All language subtitles for Mayday.S08E02.Cruel.Skies.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DD+2.0.H.264-playWEB_track3_[eng]

Rain...

We're gonna get
our airplane washed.

... hail...

I don't know
how we get through here, Bill.

We're down... we're sliding.

- ...wind...
- Oh, no!

CO-PILOT: On the brakes.

- In a heartbeat...
- He's gonna crash!

... bad weather
can turn an ordinary flight
into a fight for survival.

The pilots did their very best
to recover from the situation.

And it didn't work out.

The right information,
the right equipment

can be the difference
between life and death...

All four engines
have failed.

...in a
constant battle
between the planes we fly

and the weather
that batters them.

Brace for impact.

It's early December,

a massive winter storm
is pounding the eastern
United States.

This is
a pretty interesting
weather pattern

we have for this time of year.

We're getting a mixed bag
of precipitation

and weather across
the Eastern United States.

For most people,
the winter weather is no more
than an inconvenience.

But for those who fly,
the bad weather can be deadly.

A Continental
Airlines commuter plane
with 48 people aboard

crashed into a home
in suburban Buffalo.

No survivors. One person
on the ground also killed.

The plane was en route
from Newark to Buffalo.

It was raining with some sleet
at the time.

People are making
life and death decisions
every day

based on the weather.

Should I go
or should I not go today?

And once they're up in the air,

how am I going to make
a decision in the
next five minutes

that's going to keep myself,
my passengers or my aircraft
out of harm's way?

On this day,
flights from New York
to Houston

have been delayed and canceled.

Thousands of travelers
are affected.

That's largely because
the people in this room

have decided that it is unsafe
for pilots to fly
in this weather.

Our mission here is,
is to provide safety
and safe flying.

What's happening now?
It's an existing condition so...

Looks like some discrete
super cells in there.

This room is every pilot's
first line of defense

against getting caught
in a storm.

It's the federal government's
Aviation Weather Center
in Kansas City, Missouri.

24 hours a day,
seven days a week,

the meteorologists in
this room scan the skies
across the United States

for the kind of weather
that can bring down a plane.

The storm they're tracking today
is just that kind of weather.

What we're monitoring is
a lot of severe weather
in the Carolinas

and continuing to get

severe thunderstorm warnings
and tornado warnings there.

The meteorologists
have detected thunderstorms

moving towards Atlanta, Georgia.

They've warned pilots
and air traffic controllers
of the looming danger.

The result is immediate.

So you had
planes that were on the ground

that could not take off.

Then you had planes
that were arriving

that were unable to land.
And then you have to factor in

that they were going
several hundred miles

around this... this line
of thunderstorms.

The meteorologists
will track this storm
throughout the day.

They know weather can
change in an instant.

So they're not just
tracking storm systems,

they're also trying to predict
where new storms
are going to develop.

We've got to keep our eye
on every hazard,

and always be prepared
for it to pop up.

Today, the people
who work here

also have to find a way
to keep planes out of the storms

that are rolling
through the South.

As traffic managers,
we need to work with the FAA

in routing safe routes
for aircraft to go around
those thunderstorms,

because they just can't
go through them or over them.

So, using these two images
together, we can get
a good three-dimensional

or even four-dimensional picture
of the atmosphere

and how moisture is moving
around in there.

Thunderstorms are a lethal threat to pilots.

The clouds that contain them
are massive.

They're usually much too tall
to fly over.

And the weather inside them
can be treacherous.

In no instance does any aircraft
want to go into a thunderstorm.

Uh, lightning strikes, hail
can certainly damage
the airframe

and in... in the extreme cases,

there can be so much
liquid precipitation

in that thunderstorm
that will cause a jet engine
to flame out.

The meteorologists
here understand the danger
of thunderstorms.

And one devastating crash
has taught them much
of what they know.

It's April the 4th, 1977.

- Good afternoon,
sir.
- Good afternoon.

May I see your boarding pass
please?

Southern Airways Flight 242
is bound for Atlanta, Georgia.

Just down the aisle
on the right sir.
Enjoy your flight.

Thank you.

Boarding pass.

Here In the United States,
the weather in the southeast

usually consists of high
humidity and high temperature.

That's a perfect recipe
for thunderstorms.

It was raining
in Huntsville and...

they said, "Oh, it's gonna to be
some bad weather, don't serve."

So we did not serve
from Huntsville to Atlanta,

which is a very short route,

And we were delighted
not to be serving.

Aircraft dispatchers
provide flight crews with

preflight weather information.

Looks like you guys got
a good one coming.

Sure thing. Have a good one.

That weather was two hours old.

It was no longer updated.

I was a little
surprised that we took off
when we did.

I really thought we'd taxi out
to the end of the runway

and hold for a while
because the weather
looked so bad.

But we taxied out
and immediately took off.

Before the pilots
get very far,

they receive
an ominous weather warning
from air traffic control.

Southern Airways 242,
I'm painting a line of weather

which appears to be moderate
to possibly heavy precipitation,

starting about five miles ahead.

Okay. We're in the rain
right now, uh...

It doesn't look much heavier
than what we're in right now,
does it?

Back in 1977,

pilots were more reliant
on their own skills, abilities
and knowledge

than they were
on air traffic control.

In this particular instance,
they had on-board weather radar.

CO-PILOT: I can't read that.
That just looks like rain, Bill.

What do you think?
There's a hole.

There's a hole
right there. That's all I see.

Pilots use their radar
to avoid bad weather.

They stay away from regions
that are illuminated
on the display screen.

Coming over
we had pretty good radar,

I believe right straight ahead, there.

The next few miles
is probably the best way
we can go.

So between that information

and looking out the window,

they were able to make
what they believed

were the right decisions
about traversing the weather.

As the pilots
of Southern Airways Flight 242
attempt to carve a path

through the thunderstorms,
they encounter
a wall of storm cells,

Looks heavy.
Nothing's going through that.

The storm
closes in on the aircraft.

CO-PILOT: That's a hole,
isn't it?

It's not showing
a hole, is it?

The gap
between the thunder heads

the pilots thought they
had seen on their radar

no longer seems to exist.

Pilots don't like
thunderstorms in any way,
shape or form

only because it poses a threat
to the safe operation
of the airplane.

Because of the high velocity
winds, the potential for hail,
wind shear,

that all has a dramatic effect
on the capabilities
of not only the pilot,

but of course,
the aircraft as well.

The hail
was probably the loudest
noise I've ever heard.

It sounded like
I was in a metal barrel

with someone
throwing rocks at me.

The DC-9 plunges
into the storm clouds.

CO-PILOT: Which way
do we cross here or go out?

I don't know how we get
through here, Bill.

Enormous hailstones
continue to pound the aircraft.

You're just
gonna have to go out.

Yeah, right across that band.

All clear left
approximately right now.

The pilots
try to escape the storm.

They use their radar
to guide them through it.

I think
we can cut across there.

But their radar
is deceiving them.
What they think is a hole

is in fact, the most
intense part of the storm ahead.

The pilots
of Southern Airways 242

ended up flying
into an environment

where multiple thunderstorms
came together

and created a line
or what they call a squall line.

That's an area of fast
moving thunderstorms,

the weather system
is moving very quickly,

and that created
not only tornadoes

but high velocity winds
and hail.

Okay, 242, we just got
our windshield busted and

we'll try to get it back
up to 15, we're at 14.

While I was looking out
at the front of the left engine,

I could see the hail
continuing to put more and more
dents into the cowling

around the engine
and into the cone
in the center of the engine.

And the engine was starting
to make sounds like
it was quitting.

The torrent of hail
and water overwhelms
the engines of the DC-9.

It clogs the critical
air-flow passages

and causes the engines
to break apart.

CO-PILOT: Left engine
won't spool.

Our left engine just cut out.

You say you lost an engine
and a busted your windshield?

Yes, sir.

CO-PILOT: My God!
The other engine's going too.

Got the other engine going too.

Southern 242 say again.

Standby...

we lost both engines.

What happens next
leads to one of the most

horrific crashes
in aviation history

and spurs fundamental changes
to the way weather forecasts
are made.

Brace for impact.

High above Georgia,
Southern Airways Flight 242
is falling from the sky.

We lost both engines.

This DC-9 is a glider
and it's falling at 56 feet
per second.

They're at 14,000 feet.
They don't have a lot of time.

I realized
I was in an emergency situation

and I felt like
I was going to die.

But I decided I would do
everything I could to try
to help my chances.

The plane emerges
from the storm
with two dead engines.

Get those engines started.

CO-PILOT: Bill,
you have to find me a highway.

Let's get
the next clear open field.

No, Bill.

Lyman Keele,
is a young man
who has just come back

from the proving ground
of Southeast Asia,
where he was a Naval aviator,

he learned
the niceties of landing

on a rolling pitching
aircraft carrier

in the South China Sea
in the middle of the night.

What he was confronted
with right now

was even a greater test,
the greatest test he'd
ever confronted

in his life as an airman.

Flaps

They're down to 50.

Unable to restart
the engines, Lyman Keele
prepares to land his aircraft

on Georgia State Highway 92
without power.

I'm gonna land it
right over that guy.

There's a car ahead.

Got it.

I've got it now.

I got it.

Brace for impact.

The aircraft
touches down on the highway

running through the town
of New Hope, Georgia.

Before the plane
completely stopped moving,

there was fire,
blowing through the cabin.

The plane clips
a utility pole...

... and slams
into a gas station.

Where I found myself
after we woke-up

was sort of indescribable.
And I could see a crack of light

and I thought, I'm going
through that crack of light,
come hell or high water.

I saw
a red reflection
like fire in the door.

That's when I saw
what was happening.

I saw smoke and fire.

And the people that were coming
toward me,

they weren't screaming,
they weren't yelling.
They were quiet.

I got back to the kitchen
and I was just circled
by people.

They knew they were in a house,
and I guess they felt safe,

and they needed somebody
to help them.

I'll remember
to the day I die just staring

at the trees burning
and pine trees burning,
pieces of aircraft,

and it's, it was so uh, unreal.

22 people survive
the crash of flight 242.

72 people were killed.

Southern flight 242 crashed

after the DC-9 jet lost power
in both engines.

The tragedy involving flight 242
was avoidable,

had the crew been provided up
to date weather information
when they were in Huntsville,

had they had an understanding
of the area of thunderstorms,

how they were starting
to come together

and how it was going to affect
their route of flight,

they probably either would have
found an alternate place to go.

or they would have
stayed in Huntsville.

The importance
of timely weather information

makes the aviation
weather center critical.

After Southern Airways 242 crash
in 1977,

the NTSB, after their research,
came out with
two recommendations.

One was
to improve the resolution
of the convective,

or the thunderstorm forecast
information.

And the other was to put

Weather Service meteorologists
in each of the air traffic
control centers.

And within a year we did that.

At the time
of the Southern Airways crash,

the weather center issued
thunderstorm advisories
every four hours.

And in the United States,
that's just too long of a window

to capture the rapid development
that we see in thunderstorms.

So what they recommended,
which we have done
ever since,

is communicate to controllers
and two pilots that are
en route every hour

and if need be, we can do it
in between those hourly
observations

if the conditions are developing
fast enough.

As a result
of the crash, the weather center
created a new position.

A meteorologist who does nothing
but monitor the skies

above the United States
for thunderstorms.

On this December day,
the meteorologists tracking
thunderstorms are very busy.

Storms that have battered
Atlanta are on the move.

And you can
see up in here there's a minimum
of aircraft,

especially where
those heavier storms were over
Eastern North Carolina.

In addition
to providing weather reports,

the people here perform
other crucial tasks.

When the weather
gets bad enough,

they can also shut down
huge areas of airspace.

They do that by issuing warnings
called SIGMETs.

It's short for Significant
Meteorological Information.

It's an advisory to pilots
to steer clear
of the bad weather.

All right now on radar.

Once we become aware or
or are highly confident,

that there will be
some dangerous weather

or severe turbulence
or severe icing,

then we will issue
what's called a SIGMET.

What do I want the pilots to do?

I want them to avoid that area,
the lightning, it's still
pretty decent, so...

Today's storms are so severe

that the meteorologists
at the Aviation Weather Center

are declaring areas of airspace
out of bounds for aircraft.

We issued a large area
from Norfolk down through
the coastal waters of Georgia

for severe thunderstorms.

Issuing a SIGMET
is simple. The meteorologists
highlight the area

that planes are to avoid
on their computers.

The information
is passed on to dispatches,

air traffic controllers
and pilots around the country.

Planes are diverted immediately.

Now some of those
planes going through there
may be going

around they may be being helped
by air traffic control

to actually navigate around
those individual
thunderstorm cells.

No doubt that
they're being routed
either away from or individually

being very carefully,
tactically moved around
those thunderstorm cells.

The SIGMET issued
by the Aviation Weather Center

affects hundreds of flights
along the Eastern Seaboard.

Once it's issued,
pilots often have to find a way
around the danger zone.

It's no longer
just a suggestion.

There are
legal consequences to people
to adhere to what we put out.

They're just legally not allowed
to go into that airspace

while that SIGMET's in effect.

Declaring a SIGMET
has enormous implications.

You're shutting down
a volume of space
that's the size of Georgia.

so that severely impacts
traffic.

The FAA and the air traffic
controllers now need to decide

how they're going to
as a system.

move these routes
and these aircraft,

which can be hundreds of them,

operating in this space,
around this particular hazard

over the next four to six
or even longer hours.

Planes can fly around
the area affected by a SIGMET

but that increases travel time
and costs the airlines
in extra fuel.

The alternative is to keep
planes on the ground
until the SIGMET is lifted.

They may increase safety,
but SIGMETs are a headache

for airlines
and air traffic controllers.

It averages out
at about 7000 planes
to 8000 planes

at any moment being managed.

And so when you start
shutting down
large areas of airspace,

which we certainly can do
on a very active
thunderstorm day,

It leaves very little
operating room

for air traffic controllers
to put planes through.

Technology allows
he meteorologists here

to keep planes away
from dangerous weather.

But in aviation,
some of the most dangerous
weather is all but invisible.

August the 2nd, 1985.

Ten degree flaps, please.

Delta Airlines Flight
191 is approaching Dallas Fort
Worth International Airport.

Contact departure
when airborne.

Texas heat has turned
into afternoon storms.

Traffic at the airport
is beginning to back up
as the weather gets worse.

We're gonna get
our airplane washed.

What?

We're going to get
our airplane washed.

Nothing seemed
unusual other than the fact
that we were

starting to get busy
and aircraft were starting
to pile up.

Tower, Delta 191 heavy
out here in the rain,
feels good.

191 heavy?

We're not getting
any bad warnings
from the weather

or from other pilots,
which we rely on
as they come through it.

As the pilots
of Delta 191 prepare
for landing,

the rain begins to fall harder.

It seemed like
the closer we got into DFW

the worse the weather got.

And it was turning
into the rain
instead of going around it.

At the foot
of the runway, one of the most

ferocious types of storm clouds
stands in their way.

Before landing check.

Landing gear.

Down. Three green.

At the time...
the type of storm the Delta crew
is approaching

barely has a name.

John McCarthy is one of
the world's leading experts
on these storms.

JOHN McCARTHY:
It is a tiny thing,

meteorologically speaking,
compared to a a big storm

or a snowstorm or a hurricane,
it's just a like a needle
in a haystack.

The needle
is a microburst,

one of the deadliest
and at the time,

most poorly understood
weather phenomenon.

They've taken down
airliners before.

But as Delta 191 makes
its approach,
there are no warning systems

that can effectively alert
the pilots of the danger
they're in.

Prior to 1985, the radars
aboard the aircraft

were built to detect
thunderstorms,

Essentially heavy areas
of precipitation.

They were not effective.

They weren't designed
to detect a microburst.

If you're at the kitchen sink
and you turn on the water

and it goes straight down
and splashes out
in all directions.

And that's kind of what
a microburst is,

except that it is extremely
bad news

if you're an airplane
flying through it.

When a plane hits
a microburst,

it encounters a complex
and powerful set of conditions.

Downdrafts and tail winds
batter a plane.

It's a deadly combination.

At its maximum strength,
it's no more than
two miles across

and it lasts no more
than 15 minutes.

So if you look at that little
space and time window,
it's very small.

And so the probability
of hitting one is low.

Just short
of the runway,

Delta 191 flies
into the microburst.

You're gonna lose it all
of a sudden.

There it is.

Push it up, push it way up.

Way up.

Way up!

I pulled
my seat belt as tight as I could

but, at the same time
you could hear a pin drop,
nobody was talking.

Hang on to the son--

- It's gonna crash.
- CO-PILOT: Damn it!

The pilots of Delta Flight 191
did their very best to recover
from the situation.

And it didn't work out.

I must have caught sight of him
just at the last millisecond

and it cart wheeled
into the tank in just an instant

and then, of course,
there was fire,

not a ball of fire,
but a wall of fire.

It seemed like
there was only a few seconds,

five seconds at the most.

I don't know how long it was.

We was...
everything was stopped.

Then all of a sudden you look up
and it's just nothing there.

It's everything's gone.

You just see the whole
big picture outside.

Like the plane just opened up.

People just thrown around
on the ground.

Some with clothes on,
some without clothes on,
some were burned.

Just 27 people
survived the crash of Delta 191.

Help! Over here!

137 people are killed.

I had seen
death before as a medic
in Vietnam,

But it had never been aimed
at civilians,

and certainly not on a mass
casualty situation

and certainly not this suddenly.

JOHN McCARTHY: It's hard
to blame the Air crew.

Their job is to avoid
thunderstorms

and there's probably a forecast

for thunderstorms every day
at Dallas in the summertime.

Which ones do you avoid?

And, it's, you know, it's
It's a very difficult problem.

After the crash
of Delta 191, the Federal
Aviation Administration races

to develop technology
that can prevent microbursts
from killing again.

If there is
one crash that we can look back
on now,

and say this made things safer,

because we learned from it.

It was Delta 191.

One of the most
important lessons,

that the technology
in use at the time
simply wasn't good enough.

What we found out is
that Doppler radar,
which is on the ground,

is incredibly effective
in detecting microbursts.

Unlike weather radar
in use at the time of the crash
of Delta 191,

Doppler radar can also detect
the direction of winds
inside a storm.

And if you look through
the Doppler radar,

you see a part of it that
is going away from the radar,

and a part that's coming
towards the radar.

And if it's small,
It's absolutely a microburst.

It can be nothing else.

So it has what we call
an unambiguous signature
of a microburst,

which means, we got it.

When the Doppler
radar system at an airport
detects a microburst,

it sends an alert
to air traffic controllers.

The controllers relay
the warning to pilots
on approach.

Flight 236 microburst alert.

Flight 095,
one mile final, say intentions.

After the crash of Delta 191

Terminal Doppler Weather Radar
was installed in airports

across the United States.

Dallas Fort Worth
was one of the first
to apply the system.

But technology is only
one link in the chain.

Sometimes even with all
the right information,

pilots make
disastrous decisions.

There's your big wadiddily.

Yeah, we got to
get over there real quick.

This December day
has been a long one

for thousands of airline
passengers across North America.

A winter storm is moving across
the southeastern United States.

The meteorologists at the
Aviation Weather Center

have shut down
a large area of airspace.

Hundreds of flights
have been grounded

or forced to divert
around the storm.

But shutting down that airspace
doesn't take the pressure off.

If thunderstorms do start
to develop and become
very strong and organized,

we can't let that distract us
from other hazards,

such as icing, turbulence
or even strong surface winds
or low-level wind shear.

The meteorologists
here can see troubling
weather ahead

and let pilots know
how to avoid it.

But sometimes what pilots do
with that information
can lead to disaster.

June, the 1st 1999,

American Airlines Flight 1420
has been delayed by weather.

Dispatch please...

Yeah, it's Michael Origell.

Storms threaten
this flight's destination,

Little Rock National Airport
in Arkansas.

The pilots of 1420
had received a briefing
from their dispatch department

about all of
the thunderstorm activity

that they were going
to encounter between
Dallas and Little Rock.

They were also warned
about the fact that

because of the fast moving
weather system

that they would be entering
into an area called

or what was characterized
as the "bowling alley".

Two hours
behind schedule, the pilots
decide to make the flight.

They race to fly through a gap
in the storm system.

Whoa! Looks like it's moving
this way, though.

Yeah, just some lightning
straight ahead.

I think we're going
to be okay, though.

Right there.

Right down
the bowling alley.

As my friends would say,
California cool.

Cool. Peachy.

Exactly.

If they don't
make it in time,

they will either have to divert
to another airport

or land in severe
weather conditions.

They were made aware
by dispatchers that
they were going to have

to get into this alley
or this area of clear weather,

and they didn't have
a lot of time to do it.

But as they near
the airport, the weather
gets even worse.

American 1420
it appears like we have

the second part of this storm
moving through.

The wind now is

three four zero at one six.
Gusts, three four.

Okay. Did you notice something?

Did you see the airport there?

- Where?
- There okay.

Right. you're on a base for it.

Okay?
It's It's right there.

But I'm on a base now.

It's... It's like a dog leg.

We're coming in,
and there it is, right there.

I lost it, and I don't see
how we can maintain visual.

The plane
was rocking and rolling
at that point.

It was pretty doggone unstable.

I don't know what made me aware,
so doggone aware,

that we were going
to have a problem.

I don't know what did that.

One of the things
that we analyzed

was a statement by the captain

that was recorded
on the cockpit voice recorder.

See, I hate droning
around visual
at night in weather

without having any clue
where we are.

It gave us an indication that
they didn't have
situational awareness.

They didn't really
understand the gravity,

the environment
that they were flying into.

American 1420.

Right now we have
heavy rain on the airport.

I don't have a new weather
for you. But visibility
is less than a mile.

And the runway four
right RVR is 3,000.

As the pilots
of American Airlines Flight
1420 attempt to land,

visibility has been reduced
even further.

The wind now
is three five zero three zero.
Gusts, four five.

Can we land?

Zero three zero at four
five. American 1420.

Three thousand RVR?
We can't land on that.

- No, 3,000--
- What do we need?

No. It's twenty-four
hundred RVR.

Okay. Right.

Yeah, we're fine.

The stress level of a pilot
increases,

especially in an environment
where there's thunderstorms,

only because multiple decisions
are having to be made

in very short periods of time.

Uh, fifteen.

Landing gear down.

Lights please.

The pilots
could divert to another airport,

but they decide
to attempt the landing.

Air traffic controllers
have detected

a dangerous crosswind
on the runway.

Windshear alert
on center field wind.

3-5-0 at 3-2. Gusts 4-5.

North Boundary
wind 3-1-0 at 2-9.

Northeast boundary wind
3-2-0 at 3-2.

Thousand feet. Twenty.
Forty-forty land.

This is a can of worms.

Wind is
3-3-0 at 2-8.

I'm going
to stay above it a little.

There's a runway
off to your right. Got it?

- No.
- I got
the runway in sight.

- You're right on course.
- I got it! I got it!

Winds 3-3-0 at 2-3.

Damn! We're off course.
- No, I can't see it.

- Way off!
- I can't see anything.

- Got it?
- Got it.

With winds pounding
the airport and the runways
slick with rain,

the pilots
make their final approach.

Forty,

thirty,

twenty,

ten...

We're down, we're sliding.

Oh! no.

They lose
control of the aircraft
as they speed down the runway.

Put on the brakes!

Other one.

The plane runs off
the end of the runway

and crashes
into several steel columns.

Well, I knew
I was not going to die
in that thing.

I got out of that plane,
probably in ten seconds.

It was like being in a war.

Go, go, go.

But not everyone
is so lucky.

11 people are
killed in the crash
of American Airlines Flight 1420

including Captain
Richard Bushman.

Did they really know
what they were getting
themselves into?

That was a key point for us
as investigators.

They went into an environment

that was detrimental
to their safety.

The National
Transportation Safety Board
rules that the pilot's decision

to land at Little Rock Airport
was the primary cause
of the accident.

On the day of the crash,
the pilots of Flight 1420

had to rely on controllers
to relay information

about conditions on the runway.

At the Aviation Weather Center.

meteorologists are trying
to get rid of that middle man.

We can provide a picture
right in the cockpit,

and the pilot can navigate
looking at a picture,

as opposed to trying
to translate some words

that they've heard
read to them over radio.

They can see what the hazards
are going to be in relation

to aircraft and start making
decisions immediately

as opposed to decoding, drawing
where that hazard is,

thinking about where they are
in relation to the hazard,

and then trying to make
that decision,
it will speed up the process.

Throughout the day,
meteorologists in this room

have been tracking a band
of fierce thunderstorms

in the southern United States.

Those storms are beginning
to die down.

Meteorologists have started
to reopen airspace

they had previously closed.

Air traffic is returning
to normal.

The most active
convective weather

was over eastern North Carolina
and southward.

Now there is a lot of
lower topped precipitation

that doesn't have thunderstorms.

And they're more than likely
if they're going up

across western North Carolina
and in central Virginia,

they're able to pretty much
fly over that weather.

The thunderstorms
in the Southern United States
are dying down.

But the meteorologists
are now keeping a close eye

on a very dangerous
new development.

A volcano
south of the United States.

Volcanic ash clouds
can be a hazard

and do a lot of damage
to the aircraft and to engines.

Nolan Duke is tracking
weather over the Gulf of Mexico.

This is Soufriere Hills,
this is near Antigua.

in the Windward Islands,

South, Southeast of Puerto Rico,

and, it blew its stack.

Soufriere Hills
volcano has been venting
ash for the past week.

The volcanic ash cloud
it's been releasing

could prove deadly
if pilots were to fly
through it.

The Aviation Weather Center
has issued a SIGMET

to keep planes away
from the plume.

Each one
of these frames is an hour.

And by sunrise,

the volcanic ash cloud

is this little milky region
right in here.

Sometimes it's very difficult

to discern
between the ash clouds
and the meteorological clouds,

but a well-trained eye
with a lot of experience

will see this ash cloud.

We have 30,000 people
living on platforms,

drilling platforms out here
at any given time.

And they have 650 helicopters

that fly every day
over the northern Gulf
of Mexico

delivering people, materials
and food

to keep these drilling
operations going.

We thought it would end
yesterday and they forecasted it
to puff and and disappear,

but it's still going today.

As long as we can see
the ash plume,

we will continue to issue
the SIGMET.

Unlike ash
that you might see in a chimney

or after a fire in a forest,

this is not soft material
at all.

This is very fine ground up
particles

of solid rock and minerals.

But that fine dust
has the power to stop
a 300 ton airliner.

On June the 24th, 1982,

the devastating effects
of an ash cloud took the crew

of a British Airways jet
completely by surprise.

CO-PILOT: Barry and I,
were just sitting there
minding the shop.

Pitch dark night, of course.

And then we started to get
these pinpricks of light
on the... on the windscreen.

Mount Galunggung
on the island of Java
has erupted,

but no warnings
have been issued to pilots.

When the 747 flies
into the cloud,

it collides with the volcanic
ash particles inside.

The friction creates a bright,
shimmering glow
on the windscreen.

Because it's such a dry environment
up there,

that frictional electrification
produces the glow

that we refer to
as St. Elmo's Fire.

Same on my side.

But the crew
had no idea
what they were looking at.

This light show, if you like,
had become more intense.

In fact, we ended up
sitting there with...
with two sheets

of brilliant white light
in front of us
in place of the windscreens.

Passengers aboard
the flight also see

a strange glow
around the plane's jet engines.

Smoke begins to seep
into the cabin around them.

Volcanic ash has been sucked
into the aircraft's ventilation
system.

With ash particles
clouding the cabin
and the aircraft lit up,

the volcanic cloud
deals it's most deadly blow.

Engine failure, number four.

Fire action, number four.

The ash
has snuffed out

one of the jet's
four massive engines.

Closed. Start level off.

There were huge flames
coming out of the back
of the engines.

20, some people
said 40 feet long,

shooting out of the back
of all the engines.

Is it going to penetrate
from the outside
of the aircraft?

Is it going to come
into the cabin?

Are we going to burn to death?

Are we going to choke
to death on the smoke?

Number two engine's gone.

All right then, begin
the engine shut-down drill.

No, wait!

They've all gone.
All four engines have failed.

The other three
just went out
almost immediately.

And that's when it begins
to be a serious emergency.

In a minute
and a half we've gone from...

four engines running normally
to having none.

The 747 is suddenly
powerless, and it's quickly
falling to the sea.

Starting the engines has become
the crew's only priority.

But volcanic ash is making
that task impossible.

The temperatures in the
combustion chamber

where this ash's flowing through
is around 2000 degree
centigrade.

And so the volcanic ash
we know melts at about
1300-1400 degrees.

The volcanic ash
transforms into molten goo
within the jet engines.

The material blocks
key air passages

and causes the engines
to surge and shut down.

We got
a fundamental disturbance
of the air flow

in the main core of the engine
which caused the engines
to backfire.

And the engines flamed out,
and that was the cause
of the problem.

Roger, declare emergency.

Mayday. Mayday. Mayday.
Speed bird Nine.

We have lost all four engines
out of 370.

Without the engines,
the 747 begins to fall
from the sky.

At an altitude of 35,000 feet,

the pilots have
less than half an hour

before their aircraft will crash
into the Indian Ocean.

All right, Begin Restart drill.
Battery.

Check on.

The standard restart
drill takes three minutes
to complete.

Anything...
anything?

- No.
- Again.

All right then, from the top.
Battery.

The crew will have
fewer than ten attempts
to start the engines.

Fire switch.

In.

British Airways flight
009's dead engines

are having an effect
inside the cabin.

The engines usually maintain
air pressure.

Without them,
the pressure is dropping.

Passengers are having
difficulty breathing.

Breathe normally,
but not deeply.

- Standby power.
- Open.

- Cross feed valve.
- In.

- Fire switch.
- Closed.

We haven't had any success
with the drill at all.

And despite all the efforts
we were putting in,

but it was the only thing
we had left to cling on to.

So that's what we did.

- From the top
again. Battery.
- Check. On.

Standby ignition.
- On.

Start lever.
On.

All right.
Are we getting something?

It's not starting.

I knew
it was so difficult
to land airplanes on the sea.

Even when you had
everything going for you.

And I thought that well,
we haven't got much
going for us here.

I'd never done it before.

Ladies and gentlemen,
this is your captain speaking.

We have a small problem.

All four engines have stopped.

We're doing our damnedest
to get it under control.

I trust
you're not in too much distress.

All right,
from the top then. Battery.

- Check. On.
- Standby pump.

On.

- Start lever?
Well, anything?
- No.

All right, then,
From the top again, battery.

We had very few chances left
of starting the engines

before having to turn out
to to sea again

because we wouldn't have been
able to clear the the mountains

on the south coast of Java,

Then, with just
12,000 feet

separating British Airways
Flight 009 from the ocean...

engine number four
roars to life.

Engine four back on line.

The noise a Rolls Royce
engine makes when it starts up

is low rumbling noise, you know?

And it was it was just, well,
it was wonderful to hear it.

The glass
is now half full
it's not half empty.

We're now in with a real chance,
and I'll tell you what,

the three of us
would have dragged that airplane
around the whole island of Java.

- Thrust lever.
- Closed.

- Start lever?
- Cut off.

- Fuel pressure?
- Available.

Standby ignition on.

Start lever on.

Engine three, back online,

I can't believe it.

Engines one and two
both back on line.

As soon as
you came out of the volcanic ash

and the engines
were not running, remember,

so everything cooled down.

It was enough for this stuff
to break off

and allow the engines
to restart.

We say, right,
let's get this thing
on the ground

as quickly as we can.

Ladies and gentlemen,
this is your captain speaking.

We seem to have overcome
that problem

and have managed
to start all the engines.

We are diverting to Jakarta
and expect to land
in about 15 minutes.

British Airways
flight 009 landed safely.

No one was injured,
and an important lesson
was learned.

We have learned
quite a bit,

and we've incorporated
this learning
into pilot training.

Pilots now, for example,
know what signs to look for.

After British Airways
Flight 009's emergency landing
in Jakarta,

communications were improved
between the geologists

who watch volcanoes
on the ground

and the pilots
who must avoid the ash clouds.

During the day,
they are plainly visible
to pilots.

and then at nighttime,

they're relying a lot
on their on board radar.

And that's not going
to detect volcanic ash.

Anything on the radar?

No.

So they're completely
blind to it.

They just blindly fly
right into the ash cloud.

Today,
meteorologists were forced
to shut down airspace

due to violent thunderstorms
and volcanic ash.

The weather on the East Coast
is now clearing,

and the volcanic plume
is starting to thin.

We never really
seemed to get a break
where we can sit back

and put our feet
on the desk and relax.

There's always something going,
and there's always
the next storm

coming down the pipeline and
and we've got to address it.

The next storm
has begun to appear.

Pilots in the Seattle region
are calling in with reports
of severe turbulence.

We've got two systems
actually over the West

that we're watching one over now
over Central California

and what looks like it's
a little bit more powerful storm

coming onshore
into Washington and Oregon.

That's certainly going
to be our attention getter
for the next day and a half.

More than
a million people
got on an airplane

on this stormy December day.

Some planes were delayed,

but there wasn't
a single accident
due to weather.

That's the kind of result
these meteorologists
hope for every day.

Ideally, we'd never
have clouds or...

or any type of
a hazardous weather

for pilots and everything
be clear skies
and smooth sailing.

We're here to help people
be safe and...

and when that that duty calls,
we're prepared.

We'll catch our breath today
and get ready for tomorrow.