WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:04.639 So picture a brutal summer storm over Toronto. 2 00:00:04.799 --> 00:00:06.599 Oh wow, okay, setting the scene. 3 00:00:06.679 --> 00:00:09.400 Yeah, it's August two thousand and five. The sky is 4 00:00:09.439 --> 00:00:12.880 practically black, just ripped open by constant lightning, and you 5 00:00:12.919 --> 00:00:16.600 were sitting in the back of Air France flight three 6 00:00:16.760 --> 00:00:19.640 five eight, which is this massive airbus A three forty, 7 00:00:20.079 --> 00:00:23.760 and it is violently bucking through the clouds, terrifying truly. 8 00:00:24.120 --> 00:00:26.239 You feel the wheels hit the tarmac, but like, it 9 00:00:26.280 --> 00:00:28.440 doesn't feel like a landing. It feels like the plane 10 00:00:28.519 --> 00:00:32.079 is skidding at over one hundred miles an hour. Oh geez, yeah, 11 00:00:32.200 --> 00:00:35.079 hitting what feels like three foot deep potholes. The cabin 12 00:00:35.359 --> 00:00:38.039 is shaking violently, luggage is just flying out of the 13 00:00:38.079 --> 00:00:38.759 overhead bins. 14 00:00:38.759 --> 00:00:40.719 I mean, that's literally everyone's worst nightmare. 15 00:00:40.759 --> 00:00:44.200 One flying exactly. Yeah, and suddenly a father sitting a 16 00:00:44.200 --> 00:00:46.280 few rows ahead of you, he looks out the window 17 00:00:47.079 --> 00:00:49.079 and in the reflection of the glass, he sees his 18 00:00:49.159 --> 00:00:53.479 daughter's face illuminated by this terrifying, bright orange aura of 19 00:00:53.560 --> 00:00:55.000 fire from outside the plane. 20 00:00:55.359 --> 00:01:00.320 Wow, it's just a moment of pure visceral terror. It's 21 00:01:00.960 --> 00:01:03.399 the kind of scenario that plays out in your deepest 22 00:01:03.399 --> 00:01:06.519 anxieties you know, like every time you feel an airplane 23 00:01:06.560 --> 00:01:10.480 drop through heavy turbulence or hear the landing gear clunk 24 00:01:10.519 --> 00:01:12.200 into place during a storm. 25 00:01:12.319 --> 00:01:16.120 Right, totally, Well, welcome to our deep dive today. We 26 00:01:16.159 --> 00:01:20.079 aren't just recounting terrifying moments, though. Our mission is to 27 00:01:20.159 --> 00:01:25.319 really unpack the anatomy of three harrowing aviation disasters. 28 00:01:25.439 --> 00:01:27.280 Yeah, we're getting into the weeds on this one. 29 00:01:27.400 --> 00:01:29.719 We are. We're going to look closely at the raw data, 30 00:01:30.159 --> 00:01:34.840 the physical mechanics, and really that razor thin margin between 31 00:01:34.840 --> 00:01:37.480 a miraculous survival and an absolute tragedy. 32 00:01:37.239 --> 00:01:39.840 Which is such a fascinating margin to study because when. 33 00:01:39.760 --> 00:01:42.879 You actually dig into these investigations, you realize how many 34 00:01:42.920 --> 00:01:46.359 interconnected systems keep you safe in the air, oh absolutely, 35 00:01:46.400 --> 00:01:49.319 and how incredibly small the cascade of failures needs to 36 00:01:49.319 --> 00:01:51.840 be to bring a commercial jet back down to Earth 37 00:01:51.879 --> 00:01:53.000 in the worst way possible. 38 00:01:53.079 --> 00:01:56.840 Yeah, that cascade. That's the fundamental truth of aviation accident investigation. 39 00:01:57.079 --> 00:02:00.000 An airplane almost never falls out of the sky because 40 00:02:00.079 --> 00:02:03.680 of like a single broken part or one bad decision. 41 00:02:03.920 --> 00:02:06.519 It is always a sequence, a chain reaction, exactly, a 42 00:02:06.599 --> 00:02:11.000 chain reaction where the links, you know, mechanical glitches weather 43 00:02:11.080 --> 00:02:15.280 anomalies and human psychology. They just tragically align. 44 00:02:15.360 --> 00:02:18.360 Okay, let's unpack this starting with the mechanics of that 45 00:02:18.520 --> 00:02:22.120 terrifying scene in Toronto Air France flight three five eight. 46 00:02:22.360 --> 00:02:22.599 Right. 47 00:02:22.960 --> 00:02:25.840 So we have Captain Alan Rose and his co pilot 48 00:02:25.879 --> 00:02:28.639 Frederick no and they are fighting a storm that has 49 00:02:28.719 --> 00:02:31.439 already triggered a red alert at Pierson Airport. 50 00:02:31.520 --> 00:02:33.719 Yeah, I meaning ground crews aren't even allowed outside because 51 00:02:33.719 --> 00:02:35.039 the lightning is so intense. 52 00:02:35.159 --> 00:02:38.319 Wow. So they've been in a holding pattern, fuels getting tight, 53 00:02:38.560 --> 00:02:41.159 and they're finally cleared to land on runway two four left. 54 00:02:41.280 --> 00:02:43.919 And so you see the choice of runway provides the 55 00:02:43.960 --> 00:02:44.800 first link in. 56 00:02:44.759 --> 00:02:46.840 This chain because it's shorter, right right. 57 00:02:46.719 --> 00:02:49.319 Runway two four left happens to be the shortest runway 58 00:02:49.360 --> 00:02:52.520 at Pierson Airport. It's almost six hundred and fifty meters 59 00:02:52.520 --> 00:02:53.719 shorter than some of the others. 60 00:02:53.800 --> 00:02:55.960 Oh wow, that's a huge difference. 61 00:02:56.240 --> 00:02:59.879 It is. So you have a massive heavy passenger jet 62 00:03:00.120 --> 00:03:04.039 landing in blinding rain on the shortest available strip, and 63 00:03:04.159 --> 00:03:06.759 as they are descending, the wind shifts drastically. 64 00:03:07.000 --> 00:03:09.039 Just to make things worse, exactly. 65 00:03:08.960 --> 00:03:12.120 They are suddenly hit by a massive thirty three knot 66 00:03:12.280 --> 00:03:16.719 crosswind driven by a localized squall line right over the 67 00:03:16.759 --> 00:03:18.240 threshold of the runway. 68 00:03:18.080 --> 00:03:21.120 Thirty three knots pushing against the side of a massive 69 00:03:21.199 --> 00:03:24.520 metal tube. I mean, how do you even physically get 70 00:03:24.560 --> 00:03:27.080 the wheels on the ground in a straight line when 71 00:03:27.080 --> 00:03:29.639 the wind is trying to blow you completely off the runway. 72 00:03:29.759 --> 00:03:34.360 Well, pilots use a technique called crabbing. Crabbing like the animal, Yeah, exactly. 73 00:03:34.759 --> 00:03:37.879 You literally point the nose of the plane into the wind, 74 00:03:38.120 --> 00:03:41.400 so the aircraft is flying somewhat sideways relative to the runway. 75 00:03:41.439 --> 00:03:44.080 That sounds unnatural, it looks crazy if you watch it 76 00:03:44.120 --> 00:03:46.759 from the ground. But then right before the wheels touch, 77 00:03:46.879 --> 00:03:48.840 you use the rudder to kick the nose straight while 78 00:03:48.840 --> 00:03:51.199 dipping the wing into the wind so you don't drift. Okay, 79 00:03:51.560 --> 00:03:55.240 it requires intense physical effort. The copilot was fighting the 80 00:03:55.319 --> 00:03:57.639 yoke so hard just to keep the plane lined up 81 00:03:57.879 --> 00:04:00.000 that they came over the start of the runway twice 82 00:04:00.159 --> 00:04:01.759 as high as they should have been. O. 83 00:04:02.080 --> 00:04:04.759 No, yeah, and they floated. So by the time the 84 00:04:04.800 --> 00:04:07.919 tires finally slammed into the wet tarmac, they were nearly 85 00:04:08.039 --> 00:04:10.159 halfway down that already short runway. 86 00:04:10.199 --> 00:04:13.080 Okay, but Here's where it gets really interesting. They are 87 00:04:13.120 --> 00:04:16.480 halfway down the runway going way too fast, and they 88 00:04:16.480 --> 00:04:18.120 don't immediately break right. 89 00:04:18.279 --> 00:04:19.240 This is the crucial part. 90 00:04:19.399 --> 00:04:23.800 For a full seventeen seconds after touchdown, the plane's reverse 91 00:04:23.879 --> 00:04:26.560 thrusters are not activated. 92 00:04:26.120 --> 00:04:28.439 Which is an eternity in an airplane. 93 00:04:28.600 --> 00:04:32.120 Yeah. I mean imagine driving your car down a highway 94 00:04:32.160 --> 00:04:35.480 and pouring rain. You see dead stop traffic ahead of you. 95 00:04:35.480 --> 00:04:37.480 You take your foot off a gaz but you wait 96 00:04:37.560 --> 00:04:40.720 a full Mississippi count of seventeen before you even touch 97 00:04:40.839 --> 00:04:41.319 the brakes. 98 00:04:41.439 --> 00:04:42.759 You'd plow right into them. 99 00:04:42.879 --> 00:04:44.360 Exactly why the delay? 100 00:04:44.800 --> 00:04:49.160 Well, it comes down to task saturation and cockpit ergonomics. 101 00:04:49.240 --> 00:04:49.399 Yeah. 102 00:04:49.560 --> 00:04:51.040 To understand this, you kind of have to look at 103 00:04:51.079 --> 00:04:54.319 how reverse thrusters physically work. Yeah, they don't actually run 104 00:04:54.360 --> 00:04:55.360 the engines backwards. 105 00:04:55.480 --> 00:04:57.519 Really, I was assuming they just spun the other way. No. 106 00:04:57.720 --> 00:05:01.279 Yeah, A lot of people think that when activated, pneumatic 107 00:05:01.319 --> 00:05:05.240 actuators open up heavy metal doors often called clamshells or 108 00:05:05.279 --> 00:05:07.160 cascades inside the engine. 109 00:05:07.199 --> 00:05:10.519 Cowling, Oh, I see, and these doors physically block the 110 00:05:10.560 --> 00:05:14.920 rearward flow of the jet exhaust and redirect it forcefully forward, 111 00:05:15.199 --> 00:05:18.639 acting as a massive aerodynamic brake. That makes sense, But 112 00:05:18.759 --> 00:05:21.439 to deploy them, a pilot has to physically pull up 113 00:05:21.519 --> 00:05:24.399 on specific levers mounted on the main throttles, and. 114 00:05:24.360 --> 00:05:25.800 The copilot couldn't reach them. 115 00:05:25.959 --> 00:05:29.319 The copilot was struggling so intensely with the lateral movement 116 00:05:29.360 --> 00:05:32.319 of the plane in that severe crosswind that his hand 117 00:05:32.399 --> 00:05:35.319 was basically clamped in a death grip over the throttle base. 118 00:05:35.519 --> 00:05:36.959 Just try and keep the plane straight. 119 00:05:36.800 --> 00:05:40.000 Exactly, and the captain, seeing the end of the runway 120 00:05:40.040 --> 00:05:43.360 approaching rapidly, simply couldn't get his hand in there to 121 00:05:43.439 --> 00:05:44.959 pull the reverse thrust levers. 122 00:05:45.199 --> 00:05:45.600 Wow. 123 00:05:45.680 --> 00:05:49.040 By the time they wrestled control and hit maximum reverse thrust, 124 00:05:49.439 --> 00:05:52.040 the physics of their momentum made it impossible to. 125 00:05:51.959 --> 00:05:53.800 Stop, so they just ran out a runway. 126 00:05:53.920 --> 00:05:57.720 Yeah, the plane overshoots the runway at high speed and 127 00:05:57.920 --> 00:06:01.759 plunges straight into a fifty foot instantly catching fire. 128 00:06:02.199 --> 00:06:04.639 And this is where the clock starts ticking for the 129 00:06:04.639 --> 00:06:07.560 two hundred and ninety seven passengers on board. We always 130 00:06:07.600 --> 00:06:10.000 hear flight attendants say to leave your baggage behind in 131 00:06:10.040 --> 00:06:12.600 an emergency, and you know, people always think, oh, I'll 132 00:06:12.600 --> 00:06:13.839 just quickly grab my backpack. 133 00:06:13.920 --> 00:06:17.000 Yeah. People always assume they have time, right, But there. 134 00:06:16.839 --> 00:06:19.720 Was a student on board Eddie Hoe who almost died 135 00:06:19.800 --> 00:06:23.800 because he hesitated trying to grab his laptop and his tuition money. 136 00:06:23.920 --> 00:06:27.600 Yeah, it is a deeply ingrained human instinct to gather 137 00:06:27.680 --> 00:06:31.160 your resources when threatened. But in an aviation fire, the 138 00:06:31.279 --> 00:06:34.600 environment becomes completely lethal in about two minutes. 139 00:06:34.639 --> 00:06:36.160 Two minutes, that's nothing. 140 00:06:35.920 --> 00:06:40.360 It's terrifying. It's a phenomenon called flashover. What's basically the 141 00:06:40.360 --> 00:06:44.399 intense heat causes the foams, plastics, and synthetic fabrics inside 142 00:06:44.439 --> 00:06:48.759 the cabin to off gas highly toxic smoke. Breathing it 143 00:06:48.800 --> 00:06:51.680 in will incapacitate and kill you long before the actual 144 00:06:51.720 --> 00:06:52.839 flames reach your seat. 145 00:06:52.879 --> 00:06:53.360 Oh wow. 146 00:06:53.480 --> 00:06:56.480 Yeah, that is the sole reason aviation regulations demand that 147 00:06:56.519 --> 00:07:00.319 an entire aircraft, even with half its doors blocked, must 148 00:07:00.360 --> 00:07:02.959 be able to be fully evacuated in ninety seconds. 149 00:07:03.160 --> 00:07:06.000 Ninety seconds to get almost three hundred panic people down 150 00:07:06.000 --> 00:07:06.639 the slides. 151 00:07:07.399 --> 00:07:08.800 That is wild, it is. 152 00:07:09.120 --> 00:07:12.519 And the flight attendants were fighting jam doors and steep 153 00:07:12.560 --> 00:07:15.800 angles because the plane was broken in the ravine, but 154 00:07:16.000 --> 00:07:19.879 miraculously every single person survived. 155 00:07:19.959 --> 00:07:21.920 Yeah, it's known as the ninety second miracle. 156 00:07:22.279 --> 00:07:24.319 But when you look at this systemic side of things, 157 00:07:24.680 --> 00:07:26.759 it really shouldn't have required miracle. I mean, that fifty 158 00:07:26.800 --> 00:07:29.160 foot ravine wasn't a surprise to anyone at the airport. 159 00:07:29.279 --> 00:07:31.680 No, far from it. That ravine at the end of 160 00:07:31.759 --> 00:07:35.480 runway two four left was a documented historical hazard. 161 00:07:35.800 --> 00:07:37.360 It had caused problems before. 162 00:07:37.199 --> 00:07:41.720 Exactly decades earlier in nineteen seventy eight, and Air Canada 163 00:07:42.000 --> 00:07:45.879 DC nine rejected a takeoff and slid off the end 164 00:07:45.920 --> 00:07:49.639 of that runway into that exact same ravine. You're kidding, No, 165 00:07:50.120 --> 00:07:54.319 And a coroner's inquest following that crash explicitly recommended filling 166 00:07:54.360 --> 00:07:57.079 the ravine in to create a safety overrun area. 167 00:07:57.160 --> 00:07:58.040 But they didn't do it. 168 00:07:57.839 --> 00:07:58.800 It was never done. 169 00:07:58.959 --> 00:08:01.519 Man. Even if you don't move millions of tons of 170 00:08:01.600 --> 00:08:04.160 dirt to fill a ravine, there's technology that could have 171 00:08:04.199 --> 00:08:06.199 stopped this massive air bus safely. 172 00:08:06.040 --> 00:08:06.759 Right there is. 173 00:08:06.839 --> 00:08:08.839 It's an engineering solution called EMASS. 174 00:08:09.160 --> 00:08:09.639 EMASS. 175 00:08:09.800 --> 00:08:11.759 Yeah, Engineered material arresting systems. 176 00:08:11.800 --> 00:08:12.759 Okay, how does that work? 177 00:08:12.920 --> 00:08:15.560 Well? Instead of standard pavement at the end of a runway, 178 00:08:15.720 --> 00:08:20.600 you install a massive bed of highly engineered cellular cement blocks. 179 00:08:21.240 --> 00:08:24.319 It looks like regular tarmac, but it's designed to instantly 180 00:08:24.360 --> 00:08:25.959 crush under the weight of an aircraft. 181 00:08:26.360 --> 00:08:28.560 So kind of like driving a heavy truck into a 182 00:08:28.600 --> 00:08:30.240 runaway ramp filled with deep. 183 00:08:30.040 --> 00:08:34.000 Gravel, precisely the same concept. As the plane's tires crush 184 00:08:34.080 --> 00:08:37.600 the cellular cement, it absorbs the kinetic energy and physically 185 00:08:37.720 --> 00:08:40.919 drags the massive aircraft to a stop, usually without even 186 00:08:41.000 --> 00:08:43.919 damaging the landing gear. It's brilliant, it is, and it 187 00:08:43.919 --> 00:08:45.840 was widely used in the US at the time, but 188 00:08:45.919 --> 00:08:48.559 hadn't been installed in Toronto. So the absence of that 189 00:08:48.679 --> 00:08:52.960 passive safety system, combined with a short runway, an aerodynamic struggle, 190 00:08:52.960 --> 00:08:56.120 and a seventeen second braking delay created the perfect storm. 191 00:08:56.240 --> 00:08:59.679 Wow. So Air France showed us what happens when environmental 192 00:08:59.679 --> 00:09:03.279 factors and systemic hazards overwhelm a crew. But our next 193 00:09:03.279 --> 00:09:04.879 story shifts gears completely. 194 00:09:04.960 --> 00:09:06.200 Yeah, this one is very different. 195 00:09:06.320 --> 00:09:09.759 What happens with the environment is absolutely perfect, placid skies, 196 00:09:10.360 --> 00:09:13.720 no storms, but the airplane itself simply dies on you. 197 00:09:13.919 --> 00:09:16.720 Right. That brings us to July nineteen eighty three and 198 00:09:16.720 --> 00:09:19.639 the bizarre story of Air Canada Flight one forty three. 199 00:09:19.759 --> 00:09:22.639 So imagine you're a passenger cruising comfortably at twenty six 200 00:09:23.039 --> 00:09:27.120 five hundred feet over Canada. Suddenly in the cockpit. An 201 00:09:27.159 --> 00:09:30.600 alarm sounds, never a good sign, never, then another, and 202 00:09:30.639 --> 00:09:33.679 then comes the chilling moment. All the high tech digital 203 00:09:33.720 --> 00:09:36.639 screens simply go black. The engined school down to zero. 204 00:09:37.000 --> 00:09:40.279 There is no thrust, just silence, just the eerie sound 205 00:09:40.360 --> 00:09:43.639 of the wind rushing past the fuselage. Captain Bob Pearson 206 00:09:43.679 --> 00:09:47.000 and First Officer Maurice Quintal have just lost both engines 207 00:09:47.159 --> 00:09:49.200 on a state of the art Boeing seven sixty seven. 208 00:09:49.399 --> 00:09:51.159 Unbelievable Houtel gets. 209 00:09:50.919 --> 00:09:53.120 On the radio to air traffic Control and says, holy cow, 210 00:09:53.159 --> 00:09:54.279 I'm talking to a dead man. 211 00:09:54.519 --> 00:09:57.679 Yeah, I mean, turning a ninety five ton commercial airliner 212 00:09:57.720 --> 00:10:01.159 into a very heavy unero dynamic glifeh is a pilot's 213 00:10:01.279 --> 00:10:04.120 worst nightmare, oh for sure. But what makes this case 214 00:10:04.159 --> 00:10:07.080 so fascinating is that it wasn't a mechanical failure that 215 00:10:07.080 --> 00:10:10.279 brought the engines down. It was a failure of mathematics, right. 216 00:10:10.159 --> 00:10:13.519 Because nineteen eighty three was an era of transition. Canada 217 00:10:13.559 --> 00:10:16.159 was switching to the metric system, and this brand new 218 00:10:16.200 --> 00:10:19.399 seven sixty seven was the first in Air Canada's fleet 219 00:10:19.679 --> 00:10:21.080 to use metric measurements for. 220 00:10:21.039 --> 00:10:24.000 Its fuel exactly, and the plan's digital fuel gauges were 221 00:10:24.000 --> 00:10:25.879 actually malfunctioning before the flight. 222 00:10:26.240 --> 00:10:28.679 Oh of course they were right, So to. 223 00:10:28.679 --> 00:10:32.080 Dispatch the aircraft, the ground crew had to manually measure 224 00:10:32.080 --> 00:10:36.159 the fuel using something called dripsticks. Dripsticks, Yeah, they are 225 00:10:36.279 --> 00:10:40.120 literally calibrated fiberglass tubes that drop down from the underside 226 00:10:40.120 --> 00:10:43.240 of the wings. The fuel inside the tank pushes a 227 00:10:43.360 --> 00:10:46.200 float down the tube, allowing the crew to measure the 228 00:10:46.279 --> 00:10:48.840 exact volume of fuel in centimeters. 229 00:10:49.000 --> 00:10:51.480 But an airplane engine doesn't care about the volume of 230 00:10:51.480 --> 00:10:51.879 the fuel. 231 00:10:51.919 --> 00:10:54.519 It cares about the mass, and that is the crucial 232 00:10:54.559 --> 00:10:57.080 link in the chain. To figure out the mass, you 233 00:10:57.120 --> 00:11:00.360 have to multiply the volume by the specific gravity of 234 00:11:00.519 --> 00:11:01.080 jet fuel. 235 00:11:01.159 --> 00:11:02.440 Okay, mass time right. 236 00:11:02.480 --> 00:11:05.480 So the flight required twenty two thy three hundred kilograms 237 00:11:05.480 --> 00:11:08.879 of fuel, But when the ground technicians and the pilots 238 00:11:08.919 --> 00:11:12.799 did the manual calculation, they used the conversion factor for pounds. 239 00:11:13.039 --> 00:11:15.919 Oh no, so they pumped in twenty two three hundred 240 00:11:15.960 --> 00:11:18.799 pounds of fuel. Yep, And since a pound is roughly 241 00:11:18.840 --> 00:11:21.039 half a kilogram, they took off with exactly half the 242 00:11:21.080 --> 00:11:24.279 fuel they needed to reach their destination exactly. And because 243 00:11:24.360 --> 00:11:27.080 the computer that usually acted as the flight engineer had 244 00:11:27.080 --> 00:11:31.200 been eliminated. In these newer two pilot cockpits, the lines 245 00:11:31.200 --> 00:11:32.639 of responsibility were blurred. 246 00:11:32.879 --> 00:11:34.480 No one caught the error exactly. 247 00:11:34.519 --> 00:11:37.120 So there they are at twenty six five hundred feet 248 00:11:37.200 --> 00:11:40.600 engines dead. And when the engines die, you don't just 249 00:11:40.720 --> 00:11:43.600 lose thrust, wild he steel lose You lose the massive 250 00:11:43.639 --> 00:11:46.679 generators that provide electrical power to the screens, and you 251 00:11:46.799 --> 00:11:50.120 lose the engine driven pumps that provide hydraulic pressure. 252 00:11:50.279 --> 00:11:51.759 And hydraulics are kind of important. 253 00:11:51.840 --> 00:11:52.039 Yeah. 254 00:11:52.039 --> 00:11:56.279 Without hydraulic pressure, you physically cannot move the massive ailerons 255 00:11:56.320 --> 00:11:59.200 and elevators on the wings and tail. You lose the 256 00:11:59.240 --> 00:11:59.960 ability to steal. 257 00:12:00.559 --> 00:12:03.519 Okay, wait, if they lose engines, electrical and hydraulics, how 258 00:12:03.559 --> 00:12:06.120 are they even moving the wing flaps to steer a 259 00:12:06.200 --> 00:12:07.200 ninety five ton. 260 00:12:07.159 --> 00:12:10.440 Brick that comes down to an obscure genius backup system 261 00:12:10.519 --> 00:12:12.840 called the ram air turbine or the RAT. 262 00:12:13.159 --> 00:12:13.679 The rat. 263 00:12:13.840 --> 00:12:16.360 Okay, it's a small propeller about the size of a 264 00:12:16.360 --> 00:12:18.559 ceiling fan tucked away in the belly. 265 00:12:18.320 --> 00:12:19.799 Of the plane well wind turbine. 266 00:12:19.919 --> 00:12:23.840 Holistically, when the systems die, a spring loaded door opens 267 00:12:24.120 --> 00:12:27.080 and this propeller drops down into the four hundred mile 268 00:12:27.120 --> 00:12:30.679 per hour slipstream beneath the aircraft. Oh wow, the wind 269 00:12:30.799 --> 00:12:34.559 physically spins the propeller, which dries a small hydraulic pump. 270 00:12:35.080 --> 00:12:38.240 It provides just enough pressure to let the pilots rustle 271 00:12:38.240 --> 00:12:42.919 the flight surfaces. It is raw kinetic energy conversion keeping 272 00:12:42.919 --> 00:12:43.960 the plane flyable. 273 00:12:44.240 --> 00:12:48.000 That is incredible engineering. And thank goodness for Captain Bob Pearson, 274 00:12:48.360 --> 00:12:51.480 because Pearson wasn't just a commercial pilot, he was an 275 00:12:51.519 --> 00:12:54.320 experienced glider pilot in his spare time. 276 00:12:54.360 --> 00:12:57.840 Which is the single most important coincidence in this entire story. 277 00:12:58.000 --> 00:13:01.600 Absolutely. So they are sinking, dropping about two thousand feet 278 00:13:01.600 --> 00:13:04.000 a minute. They quickly realize they aren't going to make. 279 00:13:03.960 --> 00:13:06.360 It to Winnipeg, not even close, right. 280 00:13:06.080 --> 00:13:08.639 So Quintle remembers an old Air Force base where you 281 00:13:08.720 --> 00:13:11.480 used to train in Gimli, Manitoba. So they aim for that. 282 00:13:11.879 --> 00:13:15.000 But as they get close, they face a massive physics problem. 283 00:13:15.240 --> 00:13:17.720 They're way too high and coming in way too fast. 284 00:13:17.840 --> 00:13:20.840 Yeah, and normally you deploy flaps to create drag or 285 00:13:20.840 --> 00:13:23.200 fly in a circle to bleed off altitude, but they 286 00:13:23.200 --> 00:13:27.080 can't do that right without engines. Circling is a death sentence. 287 00:13:27.159 --> 00:13:29.200 They would lose too much lift and crash short of 288 00:13:29.240 --> 00:13:32.639 the runway, and the RT doesn't provide enough hydraulic pressure 289 00:13:32.679 --> 00:13:34.360 to deploy the heavy flaps. 290 00:13:34.200 --> 00:13:37.759 So they have exactly one shot at this runway, just one. 291 00:13:38.639 --> 00:13:42.360 So Pearson does something absolutely wild. He executes a maneuver 292 00:13:42.440 --> 00:13:45.200 called a forward slip. You take a ninety five ton 293 00:13:45.240 --> 00:13:50.080 commercial airliner and you intentionally cross the controls, which is wait, 294 00:13:50.200 --> 00:13:52.360 how does crossing the controls actually work in a jet 295 00:13:52.360 --> 00:13:53.039 that size? 296 00:13:53.200 --> 00:13:56.480 Well, it is a violent, unnatural maneuver for commercial jet. 297 00:13:56.960 --> 00:14:00.240 Pearson turned the control yokes sharply to the right, which 298 00:14:00.360 --> 00:14:02.440 raises the right wing and tells the plane to turn right. 299 00:14:02.559 --> 00:14:02.879 Okay. 300 00:14:03.279 --> 00:14:06.240 At the exact same time, he stamped his left foot 301 00:14:06.279 --> 00:14:08.639 all the way down on the rudder pedal, forcing the 302 00:14:08.720 --> 00:14:09.799 tail to swing left. 303 00:14:09.960 --> 00:14:12.559 That sounds completely counterintuitive. 304 00:14:11.919 --> 00:14:15.159 It is. By doing this, he deliberately threw the plane 305 00:14:15.159 --> 00:14:18.480 out of its aerodynamic alignment. He forced the massive flat 306 00:14:18.519 --> 00:14:21.720 side of the fuselage to fly somewhat sideways into the 307 00:14:21.720 --> 00:14:23.240 two hundred mile per hour wind. 308 00:14:23.519 --> 00:14:26.840 It's like taking a massive eighteen wheeler semi truck and 309 00:14:26.919 --> 00:14:30.480 intentionally drifting its sideways down a steep, icy hill. Yes, 310 00:14:30.679 --> 00:14:33.440 like using the friction of the tire, sliding sideways to 311 00:14:33.480 --> 00:14:36.679 control your speed without picking up acceleration exactly, And the 312 00:14:36.720 --> 00:14:39.600 passengers are looking out the windows and the plane is 313 00:14:39.639 --> 00:14:43.360 banked so sharply they're staring straight down at a golf course. 314 00:14:43.879 --> 00:14:46.799 He essentially used the entire broad side of the airplane 315 00:14:46.840 --> 00:14:50.279 as a giant air brake, and it works. He slips 316 00:14:50.320 --> 00:14:52.519 the plane right down to the threshold of the runway 317 00:14:52.759 --> 00:14:55.360 and snaps it straight at the last possible second. 318 00:14:56.159 --> 00:14:59.480 But the climax here is pure cinematic terror. Oh yeah, 319 00:14:59.519 --> 00:15:02.440 because the the commission bas At Gimli isn't abandoned anymore. 320 00:15:02.639 --> 00:15:05.200 It's been converted into a drag racing strip, and on 321 00:15:05.240 --> 00:15:09.360 this particular Saturday, it's hosting a massive family camping weekend. 322 00:15:09.519 --> 00:15:12.039 One of the odds, right, people are having barbecues right 323 00:15:12.039 --> 00:15:14.000 next to the tarmac and right in the middle of 324 00:15:14.080 --> 00:15:16.600 the runway, two young boys are riding their bicycles. 325 00:15:16.679 --> 00:15:20.600 And remember, without engines, a gliding seven sixty seven is 326 00:15:20.679 --> 00:15:23.840 completely silent from the ground. There is no jet roar 327 00:15:23.960 --> 00:15:25.399 to warn the campers. 328 00:15:25.240 --> 00:15:27.720 Just a silent two hundred mile per hour metal beast 329 00:15:28.080 --> 00:15:30.720 dropping out of the sky behind them. The plane hits 330 00:15:30.759 --> 00:15:33.840 the concrete because they had no hydraulics to properly lost 331 00:15:33.840 --> 00:15:36.799 the nose gear. It collapses instantly with it sound like 332 00:15:36.799 --> 00:15:39.360 a shotgun blast. The nose of the plane grinds into 333 00:15:39.399 --> 00:15:43.039 the concrete, shooting a massive rooster tail of sparks and smoke. 334 00:15:44.080 --> 00:15:46.600 Captain Pearson is standing on the brakes, blowing out the 335 00:15:46.600 --> 00:15:49.960 main tires, desperately trying to steer this sliding behemoth away 336 00:15:49.960 --> 00:15:50.960 from the campers, just. 337 00:15:50.919 --> 00:15:51.919 Fighting the momentum. 338 00:15:52.039 --> 00:15:54.519 Yeah, the boys on the bikes are pedaling for their lives. 339 00:15:55.039 --> 00:15:58.039 The plane finally plows into a steel guard rail that 340 00:15:58.080 --> 00:16:00.360 had been installed down the center of the drags strip, 341 00:16:00.480 --> 00:16:03.080 and the friction drags it to a halt. Amazing, the 342 00:16:03.120 --> 00:16:06.200 nose stops just feet away from the campers. Everyone survives 343 00:16:06.799 --> 00:16:07.759 the Gimli Glider. 344 00:16:08.000 --> 00:16:12.080 It remains a masterclass in airmanship, human skill and instinct 345 00:16:12.200 --> 00:16:15.720 overcoming a catastrophic systemic math error. 346 00:16:15.720 --> 00:16:19.120 Which brings us to a darker question. Gimli proves that 347 00:16:19.159 --> 00:16:22.799 sometimes human skill can overcome a mechanical or systemic deficit. 348 00:16:23.559 --> 00:16:26.639 But what happens when the margin for air is absolutely zero. 349 00:16:26.559 --> 00:16:28.000 When everything is stacked against you? 350 00:16:28.120 --> 00:16:31.080 Exactly when the systemic negligence is so deep and the 351 00:16:31.120 --> 00:16:34.399 technology is so archaic that no amount of piloting skill 352 00:16:34.399 --> 00:16:35.200 can outfly the. 353 00:16:35.240 --> 00:16:38.080 Danger that takes us to April nineteen ninety six and 354 00:16:38.159 --> 00:16:41.159 the tragedy of US Air Force Flight IFO twenty one. 355 00:16:41.320 --> 00:16:44.679 This is a high profile flight. It's carrying thirty five people, 356 00:16:44.720 --> 00:16:48.200 including the US Commerce Secretary Ron Brown, along with a 357 00:16:48.279 --> 00:16:52.000 delegation of diplomats and business leaders. They are flying a 358 00:16:52.080 --> 00:16:56.759 specially designed Air Force CT forty three, which is essentially 359 00:16:56.960 --> 00:17:01.399 a modified Boeing seven thirty seven, into to Dubrovnik, Croatia. 360 00:17:02.120 --> 00:17:04.400 It's a trade mission to help rebuild the region after 361 00:17:04.400 --> 00:17:07.640 a brutal civil war, and they're flying directly into a 362 00:17:07.799 --> 00:17:09.279 massive spring thunderstorm. 363 00:17:09.599 --> 00:17:12.440 The conditions in Dubrovnik were incredibly challenging. 364 00:17:12.519 --> 00:17:12.960 Oh I bet. 365 00:17:13.240 --> 00:17:16.039 The airport had been utterly devastated during the war. It 366 00:17:16.119 --> 00:17:19.000 was completely stripped of modern navigation aids. There was no 367 00:17:19.119 --> 00:17:22.480 approach radar, meaning air traffic control couldn't see the planes 368 00:17:22.519 --> 00:17:22.880 coming in. 369 00:17:23.039 --> 00:17:23.559 Wow. 370 00:17:23.680 --> 00:17:27.400 Yeah. There was no instrument landing system or ILS, which 371 00:17:27.480 --> 00:17:30.759 is the standard technology that projects a precise electronic glide 372 00:17:30.839 --> 00:17:33.400 slope to guide a plane safely down to the runway. 373 00:17:33.400 --> 00:17:33.880 Center line. 374 00:17:33.920 --> 00:17:35.880 So how were they navigating? I read they were using 375 00:17:35.880 --> 00:17:38.000 something called NDB's non directional beacons. 376 00:17:38.160 --> 00:17:41.759 Yeah, and NDB is basically ancient technology in the aviation world. 377 00:17:41.839 --> 00:17:44.880 It essentially an am radio tower sending out a continuous ping, 378 00:17:45.119 --> 00:17:48.440 just a ping, just a ping. Inside the plane, you 379 00:17:48.519 --> 00:17:51.319 have an instrument with a single needle that points towards 380 00:17:51.319 --> 00:17:54.039 the source of that radio signal. That's It doesn't tell 381 00:17:54.039 --> 00:17:55.519 you how high you are, It doesn't give you a 382 00:17:55.559 --> 00:17:58.720 precise downward path. It just says the radio tower is 383 00:17:58.799 --> 00:17:59.880 generally in that direction. 384 00:18:00.279 --> 00:18:01.319 Wait, if this is a. 385 00:18:01.359 --> 00:18:05.559 VIP military flight carrying a US cabinet member, why wouldn't 386 00:18:05.559 --> 00:18:08.200 the commanders just ground the plane until the weather cleared. 387 00:18:08.319 --> 00:18:10.200 That's the million dollar question. 388 00:18:10.079 --> 00:18:13.319 Right, or at least wait until the airport installed modern radar. 389 00:18:13.599 --> 00:18:17.359 Why push a multimillion dollar jet through a thunderstorm using 390 00:18:17.440 --> 00:18:18.960 nineteen fifties technology. 391 00:18:19.359 --> 00:18:22.920 Well, the investigation revealed an intense culture of pressure. The 392 00:18:22.960 --> 00:18:25.680 military was operating under a mantra of you know, do 393 00:18:25.799 --> 00:18:26.559 more with less. 394 00:18:26.720 --> 00:18:26.960 Wow. 395 00:18:27.400 --> 00:18:30.640 There was massive political and scheduling pressure to complete these 396 00:18:30.759 --> 00:18:35.400 VIP missions, and military commanders were routinely issuing waivers that 397 00:18:35.519 --> 00:18:39.160 bypassed the rigorous safety checks required of standard. 398 00:18:38.839 --> 00:18:40.799 Commercial flights, So they're cutting corners. 399 00:18:40.839 --> 00:18:44.960 Basically, Yeah, they prioritized the mission schedule over safety margins. 400 00:18:45.519 --> 00:18:48.079 And to be clear, this is what the investigators found. 401 00:18:48.319 --> 00:18:50.880