All language subtitles for Mayday.S07E06.Flight.574.Lost.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DD+2.0.H.264-playWEB_track3_[eng]

We've lost
engine number two.

High above
the Mediterranean,

two pilots struggle
with a stalled engine.

Engine relight. Negative.

Stop. Stop!
Engine one is flamed out.

45 miles from land,
the pilot's make
a difficult decision.

Prepare to ditch.

Oh, my God, be merciful.

Passengers are forced
to make life or
death decisions on their own.

Do not inflate your vests!

The accident will tear
families apart,

set in motion a massive rescue
effort at sea,

and trigger a
multi-national investigation

to discover why both engines
on one of the world's

most popular planes
stopped in mid-flight.

August the 6th, 2005,
Bari, Italy, an ancient
port town on the Adriatic Sea,

where the past
meets the present.

Just north of this
historic city,

Bari International Airport
serves ten major airlines

and more than one and a half
million passengers each year.

One of those carriers
is Tunisia's Tuninter Airlines.

Captain Chafik Gharbi
is a pilot with Tuninter.

Today, he's in
command of Flight 1153.

The 45-year-old Tunisian
is a military-trained pilot

with a flawless flight record.

Gharbi's co-pilot
is 28-year-old Ali Kebaier.

- How much fuel are we running?
- 400 kilograms.

- 2700 total?
- Yes.

Captain Gharbi
and his co-pilot flew from
Tunis to Bari this morning

to collect
34 Italian passengers.

Now they're going to fly them
to Djerba,
a Tunisian resort island.

Among the passengers
is 31-year-old police officer
Lucas Squicciarini.

His girlfriend, Paola,
is traveling with him.

Our first choice
wasn't Djerba,

It was Cape Verde.

The thing with Cape Verde
is that it was a period
of terrorist activities.

The flight would have left
from either Rome or Milan.

Since there are two
large airports,

Paola was afraid that
there would be an attack,

so we chose
not to go to Cape Verde.

It was
my first trip with Paola,

we met the previous winter,

we had plans to marry
the following year.

To tighten your belt,

pull on the loose end
of the strap.

To release your seatbelt,
lift the upper portion
of the buckle.

Ladies and gentlemen,
your life vests are located
beneath your seats.

To inflate the vest,
pull firmly on the red cord,

only when you are leaving
the aircraft.

If you need to refill
the vest, blow into
the mouthpiece.

TS-LBB Flight 1153,
permission for take-off granted.

Roger that, clear for take-off.

Final prep for departure.

The crew is flying
a French-made ATR-72.

The small turbo prop
is perfect for short flights.

It doesn't need a lot
of maintenance or guzzle
a lot of fuel.

Just after 2:30
in the afternoon,
the plane takes off.

Forty-nine minutes
after take-off,

Flight 1153 is 400 miles away

from its destination, Djerba.

So we started
chatting with other passengers.

We were all excited.

We talked about the vacation.

Like Luca and Paola,
Barbara Baldacci
is on her way to Djerba

for a vacation
with her fiance, Francesco.

Barbara was 23 years old.

She was on the verge of
realizing her lifelong dream
of graduating in Biology.

After writing her final exam,
she decided to take
this vacation

with her fiance, Francesco.

Then, 75 miles from
the nearest land and 23,000 feet
above the sea...

- the plane's right engine
stops working.
-

We've lost engine number two.

Let's get to 17,000 feet.

TUI 1153 request 170.

Captain Gharbi begins
an emergency descent.

Descending 170.

When you have
a single engine flameout,

you would descend down
to a lower altitude.

The air is thicker,
the propeller is more efficient.

Under current
conditions, the ATR-72
can best fly on one engine

at an altitude of 17,000 feet.

Power lever, flight idle.
Start button.

The crew struggles
to restart the right engine.

Negative.

Check.

But then, less than
two minutes after,
the first engine quits...

Stop, Stop! Engine number one
has flamed out!

...both of the plane's
engines have stopped.

The engine shut off.

Our first thought
was of a terrorist attack,

since there were so many
at the time.

We tried to figure out
what was happening,

so we looked towards the cockpit
to see if someone was trying
to sabotage the plane.

The plane is now
falling to the sea
at 800 feet per minute.

Mayday! Mayday! Mayday!

TUI 1153, we have lost
both engines.

Request immediate landing
at Palermo.

The crew still hopes
to reach an airport.

But they have 70 miles
of ocean to cross
before they're over land.

Crews are trained
for almost anything.

There's a checklist for them
to follow to solve
most problems,

including what to do
when both engines die.

Both engines flameout checklist.

Fuel supply, check.

The pilots
don't know why
their engines have stopped.

The only clue they're getting
is a low fuel feed warning.

A low pressure
warning light tells a pilot

that there's low fuel pressure
going to the engine.

Now that could be
a mechanical problem

or that could be
a contamination problem.

The crew follows
the steps laid out
by the manufacturer

to relight their dead engines.

Fuel supply, check.

Power level flight idle.
Start button.

Engine relight.

Negative.

Get Chokri.

The captain asks
the cabin crew

to bring the on-board engineer
Chokri Harbaoui to the cockpit.

Palermo approach,

this is TUI 1153,
we have lost both engines.

Request immediate landing.

The closest airport
is in Palermo,
on the Italian island of Sicily.

TUI 1153 Palermo.

Affirmative you are
clear for landing.

Palermo approach,
what is our distance
to the airport?

Your distance
to Palermo is now
48 nautical miles.

An ATR-72 will fall
from the sky
at a predictable rate.

One foot down for every
16 feet forward.

Forty-eight nautical miles
is further than
the plane can glide.

I don't think
we're gonna make it.

If they can't restart
their engines soon,

they'll be forced
to ditch in the sea.

Ditching at sea
is a very difficult
decision to make,

because it's the hardest thing
to do.

You have the swells,
waves, wind.

Is anybody gonna see you?

How long can the plane
float for?

Landing a passenger
plane on water
is extremely dangerous.

In 1996, an Ethiopian Airlines
pilot was forced to bring his
767 down on the Indian Ocean.

The ditching was recorded by a
tourist on a nearby beach.

Fifty people survived,
but 125 people died.

The crew of this small plane
doesn't usually
include an engineer.

When there is one on-board,
he usually travels in the cabin.

I remembered this person
looked at the stewardess

and shook his head
as if saying 'no'.

After the second engine
had shut off.

That gesture showed there was
nothing left to do.

The crew of
Flight 1153 has tried
all it can.

They're running out of time
and options.

Flight Engineer,
Chokri Harbaoui, has joined
in the struggle

to get Flight 1153's
engines started.

- You've run
the checklist?
- Yes.

The Captain hopes
the engineer will know something

that isn't covered
by the checklist.

Attempt to restart the engines.

Right engine first.

Fuel supply, check.
Engine two start
power button, on.

Engine relight, negative.

Palermo approach,
TUI 1153.

- Any closer airport
where we can land?
- Negative, 1153.

Palermo Airport
is the closest airport
to your position.

We're not gonna make it.

Prepare to ditch.

Oh, my God, be merciful.

No one said anything.

I noticed something wasn't right
because the two engines
shut off .

More than once, I tried
to get the stewardess' attention

asking what I should do.

If I had to put on
the life jacket,

If I had to stand, if I should
take off my shoes?

I got no answer.

She was in shock
and started to cry.

The senior flight
attendant does give the
passengers direction.

The captain has decided
to land the plane at sea.

I'll let you imagine
the panic on-board.

People were screaming
and crying.

Please stay calm and follow
your crew's instructions.

There were people
in the front seats

that had a baby girl, she had
been playing and was
so excited.

To now see the panic
in her mother's face made me
feel so sad.

TUI 1153,

what is your fuel load?

Cockpit fuel quantity
1800 kilograms.

Captain Gharbi's
fuel gauge shows that
he has plenty of fuel.

But for some reason,
neither engine will restart.

Just ten minutes after
the trouble began,

the plane is 7000 feet
above the ocean
and falling.

Outside it's completely silent,
but in the cabin, there's panic.

Please remain in your seats
with your seatbelts fastened.

My first instinct
was to undo my seatbelt,
to prevent getting trapped

when we hit the water.

I didn't want to be trapped
in my seat and go down
in a horrible way.

But secondly,
I put on my life jacket,
and quickly blew it up.

I did this to soften
the blow of the impact.

Do not inflate your
vests until you've
left the plane!

A plane ditching
at sea will more than likely
fill with water.

That's why safety procedures
call for passengers

to only inflate their life vests
once they've cleared the plane.

Otherwise, they could become
trapped inside the flooded
fuselage and drown.

In the
Ethiopian Airline's crash,

many passengers
ignored this advice,

and drowned after surviving
the initial impact.

Negative.

The dead engines aren't the only
problem confronting the crew.

Many of their instruments
get their power
from the engines.

Without the engines,
some vital gauges are dead.

On a two-engine
flameout,

you go on your
standby instruments.

Which is you have
an attitude indicator,

you have an altimeter.

Fuel supply, check.

The crew continues
to try to restart their engines,

but it's become clear
that they've run out of time.

They're not doing anything.

Confirm distance, please.

Your distance is
now 20 miles.

Boats. I see boats.

Choosing to ditch
near a ship or a vessel

is not written
in any checklists.

It's just good airmanship,
because the rescue
can start immediately

and it increases
your chances of survival.

Palermo approach,
this is TUI 1153.

We can't make it to the airport.

We see two boats
on the left side.

We're going there.

If you can, please call.

Captain Gharbi
turns his plane
towards the boats.

Can you send helicopters
or something similar?

Fast, fast, fast.

Emergency!

All marine units,
aircraft in distress 20
nautical miles off Palermo.

Even before the plane
hits the water,
rescuers are on their way.

I had very
little information.

We didn't know the nature
of the crash or anything about
the plane.

Auto-press, dump.

Although it's a rare
maneuver, there is also
a checklist

for ditching a plane
in the water.

Before ditching, the crew
ensures all landing gear
is retracted,

to help the plane land
more smoothly.

Landing gear lever, up.

When pilots ditch,
they want their airplane
as streamlined as possible

so that it glides
across the water
when it hits.

Pilots must not only monitor
the systems on the plane,

they also have to assess
conditions at sea.

They don't want to hit
a wave head on.

If you hit perpendicular
to the waves or swells
with the aircraft,

it's like hitting concrete.

The plane will break up.

Passengers can see
what's coming.

I was hanging on tight

to the seat in front of me
and through the window,

I could see
the impact was imminent.

The crew is 700 feet
above the sea.

You're with me Ali,
huh? Careful.

Chokri, ready?

- Ready.
- Here we go.

There is no other God but Allah,
Muhammad is his messenger.

In the name of God
merciful, merciful.

At a speed of 145
miles an hour, the plane
collides with the sea.

I lost consciousness.

I woke up in the water.
I was two or three
meters under water.

I came up to the surface
wearing only my pants.

I had lost my life jacket
and clothes on impact.

I got to the surface
and grabbed on to a bag.

Paola!

I was in shock.

I was surrounded by everything.

My thoughts
were constantly with Paola.

I thought I was going to die
because I was spitting blood.

I felt my lungs
filling with blood.

Captain Gharbi
survives but has been
seriously injured.

Co-Pilot Ali Kebaier
has also survived,

but flight engineer
Chokri Harbaoui is killed.

No one aboard the nearby boats

saw Flight 1153
crash into the sea.

The plane has broken
into three pieces.

The tail section
and much of the fuselage
sink to the bottom of the sea.

But the largest section
containing the two wings
stays afloat.

It becomes a makeshift life raft
for the survivors.

But not all of the passengers
have survived.

Many haven't made it
out of the plane
and to the surface,

A fleet of rescue personnel
are en route,

including Admiral Vincenzo Pace
of the Italian Coast Guard.

Rescuers must travel 26 miles
through heavy seas
to get to the crash site.

The sky was
very visible, but the water
was agitated.

This caused some problems
to the recovery mission.

Helicopter pilot,
Stefano Burigana, is one of the
first to arrive at the scene.

The approach control asked us
if we were aware
of a ditched aircraft

out of the coast of Palermo,
and if we were able
to help them

to locate the airplane.

When we approached the airplane,

we could see the wings floating.

There were several people
in the water around the aircraft
all floating,

and everybody
with their jacket inflated.

Burigana spots
Luca Squicciarini floating away
from the main wreckage.

There was one man,
without his jacket and he was
the farthest from the airplane.

I decided to go over him
and throw one of our
life jacket to him.

The Coast Guard
arrives and begins pulling
survivors from the sea.

The actions of the
people in the water
made us very agile.

Because of what
they were doing,
we ourselves did not panic.

We had the calm collaboration
of all these people,

because despite what happened
they knew help was coming
and they would be rescued.

Within the hour,
the crash site is
teeming with rescuers.

They search for survivors
from the water and from the air.

23 people are pulled
from the Mediterranean Sea,

but 16 have died in the crash,
including Paola Di Ciaola.

My relatives told me
a couple of days later,

while I was still
at the hospital.

I had no reaction.

Paola was gone.

I reacted when I got home.

When I got home
and went to the cemetery,
I realized what was happening.

That's where I got really down.

Barbara Baldacci
and her fiance
Francesco are also killed.

It seemed impossible

that this terrible tragedy
would happen,

because Barbara and Francesco
were great swimmers.

They used to go underwater
without any problems.

How is it possible that many
on that plane saved themselves
and they didn't?

I was stunned and incredulous.

It's quite likely
that none of those who died

ever had a chance
to swim to safety.

Their serious injuries
would have prevented them

from escaping after the plane
hit the water.

In this accident,
most of the survivors were
seated in the rear of the plane,

most of those who died,
up front.

Those sections, along with some
valuable clues are now
at the bottom of the sea.

The one section that didn't sink

is towed to the port in Palermo
and taken to a nearby hangar.

A team of agents from Italy's
National Flight Safety Agency,
the ANSV,

begin looking for leads.

Their job, find out why
Flight 1153's engines
stopped in mid-flight.

We need
to collect as much evidence
as possible

in order to fulfill
two main answers,

what happened
and why had it happened?

They are led by
Chief ANSV Investigator,
Vincenzo Pennetta.

I arrived in Palermo the
day after the accident,

on the 7th,
very early in the morning.

A flight test engineer
by training,

Pennetta has led several
air crash investigations.

The engines and central fuselage
of Tuninter Flight 1153
have been recovered.

The rest of the plane lies
somewhere off
the Sicilian coast.

The main challenge
of investigation

was the fact that
the flood recorder and
the cockpit voice recorder

and also the front fuselage
were 1500 meters under the sea.

While the Italian Navy
conducts a deep-water search

for the rest of the wreck
and the crucial black boxes,

Italian investigators
are given some assistance

by the plane's
European manufacturer.

ATR's Giuseppe Caldarelli
is here to find out if there's
a flaw with the company's plane.

Any time there is an accident
and also one people die,
for me, is a big accident.

Worldwide,
hundreds of ATR 72s cross
the skies each day.

Those aircraft have very
sound structure
and robust systems,

and are very cost-efficient.

Together,
Pennetta and Caldarelli set out
to find out why both engines

on such an advanced airplane
died in mid-flight...

TUI 1153,
we have lost both engines.

...before it
happens again.

Captain Gharbi how are you?

I'm getting better, thank you.

Investigators want
to know what happened
in the cockpit

of Tuninter Flight 1153
when the engines died.

Without the cockpit
voice recorder,

they must rely on
the recollections of surviving
passengers and crewmembers.

The main cause
of double engine flameout
could be a lack of fuel.

But according
to Captain Chafik Gharbi,

lack of fuel
was not the problem.

What were your fuel readings?

The Fuel Quantity Indicator
said 1800 kilograms of fuel.

What is your fuel load?

Cockpit fuel quantity
1800 kilograms.

Fuel supply, check.

Was there any warning
that you were low on fuel?

There was definitely
no low fuel warning.

Just a... low-feed
pressure light.

The absence
of a low fuel warning

and the presence of a low feed
pressure warning
is a major clue.

This set of alarms
usually indicates that
there is a problem

in feeding the engine with fuel.

Since the plane's
gauges indicated that
there was fuel on-board

that did not get to the engines,

ATR's Giuseppe Caldarelli
looks for flaws in the fallen
plane's fuel delivery system.

Four years earlier,
an Airbus operated
by Air Transat

developed a leak in the
fuel line that feeds
the plane's right engine.

Over time, the plane leaked
all of its fuel

and both engines failed.

The pilots were forced
to glide their plane
to an emergency landing.

That incident
has a lot of similarities
to the Tuninter crash.

Giuseppe Caldarelli's
team looks for breaks
or blockages

in the fuel lines
and evidence that
the fuel pumps malfunctioned

and stopped fuel flow
to the engines.

While Caldarelli waits
for technicians to complete
tests on pumps and lines,

Pennetta decides to start
a new line of inquiry.

He explores the possibility that
the fuel that was on-board was
somehow contaminated.

Fuel contamination can
derive from four or five
different sources.

Kerosene-based
jet fuel is very delicate.

If stored or transferred
improperly, it can be polluted
with water,

sand, or fungus, even sticky
residue from the hoses
of refueling tankers.

Any of these could prevent
the fuel from

properly igniting and could have
caused the engines to shut down.

How much fuel are you adding?

400 kilograms.

The plane last took
on fuel in Bari.

Samples from the tanker
that supplied it
are taken for testing.

Pennetta needs to prove
that one of these contaminants

got into Flight 1153's fuel,
prevented combustion

and caused both engines to fail.

Sediments can be transferred

from the tanker truck
to the aircraft.

So the fuel feeder
can be clogged

and so the engine
can have some problem.

Technicians remove
the truck's fuel filters

to look for evidence
of contamination.

Hoses and couplings are
swabbed for sticky residue

or colonies of microorganisms
and submitted for testing

at an Italian Air Force
laboratory.

The fuel is filtered
for minute particles
suspended in the fluid,

and carefully examined
for impurities.

The truck's filters
are also inspected for residue
or sediment from the tanks.

Meanwhile, in Palermo,

Caldarelli and his technicians
have completed tests

on Flight 1153's fuel lines
and pumps.

The tests are thorough.

The result's conclusive.

The fuel feed line
were okay, were no leak.

If the fuel
delivery system was working,

and the two pilots remember
having ample fuel...

The Fuel Quantity Indicator
said 1800 kilograms of fuel.

...then why had
the engines failed?

When test results
from the the Bari fuel
tanker come in,

they too are conclusive.

The fuel filters, hose couplings
and tanker fuel

at Bari Airport are clean.

So fuel contamination
as a source

of double engine flameout
was then excluded.

At this point,
the investigators
still don't know

what caused the downing of
Tuninter Flight 1153.

But something has
been eating at Pennetta.

If the plane
was filled with fuel

and since the fuel is stored
in the plane's wings,

why did the wing section float?

The floating
of the wing

indicates that the weight
of the wing was not so high.

We have been told by ATR
that if the amount of fuel

that was supposed to be
into the wing,

around the 2000 kilograms,
were on the fuel tanks,

the wings maybe would not
have been able to float.

Pennetta suspects
the plane didn't have as much
fuel as the pilots thought,

but he doesn't know
how that could be.

Two weeks
into the investigation,

Pennetta gets an important lead
in the case.

After two weeks of the event,
we received some
technical documentation

from the aircraft operator.

According to the logs,

Captain Gharbi flew the same
aircraft the day before
the accident.

After that flight,
he reported a problem
with his fuel gauge.

When he left
the aircraft the day before,
he reported

that the right display
float indicator
was out of service,

so it needs to be replaced.

The Fuel
Quantity Indicator or FQI,

is a gas gauge that tells pilots
how much fuel is left on-board.

The lights on the
FQI were malfunctioning

and Captain Gharbi made a note
of this in the maintenance log.

We were able to see that
the Fuel Quantity Indicator

was changed the day before
the event.

The maintenance log
raises the possibility
that the FQI

that the mechanic installed
was not the right one
for the plane.

It doesn't seem to have
the right model number.

Tuninter flies two models
of ATR aircraft.

The ATR-42
and the larger ATR-72.

The Fuel Quantity Indicators
for each plane look identical,

except for a different
model number at
the top of each unit.

The ATR-72 should have
model number 2500,

but according to the logs,
mechanics installed a unit

with the model number
2250 instead.

Tuninter's maintenance logs
offer a valuable clue.

But for Pennetta,
there's no definitive proof

that the wrong Fuel Quantity
Indicator was installed
on the plane.

It could have been a mismatch

in that aircraft documentation,
so we need to prove that.

There is only one way
to know for certain

whether Flight 1153
had the right
Fuel Quantity Indicator.

Go find it
at the bottom of the sea.

We need of course,
to recover the wreckage
from the aircraft to see,

physically see,

what was the
Fuel Quantity Indicator
installed on the aircraft.

Not until three weeks
after the crash

do investigators recover
wreckage from the sea.

The data from the plane's
black boxes confirms what
the pilots have been saying.

There was no warning
of low fuel,

so there appeared to be
enough fuel to make the flight.

The black boxes
can't solve this mystery.

Investigators hope that
the tail and front section can.

They are hauled aboard
a naval vessel from the sea.

The moment the cockpit
is hauled in,
Pennetta is there.

There's only one thing
he wants to see inside.

So when the wreckage
was recovered from under the sea
and put on a ship deck,

I realized that,
as a matter of fact,

the Fuel Quantity Indicator
for an ATR-42 was installed.

It was like we found
the smoking gun.

The wrong FQI
was installed on Flight 1153.

Pennetta finally has the break
he's been looking for.

The ATR's
Fuel Quantity Indicator
collects data from sensors

in the fuel tanks and calculates
how much fuel is in the tanks.

But since the fuel tanks
on the 42 and the 72
are a different size,

Fuel Quantity Indicators
can't be swapped between them.

Technicians conduct refueling
tests with the wrong FQI
installed on an ATR-72...

and the results are chilling.

The results show that,
if you install an

FQI type, say 42 on an
ATR-72 aircraft,

if I have no fuel,
into the aircraft in
the fuel tanks, zero fuel,

then Fuel Quantity Indicator
show me 1800 kilograms.

Precisely the amount
of fuel that the Captain
reported having

when his engines flamed out.

Cockpit fuel quantity,
1800 kilograms.

Investigators conclude

at 23,000 feet
above the Mediterranean,

the wrong fuel indicator
led the crew to believe that
they had ample fuel,

when their tanks were
actually empty.

Engine relight, negative.

They're not doing anything.

The engines could not
possibly have been restarted.

With hundreds of ATR-42s
and ATR-72s still flying,

the implications are stark.

Could there be other planes
flying with the wrong gauge?

The first safety recommendation
was to mandate all
operators that use

ATR-42 and 72

aircraft in their fleet,

to check whether the right
Fuel Quantity Indicator was
installed on the aircraft.

Pennetta and Caldarelli have
uncovered the error

that caused both
of Flight 1153's engines
to quit in mid-air.

But the case isn't closed.

Standard flight procedures
should have uncovered
the error

before take-off
and prevented the disaster.

Captain Gharbi's aircraft
went in for repairs in Tunisia

the night before the crash.

The plane's FQI indicated
790 kilograms of fuel
in the tank.

After the new
Fuel Quantity Indicator
was installed,

it showed that there was almost
four times as much
fuel on-board.

3100 kilograms.

The following morning,
Captain Gharbi noticed that
the fuel levels had gone up.

He assumed the fuel
had been added.

But when fuel is added
to an aircraft,

a refueling slip
must be left in the cockpit.

Where is the refueling slip?

The pilot asked to
the flight dispatcher,
where was this refueling slip?

But the flight dispatcher
was not able to find
the refueling slip.

I will get
to you when you get back
from Djerba.

Roger that.

There was no
refueling slip because
the plane hadn't been refueled.

In spite of regulations,
the Captain left without
that vital piece of paper.

There are some
standard regulations

requiring the pilot to take-off
only when he is sure

about the quantity of fuel.

With the wrong
Fuel Indicator on-board,

and less fuel than he believed,

Captain Gharbi makes it
to Bari, Italy,

and tops up his plane
for the next leg of the trip
to Djerba.

- How much fuel
are you adding?
- 400 Kilograms.

- 2700 total?
- Yes.

Believing he has
2700 kilograms of fuel on-board,

Captain Gharbi begins his flight
to Djerba.

If the correct
Fuel Quantity Indicator
had been installed,

the Captain would have known
that he had only 540 kilograms.

Not nearly enough
to make the crossing.

Mayday! Mayday! Mayday!

TUI 1153 requesting immediate
landing at Palermo.
We've lost both engines.

Pennetta's
investigation comes to a close.

He draws up his final report.

His colleague,
Giuseppe Caldarelli,
voices a bold view.

Even with no fuel
and dead engines,

Flight 1153 could have made it
to land.

The aircraft was in a position
that allowed to reach Palermo.

TUI 1153...

Caldarelli wonders
if the pilots did everything
they could have

to get the plane
safely to Palermo.

Investigators get some
unexpected answers
by having seasoned pilots

fly the exact same fight
with the exact same problems.

Okay, we are now
in big trouble,

because the second engine
has gone off.

Vincenzo Pennetta's
investigation into the crash
of Tuninter Flight 1153,

has uncovered the events
that led up to the accident.

Now, he and Giuseppe Caldarelli
need to resolve one question,

did mistakes made by the pilots
cost people their lives?

We're not gonna make it.

Prepare to ditch.

Caldarelli and
his team study
the plane's specifications

and draw a
surprising conclusion.

Flight 1153 could have been able
to glide to Palermo.

According to manufacturer data,

an ATR is able to glide three
miles for every 1000 feet
of descent.

With the help of the tailwind
that day,

Flight 1153 could have been
able to glide 70 miles
to Palermo,

The crew might have been
able to make it.

Landing gear lever up.

So what had
the pilots done wrong?

To answer that question,
Pennetta and Caldarelli

recreate Flight 1153
in the flight simulator
at the ATR facility in France.

Test pilots try to glide
an ATR-72 for 70 miles
from the altitude

at which Flight 1153
lost its second engine.

The simulation was requested
to see the range
of the aircraft

starting from
the second engine out.

Double engine flameouts,
you have to be very...

aware of the configuration
of the aircraft

in order to keep
as much as possible

the altitude and distance
to fly before the crash.

Stop, Stop! Engine number one
has flamed out.

With both engines out,
the priority is to keep

the plane gliding
as far as necessary.

To do that,
pilots can change the angle
of their windmilling propellers.

You have the maximum
glide performance
when you minimize the drag.

It's very important to think
to feather the propeller
in order to reduce the drag.

Feathering the props
involves changing
their angle against the wind.

The maneuver reduces drag.

When you want to feather
a propeller in flight,

you first have to reduce
the power lever to idle

and put the condition lever
back to feather position.

The crew did not
feather their props
when their engines quit.

The windmilling propellers
created enormous drag.

If the crew of Flight 1153
had feathered their props,

they may have been able to
glide further than they did.

Let's get to 1700 feet.

By the time
Captain Gharbi's second engine
flamed out,

he was just below 22,000 feet.

To further reduce drag
at that altitude,

the plane should be slowed
to 158 miles per hour,

the ATR-72's
ideal gliding speed.

Surprisingly, to glide
as far as possible,

a pilot doesn't want to fly
as fast as possible.

The faster a plane flies,
the more the airflow

pushes against it,
creating resistance.

Every plane has an optimal speed
to achieve the furthest glide.

The crew continued flying
up to 55 miles an hour faster

than their
optimal gliding speed.

That added to the drag
on the plane and reduced
the distance they could glide.

By feathering his props
and reducing his speed,

a simulator pilot in France
was able to get the plane
as far as Palermo.

You're with me Ali,
huh? Careful.

Flight 1153
hit the water
26 miles from shore.

Well short of what the plane
was capable of achieving.

The simulation confirmed
that the crew might have been
able to make it to land.

It was theoretically
possible to reach the coast,

but it was also very difficult
to achieve that result.

Simulator pilots had
one big advantage
over the crew of Flight 1153.

They weren't in
a life or death situation,

and they knew
they had to glide instead.

Fuel supply, check.

But Captain Gharbi
didn't know he was out of fuel.

He didn't think he'd need
to glide to Palermo.

Gharbi focused on restarting
the engines instead.

Feathering the props
isn't part of that procedure.

If the captain had known
he was out of fuel,

he might have acted
to maximize glide instead.

Once he realized that
his engines wouldn't start,

his focus was on trying to find
a place to ditch the plane.

Captain Gharbi also had
to contend
with the lack of instruments

as well as radio interruptions.

Palermo TUI 1153
what is your fuel load?

Cockpit fuel quantity,
1800 kilograms.

Most importantly, Captain Gharbi
had the lives of his
34 passengers to consider.

Of course, it's much easier
to cope with

that kind of situation
on the simulator.

Because if you do wrong,
if you crash the aircraft,

you have the magic button,
reset, everything
is okay again,

and that's very different
in the real life

with passengers behind
and when it's your life.

Your distance is now 20 miles.

We're not gonna make it.

The simulation
highlights the importance
of proper training

to deal with
unlikely situations,

such as a twin-engine flameout.

In aviation,
is a very rare event.

Vincenzo Pennetta's
report urges airlines

to train their pilots
how to ditch
without engine power.

Better pilot training is just
one of 17 safety recommendations
in the accident report.

Perhaps the most important,
that ATR re-design
the Fuel Quantity Indicator.

In order to prevent a
Fuel Quantity Indicator

type 42 on a 72 aircraft
and vice versa.

To prevent mechanics
from installing
the incorrect part,

Pennetta believes that the only
answer is to design the FQIs

so that they only fit
on the plane they're meant for.

Nine men face charges
of criminal negligence
for the downing of Flight 1153.

Including the Tuninter mechanic
who installed the wrong FQI
and Captain Gharbi.

I'll get it
to you when you
get back from Djerba.

Roger that.

There is no
single cause of the accident.

This accident, like many
other aircraft accident,

was determined by
a series of actions,

a series of events,
linked one to each other.

This is unheard of.

I would have accepted
the engine breaking
or a window shattering,

but to have people die
because of lack of fuel?

We remember this to
avoid other such tragedies,

so that when you board a plane,
you don't have
to endure anything.

Not even the simplest thing.

Because it is the simple things
that can be avoided.

Tragic events like this
should not happen.

Attempt to restart
the engine.

The crash of Flight
1153 was caused by a series

of grave errors on the ground
and in the air.

But the flight data recorder
does show the crew's last move

before hitting the water
was absolutely perfect.

Here we go.

According to
available evidences,

the flight data recorder,

and also some statements
listed by the crew
that survived,

The aircraft touched
the sea first with
the rear part of the aircraft

at an attitude
which is compatible

with the optimum pitch altitude
of the aircraft.

Which is nine degrees.

Captain Gharbi raised
the plane's nose up

to nine degrees
at the last possible moment.

So, instead of plowing
into the sea,

his plane glided along
the surface of the water.

The maneuver likely saved lives
by allowing more passengers

to escape the ruined aircraft.

His flying may have
prevented this accident

from becoming
an even greater tragedy.