WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.120 --> 00:00:03.919 Picture the heat. It is July eleventh, eight point twenty 2 00:00:04.000 --> 00:00:06.440 six in the morning in Jedda, Saudi. 3 00:00:06.080 --> 00:00:10.080 Arabia, and the temperature has already crossed the thirty degrees 4 00:00:10.119 --> 00:00:11.439 celsius by that point, right. 5 00:00:11.320 --> 00:00:14.720 It's brutal. The sun is just baking the concrete, creating 6 00:00:14.759 --> 00:00:17.679 those shimmering heat waves over the tarmac. 7 00:00:17.760 --> 00:00:20.079 Yeah, that intense desert heat exactly. 8 00:00:20.600 --> 00:00:24.559 And you are standing inside the massive Hodge Terminal. This 9 00:00:24.719 --> 00:00:29.879 place is it's an absolute architectural marvel. It was built 10 00:00:30.000 --> 00:00:35.320 specifically to handle the incredible influx of the annual Islamic pilgrimage. 11 00:00:35.359 --> 00:00:37.560 I mean it can hold eighty thousand people at once. 12 00:00:37.439 --> 00:00:41.039 Eighty thousand, and on this particular morning, you're watching a 13 00:00:41.039 --> 00:00:44.520 group of two hundred and forty seven Nigerian pilgrims getting 14 00:00:44.520 --> 00:00:45.079 ready to board. 15 00:00:45.320 --> 00:00:47.840 These are people who have just completed the most profoundly 16 00:00:47.880 --> 00:00:50.320 spiritual journey of their lives in Mecca, right. 17 00:00:50.200 --> 00:00:52.520 And many of them are from rural villages. They've never 18 00:00:52.560 --> 00:00:54.240 even been on an airplane before this trip. 19 00:00:54.320 --> 00:00:56.200 Oh wow, so this is all completely new to them, 20 00:00:56.320 --> 00:00:57.039 completely new. 21 00:00:57.159 --> 00:01:00.399 They are exhausted, they are overjoyed, and they are you know, 22 00:01:00.840 --> 00:01:02.399 finally going home to Sokoto. 23 00:01:02.679 --> 00:01:05.480 It's just a beautiful, deeply human scene. You have this 24 00:01:07.000 --> 00:01:10.879 intersection of ancient faith in modern technology. Yeah, because they 25 00:01:10.879 --> 00:01:13.159 were walking out to Bordination Air flight twenty one to 26 00:01:13.200 --> 00:01:15.040 twenty which is a DC eight. 27 00:01:15.000 --> 00:01:17.719 And for context, I mean, the DC eight was essentially 28 00:01:17.799 --> 00:01:21.599 the workhourse of the era. It's a massive, rugged, four 29 00:01:21.640 --> 00:01:23.920 engine jet designed for long hauls. 30 00:01:24.319 --> 00:01:27.599 Right, and looking at the flight logs, everything seems completely routine. 31 00:01:27.920 --> 00:01:30.040 They are fueled up for the long flight across the 32 00:01:30.040 --> 00:01:30.879 African continent. 33 00:01:31.000 --> 00:01:33.920 But looking through these official investigator files and the black 34 00:01:33.959 --> 00:01:37.200 box transcripts, it is just staggering to see the reality 35 00:01:37.200 --> 00:01:38.439 of what was actually happening. 36 00:01:38.519 --> 00:01:39.239 Yeah, that's chilling. 37 00:01:39.319 --> 00:01:41.840 They were stepping into a machine that was already doomed. 38 00:01:42.760 --> 00:01:45.040 And the mission for our deep dive today isn't just 39 00:01:45.079 --> 00:01:48.159 to look at the mechanical failure. We're going to trace 40 00:01:48.200 --> 00:01:50.799 the forensic clues back through the desert sand to find 41 00:01:50.799 --> 00:01:56.079 out how a simple, almost mundane maintenance oversight destroyed this aircraft, a. 42 00:01:55.959 --> 00:01:58.959 Flight that turned into one of the deadliest aviation disasters 43 00:01:59.000 --> 00:01:59.519 in history. 44 00:02:00.120 --> 00:02:02.560 Two hundred and sixty one lives in barely ten minutes. 45 00:02:03.159 --> 00:02:06.840 And the craziest part is that the fatal blow was 46 00:02:06.879 --> 00:02:09.919 struck before the wheels ever even left the ground. 47 00:02:10.240 --> 00:02:12.639 So the timeline of the disaster really begins with the 48 00:02:12.680 --> 00:02:18.120 geography of the airport itself. Jetta is a sprawling, massive facility. 49 00:02:18.759 --> 00:02:20.680 For flight twenty one to twenty to get from the 50 00:02:20.759 --> 00:02:23.319 terminal to the takeoff position on runway three four left, 51 00:02:23.719 --> 00:02:27.240 they have to execute a grueling five kilometer taxi. 52 00:02:27.439 --> 00:02:30.080 Five kilometers just driving on the ground exactly. 53 00:02:30.400 --> 00:02:33.560 That is an enormous distance for a fully loaded heavy 54 00:02:33.599 --> 00:02:36.439 aircraft to be rolling across sun baked asphalt. 55 00:02:36.599 --> 00:02:39.000 I can't even imagine the heat radiating off that ground. 56 00:02:39.080 --> 00:02:41.560 Oh, it's intense. And the sheer friction on the tires 57 00:02:41.639 --> 00:02:43.759 during a taxi that long is immense. 58 00:02:44.039 --> 00:02:45.879 So they finally get to the runway, they are cleared 59 00:02:45.919 --> 00:02:48.680 for takeoff and they throttle up. First officer can't damage 60 00:02:48.680 --> 00:02:51.360 is at the controls and they are accelerating hard. 61 00:02:51.400 --> 00:02:54.120 But the cockpit voice recorder picks up something terrifying right 62 00:02:54.159 --> 00:02:55.719 at ninety knods right. 63 00:02:55.520 --> 00:02:58.879 There is this violent shimmy. The entire plane starts shaking, 64 00:02:58.960 --> 00:03:02.280 sounding like they're driving over massive rumble strips. 65 00:03:02.800 --> 00:03:05.080 Yeah, and you can actually hear the flight engineer ask 66 00:03:05.159 --> 00:03:05.520 what's that. 67 00:03:05.879 --> 00:03:09.000 But at ninety knots, they are in a rapidly shrinking 68 00:03:09.039 --> 00:03:10.000 window of options. 69 00:03:10.199 --> 00:03:13.159 They really are. They are approaching V one, which is 70 00:03:13.199 --> 00:03:16.080 the critical threshold speed and commercial aviation. 71 00:03:15.879 --> 00:03:17.800 The point of no return exactly. 72 00:03:17.919 --> 00:03:20.800 The math is simple, right, once you cross that speed, 73 00:03:21.199 --> 00:03:24.199 you literally do not have enough physical runway lest in 74 00:03:24.199 --> 00:03:26.680 front of you to hit the brakes and stop safely 75 00:03:27.000 --> 00:03:28.520 without overrunning the tarmac. 76 00:03:28.639 --> 00:03:29.960 So you are fully committed. 77 00:03:30.039 --> 00:03:32.599 You're committed. You have to fly the plane, diagnose the 78 00:03:32.639 --> 00:03:34.400 problem in the air, and then try to land. 79 00:03:34.639 --> 00:03:37.719 So, feeling this massive vibration, they hit V one and commit. 80 00:03:38.120 --> 00:03:40.280 They pull back on the yoke, they lift off, and 81 00:03:40.319 --> 00:03:42.520 the captain makes the standard call gear. 82 00:03:42.400 --> 00:03:46.000 Up, and the second those landing gear doors open and 83 00:03:46.039 --> 00:03:48.199 the wheels pull up into the belly of the plane, 84 00:03:48.719 --> 00:03:50.560 the cockpit absolutely erupts. 85 00:03:50.719 --> 00:03:53.400 The transcript from this moment is just pure chaos. It's 86 00:03:53.439 --> 00:03:55.719 not a single warning light. It is a waterfall of 87 00:03:55.759 --> 00:03:59.960 system failures. First, four low pressure lights flash on, which. 88 00:03:59.759 --> 00:04:04.599 Tell the flight engineer they are losing cabin pressurization, right. 89 00:04:04.879 --> 00:04:08.439 Which is incredibly alarming because they are barely a few 90 00:04:08.520 --> 00:04:10.919 hundred feet in the air. The cabin shouldn't even be 91 00:04:10.960 --> 00:04:12.199 fully pressurized yet. 92 00:04:12.639 --> 00:04:16.199 But before the flight engineer can even voice that thought, 93 00:04:16.399 --> 00:04:18.959 the spoiler light illuminates. 94 00:04:18.519 --> 00:04:21.560 And spoilers are those large flat panels on the top 95 00:04:21.600 --> 00:04:23.680 of the wings that pop up to kill lift and 96 00:04:23.759 --> 00:04:27.000 act as air brakes. When a plane lands right. 97 00:04:27.040 --> 00:04:30.160 And the pilots haven't touched the spoiler controls, but the 98 00:04:30.240 --> 00:04:34.240 electrical system is screaming that they are deploying or malfunctioning, 99 00:04:34.360 --> 00:04:35.199 And then. 100 00:04:35.199 --> 00:04:37.839 Less than two minutes into the flight, the absolute worst 101 00:04:37.879 --> 00:04:41.319 case scenario happens. They lose their hydraulics. I was reading 102 00:04:41.319 --> 00:04:43.680 the flight manual for the DCA to understand this, and 103 00:04:43.759 --> 00:04:46.920 losing hydraulics isn't like losing power steering in your car, 104 00:04:46.959 --> 00:04:49.279 where the wheel just gets kind of heavy, not at all. 105 00:04:49.319 --> 00:04:52.240 These control surfaces on the wings and the tail are 106 00:04:52.399 --> 00:04:55.439 massive pieces of metal facing hundreds of miles an hour 107 00:04:55.480 --> 00:04:56.360 of wind resistance. 108 00:04:56.720 --> 00:04:59.439 Yeah, without the hydraulic fluid pushing the pistons to move 109 00:04:59.439 --> 00:05:02.399 those surfaces, the pilots are suddenly having to rely on 110 00:05:02.560 --> 00:05:04.439 manual mechanical cables. 111 00:05:04.759 --> 00:05:08.240 They are literally using their own upper body strength to 112 00:05:08.519 --> 00:05:11.639 wrestle this massive airliner through the sky. 113 00:05:11.839 --> 00:05:14.800 All while dealing with a complete breakdown in communication with 114 00:05:14.879 --> 00:05:15.800 air traffic Control. 115 00:05:15.920 --> 00:05:17.839 Oh Man, the ATC nightmare. 116 00:05:18.199 --> 00:05:21.759 Right, the controller in the Jetta tower is looking at 117 00:05:21.759 --> 00:05:25.600 his radar, and by a tragic coincidence, there is a 118 00:05:25.720 --> 00:05:29.519 Saudi seven thirty eight flight in the exact same airspace 119 00:05:30.040 --> 00:05:31.319 at the exact same. 120 00:05:31.160 --> 00:05:34.800 Moment, also reporting a pressurization issue. Exactly so the controller 121 00:05:34.839 --> 00:05:37.399 thinks he's talking to the Saudi plane while the Nation 122 00:05:37.560 --> 00:05:40.680 air pilots are screaming that they have a catastrophic emergency 123 00:05:40.680 --> 00:05:42.959 and need to level off at two thousand feet. 124 00:05:43.079 --> 00:05:44.120 It's total confusion. 125 00:05:44.399 --> 00:05:47.720 Imagine your car's check engine light comes on, then your 126 00:05:47.759 --> 00:05:50.639 brakes failed, then the steering wheel locks a ball while 127 00:05:50.680 --> 00:05:53.240 someone on the radio is shouting driving directions meant for 128 00:05:53.279 --> 00:05:55.560 a completely different car going to a different city. 129 00:05:55.680 --> 00:05:58.120 It is complete sensory overload. 130 00:05:57.920 --> 00:06:01.120 And the controller gives them headings to climb and turn left, 131 00:06:01.360 --> 00:06:03.439 which actually steers them away from the airport. 132 00:06:03.720 --> 00:06:06.879 Right, the flight path data shows them ending up thirteen 133 00:06:06.920 --> 00:06:08.639 kilometers out flying the wrong. 134 00:06:08.439 --> 00:06:09.959 Way, which just sounds so fatal. 135 00:06:10.160 --> 00:06:13.639 But when investigators later ran the forensic simulations of this flight, 136 00:06:14.480 --> 00:06:18.560 they found a fascinating, albeit grim reality. 137 00:06:18.639 --> 00:06:20.480 Wait, really, what was it. 138 00:06:20.519 --> 00:06:21.959 That radio mixer didn't kill them. 139 00:06:22.040 --> 00:06:22.519 No. 140 00:06:22.519 --> 00:06:25.759 No, Even if the controller had instantly realized the mistake, 141 00:06:26.040 --> 00:06:28.879 cleared the airspace, and given them a perfect vector back 142 00:06:28.879 --> 00:06:31.199 to the runway, the plane would not have made. 143 00:06:31.040 --> 00:06:33.720 It because the structural failure was happening too fast. 144 00:06:33.920 --> 00:06:37.240 Exactly, the real enemy was already inside the plane. 145 00:06:37.120 --> 00:06:40.360 Right because the real emergency wasn't an instrument glitch. It 146 00:06:40.439 --> 00:06:43.160 was happening in the passenger cabin. We know from the 147 00:06:43.160 --> 00:06:46.279 files that the lead mechanic for the flight, Jean Paul Phillip, 148 00:06:46.399 --> 00:06:47.360 was riding in the cabin. 149 00:06:47.480 --> 00:06:49.600 Yeah, and he smells something incredibly wrong. 150 00:06:49.720 --> 00:06:51.240 He walks to the back of the aircraft to check 151 00:06:51.279 --> 00:06:53.920 it out, and he finds an absolute inferno. 152 00:06:54.120 --> 00:06:56.399 He runs back toward the cockpit and reports that there 153 00:06:56.480 --> 00:06:58.720 is smoke in the back quote real bad. 154 00:06:58.920 --> 00:07:01.560 And the fire is earning with a ferocity that is 155 00:07:01.680 --> 00:07:05.759 just hard to comprehend. The cabin is filling with thick, blinding, 156 00:07:05.959 --> 00:07:07.439 toxic black smoke. 157 00:07:07.639 --> 00:07:09.839 For the two hundred and forty seven passengers who are 158 00:07:09.879 --> 00:07:13.120 just celebrating their pilgrimage, I mean, it turns into a 159 00:07:13.240 --> 00:07:14.079 nightmare instantly. 160 00:07:14.439 --> 00:07:19.040 The air is entirely displaced by smoke. The forensic reconstruction 161 00:07:19.279 --> 00:07:23.399 details how the passengers surged forward, just a desperate stampede, 162 00:07:23.399 --> 00:07:27.079 toward the cockpit, fighting for a single breath of oxygen. 163 00:07:27.480 --> 00:07:31.000 But the fire is so intense, running directly beneath them 164 00:07:31.480 --> 00:07:34.560 that it begins melting the actual floorboards of the cabin. 165 00:07:35.120 --> 00:07:36.560 Melting the floorboards. 166 00:07:36.639 --> 00:07:40.120 Yeah, And because those floorboards are melting, the structural ribs 167 00:07:40.160 --> 00:07:43.120 of the aircraft's fuselage are turning to butter. 168 00:07:43.240 --> 00:07:45.439 Which leads to a detail in the crash report that 169 00:07:45.560 --> 00:07:49.560 is honestly difficult to even read. The aircraft is eleven 170 00:07:49.600 --> 00:07:52.240 miles away from the airport, trying to turn back, and 171 00:07:52.319 --> 00:07:55.279 its flight path takes it directly over the city of Jetta. 172 00:07:55.439 --> 00:07:58.439 White over the city, the intense heat compromises the floor 173 00:07:58.519 --> 00:08:01.360 so severely that the bottom of the aircraft simply gives way. 174 00:08:01.600 --> 00:08:02.399 It's horrifying. 175 00:08:02.600 --> 00:08:05.680 Debris pieces of the fuselage and passengers begin falling from 176 00:08:05.680 --> 00:08:07.720 the sky, directly into the city and up. 177 00:08:07.560 --> 00:08:10.800 In the cockpit, Captain Allen is violently pulling on controls 178 00:08:10.800 --> 00:08:12.519 that are no longer attached to anything. 179 00:08:12.720 --> 00:08:15.519 The fire has severed the manual control cables. You hear 180 00:08:15.600 --> 00:08:17.040 him shout, I have no control. 181 00:08:17.319 --> 00:08:20.399 He has lost his ailerons. Those are the flaps on 182 00:08:20.439 --> 00:08:22.480 the back of the wings that let the plane roll 183 00:08:22.519 --> 00:08:25.639 and turn right. And he has lost his elevators, which 184 00:08:25.680 --> 00:08:28.079 are the flaps on the horizontal tail that make the 185 00:08:28.120 --> 00:08:29.160 nose pitch up or down. 186 00:08:29.360 --> 00:08:32.240 So he can't steer, he can't climb, he can't dive. 187 00:08:32.440 --> 00:08:36.919 The aircraft is a burning, unguided missile at this point. 188 00:08:36.679 --> 00:08:39.480 So, two miles out from the runway, desperate to create 189 00:08:39.519 --> 00:08:43.399 some kind of aerodynamic stability, he pulls the lever to 190 00:08:43.559 --> 00:08:44.919 lower the landing gear. 191 00:08:44.960 --> 00:08:48.200 Which is a textbook last resort maneuver to create drag 192 00:08:48.360 --> 00:08:51.120 and hopefully stabilize the flight pass. That makes sense, but 193 00:08:51.360 --> 00:08:54.720 aerodynamically it was a death sentence for a compromise frame. 194 00:08:54.799 --> 00:08:55.360 Why is that. 195 00:08:55.720 --> 00:08:58.600 Think of the plane structure like an umbrella. When it's intact, 196 00:08:58.759 --> 00:09:02.679 it easily handles the wind. But the fire has burned 197 00:09:02.720 --> 00:09:05.679 through the aircraft's skeleton for ten minutes. Oh I see, 198 00:09:05.759 --> 00:09:09.320 internal struts are melted and warped. When you drop massive, 199 00:09:09.360 --> 00:09:12.440 heavy landing gear into a two hundred and forty nine slipstream, 200 00:09:12.840 --> 00:09:14.159 you create immense drag. 201 00:09:14.279 --> 00:09:16.679 Imagine driving eighty miles an hour and throwing all your 202 00:09:16.720 --> 00:09:17.799 car doors wide open. 203 00:09:18.240 --> 00:09:22.559 Exactly. The sheer aerodynamic violence of that drag acting on 204 00:09:22.600 --> 00:09:24.679 a melted airframe was just too much. 205 00:09:24.759 --> 00:09:27.080 The aircraft simply shattered in the sky. 206 00:09:27.320 --> 00:09:30.159 Yeah, Flight twenty one to twenty crashes half a mile 207 00:09:30.200 --> 00:09:31.039 short of the runway. 208 00:09:31.200 --> 00:09:34.360 The impact and the remaining fuel create a fireball that 209 00:09:34.399 --> 00:09:38.000 consumes whatever is left. Two hundred and sixty one people gone, 210 00:09:38.320 --> 00:09:40.200 barely ten minutes after they took off. 211 00:09:40.480 --> 00:09:44.240 The Canadian Transportation Safety Board the CTSB flies in to 212 00:09:44.320 --> 00:09:47.080 assist because Nation Air was a Canadian carrier. 213 00:09:46.960 --> 00:09:49.279 Right, and they walk into a debris field that makes 214 00:09:49.320 --> 00:09:50.320 absolutely no sense. 215 00:09:50.360 --> 00:09:53.240 At first glance, they find a massive impact crater and 216 00:09:53.320 --> 00:09:56.559 a scorch mark four hundred meters long, right near the 217 00:09:56.639 --> 00:09:57.559 runway threshold. 218 00:09:57.679 --> 00:10:00.879 But as they start mapping the geographic coordinate of the wreckage, 219 00:10:00.919 --> 00:10:04.600 they trace a horrific trail of debris stretching eleven miles 220 00:10:04.639 --> 00:10:06.399 backward along the flight path. 221 00:10:06.600 --> 00:10:09.080 My question when reading this was, how on earth do 222 00:10:09.200 --> 00:10:11.600 you investigate a pile of ash? I mean, the plane 223 00:10:11.639 --> 00:10:13.000 is essentially vaporized. 224 00:10:13.039 --> 00:10:15.000 You can't just plug in a diagnostic tool and ask 225 00:10:15.080 --> 00:10:16.600 the computer what broke exactly. 226 00:10:16.600 --> 00:10:18.240 You have to look at the metallurgy. 227 00:10:17.759 --> 00:10:20.919 And the CTSB experts find a massive clue on the 228 00:10:20.919 --> 00:10:22.279 tail section of the plane. 229 00:10:22.600 --> 00:10:25.399 Right, it is entirely coated in molten aluminum. 230 00:10:24.960 --> 00:10:28.440 And aluminum doesn't melt until it hits about one hundred 231 00:10:28.480 --> 00:10:29.320 degrees celsius. 232 00:10:29.480 --> 00:10:32.320 Right. In a typical crash where the fire happens on 233 00:10:32.360 --> 00:10:35.559 the ground after impact, the heat rises and the melting 234 00:10:35.559 --> 00:10:37.399 metal drips straight down into puddles. 235 00:10:37.759 --> 00:10:41.639 But this aluminum had melted and then the incredible force 236 00:10:41.639 --> 00:10:45.759 of the airstream had blown it backward horizontally, plastering it 237 00:10:45.840 --> 00:10:46.639 against the tail. 238 00:10:46.799 --> 00:10:49.799 They call it a blow torch effect. Wow, it proved 239 00:10:49.799 --> 00:10:53.799 definitively that an unimaginably hot fire was raging in the 240 00:10:53.840 --> 00:10:56.759 mid section of the aircraft while it was flying at 241 00:10:56.840 --> 00:10:57.480 high speed. 242 00:10:57.679 --> 00:10:59.799 So they have hard proof of a mid air fire. 243 00:11:00.000 --> 00:11:02.840 But instantly the corporate pr machines kick in. 244 00:11:02.960 --> 00:11:03.840 Oh, of course they do. 245 00:11:04.440 --> 00:11:07.960 Nation Air holds press conferences claiming that the Saudi runway 246 00:11:08.080 --> 00:11:11.159 must have been littered with sharp metal debris which blew 247 00:11:11.200 --> 00:11:13.440 a tire and sparked the disaster, and. 248 00:11:13.360 --> 00:11:17.399 The Saudi Aviation authority fires back aggressively defending their airport, 249 00:11:17.559 --> 00:11:20.000 claiming their tarmac was swept and spotless. 250 00:11:20.080 --> 00:11:22.639 Wait, how can you trust either side. Here Nation Air 251 00:11:22.720 --> 00:11:25.360 is trying to dodge liability for two hundred and sixty 252 00:11:25.360 --> 00:11:28.279 one deaths, and the airport doesn't want to be blamed 253 00:11:28.279 --> 00:11:32.240 for a dirty runway. Exactly how do investigators cut through 254 00:11:32.279 --> 00:11:33.399 the pr spin. 255 00:11:33.879 --> 00:11:37.759 Well, they ignore the press conferences and focus entirely on 256 00:11:37.799 --> 00:11:42.360 the physical artifacts. The physical evidence can't lie right. Investigators 257 00:11:42.399 --> 00:11:45.679 dig through the rubble and locate the landing gear bogie, 258 00:11:46.519 --> 00:11:49.879 specifically the number two wheel on the left side. 259 00:11:49.600 --> 00:11:52.159 And when they put that wheel rim under a microscope, 260 00:11:52.159 --> 00:11:54.440 they see it hasn't just suffered impact damage. 261 00:11:54.480 --> 00:11:57.759 The actual bare metal rim of the wheel has been 262 00:11:57.879 --> 00:12:01.440 violently ground down, filed away by extreme friction. 263 00:12:01.919 --> 00:12:05.000 It didn't strike a piece of debris and pop. It 264 00:12:05.039 --> 00:12:08.440 was dragging and scraping directly on the concrete runway for 265 00:12:08.519 --> 00:12:10.480 a significant distance, which means. 266 00:12:10.320 --> 00:12:12.840 The tire was completely gone well before they ever left 267 00:12:12.840 --> 00:12:13.240 the ground. 268 00:12:13.320 --> 00:12:16.200 Something caused that tire to fail from within, and. 269 00:12:16.159 --> 00:12:18.399 The smoking gun they find to explain this isn't a 270 00:12:18.399 --> 00:12:21.039 piece of twisted metal or a scorched engine valve. 271 00:12:21.080 --> 00:12:22.720 Here's where it gets really interesting. 272 00:12:23.000 --> 00:12:25.399 It is a tiny, fragile piece of paper. 273 00:12:25.679 --> 00:12:28.679 Investigator Bill Taylor is walking the perimeter of the desert 274 00:12:28.720 --> 00:12:31.840 crash site, mapping debris, and he catches sight of a 275 00:12:31.840 --> 00:12:33.559 piece of paper fluttering in the wind. 276 00:12:33.840 --> 00:12:37.120 By some absolute miracle, it was blown clear of the 277 00:12:37.159 --> 00:12:37.960 main fireball. 278 00:12:38.159 --> 00:12:40.559 He picks it up and it's the handwritten a flight 279 00:12:40.600 --> 00:12:41.759 inspection checklist. 280 00:12:41.960 --> 00:12:45.080 This is the official maintenance log detailing the tire pressures 281 00:12:45.080 --> 00:12:46.279 from the days leading up to the. 282 00:12:46.240 --> 00:12:48.799 Flight, and he notices two different colors of ink on 283 00:12:48.840 --> 00:12:50.919 the page. The numbers have been written over. 284 00:12:51.240 --> 00:12:55.159 Yeah, whenever you see altered logs in an investigation, the 285 00:12:55.240 --> 00:12:58.960 immediate question is intent. Was it a simple correction or 286 00:12:59.000 --> 00:12:59.559 a cover up? 287 00:12:59.799 --> 00:13:03.440 Right? So the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Forensics Lab takes 288 00:13:03.440 --> 00:13:06.679 the document, runs an analysis on the ink layers and 289 00:13:06.879 --> 00:13:08.519 uncovers the forgery. 290 00:13:08.600 --> 00:13:11.480 Underneath the fresh inc The original numbers show that the 291 00:13:11.559 --> 00:13:15.279 tires on that left landing gear were critically underinflated. 292 00:13:15.480 --> 00:13:19.240 We're talking twenty to thirty psi below the absolute minimum 293 00:13:19.279 --> 00:13:20.200 safe operating limit. 294 00:13:20.279 --> 00:13:21.720 They falsified the safety logs. 295 00:13:21.759 --> 00:13:24.879 Now, we know the mechanical failure incredibly low tire pressure. 296 00:13:25.000 --> 00:13:27.919 But planes don't just crash because of a tire. They 297 00:13:27.960 --> 00:13:31.440 crashed because the human systems surrounding that plane fail exactly. 298 00:13:31.799 --> 00:13:34.039 We have to trace the timeline backward to figure out 299 00:13:34.080 --> 00:13:37.039 the psychology of why a team of professionals allowed a 300 00:13:37.159 --> 00:13:38.679 dangerous plane into the sky. 301 00:13:39.080 --> 00:13:42.639 Four days before the crash in Jetta, this exact aircraft 302 00:13:42.720 --> 00:13:44.320 was on the ground in Ghana. 303 00:13:44.480 --> 00:13:47.559 The local mechanics doing the inspections saw the low tire 304 00:13:47.600 --> 00:13:49.080 pressure on the left main gear. 305 00:13:49.320 --> 00:13:52.759 The rubber was wearing unevenly, the PSI was dropping and 306 00:13:52.840 --> 00:13:55.559 they pulled the replacement tires out. They were ready to 307 00:13:55.639 --> 00:13:56.120 change them. 308 00:13:56.200 --> 00:13:58.440 They had the personnel and they had the equipment, but 309 00:13:58.559 --> 00:14:02.000 they lacked the authorization. The investigation reveals that a project 310 00:14:02.039 --> 00:14:06.200 manager and executive overseeing the logistics of the trip sent 311 00:14:06.279 --> 00:14:08.399 a direct facts to the maintenance crew. 312 00:14:08.639 --> 00:14:11.360 The facts literally read forget it, we want us to 313 00:14:11.360 --> 00:14:11.840 get going. 314 00:14:12.039 --> 00:14:15.559 We have to understand the environment here. Nation Air isn't 315 00:14:15.600 --> 00:14:19.600 a massive legacy carrier. They are a scrappy startup fighting 316 00:14:19.679 --> 00:14:21.000 for every dollar right. 317 00:14:21.080 --> 00:14:24.080 They take these intense charter contracts and if they delay 318 00:14:24.120 --> 00:14:27.399 a flight, they bleed money and risk losing future contracts 319 00:14:27.399 --> 00:14:28.360 to rival airlines. 320 00:14:28.480 --> 00:14:32.159 It is the ultimate collision of production versus protection. The 321 00:14:32.399 --> 00:14:35.720 executives prioritize the schedule over the safety manual. 322 00:14:35.639 --> 00:14:38.559 The mechanics and Ghana are put in an impossible position. 323 00:14:39.080 --> 00:14:41.679 If they ground the plane, they defy direct orders from 324 00:14:41.679 --> 00:14:43.559 corporate and risk their livelihoods. 325 00:14:43.919 --> 00:14:47.919 So, bowing to that pressure, someone takes a pen, crosses 326 00:14:47.960 --> 00:14:52.879 out the dangerous PSI readings and writes in fake safe numbers. 327 00:14:52.600 --> 00:14:55.879 That aircraft flew multiple legs over several days with those 328 00:14:55.919 --> 00:14:57.000 falsified records. 329 00:14:57.320 --> 00:14:59.799 Fast forward to the morning of July eleventh, and Jetta 330 00:15:00.679 --> 00:15:03.799 lead mechanic Jean Paul Philip, who is about to board 331 00:15:03.840 --> 00:15:07.480 this doom flight, knows those tires are critically low. 332 00:15:07.679 --> 00:15:10.720 He isn't ignoring the problem, He's actively trying to fix it. 333 00:15:10.720 --> 00:15:14.240 Before takeoff, he is frantically running around the tarmac trying 334 00:15:14.279 --> 00:15:16.120 to find nitrogen to top up the tires. 335 00:15:16.240 --> 00:15:19.240 They just to clarify, commercial aircraft tires are subjected to 336 00:15:19.320 --> 00:15:23.440 extreme temperature swings from blistering runway heat to minus fifty 337 00:15:23.440 --> 00:15:25.000 degrees at cruising altitude. 338 00:15:25.200 --> 00:15:28.480 Right, So, regular compressed air contains moisture that freezes and 339 00:15:28.639 --> 00:15:30.840 oxygen that expands dangerously When. 340 00:15:30.720 --> 00:15:34.360 Heated nitrogen is inert it doesn't expand wildly, and crucially, 341 00:15:34.440 --> 00:15:36.799 it won't fuel a fire. You cannot use regular air 342 00:15:36.840 --> 00:15:38.000 in a jet tire safely. 343 00:15:38.159 --> 00:15:40.879 But Philip checks the Nation Air nitrogen bottles and they 344 00:15:40.879 --> 00:15:41.960 are completely empty. 345 00:15:42.159 --> 00:15:43.519 The supply chain has failed them. 346 00:15:43.559 --> 00:15:46.559 He is so desperate he runs over to another airline's 347 00:15:46.559 --> 00:15:50.360 maintenance crew on the tarmac and begs to borrow their nitrogen, but. 348 00:15:50.320 --> 00:15:53.879 Their bottles are empty too. The boarding process is finishing up, 349 00:15:54.240 --> 00:15:55.600 the clock is ticking. 350 00:15:55.639 --> 00:15:59.879 And the project manager, who lacks deep mechanical expertise, makes 351 00:16:00.200 --> 00:16:03.360 the fatal administrative call forget the nitrogen. 352 00:16:02.960 --> 00:16:04.799 Just fly, do not delay the takeoff. 353 00:16:04.879 --> 00:16:07.399 And here we see the most catastrophic breakdown in the 354 00:16:07.639 --> 00:16:11.919 entire system. In aviation, the captain is the ultimate authority. 355 00:16:12.120 --> 00:16:15.720 Yes, if Captain Allen knew about the tires, he would 356 00:16:15.759 --> 00:16:18.919 have instantly ordered the passengers off and grounded the aircraft. 357 00:16:18.960 --> 00:16:23.440 But the forged logs looked perfect. The mechanics, afraid of management, 358 00:16:23.679 --> 00:16:24.360 kept the secret. 359 00:16:24.600 --> 00:16:27.240 The one person with the power to stop the disaster 360 00:16:27.759 --> 00:16:29.159 was completely blind to it. 361 00:16:29.240 --> 00:16:31.799 Okay, let's unpack this. We have the human error. We 362 00:16:31.840 --> 00:16:34.919 see the pressure of the startup culture, the falsified logs, 363 00:16:35.279 --> 00:16:38.200 the empty nitrogen tanks. Right, But we need to map 364 00:16:38.240 --> 00:16:42.240 how a low tire morphs into an unstoppable floor melting 365 00:16:42.320 --> 00:16:45.759 fire in just three minutes. How does the physics actually work. 366 00:16:46.039 --> 00:16:48.840 It revolves around the design of the landing gear. The 367 00:16:48.919 --> 00:16:51.960 DC eight uses a bogie system, which is a massive 368 00:16:51.960 --> 00:16:54.480 strut with four wheels attached to it. Think of it 369 00:16:54.519 --> 00:16:57.080 like carrying a heavy sofa with a friend. If your 370 00:16:57.120 --> 00:16:59.879 friend suddenly trips and lets go, the entire weight of 371 00:16:59.879 --> 00:17:03.480 the that sofa violently shifts onto your arms. Ah, because 372 00:17:03.519 --> 00:17:06.440 one of those tires was underinflated by almost thirty pounds, 373 00:17:06.839 --> 00:17:10.000 It was sitting low. It wasn't touching the ground with 374 00:17:10.119 --> 00:17:13.680 enough force to carry its share of the aircraft's. 375 00:17:13.119 --> 00:17:16.839 Weight, So the entire burden of that fully fueled, fully 376 00:17:16.839 --> 00:17:20.480 loaded jet shifts onto its axle mate the tire right 377 00:17:20.559 --> 00:17:21.200 next to it. 378 00:17:21.119 --> 00:17:24.359 And they have to do that massive five kilometer taxi 379 00:17:24.559 --> 00:17:26.039 across boiling concrete. 380 00:17:26.079 --> 00:17:29.480 The adjacent tire is now carrying double its engineered load capacity. 381 00:17:29.920 --> 00:17:32.839 As it rolls for eleven minutes across the hot tarmac, 382 00:17:33.119 --> 00:17:34.400 it is overflexing. 383 00:17:34.759 --> 00:17:38.559 The heavy nylon cords inside the sidewall are bending, heating up, 384 00:17:38.599 --> 00:17:40.799 and starting to melt and pull apart from the inside 385 00:17:40.799 --> 00:17:41.400 out as. 386 00:17:41.359 --> 00:17:44.559 They accelerate down the runway and hit ninety knots that 387 00:17:44.720 --> 00:17:47.559 overstressed adjacent tire simply detonates. 388 00:17:47.720 --> 00:17:50.599 That was the violent shimmy and the loud sound the crew. 389 00:17:50.400 --> 00:17:53.079 Heard, But they were at V one. They had to 390 00:17:53.160 --> 00:17:53.640 keep going. 391 00:17:53.960 --> 00:17:57.160 The moment that good tire blows, all that immense weight 392 00:17:57.359 --> 00:18:01.720 instantly slams back down onto the severely underinflated tire, which 393 00:18:01.720 --> 00:18:02.920 immediately blows out as. 394 00:18:02.880 --> 00:18:05.680 Well, leaving nothing but the bare metal wheel rim. 395 00:18:05.759 --> 00:18:08.119 The plane is traveling over one hundred miles an hour. 396 00:18:08.519 --> 00:18:11.880 That metal rim is grinding directly against the concrete runway, 397 00:18:12.119 --> 00:18:14.000 acting like a giant friction saw. 398 00:18:14.319 --> 00:18:17.240 It sparks and superheats the shredded rubber of the blown 399 00:18:17.279 --> 00:18:18.480 tires flapping around it. 400 00:18:18.640 --> 00:18:21.519 The rubber gets so hot it spontaneously combusts. 401 00:18:21.759 --> 00:18:24.839