- hace 14 horas
On 19 February 1985, China Airlines Flight 006's number four (right-side outer) engine flames out. As the crew tries to restart the engine, the Boeing 747SP enters a dive. The crew successfully regains control, restarts the engine and lands safely at San Francisco International Airport. The incident was caused by pilot error.
Categoría
📺
TVTranscripción
00:01A 747 plummets towards the Pacific Ocean.
00:09People just popped up like popcorn.
00:17This airplane is totally out of control. It is going to crash.
00:24In two minutes, China Airlines Flight 006 drops 10km through the clouds.
00:32Airspeed 270, 280, 290.
00:37The plane begins to tear itself apart as it spirals towards the sea.
00:45I closed my eyes. I thought I was gone.
00:49altitude. 15,000 feet.
00:5312,000 feet.
00:5510,000 feet.
00:58Emergency. Emergency.
01:2511,000 feet.
01:25February the 19th, 1985.
01:28A China Airlines Flight cruises across the Pacific to Los Angeles.
01:32At 12,000 meters, it's racing towards the dawn.
01:37For the passengers and crew on board, it's past midnight.
01:44A two-man relief crew is in charge of the plane as it sails above the ocean on autopilot.
01:51The main crew gets several hours off in the middle of the trip, so they're rested for the landing.
02:00But Captain Mumyan Ho is restless.
02:06Good morning, gentlemen.
02:08Even though he's not officially on duty yet, Captain Ho returns to the cockpit.
02:16I thought I'd keep you company.
02:21The captain isn't the only one up.
02:23Best friends Seksan Kanyo and Alex Noll have something to celebrate.
02:27I feel like I'm in first class.
02:30It's Seksan's 30th birthday.
02:32I have the longest birthday because I just came my 12 hours back.
02:39And we've been drinking champagne, celebrating 41,000 feet in the air.
02:45You know, not too many people get to do that.
02:47Bill Peacock is in first class.
02:50He's travelled all over the world for the American government.
02:54There was nothing special. It was a routine commercial flight.
02:57I had a very nice first class seat, sat there and read some books, went to sleep.
03:08By now, the plane is nearing the coast of California.
03:17Good morning, ladies and gentlemen.
03:19We will shortly be serving you breakfast.
03:21For those of you who wish to adjust your watches,
03:24the local time in Los Angeles is now 7am.
03:30Sleep well?
03:31Very well, sir. Thank you.
03:33Good morning, Captain.
03:34After their five-hour break, the flight crew is reunited in the cockpit.
03:43Soon after, the plane runs into some stiff winds.
03:48Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking.
03:51We're experiencing some light air turbulence.
03:53Please fasten your seat.
03:54The autopilot is set to keep the plane flying at 470 kilometres an hour.
04:00But with the wind blowing hard, it's increasingly difficult to maintain the speed.
04:06For the crew, the bumpy ride suddenly gets more worrying.
04:10Engine four is giving us weak thrust.
04:13There's a problem with one of the engines.
04:17The flight engineer throttles up the engine.
04:21But it doesn't respond.
04:24We're losing speed.
04:28Back in economy, Seksan Kanyo has also noticed something.
04:32You notice the light in that wing isn't flashing anymore.
04:36So what?
04:37I thought there was some light blinking at the tip of the wing.
04:42Looked like a cone.
04:44But when I look back this time, I didn't see no cone.
04:49All the light in that wing is still flashing.
04:52I think you had a few, buddy.
04:54Have a seat.
04:59In the cockpit, the strange situation suddenly gets much worse.
05:04Engine four, flamed out.
05:07The fourth engine stops working completely.
05:11Take a look at the engine out procedures.
05:13Work out a three engine crew's altitude.
05:15The problem with the fourth engine isn't a complete surprise.
05:20At the pre-flight briefing, Captain Ho was told that a repair crew had worked on engine four before the
05:26flight.
05:29Perhaps the engine still wasn't working properly.
05:35We had a snag advisor on engine four before we took off.
05:38Yes, sir.
05:39Maybe that's it.
05:40Without the fourth engine, the plane continues to slow down.
05:46Airspeed 240.
05:49Call Oakland Center and request a lower altitude.
05:55Oakland Center.
05:57Dynasty 006, requesting new altitude.
06:03Dynasty 006, stand by.
06:11Reignite engine four.
06:12Yes, Captain.
06:13At this altitude, there isn't much oxygen, so the chances of a successful relight are slim.
06:26No response, Captain.
06:31As the crew try to restart their engine, their plane slowly begins to roll to the right.
06:36Dynasty 006, you're cleared to flight 240.
06:41We're banking right, Captain.
06:43Airspeed 230.
06:44As the plane continues to turn and slow down, it's in danger of stalling.
06:51Altitude hold off.
06:52Nose down.
06:54Hoping to increase his speed, Captain Ho tries pushing the plane's nose down.
07:01Nothing the crew does seems to help.
07:03Their jet is banking more and more steeply.
07:07Dynasty flight 006, Oakland Center, how do you hear me?
07:10Airspeed 220.
07:12We're banking right, Captain.
07:13Listen.
07:13I'm disengaging autopilot.
07:22For the first time, Captain Ho takes manual control of the plane.
07:31He struggles with the controls, but the plane has veered into thick cloud.
07:35And he can't see the horizon as he tries to keep his jet level.
07:40I've lost ADI.
07:42The ADIs have malfunctioned.
07:45It's going out of limits.
07:50Just minutes after their fourth engine stopped working,
07:53the China Airlines flight suddenly stalls and begins falling from the sky.
08:12People just popped up like popcorn hitting the cabin, and all the train was flying.
08:19Hot tea, pots, noodles, and all the luggage in the compartment were hitting people.
08:26You could hear rivets popping.
08:28It sounded like bullets were hitting the outside of the aircraft,
08:32which, you know, we're out in the middle of the ocean, nobody's shooting at us.
08:37At that time, we didn't know we were going to live or die.
08:43China Airlines flight 006 is out of control and hurtling towards the ocean.
08:56A China Airlines jet is tumbling out of the sky.
09:00After losing power to one engine, the jet is spinning out of control.
09:08It's dropping fast straight towards the Pacific Ocean.
09:16You can see the students, all these people who didn't have their seatbelt on, they were flying.
09:45The crew are stunned, blindsided by their jets' bizarre behaviour.
09:51The crew are stunned, blindsided by their jets' bizarre behaviour.
09:52One, two, one, three, have lost one!
09:59No responding, brother!
10:04Dynasty 006, Oakland Center, how do you hear me?
10:09Airspeed 270, 280, 2, Max!
10:12Dynasty 006, Oakland Center, how do you hear me?
10:18Struggling against the plane's wild motion,
10:20the flight engineer tries again to restart his fourth engine.
10:34The G-forces are so powerful
10:36that the flight engineer is pinned to the control pedestal.
10:40Dynasty 006, Oakland Center, do you copy?
10:44You need to see this.
10:46In Oakland, air traffic control spots the plane's sudden descent.
10:51In a matter of seconds, the plane falls almost 3,000 metres.
10:55Talk to 370, 360, 350.
11:02In the cabin, the G-forces are punishing.
11:12I close my eye. I thought I was gone. I thought the plane just blew up in the mid-air.
11:19The plane is about to exceed its maximum speed.
11:23Approaching BMO!
11:26Tumbling madly through the clouds, the 747 finally starts to pull out of its nosedive.
11:36As the plane rights itself, the G-forces change direction.
11:40The passengers are pressed to the floor, feeling five times their normal weight.
11:45I remember looking over at this dignified, older Chinese gentleman who was sitting across the aisle from me.
11:54And his face was being contorted like this, like he was lying on his side in a wax museum in
12:01a fire.
12:01I mean, his face was just all contorted.
12:04As the crew struggles to regain control of the plane, it begins to slow down.
12:08Air speed, 180 knots and falling.
12:10That is the 006 Oakland Center. How do you read me?
12:14Air speed, 140 knots and falling.
12:18The jet is still dropping, but not as fast.
12:22This could be the crew's chance to regain control.
12:25I knew we were really in trouble because G-forces, instead of being horizontal,
12:31started moving around to the vertical.
12:36So we were being pushed down into our seats instead of sideways.
12:41As their speed continues to fall, the flight engineer reaches desperately for the engine throttles.
12:47Air speed, 80 knots and falling.
12:48But the engines don't respond.
12:50No response. The engines are flamed out.
12:55After tumbling 3000 meters in 30 seconds, the jumbo jet plunges again into another freeform.
13:10And the second time when it went down, this time it's plunged.
13:16I mean, it went down.
13:21The change is swift.
13:24Once again, the passengers feel pulled towards the nose of the plane.
13:30You know, this airplane is totally out of control.
13:34It is going to crash.
13:39The stuff were sliding around and flying around and shoved to one side and then shoved to another side.
13:46So it was kind of like being on a boat that gear is broken loose and it's just going back
13:52and forth with the waves.
13:55Ugly.
14:04My stomach was up to my throat.
14:08You smell people urinating in their pants.
14:18I really made peace with the Lord.
14:21And I said, you know, to myself, I said, you know, I've really had a wonderful life.
14:28If this is the end, I'm ready to do it.
14:30Oh, two, two, five, zero.
14:33Airspeed 290.
14:36As the plane spins towards the ocean, the airspeed increases rapidly.
14:51Dynasty 006.
14:52With the crews struggling to control the plane, six separate calls from air traffic control go unanswered.
15:01The stress of the dive tears the landing gear doors off the plane.
15:06In less than a minute, the plane drops six kilometers.
15:10Hold on.
15:12That's my car.
15:13He said, I love you, man.
15:15I told him I love you, man.
15:16And we said goodbye to our wife.
15:18And he said something about his belonging.
15:21He gave all his belonging to his wife.
15:23And that's when we just start pushing our chair back together.
15:30Altitude!
15:3115,000 feet!
15:34With no visible horizon line, Captain Ho doesn't know which way is up.
15:39Without a reference, he can't stop the plane from spinning.
15:45Emergency! Emergency!
15:51After blindly plunging thousands of meters, the plane finally breaks free from cloud.
15:57And when this thing was falling down, it looked like you had a magnifying glass and you went like that.
16:03And all of a sudden, the white water break becoming closer and closer, faster and faster.
16:08It's like incredible, and we thought we were going to die.
16:12Altitude!
16:1312,000 feet!
16:14As he struggles for control, Captain Ho has only 30 seconds before his crippled plane smashes into the ocean.
16:28I can see the horizon!
16:31Altitude!
16:3210,000 feet!
16:34For the first time since beginning his harrowing descent, the captain can now use the horizon line as a reference
16:41in leveling the plane.
16:43As he tries to pull the plane out of its dive, the passengers pay the price.
16:49Their bodies are forced into their seats, battered by another dramatic change in direction.
16:55You know, the g-force was so strong, and I weigh 200 pounds, so my weight was almost 1,200
17:03pounds.
17:07It's a race against time, and the plane starts to win.
17:15ADI is coming back!
17:16As the plane finally begins to level, the attitude indicators return to normal.
17:21ADI is coming in!
17:22More importantly, as mysteriously as the incident began, three of the plane's engines regain power.
17:28Engines one, two, and three are coming back.
17:32Engine four still negative.
17:36Reignite engine four!
17:38Yes, Captain.
17:44Once again, the flight engineer tries to reignite the fourth engine.
17:48But this time...
17:49Engine four reignited!
17:54For the first time in minutes, the plane is flying under control.
17:59They saved the airplane.
18:00They pulled the airplane out of this acrobatic maneuver at an altitude of 9,500 feet.
18:08They popped out of the clouds at 11,000 feet, and they had the airplane in stable level flight by
18:159,500 feet.
18:16That was a masterpiece of flying.
18:18Ladies and gentlemen, this is the captain speaking.
18:23Is anyone hurt?
18:25Do we have a doctor on board?
18:32There's a gentleman sitting behind me, a splatter of blood from hitting the compartment.
18:38So we kept flying, and next thing I knew that the whole plane was quiet.
18:46Real quiet.
18:49Nobody talked very much.
18:51The talk was whispering, because we don't know.
18:54We still don't know if we're going to live or die.
18:57Dynasty 006 fell off my screen, but she's back.
19:01A new controller, Brian Campbell, has taken over control of Dynasty 006.
19:05Dynasty 006, Oakland Center, do you hear me?
19:10Can you fly the plane?
19:12006, we are flamed out.
19:14We are...
19:18Emergency.
19:19We are Niner Thousand.
19:21Niner Thousand.
19:23Roger, Roger.
19:24We have radar contact.
19:26Oakland Center, Dynasty 006, we can control the aircraft.
19:31Roger, Roger.
19:32Less than ten minutes after the start of their problems, everything seems normal again.
19:37Request radar vectors to return to course.
19:39There really is nothing I can do to assist.
19:43He's the pilot, he's flying the airplane.
19:46I'm going to give him a safe altitude to descend to, I'm giving him a destination.
19:50It appeared to me that he was well in control of his aircraft.
19:55Dynasty 006, Oakland Center, are you declaring an emergency?
20:01Do you want to divert to San Francisco?
20:04Negative, Oakland Center.
20:06Condition normal now.
20:07We will continue to Los Angeles.
20:10Air traffic control clears the plane to climb to 10,500 meters.
20:14But a new problem soon arises.
20:16Roger, Oakland Center.
20:18Captain.
20:20Our landing here is down and one.
20:24Can you bring them up?
20:27Negative.
20:28The hydraulic fluid in System 1 is empty.
20:31For some reason, the plane's landing gear is down.
20:34Hydraulic fluid which controls the gear and many other parts of the plane is also leaking away.
20:41Oakland Center, Dynasty 006, request new clearance to maintain flight level 270.
20:48Dynasty 006, Oakland Center, do you have injuries?
20:52Stand by, Oakland Center.
20:55Sir, are you okay?
20:59My head.
21:01One passenger has suffered serious injuries, and two dozen others have cuts and bruises.
21:07006, we have at least two injuries on board.
21:11Dynasty 006, Oakland Center, are you declaring an emergency?
21:15Do you want to divert to San Francisco?
21:17Stand by, Oakland Center.
21:26Oakland Center, Dynasty 006.
21:29We're declaring an emergency.
21:31We request a direct route to San Francisco.
21:34Well, they cleared all the other airplanes out of the way.
21:36They gave him clear runway, so nobody was waiting.
21:40Nobody, he didn't have to wait for anybody else.
21:42He went straight in for a landing.
21:44Dynasty 006, Oakland Center, you are now cleared.
21:49You are free to descend at pilot's discretion.
21:56Captain Ho not only has injuries on board, the plane itself has been severely damaged.
22:01His rear elevators, which help control the altitude of the plane, don't seem to be working.
22:07Without them, landing his jet safely will be extremely difficult.
22:13The problem is, it's a very big airplane, and it responds very, very slowly,
22:17and you just might not do it before you run out of air.
22:20You might hit the ocean.
22:23What you need is a very cool head.
22:27Captain Ho must now land using varying amounts of engine thrust.
22:31After pulling the plane out of its terrifying dive,
22:34if he makes one mistake, Flight 006 could still end in disaster.
22:47Nearing the end of a trip across the Pacific Ocean,
22:49China Airlines Flight 006 falls suddenly from the sky.
22:56No response!
22:58The engines are flamed out!
23:00Emergency! Emergency!
23:01After a terrifying plunge, the crew manages to wrestle the plane level again.
23:07But the jet is badly crippled.
23:09The elevators aren't working.
23:11Without them, Captain Ho has to land mostly by reducing power to his engines.
23:16It's a controlled fall towards the runway.
23:19As we came in, we flew over the house in Atherton, where I had lived, where my kids had been
23:25born.
23:26And I looked down and said, boy, this is fitting.
23:28If we don't make it down, or if this plane explodes on landing because it's been so badly torqued and
23:36ruptured,
23:37you know, at least I got to see that.
23:44Blake.
23:45Widow.
23:52And we're rushing to bring it down.
24:01And we're releasing this 2W Winner land.
24:02He made one of the best landings I'd ever seen.
24:04I mean, it was just a perfect touchdown.
24:08Ladies and gentlemen, this is Captain Ho speaking.
24:11Wishing you a safe journey.
24:13I hope you enjoyed our uneventful flight.
24:18Thank you for flying China Airlines.
24:21I thought he was a hero. He saved our lives.
24:23I mean, how can we fell very...
24:27I really don't know how far we fell at that time.
24:31And we thought he was a hero and everything was fine.
24:43On the ground, the full extent of the damage to the plane can be seen.
24:50I saw this enormous piece of extremely complicated machinery
24:54that is much larger than most buildings,
24:58sitting there on the tarmac with bits ripped off it.
25:04Parts of the entire tailplane at the end were ripped off
25:07as though a tornado had come through
25:09or a crane had been in and ripped pieces out of it.
25:13It was a very sobering experience.
25:17It's clear why the crew had such a hard time landing the plane.
25:21Enormous chunks of the tail are missing,
25:24either torn off by the stress of the dive
25:27or crushed when the landing gear doors broke loose.
25:35If the damage had been much more severe,
25:37the crew wouldn't have been able to regain control of their jet.
25:44Two dozen passengers have minor injuries.
25:47Only one requires hospitalisation, but is soon released.
25:53A near disaster was avoided.
25:56But what had gone wrong in the first place?
26:00The National Transportation Safety Board arrived that very day
26:04and launched their investigation.
26:07The cockpit voice recorder is sent to Washington,
26:10but it's designed to tape over itself every 30 minutes.
26:15None of what happened in the cockpit
26:17during the terrifying plunge from the sky remains.
26:19Without a cockpit voice recorder,
26:21we had to reconstruct what the crew said
26:26and how they interpreted things
26:27and what was going on in the cockpit
26:29to the best of our abilities
26:30with the other data that was available to us.
26:33A record of the plane's instrument activity during the flight
26:37has been captured by the flight data recorder.
26:41But again, the team runs into a problem.
26:45The flight data recorder experienced unprecedented stress
26:48during the dive.
26:50There were electrical interruptions too,
26:52which caused gaps in the recording.
26:56The FDR information will have to be recovered
26:58using painstaking techniques of reconstruction.
27:02It's a frustrating start to the investigation.
27:07Investigators begin with what they do have.
27:10Passengers and crew report that just before the failure
27:13of the jet's fourth engine,
27:14the plane flew through unexpected turbulence.
27:19Had this caused the engine to fail?
27:27Satellite weather maps reveal that there was indeed
27:29heavy air turbulence over the Pacific.
27:32But it wasn't severe enough to cause engine failure.
27:37The jet's four engines are tested and studied.
27:41Even after the horrific dive through the sky,
27:44they're found to be in working order.
27:49However, given the previous history of problems with engine four,
27:53it receives particular scrutiny.
27:57They had an anomaly with one of the engines.
28:01They believed that the engine had flamed out
28:04or that there was something seriously wrong with the engine.
28:07The wear on a small throttle valve trimmer is measured.
28:11It's worn down by only four one-thousandths of an inch.
28:14But that's enough to restrict the fuel flow to engine four.
28:19Engine four is giving us weak thrust.
28:22Investigators determined that at 12,000 meters,
28:25engine four did indeed deliver weaker than normal thrust.
28:28It's known as a hung engine.
28:33The aircraft logbook reveals that engine four
28:36had been written up on two previous occasions
28:38just the week before.
28:41Perhaps the engine wasn't properly fixed,
28:43which led to the China Airlines mishap.
28:49The NTSB decide to dig deeper
28:51into the history of maintenance on engine four.
28:54We had a snag advisor on engine four before we took off.
28:57Yes, sir.
28:58Maybe that's it.
28:59But after weeks of investigation,
29:02the NTSB concludes that the engine
29:04didn't need to be replaced.
29:07All the repairs were done according to the book.
29:10A faulty engine was not the cause of the accident.
29:14And even with the loss of one engine,
29:16the plane shouldn't have been in immediate danger.
29:19Engine four, flamed out.
29:20A 747 is designed to fly on only three engines.
29:26The loss of thrust on a four-engine airplane
29:29is a minor event.
29:31It's an event, you have to take care of it,
29:33but the airplane is easily retrimmed
29:35and the airplane will fly on three engines
29:37with no difficulty.
29:42The airplane is perfectly capable of flying.
29:45It's not as efficient
29:46because it's got this big, round,
29:48drag-producing device out there
29:50not, you know, not producing any thrust.
29:52But given that it's not going to get
29:54quite so many miles per gallon,
29:56otherwise it's perfectly flyable.
29:58Take a look at engine-out procedures.
30:01Work out a three-engine cruise altitude.
30:03Yes, Captain.
30:04There are standard procedures to follow
30:07in the case of an engine failure,
30:08but the crew of the China Airlines flight
30:11hadn't followed them.
30:12They tried to reignite the engine immediately
30:15instead of descending.
30:17Reignite engine four.
30:18Yes, Captain.
30:20They attempted a restart, um, much too high.
30:25You are supposed to attempt to restart
30:27an engine only below 30,000 feet.
30:29They were at 41,000.
30:32What is a little curious to me
30:34is why they didn't, um,
30:37use the normal relight procedure.
30:40They were starting to try to relight the engine
30:42at altitude, and that, uh,
30:45would likely not relight.
30:47No response, Captain.
30:49It's a mistake,
30:51but it shouldn't have led to the plane
30:52spiralling out of control.
30:55So how had a manageable problem
30:57turned into a near disaster?
30:59I've lost ADI.
31:01The ADIs have malfunctioned.
31:04It's going out of limits.
31:05To get more information
31:07on what was happening in the cockpit,
31:09investigators interview the flight crew.
31:11I heard the captain report the ADI was lost,
31:15and then I saw the standby ADI
31:17was also going out of limits.
31:20The crew tell investigators
31:21that their ADIs,
31:23which measure how level the plane is,
31:25weren't working.
31:28They could have said,
31:29this can't possibly be right,
31:31and looking at their indicators,
31:33can't possibly be right,
31:35and therefore they must have failed.
31:36The attitude indicator
31:38had indicated a position
31:41so implausible
31:43that it looked like
31:44it had to be a failed instrument.
31:46This couldn't be
31:48what the plane was really doing.
31:53But in fact,
31:54when the ADIs are studied by the NTSB,
31:57they're all found to be perfectly normal.
32:01When we started banking right,
32:04Engine 4 was already flamed out.
32:07We started to descend faster,
32:09and Engines 1, 2, and 3 also failed.
32:17NTSB investigators are even more confused
32:19when the crew tells them
32:20that all of their engines had failed.
32:22No response, President!
32:24With the exception of Engine 4,
32:27the flight data recorder indicates
32:28that the other three engines
32:30were working the entire flight.
32:34Ignition negative!
32:36If the engines had all failed,
32:38there would have been
32:39a host of other problems,
32:40such as cabin depressurization.
32:42But that didn't happen.
32:45Engines 1, 2, and 3 are coming back.
32:48Finally, when we descended
32:49lower in altitude,
32:521, 2, and 3 came back,
32:54and we were able to reignite
32:55Engine 4.
32:58Engine 4 re-ignited!
33:01At the end of the dive,
33:02the crew had the plane under full power.
33:05It was a remarkable recovery.
33:08But to investigators,
33:10it's a puzzle.
33:11The story the crew is telling
33:12doesn't match up
33:13with the evidence they've uncovered.
33:21After months of investigation,
33:23the NTSB team slowly pieced together
33:26a re-enactment of the plane's
33:27near catastrophe over the Pacific.
33:31It includes information
33:32from the reconstructed flight recorder,
33:35personal interviews,
33:36and the air traffic control transcript.
33:39When the work is complete,
33:41there's only one conclusion.
33:43Apart from a problem
33:44with a small valve,
33:46there was nothing wrong
33:47with the 747
33:48before it plunged from the sky.
33:51In fact,
33:52it was the crew
33:52that made a series
33:53of fateful decisions
33:54that almost crashed the plane.
34:01Just after 10 o'clock Pacific time,
34:04engine 4 starts to lose thrust.
34:06Engine 4 is giving us weak thrust.
34:09The flight engineer
34:11struggles to fix the problem.
34:14But investigators discover
34:16that he doesn't take
34:17one of the most basic steps
34:18he should have.
34:19He leaves the engine's
34:21bleed air valve on.
34:23The bleed air valve
34:24takes air generated
34:25by the engine
34:26to help cool the plane.
34:28When an engine
34:29isn't working properly,
34:30the valve is supposed
34:31to be closed,
34:32so the engine can use
34:33all available air
34:34to restart.
34:36It's a little puzzling
34:38that the flight engineer
34:39didn't shut off bleed air.
34:42And the most,
34:43in my mind,
34:44the most likely reason for it
34:45is that he didn't expect
34:46to be told to restart
34:48the engine at 41,000 feet.
34:50And so when the captain
34:51instructed him
34:52to try some restarts,
34:54he just kind of
34:55wasn't ready
34:56with his checklist.
34:57He wasn't,
34:57he was doing something
34:58out of order.
34:59And that's why
35:00it didn't occur to him
35:01to shut down the bleed air.
35:04The end result is
35:05that the engine,
35:06which is slow to start,
35:07won't start at all.
35:10Unwittingly,
35:11the flight engineer
35:12has started
35:12a ticking clock.
35:16Engine 4 is slowly
35:17losing its ability
35:18to stay lit.
35:20We're losing speed.
35:22With more engine power
35:24on the left wing
35:24than the right,
35:25the China Airlines flight
35:27begins turning.
35:28In order to keep it
35:29from turning to the right,
35:30the proper thing to do
35:31would have been
35:31to step on the rudder.
35:32That would have produced
35:34a twisting force,
35:37so to speak,
35:38that would have overcome
35:39the imbalance of the engines.
35:42But instead of adjusting
35:43the rudder himself,
35:45Captain Ho continues
35:46to let the autopilot
35:47fly the jet.
35:52The autopilot
35:53is designed
35:54not to move the rudder.
35:56The autopilot
35:57can adjust the ailerons
35:58and spoilers
35:59on the plane's wings.
36:00But these flaps
36:01aren't strong enough
36:02to overcome the imbalance
36:03that the plane
36:04is experiencing.
36:06Without the help
36:06of the rudder,
36:07the plane's turn
36:08becomes steeper
36:09and steeper.
36:10Now, it's possible
36:11that he'd forgotten
36:12that the autopilot
36:13didn't use the rudder.
36:14He may have been
36:15assuming all along
36:16that the autopilot
36:17was just flying
36:17the airplane
36:18the way a human being
36:19would have,
36:19which it wasn't.
36:21Engine four,
36:22flamed out.
36:23Investigators discover
36:24that after losing power
36:25to his fourth engine,
36:26Captain Ho continues
36:27to leave the autopilot on.
36:29He doesn't take
36:31complete control
36:31of the plane.
36:34He doesn't adjust
36:35the plane's rudder
36:36with his left foot.
36:38Airspeed 240.
36:39He didn't use
36:41the rudder
36:42to compensate
36:42for the lack of thrust
36:44on the right outboard engine.
36:47The airplane started
36:48to lose speed
36:49and one thing
36:50led to another
36:51and in the end
36:52it was really
36:53that little error
36:55of airmanship,
36:56the failure to step
36:58on that left rudder pedal
36:59that triggered
37:00everything else.
37:03Reignite engine four.
37:05Yes, Captain.
37:07Rather than taking control
37:09of flying the plane,
37:10Captain Ho's attention
37:11seems to be focused
37:12on his engine problem,
37:14something that his flight engineer
37:15could handle on his own.
37:20It's really critical
37:21that attention be paid
37:23to flying the airplane,
37:25but it's happened
37:27over and over again
37:27in aviation
37:28that the crew
37:29gets focused
37:30on a problem
37:32with a system,
37:33in this case an engine,
37:34but it could have been
37:35a light bulb,
37:36it could have been
37:37any other malfunction,
37:39and if everybody's
37:41focused on that
37:42and nobody is flying,
37:44then they're not prepared
37:45for what's happening
37:46to the airplane.
37:48The plane enters
37:49a critical moment.
37:50It's about to flip
37:51on its side
37:52and enter a nosedive.
37:54The NTSB believes
37:56that the captain
37:56was concentrating
37:57on his airspeed indicator,
37:59but seemingly fails
38:00to notice the instrument
38:01directly beside it,
38:02his attitude indicator.
38:07This instrument
38:08would have warned him
38:09that his plane
38:09was starting to roll
38:10alarmingly to the right.
38:13They concentrated
38:14on one part
38:15of the phenomenon
38:15and lost the full picture.
38:19And as they lost
38:20the full picture,
38:21they lost apparently
38:23a very important part
38:24of any instrument flying,
38:26which is the scan.
38:28You look at all
38:29of the primary instruments,
38:31one after the other,
38:32and whatever is going on,
38:34you look at them
38:35all constantly.
38:38During the plane's nosedive,
38:40it flies through thick cloud.
38:42With no visual horizon
38:44as a reference,
38:45the flight crew
38:46must trust their instruments
38:47to level the plane.
38:49I've lost ADI.
38:51Instead,
38:52what investigators believe
38:53happened is that the crew
38:54became spatially disoriented.
38:56They decided
38:57that their instruments
38:58were failing.
38:59They simply didn't believe
39:00what they were seeing
39:01and they thought
39:02they had lost
39:03their attitude instruments.
39:05They hadn't lost
39:06their attitude instruments.
39:07The airplane was,
39:08in fact,
39:09embarking on an
39:10aerobatic maneuver.
39:11The most probable reason
39:12for all three crew members
39:14believing something
39:15so unlikely
39:16as that all attitude indicators
39:18could malfunction
39:19in the same way
39:19at the same time
39:20is that the way
39:22in which they malfunctioned
39:23was so unexpected
39:24and strange
39:25that it didn't seem
39:25to correspond
39:26to any possible thing
39:28that the airplane
39:28could be doing.
39:29The airplane had,
39:30in fact,
39:31rolled over on its back
39:32and gone into
39:32a vertical dive
39:33and that's something
39:34that Boeing 747s
39:35don't typically do.
39:37As the plane begins
39:38tumbling towards the ocean,
39:40another critical lapse
39:41in judgment occurs.
39:42Standby ADI
39:43was also going
39:44at the limits.
39:46I tried to restart...
39:47During interviews,
39:48the flight engineer
39:49told the NTSB
39:50that all three
39:51of the plane's
39:52working engines failed.
39:55We started to descend
39:56faster
39:57and engines
39:58one, two, and three
39:59also failed.
40:01But the flight data recorder
40:03shows that, in fact,
40:04they were still working.
40:06In the heat of the crisis,
40:08the engineer had made
40:09an enormous mistake.
40:10Engines one, two, and three,
40:11up, up, up!
40:12The investigation reveals
40:14that as the plane fell,
40:15the thrust in each engine
40:16was indeed reduced dramatically.
40:19But the cause
40:20wasn't engine trouble.
40:22The engine throttles
40:23had been lowered to idle
40:24in an attempt
40:25to slow the furious
40:27fall of the jet.
40:30It was something
40:31the engineer missed
40:32in the chaos of the dive.
40:35You can understand
40:37why the flight engineer
40:38might have been confused
40:40about this situation
40:41if he had not seen
40:42the captain pull
40:44the power to idle
40:45on the engines.
40:47He would reasonably assume
40:50that the fact
40:50that they went to idle
40:52was a problem
40:53rather than intentional.
40:56Investigators also believe
40:57that they know
40:58why the engines
40:59didn't give the crew
40:59more power
41:00when the engineer
41:01tried to throttle them up.
41:03The cold temperatures
41:04at 9,000 meters
41:05would stop them
41:06from responding quickly.
41:08No, we stop, Captain!
41:10But in the heat of the moment,
41:11the engineer could have
41:12taken their slow response
41:13as another indication
41:14that they failed.
41:18The NTSB discovers
41:20that indeed
41:21gauges in the generator panel
41:22behind the engineer
41:23showed that the three engines
41:24were still firing.
41:26Ignition negative!
41:27But the gravitational force
41:29became so powerful
41:30the engineer
41:31couldn't look back.
41:37After months
41:38of painstaking recreation,
41:40the NTSB investigators
41:43believe they understand
41:44what happened
41:45inside the cockpit
41:46of China Airlines
41:47Flight 006.
41:50But what they don't understand
41:51is why.
41:53The crew's medical records
41:55are examined.
41:56Was there something wrong
41:58with the captain
41:58that might explain
41:59the bizarre behavior?
42:01Nothing turns up.
42:02You know,
42:03it wasn't just
42:04the three stooges
42:05who, you know,
42:06won a trip on a 747
42:07or something.
42:08It was a trained crew,
42:10highly experienced,
42:11thousands of hours.
42:12How could an experienced crew
42:14make so many
42:15fundamental mistakes?
42:20The investigators find
42:22the answers
42:23in the hours
42:23before the incident.
42:25What they uncover
42:26is a potential danger
42:28that affects pilots
42:29around the world.
42:40In 1985,
42:42a series of small
42:43pilot errors
42:44lead to a terrifying
42:45plunge from the sky.
42:52Spinning wildly
42:53out of control,
42:54a China Airlines
42:55flight tumbled
42:5610 kilometers
42:57towards the Pacific Ocean.
43:02By the time
43:03the crew
43:03regained control,
43:05the plane
43:05was badly damaged.
43:07Amazingly,
43:08everyone on board
43:09survived.
43:13Investigators
43:13have uncovered
43:14a series of mistakes
43:15which nearly led
43:16to the death
43:16of everyone
43:17on board
43:17China Airlines
43:18flight 006.
43:20But how could
43:22an experienced,
43:23well-trained
43:23and healthy crew
43:24make so many mistakes?
43:28The NTSB team
43:30decides to examine
43:31all of the factors
43:32affecting human behavior,
43:33including a new field
43:34of research.
43:37For the first time,
43:39as far as I know,
43:40in a report,
43:42the circadian rhythms,
43:43the biorhythms,
43:44the day and night
43:45functioning of the body
43:47was seriously taken
43:48into account
43:49as a possible explanation
43:51of why
43:52an extremely experienced
43:54Boeing 747 captain
43:56didn't notice
43:58things that
44:00to other pilots
44:01might have seemed obvious,
44:03such as the fact
44:04that his airplane
44:05was busy flipping
44:06on his back
44:06when he was attempting
44:08to deal with
44:09an engine problem.
44:11Although Captain Ho
44:12had the required
44:1315 hours off duty
44:14before flying that day,
44:17the NTSB investigators
44:19take a closer look
44:20at the captain's schedule
44:21before the night
44:22of the flight.
44:24I do not think
44:25I was fatigued.
44:28I can't say
44:29I slept well
44:30during the flight.
44:31This accident occurred
44:32at what would be
44:33about 2 a.m.
44:34local time.
44:35And that's
44:36pretty significant.
44:37Most people
44:37are asleep
44:38around 2 a.m.
44:39So this incident
44:41occurred at a point
44:42in his,
44:43what are called
44:44circadian rhythms,
44:45in his body clock,
44:46where he would be
44:48at his deepest sleep.
44:51I remember also
44:52that he had,
44:53he had gone back
44:54into,
44:55there was a crew
44:55rest area on 747
44:56and he said
44:57he'd rested for 5 hours
44:58and slept for 2.
44:59But another thing
45:00I remember
45:00from his interview
45:01is he said,
45:02you never really
45:03sleep well
45:03on the airplane.
45:04Captain never
45:05sleep well
45:06during a flight.
45:08I worked many years
45:09for this airline,
45:11but I never
45:12have this problem before.
45:13That seemed
45:14like a very true statement.
45:15You know,
45:16it's hard,
45:17it's hard to get
45:17a really solid sleep
45:19on the airplane,
45:20particularly if you're
45:21the person in command
45:21as he was.
45:24So putting it all together,
45:25we saw this was
45:26an experienced crew,
45:27a qualified crew,
45:28and they were flying
45:30on a schedule
45:31that would make
45:32them susceptible
45:33to some of the,
45:34some of the negative
45:35or adverse effects
45:36of fatigue.
45:38During six flights
45:39in the previous six days,
45:41Captain Ho
45:42had covered
45:43a total of 18 time zones.
45:48I thought I'd keep you company.
45:52The NTSB research suggests
45:54that desynchronosis
45:55or jet lag
45:56may have been a cause.
46:00And I think all
46:01these factors
46:01certainly would have
46:03contributed
46:03to his being,
46:06performing it
46:07less than his full potential
46:08at the time.
46:11Investigators also
46:12take a closer look
46:13at the very machinery
46:14that is supposed
46:15to make long distance
46:16flying easier.
46:18Take a look
46:19at the engine
46:20out procedures.
46:21Work out
46:21a three-engine
46:22cruise altitude.
46:23Yes, Captain.
46:25We have people
46:26in the front of airplanes
46:27because we believe
46:28that in circumstances
46:30which nobody
46:32has foreseen,
46:33the human being
46:34in the front
46:34of the airplane
46:35can react creatively,
46:37can solve a problem
46:39that nobody
46:39has thought about
46:40before in real time.
46:43And automation
46:44can't solve problems
46:46that nobody
46:46has thought about.
46:47before in real time
46:49in quite the same way.
46:51The NTSB concludes
46:52that possibly fatigued
46:54from air travel
46:54and bored by the monotony
46:56of his tasks.
46:57We're banking right,
46:58Captain.
46:59I'm disengaging autopilot.
47:02The Captain relied
47:03on his autopilot
47:04for too long.
47:06When he should have
47:07taken direct control,
47:08he hesitated,
47:09trusting his systems.
47:11That is obviously
47:12a failure.
47:13The crew didn't behave
47:14as they should have
47:15behaved.
47:16Pilot error.
47:17As a result of the
47:19China airline's
47:20near mishap
47:20and other incidents
47:22around the same time,
47:23aircraft manufacturers
47:24began to rethink
47:25the design
47:26of their automated systems.
47:29The idea of the automation
47:30is that it's going
47:32to help the human
47:33do the human's job.
47:35It's going to help
47:36the human
47:36take the airplane
47:38from the gate
47:39to the gate
47:40at the other end,
47:41and it's going
47:41to help along the way.
47:42Boeing makes use
47:43use of this particular
47:44incident to say,
47:46we still want the crew
47:47to have full authority
47:48so that they can move
47:50the controls as far
47:51as it's physically possible
47:52to move them
47:53and to manage the airplane,
47:55even if it may bend
47:57the airplane.
47:57It is better to do that
47:59than to restrict
48:01the pilot's authority
48:03and then have him guess
48:04whether or not
48:05he's in charge
48:06or the computer's in charge.
48:10Whatever mistakes
48:11the flight crew
48:12made that day,
48:13they did succeed
48:14in their ultimate task.
48:17They flew the airplane well.
48:19They did an excellent job
48:20with the approach afterward.
48:22They were careful
48:24with the airplane.
48:25They knew the airplane
48:25had been damaged.
48:27They didn't know
48:27the severity of it.
48:28They were gentle
48:30with the maneuvering
48:32and yet tested enough
48:34to make sure
48:34that they wouldn't get themselves
48:36in further trouble
48:36as they made the approach
48:37to landing.
48:38The one big thing
48:40they did right
48:42and one only ever
48:43needs to do one big thing
48:44is they saved the airplane.
48:50And in principle,
48:52that's all you ever need
48:53to do right
48:54when something happens
48:55to your airplane.
48:56You need to save the airplane
48:57and you need to save
48:58the passengers
48:59and that's what they did.
49:07How can you forget
49:08something like that
49:09that I survived through that?
49:11So it's hard for me
49:12to forget
49:14that I was lucky
49:16and it wasn't my time yet.
49:18The pilot saved our lives.
49:21He got us into it
49:22but he got us out of it.
49:26And perhaps there was
49:27one other hero that day,
49:29the Boeing 747 itself.
49:32It was put through maneuvers
49:34and stresses
49:34that far outweighed
49:36its known limits
49:37and yet, despite it all,
49:39the aircraft survived
49:41and landed safely.
49:51We'll see you next time.