WEBVTT

1
00:00:00.120 --> 00:00:02.879
<v Speaker 1>Imagine, just for a moment, that you are sitting in

2
00:00:02.919 --> 00:00:06.200
<v Speaker 1>the cockpit of a one hundred ton commercial airliner.

3
00:00:06.360 --> 00:00:09.199
<v Speaker 2>Right, You're just cruising comfortably at twenty six thousand.

4
00:00:08.880 --> 00:00:12.519
<v Speaker 1>Feet exactly the air up there's thin, the temperature outside

5
00:00:12.599 --> 00:00:16.559
<v Speaker 1>is well below freezing. But inside inside, everything is humming

6
00:00:16.559 --> 00:00:22.120
<v Speaker 1>along perfectly routine Yeah, until, without warning, the vibrant, glowing

7
00:00:22.239 --> 00:00:25.239
<v Speaker 1>color instrument panels right in front of you just go

8
00:00:25.559 --> 00:00:26.800
<v Speaker 1>completely black, and.

9
00:00:26.719 --> 00:00:31.519
<v Speaker 2>That deafening, reassuring roar of your massive jet engines abruptly

10
00:00:31.559 --> 00:00:32.200
<v Speaker 2>goes silent.

11
00:00:32.359 --> 00:00:36.600
<v Speaker 1>You are suspended in this eerie, absolute quiet, and then

12
00:00:37.039 --> 00:00:38.000
<v Speaker 1>gravity takes hold.

13
00:00:38.079 --> 00:00:40.479
<v Speaker 2>You're falling. It is absolute nightmare fuel.

14
00:00:40.560 --> 00:00:43.600
<v Speaker 1>It really is. Welcome to the deep dive. I'm your host,

15
00:00:43.600 --> 00:00:46.240
<v Speaker 1>and today our mission is to forensically examine the hidden

16
00:00:46.320 --> 00:00:50.159
<v Speaker 1>catalysts behind five of aviation history's most harrowing flights.

17
00:00:50.520 --> 00:00:53.000
<v Speaker 2>And as an aviation exit investigator, I can tell you

18
00:00:53.000 --> 00:00:55.200
<v Speaker 2>the most terrifying part of this scenario is that the

19
00:00:55.240 --> 00:00:58.920
<v Speaker 2>black box data reveals it almost never takes a massive

20
00:00:58.960 --> 00:01:02.200
<v Speaker 2>explosion or like a torn off wing to bring down

21
00:01:02.200 --> 00:01:03.280
<v Speaker 2>a commercial aircraft.

22
00:01:03.399 --> 00:01:06.120
<v Speaker 1>Right, we expect massive machines to be brought down by

23
00:01:06.159 --> 00:01:11.040
<v Speaker 1>massive failures but by analyzing real flight transcripts, radar records,

24
00:01:11.480 --> 00:01:16.280
<v Speaker 1>and metallurgical autopsies, we're going to show you how the

25
00:01:16.319 --> 00:01:20.760
<v Speaker 1>safety of hundreds of lives often hinges on microscopic details.

26
00:01:20.840 --> 00:01:23.760
<v Speaker 2>It is deeply unsettling. We see over and over that

27
00:01:23.799 --> 00:01:26.359
<v Speaker 2>a perfectly functional machine could be brought to its knees

28
00:01:26.400 --> 00:01:30.400
<v Speaker 2>by an outside intruder so small it completely defies belief.

29
00:01:30.200 --> 00:01:33.120
<v Speaker 1>Which brings us to our first investigation. The coast of

30
00:01:33.120 --> 00:01:36.040
<v Speaker 1>the Dominican Republic, February nineteen ninety six.

31
00:01:36.200 --> 00:01:39.200
<v Speaker 2>It's night, A light rain is falling on the tarmac.

32
00:01:39.879 --> 00:01:43.560
<v Speaker 2>A Boeing seven five seven operated by Burgonaire as Flight

33
00:01:43.599 --> 00:01:46.239
<v Speaker 2>three zero one is accelerating down the runway and.

34
00:01:46.159 --> 00:01:48.159
<v Speaker 1>As I pick up speed, the first officer checks his

35
00:01:48.200 --> 00:01:50.000
<v Speaker 1>instruments and calls out eighty knots.

36
00:01:50.159 --> 00:01:52.439
<v Speaker 2>But the captain's airspeed gage is completely dead.

37
00:01:52.519 --> 00:01:54.879
<v Speaker 1>I mean it is frozen, which is a glaring red flag.

38
00:01:54.920 --> 00:01:58.439
<v Speaker 1>But the captain makes a fatal, irreversible decision here, right,

39
00:01:58.640 --> 00:02:00.359
<v Speaker 1>He chooses to continue the time take off.

40
00:02:00.480 --> 00:02:02.319
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, he does, And the moment that plane lifts off,

41
00:02:02.319 --> 00:02:05.680
<v Speaker 2>the flight data recorder shows a cockpit plunging into absolute

42
00:02:05.719 --> 00:02:06.640
<v Speaker 2>sensory overload.

43
00:02:06.879 --> 00:02:10.639
<v Speaker 1>The autopilot engages, and suddenly the plane starts throwing these

44
00:02:10.759 --> 00:02:12.719
<v Speaker 1>violently contradictory warnings.

45
00:02:12.800 --> 00:02:16.599
<v Speaker 2>Right. First, there's a blaring, high pitched clacker. It's an

46
00:02:16.639 --> 00:02:20.360
<v Speaker 2>overspeed alarm, screaming that they're flying too fast, pushing three

47
00:02:20.400 --> 00:02:21.360
<v Speaker 2>hundred and fifty knots.

48
00:02:21.599 --> 00:02:24.879
<v Speaker 1>But immediately following that, the cockpit is filled with an

49
00:02:24.919 --> 00:02:29.199
<v Speaker 1>even more ominous sound, the violent mechanical rattle of.

50
00:02:29.159 --> 00:02:31.639
<v Speaker 2>The stick shaker, which is exactly what it sounds like.

51
00:02:31.800 --> 00:02:35.240
<v Speaker 2>It physically shakes the pilot's control column to warn them

52
00:02:35.280 --> 00:02:36.639
<v Speaker 2>they're flying much too slow.

53
00:02:36.840 --> 00:02:39.159
<v Speaker 1>Right, it means the air is separating from the wings

54
00:02:39.159 --> 00:02:41.199
<v Speaker 1>and they are about to stall and fall out of

55
00:02:41.280 --> 00:02:41.599
<v Speaker 1>the sky.

56
00:02:41.840 --> 00:02:44.960
<v Speaker 2>So to understand this mechanical death trap, you have to

57
00:02:45.000 --> 00:02:47.879
<v Speaker 2>look at how a plane actually knows its speed. It

58
00:02:48.000 --> 00:02:49.439
<v Speaker 2>uses pitto tubes.

59
00:02:49.280 --> 00:02:51.360
<v Speaker 1>Those little hollow metal probes on the outside of the

60
00:02:51.439 --> 00:02:52.599
<v Speaker 1>nose right exactly.

61
00:02:52.639 --> 00:02:55.840
<v Speaker 2>They measure ram air pressure against static air pressure. As

62
00:02:55.879 --> 00:02:58.680
<v Speaker 2>you go faster, more air rams into the tube.

63
00:02:58.719 --> 00:03:01.439
<v Speaker 1>But if that tube gets plug lugged, the air inside

64
00:03:01.479 --> 00:03:02.479
<v Speaker 1>gets trapped.

65
00:03:02.439 --> 00:03:05.639
<v Speaker 2>Right, and as the plane climbs into thinner air, that

66
00:03:05.800 --> 00:03:10.759
<v Speaker 2>trapped pressurized air essentially tricks the sensors. The computer thinks

67
00:03:10.759 --> 00:03:13.599
<v Speaker 2>the plane is accelerating to dangerous speeds even though it's

68
00:03:13.639 --> 00:03:14.719
<v Speaker 2>actually slowing down.

69
00:03:14.879 --> 00:03:18.879
<v Speaker 1>So the autopilot was receiving the captain's faulty two fast reading,

70
00:03:19.520 --> 00:03:22.039
<v Speaker 1>and to slow the plane down, it pitched the nose

71
00:03:22.120 --> 00:03:25.240
<v Speaker 1>up to fifteen degrees, acting like a giant.

72
00:03:24.879 --> 00:03:28.439
<v Speaker 2>Air brake, and the captain, who is just completely bewildered

73
00:03:28.439 --> 00:03:31.919
<v Speaker 2>by the contradictory alarms, reacted only to the overspeed warning.

74
00:03:31.960 --> 00:03:33.159
<v Speaker 1>He pulled the throttles back.

75
00:03:33.360 --> 00:03:36.199
<v Speaker 2>Yes, instead of pointing the nose down to gain lift,

76
00:03:36.479 --> 00:03:39.479
<v Speaker 2>he slowed them down even more. The heavy seven to

77
00:03:39.599 --> 00:03:42.840
<v Speaker 2>five seven stalled, rolled hard to the right, and plunged

78
00:03:42.879 --> 00:03:44.680
<v Speaker 2>directly into the pitch black ocean.

79
00:03:44.800 --> 00:03:47.439
<v Speaker 1>One hundred and eighty nine people died. Okay, let's unpack

80
00:03:47.520 --> 00:03:50.240
<v Speaker 1>this because it's maddening to read that cockpit transcript.

81
00:03:50.319 --> 00:03:50.840
<v Speaker 2>It really is.

82
00:03:50.960 --> 00:03:53.639
<v Speaker 1>It's like having your car speedometer brake while you're on

83
00:03:53.680 --> 00:03:56.919
<v Speaker 1>the highway, and instead of trusting your passengers working GPS,

84
00:03:57.280 --> 00:03:59.800
<v Speaker 1>you just slam on the brakes in the fast lane.

85
00:04:00.039 --> 00:04:02.800
<v Speaker 1>That is a perfect analogy, because the first officer's gauge

86
00:04:02.800 --> 00:04:05.520
<v Speaker 1>was working perfectly the entire time it showed they were

87
00:04:05.520 --> 00:04:09.039
<v Speaker 1>flying dangerously slow. Why didn't he just take the controls.

88
00:04:09.360 --> 00:04:12.800
<v Speaker 2>It comes down to a lethal combination of cockpit culture

89
00:04:12.879 --> 00:04:16.680
<v Speaker 2>and hierarchy. You have a junior first officer sitting next

90
00:04:16.680 --> 00:04:19.160
<v Speaker 2>to a highly revered veteran captain.

91
00:04:19.399 --> 00:04:23.920
<v Speaker 1>The transcript shows him offering pentitive suggestions right softly saying

92
00:04:24.000 --> 00:04:26.000
<v Speaker 1>nose downs or yeah, but.

93
00:04:25.959 --> 00:04:29.920
<v Speaker 2>He never physically takes the yolk. Deference to authority overrode

94
00:04:29.920 --> 00:04:30.759
<v Speaker 2>his own instruments.

95
00:04:31.079 --> 00:04:33.439
<v Speaker 1>But the true catalyst here is why the captain's gauge

96
00:04:33.439 --> 00:04:34.519
<v Speaker 1>failed in the first place.

97
00:04:34.879 --> 00:04:38.360
<v Speaker 2>Right, The forensic autopsy of those external POTO tubes revealed

98
00:04:38.399 --> 00:04:41.399
<v Speaker 2>the culprit. The plane had sat on the tarmac for

99
00:04:41.439 --> 00:04:44.800
<v Speaker 2>three weeks without the bright red protective covers over the.

100
00:04:44.759 --> 00:04:48.040
<v Speaker 1>Sensors, and in that time, a tiny mud dauber wasp

101
00:04:48.160 --> 00:04:51.199
<v Speaker 1>built a hard mud nest inside the tube. A single

102
00:04:51.240 --> 00:04:54.920
<v Speaker 1>insect defeated a multi million dollar piece of aviation technology.

103
00:04:55.040 --> 00:04:59.360
<v Speaker 2>It's a terrifying example of biology completely overriding machine. But

104
00:04:59.439 --> 00:05:02.160
<v Speaker 2>in our next the machine was defeated by a simple

105
00:05:02.360 --> 00:05:03.240
<v Speaker 2>human math.

106
00:05:03.160 --> 00:05:06.920
<v Speaker 1>Error, forcing the pilots into the ultimate test of airmanship.

107
00:05:06.680 --> 00:05:09.319
<v Speaker 2>Exactly, which takes us back to the exact scene we

108
00:05:09.360 --> 00:05:12.680
<v Speaker 2>painted at the start of our deep dive. July nineteen

109
00:05:12.720 --> 00:05:15.680
<v Speaker 2>eighty three, Air Canada Flight one four.

110
00:05:15.560 --> 00:05:19.759
<v Speaker 1>To three, a brand new Boeing seven six seven flying

111
00:05:19.800 --> 00:05:24.160
<v Speaker 1>at forty one thousand feet. Suddenly warning lights flash, the

112
00:05:24.279 --> 00:05:25.720
<v Speaker 1>left engine fails.

113
00:05:25.480 --> 00:05:27.959
<v Speaker 2>Then the right engine spools down to total silence.

114
00:05:28.079 --> 00:05:31.959
<v Speaker 1>The cockpit goes totally dark. First Officer Maurice Quintel says,

115
00:05:32.000 --> 00:05:33.639
<v Speaker 1>holy cow, I'm talking to a dead man.

116
00:05:33.720 --> 00:05:36.399
<v Speaker 2>And the root cause here was a perfect storm of

117
00:05:36.480 --> 00:05:41.360
<v Speaker 2>technical glitches and human miscalculation. The plane's fuel gauge processor

118
00:05:41.399 --> 00:05:43.399
<v Speaker 2>had a microscopic faulty solder.

119
00:05:43.160 --> 00:05:45.519
<v Speaker 1>Joint, so the ground crew had to calculate the fuel

120
00:05:45.560 --> 00:05:49.160
<v Speaker 1>load manually. But Canada was transitioning to the metric system

121
00:05:49.199 --> 00:05:49.480
<v Speaker 1>at the.

122
00:05:49.399 --> 00:05:52.519
<v Speaker 2>Time, right so ground crews mistakenly calculated the fuel in

123
00:05:52.639 --> 00:05:54.079
<v Speaker 2>pounds instead of kilograms.

124
00:05:54.160 --> 00:05:56.920
<v Speaker 1>A pound is roughly half a kilogram. The plane needed

125
00:05:56.959 --> 00:06:00.000
<v Speaker 1>twenty two thy three hundred kilograms of fuel to reach Edmonton,

126
00:06:00.160 --> 00:06:00.480
<v Speaker 1>but it.

127
00:06:00.439 --> 00:06:04.279
<v Speaker 2>Was loaded with twenty two three hundred pounds, exactly half

128
00:06:04.319 --> 00:06:05.240
<v Speaker 2>of what it needed.

129
00:06:05.040 --> 00:06:07.319
<v Speaker 1>So they literally ran the tank's bone dry at forty

130
00:06:07.360 --> 00:06:09.759
<v Speaker 1>one thousand feet, and a plane that size doesn't just

131
00:06:09.839 --> 00:06:13.439
<v Speaker 1>loose thrust, it loses its primary electrical and hydraulic power.

132
00:06:13.800 --> 00:06:17.360
<v Speaker 2>You cannot steer a ninety five ton jetliner without hydraulics.

133
00:06:17.800 --> 00:06:21.040
<v Speaker 2>The controls are far too heavy, but Boeing installed a

134
00:06:21.079 --> 00:06:25.839
<v Speaker 2>tiny emergency propeller called a ram air turbine or a RAT.

135
00:06:26.399 --> 00:06:29.600
<v Speaker 1>Here's where it gets really interesting. Think of the RAT

136
00:06:29.879 --> 00:06:32.600
<v Speaker 1>like a hidden blade and a Swiss army knife. It

137
00:06:32.720 --> 00:06:36.079
<v Speaker 1>drops into the slip stream to provide basic hydraulic power.

138
00:06:36.279 --> 00:06:38.680
<v Speaker 2>Right The sheer force of the air rushing past the

139
00:06:38.720 --> 00:06:42.680
<v Speaker 2>falling plane physically cranks a pump to power the steering cables.

140
00:06:42.800 --> 00:06:45.600
<v Speaker 1>But without engines, they still didn't have a working transponder.

141
00:06:45.759 --> 00:06:47.959
<v Speaker 1>They vanished from air traffic control screens.

142
00:06:48.040 --> 00:06:50.800
<v Speaker 2>Controllers actually had to use old fashioned primary radar, just

143
00:06:50.920 --> 00:06:53.360
<v Speaker 2>bouncing radio waves off raw metal to find them.

144
00:06:53.399 --> 00:06:55.959
<v Speaker 1>So imagine you're the pilot. You're coming in far too

145
00:06:56.000 --> 00:06:59.480
<v Speaker 1>high and fast over a decommissioned airbase in Gimli. How

146
00:06:59.519 --> 00:07:02.040
<v Speaker 1>do you lay and a metal glider of that size.

147
00:07:02.120 --> 00:07:04.399
<v Speaker 2>You do something commercial pilots are never trained to do.

148
00:07:05.040 --> 00:07:08.000
<v Speaker 2>Captain Bob Pearson happened to be a glider pilot. He

149
00:07:08.120 --> 00:07:11.920
<v Speaker 2>realized they would overshoot the runway, so he executed a forward.

150
00:07:11.519 --> 00:07:15.040
<v Speaker 1>Slip, which means he radically crossed the controls right rudder

151
00:07:15.040 --> 00:07:17.399
<v Speaker 1>one way, ailerons the other exactly.

152
00:07:17.639 --> 00:07:21.040
<v Speaker 2>He essentially threw a massive passenger jet into a sideways

153
00:07:21.079 --> 00:07:24.319
<v Speaker 2>freefall to create drag without gaining forward speed.

154
00:07:24.639 --> 00:07:27.079
<v Speaker 1>Passengers were looking out the windows and seeing the ground

155
00:07:27.199 --> 00:07:28.639
<v Speaker 1>staring straight back at them.

156
00:07:28.759 --> 00:07:32.439
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, they landed on a dragstrip, blew two tires, scraped

157
00:07:32.480 --> 00:07:34.879
<v Speaker 2>the nose gear, and stopped just short of two boys

158
00:07:34.879 --> 00:07:35.639
<v Speaker 2>on bicycles.

159
00:07:35.839 --> 00:07:39.959
<v Speaker 1>The Gimli crew managed to overpower their disabled machine. But

160
00:07:40.079 --> 00:07:42.240
<v Speaker 1>what happens when the machine takes on a mind of

161
00:07:42.279 --> 00:07:44.839
<v Speaker 1>its own and actively fights the pilot.

162
00:07:45.319 --> 00:07:48.279
<v Speaker 2>That brings us to the terrifying mystery of the Boeing

163
00:07:48.360 --> 00:07:49.519
<v Speaker 2>seven three seven rudder.

164
00:07:49.680 --> 00:07:52.839
<v Speaker 1>Let's talk about United five eight five in Colorado Springs

165
00:07:52.839 --> 00:07:55.959
<v Speaker 1>in nineteen ninety one and US Air four two seven

166
00:07:56.079 --> 00:07:57.480
<v Speaker 1>in Pittsburgh in ninety four.

167
00:07:58.160 --> 00:08:00.560
<v Speaker 2>In both cases, these planes were on a perfectly normal

168
00:08:00.600 --> 00:08:05.680
<v Speaker 2>final approach, engines fully functional. Then suddenly they violently rolled

169
00:08:05.720 --> 00:08:08.079
<v Speaker 2>over and plunged straight into the ground.

170
00:08:07.879 --> 00:08:11.360
<v Speaker 1>Ten seconds from normal flight to complete obliteration. One hundred

171
00:08:11.360 --> 00:08:13.800
<v Speaker 1>and fifty seven dead across both crashes.

172
00:08:14.079 --> 00:08:17.040
<v Speaker 2>Investigators honed in on the dual servo valve inside the

173
00:08:17.079 --> 00:08:19.399
<v Speaker 2>power control unit or PCU.

174
00:08:19.000 --> 00:08:21.560
<v Speaker 1>That's essentially the power steering for the rudder, right, yeah.

175
00:08:21.800 --> 00:08:25.399
<v Speaker 2>Yes, they suspected debris might be jamming the delicate metal

176
00:08:25.439 --> 00:08:28.759
<v Speaker 2>slides inside this valve, causing the rudder to lock fully

177
00:08:28.759 --> 00:08:30.800
<v Speaker 2>to one side a hard over, but.

178
00:08:30.839 --> 00:08:35.679
<v Speaker 1>The manufacturer claimed internal filters would stop any debris. And wait,

179
00:08:35.720 --> 00:08:39.000
<v Speaker 1>I've read the forensic reports on USIR four to seven. Right,

180
00:08:39.279 --> 00:08:41.960
<v Speaker 1>if the valve jammed from debris violently enough to crash

181
00:08:42.000 --> 00:08:45.519
<v Speaker 1>a jet, wouldn't investigators find physical scratch marks on the

182
00:08:45.559 --> 00:08:46.279
<v Speaker 1>metal slides?

183
00:08:46.360 --> 00:08:48.879
<v Speaker 2>You would think so, Yeah, But for five years they

184
00:08:48.919 --> 00:08:53.159
<v Speaker 2>found absolutely nothing under the microscopes, zero scratches.

185
00:08:52.679 --> 00:08:56.759
<v Speaker 1>Which is baffling. Until nineteen ninety six when East Wind

186
00:08:56.759 --> 00:09:01.799
<v Speaker 1>flight five one seven rolled over in Richmond but miraculously survived.

187
00:09:01.879 --> 00:09:03.919
<v Speaker 2>A pilot reported he stood on the rudder pedal with

188
00:09:03.960 --> 00:09:05.960
<v Speaker 2>all his weight, but it felt like it was set

189
00:09:06.000 --> 00:09:07.159
<v Speaker 2>in concrete. It would move.

190
00:09:07.320 --> 00:09:10.559
<v Speaker 1>So they finally had an intact airplane and a living pilot.

191
00:09:10.840 --> 00:09:13.399
<v Speaker 2>What's fascinating here is what they did next. They took

192
00:09:13.440 --> 00:09:16.799
<v Speaker 2>that exact valve and subjected it to a gruesome torture

193
00:09:16.799 --> 00:09:19.080
<v Speaker 2>test in Valencia, a thermal shock.

194
00:09:18.879 --> 00:09:22.600
<v Speaker 1>Test, because these valves operate in extreme temperatures exactly.

195
00:09:22.919 --> 00:09:25.399
<v Speaker 2>They froze the valve with liquid nitrogen to mimic high

196
00:09:25.440 --> 00:09:29.320
<v Speaker 2>altitude cold, then blasted it with superheated hydraulley fluid.

197
00:09:29.320 --> 00:09:32.679
<v Speaker 1>And because the inner slide and outer casing were different metals,

198
00:09:33.080 --> 00:09:37.759
<v Speaker 1>they swelled at different rates. The valve jammed perfectly metal.

199
00:09:37.440 --> 00:09:40.799
<v Speaker 2>On metal, but since it was thermal expansion, it left

200
00:09:40.799 --> 00:09:42.399
<v Speaker 2>no scratch marks behind.

201
00:09:42.320 --> 00:09:44.559
<v Speaker 1>Which explains the lack of physical evidence.

202
00:09:44.879 --> 00:09:47.879
<v Speaker 2>But the truly horrific discovery was that the pressure spiked

203
00:09:47.919 --> 00:09:51.960
<v Speaker 2>so hard it bypassed the normal channels. The valve actually

204
00:09:51.960 --> 00:09:52.879
<v Speaker 2>reversed itself.

205
00:09:53.120 --> 00:09:55.919
<v Speaker 1>Wow, So when the us OR pilot pushed the pedal

206
00:09:55.960 --> 00:09:57.519
<v Speaker 1>to correct the plane from a gust of.

207
00:09:57.480 --> 00:10:00.240
<v Speaker 2>Wind, the reversed valve took that command in st teared

208
00:10:00.320 --> 00:10:03.919
<v Speaker 2>him directly into the ground. The hydraulic brain turned his

209
00:10:04.000 --> 00:10:06.200
<v Speaker 2>survival instincts into a death sentence.

210
00:10:06.279 --> 00:10:08.600
<v Speaker 1>It took a decade to find that hidden flaw, but

211
00:10:08.679 --> 00:10:11.919
<v Speaker 1>our next investigation uncovers a flaw the manufacturer knew about

212
00:10:11.960 --> 00:10:13.320
<v Speaker 1>before the plane even crashed.

213
00:10:13.399 --> 00:10:17.799
<v Speaker 2>You nineteen seventy two American Airlines Flight ninety six a DC.

214
00:10:17.759 --> 00:10:21.240
<v Speaker 1>Ten, the explosive blowout of the rear cargo door over

215
00:10:21.320 --> 00:10:24.759
<v Speaker 1>windsor the cabin floor collapsed into the cargo hold, severing

216
00:10:24.799 --> 00:10:25.600
<v Speaker 1>the flight cables.

217
00:10:25.759 --> 00:10:29.559
<v Speaker 2>Captain Bryce McCormick miraculously landed using only engine thrust to.

218
00:10:29.559 --> 00:10:34.279
<v Speaker 1>Steer, but the institutional failure here is staggering. The NTSB

219
00:10:34.399 --> 00:10:38.600
<v Speaker 1>demanded an airwordiness directive to redesign the outward opening door, which.

220
00:10:38.399 --> 00:10:41.480
<v Speaker 2>Would have grounded the fleet, so instead the FAA made

221
00:10:41.480 --> 00:10:45.320
<v Speaker 2>a gentleman's agreement with McDonald Douglas to fix it voluntarily, and.

222
00:10:45.240 --> 00:10:48.320
<v Speaker 1>It wasn't done properly, which leads to nineteen seventy four

223
00:10:48.320 --> 00:10:51.720
<v Speaker 1>Turkish Airlines Flight nine to eighty one in Paris.

224
00:10:52.039 --> 00:10:55.960
<v Speaker 2>An illiterate baggage handler forced the cargo lever closed. The

225
00:10:56.000 --> 00:10:58.759
<v Speaker 2>pins didn't engage, but the warning light turned off anyway.

226
00:10:59.120 --> 00:11:02.679
<v Speaker 1>At twelve thousand feet, the door blue the floor collapsed,

227
00:11:02.720 --> 00:11:06.480
<v Speaker 1>destroying all hydraulics. Three hundred and forty six people died.

228
00:11:06.639 --> 00:11:08.200
<v Speaker 2>It was completely preventable.

229
00:11:08.320 --> 00:11:11.360
<v Speaker 1>So what does this all mean? During the lawsuits, journalists

230
00:11:11.360 --> 00:11:13.039
<v Speaker 1>discovered the applegate memo.

231
00:11:13.240 --> 00:11:14.440
<v Speaker 2>Oh, that memo is chilling.

232
00:11:14.720 --> 00:11:18.360
<v Speaker 1>The manufacturer knew about the explosive decompression risk two years

233
00:11:18.399 --> 00:11:23.519
<v Speaker 1>before the first incident. It's a tragic example of tombstone technology.

234
00:11:23.080 --> 00:11:25.799
<v Speaker 2>Waiting for fatalities to justify safety expenses.

235
00:11:25.960 --> 00:11:29.759
<v Speaker 1>Right, regulatory bodies are supposed to protect us from corporate negligence,

236
00:11:30.159 --> 00:11:33.879
<v Speaker 1>But what happens when the regulators themselves intentionally disable a

237
00:11:33.919 --> 00:11:34.559
<v Speaker 1>safety net.

238
00:11:34.799 --> 00:11:38.440
<v Speaker 2>Look at August nineteen ninety seven Korean air flight eight

239
00:11:38.960 --> 00:11:42.879
<v Speaker 2>zero one, approaching Guam at one thirty in the morning

240
00:11:42.960 --> 00:11:43.679
<v Speaker 2>in heavy rain.

241
00:11:44.120 --> 00:11:46.759
<v Speaker 1>The airport's glide slope is under repair.

242
00:11:46.639 --> 00:11:49.320
<v Speaker 2>And the tired captain flying on the backside of the

243
00:11:49.360 --> 00:11:53.320
<v Speaker 2>clock saw his unusable glide slope indicator flicker to life

244
00:11:53.480 --> 00:11:55.480
<v Speaker 2>due to spurious radio signals.

245
00:11:55.519 --> 00:11:58.600
<v Speaker 1>Relying on this false data, he descended three miles too

246
00:11:58.600 --> 00:12:00.639
<v Speaker 1>early and crashed into Nimitz Hill.

247
00:12:00.840 --> 00:12:03.919
<v Speaker 2>But the airport had a minimum Safe Altitude Warning radar

248
00:12:04.000 --> 00:12:08.320
<v Speaker 2>system and MSIW designed to alert controllers if a plane

249
00:12:08.480 --> 00:12:09.080
<v Speaker 2>was too low.

250
00:12:09.559 --> 00:12:10.799
<v Speaker 1>So why didn't it go off?

251
00:12:11.279 --> 00:12:13.960
<v Speaker 2>If we connect this to the bigger picture, the FAA

252
00:12:14.039 --> 00:12:15.879
<v Speaker 2>had intentionally altered the software.

253
00:12:16.039 --> 00:12:17.720
<v Speaker 1>Wait, they altered the safety software.

254
00:12:17.919 --> 00:12:21.159
<v Speaker 2>Yes, because the alarm gave too many nuisance warnings near

255
00:12:21.240 --> 00:12:24.480
<v Speaker 2>the hilly airport. They pushed its perimeter eighty kilometers out

256
00:12:24.519 --> 00:12:25.320
<v Speaker 2>to see.

257
00:12:25.039 --> 00:12:27.159
<v Speaker 1>They muffled the very system meant to save them, just

258
00:12:27.240 --> 00:12:28.559
<v Speaker 1>to avoid annoyed.

259
00:12:28.159 --> 00:12:31.120
<v Speaker 2>Controllers exactly, and the crash was horrific.

260
00:12:31.200 --> 00:12:34.559
<v Speaker 1>Survivor Barry Small only lived because his broken legs stopped

261
00:12:34.600 --> 00:12:38.679
<v Speaker 1>him from moving forward while others were trapped by seat crossbars.

262
00:12:38.399 --> 00:12:42.279
<v Speaker 2>And he's still fighting today to change those seat designs

263
00:12:42.399 --> 00:12:43.919
<v Speaker 2>and remove overhead duty free.

264
00:12:43.799 --> 00:12:47.200
<v Speaker 1>Alcohol which fueled the intense cabin fire that night. It's

265
00:12:47.279 --> 00:12:49.799
<v Speaker 1>just staggering. When we look at all these cases, we

266
00:12:49.799 --> 00:12:52.360
<v Speaker 1>see the fragile chain of aviation safety.

267
00:12:52.519 --> 00:12:55.840
<v Speaker 2>It's an ongoing war against the tiniest vulnerabilities, from.

268
00:12:55.679 --> 00:12:59.320
<v Speaker 1>The biological anomaly of a wasp to human math error's

269
00:12:59.440 --> 00:13:02.639
<v Speaker 1>microscope bic thermal jams, and the hubris of corporate and

270
00:13:02.679 --> 00:13:03.799
<v Speaker 1>regulatory bodies.

271
00:13:04.240 --> 00:13:07.919
<v Speaker 2>As our planes become increasingly automated, designed to calculate everything

272
00:13:07.960 --> 00:13:09.879
<v Speaker 2>for us, we really have to wonder if we are

273
00:13:09.919 --> 00:13:12.039
<v Speaker 2>engineering the pilot out of the equation.

274
00:13:11.879 --> 00:13:14.240
<v Speaker 1>Entirely, which is a terrifying thought to leave you with.

275
00:13:15.120 --> 00:13:18.759
<v Speaker 1>If a computer trusts blocked sensor over human intuition, we

276
00:13:18.879 --> 00:13:21.559
<v Speaker 1>have to ask ourselves in the flight decks of the future,

277
00:13:21.679 --> 00:13:23.399
<v Speaker 1>who is actually flying the plane