Seconds From Disaster Motorway Plane - 10
This movie is a Documentary
Documentary in English with subtitles...
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Documentary in English with subtitles...
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Transcript
00:00[Music]
00:07europe
00:07[Music]
00:09england london heathrow
00:13[Music]
00:14the world's busiest international
00:16airport
00:18january 8 1989
00:22it's a sunday evening and many
00:24passengers are headed home after the
00:26christmas and new year holidays
00:28the airport is packed
00:32in terminal 1 passengers check in for
00:34british midland flight
00:35092 to belfast northern ireland
00:38it's a regular hour-long commuter
00:40shuttle
00:43security is tight it's the height of the
00:47ira's terrorist campaign against british
00:49targets
00:51the ira has killed 416 civilians in
00:54nearly 20 years of violence
00:58healthcare worker gareth jones started a
01:00new job in belfast
01:02three weeks ago
01:03[Music]
01:06security checks are a way of life
01:10if you lived in northern ireland at the
01:11time you got quite used to security it
01:13was a period when there was heightened
01:14security there
01:15you look after them
01:22the ira isn't the only reason for
01:24heathrow's high security
01:26[Music]
01:28locker b scotland three weeks earlier a
01:31terrorist bomb blows apart a pan am 747
01:34flying from heathrow to the us
01:36the explosion kills all 259 people on
01:39board
01:40and 11 more on the ground it's the worst
01:43ever terrorist attack
01:45on a u.s airliner the authorities
01:48suspect it's the work of an arab
01:49terrorist group
01:58today the passengers on flight 092 are
02:01in the hands of 43 year old captain
02:03kevin hutt he's one of british midlands
02:06most experienced pilots with 25 years
02:09flying
02:09under his belt air conditioning and
02:12pressurization attacks on
02:13flight flying with him 39 year old first
02:15officer david mcclellan
02:17tonight they're flying an aircraft just
02:19two months old
02:21it's one of boeing's new 737 400 series
02:27boeing launched the aircraft a year
02:28earlier in a blaze of publicity
02:30[Music]
02:32it boasts significant improvements over
02:34its predecessors
02:36its new cfm56 engines are the most
02:38powerful of their kind
02:40and the cockpit display features
02:41state-of-the-art technology
02:43including computerized tv screens and
02:45led dials
02:46which replace the traditional mechanical
02:48gauges
02:51[Music]
02:527 15 pm
02:56cars 118 passengers board the brand new
03:00plane
03:00and take their seats
03:07captain hunt starts up the two engines
03:10the 400 series aircraft is still new to
03:12him he's clocked just 23 hours first
03:18officer mcclelland
03:19has 53 hours
03:28in the main cabin gareth jones has a
03:30window seat over the wing
03:31in an emergency exit row excuse me sir
03:35a flight attendant asks garrett to read
03:37the safety card so that he knows how to
03:38open the overwing exit door
03:42normally he was pretty blase about it
03:44but it was pleasantly done and
03:46it would have been ill-mannered not to
03:48air traffic control
03:49clears flight zero nine two for takeoff
03:53zero nine two is perfect take off
03:55surface winds two seven zero degrees
03:58weather conditions are perfect
04:06first officer mcclelland throttles the
04:08engines up
04:24[Music]
04:277 52 p.m british midland flight 092 is
04:32airborne
04:32and on its way to belfast
04:39debbie griffith age 24 is one of six
04:42cabin crew on board tonight
04:43[Music]
04:45she was on standby but managers called
04:47her in at short notice
04:49[Music]
04:52she's been a flight attendant for two
04:54years i love the job basically because i
04:56really enjoyed meeting the people it was
04:58a it was a great lifestyle for somebody
04:59of that age
05:01within minutes of takeoff the cabin
05:03crews start the drink service
05:05with the hold-ups behind them there's a
05:06light-hearted atmosphere
05:08passengers know they'll be on the ground
05:10in under one hour
05:11[Music]
05:16805 pm 13 minutes into the flight
05:20the aircraft is climbing through 8 500
05:22meters
05:23on its way to a cruising altitude of ten
05:25thousand six hundred meters
05:27then without warning
05:31a massive bang the aircraft
05:34starts to vibrate violently
05:37routine flight turns into every air
05:39traveler's worst nightmare
05:44up on the flight deck captain hunt and
05:45first officer david mcclelland
05:47feel the vibration
06:01smoke can only get into the cabin by the
06:03air conditioning ducts and since the
06:06aircon is jet powered on the 737
06:08they deduce its engine trouble
06:12and it sounds serious
06:1520 year old student kieran dynan is
06:17sitting over the wing
06:18close to the engine all he can hear
06:22is a loud clattering sound it was a very
06:25definite grinding noise
06:27it sounded like heaven's going under the
06:28washing machine
06:31just back from the cockpit in row one
06:33are business partners
06:34nick stevenson and chris thompson
06:38they're on their way home to belfast
06:41they feel the vibration
06:43it's so intense they feel the aircraft
06:45is breaking up
06:46sounds to me as though there's somebody
06:48outside with a sledgehammer trying to
06:50get into the aircraft
06:52trying to make their way through the
06:53fuselage
06:55at that point he simply stopped froze
07:01flight attendant debbie griffiths
07:02immediately thinks of the lockerbie
07:04disaster
07:06this instant sort of terror if you like
07:08and my first thought was is there a bomb
07:14a huge bang and heavy vibrations rock a
07:16british midland flight
07:17on route to northern ireland
07:20sitting in a window seat over the wing
07:22in row 14 is healthcare worker gareth
07:25jones
07:27he's busy dealing with a panicking
07:29fellow passenger
07:31the lady was next to me teresa was
07:33distressed
07:34so i started to talk to her to try and
07:37uncalm her
07:38but also to help me because it wasn't
07:41stress-free for me either gareth has
07:44good reason to be worried
07:48his seat gives him a clear view of the
07:50plane's wing
07:53and what he sees fills him with
07:56foreboding i could look out of the
07:58window and see
08:00trailer spark-like emissions from where
08:02the engine would be
08:04from their seats in the cockpit captain
08:05hunt and first officer mcclellan
08:07can't see either of the two engines so
08:09they don't know about the sparks
08:12like all pilots they must rely on their
08:14cockpit instrument display to diagnose
08:16the problem
08:19the new display on the 400 series 737 is
08:21unfamiliar to them
08:23but it's state-of-the-art technology
08:28hunter mcclelland scanned the screens
08:29and led instruments
08:31they diagnosed an engine problem and
08:33shut down the faulty engine
08:38hey
08:48[Applause]
08:52but safety rules call for the crew to
08:53land the plane as soon as possible
08:56let's get a turn going freeze midlands
08:58hunt
08:59is in luck air traffic control clears
09:01him for an emergency landing
09:03at east midlands airport just 10 minutes
09:05flying time away control fly
09:09[Music]
09:16[Music]
09:198 10 p.m
09:30the captain goes on the intercom to calm
09:32his 118 passengers
09:34and to tell them he shut down the
09:36malfunctioning engine
09:41he says they'll be safely on the ground
09:43in 10 minutes
09:48gareth jones is relieved to see that the
09:49problem engine has stopped throwing out
09:51sparks
09:53he's convinced the captain now has
09:55everything under control
09:57[Music]
09:598 17 pm the aircraft descends through
10:03two thousand meters
10:05they're eight minutes from touchdown six
10:08zero four
10:08zero flight level four zero zero
10:11one minute later air traffic control
10:13tells captain hunt to make a right turn
10:15to line up with the runway 0-9-2
10:19altitude 3000 feet
10:24they're on final approach
10:27the cabin crew take their seats for the
10:29remaining few minutes
10:368 20 pm
10:43another even louder bang rocks the
10:45aircraft
10:47the passengers realized that the noise
10:49must come from the plane's last
10:50remaining engine
10:53the whole plane shook it was like
10:55something touched the plane stopped in
10:57midair
10:58and at that point frankly my blood just
11:00had cold
11:03now there are more vibrations worse than
11:05ever
11:07vibration was incredible it was almost
11:09impossible for me to focus on chris who
11:11was sitting in the seat
11:12beside me and i remember thinking if
11:15this keeps vibrating like this the
11:16aircraft is going to fall apart
11:19being absolutely terrifying not really
11:21knowing what was going on
11:26air traffic control clears captain hunt
11:28to descend to 600 meters
11:32they must get the plane down and fast
11:34before their last engine fails
11:40altogether
11:43then everything goes silent
11:51the plane's last engine has given out
11:57the passengers now know they're going
11:59down
12:01i actually can't remember the noise of
12:03wind going by the plane
12:05just this rushing sound
12:09and the plane then dropped it started
12:11just to be dying like going over the top
12:13of a roller coaster
12:15i remember thinking to myself well
12:18there's nothing you can do about it if
12:19him upstairs wants to take you now
12:27captain hunt has lost both engines with
12:30no forward thrust
12:31the plane is now fighting a losing
12:32battle with gravity
12:34six six two ten knots
12:38hunt orders the first officer to try to
12:40restore power
12:43mcclellan begins the re-ignition
12:45sequence but they're losing height
12:46rapidly
12:48now the left engine catches fire
12:57the 737 is dropping out of the sky
13:00[Music]
13:03captain hunt's control column starts to
13:05shake violently
13:07the ground proximity warning system
13:09tells him he's coming down
13:10too quickly
13:13the pilots can see the airport runway
13:15lights less than two kilometers away
13:18but there are more lights closer to the
13:20plummeting plane
13:22the lights of the m1 motorway the uk's
13:25major north south artery
13:27if they crash on the motorway the death
13:29toll could be horrendous
13:38but captain hunt is all out of options
13:40the ground
13:41is coming up fast somebody on board
13:46said jesus we're gonna die
13:528 24 p.m british midland fight zero nine
13:55two
13:56is just one minute from east midlands
14:00airport
14:02captain hunt can see the runway lights
14:04but he's lost both engines
14:06and one's on fire his only hope to keep
14:09the aircraft airborne long enough to
14:10crash land on the runway
14:14the passengers haven't heard from the
14:16captain for 10 minutes but they know
14:18they're going to crash
14:23stupid thoughts go through your head
14:24like who's going to cut the grass
14:27part of your brain is saying this this
14:29plane is crashing
14:30and part of it was saying it can't be
14:32because it doesn't happen
14:35now captain hunt can see the village of
14:37kegworth
14:39desperate to avoid crashing into it he
14:41raises the nose to stretch the glide
14:45the 737 passes over the village at an
14:47altitude of just
14:4860 meters wherever i noticed
14:52what i think was a church spa which
14:54actually went by the window
14:55and i sort of thought the church spark
14:58went through a good past the window i'm
14:59on a plane
15:00but beyond cape worth lies the m1
15:02motorway
15:09if captain hunt can get across this
15:11six-lane road the safety of the runway
15:13is just 900 meters away
15:17get it going it's not going get it out
15:19it's not going
15:21but he can't keep the plane airborne any
15:23longer he makes a final announcement to
15:25the terrified passengers
15:28prepare for crash landing prepare for
15:30crash landing
15:32and he said brace brace grace prepare
15:34for crash landing and there's tone of
15:35his voice said at all
15:37i can remember going into the brace
15:38position and just thinking this is it
15:41just before the plane hit the ground i
15:43remember thinking nobody survives a
15:44plane crash i wonder will i
16:0330 meters before the motorway the tail
16:05section hits the ground
16:06and bounces back into the air
16:09the plane smashes through trees near the
16:11edge of the motorway
16:15it was horrendous it just seemed to go
16:17on forever
16:19sort of suck the breath out of you
16:22it careens across the road destroying a
16:25light on the central reservation
16:28the aircraft slams into the embankment
16:30on the far side of the m1
16:32and breaks into three it is from being
16:35crushed and crushed
16:36and then nothing total silence
16:40it comes to rest just 900 meters from
16:42the safety of the runway
16:47captain hunt made it across the motorway
16:50just
16:52incredibly no cars are passing at the
16:54moment of the crash
17:00inside the wreckage of the 737s middle
17:02section gareth jones and his fellow
17:04passenger teresa
17:05are alive they're sitting over the wing
17:08the strongest part of the aircraft
17:10[Music]
17:12gareth is not even badly hurt he cannot
17:15believe his luck
17:16but the danger isn't over yet
17:20when i opened my eyes i could see the
17:22little bush that was on fire
17:25and thought um hang on this is dangerous
17:28we're right over the wing the wings full
17:30of fuel
17:32we'd better get out of this place pretty
17:34quick
17:36it's a miracle the plane's 5 000 plus
17:39liters of aviation fuel
17:40haven't caught fire but the fuel is now
17:43pouring out of the damaged wings
17:45and one of the engines is still in
17:47flames
17:51if the fuel ignites gareth and any other
17:53survivors
17:54will have little chance having lived
17:56through an air crash they could still
17:58burn to death
18:01gareth desperately pulls the emergency
18:03door handle but it won't open
18:05fortunately i remembered um jamie's
18:08instructions on the card
18:10and grabbed the handle pulled the door
18:12in and threw it out
18:14before the crash gareth told fellow
18:16passenger teresa that if they survived
18:18the impact
18:19he would get her out i remember sticking
18:21my head back in through the
18:23hatch and shouting teresa give me a hand
18:25and his little hand appeared
18:26out the blackness and i remember pulling
18:29her out through the door
18:31now gareth climbs back into the plane to
18:33look for other survivors
18:36he finds a horrifying scene
18:38[Music]
18:39twisted wreckage injured people shouting
18:42for help
18:44and others were ominously silent there
18:46were people clearly struggling to get
18:48out and others that were not moving and
18:50you knew what had happened to those that
18:51were not moving
18:53and that's one of the memories that
18:55carry with me to my grave
18:58[Music]
19:01in row one in the plains broken front
19:03section business partners nick stevenson
19:05and chris thompson
19:08chris is unconscious and severely
19:11injured
19:12but nick is one of the luckier ones he
19:14comes around quickly
19:15the first thing i thought is i'm alive
19:17the second thing i thought is there's
19:18going to be a fire get out
19:22he doesn't have the strength to help
19:23chris he tries to get up but a searing
19:25pain in his left leg stops him
19:27and yet he knows he must overcome the
19:29pain to get out
19:32you know the survival instinct just
19:33takes over the drive isn't it's
19:34incredible
19:36i just knew i was going to get out i had
19:38to get out
19:39nothing else was of any importance
19:41whatsoever he reaches a break in the
19:43fuselage
19:44and shouts to passing drivers who've
19:45stopped the help
19:47he said we see you're okay you know
19:48we'll get you carried me down the
19:50embankment
19:52still trapped in the wreckage of the
19:53nose section flight attendant debbie
19:55griffith
19:58she's in a bad way but her main fear is
20:01a fuel explosion
20:02i was having real problems breathing and
20:04actually felt like i was dying
20:06i was really sort of fighting to live
20:09and i just expected the engines to go
20:11and i can actually remember thinking it
20:12hurts to me quickly
20:15and 20 year old kieran dynan hangs right
20:18over the edge of the shattered
20:19midsection
20:20[Music]
20:22he's badly injured and drifts in and out
20:24of consciousness
20:26all the seats in front of me were gone
20:28there's nothing it was just
20:29dead for you nothing
20:348 30 p.m five minutes after the crash
20:38the fire crews reached the aircraft
20:41they start to dash the whole area with
20:43foam
20:45the fireman shouted through we've got
20:48the engines out
20:49so at least then i knew that we're in
20:50with a fighting chance
20:52within two minutes the engine fire is
20:54out the rescue
20:56can begin now firefighters scour the
20:59plane for survivors
21:01they have the grim task of checking
21:02which passengers are dead
21:04and which still have a spark of life
21:10i literally just woke up as he showed
21:11the torch light in my eyes and he said
21:13quick this one's still alive
21:14and then i blacked out again kieran is
21:17pulled out of the plane
21:18and rushed to hospital
21:25eight hours after the crash rescuers
21:28pull the last survivor from the wreckage
21:29of british midland flight 092
21:32the time is 4 20 in the morning
21:36of the 126 people on board the impact
21:39kills 39
21:418 more die in hospital from their
21:43injuries
21:45among the survivors the two pilots david
21:47mcclelland and captain hunt
21:49both are seriously injured by the impact
21:51captain hunt
21:53is paralyzed
21:57the survivors have been describing what
21:59happened and praising the skill of the
22:01plane's pilots
22:03but what could cause a brand new
22:04aircraft to simply
22:06fall out of the sky sabotaged by
22:10terrorists is one possibility
22:13it's just three weeks since a pan am 747
22:15exploded in mid-air
22:17above the village of lockerbie in
22:18scotland killing 270 people
22:23did a terrorist bomb down this plane too
22:26[Music]
22:30now by rewinding the bay and by going
22:32deep into the investigation
22:34we can reveal what really happened on
22:36fight zero nine two
22:40advanced computer simulation will take
22:42us where no camera can go
22:44into the heart of the disaster zone
22:54eddie trimble is the chief investigator
22:56from the uk's
22:57air accident investigation branch
23:01he's worked on all the major air
23:03disasters in the uk
23:04over the last 30 years
23:08when news of the kegworth disaster
23:10breaks team of nine crash investigators
23:12is still in lockerbie
23:14scouring the wreckage of the downed pan
23:15am plane
23:18now he fears another terrorist outrage
23:20has claimed lives on british soil
23:23[Music]
23:29trimble arrives at the crash scene
23:31around midnight just four hours after
23:33the accident
23:36[Music]
23:40as the hours pass he finds none of the
23:42telltale signs of damage from explosives
23:45[Music]
23:46the team quickly rule out a terrorist
23:48attack as the cause of the crash
23:50this is not another lockerbie
23:55investigators now turn to the
23:56possibility of mechanical failure
23:59survivors report a double engine failure
24:02it seems almost incredible but the
24:05theory soon surfaces in news reports
24:07the experts say the chances of both
24:10engines on a brand new airliner failing
24:12at the same time
24:13are a hundred million to one but that
24:15seems to be what happened last night
24:18eddie trimble knows that if both engines
24:20failed almost simultaneously
24:21the implications are enormous
24:25there are 18 of the new 737s in service
24:28could they all be flying with a fatal
24:30flaw
24:31the investigators need to find out and
24:34fast
24:37chief investigator eddie trimble and his
24:39team of nine scour the crash site of
24:41british midland flight
24:43092 they desperately need clues to
24:46explain what could cause
24:48both the 737s jet engines to fail
24:53accounts of the plane's final moments
24:55are coming in from eyewitnesses
24:58they report planes in the left-hand
24:59engine
25:05trimble starts to probe the left engine
25:08it's not an easy job
25:09the crash impact seriously damaged it
25:12but he soon finds something that's
25:14clearly not crash related
25:17the fan blades most of them are severely
25:19damaged or fractured
25:22trimble concludes that the fan blade
25:24fracture through debris deep inside the
25:26engine
25:27the resulting damage was fatal
25:29[Music]
25:34he must send the left engine for further
25:36tests to discover what caused the fan
25:38blade to fracture in the first place
25:42now trimble and his team turn to the
25:44right-hand engine the one the cockpit
25:46voice recordings reveal
25:47is the first to malfunction
25:50they carry out an inspection of its
25:52internal mechanisms
25:55after hours of examination trimble
25:57reaches a terrible
25:58but inescapable conclusion
26:02i thought gosh it really does look
26:06as though they may have shut down
26:09a good engine
26:14trimble realizes that when the left-hand
26:16engine starts to go wrong
26:18the flight crew inexplicably shuts down
26:20the perfectly good
26:22right-hand engine now the whole focus of
26:25the investigation
26:26shifts it's not a terrorist bomb or
26:29double engine failure that killed 47
26:32people on flight zero nine two
26:38it's a catastrophic human error
26:42[Applause]
26:44this astonishing discovery rocks the
26:46aviation world
26:47how could such experienced pilots shut
26:49down the wrong engine
26:51on a brand new aircraft
26:52[Music]
26:57trimble knows that the plane is one of
26:59the new 737 400 series
27:01launched a year earlier
27:03[Music]
27:05first officer mcclelland has flown just
27:0753 hours on the 400 series
27:10captain hunt even fewer only 23 hours
27:15could the pilot's unfamiliarity with
27:17some aspect of the new design
27:18have caused the fatal error
27:23to find out trimble must probe every
27:26twist and turn of events
27:27on flight 092
27:30using the cockpit voice recordings he
27:33starts to analyze
27:34every decision the pilots took on the
27:35flight deck okay
27:38fully established
27:43805 pm just under 20 minutes before the
27:46crash
27:46on the left engine a fan blade fractures
27:51the broken piece lodges inside the
27:54engine casing
27:56the damage to the fan blade throws the
27:58finely calibrated engine
28:00out of balance
28:03the engine now starts to shutter
28:04violently setting up a vibration that
28:06rocks the whole plane
28:10the fracture fatally damages the
28:12left-hand engine
28:13it's now just a matter of time before it
28:15fails altogether
28:19the flight crew feel the vibration and
28:21smell smoke escaping through the damaged
28:22engine seals
28:23into the air conditioning ducts
28:28they wrongly assume there's a fire in
28:30one of their two engines
28:34captain hunt asks which is the problem
28:37engine
28:39the cockpit voice recorder reveals the
28:41first act in a terrible chain of events
28:45first officer mcclelland starts to say
28:48left
28:49but then changes his mind no it's the
28:52right one
28:53eddie to find out why mcclellan
28:55hesitates and then gets it wrong
29:00he knows that the pilots can't
29:01physically see the engines
29:03they must rely on their instrument
29:05display to diagnose the problem
29:08the cockpit display on the new 400
29:10series boasts led
29:12dials and screens in place of
29:13traditional mechanical instruments
29:16did hunter mcclelland have trouble
29:17interpreting its unfamiliar instrument
29:19display
29:25the new display has a meter to monitor
29:27unusual vibration on each engine
29:30these should allow the pilots to see at
29:32a glance which engine is in trouble
29:35the meters have always been a feature of
29:36the 737 cockpit display
29:39but on the 400 series they look very
29:41different
29:42[Music]
29:44on the new 737 the engine vibration
29:47meter
29:47has an led needle it swings around the
29:50outside of the dial
29:51instead of the inside as in earlier
29:53versions
29:54and it's only the size of a 20 pence
29:57piece
29:59trimble learns that hunter mcclelland
30:01went on a one-day course to learn about
30:03the new 400 series
30:06but he finds that neither of them
30:08received any simulator training on the
30:10engine instrument system
30:11or eis my other pilot
30:14had the opportunity to fly a simulator
30:18and learn how to interpret the eis
30:22of whether in normal operation or
30:25very important during abnormal operation
30:29[Music]
30:30the crew's unfamiliarity with the new
30:32plane means they lose their first
30:34opportunity
30:35to diagnose the problem correctly but
30:38it's still a mystery
30:39why they reach the conclusion that it's
30:41the right hand engine that's
30:42malfunctioning
30:45the cockpit voice recordings give
30:47trimble another clue
30:56when the pilots smell smoke from the
30:58damaged engine they know the only way it
31:00can reach the cockpit
31:01is by the air conditioning
31:06in captain hunt's experience the air
31:07conditioning on a 737 is powered
31:10by the right-hand engine
31:13he assumes that is where the smoke is
31:15coming from
31:16probably back but boeing has made
31:19another change to the latest 737
31:24on the new planes the air conditioning
31:26is powered not just by the right engine
31:28but also by the left-hand engine
31:32807 pm
31:34[Music]
31:36misled by the smoke the pilots missed
31:39their second chance to diagnose the
31:40left-hand engine as the problem
31:44now first officer mcclelland throttles
31:46back and shuts down the perfectly
31:48functioning
31:49right-hand engine
31:50[Music]
31:54everything seems to return to normal
31:57[Music]
31:58the heavy vibration and banging was
32:00stopped
32:01[Music]
32:10a relieved captain hunt even goes on the
32:12intercom to tell passengers what he's
32:14done
32:16the right engine down
32:19but hunt's mention of the right engine
32:21confuses many passengers
32:24student kieran dynan recalls seeing
32:27sparks and flames coming out of the
32:28engine
32:29on the left-hand side of the plane
32:32i thought it was strange why is he
32:34turned off the good engine
32:36was so so obvious this engine is all on
32:38fire
32:38[Music]
32:40but captain hunt and the first officer
32:42cannot physically see
32:43either of the two engines from the
32:45flight deck
32:47someone from the passenger cabin would
32:48have to tell him which engine
32:50is in trouble investigators want to know
32:54why kieran dynan and other worried
32:56passengers don't raise the alarm
32:59i remember thinking he still must know
33:02what he's doing because he's the
33:03professional
33:06trimble and his team conclude that this
33:08trust in the captain
33:09prevents anyone on board from raising
33:11the alarm but the investigators still
33:13face
33:14a big mystery
33:15[Music]
33:17why does the aircraft seem to return to
33:19normal function
33:20after the pilots turn off the wrong
33:23engine
33:26to solve this mystery eddie trimble and
33:28his engineering specialists
33:29delve deep into the workings of the 737s
33:32jet engines
33:35all 737s have an auto throttle a form of
33:38cruise control
33:40that maintains the desired airspeed by
33:42automatically sending the right amount
33:44of fuel to the engines
33:47to shut down the engine first officer
33:48mcclelland must disengage the auto
33:50throttle
33:52this returns the plane to full manual
33:54operation and allows him to start
33:56throttling back the engine
33:59trimble suspects that this routine step
34:01holds the key to the mystery
34:06he turns to the plane's black box to try
34:08to find out exactly what's going on
34:10inside the computer-controlled engines
34:12at the critical moment
34:17what trimble discovers about the
34:18behavior of the auto throttle
34:20explains why the plane appears to fly
34:22normally on a badly damaged engine
34:25it's a major breakthrough the
34:28investigation team can now
34:29unravel exactly what happened aboard
34:31flight 092
34:33in the final fateful seconds from
34:35disaster
34:40805 pm when the fan blade fractures on
34:44the left engine
34:45its fragments damage the engine severely
34:48causing a reduction in fan
34:49speed the auto throttle reacts by
34:53pumping
34:53more fuel to the stricken engine trying
34:55to maintain the fan speed
34:58this causes the damaged engine to
34:59shutter violently and throw out sparks
35:02these ignite surplus fuel causing the
35:04flames seen by the passengers
35:07[Music]
35:11807 pm
35:16misled by the smoke coming through the
35:18air conditioning the crew
35:19misdiagnosed the problem engine
35:23captain hunt orders the fully
35:24functioning right-hand engine
35:26to be shut down okay throttle pay
35:28trouble
35:30first officer mcclelland disengages the
35:32auto throttle
35:33and instantly pulls back the thrust
35:35lever on the right engine
35:38the minute he does so the vibration
35:40stops and the smell of smoke
35:42disappears eddie trimble
35:45now knows why
35:46[Music]
35:48data from the black box reveals that
35:50when the pilots disconnect the auto
35:52throttle
35:52in order to shut down the right engine
35:55both engines
35:56return to manual throttle sensors
35:59inside the damaged left engine detect
36:02that it's spinning slower than normal
36:04which triggers a reduction in fuel flow
36:06with the fuel flow now at a level the
36:08engine can handle
36:09the vibration of flames disappear
36:14now the left engine appears to be
36:16functioning normally when in fact
36:17it's fatally damaged
36:19[Music]
36:21the crew naturally think they've shut
36:22down the correct engine
36:24what they don't realize is that it is
36:26disconnecting the auto throttle that
36:28solves the problem
36:29not as they believe closing down the
36:31right hand engine
36:34that particular effect of the euroform
36:36was
36:37the clincher which caused both pilots
36:41to believe that in retarding the
36:45right engine they had identified the
36:48engine which was malfunctioning
36:54a revelation to the investigators that
36:56the behavior of the 737s auto throttle
36:58might mislead pilots during an engine
37:01malfunction
37:03and investigators are about to discover
37:05our last
37:06terrible twist of fate snatches away the
37:09final chance to save flight
37:10zero nine two one they're only closing
37:13the localiser from the right
37:16eddie trimble has one piece of the
37:18puzzle still to fit
37:20why did the flight crew not notice that
37:22they'd shut down the wrong engine in the
37:2420 minutes they had
37:25between the initial crisis and crashing
37:27[Music]
37:30trawling through every nuance in the
37:31cockpit voice recordings
37:33trimble finds a poignant moment
37:37[Music]
37:3812 minutes and 15 seconds to disaster
37:42the plane seems to be back to normal but
37:44captain hunt's training tells him that
37:46after an in-flight crisis
37:48it's essential to review all decisions
37:50to make sure no mistakes were made
37:52what did we actually get we got
37:55vibration
37:57but just as he starts his review air
37:59traffic control
38:00interrupts him the surface wind is
38:01indicating westerly at five knots
38:04they clear captain hunt to descend to
38:061200 meters for landing in 12 minutes
38:08time
38:09he does not resume the review of events
38:11with his first officer
38:14had he continued he may have spotted his
38:16error
38:18but tragically the crew missed their
38:20last chance to prevent the crash
38:25four minutes and 40 seconds to go
38:29you can arm approach now
38:34the pilots increase throttle to the left
38:36engine to control their descent
38:40what they don't realize is this act will
38:42deal the engine its fatal blow
38:46increasing the fan speed throws more
38:48debris from the fractured fan blade
38:50deep into the engine
38:52[Music]
38:56it's now tearing itself apart and the
38:59runway is still
39:0021 kilometers away
39:01[Music]
39:05one minute to go the engine loses all
39:08power
39:08it now catches fire
39:10[Music]
39:19has run out of time he's lost both
39:22engines
39:23in desperation he tries to restart the
39:25right-hand engine with a windmill
39:27start using the plane speed to spin up
39:29the engine blades
39:34it's not going get it out it's not going
39:37live
39:40but it's too late their air speed is too
39:43low
39:44hunt pulls the nose up to stretch the
39:46glide
39:49he keeps the aircraft in the air long
39:50enough to clear the village of cake with
39:54but captain hunt knows it's all over
40:00ten seconds from impact captain hunt
40:04makes his final announcements
40:15at 8 24 and 43 seconds british midland
40:18flight
40:19092 crashes into the motorway embankment
40:22at kilometers per hour
40:25[Music]
40:31midland zero nine two this is east
40:33midlands raid algeria
40:34midland zero nine two this is east
40:36midlands raid raid
40:38midland zero nine two smithlands durade
40:40[Music]
40:43the plane comes to a stop just 900
40:45meters from the airport runway
40:49but five months after the crash there's
40:51a final twist in the tail
40:53a shocking discovery that grounds more
40:55than 30 of boeing's brand new 737-400
40:58aircraft
40:58worldwide june 1989
41:02five months after the cake with crash
41:04two more boeing 737
41:06400 series aircraft suffer identical fan
41:09blade fractures
41:10in flight in both cases the pilots read
41:12the signs correctly
41:13and land safely the civil aviation
41:16authority has tonight grounded all
41:18britain's boeing 737-400 aircraft
41:23aviation authorities around the world
41:25ground all planes with the same type of
41:27engine for urgent inspection
41:30cfm the engines manufacturer discovers a
41:33design fault in the fan blades
41:35running at maximum power above 7600
41:38meters
41:39the low air density sets off a
41:41previously undetected vibration in the
41:43blades
41:44the resulting stress can lead to
41:47fractures
41:49it emerges that the engine was never
41:51tested in flight
41:54the 737 400 aircraft and its engines are
41:57an upgrade of the 300 series
42:00the engine was only bench tested in a
42:02laboratory
42:03a flight test was not mandatory
42:06if it had been the potentially
42:08catastrophic vibration effect on the
42:10blades
42:11might have been detected the engine
42:14manufacturer has to redesign the engine
42:16and refit 99 400 series aircraft
42:19[Music]
42:21aviation regulations now require
42:23manufacturers to flight test
42:25all new engines
42:29just over 18 months after the cake with
42:31air crash the air accident investigation
42:33board publishes its report
42:36it concludes that although the pilots
42:37made an error in shutting down the wrong
42:39engine
42:40there were mitigating factors
42:45the pilots had received no flight
42:47simulator training for the 737-400
42:50series
42:50[Music]
42:53that meant the first time they faced an
42:55emergency
42:56it was for real
42:57[Music]
42:59the vibration meters weren't prominent
43:01enough
43:03and if a member of the cabin crew had
43:05alerted the captain to the flames coming
43:06from the left engine which he couldn't
43:08see from the cockpit
43:09the crash could have been averted but
43:12for the survivors
43:13the flight crew are heroes
43:16it was just very very sad that it was so
43:19so close
43:20to have made it and you know to have
43:22those two pilots put
43:24at such risk and to have worked so hard
43:27to have got so close
43:28it it's upsetting
43:32the lessons learned from the cake with
43:33crash have had a wider impact on
43:35aviation safety
43:38boeing redesigned cockpit displays for
43:41new aircraft
43:42making them easier to interpret
43:43[Music]
43:45simulator training is now mandatory if
43:47the design of an aircraft changes
43:49substantially
43:50[Music]
43:52and airline training around the world
43:54now emphasizes and encourages full
43:56communication between cabin and flight
43:58crews
43:59particularly during an in-flight
44:06emergency
44:08of the 126 passengers and crew on board
44:1147 lost their lives
44:14for the survivors nothing can erase the
44:17memory of that dreadful night
44:19but they have rebuilt their lives
44:24chris thompson and nick stevenson both
44:27recovered from their injuries
44:28they're still in business together in
44:30northern ireland
44:34kieran dynan is now married with a young
44:36daughter
44:39you know he's still worried about things
44:40but i don't worry more i think all my
44:42bad luck came at once
44:43and nothing ever is going to happen
44:46again
44:46debbie griffith left the airline
44:48industry to train as a nurse
44:51you can't go through a plane crash
44:53without changing
44:54it's made me live for the moment i've
44:56always been fairly happy-go-lucky
44:59but i've never felt bitter i've never
45:01felt why me why not me
45:03i'm nothing special gareth jones's
45:06physical injuries on the nights were
45:07minor
45:08but the emotional scars are still with
45:11him
45:12you did feel dirty afterwards that you
45:14know why me why did i survive
45:16what had i done that was special
45:19i'm to a degree that loses me to this
45:21day i don't know
45:22why i i escaped apart from picking a
45:25lucky seat
45:27[Music]
45:30the boeing 737 is still the world's most
45:33popular aircraft
45:35today a 737 takes off somewhere in the
45:38world
45:38every five seconds its safety record
45:41is one of the best in aviation
45:46[Music]
45:53[Music]
46:01a new boeing 737 flying 126 people on a
46:05short hop from london to northern
46:06ireland
46:07it's one of the safest planes in the sky
46:10[Music]
46:12suddenly a series of explosive noises
46:14and severe vibrations
46:16rock the plane it crashes
46:19just meters from the safety of a runway
46:2247 people
46:23die are they victims of a terrorist act
46:26or was this a freak accident
46:30now using advanced computer simulations
46:32we reveal
46:33what really went wrong on flight 092
46:40disasters don't just happen they're a
46:43chain of critical events
46:45unravel the clues and count down those
46:47final
46:48seconds from disaster
46:56[Music]
46:59europe england
47:03london heathrow
47:07the world's busiest international
47:08airport
47:11january 8 1989
47:15it's a sunday evening and many
47:16passengers are headed home after the
47:18christmas and new year holidays
47:20the airport is packed
47:24in terminal 1 passengers check in for
47:26british midland flight
47:27092 to belfast northern ireland
47:30it's a regular hour-long commuter
47:32shuttle
47:35security is tight
47:38it's the height of the iras terrorist
47:40campaign against british targets
47:43the ira has killed 416 civilians in
47:46nearly 20 years of violence
47:51healthcare worker gareth jones started a
47:53new job in belfast three weeks ago
47:55[Music]
47:58security checks are a way of life
48:02if you lived in in northern ireland at
48:04the time you got quite used to security
48:05it was a period when there was
48:06heightened security there
48:08you look after things
48:14the ira isn't the only reason for he
48:17throws high security
48:20locker b scotland three weeks earlier a
48:23terrorist bomb blows a part of pan am
48:25747 flying from heathrow to the us
48:28the explosion kills all 259 people on
48:31board
48:32and 11 more on the ground it's the worst
48:36ever terrorist attack
48:37on a u.s airliner the authorities
48:40suspect it's the work of an
48:41arab terrorist group
48:50today the passengers on flight 092 are
48:53in the hands of 43 year old captain
48:55kevin hunt he's one of british midlands
48:59most experienced pilots with 25 years
49:01flying
49:02under his belt air conditioning and
49:04pressurization attacks on
49:05flight flying with him 39 year old first
49:07officer david mcclellan
49:10tonight they're flying an aircraft just
49:12two months old
49:13it's one of boeing's new 737-400 series
49:19boeing launched the aircraft a year
49:20earlier in a blaze of publicity
49:22[Music]
49:24it boasts significant improvements over
49:26its predecessors
49:28its new cfm56 engines are the most
49:30powerful of their kind
49:32and the cockpit display features
49:34state-of-the-art technology
49:35including computerized tv screens and
49:37led dials
49:39which replace the traditional mechanical
49:42gauges
49:457 15 p.m
49:48booming carlsbad 118 passengers board
49:52the brand new plane
49:53and take their seats rick's release
49:56daniel i'll going to push without
49:57starting just two and one on push
49:59captain hunt starts up the two engines
50:03the 400 series aircraft is still new to
50:05him he's clocked just 23 hours
50:10first officer mcclelland has 53 hours
50:20in the main cabin gareth jones has a
50:22window seat over the wing in an
50:24emergency exit road
50:25excuse me a flight attendant asks
50:28garrett to read the safety card
50:30so that he knows how to open the
50:31overwing exit door
50:33[Music]
50:34normally he was pretty blase about it
50:36but it was pleasantly done and
50:38it would have been ill-mannered not too