Original subtitles

FLIGHT ATTENDANT: Ladies and gentlemen,

we are starting our approach.

PILOT: We lost both engines.

PILOT: Masks will be lowered.

Emergency declared.

PILOT: Mayday, mayday.

FLIGHT ATTENDANT: Brace for impact!

[muffled chatter]

PILOT: It's gonna crash!

[radio chatter]

ATC LIMA: We're observing you crossing the 260 of Lima

at 31 miles west.

Level is 10,700 velocities.

NARRATOR: In October of 1996, a state of the art passenger jet

careens out of control for 30 horrific minutes,

then crashes into the Pacific Ocean.

[warning alarm]

ERIC SCHREIBER: I've got her. I've got it.

ATC LIMA: Climb!

Climb, Aeroperu 603.

ERIC SCHREIBER: We're gonna turn over.

[radio chatter]

NARRATOR: What could have brought

down Aeroperu flight 603?

The answer to the mystery may be found in the airplane's

black box flight recorder, a puzzle

which investigators must solve.

The story they uncover is how simple human error

set off a chain of events that ended in tragedy.

2 cent of American money brought down a $75 million

aircraft and killed 70 people.

This kind of a problem that they faced that night

was probably one of 10 over the last 20 or 30 years.

You never lose hope immediately, you know?

It takes time for you to get to the point

that you will accept the fact that there's no people that

got out of there alive.

DAVID FERNANDEZ: We're gonna turn over.

NARRATOR: Lima, Peru.

Jorge Chavez International Airport.

Aeroperu flight 603 prepared for takeoff for Santiago, Chile.

The plane was a four-year-old Boeing 757,

a state of the art passenger jet known

for its reliability and safety.

Aeroperu's 603 was flown by two of the national airline's best

pilots, Captain Eric Schreiber, 58, and First

Officer David Fernandez, 42.

261 passengers and 9 crew members were aboard.

Most were Chileans on their way home.

Others were Peruvian, British, Italian, Spanish,

and one New Zealander and other Latin Americans.

Among them are the brother-in-law

and a close friend of Mexican businessman Monus Albert

Our companies do business in South America.

We export.

And every so often we will go to our clients, and on this trip

Kenny and Abraham went to see some clients in Peru and Chile.

I had a very good relationship with both them.

With my brother-in-law, of course, we were like brothers.

I loved the guy.

He married my only sister, so we had a great relationship.

NARRATOR: Checklists complete, First Officer

Fernandez hailed the tower.

Lima tower, Aeroperu 603, runway 15.

Ready for takeoff.

ATC LIMA: Aeroperu 603, use noise abatement.

When calm, ready for takeoff on runway 15.

One five, one five.

Transponder?

Flaps, one five.

Takeoff briefing complete.

NARRATOR: The captain joked about the precision.

Takeoff 41.

It's that accurate.

We are not even the Swiss.

Rolling.

NARRATOR: The Aeroperu 757 was among a new generation

of computer controlled aircraft in which pilots are

trained to rely on a central data

system designed to reduce errors,

both mechanical and human.

Power's set.

NARRATOR: On takeoff, the 757 performed perfectly.

80 knots.

Check.

ERIC SCHREIBER: V1, rotate.

V2.

Gear up

All right.

NARRATOR: Within moments, the pilots received

a highly unusual reading.

V2 plus 10.

The altimeters are stuck.

NARRATOR: The altimeter indicates the height

of the aircraft off the ground.

It reads zero, though they were obviously flying.

DAVID FERNANDEZ: The altimeters have stuck.

ERIC SCHREIBER: Yeah.

DAVID FERNANDEZ: All of them.

This is really new.

Keep V2 plus 10.

NARRATOR: The 757 is equipped with three

altimeters, one for the pilot, one for the copilot,

and one backup.

All three were dead, then they lost

another crucial instrument, the airspeed indicator.

The speed.

ERIC SCHREIBER: Eh?

DAVID FERNANDEZ: The speed.

What's going on?

We're not climbing.

No, I am climbing, but the speed.

ERIC SCHREIBER: Hold it.

Maintain speed.

NARRATOR: Aeroperu 603 left the lights of Lima

and headed out towards the Pacific Ocean

with no airspeed or altitude instruments,

the pilots were now flying blind.

The air traffic controller in Lima

maintained contact with the plane,

noting its altitude and course.

He did not hear when the pilots got a new minor warning

that they must adjust the rudder, which steers

the aircraft left and right.

ERIC SCHREIBER: 603, we are descending.

DAVID FERNANDEZ: Rudder ratio.

ERIC SCHREIBER: That's strange.

Turn to the right.

NARRATOR: Alan MacLeod is a veteran Air Canada pilot.

They got a rudder ratio warning, which consists

of an amber light that would come flashing on there

with a little beeping horn and a message

on this engine crew alerting system saying, rudder ratio.

That's just a system that reduces the amount of rudder

the airplane has that can be used

as the airplane accelerates and goes faster and faster.

Because it was sensing wrong or improper information,

it sends default so it gave a warning to the crew.

NARRATOR: The erratic warnings were

being generated by the plane's central computer.

But the pilots could not understand why.

[warning alarm]

Then the dead altimeters sprung to life.

Climb. Climb.

Climb.

Climb!

DAVID FERNANDEZ: I am.

ERIC SCHREIBER: Climb.

You're going down, David.

DAVID FERNANDEZ: I am up, but the speed.

Yeah, but it's stuck.

Mach trim, rudder ratio.

Climb.

Climb, climb, climb, climb!

Set heading 100.

Well, now you're-- it's OK on this heading.

Set the climb thrust.

Center autopilot in command.

NARRATOR: Just as suddenly, the altitude

readings returned to normal.

The moment of calm would be brief.

Just one minute after takeoff, Captain Schreiber

attempted to engage the autopilot

to give them time to think.

There is no command.

NARRATOR: The autopilot requires identical data

from two of the aircraft's three flight control computers.

But Schreiber's instrument ratings

were so different from those of Fernandez,

the autopilot disengaged.

Then, another alert.

DAVID FERNANDEZ: Mach trim.

Mach trim.

NARRATOR: Mach trim indicates that the aircraft is not

flying in a level position, yet the 757

seemed to be flying normally.

Let's go to basic instruments.

Everything's going to hell.

ALAN MACLEOD: Mach speed trim is a system

that trims the airplane.

It changes the angle of the horizontal stabilizer

in the back end of the airplane and that

has to be changed as the airplane

accelerates to a higher speed.

It was getting false indications so they got

a warning that they had an overspeed,

which, of course, they didn't.

That warning would consist of, again, the master caution

and a master warning, which is a red light associated

with a an oral warning as well.

NARRATOR: Despite confusing warnings and no autopilot,

the aircraft was controllable.

If necessary, Schreiber could have

kept the plane aloft for hours, but he decided to land.

He instructed his first officer to declare an emergency.

We are in an emergency.

Aeroperu-- 603, Lima.

DAVID FERNANDEZ: We are declaring an emergency.

We have no basic instruments, no altimeter,

no airspeed indicator.

Declaring emergency.

ATC LIMA: Received.

Altitude?

DAVID FERNANDEZ: We don't have.

We're up to 1,000 feet, approximately 1,700.

ATC LIMA: 603, confirm if possible if you can change

your frequency to 119.7 to make sure

you can receive radar instructions.

NARRATOR: Just 40 miles from Lima,

the pilots of Aeroperu 603 now made their first attempt

at an emergency landing.

[warning alarm]

Puzzled by their problems, the captain and first officer

of flight 603 began to suspect that the Aeroperu ground crew

had tampered with the aircraft.

[warning alarm]

DAVID FERNANDEZ: We changed to 119.7.

ERIC SCHREIBER: Autothrottle disconnected by itself.

DAVID FERNANDEZ: Those [bleep] at maintenance move everything.

What [bleep] have they done?

I'll take the controls now.

DAVID FERNANDEZ: OK, you have control.

NARRATOR: The pilots did not know that their suspicions

were close to the truth.

But there was no time to speculate further.

ERIC SCHREIBER: Lima, 603.

ATC LIMA: Aeroperu 603, Lima.

DAVID FERNANDEZ: We request vectors for ILS, runway 15.

NARRATOR: They sought the runway with the help

of a guidance transmitter called the instrument

landing system, or ILS.

The ILS provides information on their course

while altitude information comes from the aircraft's

transponder.

Affirmative.

Maintain present altitude.

DAVID FERNANDEZ: What level do we have?

We have 4,000 feet.

Can you confirm for us?

Correct.

Maintain 4,000.

NARRATOR: Schreiber and Fernandez

have never experienced nor been trained for this emergency.

Autothrottle disconnect.

Really, we don't have any control.

We don't have any control, not even the basics.

Let's see.

Check everything.

RICHARD RODRIGUEZ: The airplane was controllable,

but you first have to diagnose what's wrong.

And it's very easy from 20/20 hindsight,

sitting here in a chair on a nice sunny day, to say,

this is what he should have done.

But in the cold, dark night with bells and whistles going off,

it's very difficult to analyze conflicting information

that you're getting.

This kind of a problem that they faced that night

was probably one of 10 over the last 20 or 30 years

that has been similar to this.

NARRATOR: Over the dark Pacific Ocean,

the pilots could not determine altitude nor speed by sight.

They requested that the tower help guide them in.

Responding.

DAVID FERNANDEZ: Airspeed is zero, all speeds.

Crazy.

Can you give us the airspeed, please,

if you have us on the radar?

ATC LIMA: Yes, affirmative.

As of 10 seconds, it seems that you're

climbing at level 6,000 at 22 miles south on heading 195.

NARRATOR: The air traffic controller's computers

calculated a correct airspeed by measuring the plane's

movement over the ground.

OK, we have that.

We are on heading 190 and we have

7,000 feet on the altimeter.

Yes, correct.

You're now reaching 7,000.

NARRATOR: But neither the pilots nor the air traffic controller

knew that the altitude indicated on the scope was incorrect.

It was coming from the plane's erratic computer.

GUIDO FERNANDEZ: The air traffic controller would try to help

the pilot, but he was receiving the wrong information

on altitude.

He was receiving wrong indications

from the captain's altimeter.

NARRATOR: Investigators would later discover that Aeroperu

603 was drifting downward while the altimeter showed them

at a near constant 10,000 feet.

The passengers were as of yet unaware of the drama

unfolding in the cockpit.

DAVID FERNANDEZ: Avoid large or abrupt radar

inputs if normal left hydraulic system pressure available.

Left hydraulic system available.

Yes, crosswind.

Do not attempt an auto land.

Said left hydraulic system available.

Yes, crosswind.

Do not attempt an auto land.

NARRATOR: In Lima, the air traffic

controller continued to guide Aeroperu 603 back

to the ground.

ATC LIMA: Aeroperu 603, we are observing you now

at level 9,200.

What is your heading now?

We're heading level 205.

ATC LIMA: Affirmative.

You are turning slowly to the right, correct?

No, we are maintaining course to stay away from the coast.

NARRATOR: With incorrect altitude information being

transmitted from the aircraft to the tower,

they did not realize that the plane was descending.

Your distance is 30 miles.

Do you want a heading to proceed to the localizer?

Correct? DAVID FERNANDEZ: Correct.

We're going to suggest course north 360.

360.

We have problems here reading the instruments.

You're going to have to help me with altitudes and air speeds,

if it is possible.

OK, received.

ERIC SCHREIBER: Let's go.

DAVID FERNANDEZ: The approach is set.

NARRATOR: The 757 computers sent critical warnings,

information that the pilots were trained to obey

but could not trust.

Let's try to make a descent on this heading.

DAVID FERNANDEZ: It's climbing.

NARRATOR: The airspeed plummeted to below stall speed

and then raced up again.

ERIC SCHREIBER: Let's go down to 10,000 feet.

Why does the speed go away so fast?

Could it be the real speed?

DAVID FERNANDEZ: That's what worries me.

No, I don't think so.

Can you verify our speed, please.

320 is indicated.

We have 350, but the--

The engines are on idle but we keep

accelerating and accelerating.

ATC LIMA: OK, received.

NARRATOR: Nerves were now stretched tight.

GUIDO FERNANDEZ: Both pilots were really confused.

They didn't know what to do.

They didn't know how to act, and they did inhuman efforts

to save the aircraft.

But I mean, they were really tired

of all the work and all the confusion and all the alarms.

NARRATOR: Fernandez suggested that they

try the speed brakes used to rapidly slow the aircraft.

Extend the speed brakes.

NARRATOR: For a moment, it appeared to be working.

Then another warning.

All three indicators are fine on speed.

Fine on-- overspeed.

NARRATOR: Overspeed means that the plane is flying too fast.

The pilots didn't believe it.

But if it was right, the 757 could be torn apart.

They were forced to make a decision

to speed up or slow down.

If they got it wrong, 70 people would die.

15 minutes had passed since takeoff.

Then the computerized brain of Aeroperu flight 603

sent another burst of contradictory warnings.

Rudder ratio.

Can't be.

Nothing's disconnecting.

All engine instruments are OK.

[bleep]

What can our real speed be?

ATC LIMA: The speed indications are OK.

NARRATOR: Lima tower provided their only chance of survival.

We are observing you crossing the 260 of Lima

at 31 miles west.

Level is 10,700.

Velocity is approximately 280 over the ground.

Perfect.

NARRATOR: The controller's altitude reading was incorrect,

junk information being generated by the 757's computers

and radioed to the tower.

Overspeed.

NARRATOR: The brakes were on, but now

another overspeed warning.

Then the stall warning sounded.

DAVID FERNANDEZ: Let's descend.

Can't be overspeed.

We're still flying.

RICHARD RODRIGUEZ: In aviation, you always

figure, what's gonna kill me?

What is the critical thing?

Let's take care of that first, and then we'll

take care of the other, lesser issues later on.

When you get a stall warning or when

you get an overspeed indication, you need to pay

attention to those immediately.

In this case, they were getting both a stall

warning and an overspeed.

Well, which is right?

NARRATOR: First Officer David Fernandez

finally realized that the odds were against a safe landing.

We request, is there any plane that

can take off and rescue us?

Acknowledged.

Rescue has been alerted.

DAVID FERNANDEZ: Any plane in the area to guide us?

An Aeroperu that may be in the area?

Anybody?

Oh, don't say anything like that.

Yes, because right now we are in a stall.

NARRATOR: A stick shaker vibrated violently,

indicating that the 757 was going to slow

and could fall from the sky.

Aeroperu 603, we have a 707 that is leaving for Pudahuel.

We will advise him.

We are not in a stall.

It's a false alarm.

NARRATOR: Schreiber's airspeed indicator read 350 knots,

well above stall speed.

DAVID FERNANDEZ: No, we have stick shaker.

It has to be.

ERIC SCHREIBER: But even with speed brakes and everything

we're maintaining 9,500 feet.

Why aren't we getting the same reading?

ALAN MACLEOD: When the airplane is slowed up

to a point in the air that it can no longer sustain

itself in flight, it stalls.

The wing stalls or stops flying.

There's a warning system built into the airplane that tells

the pilots when that's happening and it's

known as a stick shaker, along with a voice

warning, which we just heard.

When the stick shaker goes off because the airplane has slowed

down too much, you get a warning like this where the control

column is shaking and vibrating along with the voice warning

saying that the airplane is stalling.

And of course, the pilots would go

into the aircraft stall recovery procedure at that point.

NARRATOR: In the battle between man and machine,

the deranged 757 was winning.

The pilots now had no sense of where they were or how high.

They had gradually been descending and were now

just 1,000 feet over the sea.

Lima tower, misguided by Aeroperu 603's

incorrect transponder, reassured the pilots

that they were at 10,000 feet.

ATC LIMA: Aeroperu 603, you are now flying on course 120.

We observe you to be at level 10,000.

Your speed is approximately 220 and a distance from Lima

of 33 miles to the northwest.

The 707 will be ready in 15 minutes

to fly west to help you.

NARRATOR: The pilots had to abandon

their attempt at landing.

The best hope now is that another aircraft

could get airborne and guide the 757 back to the airport.

Terrain.

Too low. Terrain.

What's happening?

Too low, terrain?

NARRATOR: Now the pilots received the most

terrifying warning of all.

It is called the ground proximity

alarm, meaning a collision with the Earth is imminent.

The tower had told them they were at 10,000 feet.

Course of 300.

DAVID FERNANDEZ: We have the terrain alarm

and we're supposed to be at 10,000 feet?

ATC LIMA: According to the monitor, you have 105.

Too low, terrain.

Too low, terrain.

RICHARD RODRIGUEZ: There is no checklist for if you have

these seven or eight warnings going off-- which they did,

and they couldn't shut them off.

It's a very rattling experience.

I could play that tape for you and you hear those things.

Whoop, whoop.

Pull up. Terrain.

Terrain.

And all of these things going off, and the stick shaker.

[imitates boing]

It's a very unnerving environment.

All the computers are going crazy here.

Too low, terrain.

Too low, Terrain.

NARRATOR: Schreiber turned the aircraft toward the sea,

away from a possible collision with a mountain or skyscraper.

Despite the erroneous warnings, the terrain alarm was correct.

ALAN MACLEOD: There's a system on board the aircraft crowned

the ground proximity warning system,

and it senses a rate of descent in the airplane.

The irony of the situation was they were

getting warnings from that saying too

low, terrain, terrain, too low.

That probably, in all probability,

was a true warning.

But because they'd been subjected to so many warnings

and ongoing false warnings and horns, bells, and whistles

that they didn't really, I don't think,

react to that too seriously.

NARRATOR: The tower confirmed that the 757

had turned away from the airport out toward the open Pacific.

ATC LIMA: Observing 42 miles flying to the west.

Course 250.

We are over water, aren't we?

ATC LIMA: Affirmative.

Over the water.

You are 42 miles to the west.

NARRATOR: Now in darkness and heavy haze,

the pilots had another problem with their speed.

Are we going down now?

We have 370 knots.

Are we descending now?

We're showing the same speed.

You have 200 knots speed approximately.

Speed 200 knots?

ATC LIMA: 220 ground speed, reducing speed slightly.

NARRATOR: The pilots were stunned.

200 knots was precariously close to stall speed.

Damn, we're gonna stall right now.

Let's go up.

Let's see.

Let's go up here.

NARRATOR: The two men struggled with a deadly situation.

A computer that warns them of flying too fast, too

slow, and too low all at once.

[warning alarm]

Too low, terrain.

Terrain.

NARRATOR: Schreiber now decided to risk a second attempt

at landing, seeking the signal known as the ILS

to guide the aircraft to the runway. too

Low, terrain.

I wanna try to intercept the ILS.

I'm trying to descend.

Lima, Aeroperu 603.

We will try to intercept the ILS.

Let us know if we are in.

ATC LIMA: Received, Aeroperu 603.

You show now level 9,700.

NARRATOR: The instruments seemed to be working.

For a moment, there was a glimmer of hope.

This one's right.

This one's OK too.

NARRATOR: The air traffic controller

attempted to raise the pilot spirits with good news.

Standby to verify speed.

The 707 is about to take off.

It is on taxi.

DAVID FERNANDEZ: Confirm our speed.

It is very important.

We do not have any speed indications on board.

ATC LIMA: Understood.

You're starting to turn and we observe

your ground speed at 270.

Stay there, Eric.

270 is OK.

NARRATOR: They now knew their speed,

but altitude remained fatally wrong.

ATC LIMA: Altitude is 9,700.

Your speed is 240 knots ground speed on the monitor.

How can we be flying at this speed

if we're descending with engines on idle?

Give me the altitude, please.

ATC LIMA: Yes, you are maintaining 9700

according to the scope, sir.

9,700?

ATC LIMA: Yes, correct.

What is your indicated altitude?

Do you have any visual reference?

DAVID FERNANDEZ: 9,700?

But it is indicating too low terrain.

Are you sure you have us on the radar at 50 miles?

Hey, look.

We're 370.

We have--

370 of what?

Do we lower gear?

Aeroperu 603, Lima.

What do we do with the gear?

NARRATOR: Suddenly they realize the awful truth.

We're hitting water!

Pull it up!

Climb!

Climb, Aeroperu 603.

If you need to, pull up.

NARRATOR: For 20 seconds the pilots struggled for altitude.

[warning alarm]

I've got her.

I've got it.

We're gonna turn over!

[warning alarm]

ATC LIMA: Aeroperu 603, Lima.

Aeroperu 603, Lima.

[suspenseful music]

NARRATOR: The next morning, Mexican businessman

Monus Albert learned that an Aeroperu flight had crashed.

REPORTER: Five minutes after takeoff, the crew informed

the tower that they were having an emergency

and they requested clearance to return to Lima.

During the process, contact with the aircraft was lost at 01:10,

with the latest position of the aircraft being 50 miles

north of the city of Lima.

About 6 o'clock in the morning I got up and turned on the news

channel, and I heard there was a crash,

an airplane crash of Aeroperu, but the news

mentioned New York to Lima.

REPORTER: Rescue operations are underway by authorities.

The aircraft was carrying 261 passengers

and nine crew members.

NARRATOR: His brother-in-law and his business partner

were on Aeroperu 603.

MONUS ALBERT: So I went to the shower

and didn't pay a lot of attention.

But when I came out they corrected the news

and they said from Lima to Santiago,

and I knew in that lane Kenny and Abraham were flying.

The news was very vague.

So they mentioned there might be some survivors

and they mentioned that the plane crashed on the Pacific

Ocean, and they didn't have a lot of news

and the crash was at night.

So in my mind I thought that the plane sort of landed on water

and most people got out.

NARRATOR: Guido Fernandez had just been appointed

Peru's accident investigator.

Aeroperu was his first case.

The co-pilot David Fernandez was his nephew.

GUIDO FERNANDEZ: I was in bed.

It was about 4:30 in the morning, and they called me.

Your nephew is lost in an airplane.

They asked me, I mean, how do you feel that your nephew was

the co-pilot?

My gosh, I feel very bad.

But I'm a professional and I have to do a job.

I have to comply and complete my duty, so that's what I did.

NARRATOR: Fernandez rushed to the crash

site in a Navy helicopter.

It was clear there were no survivors.

Nine bodies were floating in the debris.

The rest sank to the bottom with the 757.

Fernandez met with the air traffic controller

at Lima tower.

His account was baffling.

GUIDO FERNANDEZ: Well, the controller really didn't know.

He was just trying to help, so he did all he could to help.

But unfortunately for him, it was a new emergency too.

[radio chatter]

NARRATOR: Fernandez put thoughts of his nephew out of his mind.

His job was to retrieve the aircraft's

flight data and voice recorders to determine what happened.

He needed help.

[radio chatter]

Fernandez contacted the National Transportation Safety Board

in Washington DC, the world's leading agency for air

accident investigations.

RICHARD RODRIGUEZ: They had found the aircraft.

It was pretty well documented by radar.

The Navy, the Peruvian Navy, had gotten a fix on the flotsam

and the wreckage in the ocean.

And the only thing left to do was find it

on the bottom of the ocean, which they did

not have the facilities for.

NARRATOR: Rodriguez flew to Lima to join Guido Fernandez's

effort to find answers.

RICHARD RODRIGUEZ: I found out that his nephew

was the first officer.

I suggested that perhaps they should consider removing

Captain Fernandez from the investigation because

of emotional involvement and what have you.

NARRATOR: The American investigators'

concerns soon vanished.

RICHARD RODRIGUEZ: He was very objective, I would say.

An excellent investigator considering that it

was not a distant nephew.

I mean, it was his very close relative.

He did an outstanding job.

NARRATOR: The black box in the Boeing 757

can emit a locator beacon for 30 days before batteries run dead.

The US Navy provided underwater remote operated

vehicles to survey the debris field, seeking the black boxes.

The wreckage confirmed that the plane went down in one piece.

The data recorders were retrieved from the 757

and brought to the surface.

The boxes were placed in coolers full of fresh water

to keep them from oxidizing.

They were taken back to Washington for analysis

by the NTSB.

The cockpit recorder could offer the evidence

investigators sought.

Every word spoken by pilots Schreiber and Fernandez

and every unnerving alarm was recorded on audiotape.

[warning alarm]

The recorded voices were faint and sometimes hard to make out,

but the chaos in the cockpit rang

through with chilling clarity.

[warning alarm]

[spanish]

The tape was digitized into a computer,

filtered, and enhanced.

[warning alarm]

RICHARD RODRIGUEZ: It was clear to us

that they were really experiencing a problem

with airspeed and altitude, and the airspeed and altitude

indications in the aircraft are strictly a function of what we

call the pitot-static system.

NARRATOR: The pitot-static system

is found on all aircraft, large or small.

External ports measure outside air

pressure to provide data on altitude and speed.

If these ports are blocked, the plane's computers

receive false data and generate false warnings.

But why these ports would be blocked was a mystery.

Robotic vehicles searched for the missing

piece of the puzzle.

What they found stunned investigators.

Captain Schreiber's static port was

completely blocked with tape.

Investigators now learned what happened.

Just before Aeroperu 603 lifted off from Lima,

maintenance workers cleaned the aircraft.

A worker covered the static ports

with take to protect them.

This is standard procedure, but he forgot to remove the tape.

It was a small oversight with catastrophic results.

The inspector who is supposed to quality

check his work did not do it and the supervisor out on the line

that night was not there.

He was sick, and there was a regular mechanic

who was filling that role.

He did not see it.

And the captain or the pilot-- in this case, the captain

did the pre-flight.

They do a walk around looking for just that kind of thing.

The captain did the pre-flight that night

and he did not detect it either.

GUIDO FERNANDEZ: A little piece of paper

with glue caused an accident.

But the paper and the glue are not to blame.

Humans are to blame because humans

use that tape in the wrong place for the wrong purpose.

NARRATOR: Another accident shockingly

similar to Aeroperu 603 had happened just eight

months earlier to another 757.

In February 1996, 189 people died when a Turkish charter

called Bergen Air crashed five miles after takeoff from Puerto

Plata, Dominican Republic.

The NTSB assisted in the investigation.

A survey of the wreckage revealed that one pitot tube,

the other critical part of the pitot-static system,

was blocked.

As with Aeroperu 603, night was the pilot's worst enemy.

The Bergen Air pilot flipped the plane upside down

before crashing into the sea.

[warning alarm]

Three months after the Bergen Air crash,

bulletins were issued to all airline carriers

about pitot-static problems.

But Aeroperu had not yet implemented the changes.

RICHARD RODRIGUEZ: The bulletins and the-- let's call

it the fruits of the Dominican Republic investigation

of Bergen Air, had not yet reached Aeroperu at the time

this accident occurred.

The Peruvian government very correctly

made a point of that in their report on the accident,

saying that they should have given more impetus

to those recommendations to get them

out to the industry quicker.

DAVID FERNANDEZ: 9,700?

But it is indicating to low terrain.

NARRATOR: Even if Schreiber and Fernandez had known

about Bergen Air, it may not have

helped them to survive given the high pressure

of their situation.

Do we lower gear?

It's easy to sit here in the 757 cockpit

and play the Monday morning quarterback having heard

the bells and the overspeed warnings, the ground proximity

warning, the stall warning.

It was very easy to do that and sit

here and say what I would have done

being an experienced pilot.

But to put yourself into the position of those two pilots

that night, they were in an extremely difficult

situation to fly that airplane and recover

from that experience.

NARRATOR: In November 1996, a Miami lawyer took on the case

on behalf of 41 of the passengers

and crew of flight 603, arguing that the manufacturer, Boeing,

was liable for the accident.

MIKE EDISON: Boeing has to foresee

the misuse of their product.

In other words, the manufacturer of a product

is legally liable for the foreseeable misuse of their

product if it can be corrected.

In other words, Boeing builds the airplane

with potential hazard in it.

That hazard is that in order to clean the airplane

you have to cover the static port,

and if you don't take it off, the airplane can crash.

MONUS ALBERT: I wanted them back.

And since I couldn't get them back,

at least I wanted the wives of the victims to get compensated.

How much is that worth?

I don't know.

I didn't know.

Abraham had three daughters, and now they don't have a father.

So what is the compensation?

The best compensation is, if can be done, is get him back.

Give them life back again.

But because that is not possible,

then the other possibility is to get a monetary compensation.

And then you fight for the best compensation you can get.

NARRATOR: Boeing argued that Aeroperu

was at fault, not its 757.

An Aeroperu worker had taped the static port, which

is marked with clear warnings.

Boeing also blamed Captain Eric Schreiber.

It was his job to visually inspect

the aircraft before taking off.

But investigator Richard Rodriguez

can understand how Schreiber overlooked

the tape on the static port.

RICHARD RODRIGUEZ: One of the reasons is it's very high.

It's about maybe 15, 17 feet up in the air.

And at night with a flashlight--

and this happened to be duct tape, which

you're not supposed to use.

They specify the tape, and it was duct tape, which is silver.

So it would not distinguish itself

against the background of the fuselage of the aircraft.

So basically three or four people

failed to detect the tape on the aircraft prior to departure.

NARRATOR: As the search for blame

continued the worker who taped the ports

was jailed for his negligence.

GUIDO FERNANDEZ: Lawyers, they--

lawyers, you know, sometimes they confuse the matters

and they send a guy and ask people questions.

And these questions are the one that stuck the tape was

the painter, was the lowest cultured and the one that knew

less about what could happen, and the judge resolved that he

was the one responsible.

And he was in jail.

MIKE EDISON: So if you only lose the airplane

because a maintenance man making $2 an hour down in Peru

makes a mistake, it's foreseeable

that that kind of a person is gonna make a mistake.

That's human nature they're gonna make a mistake,

and you build your system so you don't lose your $50 million

airplane because a maintenance guy makes a simple mistake.

NARRATOR: Schreiber and Fernandez

were also scrutinized.

TIM VON BEVEREN: It always becomes

a problem when pilots are reduced to be push buttonists.

The man-machine interface has to work

and has to work as humans are to operate these airplanes.

They have to be designed appropriately

for the use of a human being.

Of course, you can put in all digits and numbers and computer

gimmicks and you can--

but still, it's man who has to operate and survey it.

And I believe a human being should be in charge.

NARRATOR: In 1999, Boeing and Aeroperu decided to settle

the lawsuits out of court.

Families and loved ones received an exceptional settlement

averaging a million dollars US per victim.

The damages were high because of the terrible way

the passengers and crew on Aeroperu 603 died.

MIKE EDISON: We were able to show that a lot of the people

were alive.

In a crash like this, a lot of the people

would survive the crash and then die of drowning.

There was no question in our minds

that the people suffered terrible, terrible terror

and pain when this happened to them.

They were horrified.

They were awake.

They knew what happened.

NARRATOR: The disaster helped sink Aeroperu.

Combined with increased competition and rising debt,

the national airline went bankrupt in 1999.

Boeing increased training on pitot-static problems

and issued new regulations about unapproved static port covers.

The case was settled.

The industry repented and moved on.

Such is the world of commercial aviation.

But it was little consolation for those

whose lives were scarred forever by an insignificant piece

of tape.

MONUS ALBERT: It's suddenly sad that a guy

doesn't exist anymore.

It's very hard to swallow that.

It's very hard to understand, and it

took me a long time to accept.

So the memory is still there and it

will be there for a long time.

I'm not gonna let go.

I don't wanna let go.