Original subtitles

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