1 00:00:02,896 --> 00:00:06,275 East of Los Angeles, a calm holiday weekend 2 00:00:06,379 --> 00:00:08,827 is shattered by a devastating explosion. 3 00:00:13,689 --> 00:00:15,206 A neighbourhood is destroyed. 4 00:00:15,310 --> 00:00:21,482 Frank! Angelica! 5 00:00:21,586 --> 00:00:24,724 I turned and saw my house totally on fire. 6 00:00:24,827 --> 00:00:26,931 All the houses behind me were all on fire. 7 00:00:27,034 --> 00:00:31,724 Where are they? Where are they? 8 00:00:31,827 --> 00:00:34,206 Fiery wreckage is strewn for blocks. 9 00:00:36,172 --> 00:00:40,034 Investigators must discover why this airliner crashed. 10 00:00:40,137 --> 00:00:43,310 And find a way to stop it, from ever happening again. 11 00:00:43,413 --> 00:01:20,310 Los Angeles International Airport, LAX, 12 00:01:20,413 --> 00:01:22,172 is one of the busiest in the world. 13 00:01:23,827 --> 00:01:27,241 It's used by 40 million passengers each year. 14 00:01:27,344 --> 00:01:31,068 More than 15-hundred planes take off and land every day. 15 00:01:36,275 --> 00:01:40,931 It's August 31st 1986, Labor Day weekend. 16 00:01:46,551 --> 00:01:50,034 Today, a junior air traffic controller, Walter White, 17 00:01:50,137 --> 00:01:51,862 will be handling some of that traffic. 18 00:01:54,827 --> 00:01:57,344 White isn't a full-fledged controller yet. 19 00:01:57,448 --> 00:01:58,793 He has to put in more time 20 00:01:58,896 --> 00:02:00,931 before he gets his final certification. 21 00:02:01,034 --> 00:02:03,206 Hey Karl, how's it goin'? 22 00:02:03,310 --> 00:02:07,482 Hey. Slow, slow, slow. 23 00:02:07,586 --> 00:02:08,931 It was a long weekend 24 00:02:09,034 --> 00:02:10,482 and it was a beautiful day in Los Angeles. 25 00:02:10,586 --> 00:02:11,965 It absolutely clear outside, 26 00:02:12,068 --> 00:02:14,172 which we call Chamber of Commerce type day. 27 00:02:14,275 --> 00:02:16,724 You want to take a break? Have a Cigarette? 28 00:02:16,827 --> 00:02:17,655 I can sit in for you. Sure. Why not? 29 00:02:17,758 --> 00:02:19,068 That was my normal assigned shift 30 00:02:19,172 --> 00:02:21,344 and Walter came in and asked me if I wanted a break, 31 00:02:21,448 --> 00:02:22,655 wanted to go smoke a cigarette. 32 00:02:22,758 --> 00:02:25,896 And I said sure. Traffic was light. It wasn't very busy. 33 00:02:26,000 --> 00:02:27,172 Uh, it was Sunday morning. 34 00:02:27,275 --> 00:02:30,620 L.A. approach - Good morning. 35 00:02:30,724 --> 00:02:31,931 Well certainly, 36 00:02:32,034 --> 00:02:36,310 any controller is looking to get seasoning, if you will. 37 00:02:36,413 --> 00:02:39,896 Three months, four months, that's a pretty new controller. 38 00:02:40,000 --> 00:02:40,965 Los Angeles approach - Good morning. 39 00:02:41,068 --> 00:02:43,482 I mean it wasn't my time for a break, 40 00:02:43,586 --> 00:02:44,827 Walter wanted to work the sector. 41 00:02:44,931 --> 00:02:45,827 As I remember it correctly, 42 00:02:45,931 --> 00:02:47,655 he wanted to work it for some proficiency time. 43 00:02:47,758 --> 00:02:48,965 He hadn't worked it in a while. 44 00:02:49,068 --> 00:02:51,689 ACL sixty, can you see the runway two-five left? 45 00:02:51,793 --> 00:02:54,103 Roger L.A. Approach. Thank you. 46 00:02:54,206 --> 00:02:56,206 Reduce speed to two-zero-zero, then descend 47 00:02:56,310 --> 00:02:57,551 and maintain 6-thousand. 48 00:02:57,655 --> 00:03:01,103 Two-zero-zero. Descend and maintain 6-thousand. 49 00:03:01,206 --> 00:03:02,137 Thank you. Have a nice day. 50 00:03:02,241 --> 00:03:08,758 Several hundred kilometers to the South - 51 00:03:08,862 --> 00:03:11,827 passengers are boarding an AeroMexico DC-9. 52 00:03:18,000 --> 00:03:20,310 Dr. Donald Wong and his sons are returning 53 00:03:20,413 --> 00:03:22,275 from a highly successful fishing trip. 54 00:03:22,379 --> 00:03:27,448 Jason, Jason. I think we should put it up in the kitchen. 55 00:03:27,551 --> 00:03:29,586 They caught an enormous sailfish... 56 00:03:29,689 --> 00:03:31,517 Your mom would love it there. 57 00:03:31,620 --> 00:03:33,517 ...which they plan to display back home. 58 00:03:33,620 --> 00:03:36,965 Labour Day weekend was the last weekend 59 00:03:37,068 --> 00:03:39,000 before school was to start. 60 00:03:39,103 --> 00:03:42,758 Um, Donald decided that it would be fun to take the boys 61 00:03:42,862 --> 00:03:45,586 fishing down in Mexico, to go deep sea fishing, 62 00:03:45,689 --> 00:03:47,793 which he'd only done one other time in his life. 63 00:03:49,310 --> 00:03:52,137 This would be a, like, father-son bonding weekend. 64 00:03:54,551 --> 00:03:56,000 And it was also the first time 65 00:03:56,103 --> 00:03:57,655 that they had traveled without me. 66 00:04:05,000 --> 00:04:06,620 Just east of L.A., 67 00:04:06,724 --> 00:04:10,344 the suburban city of Cerritos wakes up slowly. 68 00:04:10,448 --> 00:04:13,310 In the 1970's this bustling community had been 69 00:04:13,413 --> 00:04:15,827 one of the fastest growing in Los Angeles County. 70 00:04:15,931 --> 00:04:23,965 My husband had been working out of town all week 71 00:04:24,068 --> 00:04:26,896 and he was coming home for the weekend. 72 00:04:27,000 --> 00:04:29,137 And that Sunday morning I decided, 73 00:04:29,241 --> 00:04:32,310 let's just stay home and not go to church. 74 00:04:32,413 --> 00:04:33,448 I'm going to go out 75 00:04:33,551 --> 00:04:35,551 and get your favourite things for a good breakfast. 76 00:04:35,655 --> 00:04:41,793 Javier, go and take a shower. I'll be back in a bit. 77 00:04:41,896 --> 00:04:44,172 And I left to go to the grocery store. 78 00:04:44,275 --> 00:04:49,586 In the home was Alex. He was fourteen. 79 00:04:49,689 --> 00:04:51,965 His twin sister, Angelica. 80 00:04:52,068 --> 00:04:55,137 Uh, she was asleep, he was asleep still. 81 00:04:55,241 --> 00:04:57,896 And Javier - that was my sixteen-year-old - 82 00:04:59,206 --> 00:05:00,103 and my husband. 83 00:05:00,206 --> 00:05:07,758 As Estrada leaves on her errand, 84 00:05:07,862 --> 00:05:11,137 AeroMexico Fight 498 is just twenty minutes from L.A. 85 00:05:16,206 --> 00:05:19,379 Captain Antonio Valdez-Prom is acting as Co-pilot 86 00:05:19,482 --> 00:05:20,620 as they approach the city. 87 00:05:22,724 --> 00:05:25,206 First Officer Jose Valencia is piloting 88 00:05:25,310 --> 00:05:27,379 this leg of their journey. 89 00:05:27,482 --> 00:05:28,482 Ready when you are Captain. 90 00:05:36,551 --> 00:05:39,172 About 22 kilometers south of LAX 91 00:05:39,275 --> 00:05:40,724 sits the Torrance airport. 92 00:05:43,068 --> 00:05:46,724 Operating in the mammoth shadow of LAX, Torrance serves 93 00:05:46,827 --> 00:05:48,758 private planes and amateur pilots. 94 00:05:50,379 --> 00:05:54,137 It's one of several small airports that operate near L.A., 95 00:05:54,241 --> 00:05:57,310 a region that has over 6-thousand weekend flyers. 96 00:05:57,413 --> 00:06:03,310 Fuel set. Flaps set. Okay. We're all set for takeoff. 97 00:06:03,413 --> 00:06:06,206 At the end of a busy summer William Kramer, 98 00:06:06,310 --> 00:06:07,689 his daughter Caroline 99 00:06:07,793 --> 00:06:10,724 and wife Kathleen are finally taking to the skies. 100 00:06:10,827 --> 00:06:12,413 Piper 4891, all clear for takeoff. 101 00:06:12,517 --> 00:06:18,931 Good morning Piper 4891. This is Torrance tower. 102 00:06:19,034 --> 00:06:20,758 You're clear for takeoff on Runway five... right. 103 00:06:20,862 --> 00:06:22,206 They're heading to Big Bear Lake... 104 00:06:22,310 --> 00:06:24,655 Rolling tower. 105 00:06:24,758 --> 00:06:27,827 ...about 2-hundred kilometers northeast. 106 00:06:27,931 --> 00:06:29,137 A meticulous man, 107 00:06:29,241 --> 00:06:32,137 William Kramer is an executive for an engineering company. 108 00:06:34,620 --> 00:06:37,965 Six years ago, at the age of forty-seven, Kramer bought 109 00:06:38,068 --> 00:06:41,965 his first airplane, a stylish and swift Piper Cherokee. 110 00:06:42,068 --> 00:06:53,379 Wings west fifty-two twenty-five, 111 00:06:53,482 --> 00:06:57,482 Los Angeles approach depart Seal Beach, heading three- two-zero. 112 00:06:57,586 --> 00:07:00,379 Expect a visual approach runway two-five left, 113 00:07:00,482 --> 00:07:02,344 report airport in sight. Thanks. 114 00:07:02,448 --> 00:07:05,827 Walter White's job as Arrivals Controller 115 00:07:05,931 --> 00:07:09,034 is to make sure incoming planes keep well clear of each other. 116 00:07:10,655 --> 00:07:13,379 He's directing them to land on one of two runways. 117 00:07:13,482 --> 00:07:17,724 Confirm terminal search, runway two-five left. Thank you. 118 00:07:17,827 --> 00:07:25,482 Southeast of LAX, the crew of AeroMexico Flight 498 is 119 00:07:25,586 --> 00:07:28,551 still a few minutes from their first contact with Walter White. 120 00:07:30,827 --> 00:07:33,068 But in the skies above Los Angeles, 121 00:07:33,172 --> 00:07:35,827 a deadly series of events is about to unfold. 122 00:07:38,517 --> 00:07:40,586 Dozens of people who have never met 123 00:07:40,689 --> 00:07:42,620 will be bound together forever, 124 00:07:42,724 --> 00:07:45,965 in a tragedy that will affect everyone who flies. 125 00:07:56,862 --> 00:08:01,034 August 31st, 1986. Labor Day weekend. 126 00:08:01,137 --> 00:08:04,655 All clear for takeoff, Torrance. 127 00:08:04,758 --> 00:08:06,620 Just south of Los Angeles, 128 00:08:06,724 --> 00:08:08,206 William Kramer and his family 129 00:08:08,310 --> 00:08:11,137 are finally on their way for a long awaited holiday. 130 00:08:11,241 --> 00:08:16,310 Ok, just an hour to go and we're in Big Bear Lake. 131 00:08:21,655 --> 00:08:24,724 They're reporting visibility of fourteen miles today. 132 00:08:24,827 --> 00:08:25,931 Pretty good. 133 00:08:26,034 --> 00:08:32,379 As the Torrance airport recedes behind him, 134 00:08:32,482 --> 00:08:35,103 Kramer begins climbing to 3-thousand metres 135 00:08:35,206 --> 00:08:37,448 on his way northeast to Big Bear Lake. 136 00:08:42,931 --> 00:08:46,758 Several kilometers away, a half-full DC-9 from Mexico 137 00:08:46,862 --> 00:08:49,241 is approaching Los Angeles International Airport. 138 00:08:56,137 --> 00:08:58,655 Less than 2-thousand metres below them, 139 00:08:58,758 --> 00:09:00,793 Theresa Estrada is driving home 140 00:09:00,896 --> 00:09:02,827 with the groceries for a holiday breakfast. 141 00:09:04,206 --> 00:09:05,724 Her husband and three children 142 00:09:05,827 --> 00:09:07,551 are waiting just a few blocks away. 143 00:09:14,103 --> 00:09:17,448 That's it. Holidays are over. 144 00:09:23,241 --> 00:09:24,931 PSA seventeen sixty-five, 145 00:09:25,034 --> 00:09:26,758 Los Angeles approach toward, one mile southbound... 146 00:09:26,862 --> 00:09:29,482 It's not a busy morning and one-by-one, 147 00:09:29,586 --> 00:09:32,965 Arrivals Controller Walter White guides his planes in safely. 148 00:09:35,206 --> 00:09:36,793 At eleven forty-seven a.m., 149 00:09:36,896 --> 00:09:39,655 he gets his first call from AeroMexico Flight 498. 150 00:09:39,758 --> 00:09:43,793 VALDEZ-PROM: Los Angeles Approach, good morning. 151 00:09:43,896 --> 00:09:46,965 This is AeroMexico four-nine-eight. 152 00:09:47,068 --> 00:09:48,551 AeroMexico, four-ninety-eight, 153 00:09:48,655 --> 00:09:49,655 Los Angeles Approach. 154 00:09:49,758 --> 00:09:51,655 Two-five left final approach course. 155 00:09:51,758 --> 00:09:52,862 Do you have information uniform? 156 00:09:52,965 --> 00:09:55,206 AeroMexico Flight 498 is now officially 157 00:09:55,310 --> 00:09:58,517 inside what's known as the Terminal Control Area - or TCA. 158 00:10:01,413 --> 00:10:05,586 Sometimes referred to as the birdcage, the TCA is a complex 159 00:10:05,689 --> 00:10:08,241 piece of three-dimensional airspace around the airport. 160 00:10:08,344 --> 00:10:12,517 It's restricted air space that's normally 161 00:10:12,620 --> 00:10:15,758 found around heavily congested airports or hub airports 162 00:10:15,862 --> 00:10:18,482 where the traffic density's extremely high and you 163 00:10:18,586 --> 00:10:21,034 need to control the access into and out of that airspace. 164 00:10:21,137 --> 00:10:23,551 AeroMexico, four-ninety-eight, 165 00:10:23,655 --> 00:10:27,413 traffic ten o'clock, one mile northbound, altitude unknown. 166 00:10:27,517 --> 00:10:29,275 VALDEZ-PROM: Roger, four ninety-eight. 167 00:10:29,379 --> 00:10:31,379 AeroMexico, four-ninety-eight, reduce 168 00:10:31,482 --> 00:10:34,413 speed to one-niner-zero, then descend and maintain 6-thousand. 169 00:10:34,517 --> 00:10:37,862 As the AeroMexico plane descends, 170 00:10:40,379 --> 00:10:43,068 William Kramer and his family continue climbing. 171 00:10:48,206 --> 00:10:50,724 I hope it's like this when we get to Big Bear. 172 00:10:50,827 --> 00:10:55,206 We should be able to see the ocean by now. 173 00:10:56,758 --> 00:10:58,413 Hon, take a look at the map, 174 00:10:58,517 --> 00:11:00,482 and look around the four-oh-five, and see 175 00:11:00,586 --> 00:11:04,000 if you can see any, any kind of landmarks that we can use. 176 00:11:04,103 --> 00:11:05,310 Oh, what am I looking for? 177 00:11:09,000 --> 00:11:11,068 Walter White is keeping his eye 178 00:11:11,172 --> 00:11:14,241 on the AeroMexico jet when his attention is abruptly 179 00:11:14,344 --> 00:11:17,172 drawn to another plane that's just appeared on his radar. 180 00:11:19,137 --> 00:11:20,551 It's not one he's expecting. 181 00:11:20,655 --> 00:11:23,827 Uh, one approach six- 182 00:11:23,931 --> 00:11:26,448 six Romeo is on a flight from Fullerton. 183 00:11:26,551 --> 00:11:29,620 Cruising altitude is 4-thousand, 5-hundred. We'd like following. 184 00:11:29,724 --> 00:11:33,344 The pilot of a small Grumman Tiger asks White 185 00:11:33,448 --> 00:11:37,413 to help guide him through the crowded Terminal Control Area. 186 00:11:37,517 --> 00:11:39,482 Pilots are supposed to contact LAX 187 00:11:39,586 --> 00:11:42,000 approach before they enter the controlled airspace. 188 00:11:43,655 --> 00:11:46,206 This pilot could be in the path of incoming traffic. 189 00:11:48,689 --> 00:11:51,068 But before White can deal with the private plane, 190 00:11:52,758 --> 00:11:55,482 he gets a call from the AeroMexico DC-9. 191 00:11:57,344 --> 00:11:58,275 VALDEZ-PROM: Uh. what speed do you want? 192 00:11:58,379 --> 00:12:01,517 We're reducing to, uh, two niner zero... 193 00:12:01,620 --> 00:12:03,724 no, no to one niner zero. 194 00:12:03,827 --> 00:12:05,275 Uh, okay. You can hold what you have sir. 195 00:12:05,379 --> 00:12:07,655 White decides to give the AeroMexico jet 196 00:12:07,758 --> 00:12:09,241 the runway closest to their gate. 197 00:12:09,344 --> 00:12:11,103 Uh, change in plans, sir. Stand by. 198 00:12:11,206 --> 00:12:13,172 VALDEZ-PROM: Roger, four ninety-eight. 199 00:12:13,275 --> 00:12:16,586 With the DC-9 on hold, White turns to the intruder. 200 00:12:16,689 --> 00:12:18,206 Grumman six-six Romeo, 201 00:12:18,310 --> 00:12:21,206 squawk four-five-two-four remain clear of the, uh, TCA. 202 00:12:21,310 --> 00:12:24,482 White tells the pilot of the Grumman to use 203 00:12:24,586 --> 00:12:25,896 a unique radio channel. 204 00:12:27,172 --> 00:12:28,862 But he seems confused. 205 00:12:28,965 --> 00:12:30,862 Four, five, what were the other two numbers? 206 00:12:31,931 --> 00:12:33,827 Four. Five. Two. Four 207 00:12:33,931 --> 00:12:36,206 Grumman six-six Romeo. 208 00:12:36,310 --> 00:12:37,724 Are you at 4-thousand, 5-hundred right now? 209 00:12:37,827 --> 00:12:39,827 Negative. We're at 3-thousand, 210 00:12:39,931 --> 00:12:42,103 4-hundred and climbing. Ok. 211 00:12:42,206 --> 00:12:43,655 You're right in the middle of the TCA, sir. 212 00:12:43,758 --> 00:12:45,137 Grumman six-six-Romeo, 213 00:12:45,241 --> 00:12:47,586 I suggest in future that you look at your TCA chart. 214 00:12:50,034 --> 00:12:51,620 You just had an aircraft pass right off your left 215 00:12:51,724 --> 00:12:52,965 above you at 5-thousand, 216 00:12:53,068 --> 00:12:55,103 and we run a lot of jets right through there at 35-hundred. 217 00:12:55,206 --> 00:13:04,275 Well, what do you suggest I do now? 218 00:13:04,379 --> 00:13:07,344 As the crew of AeroMexico Flight 498 continue 219 00:13:07,448 --> 00:13:09,655 to close in on the airport... 220 00:13:09,758 --> 00:13:11,275 VALDEZ-PROM: Landing lights. 221 00:13:11,379 --> 00:13:14,379 ...their DC-9 is rocked by a violent shudder. 222 00:13:14,482 --> 00:13:15,551 What was that? 223 00:13:15,655 --> 00:13:22,034 AeroMexico four-ninety-eight, 224 00:13:22,137 --> 00:13:22,931 Los Angeles approach. 225 00:13:23,034 --> 00:13:25,931 First Officer Valencia tries 226 00:13:26,034 --> 00:13:27,965 desperately to control their dive. 227 00:13:28,068 --> 00:13:34,793 AeroMexico four-ninety-eight, 228 00:13:34,896 --> 00:13:36,137 Los Angeles approach. 229 00:13:36,241 --> 00:14:01,862 VALDEZ-PROM: This can't be. I saw a huge explosion. 230 00:14:01,965 --> 00:14:06,655 Just the red vibrant colours of a, of fire. 231 00:14:06,758 --> 00:14:10,482 Just huge explosion, like the way a bomb might hit the ground. 232 00:14:10,586 --> 00:14:13,206 White is getting no response 233 00:14:13,310 --> 00:14:14,827 from the AeroMexico jet. 234 00:14:14,931 --> 00:14:17,551 AeroMexico four-ninety-eight, 235 00:14:17,655 --> 00:14:18,896 Los Angeles approach. 236 00:14:19,000 --> 00:14:22,517 And now he can't find it on his radar screen. 237 00:14:22,620 --> 00:14:28,413 I'm sitting there talking with the two departure 238 00:14:28,517 --> 00:14:30,827 controllers and, uh, not really thinking. 239 00:14:30,931 --> 00:14:32,862 And I hear Walter say something like, 240 00:14:32,965 --> 00:14:34,068 I think I lost one. 241 00:14:36,172 --> 00:14:38,172 AeroMexico four-ninety-eight, Los Angeles approach. 242 00:14:38,275 --> 00:14:40,655 That immediately got everybody's attention. 243 00:14:40,758 --> 00:14:43,275 So we looked at the radars and you could hear him 244 00:14:43,379 --> 00:14:45,931 calling 'AeroMexico four-ninety-eight.' 245 00:14:46,034 --> 00:14:47,896 Uh, called him several times on the radio. 246 00:14:48,000 --> 00:14:49,655 Where was AeroMexico? 247 00:14:49,758 --> 00:14:51,793 At this point we still weren't absolutely sure 248 00:14:51,896 --> 00:14:52,931 what had happened. 249 00:14:53,034 --> 00:14:55,275 White calls to an incoming jet for help. 250 00:14:55,379 --> 00:14:56,862 American three-thirty-three heavy... 251 00:14:56,965 --> 00:14:59,275 I want you to take a look around at eleven o'clock. 252 00:14:59,379 --> 00:15:01,620 I just lost contact with a DC-9, let me know 253 00:15:01,724 --> 00:15:03,482 if you see anything down there please. 254 00:15:03,586 --> 00:15:06,586 Uh, eleven o'clock, uh, five miles. What altitude? 255 00:15:06,689 --> 00:15:08,862 He was last assigned six. 256 00:15:08,965 --> 00:15:09,965 He's no longer on my radar scope, 257 00:15:10,068 --> 00:15:11,241 American three-three- three heavy. 258 00:15:11,344 --> 00:15:15,655 Okay, uh, I see a, uh, very large, uh, smoke screen 259 00:15:15,758 --> 00:15:18,689 off on the left side of the aircraft, about eleven o'clock. 260 00:15:18,793 --> 00:15:33,965 I went down the street to go to my house 261 00:15:34,068 --> 00:15:37,275 and I saw a woman's head and her 262 00:15:37,379 --> 00:15:41,310 body had been cut in a diagonal and she was just laying there. 263 00:15:45,344 --> 00:15:46,517 There was nothing but debris 264 00:15:46,620 --> 00:15:50,034 and fires sporadically all over the place. 265 00:15:50,137 --> 00:15:51,241 I could see fire in the whole neighbourhood. 266 00:15:59,655 --> 00:16:03,310 Nearby, an engine from a local fire station had been 267 00:16:03,413 --> 00:16:06,758 on a training exercise led by Fire Captain, Larry Hambleton. 268 00:16:09,517 --> 00:16:11,068 All of a sudden, one of the firemen tapped me 269 00:16:11,172 --> 00:16:12,379 on the shoulder and said, 270 00:16:12,482 --> 00:16:15,689 'There's a big column of smoke, you know, off to our left.' 271 00:16:17,310 --> 00:16:22,965 So I picked up the mic and made a guess at the, uh, address. 272 00:16:23,068 --> 00:16:25,551 I'm responding to a large fire north of ninety-one, 273 00:16:25,655 --> 00:16:26,413 north of Carmenita. 274 00:16:26,517 --> 00:16:29,965 They came back and, uh, said, 275 00:16:30,068 --> 00:16:32,448 'Well, we've got a report of an airliner down.' 276 00:16:32,551 --> 00:16:34,448 So I upgraded the response 277 00:16:34,551 --> 00:16:37,448 to, uh, basically triple what I initially asked for. 278 00:16:39,172 --> 00:16:40,379 I'm calling for a third alarm 279 00:16:40,482 --> 00:16:42,896 and two air squads east of one eight-three and Carmenita. 280 00:16:51,379 --> 00:16:54,344 As we approached, I realized that, in addition 281 00:16:54,448 --> 00:16:58,827 to the, uh, aircraft parts in the street, there were people, 282 00:16:58,931 --> 00:17:04,862 body parts, which changed the complexion of the whole thing. 283 00:17:11,137 --> 00:17:14,793 Set up a perimeter. 284 00:17:41,655 --> 00:17:42,862 Hello? Hello? Can anybody hear me? 285 00:17:50,689 --> 00:17:53,275 At Los Angeles approach, Walter White, 286 00:17:53,379 --> 00:17:56,103 deeply shaken by the crash, is relieved of duty. 287 00:17:56,206 --> 00:18:03,103 I remember watching Walter get up 288 00:18:03,206 --> 00:18:04,793 and walk out of the room by himself. 289 00:18:13,379 --> 00:18:16,379 And, you know, something inside of me was just, you know, 290 00:18:16,482 --> 00:18:18,068 saying, 'this is not right, this is not right. 291 00:18:18,172 --> 00:18:19,379 Somebody's gotta go with him.' 292 00:18:19,482 --> 00:18:20,655 Tony, he can't go out alone. 293 00:18:20,758 --> 00:18:23,275 I could have been sitting there just as easy as him. 294 00:18:24,448 --> 00:18:25,379 And I don't know 295 00:18:25,482 --> 00:18:27,000 if I'd have done anything different than he did. 296 00:18:36,241 --> 00:18:37,620 If you're out in this area you'll see a large 297 00:18:37,724 --> 00:18:40,724 plume of black and white smoke about three miles 298 00:18:40,827 --> 00:18:44,172 west of Fullerton airport, not far from... 299 00:18:44,275 --> 00:18:46,758 Helicopter news crews are quickly on the scene. 300 00:18:46,862 --> 00:18:57,896 There was a lot of fire in front of me. 301 00:18:58,000 --> 00:18:59,827 And my house was just totally on fire. 302 00:18:59,931 --> 00:19:08,034 Frank! Angelica! Javier! Angelica! 303 00:19:08,137 --> 00:19:11,034 And I saw my neighbour, Where are they? 304 00:19:11,137 --> 00:19:14,206 I said to her, 'Rose, where's my family? 305 00:19:14,310 --> 00:19:15,517 What happened?' And she goes, 306 00:19:15,620 --> 00:19:18,551 'Oh, honey. Your family's in here. They're over here. 307 00:19:18,655 --> 00:19:19,620 We're looking for you. 308 00:19:19,724 --> 00:19:20,413 Where are they? 309 00:19:20,517 --> 00:19:21,793 And, within myself, 310 00:19:21,896 --> 00:19:24,965 all I could do is thank God that they were safe and sound. 311 00:19:34,448 --> 00:19:37,758 she took me into her home and I saw Alex. 312 00:19:41,862 --> 00:19:44,689 Alex! Alex! What happened? 313 00:19:44,793 --> 00:19:47,517 Where's Angelica? Where's Angelica? 314 00:19:47,620 --> 00:19:48,586 I don't know. 315 00:19:48,689 --> 00:19:51,379 Where's Javier? Where's Papa? 316 00:19:51,482 --> 00:19:52,517 I don't know mom. I'm sorry. 317 00:19:52,620 --> 00:19:56,620 And he started crying right away and said, 318 00:19:56,724 --> 00:19:57,758 'Mom, I'm sorry. 319 00:19:57,862 --> 00:19:59,172 I'm the only one that came out alive.' 320 00:20:00,965 --> 00:20:02,310 And all I could do was hug him. 321 00:20:02,413 --> 00:20:15,655 Pieces of fuselage have torn through nearby 322 00:20:15,758 --> 00:20:17,379 homes setting them on fire. 323 00:20:22,310 --> 00:20:24,724 The tail section of the jet has been catapulted 324 00:20:24,827 --> 00:20:26,517 more than a block from the crash site. 325 00:20:33,034 --> 00:20:45,241 Hello? Is there anybody in here? 326 00:20:45,344 --> 00:20:48,862 As I surveyed the houses 327 00:20:48,965 --> 00:20:53,241 and the crash site around me, it was a very surreal experience 328 00:20:53,344 --> 00:20:57,931 to, to stand right there for, probably four or five minutes 329 00:20:58,034 --> 00:21:03,000 before anybody else showed up and not see another living soul. 330 00:21:03,103 --> 00:21:06,793 I have got wreckage all over the place. 331 00:21:06,896 --> 00:21:09,379 There are no survivors. Just fatalities. 332 00:21:09,482 --> 00:21:13,206 I had dealt with death, one, 333 00:21:13,310 --> 00:21:17,068 one or two or three people in a residential fire. 334 00:21:17,172 --> 00:21:19,758 But never a whole airliner full of people. 335 00:21:26,862 --> 00:21:28,793 Let's go to work, guys. 336 00:21:43,206 --> 00:21:47,034 I don't think I ever saw a whole, a whole human being. 337 00:21:50,655 --> 00:21:55,241 I gave them the job of finding body parts and wrapping them, 338 00:21:55,344 --> 00:21:58,034 recovering them with yellow rescue blankets. 339 00:22:00,034 --> 00:22:02,758 No matter where it was, ever so small or whatever, 340 00:22:02,862 --> 00:22:06,482 you know, a hand or a torso or a leg or whatever. 341 00:22:06,586 --> 00:22:11,827 That became, life to us, and it was treated with respect. 342 00:22:14,758 --> 00:22:20,517 My memory of the incident is in a muted shade of brown. 343 00:22:20,620 --> 00:22:24,620 It's not black and white. It's not vivid colour, you know? 344 00:22:24,724 --> 00:22:27,620 The grass isn't green, the houses don't have paint. 345 00:22:27,724 --> 00:22:30,758 It's all some muted brown shade. 346 00:22:30,862 --> 00:22:34,862 I'm told that that's my brain's way of taking something 347 00:22:34,965 --> 00:22:38,206 violent and horrible and softening it a little bit 348 00:22:38,310 --> 00:22:42,482 so I can live with it and deal with it. 349 00:22:42,586 --> 00:22:43,068 The whole corner of this neighbourhood 350 00:22:43,172 --> 00:22:44,310 has been torn apart. 351 00:22:44,413 --> 00:22:46,344 Yellow sheets mark the bodies. 352 00:22:46,448 --> 00:22:48,965 I count one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, 353 00:22:49,068 --> 00:22:51,000 nine, ten, eleven bodies right now. 354 00:22:51,103 --> 00:22:56,310 Oh gosh. This neighbourhood has been just devastated. 355 00:22:56,413 --> 00:22:59,172 Sixteen houses have been damaged. 356 00:22:59,275 --> 00:23:01,206 Many of them completely destroyed. 357 00:23:08,034 --> 00:23:11,275 At Los Angeles International Airport, Mary Wong is 358 00:23:11,379 --> 00:23:13,862 waiting for her husband and two young sons. 359 00:23:13,965 --> 00:23:20,586 I went to the airport to pick them up, um, around noon. 360 00:23:20,689 --> 00:23:24,172 And, uh, waited in that area outside of customs 361 00:23:24,275 --> 00:23:25,517 and waited and waited. 362 00:23:25,620 --> 00:23:29,068 And probably, you know, 363 00:23:29,172 --> 00:23:31,206 you're thinking customs might take a little while 364 00:23:31,310 --> 00:23:34,965 but about maybe twelve-twenty or twelve-thirty I started seeing 365 00:23:35,068 --> 00:23:38,758 a man walk around with a pack on his back with a green cross. 366 00:23:41,068 --> 00:23:45,206 We were taken up to a lounge upstairs and on the 367 00:23:45,310 --> 00:23:50,827 elevator up I looked at the man and I said, 'They're dead.' 368 00:23:50,931 --> 00:23:52,137 I said, 'I just know they're gone.' 369 00:23:56,310 --> 00:23:57,793 In Cerritos, 370 00:23:57,896 --> 00:24:02,034 emergency workers are shocked by another grisly discovery. 371 00:24:02,137 --> 00:24:04,068 In the playground of a local school, 372 00:24:04,172 --> 00:24:07,482 they find the wreckage of a Piper Cherokee Archer. 373 00:24:07,586 --> 00:24:11,586 Remarkably intact, the plane's canopy is sliced off. 374 00:24:11,689 --> 00:24:15,689 Its three occupants are found still belted into their seats. 375 00:24:15,793 --> 00:24:18,137 William Kramer and his family are dead. 376 00:24:30,206 --> 00:24:31,172 All the passengers 377 00:24:31,275 --> 00:24:35,103 and crew on AeroMexico Flight 498 are also dead. 378 00:24:46,517 --> 00:24:49,586 In addition, fifteen people on the ground have been killed. 379 00:24:54,482 --> 00:24:56,103 It's a horrifying situation. 380 00:24:58,241 --> 00:25:02,137 Two planes have crashed into a California neighbourhood. 381 00:25:02,241 --> 00:25:04,862 Something's gone terribly wrong in the skies above one 382 00:25:04,965 --> 00:25:07,827 of the busiest airports in the world. 383 00:25:07,931 --> 00:25:10,965 Now investigators have to find out exactly what's happened. 384 00:25:11,068 --> 00:25:17,965 On the last day of August in 1986, a lazy 385 00:25:18,068 --> 00:25:21,344 Labour Day weekend is shattered by an enormous explosion. 386 00:25:32,689 --> 00:25:36,689 Two planes crash in L.A. County, destroying several homes. 387 00:25:42,034 --> 00:25:43,827 It is a grisly scene - 388 00:25:43,931 --> 00:25:46,758 bodies are scattered throughout a devastated neighbourhood. 389 00:25:50,655 --> 00:25:52,068 Eighty-two people are dead. 390 00:25:54,000 --> 00:25:56,000 Fifteen people on the ground have been killed. 391 00:25:57,551 --> 00:25:59,931 Another sixty-seven have died in the tangled 392 00:26:00,034 --> 00:26:02,000 wreckage of the two planes involved. 393 00:26:09,655 --> 00:26:13,034 Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board 394 00:26:13,137 --> 00:26:14,793 arrive that night. 395 00:26:14,896 --> 00:26:18,517 They include experts in human performance, flight systems, 396 00:26:18,620 --> 00:26:20,000 and air traffic control. 397 00:26:29,103 --> 00:26:31,448 From the beginning, investigators are focused 398 00:26:31,551 --> 00:26:34,482 on the fact that there are two planes on the ground. 399 00:26:34,586 --> 00:26:37,000 It suggests a disturbing conclusion - 400 00:26:37,103 --> 00:26:38,724 that this was a mid-air collision. 401 00:26:38,827 --> 00:26:45,379 The idea that this had been a mid-air collision 402 00:26:45,482 --> 00:26:48,206 was already conveyed to us before we even launched 403 00:26:48,310 --> 00:26:50,241 out of hanger six back when we got the word. 404 00:26:50,344 --> 00:26:54,172 They saw two wreckages coming down. 405 00:26:54,275 --> 00:26:56,931 Um, and that's the way it got conveyed to us. 406 00:26:57,034 --> 00:27:01,793 With that idea in mind, John White 407 00:27:01,896 --> 00:27:05,068 and his team must painstakingly examine the wreckage. 408 00:27:05,172 --> 00:27:07,551 It's more of now documenting where the major 409 00:27:07,655 --> 00:27:11,344 pieces were and then looking at the, uh, pieces to see 410 00:27:11,448 --> 00:27:14,310 if you can, uh, determine how the aircraft, 411 00:27:14,413 --> 00:27:16,551 what angle the aircraft may have come together at. 412 00:27:16,655 --> 00:27:21,000 Propeller marks on the tail of the DC-9 and paint 413 00:27:21,103 --> 00:27:24,034 from the Piper Cherokee - reveal how the planes crashed. 414 00:27:24,137 --> 00:27:30,482 It looks like, uh, the Piper collided at the tail 415 00:27:30,586 --> 00:27:35,172 section of the DC-9 and the horizontal stabilizer came off. 416 00:27:35,275 --> 00:27:37,103 Uh, and once that happened, 417 00:27:37,206 --> 00:27:40,034 you could no longer control the pitch of the DC-9. 418 00:27:40,137 --> 00:27:44,758 The descending DC-9 and the climbing Cherokee 419 00:27:44,862 --> 00:27:46,517 met at a ninety degree angle. 420 00:27:47,793 --> 00:27:49,655 Their combined speed was 4-hundred 421 00:27:49,758 --> 00:27:51,310 and fifty kilometres an hour. 422 00:27:52,689 --> 00:27:55,379 The impact tore off the airliner's tail section. 423 00:27:57,896 --> 00:28:01,344 Discovering how the planes collided is the first step. 424 00:28:01,448 --> 00:28:04,103 The more important question to be answered is why? 425 00:28:07,482 --> 00:28:08,931 To piece together the tragedy, 426 00:28:09,034 --> 00:28:12,965 investigators examine the DC-9's flight data recorder. 427 00:28:13,068 --> 00:28:15,413 It helps them pinpoint the exact location, 428 00:28:15,517 --> 00:28:17,620 and altitude of AeroMexico Flight 498. 429 00:28:21,275 --> 00:28:24,448 The DC-9 was inside the Terminal Control Area - 430 00:28:24,551 --> 00:28:27,448 the controlled airspace of the Los Angeles airport. 431 00:28:27,551 --> 00:28:29,448 It was right where it was supposed to be. 432 00:28:31,103 --> 00:28:33,724 But the Kramer's Cherokee was also inside the TCA. 433 00:28:35,068 --> 00:28:38,000 With all of the jets taking off and landing at LAX, 434 00:28:38,103 --> 00:28:41,448 private planes must first get permission to enter this area. 435 00:28:41,551 --> 00:28:48,241 Piper 4-8-9-1, all clear for takeoff, Torrance. 436 00:28:48,344 --> 00:28:52,413 William Kramer was a newcomer to Los Angeles. 437 00:28:52,517 --> 00:28:54,344 But investigators learn that he was well 438 00:28:54,448 --> 00:28:56,275 aware of the limits imposed by the TCA. 439 00:28:57,655 --> 00:28:59,689 He knew that it was restricted airspace. 440 00:29:02,827 --> 00:29:06,689 And in the cockpit of Kramer's Cherokee, the confirmation. 441 00:29:06,793 --> 00:29:08,379 Investigators find a map 442 00:29:08,482 --> 00:29:10,620 of the Los Angeles Terminal Control Area. 443 00:29:15,103 --> 00:29:18,379 Investigators make another puzzling discovery. 444 00:29:18,482 --> 00:29:21,275 They learn that the Kramers' proposed flight plan took them 445 00:29:21,379 --> 00:29:26,206 from Torrance, to Long Beach, then up to Ontario and finally 446 00:29:26,310 --> 00:29:30,517 to Big Bear Lake, at a cruising altitude of 3-thousand metres. 447 00:29:30,620 --> 00:29:32,448 That plan keeps him well out of the TCA. 448 00:29:37,241 --> 00:29:41,586 The fact of the matter is, the Cherokee flew into the TCA 449 00:29:41,689 --> 00:29:44,793 and hit the DC-9 in restricted airspace without a clearance. 450 00:29:44,896 --> 00:29:49,586 So how had Kramer flown into danger, 451 00:29:49,689 --> 00:29:52,689 and why hadn't he let anyone know? 452 00:29:52,793 --> 00:29:56,448 On the ground in Cerritos, one possible answer emerges. 453 00:29:56,551 --> 00:29:59,103 Heart disease runs in Kramer's family 454 00:29:59,206 --> 00:30:02,344 and the initial autopsy results show a major blockage. 455 00:30:08,620 --> 00:30:10,482 Are you alright, Bill? Yeah, yeah. I'm fine. 456 00:30:10,586 --> 00:30:16,862 Kramer may have suffered a heart 457 00:30:16,965 --> 00:30:20,034 attack on the flight, leaving the plane without a pilot. 458 00:30:27,965 --> 00:30:30,517 Samples of William Kramer's heart tissue are sent 459 00:30:30,620 --> 00:30:34,068 to the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology for testing. 460 00:30:34,172 --> 00:30:35,620 If he suffered a heart attack, 461 00:30:35,724 --> 00:30:38,655 it might explain why he didn't call in to L.A. approach. 462 00:30:38,758 --> 00:30:41,413 It's totally possible 463 00:30:41,517 --> 00:30:44,827 that he could have had the heart attack, fell back, 464 00:30:44,931 --> 00:30:47,517 pulled the airplane up and that's why 465 00:30:47,620 --> 00:30:49,068 he didn't try and avoid the DC-9. 466 00:30:49,172 --> 00:30:53,241 But no matter why Kramer was 467 00:30:53,344 --> 00:30:56,448 flying in restricted airspace, Air Traffic Controller 468 00:30:56,551 --> 00:30:59,413 Walter White should have been able to see him. 469 00:30:59,517 --> 00:31:02,379 Kramer's plane should have appeared on White's radar. 470 00:31:06,482 --> 00:31:08,758 Before being questioned by investigators, 471 00:31:08,862 --> 00:31:11,931 White reviews the radio calls from that morning. 472 00:31:12,034 --> 00:31:15,000 He needs to be sure of what he said... and what he saw. 473 00:31:18,793 --> 00:31:20,862 Richard Wentworth was one of the investigators 474 00:31:20,965 --> 00:31:21,827 who talked to White. 475 00:31:21,931 --> 00:31:27,103 At any time, did you see 476 00:31:27,206 --> 00:31:29,482 the Piper Cherokee on your scope? 477 00:31:29,586 --> 00:31:35,862 No. No sir. The Piper's target was not displayed. 478 00:31:35,965 --> 00:31:39,068 It is my belief that it was not on my radar scope. 479 00:31:39,172 --> 00:31:46,000 He, uh, was positive that the aircraft 480 00:31:46,103 --> 00:31:47,517 was not there for him to see. 481 00:31:47,620 --> 00:31:52,172 NTSB investigators aren't satisfied 482 00:31:52,275 --> 00:31:53,206 with White's memory. 483 00:31:53,310 --> 00:31:57,551 While the radar data is being analyzed, 484 00:31:59,931 --> 00:32:02,241 news arrives from the Armed Forces Institute 485 00:32:02,344 --> 00:32:04,482 of Pathology about William Kramer's heart. 486 00:32:04,586 --> 00:32:09,482 Are you alright? Yeah, I'm fine. 487 00:32:09,586 --> 00:32:11,724 Results from a detailed study of his body 488 00:32:11,827 --> 00:32:15,137 show that, while he had advanced heart disease, William Kramer 489 00:32:15,241 --> 00:32:17,724 was not fighting a heart attack before the collision. 490 00:32:19,517 --> 00:32:23,034 Investigators must find another explanation for why the Kramer's 491 00:32:23,137 --> 00:32:26,034 flight went into the Los Angeles Terminal Control Area. 492 00:32:27,517 --> 00:32:30,482 While he had submitted a flight plan, small planes 493 00:32:30,586 --> 00:32:33,689 like Kramer's Cherokee don't have sophisticated instruments. 494 00:32:35,068 --> 00:32:36,724 Like most private pilots, 495 00:32:36,827 --> 00:32:40,448 Kramer was navigating by landmarks like freeways. 496 00:32:40,551 --> 00:32:43,172 That meant keeping an eye both on the landscape below 497 00:32:43,275 --> 00:32:44,862 and the airspace around him. 498 00:32:49,448 --> 00:32:51,965 Ah that's definitely the four-oh-five... 499 00:32:52,068 --> 00:32:52,793 Where is it again? 500 00:32:57,413 --> 00:33:00,758 John Andrews is an aviation expert who testified 501 00:33:00,862 --> 00:33:03,620 about the circumstances of the Cerritos disaster. 502 00:33:03,724 --> 00:33:05,206 The, uh, pilot of the Piper 503 00:33:05,310 --> 00:33:07,241 was navigating by visual landmarks, 504 00:33:07,344 --> 00:33:10,379 possibly attempting to follow, uh, parallel to a freeway. 505 00:33:12,827 --> 00:33:14,103 And that he had become, uh, 506 00:33:14,206 --> 00:33:16,620 confused about which freeway he should have been following. 507 00:33:16,724 --> 00:33:20,000 New to California, perhaps bewildered 508 00:33:20,103 --> 00:33:23,172 by the tangle of freeways below him, Kramer may have 509 00:33:23,275 --> 00:33:26,103 flown into the Terminal Control Area, without knowing it. 510 00:33:26,206 --> 00:33:32,896 There are no lines on the ground that says the TCA 511 00:33:33,000 --> 00:33:34,758 starts here and at this altitude. 512 00:33:34,862 --> 00:33:37,206 You have to look at a chart. You have to interpret that. 513 00:33:37,310 --> 00:33:42,586 Investigators are now confident they can explain 514 00:33:42,689 --> 00:33:45,586 why Kramer was inside the controlled airspace of the TCA. 515 00:33:49,793 --> 00:33:52,310 But when he finally gets a look at the air traffic control 516 00:33:52,413 --> 00:33:55,448 radar record, Richard Wentworth is convinced that 517 00:33:55,551 --> 00:33:58,068 Walter White should have been able to see the Piper. 518 00:33:58,172 --> 00:34:07,310 We were able to determine that the aircraft 519 00:34:07,413 --> 00:34:11,379 that collided with AeroMexico was there to be seen. 520 00:34:11,482 --> 00:34:15,689 So why hadn't White reacted to the Kramers' 521 00:34:15,793 --> 00:34:17,758 plane, if it was on his radar? 522 00:34:22,068 --> 00:34:23,965 When Walter White came to work that day, 523 00:34:24,068 --> 00:34:27,137 the Arrivals station was being controlled by Karl Grundmann. 524 00:34:27,241 --> 00:34:29,724 Hey Karl. How's it goin'? 525 00:34:29,827 --> 00:34:31,482 Hey. Slow, slow, slow. 526 00:34:31,586 --> 00:34:33,241 Grundmann believes that long standing radar 527 00:34:33,344 --> 00:34:36,482 problems were the reason White didn't see the Kramers' plane. 528 00:34:36,586 --> 00:34:38,517 Controllers had been 529 00:34:38,620 --> 00:34:40,655 complaining about the radars for a long time. 530 00:34:43,000 --> 00:34:45,896 We had reported problems with radar, uh, 531 00:34:46,000 --> 00:34:48,379 not picking up targets several times. 532 00:34:48,482 --> 00:34:52,310 When radar signals strike a target-- 533 00:34:52,413 --> 00:34:54,034 they bounce back to the receiver. 534 00:34:55,310 --> 00:34:58,206 But if buildings or mountains interrupt the radar, 535 00:34:58,310 --> 00:35:00,000 the return signal can disappear. 536 00:35:00,103 --> 00:35:04,586 You may lose one target, 537 00:35:04,689 --> 00:35:06,724 you may lose two targets. 538 00:35:06,827 --> 00:35:11,310 It may not be presented for one sweep. 539 00:35:11,413 --> 00:35:15,206 Did you see the Piper Cherokee on your scope? 540 00:35:15,310 --> 00:35:16,517 No, sir. 541 00:35:16,620 --> 00:35:20,137 But that doesn't mean that the target isn't there. 542 00:35:20,241 --> 00:35:24,551 A blind spot is only an instantaneous thing. 543 00:35:24,655 --> 00:35:28,689 It's not a continuous thing. I think I lost one. 544 00:35:28,793 --> 00:35:31,620 There were also holes that were just 545 00:35:31,724 --> 00:35:32,931 because the radar was old. 546 00:35:35,379 --> 00:35:38,241 It was just not as accurate as it might have been. 547 00:35:38,344 --> 00:35:40,379 It was not state of the art equipment, that's for darn sure. 548 00:35:40,482 --> 00:35:46,103 There's an effect called flicker, when a 549 00:35:46,206 --> 00:35:50,379 computer becomes overloaded, the scope will flicker every now 550 00:35:50,482 --> 00:35:54,655 and then, targets will drop out or can drop out. 551 00:35:54,758 --> 00:35:56,724 We reviewed that data. 552 00:35:56,827 --> 00:36:00,172 We had no evidence that there were any 553 00:36:00,275 --> 00:36:04,310 malfunctions of any systems in Los Angeles. 554 00:36:04,413 --> 00:36:15,586 There is another possible explanation. 555 00:36:15,689 --> 00:36:18,275 If the Cherokee had appeared on the radar - 556 00:36:18,379 --> 00:36:20,655 White still could have missed it. 557 00:36:20,758 --> 00:36:24,034 Investigators focus on the other plane in the sky that day - 558 00:36:24,137 --> 00:36:25,000 the Grumman Tiger. 559 00:36:29,000 --> 00:36:31,931 Private planes are required to contact air traffic control 560 00:36:32,034 --> 00:36:34,172 if they are entering the Terminal Control Area. 561 00:36:37,413 --> 00:36:39,965 But the Tiger was already deep into the TCA 562 00:36:40,068 --> 00:36:41,793 before it radioed Walter White. 563 00:36:41,896 --> 00:36:47,827 Uh, one approach six-six Romeo 564 00:36:47,931 --> 00:36:49,172 is on a flight from Fullerton. 565 00:36:49,275 --> 00:36:52,068 Cruising altitude is 4-thousand, 5-hundred. We'd like following. 566 00:36:52,172 --> 00:36:53,689 Grumman six-six Romeo. 567 00:36:53,793 --> 00:36:55,275 Are you at 4-thousand, 5-hundred right now? 568 00:36:55,379 --> 00:36:57,379 Negative. We're at 3-thousand, 569 00:36:57,482 --> 00:36:59,172 4-hundred and climbing. 570 00:36:59,275 --> 00:37:01,310 Okay, you are right in the middle of a TCA, sir. 571 00:37:01,413 --> 00:37:04,034 There was an aircraft that was east of the airport, 572 00:37:04,137 --> 00:37:06,448 which he became involved in. 573 00:37:06,551 --> 00:37:08,310 That was what they called the violator. 574 00:37:08,413 --> 00:37:10,793 Grumman six-six-Romeo, 575 00:37:10,896 --> 00:37:14,172 I suggest in future that you look at your TCA chart. 576 00:37:14,275 --> 00:37:15,448 You just had an aircraft pass right... 577 00:37:15,551 --> 00:37:16,793 The problem with the conversation 578 00:37:16,896 --> 00:37:19,931 between the controller and the pilot of the Grumman 579 00:37:20,034 --> 00:37:21,379 is that it went on too long. 580 00:37:21,482 --> 00:37:25,655 Why were you so mesmerized by the Grumman? 581 00:37:25,758 --> 00:37:27,655 I thought he posed a risk. 582 00:37:27,758 --> 00:37:31,724 This occurred during a critical time at which 583 00:37:31,827 --> 00:37:35,724 the two aircraft to the southwest of his display, 584 00:37:35,827 --> 00:37:40,413 which was the AeroMexico and the Cherokee, were merging. 585 00:37:40,517 --> 00:37:43,758 But even if the Cherokee's signal did 586 00:37:43,862 --> 00:37:47,965 appear on White's radar-- and even if he had seen it-- 587 00:37:48,068 --> 00:37:50,655 investigators discover that White still would not have 588 00:37:50,758 --> 00:37:52,413 had all the information he needed. 589 00:37:55,862 --> 00:37:57,896 Radar signals only show controllers 590 00:37:58,000 --> 00:37:59,413 that a plane is in range. 591 00:38:01,896 --> 00:38:05,000 Transponders on planes can broadcast other information-- 592 00:38:05,103 --> 00:38:06,551 including height and speed. 593 00:38:08,689 --> 00:38:11,655 But at the site of the Cherokee wreckage, investigators 594 00:38:11,758 --> 00:38:15,517 discover the plane's transponder is a basic model. 595 00:38:15,620 --> 00:38:18,689 It only sends out information on the plane's direction. 596 00:38:18,793 --> 00:38:21,620 It provides no information about the plane's altitude. 597 00:38:21,724 --> 00:38:26,103 So these controllers were pretty much 598 00:38:26,206 --> 00:38:30,827 used to see a little triangle, which represented a VFR aircraft 599 00:38:30,931 --> 00:38:35,517 with no altitude readout, traversing all over the place. 600 00:38:36,689 --> 00:38:41,551 And, unless they learned firsthand from the pilot, 601 00:38:41,655 --> 00:38:45,275 they had an expectation that the aircraft would not 602 00:38:45,379 --> 00:38:47,206 intrude into that airspace. 603 00:38:49,137 --> 00:38:51,206 Grumann six-six Romeo. Squawk four-five... 604 00:38:51,310 --> 00:38:52,655 Investigators believe that 605 00:38:52,758 --> 00:38:56,103 White's divided attention-- perhaps made worse by an 606 00:38:56,206 --> 00:39:00,000 older radar system-- explains why air traffic control never 607 00:39:00,103 --> 00:39:03,517 warned the DC-9 of the danger posed by Kramer's Cherokee. 608 00:39:03,620 --> 00:39:04,724 Find any landmarks that we might be 609 00:39:04,827 --> 00:39:06,068 able to use as a visual. 610 00:39:06,172 --> 00:39:09,241 But there's another mystery that hasn't been solved. 611 00:39:11,931 --> 00:39:14,482 Studying the radar records from the day-- 612 00:39:14,586 --> 00:39:17,689 NTSB investigators are startled by what they find. 613 00:39:19,103 --> 00:39:22,793 Neither the crew of the DC-9s, nor the pilot of the smaller 614 00:39:22,896 --> 00:39:26,896 Cherokee took any evasive action before the crash. 615 00:39:27,000 --> 00:39:29,586 Both pilots appear completely unaware of each other. 616 00:39:31,379 --> 00:39:35,689 Why hadn't the pilots of either airplane, reacted? 617 00:39:35,793 --> 00:39:38,482 Visibility was over 20 kilometres. 618 00:39:38,586 --> 00:39:42,310 How could two planes collide in the clear blue sky? 619 00:39:47,172 --> 00:39:48,965 To try to get a better sense of what was 620 00:39:49,068 --> 00:39:52,724 happening inside the AeroMexico cockpit, investigators 621 00:39:52,827 --> 00:39:55,137 listen to the airplane's cockpit voice recorder. 622 00:39:55,241 --> 00:39:58,344 VALDEZ-PROM: Los Angeles approach, 623 00:39:58,448 --> 00:39:59,827 this is AeroMexico four ninety-eight. 624 00:39:59,931 --> 00:40:00,931 The flight crew had put 625 00:40:01,034 --> 00:40:03,655 Walter White on their overhead speakers. 626 00:40:03,758 --> 00:40:05,896 The microphone for the cockpit voice recorder was 627 00:40:06,000 --> 00:40:07,344 right beside the speakers. 628 00:40:07,448 --> 00:40:11,310 approach, depart Seal beach heading three two zero. 629 00:40:11,413 --> 00:40:12,655 Much of what the pilots said 630 00:40:12,758 --> 00:40:14,482 was drowned out by White's voice. 631 00:40:23,965 --> 00:40:26,413 The radar information paints a puzzling picture. 632 00:40:32,275 --> 00:40:34,275 It indicates that, for more than a minute, 633 00:40:34,379 --> 00:40:35,931 the Kramer's Cherokee was there 634 00:40:36,034 --> 00:40:38,137 to be seen by the AeroMexico crew. 635 00:40:40,551 --> 00:40:43,620 And if the Kramers had looked out their right side window, 636 00:40:43,724 --> 00:40:46,103 they would also have seen the Aero Mexico jet. 637 00:40:50,241 --> 00:40:52,586 But neither plane altered its course. 638 00:40:52,689 --> 00:40:56,103 Neither plane took any action to avoid the deadly collision. 639 00:41:02,241 --> 00:41:03,586 Investigators believe that 640 00:41:03,689 --> 00:41:07,137 if William Kramer was indeed lost - and using the highways 641 00:41:07,241 --> 00:41:12,137 as a guide - he might never have seen the approaching DC-9. 642 00:41:12,241 --> 00:41:14,896 The window he would have been looking out was the pilot's 643 00:41:15,000 --> 00:41:18,655 window - but the DC-9 was coming from the other direction. 644 00:41:18,758 --> 00:41:21,724 This would have been a very unfortunate, uh, 645 00:41:21,827 --> 00:41:24,827 situation, because the DC-9 was approaching from the far right 646 00:41:24,931 --> 00:41:27,724 side and, in fact, could not be, could only be seen out the 647 00:41:27,827 --> 00:41:30,034 passenger's window, which was on the right side of the aircraft. 648 00:41:30,137 --> 00:41:33,241 For the crew of the DC-9, 649 00:41:33,344 --> 00:41:36,068 the very size of the much smaller Cherokee could have 650 00:41:36,172 --> 00:41:39,034 prevented them from seeing the plane before it was too late. 651 00:41:39,137 --> 00:41:41,793 In some cases, 652 00:41:41,896 --> 00:41:44,517 when a small aircraft is closing very rapidly, 653 00:41:44,620 --> 00:41:46,689 by the time the aircraft becomes large enough for you 654 00:41:46,793 --> 00:41:50,482 to easily see it, it's almost too late to avoid the collision. 655 00:41:50,586 --> 00:41:54,482 Uh, the FAA generally, uh, has taken a, 656 00:41:54,586 --> 00:41:56,655 sort of as a rule of thumb, that you need about twelve 657 00:41:56,758 --> 00:41:59,965 seconds in order to see an aircraft, decide that it's 658 00:42:00,068 --> 00:42:03,206 a threat and then execute an avoidance maneuver. 659 00:42:03,310 --> 00:42:05,931 In the case of the collision in Cerritos, 660 00:42:06,034 --> 00:42:08,655 by the time the aircraft became large enough to see, 661 00:42:08,758 --> 00:42:11,241 you were down very close to that twelve-second limit. 662 00:42:11,344 --> 00:42:13,172 In case after case of mid-air collisions, 663 00:42:13,275 --> 00:42:16,103 we find out that the aircraft gave no indication that they 664 00:42:16,206 --> 00:42:18,482 saw each other until the time they actually collided. 665 00:42:18,586 --> 00:42:24,413 The design of the cockpit windshield may also 666 00:42:24,517 --> 00:42:26,172 have contributed to the disaster. 667 00:42:26,275 --> 00:42:29,379 It's possible that, during part of the approach, 668 00:42:29,482 --> 00:42:31,000 at least for one of the pilots, 669 00:42:31,103 --> 00:42:33,275 the aircraft was actually behind the centre post. 670 00:42:33,379 --> 00:42:36,137 And, unless the pilot moved his head back and forth, 671 00:42:36,241 --> 00:42:37,758 uh, to clear that air space, 672 00:42:37,862 --> 00:42:39,793 unless he had a reason to do that, it's possible 673 00:42:39,896 --> 00:42:42,758 the aircraft was obscured during part of the time in which 674 00:42:42,862 --> 00:42:45,103 he might have had a chance of seeing the other aircraft. 675 00:42:45,206 --> 00:42:52,551 The disaster over Cerritos revealed several 676 00:42:52,655 --> 00:42:55,620 tragic weaknesses in the air traffic control system. 677 00:42:59,689 --> 00:43:02,482 One of the most glaring; was that pilots could not be 678 00:43:02,586 --> 00:43:05,448 relied on to see and avoid each other. 679 00:43:05,551 --> 00:43:07,827 They'd need new technology to keep a mid-air 680 00:43:07,931 --> 00:43:09,724 collision from happening again. 681 00:43:09,827 --> 00:43:19,931 A small California neighbourhood is 682 00:43:20,034 --> 00:43:22,241 rocked by a terrifying plane crash. 683 00:43:27,379 --> 00:43:28,827 Eighty-two people are killed 684 00:43:28,931 --> 00:43:31,862 when a private plane slams into a large passenger jet. 685 00:43:37,206 --> 00:43:38,965 The devastation is enormous. 686 00:43:42,724 --> 00:43:44,793 More than a dozen houses are damaged-- 687 00:43:44,896 --> 00:43:46,586 several leveled completely. 688 00:43:50,724 --> 00:43:53,965 The NTSB report makes it clear that there are glaring 689 00:43:54,068 --> 00:43:57,068 problems across the air traffic system. 690 00:43:57,172 --> 00:43:59,758 And these concerns must be addressed before, 691 00:43:59,862 --> 00:44:02,862 inevitably, there is another midair disaster. 692 00:44:04,413 --> 00:44:06,758 The FAA, which regulates the airline 693 00:44:06,862 --> 00:44:11,965 industry in the United States, acted swiftly to improve safety. 694 00:44:12,068 --> 00:44:15,689 A new kind of transponder was required for smaller planes. 695 00:44:15,793 --> 00:44:18,034 The kind that might have helped air traffic controllers 696 00:44:18,137 --> 00:44:20,793 recognize that the private aircraft posed a danger. 697 00:44:20,896 --> 00:44:29,275 If you had an aircraft that flew under a controlled 698 00:44:29,379 --> 00:44:32,793 air space, you would have a transponder and you would 699 00:44:32,896 --> 00:44:38,068 be required to have altitude encoding or reporting. 700 00:44:39,482 --> 00:44:42,827 That way it would be no mistake as to 701 00:44:42,931 --> 00:44:44,517 whether you had an intruder or not. 702 00:44:44,620 --> 00:44:48,655 A new system, called Mode C intruder was also 703 00:44:48,758 --> 00:44:51,034 developed, to warn Air Traffic Controllers. 704 00:44:51,137 --> 00:44:55,379 Mode C intruder is an automated program that is 705 00:44:55,482 --> 00:44:59,137 now incorporated in all our major radar facilities. 706 00:44:59,241 --> 00:45:03,448 That, if an aircraft should inadvertently intrude, 707 00:45:03,551 --> 00:45:08,448 the controller will now be given a visual and an oral alert, 708 00:45:08,551 --> 00:45:14,344 thus giving him time to provide a timely warning to the pilot. 709 00:45:14,448 --> 00:45:17,517 Range check. VALDEZ-PROM: Seatbelts. 710 00:45:17,620 --> 00:45:20,172 Even for the most diligent pilot, 711 00:45:20,275 --> 00:45:24,482 the old strategy of see and avoid had serious limitations. 712 00:45:24,586 --> 00:45:26,896 Those limitations would be addressed with the most 713 00:45:27,000 --> 00:45:29,689 important innovation of all. 714 00:45:29,793 --> 00:45:32,068 The major technological innovation that came out 715 00:45:32,172 --> 00:45:35,931 of the Cerritos midair was the congressional mandate that all 716 00:45:36,034 --> 00:45:40,103 air carrier aircraft operating within the United States would 717 00:45:40,206 --> 00:45:45,241 be outfitted with T-CAS, traffic collision and avoidance system. 718 00:45:45,344 --> 00:45:49,172 John Andrews worked on the team that developed T-CAS. 719 00:45:49,275 --> 00:45:51,551 The T-CAS - Collision Avoidance System - 720 00:45:51,655 --> 00:45:53,448 which was under development, uh, 721 00:45:53,551 --> 00:45:56,758 quite possibly could have prevented this accident. 722 00:45:56,862 --> 00:45:59,517 T-CAS gives the pilot a traffic advisory at forty-five 723 00:45:59,620 --> 00:46:01,344 seconds before the potential collision. 724 00:46:05,206 --> 00:46:07,344 VALDEZ-PROM: Hey Maria, everything ok back there? 725 00:46:07,448 --> 00:46:09,413 And then, at approximately twenty-five seconds or 726 00:46:09,517 --> 00:46:10,931 so before the potential collision, 727 00:46:11,034 --> 00:46:14,413 a resolution advisory is given to actually tell the pilots 728 00:46:14,517 --> 00:46:17,068 to climb or descend to avoid the altitude of the other aircraft. 729 00:46:17,172 --> 00:46:26,620 Today, commercial airlines 730 00:46:26,724 --> 00:46:28,482 around the world use T-CAS. 731 00:46:36,172 --> 00:46:38,103 The pilot of the Grumman Tiger, 732 00:46:38,206 --> 00:46:41,068 the so-called third pilot whose actions may have played 733 00:46:41,172 --> 00:46:44,172 a part in the crash was eventually charged for flying 734 00:46:44,275 --> 00:46:47,448 into controlled airspace in a careless and reckless manner. 735 00:46:47,551 --> 00:46:55,758 For Walter White, 736 00:46:55,862 --> 00:46:59,068 the effect of the disaster over Cerritos could not be overcome. 737 00:46:59,172 --> 00:47:09,965 Walter came back, uh, to the TRACON and I think it 738 00:47:10,068 --> 00:47:12,137 was probably a month or so later. 739 00:47:14,724 --> 00:47:16,896 And I can't give you exactly how long he stayed there 740 00:47:17,000 --> 00:47:17,896 but it wasn't very long. 741 00:47:19,827 --> 00:47:22,586 And he just got up and said 'No, no thank you.' 742 00:47:32,034 --> 00:47:34,620 Uh, and as far as I know, he didn't talk to airplanes again. 743 00:47:34,724 --> 00:47:43,586 Within a year of the incident, 744 00:47:43,689 --> 00:47:46,172 the old radars at LAX were replaced. 745 00:47:54,310 --> 00:47:58,655 In Cerritos memorial garden now marks the day of the disaster. 746 00:48:00,517 --> 00:48:02,827 Mary Wong has since remarried, 747 00:48:02,931 --> 00:48:05,931 but the pain of returning home that day will never go away. 748 00:48:06,034 --> 00:48:11,931 There's nobody here. The house is empty. 749 00:48:12,034 --> 00:48:15,827 Derek was already living in an apartment in San Diego 750 00:48:15,931 --> 00:48:16,965 and here I was. 751 00:48:17,068 --> 00:48:21,000 I was no longer a mother, except to Derek 752 00:48:21,103 --> 00:48:22,896 and I was no longer a wife. 753 00:48:23,000 --> 00:48:26,000 And so it shattered my whole world. 754 00:48:26,103 --> 00:48:30,103 Days after the disaster, Mary Wong met 755 00:48:30,206 --> 00:48:33,137 one of the few people who could fully understand her loss. 756 00:48:33,241 --> 00:48:37,724 I went to the memorial service and it 757 00:48:37,827 --> 00:48:41,310 was very important to me to try to meet somebody else who 758 00:48:41,413 --> 00:48:42,551 had gone through this. 759 00:48:42,655 --> 00:48:45,344 And I knew from reading stories that Theresa 760 00:48:45,448 --> 00:48:47,586 had lost her husband and two children. 761 00:48:48,862 --> 00:48:52,896 And so I saw someone there who I thought was Theresa. 762 00:48:53,000 --> 00:48:54,827 She says, 'Are you Theresa Estrada?' 763 00:48:54,931 --> 00:48:55,827 I said, 'Yes I am.' 764 00:48:55,931 --> 00:49:00,000 She says, 'Well my mar, my name is Mary Wong 765 00:49:00,103 --> 00:49:01,448 and, uh, she says... 766 00:49:01,551 --> 00:49:05,000 I said, 'I lost my husband and children also.' 767 00:49:05,103 --> 00:49:08,551 I, I just wanted to grab her 768 00:49:08,655 --> 00:49:14,344 and hug her because she was feeling what I was feeling. 769 00:49:14,448 --> 00:49:17,689 So we had an immediate connection and we've 770 00:49:17,793 --> 00:49:20,517 maintained our friendship over these twenty years. 771 00:49:20,620 --> 00:49:25,965 Everyone who flies to day has been 772 00:49:26,068 --> 00:49:28,655 affected by the mid-air collision over Cerritos. 773 00:49:30,206 --> 00:49:33,724 The disaster led to historic improvements in aviation safety. 774 00:49:35,103 --> 00:49:38,689 Since the full adoption of the T-CAS system, there has not 775 00:49:38,793 --> 00:49:41,413 been another mid-air collision in the United States.