WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:04.679 Picture of the scene. It is February sixth, nineteen fifty eight. Right, 2 00:00:04.919 --> 00:00:08.439 we are at Munich Airport in West Germany. The temperature 3 00:00:08.480 --> 00:00:11.519 is hovering right around freezing and there's this heavy wet 4 00:00:11.560 --> 00:00:12.720 snow falling over the. 5 00:00:12.640 --> 00:00:15.919 Tarmac, which is a really miserable night exactly. 6 00:00:15.960 --> 00:00:19.199 And sitting out there in the freezing slush is a 7 00:00:19.440 --> 00:00:24.800 luxurious twin engine aircraft. It's an airspeed ambassador known as 8 00:00:24.920 --> 00:00:25.839 the Elizabethan. 9 00:00:26.120 --> 00:00:27.600 Beautiful plane, it really is. 10 00:00:28.000 --> 00:00:30.719 And aboard this plane are thirty eight people. You have 11 00:00:30.960 --> 00:00:33.439 eleven top tier journalists, and you have some of the 12 00:00:33.439 --> 00:00:35.799 most famous athletes on the entire planet. 13 00:00:35.920 --> 00:00:37.560 The Manchester United football team. 14 00:00:37.479 --> 00:00:41.119 Yes, affectionately known to millions as the Busby Babes. 15 00:00:41.359 --> 00:00:44.039 And I mean these young men are at the absolute 16 00:00:44.039 --> 00:00:47.479 peak of their careers. They're returning to the UK triumphant 17 00:00:47.520 --> 00:00:50.119 after a massive European Cup match in Yugoslavia. 18 00:00:50.240 --> 00:00:52.679 Right, they had just played Red Star Belgrade. 19 00:00:52.280 --> 00:00:55.079 Exactly, and they just needed to make a quick refueling 20 00:00:55.119 --> 00:00:58.679 stop in Munich, you know, because the Elizabethan didn't have 21 00:00:58.679 --> 00:01:00.560 the range to make it all the way back Manchester 22 00:01:00.679 --> 00:01:01.479 on a single tank. 23 00:01:01.759 --> 00:01:04.840 But up until a few minutes ago, the cabin was loud. 24 00:01:05.319 --> 00:01:08.159 The players were laughing, they were playing cards, tossing jokes 25 00:01:08.200 --> 00:01:08.519 over the. 26 00:01:08.439 --> 00:01:10.159 Seats, riding that postgame high. 27 00:01:10.239 --> 00:01:14.799 Yeah exactly. But now that mood has completely shifted. There 28 00:01:14.879 --> 00:01:18.640 is just this tense, heavy silence hanging in the air. 29 00:01:18.599 --> 00:01:22.239 Because the plane has already aborted to takeoff attempts right. 30 00:01:22.640 --> 00:01:25.920 And one of the players, Johnny Barry, actually mutters under 31 00:01:25.920 --> 00:01:27.760 his breath that they are all going to get killed. 32 00:01:27.840 --> 00:01:29.959 Oh wow, that is chilling. 33 00:01:29.920 --> 00:01:32.120 It really is. And up in the cockpit you have 34 00:01:32.280 --> 00:01:37.079 two incredibly experienced World War II veterans, but they are 35 00:01:37.159 --> 00:01:40.280 staring at the clock. They have exactly two minutes left 36 00:01:40.280 --> 00:01:42.840 on their takeoff clearance before the window just closes. 37 00:01:43.120 --> 00:01:46.079 The pressure in that cockpit must be immense. I mean, 38 00:01:46.079 --> 00:01:48.359 if they don't go right, then the flight is canceled. Yeah, 39 00:01:48.359 --> 00:01:50.519 they're stuck, right, The most famous team in the world 40 00:01:50.519 --> 00:01:53.000 is stranded in Munich. All the schedules are ruined, and 41 00:01:53.079 --> 00:01:56.680 the airline faces just a massive logistical nightmare. 42 00:01:56.719 --> 00:01:59.959 So they decide to push the throttles to full power 43 00:02:00.239 --> 00:02:01.959 for a third attempt, and that. 44 00:02:01.879 --> 00:02:04.599 Third attempt changes aviation history forever. 45 00:02:04.879 --> 00:02:07.760 It does. Yeah, and to understand what happens in the 46 00:02:07.799 --> 00:02:12.159 next few terrifying seconds and the grueling, like decoed long 47 00:02:12.280 --> 00:02:16.120 geopolitical battle that followed. We have pulled together a massive 48 00:02:16.159 --> 00:02:22.360 stack of declassified crash investigation reports, atmospheric data, and historical testimonies. 49 00:02:22.599 --> 00:02:24.800 It is a lot of material to go through, it is. 50 00:02:25.000 --> 00:02:27.919 But our mission in this deep dive is to investigate 51 00:02:28.080 --> 00:02:31.080 the harrowing true story of a crash that wiped out 52 00:02:31.080 --> 00:02:34.479 a legendary team and to uncover how the actual cause 53 00:02:34.599 --> 00:02:36.280 was buried for over a decade. 54 00:02:36.439 --> 00:02:39.439 Yeah, and to really grasp the controversy that would consume 55 00:02:39.479 --> 00:02:42.599 the next eleven years of international aviation. We first have 56 00:02:42.680 --> 00:02:45.919 to understand the mechanics of what went wrong during those 57 00:02:45.960 --> 00:02:48.240 crucial final seconds on that freezing runway. 58 00:02:48.360 --> 00:02:50.879 So the dynamic in that cockpit is a critical piece 59 00:02:50.879 --> 00:02:53.039 of the puzzle. Right, you have Captain James Sayin. He's 60 00:02:53.080 --> 00:02:55.840 thirty six years old, holds an impeccable service record O 61 00:02:56.000 --> 00:02:59.759 a professional exactly, and beside him is co pilot Kenneth Raymond, 62 00:03:00.120 --> 00:03:03.639 thirty eight and a decorated World War Two ace. They 63 00:03:03.680 --> 00:03:05.840 are great friends, but they've made a decision that goes 64 00:03:05.879 --> 00:03:07.120 against company a protocol. 65 00:03:07.159 --> 00:03:08.960 Oh right, they swap seats. 66 00:03:08.919 --> 00:03:12.159 Yes, Raymond is sitting in the left seat actively flying 67 00:03:12.159 --> 00:03:15.360 the plane because he is highly accustomed to handling this 68 00:03:15.479 --> 00:03:17.599 specific aircraft from that side. 69 00:03:17.680 --> 00:03:20.759 And I mean that detail might seem incredibly minor to 70 00:03:20.800 --> 00:03:24.800 a passenger, but in the rigid world of aviation protocol, 71 00:03:25.479 --> 00:03:27.639 that is going to become a major point of contention 72 00:03:27.800 --> 00:03:28.159 later on. 73 00:03:28.360 --> 00:03:29.000 Absolutely. 74 00:03:29.240 --> 00:03:32.199 But let's look at the mechanical issue forcing those first 75 00:03:32.199 --> 00:03:36.360 two aborted takeoffs. The engines on this Elizabethan aircraft are 76 00:03:36.360 --> 00:03:39.120 suffering from a phenomenon called boost surging. 77 00:03:39.639 --> 00:03:42.759 I always hear that term in aviation reports, But what 78 00:03:42.919 --> 00:03:46.520 is physically happening inside the engine during a boost surge? 79 00:03:46.680 --> 00:03:49.199 So it really comes down to the air density. At 80 00:03:49.240 --> 00:03:51.599 higher altitudes, like in Munich, the air. 81 00:03:51.479 --> 00:03:54.280 Is thinner, right, less oxygen Exactly. 82 00:03:54.199 --> 00:03:56.680 When a pilot pushes the throttle forward too quickly in 83 00:03:56.680 --> 00:03:59.680 those conditions, the fuel to air mixture gets completely thrown 84 00:03:59.719 --> 00:04:00.080 out of. 85 00:04:00.520 --> 00:04:01.520 It floods the engine. 86 00:04:01.560 --> 00:04:04.680 Basically, Yeah, the engine essentially chokes on its own fuel 87 00:04:04.719 --> 00:04:07.240 because it can't draw in enough oxygen fast enough to 88 00:04:07.240 --> 00:04:10.199 burn it all. The thrust opens up too fast, the 89 00:04:10.240 --> 00:04:13.599 engine stutters and surges, and you just lose consistent power. 90 00:04:13.840 --> 00:04:16.120 Okay, So they try to take off, the engine surges, 91 00:04:16.199 --> 00:04:18.800 they lock on the brakes and they abandon the attempt. 92 00:04:19.319 --> 00:04:21.480 And they do this twice. They even take the passengers 93 00:04:21.480 --> 00:04:23.079 off the plane at one point. 94 00:04:22.759 --> 00:04:25.240 And this is where the local station engineer gets involved. 95 00:04:25.800 --> 00:04:29.160 He climbs up to the cockpit and advises the pilots 96 00:04:29.199 --> 00:04:32.319 on a known workaround for this exact issue. 97 00:04:32.399 --> 00:04:33.519 What does he tell them to do? 98 00:04:34.040 --> 00:04:36.680 He tells them that next time it surges, just reduce 99 00:04:36.759 --> 00:04:40.439 the power slightly and then advance the throttle forward very 100 00:04:40.639 --> 00:04:44.319 very slowly to let the fuel to air mixture stabilize. 101 00:04:44.519 --> 00:04:46.879 Okay, so a gradual acceleration. 102 00:04:46.519 --> 00:04:50.360 Exactly, and the pilots accept this advice. The passengers are 103 00:04:50.360 --> 00:04:54.199 loaded back into that tense, silent cabin. The clearance is expiring. 104 00:04:54.519 --> 00:04:56.519 They line up on the center line for the third time. 105 00:04:56.399 --> 00:04:59.399 And the runway in Munich is over nineteen hundred meters long, 106 00:05:00.040 --> 00:05:00.600 any of room. 107 00:05:01.079 --> 00:05:03.839 Even with this plan to accelerate gradually, they should easily 108 00:05:03.920 --> 00:05:06.360 hit their required speeds and lift off just past the 109 00:05:06.360 --> 00:05:07.399 twelve hundred meter mark. 110 00:05:07.519 --> 00:05:10.040 So they have a huge margin of safety. They should, 111 00:05:10.279 --> 00:05:14.839 so Raiment pushes the thralas full power. The plane starts 112 00:05:14.879 --> 00:05:18.800 barreling down the runway and almost immediately the port engine, 113 00:05:18.839 --> 00:05:21.000 the engine on the left side of the aircraft, surges 114 00:05:21.040 --> 00:05:24.560 again just like before yep, but just like the engineer advise. 115 00:05:24.759 --> 00:05:27.759 They pull the throttle back slightly way a beat and 116 00:05:27.800 --> 00:05:29.959 push it forward again, very smoothly. 117 00:05:29.800 --> 00:05:32.120 And it works. The engines stabilized, so they do. 118 00:05:32.240 --> 00:05:36.360 They're peaking up speed ninety knots one hundred knots. They 119 00:05:36.439 --> 00:05:38.600 hit one hundred and seventeen knots. 120 00:05:38.279 --> 00:05:40.720 Which is crucial because they've passed V one right. 121 00:05:40.839 --> 00:05:42.959 V one is the point of no return. You are 122 00:05:42.959 --> 00:05:45.519 going too fast to safely abort the takeoff. You have 123 00:05:45.560 --> 00:05:46.040 to fly. 124 00:05:46.279 --> 00:05:49.639 Exactly, and they are approaching V two, which is one 125 00:05:49.680 --> 00:05:53.319 hundred and nineteen knots. That is the exact aerodynamic speed 126 00:05:53.360 --> 00:05:55.399 they need to lift the nose and get airborne. 127 00:05:55.439 --> 00:05:57.600 But suddenly they don't hit one hundred and nineteen. 128 00:05:57.759 --> 00:06:01.920 No, the plane doesn't just stop accelerating. It actively loses speed, 129 00:06:02.000 --> 00:06:04.600 which is terrifying. It really is. It drops back down 130 00:06:04.600 --> 00:06:05.680 to one hundred and five knots. 131 00:06:05.720 --> 00:06:08.240 At that point, they are traveling way too fast to stop, 132 00:06:08.279 --> 00:06:10.439 but too slow to fly, and they are completely out 133 00:06:10.480 --> 00:06:11.000 of runway. 134 00:06:11.160 --> 00:06:12.199 Just the worst case scenario. 135 00:06:12.560 --> 00:06:15.079 Copilot Raiment yells that they aren't going to make it. 136 00:06:15.639 --> 00:06:18.439 The plane violently plows through the perimeter fence at the 137 00:06:18.519 --> 00:06:21.720 end of the Tormac. Oh man, It strikes a house, 138 00:06:22.120 --> 00:06:25.040 it tears through a fuel shed three hundred meters past 139 00:06:25.040 --> 00:06:25.319 the end. 140 00:06:25.279 --> 00:06:27.319 Of the runway, just total devastation. 141 00:06:27.439 --> 00:06:31.439 Survivors later describe the sheer terror of it, flashes of darkness, 142 00:06:31.480 --> 00:06:35.800 sudden daylight as the fuselage literally tore open, sparks flying everywhere, 143 00:06:36.279 --> 00:06:40.240 massive thumbs, and then just total complete blackness. 144 00:06:40.600 --> 00:06:42.560 And the scene out there in the freezing snow is 145 00:06:42.639 --> 00:06:46.920 absolute chaos. But amid the burning wreckage, there are these 146 00:06:46.959 --> 00:06:48.600 incredible moments of heroism. 147 00:06:48.759 --> 00:06:50.319 Yeah, Harry greg right, Yeah. 148 00:06:50.120 --> 00:06:52.839 It seems goalkeeper. Yeah. He manages to crawl out of 149 00:06:52.839 --> 00:06:55.879 the debris, but he hears a child crying inside. 150 00:06:56.040 --> 00:06:56.720 Unbelievable. 151 00:06:56.879 --> 00:06:59.399 He runs back into the burning fuselage while people are 152 00:06:59.439 --> 00:07:02.000 actively screaming at him that the fuel tanks are going 153 00:07:02.040 --> 00:07:04.240 to explode, and he pulls out a baby. 154 00:07:04.399 --> 00:07:06.439 That is just incredible bravery, and. 155 00:07:06.399 --> 00:07:08.759 He goes back again. He pulls out the team manager, 156 00:07:09.000 --> 00:07:11.199 Matt Busby and several other people. 157 00:07:11.000 --> 00:07:15.439 But despite his heroics, the toll is devastating twenty three 158 00:07:15.480 --> 00:07:19.600 people die. Seven players are killed instantly in the impact, 159 00:07:20.000 --> 00:07:24.360 just heartbreaking the team's young superstar Duncan Edwards. He actually 160 00:07:24.439 --> 00:07:28.240 survives the crash, but succumbs to his injuries days later. 161 00:07:28.199 --> 00:07:29.360 And copilot Raiment. 162 00:07:29.800 --> 00:07:33.720 Raiment is trapped in the crushed cockpit. Two local German 163 00:07:33.759 --> 00:07:36.519 rescuers manage to cut him free, but he later dies 164 00:07:36.560 --> 00:07:38.360 in the hospital from severe brain injuries. 165 00:07:38.759 --> 00:07:42.040 It is a tragedy that just wipes out a generational 166 00:07:42.079 --> 00:07:44.439 sports team in an instant It really does. 167 00:07:44.560 --> 00:07:47.040 But as investigators we have to look at the telemetry here. 168 00:07:47.519 --> 00:07:50.319 How does a massive aircraft going one hundred and seventeen 169 00:07:50.399 --> 00:07:54.199 knots flown by two veteran pilots just suddenly lose speed? 170 00:07:54.399 --> 00:07:56.879 Right, It's like hitting a wall and finding the answer 171 00:07:56.879 --> 00:07:59.959 to that sudden deceleration falls to one man who arrives 172 00:08:00.079 --> 00:08:02.360 on the smoldering scene just six hours. 173 00:08:02.160 --> 00:08:05.639 Later at ten zero pm. West German chief investigator Hans 174 00:08:05.639 --> 00:08:07.839 Reichel steps onto the tarmac. 175 00:08:07.399 --> 00:08:10.199 And he's fifty seven years old, a former LIFTWAFF pilot. 176 00:08:10.399 --> 00:08:12.920 Right, and the stakes here are astronomically high. It is 177 00:08:13.040 --> 00:08:15.439 nineteen fifty eight. We are barely a decade out from 178 00:08:15.439 --> 00:08:16.079 World War two. 179 00:08:16.160 --> 00:08:17.759 Yeah, tensions are still very real. 180 00:08:18.040 --> 00:08:21.560 You have British pilots and a British aircraft being investigated 181 00:08:21.560 --> 00:08:25.199 on German soil, and Munich itself was the historical cradle 182 00:08:25.199 --> 00:08:26.519 of the Nazi Party, so. 183 00:08:26.600 --> 00:08:31.000 Everyone involved is treading incredibly carefully. Nobody wants an international 184 00:08:31.040 --> 00:08:35.279 diplomatic incident exactly, and that political pressure is the lens 185 00:08:35.320 --> 00:08:39.559 through which this entire investigation is conducted. Reichel arrives at 186 00:08:39.600 --> 00:08:42.480 the scene severely under equipped. What do you mean, I 187 00:08:42.519 --> 00:08:45.960 mean he doesn't even have proper floodlights. He literally has 188 00:08:46.000 --> 00:08:48.919 to borrow lighting from a local television news crew just 189 00:08:48.960 --> 00:08:50.240 to see the wreckage in the dark. 190 00:08:50.480 --> 00:08:54.360 You're kidding, a major crash investigation using TV lights. 191 00:08:54.480 --> 00:08:56.399 Yeah. So he walks up to the wing of the 192 00:08:56.440 --> 00:08:59.840 Elizabethan and he finds an eight centimeter layer of snow. 193 00:09:00.600 --> 00:09:03.480 He brushes the snow away with his gloved hand, and 194 00:09:03.559 --> 00:09:07.159 underneath he finds a hard, solid layer of ice frozen 195 00:09:07.240 --> 00:09:08.200 firmly to the metal. 196 00:09:08.600 --> 00:09:11.200 But there is a very specific anomaly here, isn't there? 197 00:09:11.360 --> 00:09:13.879 Yes, there is. The Only parts of the wing that 198 00:09:13.919 --> 00:09:16.399 are free from ice are the areas directly behind. 199 00:09:16.159 --> 00:09:19.240 The engines, which is a huge clue, But Rechel looks 200 00:09:19.279 --> 00:09:21.799 at that pattern and forms his conclusion right. 201 00:09:21.600 --> 00:09:23.480 There in the dark, right on the spot. 202 00:09:23.759 --> 00:09:26.879 He deduces that the entire wing must have been coated 203 00:09:26.919 --> 00:09:30.120 in ice before the crash. He theorizes that during the 204 00:09:30.159 --> 00:09:33.840 takeoff run, the spinning propellers simply blew the ice away 205 00:09:33.840 --> 00:09:37.120 from the sections directly behind the engines, leaving the rest 206 00:09:37.120 --> 00:09:39.080 of the wings frozen solid. 207 00:09:38.840 --> 00:09:41.759 Which leads directly to the official German report released in 208 00:09:41.840 --> 00:09:42.679 nineteen fifty nine. 209 00:09:42.759 --> 00:09:46.519 YEP. Reichel concludes that Captain Thane failed to de ice 210 00:09:46.600 --> 00:09:50.399 his aircraft before takeoff. He lays the blame entirely on. 211 00:09:50.399 --> 00:09:53.759 Thane, and to compound it, the report states that because 212 00:09:53.799 --> 00:09:57.759 the pilots switched seats against protocol, it caused fatal confusion 213 00:09:57.799 --> 00:09:59.440 in the cockpit during the emergency. 214 00:09:59.480 --> 00:10:02.399 Okay, let' unpack this for a second. Reichel was a 215 00:10:02.519 --> 00:10:05.000 veteran Luftwaffe pilot. He wasn't some rookie. 216 00:10:05.200 --> 00:10:06.480 No, he knew aircraft. 217 00:10:06.720 --> 00:10:09.399 So how could an experienced aviator look at a crash 218 00:10:09.480 --> 00:10:13.600 site hours after the fact, in freezing conditions and genuinely 219 00:10:13.679 --> 00:10:16.360 mistake post crash ice for pre takeoff ice. 220 00:10:16.399 --> 00:10:19.879 Well, it really comes down to intense confirmation bias, compounded 221 00:10:19.919 --> 00:10:22.919 by that political pressure we talked about. Reichel needed an 222 00:10:22.919 --> 00:10:25.639 explanation that absolved the German infrastructure of any blame. 223 00:10:25.759 --> 00:10:26.720 Ah, I see right. 224 00:10:27.519 --> 00:10:30.159 If the crash was caused by the weather and pilot error, 225 00:10:30.960 --> 00:10:33.639 the Munich airport is entirely cleared of liability. 226 00:10:33.799 --> 00:10:36.279 It's much cleaner for an investigator to point the finger 227 00:10:36.360 --> 00:10:39.759 at a surviving pilot a conviction of convenience, than to 228 00:10:39.799 --> 00:10:41.639 find fault with your own facilities. 229 00:10:41.759 --> 00:10:44.759 It is the ultimate conviction of convenience. You blame the 230 00:10:44.799 --> 00:10:47.120 guy who lived, and you close the book. 231 00:10:47.360 --> 00:10:51.240 Meanwhile, Captain Thane survives the crash, but his life is destroyed. 232 00:10:51.320 --> 00:10:54.320 His airline fires him, he is stripped of his reputation, 233 00:10:54.879 --> 00:10:58.039 branded a villain by the international press, and burdened with 234 00:10:58.080 --> 00:10:59.440 the guilt of twenty three. 235 00:10:59.320 --> 00:11:00.799 Deaths just a nightmare. 236 00:11:01.080 --> 00:11:03.320 He retreats to the English countryside to work as a 237 00:11:03.320 --> 00:11:04.360 poultry farmer. 238 00:11:04.159 --> 00:11:06.879 But then refuses to let that official report be the 239 00:11:06.919 --> 00:11:09.440 final word. I mean, he was in that cockpit. He 240 00:11:09.519 --> 00:11:12.000 knows exactly what he did on that descent into Munich. 241 00:11:12.200 --> 00:11:14.799 So from his farm with almost no resources and his 242 00:11:14.879 --> 00:11:19.120 health rapidly deteriorating from the stress. He begins building a defense. 243 00:11:19.000 --> 00:11:21.879 Which is wild. How does a disgraced pilot on a 244 00:11:21.919 --> 00:11:25.960 farm even begin to fight a foreign government's official aviation report. 245 00:11:26.120 --> 00:11:29.080 Well, he starts with the meteorological data from his own 246 00:11:29.120 --> 00:11:32.600 flight logs. Fain points out that he didn't de ice 247 00:11:32.639 --> 00:11:35.120 the wings on the ground in Munich because they simply 248 00:11:35.159 --> 00:11:35.919 didn't need it. 249 00:11:36.120 --> 00:11:38.519 Why wouldn't they need it in freezing snow. 250 00:11:38.519 --> 00:11:41.360 Because when the plane descended into Munich from twenty five 251 00:11:41.399 --> 00:11:45.120 thousand feet the ambient air temperature outside the cockpit was 252 00:11:45.159 --> 00:11:49.320 a freezing minus twenty five degrees celsius. Fain had turned 253 00:11:49.360 --> 00:11:52.600 on the internal wing de icing heaters during that descent. 254 00:11:52.919 --> 00:11:54.960 Okay, so the wings were warm, yes. 255 00:11:55.320 --> 00:11:57.519 By the time they landed in Munich, where the air 256 00:11:57.600 --> 00:12:01.080 was right around zero degrees. Thain tests that he physically 257 00:12:01.120 --> 00:12:04.279 watched water dripping from the wings. The snow hitting the 258 00:12:04.320 --> 00:12:06.720 aircraft was melting, not freezing. 259 00:12:07.000 --> 00:12:09.840 But the German investigators countered that right. They claimed the 260 00:12:09.840 --> 00:12:12.919 wings were super cooled from the high altitude, meaning any 261 00:12:12.960 --> 00:12:16.120 whx snow falling during the stopover would have frozen instantly 262 00:12:16.159 --> 00:12:16.799 on contact. 263 00:12:17.080 --> 00:12:20.000 Right, It becomes a battle of his eyewitness account against 264 00:12:20.039 --> 00:12:21.399 their theoretical physics. 265 00:12:21.879 --> 00:12:24.519 So Than starts digging into the transcripts of the German 266 00:12:24.559 --> 00:12:28.879 inquiry and he uncovers these glaring omissions. He finds testimony 267 00:12:28.879 --> 00:12:32.440 from a first responder named Karl Heinz sefer Cephyr was 268 00:12:32.480 --> 00:12:35.360 one of the local men who physically climbed onto the 269 00:12:35.360 --> 00:12:39.039 wing right after the crash to help pull copilot Raiment 270 00:12:39.120 --> 00:12:42.759 out of the wreckage. Okay, Seffyr stated explicitly in his 271 00:12:42.799 --> 00:12:46.120 initial interview that he slipped on slush, but he found 272 00:12:46.279 --> 00:12:49.960 absolutely no ice on that wing. Wow. Yeah, Yet when 273 00:12:50.000 --> 00:12:53.639 the official report was finalized, that specific sentence from his 274 00:12:53.720 --> 00:12:56.039 testimony was mysteriously scrubbed. 275 00:12:56.480 --> 00:12:59.919 That is deeply suspicious, and it gets even more blatant 276 00:13:00.480 --> 00:13:03.720 than discovers that there were fully qualified air traffic controllers 277 00:13:03.799 --> 00:13:05.480 watching the entire takeoff from the. 278 00:13:05.440 --> 00:13:06.960 Tower and what did they see. 279 00:13:07.159 --> 00:13:10.039 They reported seeing the elizabeths and lift its nose halfway 280 00:13:10.039 --> 00:13:12.559 down the runway, which is standard procedure, but then the 281 00:13:12.600 --> 00:13:14.039 nose dropped back down heavily. 282 00:13:14.279 --> 00:13:17.039 And that detail is crucial because it proves the plane 283 00:13:17.080 --> 00:13:20.120 had the aerodynamics to lift exactly if the wings had 284 00:13:20.120 --> 00:13:22.559 been covered in a thick sheet of ice, destroying the 285 00:13:22.600 --> 00:13:25.679 lift capability. As Reichel claimed, the plane never would have 286 00:13:25.679 --> 00:13:26.840 pitched up in the first place. 287 00:13:27.240 --> 00:13:31.519 But the German inquiry never called those qualified controllers to testify. 288 00:13:32.080 --> 00:13:34.440 They only called the junior trainees who happened to be 289 00:13:34.480 --> 00:13:35.279 in the room. 290 00:13:35.759 --> 00:13:38.919 Wow. So if we rule out ice, we are back 291 00:13:38.960 --> 00:13:42.960 to our primary mystery. What caused a massive aircraft to 292 00:13:43.039 --> 00:13:45.759 suddenly drop from one hundred and seventeen knots to one 293 00:13:45.799 --> 00:13:46.720 hundred and five knots? 294 00:13:46.840 --> 00:13:48.600 What was that invisible wall they hit? 295 00:13:48.960 --> 00:13:50.919 It wasn't an invisible wall in the air. It was 296 00:13:50.960 --> 00:13:54.960 a physical barrier on the ground bush push. Yes, yes, 297 00:13:55.600 --> 00:13:58.679 deep heavy slush pooling on the far end of the runway. 298 00:13:59.200 --> 00:14:01.279 Think about the physics of that. If you've ever been 299 00:14:01.360 --> 00:14:03.480 driving your car down a wet highway in the winter 300 00:14:03.600 --> 00:14:06.080 and you switch lanes and suddenly hit a deep patch 301 00:14:06.120 --> 00:14:09.279 of unplowed slush, you know exactly what this feels like. 302 00:14:09.399 --> 00:14:11.559 Oh yeah, it yanks the steering wheel right. 303 00:14:11.600 --> 00:14:14.519 You don't just glide over it. Your tires don't hydroplane. 304 00:14:14.559 --> 00:14:17.720 They stink in The slush acts like wet cement, clinging 305 00:14:17.720 --> 00:14:20.120 to the wheels, and you feel an immediate, violent drag 306 00:14:20.200 --> 00:14:22.279 pulling the entire vehicle backward. 307 00:14:21.960 --> 00:14:24.919 And the exact same physical drag happens to aircraft landing gear, 308 00:14:25.159 --> 00:14:27.080 just on a vastly larger scale. 309 00:14:26.759 --> 00:14:28.600 And suddenly the puzzle pieces fit together. 310 00:14:29.000 --> 00:14:33.159 Remember the first two aborted takeoffs and the station engineer's advice. 311 00:14:33.639 --> 00:14:37.480 He told the pilots to advance the throttles incredibly slowly 312 00:14:37.799 --> 00:14:41.559 to prevent the engines from surging. Because thine and raiment 313 00:14:41.639 --> 00:14:45.320 accelerated so gradually. On that third attempt, the plane used 314 00:14:45.399 --> 00:14:48.080 up significantly more of the runway than a normal departure. 315 00:14:48.200 --> 00:14:49.639 Oh, I see where this is going. 316 00:14:50.039 --> 00:14:52.559 It rolled far past the section of tarmac that other 317 00:14:52.600 --> 00:14:55.840 departing planes had been clearing all day. It rolled right 318 00:14:55.919 --> 00:15:00.360 into the unused, deep, slush filled end of the runway. 319 00:15:00.440 --> 00:15:04.320 This is where the bureaucratic negligence becomes truly staggering. While 320 00:15:04.360 --> 00:15:07.279 digging through records, Thing discovers that nine years prior to 321 00:15:07.320 --> 00:15:11.320 the Munich crash, Canadian aviation authorities had conducted extensive testing 322 00:15:11.360 --> 00:15:12.519 on runway contamination. 323 00:15:12.679 --> 00:15:13.399 And what do they find. 324 00:15:13.559 --> 00:15:16.159 They found that as little as five centimeters of slush 325 00:15:16.440 --> 00:15:19.840 could completely destroy an aircraft's ability to reach takeoff speed. 326 00:15:20.240 --> 00:15:23.480 The drag is simply two immense. For the engines to overcome. 327 00:15:23.159 --> 00:15:25.039 Five centimeters is practically. 328 00:15:24.559 --> 00:15:27.919 Nothing, barely two inches. And the Canadians sent a formal 329 00:15:28.000 --> 00:15:31.960 letter of warning to all major airlines detailing this exact danger. 330 00:15:32.279 --> 00:15:37.200 And let me guess Thain's airline had received that Canadian letter. 331 00:15:37.679 --> 00:15:40.279 They received it, they read it, They took absolutely no 332 00:15:40.399 --> 00:15:43.120 action to update their pilot manuals or training. They just 333 00:15:43.240 --> 00:15:44.559 filed it away in a cabinet. 334 00:15:44.759 --> 00:15:48.720 That is infuriating. So thing takes all of this incredible 335 00:15:48.759 --> 00:15:52.600 new evidence, the suppressed eyewitnesses, the aero dynamic proof from 336 00:15:52.600 --> 00:15:55.200 the tower, the physics of the slush drag, and the 337 00:15:55.200 --> 00:15:58.879 Canadian warnings, and he submits a massive dossier to the 338 00:15:58.879 --> 00:16:00.120 German authorities. 339 00:16:00.000 --> 00:16:01.960 Affecting them to finally clear his name. 340 00:16:02.200 --> 00:16:05.440 Naturally, But the German authorities review the dossier and flat 341 00:16:05.440 --> 00:16:08.720 out refuse to reopen the case. You're joking, No, they 342 00:16:08.879 --> 00:16:12.919 double down on investigatior Rikle's original findings. They essentially state 343 00:16:12.960 --> 00:16:16.159 that the ice theory stands, the slush is irrelevant, and 344 00:16:16.200 --> 00:16:20.279 the case remains closed. The entire bureaucratic system locks arms 345 00:16:20.320 --> 00:16:22.960 to fight against the scientific reality, so. 346 00:16:23.039 --> 00:16:26.320 Fain is completely stonewalled. He is exhausted, His reputation is 347 00:16:26.360 --> 00:16:29.320 in ruins, and he has exhausted every legal avenue. How 348 00:16:29.320 --> 00:16:32.120 does a loan farmer break through a sovereign nation's refusal 349 00:16:32.159 --> 00:16:33.120 to look at the facts. 350 00:16:33.200 --> 00:16:38.159 The breakthrough comes from the most unlikely place imaginable, inside Thane's. 351 00:16:37.759 --> 00:16:39.200 Own home, from his wife. 352 00:16:39.279 --> 00:16:43.720 Right, Yes, Ruby, Thane begins looking at the evidence. And 353 00:16:43.879 --> 00:16:48.320 Ruby is not just a supportive spouse watching her husband suffer. 354 00:16:48.919 --> 00:16:52.159 She is a highly trained scientist, holding a first class 355 00:16:52.159 --> 00:16:55.200 honors degree in chemistry, physics, and mathematics. 356 00:16:55.240 --> 00:16:55.720 Wow. 357 00:16:55.919 --> 00:16:58.240 She starts looking at the chemical reality of the crash 358 00:16:58.279 --> 00:16:59.399 site itself. 359 00:16:59.080 --> 00:17:02.039 And she's zero's inn on a detail that every single 360 00:17:02.200 --> 00:17:06.640 aviation expert, including Reichel, completely ignored. What was it When 361 00:17:06.680 --> 00:17:10.039 the plane crashed into the fuel shed? It burst into flames. 362 00:17:10.119 --> 00:17:13.359 The Munich Airport fire department rushed out and sprayed massive 363 00:17:13.359 --> 00:17:16.559 amounts of fire extinguishing chemicals all over the burning wreckage. 364 00:17:16.640 --> 00:17:19.759 Right, and Ruby knows the exact chemical composition of the 365 00:17:19.799 --> 00:17:23.319 extinguishing agent they used. It was sodium bicarbonate. 366 00:17:22.839 --> 00:17:25.559 Which is essentially industrial grade baking powder. 367 00:17:25.640 --> 00:17:29.079 Exactly, and she understands a fundamental principle of chemistry known 368 00:17:29.079 --> 00:17:30.440 as freezing point depression. 369 00:17:30.559 --> 00:17:31.359 How does that work? 370 00:17:31.680 --> 00:17:34.799 It is the exact same scientific mechanism at work when 371 00:17:34.880 --> 00:17:38.200 city trucks salt the roads before winter storm. When you 372 00:17:38.279 --> 00:17:41.599 introduce a solute like salt or sodium bicarbonate to water, 373 00:17:42.240 --> 00:17:45.799 it interferes with water molecule's ability to bind together into 374 00:17:45.799 --> 00:17:47.359 solid ice crystals, so. 375 00:17:47.319 --> 00:17:48.680 It lowers the freezing temperature. 376 00:17:48.799 --> 00:17:51.759 Right, the mixture will still freeze, but it requires a 377 00:17:51.839 --> 00:17:54.000 significantly lower temperature to do so. 378 00:17:54.000 --> 00:17:57.240 So Ruby designs an experiment. She gets the sample of 379 00:17:57.279 --> 00:18:01.079 the exact sodium bicarbonate used by the Munich firemen. She 380 00:18:01.160 --> 00:18:03.359 goes out to her car on a freezing winter night, 381 00:18:03.880 --> 00:18:06.680 sprinkles the chemical on the cold metal roof, mixes it 382 00:18:06.720 --> 00:18:10.920 with snow and water, and carefully monitors the temperature. Brilliant 383 00:18:11.119 --> 00:18:15.759 she scientifically proves that this specific chemical mixture freezes at 384 00:18:15.759 --> 00:18:18.160 a temperature lower than what was recorded in Munich on 385 00:18:18.200 --> 00:18:19.079 the night of the crash. 386 00:18:19.240 --> 00:18:22.799 It is an absolute master class and deductive reasoning. I mean, 387 00:18:22.960 --> 00:18:25.799 think about where the firemen aimed their hoses that night. 388 00:18:26.440 --> 00:18:29.400 They am them directly at the burning engines to stop 389 00:18:29.440 --> 00:18:33.160 the fire from reaching the main fuel tanks. Oh therefore, 390 00:18:33.359 --> 00:18:36.519 The areas of the wing directly behind the engines didn't 391 00:18:36.559 --> 00:18:40.279 freeze because they were heavily coated in the sodium bicarbonate mixture, 392 00:18:40.519 --> 00:18:41.920 which depressed the freezing point. 393 00:18:42.119 --> 00:18:44.200 But the rest of the wings, the outer edges that 394 00:18:44.240 --> 00:18:46.960 weren't heavily sprayed by the firemen, were just covered in 395 00:18:47.079 --> 00:18:51.279 normal wet snow, and as the night got colder and colder, 396 00:18:51.599 --> 00:18:55.680 dropping below freezing, that wet snow turned into solid ice. 397 00:18:56.160 --> 00:18:59.359 Exactly so, the eight centimeter layer of ice that investigator 398 00:18:59.440 --> 00:19:02.839 Rikle found six hours later wasn't there when the planes 399 00:19:02.880 --> 00:19:06.319 started its takeoff role. It was created by the aftermath 400 00:19:06.359 --> 00:19:07.519 of the crash itself. 401 00:19:08.119 --> 00:19:12.359