All language subtitles for Mayday.S06E03.Whos.Flying.The.Plane.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DD+2.0.H.264-playWEB_track3_[eng]

Every time
you board a plane,

you put your trust
in the pilots.

And every time
pilots enter the cockpit,

they put their trust
in computers.

It's a complicated relationship
between man and machine.

And when it doesn't
work perfectly,

disaster can strike
in an instant.

We're going to turn over!

We didn't know
if we were gonna live or die.

Autopilot!

Life and death decisions have
to be made in a moment.

Confusion can kill passengers
and crew.

Flying in today's world is
a very complex task.

The pilot's always
the last line of defense.

When the worst happens,

the question is

who's flying the plane?

Mayday, mayday.

It's just after 8:30
in the morning,

in Sanford, Florida.

These student pilots walk out
to ground school.

Their topic today,
a Cirrus SR20.

This is one of the newer models.
We can tell

just from looking at it

because of the lights
on the wing-tips.

They're called
recognition lights, or recogs.

Every year
dozens of students enroll

at the Delta Connection Academy,

hoping to eventually become
pilots with major airlines.

Their lives, and one day
the lives of the passengers
they fly

depend on their deep
understanding of their airplane.

From this side right here,

you can see
the propeller governor.

The majority
of our students

come to us with zero
or very little flight time.

We want to run someone
through our entire program

and end up placing them

with one
of the regional carriers.

The wing-tips here are called
corner wing-tips.

They help to reduce
the induced drag.

These flight students
are getting started
on smaller aircraft.

In the years to come,
they will move

into large commercial jets

boasting the latest
in technology.

When you go back
to the Wright Brothers,

they had no automation

and everything was
by muscle power,

other than a small
internal combustion engine.

Everything that they did,
when they moved the wings,

the elevators and the rudders,
they did manually.

But in the last hundred years,

technology has
revolutionized flying.

Pilots share the cockpit

with automated computer systems

that control virtually
every aspect of flight.

It can do everything now

up to and including
land the airplane.

Everything is set

so that the autopilots
and automation systems

are tools for the pilot to use,
but they're not a replacement.

It's a critical lesson

for student pilots to learn.

Safe flight is a balance

between automation and training.

If a pilot makes a mistake,

or if
an instrument malfunctions,

these flying computers can
turn into lethal machines

that can't be controlled.

Lima, Peru.

October 2, 1996.

Aeroperu Flight 603
prepares for take off

for Santiago, Chile.

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

a highly sophisticated jet

known for its reliability
and safety.

The 757 is flown

by two of the national airline's
best pilots.

Captain Eric Schreiber,

and First Officer
David Fernandez.

There are 61 passengers
and nine crew members on board.

The jet is among
a new generation

of computer-controlled aircraft

in which pilots are trained

to rely on a central data system

that is designed
to reduce errors,

both mechanical and human.

Gear up.

Tonight, though,
within minutes of take-off,

the flight begins
to go horribly wrong.

The altimeters are stuck.

The altimeter
indicates

how high the aircraft is
flying over the ground.

It reads zero, but the plane is
clearly airborne.

This is really new.
Keep V2 plus ten.

The 757 is equipped
with three altimeters.

One for the pilot,

one for the co-pilot
and one for backup.

All three seem to be dead.

As the two men try to solve
the first problem,

they lose another
crucial instrument.

The air speed indicator.

The speed.

Eh?

The speed.

What's going on?
We're not climbing.

No, I am climbing,
but the speed.

Hold it. Maintain speed.

Bewildered by
the host of confusing warnings,

Captain Schreiber decides
to land.

Lima tower, Aeroperu 603.

We are in an emergency.

Aeroperu 603, Lima.

We are declaring an emergency.

We have no basic instruments,
no altimeter,

no air speed indicator.
Declaring emergency.

To add
to their problems,

Schreiber and Fernandez
are flying at night over water,

with no visual reference points.

Not being able
to trust their instruments,

the pilots are flying blind.

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, uh,

it's very difficult to analyze

conflicting information
that you're getting.

Unable to trust
their instruments,

the pilots have to depend
on information

from the ground.

Can you give us
the air speed please,

if you have us on the radar?

Yes.
Affirmative. As of ten seconds,

it seems that you're climbing
at level 6000

at two-two miles south,

on heading 1-9-5.

Okay, we have that.

We are on heading 1-9-0

and we have 7000 feet
on the altimeter.

Yes, correct. You are
now reaching 7000.

Even as they try
to return to the airport,

the havoc
in the cockpit gets worse.

Systems warn
that they are over speed.

Over speed.

They're flying too fast.

Extend the speed brakes.

Now the stall warning sounds.

- And then...
Too low terrain.

- What's happening?
- "Too low terrain"?

We have the terrain alarm.
We have the terrain alarm.

The Ground Proximity
alarm warns them

that they're flying
dangerously low.

...an indicator
of flight level
of 10,000 over the sea.

Too low terrain.

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.

Altitude is 9700.

- Ninety-seven hundred?
- Yes, correct.

Do you have
any visual reference?

Ninety-seven hundred?

But it is indicating
too low terrain.

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

The crew is bombarded
with conflicting warnings.

They have no idea
which of them to believe.

Suddenly they realize
the horrible truth.

We're hitting water! Pull it up!

They're flying
just meters above the water.

We're going to turn over!

Aeroperu 603, Lima.

There are
no survivors from Flight 603,

all because something caused

the on-board computers
to go haywire.

Searching through
the Pacific waters,

investigators manage to find
the data recorders.

It was clear to us

that they were
really experiencing a problem

with air speed and altitude.

On the 757,

devices called
Pitot-Static tubes measure

the air speed and altitude.

They are small external sensors
which relay that information

to the plane's
computerized systems.

Deep underwater,

tape is discovered covering
the plane's sensors.

How the tape got there
leads investigators

back to the maintenance crew
at Lima airport.

Just before Aeroperu 603
lifted off from Lima,

maintenance workers had
cleaned the jet.

A worker had covered
the static ports with tape

to protect them.

This is standard procedure.

But when the maintenance
was complete,

the worker forgot
to remove the tape.

It was a small oversight
with tragic results.

The inspector
who was 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.

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.

Yes, correct. You're now
reaching 7000.

The blocked tubes
also explain

why the air-traffic controllers
told the crew

they were flying at 7000 feet.

The information
on the plane's height isn't

calculated by radar
on the ground,

but by
the plane's on-board systems.

From 7000 feet,

the plane began
to slowly descend,

but the on-board systems
couldn't detect it.

And the air-traffic controller
had no way to know

the altitude indicated
on his system was wrong.

Blindsided by
bewildering readings
from their instruments,

the crew was completely lost.

They had no idea
where they were,

how high they were flying
or how fast they were going.

We're hitting water! Pull it up!

Climb! Climb, Aeroperu 603.
If you need to, pull up!

Aeroperu was
a deadly lesson

about how dependent pilots
have become

on their
automated flight systems,

and how helpless they can be
when the systems are crippled.

Student pilots need
to understand

the complex technology

at the heart of their airplanes.

When something goes wrong,

they need to know
who's in control,

because even
an experienced pilot can

rely too heavily on his systems.

And when he does,

disaster can be
just seconds away.

All right, gentlemen.
What we're going to do today is

practice rejected take-offs
in preparation for the V1 cuts.

It'll be engine fire,
engine failure

or loss of directional control.

At the Delta
Connection flight school

in Sanford, Florida,

students are facing the worst

in the safety of a simulator.

No pilot can graduate
unless they can deal

with problems they may never
have to face in the real world.

The course that I teach,
we typically,

they work as a crew. They'll go
26 hours in the simulator,

thirteen hours in each seat.

Simulation can
now introduce problems

that are hard
to introduce in the air.

Doing it with simulation
allows it to be repeated.

And then if you are ever faced
with the emergency,

it becomes
almost a matter of routine.

All right, Connection 500,
you're cleared for take-off.

Clear for take-off.
Runway four. Connection 500.

Right after takeoff,

the students are
faced with an emergency.

We've got a "Left engine
oil pressure."

When you get
one of those warnings,

don't just punch it out.
Go ahead and acknowledge it

so both pilots are in the loop,
you're both on the same page.

All right. We got
a "Left engine oil pressure".

I'll take
flight controls, you run the,
uh, reference.

I have
flight controls.

They run through
the drill again and again,

because surviving
in the air depends

on getting it right
in the simulator.

In an actual cockpit,
even a small inconvenience can

escalate into
a desperate struggle

to save the airplane.

February 19th, 1985.

China Airlines Flight 006 is
tumbling through the sky.

No response, Captain!

Air speed 80 knots and falling!

One of the engines has failed.

No response!

Their instruments
seem to be making no sense.

People just popped up
like popcorn, hitting the cabin.

We didn't know if we were
gonna live or die.

The 747 falls

more than ten kilometers
in two minutes.

The pilots can
barely keep it airborne.

You know this airplane is
totally out of control.
It is going to crash.

The jet nose-dives
towards the Pacific Ocean.

Then, just moments away
from impact,

the crew regains
control of the plane.

Oakland Center.

Dynasty 006. We are
declaring an emergency.

Dynasty 006, Oakland Center.
You are now cleared.

You are free to descend
at pilot's discretion.

After surviving
a tremendous fall,

Captain Min-Yuan Ho makes
a smooth textbook landing.

I thought he was
a hero. He saved our lives.

We thought he was a hero
and everything was fine.

Two dozen passengers
have suffered minor injuries.

One crewmember is hospitalized
and soon released.

But the 747 looks like it's
been through a war zone.

Parts of the entire tailplane

at the end were ripped off

as though a tornado had
come through,

or a crane had been in
and ripped pieces out of it.

Investigators soon realize the damage

to the plane wasn't
the cause of the problems,

but had actually occurred
during the plane's wild plunge.

They pore
through maintenance records

and flight logs
to try to determine the cause

of the near fatal incident.

Inside the plane,

investigators find a worn valve.

It led directly to the failure
of the jet's fourth engine.

But this shouldn't have caused

the plane to fall
through the sky.

Engine four, flamed out.

The loss of thrust
on a four-engine airplane is

a minor event.

It's an event, you have
to take care of it,

but the airplane will fly
on three engines

with no difficulty.

I do not think I was fatigued.

The Captain tells
investigators that,

while the crew was dealing
with the faulty engine,

he left the autopilot
in control of the plane.

But on this 747,

the autopilot does not control
the rudder.

Autopilots are set
to maintain stable flight.

If something goes wrong,
the system tries to respond.

With more engine power
on the left wing,

the China Airlines jet began
turning right.

The autopilot reacted by using
the plane's ailerons

to try to keep
the 747 flying straight.

But the ailerons weren't
up to the job.

The jet kept turning.

In order to keep it
from turning to the right,

the proper thing to do would
have been to step on the rudder.

Now it's possible
that he'd forgotten

that the autopilot didn't
use the rudder.

He may have been
assuming all along

that the autopilot was
just flying the airplane

the way a human being would have

which it wasn't.

Focused on his malfunctioning engine,

Captain Ho left
the autopilot in control.

But without the help
of the rudder,

the ailerons were
losing their battle

to keep the plane level.

The gentle turn got steeper.

The airplane started
to lose speed and, in the end,

it was really that little error
of airmanship,

the failure to step
on that left rudder pedal,

that triggered everything else.

We're banking right, Captain.
Air speed 230.

Facing mounting problems,

the captain finally takes
complete control

of his aircraft.

We're banking right, Captain.

I'm disengaging autopilot.

When the autopilot snaps off,

his situation only gets worse.

Without the ailerons
to control the jet's bank,

the plane flips over.

It plunges into thick clouds

and Captain Ho is
unable to get his bearings.

The crew has
no visual reference point.

They have no idea
which way is up.

They are totally dependent
on their attitude indicators,

but they don't think
they're working properly.

I've lost ADI!

The ADIs have malfunctioned!

It's going out of limits!

But the instruments
had not malfunctioned.

They told the crew
an unbelievable truth.

They were falling
towards the Pacific Ocean.

They simply didn't
believe what they were seeing,

and they thought they had lost
their attitude instruments.

They hadn't lost
their attitude instruments.

The airplane was, in fact,

embarking on
an aerobatic manoeuvre.

You could see the stewardesses,

all the people who didn't
have their seatbelts on,

they were flying.

It's only when
the plane finally breaks free
of the clouds

that Captain Ho is
able to regain control
of his plane...

I can see the horizon!

...because he now has
a visual reference.

By the time
Captain Ho takes full control,

it was almost too late.

The near fatal dive highlights

the need for pilots to avoid

relying too much
on their computers.

So, what automation has done,
in a sense, is

taken pilots and taken them

from being hands-on, kind of,
controllers of the machine

to monitors
of what the automation is

doing to the machine.

You really are just sitting
there with your arms folded,

and this goes on for hour
after hour after hour,

and, understandably,
people become stupefied.

But whatever mistakes
the flight crew made,

they did succeed
in their ultimate task.

The one big thing they did right
is they saved the airplane.

And, in principle, that's all
you ever need to do right.

You need to save the airplane

and you need to save
the passengers.

And that's what they did.

Student pilots practice

emergencies again
and again to ensure

that, when disaster strikes,
they handle it correctly.

Automation is an enormous aid
to long-distance flying.

But if a crew doesn't
fully understand

how their plane works,

they can quickly get
into a situation

from which they cannot escape.

Autopilot engaged.

Autopilot engaged.

Ten years
after the China Airlines mishap,

another crew is baffled
by a more complicated autopilot,

and fails to take control
until it's too late.

March 1994, Siberia.

Search parties comb
through the wreckage

of Russian International
Airlines Flight 593.

All 75 people on board are dead.

The plane was one
of the newest in the fleet,

a European-built Airbus A310.

Listening to the cockpit voices,

investigators are shocked
by what they hear.

- I am
turning it left!
- Okay, get out!

Get it to the left!
The ground is right there!

Children's voices
in the cockpit.

They are stunned
when they realize

these children had
operated the flight controls.

The children were
the son and daughter

of the pilot in command,
Captain Yaroslav Kudrinsky.

Investigators begin
to piece together

an almost unbelievable story.

On the evening
of March 22nd, 1994,

Flight 593 begins

its scheduled ten-hour journey
to Hong Kong.

Several hours
into the jet's flight,

the aircraft is
cruising on autopilot.

On board are two children

taking their first
international flight,

Yana and Eldar Kudrinsky.

A family friend
and fellow pilot brings

the children in
to see their father.

- Hi, Dad.
- This is First Officer
Igor Vasilyevich Piskaryov.

It's the beginning
of a deadly chain of events.

What do you think
of our new airplane?

It's very nice.

It's amazing.

Flight 593 is now
over 2000 miles east of Moscow,

near the middle of Siberia.

Secure in the knowledge
that the autopilot is

flying the plane,

Captain Kudrinsky allows
his children to sit

in the pilot's seat
and hold the controls.

Unlike the China Airlines 747,

the more sophisticated autopilot
on this jet can control

every part of the plane,
including the rudder.

Eldar's small pressure
on the controls
actually turns off

part of the autopilot.

Eldar is now
manually controlling

the jet's ailerons.

Imperceptibly at first,
the plane begins to bank.

No one in the cockpit responds

to the gradual change
in direction.

And the very design
of the plane hides the fact

that the jet is
on the brink of disaster.

Yes, it is.

Another peculiarity of the plane

is that it has no alarm
signaling the disengaging

of the autopilot
in the list channel,

while our Russian planes have

an alarm sounding
in such an event.

The Autopilot is
still controlling

the plane's other functions.

Only the ailerons are
in Eldar's hands.

But it's enough
to affect the plane's flight.

Moments later, the Airbus is
banking at 45 degrees.

The force of the turn pushes
everyone into their seats.

Guys!

The increased G-force
makes it difficult

to reach the controls.

Okay, hold it.
Hold the control column.

Eldar is the only one
with both hands on the controls.

The speed of the turn is
pushing him back in his seat.

- The other way!
- Turn it to the left.

I am turning it left!

Okay, get out!

But Eldar can't leave.

His body feels
twice its normal weight.

Suddenly, an alarm sounds.

The autopilot is shutting down.

When the jet reaches
such an extreme position,

the autopilot is designed
to completely disengage.

It's a safety feature,

to put the pilot
back in complete control.

But in this case, a teenager is
in the captain's seat.

The plane begins
to dive towards the ground.

Get it to the left!
There's the ground!

The plane dives
at an incredible speed,

plunging over 200 meters
per second.

For the passengers,
it's like having

an elevator suddenly fall out
from under them.

Get out.
Get out.

Captain Kudrinsky
fights his way

back to the pilot's seat.

But it's too late
to save Flight 593.

As in
the China Airlines incident

almost a decade before,

the Russian crew was
confused by their automation.

But in this case,
they couldn't regain control

until it was too late.

The accident began,
not with a mechanical problem,

but with a simple decision made
by a very experienced pilot.

I've never heard
of anything like that

before or since.

It was very unprofessional
on the part of the captain.

The First Officer also bears
some responsibility

for not raising
major objections immediately.

To allow someone unqualified
to sit in the seat

of a commercial airliner
is unthinkable.

The crew's mistake was
compounded because they didn't

fully understand
their computerized systems.

We've gone into a zone.
A holding pattern.

Ten years later,

another experienced pilot gets
confused by his instruments.

And this time,
the situation is complicated

by a common sensation
pilots are trained to ignore.

Paul Mauro is
an instructor

at the Delta Connection Academy
in Florida.

His job is to put students

in extremely uncomfortable
situations

and then get them
to land safely.

Upset recovery is where we take
a student, or any pilot,

and we try to get them
the ability to recover

their aircraft from
an unusual attitude or an upset,

such as wake turbulence,
wind shear, unintentional stall.

We're going to do
a low-level pass

and bring her right down
to the edge of the runway

and then,
just about halfway down,

we're going to break up
and demonstrate

how quickly we can
get the aircraft

into a nose-high situation.

At that point
we're experiencing,

in that first portion
of the pull up,

we're experiencing
the max G load in that turn.

We're hitting just about six,
six and a half Gs for that pull.

At six Gs you're experiencing
six times your body weight.

I weigh 200 pounds.
So six times that,

at that point I feel like
I weigh 1200 pounds to my body.

It feels like I'm being
squeezed completely,

all over my entire body.
It feels like my face is

kind of peeling down over you.

And it's just a... once you get
used to it, it's kind of fun.

In a tightly-controlled situation,

with an instructor
in the next seat,

a student pilot learns to cope
with intense physical sensations

that can disorient and confuse.

Pilots have to overcome
these sensations

and even ignore them.

Trusting what your body is
telling you can

have deadly results.

January 3rd , 2004.

A Flash Airlines charter flight
is preparing to depart

from the popular tourist resort
of Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt.

One hundred and forty-eight
people are on board.

Good morning,
ladies and gentlemen.

On behalf of Captain Khedr
and his entire crew,

we welcome you
on board Flash Airlines

Boeing 737-300.

The captain is
53-year-old Khedr Abdullah,

a former officer
in the Egyptian Air Force.

He has over 7000 hours
flying experience.

Clouds and sky clear.

In the darkness
before dawn,

Captain Khedr
and his crew execute

a smooth take-off.

Flying manually,
they haven't yet engaged

the plane's autopilot.

But while still climbing,

the flight plan is already
beginning to fall apart.

Turning right, sir.

- What?
- Aircraft is turning right.

Turning right?
How turning right?

Overbank!

Autopilot!

Autopilot's in command.

Autopilot! Autopilot!

No autopilot, commander.

No, God!

In the morning light,

investigators find no one has
survived the horrific accident.

The plane had just taken off

and it looked very strange

why this accident happened
so quickly after take-off.

French and American investigators join

Egyptian authorities
in the search.

It takes two weeks
just to find and recover

the cockpit voice
and flight data recorders.

Investigators explore
dozens of possibilities,

including the idea
the crash was caused by vertigo.

Vertigo is
a physiological condition

and it's based on the inner ear.

Over a dark ocean,

without a defined
visual horizon,

no ground lights,

the pilot may not be able
to perceive visually

whether he was flying up,
down, left or right.

And if the fluid
in his inner ear was moving,

or he tilted his head,

that may induce a sensation,

a physiological sensation,

that may cause
the pilot to believe

the airplane is
flying straight and level

when it's actually turning.

Roger when ready. Inshallah.

Left turn to establish 306.

Sharm VOR.

As the plane banked
over the Red Sea,

it slowly began
going off course.

But the pilot says nothing.

It seems that he's unaware

of the changes
to his flight path.

It is actually
a very high work-load situation.

And when there are
no visual cues outside

because it's a moonless night,

and you're
over featureless territory

with no lights in it,

you, really,
as a professional pilot, should

be totally aware of the fact
that this is a situation

in which you could
get disorientated.

Precisely what
the captain perceived
is unknown.

What is known is that
his control wheel slowly inched

towards the right.

Turning right, sir.

- What?
- Aircraft is turning right.

How turning right?

In this particular instance,

not only are you trying
to fly the airplane

and understand situationally
what's happening,

but you're going through
the mental gymnastics

because your expectations
are one way.

Meanwhile, you have
the first officer,

who's telling him something
that's totally different.

Even with
all the conflicting information

he was getting,
investigators discover

that Captain Khedr almost
recovered control of his plane.

It is interesting
that the recovery starts

as the airplane turns
towards the coastline.

The lights on the shore would
have given the pilot

a clear and unmistakable view
of the aircraft's attitude.

This is the moment that
the disorientation disappears

and this is the moment
that the recovery begins.

Sadly there isn't enough time
to save the aircraft.

The tragic fact remains

that Captain Khedr had
all the information he needed

to save the plane
right in front of him.

The thing that is important
when you're experiencing

spatial disorientation
or vertigo is

to put absolute implicit trust
in your instruments,

that they are
telling you the truth.

And that whatever
your sensation is, is

a limitation of human beings.
Trust the instruments.

It's a lesson
that's hammered home every day

at the Delta Connection Academy.

Brian Patrycia is one of dozens
of students here who wants

to fly
commercial passenger jets.

It's a goal
that's still years away.

It should take me
between five to six years

at a regional airline before
I move onto the major airlines.

It's
a typical journey.

Senior crewmembers
for international carriers

often have thousands of hours
of flying under their belt.

But each one of them started
with none.

There's a very old saying
that says,

"As soon as you feel
like you are no longer learning

with aviation, get out of it,"

because it's gonna hurt you.

Training is ongoing.

Recurrent training is
an integral part of safe flying.

The reason we have
the safe level of flight
that we do today is,

in a very large part,
because of the adequacy

and completeness
of the training.

Relying on your instruments,

trusting your automation is one

of the most fundamental lessons
of flight training.

Insert the ignition key,

clear the propeller area,
and then start the engine.

Every safe flight,
from small planes to jumbo jets,

depends on pilot
and plane working together.

But even if
a jet's technology is crippled,

modern planes are so well built,

pilots can
still bring them safely down.

August 24th, 2001.

Air Transat Flight 236 is

carrying 306 passengers
and crew.

Bound for Portugal,
the Airbus is in serious trouble

high above the Atlantic Ocean.

You could
literally hear a pin drop.

The exterior... there was
no sound in that plane,
in that cabin at all.

The airplane is
so silent

because it's run out of fuel.

A state-of-the-art jet is
now a very heavy glider.

Functions we've lost,
we have no more stabilizer.

- Blue
and yellow hydraulic.
- No ADR two and three,

no anti-skid, no reversers.

The technology that
normally keeps planes flying has

deserted the crew.

The jet is 10 kilometers
in the sky

without the most essential instruments.

Captain Robert Piche
and Co-Pilot Dirk De Jager have

to find a way
to get it safely back to Earth.

For the first four hours
of their journey from Canada

to Portugal,
the flight is unremarkable.

We're getting
to our next checkpoint.

Every 30 minutes
across the Atlantic,

the crew had
checked their position

and their fuel consumption
against their flight plan.

...two tons on the right,
11.2 tons on the left.

Despite the computerized systems,

some procedures like checking
the fuel on board are

done by hand.

Fuel check complete. Level's
normal for the distance flown.

All right.

But then,
a small alarm breaks

the air of routine
in the cockpit.

Look, we're getting
a warning signal.

Oil temp low
and oil pressure high
on number two.

The computer display shows

that the oil temperature is low
in engine number two.

But it also shows
that the oil pressure is high.

Look in the QRH
for more information.

A low oil temperature indication
is normally indicative

of bad readings, a bad sensor.

Oil temperatures don't decrease,
normally, they increase.

A low oil temperature would be
of no concern.

The high oil pressure is
a very strange indication.

Uh, it's... it's very rare.

In fact I've never
actually heard of one.

The oil readings are
so unusual,

the pilots believe they might
indicate a computer error.

But Captain and First Officer
keep monitoring the oil levels.

Thirty minutes
after the first alarm goes off,

another warning sounds
inside the Airbus.

"Fuel imbalance warning."

I haven't seen that before.

Follow all ECAM action.
I have Air Traffic Control.

In the Airbus 330,

most of the fuel is contained
in large tanks on the wings.

The computer had detected

that the fuel level on the right
is significantly lower

than the level on the left.

The flight manual recommends

transferring fuel through
a special cross feed valve.

Fuel will then flow
from one tank to the other.

Once you begin
the cross-feeding procedure

to correct the fuel imbalance,

restorative action should
commence quite quickly.

In other words,
the situation would

not continue to get worse.

Even though the crew
is following proper procedures,

the situation does get worse.

The fuel quantity isn't rising
in the tanks of the right wing.

- Check fuel quantity.
- It's very low, hold on.

It's much less fuel
than we should have.
It looks like a fuel leak.

Check again.

The systems monitor hundreds
and hundreds of sensors.

And, you know,
they can be affected by...

you know, such mundane things
as a little bit of frost or ice

on a sensor can...
cause it to present bad data.

But, in fact,
the reading is accurate.

There's a serious leak
in one of the engines,

and Piche has been transferring

precious fuel
into the leaking tank.

The fact is confirmed
when Co-Pilot DeJager completes

another fuel check.

According to all the gauges,

all the tanks
on the right wing are way below

the level they should be,
according to the flight plan.

And... there's hardly anything
in the other ones.

- What about the trim tank?
- There's nothing there either.

With every passing second,

the leak drains the tanks
of their remaining fuel

until, finally...

the jet is running on empty.

We're losing engine number two.
I don't believe this.

Okay, maximum thrust
on number one.

Um, what's going on?

Try to transfer fuel
from center tank
and the trim tank.

Transferring. Fuel quantity is
reaching zero.

This can't be.

We are not going to go
completely dry
on this airplane.

But, in fact,
the Air Transat has
run out of fuel

some 12000 meters
over the Atlantic Ocean.

No fuel means no power
to control the plane.

But the jet has
one last trick up its sleeve,

one last source of power.

The crew deploys
a rarely-used back-up system.

It's called a Ram air turbine.
It will deploy

from underneath the fuselage
near the wing fairing.

And it's... a small propeller

that deploys out the bottom
of the fuselage

and it spins in the wind.

And that small propeller will
provide very limited electrical

and hydraulic systems
to run the aircraft.

In other words,
although it's a glider,

at least it's
a controllable glider.

When it took off,
this Air Transat jet was

a state-of-the-art marvel.

Now it's falling from the sky,

and the crew has
to hope this last piece
of technology will

help them get down in one piece.

A passenger plane has
run out of fuel.

The Air Transat jet is
now an enormous glider

with more than 300 people
on board.

They crew have
diverted their flight

from its destination
in Portugal.

The plane is now heading
for a military air base

on the tiny island
of Terceira in the Azores.

I saw flight attendants
with life-jackets in their hand

running down the aisles.

Obviously, that was
a sign of fear.

"What, you know, what was
happening?" was

the first question that popped
in my mind.

If Captain
Robert Piche can't make it
to the airport,

his only other option is
the ocean.

But Piche doesn't
want to risk it.

Planes aren't designed
to survive landing on water.

In 1996, a Boeing 767 ran out
of fuel

off the coast of East Africa.

Its last moments were
caught on amateur video.

Of the 175 people on board
the Ethiopian Airways jet,

only 50 survived.

Without vital controls,

Captain Piche
and Co-Pilot Dirk DeJager have

to rely on each other
like never before.

The thought that
a commercial airliner's gonna

find itself out of fuel

with all the safeguards

and all the redundancies is
hard to fathom.

This crew faced it together.

Slats out and locked.

The very design
of the plane prevents it

from dropping like a stone.

Even without engines

the plane's forward momentum
gives it some lift.

It's falling fast,
but it's still flying.

Can you give me
a landing speed, please?

No engine. No flaps.

Ideal approach speed is
170 knots. We're too fast.

Yes. But the runway is
very long.

But at the end
of the runway is
a very steep cliff.

Using the power available
from the Ram air turbine,

Captain Piche forces the plane
to turn steeply,

trying to burn off some speed.

The plane was almost on a,
like a 45 degree angle.
I thought it was just gonna...

it was just gonna flip over

and just nose-dive
straight down.

Everybody,
I need you to brace.

Hang on.

The tires have blown!

Oh, my God!

After bursting
eight tires,

the plane finally stops
in the middle of the runway.

Everyone on board survives.

He got
that plane down safely

and only blew out eight
of the 12 tires.

And saved 300 people.

He saved 300 people's lives.

Piche and DeJager have
flown their Airbus without power

further than any passenger jet
in history.

News of their
remarkable achievement spreads
around the world.

You don't have time really
to think about anything else

than taking care of the safety
of your passenger, you know?

That's your main goal and since
we didn't have any engine,

the other main goal was
to make the landing safely.

So, at that time, I guess
the experience came in.

Investigators discover
that the leak on board the jet

had been set in motion
when the right engine had been

replaced five days
before the crash.

We have to realize that
there was a small mistake made,

uh, in terms
of changing the pump.

We installed it, uh...

but then some pipes,
so to speak, were needed

to be connected to the pump,
and there was a mismatch.

The small mistake
had crippled

this highly-engineered machine.

But its very design left
the pilots enough control

to steer the plane away
from disaster.

Brett Rowe, private pilot.

At the Delta Connection Academy

in Sanford, Florida,

another student has
earned his wings.

After 14 months of training,
he's one step closer

to becoming a commercial pilot.

We don't take everybody
here at the Academy.

We want people
that are motivated,

that want to come,
that have a passion for flying.

It's a career that you've got

to want deep inside
to accomplish.

Otherwise you'll never
make it through.

Accidents have
reinforced the need

for pilots to understand
the complicated relationship

between crew and computers.

The lives of countless people
depend on it.

Pilots take the responsibility

for their passengers very,
very, very seriously.

We're responsible from the time

that that passenger enters
the airplane

until they leave
at the destination.

The pilot's always
the last line of defense.

Automated systems make

flying more predictable
and dependable.

But it's the marriage
of computers and crew

that ultimately makes flying one
of the safest ways to travel.