Original subtitles

(explosion)

(narrator): A massive explosion tears a hole

in the side of a 7-47.

- What the hell was that? - I don't know.

(Officer Slater): Center, United 8-11 heavy.

We had a bomb or something go off.

We are descending rapidly.

- Everybody stay in your seat!

- Everything that wasn't bolted down just took off out.

- People are gone, the seats are gone, there was nothing there anymore.

(narrator): NTSB investigators suspect a crime.

(Ron Schleede): We were quite convinced

that it was probably terrorism. (beeping)

(narrator): But the physical evidence tells a different story.

(investigator): Check this out. - I see it.

(Ron Schleede): It was very perplexing to us why this had happened

and how it could have happened.

(theme music)

(narrator): United Airlines Flight 8-11

departs from Honolulu Airport just before 2:00 a.m.

(soft music)

- Gear up.

- Gear up.

(narrator): Captain David Cronin is at the controls of tonight's flight.

It's his penultimate flight before retiring.

(Dave Cronin): I flew almost 35 years with United.

L-NAV V-NAV.

I've got over 30 000 hours of flight time

in just about everything, military as well as civilian.

Autopilot on.

- Check.

(narrator): First Officer Al Slader is also an experienced pilot

who's flown with United for 25 years.

- Climb thrust.

(narrator): There's a third pilot in the cockpit.

- Is set.

(narrator): Second Officer Randal Thomas, the flight engineer.

- APU is off.

(Rick McCullough): When you get to the point where you're flying an aircraft like a 7-47,

you are probably among the most experienced people on the airline.

And that was certainly true for this crew.

(narrator): There are 337 passengers on board.

Stuart McClure, his mother and younger brother

are headed to Australia for a family visit.

- My stepfather was an executive for United Airlines

so he was over there on business.

My mom decided to join him but didn't want to fly alone

so brought us two boys with her.

(narrator): Flight 8-11's next stop is Auckland, New Zealand

for a stopover, before flying on to Sydney, Australia.

(♪♪)

(thunder)

The Boeing 7-47 is a large, long-range,

wide-body airliner powered by four turbofan engines.

(Rick McCullough): It's just one of the most amazing airplanes ever built.

Upwards of a million pounds of takeoff weight,

can travel seventy-five hundred miles with reserves.

The cruise speed of the airplane is Mach point-eight-five,

which is well over six hundred miles an hour.

And it will outrun pretty much any airliner available today.

(thunder)

- I don't think we're gonna top that son of a gun.

(narrator): There are thunderstorms ahead.

- Ah, let's see here.

(thunder)

(Dave Cronin): We did notice that there were thunderstorms,

so I left the seat belt sign on.

(narrator): There are 16 flight attendants onboard tonight's flight.

One of them is Leonard Jenkins, who is off duty.

(Leonard Jenkins): So, we get underway.

Everything seemed pretty normal.

I really was just getting ready to take my eight-hour nap.

- Okay, tell them we're gonna detour over to the left.

- Center, United 8-11 heavy,

we're gonna be detourin', There's some weather.

We're gonna be going left of course.

- United 8-11, deviation as necessary approved.

- Roger.

- Airliners do not fly through thunderstorms

because it would be insane to do so.

(thunder)

The lightning, the wind, perhaps funnel clouds...

There are a lot of ways that a thunderstorm can kill you in an airplane.

- It looks like that's the end of it right there to the right.

(narrator): Almost nine minutes into the flight,

just as they get past the storm...

(explosion)

(dramatic music)

- What the hell was that?

- I don't know.

- I'm taking us down and back to Honolulu.

- Center, United 8-11 heavy, we have a mayday.

We had a bomb or something go off.

(Second Officer Thomas): The engine!

- We've lost number three engine...

(narrator): The right inboard engine is inoperative.

(Officer Slater): ... and we are descending rapidly.

Coming back.

- United 8-11 heavy roger, keep center advised.

We have an emergency situation.

- You need to land at the nearest suitable airport

and that would be Honolulu right behind them.

- Call the flight attendant.

- Copy.

(narrator): To fly the plane back to safety,

Captain Cronin needs to assess the damage.

(passengers screaming)

But cannot.

(Stuart McClure): A huge explosion seemed to rock the whole plane.

Just a huge pop.

And everything that wasn't bolted down

just took off out.

I saw this huge cloud of smoke and thought to myself,

"This is not real. This is something in my dream. I've gotta wake up."

(narrator): The air is escaping from the cabin, it's difficult to breathe.

(Leonard Jenkins): Everything just kind of went crazy.

It knocked the wind out of me, and I kept thinking to myself,

this is like -- it feels like I'm suffocating.

- Put your mask on, Dave.

- Okay.

I'm not getting any oxygen.

(narrator): The explosion has damaged the plane's oxygen supply

to the crew and the passengers.

- We're not getting oxygen either.

(narrator): The pilots must get the plane down to 10,000 feet quickly,

before they run out of breathable air.

(dramatic music)

(Rick McCullough): First things first.

Get the airplane down where everybody is safe

in terms of being able to breathe normally,

then work the other problems.

- Everybody stay in your seats!

- The next thing I remember, I was not in my seat anymore.

And I was standing against the bulkhead.

- Stay in your seats!

(Leonard Jenkins): The whole right side of the airplane,

like the people are gone, the seats are gone,

there was nothing there anymore.

It was like a picture window.

I could see the whitecaps of the ocean.

I could see the two engines.

(♪♪)

(narrator): Captain Cronin is having trouble turning the plane back to Honolulu.

- We've got a control problem here.

(narrator): With a full load of fuel onboard,

it's difficult to steer.

- Start dumping the fuel. - I'm dumping.

(ATC): United 8-11 heavy,

when able forward the souls on board and fuel at landing.

(Officer Slater): Ah, okay, stand-by.

We'll give you the information as quickly as possible.

(ATC): United 8-11 heavy, roger.

(narrator): And their troubles keep increasing.

- Ah, we got a problem with number four engine.

(narrator): The right out board engine is overheating.

- Can you maintain two-forty?

- Yes, just barely.

(Rick McCullough): You've got all this fuel 'cause you're going to Auckland,

and now you've lost two engines and you've descended rapidly.

The crew is facing a very serious situation.

- We're losing altitude.

- I know it.

(dramatic music)

- With that kind of weight,

two engines are not gonna keep you in the air.

You're gonna come down.

(passengers screaming)

(Stuart McClure): You're helpless. You have no control

over what's about to happen to you.

At that point, I realized, "Okay. This is where we die."

(♪♪)

- Watch your heading. Watch your heading.

You wanna go direct to... we're going direct to Honolulu.

- Yeah.

(narrator): Eight minutes after an explosion onboard United Flight 8-11,

the pilots struggle to keep their aircraft from plunging into the Pacific Ocean.

- Okay, I'm going downstairs to see what the hell is going on.

- We got a fire out there.

- There's a fire out there?

(♪♪)

(Leonard Jenkins): There was an engine on fire.

With fuel, there was like a stream of fire.

You'd just see flames just streaming out the back of the engines.

- It looks like it's engine number four.

- Go through the procedure to shut the engine down.

(wing blowing)

(narrator): Second officer, Randal Thomas, reaches one of the flight attendants.

- Please get us down.

- The right side is gone from about the first row right back.

It's just open.

You're just looking outside.

- What do you mean? - It looks like a bomb.

The fuselage is just open.

- You mean, the whole right side is gone?

- From about row one right back to ah...

- Is anybody...?

- Some people are probably gone.

I don't know.

(Dave Cronin): You know it's... it's a terrible thing

when you're a captain of an airplane and you lose passengers.

We got a real problem here.

(narrator): Not only have the pilots lost thrust in the two right engines,

now their instruments aren't providing direction to the airport.

They will need the controller to guide them in.

- Center Unit 8-11 heavy.

We need a vector now.

We're losing VOR. We're down to sixty-five hundred.

We evidently had a bomb or something.

A big section of the right side of the airplane is missing.

- United 8-11 heavy, do you have the airport in sight

and clear for a visual approach?

(narrator): The controller gives the pilots permission

to conduct a visual approach instead.

But they're still too far out to see the airport.

- Uh, we're still 45 DME so you watch us.

- United 8-11, I have you on radar.

- We gotta get down in weight here.

- I say we land overweight.

We're at 652-thousand pounds right now.

(narrator): Even though Flight 8-11 has been dumping fuel,

it's still 90,000 pounds over the safe landing weight.

- We've got 45 miles to go.

- United 8-11, uh, you're missing the right side

of the cabin or the right wing, sir?

(Officer Slater): That's affirmative, we're missing a section

of the right side of the airplane.

Part of the fuselage is missing.

We need all medical equipment we can get

and all equipment standing by.

- United 8-11 heavy, roger.

- Okay, put your harnesses on

and plan for evacuation.

Tell 'em.

- Oh, you bet.

Honolulu, United 8-11 heavy.

We do plan to evacuate on the runway.

(controller): United 8-11 heavy, roger.

- Okay, let me try to talk to the flight attendant.

(ring tone)

(phone ringing)

(narrator): In the cabin, the crew is preparing

the passengers for ditching.

(Leonard Jenkins): It was loud.

We ran around getting life vests on people.

It's a feeling of like, I'm not sure this is really gonna matter

at this point when we hit the water.

(ring tone)

- I can't reach them down there.

(dramatic music)

- I say we land with 10 degrees.

(narrator): 10 miles from the airport,

the pilots make the final preparations for landing.

- We're higher than hell.

(narrator): But the airport still isn't anywhere in sight.

- United 8-11 turn right heading zero seven zero.

- It's right there down to your right.

- Okay.

(narrator): The pilots must now make a right turn

with no right side engines.

- You've got all of the thrust coming out

of these two turbofan engines on the left hand side.

And you've got two of 'em that aren't developing any thrust.

(narrator): It's a dangerous maneuver.

If done incorrectly, the thrust from the left engines

could put the plane into a steep roll.

(Dave Cronin): We're either going to land on the airport, in the water,

or drastically change the topography

of downtown Honolulu.

(narrator): With a massive hole in the fuselage,

more than 45,000 pounds overweight,

two dead engines, and unknown damage to the control surfaces,

the pilots of United 8-11

manage to line up with the runway in Honolulu.

- United 8-11 is cleared to land eight left.

Equipment is standing by.

Wind zero five zero one two.

- Cleared to land eight left, United 8-11 heavy.

- Okay, well...

...let's try the gear.

(passengers screaming)

(dramatic music)

- Heads down.

- I see lights.

- Brace.

Brace.

(passengers screaming)

(Stuart McClure): That's where it really became

very, very real for us.

We knew that whatever was gonna happen to us,

we were gonna do it together.

- I'm coming off on the power.

(narrator): Moments from touchdown,

the pilots slow the plane

to make it easier to stop the overweight aircraft.

(engine revving)

- Fifty feet.

- Watch your trim. - Thirty...

- Center the trim, center the trim.

- ...ten.

(engine revving)

- It was unbelievable how fast we were going.

- I'm gonna reverse.

- On number two only because they're still at 170.

(narrator): The pilots hope reverse engine power

will stop the plane before the runway ends.

(engine slowing down)

- Prepare to evacuate.

- Probably the best landing I've ever made.

(sirens in the distance)

- Shut 'em down.

- Shut down the engines.

(sirens)

(soft music)

(narrator): Twenty-five minutes after the explosion,

Flight 8-11 has returned to Honolulu Airport.

Nine of the 337 passengers

were blown out of the airplane over the Pacific.

The search for them and the wreckage begins immediately.

- It was a huge area

and very difficult for us to pinpoint

where over the water it actually occurred.

(narrator): Ron Schleede from the National Transportation Safety Board,

or NTSB, leads the investigation.

(Ron Schleede): We flew out of Washington

and went into Honolulu.

An FBI agent went with us, the bomb expert.

They have jurisdiction to investigate for criminal activity.

- That hole's gotta be at least 10 feet wide by 15 feet high.

The forward cargo door is missing too.

(narrator): The Boeing 7-47 has two cargo doors on the right side:

the aft and the forward cargo doors.

(Ron Schleede): We could see from the ground cargo and baggage,

and we could see the remains of seats in the cabin area.

(Greg Phillips): Looking at the airframe itself becomes important...

...the direction of failures, whether you have damage

from inside the aircraft to outside,

or if they had damages from outside in.

(intriguing music)

- The floor is buckled.

Some of the seats are missing.

The decompression likely broke the cabin floor beams.

- We were quite convinced that it was probably terrorism.

There's damage on the leading edge, and on the engines.

The damage to the wing and engines is likely caused by debris that came off the plane.

There is no sign of pitting.

(narrator): Upon closer examination,

investigators find no obvious signs of a bomb.

(Ron Schleede): The NTSB guys generally have an idea

of what they are looking for...

...a petaling of the metal.

They saw no evidence of that.

No signs of fatigue or corrosion either.

Once the FBI took the swabs for chemical residue and tested them,

they reported they were all negative

and that was pretty conclusive evidence that there was not a bomb.

(narrator): The team now considers whether there was

some kind of structural failure to the aircraft.

- All of the fractures appeared to be

fresh overstress damage,

not any pre-existing damage.

This made us consider that there was a problem

with the door itself.

We have some wiring from the door here.

(narrator): NTSB investigators turn their attention

to what remains of the cargo door system.

- Okay. What else have we got?

(narrator): Instead of using a plug door,

which is stowed inside the cargo hold and gets jammed

into the frame as the plane pressurizes,

Boeing designed the 7-47 with an outward opening door

to create more space for cargo in the hold.

(Ron Schleede): It looks like we at least have the pins.

(narrator): Investigators find a key component of the locking mechanism...

...the latch pins for the cargo door.

(narrator): The new 7-47 cargo door design

uses a three-staged locking system.

An exterior switch electrically powers the door

to a near-closed position.

C-shaped latches, or cams, then rotate around pins.

A handle on the exterior of the door

lowers metal sectors which secure the latches in place.

- There's some wear on the pins.

But hard to tell for sure what it means.

There was transfer of metal and discoloration.

We couldn't tell for sure what the damage was

so we had to remove the pins and take them

to a laboratory for further analysis.

- There's some wear for sure.

But it's likely from the latches rotating

around the pins as the door closes.

- It makes sense.

(intriguing music)

- Hang on.

Have a look.

(narrator): Investigators find evidence of heat tinting

on the surface of the pin.

- I see it.

(narrator): Heat tinting occurs when the surface oxide layer

of stainless steel changes color due to heating.

- There's also some metal transfer from the latches on the pins.

- You're right.

(narrator): The presence of latch material on the pins

suggests the separation of the cargo door

was extremely fast and violent.

(explosion)

- The amount of force to cause the transfer of metal

from the latches to the pins had to be enormous.

There's metal from the latch

in the same place on every pin.

(narrator): The location of the latch metal on the pins

gives investigators their first big break.

- The latches were open when the door came off.

(Ron Schleede): The locking mechanism of the cargo door

was designed to be failsafe.

So it was very perplexing to us

why this had happened and how it could have happened.

I'm checking the FAA records.

- I'll go through the Boeing ones.

(narrator): Has the locking system on the 7-47 cargo door failed before?

- I've got something.

Two years ago,

there was an incident on another 7-47.

Look at that in March 1987,

Pan American Flight 1-2-5 was en route from London to New York,

when there was a pressurization problem.

The door was open an inch and a half.

The Pan Am agent used a wrench to close the door manually.

And once he got it closed,

he inadvertently backed the wrench up

and opened the door slightly.

(narrator): The Pan Am latches were manually turned

to the open position and the lock sectors were broken.

- How can the force of a socket wrench break the sectors?

- Well... Look, get this,

the lock sectors...

...they were made of a weak material.

The locking sectors were made of aluminum,

so they would bend and break.

- What action was taken after the Pan Am incident?

- The FAA issued...

...an Airworthiness Directive

...requiring that each lock sector

be reinforced with a steel doubler.

See, United Airlines, they had 18 to 24 months to do it.

Maybe they hadn't got the work done yet.

- I'll check United's maintenance records.

(narrator): Did Flight 8-11 have weak lock sectors?

- It looks like the lock sectors hadn't been replaced yet.

- At the time of the accident, the accident airplane

still had the aluminum sectors

because it wasn't scheduled to be replaced for two months.

Did you have any issues closing the door?

- Not at all, it closed fine.

(narrator): Investigators consider how the door was closed

and if the latches were over-rotated, like the ones on Pan Am 1-25.

- Did you close the door electrically or manually?

- I closed it electrically.

I wouldn't have closed it manually.

It takes too much effort.

(Ron Schleede): What do you mean?

- You have to crank the wrench 95 times.

(Ron Schleede): The ramp agent on 8-11 did not use

a power tool as was used on the Pan Am.

This left us without any explanation for what happened.

- What'd you find out?

- Well, the ramp agent closed the door electrically,

properly using the switch.

And the dispatch mechanic said

he did a circle check of the plane prior to departure.

He checked the forward cargo door with a flashlight,

and it was flush to the aircraft.

What about the cargo door indicator light in the cockpit?

- Well...

The Second Officer said that the light went out.

(narrator): Investigators confirm that the Second Officer

saw the cargo door light in the cockpit go off,

indicating that the door was closed.

While NTSB investigators consider other reasons

why the cargo door opened;

they get an update on recovery efforts.

- They mapped the currents and narrowed the debris field to 12 square miles.

(narrator): Finding the lost cargo door might be

the key to the investigation.

(Ron Schleede): But take a look at the depth...

...14,000 feet.

(narrator): Recovery teams aren't able to search

for wreckage at a depth of 14,000 feet.

- At that point, the deepest we had ever searched

and recovered wreckage was 6000 feet under the water.

If the door was properly closed,

then maybe it subsequently opened

due to an electrical problem.

(narrator): Did the electrical system accidentally open the door in flight?

- According to the manual, when the plane lifts off the ground,

all power to the door is disconnected.

- Electrical operation of the door to open it in-flight was impossible.

If not in the air, then...

...maybe on the ground.

We considered that there possibly could have been a short

in the electrical system that caused the door to unlatch on the ground.

This everything?

- Almost.

We have all the electrical switches except one.

(narrator): Investigators perform continuity testing on the cargo door switches

and relays recovered from the aircraft.

(beeping) - This one's good.

(beeping) As is this one.

(beeping)

- Check this out.

- That's a burn mark.

(narrator): They also notice that some of the wiring insulation has stripped off.

- That switch is a closed circuit.

It has nothing to do with opening the door.

(narrator): The exposed wire on the switch

could not have caused the cargo door to open.

(beeping)

- We had ruled out most electrical system failures

as the cause of the accident,

so that had us look at other options.

(intriguing music)

- Here you go.

(narrator): The team now considers whether a mechanical failure

caused the cargo door to open.

- Maybe there's something here.

(narrator): Investigators review the operations of the cargo door

on four United 7-47s at Honolulu Airport.

- This is strange.

It says here that one of the ramp agents

kicked on a cargo door to get it open.

(narrator): They discover an instance of a cargo door

opening only with the use of force.

- When we heard that the ramp agents had to kick the door,

we figured that there was some type of mis-alignment,

mis-rigging of the cargo door and its locking mechanisms.

- Maybe the door kicking was just an isolated case.

(narrator): Investigators turn to the maintenance report of the Flight 8-11 aircraft

to determine if there was ever a fit issue with the forward cargo door.

- No fit or alignment issues were ever reported.

- Right but check out when the plane was inspected.

- When it was empty.

(narrator): A 7-47 fully loaded with people, fuel and cargo

can add upwards of 300,000 thousand pounds to the aircraft

causing the fuselage to bend and distort.

- Get this.

In December 1988,

there were eight write-ups about door misalignment.

(narrator): Two months before the accident,

the forward cargo door failed to close fully,

under electrical operation.

- An ill-fitting door could cause the latching motors

to not drive the latches fully closed.

- Did United fix the problem?

(narrator): Investigatororh on United Flight 8-11

couldn't properly close the misaligned cargo door.

But was it ever repaired?

- The maintenance was deferred

because they would close the door manually.

- If there was a fit issue and they would close it manually,

that would explain the wear marks we found on the pins.

- The wear on the door indicated a long history

of manual operation and mis-rigging of the door.

(narrator): Even worse, with repeated manual opening

and closing of a misaligned door,

the lock sectors could easily have been damaged

if the latches were being over-rotated.

With the latches and lock sectors still at the bottom of the sea,

the NTSB is forced to conclude that the cargo door

was sufficiently misaligned to prevent it from closing properly.

- When we write the final report of an accident,

we present the evidence that we have

and make our best conclusions based on that evidence.

We knew there was mechanical damage to the door.

We suspected that was the cause,

and that's the way we wrote the report.

(narrator): In April of 1990, the NTSB published its findings.

The report recommends the FAA issue a directive

requiring the installation of a device to prevent

the latches from over-rotating.

- But we wanted to get the door.

We really wanted to find the door to prove our theory.

Yeah. (indistinct chatter)

(phone ringing)

Just one second.

Hello.

(narrator): Three months after the NTSB

publishes its report on United Flight 8-11,

the US Navy offers to assist the recovery efforts.

- Side scan sonar?

Uh-huh.

The Navy came to me and said,

"We've got a system that we're testing."

It was experimental,

a new sonar system.

And it was at the time classified.

(narrator): A side scan sonar device towed from a ship

emits high-frequency sound pulses that bounce off

the seafloor to create an image of the seabed

and any debris that might be lying on it.

- 14,000 feet, really?

(narrator): With the ability to scan deeper than previously possible,

the Navy offers to test the device in the Pacific Ocean.

- Alright. Let's do it.

They said, "We would like to try and test it on that door."

And they would do it for no cost to us.

And we said, "Sure."

(grand music)

- Nothing in this sector.

(narrator): NTSB Investigator Frank Hilldrup

is onboard the vessel searching for the cargo door.

- I felt a lot of pressure.

This accident represented one of the deepest recoveries

that was gonna be attempted.

(narrator): They search an area of 12 square miles

divided into 57 sectors.

(beeping)

- Hang on.

I think we got something.

(narrator): The team finds evidence of a debris field.

- There was pretty high confidence

that they were in the right area.

And the experts can tell roughly what they're looking at.

Is it metallic in nature? Is it a good return?

(narrator): A three-person submersible vehicle

called the Sea Cliff is deployed.

The expedition confirms the debris is from Flight 8-11,

but finding the cargo door proves difficult.

- We had some problems with weather, with a hurricane,

with equipment failure, so there was a lot of stops and starts.

(radio transmission): Sea Cliff to Laney Chouest...

(narrator): After two months of searching...

(radio transmission): We have the door.

(narrator): ...the missing piece is found.

(Ron Schleede): The door was in two pieces on the bottom of the ocean

and we had to recover both pieces,

get them on the ship and take them to Honolulu.

(narrator): With the complete locking system recovered,

investigators try to confirm their theory

that a misaligned cargo door caused the lock sectors to break.

- Just like we thought.

The latches were in the open position.

- Check this out.

(narrator): But then, they discover

something unexpected and critical.

- These sectors aren't broken.

They're just bent.

(Frank Hilldrup): The lock sectors were largely intact.

They weren't damaged like we expected them to be.

So that led us in a little bit more of another direction.

- No visible evidence of any burning or arcing.

(narrator): Investigators now reconsider

a theory they previously rejected.

That there was an electrical issue with the door.

- No signs of heat distress either.

- One of the things you can do is look inside the switches

and see their condition.

We always examine the wiring.

We look for nicks or cuts when the wires are bundled together.

- Check this out.

(narrator): Investigators find a crucial piece of evidence.

- There's chaffing on some of the wires in this bundle.

(narrator): It's proof that the conditions for a short circuit existed.

(Greg Phillips): All it takes for a short-circuit to happen

is for that conductor that's inside that insulation

to touch another wire or touch a piece of metal.

So we're always concerned about wiring in airplanes.

- All set?

(narrator): Can a short circuit open a locked door

on a 7-47?

- It looks good. Give it a try.

(spark, mechanical sound)

(sighing) - Well, there you have it.

- We determined that probably the short circuit could have caused the,

uh, the motor start to engage the latch cams and, uh, open the door.

- So we know there's no power to the door once the wheels lift off the ground.

And the door was closed and locked here.

- So, the short happened somewhere here,

during taxi.

(narrator): The short circuit causes the latch

to partially open when the plane is still on the ground.

Then, when the plane approaches 23,000 feet ...

(explosion)

(narrator): ... the significant pressure differential between the inside

and the outside forces the door open

and causes a massive decompression onboard.

(passengers screaming)

Nine people are lost.

(phone ringing)

- Hello.

(narrator): Nine months after recovering the cargo door,

investigators get disturbing news.

- Thank you.

It happened again.

(narrator): Another United 7-47 cargo door

opened while on the tarmac in New York.

Despite these incidents, the fleet is never grounded.

- I felt uh, anger, you know.

Rage.

My heart just goes out to the...to the victims.

(narrator): Two years after the accident,

the NTSB publishes a second report,

updating the cause.

(Ron Schleede): The opening of a cargo door on a large aircraft

is a catastrophic event.

It's an unacceptable event.

It's like a wing falling off.

The FAA and Boeing took more than two years to require changes.

(Leonard Jenkins): I remember it like it was yesterday.

It just doesn't hurt so much and...

...you don't think about it 24/7.

(Stuart McClure): The experience and the event that night,

it told me I needed to make my life matter,

whether it be with the people that I share it with every single day,

or with what I put my energy towards every single day.

The nine that didn't make it

would expect that of us, and of me.

(soft music)

Subtitling: difuze