1 00:00:02,931 --> 00:00:06,310 A crowded 747 has disappeared over the Atlantic. 2 00:00:08,241 --> 00:00:10,482 Air India's not showing up. 3 00:00:10,586 --> 00:00:14,241 Pieces are found scattered on the ocean's surface. 4 00:00:14,344 --> 00:00:18,689 But the vital clues are deeper than any air crash investigation has ever gone. 5 00:00:20,620 --> 00:00:23,620 In this accident, we had nothing. 6 00:00:23,724 --> 00:00:25,482 It was just mind boggling. 7 00:00:27,344 --> 00:00:29,206 An international recovery effort goes 8 00:00:29,310 --> 00:00:32,724 to the very bottom of the sea to rebuild the shattered plane. 9 00:00:34,758 --> 00:00:37,620 What they discover will send shockwaves around the world. 10 00:00:43,344 --> 00:00:44,827 Mayday! Mayday! 11 00:01:03,000 --> 00:01:05,793 Early morning, June the 23rd, 1985. 12 00:01:07,620 --> 00:01:13,103 A 747 flies across the Atlantic Ocean, 9.5 kilometers above the water. 13 00:01:17,137 --> 00:01:19,137 The jumbo jet is nicknamed Kanishka, 14 00:01:20,000 --> 00:01:22,206 after an Indian emperor... 15 00:01:22,310 --> 00:01:26,000 and Air India promises passengers it will be a palace in the sky. 16 00:01:28,758 --> 00:01:30,620 Indian hospitality 17 00:01:30,724 --> 00:01:35,793 is something that the culture prides itself on. 18 00:01:35,896 --> 00:01:38,413 And you do experience that when you fly Air India. 19 00:01:39,689 --> 00:01:41,620 The colors are rich and warm inside... 20 00:01:43,310 --> 00:01:44,689 It's your gateway to India. 21 00:01:46,793 --> 00:01:47,827 On its way from Canada, 22 00:01:49,206 --> 00:01:50,965 the plane is heading to London, England, 23 00:01:51,068 --> 00:01:52,931 before continuing on to New Delhi. 24 00:01:55,137 --> 00:01:57,379 It's been in the air for four-and-a-half hours. 25 00:02:04,758 --> 00:02:08,275 Captain Hanse Narendra is a veteran Air India pilot. 26 00:02:10,827 --> 00:02:13,758 Satwinder Bhinder is a captain, too, 27 00:02:13,862 --> 00:02:15,758 who's serving as first officer on the flight. 28 00:02:17,827 --> 00:02:22,275 As the plane nears land, Bhinder talks with the flight's purser. 29 00:02:26,931 --> 00:02:28,965 - Yes, sir? - Dinshaw. 30 00:02:29,068 --> 00:02:30,206 Do me a small favor. 31 00:02:30,310 --> 00:02:33,724 At the back of the plane, seat 54, a boy is sitting there. 32 00:02:33,827 --> 00:02:35,793 He just wanted to have a look in the cockpit. 33 00:02:35,896 --> 00:02:36,965 Can I send him now? 34 00:02:37,068 --> 00:02:39,344 After about 15-20 minutes. 35 00:02:52,724 --> 00:02:57,172 There are 329 people on board, including passengers and crew. 36 00:02:59,724 --> 00:03:02,827 Many of them are flying to India to visit family or friends. 37 00:03:09,103 --> 00:03:12,137 Vishnu Pada is traveling to India with his two daughters. 38 00:03:14,413 --> 00:03:16,862 Their mother, Lata, is already waiting for them there. 39 00:03:19,000 --> 00:03:21,413 We had decided that it would be the ideal year 40 00:03:21,517 --> 00:03:24,413 to take an extended vacation 41 00:03:24,517 --> 00:03:26,137 in India as a family. 42 00:03:28,551 --> 00:03:31,206 Six minutes after 08:00 in the morning, 43 00:03:31,310 --> 00:03:33,620 co-pilot Bhinder makes radio contact 44 00:03:33,724 --> 00:03:35,137 with Air Traffic Control in Ireland. 45 00:03:36,379 --> 00:03:38,241 Shanwick, Air India 182. Good morning. 46 00:03:43,172 --> 00:03:45,241 Station calling Shannon. Go ahead again, please. 47 00:03:47,310 --> 00:03:49,413 Thomas Lane and Michael Quinn 48 00:03:49,517 --> 00:03:51,206 are working at the Shannon Control Center. 49 00:03:54,551 --> 00:03:59,206 Air India 182 is 51 North, 15 West, at level 310. 50 00:04:01,103 --> 00:04:03,724 Estimate FIR at 07:35. 51 00:04:05,172 --> 00:04:07,896 Air India 182, Shannon, roger. 52 00:04:08,000 --> 00:04:10,896 Cleared for London, flight level 3-1-0. 53 00:04:12,448 --> 00:04:14,827 Air India 182 is clear to London, 54 00:04:14,931 --> 00:04:16,206 maintain 3-1-0. 55 00:04:21,034 --> 00:04:21,896 Do you want to come up front now? 56 00:04:22,000 --> 00:04:23,310 - Yeah. - Okay. 57 00:04:25,413 --> 00:04:26,379 Let's go. 58 00:04:31,931 --> 00:04:34,448 It's a light morning at Shannon Control. 59 00:04:34,551 --> 00:04:37,241 They're dealing with just three planes. 60 00:04:37,344 --> 00:04:38,862 But something peculiar has happened. 61 00:04:41,000 --> 00:04:42,206 The signals are all jumbled up. 62 00:04:44,620 --> 00:04:47,000 The signals on radar merged 63 00:04:47,103 --> 00:04:49,827 so that it was totally impossible 64 00:04:49,931 --> 00:04:52,068 to read the call signs and flight levels 65 00:04:52,172 --> 00:04:54,241 of any of the three aircraft. 66 00:04:56,620 --> 00:05:01,241 The Air India 747 is flying at 31,000 feet. 67 00:05:01,344 --> 00:05:04,482 A TWA jet is several thousand feet above it 68 00:05:04,586 --> 00:05:07,517 and a CP flight is 2,000 feet higher. 69 00:05:08,241 --> 00:05:09,482 All are traveling east. 70 00:05:12,034 --> 00:05:14,655 Because the planes are stacked on top of each other, 71 00:05:14,758 --> 00:05:18,275 the signals have merged on the controllers' two-dimensional screen. 72 00:05:19,344 --> 00:05:21,655 Tom moved a tracker ball on radar 73 00:05:21,758 --> 00:05:24,137 and separated the signals. 74 00:05:29,724 --> 00:05:32,517 Two of the planes reappear on the radar, 75 00:05:32,620 --> 00:05:34,862 but the Air India flight has vanished. 76 00:05:37,206 --> 00:05:38,413 Air India is not showing up. 77 00:05:40,068 --> 00:05:41,034 Hold on a minute. 78 00:05:46,068 --> 00:05:47,655 Air India 182, do you read? 79 00:05:51,206 --> 00:05:54,206 Air India 182, this is Shannon. Do you read? Over. 80 00:05:56,103 --> 00:05:57,689 It's 08:14 in the morning. 81 00:05:59,931 --> 00:06:02,137 I had a gut feeling. 82 00:06:02,241 --> 00:06:05,655 To this day, I don't know why I picked up the phone. 83 00:06:13,068 --> 00:06:15,206 Yes, it's Michael Quinn at Shannon. 84 00:06:15,310 --> 00:06:17,034 We have a plane off-radar. 85 00:06:19,103 --> 00:06:21,517 Normally, a distress call to Search and Rescue 86 00:06:21,620 --> 00:06:24,965 isn't made until a plane has been out of contact for more than 20 minutes. 87 00:06:26,724 --> 00:06:29,793 The Air India flight has been missing less than 60 seconds. 88 00:06:36,758 --> 00:06:41,137 Several ships in the area begin searching for signs of the plane. 89 00:06:41,241 --> 00:06:45,689 Its last known position is some 290 kilometers southwest of Cork. 90 00:06:49,862 --> 00:06:52,551 Just two hours after the plane disappears, 91 00:06:52,655 --> 00:06:56,172 a Canadian owned cargo ship in the area confirms the worst. 92 00:06:57,793 --> 00:07:01,000 The first pieces of wreckage are discovered. 93 00:07:01,103 --> 00:07:04,448 Uninflated life rafts are spotted bobbing in the cold Atlantic. 94 00:07:06,172 --> 00:07:07,413 Then bodies are seen. 95 00:07:10,965 --> 00:07:13,241 It's quickly clear that no one has survived. 96 00:07:17,965 --> 00:07:23,586 In India, Lata Pada is waiting for her husband and two children to arrive, 97 00:07:23,689 --> 00:07:25,517 when she hears the news from her brother, 98 00:07:28,034 --> 00:07:30,827 He sat me down and told me that, 99 00:07:30,931 --> 00:07:33,482 uh, you know, something terrible had happened. 100 00:07:33,586 --> 00:07:39,034 But I was just... uh, in total shock, and... 101 00:07:39,137 --> 00:07:43,724 You know, a part of me was trying to digest the information, 102 00:07:43,827 --> 00:07:45,965 and part of me was trying to imagine 103 00:07:46,965 --> 00:07:49,068 if indeed the worst had happened, 104 00:07:49,172 --> 00:07:51,482 how I was gonna continue my life without them. 105 00:07:57,413 --> 00:07:59,344 Dozens of bodies arrive in Cork. 106 00:08:00,620 --> 00:08:02,000 Many more will follow. 107 00:08:03,379 --> 00:08:06,206 Now investigators are faced with the enormous task 108 00:08:06,310 --> 00:08:09,034 of finding out how they died, 109 00:08:09,137 --> 00:08:13,034 and what had caused the crash of Air India Flight 182. 110 00:08:20,413 --> 00:08:24,068 One hundred and thirty thousand people live in the city of Cork. 111 00:08:25,275 --> 00:08:27,172 Tucked into the southern coast of Ireland, 112 00:08:27,275 --> 00:08:29,068 it's long been a vital seaport. 113 00:08:36,000 --> 00:08:41,620 On June the 23rd, 1985, a gruesome cargo begins arriving at the city's docks. 114 00:08:44,310 --> 00:08:47,896 Just hours after Air India Flight 182 crashes into the sea, 115 00:08:49,241 --> 00:08:51,586 bodies and wreckage are brought in by boat. 116 00:08:54,172 --> 00:08:57,689 Dr. Cuimin Doyle is a pathologist at the Cork Regional Hospital. 117 00:08:59,827 --> 00:09:04,965 The first bodies arrived at 04:45 p.m. on that Sunday afternoon. 118 00:09:05,068 --> 00:09:07,310 And at 12:00 midnight, we had 130 bodies. 119 00:09:10,586 --> 00:09:12,896 Doyle and his team will examine the bodies 120 00:09:13,000 --> 00:09:16,068 to see if they can find any signs of what caused the crash. 121 00:09:18,482 --> 00:09:23,103 It's an enormous undertaking for everybody involved. 122 00:09:23,206 --> 00:09:26,137 The hospital personnel, the... 123 00:09:26,241 --> 00:09:29,689 the police, the Navy, the Army, and... 124 00:09:29,793 --> 00:09:31,862 pathologists like ourselves, but, 125 00:09:31,965 --> 00:09:33,241 we just had to get on and do the job. 126 00:09:40,862 --> 00:09:43,517 There are so many autopsies to perform, 127 00:09:43,620 --> 00:09:45,965 that Doyle moves the work into the building's gym. 128 00:09:48,172 --> 00:09:52,068 We had three police people working on each body. 129 00:09:52,172 --> 00:09:56,758 Photographer, a ballistics expert, and a forensic odontologist. 130 00:09:56,862 --> 00:10:00,896 That is a person who examines the teeth, the face... 131 00:10:01,000 --> 00:10:02,655 for identification purposes. 132 00:10:05,241 --> 00:10:06,620 In just four days, 133 00:10:06,724 --> 00:10:10,310 autopsies are performed on 132 victims. 134 00:10:13,068 --> 00:10:17,275 All parts of the body were examined externally in detail, 135 00:10:17,379 --> 00:10:20,137 and every... every detail was noted down. 136 00:10:24,758 --> 00:10:28,551 We were looking, of course, for the causes of the fatalities. 137 00:10:31,034 --> 00:10:33,275 Doyle makes a telling discovery. 138 00:10:33,379 --> 00:10:35,586 Almost all the victims died in the air. 139 00:10:38,655 --> 00:10:42,241 Only two of the bodies showed signs of drowning, 140 00:10:42,344 --> 00:10:44,758 which indicated that the others 141 00:10:44,862 --> 00:10:47,827 were... were not breathing when they hit the water. 142 00:10:50,655 --> 00:10:54,310 There's something else that's common to many of the victims. 143 00:10:54,413 --> 00:10:57,137 A large number have had their clothes torn off. 144 00:10:59,241 --> 00:11:03,206 Now that was important because if they had no clothes or little clothes, 145 00:11:03,310 --> 00:11:05,620 it indicated that they had fallen 146 00:11:05,724 --> 00:11:08,793 from 31,000 feet or so, 147 00:11:10,000 --> 00:11:11,896 where this accident occurred. 148 00:11:14,448 --> 00:11:19,482 Some of the bodies also have signs of so-called flail injuries. 149 00:11:19,586 --> 00:11:23,655 These are breaks specific to bones in the hips, shoulders, and other joints. 150 00:11:27,137 --> 00:11:30,965 H.S. Khola is the lead investigator into the Air India disaster. 151 00:11:33,241 --> 00:11:35,344 The flail injuries tell him the passengers 152 00:11:35,448 --> 00:11:38,551 weren't in the plane when it hit the ocean. 153 00:11:38,655 --> 00:11:43,896 They are caused by tumbling, violent motion of the body in air. 154 00:11:44,000 --> 00:11:46,482 And that is the pattern of the injuries 155 00:11:46,586 --> 00:11:49,689 when a passenger is thrown out of the aircraft at a high altitude. 156 00:11:53,137 --> 00:11:56,586 The autopsies show that somehow the plane had been ripped apart 157 00:11:56,689 --> 00:11:57,965 high above the water. 158 00:12:00,896 --> 00:12:04,724 Passengers were thrown into the sky long before the plane crashed. 159 00:12:07,551 --> 00:12:09,724 Based on the injuries, 160 00:12:09,827 --> 00:12:11,551 we could only say that the plane 161 00:12:11,655 --> 00:12:14,793 had broken up at 31,000 feet. 162 00:12:16,896 --> 00:12:20,137 We couldn't say what the cause of the breakup was. 163 00:12:20,241 --> 00:12:22,068 The biggest challenge in this accident 164 00:12:22,172 --> 00:12:24,724 was that we had no physical evidence 165 00:12:24,827 --> 00:12:27,172 available to us in this accident, 166 00:12:27,275 --> 00:12:30,931 in terms of wreckage, in terms of passengers, crew, 167 00:12:31,034 --> 00:12:32,896 or in terms of eyewitnesses. 168 00:12:35,068 --> 00:12:37,551 In this accident, we had nothing. 169 00:12:40,310 --> 00:12:42,793 The most important job of the investigators 170 00:12:42,896 --> 00:12:45,103 is to try to find the plane's black boxes. 171 00:12:46,241 --> 00:12:48,931 The two devices record cockpit conversation 172 00:12:49,034 --> 00:12:51,862 and other technical information about the flight of the plane. 173 00:12:58,000 --> 00:13:01,413 The recorders have radio beacons which send out a signal 174 00:13:01,517 --> 00:13:02,758 at a designated frequency. 175 00:13:03,931 --> 00:13:05,724 But it's still a huge task. 176 00:13:07,620 --> 00:13:10,793 The boxes are more than 6,500 feet below the surface, 177 00:13:12,482 --> 00:13:15,310 and the radio signals last just 30 days. 178 00:13:17,448 --> 00:13:21,586 Salim Jiwa is a journalist who has investigated the Air India disaster. 179 00:13:22,758 --> 00:13:25,827 The search for the black boxes was urgent. 180 00:13:25,931 --> 00:13:27,862 And, and... 181 00:13:27,965 --> 00:13:29,655 three countries participated in it. 182 00:13:29,758 --> 00:13:32,034 England, Ireland, and India. 183 00:13:34,724 --> 00:13:37,413 But even with such a massive response, 184 00:13:37,517 --> 00:13:38,896 early efforts are frustrated. 185 00:13:40,517 --> 00:13:41,931 Forty-two kilohertz. 186 00:13:42,689 --> 00:13:43,931 It's too high. 187 00:13:45,034 --> 00:13:47,241 Can't be them. 188 00:13:47,344 --> 00:13:50,655 Investigators are picking up radio signals, 189 00:13:50,758 --> 00:13:52,344 but they're at the wrong frequency. 190 00:13:57,379 --> 00:13:59,068 As the search continues, 191 00:13:59,172 --> 00:14:02,793 H.S. Khola and his team study the maintenance history of the plane. 192 00:14:04,000 --> 00:14:06,206 They want to know if an undetected flaw 193 00:14:06,310 --> 00:14:08,379 had caused the jet to come apart in flight. 194 00:14:17,862 --> 00:14:20,793 They uncover a potentially important piece of information. 195 00:14:23,206 --> 00:14:26,137 The Air India jet was flying with five engines, 196 00:14:31,448 --> 00:14:34,000 A 747 normally has four engines. 197 00:14:34,965 --> 00:14:36,310 But it can carry more. 198 00:14:37,724 --> 00:14:40,103 The plane was designed so that it could transport 199 00:14:40,206 --> 00:14:43,724 a malfunctioning engine beneath its wings. 200 00:14:43,827 --> 00:14:47,103 Ground crews can mount the engine to a bracket on the plane. 201 00:14:47,206 --> 00:14:49,793 It's exactly what happened to the Air India jet. 202 00:14:51,620 --> 00:14:54,586 There was an extra engine that a previous flight 203 00:14:54,689 --> 00:15:00,448 had left behind that was mounted on the wing of the aircraft. 204 00:15:00,551 --> 00:15:04,275 The extra engine creates substantial drag on the left side of the plane. 205 00:15:06,103 --> 00:15:08,379 If the pilots don't properly compensate, 206 00:15:08,482 --> 00:15:11,896 the plane will start turning in that direction. 207 00:15:12,000 --> 00:15:15,172 And this hypothesis continued that there is a possibility 208 00:15:15,275 --> 00:15:18,068 that this fifth engine might have caused the breakup of the plane. 209 00:15:20,551 --> 00:15:22,310 In fact, investigators discover 210 00:15:22,413 --> 00:15:25,448 that before the plane took off for London, 211 00:15:25,551 --> 00:15:28,827 the flight engineer noticed problems with the way the engine was attached. 212 00:15:30,862 --> 00:15:33,137 There's a small problem in the fifth engine. 213 00:15:33,241 --> 00:15:34,275 Have asked them to fix it up. 214 00:15:34,896 --> 00:15:35,758 All right. 215 00:15:39,965 --> 00:15:41,724 Investigators also learned that 216 00:15:41,827 --> 00:15:44,000 some internal parts of the extra engine 217 00:15:44,103 --> 00:15:47,482 were taken out and stored in Flight 182's cargo bay. 218 00:15:49,034 --> 00:15:51,793 They are so enormous that pieces of the cargo door 219 00:15:51,896 --> 00:15:55,172 were removed to make the job easier. 220 00:15:55,275 --> 00:15:59,931 Some of the other parts of the engine went into the rear of the aircraft. 221 00:16:00,034 --> 00:16:04,241 Aircraft such as the 747 can handle this quite easily. It's routinely done. 222 00:16:07,137 --> 00:16:10,206 But if the cargo door wasn't reassembled properly, 223 00:16:10,310 --> 00:16:13,068 it could have led to an explosive decompression. 224 00:16:17,931 --> 00:16:22,034 In 1974, a cargo door blew off a Turkish Airlines flight 225 00:16:22,137 --> 00:16:24,000 shortly after it took off from Paris. 226 00:16:25,827 --> 00:16:28,758 The sudden decompression crippled the plane. 227 00:16:28,862 --> 00:16:31,241 It crashed moments later, killing everyone on board. 228 00:16:34,344 --> 00:16:36,241 Khola must consider two theories. 229 00:16:37,172 --> 00:16:38,758 Either problems with the door, 230 00:16:38,862 --> 00:16:41,793 or with the extra engine itself brought down the plane. 231 00:16:45,655 --> 00:16:51,068 If either one had taken place, there should be evidence on the plane's black boxes. 232 00:16:51,172 --> 00:16:53,758 Finding the recorders has become increasingly important. 233 00:16:55,379 --> 00:16:57,862 Almost two weeks after the search begins, 234 00:16:57,965 --> 00:17:02,275 investigators get news that helps them pinpoint the location of the black boxes. 235 00:17:06,103 --> 00:17:07,103 The signal will be higher? 236 00:17:10,517 --> 00:17:12,241 So this 42 kilohertz could be it. 237 00:17:13,379 --> 00:17:15,000 Tell the boats to look again. 238 00:17:17,379 --> 00:17:18,620 The piece of the black box, 239 00:17:18,724 --> 00:17:21,413 which broadcasts the locator signal is made of ceramic. 240 00:17:22,965 --> 00:17:26,206 If it's damaged, the frequency of the signal can change. 241 00:17:28,655 --> 00:17:32,517 It means the strange frequency ships detected earlier 242 00:17:32,620 --> 00:17:34,931 could be the right one. 243 00:17:35,034 --> 00:17:40,517 Both the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder are finally located. 244 00:17:40,620 --> 00:17:44,137 But they're so deep, it's difficult to bring them up. 245 00:17:44,241 --> 00:17:47,620 The aircraft was at 6,000 feet below the sea, 246 00:17:49,000 --> 00:17:52,724 and it was the depth that was sort of defeating. 247 00:17:52,827 --> 00:17:55,586 A deep sea submersible is brought in. 248 00:17:55,689 --> 00:17:57,689 But even with this specialized vehicle, 249 00:17:57,793 --> 00:18:00,724 and with the location of the black boxes known, 250 00:18:00,827 --> 00:18:04,379 it takes four attempts to bring the recorders to the surface. 251 00:18:04,482 --> 00:18:07,310 Estimate FIR at 07:35. 252 00:18:07,413 --> 00:18:10,655 Air India 182, Shannon, roger. Cleared for London... 253 00:18:10,758 --> 00:18:13,310 Lead investigator Khola now has what he hopes 254 00:18:13,413 --> 00:18:15,379 are two vital pieces of the puzzle. 255 00:18:17,103 --> 00:18:18,793 If there's any problem with the aircraft, 256 00:18:18,896 --> 00:18:20,827 the crew will be talking about the problem. 257 00:18:20,931 --> 00:18:22,172 They will not be silent about the problem. 258 00:18:24,068 --> 00:18:26,896 But when he listens to the cockpit voice recorder, 259 00:18:27,000 --> 00:18:28,620 Khola hears nothing unusual. 260 00:18:30,586 --> 00:18:34,724 After the last contact with Air Traffic Control in Shannon, 261 00:18:34,827 --> 00:18:38,103 the voice recorder picks up the crew talking about customs seals. 262 00:18:38,206 --> 00:18:39,551 Custom seals to seal the bar before the arrival... 263 00:18:39,655 --> 00:18:42,310 It's paperwork that has to be completed before landing. 264 00:18:43,862 --> 00:18:45,517 They want about 30 customs seals. 265 00:18:46,206 --> 00:18:47,793 - Customs? - Yeah. 266 00:18:47,896 --> 00:18:50,896 Customs seals to seal the bar before its arrival. 267 00:18:51,000 --> 00:18:52,034 Bar-- 268 00:18:54,482 --> 00:18:56,551 The conversation ends in mid-sentence. 269 00:18:58,655 --> 00:19:02,724 That was it. And then everything was, of course, silent. 270 00:19:02,827 --> 00:19:04,827 The cockpit voice recorder indicated that there was 271 00:19:04,931 --> 00:19:07,413 no abnormality in the cockpit. 272 00:19:07,517 --> 00:19:09,482 No... No emergency. 273 00:19:09,586 --> 00:19:11,000 Every conversation was normal. 274 00:19:15,551 --> 00:19:18,551 The plane's flight data recorder tells a similar story. 275 00:19:20,724 --> 00:19:23,827 Khola pours through details about Air India's speed, 276 00:19:23,931 --> 00:19:26,689 altitude, and dozens of other pieces of information. 277 00:19:30,586 --> 00:19:33,551 The extra engine did cause the plane to bank slightly. 278 00:19:33,655 --> 00:19:37,724 And the jet's rudder was turned 11 degrees to the right. 279 00:19:37,827 --> 00:19:40,103 But this was exactly what the crew needed to do 280 00:19:40,206 --> 00:19:42,655 to offset the drag created by the fifth engine. 281 00:19:45,793 --> 00:19:49,000 We found that all parameters of the aircraft, 282 00:19:49,103 --> 00:19:51,379 aircraft altitude, aircraft heading, 283 00:19:51,482 --> 00:19:54,517 aircraft bank attitude, roll attitude, auto-pilot engage... 284 00:19:54,620 --> 00:19:57,620 Everything was working normally till the last point. 285 00:20:00,172 --> 00:20:02,482 After analyzing both black boxes, 286 00:20:02,586 --> 00:20:05,896 Khola can't find any evidence that the plane was in trouble 287 00:20:06,000 --> 00:20:08,068 before it suddenly disappeared from radar. 288 00:20:09,551 --> 00:20:12,310 But the very lack of evidence does suggest something. 289 00:20:16,172 --> 00:20:20,137 Both recorders get their power from the plane's engines. 290 00:20:20,241 --> 00:20:25,862 Both stopped at exactly 40 minutes and one second after 08:00 in the morning. 291 00:20:25,965 --> 00:20:29,103 Since the recorders stopped working at the same time, 292 00:20:29,206 --> 00:20:31,724 the problem on the plane had to be catastrophic enough 293 00:20:31,827 --> 00:20:35,448 to sever the jet's electronic system before the crew could react. 294 00:20:35,551 --> 00:20:38,482 Yeah, customs seals to seal the bar before its arrival. 295 00:20:39,275 --> 00:20:40,137 Bar-- 296 00:20:45,896 --> 00:20:47,862 Investigators are becoming convinced 297 00:20:47,965 --> 00:20:50,931 that there are only two possible explanations for the crash. 298 00:20:52,586 --> 00:20:56,000 A devastating decompression, or a bomb. 299 00:20:59,310 --> 00:21:03,413 They study the wreckage that's been found floating on the surface of the ocean. 300 00:21:03,517 --> 00:21:07,551 But it's just a small percentage of the entire plane, 301 00:21:07,655 --> 00:21:10,551 and none of it is helpful to investigators. 302 00:21:10,655 --> 00:21:13,827 It offers no clues to explain why the plane crashed. 303 00:21:14,827 --> 00:21:16,862 We knew there was no fire. 304 00:21:16,965 --> 00:21:19,137 We knew the aircraft was performing well. 305 00:21:19,241 --> 00:21:23,586 Everything was normal. There was no cockpit emergency, no warning. 306 00:21:23,689 --> 00:21:25,482 We got elimination of all the things, 307 00:21:25,586 --> 00:21:27,379 but we did not got the answer as what happened. 308 00:21:30,103 --> 00:21:32,931 We have to go to the cause of the accident. 309 00:21:33,034 --> 00:21:35,758 We had to go to the wreckage, 310 00:21:35,862 --> 00:21:37,275 which was lying at the bottom of the sea. 311 00:21:40,310 --> 00:21:43,034 But what parts of the plane should investigators focus on? 312 00:21:44,482 --> 00:21:47,034 The black boxes were equipped with radio transmitters, 313 00:21:47,137 --> 00:21:48,862 which made them easier to find. 314 00:21:51,172 --> 00:21:53,689 But the debris field is deep underwater 315 00:21:53,793 --> 00:21:56,482 and enormous, some 16 kilometers long, 316 00:21:57,724 --> 00:21:59,793 and six kilometers across. 317 00:21:59,896 --> 00:22:04,413 How do investigators identify the one clue that will help them unlock the mystery? 318 00:22:06,620 --> 00:22:10,586 Roy Truman is an underwater salvage expert. 319 00:22:10,689 --> 00:22:14,517 He's brought in to do something that's never been done before. 320 00:22:14,620 --> 00:22:18,034 Retrieve the ruined pieces of a jumbo jet from the bottom of the ocean. 321 00:22:20,586 --> 00:22:23,034 In hundreds of thousands of pieces, 322 00:22:23,137 --> 00:22:26,482 he needs to find the ones that will explain why the plane crashed. 323 00:22:28,758 --> 00:22:32,551 Up until that time, we had only been used 324 00:22:32,655 --> 00:22:35,034 with recovering small aircraft. 325 00:22:35,137 --> 00:22:38,862 Here we're talking about a 747, which was huge, 326 00:22:38,965 --> 00:22:45,103 and we had no idea of the size of the pieces and what we were gonna find. 327 00:22:45,206 --> 00:22:49,655 Investigators know they can't bring the entire wreck to the surface. 328 00:22:49,758 --> 00:22:54,310 It's so deep it takes hours to recover a single piece. 329 00:22:54,413 --> 00:22:58,137 The submersible takes underwater video and still photos. 330 00:22:58,241 --> 00:23:03,448 Investigators use those to decide which pieces to bring to the surface. 331 00:23:03,551 --> 00:23:07,620 It was a narrow corridor, and at each end of the corridor 332 00:23:07,724 --> 00:23:09,137 it was very light wreckage. 333 00:23:10,310 --> 00:23:11,275 All of the heavy stuff, 334 00:23:11,379 --> 00:23:14,862 engines, main aircraft structure, was... 335 00:23:14,965 --> 00:23:17,655 was in the middle of the wreckage field. 336 00:23:21,586 --> 00:23:25,034 Like searching for a needle in an underwater haystack, 337 00:23:25,137 --> 00:23:29,586 investigators hope to discover the cause of the crash in a tangle of ruined metal. 338 00:23:32,793 --> 00:23:34,724 But autumn is coming. 339 00:23:34,827 --> 00:23:36,620 Soon, the weather will turn bad, 340 00:23:36,724 --> 00:23:38,344 and they'll have to abandon their search. 341 00:23:40,068 --> 00:23:42,137 The key to unlocking the disaster 342 00:23:42,241 --> 00:23:44,793 still lies somewhere at the bottom of the ocean. 343 00:23:51,310 --> 00:23:54,551 Investigators from India are scouring the ocean floor, 344 00:23:54,655 --> 00:23:58,896 trying to find out why Air India Flight 182 fell from the sky. 345 00:24:02,689 --> 00:24:06,586 As the work continues in Ireland, there's growing suspicion in Canada 346 00:24:06,689 --> 00:24:09,000 that the Air India crash was no accident. 347 00:24:11,689 --> 00:24:15,896 As police and investigators sift through the list of passengers on the plane, 348 00:24:16,000 --> 00:24:17,275 they find something peculiar. 349 00:24:20,206 --> 00:24:23,586 Many of the passengers who were on Air India Flight 182 350 00:24:23,689 --> 00:24:25,448 began their day in Vancouver. 351 00:24:27,551 --> 00:24:31,206 They were using another plane to connect to Flight 182. 352 00:24:31,310 --> 00:24:34,482 One of the passengers who bought a ticket for that plane 353 00:24:35,551 --> 00:24:36,448 never got on. 354 00:24:37,620 --> 00:24:39,310 Well, the passenger, um... 355 00:24:39,413 --> 00:24:41,517 we have never identified him per se, 356 00:24:41,620 --> 00:24:45,413 but the ticket identified him as M. Singh. 357 00:24:45,517 --> 00:24:48,827 Uh, it simply had an initial but no full name. 358 00:24:48,931 --> 00:24:52,034 Uh, we believe that name to be... was fictitious... 359 00:24:52,137 --> 00:24:53,862 And that the person never intended to travel. 360 00:24:56,689 --> 00:24:58,275 While he never boarded the plane, 361 00:24:59,034 --> 00:25:00,689 M. Singh did check in. 362 00:25:02,724 --> 00:25:03,862 Next, please. 363 00:25:04,586 --> 00:25:06,172 New York to Toronto? 364 00:25:06,275 --> 00:25:07,758 And I want my bag checked through to Delhi. 365 00:25:09,413 --> 00:25:10,586 Sir, I can't do that. 366 00:25:10,689 --> 00:25:12,517 Your reservation is only confirmed to Toronto. 367 00:25:13,241 --> 00:25:14,896 Oh, I am confirmed. 368 00:25:15,000 --> 00:25:17,034 This is my ticket. 369 00:25:17,137 --> 00:25:19,172 Jeannie Adams is a ticket agent 370 00:25:19,275 --> 00:25:21,000 working for Canadian Pacific. 371 00:25:21,758 --> 00:25:24,068 Mr. Singh... 372 00:25:24,172 --> 00:25:25,620 You are on standby to Delhi. I can't. 373 00:25:25,724 --> 00:25:28,482 But then I have to pick up my bag. 374 00:25:30,517 --> 00:25:32,137 I can't check your bags through to India 375 00:25:32,241 --> 00:25:33,793 if you are not confirmed. 376 00:25:33,896 --> 00:25:35,758 But I am indeed confirmed. 377 00:25:36,758 --> 00:25:38,793 Wait. I'll get my brother. 378 00:25:38,896 --> 00:25:40,862 He'll tell you. 379 00:25:40,965 --> 00:25:43,862 There are as many as 30 people waiting to check in. 380 00:25:43,965 --> 00:25:45,172 Sir, your reservation is only confirmed... 381 00:25:45,275 --> 00:25:48,344 Adams doesn't have time to wait for the man's brother. 382 00:25:48,448 --> 00:25:51,379 Uh, okay, okay. I'll check it through. 383 00:25:51,482 --> 00:25:53,620 But you have to check with Air India when you get to Toronto. 384 00:26:01,379 --> 00:26:03,448 Your seat is 10-B. 385 00:26:03,551 --> 00:26:05,586 Even though Singh doesn't have a ticket 386 00:26:05,689 --> 00:26:08,758 taking him to India, his bag is checked straight through. 387 00:26:09,689 --> 00:26:11,379 His luggage is loaded. 388 00:26:11,482 --> 00:26:14,310 But no one notices that Singh never boards the plane 389 00:26:14,413 --> 00:26:15,482 that leaves Vancouver. 390 00:26:17,482 --> 00:26:19,241 She broke the rules as they were. 391 00:26:19,344 --> 00:26:21,448 She should not have allowed that 392 00:26:21,551 --> 00:26:24,896 to go through for a New Delhi interline. 393 00:26:25,000 --> 00:26:28,793 But she was so bullied and so browbeaten 394 00:26:28,896 --> 00:26:31,379 by Mr. Singh in front of everybody else, 395 00:26:31,482 --> 00:26:35,793 that I think, to her eternal sadness and... and heartbreak, 396 00:26:35,896 --> 00:26:37,172 um, she gave in. 397 00:26:40,034 --> 00:26:42,689 Singh's marooned bag didn't raise any concerns 398 00:26:42,793 --> 00:26:45,034 when it was loaded in Vancouver. 399 00:26:45,137 --> 00:26:47,413 Since the Air India flight was international, 400 00:26:47,517 --> 00:26:49,724 when the bag arrived in Toronto, 401 00:26:49,827 --> 00:26:52,241 it faced a more strict series of inspections. 402 00:26:56,655 --> 00:26:58,034 This is what it will sound like. 403 00:27:04,310 --> 00:27:07,931 John de Souza is a security officer for Air India. 404 00:27:08,034 --> 00:27:11,758 The day of the flight, he demonstrated a portable explosives detector 405 00:27:11,862 --> 00:27:13,310 for baggage handlers in Toronto. 406 00:27:14,896 --> 00:27:17,310 Chemicals in a match triggered the device, 407 00:27:17,413 --> 00:27:19,310 as would chemicals used in some explosives. 408 00:27:20,517 --> 00:27:21,379 Okay? 409 00:27:25,413 --> 00:27:28,931 The portable device was put to use because the X-ray machine, 410 00:27:29,034 --> 00:27:33,000 which normally scans every piece of luggage, had broken down. 411 00:27:33,103 --> 00:27:36,206 The technology, especially the X-ray technology, 412 00:27:36,310 --> 00:27:39,724 were very... very weak, 413 00:27:39,827 --> 00:27:45,172 very in their infancy at that time, and it didn't work reliably. 414 00:27:45,275 --> 00:27:48,482 And in the case of the Air India episode, 415 00:27:49,689 --> 00:27:51,827 the technology went quite badly wrong, 416 00:27:51,931 --> 00:27:53,931 which was one of the tragedies of this situation. 417 00:27:55,931 --> 00:28:00,103 As security workers use the portable explosives wand on the bags, 418 00:28:00,206 --> 00:28:03,655 everything seemed normal until they got to the maroon bag. 419 00:28:09,034 --> 00:28:11,482 The bag did trigger the device. 420 00:28:11,586 --> 00:28:13,551 But the sound it made was very different 421 00:28:13,655 --> 00:28:15,931 from the one workers heard during the demonstration. 422 00:28:18,551 --> 00:28:21,827 The bag was passed and allowed on board the plane, 423 00:28:21,931 --> 00:28:23,379 eventually flying towards England. 424 00:28:37,965 --> 00:28:40,620 As Air India Flight 182 flies 425 00:28:40,724 --> 00:28:44,137 over the Atlantic Ocean carrying M. Singh's bag, 426 00:28:44,241 --> 00:28:47,379 an explosion rips through Tokyo's Narita Airport. 427 00:28:49,758 --> 00:28:51,862 Two baggage handlers are killed. 428 00:28:51,965 --> 00:28:53,896 Four people are injured. 429 00:28:54,000 --> 00:28:56,724 A bomb has been hidden inside another piece of luggage 430 00:28:56,827 --> 00:28:58,379 that came from Vancouver. 431 00:29:00,103 --> 00:29:02,793 Luggage that was bound for another Air India jet. 432 00:29:04,310 --> 00:29:07,448 And it was headed for the cargo hold 433 00:29:07,551 --> 00:29:09,896 when it exploded on the ground. 434 00:29:10,000 --> 00:29:11,724 Once it was put on, the bag was 435 00:29:11,827 --> 00:29:14,758 probably just thumped a little bit, and... 436 00:29:14,862 --> 00:29:16,724 it exploded as the... 437 00:29:16,827 --> 00:29:18,344 the two Japanese baggage handlers 438 00:29:18,448 --> 00:29:19,448 were putting it on a conveyor belt. 439 00:29:22,000 --> 00:29:26,275 Just as on Flight 182, one of the bags being moved in Tokyo, 440 00:29:26,379 --> 00:29:29,344 was checked in by a passenger who never boarded the flight. 441 00:29:32,103 --> 00:29:37,000 There was no X-ray machines in use at Vancouver Airport. 442 00:29:37,103 --> 00:29:39,793 There was nothing to stop that bag from flying to Tokyo. 443 00:29:42,758 --> 00:29:44,379 There's a disturbing connection 444 00:29:44,482 --> 00:29:47,068 between the Tokyo bombing and the Air India flight. 445 00:29:48,413 --> 00:29:50,827 The tickets for the men who checked both bags 446 00:29:50,931 --> 00:29:53,896 were bought on the same day by the same customer. 447 00:29:58,034 --> 00:30:00,965 The single crash of Air India Flight 182 448 00:30:01,068 --> 00:30:03,965 has suddenly become part of a much larger story. 449 00:30:13,034 --> 00:30:15,758 With the apparent connection between the two incidents, 450 00:30:15,862 --> 00:30:19,965 investigators in Ireland are extremely interested in what police find in Tokyo. 451 00:30:22,103 --> 00:30:26,344 Soon after the bombing, forensic experts descend on Japan's Narita Airport. 452 00:30:28,103 --> 00:30:30,000 There are traces of evidence everywhere. 453 00:30:31,862 --> 00:30:37,275 The Narita bombing, um, was within a confined space. 454 00:30:37,379 --> 00:30:40,758 So unlike the Air India Flight 182 situation 455 00:30:40,862 --> 00:30:44,379 where we had debris scattered over nine miles of... 456 00:30:44,482 --> 00:30:47,551 under the ocean and pretty hard to retrieve, 457 00:30:47,655 --> 00:30:51,827 we had the, in a sense, the good fortune 458 00:30:51,931 --> 00:30:58,379 of a contained area where an explosive device went off. 459 00:30:58,482 --> 00:31:03,103 Pieces of metal and circuit boards are embedded in the walls. 460 00:31:03,206 --> 00:31:08,206 Explosive residue clings to parts of the container that housed the bomb. 461 00:31:08,310 --> 00:31:13,586 Amazingly, Japanese forensic experts were able to pick out 462 00:31:13,689 --> 00:31:16,448 tiny parts and fragments and all the analysis 463 00:31:16,551 --> 00:31:20,103 finally led Japanese police to identify the vehicle 464 00:31:20,206 --> 00:31:21,586 that was used to carry the bomb. 465 00:31:24,344 --> 00:31:29,000 Experts even find serial numbers on pieces of the wreckage, 466 00:31:29,103 --> 00:31:33,379 clues that show the bomb was hidden inside a specific stereo tuner 467 00:31:33,482 --> 00:31:34,724 made by Sanyo. 468 00:31:36,793 --> 00:31:39,000 All 2,000 tuners that were ever made 469 00:31:39,103 --> 00:31:42,862 were shipped to a warehouse near Vancouver, British Columbia. 470 00:31:42,965 --> 00:31:45,310 From there, they were sent to stores across the region. 471 00:31:48,551 --> 00:31:52,758 One of those tuners carried the bomb that exploded at Narita. 472 00:31:52,862 --> 00:31:57,068 Police have a difficult task trying to trace the sale of 2,000 tuners. 473 00:32:00,206 --> 00:32:02,413 They could have been sold to anyone. 474 00:32:02,517 --> 00:32:06,034 Most of the stores that had received the tuner had been sold out for years. 475 00:32:09,241 --> 00:32:12,068 But police get a break when they ask about the tuner 476 00:32:12,172 --> 00:32:15,931 at a store in Duncan, a tiny town on Vancouver Island. 477 00:32:16,034 --> 00:32:18,931 The last unit had been sold just a few weeks ago. 478 00:32:20,310 --> 00:32:22,068 They were able to figure out 479 00:32:22,172 --> 00:32:24,827 who bought the stereo tuner which contained the bomb. 480 00:32:28,310 --> 00:32:30,482 Police obtained the same sort of tuner 481 00:32:30,586 --> 00:32:33,620 that was used to house the bomb on Air India. 482 00:32:33,724 --> 00:32:37,275 They conduct tests to see how big the bomb would have to be 483 00:32:37,379 --> 00:32:39,758 to create the sort of damage that was found in Tokyo. 484 00:32:55,931 --> 00:32:58,103 There was a progressive experimentation 485 00:32:58,206 --> 00:32:59,862 using dynamite... 486 00:33:01,103 --> 00:33:05,241 ...to find out the extent of damage 487 00:33:05,344 --> 00:33:07,517 particular strengths of dynamite would cause. 488 00:33:10,551 --> 00:33:14,344 They match the size of the tuner fragments made after each explosion 489 00:33:14,448 --> 00:33:16,793 with the fragments that were found at Narita. 490 00:33:18,413 --> 00:33:21,206 They discover that just a few sticks of dynamite 491 00:33:21,310 --> 00:33:24,000 were likely used in the Tokyo bomb. 492 00:33:24,103 --> 00:33:28,896 But could just four sticks of dynamite really bring down a jet? 493 00:33:29,000 --> 00:33:32,482 Once they discover just how powerful the Narita bomb was, 494 00:33:32,586 --> 00:33:35,310 police place it into a fully loaded luggage container. 495 00:33:40,482 --> 00:33:42,413 The devastation is enormous. 496 00:33:43,448 --> 00:33:46,000 Any decompression caused by an event, 497 00:33:46,103 --> 00:33:49,413 or an explosive device in the luggage hold 498 00:33:49,517 --> 00:33:52,965 would be sufficient to cause catastrophic results for that aircraft. 499 00:33:53,068 --> 00:33:54,241 You don't need much. 500 00:33:54,344 --> 00:33:56,000 Four sticks of dynamite can do the job. 501 00:34:02,068 --> 00:34:05,862 The cramped quarters of a cargo hold amplify the power of a bomb. 502 00:34:07,103 --> 00:34:09,551 Tests conducted at Penn State University 503 00:34:09,655 --> 00:34:12,241 show that the shockwaves created from a bomb blast 504 00:34:12,344 --> 00:34:14,206 don't travel in just one direction, 505 00:34:15,413 --> 00:34:18,206 but reverberate inside a luggage container, 506 00:34:18,310 --> 00:34:19,758 building on each other, 507 00:34:19,862 --> 00:34:22,413 vastly increasing the initial force of the explosion. 508 00:34:24,379 --> 00:34:28,310 If a bomb had indeed exploded in the cargo hold of Air India, 509 00:34:28,413 --> 00:34:30,758 it would have caused enormous amounts of destruction. 510 00:34:35,689 --> 00:34:37,965 It's the sort of damage that should have left its mark 511 00:34:38,068 --> 00:34:39,896 on the remains of Flight 182. 512 00:34:41,965 --> 00:34:44,103 Investigators have a growing suspicion 513 00:34:44,206 --> 00:34:46,206 that this plane was brought down by a bomb. 514 00:34:47,793 --> 00:34:49,827 But they still have no proof. 515 00:34:49,931 --> 00:34:52,793 So the investigators were 516 00:34:52,896 --> 00:34:57,413 not only looking for, uh, 517 00:34:57,517 --> 00:35:01,000 something that was broken that might have caused the failure, but, 518 00:35:01,103 --> 00:35:03,034 they were looking for signs 519 00:35:03,137 --> 00:35:05,620 of what caused the explosion, 520 00:35:05,724 --> 00:35:11,172 such as burning, or solvent stains, 521 00:35:11,275 --> 00:35:14,000 or possibly shrapnel in seats. 522 00:35:14,103 --> 00:35:18,793 It meant a lot tighter scrutiny of every piece of wreckage. 523 00:35:20,206 --> 00:35:22,172 We kept on analyzing each photograph. 524 00:35:22,275 --> 00:35:25,172 Is it giving any indication of an explosion? 525 00:35:25,275 --> 00:35:26,655 Is it giving any impact damage? 526 00:35:29,000 --> 00:35:30,724 Knowing his time is running out, 527 00:35:30,827 --> 00:35:33,448 Khola selects a few key pieces of the plane 528 00:35:33,551 --> 00:35:34,586 to bring to the surface. 529 00:35:37,241 --> 00:35:39,724 Bad weather forces him to leave the rest behind. 530 00:35:41,413 --> 00:35:44,896 Khola hopes the bits he does have can prove there was a bomb on board. 531 00:35:49,000 --> 00:35:51,551 Each piece that's brought up is carefully mapped 532 00:35:51,655 --> 00:35:53,137 to its original position on the jet. 533 00:35:55,379 --> 00:35:57,931 One of the most promising sections brought up from the bottom 534 00:35:58,034 --> 00:36:00,068 is the floor of the front cargo bay. 535 00:36:02,068 --> 00:36:04,551 When we recovered that item, we found 536 00:36:04,655 --> 00:36:08,034 that it had holes which are of a very special nature, 537 00:36:08,137 --> 00:36:10,931 penetration from inside to outside at a very high speed, 538 00:36:11,034 --> 00:36:13,172 curling of the edges of that one. 539 00:36:13,275 --> 00:36:15,931 And that was indicative of, 540 00:36:16,034 --> 00:36:20,103 that perhaps this is the place where the explosion had occurred. 541 00:36:22,827 --> 00:36:25,448 As many as 20 holes are found. 542 00:36:25,551 --> 00:36:28,965 In each, the metal is bent outward, like the petals of a flower. 543 00:36:30,793 --> 00:36:34,862 These are classic signs of something being blown out from the cargo bay. 544 00:36:36,689 --> 00:36:40,172 On the side wall of the cargo bay, investigators find more clues. 545 00:36:41,965 --> 00:36:46,103 Additional holes are discovered, like the ones on the floor. 546 00:36:46,206 --> 00:36:49,000 These also appear to have been blown out from the cargo hold. 547 00:36:52,034 --> 00:36:55,517 A closer study of the ceiling of the cargo bay also indicates that 548 00:36:55,620 --> 00:36:59,793 the ribs connecting it to the fuselage were broken by being forced up. 549 00:37:05,965 --> 00:37:08,931 Investigators are convinced that the wreckage shows 550 00:37:09,034 --> 00:37:11,862 that a bomb had exploded in the forward cargo hold. 551 00:37:15,448 --> 00:37:18,241 If the bomb had gone off in the front of the plane, 552 00:37:18,344 --> 00:37:21,000 it would explain why the flight data recorder 553 00:37:21,103 --> 00:37:24,172 and cockpit voice recorder cut off so quickly. 554 00:37:28,965 --> 00:37:30,793 Like other 747s, 555 00:37:30,896 --> 00:37:34,586 the electronics bay on the Air India flight is located below the cockpit. 556 00:37:38,103 --> 00:37:42,517 Many of the important electrical systems on the plane run through here. 557 00:37:42,620 --> 00:37:45,413 The forward luggage compartment is right beside it. 558 00:37:47,241 --> 00:37:49,344 And so, when the bomb went off, 559 00:37:49,448 --> 00:37:53,206 the explosion would have taken out the computers completely, 560 00:37:53,310 --> 00:37:55,241 and there would have been absolutely dead silence. 561 00:37:55,344 --> 00:37:56,758 And that's precisely what happened. 562 00:37:59,827 --> 00:38:03,310 Investigators are convinced that Air India Flight 182 563 00:38:03,413 --> 00:38:05,344 has been destroyed by a bomb. 564 00:38:08,137 --> 00:38:09,413 This was no accident. 565 00:38:12,827 --> 00:38:15,689 The crash of the passenger jet was a crime. 566 00:38:18,034 --> 00:38:21,241 Nobody. Nobody... thought 567 00:38:21,344 --> 00:38:23,413 that such an evil plot 568 00:38:23,517 --> 00:38:26,724 of blowing two aircrafts simultaneously would occur from Vancouver. 569 00:38:31,793 --> 00:38:34,655 Exhaustive detective work creates a clear picture 570 00:38:34,758 --> 00:38:37,655 of what likely happened on board the Air India jet. 571 00:38:42,000 --> 00:38:43,137 In Toronto, 572 00:38:43,241 --> 00:38:45,931 M. Singh's bag is taken off the Vancouver flight 573 00:38:46,034 --> 00:38:47,551 and moved onto the Air India jet. 574 00:38:52,206 --> 00:38:53,896 It's put into a luggage container 575 00:38:54,000 --> 00:38:56,310 that's eventually placed at the front of the jet... 576 00:38:58,551 --> 00:39:00,551 right behind the plane's electronics bay. 577 00:39:03,620 --> 00:39:06,448 As the plane sailed over the Atlantic Ocean, 578 00:39:06,551 --> 00:39:10,482 the crew had no warning that a bomb was ticking down to disaster. 579 00:39:12,448 --> 00:39:14,000 They want about 30 custom seats. 580 00:39:14,413 --> 00:39:15,793 Customs? 581 00:39:15,896 --> 00:39:18,931 Yeah, custom seals. To seal the bar before its arrival. 582 00:39:19,034 --> 00:39:21,896 Bar-- 583 00:39:25,275 --> 00:39:28,551 When the force of the blast hit the floor of the jet, 584 00:39:28,655 --> 00:39:30,448 it pushed it violently upwards. 585 00:39:31,724 --> 00:39:35,068 The thin fuselage would have been blown apart. 586 00:39:35,172 --> 00:39:38,310 The air pressure inside the plane would have rushed out 587 00:39:38,413 --> 00:39:41,655 tearing passengers from the cabin and fatally crippling the jet. 588 00:39:44,241 --> 00:39:47,586 The debris, scattered over nine miles, 589 00:39:47,689 --> 00:39:49,931 is an indication of how... 590 00:39:50,034 --> 00:39:52,103 how rapidly and how... 591 00:39:52,206 --> 00:39:55,965 how fearsome this whole decompression was. 592 00:39:56,068 --> 00:39:58,896 But in this instance, the aircraft completely 593 00:39:59,000 --> 00:40:00,758 didn't stand a chance of flight. 594 00:40:00,862 --> 00:40:03,413 There was no way of continuing flight in this case. 595 00:40:05,103 --> 00:40:07,896 As the jet fell towards the sea, 596 00:40:08,000 --> 00:40:11,551 the forces put on the fuselage tore it apart. 597 00:40:11,655 --> 00:40:14,655 It would have a tail torn off and the wings would start breaking... 598 00:40:16,103 --> 00:40:18,689 and there's no way of sustaining flight after that. 599 00:40:18,793 --> 00:40:22,206 It goes into gyrations. 600 00:40:22,310 --> 00:40:25,620 Once it goes into gyrations, there was just massive structural failure. 601 00:40:29,344 --> 00:40:31,758 After months of painstaking work, 602 00:40:31,862 --> 00:40:36,103 investigators believe they have unraveled the cause of the Air India crash. 603 00:40:38,448 --> 00:40:40,620 They've proven a bomb brought the plane down. 604 00:40:41,793 --> 00:40:44,448 It's now up to police to find the bombers. 605 00:40:47,103 --> 00:40:50,241 But with so many deaths, and so many more possible 606 00:40:50,344 --> 00:40:53,482 if the Narita bomb had exploded in midair, 607 00:40:53,586 --> 00:40:56,344 there's immediate interest in making passenger jets safer. 608 00:40:59,344 --> 00:41:02,344 This was one of the biggest disaster 609 00:41:02,448 --> 00:41:04,206 in the Indian aviation history. 610 00:41:06,034 --> 00:41:07,758 And it could have been avoided 611 00:41:08,758 --> 00:41:11,379 if the procedures were in place. 612 00:41:11,482 --> 00:41:13,551 As the hunt for the killers continues, 613 00:41:13,655 --> 00:41:17,000 extraordinary steps are taken to tighten security 614 00:41:17,103 --> 00:41:20,310 and to see if jets can be made to withstand the force of a bomb. 615 00:41:28,517 --> 00:41:30,310 It's May 19th, 1997, 616 00:41:31,517 --> 00:41:33,965 more than ten years after a terrorist bomb 617 00:41:34,068 --> 00:41:36,379 destroyed Air India Flight 182. 618 00:41:37,413 --> 00:41:39,103 An out of service 747 619 00:41:39,206 --> 00:41:41,724 is about to take part in a remarkable test. 620 00:41:43,206 --> 00:41:46,586 Two bombs are placed in the front cargo bay. 621 00:41:46,689 --> 00:41:48,000 Two more are put in the back. 622 00:41:50,068 --> 00:41:53,137 Well, the Bruntingthorpe test was actually 623 00:41:53,241 --> 00:41:55,931 intended to prove five years' worth of research. 624 00:41:56,034 --> 00:41:57,448 That we can protect an airplane 625 00:41:57,551 --> 00:41:59,620 using hardened luggage containers, 626 00:41:59,724 --> 00:42:01,310 or hard liners in the cargo hold. 627 00:42:03,275 --> 00:42:06,241 The plane is also pressurized to simulate the conditions 628 00:42:06,344 --> 00:42:08,413 a jet would encounter at cruising altitude. 629 00:42:10,172 --> 00:42:14,137 Pressurization is the key to that kind of experiment. 630 00:42:14,241 --> 00:42:18,034 The added energy that you have from the pressurization inside the airplane 631 00:42:18,137 --> 00:42:20,034 adds to the damage. 632 00:42:20,137 --> 00:42:21,586 You can think of it as a balloon. 633 00:42:21,689 --> 00:42:23,275 If you take a pin and you put it in a balloon 634 00:42:23,379 --> 00:42:25,620 that's un inflated, you get just a simple hole... 635 00:42:25,724 --> 00:42:26,724 the size of the pin. 636 00:42:26,827 --> 00:42:28,620 However, if you blow that balloon up 637 00:42:28,724 --> 00:42:30,689 and you hit it with a pin, it pops catastrophically. 638 00:42:32,965 --> 00:42:34,448 When the bombs are detonated... 639 00:42:36,896 --> 00:42:39,344 the result is devastating. 640 00:42:39,448 --> 00:42:43,896 The force of the blast, plus the pressure inside the jet just tore the plane apart. 641 00:42:44,000 --> 00:42:45,620 And that's the closest we can come to seeing 642 00:42:45,724 --> 00:42:47,689 what would have happened to a jet in flight. 643 00:42:47,793 --> 00:42:51,965 The destructive power of bombs on jets is well known. 644 00:42:52,068 --> 00:42:54,068 But what the tests at Bruntingthorpe showed 645 00:42:54,172 --> 00:42:56,034 was that relatively simple measures 646 00:42:56,137 --> 00:42:59,379 can substantially minimize the damage caused by an explosion. 647 00:43:03,068 --> 00:43:05,034 One of the bombs in the rear cargo hold 648 00:43:05,137 --> 00:43:08,172 was placed in a normal luggage container. 649 00:43:08,275 --> 00:43:10,689 But the bombs in the front cargo hold were different. 650 00:43:13,517 --> 00:43:15,931 One was placed in a specialized container 651 00:43:16,034 --> 00:43:19,517 strengthened with a material similar to that found in bulletproof vests. 652 00:43:21,793 --> 00:43:23,896 The other was put in a normal container, 653 00:43:24,000 --> 00:43:25,413 but placed beside walls 654 00:43:25,517 --> 00:43:26,620 that had been reinforced 655 00:43:26,724 --> 00:43:28,965 with a blast absorbing liner. 656 00:43:29,068 --> 00:43:33,137 When the bombs explode, the front of the plane is virtually untouched. 657 00:43:34,827 --> 00:43:37,310 We had no breach of the airplane skin with the liner 658 00:43:37,413 --> 00:43:39,379 or with the hardened luggage containers. 659 00:43:39,482 --> 00:43:41,931 But towards the rear of the airplane, or the tail, 660 00:43:42,034 --> 00:43:44,068 where we didn't have any of the hardened materials, 661 00:43:44,172 --> 00:43:46,103 there was a catastrophic failure for the airplane. 662 00:43:46,206 --> 00:43:50,344 The standard luggage container did nothing to minimize the blast. 663 00:43:52,655 --> 00:43:55,206 Both the protective lining in the front cargo bay 664 00:43:55,310 --> 00:43:58,344 and the hardened luggage container were able to absorb 665 00:43:59,379 --> 00:44:01,689 the force of the explosion. 666 00:44:01,793 --> 00:44:05,103 It's only speculation. Would steps like these have saved Air India? 667 00:44:05,758 --> 00:44:06,827 Very likely. 668 00:44:06,931 --> 00:44:10,137 Would they make the industry safer today? 669 00:44:10,241 --> 00:44:11,034 Absolutely. 670 00:44:12,827 --> 00:44:16,620 Despite the dramatic results of the tests in Britain, 671 00:44:16,724 --> 00:44:20,275 hardened luggage containers are not used by the world's airlines. 672 00:44:21,413 --> 00:44:22,862 While effective at stopping bombs, 673 00:44:24,172 --> 00:44:25,827 they're extremely expensive. 674 00:44:27,517 --> 00:44:29,344 The hardened containers are not in use now, 675 00:44:29,448 --> 00:44:31,620 because it's just not economically feasible. 676 00:44:31,724 --> 00:44:36,379 The containers cost tens of thousands of dollars just to purchase, 677 00:44:36,482 --> 00:44:38,655 and they're very fragile, they're composite material, 678 00:44:38,758 --> 00:44:40,758 so if you run into the side of them with a forklift, 679 00:44:40,862 --> 00:44:42,517 they're pretty much useless from that point forward. 680 00:44:45,206 --> 00:44:47,551 There have been significant improvements made 681 00:44:47,655 --> 00:44:49,068 to the way that passenger luggage 682 00:44:49,172 --> 00:44:51,448 is screened at most international airports. 683 00:44:52,620 --> 00:44:55,000 More sophisticated color X-ray systems 684 00:44:55,103 --> 00:44:57,379 using multiple scanning beams are now used. 685 00:44:59,482 --> 00:45:01,000 But I am indeed confirmed. 686 00:45:02,000 --> 00:45:04,034 Wait. I'll get my brother. 687 00:45:04,137 --> 00:45:05,862 He'll tell you. 688 00:45:05,965 --> 00:45:08,689 Uh, okay, okay. I'll check it through. 689 00:45:08,793 --> 00:45:10,965 But you have to check with Air India when you get to Toronto. 690 00:45:14,068 --> 00:45:17,448 And there are stricter regulations about luggage getting sent forward 691 00:45:17,551 --> 00:45:18,827 on connecting flights. 692 00:45:21,068 --> 00:45:24,344 In the case of Air India, the most important thing of all 693 00:45:24,448 --> 00:45:26,689 was passenger baggage reconciliation. 694 00:45:29,310 --> 00:45:30,965 This is the key... 695 00:45:31,068 --> 00:45:34,310 to detecting an explosive device, or a terrorist. 696 00:45:35,206 --> 00:45:37,931 No plane leaves 697 00:45:38,034 --> 00:45:42,000 with baggage unattached to a specific passenger 698 00:45:42,103 --> 00:45:43,034 inside that plane. 699 00:45:44,034 --> 00:45:45,448 And that must be so. 700 00:45:50,689 --> 00:45:51,517 Your seat is 10-B. 701 00:45:57,448 --> 00:45:59,172 I think one of the... 702 00:46:00,241 --> 00:46:02,241 the most difficult piece... 703 00:46:02,344 --> 00:46:05,965 of news for the families to accept 704 00:46:06,068 --> 00:46:10,413 was the many ways in which this tragedy could have been prevented. 705 00:46:11,241 --> 00:46:13,482 I mean, it was... 706 00:46:13,586 --> 00:46:17,896 absolutely unforgivable that a bag could be interlined 707 00:46:19,275 --> 00:46:22,620 to another destination without a passenger accompanying it. 708 00:46:26,206 --> 00:46:29,689 The quality of training that security guards at airports get 709 00:46:29,793 --> 00:46:33,448 also came under scrutiny during the years after the Air India crash. 710 00:46:35,448 --> 00:46:38,827 It's still an area of concern for some security experts. 711 00:46:40,344 --> 00:46:44,413 There's a real failure to train security personnel. 712 00:46:45,551 --> 00:46:47,517 And that failure 713 00:46:47,620 --> 00:46:52,586 is because you cannot pay rent-a-cops subsistence wages 714 00:46:52,689 --> 00:46:56,413 to look after your security when you get on board an aircraft. 715 00:46:59,793 --> 00:47:01,482 In the Air India case, 716 00:47:01,586 --> 00:47:06,655 police eventually traced the bombing to Sikh extremists living in Canada. 717 00:47:06,758 --> 00:47:10,586 They're fighting to have an independent Sikh homeland created in India. 718 00:47:13,551 --> 00:47:16,758 The man who confessed to assembling the bomb is sent to prison. 719 00:47:19,551 --> 00:47:21,689 The man suspected of masterminding the plot 720 00:47:21,793 --> 00:47:25,000 is killed several years later while under arrest in India. 721 00:47:26,655 --> 00:47:31,206 Both men had deep ties to Canada's West Coast Sikh community, 722 00:47:31,310 --> 00:47:34,620 It's a connection that still bothers Lata Pada. 723 00:47:34,724 --> 00:47:38,068 It was a deliberate act of terrorism 724 00:47:38,172 --> 00:47:43,965 and hurts even more that they were executed by Canadians, 725 00:47:44,068 --> 00:47:46,689 on Canadian soil, against Canadians. 726 00:47:49,689 --> 00:47:53,620 More than 20 years after the destruction of the Air India flight, 727 00:47:53,724 --> 00:47:55,896 the shock of the day is still fresh. 728 00:47:57,517 --> 00:48:01,103 And many questions remain unanswered. 729 00:48:01,206 --> 00:48:04,482 We still don't know who the two people were who checked in the bags. 730 00:48:05,206 --> 00:48:07,172 Apart from the basics of, 731 00:48:07,827 --> 00:48:10,241 uh, who made the bomb, 732 00:48:10,344 --> 00:48:13,827 we don't know much about who else assisted him. 733 00:48:13,931 --> 00:48:15,793 We don't know who picked up those tickets. 734 00:48:20,241 --> 00:48:23,896 There's a vow of silence that has hindered the investigation. 735 00:48:24,000 --> 00:48:27,068 This inquiry will be launched immediately. 736 00:48:27,172 --> 00:48:30,068 In 2006, the Canadian government 737 00:48:30,172 --> 00:48:33,206 launched an inquiry into the Air India bombing. 738 00:48:33,310 --> 00:48:35,896 Another investigation of what happened and why. 739 00:48:37,793 --> 00:48:39,758 The shocking death of so many is 740 00:48:39,862 --> 00:48:42,517 a continuing source of anger and disbelief. 741 00:48:47,793 --> 00:48:52,655 No matter what the inquiry finds, the sobering facts are the same. 742 00:48:52,758 --> 00:48:56,172 Three hundred and twenty-nine people killed in an instant. 743 00:48:58,068 --> 00:49:01,586 There are memorials now in Ireland and Canada, 744 00:49:01,689 --> 00:49:05,689 mourning the victims of the Air India crash, 745 00:49:05,793 --> 00:49:10,206 marking the day a terrorist bomb ripped through the lives of so many. 746 00:49:11,689 --> 00:49:15,000 It's just so tragic about all our lives that we lead. 747 00:49:16,517 --> 00:49:18,724 Every day is an ordinary day in our lives, 748 00:49:18,827 --> 00:49:19,758 but some days, 749 00:49:20,586 --> 00:49:22,000 unexpectedly, 750 00:49:22,103 --> 00:49:26,931 something completely, totally unexpected 751 00:49:27,034 --> 00:49:29,655 shatters your life. And that was one of those moments.