what happened in these final 30 minutes
29:47it's here ntsb investigators turned to the cockpit voice recorder of avjet 303 golf alpha to understand
29:57why the pilots chose to land instead of diverting we could learn about the crew's decision making and what
30:04they were doing from their conversations with each other um you know how they were planning and using the
30:11information that was coming in as they approached aspen you know what let's pick it up before they
30:16begin their final descent
30:28hey do you remember that crazy guy in the leer when you were in aspen last time it was i
30:34could see the
30:34airport 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 difficult
31:47to get in and and they were having a conversation about this they mentioned again well we might
31:52only have one shot at this and we have to go to rifle they were really saying the right things
32:01attention all aircraft last aircraft went missed
32:05what 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
32:23bad sign 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 going 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
44:31you
44:38you
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