1 00:00:03,724 --> 00:00:07,344 At the time, it was the worst crash in aviation history. 2 00:00:08,689 --> 00:00:11,655 It was just a scene of absolute, utter devastation. 3 00:00:13,206 --> 00:00:16,379 In 1974, more than 300 people died 4 00:00:16,482 --> 00:00:18,586 when their plane fell from the sky. 5 00:00:18,689 --> 00:00:22,827 There's barely anything left here that's recognizable as being a part of an aircraft. 6 00:00:25,000 --> 00:00:26,586 You couldn't walk anywhere without the danger 7 00:00:26,689 --> 00:00:28,965 you were going to stand on a part of a human being. 8 00:00:31,172 --> 00:00:32,931 The key to understanding the disaster 9 00:00:33,034 --> 00:00:35,310 is found thousands of kilometers away. 10 00:00:37,172 --> 00:00:41,000 An unusual piece of evidence that tells the troubling story 11 00:00:41,103 --> 00:00:43,068 of a crash that could have been prevented. 12 00:00:49,517 --> 00:00:50,517 Mayday! Mayday! 13 00:01:14,931 --> 00:01:16,827 June the 12th, 1972. 14 00:01:18,724 --> 00:01:21,517 One of the newest members of American Airlines Fleet 15 00:01:21,620 --> 00:01:22,862 is in Detroit, Michigan. 16 00:01:26,482 --> 00:01:27,482 - John. - Paige. 17 00:01:27,586 --> 00:01:28,517 Sir. 18 00:01:29,724 --> 00:01:32,586 Flight 96, a brand new DC-10, 19 00:01:32,689 --> 00:01:34,034 is getting ready for takeoff. 20 00:01:35,931 --> 00:01:39,068 Captain Bryce McCormick and Co-Pilot Paige Whitney 21 00:01:39,172 --> 00:01:40,517 have been in the plane for hours. 22 00:01:40,620 --> 00:01:42,517 ...back there, so when we're in flight, if you can get a chance 23 00:01:42,620 --> 00:01:44,482 just to look at that? 24 00:01:44,586 --> 00:01:47,965 Detroit is just a stopover on a flight from LA to Buffalo 25 00:01:48,068 --> 00:01:49,068 and then to New York. 26 00:01:49,172 --> 00:01:50,551 - ...got there? - I do. 27 00:01:50,655 --> 00:01:52,206 You ready to try one, Paige? 28 00:01:52,310 --> 00:01:53,206 All right, sir. 29 00:01:59,931 --> 00:02:02,655 McCormick has flown the plane out from California, 30 00:02:02,758 --> 00:02:04,931 but Whitney is going to fly the next leg. 31 00:02:07,931 --> 00:02:10,689 Both men want as much time at the controls as possible. 32 00:02:12,448 --> 00:02:15,965 Neither one of them has more than 75 hours flying the DC-10. 33 00:02:18,655 --> 00:02:20,275 Few pilots have more. 34 00:02:20,379 --> 00:02:22,310 There simply aren't enough of the planes in the air. 35 00:02:26,896 --> 00:02:30,310 In 1972, the DC-10 had just been introduced. 36 00:02:32,724 --> 00:02:36,275 The plane is the latest advance to passenger jets. 37 00:02:36,379 --> 00:02:40,103 Its style and its size set it apart from other airliners. 38 00:02:42,034 --> 00:02:44,172 The McDonnell Douglas Corporation has spent 39 00:02:44,275 --> 00:02:47,310 more than a billion dollars developing it. 40 00:02:47,413 --> 00:02:49,551 In the late '60s, there was a race going 41 00:02:49,655 --> 00:02:52,551 among the three major manufacturers of jetliners. 42 00:02:52,655 --> 00:02:54,517 McDonnell Douglas, Boeing, and Lockheed 43 00:02:54,620 --> 00:02:57,379 to see who could get the first jumbo out. 44 00:02:57,482 --> 00:03:00,034 So they've got really busy on getting this DC-10 45 00:03:00,137 --> 00:03:02,275 into production as fast as they could. 46 00:03:02,379 --> 00:03:05,379 And one of the things that they could not suffer were many delays 47 00:03:05,482 --> 00:03:09,448 based on some problem with the design. 48 00:03:09,551 --> 00:03:12,620 American Airlines is one of the first companies to buy the plane. 49 00:03:18,689 --> 00:03:21,275 Flight 96 is one of those planes. 50 00:03:23,137 --> 00:03:25,551 Just the fifth DC-10 ever built. 51 00:03:32,586 --> 00:03:34,448 Cydya Smith has just been trained 52 00:03:34,551 --> 00:03:36,931 to be the chief flight attendant on the DC-10. 53 00:03:39,448 --> 00:03:44,206 I was excited because it was one of the first Jumbos that we had. 54 00:03:44,310 --> 00:03:47,724 And I was going to have the opportunity to fly number one, 55 00:03:47,827 --> 00:03:50,000 which is what I always wanted to do on a big jet. 56 00:03:55,931 --> 00:03:57,241 Okay, you got it? 57 00:03:58,068 --> 00:03:58,931 Okay. 58 00:04:07,137 --> 00:04:07,965 Hand on the wheel. 59 00:04:08,620 --> 00:04:09,517 I gotcha. 60 00:04:14,724 --> 00:04:16,206 V-1, rotate. 61 00:04:23,103 --> 00:04:24,724 Just after seven in the evening, 62 00:04:24,827 --> 00:04:27,482 Flight 96 lifts off from Detroit airport. 63 00:04:35,310 --> 00:04:36,827 Just minutes after takeoff, 64 00:04:36,931 --> 00:04:40,172 the plane is rising easily through 3,500 meters 65 00:04:40,275 --> 00:04:42,172 over Windsor, Ontario, Canada. 66 00:04:47,758 --> 00:04:51,448 I was sitting in my seat and the captain had turned off 67 00:04:51,551 --> 00:04:55,344 the "Fasten Seatbelt" sign and I was making my way to the galley 68 00:04:55,448 --> 00:04:59,034 and I had to go sort of downhill because we were climbing. 69 00:04:59,137 --> 00:05:00,793 I had to go to the galley to turn on the coffee. 70 00:05:14,586 --> 00:05:16,689 When I... When I punched the coffee 71 00:05:16,793 --> 00:05:19,551 and I moved over to one side, that's when it happened. 72 00:05:26,689 --> 00:05:30,413 I remember falling over because the plane was going... 73 00:05:30,517 --> 00:05:32,517 Was like this, but all of a sudden, it just went like this. 74 00:05:38,172 --> 00:05:41,241 I saw ceiling compartments fall, 75 00:05:41,344 --> 00:05:44,862 and I saw things coming out of pockets and everything 76 00:05:44,965 --> 00:05:48,275 and I thought to myself, "Oh, boy." 77 00:05:49,758 --> 00:05:54,206 It felt like the last day of my life. 78 00:05:55,517 --> 00:05:58,413 We've hit something. We lost an engine here. 79 00:06:00,344 --> 00:06:03,448 In the cockpit, the crew is fighting for control of their jet. 80 00:06:06,206 --> 00:06:10,068 The throttles, which control the three engines, have snapped to idle. 81 00:06:10,172 --> 00:06:12,517 The plane loses almost all its thrust. 82 00:06:14,068 --> 00:06:16,206 The huge jet begins slowing down. 83 00:06:17,551 --> 00:06:21,034 The plane immediately took a huge drop. 84 00:06:23,896 --> 00:06:26,551 And the next thing that happened 85 00:06:26,655 --> 00:06:29,655 was I was hit in the face with a piece of the plane. 86 00:06:31,586 --> 00:06:35,896 My husband was frantically trying to find a stewardess 87 00:06:36,000 --> 00:06:40,172 to give me something to put pressure on my face to stop the bleeding. 88 00:06:41,241 --> 00:06:42,586 Let me have it! 89 00:06:44,724 --> 00:06:47,000 McCormick takes over control of the plane. 90 00:06:51,172 --> 00:06:53,068 He and Whitney wrestle the jet level... 91 00:06:57,413 --> 00:07:00,344 but Flight 96 has been badly damaged. 92 00:07:00,448 --> 00:07:01,448 Have we got hydraulics? 93 00:07:02,758 --> 00:07:04,103 No. I've got full rudder here. 94 00:07:07,655 --> 00:07:10,517 The rudder on the tail which controls the direction of the jet 95 00:07:10,620 --> 00:07:13,034 is jammed to the right. 96 00:07:13,137 --> 00:07:15,896 That's forcing the plane to swing dramatically in that direction. 97 00:07:20,000 --> 00:07:24,586 While McCormick fights to turn his damaged plane back to Detroit, 98 00:07:24,689 --> 00:07:29,000 Cydya Smith is shocked to see a gaping hole in the floor of the main passenger cabin. 99 00:07:31,758 --> 00:07:34,000 People were asking me, you know, what to do. 100 00:07:34,103 --> 00:07:36,965 and I knew that I didn't know what to tell them. 101 00:07:37,068 --> 00:07:39,586 Smith has been able to account for all of her passengers 102 00:07:40,827 --> 00:07:43,482 but flight attendant Sandra McConnell is missing. 103 00:07:44,413 --> 00:07:47,344 Sandra! Can you hear me? 104 00:07:47,448 --> 00:07:50,275 Sandra, where are you? 105 00:07:50,379 --> 00:07:53,793 And finally, I saw her come out of one of the bathrooms. 106 00:07:56,310 --> 00:07:59,413 McConnell has to cross the hole in the floor to move to safety. 107 00:08:07,000 --> 00:08:11,275 And almost every step she took, the floor kept collapsing. 108 00:08:22,379 --> 00:08:24,931 The crew brings up power to the engines on the wings. 109 00:08:27,586 --> 00:08:31,965 But the third engine on the tail stubbornly refuses to respond. 110 00:08:32,068 --> 00:08:35,448 Center, this is American Airlines Flight 96. We've got an emergency. 111 00:08:37,137 --> 00:08:39,793 American 9-6. Roger. Type of emergency? 112 00:08:39,896 --> 00:08:43,517 We got a jammed rudder. We need to get down and make an approach. 113 00:08:45,827 --> 00:08:47,793 Along with his engine and his rudder, 114 00:08:47,896 --> 00:08:51,724 McCormick is also having trouble controlling the elevators on the tail of the plane. 115 00:08:53,206 --> 00:08:55,586 They help him move the massive plane up and down. 116 00:08:57,206 --> 00:08:59,586 They're slow to respond, but he can move them. 117 00:09:01,689 --> 00:09:03,793 The situation isn't completely hopeless. 118 00:09:05,206 --> 00:09:07,344 I think it's going to fly. 119 00:09:07,448 --> 00:09:10,517 American 9-6, turn further right, heading will be 2-0-0. 120 00:09:14,137 --> 00:09:16,172 Without complete control of the elevators 121 00:09:16,275 --> 00:09:18,551 and with a rudder that's frozen to the right, 122 00:09:18,655 --> 00:09:21,413 McCormick has to use his engines to turn the plane. 123 00:09:24,551 --> 00:09:28,068 By increasing the thrust on one side of the plane, he can change direction. 124 00:09:29,034 --> 00:09:30,586 But it won't be fast. 125 00:09:30,689 --> 00:09:33,551 I have no rudder control whatsoever. 126 00:09:33,655 --> 00:09:37,103 So our turns are gonna have to be very slow and cautious. 127 00:09:41,827 --> 00:09:45,448 All of the passengers move as far away from the hole in the back as possible. 128 00:09:52,827 --> 00:09:55,137 But apart from the cut to Loretta Kaminsky, so far, 129 00:09:55,241 --> 00:09:57,482 there are no other serious injuries. 130 00:10:05,000 --> 00:10:08,827 Captain! There's a hole in the back of the plane. 131 00:10:08,931 --> 00:10:10,931 - A hole? - Yes, sir. 132 00:10:11,034 --> 00:10:13,275 What do you want us to do? 133 00:10:13,379 --> 00:10:15,275 Get everyone ready for an emergency landing. 134 00:10:18,068 --> 00:10:20,724 Bryce McCormick's DC-10 is badly damaged. 135 00:10:23,310 --> 00:10:26,586 The lives of everyone on board now depend entirely 136 00:10:26,689 --> 00:10:29,724 on his ability to land a plane that can barely fly. 137 00:10:37,068 --> 00:10:40,724 With explosive suddenness, a short flight from Detroit to Buffalo 138 00:10:40,827 --> 00:10:42,551 has become the most challenging flight 139 00:10:42,655 --> 00:10:44,103 of Captain Bryce McCormick's career. 140 00:10:46,310 --> 00:10:48,965 He's down an engine and he can't move his rudder. 141 00:10:54,241 --> 00:10:56,137 As he heads back to Detroit, 142 00:10:56,241 --> 00:10:59,344 McCormick begins to slow his plane down so it can land safely. 143 00:11:03,413 --> 00:11:07,000 But when he does, his plane begins falling dangerously fast. 144 00:11:09,862 --> 00:11:13,137 Ideally, McCormick should be descending at 700 feet a minute. 145 00:11:15,758 --> 00:11:18,000 But now he's falling more than twice that fast. 146 00:11:19,724 --> 00:11:22,034 1,600 feet a minute. 147 00:11:22,137 --> 00:11:23,448 What's the sink rate? 148 00:11:24,413 --> 00:11:27,000 Sink rate, 1,600. 149 00:11:27,103 --> 00:11:31,379 At this rate, McCormick will crash well short of the runway. 150 00:11:31,482 --> 00:11:34,379 He increases power to his engines to slow his fall. 151 00:11:35,517 --> 00:11:36,965 Sink rate, 700. 152 00:11:37,068 --> 00:11:40,586 McCormick has slowed the plane's descent to 700 feet per minute. 153 00:11:40,689 --> 00:11:43,517 But to do that, he's had to increase his forward air speed, 154 00:11:43,620 --> 00:11:47,172 which means he'll be landing far faster than usual. 155 00:11:47,275 --> 00:11:49,827 For the first time since the beginning of the crisis, 156 00:11:49,931 --> 00:11:52,275 McCormick talks to the passengers. 157 00:11:52,379 --> 00:11:55,793 Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. 158 00:11:55,896 --> 00:11:58,586 We've had a small problem, but the plane is under control now, 159 00:11:58,689 --> 00:12:00,862 and we're heading back to Detroit for an emergency landing. 160 00:12:03,310 --> 00:12:05,448 Bryce McCormick was as calm 161 00:12:05,551 --> 00:12:08,965 as if he were welcoming you on the plane. 162 00:12:12,965 --> 00:12:14,931 As the plane nears the airport, 163 00:12:15,034 --> 00:12:16,413 flight attendants asked passengers 164 00:12:16,517 --> 00:12:19,448 to remove their shoes and any sharp pieces of jewelry. 165 00:12:22,275 --> 00:12:24,862 They had to take off their shoes and glasses. 166 00:12:26,379 --> 00:12:28,034 We collected everything in a blanket. 167 00:12:31,586 --> 00:12:33,586 Less than half an hour after leaving, 168 00:12:33,689 --> 00:12:37,965 the badly damaged DC-10 struggles back to the Detroit airport. 169 00:12:39,620 --> 00:12:43,620 The few minutes that it took to get back to Detroit 170 00:12:43,724 --> 00:12:47,931 were the longest minutes that I will ever remember spending on an airplane. 171 00:12:48,034 --> 00:12:51,862 Because we were sure that we were not going to survive. 172 00:12:57,655 --> 00:13:00,241 Captain Bryce McCormick now needs to give the jet 173 00:13:00,344 --> 00:13:03,137 even more power to push the nose up for landing. 174 00:13:06,827 --> 00:13:11,275 His plane is still drifting to the right and traveling fast. 175 00:13:11,379 --> 00:13:13,586 I have no rudder to straighten it out when it hits. 176 00:13:16,758 --> 00:13:19,206 The DC-10 with 67 people aboard, 177 00:13:19,310 --> 00:13:23,413 roars toward the runway at almost 300 km an hour. 178 00:13:25,206 --> 00:13:26,931 Brace! 179 00:13:33,241 --> 00:13:37,827 The landing was the most frightening part of the entire flight. 180 00:13:46,827 --> 00:13:50,241 When the plane hits the ground, it begins veering hard to the right. 181 00:13:52,000 --> 00:13:55,586 Once the plane landed, it seemed like we just went on forever. 182 00:13:55,689 --> 00:13:57,310 I mean, it was just forever. 183 00:13:59,310 --> 00:14:00,896 One set of landing gear wheels 184 00:14:01,000 --> 00:14:03,586 runs off the runway and through the grass. 185 00:14:20,068 --> 00:14:23,724 After a harrowing touchdown, the plane eventually comes to a stop 186 00:14:23,827 --> 00:14:26,310 just 300 meters from the end of the runway. 187 00:14:36,034 --> 00:14:39,000 Okay, engines off at your discretion. 188 00:14:41,517 --> 00:14:42,724 Shut 'em down. 189 00:14:44,068 --> 00:14:46,413 Every woman wanted to hug him. 190 00:14:46,517 --> 00:14:49,896 And, um, he was just amazing. 191 00:14:50,000 --> 00:14:53,965 Because we... It was just at that moment that we all realized 192 00:14:54,068 --> 00:14:55,896 that we were alive because of him. 193 00:14:56,000 --> 00:14:59,413 That he literally had saved our lives. 194 00:14:59,517 --> 00:15:02,758 Oh! 195 00:15:02,862 --> 00:15:04,310 If you take a look at something like this 196 00:15:04,413 --> 00:15:06,620 and you say, "Well, there's good flying and there's bad flying," 197 00:15:06,724 --> 00:15:08,620 this is beyond good. This is superlative. 198 00:15:08,724 --> 00:15:11,103 This is using every instinct you have as an airman 199 00:15:11,206 --> 00:15:13,655 and all the... all the capabilities you have 200 00:15:13,758 --> 00:15:17,275 to stay calm enough to get the situation assessed. 201 00:15:19,551 --> 00:15:20,793 With the plane on the ground, 202 00:15:20,896 --> 00:15:23,793 the crew has its first opportunity to inspect the damage. 203 00:15:24,931 --> 00:15:26,689 The captain and I walked back... 204 00:15:27,896 --> 00:15:29,344 when everybody was off. 205 00:15:30,172 --> 00:15:33,000 We walked back to the back 206 00:15:33,103 --> 00:15:35,310 and we just looked up and saw this hole. 207 00:15:36,655 --> 00:15:39,586 And it was just so weird. 208 00:15:39,689 --> 00:15:44,482 There's no indication that the jet hit something, as the pilots first thought. 209 00:15:44,586 --> 00:15:46,965 What has caused such damage to the airliner? 210 00:15:47,793 --> 00:15:51,586 The hole was so enormous that... 211 00:15:51,689 --> 00:15:54,793 if anyone had been sitting in the seats that were there, 212 00:15:54,896 --> 00:15:57,068 they would have been sucked out immediately. 213 00:15:57,172 --> 00:16:01,137 At that point, they still felt it might have been a bomb. 214 00:16:01,241 --> 00:16:04,655 But while the incident had happened with explosive suddenness, 215 00:16:04,758 --> 00:16:06,896 no indication of a bomb is found. 216 00:16:14,827 --> 00:16:16,965 As investigators begin their work, 217 00:16:17,068 --> 00:16:20,413 they discover that not all of the DC-10 is at the Detroit airport. 218 00:16:26,172 --> 00:16:29,103 A coffin that the plane was carrying in its cargo hold 219 00:16:29,206 --> 00:16:32,379 is discovered 30 km away from the Detroit airport, 220 00:16:32,482 --> 00:16:34,517 near Windsor, Ontario, Canada. 221 00:16:44,482 --> 00:16:47,551 Investigators also find the plane's rear cargo door. 222 00:16:52,379 --> 00:16:55,344 Doors are not supposed to fall off airplanes. 223 00:16:55,448 --> 00:16:59,344 Especially since it was a rather new airplane, 224 00:16:59,448 --> 00:17:02,275 you would not expect something like that to happen. 225 00:17:04,689 --> 00:17:07,206 When they examine the cargo area of the plane, 226 00:17:07,310 --> 00:17:11,034 they discover that the very design of the door makes it a potential weak spot. 227 00:17:14,000 --> 00:17:17,344 Most doors on a jet open inward. 228 00:17:17,448 --> 00:17:20,827 In fact, the door is slightly larger than the frame it fits into. 229 00:17:22,241 --> 00:17:24,482 As the pressure builds inside a jet, 230 00:17:24,586 --> 00:17:28,965 this type of plug door is actually forced into the frame of the aircraft. 231 00:17:29,068 --> 00:17:31,275 The design makes the door extremely safe. 232 00:17:34,689 --> 00:17:40,482 But McDonnell Douglas designed the cargo door on the DC-10 to open outwards. 233 00:17:40,586 --> 00:17:44,275 That decision was made to increase the amount of storage space on the plane. 234 00:17:46,448 --> 00:17:49,241 When it's closed, hooks on the DC-10's door 235 00:17:49,344 --> 00:17:51,793 grab hold of a bar on the plane's door frame. 236 00:17:53,862 --> 00:17:55,206 To make sure it's closed, 237 00:17:55,310 --> 00:17:57,551 baggage handlers push down on a lever, 238 00:17:57,655 --> 00:18:00,827 which drives locking pins through the hooks, which hold them in place. 239 00:18:06,310 --> 00:18:09,965 When investigators examined the cargo area of the plane, 240 00:18:10,068 --> 00:18:12,620 they don't find any structural damage around the door. 241 00:18:16,896 --> 00:18:19,896 When they study the locks on the cargo door itself, 242 00:18:20,000 --> 00:18:22,896 they find that the latches are not completely closed... 243 00:18:25,758 --> 00:18:28,931 and the pins that are supposed to make sure the door is locked 244 00:18:29,034 --> 00:18:32,103 are not in their locked position. 245 00:18:32,206 --> 00:18:37,896 When we interrogated the cargo handler that closed the door, 246 00:18:38,000 --> 00:18:41,413 it became immediately apparent 247 00:18:41,517 --> 00:18:45,965 that he used excessive force to close the door. 248 00:18:46,068 --> 00:18:48,827 And in fact, he said he had to use his knee 249 00:18:48,931 --> 00:18:52,103 to get the door handle to go flush. 250 00:18:54,068 --> 00:18:57,172 Investigators make a frightening discovery. 251 00:18:57,275 --> 00:19:01,827 It's possible to close the lever on the outside of the door... 252 00:19:01,931 --> 00:19:05,482 even if the hooks and locking pins are not in the closed position. 253 00:19:10,827 --> 00:19:14,551 Paul Eddy is a journalist who investigated the history of the DC-10. 254 00:19:16,172 --> 00:19:19,344 What Windsor showed is that you could actually pull the handle 255 00:19:19,448 --> 00:19:22,896 in order to buckle the top fixture 256 00:19:23,000 --> 00:19:26,206 so that the handle went home properly, 257 00:19:26,310 --> 00:19:28,862 but the locking pins had not gone through the spools. 258 00:19:28,965 --> 00:19:30,724 Engage the lever. 259 00:19:30,827 --> 00:19:33,344 This means that baggage handlers can believe the door is closed... 260 00:19:33,448 --> 00:19:34,724 when it's not. 261 00:19:39,275 --> 00:19:44,034 Not only can the outside lever be closed without the locks being fully engaged, 262 00:19:44,137 --> 00:19:47,103 there's no way for the crew of the plane to know. 263 00:19:49,275 --> 00:19:52,172 The faulty locking pins will still turn off the warning light, 264 00:19:52,275 --> 00:19:54,551 even though they aren't in their proper position. 265 00:19:58,068 --> 00:19:59,896 The door was a ticking time bomb. 266 00:20:03,448 --> 00:20:07,517 As passenger jets climb, the difference between the pressure inside the plane 267 00:20:07,620 --> 00:20:09,517 and the pressure outside the plane grows. 268 00:20:11,689 --> 00:20:15,379 If a door isn't properly shut, it will blow out with explosive force. 269 00:20:17,965 --> 00:20:20,103 The problem on the American Airlines flight 270 00:20:20,206 --> 00:20:23,655 began as the plane passed through 3,500 meters. 271 00:20:25,586 --> 00:20:26,931 When the door blew, 272 00:20:27,034 --> 00:20:29,068 the coffin in the cargo hold was sucked out. 273 00:20:31,793 --> 00:20:34,482 When the air pressure inside the plane was released, 274 00:20:34,586 --> 00:20:38,034 anything that wasn't firmly attached was pulled out of the airliner. 275 00:20:39,896 --> 00:20:41,793 It's a really startling thing if you're not expecting it. 276 00:20:42,965 --> 00:20:45,275 What you've got is a lot of air 277 00:20:45,379 --> 00:20:48,448 stuffed inside this pressure vessel that now wants to get out. 278 00:20:50,103 --> 00:20:54,206 And the bigger the airplane is, the more powerful the hurricane of air 279 00:20:54,310 --> 00:20:57,758 leaving the airplane is during that period of time. 280 00:20:57,862 --> 00:21:03,068 By itself, explosive decompression does not make a plane un-flyable. 281 00:21:03,172 --> 00:21:07,448 So why had Captain McCormick experienced such difficulties controlling his jet? 282 00:21:11,689 --> 00:21:14,965 Investigators take a closer look at the back of the plane's cabin, 283 00:21:17,034 --> 00:21:20,758 and learn that the very design of the DC-10 makes it vulnerable. 284 00:21:24,034 --> 00:21:27,275 When the cargo door blew off, there was so much pressure 285 00:21:27,379 --> 00:21:31,000 on the floor of the cabin that it collapsed into the cargo compartment below. 286 00:21:33,275 --> 00:21:37,931 When it did, the floor ripped into some of the plane's critical control systems. 287 00:21:38,034 --> 00:21:41,862 When it collapsed the floor, it took the cables that controlled number two engine, 288 00:21:41,965 --> 00:21:45,172 and it took most of the cables or impeded most of the cables 289 00:21:45,275 --> 00:21:47,000 that had to do with the flight controls in the back. 290 00:21:48,103 --> 00:21:49,275 I think it's going to fly. 291 00:21:51,482 --> 00:21:54,413 It left McCormick just enough control to keep his plane level. 292 00:21:58,068 --> 00:22:00,241 The remarkable flying of Bryce McCormick 293 00:22:00,344 --> 00:22:03,655 had saved the lives of everyone on board Flight 96. 294 00:22:08,206 --> 00:22:12,034 But there was a problem with one of the newest and most expensive planes 295 00:22:12,137 --> 00:22:13,413 flying over North America. 296 00:22:15,896 --> 00:22:19,241 In the Windsor incident, there was an obvious flaw. 297 00:22:20,413 --> 00:22:22,586 And that's where the NTSB said, "Look, 298 00:22:22,689 --> 00:22:25,862 "here is really the smoking gun, the ability to close that thing 299 00:22:25,965 --> 00:22:27,724 "without having all those locks engaged. 300 00:22:27,827 --> 00:22:30,068 "Let's make sure we change this system right now. 301 00:22:30,172 --> 00:22:32,068 "Every DC-10 operator needs to know this." 302 00:22:32,172 --> 00:22:36,103 All right, I want everything checked. I want all the bolts checked... 303 00:22:36,206 --> 00:22:40,448 Chuck Miller is the head of the NTSB's Aviation Safety Bureau. 304 00:22:40,551 --> 00:22:43,413 You have to check all the latches, okay? Every single latch... 305 00:22:43,517 --> 00:22:45,965 It's his responsibility to point out problems 306 00:22:46,068 --> 00:22:48,793 with the new DC-10 and propose solutions. 307 00:22:51,586 --> 00:22:54,413 He helps write the fixes he thinks McDonnell Douglas 308 00:22:54,517 --> 00:22:56,517 needs to make to keep the planes safe. 309 00:22:59,827 --> 00:23:03,206 He was a very, very professional man, and he had... 310 00:23:03,310 --> 00:23:06,137 His investigators had enormous respect for him. 311 00:23:06,241 --> 00:23:08,448 Chuck didn't sit back in the office. 312 00:23:08,551 --> 00:23:10,827 Chuck was always on the scene. 313 00:23:10,931 --> 00:23:15,000 For Chuck Miller, fixing the DC-10 is a matter of professional pride. 314 00:23:18,310 --> 00:23:22,482 For McDonnell Douglas, the near accident over Windsor has enormous implications. 315 00:23:24,827 --> 00:23:29,103 Their billion dollar gamble came close to tumbling from the sky. 316 00:23:29,206 --> 00:23:34,413 If anything else goes wrong, the company itself could be at stake. 317 00:23:43,482 --> 00:23:47,000 March the third, 1974. 318 00:23:47,103 --> 00:23:49,793 A perfect spring-like day in Paris. 319 00:23:52,689 --> 00:23:55,724 It's been almost two years since a DC-10 came close 320 00:23:55,827 --> 00:23:57,655 to crashing near Windsor, Ontario. 321 00:24:01,655 --> 00:24:04,931 Now, more than 50 of the new planes are flying around the world. 322 00:24:08,965 --> 00:24:12,275 One of them, Plane 29, is owned by Turkish Airlines. 323 00:24:16,310 --> 00:24:19,344 Normally, the last leg of this trip from Turkey to England 324 00:24:19,448 --> 00:24:20,413 wouldn't be very crowded. 325 00:24:22,724 --> 00:24:25,448 But today, the DC-10 is filling up fast. 326 00:24:28,586 --> 00:24:31,724 People are squeezing into seats throughout the plane. 327 00:24:34,137 --> 00:24:37,103 A strike at a British airline has passengers scrambling 328 00:24:37,206 --> 00:24:38,862 for any flight back to London. 329 00:24:42,448 --> 00:24:46,586 Wendy Wheal is one of many last minute additions to the flight. 330 00:24:46,689 --> 00:24:49,758 A model, she's returning home after a shoot in Spain. 331 00:24:52,068 --> 00:24:56,413 We'd been married for 18 months and we were about to start a family. 332 00:24:57,793 --> 00:25:01,448 I believe the secret of her success for modeling was... 333 00:25:01,551 --> 00:25:03,586 not just that she was a very attractive girl, 334 00:25:04,724 --> 00:25:06,448 um, and good model material, 335 00:25:06,551 --> 00:25:10,586 but she was generally liked by all the photographers 336 00:25:10,689 --> 00:25:14,172 because she had such a pleasing, lovely, light personality. 337 00:25:18,137 --> 00:25:20,034 With all the new passengers boarding 338 00:25:20,137 --> 00:25:21,724 the flight is a little behind schedule. 339 00:25:23,827 --> 00:25:25,586 And it's not only the crew who are waiting. 340 00:25:29,655 --> 00:25:32,517 At the back of the plane is baggage handler, Mohamed Mahmoudi. 341 00:25:36,310 --> 00:25:37,896 With all the new passengers, 342 00:25:38,000 --> 00:25:40,551 he's not sure if there are any more bags to load. 343 00:25:49,137 --> 00:25:50,724 Not expecting any other luggage, 344 00:25:50,827 --> 00:25:53,172 Mahmoudi locks the rear cargo door. 345 00:26:07,103 --> 00:26:09,000 The DC-10 is set to go. 346 00:26:16,551 --> 00:26:21,275 Just after 12:30 in the afternoon, THY Flight 981 347 00:26:21,379 --> 00:26:23,517 one lifts off into the skies above Paris. 348 00:26:27,689 --> 00:26:30,379 London is less than an hour away. 349 00:26:30,482 --> 00:26:34,241 Flight Control, this is Tango Hotel Yankee 981. 350 00:26:34,344 --> 00:26:39,586 We're at 6-0. Requesting clearance to flight level 2-3-0. 351 00:26:42,827 --> 00:26:46,275 Tango-Hotel-Yankee 981, you are cleared to flight level 2-3-0. 352 00:26:46,862 --> 00:26:48,551 981, roger. 353 00:26:55,413 --> 00:26:57,137 As it flies away from the airport, 354 00:26:57,241 --> 00:27:00,275 the DC-10 continues to gain altitude. 355 00:27:04,620 --> 00:27:06,379 2,700 meters. 356 00:27:08,034 --> 00:27:09,413 3,000 meters. 357 00:27:10,551 --> 00:27:12,034 3,300 meters. 358 00:27:29,034 --> 00:27:31,793 The huge jet shudders and banks to the left. 359 00:27:39,379 --> 00:27:40,551 What happened? 360 00:27:41,862 --> 00:27:44,931 - The cabin blew out. - Are you sure? 361 00:27:45,034 --> 00:27:47,827 Just 16 seconds after the start of the crisis, 362 00:27:47,931 --> 00:27:50,275 the crew struggles to save their crippled jet. 363 00:27:51,724 --> 00:27:54,862 The nose is pitching down, the plane, picking up speed. 364 00:27:56,344 --> 00:27:57,344 Bring it up! 365 00:27:58,068 --> 00:27:59,344 Pull her nose up! 366 00:27:59,448 --> 00:28:00,931 I can't bring it up. 367 00:28:01,034 --> 00:28:02,551 She doesn't respond! 368 00:28:04,413 --> 00:28:07,241 Passengers at the back of the plane witness a horrifying scene. 369 00:28:08,655 --> 00:28:10,965 Two rows of seats have simply disappeared. 370 00:28:12,310 --> 00:28:14,241 Through a huge hole in the floor, 371 00:28:14,344 --> 00:28:16,655 passengers can see the sky over France. 372 00:28:20,482 --> 00:28:21,758 7000 feet! 373 00:28:22,586 --> 00:28:23,896 Hydraulics? 374 00:28:24,000 --> 00:28:25,965 We've lost it! 375 00:28:26,068 --> 00:28:28,655 The crew discovers that they have no hydraulic power 376 00:28:28,758 --> 00:28:30,551 with which to control the plane. 377 00:28:33,793 --> 00:28:36,689 Without it, they can't move their rudder or elevators. 378 00:28:38,551 --> 00:28:40,931 Even without its most basic controls, 379 00:28:41,034 --> 00:28:42,517 the plane begins to level out. 380 00:28:44,137 --> 00:28:45,724 But it's fallen too far. 381 00:28:45,827 --> 00:28:47,344 Looks like we're going to hit the ground! 382 00:28:48,275 --> 00:28:50,000 Speed! 383 00:28:50,103 --> 00:28:53,620 The DC-10 is traveling almost 800 km an hour. 384 00:29:03,172 --> 00:29:06,896 The flight from Paris to London never even makes it to the English Channel. 385 00:29:09,068 --> 00:29:13,103 Just nine minutes after taking off, Turkish Airways Flight 981 386 00:29:13,206 --> 00:29:15,862 becomes the worst plane crash of all time. 387 00:29:23,551 --> 00:29:26,034 In London, the flight is listed as delayed. 388 00:29:27,620 --> 00:29:29,689 The news of the crash comes out slowly. 389 00:29:31,620 --> 00:29:35,000 I went to the ticket office kiosk. 390 00:29:35,965 --> 00:29:37,482 And I... 391 00:29:37,586 --> 00:29:40,551 asked what has happened to the flight. 392 00:29:40,655 --> 00:29:45,862 And instantly the look on the gentleman's face behind the counter 393 00:29:45,965 --> 00:29:48,586 told me something was wrong. Instantly. 394 00:29:50,758 --> 00:29:52,310 There's barely anything left here 395 00:29:52,413 --> 00:29:54,827 that's recognizable as being a part of an aircraft. 396 00:29:57,206 --> 00:29:58,827 I looked on the television and I just thought, 397 00:29:58,931 --> 00:30:01,068 "Well, I just hope she's dead." 398 00:30:01,172 --> 00:30:04,862 Because I just saw the carnage of the forest, in Senlis 399 00:30:04,965 --> 00:30:07,034 and it was like looking at... 400 00:30:07,137 --> 00:30:09,620 a first World War trench movie. 401 00:30:12,137 --> 00:30:15,620 Flight 981, carrying 346 passengers, 402 00:30:15,724 --> 00:30:17,931 virtually disintegrates on impact. 403 00:30:23,551 --> 00:30:24,689 There are no survivors. 404 00:30:26,310 --> 00:30:29,931 It was just a scene of absolute, utter devastation. 405 00:30:30,034 --> 00:30:34,137 And the litter of... 406 00:30:34,241 --> 00:30:38,310 personal possessions, electric wires, bits of metal, bits of bodies, 407 00:30:38,413 --> 00:30:41,689 just strewn everywhere. I mean, you couldn't walk... 408 00:30:41,793 --> 00:30:44,931 You couldn't walk anywhere without the danger you're going to stand on... 409 00:30:46,034 --> 00:30:47,068 a part of a human being. 410 00:30:50,482 --> 00:30:52,931 I still have nightmares about this, even though it's 33 years ago. 411 00:30:54,620 --> 00:30:57,758 Investigators for the French Accident Investigation Bureau 412 00:30:57,862 --> 00:30:59,137 are quickly on the scene. 413 00:31:00,896 --> 00:31:03,241 My first job was to... 414 00:31:04,517 --> 00:31:08,275 evaluate the scope of the wreckage 415 00:31:08,379 --> 00:31:13,068 and to begin the first investigation on the spot. 416 00:31:17,482 --> 00:31:21,655 At first I was unable to know what has happened. 417 00:31:21,758 --> 00:31:25,206 I was just seeing that terrible crash has occurred, and... 418 00:31:25,310 --> 00:31:29,551 that it will be very hard work for investigators. 419 00:31:32,034 --> 00:31:36,379 Despite the enormous force of the crash, the black boxes, 420 00:31:36,482 --> 00:31:40,275 made of three layers of hardened steel and insulation, survive. 421 00:31:43,896 --> 00:31:47,000 Their contents could provide valuable clues about the crash. 422 00:31:48,620 --> 00:31:51,689 Most speculation was that it must have been a bomb. 423 00:31:51,793 --> 00:31:56,000 Because, you know, you've got a almost brand new, very powerful airplane 424 00:31:56,103 --> 00:31:58,241 flying in clear blue sky, 425 00:31:58,344 --> 00:32:00,482 and it gets to 12,000 feet and falls out of it. 426 00:32:03,275 --> 00:32:07,172 Investigators are called to a field 15 km from the crash site. 427 00:32:11,310 --> 00:32:15,206 They find a piece of fuselage and two rows of seats from the DC-10. 428 00:32:17,379 --> 00:32:19,344 Somehow they fell free of the airliner 429 00:32:19,448 --> 00:32:21,862 before the rest of the plane smashed into the forest. 430 00:32:24,724 --> 00:32:26,482 When investigators arrive, 431 00:32:26,586 --> 00:32:29,931 the bodies of the passengers who were in the seats have already been removed. 432 00:32:34,793 --> 00:32:38,482 When relatives of those who died in the crash arrive in France, 433 00:32:38,586 --> 00:32:41,275 they're directed to a small church in the town of Senlis. 434 00:32:44,482 --> 00:32:48,620 One of the saddest sights I've ever seen 435 00:32:48,724 --> 00:32:49,793 is in this church. 436 00:32:54,172 --> 00:32:56,827 They laid out on tables 437 00:32:56,931 --> 00:32:59,000 everything they'd found. You know, clothing... 438 00:33:00,862 --> 00:33:04,068 possessions, teddy bears, rings, watches... 439 00:33:05,758 --> 00:33:09,862 and then relatives who wanted to were allowed to come 440 00:33:09,965 --> 00:33:12,655 and walk around these trestle tables with all this stuff like that. 441 00:33:21,034 --> 00:33:27,827 They produced a little packet with my wife's wedding ring and rings, engagement ring. 442 00:33:27,931 --> 00:33:29,172 It was all pretty battered up, 443 00:33:29,275 --> 00:33:31,758 so you can imagine the thoughts that went through my mind. 444 00:33:44,241 --> 00:33:47,137 Since the accident involves an American plane, 445 00:33:47,241 --> 00:33:50,241 the NTSB's Chuck Miller joins the investigation. 446 00:33:52,000 --> 00:33:54,137 For the second time in two years, 447 00:33:54,241 --> 00:33:56,413 he's dealing with a problem with the DC-10. 448 00:33:57,620 --> 00:34:01,344 I don't believe that Miller suspected 449 00:34:01,448 --> 00:34:04,241 for one moment that the door hadn't been fixed after Windsor. 450 00:34:06,034 --> 00:34:09,517 But it becomes clear that the piece of fuselage found in France 451 00:34:09,620 --> 00:34:12,000 is in fact the plane's rear cargo door. 452 00:34:14,241 --> 00:34:17,000 It seems like a repeat of the Windsor accident. 453 00:34:19,896 --> 00:34:22,655 Miller is left with a haunting question. 454 00:34:22,758 --> 00:34:24,482 Why hadn't the problem been fixed? 455 00:34:25,448 --> 00:34:26,862 When he saw the door, 456 00:34:26,965 --> 00:34:29,793 of course he saw that the... it hadn't been done. 457 00:34:29,896 --> 00:34:31,137 The fix hadn't been made. 458 00:34:31,241 --> 00:34:34,103 And that's when I think his anger 459 00:34:35,689 --> 00:34:37,206 became very, very strong indeed. 460 00:34:38,862 --> 00:34:40,620 Miller takes an unusual step. 461 00:34:42,482 --> 00:34:45,379 Although the official investigation is just beginning, 462 00:34:45,482 --> 00:34:48,344 he gives journalist Paul Eddy an important tip. 463 00:34:49,172 --> 00:34:50,551 I said, "Have you got any ideas? 464 00:34:50,655 --> 00:34:52,413 "What made the door come off?" 465 00:34:52,517 --> 00:34:56,689 He said, "Yeah. If I were you, I'd go and look at a place called Windsor, Ontario." 466 00:35:04,724 --> 00:35:07,758 Hello, I'm Chuck Miller. 467 00:35:09,689 --> 00:35:12,655 Miller shares his suspicions with the French investigators. 468 00:35:16,862 --> 00:35:18,000 Could you please pass these around? 469 00:35:23,482 --> 00:35:28,000 These were taken on June 12th, 1972, 470 00:35:28,827 --> 00:35:30,000 right after the incident. 471 00:35:33,344 --> 00:35:37,793 We have asked for the report on the Windsor accident 472 00:35:37,896 --> 00:35:43,517 and our American colleagues, were also volunteers 473 00:35:43,620 --> 00:35:45,586 to give us a lot of details. 474 00:35:48,206 --> 00:35:50,172 Now we had an American Airlines flight 475 00:35:50,275 --> 00:35:54,103 from Detroit to Buffalo have its cargo door blow off. 476 00:35:58,965 --> 00:36:00,310 And he has been very frank, 477 00:36:00,413 --> 00:36:05,689 and explained what he was thinking of the Windsor accident. 478 00:36:05,793 --> 00:36:08,931 After all the work done during the American Airlines investigation, 479 00:36:10,793 --> 00:36:13,689 had something been overlooked? 480 00:36:13,793 --> 00:36:17,103 Was there another problem with McDonnell Douglas' enormous plane? 481 00:36:26,172 --> 00:36:28,655 With the information from Chuck Miller, 482 00:36:28,758 --> 00:36:32,206 French investigators take a closer look at the plane's cargo door. 483 00:36:34,793 --> 00:36:36,068 They make a shocking discovery. 484 00:36:38,758 --> 00:36:40,517 There is no new problem. 485 00:36:40,620 --> 00:36:44,034 It's just like the American Airlines case all over again. 486 00:36:47,551 --> 00:36:51,448 The latches that are supposed to hold the cargo door closed aren't locked. 487 00:36:57,137 --> 00:37:01,448 And since two rows of seats were sucked out of the DC-10 over Paris, 488 00:37:01,551 --> 00:37:05,620 it's clear that the floor on the plane collapsed, just as it had in Windsor. 489 00:37:08,172 --> 00:37:09,931 It looks like we're going to hit the ground! 490 00:37:10,034 --> 00:37:11,758 Bring it up! 491 00:37:11,862 --> 00:37:15,379 I can't bring it up! She doesn't respond! 492 00:37:15,482 --> 00:37:18,724 In fact, when investigators listen to the cockpit voice recorder... 493 00:37:18,827 --> 00:37:20,827 7,000 feet! 494 00:37:20,931 --> 00:37:24,689 they find that the Turkish flight crew had even less control of their plane 495 00:37:24,793 --> 00:37:27,241 than the crew of American Airlines Flight 96. 496 00:37:28,586 --> 00:37:30,344 We need to get down and make an approach. 497 00:37:31,586 --> 00:37:32,758 I think it's going to fly. 498 00:37:33,896 --> 00:37:35,655 Over Windsor, Bryce McCormick 499 00:37:35,758 --> 00:37:38,000 was able to recover his plane and land it. 500 00:37:40,137 --> 00:37:43,068 But in Paris, all the hydraulic systems were destroyed. 501 00:37:45,655 --> 00:37:46,448 Hydraulics? 502 00:37:47,689 --> 00:37:49,586 We've lost it! 503 00:37:49,689 --> 00:37:54,655 The hydraulic fluid helps crews move the rudder and elevators on the tail. 504 00:37:54,758 --> 00:37:58,758 Not being able to control them meant the crew couldn't keep their plane in the sky. 505 00:38:00,931 --> 00:38:03,793 The basic problem was the Paris flight was much heavier 506 00:38:03,896 --> 00:38:05,793 in terms of the number of people on board. 507 00:38:05,896 --> 00:38:09,965 The floor, when it collapsed, collapsed with such a tremendous amount of pressure 508 00:38:10,068 --> 00:38:12,758 that it literally severed all the cables and controls at the back. 509 00:38:12,862 --> 00:38:15,827 They had no hope after that point. 510 00:38:15,931 --> 00:38:19,103 Do you and each of you solemnly swear that the testimony you're about to... 511 00:38:19,206 --> 00:38:22,758 Shortly after the crash of Turkish Airlines Flight 981, 512 00:38:22,862 --> 00:38:25,310 Chuck Miller is back in the United States. 513 00:38:25,413 --> 00:38:27,896 Our first witness this morning is Mister C.O. Miller, 514 00:38:28,000 --> 00:38:30,310 Director of the Bureau of Aviation Safety 515 00:38:30,413 --> 00:38:32,137 of the NTSB. 516 00:38:32,241 --> 00:38:35,931 This time, he's facing questions from American senators. 517 00:38:36,034 --> 00:38:38,448 Or potentially catastrophic design defense. 518 00:38:38,551 --> 00:38:41,482 A special hearing begins to find out how a problem 519 00:38:41,586 --> 00:38:46,965 that was identified in 1972 could bring another plane down two years later. 520 00:38:47,068 --> 00:38:50,172 And of course, our understanding up to this time, they all had been. 521 00:38:50,275 --> 00:38:54,000 What you've got to now discover is, 522 00:38:54,103 --> 00:38:55,620 why wasn't that door fixed? 523 00:38:57,379 --> 00:39:01,482 Why would a major, venerable, 524 00:39:01,586 --> 00:39:03,344 mighty, American corporation... 525 00:39:05,103 --> 00:39:07,413 deliberately do something like this? 526 00:39:07,965 --> 00:39:09,413 So... 527 00:39:09,517 --> 00:39:11,965 Less than a month after the near-crash over Windsor, 528 00:39:12,068 --> 00:39:15,793 the NTSB had made two very specific recommendations. 529 00:39:17,758 --> 00:39:20,896 Miller and his investigators recommended that a change be made 530 00:39:21,000 --> 00:39:21,896 to the locking mechanism. 531 00:39:23,448 --> 00:39:25,034 Engage the lever. 532 00:39:25,137 --> 00:39:27,241 They wanted to make sure that it was physically impossible 533 00:39:27,344 --> 00:39:29,620 for baggage handlers to close the lever 534 00:39:29,724 --> 00:39:31,586 without the locking pins being in place. 535 00:39:33,344 --> 00:39:37,310 They also suggested that vents be put into the floors of all DC-10s. 536 00:39:39,827 --> 00:39:42,172 This would rapidly allow the pressurized cabin air 537 00:39:42,275 --> 00:39:44,827 to equalize without collapsing the floor. 538 00:39:48,689 --> 00:39:51,275 But in the two years since the accident, 539 00:39:51,379 --> 00:39:53,655 neither one of these recommendations was implemented. 540 00:39:56,241 --> 00:39:59,344 There is a fundamental problem at the heart of aviation safety 541 00:39:59,448 --> 00:40:02,344 and there has been in the United States for a very long time. 542 00:40:02,448 --> 00:40:06,241 And that is... that it's the job of the NTSB 543 00:40:06,344 --> 00:40:08,344 to discover what's happened... 544 00:40:10,275 --> 00:40:11,965 and to come up with recommendations 545 00:40:12,068 --> 00:40:14,172 as to how to prevent it happening again. 546 00:40:14,275 --> 00:40:17,241 But it has absolutely no authority to implement them. 547 00:40:17,344 --> 00:40:19,827 The NTSB does not have regulatory authority. 548 00:40:19,931 --> 00:40:21,758 They have to turn to the FAA as they did, 549 00:40:21,862 --> 00:40:23,551 and say, "We want these things done." 550 00:40:23,655 --> 00:40:25,931 And that's where the system went wrong. 551 00:40:27,931 --> 00:40:30,862 If the FAA, the Federal Aviation Administration, 552 00:40:30,965 --> 00:40:33,241 issues an Airworthiness Directive, 553 00:40:33,344 --> 00:40:36,482 planes are pulled out of service until the proper fix is made. 554 00:40:38,551 --> 00:40:41,862 But as serious as the problems on the DC-10 were, 555 00:40:41,965 --> 00:40:44,206 no Airworthiness Directive was ever issued. 556 00:40:46,551 --> 00:40:48,379 A so-called gentleman's agreement 557 00:40:48,482 --> 00:40:49,965 between the head of the FAA 558 00:40:50,068 --> 00:40:53,620 and the head of McDonnell Douglas stopped it from happening. 559 00:40:53,724 --> 00:40:57,448 The gentleman's agreement is the root cause of Paris. 560 00:40:57,551 --> 00:41:02,000 There is no question that if an Airworthiness Directive had been issued 561 00:41:02,103 --> 00:41:04,379 as it should have been, after Windsor, 562 00:41:04,482 --> 00:41:06,275 Paris would not have happened. 563 00:41:06,379 --> 00:41:08,965 It was an entirely avoidable accident. 564 00:41:11,172 --> 00:41:16,172 McDonnell Douglas assured the FAA that it would fix the problem voluntarily. 565 00:41:16,275 --> 00:41:21,137 An Airworthiness Directive would cast a shadow on the still fledgling DC-10. 566 00:41:21,241 --> 00:41:23,000 The last thing in the world you want 567 00:41:23,103 --> 00:41:26,034 is for the public or any of the airlines 568 00:41:26,137 --> 00:41:27,482 who are going to be operating these airplanes 569 00:41:27,586 --> 00:41:30,068 to think, "Uh-oh, maybe there's some flaws in this bird." 570 00:41:30,172 --> 00:41:31,862 And so an Airworthiness Directive, 571 00:41:31,965 --> 00:41:34,724 especially one that requires you to go back and re-engineer something, 572 00:41:34,827 --> 00:41:39,413 is a really horrific thought for a manufacturer. 573 00:41:39,517 --> 00:41:43,103 McDonnell Douglas did make changes to the way the cargo door was built. 574 00:41:46,000 --> 00:41:48,068 A peep hole was cut in the bottom of the door 575 00:41:48,172 --> 00:41:52,620 so baggage handlers could see if the locking pins had engaged. 576 00:41:52,724 --> 00:41:56,000 Several warning signs were also attached to the plane's door. 577 00:41:58,275 --> 00:42:02,137 The company also made other changes to the DC-10. 578 00:42:02,241 --> 00:42:05,034 These included increasing the length of the locking pins 579 00:42:05,137 --> 00:42:08,586 and attaching a plate to the inside of the door. 580 00:42:08,689 --> 00:42:10,965 This plate would make it physically impossible 581 00:42:11,068 --> 00:42:13,965 to push down the lever if the door wasn't properly locked. 582 00:42:17,137 --> 00:42:19,931 But each of the proposed fixes had its own problem. 583 00:42:22,896 --> 00:42:24,517 Many baggage handlers didn't know 584 00:42:24,620 --> 00:42:26,344 what the small window in the door was for. 585 00:42:29,068 --> 00:42:32,620 And the baggage handler in Paris read and spoke three languages... 586 00:42:33,344 --> 00:42:34,482 but not English, 587 00:42:34,586 --> 00:42:36,896 the only language in which the warning signs were written. 588 00:42:40,827 --> 00:42:43,482 The support plate that was supposed to be installed in the door 589 00:42:43,586 --> 00:42:46,379 was never attached to the jet that crashed in Paris. 590 00:42:50,793 --> 00:42:52,655 Papers confirming the completion 591 00:42:52,758 --> 00:42:54,689 of the work are also uncovered. 592 00:42:54,793 --> 00:42:58,655 But no matter what the paper trail says, the fix was never made. 593 00:43:01,827 --> 00:43:05,862 Again, the problem is you don't have an independent FAA inspector 594 00:43:05,965 --> 00:43:08,931 coming along to look and see it 595 00:43:09,034 --> 00:43:10,620 and then put his stamp on it. 596 00:43:10,724 --> 00:43:12,172 because it wasn't an Airworthiness Directive. 597 00:43:14,655 --> 00:43:17,448 In the years following the Turkish Airlines crash, 598 00:43:17,551 --> 00:43:20,586 an enormous flurry of lawsuits are filed in California. 599 00:43:23,965 --> 00:43:26,275 The tragic story of the DC-10 600 00:43:26,379 --> 00:43:28,517 has one more surprise in store. 601 00:43:35,482 --> 00:43:37,448 It's 1974... 602 00:43:37,551 --> 00:43:40,000 and an unprecedented series of lawsuits 603 00:43:40,103 --> 00:43:42,034 are being filed against McDonnell Douglas. 604 00:43:44,896 --> 00:43:50,068 The families of those who died near Paris want someone held responsible. 605 00:43:50,172 --> 00:43:53,862 As time went by, I learned more and more about what actually happened 606 00:43:53,965 --> 00:43:59,172 and realized that it was not an accident, as we would call an accident. 607 00:43:59,275 --> 00:44:00,551 It was totally avoidable. 608 00:44:02,310 --> 00:44:04,000 My goal was to expose these people. 609 00:44:08,620 --> 00:44:10,517 In the weeks leading up to the trial, 610 00:44:10,620 --> 00:44:13,103 lawyers who are involved in the case have access 611 00:44:13,206 --> 00:44:15,931 to the entire history of the DC-10's development. 612 00:44:17,689 --> 00:44:19,965 They're not the only ones who pore through the evidence. 613 00:44:21,793 --> 00:44:24,896 So does journalist Paul Eddy. 614 00:44:25,000 --> 00:44:29,586 We were determined to get to those documents and that testimony. 615 00:44:29,689 --> 00:44:33,344 Somebody gave us a key to the depository where the documents were. 616 00:44:33,448 --> 00:44:35,758 And so at night we would go in... 617 00:44:35,862 --> 00:44:40,034 and then had a huge accumulated pile of documents to go through 618 00:44:40,137 --> 00:44:41,551 in order to find out what they've been up to. 619 00:44:49,413 --> 00:44:51,862 Reading through the immense pile of paper, 620 00:44:51,965 --> 00:44:54,137 Eddy makes an incredible discovery. 621 00:44:57,137 --> 00:44:59,655 A memo written by Dan Applegate, 622 00:44:59,758 --> 00:45:02,482 the director of product engineering for Convair, 623 00:45:02,586 --> 00:45:05,931 the company who'd built the cargo door for McDonnell Douglas. 624 00:45:12,137 --> 00:45:13,655 I think the point where we knew we got them 625 00:45:13,758 --> 00:45:15,344 was the Applegate memorandum 626 00:45:15,448 --> 00:45:19,000 that specifically pre-warned this would happen. 627 00:45:22,137 --> 00:45:25,000 The memo is a damning indictment of the cargo doors 628 00:45:25,103 --> 00:45:27,103 that were being made for the DC-10 629 00:45:27,206 --> 00:45:29,551 and the lack of venting in the cabin floors. 630 00:45:34,551 --> 00:45:36,724 It warns that it's only a matter of time 631 00:45:36,827 --> 00:45:39,689 before there's a major disaster involving the doors. 632 00:45:44,793 --> 00:45:49,758 "The airplane demonstrated an inherent susceptibility... 633 00:45:50,620 --> 00:45:52,758 "to catastrophic failure 634 00:45:52,862 --> 00:45:56,965 "when exposed to explosive decompression. 635 00:45:57,931 --> 00:45:58,965 "of the cargo compartment." 636 00:46:02,206 --> 00:46:05,724 The memo, written just weeks after the near disaster in Windsor, 637 00:46:05,827 --> 00:46:09,689 recommends that immediate changes be made to the DC-10 cargo door. 638 00:46:14,448 --> 00:46:18,862 You know you've got them. You know you've got them, because, you know they knew. 639 00:46:18,965 --> 00:46:21,931 During the court case, another chilling find is made. 640 00:46:23,586 --> 00:46:26,896 Not only did McDonnell Douglas know about the problem after Windsor, 641 00:46:28,344 --> 00:46:31,137 they knew during the development of the DC-10. 642 00:46:35,379 --> 00:46:37,827 Four years before the Paris crash, 643 00:46:37,931 --> 00:46:40,068 two years before Windsor, 644 00:46:40,172 --> 00:46:43,586 the cargo door failed during a pressure test. 645 00:46:43,689 --> 00:46:46,551 The company knew there was a problem 646 00:46:46,655 --> 00:46:49,344 but the fundamental design of the door stayed the same. 647 00:46:51,103 --> 00:46:54,827 I could not believe a large corporation... 648 00:46:54,931 --> 00:46:58,206 McDonnel Douglas, at the time could do such a thing. 649 00:46:58,310 --> 00:47:03,103 Could risk our lives, ordinary people's lives... 650 00:47:04,034 --> 00:47:05,206 for the sake of money. 651 00:47:05,310 --> 00:47:08,103 Well, in aviation, it's called tombstone technology. 652 00:47:08,206 --> 00:47:10,413 In other words, we always have the balance of money. 653 00:47:10,517 --> 00:47:12,551 And unfortunately, over the years, 654 00:47:12,655 --> 00:47:14,793 that has been true more times than not 655 00:47:14,896 --> 00:47:18,965 that we have had to wait until we had enough people die in an accident to say, 656 00:47:19,068 --> 00:47:22,827 "You know, we really are going to have to spend the money over here." 657 00:47:22,931 --> 00:47:27,034 The Applegate memo and other information that comes out during the court case 658 00:47:27,137 --> 00:47:30,206 leads to one of the biggest settlements in the history of aviation. 659 00:47:33,517 --> 00:47:37,206 McDonnell Douglas paid over 80 million dollars in damages. 660 00:47:41,931 --> 00:47:44,689 After the Paris crash, foolproof changes 661 00:47:44,793 --> 00:47:47,137 were finally made to the DC-10 cargo door. 662 00:47:50,000 --> 00:47:52,068 And this time, nothing was left to chance. 663 00:47:53,758 --> 00:47:56,448 The FAA issued an Airworthiness Directive 664 00:47:56,551 --> 00:48:00,068 that ensured the doors would never again open in midair. 665 00:48:01,620 --> 00:48:03,000 And it worked. 666 00:48:03,103 --> 00:48:05,620 After Paris, there wasn't another serious incident 667 00:48:05,724 --> 00:48:07,965 involving the cargo doors on a DC-10. 668 00:48:12,620 --> 00:48:14,241 But the plane's history 669 00:48:14,344 --> 00:48:17,965 and an intensely competitive industry did have an impact. 670 00:48:20,965 --> 00:48:24,206 McDonnell Douglas sold far fewer commercial DC-10s 671 00:48:24,310 --> 00:48:25,482 than it had once hoped for. 672 00:48:27,965 --> 00:48:30,793 Most of the pilots that I know who have flown the DC-10 673 00:48:30,896 --> 00:48:32,275 over the years really love the old bird. 674 00:48:33,931 --> 00:48:36,275 She's probably a little more clunky than the 747 675 00:48:36,379 --> 00:48:38,758 in terms of her heaviness of flight controls. 676 00:48:38,862 --> 00:48:40,689 But it's still a lovely bird to fly. 677 00:48:42,655 --> 00:48:45,034 That's fine, but you can't disassociate 678 00:48:46,862 --> 00:48:49,517 either the airplane or the company 679 00:48:49,620 --> 00:48:54,413 from the awful reputation that the crash left. 680 00:48:54,517 --> 00:48:57,551 Eventually, McDonnell Douglas itself disappears. 681 00:48:59,000 --> 00:49:01,827 The company was bought by Boeing in 1996. 682 00:49:06,310 --> 00:49:09,827 In the forest outside Paris, a monument now stands 683 00:49:09,931 --> 00:49:12,517 honoring those who were killed on Flight 981. 684 00:49:14,965 --> 00:49:16,620 A permanent reminder 685 00:49:16,724 --> 00:49:20,206 of one of the most disturbing crashes in the history of aviation. 686 00:49:26,034 --> 00:49:26,931 You never forget. 687 00:49:29,000 --> 00:49:30,758 And I've gone on to lead, uh... 688 00:49:30,862 --> 00:49:32,551 my life for 30 odd years. 689 00:49:33,896 --> 00:49:35,068 But I've never forgotten. 690 00:49:37,620 --> 00:49:39,413 People, to this day, 691 00:49:39,517 --> 00:49:40,793 think it was an accident... 692 00:49:42,034 --> 00:49:43,000 and it wasn't.