All language subtitles for M.2003-S22E10-Pitch.Black.Air.Illinois.Flight.710.WEBDL-1080pEAC3.5.1h264-PiTBULL_track4_[eng]

NARRATOR: After losing their
electric generators...

Okay, beacon’s off.

NARRATOR: The pilots of
Air Illinois Flight 710

shut down one system after another
to conserve their battery power.

It was probably the most
sickening feeling for both of them.

- NARRATOR: But efforts prove futile.
- (crashing)

All the passengers and crew are killed.

NTSB investigators examine the plane’s
electrical components for clues.

- There is no short circuit.
- What about the batteries?

No signs of arcing.

NARRATOR: The cockpit voice recording
raises more questions.

SMITH (over tape): Are you using
these lights here?

Uh, I'll get that one down.

INVESTIGATOR: Well, they're doing
the right thing.

Turning things off to reduce the load.

WATSON: So what happened?

- You got a flashlight?
- Yep.

(theme music)

PILOT: Mayday, mayday.

(radio chatter)

(engine rumbling)

NARRATOR: Air Illinois Flight 710
departs from

Capitol Airport in Springfield, Illinois.

SMITH: Gear up.

NARRATOR: 32 year old
Captain Lester Smith has been with

Air Illinois almost five years.
He’s one of its most experienced pilots.

TUDOR: Gear is up.

NARRATOR: First Officer Frank Tudor has
been with the airline for three years.

He’s considered one of
its top first officers.

1,000 feet.

NARRATOR: The pilots are
flying a Hawker Siddeley 748.

The rugged turboprop is designed
to land on shorter runways.

MINTY: These Hawker Siddeley 748

was one of a number of aircraft
built to replace the DC-3 as

a commuter/cargo/military
type aircraft but primarily

used as a commuter aircraft.

NARRATOR: It’s the ideal plane
for a regional airline that

connects big cities to
small towns in Illinois.

DISPATCHER: Illinois 710, radar
identified. Continue to 3,000 feet.

Cleared to Carbondale.

Illinois 710.

3,000 feet. Cleared for Carbondale.
Thank you and good night.

Heading 1-7-5.

NARRATOR: Less than
two minutes after takeoff...

It’s the generator again.

NARRATOR: A generator
warning light comes on.

The aircraft is equipped with two,
nine-kilowatt generators

that supply power to
the battery banks and electrical systems.

One of the generators has failed.

Isolating it now.

NARRATOR: The first officer
disconnects the right generator

to protect the rest of the
aircraft’s electrical system.

PRUCHNICKI: When something like this
happens and you have a generator failure,

one of the most important steps is to

disconnect that generator from the
system as quickly as possible.

NARRATOR: Jeanene Urban is
a former Air Illinois pilot

who landed the plane in
Springfield three hours earlier.

The generators are each rated to
be able to carry the entire load.

So if one generator goes down,
you can continue to your destination.

It is not an emergency.

NARRATOR: Tonight’s 40-minute flight
is taking seven passengers

146 miles from
Springfield to Carbondale, Illinois.

Springfield, Illinois 710. We have
experienced a slight electrical problem.

Will keep you advised.

Illinois 710, do you intend to
return to Springfield?

Negative. Continuing to Carbondale.

3,000 feet.

NARRATOR: The captain decides
it’s safe to continue the flight.

I understand you are
continuing to Carbondale...

Roger.

NARRATOR: There’s dense
cloud cover this evening.

URBAN: The conditions at Carbondale were

what is called IFR,
Instrument Flight Rules.

They would have been
operating in the clouds,

needed their instruments to
be able to fly the airplane.

MINTY: They were flying into
deteriorating weather conditions.

It’s something that every
airline pilot is trained to handle,

but it doesn't give
you much room for error.

NARRATOR: Four minutes after takeoff,

the first officer checks
the status of the generators.

Zero voltage and amps on the left side.

NARRATOR: He discovers that
the left generator is dead.

The right generator is putting
out 27-and-a-half volts

NARRATOR: The right generator
now appears to be working,

but the first officer is unable to
reconnect it to the electrical system.

I can't get it to come online.

NARRATOR: The right generator
is as good as dead.

MINTY: With both generators out,
all the systems are

feeding off the batteries
instead of the generators.

It’s not a good situation.

NARRATOR: The aircraft has
four nickel-cadmium batteries.

With no generators, the batteries
are now powering lights, instruments,

navigational equipment and
everything in the passenger cabin.

- How are the batts there?
- Ah, we’re down to 22.5 volts.

PRUCHNICKI: So now that we’re
operating on only battery power,

the primary problem is that the
batteries are only designed to

operate for about 30 minutes
under the best-case scenario.

NARRATOR: Illinois 710 is now
32 minutes from its destination.

If they don’t reduce
the drain on the batteries,

it will be almost impossible to land
without lights, instruments, or a radio.

- Okay, beacon’s off.
- Okay.

Nav lights are off.
Are you using these lights here?

Uh, I'll get that one down.

NARRATOR: The pilots quickly
shut down non-essential systems.

The sooner they start
shutting things down,

the longer the battery is going to last.

- How are the batteries?
- Pretty good.

They’re at 21 and a half.

NARRATOR: The efforts to conserve battery
power seem to be paying off.

- Should last to Carbondale.
- Yeah.

NARRATOR: Midway to their destination,
the weather deteriorates.

(lightning cracks)

The weather that Frank and Les
encountered trying to

get down to Carbondale was

- much stormier than Springfield.
- (lightning cracks)

There were level two and three
thunderstorms.

Do you want me to tune into
Cabbie real quick?

Sure, it’s not gonna use that much power.

NARRATOR: 45 miles from Carbondale,
the crew tunes in to a signal that

will provide a
precise bearing to the airport.

(beeping)

Meanwhile, air traffic control
transfers the flight to the

approach frequency for Southern Illinois.

ATC: Air Illinois Flight 710, contact
Kansas City Center on frequency 1-2-5.3.

25.3, roger. Air Illinois 710.

(beeping)

They were getting close to the airport and

that approach control facility
would have lined them up

- for an instrument approach.
- (beeping)

NARRATOR: After contacting approach
control, the situation worsens.

I don't know if we have
enough juice to get out of this.

NARRATOR: The radios and transponder
on Flight 710 have shut down.

The pilots are now on their own.

(beeps)

Illinois 710, I’ve lost radar contact.

NARRATOR: Flight 710 has disappeared
from Air Traffic Control’s radar.

Illinois 710, Kansas City.

They had no capability at
this point to get help.

(thunder rumbling)

It was probably the most
sickening feeling for both of

them that you or I could imagine.

Watch my altitude,
I'm going down to 2,400 feet.

NARRATOR: Concerned their
instruments are about to fail,

the captain attempts to get
below the clouds.

URBAN: He was desperately
hoping that he could see

the airport beacon or some runway lights

and land that airplane visually.

NARRATOR: Just eight minutes from landing.

- You got a flashlight?
- Yeah.

NARRATOR: The batteries
are almost depleted.

Here we go, you wanna shine it up here?

Trying to illuminate the
instruments with a flashlight

in a dark cockpit is very abnormal.

And is he pointing it at an instrument
that’s functioning or one that’s not?

Uh, we’re losing
everything down to 13 volts.

Watch my altitude, Frank.

It would have been
a total panic situation in

realizing that they were out of options.

Okay, 2,400.

NARRATOR: Rapidly losing electrical power
and operating in total darkness,

the pilots of Illinois Flight 710
desperately try to land their plane.

The conditions at Carbondale

were such that one mile visibility
in light rain and fog,

his chances of seeing
anything were minimal at best.

Do you have any instruments?
Do you have a horizon?

Uh...

They’re in a dark cockpit.
Instruments are failing.

They can't see anything outside.

They were now into a critical emergency.

- Okay, you’re banking left, six degrees.
- Okay, correcting to the right.

A little more.

(crashing)

(glass shattering)

Illinois 710, Kansas City. Do you read?

I would be very surprised if they knew
that they were going to hit.

I would be very surprised
they saw the ground at all.

NARRATOR: Air Illinois Flight 710 crashes
25 miles north of Carbondale Airport.

The wreckage is scattered across farmland
near the town of Pinckneyville.

All seven passengers and
three crew-members are dead.

The National Transportation Safety Board,
or NTSB, begins an investigation

to determine what happened to Flight 710.

Let’s see what we got here.

NARRATOR: They begin by
reviewing the debris pattern.

It’s a half a mile long and...

Roughly 200 feet wide.

NARRATOR: Investigators get a
sense of the vast impact area,

which extends across two small wooded
areas, a field, and a pond.

They came in at a shallow angle.

SCHLEEDE: The wreckage pattern

gave us the idea that this was a,
a fairly high speed,

low angle impact to be able to spread the
wreckage like this over a half a mile.

The first point of impact
is right here with ground scars

and debris heading north.

Carbondale airport is 25 miles
o the south.

NARRATOR: Investigators determine that
at the time of the crash

Flight 710 was flying in the opposite
direction to its destination.

WATSON: With the aircraft
traveling the way it was,

at that speed, and in a wrong direction,

it made us wonder was the
aircraft actually under control?

So the first ground scar here,
followed by a few more,

and then 200 feet in front of that,
the right-wing tip.

NARRATOR: Near the first impact marks,
investigators discover fragments of a

green navigation light from
the plane’s right wingtip.

It was banked to the
right when it hit the ground.

SCHLEEDE: We had the right wingtip.

We knew that was the
first thing to hit the ground,

and we could measure
approximately 30 degree right bank.

Did the crew report any
issues to air traffic control?

Yeah, they did.

Springfield. Illinois 710.

We have experienced a
slight electrical problem.

We'll keep you advised.

NARRATOR: Investigators learn
that 90 seconds after taking off

from Springfield, the crew
reported an electrical problem.

- Anything else?
- That's it.

Just the electrical problem.

We'll need to take a good look at
all the electrical components.

SCHLEEDE: The pilot reported a
"Slight electrical problem" and

it was up to us to figure out what his
problem was and why they crashed.

Is this everything?

NARRATOR: Investigators examine electrical
components for evidence of malfunctions.

The wires are clean.
There’s no short circuit.

This inverter’s in bad shape.

Hard to tell if they were working or not.

What about the batteries?

NARRATOR: Four NiCad batteries
are powered by two generators.

Each battery contains
18 individual battery cells.

No signs of arcing or
short circuit as a result of impact.

We were able to recover a total of

ten cells from the batteries,
and they were all in decent shape.

Well let’s see if they can hold a charge.

NARRATOR: Under normal conditions,
the batteries should be fully charged.

Wow, they’re dead.

The batteries were able to hold a charge,

but for some reason, they were run down.

NARRATOR: Did the generators malfunction
and fail to charge the batteries?

Is that the left generator?

NARRATOR: Aircraft engines power
a generator shaft to rotate

a metal core wrapped in copper coil.
This is known as an armature.

The armature spins rapidly between the
poles of a magnet to generate electricity.

The banding wire has come off.

NARRATOR: Banding wire is used
to hold the armature together as it

spins inside the assembly.

If the banding wire comes loose,
the armature could jam.

The soldering is melted.
The motor must have overheated.

NARRATOR: Investigators discover evidence
that the left generator failed.

This happened before the crash.

We know that there was no fire
on the aircraft,

so we believe that the solder
melted due to internal heating,

but we don't know why.

NARRATOR: They then
inspect the right generator.

- The banding wire’s intact on this one.
- It looks fine.

We did a resistance test,
checked the brushes.

And we looked at all the mechanical
workings of the generator.

We were not able to find any
reason why the right generator

would not charge the batteries.

How did they crash with four working
batteries and one working generator?

From examination of the wreckage,

we were not able to find
any reason for the accident.

We were hoping that the
voice recorder would give us

clues as to what really happened.

The recording starts around
four minutes after takeoff.

NARRATOR: Investigators turn to
Flight 710’s cockpit voice recorder

to determine how an aircraft
with one functioning generator

crashed short of its destination.

Zero voltage and amps on the left side.

Just like we suspected.

NARRATOR: The CVR recording
confirms that the left generator

failed shortly after takeoff.

The right generator is putting out
27-and-a-half volts.

But I can't get it to come online.

NARRATOR: Investigators
can’t understand why the right generator

was disconnected from the electrical
system if it was operational.

Then they hear an astonishing statement
from the first officer to the captain.

When we lost the left one, I reached up
and shut off the right generator because

I assumed the problem was the right side.

Isolating it now.

NARRATOR: There are two shutoff
switches for the generators,

one for the left generator
and one for the right.

The first officer disconnects
the right one to protect

the rest of the
aircraft’s electrical system.

But he soon realizes that it’s the left
one that has the issue, not the right.

Why doesn't he just reconnect it?

Uh, he tries, but it doesn't work.

The right generator was
not charging the batteries,

so that we know all they
had to power the aircraft was

the charge remaining on the
batteries shortly after takeoff.

Maybe there was a problem with
the switching unit?

If the generator switching unit
is not working,

then the generator
will not come back online.

So we were quite interested in learning
what we could about this component.

It’s in pretty rough shape.

NARRATOR: Looking for signs
of a malfunction,

investigators examine the
right generator control switch.

I can't tell 100%.
It's possible it failed before the crash.

The switching unit was
heavily damaged from the crash.

We were not able to
determine if that's even

why the generator would not come online.

Even if the switch was broken,
it doesn't explain the pilots’ actions.

The first officer says,

"I assumed the problem
was with the right side."

Why would he assume something like that?

It made us wonder if there was a problem
with that generator in the past.

Take a look at these maintenance reports.

NARRATOR: The team reviews the
maintenance records

for the Hawker Siddeley’s generators.

Check it out. No less than eight
separate pilot complaints and

repairs on the right generator.

There were voltage fluctuations and
recurring problems with the regulator.

Causing the right generator to shut down.

NARRATOR: Two weeks before the crash,
there were issues with the

right generator almost every day.

They were doing maintenance.
They were troubleshooting it.

They were changing parts,
and they couldn't fix it.

Air Illinois had one Hawker Siddeley
and three flight crews flying that plane.

I'm sure that they all knew that the
right generator had had problems in the

past and they probably all
experienced it at one time or another.

URBAN: The first officer had been on
some of those flights where the

right generator had actually disconnected.

Thank goodness I was not. The most I ever
saw it do was flicker a time or two.

That would explain why the
first officer disconnected the

right generator instead of the left one.

NARRATOR: Investigators
suspect that on the night of the crash...

It’s the generator again.

NARRATOR: The first officer made
the immediate assumption that

the right generator had malfunctioned.

The reaction that the first officer had
about taking the right generator offline

probably falls into a phenomenon
that's called expectation bias.

He has experienced this
in the past and assumed that

that was going to be the problem,
without really looking at

the indications he had available to him.

It still doesn't explain the crash.

NARRATOR: Even though both
generators were offline,

investigators know the aircraft’s
batteries were in working order.

How are the batteries?

Pretty good.
They’re at 21-and-a-half.

- Should last to Carbondale.
- Yeah.

It was really important to know,

did the batteries have enough
endurance to get to the airport?

Let’s see how they managed
their battery power.

NARRATOR: Investigators return
to the cockpit voice recorder

to determine why Flight 710 ran out of
battery power before reaching Carbondale.

- (over tape): How are the batts there?
- Ah, we’re down to 22.5 volts.

- Okay, beacon’s off.
- Okay.

Nav lights are off.

NARRATOR: Just minutes after discovering
both generators are down,

the pilots turn off non-essential systems
to save their batteries.

Well, they were doing the right thing,
turning things off to reduce the load.

But is it enough?

According to the manufacturer, they needed
to reduce their load to 70 amps.

NARRATOR: Amps measure the
strength of an electrical current.

The more amps drawn on a battery,
the faster the battery will discharge.

If the crew would have reduced
the load to 70 amps,

that would have given them a
minimum of 30 minutes of endurance.

That might have been enough time
to get them to the Carbondale airport.

Let's see if they got their
load down to 70 amps.

Well, we know they turned off
the beacons, navigation lights.

NARRATOR: Investigators make
an inventory of the instruments

the crew turned off and what they
left on in order to calculate

the load on the batteries.

What else?

- Are you using these lights here?
- Uh, I'll get that one down.

We were not able to determine

what was powered up or on or off,

based on the flight recorder.

(over tape): It should last to Carbondale.

So we had to rely on the conversations

between the two pilots,
what to leave on and what to turn off.

Do you want me to tune into
Cabbie real quick?

Sure.
It’s not gonna use that much power.

Uh, DME instruments, weather radar,
uh, main cabin lights.

One of the main radios, a cooling fan,
and the transponder.

The weather radar and
the radios draw a lot of power

and so shedding those, if you can, is a,
uh, a prudent thing to do.

It looks like they kept the rest of the
flight instruments on, and that's it.

They used 110 amps.

NARRATOR: Investigators discover
the crew did not properly reduce

the draw on their batteries.

No wonder they didn't make
it to Carbondale.

This importance with load shedding and

getting down to 70 amps
seems to be lost on the crew

as there seems to
be no discussion whatsoever

about amperage to
determine if their changes in

the electrical system were
actually making a difference

in the longevity of the batteries.

NARRATOR: So why did the pilots
believe they had enough power

to reach their destination?

The team checks to see how the pilots
monitored the state of their batteries.

It says here fully charged
the batteries are 24 volts.

Let's see how they did.

How are the batts there?

Uh, we're down to 22.5 volts.

Eight minutes into the flight,
they used up 1.5 volts.

Seven minutes later...

How are the batteries?

Pretty good.
They’re at 21-and-a-half.

The battery charge
drops another volt to 21.5.

The first officer says,
"The battery should last to Carbondale."

They're halfway through the flight.
He’s feeling good.

And then nine minutes later,
he checks again. It’s 20 volts.

So they think they’re doing all right.

And then minutes later the radios go dead.

Uh, we’re losing everything
down to 13 volts.

They’re talking about having 20 volts, and
then they all of a sudden have 13 volts.

So they’re monitoring the volts,
but it's as if the sudden drop

caught them by surprise.

The reason this is significant is
because NiCad batteries

will maintain their voltage
almost right until the end

that the batteries are dead. Much
different than lead acid type batteries,

which is where you see a
gradual decline in voltage.

NARRATOR: That characteristic
of NiCad batteries may explain

why there was such a sudden
drop in the battery voltage.

I don't know if we have
enough juice to get out of this.

WATSON: If they would have known
the characteristic of a

NiCad battery, it might
have sent them a message saying,

"We better get on this right
away and get this load reduced."

NARRATOR: Investigators find
another reason why the crew may

have missed how fast their
batteries were discharging.

They never mention their amps.

It looks like the only thing
they monitored were the volts.

NARRATOR: Volts measure the
potential output of a battery,

not how long it will last.

Amps tell you how much
electricity is being drawn.

It was very surprising that they weren't

monitoring the amperage, because that was
going to tell them how much longer

they had on the batteries.

NARRATOR: Did the crew have
the proper training to monitor

the endurance of the batteries?

Investigators interview
other Air Illinois pilots.

So what’d you find out?

NARRATOR: To determine their ability to
monitor and calculate battery endurance.

Well, we know that they were all trained
on battery management

for a dual generator problem.

But when I asked them how long
they thought the batteries would

have lasted on the flight,

some calculated 30 minutes.
Others, less than an hour.

Five pilots gave us five different
answers, and they were not all correct.

It became obvious to us there was
definitely a training issue involved here.

- Are you using these lights here?
- Uh, I’ll get that one down.

NARRATOR: The lack of training
explains why the pilots thought

they had enough power to reach Carbondale,

but that doesn't solve a bigger mystery.

This is their flight path.

NARRATOR: Why didn't the pilots land
the plane at another airport

before completely running
out of battery power?

One, two, three, four, five
different airports.

They were only five minutes
away from Springfield,

yet they elected to go
40 minutes to Carbondale.

And there were several airports
in between that they missed.

They could have landed
anytime along the way.

NARRATOR: Their decision not to land calls
the pilots’ judgement into question.

It’s time to look into their backgrounds.

Here’s the captain’s file.

NARRATOR: Investigators dig into
the backgrounds of Flight 710’s pilots

for clues that explain their unusual
reaction to an electrical failure.

- The captain was perfectly qualified.
- Same with the FO.

Gear up.

NARRATOR: The two pilots were
among the most experienced

- flight crew on the roster...
- Gear is up.

NARRATOR: With a combined
5,000 flying hours between them

on the Hawker Siddeley.

Here’s something.
The captain lived in Carbondale.

Maybe he wanted to get home.

In aviation, what we describe as,
"Get-home-itis,"

is when we try to make it
to the destination because of

our strong desire to do so,

and it plays a significant
role in our decision-making.

NARRATOR: Investigators talk
to other pilots at the company,

including first officer Jeanene Urban.

How well did you know the pilots?

I flew with the captain, and I was
good friends with the first officer.

I thought very highly
of the first officer, Frank.

I knew the flight attendant,
Barbie, and liked her a lot.

It was a very emotional thing to hear that
both of them had been killed.

- What sort of pilot was the captain?
- I'd say average.

In the aviation community,

when someone is characterized
as an average pilot that

usually means he's not too good.

Why’s that?

The captain really prided himself
on getting there on time.

It was not uncommon for him to take risks.

Looks like we’ve got some weather.
Shall I call for deviation?

It doesn't look too bad.
We'll be fine.

NARRATOR: According to Air Illinois
pilots, the captain would often

fly too close or through
dangerous storms to save flight time.

If I made any comments or

suggestions about a safety issue

like the thunderstorms or anything else,
he would do something spiteful

just to prove that he was the captain.

In order to keep to schedule,
he’d also speed up,

which would set off the overspeed alarm.

(beeping)

- Pull the circuit breaker, would ya?
- What? Really?

NARRATOR: Pilots said he
would order them to disable

the over-speed warning so
that they could fly faster.

It was always about getting there faster.

NARRATOR: The captain’s
behavior is troublesome.

We wanted to know if the company,

the airline, was putting undue pressure
on the pilots to make the schedule.

This pressure to get there on time,
was it from management?

No, it was all the captain.

The interviews with the
other pilots indicated that

there was no undue
pressure to skirt the rules.

In the case of the captain,
that pressure was self-imposed.

NARRATOR: Investigators
conclude that Captain Smith

often stretched the rules.

And what about the first officer?

Frank was the best, and he knew
the plane and its systems really well.

NARRATOR: So why didn't
the first officer speak up

when Captain Smith made
the decision to carry on?

(over radio): Illinois 710, do you intend
to return to Springfield?

Negative. Continuing to
Carbondale. 3,000 feet.

And at no time did we hear
the first officer challenge

the captain's decision to go on to
Carbondale. We found this very perplexing.

I asked him how he could fly with the
captain because he took so many chances.

And he said, "Oh, I just try to
keep an eye on the situation and

not let him get us into anything
that I can't get us out of."

- We're losing everything down to 13 volts.
- Watch my altitude, Frank.

Boy, that didn't work out
very well at all.

The captain should have made
the decision to return

to the Springfield Airport and,
if so, none of this would have happened.

Thank you.

NARRATOR: Investigators conclude
that the risk-taking captain and

an unassertive first officer
was a dangerous combination.

Let’s pick it up from where they realize
they don't have enough power

to make it to Carbondale.

NARRATOR: The team returns
to the cockpit voice recording

to see if they can uncover why
he plane ended up so far off course.

SMITH (over tape): Watch my altitude.
I'm going down to 2,400 feet.

Okay.

Stop the tape.

Why would the captain decide
to drop down 2,400 feet?

The cloud ceiling near Carbondale
was almost 2,000 feet.

So maybe he was popping in and out of the
clouds to see something on the ground.

Play on.

You got a flashlight?

Yeah.

Here we go, you wanna shine it up here?

NARRATOR: Just as the
captain tries to see the ground,

the cockpit lights go out and
plunge them into total darkness.

Uh, we’re losing everything
down to 13 volts.

Watch my altitude, Frank.

Okay, 2,400.

They make it to 2,400 feet.
The captain plans to level off,

spot the runway and continue his descent.

But that's not what happens.

Okay, you’re banking left.
Six degrees.

Okay. Correcting to the right.

Just minutes later, they ended up crashing
in completely the opposite direction.

A little more.

So the question is, what happened?

(thunder rumbling)

How do you go from
leveling off at 2,400 feet to

then hitting the ground
in the opposite direction?

NARRATOR: Investigators examine
the final moments of Flight 710

to determine what ultimately
brought the plane down.

How does the recording end?

Do you have any instruments?

NARRATOR: The recording eerily slows down.

Do you have a horizon?

NARRATOR: And then silence.

Their batteries just died.

Uh...

NARRATOR: The captain is
asking for a horizon reading

on the attitude directional indicator,
or ADI.

The ADI uses an electrically
powered gyroscope to indicate

the aircraft’s pitch and roll
relative to the Earth’s horizon.

PRUCHNICKI: It’s nighttime,
no discernible horizon, low visibility.

Your ADI is everything that you need to
be able to keep the airplane wings level.

They’ve lost the
lights on their instruments.

Some of them are starting to fail.

He asks the first officer
to shine a light on their ADI.

Okay. You’re banking left, six degrees.

Okay. Correcting to the right.

NARRATOR: Investigators can
only surmise what happened next.

Even if all the instruments had failed,

the ADI would still
look like it’s working.

NARRATOR: The ADI gyroscope
spins at about 15,000 RPM.

Even after the power shuts down,

it will continue rotating
for several minutes.

So it looks like it's working,
but it really is not.

NARRATOR: As the ADI winds down,
it slowly tilts to one side.

Imagine that ADI starts
slowly falling to the left.

They correct by rolling to the right.

Okay. You’re banking left.
Six degrees.

Okay, correcting to the right.

A little more.

WATSON: It may have appeared to them that
the ADI was working correctly,

but they were really banking to
the right and losing altitude.

They probably followed that
failing ADI right into the ground.

(thunder rumbling)

They couldn't see where they were.

They couldn’t see any lights.
And, uh, it would be over in an instant.

(crashing)

(glass shattering)

NARRATOR: In their final report,

investigators conclude that the
fatal accident was a consequence

of the captain’s decision to
continue the flight toward Carbondale

instead of returning to the nearby
departure airport after the loss of power.

The cause of this accident was
not a catastrophic failure

that suddenly caused
the airplane to crash.

It was the decision by the captain,

to continue flight on battery power
after they lost the generators.

NARRATOR: Also adding to
the problem was a lack of

Crew Resource Management, or CRM.

Now part of Crew Resource Management
training is that crews

are trained to act as a team,

and first officers are taught and
encouraged to question the

captain’s decision-making and
actions if they do not agree.

Speak up. Don't worry about if
it upsets somebody's ego.

It's not worth dying over.

NARRATOR: Investigators cite
inadequate crew training to

assess battery endurance as
another contributing factor.

It should have been discussed in their
training. It should have been in their

training materials and
in the flight manual.

NARRATOR: As a result of this accident,
the NTSB also recommends

independently powered ADI’s on all
transport airplanes.

So that if all power was lost,

they still had the ability to
keep the airplane straight and

level for at least 30 minutes.

NARRATOR: This recommendation
was implemented in 1997.

Flight 710 brought national attention
and increased scrutiny

of small commuter airlines.

Six months after the accident,
Air Illinois filed for bankruptcy

and ceased operations.

It’s something where
we learn by our mistakes.

The first priority is the
safety of the passengers.

It’s gotta be the most important factor.