All language subtitles for M.2003-S21E08-Caught.in.a.Jam.Ansett.New.Zealand.Flight.703.WEBDL-1080pEAC3.5.1h264-PiTBULL_track4_[eng]

NARRATOR:
Descending through thick clouds...

Terrain, terrain. Pull up.

NARRATOR: Ansett New Zealand
Flight 703 slams into a hill.

It was just an almighty crash,
a horrendous sound.

Ansett 703, do you read?

NARRATOR: Those lucky enough to survive
the crash find themselves stranded...

There's no signals at all
and they're off radar.

NARRATOR: ...and facing the
possibility of freezing to death.

Hypothermia would have been
a major problem.

NARRATOR: Once investigators
finish piecing together the clues...

There it is, clear as day.

It was obvious that there was a
malfunction.

NARRATOR: ...their findings lead to an
unprecedented charge of manslaughter.

This accident should not have happened.

(thunder crashing)

♪♪

NARRATOR: It's 9:00 in the
morning as Ansett New Zealand Flight 703

cruises towards the city
of Palmerston North, New Zealand.

Missed approach
heading is... set.

We're on heading 2-5-0.

- NARRATOR: At the controls is 40
- year-old Captain Garry Sotheran,

a six-year Ansett veteran
with almost 8,000 flying hours.

Ansett 7-0-3 established inbound.

NARRATOR: 33-year-old First Officer
Barry Brown has more than 6,000 hours.

Will do at 10 miles,
Ansett seven zero three.

That was a fairly standard
sort of commuter flight.

And these two pilots were very,
very qualified to fly this plane.

NARRATOR: There are 18
passengers on board the short flight.

William McGrory is flying to hi
company's head office

for an early morning meeting.

I was working for a plumbing company.

I was based in Auckland
and they were based in Palmerston North.

- Do you race?
- Oh. No. Never watched a race in my life.

- Passes the time though.
- Are you headed home?

And then the hostess sat down on
the seat in front of me on the,

on the armrest, and just started chattin'.

She was telling me about her life
and I was telling her what I was up to,

and she was great.

Just full of life, full of beans
and had... had her life planned.

I'm trying to save enough to buy a house.

She was from Christchurch,

and I believe that's where she
was gonna buy her house.

She was really excited about that.

Captain Sotheran again. We are beginning
our approach to Palmerston North.

We should have you on the ground
right around 9:30.

NARRATOR: The pilots are flying
a Dash-8 100 series,

a 40-seat regional airliner known for
its short takeoff and landing capability.

- And course bar is active.
- Check.

NARRATOR: Flight 703 left Auckland for
the one-hour fligh to Palmerston North.

It's a 250-mile journey south

to a region with
notoriously unpredictable weather.

There was low clouds around
the Palmerston North area.

So I mean, it wouldn't have been
a great day to fly

because of the lack of, of visibility.

As we were on approach...

Hang on a minute.

Then she looked out the window

and looked a bit concerned.

She looked on the other side as
well and she said...

I don't think the landing gear's
down on the right side.

Can you check your window?

NARRATOR: The landing
gear on the Dash 8

is located in the engine's
housing on the wings.

Because the wings
are on top of the airplane,

when the landing gear is extended,

it's clearly visible from the cabin.

No, I can't see the landing gear at all.

We were looking straight out
under the wing, pretty much. So yeah.

You'd be able to see it all right. I
could tell that it wasn't extended.

Excuse me.

NARRATOR: Karen Gallagher
alerts the pilots.

I'll keep an eye on the airplane
while you're doing that.

Yeah, okay.

NARRATOR: In the cockpit,
Captain Sotheran and his First Officer

are already troubleshooting the problem.

The right landing gear isn't
down. I guess you guys know that.

- Yeah, we know.
- Thank you.

Uh, alternate gear extension, approach
and landing checklist, pressurization.

When the gear doesn't go down
normally, there,

every airplane has a checklist
to have a backup system.

That's required by design.
The Dash 8 is no exception.

It should not be a big deal.

We're good.
They have everything under control.

There's a standard
procedure that they're running through

She came back and sat down again
on the armrest and said,

"They're just doing a manual reset and
they'll have the wheel down in no time."

She wasn't stressed or not alarmed at all.

NARRATOR:
As Flight 703 nears Palmerston North,

the pilots follow the procedure
for lowering landing gear manually.

Airspeed below 140 knots.

It's one-forty.

Karen was sittin' right there
in front of me, and the next minute...

And then I'll have a few days
off, so I'll probably head down to...

(crashing)

McGRORY: There was just an
almighty crash. Just a horrendous sound.

And then the sound stopped.
And we must have lifted off the ground.

Another crash,
and then we seemed to be sliding.

(metal scraping)

So it was just horrible, horrible noise.

All the metal and all the things
flying around inside the plane.

Eventually, we came to a stop.

And it was just this strange
silence of no more grinding and metal

and things happening around me.

NARRATOR: The impact fractured a
vertebra in McGrory's back,

but the rush of adrenaline keep
him from feeling the pain.

I guess I just clicked into survival mode

and it didn't really matter
what was wrong with me,

just I was alive.

Get out of this plane.

That was probably the only single
thing that was on my mind at the time.

I saw a hole in front of me
on the right-hand side

and saw that as an opportunity to get out.

NARRATOR: William McGrory has
survived the crash of Ansett Flight 703

but now fears the possibility of a fire.

I assumed that we had crash landed
on the tarmac without the wheel down

and any minute now, all the fir
engines would be screaming up t us

to spray all the foam on
and make sure we didn't catch fire.

NARRATOR: McGrory suddenly
realizes he's nowhere near the airport

and has no idea where he is.

I just looked back and thought, hell.

Um, we're in a paddock
somewhere in the hills.

And that's when I went back to the plane

because there was people starting to
come out through the holes in the sides,

and I went back to assist.

There were some people
pretty badly injured.

Some of the passengers
were still unconscious.

Up in the cockpit,
the two pilots had survived

but were pretty badly injured.

NARRATOR: Passengers still
trapped in the wreckage

are in urgent need of medical help.

Ansett 703, Ansett 703.
This is Palmerston Tower.

Do you read?

NARRATOR: In the airport's
tower, controller Tony Chapman

tries to contact Ansett Flight 703.

I don't know where they are.

There's no signals at all
and they're off radar.

Well the emergency services
were ready to go.

There were... there's
firefighters at Palmerston North Airport,

but they didn't know
where the plane was exactly.

NARRATOR: To make matters worse,
it's extremely cold and windy.

Survivors need to find a way to
keep warm until help arrives.

And I thought, hell, we need some... we
need some gear to get everyone warm.

There must be blankets,
or maybe there's some bags at the back,

you know, we can just get some jerseys,
or jumpers, or shirts or whatever,

just to get people warm.
But there was nothing.

Nothing at all to keep us warm.

Out in front of the nose now,
which was facing back the way we came,

I saw my little briefcase.

So I grabbed that and opened it up,

knowing full well that my phone
was in there.

In 1995, not many New Zealanders
would have had cell phones at all,

so it's pretty amazing that he
had one and then saw it,

and it was still working.

I rang 1-1-1.
They said, what emergency do you need?

Ambulance, fire or police?
And I said, send the whole bloody lot.

We've got a plane crash.
Send everything.

And she immediately changed her tone

and said,
just hang up and we'll get back to you.

You're looking for a white
twin engine prop plane.

They were flying west along Manawatu
Gorge heading towards the airport.

NARRATOR: Flight 703 last reported
being on final approac for runway 2-5.

The plane could now be anywhere
in a 150 square mile area.

Everyone was huddled together
to try and keep warm

because the shock was really
setting in at this stage.

ELLINGHAM: Hypothermia would
have been a concern

for the passengers who had survived.

The ones that were injured in particular,

the last thing you want
is to be exposed to the cold.

NARRATOR: For the survivors of
Ansett 703, time is running out

NARRATOR: Ansett New Zealand
Flight 703 has crashed

somewhere in the hills
around Palmerston North.

Passenger William McGrory anxiously waits
for the emergency operator to call back

Did he say where
they were? Okay.

Did you get a number?

NARRATOR: The
operator has notified

Palmerston North's tower
of McGrory's call.

Perfect. Thank you.

I got a witness called in.
Said he saw the crash.

(cell phone rings)

- McGRORY: They had been told...
- Hello?

...that I saw the crash, um,

and they didn't know that I was
actually in the crash at the time.

So I straightened them up on
that pretty quickly.

Witnessed it?
No. I was on the bloody thing.

William, whatever happens do not
hang up the phone.

You have to stay on the phone with me.

Okay. Okay.

The person from the control
tower said, we need to know where you are.

Can you give us some
descriptions of, of what's around you?

We're on a hill. It could be a
farm. It's freezing cold.

The passengers who had survived
of course would be going into shock,

and it was very cold for them,

and that could have had
unfortunate consequences.

Okay. Do whatever you can
to keep everybody warm.

NARRATOR: Survivors build a
makeshift shelter from the wreckage

to protect themselves
from the howling winter wind.

It had been snowing the day
before so the cold was all there.

It was just a horribly bitter day.

All right, I'll...
I'll see what we can find.

Can you see if you can find
some kind of landmark?

Anything that can help them find
us where we are.

How long is your battery going to last?

About an hour.

Okay, good. Don't hang up.

The passenger who had come to help me said

"I'll, I'll have a look around."
So he went off, up the hill.

And he'd gone quite a distance
and quite a while really.

And he came back some time later
and he said,

"There's a big holding pen for
sheep up the hill further."

We're next to a very large
sheep holding pen.

Wood. Maybe 30 meters long.

Okay, William.

Some of the rescuers who were listening to
this conversation, someone recognized it

and knew where to go.

It looks like they're near the
Buckley stockyard up by Hall Block Road.

One of them knew that the only
holding pen of that size

anywhere around the area
was so and so's farm.

NARRATOR: With the location of
the crash roughly pinpointed,

rescuers make their way to the scene.

(helicopter hovering)

One rescue helicopter pilot described it
as flying in the inside of a milk bottle.

To give you an idea of flying
up in the cloud.

- I can hear a helicopter.
- (sighs in relief) That's good, William.

It's getting closer. There it
is! It's there! There it is!

(helicopter approaches)

I remember the helicopter coming
up through the cloud and,

and I saw its lights heading for
us. It was just incredible.

I'll never forget that feeling
of seeing those lights

and the, the sound of the helicopter.

Okay, William. You can hang up
now. Thank you.

McGRORY: And that's when the
adrenaline stopped pumping

and I started feeling the pain
and the cold and the misery

that everyone else was going through.

NARRATOR: Flight 703 has crashed
into a hill 10 miles

from the airport at Palmerston North.

Fifteen passengers
and both pilots have survived.

Tragically, three passengers an flight
attendant Karen Gallaghe are killed.

We were very, very lucky
that 17 of us survived.

I think so sadly for those
that did lose their lives

and the hostess
and the others that died on tha day

was so unnecessary.

NARRATOR: Investigators
from New Zealand's

Transport Accident
Investigation Commission,

the TAIC, are quickly on the scene.

At the time, it was massive news.

There's not many plane crashes,
uh, in New Zealand,

and particularly in this case
because there were so many survivors.

Well, it definitely hit more than once.

NARRATOR: Because the plane
was manufactured in Canada,

Larry Vance from the
Canadian Transport Safety Board

is sent to New Zealand
to assist with the investigation.

It was a main fuselage piece
that was basically intact.

There was a separated tail.
There was a separated left wing

They were spread out
over the rolling hills.

The land was sloped.
So it was pretty strewn about.

(sighs)

Right here.
The nose wheel hits first.

NARRATOR: The marks on the
ground tell investigators that the plane's

forward landing gear wheels
hit the ground first.

The fact that the nose wheel hit first,
and then the rest of the aircraft followed

told us that the aircraft
was flying somewhat level.

It wasn't going nose first
into the ground.

NARRATOR: The most critical clue
is the one that's missing.

No tire tracks.

NARRATOR: The ground where
the right landing gear

should have touched down is undisturbed.

What we saw from ground markings,

it was entirely consistent with
the fact that the right landing gear

was not extended.

NARRATOR: The marks on the ground
show that Flight 703 was flying level

when the forward landing gear
hit the ground,

but the right main landing gear
was not extended.

In the cockpit,

investigators find evidence

that the pilots
attempted to lower the landing gear.

We saw that the landing gear
selector was down.

We saw that the emergency
landing gear selector was being used.

So we knew they were dealing
with a landing gear problem

simply by looking in the cockpit.

Landing data, altimeters, tanks.

Belt smoking, airspeed below 140 knots?

- It's 140.
- Landing gear selector down.

Yep.

Landing gear alternate release
door fully open, which it is.

NARRATOR: The alternate method
should have lowered the gear.

For some reason, the plane hit
the ground less than a minute later.

Hmm...

We had two main questions.

The first one was,
"Why did the landing gear not extend?"

And the second one was,

"Why did the pilots fly the
aircraft into the ground?"

NARRATOR: Investigators need to
examine the wreckage of Ansett 703

to determine why the pilots wer
unable to get their landing gea down.

But the muddy terrain
is presenting a challenge.

It was virtually impossible to
get equipment onto that site.

It would just slip, and they would get
stuck and slide down hills and so on.

NARRATOR: Vance comes
up with a solution.

They had a huge helicopter
owned by the Russians.

What we suggested to them that
they do is get a big, long cable

and put the cable through the fuselage.

The ribs were in good enough condition

that they would basically hold
the weight of that fuselage.

They brought that helicopter in
on a 200-foot-long line

and they lifted that fuselage
out all in one piece.

NARRATOR: With all the wreckage
in a hangar,

investigators are able to
examine the right landing gear

to understand why it didn't come down.

The right landing gear doesn't come down.

They start the alternate
procedure and then slam into a hill

eight-and-a-half miles from the runway.

The first question is,
"What went wrong with their gear?"

What we were thinking is there's
really only a couple of things

that can keep that gear from extending.

It's hard to tell why it didn't come down.

NARRATOR: Vance is joined by Jim Donnelly,
a maintenance enginee from de Havilland,

the Dash 8's manufacturer.

It was obvious
that there was a malfunction

of the right main landing gear to extend.

So we needed to look at what
may have influenced the,

the landing gear system operation.

NARRATOR: When the
landing gear is up,

a latch holds a roller on the
gear's leg in the retracted position.

When pilots lower the gear,

an actuator moves the uplock
latch to release the roller,

allowing the landing gear to extend.

This is probably where the problem was.

Well when we got to the hangar,
we could actually have a better look.

We had better lighting
and a more controlled climate.

And everything pointed to
the right main landing gear

uplock actuator
and the uplock actuator latch.

The latch is definitely
showing signs of wear.

When we visually examined
the uplock latch,

really didn't notice a great deal.

However, you could feel
a very slight detent on the latch itself

where the roller sat.

NARRATOR: Over time,
the roller wore a small groove

into the right-side latch.

It was enough to prevent it fro
sliding into the down position.

It was similar to what you would find

if you got your car stuck on ice
and you started spinning your tire,

and the tire would wear itself down
a little bit of a dip down into the ice.

And once you get one of those of
course, it's awfully hard to get out of.

Here's another.
Landing gear fails to extend.

Yeah, it definitely was an issue.

NARRATOR: Investigators dig
through the Dash 8's history.

The issue with the uplock
actuator wear, uh, was well documented on

early model Dash 8s.
A number of operators experienced it.

The Ansett fleet sure had
its share of problems.

On both their Dash 8s by the looks of it.

NARRATOR: Ansett New Zealand's
Dash 8s had been experiencing

landing gear failures for years

There were incidents
of the landing gear either not lowering

or lowering very slowly.

The problem became so widesprea

that de Havilland offered
airlines a modified uplock mechanism

designed to overcome the problem.

It was found that a change in
material would be of benefit

to prevent these issues.

And it would be a harder material,

something that didn't have
the same wear properties.

Just the left side? Gotcha.
Thanks for that.

They replaced the mechanism
on the left side

but were waiting on parts for the right.

Ansett only replaced the, uh,
left uplock actuator

because that is where they
experienced the majority of their issues.

NARRATOR: But all of these gear
problems were easily dealt with

In every case, the pilots used
the alternate method to lower the gear.

And they all landed safely.

NARRATOR: If the gear
didn't lower normally,

pilots could pull a handle in the cockpit

that manually disengaged the latch
so that the gear can drop into position.

The alternate system is 100% reliable.

There has never been an issue

with the alternate
landing gear extension system

failing to lower a landing gear.

NARRATOR: But evidence from the
cockpit wreckage reveals the First Officer

didn't pull the handle hard
enough to release the landing gear.

We saw that the handle that is
normally pulled, uh, was partially pulled.

NARRATOR: Failing to lower
the landing gear is unusual.

But it doesn't explain
why the pilots of Ansett Flight 703

slammed into a hill just a few
miles from the airport.

Investigators need to know what
was happening inside the cockpit.

You're looking to see
who's actually flying the airplane.

Who's monitoring the altitude?
Who's doing the call-outs?

And this is what investigators
have to look at.

NARRATOR:
The pilots of Ansett Flight 703

have suffered severe head traum
and are unable to be interviewed.

It's a major setback.

MAN 1 OVER RADIO:
Not below 4,600 to start off with.

MAN 2 OVER RADIO:
Not below 3,000 at nine miles not below...

NARRATOR: Investigators now
depend on the cockpit voice recorder

to uncover the cause of the crash.

WOMAN ON RECORDING:
Ansett 7-0-3,

stop descent at 6,000 feet for
the VOR DME approach runway two five.

MAN 1: Stop descent 6,000 for
approach to two five, Ansett 7 - 0-3.

NARRATOR: The approach to Runway
2-5 at Palmerston North

involves making a right turn 14
miles from the airport

and approaching the runway from the East.

Everything seemed to be pretty well
nominal until they got on final approach.

Not below 4,600 to start off
with. Not below 3,000 at nine miles.

- Not below 2,500 at seven miles.
- Yep.

And 1,600 at five miles.

NARRATOR: Because of the steep
terrain surrounding the airport

the pilots need to hit
prescribed altitudes

at specified distances from the airport.

And it's right on the limits
so we gotta stick to that.

3,000 at nine, 2,500 at seven,

1,600 at five.

They knew their minimums.

NARRATOR: The recording shows that
the pilots knew their minimum altitudes

throughout the descent.

No nav flags.
Missed approach heading is... set.

- We're on heading 2-5-0.
- Check.

Ansett 7-0-3 established inbound.

NARRATOR: Flight 703
makes the final turn

and reports flying on a heading
towards the airport.

Ansett 7-zero-3, roger.
Contact Palmerston Tower at 10 miles.

Will do at 10 miles, Ansett 7-0-3.

- Pause for a second, please.
- (recorder clicks)

Okay, they know their minimums,
they're 13 miles out and on course.

And in two-and-a-half minutes,
they'll hit the ground.

MAN OVER RECORDING: Gear down.

- Say again.
- Gear down.

Yep.

Selected. And on profile.

Hang on. A fraction low.

Check.

Flaps 15.

Oh crap.

Oh, look at that.
I don't want that.

It sounds like they just noticed
the gear isn't down and locked.

MAN OVER RECORDING: Yeah, that's
not good. Okay, uh, so she's no locked.

Alternate, uh, landing gear?

- They seem to be on top of it.
- Mmm.

Alternate extension.
You wanna grab the QRH?

Yep.

NARRATOR: Captain
Sotheran instructs

his First Officer to run throug
the alternate procedure,

which is set out in the plane's
Quick Reference Handbook.

It's a checklist designed to
make sure the gear does come down.

So ultimately it will come down,
and then you can land.

Whip through that one,
see if we can get it out of the way

before it's too late.

They're 11-and-a-half miles out.

Gonna have to move it
to get that gear down.

I'll keep an eye on the airplane
while you're doing that.

Yeah, okay.

Good separation of duties.

The captain flies
while the FO runs the checklist.

KAREN OVER RECORDING:
The right landing gear isn't down.

I guess you guys know that.

That's, um, Karen Gallagher.

- Yeah, we know.
- Thank you.

Alternate gear extension,

approach and landing checklist,
pressurization.

Skip down to the actual applicable stuff.

When the captain asked the firs
officer to skip over those steps,

he had the authority
under Ansett to do so.

And so this is just something
that's, again, not unusual,

was not breaking a rule,
but the crew was rushing.

Rushing to get this checklist done,

which they needed to do
if they wanted to land the airplane.

MAN OVER RECORDING: Yeah, uh,
landing data, altimeters, tanks

belt smoking... airspeed
below 140 knots?

It's 140.

- Landing gear selector down.
- Yep.

Landing gear alternate release
door... open.

The first officer would open a door in
the ceiling and that exposes the handle.

You pull it until you can't pull
it anymore and the landing gear drops.

And then it freefalls
to the down and locked position.

So far so good. Two more steps
and the gear will be down and locked

with about four-and-a-half
minutes to spare.

Ansett 7-0-3 established finals
at Palmerston North.

WOMAN OVER RADIO:
Ansett 7-0-3, that's understood

And insert this handle.

Insert handle till...

NARRATOR: First Officer Brown
is struggling with the procedure.

If there was any chance
that the landing gear

would not go down to the locked position,
there's a hand pump down in the floor

that you open another door in the floor.

You put a handle in, make a
selection and you start pumping

And operate until the main gear locks.

He missed a step.
He's fussing with the pump handle

and he hasn't even pulled the
gear release yet.

Oh, yeah, and operate until the
main gear locks.

You're supposed to pull the handle.

Oh. It's actually
got that after that.

There. That's pulled.

He pulled it. But
not all the way.

That's why the gear was still up
when they hit.

NARRATOR: The plane is only
a few hundred feet from the ground,

but the pilots still haven't
lowered the right landing gear.

(beeping)

AUTOMATED VOICE:
Terrain, terrain. Pull up.

Terrain, terrain. Pull up.

NARRATOR: Could one missed step
on a checklist

have doomed
the passengers and crew of Flight 703?

Alternate landing gear?

Alternate extension.
You wanna grab the QRH.

- Yep.
- I'll keep an eye on the airplane

- while you're doing that.
- Yeah, okay.

NARRATOR: Investigators struggle
to understand how two experienced pilots

failed to notice
they were flying dangerously low.

The Captain clearly said
"And I'll keep an eye on the airplane."

It doesn't sound like he did that.

There are two people in the cockpit.

The captain was to fly the airplane,
but now he's involved in the checklist.

Oh, yeah, and operate
until the main gear locks.

You're supposed to pull the handle.

NARRATOR: The voice recorder has revealed
that instead of monitoring the airplane,

as he said he would,

the captain was helping his First
Officer with the landing gear checklist.

In any emergency,
somebody has to fly the airplane

and keep the airplane
where it needs to be.

Let's see the approach profile.

NARRATOR: The flight data shows
exactly when Flight 703

began to stray
from its planned descent path.

They're approaching their
minimum altitude when the gear hangs up.

And they keep descending.

Fast.

NARRATOR: The data shows that
Flight 703 kept dropping

lower and lower until it was
almost 1,400 feet too low.

And the aircraft started to
descend quite quickly

down below what would
be a desirable glide path.

And the captain didn't notice that.

He was paying more attention
to what the co-pilot was doing

because the co-pilot was struggling

trying to get
the landing gear sequence right.

They should have been descending
at about 580 feet per minute.

Instead, they were descending
at around 1,200 feet per minute.

Why is that?

The captain should have put
some more power to the engines

and adjusted the nose attitude
to decrease his rate of descent.

That's what should have been happening.

Okay, right here, the engines
are cut back to flight idle.

- Course bar is active.
- Check.

Going down to 4,600 now.

NARRATOR: Captain Sotheran
brought his engines

to flight idle to aid his descent
and then left them in that position

for more than a minute.

During that time, Flight 703
descended below the recommended altitude.

The captain eventually increase
engine power but not enough.

And flaps 15.

And up to 33%, then back to flight idle,

then up to 10%.
Not giving it a lot of power.

He allowed the airplane to get
way below the profile.

He didn't notice that because,
again, he was busy.

He was distracted.

The co-pilot didn't notice because
he's trying to deal with his checklist.

So nobody noticed the airplane
was descending below profile.

NARRATOR: But there is a device
on the Dash 8

that should have warned the pilots

that they were rapidly
approaching the ground,

the Ground Proximity Warning
System or GPWS.

The system uses radio signals

to measure the distance from th
ground and the plane's closing speed.

If the plane is getting too close to
the ground or descending too quickly,

a warning sounds
advising the pilots to pull up.

Okay. Let's listen to what they
heard in the cockpit.

NARRATOR: Investigators listen
for the warning sounds from the GPWS.

MEN ON RADIO: You're supposed
to pull the handle.

It's actually got that after that.

(object clicking)

It's pulled.

AUTOMATED VOICE:
Terrain, terrain. Pull up.

- There it is, clear as day.
- Terrain, terrain, pull up.

It went off 4.5 seconds before
impact. Not a lot of time to react.

Terrain, terrain, pull up.

NARRATOR: The voice recording
reveals that the warning system

didn't give the pilots
much time to pull up and save the plane.

It was quite obvious to us that they

had made an attempt to start an
immediate climb away.

- Terrain. Terrain. Pull up.
- They had started to put on power.

They had obviously brought the nose up

from the aircraft's previous
nose down altitude.

NARRATOR: Computer simulations
show that the GPWS on the Dash

should have provided a warning
well before Flight 703 hit the hill.

Seventeen seconds.
That's more like it.

The pilots would have had ample
time to avoid a collision.

Had it been 17 seconds, I suspect
the airplane would have cleared the hill.

It would have been a scary moment,
but they would have cleared the hill.

There's a big difference
between 17 seconds and 4.5 seconds.

Sure is.

A four and a half second warning

before you hit the hill isn't,
uh, particularly helpful.

NARRATOR: The team now wonders
why the crew

of flight 703 got a late warnin
from their GPWS.

Terrain. Terrain. Pull up.

NARRATOR: Investigators have
recovered the GPWS computer

from the wreckage of Ansett Flight 703.

We didn't know if there was
anything wrong with that system,

but we knew it warranted
looking at further.

This checks out.
No problems at all.

NARRATOR: The unit appears to be
in good working order.

Investigators know the GPWS

didn't warn the pilots
until it was too late.

Did something interfere

with the altimeter
that feeds the unit altitude data?

What do we know about this?

The issue was brought up
about the nearby telecommunications tower

and whether or not that had, uh,

any potential for interference
with the operation of the airplane.

- What do you got?
- It's a radio transmission tower.

Signals are in the 800 to 900
megahertz range.

Those frequencies wouldn't
affect the radio altimeter.

The main reason that we ruled out the
telecommunications tower very quickly

was that it was not in the same frequency
range at all that's used by the GPWS.

Two entirely different frequencies.

It's been painted.

NARRATOR: To prevent any
disruption to reception,

the antenna for the radio
altimeter is marked with the words

"Do not paint."
It appears Ansett ignored that.

The GPWS, uh, antenna sends and
receives radio altimeter signals

as the aircraft passes over the ground.

It was painted.
It shouldn't have been painted.

We had no idea what this meant
to the operation of the system.

The non-metallic paint used
would not inhibit radio signals.

So that's not it.

NARRATOR: They're
running out of leads.

It's got to be the software.

NARRATOR: Investigators determine
that a software glitch prevented the GPWS

from getting accurate altitude readings

as the plane descended faster
than normal over unusually hill terrain.

We concluded that probably the
radio altimeter missed a beat or two

as they were approaching the
undulating terrain,

that it just dropped out for
whatever, uh, one or two hits.

Enough to, uh, to cause it

to, to give only a four or five
second, uh, warning.

Landing gear alternate release
door open, which it is.

NARRATOR: But the failed GPWS
doesn't answer

the investigation's
most pressing question.

Why didn't the pilots
discontinue their approach while they

struggled with their gear?

The crew notices
the landing gear issue here,

12 miles out.
That only gives them

about 5 minutes to get the gear
down and land.

Why not go around and buy some time?

Good question.

Time is your friend. And if you
don't have enough time,

it's your enemy.
So you wanna make sure you give

yourself time 'cause these
procedures do take time to lower the gear.

The question is,
"Why did he continue?"

NARRATOR: Investigators now
realize that the entire sequenc of events

put in motion by the failed gea
could have been prevented

if the pilots had taken one simple action.

He could have avoided all of
this by just going around.

Oh, crap.

- Yeah, look at that.
- I don't want that.

Yeah, that's not good.

Okay so, uh, she's not locked.
Alternate, uh, landing gear?

Alternate extension.
You wanna grab the QRH?

Yep.

Just whip through that one,

see if we can get it out of the
way before it's too late.

NARRATOR: The team believes
Captain Sotheran's decision

to continue the approach
while trying to lower the gear

was a tragic mistake.

When this landing gear did not come down,

the pilots should have stopped
their approach right away.

They should have said, we're
gonna go somewhere and hold

and we're gonna get the landing gear down.

Oh, yeah, and operate
until the main gear locks.

You're supposed to pull the handle.

NARRATOR: But instead, Captain Sotheran
made the decision to continue his approach

to Palmerston North.

In human factors terms
it's called continuation bias.

Continuation bias means
you've got a plan to do something,

other things come up to
show you the plan may not be

as good as you hoped, but you
don't accept those other things.

NARRATOR: His resolve to
continue the approach proves deadly.

AUTOMATED VOICE:
Terrain, terrain. Pull up.

NARRATOR: In their final report,

investigators fault Captain Sotheran
for not making proper power adjustments,

for losing track of his altitude, for
not focusing on flying the airplane,

and for continuing the approach
while trouble-shooting the landing gear.

You did it to yourselves.

A landing gear issue
should not cause an airplane accident.

Flight crews are trained to
overcome this type of emergency

This accident was
about the performance of the pilots.

This accident should not have happened.

NARRATOR: Ansett New Zealand revised its
operations manual following the accident.

Pilots are now instructed to
discontinue their approach,

and resolve any abnormal
situations before attempting to land.

What I learned from this
accident was "Give yourself time."

It's not a critical emergency.

It's something you can do
in an organized way

but you need time.

NARRATOR: In the year 2000,
in an unprecedented move,

Captain Sotheran
is charged with manslaughter

for operating an aircraft
in a careless manner.

After a six-week trial, six years after
the accident, a jury finds him not guilty.

It was a grueling trial for the
captain. He never flew for Ansett again

and had to leave the country to
resume his flying career.

NARRATOR: To this day,

William McGrory bears no ill
will towards the crew of Ansett Flight 703

Yes, there was pilot error,

but I did not at any time
blame the pilots for the crash.

It's a whole host of things on the day

that came together like the perfect storm.

The time after the crash,

I learnt to appreciate life in
general. And I often have to pinch myself

and say, hey, smell the roses,
tell people you love them again

and remember that
one instant you can be here

and the next instant you can be dead,

So, um, it's been good for
me in that respect

that it makes you
appreciate what you have got.

Captioned by National Captioning Institute