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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.
01:57Air Blue 202.
01:59Air Blue 202.
01:59Expected arrival to ILS runway 30, followed by circling a post to land runway 12.
02:05Understood.
02:05It will be ILS down to minima, and then left-down wind.
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
03:10he had about three hundred hours on the time so just brand new learning the differences between
03:15the a force line and the commercial line pakistan's capital Islamabad is a city of more than eight
03:24hundred thousand people it's surrounded by 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 it is always safe to land with a headwind as compared to
03:57a tailwind
03:59when the winds change beyond a certain limit the air traffic controller will switch the runways that
04:06will ensure the plane lands in a headwind thick clouds envelop the airport making landings difficult
04:17China southern is going around and diverting back to a room chief China southern confirming diverting back
04:23to room chief attention all landing aircraft China southern is diverting due to weather if at any point you lose
04:34sight of
04:34the airfield you should abandon the approach completely and carry out the missed approach procedure
04:44flight 202 is now less than 10 minutes from landing
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 you turn right and then after that you're supposed to keep the runway
05:17inside commencing right turn heading 352 call it in air blue 202 maintaining to 500 and turning right
05:33heading 352
05:44heading 352
05:46captain chowdhury initiates the first turn of the circling approach
05:51air blue 202 continue on the circle for landing on runway one two caution low clouds and visibility maintain visual
05:59with the airport
06:03even in the poor weather it's up to the pilots to decide whether they should continue the approach or not
06:09depending whether they have it on the inside
06:15the controller expects to see the lights of the airbus as it flies past the airfield
06:28radar i can't see air blue 202 what's his current location please he's approaching the no-fly zone north of
06:35the airfield instruct him to turn left immediately
06:41flight 202
06:42flight 202 is much further north than expected and needs to turn left for the approach to runway one two
06:50air blue 202 turn left heading 180
06:56confirm he has visual with the ground if not instruct him to climb and execute a missed approach
07:01air blue 202
07:03air blue 202 confirm you have airfield in sight
07:07the controllers had radar they could see what the aircraft was doing
07:11they could see that the aircraft was not doing what the procedure said they should be doing
07:18ask again
07:21air blue 202 please confirm you have visual with the ground
07:33air blue 202 visual with the ground
07:37he's confirming visual
07:41he's not turning
07:44controllers can see that flight 202 is rapidly approaching the hills north of the airport
07:56in the cockpit the pilots are struggling to turn their plane away from the mountains ahead
08:04why aren't we turning left
08:10why aren't we turning left
08:18terrain ahead
08:19pull up
08:21terrain ahead
08:23terrain sir
08:24pull up
08:25instruct him to turn left immediately
08:30the controllers can't believe what they're seeing
08:33here'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
09:01inculcated
09:02terrain ahead
09:04terrain ahead
09:05terrain ahead
09:21volc2.202 has crashed into the Magala Hills, 7 miles from the airport
09:30the wreckage lies at an altitude of nearly 3,000 feet it will be difficult for rescuers to reach
09:36the site we couldn't get access to it with a car or a truck even with helicopters there
09:48was no place to set down so the only way to get to the accident site was with a long
09:54slow climb
09:58it takes more than half an hour for rescuers and volunteers to make their way up the steep hill
10:04to the crash site in hopes of finding survivors when crews do reach the site they find a scene
10:20of complete devastation 152 people died in this accident it's the worst accident in Pakistan's
10:40aviation history why did a modern airplane fly into well-known mountains north of the airport
10:51in Islamabad investigators 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
11:14of the root cause one is a sudden and unexpected loss of control the other would be the aircraft
11:25has actually stayed in control of the pilots and still somehow been flown into a mountain
11:34an analysis of the engines shows that they were fully functional at the time of impact and capable of
11:41producing maximum thrust okay good work everyone start heading back down right so the stabilizer was set at
11:533.5 degrees nose up landing gear was down engines that climb power so configured for landing but climbing at
12:03full power
12:06an 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 but then they slammed into the margala hills seven miles north of the runway
12:27how did they get so far off course
12:33for an approach that was supposed to be a very tight approach because of the existence of the hills
12:40that is extraordinary they were approaching from the southeast for landing here on runway one two
12:56scattered clouds rain visibility was at 3.5 kilometers challenging 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
13:22low cloud fog call it what you will
13:28visibility would have been an issue but you don't need to see the margala hills to know that they're there
13:39everyone knows towards the north east of the runway there mountains they're clearly marked on the maps
13:45terrain ahead start with going down
13:48pull up
13:51pull up
13:56can 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 one two
14:09a blue to expect arrival at ILS three zero followed by a circling approach to land runway one two
14:17and he understood the approach yes sir he did
14:23understood it'll be ILS down to minima and then left downwind
14:30and then that's when I assume control as he began the right turn to the circling approach
14:41the circling approach involves four carefully timed turns the first to the right followed by a left turn
14:50that takes the plane parallel to the runway the two final turns lined the plane up for the
14:56landing on runway one two
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 and they confirmed that they did
15:21air blue two zero two please confirm you have visual with the ground
15:27air blue two zero two visual with the ground
15:32but he kept flying further and further away from the airport
15:36directly towards the hills
15:40after breaking off from the approach they are supposed to turn after 30 seconds
15:45instead they kept going for almost two minutes
15:49we tried to stop him several times
15:54but it 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
16:46how 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 with thousands of hours of experience
18:04and the other just starting off his commercial career
18:07but neither of them had a ton of experience with the airbus a321
18:16did the pilots 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 if you've got a lot of experience of one particular thing
18:36it 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
18:53anything beyond this is outside the airport's 4.3 mile protection zone
19:00okay
19:00let'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
19:25and this left turn takes them directly into the marhala hills
19:32the radar track shows that the pilots flew closer and closer to 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
20:00looks downward to see the height that you're at above ground
20:05but 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
20:19or 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
20:40oral warnings
20:41so since they flew directly into the terrain
20:45has the enhanced ground proximity warning system
20:49completely failed
21:01don't leave me in suspense
21:03did they get any ground proximity warnings
21:14the 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
21:43the enhanced ground proximity warning system was working properly
21:47terrain ahead
21:49if the warning system was operating
21:52why would the pilots ignore it
21:54and allow the accident to happen
21:56terrain ahead pull up
21:58if you hear a full terrain pull up warning from the EGPWS
22:02the reaction should be immediate
22:05it should be to apply full power
22:07pull the nose of the aircraft up
22:09get it moving away from the ground
22:11and that should be done before any questions are asked
22:19why didn't the crew of Air Blue Flight 202
22:22act on terrain warnings
22:24and steer their plane away from the mountains
22:27Islamabad, Air Blue 202
22:30investigators listen to the cockpit voice recording
22:33what are current conditions please
22:35Air Blue 202 visibility is now 3.5 kilometers with rain
22:39wind 1 6 knots 050 degrees
22:43runway 1 2 currently in use
22:47they focus on how the crew set up for landing
22:51it'll be runway 1 2
22:53yes invisibility is crap
22:58the weather was marginal
23:00and marginal weather makes you nervous
23:02because you don't know whether you're going to be able to see anything at all
23:06and the captain clearly was nervous about this approach
23:12did the captain proceed with an approach he wasn't comfortable with
23:18set waypoints for runway 1 2
23:21radial 026
23:225 miles of beam
23:45it didn't make any sense for the captain to be entering waypoints into the flight management system
23:51it didn't make any sense for the captain to be entering waypoints into the flight management system
23:54so there is no way that any pilot would normally do this
24:01then just two miles from the airport
24:04the pilots of Air Blue flight 202 hear of a flight landing ahead of them
24:09be advised that a TIA 737 has landed on runway 1 2 safely
24:17commencing right turn
24:18heading 352
24:23that could have caused the pilot to say
24:25hey if they can get in
24:26we can get in too
24:29stop sir
24:30so
24:31he starts his turn later than usual
24:35half a mile from the runway
24:42instead of breaking off early
24:44they 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
24:51which was at the end of the runway
24:54concerned with poor visibility
24:56captain chowdhury makes a baffling decision
25:00switch into nav mode for managed approach to runway 1 2
25:05there 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 normal flying the visual approach
25:31okay sir
25:33okay sir
25:35but
25:36are you visual
25:40i have a visual
25:44chowdhury insists he can see the runway
25:47but 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
26:00instead of turning left
26:02to fly parallel with the runway
26:06he keeps flying in this direction moving further and further from the airport
26:12sir we're reaching higher ground
26:16terrain ahead
26:17terrain ahead
26:20sir there's terrain ahead
26:21sir
26:23turn left
26:24terrain ahead
26:27it should be turning
26:29terrain ahead
26:31as the captain struggles to turn away from the hills
26:34terrain ahead
26:35controllers become concerned
26:38air blue 202
26:39confirm you have airfield in sight
26:42what should i tell him sir
26:45terrain ahead
26:46tell him
26:47tell him
26:47pull up
26:49the crew doesn't reply straight away
26:52probably
26:52because 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
27:00air blue 202 please confirm you have visual with the ground
27:04terrain ahead
27:05pull up
27:06air blue 202 visual with the ground
27:11in the end
27:12the crew tells air traffic control
27:15that they are in visual contact with the ground
27:18now that's not untrue
27:20but 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
27:27sir we are approaching terrain ahead
27:30yes i know we are turning left
27:33pull up
27:34pull up sir
27:35sir pull up
27:36the captain says he's turning left
27:39but
27:40he keeps flying directly towards the hills
27:47investigators are unable to explain why captain chowdhury could not alter his course
27:53and steer away from the mountains
27:55and steer away from the mountains
28:02the final minute of the cvr reveals a picture of chaos
28:06terrain and confusion
28:08and confusion
28:08pull up sir
28:10sir pull up
28:14they're a blind power
28:15trying to climb
28:20sir pull up sir
28:22pull up
28:24investigators hear first officer ahmed pleading with his captain to pull up
28:28terrain ahead
28:29why aren't we turning left
28:31pull up
28:35terrain ahead
28:36pull up
28:38terrain sir
28:41terrain ahead
28:42sir we're going down
28:44pull up
28:45message from radar
28:47turn left immediately
28:48pull up
28:50sir we're going down
28:52pull up
29:01all they had to do
29:03was turn away from those hills
29:09despite reacting to the terrain warnings
29:11the pilots could not steer their plane away from the mountains
29:18i think they knew what was happening
29:20i think they knew that they had to turn left
29:23for some reason the aircraft didn't turn left
29:28will flight 202's flight data recorder explain why captain chowdhury didn't or couldn't turn
29:35and avoid the mountains
29:37can we see the altitude please
29:41the minimum altitude is 2500 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
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
30:27he's way off course
30:28in heavy fog
30:30and 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
30:51by switching modes on his autopilot
30:55the captain switched from heading mode to nav mode
30:59and the aircraft turned left to heading of 300
31:07zero
31:08the airbus now makes a left turn towards a predetermined waypoint
31:16bringing 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
31:38avro 202 turn left heading 180
31:40terrain 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
32:02to turn the plane sharply left
32:04away from the hills
32:08but the plane
32:09it keeps flying in the same direction
32:11it's not turning
32:24he's still in nav
32:28investigators realize the captain forgot that his plane was in navigation mode
32:33and not heading mode which 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
32:52pull up
32:55captain chowdhury doesn't realize that his inputs are futile
32:59pull up
33:02in order to get from nav mode into heading mode
33:05you pull the knob out
33:06and that engages heading mode
33:08pull up
33:09he forgot to pull it out
33:12he realizes his error
33:14and pulls the knob here
33:16at 40 seconds before impact
33:28when captain chowdhury tries to correct his error
33:32he only makes a bad situation worse
33:36sir
33:36turn left
33:37oh
33:38why sir
33:39turning left
33:45captain chowdhury has dialed in so many left turns
33:49that his last input is now to the plane's right
33:53the airbus takes the shortest route to get to that heading
33:58directly 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
34:16that he was trying to turn the aircraft to the left
34:20asking why the aircraft wasn't turning to the left
34:22but he didn't even use his side stick
34:25and 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
34:36and avoid the mountains
34:37but one question remains
34:39why didn't the first officer recognize the mistakes
34:43and do something to correct them
34:45sir we're going down
34:51100 knots
34:53check
34:54investigators find a possible explanation
34:57for the first officer's puzzling behavior
35:00v1
35:01at the very start of flight 202
35:04rotate
35:06as it took off for islamabad
35:10the flight starts with the pilots working efficiently as a crew
35:14positive rate
35:17gear up
35:23gear up
35:27the takeoff from karachi is textbook
35:33from initial pushback startup and all of it to take off
35:37everything seemed normal
35:42we are clear to climb to flight level
35:44explain to me
35:45why that is blue
35:47but the other symbols are white
35:50the pilot's cordial relationship soon changes
35:56sir
35:57there on your display
35:58why 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
36:21oh 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 behavior
36:39it seems it was only really for the purpose of
36:42putting his first officer in his place
36:46making sure he knew who was in charge
36:48and to do as he was told
36:52what's he doing
36:55if you don't know how to use the flight management system
36:58then what use are you in the cockpit
37:01you might as well go back and help the girls serve tea
37:07yes
37:09sorry sir
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 ya
37:29radio 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
37:43he should know that this is not how he behave
37:46on 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
38:13but deemed fit to fly
38:17anything
38:19pilots who flew with him said he was demanding
38:21sometimes difficult
38:24but 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
38:46and the people who are in the commercial side already
38:49they feel that action 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
39:27his first officer tells the captain to pull up three times and to turn left
39:32twice
39:33but he never says he's taking control
39:41if i was the first officer
39:43i'll take over the control
39:44pull back on the side stick to create the max performance maneuver applied to the thrust
39:49and 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
40:07then what use are you in the cockpit
40:12we have the captain's behavior which was so overbearing so autocratic
40:18so nasty
40:20that 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
40:32for managed approach to runway one two
40:35okay
40:38sir
40:39and then fails to take control
40:42when his captain flies the plane directly towards the mountains
40:47he was so worn down by the captain's harsh behavior that
40:50he 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
41:02he knows that his captain is disoriented
41:06that the aircraft is on a collision course with a mountain
41:10and yet somehow he doesn't have it in him to intervene
41:16terrain ahead
41:18pull up
41:19sir we are going down
41:21sir we're going down
41:22three and a half minutes after the start of the approach
41:26pull up
41:26we're going down
41:28the airbus slams into the hills
41:32killing 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
42:13there's no accident
42:16all the warning signs were there
42:19telling 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
42:42it's hard to believe that somebody of his experience
42:46would make so many errors
42:47and mishandling of the aircraft
42:52it just
42:54it just defies logic
42:58the final report into the crash of air blue flight 202
43:02makes 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 and operating engines
43:26and in 2018
43:28the airport in islamabad is 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 on board flight 202
43:44as i learned more
43:45i really felt extremely bad
43:51i felt very sad about that loss
43:58it was a preventable accident
44:01it was a preventable accident
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