All language subtitles for Mayday.S26E01.Deadly.Charter.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP5.1.H.264-Kitsune_track3_[eng]

A private
charter jet

is flying 15 passengers

to Aspen, Colorado for a party.

This flight really captured
the public attention

because of the people
onboard.

Poor weather makes
the landing a challenge

for the experienced pilots.

Can you see out there
at all yet?

No.

Aspen is considered
one of the most dangerous

airports in the country.

As the plane nears the runway,

the controller watches
as disaster unfolds.

What are they doing?

Investigators examine

the Gulfstream's wreckage
for answers.

I don't see any issues here.

When they learn about
the passengers' behavior...

We're running out of fuel here
for the birthday boy!

...the moving parts of this
mystery fall into place.

That clearly had to put some
pressure on the pilots to say,

alright, this is not
looking good.

Mayday, mayday.

Pull up.

The sun has just
set over the Colorado mountains.

Avjet November 3-0-3 Golf Alpha

is nearing the end
of its journey to Aspen.

Well, there's the edge
of the night there.

Yeah.

Captain Robert Frisbie
has almost 10,000 flying hours

to his credit.

What time is official sunset?

He and First Officer
Peter Kowalczyk

have been flying together
for close to five months.

6:28.

Both pilots have been with
Avjet for less than a year.

The small charter airline

is based out of
Burbank, California.

Avjet catered to high rollers,

business people, people who
could afford to charter a jet,

people who had to get there
in a hurry, but do it in style.

We're running out of fuel here
for the birthday boy!

A Miami financier
chartered this flight

for 14 of his friends

to attend a birthday party
at an exclusive venue in Aspen.

This was a group of friends
who seemed to have had

tremendous early achievements
and accomplishments,

and they were really
going to go places.

So, forty-eight hundred pounds
one-twenty-six?

Wait. It was 50.

You know what, I adjusted it,
because the fuel was way off.

The pilots are flying
a Gulfstream III.

The Gulfstream
is a luxurious plane

that, you know people see
in the movies

and people think high rollers
and movie stars fly in,

but it's a workhorse plane.

It actually has
a good reputation.

It's a 90-minute flight
from Los Angeles to Aspen.

Gulfstream 3-0-3
Golf Alpha, Aspen,

reduce speed to
two one zero or slower.

The controller slows down
the Gulfstream

to maintain a safe distance

from the other planes
heading into Aspen.

Two one zero or slower
three Golf Alpha.

17 minutes from landing,

the pilots begin their descent.

Aspen Pitkin County Airport,

also known as Sardy Field,

is about three miles northwest
of Aspen.

Landing on its single
runway is a challenge.

Aspen is considered
one of the most dangerous

airports in the country.

The runway is not long

and it is in close proximity
to high terrain on all sides.

Hey, do you remember
that crazy guy in the Lear

when we were in Aspen
last time?

He was, "I can see the airport,"
but he couldn't see it.

Okay, set you up
on the approach?

Okay.

The landing
is made even more difficult

with the final stage needing
to be carried out visually.

As the plane nears Aspen,

a beacon guides it
to the airport,

but it doesn't lead it
directly to the runway.

Once the airport is in sight,

the pilots must line up
with the runway visually.

Because of the high terrain
and close proximity

to the final approach course,

the minimum altitude
is a couple thousand feet

above the ground,
and we must be visual

by that time to safely continue
our descent down to a landing.

And tonight, the weather
isn't making landing any easier.

If at any time it's snowing,

it's very hard to acquire
that visual reference

to safely descend further
to a landing.

Residential noise restrictions
around the airport

leave the pilots
only nine minutes

until the landing curfew
at 6:58.

The crew is cutting it close.

Can you see
out there at all yet?

Uh...

No.

Gulfstream three Golf Alpha,
heading zero five zero.

Heading zero five zero,

three Golf Alpha.

As the pilots
prepare to line up

with the runway, passengers
get ready for landing.

Okay, synchronizers off.

There is just enough fuel
for one landing attempt.

After that, the pilots will have
to divert to another airport.

Okay, it's off.

Hydraulic pressure's good.

Gulfstream three Golf Alpha,

turn heading one four zero,

intercept final
approach course,

maintain one six thousand.

Eight minutes
from the airport,

the Controller
gives the crew clearance

to commence the approach.

One four zero,
one six thousand...

...intercept final
approach course,

three Golf Alpha.

One six thousand.

As the pilots get
their final intercept

to the airport...

Challenger seven Juliet alpha,
you have the airport in sight?

...another aircraft
also on approach to Aspen,

updates the controller.

Ah, that's
a negative. Going around.

Those pilots
abort their landing,

because they can't
see the runway.

Attention all aircraft,
last aircraft went missed.

- What?
- He went missed.

He went missed?

Damn.

That's not good.

If you can't successfully
land the aircraft,

then a missed approach
is a procedure

that pilots will execute
to return to a safe altitude.

As the Gulfstream gets closer
to the airport,

the weather deteriorates.

Gulfstream three Golf Alpha,
five miles from Red Table,

cross Red Table at or above
one four thousand,

clear V-O-R-D-M-E
Charlie approach.

The Controller
clears the pilots

to begin the final approach
11 miles from the airport.

You have to be configured
properly at the right altitude,

at the right speed,
otherwise you are expected

to execute a missed approach.

Red Table
at one four thousand,

cleared for V O R approach,

Gulfstream 3-0-3 Golf Alpha.

Here we go.

As the pilots get
closer to the airport,

they're counting on the weather
to improve for their landing.

Descending to one
four thousand.

Problems can escalate
very quickly

when flying into Aspen.

There's really no room
to recover without breaking off

that approach
or trying it again.

Landing flaps.

Just over two minutes
from landing,

instruments have successfully
guided the pilots

to the airport.
Now it's up to them

to identify the runway.

You see the runway?

Gulfstream three Golf Alpha,
you have the runway in sight?

- Oh. Affirmative.
- Yeah, now we do.

Yeah, runway in sight,
three Golf Alpha.

Gulfstream
three Golf Alpha visual, roger.

One thousand.

One thousand to go.

The pilots are now
less than a minute from landing.

Two hundred.

At the last moment,
they realise something is wrong.

No, oh! No. No. No. No!

Avjet 3-0-3 Golf Alpha

crashes just short
of the runway at Aspen.

Aircraft identification

Gulfstream 3-0-3
Golf Alpha,

aircraft location,
it was north of the runway

approximately...
the Shale Bluffs area.

Emergency vehicles
rush to the scene

in the hope that there are
survivors of the crash

of Avjet 3-0-3 Golf Alpha.

But all 18 people onboard
are dead.

All 15 passengers,
the two pilots,

and the flight attendant.

This flight really captured
the media

and the public attention
because of the people onboard.

There were a lot of very young,
talented people.

Put everything from
the tail section over there.

By the following day,
investigators are on site.

Thousands of passengers
fly charter airplanes

every year, encompassing
2.5 million flight hours

annually,
so trying to understand

why this accident occurred
was significant.

Let me see that.

Within hours,
the plane's cockpit

voice recorder, or CVR,

is retrieved from the wreckage.

Let's get the data pulled
from that ASAP.

What about a flight
data recorder?

Looks like there wasn't one.

Okay.

Because the airplane
was manufactured in 1980

and registered in 1981,

it was not required
to have an FDR.

While the CVR is sent
for analysis,

Investigators from
the National Transportation

Safety Board wonder
why the pilots

weren't able to land safely.

The plane crashed 24-hundred
feet from the runway.

When an aircraft crashes
short of a runway,

especially a sophisticated
airplane like a Gulfstream Jet,

a number of questions
arise here:

How did they get there?
What possible factors

could the crew have?
Was there some sort of a failure

in the aircraft?

Take a look at this.

What do you think caused that?

There's a deep ground scar
at the crash site.

That would do it.

Investigators conclude
that it was formed

when the left wing
hit the ground.

When an airplane
comes through trees

or vegetation
as it approaches the ground,

it cuts off branches.

And we can look
at those branches

and the angles that are made

to understand
the airplane's attitude

as it came into the ground
and its descent profile.

Left wing struck the trees
at about...

49 degrees.

That's a hell of a bank.

There is no operationally
relevant reason

for an airplane to be
banked at 49 degrees

that close to the airport
or that close to the ground.

Maybe they lost control
of the plane?

When we see an aircraft
in an abnormal attitude,

uh, we've got to look at,
did something happen

where the pilots
couldn't keep it level?

The plane's position gives
investigators a promising lead.

Engine failure?

The loss of thrust
resulting from an engine failure

on one side

can yaw the airplane,

and if not appropriately managed

by the pilots
in a timely fashion,

can lead to a loss of control.

Aside from the impact damage,

there's no sign of fire
to the exterior.

The team studies
the engines' compressor blades

to determine if the engines
were functioning

when the plane hit the ground.

When the Gulfstream III's
engines are working,

the compressor blades spin
in a clockwise direction.

If the engines
were still functioning

when the plane crashed,

these blades would be bent
counterclockwise,

or in the opposite direction.

No, these are all bent
counterclockwise, so...

it wasn't engine failure.

Our examination of the engines

showed that there was no
pre-existing damage,

no evidence
of an in-flight fire,

and also showed that
they were operating normally

and at high power
at the time of the impact.

Let's take a look
at the rudder.

An airplane operating
at a low airspeed

while the rudder moves
to an extreme limit

could introduce a rolling moment

or also stall one of the wings,

which would further exacerbate
the rolling moment.

Investigators examine
the actuator

that controls
the rudder's movement.

The piston
is completely intact.

No sign of any damage.

There was no pre-existing
conditions or failures

that would have explained
the accident.

The airplane
was functioning normally.

If mechanical failure
didn't cause the roll,

what went wrong on approach?

Determining the airplane's
flight path helps us understand

how that airplane
got to the accident site.

What was it doing?

Where was it flying?
How fast was it going?

Have a look
at this radar data.

With no flight data recorder,

investigators turn
to Aspen's radar information

to reconstruct the Gulfstream's
descent profile.

Using the radar position
and time,

so the altitude
and position of the aircraft,

the performance engineers
can extract the speed

of the aircraft,
how fast is it descending,

and is that appropriate
for the approach

that they're trying to do?

Here's what we've got.

This is the approach
they should have flown.

Investigators examine
the path the pilots

were required to follow
into Aspen.

Due to the rising terrain
away from the airport,

Aspen at this time
had a step-down approach

which from a profile,
looks like stairs.

The pilots will step down
to an altitude

based on the terrain
availability.

Pilots cannot descend
below that altitude

until they reach another
fix or another distance.

And...

here's the descent
the pilots actually flew.

The radar data shows
the Avjet flight

deviated from the published
descent profile.

Four miles out, they dropped
300 feet below the minimum,

and a mile later,

they dropped 900 hundred feet
below the minimum altitude.

And they stayed that way.

They flew in very low.

If you go below
a minimum altitude

before you are allowed to,
then you no longer can guarantee

the safety of that aircraft.

Why would they do that?

Because the pilots did not fly
this approach to standards,

we wanted to look into
their backgrounds and training

to better understand
why the accident

may have occurred.

Why did the pilots
of Avjet 3-0-3 Golf Alpha

not follow the prescribed
approach procedure into Aspen?

The captain passed
his last proficiency check.

So did the first officer.
Just a couple months ago.

Investigators learn
that all Avjet pilots

are trained to land

in mountainous terrain
like Aspen.

And they both flew into Aspen
together twice before

without incident.

No accidents,

no reprimands...

Even the Captain's
driving record is spotless.

So looking into the background
of this flight crew,

we really didn't see anything
that stood out.

They were both well qualified,
well trained

and experienced
to fly this airplane

and make this trip.

And they both got
plenty of sleep

before the flight,
so fatigue isn't an issue.

In fact, I don't
see any issues here.

This doesn't make any sense.

Why would two well-trained
pilots fly so recklessly

below the limits?

No matter whether
you're a charter pilot,

or an airline pilot,
or even just

a personal general
aviation pilot,

you know, our number one job
is safety.

Uh, regulations are there
for a reason.

What is it that could lead
a good flight crew

to go beyond
those safety limits?

Okay. So we know the pilots
landed at Aspen twice before

without incident.
What was different this time?

Maybe they were trying
to get eyes on the runway?

Pull up the weather.

It was important to understand
exactly what was going on

with the weather, in terms
of the layers of clouds,

whether they were
solid or broken,

to understand

what capability these pilots
may have had

to see objects on the ground.

The crash was at 7:02 PM.
Back it up to about 6:30 PM.

They would've been flying
in and out of some pretty heavy

cloud here. So...

maybe they didn't have
a clear line on the runway.

Okay, but these
are seasoned pilots.

They should know
if you don't see the runway...

- You don't try to land on it.
- And yet, they did

try to land on it.
- And they missed by almost

half a mile. So,
did they see the runway or not?

We should talk
to the controller.

An air traffic controller
can tell you

what the visibility is,

what the weather
conditions were,

what other airplanes were doing

in terms of coming
into the airport

and provide eyewitness testimony

about the time of the accident.

But they also can help us
understand

communications that they had
with the airplane.

So did they give you
any indication at all

that they were having trouble
seeing the runway?

No. Quite the opposite.

I asked them
if they could see the runway,

and they confirmed
that they did.

Gulfstream three Golf Alpha,
you have the runway in sight?

Yeah. Runway
in sight, three Golf Alpha.

Gulfstream three Golf Alpha
visual, roger.

Hm.

I made extra sure to confirm

because I couldn't see them.

The weather was so bad.

Did you have any reason
to doubt the pilots?

Not at the time, but...

here's what's so odd.

They confirmed they had visual,
but when they came out

of the clouds, they were headed
to the right of the airport.

What are they doing?

I don't think they realized

they weren't headed
for the runway

until the last second.

When we put
those pieces together, you know,

that the pilots did report
on the radio

they had the runway
in sight,

we had to ask ourselves:
Did they really?

Did they really see the runway?

Um, might they have engaged
in a little wishful thinking?

This leaves investigators
with a troubling question.

They couldn't see the runway,

why did they go ahead
with the landing?

Maybe they were under
some kind of pressure?

We needed to know
the purpose of this flight,

its schedule
and the pilots' activities

before they departed for Aspen.

Looking into what happened
before the flight took off

from L.A. can help us
gain insight

into what might have been
going on during the flight.

So sorry to keep you waiting.

No problem at all.

To understand
why the pilots

were so intent upon
landing in Aspen,

NTSB investigators
speak to the Avjet coordinator

who managed flight 3-0-3
Golf Alpha.

The charter coordinators
communicated with the pilots

moments before the flight
departed Los Angeles.

They would have insights into

what was concerning the pilots,

what they were trying
to accomplish,

and some of the decisions
being made.

Did you talk to the captain
on the day of the flight?

Oh, yes. And there were some
problems right from the start.

Really? How so?

Well, the flight was supposed
to leave at 4:30.

At 4:15, he called to say
the passengers

still hadn't shown up.

Well if the passengers
don't show up soon,

with the long taxi
out to the runway,

we won't make it
to Aspen in time.

So what are you suggesting?

Well, we may need to divert.

The captain was worried
that because of the 7 PM

noise curfew at Aspen,

he might have to go
to Rifle instead,

which is about 60 miles away.

So he knew about
the noise curfew

and he had a plan to divert
if he needed.

Absolutely.

They knew that Rifle Colorado
Airport was nearby.

They had planned
for alternatives even before

they left, which is exactly
what a crew should be doing.

When did the passengers board?

They didn't start boarding
till around 4:30.

Then what happened?

About 10 minutes later,
I got a phone call

from the client's
personal assistant.

And he told me
the client was very upset.

Hm.

What's this
about diverting to Rifle?

What do you mean?

Once the passengers boarded,

there was a call by
the charter customer's assistant

expressing concern

that the crew
had told the passengers

that they might have to go
to another airport.

Welcome. Welcome.
Given the delay in boarding,

it looks like we may have
to divert to Rifle.

So the client had
his assistant call me.

So my boss
wants you to tell the pilot

to, well, keep his mouth shut
around the passengers.

And if he has anything to say,
save it until he gets there,

and then they can talk it over.

Understood. There is nothing
to worry about.

I'll take care of it.

Thank you very much
for letting me know.

So, of course,
safety comes first,

but we wanted to keep
the client happy.

And did this make it back
to the captain?

Yes, I called him right away.

The client's very upset.

He doesn't want you speaking
to the passengers anymore,

only to him.

Understood, okay.
Don't mention diverting.

Thank you so much.

Yup.

He was worried that he was
going to disappoint our boss,

maybe even get into trouble
for upsetting the client.

But he wouldn't
get into trouble.

In a charter operation,
the needs of your passengers

are front and center.
You're fully aware of them.

And in a situation
where a group of people

are going to a dinner

and that's the only reason
they're taking this trip,

if they can't satisfy
that timeline,

then there was no point
of being on that aircraft.

The Captain was told
not to upset the passengers.

Did that instruction
affect his decision

about diverting
his plane to Rifle?

And so this was all
before they took off?

- Yes.
- And was that the last time

you spoke to the captain?
- No.

He called me again
en route to Aspen.

And what time was that?

6:30.

We'll be landing at Aspen
in about 20, 25 minutes,

but we'll have to spend
the night there.

No problem,
I can book you rooms.

Hey, how are the passengers?
Are they still upset?

I don't think so.

What about the client?

I had a talk with the client.

It's just really important
to him that we make it to Aspen.

Apparently, he's dropping
a substantial amount of money

on dinner.

The client didn't want
to go to Rifle.

Rifle was more than
60 miles away;

it would have taken them
too long to get there.

I see.

Okay, well,

thank you very much
for your time.

Happy to help.

Although the pilots
would be aware

of the needs
of their passengers,

at no point can that supersede

the professionalism
of that crew.

Your primary and only real job

is the safety
of that aircraft.

You know, it seems they were
under a lot of pressure

to land not only
before the flight began,

but even during the flight.

The crash happened
more than half an hour

after that last call
from the plane.

Did commercial
pressure influence the pilots

to make a risky decision that
cost the lives of 18 people?

You know, this comes up
all the time.

Charter pilots
often voice on chat rooms

and complaint lines

that they are pressured
to keep people happy

and do really difficult things

just to satisfy
a demanding customer.

And it's dangerous.

They still had time
to correct the situation.

So what happened
in these final 30 minutes?

It's here.

NTSB investigators

turn to the cockpit
voice recorder of Avjet

3-0-3 Golf Alpha

to understand why the pilots

chose to land instead
of diverting.

We could learn
about the crew's decision making

and what they were doing
from their conversations

with each other, um, you know,
how they were planning

and using the information
that was coming in

as they approached Aspen.

You know what,
let's pick it up

before they begin
their final descent.

Hey, do you
remember that crazy guy

in the Lear when we were
in Aspen last time?

He was, "I can see the airport"
but he couldn't see it?

Pause that.

So 14 minutes
before the crash,

they're ridiculing another pilot
who tried to land

without the runway in sight.

Why did they do the same thing?

At that point,
they were still in the mode of,

we're gonna do this right,

and even sort of made a joke

about this one guy
that didn't do it right.

Okay.

Okay, we'll shoot it
from here.

I mean, we're here,
but we only get to do it once.

Alright. Once,
and then we go to Rifle, right?

Yeah, it's too late
in the evening to come around.

So right there,
they're talking about

doing a missed approach.

That was at 6:50,
so two minutes later.

12 minutes
from the airport,

the pilots confirmed
their plan

to divert if they needed to.

As the crew
was approaching Aspen,

they were getting the idea
that the weather was getting

more difficult to get in,
and they were having

a conversation about this.

They mentioned again,
"Well we might only have

one shot at this,
and we have to go to Rifle".

They were really saying
the right things.

Attention
all aircraft.

Last aircraft went missed.

- What?
- He went missed.

He went missed?

Damn. That's not good.

Nine minutes from crashing.

They know the plane
in front of them couldn't land.

And they know
it's a bad sign for them.

That clearly had to put
some pressure on them

to say, alright, this is uh,
this is not looking good.

It should have those pilots
starting to get into

the mindset of executing
the missed approach

rather than landing
the aircraft.

So they know they shouldn't
attempt the landing either.

Up until now,
they've been doing everything

right by the book.
- Yeah.

I wonder what changed.

Investigators discover
something unusual

in the CVR transcripts.

Huh.

It looks like
the flight attendant

brought someone
into the cockpit.

About eight minutes
before the accident,

somebody came into the cockpit,
one of the passengers.

Thank you very much.

Do you think it's the client?

It's possible.

Having somebody else
up on the flight deck

as you're conducting an approach

into a mountainous area at night

in poor weather
is not a good idea.

Did the presence
of a passenger in the cockpit

play a role in the crash?

The weather's
gone down.

They're not making it in.

As the crew
got closer to Aspen,

the weather worsened,

making it more dangerous
for planes to try to land.

Oh, really.

"Oh, really"?

The only conversation
that should be going on

is between the crew
about aspects of the flight.

If you're having someone
up there questioning

their decision making,
questioning, you know,

the weather and the operation,

um, it's just such a distraction
and a pressure to them.

As the pilots approach
the airport,

the situation intensified.

Challenger nine eight Romeo,
you're number one.

Nine eight Romeo,

negative visual on the missed.

They learn that
the plane ahead of Avjet

3-0-3 Golf Alpha

also missed their approach

because they couldn't see
the runway.

It's too dangerous to land
on that runway

under these conditions.

So, what happened?

Are we cleared to land?

No, not yet.

He just missed,

the guy in front of us
didn't make it either.

Oh, really.

Okay, so it sounds like
this guy

is sending the pilots a message.

Exactly.

"Oh, really," may not
sound like much,

but after all those other
things that had occurred,

I think, "Oh, really"
was a warning shot.

Get this thing in Aspen.

But the pilots still had
one more chance

to implement their back-up plan

to divert to another airport.

Where's it at?

So obviously, they still
can't see the runway.

- To the right.
- To the right.

So, instead of executing
a missed approach,

they're still looking
for the runway,

which is actually to their left.

There was a river valley
and some roads nearby.

Might they have seen something
they thought was the runway,

you know, some lights
of the village or whatnot.

Then they believed
they saw the runway,

but that wasn't correct.

They just keep flying
lower and lower

looking for the airport.

They were just under
way too much pressure

to make good decisions.

They had the night curfew.

They had a, the time pressure,

uh, pressure from
the client as well,

um, and then with the weather
coming in and out

as they stepped down,

they'd catch glimpses
now and then of the ground.

Five hundred.

Ref plus five.

Sink rate.
Sink rate.

22 seconds
after crossing

the missed approach point,

Avjet 3-0-3 Golf Alpha
hits the ground.

So...

in Los Angeles,
they were ready to divert.

Then they get chewed out
for talking about diverting,

and the client tells them
how important the dinner is.

Topping it all off,

the passenger enters
the cockpit.

So, by the time
they get to Aspen...

They were bound and determined
to land.

Sadly, they turned into
the pilots they were ridiculing.

All indications

from our investigation

show that these two pilots
were good pilots.

Once the crew descended
without the runway in sight...

the accident was inevitable.

They just kept pushing,
and step by step,

it got worse and worse until

they descended too low.

Despite
the pressures

the pilots were under to land,

there was one more safeguard

that could have prevented
this tragedy.

You're not gonna believe this.

Investigators
of Avjet 3-0-3 Golf Alpha

examine a safety notice

for Aspen Airport that might
have prevented the crash.

A NOTAM.

NOTAM is an official
Notice to Airmen.

That's a notice put out
by the FAA

to tell pilots about
some abnormality

in the airspace system.

An approach procedure
has been changed,

a navigation aide is out,
um, all sorts of things.

Two days before the crash,
a NOTAM was issued

with a warning about
landing at Aspen.

As far as I can tell, it says,

"Circling NA,
not authorized, at night."

So, in other words,

they should never have been
flying into Aspen at night

in the first place.

It said that circling
not authorized at night.

This approach is only
a circling approach,

even if you elect to land
straight in.

It actually had the effect

of making that approach
not authorized at night.

The crash was at 7:02 PM.
What time was nightfall?

Nightfall was officially
at 6:55.

Well, that's seven minutes
before the crash.

Why didn't they follow
the NOTAM?

Investigators examine
the Gulfstream's

briefing records to see

if it included
the most recent notice.

It looks the first officer
did receive the NOTAM

over the phone
before the flight.

So who knows if
he passed it on to the Captain.

NOTAM's are hard to read,

there's a lot of um,
extraneous information in them.

They tell you about everything
from a burned-out lightbulb

on a tower fifteen miles away,

to the runway is closed,
and everything in between.

And what about the controller?

NOTAM's are also distributed
to ATC facilities.

They need to know about

things that affect
the airspace as well.

It never got passed on
to Aspen ATC.

The reason the tower
didn't get the NOTAM

is it was supposed to get
sent by, believe it or not, fax,

and for whatever reason,

it didn't get sent
to the ATC facilities

that needed to know.

Had the Controller received
the NOTAM,

it might have
prevented the crash.

In the final analysis,
investigators conclude

the probable cause
of the accident

was the flight crew's
operation of the airplane

below the minimum
descent altitude

without an appropriate visual
reference to the runway.

This accident happened

because the captain
did not go around,

did not conduct
a missed approach.

Had he done that,

they would have gone
to Rifle.

And the passengers may have
been frustrated,

may have been angry.
There might have been a big

conversation, but they
would have been alive.

Investigators also believe
external pressures

played a role in the pilots'
decision-making.

We call it "get there-itus".

We were close
to the destination,

almost there and the pressure
on people to make the decision.

Nothing broke,
nothing really failed,

other than just
the decision-making,

under pressures of
"get there-itus".

As a result of this accident,

Avjet restricts flying
into Aspen

between sunset and sunrise.

The FAA also revises
its specifications

for flying into Aspen,

with a minimum visibility
of five miles

and a cloud ceiling of at least
44-hundred feet

above ground now required
for landing.

You see the runway?

This is to ensure pilots
always have a clear view

of the runway before landing.

Thank you very much.

Avjet also takes steps

to prevent unnecessary
distractions in the cockpit

during the flight.

After the accident,
the company issued a bulletin

changing their rules
that no passengers

were allowed in the cockpit.

Okay, guys.
Let's finish up tomorrow.

Well, the NTSB has also made
a number of recommendations

on improving the NOTAM system,

making things a little bit more
graphical and easy to use

so that people can sort them out

rather than just
reading a list.

The lessons serve as a warning

to all other pilots
who interact with passengers.

I think the message
of this flight

is there is no
dinner date engagement,

or birthday party
that is more important

than the lives
of your passengers on the plane.

And the pilot has to be
tough enough

to stand up to that,

because the passengers
just don't know.

They're not pilots,
and they do not know

that their behavior
is endangering their very lives.

But it did help change the law

and change how the FAA operates

in many aspects.
And for that, we're thankful.

Subtitling: difuze