WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.040 --> 00:00:02.720 So I want you to picture yourself standing in a dense, 2 00:00:03.200 --> 00:00:06.480 snow covered forest in Gander, Newfoundland. 3 00:00:06.120 --> 00:00:08.119 Right, and it's December twelve, nineteen eighty five. 4 00:00:08.279 --> 00:00:10.599 Yeah, exactly. It is just pitch black, and. 5 00:00:10.560 --> 00:00:14.000 There's this freezing rain falling so hard it actually stings your. 6 00:00:13.960 --> 00:00:18.000 Face, oh man, and emergency crews are just thrashing through 7 00:00:18.000 --> 00:00:19.519 this heavily wooded area, right. 8 00:00:19.600 --> 00:00:22.760 But the thing is they don't even need flashlights to 9 00:00:22.760 --> 00:00:25.399 see where they're going because rising up right in front 10 00:00:25.399 --> 00:00:29.280 of them is this thirty foot high, burning mass of 11 00:00:29.399 --> 00:00:31.120 twisted metal and jet fuel. 12 00:00:31.239 --> 00:00:33.920 The devastation is just absolutely I mean, the smell of 13 00:00:33.960 --> 00:00:37.960 aviation fuel and well death is completely overwhelming. 14 00:00:38.000 --> 00:00:38.600 It's horrific. 15 00:00:38.640 --> 00:00:42.280 And as investigators start to sift through this totally harrowing scene, 16 00:00:42.520 --> 00:00:44.039 they find something among. 17 00:00:43.799 --> 00:00:46.159 The scattered debris that just, I mean, it breaks your heart. 18 00:00:46.200 --> 00:00:49.359 Yeah, the souvenirs right amidst the fiery wreckage. Are these 19 00:00:49.399 --> 00:00:52.679 souvenirs the passengers had bought literally just moments before boarding. 20 00:00:52.960 --> 00:00:56.719 They were these t shirts that read I survived Gander, Newfoundland. 21 00:00:57.000 --> 00:01:01.679 God is just an unimaginably devastating image and the reality 22 00:01:01.719 --> 00:01:04.239 of what those crews found in the dark that night 23 00:01:04.439 --> 00:01:08.560 was even worse because all two hundred and fifty six 24 00:01:08.680 --> 00:01:13.000 people on board Arrow Airflight twelve eighty five were dead. 25 00:01:13.000 --> 00:01:15.439 And the vast majority of them were US soldiers, right 26 00:01:15.480 --> 00:01:17.760 from the famed one hundred and first Airborne Division. 27 00:01:17.840 --> 00:01:20.760 Yeah, the Screaming Eagles. They were returning home from this 28 00:01:21.200 --> 00:01:24.519 highly tense peacekeeping mission in the Sinai Peninsula. They were 29 00:01:24.560 --> 00:01:26.359 just hoping to be back in Kentucky. 30 00:01:26.000 --> 00:01:29.040 For Christmas, but instead this wreckage became one of the 31 00:01:29.079 --> 00:01:31.159 worst aviation disasters in history. 32 00:01:31.200 --> 00:01:31.760 You really did. 33 00:01:32.159 --> 00:01:35.560 Welcome to today's deep dive. We are going to unpack a 34 00:01:35.599 --> 00:01:40.439 stack of really harrowing aviation investigation case files, and our 35 00:01:40.439 --> 00:01:44.280 mission today is to trace the path of a nearly invisible. 36 00:01:43.840 --> 00:01:47.000 Killer, right, a killer that brought down three separate commercial 37 00:01:47.079 --> 00:01:47.920 jets exactly. 38 00:01:48.079 --> 00:01:51.040 And we're going to see how a crazy storm of controversy, 39 00:01:51.280 --> 00:01:55.200 human error, and just massive corporate pressure prevented the aviation 40 00:01:55.280 --> 00:01:57.879 industry from learning a vital lesson until it was almost 41 00:01:57.959 --> 00:01:58.400 too late. 42 00:01:58.599 --> 00:02:00.239 Yeah, it's a wild sequence of events. 43 00:02:00.239 --> 00:02:02.519 Okay, let's unpack this because I want you to imagine 44 00:02:02.519 --> 00:02:05.560 a killer hiding in plane sight, something so thin and 45 00:02:05.879 --> 00:02:08.919 like ordinary that you'd brush it off without a second thought. 46 00:02:08.960 --> 00:02:11.360 That's what we are dealing with today, right, and. 47 00:02:11.520 --> 00:02:14.439 Understand how this hidden killer operates. We really have to 48 00:02:14.439 --> 00:02:19.000 look chronologically at the timeline of that arrow air flight 49 00:02:19.039 --> 00:02:19.560 and gander. 50 00:02:19.840 --> 00:02:21.360 Okay, set the scene for us. 51 00:02:21.520 --> 00:02:24.879 So First Officer John Connolly is at the controls of 52 00:02:24.919 --> 00:02:29.479 a massive Douglas DC eight and before taking off, you know, 53 00:02:29.560 --> 00:02:32.599 the flight crew goes through their standard calculations to figure 54 00:02:32.599 --> 00:02:33.599 out their critical. 55 00:02:33.280 --> 00:02:36.639 Speeds, right, the numbers they need to actually lift off exactly. 56 00:02:36.840 --> 00:02:38.840 So the bug on the airspeed indicator, which is just 57 00:02:38.879 --> 00:02:41.240 a little visual marker for the pilots to know when 58 00:02:41.240 --> 00:02:43.360 to pull back on the yoke, is set to one 59 00:02:43.439 --> 00:02:44.960 hundred and forty four knots for lift off. 60 00:02:45.000 --> 00:02:46.560 Okay, one hundred and forty four knots. 61 00:02:46.719 --> 00:02:49.159 But as they thunder down the runway into the freezing rain, 62 00:02:49.800 --> 00:02:53.400 something is deeply, deeply wrong. They don't lift off at 63 00:02:53.439 --> 00:02:54.479 one hundred and forty four knots. 64 00:02:54.479 --> 00:02:56.039 They hit one hundred and sixty seven knots. 65 00:02:56.120 --> 00:02:58.560 Right, Yeah, It takes them over a thousand feet longer 66 00:02:58.560 --> 00:03:01.080 than expected just to get the win off the tarmac. 67 00:03:01.120 --> 00:03:04.280 And reading through the flight data recorder logs in the 68 00:03:04.319 --> 00:03:07.879 case files, The final moments are just terrifying because just 69 00:03:08.000 --> 00:03:11.080 thirteen seconds after lifting off, the nose of the plane 70 00:03:11.120 --> 00:03:15.599 is pulled up radically. The aircraft immediately stalls. It basically 71 00:03:15.639 --> 00:03:18.879 stops flying like an airplane and starts flying well, as 72 00:03:18.919 --> 00:03:22.199 the accident investigators describe it, like a pig. Like a pig, Yeah, 73 00:03:22.319 --> 00:03:27.639 it completely loses aerodynamic lift, begins descending and slams directly 74 00:03:27.680 --> 00:03:30.439 into those trees about half a mile from the runway. 75 00:03:30.919 --> 00:03:35.319 And when the Canadian Aviation Safety Board the CAASB arrived 76 00:03:35.319 --> 00:03:38.680 at the scene, they were stepping into what would become 77 00:03:38.719 --> 00:03:42.639 the most intense political and scientific controversy of the decade. 78 00:03:42.639 --> 00:03:44.719 Oh totally, because they had to figure out why a 79 00:03:44.800 --> 00:03:49.159 fully functioning, heavily scrutinized military charter jet. 80 00:03:49.039 --> 00:03:51.560 Just fell out of the sky right and almost immediately, 81 00:03:51.599 --> 00:03:56.919 the investigation just fractured into two radically different, highly entrenched theories. 82 00:03:57.479 --> 00:04:00.000 And that division itself is a massive part of the story. 83 00:04:00.120 --> 00:04:01.919 It completely paralyzed the investigation. 84 00:04:02.639 --> 00:04:03.280 Let's look at the. 85 00:04:03.199 --> 00:04:06.520 Minority report first, which was championed by board member Lesu Loota. 86 00:04:06.800 --> 00:04:09.039 Right, his faction believed the plane was actually brought down 87 00:04:09.080 --> 00:04:09.680 by a bomb. 88 00:04:09.919 --> 00:04:11.639 Yeah, and you really have to put yourself in the 89 00:04:11.639 --> 00:04:15.240 geopolitical context of nineteen eighty five. Here, tensions in the 90 00:04:15.240 --> 00:04:18.000 Middle East were at an absolute boiling point. Oh, for sure, 91 00:04:18.120 --> 00:04:21.600 these soldiers were returning from the Sinai An anonymous caller 92 00:04:21.639 --> 00:04:25.879 had actually contacted a news agency claiming Islamic jihad was responsible. 93 00:04:26.240 --> 00:04:26.600 Wow. 94 00:04:26.759 --> 00:04:30.600 There were constant whispers of Hezbola involvement and even complex 95 00:04:30.720 --> 00:04:35.040 rumors tying the flight to covert Iran contra operations. 96 00:04:35.480 --> 00:04:38.160 And the Minority faction didn't just base their conclusions on 97 00:04:38.240 --> 00:04:42.560 geopolitical tension, you know, they pointed to highly specific physical 98 00:04:42.600 --> 00:04:44.680 evidence recovered right from the wreckage. 99 00:04:44.879 --> 00:04:46.000 Like, what what did they find? 100 00:04:46.279 --> 00:04:49.839 Well, autopsies of the victims showed extreme levels of carbon 101 00:04:49.879 --> 00:04:53.800 monoxide in their blood and lungs. To the Minority investigators, 102 00:04:53.839 --> 00:04:57.560 this strongly suggested that passengers had inhaled heavy smoke from 103 00:04:57.600 --> 00:04:59.759 a pre crash fire inside the cabin. 104 00:05:00.120 --> 00:05:00.439 Wow. 105 00:05:00.560 --> 00:05:03.480 Furthermore, investigators found inward curling metal on one of the 106 00:05:03.519 --> 00:05:07.199 engine cowlings and red paint transfers on the fuselage and 107 00:05:07.279 --> 00:05:10.800 to this faction that looked exactly like the localized explosive 108 00:05:10.800 --> 00:05:12.319 signature of a midair debtonation. 109 00:05:12.519 --> 00:05:14.879 Okay, But then you have the majority report, driven by 110 00:05:14.959 --> 00:05:18.639 lead investigators David McNair and Peter bog and they completely 111 00:05:18.680 --> 00:05:21.800 rejected the terrorism theory intartoly. Yeah, they sent pieces of 112 00:05:21.800 --> 00:05:24.720 the wreckage, including that curled metal and the red paint, 113 00:05:25.079 --> 00:05:28.040 to the forensics lab and it came back with zero 114 00:05:28.240 --> 00:05:30.120 explosive residue, none at all. 115 00:05:30.199 --> 00:05:30.399 Right. 116 00:05:30.839 --> 00:05:33.519 They concluded that the inward curling metal and the paint 117 00:05:33.560 --> 00:05:36.519 were simply damage caused by a front end loader moving 118 00:05:36.560 --> 00:05:39.000 debried during the frantic search and rescue effort. 119 00:05:39.040 --> 00:05:41.920 That makes sense, But what about the carbon monoxide? 120 00:05:42.040 --> 00:05:45.040 They argued that was just a tragic consequence of surviving 121 00:05:45.079 --> 00:05:48.079 the initial impact just long enough to inhale the toxic 122 00:05:48.120 --> 00:05:49.839 fumes from the burning jet fuel. 123 00:05:50.079 --> 00:05:52.920 Right, So instead of a bomb, they found a lethal, 124 00:05:53.519 --> 00:05:59.279 almost invisible combination of factors, basically extreme weight and microscopic ice. 125 00:06:00.120 --> 00:06:03.480 Miscalculation alone is just staggering when you dig into the 126 00:06:03.519 --> 00:06:04.560 log it really is. 127 00:06:04.839 --> 00:06:07.360 The airline had estimated the passenger weight at one hundred 128 00:06:07.399 --> 00:06:10.160 and seventy pounds per person, which is, you know, a 129 00:06:10.199 --> 00:06:12.879 standard commercial average derived from civilian. 130 00:06:12.480 --> 00:06:14.920 Flights, right, accounting for a mix of men, women, and 131 00:06:15.040 --> 00:06:15.959 children exactly. 132 00:06:16.000 --> 00:06:18.399 But this wasn't a civilian flight. These were two hundred 133 00:06:18.439 --> 00:06:21.959 and fifty six fully grown, heavily muscled combat soldiers. 134 00:06:22.279 --> 00:06:25.079 Yeah, and anyone who has ever hauled military gear knows 135 00:06:25.120 --> 00:06:28.319 it is incredibly heavy. The true weight was estimated to 136 00:06:28.319 --> 00:06:30.480 be closer to two hundred and twenty pounds. 137 00:06:30.240 --> 00:06:31.959 Per person, which is a huge difference. 138 00:06:32.160 --> 00:06:35.560 Massive When you multiply that discrepancy across two hundred and 139 00:06:35.600 --> 00:06:39.120 fifty six passengers, that means the plane was a massive 140 00:06:39.519 --> 00:06:41.360 twelve thousand pounds overweight. 141 00:06:41.680 --> 00:06:42.560 Just crazy. 142 00:06:42.800 --> 00:06:45.639 And you are compounding that massive weight penalty with the 143 00:06:45.639 --> 00:06:48.040 freezing rain that was falling in Gander that morning. 144 00:06:47.920 --> 00:06:50.839 Right, because that freezing rain coded the swept wings of 145 00:06:50.879 --> 00:06:54.399 the DC eight, and the ground crew didn't de ice 146 00:06:54.480 --> 00:06:58.439 the plane because well, in the dark under those ramp lights, 147 00:06:58.879 --> 00:07:00.800 it just didn't look like a thing heavy layer. 148 00:07:00.680 --> 00:07:02.800 Of ice visually, the wings just looked wet. They thought 149 00:07:02.800 --> 00:07:04.519 it was harmless water exactly. 150 00:07:04.759 --> 00:07:04.959 Wait. 151 00:07:05.000 --> 00:07:07.560 I want to pause here because reading this initially felt 152 00:07:07.639 --> 00:07:11.079 completely counterintuitive to me. So you have a massive military 153 00:07:11.199 --> 00:07:14.079 jet with engines generating tens of thousands of pounds of thrust. 154 00:07:14.639 --> 00:07:16.920 How can a sheet of ice as thin and rough 155 00:07:16.920 --> 00:07:20.839 as sand paper bring down a machine that powerful, it 156 00:07:20.920 --> 00:07:23.199 just feels like the engines should just muscle through it. 157 00:07:23.199 --> 00:07:26.519 It's a completely natural assumption, it really is. But what's 158 00:07:26.519 --> 00:07:31.160 fascinating here is just the brutal, unforgiving nature of aerodynamics. Okay, 159 00:07:31.240 --> 00:07:34.839 the majority investigators ran extensive wind tunnel and simulator test 160 00:07:35.040 --> 00:07:38.879 to answer that exact question, and the science is undeniable. 161 00:07:39.000 --> 00:07:39.800 What did they find? 162 00:07:40.680 --> 00:07:44.759 So? An airplane wing generates lyft because of the incredibly 163 00:07:44.839 --> 00:07:48.639 precise way air flows smoothly over its curved upper surface. 164 00:07:49.360 --> 00:07:52.040 It creates an area of low pressure above the wing, 165 00:07:52.480 --> 00:07:56.079 which essentially sucks the plane up into the sky. Right. 166 00:07:56.319 --> 00:07:58.399 If you add ice that has the texture of course 167 00:07:58.439 --> 00:08:01.240 sandpaper to the leading edge of the wing, it acts 168 00:08:01.240 --> 00:08:05.279 like a speed bump. It violently shatters that smooth laminar airflow, 169 00:08:05.560 --> 00:08:08.560 causing it to separate from the wing entirely. Oh wow, Yeah, 170 00:08:08.560 --> 00:08:11.920 the wing simply stops generating lift. Thrust cannot save you 171 00:08:12.199 --> 00:08:13.399 if your wings aren't flying. 172 00:08:13.680 --> 00:08:16.560 And this perfectly explains the fatal maneuver on the flight 173 00:08:16.639 --> 00:08:19.519 deck because the plane was twelve thousand pounds overweight and 174 00:08:19.680 --> 00:08:22.759 wasn't climbing fast enough due to that microscopic ice. First 175 00:08:22.759 --> 00:08:24.920 Officer Connelly pulled the nose up further to try and 176 00:08:24.959 --> 00:08:25.959 force the plane into. 177 00:08:25.759 --> 00:08:27.560 The sky, which is the worst thing you could do, 178 00:08:27.920 --> 00:08:31.040 right because wait, so, if the wing is already struggling 179 00:08:31.120 --> 00:08:34.320 because of that sandpaper ice, pulling the nose up isn't 180 00:08:34.440 --> 00:08:35.759 forcing the plane to climb. 181 00:08:36.039 --> 00:08:37.960 You're just taking the bottom of the wing and shoving 182 00:08:38.000 --> 00:08:40.679 it flat against the oncoming wind like a giant air brake. 183 00:08:40.840 --> 00:08:45.440 Exactly. You're instantly killing whatever forward momentum you have left. Wow, 184 00:08:45.519 --> 00:08:49.360 that is the exact mechanism of their demise. Pulling the 185 00:08:49.399 --> 00:08:52.799 nose up increased the angle of attack so severely that 186 00:08:52.879 --> 00:08:58.039 it initiated a catastrophic aerodynamic stall. The plane literally just 187 00:08:58.279 --> 00:08:59.080 fell out of the air. 188 00:08:59.240 --> 00:09:01.919 So obviously we aren't here to declare a winner between 189 00:09:01.919 --> 00:09:04.679 the bomb theory and the ice theory. But the real 190 00:09:04.720 --> 00:09:07.840 tragedy of Gander, the absolute gut punch in these files, 191 00:09:07.879 --> 00:09:11.120 is what happened next. Because of this raging, bitter debate 192 00:09:11.200 --> 00:09:15.000 over terrorism cover ups and payload physics, the entire Canadian 193 00:09:15.039 --> 00:09:17.200 Aviation Safety Board fractured, the. 194 00:09:17.240 --> 00:09:20.120 Release deeply divided, highly contentious reports. 195 00:09:20.320 --> 00:09:22.480 Yeah, and the political fallout was so severe that the 196 00:09:22.480 --> 00:09:24.320 CASB was actually. 197 00:09:23.960 --> 00:09:25.600 Disbanded, which is insane. 198 00:09:25.759 --> 00:09:28.799 And because the headlines were entirely consumed by the argument 199 00:09:28.879 --> 00:09:32.679 over a potential bomb, the crucial life saving warning about 200 00:09:32.679 --> 00:09:36.480 the devastating effects of microscopic ice was totally buried in 201 00:09:36.519 --> 00:09:36.879 the noise. 202 00:09:37.120 --> 00:09:40.519 And because that safety warning was drowned out by political infighting, 203 00:09:40.879 --> 00:09:44.559 the aviation industry was essentially flying blind into the next 204 00:09:44.559 --> 00:09:48.200 brutal winter. Yeah, I mean, a safety board's primary mandate 205 00:09:48.279 --> 00:09:50.559 is to find the cause of a crash, issue a 206 00:09:50.600 --> 00:09:53.360 warning and is sure it never happens again. When that 207 00:09:53.440 --> 00:09:55.960 warning evaporates, it is only a matter of time before 208 00:09:56.000 --> 00:09:59.919 the exact same invisible physics trap snapshot on another crew. 209 00:10:00.120 --> 00:10:03.600 That happened exactly four years later in the freezing remote 210 00:10:03.600 --> 00:10:05.879 wilderness of Dryden, Ontario. 211 00:10:05.519 --> 00:10:06.960 March ten, nineteen eighty nine. 212 00:10:07.120 --> 00:10:10.200 Right, Dryden is this remote town locked in a brutal 213 00:10:10.200 --> 00:10:14.000 Canadian winter. The temperature is hovering around freezing, wet snow 214 00:10:14.080 --> 00:10:17.159 is falling heavily, And here we meet Captain George Morewood. 215 00:10:17.240 --> 00:10:19.759 He is piloting a twin engine Falker F twenty eight 216 00:10:19.799 --> 00:10:20.600 for Air Ontario. 217 00:10:20.759 --> 00:10:23.600 Yeah, and he's an old school professional, highly respected, but 218 00:10:23.679 --> 00:10:27.320 on this day, the case file show he is incredibly stressed. 219 00:10:27.519 --> 00:10:29.960 Oh, he's an hour behind schedule. He's got a plane 220 00:10:29.960 --> 00:10:32.480 full of frustrated families trying to make connections for their 221 00:10:32.480 --> 00:10:35.000 march break ski vacations. 222 00:10:34.480 --> 00:10:37.960 And the weather is deteriorating rapidly. But the real trap 223 00:10:38.039 --> 00:10:41.919 Captain Morewood is stepping into isn't just meteorological. He's backed 224 00:10:41.919 --> 00:10:44.200 into a corner by his own aircraft. 225 00:10:43.879 --> 00:10:47.759 Right because the plane's auxiliary power unit, the APU, is 226 00:10:47.759 --> 00:10:48.519 completely dead. 227 00:10:48.639 --> 00:10:50.799 Can you explain what the APU actually does? 228 00:10:50.960 --> 00:10:53.320 Yeah? So, the APU is a critical piece of machinery. 229 00:10:53.600 --> 00:10:56.320 It's essentially a small jet engine located in the tail 230 00:10:56.360 --> 00:10:59.000 of the aircraft. Its main job on the ground is 231 00:10:59.039 --> 00:11:01.799 to provide pneumatic air pressure to spin up and start 232 00:11:01.840 --> 00:11:02.919 the massive main engines. 233 00:11:03.240 --> 00:11:07.000 Okay, So, because Morewood's APU is broken, if he shuts 234 00:11:07.039 --> 00:11:10.080 off his main engines to refuel and Dryden, he can't 235 00:11:10.080 --> 00:11:11.840 restart them himself exactly. 236 00:11:11.919 --> 00:11:15.039 And because Dryden is a small, remote airport, they do 237 00:11:15.120 --> 00:11:17.960 not have a ground based air cart to jumpstart a 238 00:11:17.960 --> 00:11:19.120 commercial jet. 239 00:11:19.240 --> 00:11:21.559 So he is forced to do a hot refuel yep, 240 00:11:21.879 --> 00:11:23.879 he has to leave one of the main engines running 241 00:11:23.919 --> 00:11:26.879 while the ground crew pumps jet fuel into the wing tanks, 242 00:11:27.360 --> 00:11:31.320 which sounds incredibly stressful, noisy, and risky, but it's the 243 00:11:31.360 --> 00:11:33.279 only way he can physically leave Dryden. 244 00:11:33.799 --> 00:11:37.120 But this creates a catastrophic domino effect regarding the ice. 245 00:11:37.399 --> 00:11:42.080 How because that engine is running, airline policy strictly prohibits 246 00:11:42.120 --> 00:11:43.000 de icing the plane. 247 00:11:43.080 --> 00:11:44.759 Wait, really, why is that? 248 00:11:44.960 --> 00:11:47.879 The reason for that policy comes down to basic chemistry 249 00:11:48.080 --> 00:11:52.440 and passenger safety. De Icing fluid is highly toxic. Oh 250 00:11:52.480 --> 00:11:56.080 I See, when an engine is running, it continuously sucks 251 00:11:56.080 --> 00:11:59.240 in massive amounts of outside air, which it uses to 252 00:11:59.279 --> 00:12:03.080 supply the cab and air conditioning and pressurization systems. If 253 00:12:03.120 --> 00:12:05.799 ground crews sprayed the plane with toxic de icing fluid 254 00:12:05.799 --> 00:12:08.799 while the engine was running, the atomized chemical fumes would 255 00:12:08.799 --> 00:12:10.279 be sucked right into the cabin. 256 00:12:10.039 --> 00:12:13.960 Bleeds, basically gassing the passengers. Exactly so, Morewood is forced 257 00:12:13.960 --> 00:12:16.240 to sit on the tarmac for thirty minutes in a snowstorm, 258 00:12:16.399 --> 00:12:19.440 waiting for a delayed cessenetal Land and he is unable 259 00:12:19.440 --> 00:12:20.440 to de ice his plane. 260 00:12:20.559 --> 00:12:21.679 Right, And this is where a. 261 00:12:21.759 --> 00:12:25.600 Terrifying physical phenomenon known as cold soaking comes into play. 262 00:12:25.840 --> 00:12:28.320 Because you have to remember this F twenty eight just 263 00:12:28.320 --> 00:12:31.440 flew in from cruising altitude, where the ambient air temperature 264 00:12:31.519 --> 00:12:33.679 is around minus fifty degrees fahrenheit. 265 00:12:33.960 --> 00:12:36.320 Right, so, the thousands of gallons of jet shuls stored 266 00:12:36.360 --> 00:12:39.759 directly inside the aluminum wings becomes super chilled. 267 00:12:39.919 --> 00:12:43.240 The fuel essentially turns the wings into literal freezers. 268 00:12:43.480 --> 00:12:45.879 Yeah. So, even though the air temperature in Dryden is 269 00:12:45.960 --> 00:12:48.519 right around the freezing mark, the metal skin of the 270 00:12:48.559 --> 00:12:50.720 wing is intensely cold. 271 00:12:50.919 --> 00:12:53.919 So as the wet, heavy snow falls onto the aircraft, 272 00:12:54.360 --> 00:12:57.519 it melts slightly on contact with the ambient air, but 273 00:12:57.600 --> 00:13:01.000 the moment that moisture touches the super cool old aluminum wing, 274 00:13:01.440 --> 00:13:02.679 it freezes instantly. 275 00:13:02.679 --> 00:13:05.480 From the bottom up, it creates a perfectly clear, dense 276 00:13:05.559 --> 00:13:08.840 sheet of ice, and visually from the cockpit or a 277 00:13:08.840 --> 00:13:12.399 passenger window, it just looks like a sheen of harmless water. 278 00:13:12.399 --> 00:13:16.279 And lacking the clear institutional warning from Gander about how 279 00:13:16.399 --> 00:13:20.399 lethal microscopic ice is. Morewood initiates takeoff. 280 00:13:20.039 --> 00:13:21.600 Which is just heartbreaking to read. 281 00:13:21.759 --> 00:13:24.960 The survivor's accounts in the investigation files are absolutely chilling. 282 00:13:25.120 --> 00:13:28.080 They described the takeoff run as sluggish, like a heavy 283 00:13:28.120 --> 00:13:30.360 person trying to run up a steep hill. Right the 284 00:13:30.399 --> 00:13:32.639 plane barely clears the tree line at the end of 285 00:13:32.679 --> 00:13:37.240 the runway. Then it starts shaking violently. One survivor said 286 00:13:37.240 --> 00:13:39.960 the vibrations were so intense it felt like being trapped 287 00:13:39.960 --> 00:13:43.840 inside a kitchen mix master. Jesus, the aircraft violently crashes 288 00:13:43.879 --> 00:13:47.080 into the snowy bush, breaking open and immediately catching fire. 289 00:13:47.799 --> 00:13:51.679 Twenty four of the sixty nine people aboard die in 290 00:13:51.720 --> 00:13:52.799 the freezing wilderness. 291 00:13:52.919 --> 00:13:58.919 It is a devastating, entirely preventable tragedy, and it really 292 00:13:58.960 --> 00:14:00.720 forces us to look past the cockpit. 293 00:14:00.840 --> 00:14:02.960 This is exactly what I kept thinking while reading the 294 00:14:03.000 --> 00:14:05.679 accident reports. I look at Captain more Wood, and I 295 00:14:05.679 --> 00:14:09.000 see a pilot who is basically painted into an impossible corner. 296 00:14:09.080 --> 00:14:10.399 Yeah. Completely, It's like being. 297 00:14:10.240 --> 00:14:12.840 Forced to drive down a treacherous, icy mountain road with 298 00:14:12.919 --> 00:14:15.480 bald tires because your company's mechanic is closed and your 299 00:14:15.519 --> 00:14:17.399 boss is screaming at you to make the delivery on 300 00:14:17.440 --> 00:14:18.360 time or you're fired. 301 00:14:18.799 --> 00:14:19.840 I mean, was this really just. 302 00:14:19.919 --> 00:14:23.480 A localized pilot error or did the corporate culture physically 303 00:14:23.519 --> 00:14:24.320 force his hand? 304 00:14:24.840 --> 00:14:27.519 Well, that is the precise question, Just as Virgil Mushansky 305 00:14:27.600 --> 00:14:30.519 asked when the Canadian government appointed him to lead an 306 00:14:30.519 --> 00:14:34.120 exhaustive inquiry into the dryed and crash. Mshansky didn't just 307 00:14:34.240 --> 00:14:37.000 look at the aerodynamic properties of ice, you know, he 308 00:14:37.080 --> 00:14:41.720 looked aggressively into the air Ontario boardrooms and he discovered 309 00:14:41.759 --> 00:14:43.559 a highly toxic corporate culture. 310 00:14:43.759 --> 00:14:44.039 Yeah. 311 00:14:44.080 --> 00:14:47.919 The financials and operational decisions in the report are just damning. 312 00:14:48.200 --> 00:14:50.720 They were deferring essential maintenance constantly. 313 00:14:51.080 --> 00:14:53.840 The only reason the APU was broken was because the 314 00:14:53.879 --> 00:14:56.320 airline had a shortage of replacement parts and decided to 315 00:14:56.399 --> 00:14:57.679 keep flying the plane anyway. 316 00:14:57.840 --> 00:15:02.279 Exactly. They were consistently push their pilots to prioritize flight 317 00:15:02.360 --> 00:15:06.799 schedules over safety margins. Right. Moshansky famously stated in his 318 00:15:06.879 --> 00:15:10.799 findings that while Captain Morewood made the final fatal decision 319 00:15:10.840 --> 00:15:13.679 to advance the throttles, there were a lot of other 320 00:15:13.759 --> 00:15:16.639 hands on those throttles pushing those throttles forward. 321 00:15:16.759 --> 00:15:21.039 Wow. The airline essentially engineered a scenario where a professional 322 00:15:21.039 --> 00:15:24.759 pilot felt compelled to choose between basic safety protocols and 323 00:15:24.919 --> 00:15:25.720 keeping his job. 324 00:15:25.840 --> 00:15:28.039 Yeah, and Mashansky wasn't going to let this get buried 325 00:15:28.039 --> 00:15:29.840 in political noise like the Gander Report. 326 00:15:29.960 --> 00:15:31.960 No, he really stepped up knowing. 327 00:15:31.720 --> 00:15:34.559 There were dozens of these specific Fokker F twenty eights 328 00:15:34.600 --> 00:15:36.879 flying out of cold weather airports all over the world. 329 00:15:37.360 --> 00:15:40.639 He took an incredibly unusual step for an investigator. 330 00:15:40.679 --> 00:15:41.279 What did he do? 331 00:15:41.519 --> 00:15:45.840 He issued an urgent, highly detailed interim report long before 332 00:15:45.840 --> 00:15:47.279 his full inquiry was finished. 333 00:15:47.360 --> 00:15:48.159 Wow okay. 334 00:15:48.279 --> 00:15:51.639 He explicitly warned the global aviation community that the F 335 00:15:51.679 --> 00:15:55.399 twenty eight is incredibly vulnerable to even the slightest icing 336 00:15:55.799 --> 00:15:58.799 due to its wing design, and he laid out exactly 337 00:15:58.799 --> 00:16:00.799 how to fix the broken DIA protocols. 338 00:16:00.840 --> 00:16:02.480 So he found the operational cure. 339 00:16:02.639 --> 00:16:05.960 He diagnosed the exact vulnerability, and prescribed the necessary changes 340 00:16:06.000 --> 00:16:06.759 to save lives. 341 00:16:06.799 --> 00:16:08.519 He did, but the aviation. 342 00:16:08.240 --> 00:16:10.679 System failed to administer the medicine, which brings us to 343 00:16:10.759 --> 00:16:14.679 March twenty two, nineteen ninety two, right exactly fifteen months 344 00:16:14.720 --> 00:16:18.000 after Justice Mshansky issued his urgent warning. We are at 345 00:16:18.039 --> 00:16:21.600 LaGuardia Airport in New York City, another Fokker F twenty eight, 346 00:16:21.720 --> 00:16:25.120 this time operated by US Air and the weather the 347 00:16:25.200 --> 00:16:29.080 exact same snowy, freezing conditions we saw in Dryden, and. 348 00:16:29.120 --> 00:16:31.279 Watching the timeline of flight four h five in the 349 00:16:31.279 --> 00:16:34.320 files is just excruciating. The plane is actually de iced 350 00:16:34.399 --> 00:16:37.159 twice at the terminal gate. They are using what's called 351 00:16:37.159 --> 00:16:40.279 type one fluid. Type one is essentially a heated mixture 352 00:16:40.559 --> 00:16:44.200 of water and propylene glycol. It is sprayed on hot 353 00:16:44.279 --> 00:16:48.159 to melt the snow and ice currently resting on the plane. 354 00:16:48.360 --> 00:16:50.879 But it has severe life threatening limitations. 355 00:16:51.159 --> 00:16:53.440 Right, and this is a critical distinction that Mashensky had 356 00:16:53.440 --> 00:16:56.440 already pointed out. Type one fluid is highly effective at 357 00:16:56.440 --> 00:16:59.039 cleaning a plane, but it is not designed to protect 358 00:16:59.080 --> 00:17:01.600 the plane for very long afterward, exactly because it's a 359 00:17:01.639 --> 00:17:05.079 relatively thin liquid. It simply runs off the wing. Under 360 00:17:05.079 --> 00:17:08.160 the best conditions, it might buy you fifteen minutes of protection. 361 00:17:08.759 --> 00:17:12.559 In heavy snow or freezing rain that chemical clock drops rapidly, 362 00:17:13.119 --> 00:17:15.720 it might only protect the wings for six minutes before 363 00:17:15.839 --> 00:17:18.279 new microscopic ice starts to form. 364 00:17:18.599 --> 00:17:20.759 So Flight four or five gets de iced with this 365 00:17:20.920 --> 00:17:23.720 thin Type one fluid and then push back to the taxiway. 366 00:17:24.240 --> 00:17:27.279 But Laguardi is notoriously busy. Oh yeah, They get stuck 367 00:17:27.279 --> 00:17:29.680 in a long line of departing traffic waiting behind a 368 00:17:29.720 --> 00:17:32.880 small cessna, and the minutes are just ticking by ten minutes, 369 00:17:33.039 --> 00:17:35.160 twenty minutes, thirty five minutes pass since they were. 370 00:17:35.039 --> 00:17:37.599 Sprayed, so the six minute chemical clock on their wings 371 00:17:37.599 --> 00:17:39.079 expired nearly half an hour ago. 372 00:17:39.319 --> 00:17:42.160 Right First Officer John Ruba shines a light out his 373 00:17:42.200 --> 00:17:45.119 side window onto the wing. In the dark, he can't 374 00:17:45.160 --> 00:17:48.720 see the clear, microscopic ice building up underneath the slush. 375 00:17:48.920 --> 00:17:51.200 He says, it looks pretty good, and they initiate their 376 00:17:51.240 --> 00:17:52.000 take off roll. 377 00:17:51.920 --> 00:17:55.039 And the nightmare of Dryden repeats itself exactly. The plane 378 00:17:55.079 --> 00:17:58.039 reaches its rotation speed. The pilot pulls back on the yoke, 379 00:17:58.119 --> 00:18:01.599 but the wings absolutely can support the weight of the aircraft. 380 00:18:01.680 --> 00:18:05.240 The invisible sandpaper ice has completely destroyed the aerodynamic lift. 381 00:18:05.440 --> 00:18:09.279 Just thirteen seconds later, they plunge violently into the icy, 382 00:18:09.440 --> 00:18:12.839 dark waters of Flushing Bay. Twenty seven of the fifty 383 00:18:12.880 --> 00:18:14.920 one people on board lose their lives. 384 00:18:15.079 --> 00:18:18.920 It is the ultimate catastrophic breakdown in institutional communication. 385 00:18:19.200 --> 00:18:21.240 I mean, I found myself having to reread this part 386 00:18:21.279 --> 00:18:24.440 of the file multiple times. Mshansky maps out the exact 387 00:18:24.519 --> 00:18:27.680 chemical limitations of type one fluid, warns everyone about the 388 00:18:27.720 --> 00:18:31.160 specific aerodynamic vulnerabilities of the Fokker F twenty eight and 389 00:18:31.319 --> 00:18:34.279 fifteen months later, an identical plane goes down the exact 390 00:18:34.319 --> 00:18:38.079 same way. How does a globally circulated safety warning just 391 00:18:38.160 --> 00:18:39.240 evaporate well. 392 00:18:39.799 --> 00:18:43.640 In Mushanski's interim report, he had specifically warned about the 393 00:18:43.680 --> 00:18:47.200 short life span of type one fluid, and he strongly 394 00:18:47.240 --> 00:18:50.519 recommended that the industry transition to type two fluid for 395 00:18:50.599 --> 00:18:51.920 active winter precipitation. 396 00:18:52.279 --> 00:18:53.039 What's the difference. 397 00:18:53.160 --> 00:18:57.319 Type two is entirely different chemically. It's a thicker, highly viscous, 398 00:18:57.640 --> 00:19:01.880 almost mucous like substance, utilizes non Newtonian properties. 399 00:19:02.000 --> 00:19:04.920 Wait like it changes depending on the force applied. 400 00:19:05.200 --> 00:19:08.400 Exactly, it acts thick like honey while the plane is 401 00:19:08.400 --> 00:19:11.039