All language subtitles for M.2003-S11E09-Under.Pressure.Nigeria.Airways.Flight.2120.WEBDL-1080pEAC3.5.1h264-PiTBULL_track4_[eng]

Good morning Nigerian 2120.

Cleared for takeoff 34 left.

What's that?

NARRATOR: A mysterious sound.

So as soon as this aircraft took off.

We've got four low pressure lights.

LARRY: There was basically no surviving.

(ALARM BEEPING)

The air brake thing just broke.

- Smoke.
- I'll take a look.

They think they've got
a hydraulic problem.

We've lost all hydraulics.

NARRATOR: A confounding
series of failures.

ALLAN: (OVER RADIO)
We're declaring an emergency.

We are having flight control problems.

Roger. Roger.
I thought you were Saudi 738.

Now they have to grapple with this blaze.

There's smoke in the back. Real bad.

NARRATOR: A raging inferno.

This thing would have been like a torch.

It's pandemonium inside the cabin.

No! No! No! Don't!

Bodies were falling out of the aircraft.

There it is! It's two miles out!

Christ, I have no control!

And he had no idea what would ensue
when he lowered that landing gear.

NARRATOR: 261 people.

Landing gear down.

NARRATOR: On the brink of disaster.

MAN: (OVER RADIO)
Mayday, mayday.

NARRATOR: Mecca, Saudi Arabia.

The birthplace of the prophet Mohammed.

This is the holiest city in all of Islam.

Making the journey to Mecca
is a sacred duty

in the life of every Muslim.

The Hajj is the
world's largest pilgrimage.

This week more than
one-and-a-half million people

will take part in the ritual.

80 kilometers away,
one of the largest airports in the world

is the gateway to Mecca
for pilgrims traveling by air.

Jeddah Airport has a terminal
built exclusively for the annual Hajj.

A terminal that can handle
80,000 passengers at a time.

Today, in blistering desert heat,

Nigeria Airways Flight 2120

prepares to take a group
of Nigerian pilgrims home.

For most Westerners, a Hajj flight
would seem almost surreal.

These are very, uh, poor pilgrims
from villages in Nigeria.

They've never been on
a plane for the most part.

The whole cultural difference is amazing.

I mean, there's stories told
about some of those pilgrims

getting into the airplanes

and actually trying
to light their barbeques

to cook meals on the flights,

uh, not realizing that
of course you can't do that.

NARRATOR: The 247 passengers
are onboard a DC-8

that will be heading west
across Africa to Sokoto, Nigeria.

It's a charter flight operated
by Canadian airline Nationair.

The DC-8 was the primary
aircraft for Nationair.

It was reliable, sturdy
and served us very well

in operations throughout the world.

Nationair was a scrappy little
start-up airline based in Montreal.

And it started by taking people
on vacations to sunny destinations

during the winter
and it grew very rapidly.

And then had this very unusual,
uh, offshore charter business

uh, which is what brought them
to, uh, Jeddah and Saudi Arabia.

NARRATOR: By offering unconventional
flights that most other airlines

would never consider,

Nationair is giving its competition
a run for their money.

Sir, you have to take your seat, please.

NARRATOR: Captain William Allan
is a former Canadian Air Force pilot.

He has more than 20 years
of flying experience.

First Officer Kent Davidge
will be at the controls today,

piloting Flight 2120 out of Jeddah.

Let's close her up and get out of here.

Heading four.

We got number four way up here.

Okay. Starting one.

NARRATOR: Victor Fehr.

I'll turn on the AirCon.

NARRATOR: Is the engineer
on today's flight.

There are two other Nationair
employees on the plane,

lead mechanic Jean-Paul Philippe

and project manager Aldo Tettamanti.

Mr. Tettamanti was sent to Jeddah

by our planning department
to primarily provide

logistical, administrative support.

NARRATOR: Flight 2120
must taxi five kilometers

across the sprawling airfield
to get to its takeoff position.

Flight controls.

Check.

It's a long way around.

Yup.

Good morning Nigerian 2120.

Cleared for takeoff, uh, three-four-left.

NARRATOR: At 8:26 a.m.

it's already 30 degrees outside.

Runway's clear.

DAVIDGE: All engines.

Okay. You have control.

I have control.

Stable.

Brakes released.

Set Max Thrust.

Max Thrust.

NARRATOR: Davidge powers
the DC-8 down the runway.

So early in the takeoff roll.

(THUDDING)

They hear a loud sound in the cockpit.

And he flight engineer says.

What's that?

NARRATOR: The instruments
show no indication of trouble.

They continue to accelerate.

80 knots.
90 knots now.

DAVIDGE: 90 knots. Check.

It's sort of a shimmy.

Like if you're riding on
one of those thingamajigs.

V-one.

NARRATOR: V-one is the speed
at which pilots can no longer

safely abandon their takeoff.

ALLAN: Rotate.

Positive rate.

Gear up.

CONTROLLER: (OVER RADIO)
Nigerian 2120 airborne.

Two-nine.

Flight 2120 is now climbing
through 1500 feet.

The plane has been in the
air for one-and-a-half minutes.

(ALARM BEEPING)

We've got four low pressure lights.

What have we got?

FEHR: We've got four low pressure lights.

ALLAN: Yeah.

We might be losing pressurization.

Pressurization is uncontrolled.

NARRATOR: The instruments
indicate that the plane

isn't pressurizing properly.

But, in the cabin, nothing seems wrong.

- Level off.
- DAVIDGE: Okay.

Uh, Nationair 2120.

We'd like to just level off
at 2000 feet, if that's okay?

We're having a slight
pressurization problem.

NARRATOR: In the tower the
controller has his hands full.

An odd coincidence is creating confusion.

Another plane is reporting
the exact same problem.

Say call sign.

The controller thought
he was talking to one aircraft

with a pressurization problem.

When, in fact, there were two aircrafts

reporting pressurization
problems simultaneously.

I'd just like to
level off at, uh, 2000 feet.

I've got a spoiler light.

NARRATOR: Wing spoilers
reduce lift when planes are landing.

Since the crew hasn't deployed them,

the light points
to yet another malfunction.

Gear unsafe light!

Uh, you, you can descend to 3000 feet.

NARRATOR: The controller
believes he's talking

to the other distressed plane,

a Saudi Arabian aircraft.

Fly heading, uh, 160.

NARRATOR: Nationair is flying
at 2400 feet.

Descending to 3000 doesn't make sense.

There's so much confusion going on
between the tower and these two aircraft.

They're making a bad situation even worse.

NARRATOR: Allan thinks
the controller wants him to climb.

Heading 130 and understand
you want us up to 3000 feet.

That's affirmative.
Fly heading 160, heading 160.

We're losing hydraulics here.

The loss of uh hydraulics
has significant implications

in controlling the aircraft.

Okay 160. And we're losing
our hydraulics here.

WILLIAM: You revert to what is called
manual control

and, uh, it's already difficult
with hydraulic assist

but manual control is even more difficult.

We're gonna need to,
uh, come back to Jeddah to land.

NARRATOR: Flight 2120 is
13 kilometers from the airport

and flying away from it.

Roger. Understand you're going
to land in Jeddah.

NARRATOR: To get back on the ground,

the crew will have to make
a wide left turn.

It will take them further
away from the airport,

before bringing them back over the city,

to line up with the runway.

In the cabin, the first signs of trouble.

Smoke. I smell smoke.

- JEAN-PAUL: Where?
- Back there.

I'll take a look.

NARRATOR: The Nationair mechanic
is about to discover the terrifying truth

behind Flight 2120's
mysterious mechanical failures.

NARRATOR: Amid growing
confusion in the cockpit,

the pilots of Flight 2120

still don't know that
there's smoke in the cabin.

All they're dealing with
is just all the alarm bells going off

to indicate that equipment is failing
left, right and center.

NARRATOR: But mechanic
Jean-Paul Philippe

realizes they're in serious trouble.

An onboard fire has the potential
to consume the entire aircraft in seconds.

The air brake thing just broke.

We've got a flap slot light.

NARRATOR: Less than 3 minutes
after takeoff,

passengers begin to notice
something's wrong.

Okay, sir, we have a problem.

We're leveling here right at the moment.

Level off right now.
Right now! Level off!

DAVIDGE: We're level three.

NARRATOR: The controller still believes
he's talking to another plane.

Yeah, I will give you
further instructions.

Descend right now to 3000 feet.

NARRATOR: Jeddah airport
is now 20 kilometers away.

With the heaviest smoke
at the back of the plane,

passengers rush forward,
desperate for air.

Okay leveling at 3000 feet

and if you could give us
a heading back toward the runway?

We're declaring an emergency.

We'll advise you of the problem.

We're declaring an emergency at this time.

Roger. Confirm you would
like to be runway 16.

Uh, no, 34 would be better.

We're gonna need time
to get ready for the landing.

So we have confusion between
the two planes and the tower.

We have, unbeknownst to the pilot
and the crew in the cockpit,

smoke billowing into the
passengers', uh, seat area.

There's smoke in the back.

Real bad.

Yeah we're heading back.
We've got a hydraulic problem. Okay.

This is the first indication
that the pilot has of anything going on

in the back of the plane.

Should I tell the passengers?

Yeah. Just tell them
we'll be returning to Jeddah.

They think they've got
a hydraulic problem.

Now they have to grapple with this blaze

that is spreading through
the rear of the aircraft.

So things are rapidly
spinning out of control.

Okay let's get squared away
and see what we've got here please.

NARRATOR: In the cabin,
it's becoming almost

impossible to breath.

And Jeddah is still 19 kilometers away.

We've lost all hydraulics.

NARRATOR: The odds on making it back
to the airport are getting slimmer.

Damn it!
I've got no ailerons!

NARRATOR: Davidge can't steer
the plane with no hydraulics.

Hang on, I've got it.

NARRATOR: Captain Allan struggles
with his control column.

But it too could fail at any moment.

Let's get lined up
before things get any worse.

ALLAN: Okay, so we're at 2000 feet now
declaring an emergency.

We are having flight control problems.

Uh, Roger. Roger.
I thought you were Saudi 738.

NARRATOR: Only now does the controller
realize that the troubled aircraft

is the Nationair flight.

Uh, turn left, right now heading 080.

Expect runway three-four-left.

By this time, it's pandemonium
inside the cabin.

The passengers are being
engulfed by flames.

And bodies are starting to fall
from the aircraft fuselage.

NARRATOR: The plane is right over Jeddah,

a city of 2 million people.

The bodies were falling out
of the aircraft 11 miles from the airport.

Okay, sir, we're having trouble turning.

We are having flight control problems.

We can try to turn left but we are having
flight control problems.

In the situation, uh,
it would have madecertainly controlling

the aircraft for approaching
landing very, very difficult.

How much further?

Ten miles. 1700 feet.

NARRATOR: Choking for air,
some passengers try to open the doors.

At this speed it's impossible.

FLIGHT ATTENDANT: No! No!

Jeddah 2120 cleared to land
runway three-four, uh, left.

ALLAN: Okay. We're coming straight in.
We'll land on the left.

Require emergency vehicles immediately.

We have a fire.
We will be ground evacuating.

Jeddah 2120 clear to land any runway.

Clear to land.

There it is!
It's two miles out!

Alright.
Let's get on the ground.

I've lost elevators.
Christ I have no control.

Landing gear down.

PILOT: (OVER RADIO)
Saudi Air 738.

Nigeria Airlines is down
just short of runway three-four-center.

NARRATOR: The fiery explosion,
and sudden impact with the ground,

has all but obliterated Flight 2120.

REPORTER: (OVER TV)
A trail of blackened debris

stained the desert half a mile short
of Jeddah's main airport.

Little was left of the DC-8;
such was the force of the impact.

NARRATOR: 247 passengers
and 14 crew are dead.

This is the worst accident
ever for a Canadian airline

and the deadliest crash
of a DC-8 in history.

One day after the crash,

a team of Canadian investigators
arrives in Jeddah.

They'll be joining the
official Saudi investigation.

They now must figure out
how a DC-8 bound for Nigeria.

Nigerian 2120 airborne two-nine.

NARRATOR: Ended up in pieces
just ten minutes after taking off.

Has anything been removed?

We'd heard that there'd
been an onboard fire

but really little more than that,

uh, beyond the fact
that all the 261 souls onboard

had perished in the accident.

NARRATOR: Bill Taylor is the
Transportation Safety Board

of Canada's technical expert.

BILL: My first view of the crash site
was, uh, one of astonishment really

at the spread of the debris,
the severity of the breakup.

Usually, there's some indication
of recognizable parts of the aircraft,

but, uh, there was virtually
nothing to identify it as an aircraft.

I can't even tell what most of this is.

It was critical for us to know
what happened as quickly as possible,

because we're carrying millions
of people all over the world.

And so we wanted to
know if we had a problem.

Do we have a problem with our operation,

our equipment, our aircraft?

RON: The thing that impacts you

is when you're dealing with 247 passengers

and 14 crew all dead.

That's, that gets your attention.

And the fact that something
as big as a DC-8

is now lying there in a zillion pieces,

all burned.
Yeah. It has an effect.

BILL: I was responsible
for performing a site survey

which identified the location
of the major parts of the wreckage.

And searching for evidence
of the source of the onboard fire.

NARRATOR: By mapping the
spread of the debris.

Left, left, left.

NARRATOR: The investigators
begin to get a picture

of what happened to the DC-8
at the moment of impact.

BILL: The fuel sprayed out in a,
in a V-shape,

and instantaneous,
uh, fire over that area.

Obviously what had happened,
as the aircraft hit the ground

with a severe down motion,
it ruptured all of the fuel tanks.

NARRATOR: The main wreckage
sprawls across a stretch of desert

400 meters long and 200 meters wide.

A body was found 11 miles
back from the crash site.

So the crash site actually
starts 11 miles back.

So it's like 12 miles of things
falling out of the airplane

and people falling out of the airplane.

We did see that whole sections of seats
were melted and charred,

and, uh, obviously had people
in them when they fell.

And everybody was, uh...

very bad injuries.

Let's just leave it at that.

NARRATOR: The most important
question for investigators

is, "Where did the fire start?"

But with so much of the plane
so badly burned,

it will be hard to plot
the progress of the fire.

They need to distinguish between pieces
that burned in the air

from those that caught fire on the ground.

Damage from an in-flight fire is,
uh, usually considerably

greater than ground fire
because of the extra heat

developed from the air flow
giving the blow torch effect.

And, uh the effect on the metal
is to heat it to the point

where, uh, it's almost molten,

whereas in a post-crash fire,
it's an even coating,

and, uh, any material that melts
drips straight down.

NARRATOR: The wreckage
from the front of the plane

shows the least amount of fire damage.

Remnants from the centre fuselage
are the most severely burned.

This indicates that the fire likely began
in the plane's mid-section.

The center fuel cell had been
penetrated by the fire

because there was one part of that wall

that you could see a clear
burn-through pattern in the wall.

We found that the, uh,
tail section of the airplane

was covered with molten aluminum,

indicating that the, uh,
air stream had brought

parts of the melting airplane back.

NARRATOR: It's clear the fire grew
hot enough to melt the fuselage

before the plane hit the ground.

But how the fire started
is still a mystery.

Let's get all these pieces
back to the hangar.

NARRATOR: The Saudi government
provides a hangar

for the investigators to conduct
a more in-depth analysis of the wreckage.

The lead investigator on the case

is the Transportation Safety Board's
Ron Coleman.

The Saudis didn't have the expertise
on the ground, or in the area,

and hadn't done any major
accident investigations

that I was aware of.

And also, they didn't have any
engineering lab capability and we did.

So they opted to let us
do that work for them.

Let's put together what we can.

We knew that parts of the airplane
had melted and part of the cabin

had burned away underneath the passengers.

We know that aluminum melts
at 1100 degrees Celsius approximately.

So this thing would
have been like a torch.

NARRATOR: Before investigators
can reach any conclusions

about what caused the crash,

Nationair puts forward
a theory of its own.

Early on Nationair claimed
that a foreign object, a hunk of metal,

had been on the tarmac at Jeddah.

NARRATOR: Nationair makes that claim
after learning remnants

of blown tires were found on the runway.

However, the Saudi aviation authorities
said there was no evidence

of any foreign object on the tarmac,

uh, at any time before or after the crash.

NARRATOR: Canadian investigators
now face two very different,

but equally disturbing, possibilities.

Either Nationair is rushing to judgment
about why one of its planes went down,

or the Saudi aviation authority
is attempting a cover-up.

NARRATOR: Examining the remains
of Flight 2120's landing gear,

investigators discover that the wheels

may have had something to do
with the crash.

One of the left wheel-rims
shows clear signs

of having been scraped along the runway.

BILL: This is the, uh,
number two wheel

that was recovered from the, uh,
from the accident site.

You can see here, the area
where the, uh, wheel was ground down.

You can imagine the kind of heat

that that would generate

running along the runway scraping off.

NARRATOR: At the crash site,

Bill Taylor makes a chance discovery.

It adds an unexpected
new layer to the investigation.

I noticed a piece of paper
blowing across the, uh, the site.

Picked it up and I could see
there was handwritten notes on this paper.

And it turned out to be part
of the A-flight inspection checklist.

Uh, and it was the actual page
that recorded tire pressures.

Hey.

NARRATOR: The maintenance checklist
shows that the tires

were inflated to normal pressure.

What is not normal is that
there are two different colors of ink,

with a second entry
written over the first.

It was apparent that, uh,

that the numbers had been changed
at some point.

RON: It didn't look right.

We recommended that we send it to the RCMP

for them to look at it and see
if it had been altered, the document,

because there is a law in
the aviation industry

that no document shall be altered.

And this one looked suspect.

NARRATOR: The plane's
flight data recorder

and the cockpit voice recorder

have been recovered.

Though it's far from certain whether
any data has survived the intense heat,

and heavy impact.

We packaged them and transported them
back to the Canadian lab for analysis.

NARRATOR: Tire tracks on the runway
offer some intriguing clues

about what happened to Flight 2120.

Left main landing gear
had been leaving marks,

rubber marks, to begin with.

So this is the outer left wheel.

BILL: These continued
for some distance

and then we could see
where the inboard front tire

of the left landing gear
had lost its tire.

In other words, the tire had blown
and the wheel had come down

into contact with the runway.

NARRATOR: From rubber marks on the runway,
Taylor concludes that the aircraft

blew two adjacent tires,
both from the left main landing gear.

What's that?

NARRATOR: It's an important discovery.

But they still don't know
why the tires burst,

nor how that could have led
to the catastrophic fire.

Let's spread it out see what's what.

NARRATOR: Investigators next examine
pieces of tire found on the runway.

They're looking for any signs of a defect,
or heavy tire wear.

BILL: Visual examination found
that the, uh,

the tires had sufficient tread
to continue in service.

Uh, they were worn
but, uh, still pretty good shape.

NARRATOR: The discovery
supports Nationair's claim.

It's possible that the DC-8 did,

in fact, hit something on the runway
that caused a puncture.

Press releases at the time, uh,
provided by the president of the company

stated that the cause of the tire failure
was debris on the runway.

NARRATOR: Even with two blown tires.

Positive rate.

NARRATOR: Flight 2120 got airborne.

The connection between
the blown tires and the calamity

that consumed the plane still isn't clear.

Okay let's get squared away
and see what we've got here, please.

NARRATOR: In Ottawa,
the Transportation Safety Board

has salvaged the cockpit voice recording.

But instead of solving
the mystery it only adds to it.

FEHR: What's that?

We've got a flat tire, you figure?

NARRATOR: The voice recorder confirms
that the crew suspected

they had a blown tire.

ALLAN: You're not leaning
on the brakes, eh?

The pilot flying is the only one

that has his feet on the rudder pedals
on the takeoff.

The rudder pedals
are also the brake pedals.

No. I'm not.

I got my feet on the bottom of the rudder.

It can happen from time to time
that you touch the brakes either

for directional control or inadvertently.

And I assume that,
that's what the captain thought

that he might have inadvertently
touched the brake pedal.

NARRATOR: Its common for pilots
to take off with blown tires.

It's considered less dangerous
than aborting a takeoff at high speeds.

Tire failures at the time
were not an uncommon event,

nor are they today.

You takeoff successfully,
continue on route

and land at destination
without adverse consequences.

ALLAN: Okay we're leveling at 3000 feet

and if you could give us
a heading back toward the runway?

NARRATOR: The Nationair crew
finally does declare an emergency.

We're declaring an emergency.

We'll advise you of the problem.

We're declaring an emergency at this time.

NARRATOR: It's then,
that the air traffic controller

realizes his mistake.

Roger. Roger.
I thought you were Saudi 738.

LARRY: There was another flight
coming inbound that was having problems

the air traffic controller thought
that he was talking to the other aircraft.

CONTROLLER: (OVER RADIO)
Roger. Confirm you would like to...

NARRATOR: Investigators wonder if that
confusion contributed to the disaster

by delaying the DC-8's return to Jeddah.

Uh, no, 34 would be better.

We're gonna need time
to get ready for the landing.

NARRATOR: But after studying
air traffic communication transcripts

and analyzing the flight path,

they determine that the mix up did not
add any time to the return journey.

As it turns out,
this didn't have any effect

on the eventual crashing of the aircraft.

NARRATOR: The question remains;

could a blown tire have somehow led
to an intense fire

that took down a commercial
aircraft in 10 minutes?

At the Royal Canadian
Mounted Police forensics lab,

technicians have analyzed
the Nationair maintenance log.

Tests reveal two layers
of ink on the log entries.

The readings for the tire pressure
were written over.

And the actual readings
that were underneath,

uh, showed 20 to 30 PSI

below the required levels
to operate the plane and tires safely.

So the only conclusion
that you could make from that

is that the entries were falsified.

Tell me what the plan was for the tires.

NARRATOR: With this troubling
new information,

investigators now turn their attention

to the mechanics who last worked
on the plane.

They learn that four days
before the crash,

at a stop in Ghana, Africa,

mechanics wanted to change the tires.

The tread was beginning to wear,
and the pressure was low.

The investigative team wants to learn more

about how Nationair managed
day-to-day maintenance.

Bill Taylor is joined
by operations expert Larry Vance.

What we did was look
at all the operational issues.

And, uh, we looked at human factors;

basically, everything that had to do
with the operation of the aircraft.

You're not going to believe
what I just found.

NARRATOR: Taylor uncovers evidence that
the tire change was never carried out.

A fax from the Nationair project manager
in Jeddah ordered it stopped

so the plane could stay on schedule.

LARRY: They had a facsimile come in
from the project manager.

Forget it. They want us to get going.

LARRY: Saying that some
of their passengers

were being given off to other carriers,

which put some pressure
on them to abandon their plan

to change the wheels.

It was felt it would have caused
a greater delay.

So the fax came in and said,

"Stop the tire change.
We're way behind.

We may lose the contract.

Load everybody up and get back."

And so they did.

They stopped the work.

Because Nationair is go, go, go, go,

nobody wants to deal with anything
that could delay the departure.

NARRATOR: Rather than top-up the tires,
a mechanic altered the log

to make it seem like
the tire pressure was fine.

LARRY: There's no indication
that they ever added pressure

to the tires to actually
inflate them to that.

They just simply made
the books look right.

NARRATOR: Three days later,
the plane landed in Jeddah

with the same under-inflated tires.

At 5 a.m. the following morning,

the crew arrived for pre-flight checks.

20 minutes before takeoff,

lead mechanic Jean-Paul Philippe

finally decided to get
the tires topped up.

He had waited for quite a long time.

I believe the passengers were onboard,

and the baggage was onboard.

Basically the flight was ready to leave

when he finally decided
it was the right thing to do

to try and get nitrogen.

All the tanks are empty.

NARRATOR: Aircraft tires are inflated
with nitrogen not air.

Nitrogen does not expand as much as air.

It's also less flammable.

He actually made an attempt
to find nitrogen to top the tires up.

Listen, I just, I just need
to top up two tires.

That's it.

NARRATOR: Philippe asked
another airline to help.

I just need to top-up two tires.

They had nitrogen bottles
but they were empty.

That didn't go very well.

It was reported to us
that the project manager just simply said,

"Forget it. We're not going
to get nitrogen.

We're gonna go without
topping-up the tires."

And away they went.

He's not a commercial pilot
or a trained mechanic.

NARRATOR: Investigators now conclude

that the project manager's
lack of experience

was a critical factor in the accident.

LARRY: He was making
operational-type decisions

on behalf of, or instead of,

some of the people who should have
been making the decisions themselves,

and putting a stop to things
like allowing the aircraft

to fly with under-inflated tires.

Oh let me guess.
We gotta go.

It was something new and was to have, uh,

actually assisted us
in being better prepared

and operating more effectively.

In hindsight, the irony is
the reverse actually happened,

that additional pressure
was put on the crews.

Any decision to takeoff
with an unworthy airplane,

or tires that were low,

ultimately should have been
communicated to the captain,

because the captain
is the person that's responsible

for the safety of the airplane
and the crew.

NARRATOR: But that didn't happen.

No one in the cockpit was likely aware
the tires were under inflated

before take-off.

WILLIAM: I don't think that
this flight engineer

would find it significant to see
the values on the tire pressures,

uh, were changed as that
is not an unusual occurrence

on a journey log.

Incorrect values are added
and they're changed or fixed.

NARRATOR: Before it crashed,
claiming 261 lives,

the same plane took off and landed

seven times with the under-inflated tires.

Records show that
the plane's loaded weight

was about the same for each flight.

So why did the tires blow
on July 11th at Jeddah?

How long is that taxiway anyway?

NARRATOR: Investigators suspect
the answer relates to the sheer size

of the airport combined with
extreme desert temperatures.

It was something like 11 minutes
of taxiing with several turns.

So it was a long taxi before
they even started the takeoff run.

They taxied for five kilometers.

The tire must have been
burning up on the tarmac.

NARRATOR: The DC-8's main landing gear
consists of a left and right bogie,

each with four wheels.

Uniform tire pressure is important.

It ensures the weight of the plane
is distributed evenly

betweenall 8 wheels.

When you have an under-inflated tire,

that total weight then is distributed
over the remaining wheels.

It would be felt on the axle-mate
of the low pressure tire.

We calculated, using our weight
and balance figures,

that the pressure for that day
would have been 183 PSI.

It's pretty clear
from the RCMP investigation

that one of the tires was 155 PSI.

NARRATOR: That's 28 Pounds
per square inch below the safe level.

Added to that;
the effects of a long taxi run,

on a scorchingly hot taxiway.

During taxi, there's an opportune time
for tires to heat,

and particularly tires
that are under-inflated

to heat up, flex and so on.

When you get over-deflection,
or excessive bending,

in that area, it generates heat.

If you generated enough heat,

uh, the nylon begins to melt
and pulls apart.

The tire blows.

What's that?

NARRATOR: The first tire
to burst was not the low one,

but the one right beside it.

90 knots now.

NARRATOR: The under-inflated tire
blew next.

The wheel rim hit the runway.

And when that started to drag
and wear down the runway,

it got super hot.

NARRATOR: Hot enough
to ignite the rubber tires.

The crew took the fire
into the air with them,

and it quickly consumed the plane.

So as soon as this aircraft took off
and they retracted the landing gear

there was basically no surviving.

Gear up.

The fire was going to spread.

There's smoke in the back. Real bad.

They were gonna crash.

Just tell them,
we'll be returning to Jeddah.

It's all over, ten seconds
after they lift off.

When the aircraft got airborne,
positive rate, the gear up,

and the gear went into
the wheel wells on fire.

Unfortunately, the DC-8
did not have any heat or fire indication

to tell the crew that they had a problem

with the landing gear
in the wheel well area.

The fire begins in this tire.

NARRATOR: Investigators now know
where the fire started,

and why it spread so quickly.

The left wheel well burns first.

Using the remnants of the tire
and perhaps hydraulic fluid as the fuel,

this fire continued
to burn in the wheel well.

We might be losing pressurization.

Pressurization is uncontrolled.

Next, this bundle of wires,
the wiring from the spoiler line.

I've got a spoiler light.

The fire's spreading fast.

It's reached here,
the main hydraulic line.

We're losing hydraulics here.

By now, the fire's reached
the very top of the wheel well.

It's eating through
the emergency wheel brake.

The air brake thing just broke.

Then the fire hits the right wheel well
and this bundle of wires.

It shorts out the flap slot light.

RON: We have electrical wires.

We have hydraulic fluid.
All highly flammable.

We've got a flap slot light.

And you've got the air
rushing at you at 240 knots.

Now the fire breaches the wheel well,

making its way up towards the cabin,

burning through the aileron controls
on the first officer's side.

Damn it!
I've got no ailerons!

Clearly a fire in the wheel well
is a very dangerous thing

because of what's in the wheel well.

This is the way the airplanes
have been designed

and they function fairly well

until something like this happens
and we find out,

oh, perhaps that wasn't
a very good place to put this.

Once it's burned through
the main fuel tank here,

it's all over.

He had no idea as to what would ensue
when he lowered that landing gear.

Landing gear down.

The fire had compromised
the structure to the point

where when this action
of lowering the gear took place,

it destroyed the airframe.

(EXPLOSION)

REPORTER: (OVER TV)
The official accident report

issued almost two years after the crash
found the DC-8 was unfit to fly.

I don't believe that the people
who were making the decisions

had in their heads

that this was a hazardous thing
that they were doing.

NARRATOR: The report lists
several causes for the crash,

including the lack of fire prevention
equipment in the wheel wells,

and the decision to release the plane
with under-inflated tires.

The mechanics working on this aircraft
were not fully aware

of the hazards involved
in low tire pressures.

NARRATOR: A number of critical changes
came about after this accident.

Smoke, fire and temperature sensors
in the wheel wells are now mandatory

on all modern aircraft.

Most critically, all crews are trained

on the importance
of properly inflated tires.

Forget it. They want us to get going.

NARRATOR: The accident was a major factor
in the collapse of Nationair in 1993.

The accident I think was probably
the beginning of the end.

Uh, our emphasis
of production over protection,

uh, really identified the main weakness
in the company.

Let me guess.
Look, we gotta go.

ANDREW: You can only pressure your people
to cut corners so many times,

and put pressure on them to, uh,
keep to schedule so many times,

and put dollars ahead of safety
so many times

before something will go terribly wrong
like it did in this Nationair crash.