WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.120 --> 00:00:03.640 Picture this. It's eight point two six am on just 2 00:00:03.960 --> 00:00:07.719 a blistering morning in the desert of Jetta, Saudi Arabia. 3 00:00:07.799 --> 00:00:09.519 Oh, it gets incredibly hot out there. 4 00:00:09.599 --> 00:00:12.919 Yeah, totally. The temperature on the tarmac is already hitting 5 00:00:12.960 --> 00:00:16.039 thirty degrees celsius. You can actually see thick heat waves 6 00:00:16.399 --> 00:00:20.600 radiating off the concrete, you know, distorting the horizon. 7 00:00:20.320 --> 00:00:22.359 Right, creating that mirage effect exactly. 8 00:00:22.719 --> 00:00:26.440 And out there a massive Nation Air DC eight flight 9 00:00:26.440 --> 00:00:30.920 twenty one twenty is taxiing down a sprawling five kilometer 10 00:00:31.000 --> 00:00:34.679 stretch of runway. Inside the cabin there is this incredible 11 00:00:35.000 --> 00:00:36.039 palpable electricity. 12 00:00:36.119 --> 00:00:36.880 I can imagine. 13 00:00:36.960 --> 00:00:40.200 You have two hundred and forty seven Nigerian pilgrims heading 14 00:00:40.200 --> 00:00:42.719 home from the Hajj. This is the holiest journey of 15 00:00:42.759 --> 00:00:45.439 their lives. And for many of these passengers, this is 16 00:00:45.799 --> 00:00:47.600 this is actually the first time they have ever set 17 00:00:47.600 --> 00:00:48.640 foot on an airplane. 18 00:00:48.719 --> 00:00:50.039 Wow, first time flying. 19 00:00:50.320 --> 00:00:53.240 Yeah. Up in the cockpit, Captain William Allen, who is 20 00:00:53.280 --> 00:00:55.840 a veteran pilot with over twenty years of experience, He's 21 00:00:55.880 --> 00:00:58.679 just running through his routine checklists. Everything on the dashboard 22 00:00:58.719 --> 00:01:02.920 looks completely normal, depletely routine based, right, but a deadly 23 00:01:03.119 --> 00:01:07.359 invisible countdown has already begun, and it was sparked by 24 00:01:07.400 --> 00:01:11.519 a quiet bureaucratic decision made days ago and thousands of 25 00:01:11.560 --> 00:01:12.280 miles away. 26 00:01:12.519 --> 00:01:15.879 You know, in aviation disasters really rarely begin at the 27 00:01:15.879 --> 00:01:18.120 moment of impact. They just date in the margins. 28 00:01:18.200 --> 00:01:19.120 Yeah, that makes sense. 29 00:01:19.280 --> 00:01:21.280 They start in the paperwork. I mean, in the tiny, 30 00:01:21.400 --> 00:01:26.159 rationalized deviations from protocol that seem entirely harmless, right up 31 00:01:26.239 --> 00:01:29.920 until the uncompromising laws of physics basically demand an intervention. 32 00:01:30.040 --> 00:01:32.599 Okay, let's unpack this that brings us directly to you, 33 00:01:32.799 --> 00:01:35.719 the listener, and the mission of today's deep dive. We 34 00:01:35.760 --> 00:01:38.680 are opening up a massive dossier of source materials here. 35 00:01:38.719 --> 00:01:42.359 We've got declassified investigative transcripts, forensic lab reports. 36 00:01:42.040 --> 00:01:44.560 Right, and the actual cockpit voice recording. Yet we're going 37 00:01:44.599 --> 00:01:47.599 to dissect the deadliest DCA crash in history. We want 38 00:01:47.640 --> 00:01:51.959 to reconstruct exactly how a joyful routine flight turned into 39 00:01:52.040 --> 00:01:55.959 an uncontrollable inferno in just ten minutes, just ten minutes. 40 00:01:56.000 --> 00:01:59.799 It's terrifying, it really is. And more importantly, we're going 41 00:01:59.840 --> 00:02:05.000 to follow the highly improbable, almost cinematic forensic trail that 42 00:02:05.120 --> 00:02:08.159 finally solved the mystery. So take us to the moment 43 00:02:08.240 --> 00:02:11.080 that invisible countdown finally caught up with flight twenty one 44 00:02:11.120 --> 00:02:11.479 to twenty. 45 00:02:11.960 --> 00:02:15.280 Well, the physical manifestation of the problem begins right during 46 00:02:15.280 --> 00:02:18.719 the takeoff roll. The plane is accelerating really heavily down 47 00:02:18.759 --> 00:02:21.439 the runway and at about ninety knots, there is a 48 00:02:21.479 --> 00:02:23.280 sudden loud sound. 49 00:02:23.039 --> 00:02:23.800 Like an explosion. 50 00:02:24.120 --> 00:02:26.719 Not quite. The flight engineer actually speaks up on the 51 00:02:26.719 --> 00:02:30.639 recording and he asks, what's that. The crew basically describes 52 00:02:30.639 --> 00:02:31.719 a sensation. 53 00:02:31.599 --> 00:02:34.319 As shimmy shimmy, like a vibration. 54 00:02:34.560 --> 00:02:37.039 Yeah, almost like a car riding over a harsh rumble 55 00:02:37.039 --> 00:02:40.319 strip on the highway. But crucially, the massive array of 56 00:02:40.319 --> 00:02:42.800 instruments in front of them doesn't show a single indication 57 00:02:42.840 --> 00:02:43.280 of trouble. 58 00:02:43.319 --> 00:02:45.120 Wait, really nothing at all, not a. 59 00:02:45.000 --> 00:02:48.319 Single warning light, no pressure drops, absolutely nothing. 60 00:02:48.520 --> 00:02:51.400 And they are rapidly approaching V one right the decision speed, 61 00:02:51.719 --> 00:02:54.960 because once you hit V one you can't safely abort 62 00:02:54.960 --> 00:02:58.280 the takeoff. There just simply isn't enough runway left to 63 00:02:58.439 --> 00:03:01.159 absorb the breaking force of a fully loaded. 64 00:03:00.960 --> 00:03:04.520 Get Exactly at V one, you are mathematically committed to 65 00:03:04.560 --> 00:03:07.479 the sky. You have to lift off. Deal with whatever 66 00:03:07.479 --> 00:03:09.800 the problem is in the air and then circle back. 67 00:03:10.080 --> 00:03:10.639 So they commit. 68 00:03:10.919 --> 00:03:13.159 Right, they pull back on the yoke and the plane 69 00:03:13.240 --> 00:03:16.000 leaves the tarmac. But then a minute and a half later, 70 00:03:16.039 --> 00:03:19.080 they're about fifteen hundred feet in the air, the cockpit 71 00:03:19.159 --> 00:03:22.240 suddenly erupts in a confounding cascade. 72 00:03:21.759 --> 00:03:23.479 Of alarms just out of nowhere. 73 00:03:23.599 --> 00:03:28.080 Yeah, first, four separate low pressure lights illuminate. This indicates 74 00:03:28.120 --> 00:03:31.520 the plane is failing to pressurize. And then almost immediately 75 00:03:31.599 --> 00:03:32.759 a spoiler light comes on. 76 00:03:33.000 --> 00:03:35.400 Boilers. Those are the panels on the wings used to 77 00:03:35.479 --> 00:03:39.599 kill lift during landing. Right, They absolutely should not be activating. 78 00:03:39.199 --> 00:03:42.439 During a car so definitely not. It's incredibly dangerous. And 79 00:03:42.479 --> 00:03:45.080 then a flap slot light illuminates two. 80 00:03:45.599 --> 00:03:48.199 Okay, I'm looking at the aircraft's schematics provided in the 81 00:03:48.240 --> 00:03:53.520 investigation files. Those systems do not logically connect to one another. 82 00:03:53.680 --> 00:03:54.360 No, they don't. 83 00:03:54.560 --> 00:03:58.280 Pressurization, wings, spoilers, and flaps. They all operate on entirely 84 00:03:58.319 --> 00:04:01.759 different circuits. Yea. If I'm sitting in that cockpit, I 85 00:04:01.800 --> 00:04:06.240 am experiencing severe cognitive overload. I mean, the dashboard is 86 00:04:06.319 --> 00:04:10.120 essentially giving me a chaotic, impossible puzzle. 87 00:04:10.000 --> 00:04:13.599 And the crew is desperately searching for a single logical 88 00:04:13.639 --> 00:04:17.560 thread to tie these random system failures together, but from 89 00:04:17.560 --> 00:04:22.600 their perspective, one simply doesn't exist. And then the ultimate blowlands. 90 00:04:22.680 --> 00:04:24.079 Oh no, what happens? 91 00:04:24.240 --> 00:04:27.399 The dcaight loses all hydraulic power, all of it. 92 00:04:27.720 --> 00:04:31.279 Which forces them into manual control. Yes, I imagine that's 93 00:04:31.920 --> 00:04:34.759 like trying to steer a massive semitruck down a winding 94 00:04:34.759 --> 00:04:39.000 mountain road after the power steering suddenly snaps. But you know, 95 00:04:39.439 --> 00:04:41.000 in three dimensions. 96 00:04:40.560 --> 00:04:44.639 That's a great analogy. It requires immense, exhausting physical strength 97 00:04:44.720 --> 00:04:47.120 just to move the control column. I mean, the hydraulic 98 00:04:47.160 --> 00:04:50.160 fluid in a commercial jet provides thousands of pounds of 99 00:04:50.160 --> 00:04:52.079 pressure to move those massive flight. 100 00:04:51.879 --> 00:04:53.360 Control surfaces right on the wings and. 101 00:04:53.360 --> 00:04:57.040 Tail exactly Without it, the pilots are physically fighting the 102 00:04:57.120 --> 00:05:00.319 aerodynamic resistance of the air pushing against the plane over 103 00:05:00.360 --> 00:05:01.560 two hundred miles per hour. 104 00:05:01.759 --> 00:05:05.040 As if fighting a dying heavy aircraft isn't enough, They 105 00:05:05.040 --> 00:05:07.800 are then thrust into absolute chaos. On the radio, they 106 00:05:07.879 --> 00:05:10.120 declare an emergency and tell the tower they need an 107 00:05:10.120 --> 00:05:12.560 immediate vector to turn back to Jetta, but the. 108 00:05:12.519 --> 00:05:16.360 Air traffic controller responds by giving them confusing headings. He's 109 00:05:16.439 --> 00:05:18.759 essentially steering them further away from the airport. 110 00:05:19.319 --> 00:05:20.639 Why why would he do that? 111 00:05:21.040 --> 00:05:24.360 Well, the transcript of the radio traffic reveals this tragic, 112 00:05:24.480 --> 00:05:29.439 almost unbelievable coincidence. At the exact same time, Flight twenty 113 00:05:29.480 --> 00:05:33.560 one twenty is reporting its pressurization problems, another aircraft in 114 00:05:33.600 --> 00:05:37.399 the same airspace, a Saudi seven thirty eight, is reporting 115 00:05:37.480 --> 00:05:39.959 an identical pressurization issue. 116 00:05:40.000 --> 00:05:41.040 You have got to be kidding me. 117 00:05:41.240 --> 00:05:44.439 I wish I were The controller mixes up the two 118 00:05:44.519 --> 00:05:47.600 radar targets. He thinks he's talking to the Saudi flight, 119 00:05:47.680 --> 00:05:50.680 so he's feeding the Nation aircrew directions that make absolutely 120 00:05:50.759 --> 00:05:52.959 no sense for their position or their emergency. 121 00:05:53.120 --> 00:05:55.839 God, it is agonizing to read those final radio transcripts. 122 00:05:55.920 --> 00:05:58.240 You can just hear the desperation building in the cockpit 123 00:05:58.439 --> 00:06:01.319 as they realize the tower is not helped. It's heartbreaking, 124 00:06:01.759 --> 00:06:04.399 But the final crash report proved something vital about that 125 00:06:04.439 --> 00:06:09.639 tower confusion. After painstakingly analyzing the flight path, the telemetry, 126 00:06:09.680 --> 00:06:13.120 and the timeline, investigators determined the radio mix up didn't 127 00:06:13.160 --> 00:06:14.560 actually delay the crash. 128 00:06:14.720 --> 00:06:17.079 No, it didn't. The fade of flight twenty one to 129 00:06:17.079 --> 00:06:19.639 twenty was sealed the moment the wheels left the ground. 130 00:06:20.399 --> 00:06:22.920 While the pilots are trying to solve this impossible puzzle 131 00:06:22.920 --> 00:06:26.360 on the dashboard, the physical reality in the cabin behind 132 00:06:26.399 --> 00:06:28.839 them is rapidly deteriorating. 133 00:06:28.279 --> 00:06:29.839 Right because of the lead mechanic. 134 00:06:30.000 --> 00:06:33.000 Yes, Jean Paul Philip, he was traveling in the cabin 135 00:06:33.319 --> 00:06:35.839 and he heads to the rear to investigate a really 136 00:06:35.879 --> 00:06:40.160 strong burning smell. He discovers a raging blaze spreading beneath 137 00:06:40.199 --> 00:06:42.040 the floor of the passenger cabin. 138 00:06:41.879 --> 00:06:44.879 And the physics of that fire are just staggering. The 139 00:06:44.920 --> 00:06:47.560 plane is flying at two hundred and forty knots. That 140 00:06:47.600 --> 00:06:49.839 wind isn't blowing the fire out, not at all. It's 141 00:06:49.879 --> 00:06:53.439 acting like an industrial forge. The airflow creates this blow 142 00:06:53.480 --> 00:06:57.519 torch effect, completely supercharging the flames. The heat climbs so 143 00:06:57.600 --> 00:07:01.120 intensely and so quickly that the aluminum floorboards underneath the 144 00:07:01.120 --> 00:07:03.360 passengers literally begin to melt. 145 00:07:03.480 --> 00:07:05.879 And they are eleven miles from the airport at this point, 146 00:07:06.040 --> 00:07:09.040 still thousands of feet in the air. The structural integrity 147 00:07:09.040 --> 00:07:12.360 of the cabin floor simply gives way. The investigators noted 148 00:07:12.399 --> 00:07:14.720 that bodies began falling from the aircraft over the city 149 00:07:14.759 --> 00:07:15.160 of Jetta. 150 00:07:15.399 --> 00:07:19.480 It's just horrific upfront, Captain Allen is fighting with everything 151 00:07:19.519 --> 00:07:22.519 he has to muscle this failing machine into a lineup 152 00:07:22.519 --> 00:07:25.439 with a runway, and he somehow manages to wrestle the 153 00:07:25.480 --> 00:07:27.680 aircraft to within two miles of the airport. 154 00:07:28.040 --> 00:07:30.120 He was a highly skilled pilot. 155 00:07:29.879 --> 00:07:33.560 He really was. On final approach, he does the one 156 00:07:33.600 --> 00:07:36.560 thing any pilot must do to land, he lowers the 157 00:07:36.639 --> 00:07:41.399 landing gear. But looking at the structural analysis, that deployment 158 00:07:41.519 --> 00:07:42.920 was the final breaking point. 159 00:07:43.040 --> 00:07:45.519 Yeah, the fire had already secretly hollowed out the airframe. 160 00:07:45.680 --> 00:07:49.079 The metal was fatigued and melting, really just hanging on 161 00:07:49.199 --> 00:07:49.839 by a thread. 162 00:07:49.959 --> 00:07:52.600 So the heavy sudden mechanical force of those massive gear 163 00:07:52.680 --> 00:07:55.839 doors opening and the struts dropping down, it simply ripped 164 00:07:55.879 --> 00:07:57.319 that thread apart exactly. 165 00:07:57.839 --> 00:08:01.240 The deployment literally destroyed the planes structure. In mid air, 166 00:08:01.680 --> 00:08:05.480 the dcaight loses all aerodynamic cohesion and plummets into the desert, 167 00:08:05.519 --> 00:08:07.680 crashing just half a mile short of the runway. 168 00:08:07.879 --> 00:08:10.279 All two hundred and sixty one souls on board were lost. 169 00:08:10.319 --> 00:08:11.439 Such a tragedy for. 170 00:08:11.439 --> 00:08:14.399 The investigators arriving the next day. The ten minutes of 171 00:08:14.399 --> 00:08:17.800 flight were over, but the monumental task of decoding the 172 00:08:17.800 --> 00:08:21.839 wreckage had really just begun. The Canadian Transportation Safety Board 173 00:08:21.920 --> 00:08:25.759 or TSB arrives to assist the Saudi authorities. 174 00:08:25.720 --> 00:08:29.040 And the scene described in those reports is catastrophic. I 175 00:08:29.040 --> 00:08:32.320 mean the debris field stretches for four hundred meters across the. 176 00:08:32.279 --> 00:08:37.200 Desert, with virtually no recognizable aircraft parts left right, Everything 177 00:08:37.240 --> 00:08:40.159 from the center of the fuselage backward is just coated 178 00:08:40.200 --> 00:08:43.080 in a thick layer of molten aluminum. And the presence 179 00:08:43.120 --> 00:08:47.200 of molten aluminum tells the metallurgical experts one crucial thing immediately. 180 00:08:47.320 --> 00:08:50.440 Oh absolutely aluminum melts at roughly six hundred and sixty 181 00:08:50.480 --> 00:08:54.240 degrees celsius, but the damage pattern indicated the fire burned 182 00:08:54.240 --> 00:08:57.159 at well over eleven hundred degrees celsius while the plane 183 00:08:57.279 --> 00:08:58.240 was still in the air. 184 00:08:58.360 --> 00:09:00.559 So this was not a post crash fuel fire on 185 00:09:00.600 --> 00:09:01.039 the ground. 186 00:09:01.240 --> 00:09:04.279 No, this aircraft was completely consumed from the inside out 187 00:09:04.320 --> 00:09:05.159 while it was still. 188 00:09:05.000 --> 00:09:08.519 Flying, and the geopolitical tension in the investigation room begins 189 00:09:08.559 --> 00:09:13.600 almost immediately. Nationair, the Canadian airline operating the charter, releases 190 00:09:13.639 --> 00:09:16.759 a public statement heavily implying the Saudis are at fault. 191 00:09:16.879 --> 00:09:18.759 They try to shift the blame totally. 192 00:09:19.240 --> 00:09:22.080 They claim the plane must have struck a quote unquote 193 00:09:22.120 --> 00:09:25.879 foreign object left on the tarmac in Jetta, that this 194 00:09:25.960 --> 00:09:28.720 blew the tires and initiated the chain of events. 195 00:09:28.759 --> 00:09:32.159 But the Saudi authorities fiercely deny this, insisting their runaways 196 00:09:32.159 --> 00:09:33.080 were pristine. 197 00:09:33.320 --> 00:09:36.279 Right. So you have two deeply entrenched parties here, an 198 00:09:36.320 --> 00:09:39.559 airline trying to protect its safety record and an aviation 199 00:09:39.639 --> 00:09:43.360 authority trying to protect its airport's reputation. Both investigating a 200 00:09:43.399 --> 00:09:44.480 crash together. 201 00:09:44.320 --> 00:09:47.440 And finding objective truth in a four hundred meter field 202 00:09:47.480 --> 00:09:53.320 of scooched unrecognizable metal requires relentless methodology, but it also 203 00:09:53.440 --> 00:09:55.559 requires incredible. 204 00:09:54.840 --> 00:09:57.559 Luck, because the physical evidence of the landing gear was 205 00:09:57.600 --> 00:10:00.440 too heavily damaged by the impact and the fire to 206 00:10:00.519 --> 00:10:02.159 yield a definitive starting point. 207 00:10:01.960 --> 00:10:02.840 Right exactly. 208 00:10:03.000 --> 00:10:05.960 Okay, we have to talk about investigator Bill Taylor because 209 00:10:05.960 --> 00:10:08.399 his discovery feels like something straight out of a film. 210 00:10:08.480 --> 00:10:09.120 It really does. 211 00:10:09.279 --> 00:10:11.879 He is walking the perimeter of the craft site, the 212 00:10:11.879 --> 00:10:15.720 desert wind is blowing across miles of blackened, twisted debris, 213 00:10:16.240 --> 00:10:18.440 and out of the corner of his eye he spots 214 00:10:18.480 --> 00:10:22.720 a loose, slightly charred piece of paper tumbling across the sand. 215 00:10:22.519 --> 00:10:23.879 Just a single piece of paper. 216 00:10:24.159 --> 00:10:27.320 Yeah, he picks it up. It is the actual a 217 00:10:27.559 --> 00:10:31.840 flight inspection checklist for flight twenty one to twenty. Specifically, 218 00:10:32.279 --> 00:10:35.919 it is the single page recording the tire pressures for 219 00:10:36.000 --> 00:10:37.559 the aircraft prior to take off. 220 00:10:37.639 --> 00:10:41.559 What's fascinating here is how forensic science cracks the entire 221 00:10:41.639 --> 00:10:45.000 case open from that single fragile sheet of paper. The 222 00:10:45.039 --> 00:10:47.759 TSB secures the document and they send it to the 223 00:10:47.879 --> 00:10:52.279 Royal Canadian Mounted Police Forensics Lab the RCMP. Right, and 224 00:10:52.320 --> 00:10:54.919 the technicians there don't just read the numbers written on 225 00:10:54.960 --> 00:10:57.440 the page. They employ forensic optical analysis. 226 00:10:57.480 --> 00:10:59.480 Wait, how does that work exactly? I mean, how do 227 00:10:59.559 --> 00:11:01.399 you pull this secret out of a piece of paper. 228 00:11:01.679 --> 00:11:05.440 Well, they use a technique called infrared luminescence alongside specialized 229 00:11:05.480 --> 00:11:09.039 lighting angles. You see, different ink formulations react differently to 230 00:11:09.159 --> 00:11:12.960 specific wavelengths of light. So when the RCMP bathed the 231 00:11:13.000 --> 00:11:15.960 document in infrared light, the top layer of ink became 232 00:11:16.039 --> 00:11:19.240 transparent and a completely different set of numbers written in 233 00:11:19.279 --> 00:11:21.840 a different pen literally glowed underneath. 234 00:11:21.919 --> 00:11:23.960 Oh wow, so we aren't just looking at a careless 235 00:11:24.000 --> 00:11:28.440 smudge or like a spilled coffee stain here someone intentionally 236 00:11:28.519 --> 00:11:30.320 forged the maintenance document. 237 00:11:30.600 --> 00:11:34.360 Yes, the underlying numbers revealed the actual tire pressures were 238 00:11:34.759 --> 00:11:39.000 twenty to thirty psi below safe operating levels. The safe 239 00:11:39.080 --> 00:11:41.480 numbers had been deliberately written over the top. 240 00:11:41.679 --> 00:11:44.559 The document was falsified to make the plane look airworthy 241 00:11:44.600 --> 00:11:48.399 on paper precisely, and that forensic revelation forces the entire 242 00:11:48.440 --> 00:11:52.639 investigation to pivot backward in time to understand why a 243 00:11:52.679 --> 00:11:56.519 mechanic would intentionally lie about tire pressure. The surch documents 244 00:11:56.559 --> 00:11:59.320 take us back four days before the crash. 245 00:11:59.000 --> 00:12:01.440 To a scheduled stuff up the plane made in Ghana. 246 00:12:01.960 --> 00:12:04.720 Right, the mechanics in Ghana were conducting their routine checks 247 00:12:05.159 --> 00:12:07.879 and they documented that the tires on the left mainlanding 248 00:12:07.919 --> 00:12:10.799 gear were worn and the pressure was dangerously low. 249 00:12:11.120 --> 00:12:13.840 They even pulled out the heavy equipment to physically change 250 00:12:13.840 --> 00:12:18.480 the tires, which is standard necessary maintenance for any commercial airliner. 251 00:12:18.120 --> 00:12:21.600 But those tires never got changed. The investigation recovered of 252 00:12:21.679 --> 00:12:24.879 facts sent to the mechanics from Aldo Tanti, he was 253 00:12:24.879 --> 00:12:27.919 a project manager for Nation Air stationed in Jetta. 254 00:12:27.480 --> 00:12:30.600 And that facts essentially ordered them to stand down. It 255 00:12:30.679 --> 00:12:33.320 stated they were way behind schedule, they risked losing the 256 00:12:33.399 --> 00:12:37.000 lucrative Pilgrim transport contract and they needed to just load 257 00:12:37.039 --> 00:12:39.080 everybody up and get back to Saudi Arabia. 258 00:12:39.240 --> 00:12:39.720 Wow. 259 00:12:40.240 --> 00:12:43.639 This specific facts provides a really clear window into the 260 00:12:43.639 --> 00:12:46.759 corporate culture of Nation Air. At the time, they were 261 00:12:46.799 --> 00:12:50.960 a scrappy startup airline taking on massive international charter contracts 262 00:12:51.000 --> 00:12:52.600 that other companies wouldn't touch. 263 00:12:53.320 --> 00:12:56.519 But this sociological analysis in the report points to a 264 00:12:56.559 --> 00:13:00.720 fatal shift in their operational philosophy. They fell victim to 265 00:13:00.759 --> 00:13:03.639 what safety experts call the normalization of devians. 266 00:13:03.919 --> 00:13:06.279 Exactly. It's the psychological trap. 267 00:13:06.360 --> 00:13:09.279 Yeah, it's getting away with something dangerous so many times 268 00:13:09.519 --> 00:13:12.559 that you start to perceive the danger as normal. I mean, 269 00:13:12.600 --> 00:13:14.519 it is exactly like driving your car on one of 270 00:13:14.559 --> 00:13:16.279 those little doughnut spare tires. 271 00:13:16.080 --> 00:13:17.480 Right, the ones you aren't supposed to drive. 272 00:13:17.360 --> 00:13:20.279 Far on right, you know, the manual says it's only 273 00:13:20.279 --> 00:13:23.360 for fifty miles. But you drive to the grocery store 274 00:13:23.480 --> 00:13:25.480 and you're fine. You drive to work for a week 275 00:13:25.519 --> 00:13:29.480 and nothing happens. The absence of an immediate crash convinces 276 00:13:29.480 --> 00:13:31.639 you the system is safer than it actually is. 277 00:13:32.000 --> 00:13:37.000 And that normalization process took root deeply at Nationair. They 278 00:13:37.080 --> 00:13:40.480 needed the plane in the air generating revenue. Fixing a 279 00:13:40.559 --> 00:13:44.679 known critical safety issue meant grounding the plane, so a 280 00:13:44.720 --> 00:13:47.600 signature was faked, the log book was cooked, and the 281 00:13:47.639 --> 00:13:48.840 schedule was protected. 282 00:13:49.000 --> 00:13:51.360 Fast forward back to the morning of the crash in Jetta. 283 00:13:52.039 --> 00:13:54.799 The tragedy is really amplified because they actually tried to 284 00:13:54.799 --> 00:13:56.879 fix it at the last second. It did just twenty 285 00:13:56.919 --> 00:14:00.519 minutes before takeoff. Jean Paul Phillip, the lead McCamy who 286 00:14:01.080 --> 00:14:04.320 would later perish. Discovering the fire, he tries to top 287 00:14:04.399 --> 00:14:06.080 up the underinflated. 288 00:14:05.399 --> 00:14:08.759 Tires, but he hits a logistical wall. Commercial airplane tires 289 00:14:08.759 --> 00:14:13.159 are not filled with regular compressed air. They require nitrogen. 290 00:14:13.000 --> 00:14:15.720 Because nitrogen is an inert gas, meaning it is far 291 00:14:15.799 --> 00:14:17.759 less flammable than oxygen rich air. 292 00:14:18.039 --> 00:14:22.279 Exactly, and crucially, it doesn't expand or contract as radically 293 00:14:22.399 --> 00:14:24.200 under extreme temperature changes. 294 00:14:24.320 --> 00:14:27.000 So Philip runs over to another airline's maintenance crew on 295 00:14:27.080 --> 00:14:30.639 the tarmac to borrow their nitrogen bottles, but the bottles 296 00:14:30.639 --> 00:14:31.559 are completely empty. 297 00:14:31.679 --> 00:14:34.440 He reports back to the project manager, although Tanti. 298 00:14:34.320 --> 00:14:37.759 Right, and Tanti, who is an administrative manager concerned with contracts, 299 00:14:38.240 --> 00:14:41.200 not a licensed mechanic or a pilot makes a fatal 300 00:14:41.320 --> 00:14:44.600 operational command. He orders them to fly the plane as 301 00:14:44.600 --> 00:14:46.759 it is. He does, but wait, hold on, I have 302 00:14:46.840 --> 00:14:49.320 to push back here. We're talking about tires that are 303 00:14:49.559 --> 00:14:54.440 severely underinflated. Before every single flight, the pilot does a 304 00:14:54.559 --> 00:14:58.559 visual walk around of the aircraft, inspecting the fuselage, the engines, 305 00:14:58.600 --> 00:14:59.120 and the gear. 306 00:14:59.240 --> 00:15:00.279 That's standard. 307 00:15:00.559 --> 00:15:03.960 So if a tire is down almost thirty psi, how 308 00:15:03.960 --> 00:15:06.879 does a veteran like Captain Allen just miss a sagging tire? 309 00:15:07.159 --> 00:15:09.960 It is a great question, but you have to consider 310 00:15:10.000 --> 00:15:13.320 the construction of a commercial aircraft tire. These are not 311 00:15:13.600 --> 00:15:17.080 car tires. They are heavily reinforced, often built with over 312 00:15:17.159 --> 00:15:19.360 twenty plies of rigid nylon and rubber. 313 00:15:19.399 --> 00:15:20.879 Okay, so they're much stronger. 314 00:15:20.639 --> 00:15:23.919 Incredibly stiff. Because they are so stiff, a tire missing 315 00:15:24.039 --> 00:15:27.840 thirty psi does not look visibly flat or sagging, even 316 00:15:27.919 --> 00:15:30.240 under the massive weight of a DC eight. To the 317 00:15:30.320 --> 00:15:34.000 naked eye during a visual walkaround, it actually looks perfectly normal. 318 00:15:34.120 --> 00:15:34.639 Oh I see. 319 00:15:34.799 --> 00:15:37.639 The failure only manifests when the tire starts rolling and 320 00:15:37.679 --> 00:15:41.080 the internal physics take over. The most damning detail of 321 00:15:41.080 --> 00:15:44.440 this entire timeline is that Captain Allen was never informed 322 00:15:44.480 --> 00:15:47.519 about the low pressure. He had no idea. His plan 323 00:15:47.639 --> 00:15:50.960 was structurally compromised before he even started the engines. 324 00:15:51.120 --> 00:15:53.720 Wow, okay, so we know the tires were low, we 325 00:15:53.799 --> 00:15:57.080 know the corporate culture aggressively prioritize the schedule, and the 326 00:15:57.120 --> 00:16:00.679 paperwork was forged to hide the maintenance deferral. Right, let's 327 00:16:00.679 --> 00:16:04.559 dig into the mechanical reality. How does an underinflated tire 328 00:16:05.039 --> 00:16:07.480 turn an aircraft into a flying blowtorch? 329 00:16:07.919 --> 00:16:11.600 Well, the physics of failure did not happen instantaneously. The 330 00:16:11.600 --> 00:16:14.240 flight logs show the plane actually took off and landed 331 00:16:14.279 --> 00:16:16.960 seven times over those four days with those exact same 332 00:16:17.039 --> 00:16:18.080 underinflated tires. 333 00:16:18.120 --> 00:16:19.799 They get away with it seven times. 334 00:16:19.559 --> 00:16:23.200 They did, But the specific environmental conditions in Jetta provided 335 00:16:23.200 --> 00:16:23.960 the tipping point. 336 00:16:24.159 --> 00:16:26.639 Yeah, the math laid out in the TSP report is 337 00:16:26.799 --> 00:16:29.039 just brutal. The tires were supposed to be inflated to 338 00:16:29.080 --> 00:16:31.559 one hundred and eighty three psi, but they were sitting 339 00:16:31.559 --> 00:16:33.120 at one hundred and fifty five psi. 340 00:16:33.399 --> 00:16:36.799 And when a tire is underinflated on a landing gear bogie, 341 00:16:36.840 --> 00:16:39.759 which is the cluster of wheel sharing an axle, it 342 00:16:39.799 --> 00:16:43.120 physically cannot support its assigned share of the aircraft's. 343 00:16:42.600 --> 00:16:45.320 Weight, so the weight has to go somewhere exactly. 344 00:16:45.639 --> 00:16:49.799 That massive missing load is instantly transferred onto the adjacent 345 00:16:50.000 --> 00:16:52.639 fully inflated tire next to it. So you now have 346 00:16:52.720 --> 00:16:56.679 a localized crisis. One tire is carrying double its design 347 00:16:56.720 --> 00:17:00.399 weight and it's sitting right next to a spongy underinflated tire. 348 00:17:00.480 --> 00:17:03.279 And then add the environmental factors. It is thirty degrees 349 00:17:03.320 --> 00:17:06.480 celsius outside, the tarmac is baking, and they have to 350 00:17:06.559 --> 00:17:10.160 taxi five kilometers just to reach the takeoff position. That 351 00:17:10.279 --> 00:17:13.319 took them eleven minutes of continuous heavy rolling. 352 00:17:13.519 --> 00:17:17.279 Right as that underinflated tire rolls for eleven minutes, it 353 00:17:17.359 --> 00:17:21.240 flexes because it lacks the internal pressure to hold its shape. 354 00:17:21.359 --> 00:17:24.599 The heavy rubber and nylon walls bend excessively with every 355 00:17:24.640 --> 00:17:28.519 single rotation. That sounds bad it is this continuous flexing 356 00:17:28.599 --> 00:17:33.079 generates a process called hysteresis its internal friction. The layers 357 00:17:33.079 --> 00:17:35.720 of the tire are rubbing against themselves so violently that 358 00:17:35.759 --> 00:17:39.640 they generate immense internal heat. The nylon fabric inside the 359 00:17:39.680 --> 00:17:43.000 tire actually begins to melt and pull apart. Before the 360 00:17:43.039 --> 00:17:44.680 plane even begins its takeoff roll. 361 00:17:44.799 --> 00:17:47.799 Okay, here's where it gets really interesting. As the chain 362 00:17:47.839 --> 00:17:51.279 reaction goes critical, they line up on the runway and 363 00:17:51.400 --> 00:17:55.000 hit the throttle. The speed increases to over one hundred miles. 364 00:17:54.759 --> 00:17:57.799 Per hour, multiplying the stress exponentially. 365 00:17:58.039 --> 00:18:00.480 Right, the first thing to fail isn't the low tire, 366 00:18:00.680 --> 00:18:03.559 it's the adjacent tire, the one carrying all the extra 367 00:18:03.599 --> 00:18:06.799 transferred weight simply blows out. It cannot take the pressure. 368 00:18:06.880 --> 00:18:10.400 And when that adjacent tire violently ruptures the entire weight 369 00:18:10.440 --> 00:18:14.319 of that side, the aircraft slams down onto the already melting, 370 00:18:14.599 --> 00:18:15.839 under inflated. 371 00:18:15.400 --> 00:18:17.079 Tire, which instantly disintegrates. 372 00:18:17.279 --> 00:18:20.160 Yes, this is a loud shimmy. The flat engineer asked 373 00:18:20.160 --> 00:18:22.720 about it in ninety knots. The plane is now thundering 374 00:18:22.759 --> 00:18:25.920 down the concrete runway on a bare heavy metal wheel rim. 375 00:18:26.079 --> 00:18:29.799 A bare metal rim, scraping against concrete under immense weight 376 00:18:29.880 --> 00:18:33.160 at high speed, it acts like a massive flint. It 377 00:18:33.200 --> 00:18:36.839 generates a shower of superheated sparks, huge sparks, and those 378 00:18:36.839 --> 00:18:39.680 sparks are thrown directly back into the shredded, already melting 379 00:18:39.720 --> 00:18:42.759 rubber of the destroyed tires. The friction and the sparks 380 00:18:42.799 --> 00:18:44.079 ignite the rubber, but. 381 00:18:44.000 --> 00:18:48.079 The cockpit instruments don't register this. Captain Allen hits V one, 382 00:18:48.480 --> 00:18:50.720 He pulls back on the yoke and he lifts off. 383 00:18:51.559 --> 00:18:55.119 Standard operating procedure dictates the immediate next step to reduce 384 00:18:55.200 --> 00:18:58.000 drag is to retract the landing gear, which they do. 385 00:18:58.920 --> 00:19:01.480 But looking at these skimns from the crash report, the 386 00:19:01.519 --> 00:19:04.599 wheelwell isn't just an empty cavern designed to hold rubber. 387 00:19:05.000 --> 00:19:07.319 It's like the central nervous system of the aircraft. 388 00:19:07.440 --> 00:19:08.079 It really is. 389 00:19:08.240 --> 00:19:11.960 It is routed with hydraulic lines, electrical buses for the spoilers, 390 00:19:12.319 --> 00:19:15.759 wiring for the flaps, and it sits directly beneath the 391 00:19:15.799 --> 00:19:18.519 center fuel tank. So if you retract a burning mass 392 00:19:18.519 --> 00:19:22.559 of rubber into that space, you're essentially pulling a bomb 393 00:19:22.640 --> 00:19:23.720 into the plane's belly. 394 00:19:24.000 --> 00:19:26.720 If we connect this to the bigger picture, Retracting the 395 00:19:26.759 --> 00:19:30.839 gear was the moment survival became completely impossible. The crew 396 00:19:30.880 --> 00:19:34.000 pulled a raging fire inside the aircraft, The heavy gear 397 00:19:34.079 --> 00:19:37.119 doors sealed shut beneath it, and the blaze was basically 398 00:19:37.160 --> 00:19:38.519 locked in a high speed wind. 399 00:19:38.359 --> 00:19:40.519 Tunnel, trapped with all those systems. 400 00:19:40.200 --> 00:19:43.400 Right, It began violently feeding on the available oxygen, the 401 00:19:43.480 --> 00:19:47.079