All language subtitles for M.2003-S21E07-Mission.Disaster.Boeing.KC-135.Incident.WEBDL-1080pEAC3.5.1h264-PiTBULL_track4_[eng]

NARRATOR: A military KC-135 is
on a dangerous refueling assignment

over a war zone in the Middle-East.

Zero-five is level.

They told us that 15%
of us could possibly get shot down.

What the...

NARRATOR: when suddenly
the mission goes wrong.

- Whoa!
- No good. We're losing it.

We were going 110 degrees of
bank in both directions.

What the heck is happening?

It's beyond the capability of
the airplane to do that.

- Go get the parachutes and
helmets. -Roger.

It became apparent pretty
quickly that we weren't gonna

be able to complete our mission.

NARRATOR: The question is why?

Mayday, Mayday, Mayday.
This is Whale 05.

NARRATOR: Investigators
must quickly

determine if it was
a mechanical failure...

So this control cable snapped.

NARRATOR: ...or enemy fire.

Was this intentional? It's very
critical to the entire operation

to really figure out what happened.

(opening theme music playing)

♪♪

NARRATOR: It's late afternoon

at King Abdul Aziz Airport
in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Dozens of US Air Force KC-1-35 aircraft

prepare for late night
missions during the Gulf War.

Today, more than 90 large tanker jets

are preparing to refuel combat
missions over Iraq and Kuwait.

(intense music playing)

At 90 knots I'll hand it over to you.

Roger.

NARRATOR: Major Kevin Sweeney
and the crew

of US Air Force flight Whale 05

review the final details of their mission.

Start switches.

NARRATOR: He's the commander.

Flight start.

NARRATOR: Sweeney has over 20
years of Air Force flying experience.

It's his job to know
the mission and his plane.

SWEENEY: The aircraft commander
is just like the captain.

If you have to make any tough
decisions, it's your responsibility,

although you... it's very
important to take input

from the rest of your crew
members and listen to them.

Set takeoff thrust at 1.82 EPR.

EPR set for takeoff.

90 knots. My airplane.

NARRATOR: Jay Selanders
is Sweeney's trusted co-pilot.

Your airplane.

The aircraft commander is always
responsible for the airplane

so you can't trade that.
But specific duties

we would trade back and forth.

NARRATOR: At 5:25 p.m.

Whale 05 lifts off from Jeddah.

NARRATOR: Coalition forces are
two weeks into Operation Desert Storm.

One of the largest bombing
campaigns in aviation history.

Hundreds of daily bombing runs drive

Saddam Hussein's invading
Iraqi army out of Kuwait.

The size of the American air power

contribution, if you will,
in Desert Storm,

just can't be overstated.

It was quite astounding.

NARRATOR: Sweeney and his crew
are flying a Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker.

The aircraft is similar to
Boeing's commercial 707,

but is specially designed
for mid-air refueling.

JAY SELANDERS: It really began
the jet era, and it is a great airplane.

It's true. It's
fast. It's strong.

It's one of Boeing's best products,

and, and once you become
accustomed to a few of its idiosyncrasies,

a sweet airplane to fly.

It will take you a long way
and bring you home.

Steve, are you gonna transfer
from the center tank?

Affirmative. Two units of trim
should keep us within the limits.

NARRATOR: Senior Master Sergeant
Steve Stucky is the boom operator.

He's critical to the refueling operation.

During refueling, he guides the
fuel boom to the receiving plane.

Once he is within three to five feet

of the boom from the receptacle...

I got him at 1.0

STEVE STUCKY: I'll guide that
boom into the receptacle.

Then we can transfer fuel from
the boom into his airplane.

JOHN NANCE: The amount
of fuel that you can carry,

whether in a bomber or a fighter,

becomes critical in terms of being able
to get to the place that you need to go

and bring them back.

There simply isn't any other
substitute for air refueling.

NARRATOR: Tonight's mission
takes them along a tanker corridor,

an aerial highway for tanker crews,

heading North from Jeddah.

When they reach waypoint Rita,

they'll turn east

before making their final turn
to the rendezvous point

less than 180 miles from combat
zones near the Kuwaiti border.

Transition altitude.

Set altimeter 2992.

NARRATOR: Navigator Greg Mermis,

is in charge of keeping
the mission safely on course.

GREG MERMIS: We were primarily
responsible for running the rendezvous,

joining up with the other
aircraft to complete the refueling.

I knew that Greg was gonna do everything

to put us in the right
position at the right time.

NARRATOR: Tonight, they'll be
refueling an AWACS plane,

a radar surveillance and control unit,

a prime target for enemy fire.

MERMIS: I don't think any of us
had any idea what to really expect.

You know, they were estimating that
10% of the air refueling fleet was gonna

probably be shot down.

So it was a little bit nerve-wracking.

NARRATOR: The crew faces
Iraqi surface-to-air missiles

and more than 700 enemy aircraft,

including the dreaded Russian MiG-25.

SWEENEY: We had F-15s up there, F-16s
and their primary mission was air-to-air

looking for enemy airplanes

to come and possibly try to
attack an American airplane.

To be flying any sort of an
airplane in a war zone is surreal.

I don't care how much you prepared for it.

The ability to think in
a volatile environment

and to stay very calm is
absolutely a requirement of the job.

Zero-Five's level.

NARRATOR: Whale 05
reaches cruising altitude.

As they get closer to enemy territory,

the pilots reduce radio
contact to avoid detection.

The only other plane in sight

is another American KC-135
flying ahead in the same flight corridor.

Heading 088.

Altitude hold, on.

Altitude hold, check.

NARRATOR: The crew will
keep this course for 45 minutes

until they rendezvous
with the AWACS plane.

MERMIS: That was our time
to maybe relax a little bit.

Nothing really kind of happening
except cruising at that point.

So I always, you know, used
to take the opportunity

to go ahead and make my dinner.

NARRATOR: Stucky,
reviews his mission brief,

which involves delivering 125
thousand pounds of fuel.

There's times when
desert air is very stable.

And it's like you're flying on glass.

But while I'm working on the paperwork,

I felt a little bounce.

NARRATOR: Selanders feels
an abnormal movement in the yoke.

The autopilot was on, but I saw the yoke
deflect about 30, 35 degrees to the left.

And it was shaking just a little bit,

which is very odd.

And just about the time
I put my hands on the yoke,

thinking I was gonna
punch the autopilot off,

it came back to neutral.

Well it's some, some anomaly.

NARRATOR: Moments later...

What the...

NARRATOR: ...things
go very wrong.

I got it!

NARRATOR: It takes just a second for
the plane to roll 110 degrees to the left.

What the heck is happening?

NANCE: The first thing
to think about is fly the jet.

And the second thing is,

what the devil just happened?

We really had no idea what
was going on to the aircraft.

I thought perhaps a missile had hit us.

Did we get hit?

STUCKY: Because it was violent.

I can't tell!

I'd been flying for probably
10 years at that point and

been on a lot of missions but
never experienced anything like that.

NARRATOR: The crew can't tell
if there's some kind of malfunction

or if they're under attack.

We're gonna lose her.

We gotta get her level.

NARRATOR: Just as it seems the
plane is in an unrecoverable left bank,

it snaps hard to the right.

SELANDERS: The airplane
literally flipped.

This is clearly unusual. It's beyond
the capability of the airplane to do that.

SWEENEY: I mean, we're
just totally out of control.

We were going a 110 degrees
of bank in both directions.

NARRATOR: In the galley,
Stucky is in trouble.

STUCKY: I didn't know
what was going on.

It seemed like I would get to my
feet and then I'd fall down again.

It wasn't good.

There's too much stress!

The airplane is very resilient,
but it isn't resilient enough to

overcome the stresses that would be put on
it if you rolled it in the wrong direction

and tried to get out of a high speed dive.

NARRATOR: If the aircraft
banks much further,

it will be impossible to recover.

And if we didn't get this under
control and out of these wild gyrations

very quickly, this airplane was gonna
come apart, and then we're just history.

(intense music playing)

NARRATOR: The pilots of
Whale 05 are facing a crisis

over the Saudi Arabian desert.

♪♪

The plane is rolling violently.

It's no good! It's no good.
We're losing her.

I have got to focus on what I'm doing,

and I don't have any time
for extraneous thinking.

NARRATOR: Just when
all seems lost,

Major Sweeney plays a hunch.

Speed brake!

NARRATOR: Speed brakes
are devices on airplane wings

designed to increase drag
during descent and landing.

Sweeney deploys the speed
brakes on both wings,

hoping it will level the airplane.

What happens is when
the speed brakes come out,

it gives you more roll
capability that is manually

at your command and less capability
for the airplane to go off and do

something on its own aerodynamically.

NARRATOR: It's a procedure
Sweeney remembers from his training.

It works.

I remember leveling out. I was just
amazed that the airplane was still flying

and, you know, everybody is still there.

(intense music playing)

NARRATOR: Incredibly, the pilots
have managed to level the plane

But they're not out of trouble yet.

SWEENEY: All right. I have lateral
control, but we're losing altitude.

(instruments beeping)

We've got fire lights on
engines one and two.

NARRATOR: The pilots discover
a problem with the two left engines.

Jay and I looked at the engine instruments
and they are, they're all over the place.

These engine instruments make no sense.

NANCE: Both engines on
the left wing have fire lights on.

And why that would happen
to both of them at the same time

is also going through your head.

NARRATOR: The plane
is fully loaded with fuel.

Steve, how bad are the fires
on engines one and two?

Checking.

NARRATOR: If there's a fire in
the engines, it could lead to disaster.

(panting heavily)

Oh, my God.

The only thing I could see
was torn sheet metal

on the wing where the engines were

and fuel being vented
over the top of the wing.

They're not on fire.

STUCKY OVER RADIO: They're gone.

No fire?

Affirmative.

STUCKY OVER RADIO: No fire.
The engines are gone.

Roger.

There was a moment where that
sentence didn't make a lot of sense to us.

Wait a minute. They're gone?

SWEENEY: It takes just a moment
for your mind to catch up to that,

because now you've got really important
pieces of the airplane not there.

NARRATOR: Even with
no fire, the crew faces

another urgent problem.

We really gotta get some fuel off here.

Let's start dumping.
Jay, you fly.

Don't fight it.

I have the aircraft.

NARRATOR: The two remaining
engines can't provide enough power

to keep the heavy aircraft airborne.

Well we had no time to relax.
But I knew that we were in serious trouble

and we had to come up with
a lot of different procedures

to keep us in the air.

Close, open, dump, pump.

Okay. Close. Open.

NARRATOR: The fuel
dump checklist

is one of many emergency
procedures embedded in Sweeney' brain.

He conducts it from memory.

Sweeney starts shedding fuel.

SWEENEY: We had to, had to
get lighter so this baby's star to fly.

Jay and I could kinda
start to feel at 1 6,000 feet

like she could start flying again.

Okay, I got the airplane.

Holding steady at 16,000.

NARRATOR: By dumping
50 tons of fuel,

Sweeney has succeeded
in stopping their descent.

Good. Good. Halting fuel dump.

♪♪

NARRATOR: Even though
the plane is maintaining its altitude,

there's no guarantee it
can make a safe landing.

Go get the parachutes and helmets.

If anything else goes wrong,

we'll need to bail.

Roger.

NARRATOR: Ditching
over the desert at night

is a terrifying option.

But there may be no choice.

No air crew wants to bail out.
But I've got to get my crew back safely.

That's my job, is to get
my aircrew back safely.

NANCE: The final methodology
is to get everybody to jump out

but you may lose a crew member
or two just in that process.

So this is not a decision
to be taken lightly.

(intense music playing)

Greg, you get on the radio with
AWACS. Call in the Mayday.

Roger.

NARRATOR: Looking for help, the
crew contacts their rendezvous aircraft

to advise them of the situation

It became apparent pretty
quickly that we weren't gonna be able to

complete our mission.

Mayday, Mayday, Mayday, this is Whale 05.

We've had an in-flight upset
and number one and two engines

have departed the aircraft.

I say again. Mayday,
Mayday, Mayday.

NARRATOR: There's no response.

It's no good. I think our high
frequency radio is down.

It should have worked, but it
didn't. We couldn't reach anybody.

NARRATOR: Alone with
no radio contact,

the crew will have to find
their own way back to Jeddah.

NANCE: We like our radios,
especially when something goes wrong,

but they're not going to provide
necessarily a hook to come out of

the sky and, and save you.

You've gotta do that for yourself,
including getting back to an airfield.

Greg, are your nav instruments working?

Yes, INS is functional, radar is still up.

Well give me a heading back to Jeddah.

240.55 minutes. That's
a long time to fly.

Copy. Jay, take us to 240.

NARRATOR: The crew
relies on the navigator's skill

to find a safe route back.

MERMIS: It was just under
an hour to get back to Jeddah.

It just seemed like an awfully long time

to be in an airplane that
you were very unsure of.

- Your airplane.
- My airplane.

NARRATOR: With great effort,
Sweeney and Selanders wrestle t keep

the plane on course to Jeddah.

Without the weight and drag of the left
engines, the plane wants to bank right.

The ailerons and elevators in a
KC-135 are not hydraulic,

and so I have to fight her
back to keep those wings level.

NARRATOR: But even
if they make it back,

there's no guarantee
they can land the plane.

We have to do a controllability check.

NARRATOR: The crew must
test their flaps and ailerons..

Coming back to idle.

NARRATOR: The flight controls
used to stabilize the plane on landing.

NANCE: A big airplane inherently
has an ability to be landed if you can

keep it under control.

So the question is, are we
safe to go ahead and try to

land this airplane with what we've got?

SWEENEY: If we were gonna
do a controllability check

and Jay and I determine
that she's not flyable,

we're gonna have to bail out.

♪♪

All right Jay, I want you
to slowly bring them down.

Roger that.

NARRATOR: Flying a severely
damaged plane near enemy territory,

the crew of Whale 05 carefully
check that the control surfaces on their

plane are safe for landing.

There's a moment right
before you begin the check

that you don't obviously know
exactly what's gonna happen.

NARRATOR: If the
flaps are damaged...

- Flaps 10.
- NARRATOR: it could cause an imbalance

and make the plane impossible to control.

We didn't know if the flaps
would come down symmetrically.

We didn't know if they'd come down at all.

Nice and easy.

SWEENEY: We're gonna start
milking the flaps down

and we see if we can maintain
control of the airplane.

Jay is an integral part of this
so he's gonna slide the flaps down to,

like, 30 degrees and be watching
me and watching everything.

Flaps 30.

Now I'm gonna do
a small turn left and right.

If I start to lose it, I'll say
up, and you slam them back up.

NANCE: You're a test pilot at
this particular point in time.

And you don't want to be
testing on the actual approach

because there can be no recovery
if you've made the wrong move.

Hell, I can land this airplane.

Okay, bring the flaps back up to zero.

We're gonna go home.

It was a big deal because
at that point we thought

we could actually land the airplane.

NARRATOR: The pilots now know
they can slow down the plane enough

to get it on the ground.

But they need to get it to a runway first.

A 130 miles to Jeddah.
We might be in range now.

Jeddah, Whale 05.
How copy on Victor?

NARRATOR: They attempt
to contact the controller for assistance.

Whale 05, Jeddah.

CONTROLLER ON RADIO:
You're loud and clear, go ahead

Ah! Yes, sir. This is Whale 05
inbound to Jeddah.

SELANDERS ON RADIO: Declaring
an emergency. Engines one and two are out.

CONTROLLER ON RADIO:
Whale 05, say souls on board

and fuel remaining.

SELANDERS ON RADIO:
We have four souls on board,

currently 55,000 pounds of gas.

Roger. We are preparing the
airport for your arrival now.

Zero Five. Thank you, sir.

NARRATOR: With the airport on standby,
the crew begins its landing preparations.

Let's look at two engines
inoperative landing.

NANCE: One of the things that I
always loved about Air Force flying

was our operations manual
covered literally everything.

Every procedure that you could
possibly think of in an emergency

and including, in this case,

the loss of two engines on the airplane.

NARRATOR: One step will pose
a big challenge.

Allow time for manual landing
gear extension.

When you lose two engines
like that, it affects

a lot of the hydraulics as well.

SELANDERS: We lost
the left side hydraulics,

which means the gear have
to be lowered manually.

NARRATOR: Without hydraulic
power to lower the landing gear

Stucky will have to do it manually.

It's a complicated task.

It's a real emergency situation.

And you have to do each step
in the checklist right.

All right, we need to
lower by final descent.

Can you do it?

Yes sir, I'll get them down.

NARRATOR: It's a procedure
he's only done in training.

I'm relying on him to do a stellar
job of getting the landing gear down.

SWEENEY: This is
a tight mission.

One more thing.

NARRATOR: Sweeney has
an important realization.

We gotta pull the anti-skid or
we lose our brake pressure.

Steve, it should be on
the TR bus 2 behind you.

NARRATOR: There's only enough hydraulic
pressure left to appl the brakes once.

Sweeney decides to disengage
the anti-skid braking system.

- STUCKY: The anti
- skid system, which

is similar to the automatic
braking system on today's modern cars,

that don't allow you to lock up
the brakes, they'll release, brake,

release and brake and that's
what that anti-skid system is.

Got the anti-skid. Confirm?

Confirmed.

NARRATOR: Disengaging
the system will ensure

- that the remaining hydraulic
pressure... -STUCKY: It's pulled.

NARRATOR: ...is used to keep
the brakes applied.

If I pull that circuit breaker and just
put the brakes on once and hold them,

I'm... I'm gonna have
full braking power.

Without the anti-skid you're
gonna blow a few tires,

but that's not gonna
take you off the runway,

and it is going to be a safe methodology

of bringing this airplane
back to the surface.

Fifty miles.

NARRATOR: The crew is ready to
begin the final approach.

Steve, get into position.

Roger.

NARRATOR: The longer they
struggle with the controls,

the more tired the pilots become.

Jay, it's your turn.

I'll take comms.

SELANDERS: Okay, I
got the airplane.

Your airplane.

NARRATOR: Sweeney takes one last
break to save his strength for landing.

Jeddah approach, Whale 05.

- Whale 05, go ahead sir.
- SWEENEY: Jeddah Approach, 05.

We have the city in sight.

We're gonna fly in south of
your field from the east here

and came into runway three four left.

No other traffic for
the airport at this time.

CONTROLLER: It's all yours.

All righty. We'll use it and
we'll get out of your way shortly.

NARRATOR: Sweeney briefs the
team on his plan for the approach.

Okay, we're gonna start high
and fast, 210 knots

Jay, you start just slowly.

Don't drop the flaps unless
everything's looking good.

SWEENEY: Any questions?

No questions.

Okay Steve, drop the nose gear.

Extending nose gear.

NARRATOR: Whale 05 is less than
eight minutes from landing.

Nose gear down and locked.

Roger. It's showing down.

Proceeding to right and left main gear.

Throughout the flight it seemed
like we just continually had these

dragons come over the hill and the

last one is this landing gear.

Once we put the landing gear
down, we're going down.

We're committed to land.

We don't get a go around,
because we're not gonna have enough

thrust on two engines.

NARRATOR: With all three
landing gear down,

the crew of Whale 05 now has no option

but to try landing
the severely damaged plane.

SELANDERS: Six miles. Speed 210.

Flaps 20.

NARRATOR: Minutes
from touching down,

all their skill and planning
is about to be tested.

I mean it was very important that

each one of us clearly knew
what we're gonna do.

We were gonna have one shot at it.

♪♪

Minimums. Runway in sight.

NARRATOR: With two
engines missing,

Whale 05 is about to attempt a
landing at King Abdul Aziz Airport.

Runway in sight.

SELANDERS: It was one of his
best approaches probably ever.

He was on center line.
He was exactly on glide slope.

100 feet.

Coming back to idle.

Flaps 50.

Flaps 50. Looking real good.

50.

40.

30.

20.

Reverse thrust to interlock.

NARRATOR: Major Sweeney
begins to deploy

the reverse thrust on the inboard
right engine to help slow the plane.

But it has an unintended outcome.

As soon as he did that,
the left wing started to rise.

NARRATOR: The powerless
left wing is lifting.

The right wing could scrape the
runway and cause the plane to cartwheel.

Not now. Not now!

And I remember thinking I'm not
gonna lose it now and slammed it down.

NARRATOR: Without the braking
action from full reverse thrust

the plane is quickly
running out of runway.

He immediately put it back down
and we relied on the brakes.

Brakes!

Jay was gonna put his brakes on too,

and we were gonna blow a couple tires.

(brakes screeching)

NARRATOR: The crew of Whale 05
is safely on the ground.

We did it. (laughing)

I think we blew three or four
tires before it was over

because of the lack of anti-skid but,

extraordinary job really
under the circumstances.

Woo! (laughing)

You had a sense that oh my god,
we... (chuckles)

We managed to get back here
and live through this.

Who would have thought that?

SELANDERS: There was that one
moment when you actually stoppe moving,

and feel like we've made it.

And I think we enjoyed that
for maybe a second,

and then got out of the airplane.

I remember looking back at the
wing and woo...

That was just a shock.

I mean they're gone.

And there's big holes in the wing and,

parts hanging out.

Wow!

NARRATOR: Within a day, the US
Air Force launches an investigation.

Lieutenant Colonel Ike Stokes
is the lead investigator.

The fleet of KC-135s
is indispensable to the war effort.

Did the plane malfunction?

Did it come under enemy fire?

There was truly more external pressure
than I have experienced in the past,

because they're flying
90 to 100 missions out of Jeddah

on a daily basis.

So it's very critical

to the entire operation of the
war to really figure out what happened.

Hard to believe both engines are gone.

STOKES: You're gathering
the information.

You're analyzing the information.

It was just uh, a wonderment
to see something like this.

NARRATOR: Stokes checks for
scorch marks and residue from explosives.

One thing investigators always consider,

was this intentional?

Did someone shoot at the plane?

NARRATOR: If this
was an enemy missile,

it could mean the threat
from Iraq is escalating,

putting the entire refueling fleet,

and the outcome of the war at risk.

Let's face it. We're
fighting a war.

We have a critical asset.

These are combat air refueling missions,

so if the fighters and bombers
do not get the fuel,

they can't complete the mission

NARRATOR: But evidence of
enemy fire is not what Stokes finds.

There's no scorch marks or

explosive residue.

There's no evidence of an enemy attack.

These engines were ripped right off.

NARRATOR: Stokes wonders what kind of
force tore off the plane's left engines.

STOKES: One of the things
that we really wanted to do,

uh, was to find the engines.

But at the time we had no
idea as to where to exactly look.

We're gonna need those missing engines.

Although the navigator did
record where the mishap occurred,

those engines could be spread
over quite an area of desert.

NARRATOR: Fortunately, a group
of Bedouins discovered the engines

and reported the find.

STOKES: They said, what
do you want us to do with them?

And we immediately said, get a truck,

flatbed, and a crane,
and go out to the desert,

and let's get the engines recovered.

Accident investigation
can do incredible things

by piecing together from very
small bits of evidence what happened.

But it is so much easier when you
can actually go out and get these things.

And thank goodness they were
able to find them in the desert.

Nice work.

A big thing that helped
us out in the investigation

was getting the engines
back to the location.

NARRATOR: Stokes,
notices something unusual.

Did they find it like this?

NARRATOR: One of the thrust
reversers is partially deployed

Of course, we need to explain or
understand why that was open.

NARRATOR: Thrust reversers change
the direction of exhaust air flowing

from the back of the engine
to slow the plane down.

The idea that the thrust
reverser, uh, could come open in flight

at cruise speed of over 80
percent of the speed of sound

is a very important consideration because
that could create an upset situation.

NARRATOR: Did the thrust
reverser deploy mid fight

and cause the engines
to rip off the plane?

This control cable snapped.

STOKES: But in looking at it
you could see how the cables that

operated the thrust reverser
ripped out as the

engine was departing from the airplane.

There's nothing wrong with the engines.

NARRATOR: Deployment of
the thrust reversers

didn't rip the engines off the plane.

Let's see what the crew has to say.

NARRATOR: Investigator Ike
Stokes wonders if the crew

can shed some light on why
a KC-135 lost two engines mid - flight.

STOKES: Okay. So tell me what
happened when the event started.

Knowing, in this case, that we
had a crew that survived the mishap,

it was invaluable.

Because you really do
need the initial inputs

of what those crew members experienced,
to put the whole story together.

Well, the yoke moved for a second.

Then it corrected itself.

And then out of nowhere
it cranked itself left.

At what point in the flight was this?

Oh, shortly after reaching
cruising altitude.

And then another KC-135 passed us.

Wait, so... so another
plane was passing you?

Yeah it was on the same
flight path but it had further to go so,

we let it pass through.

It felt like we hit heavy turbulence.

NARRATOR: It's a
significant clue.

How far away was the other
aircraft when it passed your plane?

Oh, I'd say a quarter of a mile,
half a mile to the left of us.

NARRATOR: Heavy aircraft leave powerful
wake turbulence behind them when they fly.

Stokes wonders if Sweeney's
plane was close enough

to getcaught in the other KC-135's wake.

We're talking about very
strong circular wind

coming off of this airplane wing,

and it can cause the upset
of another airplane,

regardless of its size,
if it hits it just right.

And how far away was the other
plane when the turbulence started?

They were at least two miles ahead of us.

NARRATOR: If this was
indeed wake turbulence,

investigators wonder
why only the left engines were affected.

Thank you, Major.

Thank you, sir.

NARRATOR: An examination
of the right engines

might help to reveal what happened.

Right engine bolts?

NARRATOR: Each KC-135 engine is attached
to the wing with three large bolts.

These four are completely severed.

NARRATOR: Stokes discovers that two bolts
on each right engine were sheared in half.

How did those engines stay attached?

They were one bolt away
from actually losing

the engines off of the right
wing, which would have made them

nothing more than a high-speed glider.

NARRATOR: With wake turbulence
looking more and more a likely cause...

So Whale 05 is at 25,000 feet.

NARRATOR: ...investigators compile
the critical data needed to calculate

the forces that Whale 05
may have passed through.

Whale 20 is at 25,500 feet.

That's everything.

NARRATOR: But they need help
from the plane's manufacturer

to analyze the data.

Let's talk to Boeing.

STOKES: Understanding how the
two airplanes affected their separation

gave us the data necessary
to talk with the engineers at Boeing.

Wow. The left wing G forces,

were 2.88.

That exceeded
the structural capability of the pylons

and so they separated from the airplane.

And the right wing, 2.61.

Let's see what that looks like.

NARRATOR: The extreme lateral
G forces on the left side of th plane,

were enough to tear the left engines off

but not quite strong enough
to rip them off the right side.

Point one four more Gs
on the right side...

...and this plane would have
been nothing more but a massive glider.

They were very, very close to coming off.

The G-force loading was just not
enough to sling them off of the airplane.

It was said that we had one more gyration

and we might have been a
high-speed heavyweight glider.

But we made it.

NARRATOR: This leaves
investigators with one burning question.

These guys train for lead changes.

So why did this mission go sideways?

♪♪

NARRATOR: US Air Force
investigator Ike Stokes

tries to understand how
wake turbulence nearly destroye

a gigantic tanker aircraft.

The separation between
the two planes is by the book.

That's it.

The wind was 85 knots from the west.

STOKES: The wind was
blowing enough at altitude

to push the wing tip vortices
from the preceding airplane

into the flight path of
the mishap aircraft.

STOKES: I mean they
accounted for everything.

They were foiled by the
direction of the wind.

Perfect storm.

NARRATOR: But Stokes still
doesn't know how this perfect storm

ever got a chance to form.

When you're taking off between
90 to a 100 airplanes on a daily basis,

the arrival and departure
from the base is very critical.

And in this particular case,

the mishap aircraft was parked
in such a way that it had to go first

and be followed by the second airplane,

the one that had further to go.

The solution that they came up with,
was a perfectly responsible solution,

and that was we're gonna
take off individually

and then you're going to pass me.

Had the number two plane been
parked to the left of the mishap airplane,

the mishap never would have occurred.

NARRATOR: Investigators finally
understand what happened to Whale 05.

05's level.

NARRATOR: On a wartime mission
over the Saudi Arabian desert,

two KC-135s switch position mid-flight.

Altitude hold, on.

Altitude hold, check.

NARRATOR: The wake turbulence
generated by the passing plane

is blown into the path of Whale 05.

It creates a tremendous force
that flips the plane so violently

G-forces rip both
engines off the left wing.

STOKES: I've often heard flying described
as hours and hours of sheer boredom

followed by moments
of stark raving terror.

In this case, the crew
experienced that stark raving terror.

No, there's too much stress!

NARRATOR: The oscillations
almost push the right engines

and the aircraft beyond
the point of recovery.

Speed brakes!

NARRATOR: But with the quick
thinking of a seasoned wartime commander,

the plane levels off.

Coming back to level flight was
a true feat of airmanship.

Greg, are your nav instruments working?

Yes, INS is functional, radar is still up.

Well give me a heading back to Jeddah.

NARRATOR: The coordination
of a well-trained crew...

Nose gear down and locked.

Runway in sight.

NARRATOR: ...brings Whale 05
back home safely.

The aircraft commander
was an excellent airman.

But the fact is, he had
every brain in that airplane

working in tandem with him side by side
to make sure they didn't miss anything.

Brakes!

I was very fortunate to fly with
one of the best crews in the Air Force,

in my humble opinion.

They did their job in a critical situation

and it wasn't just me
getting back the airplane,

it was the team got back the airplane.

We did it.

NARRATOR: Whether it's
a refueling plane in wartime

or a routine domestic flight in a 747,

the importance of teamwork
can never be overstated.

Why this crew succeeded is
because they were thoroughly imbued

with the idea that they had
to talk to each other seamlessly,

and all of them put their
minds to the task of

what are the proper procedures?

What are we facing?

What do we need to do?

And that, I think, is still one of the
many lessons that comes out of this.

SELANDERS: Kevin and I have
gone through this numerous time

over barbecue and beer,

and tried to figure out, is
there anything we could have done better?

Are there steps that we missed?

And we're pretty satisfied that as a crew,

we took the actions that needed
to be taken when they needed to be taken

and probably wouldn't change a thing.

NARRATOR: The crew's handling
of the crisis earned them each

the Distinguished Flying Cross

for heroism or extraordinary achievement
while participating in aerial flight.

SELANDERS: It's like a Purple
Heart almost. You don't want it

because you're in a situation
you probably don't wanna be in.

But we're very thankful,
very, very, um, happy with that.

The Air Force trains you that
every day is not gonna be a perfect day.

There's gonna be a day that
you're gonna get in the bucket.

And when that day comes,
if you've done your homework,

you'll be good enough to make it.

And I think the Air Force does
an outstanding job of this.

- NARRATOR: Amazingly, the same KC
- 135 went on to fly for another 13 years.

SELANDERS: I do remember seeing
the airplane sitting over by itself,

thinking you know that...
that'll never fly again.

Uh, and as it turns out,

Boeing came out, put a laser on
it and said it was still straight.

It hadn't been bent. It was
repaired, flown back from Jeddah

and flew a number of missions
and it soldiered on for quite a while.

Captioned by National Captioning Institute