QF72: Meet hero pilot Kevin Sullivan, whose quick thinking saved 315 people

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It's the most terrifying mid-air emergency in Australian aviation history - flight QF72's autopilot tried to kill all 315 people on board. They were only saved by the quick thinking of Captain Kevin Sullivan - so why has Qantas refused to give him and the crew the recognition they deserve? And why were the warning signs from QF72 not heeded by other airlines?   This story originally aired on June 2, 2019.  #pilot #stories #movies #docuseries   Related Keywords: Kevin Sullivan pilot award Kevin Sullivan pilot wikipedia Kevin Sullivan pilot Biography Kevin Sullivan pilot Age Kevin Sullivan cause of death Fuzzy Maiava Kevin Sullivan death Kevin Sullivan Soccer QF72 accident QF72 flight status QF72 Singapore to Perth QF72 Air Crash Investigation QF71 QF72 plane type Qf72 Business Class QF72 pilot Qantas Flight 72 Qf72 flight status today QF72 accident QF72 Singapore to Perth flight status QF72 plane type QF72 Air Crash Investigation Qf72 flight status departures Qf72 flight status arrival Qf72 Business Class QF72 accident Qantas Flight 72 Air Crash investigation Qantas 32 QF72 flight status Qantas plane crash today Qantas flight 72 accident report Qantas crash 2024 QF72 Singapore to Perth

Transcript

00:00It's just after lunch on board Qantas Flight 72 from Singapore to Perth.

00:16Sir, would you like a drink?

00:18Qantas flight attendant Fuzzy Maieva is busy attending to passengers in the cabin.

00:23Juice for you, madam?

00:25If I can make your flight a lot easier, I'm your man.

00:29I thought it was going to be another great day.

00:32Up in the cockpit...

00:33How's everything doing?

00:34Very good.

00:35...Captain Kevin Sullivan has just climbed back into his seat after a rest break when

00:40suddenly the plane's autopilot disconnects.

00:48Autopilot one appears to have disconnected.

00:50And then we started getting stall warnings.

00:57And then we started getting overspeed warnings.

01:01And then it happens.

01:12The plane, it started going down.

01:15Pitching down, violently down.

01:17Tonight, for the first time, the previously untold story of Qantas' worst ever accident.

01:26My head went through the cabin ceiling.

01:28How a plane went psycho, injuring 100 passengers and crew.

01:34You died six or seven times on the operating table.

01:39I'm lucky to be here alive.

01:41And destroying once happy lives.

01:44It got to the point where I tried to take my own life.

01:48The hero pilot who fought against his own plane to save his passengers and crew.

01:55The automation is there to keep you safe, was actually trying to kill us.

02:00And how the lessons of Qantas Flight 72 have gone unheeded.

02:05All of us are deeply sorry for the loss of life.

02:09With two planes crashing within six months of each other, killing all 346 people on board.

02:17When you see what's happening with the 737 MAX accidents, they're the same.

02:23They were in no man's land.

02:24They didn't know what was happening.

02:26And their instinctive reaction to pull back and stop the ground from hitting them was

02:32not enough to save the day.

02:37Kevin Sullivan doesn't fly anymore.

02:42What happened that day in the skies over the Indian Ocean has affected him profoundly.

02:48I could have hidden it.

02:49But I think it's more courageous to be honest with yourself and honest to say, yeah, it's

02:56affected me.

02:58I don't shirk my responsibility as a commercial pilot and a captain.

03:03I reached the point where it was best that I stop.

03:08Growing up in California, Kevin always dreamed of being a pilot.

03:17And by his early 20s, he was a top gun fighter pilot in the U.S. Navy.

03:23As a F-14 pilot in the Cold War, I flew off aircraft carriers.

03:29The landing area moves.

03:31At night, you can't see the landing area until you're actually on it.

03:36We were essentially at war.

03:37We trained and flew to that level of extreme readiness.

03:45Then came an opportunity to fly Mirage jets as part of an exchange program with the Royal

03:51Australian Air Force.

03:53It's a speed machine.

03:55At low level, I've been very fast.

03:59Over 600 knots, 1,200 kilometres an hour.

04:01The young American loved Australia and those jets so much, he ended up settling here.

04:08After you, Kevin.

04:14How did you organise this?

04:15What do you think?

04:16Yeah, it's pretty special.

04:17The Mirage 3, there she is.

04:20We called it the French lady, but the Aussies did, and I do too.

04:25Well, you can't stand on the seat.

04:28You need a degree just to get in.

04:29Thirty-five years along life's runway and Kevin Sullivan's love for his French lady

04:35hasn't dimmed.

04:36It's just like getting into a Formula One car.

04:39You don't have much room.

04:40It becomes part of you.

04:41Not a bad place to hone your skills.

04:43There's no automation on this thing.

04:45You need to know how to fly this one by hand, I tell you.

04:49Kevin eventually moved on to a job with Qantas, flying its biggest passenger jets.

05:00How's everything doing?

05:02Smooth sailing.

05:04By October 2008, he's had decades of experience as a commercial pilot, but it's his time as

05:12a top gun that will prove crucial.

05:16We were coming up to the northwest coast of Australia.

05:19We could see it out the windscreen, and the Indian Ocean was calm and blue.

05:26On this clear blue day at the controls of a Qantas Airbus, Captain Kevin Sullivan is

05:33about to be tested in the most dramatic way possible.

05:37Autopilot one appears to have disconnected.

05:41When was the first indication of trouble?

05:44The autopilot disconnected, and then we started getting stall warnings.

05:48Stall, stall.

05:49Stall, stall.

05:50It sounded like, stall, stall, means the plane will stop flying, it will start to go down.

05:58And then we started getting overspeed warnings.

06:01Stall.

06:02Stall warning and overspeed at the same time.

06:06It's impossible.

06:08Doesn't make sense to me, because overspeed is you're at your maximum limit, and stall

06:12means you're at your minimum speed limit.

06:15What the hell?

06:16Get Pete back in here.

06:19First officer to the flight deck, please.

06:21And then the plane started moving, and initially it was a dip.

06:28Stall, stall.

06:31And then it started going down.

06:34Pitching down aggressively and violently.

06:37Down.

06:42It generated enough force that we had to brace ourselves against the instrument glare shield

06:48to stop from basically hitting the ceiling, even with our seatbelts secured.

06:54I was accelerating down towards the Indian Ocean, and certainly my windscreens were filled

06:58with the Indian Ocean.

07:00Stall, stall.

07:02UF72 is in a death dive, and refusing to let Kevin take control.

07:10This is my broad understanding.

07:11So the plane's flying along.

07:13The sensors are giving some sort of information to the computer system that the plane is pointed

07:18upwards, so it tries to overcorrect, and then obviously points you back down.

07:24Is that a fair summary?

07:26Yes.

07:27In a way.

07:29Sorry, Kev.

07:30I'm protecting you, so I'm not going to let you stop me.

07:33Like the HAL 9000, you know, in 2001, Space Odyssey, where Dave asks him to open the pod

07:40bay doors, and HAL says, I'm sorry, Dave.

07:43I can't let you do that.

07:45I'm pulling back on the stick, and I'm saying, hey, HAL, stop moving the nose.

07:50And it's like, I'm sorry, Kev.

07:53I can't let you do that.

07:54Stall, stall.

07:55But no way is this proud ex-fighter pilot going to let a rogue computer beat him.

08:02Stall, stall.

08:03I was in a near-death position, and I was going to fight to the death to make sure that

08:09didn't happen.

08:12Qantas Flight 72 from Singapore is cruising comfortably at 37,000 feet.

08:18I'll have a glass of white wine, please.

08:21Glass of white wine.

08:23In just over two hours, the Airbus A330 will land in Perth.

08:28It's been a routine flight.

08:31Some of the passengers on board are off-duty Qantas staff returning from holidays.

08:37Among them, Bruce Southcott, a flight services manager travelling with his wife, Caroline.

08:43The aircraft was flying flat and still, and I watched the glass of wine sit there.

08:48It was out of ripple.

08:50Stall.

08:51But up in the cockpit, the plane's flight control system is going haywire.

08:56Stall, stall.

08:58The aircraft's computers are telling Captain Kevin Sullivan his plane is about to stall.

09:03Stall, stall.

09:05And then...

09:08Suddenly, the plane is hurtling down towards the Indian Ocean.

09:15There wasn't really any first sign.

09:17It just happened.

09:18Like the hand of God had just pushed the aircraft down.

09:22There was no, ooh, let's go as a rollercoaster.

09:25It was just like slam.

09:27Bruce is wearing his seatbelt, but Caroline is just coming back from the toilet.

09:32I remember getting hit on the head with the plane.

09:38And I just went bang.

09:41And before I could think, bang again, and then the third bang,

09:44my head went through the cabin ceiling.

09:46After the third time that it hit me on the head, I pretty much was knocked out.

09:52An off-duty Qantas pilot, Peter Casey, and his wife, Diana,

09:57a Qantas customer service manager,

09:59have left their seats to say hello to flight attendant, Fuzzy Maeva.

10:04Fuzzy got a lot of people down there checking out the catering as he does.

10:08The three of us chatting away.

10:10I pasted my meal in the oven.

10:12I was focused on the timer, you see, because I was hungry.

10:16And then when I saw the exact time on it, it was 13 seconds.

10:20And that's when I saw the corner of my eye.

10:24Someone had just shot up.

10:26And I just sort of looked down, and, like, the plane was, like, disappearing from my feet.

10:35I heard a slight change in the airflow of the airplane,

10:39and I thought, ah, this is interesting.

10:42And the next thing you know, womp up we went.

10:46I must have hit something. I must have hit the ceiling, because I just...

10:49I was knocked out.

10:51The three of us up in the ceiling, probably only for seconds,

10:55but it seemed like an eternity.

10:59The Casey's daughters, 17-year-old Becky and 18-year-old Elise,

11:04are at the front of the cabin.

11:06The first nosedive, my sister, she grabbed on to the bottom of her chair,

11:11and she looked up at me as I was on the top of the airplane.

11:14You were actually pinned to the ceiling.

11:17Yeah.

11:18It felt like forever.

11:20It did. It felt like a few minutes.

11:24Back in the cockpit, Kevin Sullivan is desperately trying to take back control of his plane.

11:32We're basically fighting for our lives at this stage.

11:35They had to very quickly discover what part of the airplane was trying to kill them

11:40and how to stop it from doing so.

11:42If there's any other pilot who understands exactly what Captain Sullivan is facing,

11:49it's the other Sully.

11:51Captain Chesley Sullenberger lost both his engines in a bird strike

11:56and had to land his plane in New York's Hudson River.

12:00Captain, I'd like your insight if I could.

12:02I'm trying to tap into, I guess, the anguish of that moment,

12:07what it must have been like for the pilot.

12:09Well, at first it would have been confusing, surprising, a huge startle factor,

12:14and then one would immediately begin to act to regain control of the airplane.

12:20Kevin Sullivan's next move is completely counterintuitive.

12:25Instead of pulling back on the control stick, he lets it go.

12:32I have a choice to make. Do I hold on to it or do I release it?

12:36And my military training for out of control is to release neutralised controls.

12:44It works. The plane is no longer falling from the sky.

12:48But now passengers are being smashed back down to the floor.

12:57We heard an almighty crash coming from the cabin,

13:01and that was the people's bodies.

13:05That was the galleys coming apart.

13:09And it sounds like a 40-foot shipping container full of cutlery and glass

13:16that is sent down a ramp into a brick wall.

13:21I just came crashing down.

13:24My sister, she was eating, and her fork went in my arm.

13:28Got a bit stuck when I came down.

13:31It's the little things that you remember.

13:34When I came back down, I hit the armrest.

13:39And then I realised that my bones were clicking in my back,

13:44and I realised that there was something terribly wrong, very wrong.

13:52I couldn't move off the floor. The staff were asking me to go back to my chair.

13:56I couldn't get up at all. I couldn't move my legs at all.

13:59Your legs weren't working?

14:00Nope. My ankle was broken, so my ankle was just sort of hanging.

14:05Eventually another passenger came and picked me up and put me in my chair.

14:10Hit the galley bench. That's what woke me up.

14:13All I could hear was the crushing sounds.

14:16My ears going, I don't know what the heck is going on.

14:19All I see is blood rushing out of Peter's head.

14:21And Diana, she's unconscious.

14:24And then I see the two girls I was looking after.

14:27Oh man, one of them who was sat on the aisle seat, she stuck her hand out to me

14:32and she was just crying.

14:35And to me, that's like my own daughter.

14:38You know, anybody, I mean, I just couldn't do anything.

14:41And I just felt so helpless because I couldn't move.

14:46Back in the cockpit, Kevin Sullivan has pulled the plane out of its death dive.

14:52What the hell was that?

14:53But he's still fighting for control.

14:56It's the primary flight computer.

14:58Now we're in this revolver of faulting systems.

15:03In effect, this is a total system collapse.

15:07The plane is starting to melt down.

15:09Automatic brakes not working.

15:11Boiler's not working.

15:13Let's get us back up to 37,000 feet.

15:16I'm still pretty coherent.

15:19Yes, my cages are a little bit rattled because we don't know what's happening.

15:24And just two minutes later.

15:27Don't you do it.

15:29It happens again.

15:35I'm basically a passenger.

15:37I'm an observer now.

15:39The automation that's there is supposed to be keeping me safe,

15:42not putting me into harm's way.

15:44And I got very angry.

15:46I thought it was the end.

15:48Really?

15:55Yeah.

15:57It was so violent.

15:59You thought you were going to die?

16:02Yeah.

16:07I think being so young as well,

16:09not having experienced life outside of high school yet,

16:13you don't really know what to expect in the big world.

16:16And honestly, I just thought that was it.

16:19All I could hear was the sounds of, the sounds of we were going to die.

16:23But you just hope to God that it happens quick.

16:25Death?

16:26Yes.

16:27And not to, I don't want to feel any pain.

16:30I was frozen like a block of ice,

16:33just waiting for it to happen.

16:37Once again, Kevin Sullivan's military training saves his plane.

16:42We have lost auto pitch trim.

16:44But he has no idea if or when it will happen again.

16:49Another failure in prim 3.

16:51Reset?

16:52No.

16:53Don't.

16:55Everyone responds to trauma differently.

16:58Kevin Sullivan cracks a joke.

17:00He picks a line from another of his favourite movies, Flying High.

17:05Looks like I picked a bad day to quit sniffing glue.

17:10First officer Peter Lipset had been on a break

17:13when the plane went into its dive.

17:15He's injured, but he makes it back to the cockpit.

17:18That's a shit fight out there.

17:20I think I've just broken my nose.

17:22Congratulations.

17:23Strap in, we're in trouble.

17:26I made the assessment that we're in trouble.

17:29And I've never used those terms in any situation prior to that

17:35in my extreme flying career.

17:38Mayday, mayday, mayday.

17:40Qantas 72, Qantas 72.

17:43Flight control computer malfunctions

17:45and we have significant injuries on board.

17:48Kevin Sullivan is in the fight of his life.

17:51The Qantas captain has twice managed to stop his out-of-control plane

17:56from plunging into the Indian Ocean.

17:59Tracking direct to Learmonth.

18:01He needs to get his 315 passengers and crew down onto the ground fast

18:07before it happens again.

18:10He heads for the nearest airport, the RAAF base at Learmonth

18:15on Western Australia's northwest coast.

18:18I couldn't risk exposing myself and the passengers

18:23to an out-of-control airplane any longer than I had to.

18:28And Learmonth was just off our left wing

18:32and that's where we decided to go.

18:36In the cabin behind him, more than 100 passengers are injured.

18:41What's happening?

18:42Many have been knocked unconscious.

18:44Others have broken bones and bleeding wounds.

18:48Ladies and gentlemen, this is the flight deck.

18:50All passengers to fasten seatbelts immediately.

18:54Caroline Southcott is in absolute agony.

18:58Her back is broken

19:00and a single piece of skin is keeping her foot attached to her leg.

19:06But she has no choice.

19:08She has to sit in her seat.

19:12I was really worried my bones were going to go through my spinal cord

19:15so I had to hold myself up on the armrests

19:18for I think it must have been 45, 50 minutes.

19:21It would have been easy because you said you could physically feel and hear

19:24her spine just grating like that against each other.

19:28Yeah, it was a very funny noise.

19:30Prior to that, I've never had pain, bad pain.

19:33So it was a matter of life and death.

19:35It was a matter of suck it up, princess.

19:38You've got to do something here.

19:41Caroline now notices that her nearly severed left foot is facing backwards.

19:47During all this pain, she looked down at her ankle and said,

19:51that's not right, I'm not happy with that.

19:53She pulled the ankle forward, rotated it and clicked it back into place.

19:59Reset it. I think there was no choice.

20:01It was fight or die.

20:04In the rear galley, Peter and Diana are all badly injured.

20:09Fuzzy is desperate to get to the two unaccompanied children he is looking after,

20:14but his legs won't work.

20:17I couldn't even move.

20:19I wanted to, I tried so much to reach out and I knew I could not move.

20:24Peter is bleeding profusely from a head wound.

20:28Diana has suffered a badly injured back and shoulder,

20:31but somehow she finds the strength to help the people around her.

20:38I tell you what, Diana, man, she was incredible.

20:40She's like, she reminded me of the Hulk, you know.

20:43Adrenaline came out of her and like she could lift anything, you know.

20:48And she made it happen.

20:50And I can hear Diana say, OK, Fuzzy, you're next.

20:52Come on, nearly there.

20:54Man.

20:55There we go, just got to put your belt on.

20:57She was incredible, I'm telling you right now, man,

20:59that lady deserves recognition for what she did.

21:02Pretty amazing wife you have there.

21:05Very proud of her.

21:06Very proud.

21:07Diana Casey is one of the true heroes of this story,

21:11but you won't hear her speak.

21:13It's a slap in the face to Diana's extraordinary courage,

21:17but Qantas has refused to let Diana,

21:20or any of its current staff, be interviewed for this program.

21:25As a former employee,

21:27Fuzzy Maeva isn't bound by such small-minded constraints.

21:33How on earth did she manage to get Fuzzy,

21:36if you'll allow me, a reasonably big unit,

21:39up off the ground into the seat?

21:42Oh, man.

21:43She just sort of like grabbed my pants, you know,

21:46and just grabbed me, you know,

21:48and I felt like I was being pulled by a six-foot-eight athlete, you know.

21:56And then she just looked at me and she just shook me and says,

21:58we're going to be OK.

22:00And she just gave me a kiss on the forehead.

22:02She said, you're going to be fine.

22:04In circumstances like that,

22:06the pilot in the cockpit gives an order for people to sit down immediately.

22:11Well, that's what they've got to do.

22:13But in this circumstance, there were people that were unsecured,

22:17and she took it upon herself to break the protocol

22:22because there's a need to, and I totally, completely agree with her,

22:26there's a need to, to care for people that needed to be secured.

22:31Final check.

22:32With dozens of his passengers requiring urgent medical attention,

22:36Kevin Sullivan now has to land his crippled Airbus A330

22:41on that remote airfield at Learmonth.

22:44OK, we're on visual approach.

22:47Manual thrust.

22:49Manual pitch trim.

22:51He's now flying his aircraft entirely by hand.

22:55But Kevin knows that at any moment,

22:58the plane's computer might try to wrest back control.

23:02You're down.

23:061,000 feet.

23:08But now we know that at this point, if something happens,

23:14we don't have the altitude to recover.

23:16Don't you do it.

23:18Don't.

23:27I remember when we landed, everyone clapped.

23:33Kevin's job was outstanding

23:35under what I would believe to be immense pressure.

23:39Did you allow yourself just the briefest moment

23:42to look down at your arms and legs and think,

23:44my goodness, I'm alive?

23:46So I made another quip.

23:49I did my Arnie impersonation from True Lies.

23:54I said, yeah, a little bit of excitement, otherwise they'll die.

23:58As we were rolling down the runway...

24:00You're not even joking, are you? I'm serious.

24:02Yeah, of course, because...

24:04Yeah, that's my... OK, so that's my release.

24:08Only now is Kevin Sullivan able to walk back through his aircraft

24:13to inspect the damage.

24:17I call it the walk that changed my life.

24:23It was quite confronting.

24:26The interior of the cabin was almost destroyed.

24:30There are holes above the seats

24:33where passengers' heads have punctured the plastic,

24:37and there's lots of them.

24:39Of course, there were children.

24:41The children had huge contusions on their heads.

24:45Some were bleeding.

24:47And the parents are holding their children,

24:52trying to console them as I walk past,

24:55and the look of,

24:58look what you did to my kid, is...

25:01will never leave.

25:03There was almost a moment for you as you made that walk

25:08where you felt it, that your heart was breaking.

25:11Is that true?

25:12Yes.

25:15Time out.

25:21Time out.

25:23So this is a critical part, but...

25:28That's a valid question.

25:36I imagine that's one of the most significant moments of your life.

25:41I'm the head honcho.

25:42I'm the one that has to show leadership and strength,

25:46but it's pretty hard when emotional chunks are being ripped off you

25:54as you move through the airplane.

26:02Qantas Flight 72 has landed at the remote Learmonth Airstrip

26:07on the northwest coast of Western Australia.

26:10Captain Kevin Sullivan has brought his plane down safely,

26:14but with so many lives in the balance,

26:17the emergency is far from over.

26:21Local rescue crews swarm through the plane.

26:25The emergency services crew came on board,

26:27and it was just like, it was chaos.

26:29The pain, the pain was unbearable.

26:32I think I nearly passed out,

26:34and the next minute I got a morphine stick stuck in my mouth.

26:38You suck on that, big fella.

26:40I imagine that was a pretty big relief.

26:42Yeah, he said, suck on that, big fella.

26:44I can remember that, suck on that, big fella.

26:48As far as what happened up there,

26:51all I can say is the safest course of action was for me to come into here,

26:57not only because of the airplane's behaviour,

27:00but also of the injuries that people sustained.

27:05In the terminal, Captain Sullivan grabs a megaphone

27:08and addresses the passengers who've made it off the Airbus uninjured.

27:12If I could say, the runway looked pretty good to me.

27:20I made some comment about the runway looked pretty damn good to me

27:26as we rolled out for landing.

27:29And at that point, everybody was cheering again.

27:33Kevin is relieved to be on the ground,

27:36but he now knows what was happening in the cabin

27:39while he was wrestling for control of the plane.

27:43More than 100 passengers are injured, some critically.

27:49They were accelerated into the ceiling

27:52and with such a force that their heads broke through the plastic.

27:56It's not soft.

27:58It's aviation grade plastic.

28:02The most seriously injured are airlifted to Perth

28:05by the Royal Flying Doctor Service.

28:07Among them, Caroline Southcott.

28:11The pain in my back, it was pretty bad.

28:14I can remember just fighting to keep breathing

28:16because I thought if I stop breathing, I'll go unconscious

28:19and then no-one's going to get me back.

28:24You're initially thinking about, well, what's post-injury going to be like?

28:28How is she going to walk and will she walk and all that?

28:32And then they take it to the next level and say to you,

28:35well, no, what we're saying here is that her survival is in doubt.

28:40And that's when I went, oh, that's when you do freak.

28:46She's rushed into emergency surgery with a broken back.

28:50Her life is slipping away.

28:53You died six or seven times on the operating table.

28:58I'm lucky I can walk and I'm lucky to be here alive.

29:03How would you describe the surgery that Caroline went through?

29:07In her graphic terms? Yeah.

29:09They cut me down here and they put me, because it's on the table,

29:13so they could get to it.

29:15Your spine's on your back, as everyone knows,

29:17but the injury had to be addressed from the front of the spine.

29:21So they had to do all that and then put everything back in place

29:24and stitch her up.

29:25They put her on the table and did their work

29:27and then they put it back in again.

29:29Threw it back in.

29:30But there's pain behind Caroline's laughter.

29:34Her body is a miracle of surgical architecture.

29:39They were able to replace my vertebrae with a cage

29:42and biological cement and bone from my hip that I can even move.

29:48It's not 100%, but it's better than it was.

29:57Then there's the mental anguish.

30:00Nowadays, Bruce and Caroline live as near recluses

30:04on their property in Queensland.

30:07It's one of the few places they feel safe.

30:11Becky refuses to fly and lives with the trauma every day.

30:20I can see how painful it is,

30:22these memories that you're still living with.

30:29It's still very real.

30:33Very.

30:35Very real.

30:37Very.

30:42Very.

30:45How has this changed you?

30:49I'm quite an emotional ball now.

30:54I saw a psychologist.

30:56They diagnosed me with PTSD.

30:59It's not a fun thing to have when you're 17.

31:05I was medicated until I was pregnant with my first child.

31:11That's when I had to come off them.

31:14It's not a nice thing when you're a teenager.

31:21Flight attendant Fuzzy Maiava can't work anymore

31:24because of his injuries.

31:27I had to replace both knees.

31:29I've now got two titanium knees.

31:34I ruptured a spleen in my spine.

31:38I have seven damaged discs.

31:41That's the pain I get every day.

31:45And they trigger on the nightmares and the flashbacks.

31:55It's really severe. It's really bad.

31:57I can't even sleep properly at night.

31:59I toss and turn.

32:01And that's when the flashbacks come.

32:04And so in order for me to get around that,

32:08I keep hitting the wall just to ground myself.

32:12Gee, Fuzzy, that is an enormous thing

32:15for one person to have to deal with.

32:17Even now, you're still having flashbacks,

32:20still hitting the wall?

32:23Matt, it got to a point,

32:27the seriousness of it,

32:29it got to the point where I tried to take my own life.

32:34I ended up in ICU for a coma for a week.

32:39And because I couldn't take it any longer,

32:42the pain was unbearable.

32:45I'd been medically retired as well.

32:48And I thought to myself,

32:52what's happening?

32:54It was like I'd been just discarded, you know?

33:01Some of the victims of QF72 received six-figure payouts,

33:06but not Fuzzy.

33:08As an employee, Qantas offered him just $33,000,

33:14a settlement he rejected on legal advice.

33:17In the end, this proud man was left with nothing.

33:25Fuzzy, do you feel as though you were properly supported?

33:35Like I said, I have the greatest respect for Qantas.

33:44It's a tough question, I know.

33:46Yes.

33:48I can see that even now,

33:51you're reluctant to criticise the airline that you loved.

33:55But the reality is that for you,

33:58some support, any support,

34:01would have made the world of difference.

34:07It would have helped me and my family a great deal, to be honest.

34:12Kevin Sullivan didn't suffer any physical injuries,

34:16but the events of that day continued to haunt him.

34:21Three years ago, he made the difficult decision to stop flying.

34:27You hold on to those images, those memories,

34:31as if they were yesterday.

34:33And that's just what your brain does

34:35when you're in this sort of, you know,

34:39near-death traumatic experience.

34:43Your brain records in high definition,

34:48and it stays in there.

34:51It doesn't go away.

34:53Qantas Flight 72 was cruising at 37,000 feet

34:58when the on-board computer suddenly went haywire,

35:03sending the plane hurtling down the runway.

35:08The Australian Transport Safety Bureau

35:11blamed incorrect data for the emergency,

35:14but it hasn't been able to explain how or why that happened.

35:21It all sounds eerily similar to the recent Boeing Max crashes.

35:27In those two cases, flight computers reacted to faulty data.

35:32The pilots couldn't regain control of their planes

35:36and 346 people died.

35:41It's important also to remember that

35:43while humans are often the least predictable part of the safety system,

35:47they are by far the most resilient and adaptable,

35:51the ones who can confront a challenge they'd never seen before

35:54and in a short period of time figure out a way to solve even that crisis.

36:00Captain Chesley Sullenberger, the hero of the Hudson River landing,

36:04believes that replacing pilot skills with increased automation

36:08is a fatal mistake.

36:10What we have learned in aviation is that

36:13automation does not decrease errors,

36:17but it changes the nature of errors that are made.

36:21As we use more and more technology in the cockpits,

36:24we must always make sure that the humans are in complete control

36:29of the aircraft and its flight path.

36:32As a former elite fighter pilot,

36:34Kevin Sullivan had the skills to bring his plane down safely.

36:38The passengers and crew of QF72 know they were incredibly lucky.

36:45This guy saved my life and he gave me an opportunity to be here

36:49and I'm breathing, I'm here.

36:51I'm here in the flesh because of that man.

36:53Fuzzy Maeva is now campaigning

36:56to get Captain Sullivan and his flight crew

36:59the recognition they deserve.

37:02I think they deserve the Qantas Diamond Chairman Award

37:06and also the Cross of Valour.

37:08I believe that's Australia's highest civilian bravery award.

37:12So if you're out there, please sign that petition

37:14so it'll help get Kevin and his men acknowledged

37:18and recognised for what they did.

37:20We owe our lives to him, period.

37:22Yep, everyone does.

37:24Do you think he should be recognised for that?

37:27Absolutely.

37:28Knighted.

37:29Knighted.

37:31He definitely saved 350 people's lives.

37:34Yep.

37:35Hero?

37:36Definitely.

37:39Definitely, without a doubt.

37:43What would you say to him?

37:48Give him a big hug.

37:53Becky can't get on a plane to deliver that hug.

37:58But Fuzzy Maeva has bravely cast aside his fear of flying

38:03and flown from New Zealand to thank his hero in person.

38:08And I know you still think about the passengers.

38:12They're very top of mind for you.

38:14We actually have one of them here now to say a bit of a hello.

38:16Is that right?

38:17He's just over there over your left shoulder.

38:19You might remember this young man.

38:21Oh, mate.

38:25Good to see you, my brother.

38:26Fuzzy.

38:27Good to see you.

38:28Yeah.

38:30Oh, mate.

38:31Welcome.

38:33Oh, my brother.

38:34God.

38:35Oh, mate.

38:38He has been dying to see you.

38:41Fuzzy, is this the first time you've flown?

38:44Yes, this is the first time.

38:46Mate, I've been dying to meet up with you.

38:49You're the reason I'm here.

38:50If it wasn't for you, Kevin, we would not be here.

38:53And I'm serious.

38:55Thank you, Fuzzy.

38:56You know, it's their job.

38:57They get paid for it.

38:58No, this is very unique.

38:59And that's why I'm so passionate in trying to get this in the public realm

39:06to get the Qantas group and the Australian government to acknowledge

39:12and recognise you because this is something unique.

39:15This is unheard of.

39:16You know, and that's why I'm so passionate.

39:18And I will never give up.

39:20I will never give up on you, brother.

39:21I will never give up.

39:23And those calls for recognition are taking off.

39:27What Kevin Sullivan achieved that day has come to represent a line in the sand

39:33for pilots who refuse to relinquish any more control of their planes to computers.

39:39Captain Sullivan, from one Sully to another,

39:43I congratulate you on having built and led your team well

39:47and facing such an extreme crisis on QS-72, keeping your passengers and crew safe.

39:54And since you're a former U.S. Navy naval aviator and fighter pilot,

39:59Bravo Zulu, I salute you.

40:17For more UN videos visit www.un.org

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