1 00:00:05,655 --> 00:00:08,448 A 747 flying toward South Africa 2 00:00:08,482 --> 00:00:10,379 fills with smoke. 3 00:00:10,413 --> 00:00:12,931 A fire has erupted in the cargo area, 4 00:00:12,965 --> 00:00:14,551 but the plane can't land. 5 00:00:14,586 --> 00:00:16,551 It's too far over the Indian Ocean. 6 00:00:20,482 --> 00:00:23,586 The first thought I think for many, many South Africans 7 00:00:23,620 --> 00:00:26,068 was what was on that plane? 8 00:00:26,103 --> 00:00:28,793 The passengers are choking on toxic fumes. 9 00:00:29,896 --> 00:00:31,551 Request a full emergency, please. 10 00:00:31,586 --> 00:00:34,206 Affirmative, that's Charlie, Charlie. 11 00:00:34,241 --> 00:00:36,586 There's only one way to clear the smoke. 12 00:00:36,620 --> 00:00:39,965 The crew must try a rarely used and risky maneuver. 13 00:00:41,379 --> 00:00:43,034 Open the doors! 14 00:00:43,068 --> 00:00:44,448 Open the doors in flight. 15 00:00:49,241 --> 00:00:51,517 Springbok 295. Plaisance. 16 00:00:51,551 --> 00:00:54,310 It's a race against time as the plane burns up. 17 00:00:54,344 --> 00:00:57,827 It must reach land before it crashes into the sea. 18 00:00:57,862 --> 00:00:59,586 Springbok 295. Plaisance. 19 00:01:04,413 --> 00:01:05,586 Mayday, mayday. 20 00:01:27,068 --> 00:01:30,241 On November 27th, 1987, 21 00:01:30,275 --> 00:01:35,793 a South African Airways 747 flies from Taiwan back home to South Africa. 22 00:01:40,482 --> 00:01:42,103 - Everything good? - Fine, Captain. 23 00:01:42,137 --> 00:01:43,586 - Ready to take over? - Yes, thanks. 24 00:01:46,310 --> 00:01:49,172 Nine hours into their flight over the Indian Ocean, 25 00:01:49,206 --> 00:01:51,413 the main crew returns to their seats, 26 00:01:51,448 --> 00:01:53,448 allowing the relief crew to rest. 27 00:01:56,379 --> 00:02:00,103 The crew prepares for a scheduled stop on the island of Mauritius. 28 00:02:03,275 --> 00:02:06,827 Valerie Lottering has enjoyed her first overseas vacation, 29 00:02:06,862 --> 00:02:09,758 joining her husband Corrie while he was on business. 30 00:02:11,379 --> 00:02:13,758 My father was on a business trip 31 00:02:13,793 --> 00:02:16,551 and my mum had gone with for a holiday. 32 00:02:16,586 --> 00:02:19,965 My dad had actually gone to the east to secure 33 00:02:20,517 --> 00:02:22,068 cell phone technology, 34 00:02:22,103 --> 00:02:25,241 which was just sort of happening in South Africa at the time. 35 00:02:28,655 --> 00:02:31,034 The plane is a modified 747, 36 00:02:31,068 --> 00:02:34,206 known as a Combi, short for combination. 37 00:02:34,241 --> 00:02:37,275 A passenger plane and a cargo plane in one, 38 00:02:37,310 --> 00:02:41,827 it's designed to accommodate flexible quantities of passengers and cargo. 39 00:02:41,862 --> 00:02:46,517 The Combi has a large cargo area down below, like a regular 747. 40 00:02:46,551 --> 00:02:49,034 The Combi also has a large cargo area 41 00:02:49,068 --> 00:02:52,689 right behind the last row of economy class seats. 42 00:02:52,724 --> 00:02:55,172 The cockpit sits one level above the cabin. 43 00:02:57,896 --> 00:03:02,517 You could load from six to 12 pallets on the main deck, 44 00:03:02,551 --> 00:03:04,827 adjusting the bulk head 45 00:03:04,862 --> 00:03:07,000 for the number of passengers you wanted to carry. 46 00:03:07,034 --> 00:03:09,068 And this turned out to be 47 00:03:09,103 --> 00:03:12,448 a very worthwhile and useful tool. 48 00:03:14,655 --> 00:03:18,413 Flight 295 is carrying 159 people, 49 00:03:18,448 --> 00:03:22,551 as well as six large pallets of cargo. 50 00:03:22,586 --> 00:03:26,241 Known as the Helderberg, the 747 Combi is a vital member 51 00:03:26,275 --> 00:03:28,965 of the South African Airways fleet. 52 00:03:29,000 --> 00:03:31,758 It's particularly useful for long range flying. 53 00:03:32,896 --> 00:03:34,413 For South African Airways 54 00:03:34,448 --> 00:03:36,655 during the days of Apartheid, 55 00:03:36,689 --> 00:03:39,517 a plane like the Combi helped them in that respect, 56 00:03:39,551 --> 00:03:43,344 because they had to fly around the bulge of Africa over the Atlantic. 57 00:03:45,137 --> 00:03:48,068 To protest South Africa's white racist regime, 58 00:03:48,103 --> 00:03:51,586 the vast majority of black African states refused to allow 59 00:03:51,620 --> 00:03:54,241 South African Airlines to fly over their airspace, 60 00:03:54,275 --> 00:03:57,482 causing them to fly longer routes. 61 00:03:57,517 --> 00:04:01,172 There were sanctions, heavy sanctions against South Africa 62 00:04:01,206 --> 00:04:05,172 on political, economic, and cultural fronts. 63 00:04:05,206 --> 00:04:07,413 South Africa was not welcome 64 00:04:07,448 --> 00:04:09,344 anywhere credible in the world. 65 00:04:10,103 --> 00:04:11,620 On Flight 295, 66 00:04:11,655 --> 00:04:14,275 less than an hour before its stop in Mauritius, 67 00:04:14,310 --> 00:04:16,655 the smoke alarm breaks the calm of the cockpit. 68 00:04:17,896 --> 00:04:20,137 It's for the cargo area on the main deck, 69 00:04:20,172 --> 00:04:22,000 directly behind the passengers. 70 00:04:23,137 --> 00:04:26,241 By the time the crew gets to it the fire is raging. 71 00:04:34,551 --> 00:04:36,103 It's bad. 72 00:04:36,137 --> 00:04:38,827 - Should I get another bottle over there? - Yeah, hurry! 73 00:04:40,517 --> 00:04:43,000 Read out the fire checklist for us, please. 74 00:04:43,034 --> 00:04:45,068 In fire emergencies, the crew follows 75 00:04:45,103 --> 00:04:47,586 a standard checklist to extinguish the fire. 76 00:04:49,068 --> 00:04:50,482 - The breaker popped as well. - Huh? 77 00:04:50,517 --> 00:04:52,000 We'll check the breaker panel as well. 78 00:04:53,758 --> 00:04:56,137 The fire is burning through the plane's wiring, 79 00:04:56,172 --> 00:04:58,310 causing short circuits. 80 00:05:00,689 --> 00:05:02,379 Move as far forward as you can. 81 00:05:04,689 --> 00:05:06,517 But there's a more immediate problem. 82 00:05:06,551 --> 00:05:08,517 Passengers are having trouble breathing. 83 00:05:11,448 --> 00:05:14,344 Duct isolation valve switches open. 84 00:05:14,379 --> 00:05:17,413 Pack valve switches all open. 85 00:05:17,448 --> 00:05:19,172 Recirculating fan switches... 86 00:05:20,551 --> 00:05:21,551 off. 87 00:05:24,310 --> 00:05:28,413 The fire checklist instructs the pilot to land at the nearest airport. 88 00:05:28,448 --> 00:05:30,896 But the closest one is on the island of Mauritius, 89 00:05:30,931 --> 00:05:33,931 still more than 300 kilometers away. 90 00:05:33,965 --> 00:05:36,000 There's not a lot Captain Uys can do. 91 00:05:36,034 --> 00:05:38,000 He asks a member of his flight crew 92 00:05:38,034 --> 00:05:39,862 to help fight the cargo fire. 93 00:05:47,310 --> 00:05:48,482 Bring me another bottle. 94 00:05:51,103 --> 00:05:53,827 Captain Uys initiates an emergency descent. 95 00:05:55,965 --> 00:05:58,448 He calls the airport on the island of Mauritius, 96 00:05:58,482 --> 00:06:00,689 which is on good terms with South Africa. 97 00:06:02,689 --> 00:06:04,344 It's just before 4:00 in the morning 98 00:06:04,379 --> 00:06:08,379 when Mauritius Air Traffic Control receives the call. 99 00:06:08,413 --> 00:06:11,241 Mauritius, Mauritius, Springbok two-niner-five. 100 00:06:11,275 --> 00:06:14,793 Springbok two niner five, Mauritius, good morning. Go ahead. 101 00:06:14,827 --> 00:06:17,724 Good morning. We have a smoke problem 102 00:06:17,758 --> 00:06:19,103 and we're doing emergency descent 103 00:06:19,137 --> 00:06:22,206 to level 15... uh, 140. 104 00:06:22,241 --> 00:06:25,103 Confirm you wish to descend to level 140. 105 00:06:25,137 --> 00:06:26,862 Yeah, we've already commenced 106 00:06:26,896 --> 00:06:29,206 due to a smoke problem in the airplane. 107 00:06:29,241 --> 00:06:33,137 Do you request a full emergency, please? 108 00:06:33,172 --> 00:06:35,310 Affirmative. That's Charlie, Charlie! 109 00:06:38,620 --> 00:06:40,206 Captain Uys sounds calm, 110 00:06:40,241 --> 00:06:41,586 but he has to find a way 111 00:06:41,620 --> 00:06:43,862 of getting rid of the smoke on his plane. 112 00:06:46,172 --> 00:06:48,620 Whatever is burning in the cargo hold is producing 113 00:06:48,655 --> 00:06:51,965 thick, noxious smoke which is pouring into the cabin. 114 00:06:52,000 --> 00:06:54,275 It could be deadly to the passengers. 115 00:06:54,310 --> 00:06:56,000 Your actual position, please. 116 00:06:56,034 --> 00:06:57,103 Ah, say again? 117 00:06:57,137 --> 00:06:59,310 Actual position. 118 00:06:59,344 --> 00:07:02,551 Captain Uys is losing power to many of his instruments. 119 00:07:02,586 --> 00:07:04,172 We've lost a lot of electrics. 120 00:07:04,206 --> 00:07:07,862 We haven't got anything on the, uh, on the aircraft now. 121 00:07:07,896 --> 00:07:09,551 He's not sure where he is. 122 00:07:10,793 --> 00:07:14,620 The airport prepares for an emergency landing, 123 00:07:14,655 --> 00:07:17,275 while the crew of the Helderberg follows instructions 124 00:07:17,310 --> 00:07:20,793 from another checklist to get rid of the smoke. 125 00:07:20,827 --> 00:07:23,137 Supplementary vent fan switch off. 126 00:07:24,310 --> 00:07:26,034 Recirculating fan switches... 127 00:07:28,586 --> 00:07:30,068 on. 128 00:07:30,103 --> 00:07:31,206 Smoke condition? 129 00:07:31,241 --> 00:07:32,620 Hold on, I'll check downstairs. 130 00:07:34,965 --> 00:07:37,793 The crew gets more bad news from the cabin. 131 00:07:37,827 --> 00:07:39,517 The smoke is getting thicker. 132 00:07:42,482 --> 00:07:44,379 It's worse! 133 00:07:44,413 --> 00:07:45,758 We can't breathe down here. 134 00:07:46,965 --> 00:07:48,137 With the plane approaching 135 00:07:48,172 --> 00:07:50,758 an altitude of 4,500 meters, 136 00:07:50,793 --> 00:07:53,172 the checklist advises the captain to execute 137 00:07:53,206 --> 00:07:55,551 an emergency maneuver that few pilots have 138 00:07:55,586 --> 00:07:57,000 ever performed. 139 00:07:58,379 --> 00:07:59,827 We need to open the doors. 140 00:07:59,862 --> 00:08:02,000 Repeat, open the doors! 141 00:08:03,862 --> 00:08:05,931 Opening the plane's doors in midair 142 00:08:05,965 --> 00:08:08,068 is the only hope for thinning a cloud of smoke 143 00:08:08,103 --> 00:08:09,620 that could kill the passengers 144 00:08:09,655 --> 00:08:12,000 before the struggling jet can land. 145 00:08:17,655 --> 00:08:22,103 As the cabin of South African Airways Flight 295 fills with smoke, 146 00:08:22,137 --> 00:08:26,413 there's only one way to save the passengers from the lethal fumes. 147 00:08:26,448 --> 00:08:30,172 Outer flight level 150 for 140. 148 00:08:30,206 --> 00:08:32,655 150 for 140. 149 00:08:33,482 --> 00:08:34,793 150... 150 00:08:34,827 --> 00:08:36,965 The captain begins his emergency descent 151 00:08:37,000 --> 00:08:40,413 to 4,500 meters, so the doors can be opened. 152 00:08:42,172 --> 00:08:47,000 At 4,500 meters, passengers can breathe the outside air. 153 00:08:47,034 --> 00:08:49,310 At that altitude, the difference in pressure 154 00:08:49,344 --> 00:08:52,000 between the air inside and outside the cabin is enough 155 00:08:52,034 --> 00:08:54,034 to force the cabin air out quickly, 156 00:08:54,068 --> 00:08:56,275 but not dangerously. 157 00:08:56,310 --> 00:08:59,000 Now the captain must dramatically reduce his airspeed 158 00:08:59,034 --> 00:09:03,310 to 370 kilometers an hour, 200 knots. 159 00:09:03,344 --> 00:09:06,758 Any faster and the crew won't be able to open the doors. 160 00:09:06,793 --> 00:09:08,551 This is Captain Uys speaking. 161 00:09:08,586 --> 00:09:10,344 We're opening two of the entry doors 162 00:09:10,379 --> 00:09:11,758 to clear the smoke from the cabin. 163 00:09:11,793 --> 00:09:14,068 Do not panic, you'll be much more comfortable 164 00:09:14,103 --> 00:09:16,758 once we complete this procedure. 165 00:09:16,793 --> 00:09:19,068 You just crack the door and this generates 166 00:09:19,103 --> 00:09:21,931 a tremendous amount of airflow through the airplane. 167 00:09:30,413 --> 00:09:32,275 Plaisance Springbok 2-9-5. 168 00:09:32,310 --> 00:09:34,448 We've opened the doors to see if we can... 169 00:09:34,482 --> 00:09:35,862 We should be okay. 170 00:09:36,344 --> 00:09:37,551 Look there! 171 00:09:39,482 --> 00:09:40,655 Close the bloody door! 172 00:09:42,758 --> 00:09:43,896 Joe, switch up quickly, 173 00:09:43,931 --> 00:09:45,517 then close the hole on your side. 174 00:09:48,000 --> 00:09:50,275 Smoke is now building in the cockpit, 175 00:09:50,310 --> 00:09:52,379 but there's no outside door to open. 176 00:09:54,068 --> 00:09:56,655 Temperature is 22.22, 177 00:09:56,689 --> 00:10:00,758 and the QNH is 1018 hectopascals, 178 00:10:00,793 --> 00:10:03,206 one-zero-one-eight over. 179 00:10:03,241 --> 00:10:05,379 The air-traffic controller now focuses 180 00:10:05,413 --> 00:10:09,000 on giving the captain the information he needs for an emergency landing. 181 00:10:10,172 --> 00:10:12,517 Roger, one-zero-one-eight. 182 00:10:12,551 --> 00:10:15,793 Affirmative, and both runways are available if you wish. 183 00:10:15,827 --> 00:10:18,551 And 295, I request pilot's intention. 184 00:10:19,586 --> 00:10:22,931 We'd like to check in on 1-3. 185 00:10:23,965 --> 00:10:26,137 Confirm runway 1-3. 186 00:10:26,172 --> 00:10:27,931 Charlie, Charlie. 187 00:10:27,965 --> 00:10:29,482 Affirmative. You're cleared direct 188 00:10:29,517 --> 00:10:33,000 to Foxtrot Foxtrot. You report approaching 5-0. 189 00:10:33,034 --> 00:10:34,206 Okay. 190 00:10:35,310 --> 00:10:37,172 Captain Uys has one hope. 191 00:10:37,206 --> 00:10:43,241 He must make it to the island of Mauritius 265 kilometers away. 192 00:10:43,275 --> 00:10:46,241 The Helderberg continues on its desperate journey. 193 00:10:49,758 --> 00:10:51,586 295, Plaisance. 194 00:10:56,620 --> 00:10:58,413 But at 4:08 in the morning, 195 00:10:58,448 --> 00:11:01,310 a call by the air-traffic controller is not returned. 196 00:11:02,620 --> 00:11:04,827 Springbok 295, Plaisance. 197 00:11:07,448 --> 00:11:09,344 Springbok 295, Plaisance? 198 00:11:12,758 --> 00:11:16,758 With no response from Flight 295 for 36 minutes, 199 00:11:16,793 --> 00:11:20,137 Air Traffic Control Mauritius formally declares an emergency. 200 00:11:20,172 --> 00:11:22,689 An alert goes out to search-and-rescue crews. 201 00:11:24,379 --> 00:11:26,275 Several aircraft take off from Mauritius 202 00:11:26,310 --> 00:11:28,896 and search the dark waters for the missing plane, 203 00:11:28,931 --> 00:11:30,379 but find nothing. 204 00:11:31,448 --> 00:11:32,965 At the airport in Johannesburg, 205 00:11:33,000 --> 00:11:34,965 South African Airways officially declares 206 00:11:35,000 --> 00:11:38,413 Flight 295 "delayed." 207 00:11:38,448 --> 00:11:41,413 We were supposed to be going away on our annual holiday, 208 00:11:41,448 --> 00:11:43,793 so we were all very excited, 'cause from picking them up, 209 00:11:43,827 --> 00:11:45,103 my parents up from the airport, 210 00:11:45,137 --> 00:11:47,931 we were supposed to go off to three week holiday. 211 00:11:47,965 --> 00:11:51,068 I think that's maybe the, the extent of the... 212 00:11:51,103 --> 00:11:52,896 differences of, of the emotions is 213 00:11:52,931 --> 00:11:55,689 that you're so anxious and excited 214 00:11:55,724 --> 00:11:56,896 for them to come home, 215 00:11:56,931 --> 00:11:59,344 and then the absolute devastation 216 00:11:59,379 --> 00:12:00,551 of the news, getting the news, 217 00:12:00,586 --> 00:12:02,758 you know, that the aircraft has gone missing. 218 00:12:04,482 --> 00:12:06,206 In the afternoon of the next day, 219 00:12:06,241 --> 00:12:08,620 a rescue plane spots the first signs 220 00:12:08,655 --> 00:12:10,551 of floating aircraft wreckage. 221 00:12:19,241 --> 00:12:23,137 Rennie Van Zyl, the head of South Africa's Aviation Safety Board is 222 00:12:23,172 --> 00:12:24,896 assigned to the Helderberg case. 223 00:12:27,724 --> 00:12:31,931 A normal investigator will only handle a major accident 224 00:12:31,965 --> 00:12:35,310 about once in 20 years, in his career. 225 00:12:35,344 --> 00:12:39,827 So this was a... quite a big... wake up 226 00:12:39,862 --> 00:12:41,896 and a challenge to us, 227 00:12:41,931 --> 00:12:44,724 to start running with this investigation in that morning. 228 00:12:46,034 --> 00:12:48,034 Eight bodies are found in the water, 229 00:12:48,068 --> 00:12:50,172 all suffering from extreme trauma. 230 00:12:51,448 --> 00:12:53,862 It was around about two o'clock 231 00:12:53,896 --> 00:12:57,206 that we in fact were advised that the wreckage 232 00:12:57,241 --> 00:13:00,206 and an oil slick had been spotted. 233 00:13:00,241 --> 00:13:03,724 And it was then quite apparent that the airplane was lost. 234 00:13:05,000 --> 00:13:06,758 The most astonishing thing is 235 00:13:06,793 --> 00:13:10,758 that my parents had actually, the night before they had flown, 236 00:13:10,793 --> 00:13:14,413 had sorted out their wills, had sorted out their insurances, 237 00:13:14,448 --> 00:13:16,896 had sorted out all of their documentation 238 00:13:16,931 --> 00:13:18,896 and paperwork before they flew. 239 00:13:18,931 --> 00:13:21,034 Which was quite amazing. 240 00:13:22,000 --> 00:13:23,862 My father made 241 00:13:23,896 --> 00:13:26,482 very, very close family friends of ours our guardians, 242 00:13:26,517 --> 00:13:30,103 our godparents, and we were to live with them. 243 00:13:33,896 --> 00:13:35,689 South Africa quickly becomes obsessed 244 00:13:35,724 --> 00:13:38,620 with what caused the crash. 245 00:13:38,655 --> 00:13:41,103 In the early days, there's very little to examine, 246 00:13:41,137 --> 00:13:42,620 only small bits of the plane 247 00:13:42,655 --> 00:13:44,241 that are floating on the surface. 248 00:13:50,862 --> 00:13:52,862 Contained within that debris, 249 00:13:52,896 --> 00:13:56,034 Rennie Van Zyl's team discovers three wristwatches. 250 00:13:57,724 --> 00:14:00,448 The watches give them a probable time of impact. 251 00:14:02,620 --> 00:14:06,896 These wristwatches were in fact part of the baggage, 252 00:14:06,931 --> 00:14:10,206 and when examined we were able 253 00:14:10,241 --> 00:14:11,827 to find that the one had stopped 254 00:14:11,862 --> 00:14:13,965 and two others were still running, 255 00:14:14,000 --> 00:14:18,137 and the two running ones were the exact Taiwanese time. 256 00:14:18,172 --> 00:14:21,655 The stopped one did give us the minute indication 257 00:14:21,689 --> 00:14:24,379 of what we could establish 258 00:14:24,413 --> 00:14:26,620 as the impact time of the airplane. 259 00:14:27,896 --> 00:14:29,931 The impact time is only three minutes 260 00:14:29,965 --> 00:14:32,551 after the last communication with the plane. 261 00:14:32,586 --> 00:14:35,620 The Helderberg's demise was sudden and dramatic. 262 00:14:36,862 --> 00:14:38,724 In the press and in public opinion, 263 00:14:38,758 --> 00:14:42,344 it reinforces the idea that something sinister brought the plane down. 264 00:14:43,862 --> 00:14:45,655 In the years leading up to the crash, 265 00:14:45,689 --> 00:14:50,413 South African Airways offices around the world had been the target of protests. 266 00:14:50,448 --> 00:14:54,965 The South African Airways Airline at that particular time was a government body. 267 00:14:55,000 --> 00:14:57,206 It was owned by the government. 268 00:14:57,241 --> 00:14:59,103 It was the national carrier, 269 00:14:59,137 --> 00:15:00,896 but it was also very much perceived 270 00:15:00,931 --> 00:15:04,586 to be a part of the South African government. 271 00:15:04,620 --> 00:15:08,137 So another aspect of this plane crash, 272 00:15:08,172 --> 00:15:10,689 and another theory that was put around 273 00:15:10,724 --> 00:15:12,827 was that there could have been a bomb in the cargo. 274 00:15:12,862 --> 00:15:15,068 That in fact we were a target, South Africa, 275 00:15:15,103 --> 00:15:18,344 or this SAA plane was a target of terrorists 276 00:15:18,379 --> 00:15:22,000 who had the worst interests of this country at heart. 277 00:15:22,034 --> 00:15:25,034 Experts examine the small bits of wreckage they have, 278 00:15:25,068 --> 00:15:28,482 searching for the telltale signs of an explosion. 279 00:15:28,517 --> 00:15:30,655 Impact cavities, surface pitting, 280 00:15:30,689 --> 00:15:33,137 or spatter cavities. 281 00:15:33,172 --> 00:15:37,379 Spatter cavities are caused by the white hot fragments from a high explosive device, 282 00:15:37,413 --> 00:15:41,000 striking and melting the light alloys of the aircraft structure. 283 00:15:42,103 --> 00:15:44,793 But experts spot no sign of an explosion. 284 00:15:46,586 --> 00:15:49,000 And when air-traffic-control tapes are studied, 285 00:15:49,034 --> 00:15:50,724 Van Zyl hears that the crew appeared 286 00:15:50,758 --> 00:15:53,241 to be coping with the emergency. 287 00:15:53,275 --> 00:15:55,965 Plaisance Springbok 295, we've opened the doors 288 00:15:56,000 --> 00:15:59,310 to see it we can... We should be okay. 289 00:15:59,344 --> 00:16:02,000 We've had rumors of atomic bombs, 290 00:16:02,034 --> 00:16:03,275 for example, in there, 291 00:16:03,310 --> 00:16:05,344 but that won't cause the airplane to burn. 292 00:16:05,379 --> 00:16:07,482 It will take out the airplane. 293 00:16:07,517 --> 00:16:10,551 We did not have that same experience here. 294 00:16:10,586 --> 00:16:13,827 This airplane flew for 22 minutes. 295 00:16:13,862 --> 00:16:16,517 It's out of the ordinary circumstances. 296 00:16:16,551 --> 00:16:21,965 This was not an explosion that took out the airplane. 297 00:16:22,000 --> 00:16:24,931 With just small pieces of the plane to study, 298 00:16:24,965 --> 00:16:27,000 investigators are stumped. 299 00:16:27,034 --> 00:16:29,068 They don't know what caused the fire, 300 00:16:29,103 --> 00:16:32,620 or what role it played in the destruction of the plane. 301 00:16:32,655 --> 00:16:36,206 The obvious thing to do was to go and try and retrieve 302 00:16:36,241 --> 00:16:39,448 the cockpit voice recorder, flight data recorder 303 00:16:39,482 --> 00:16:42,379 and as much wreckage as we can from the aircraft 304 00:16:42,413 --> 00:16:44,482 to establish what really had happened. 305 00:16:45,827 --> 00:16:48,000 The problem is Van Zyl doesn't even know 306 00:16:48,034 --> 00:16:50,379 where to find the underwater wreckage. 307 00:16:50,413 --> 00:16:52,896 It could be far from the floating debris. 308 00:16:52,931 --> 00:16:55,310 No one is sure exactly where the plane crashed. 309 00:16:57,103 --> 00:16:59,793 He turns to the United States looking for help. 310 00:17:01,758 --> 00:17:05,172 An American salvage company is hired to find the wreckage 311 00:17:05,206 --> 00:17:08,206 and black boxes, but time is running out. 312 00:17:08,241 --> 00:17:11,172 The boxes have built-in locating devices called pingers, 313 00:17:11,206 --> 00:17:14,551 which run on batteries and will eventually run down. 314 00:17:16,482 --> 00:17:19,689 The driving factor was that the pinger on 315 00:17:19,724 --> 00:17:23,137 the data and voice recorders was transmitting, 316 00:17:23,172 --> 00:17:29,758 and it only had a 30-day guaranteed shelf life. 317 00:17:29,793 --> 00:17:32,344 If we couldn't get out there in 30 days, 318 00:17:32,379 --> 00:17:35,620 the chances were that we wouldn't be able to detect it. 319 00:17:42,620 --> 00:17:44,689 By the time the proper equipment can be 320 00:17:44,724 --> 00:17:46,655 assembled in the Indian Ocean, 321 00:17:46,689 --> 00:17:48,241 only seven days remain 322 00:17:48,275 --> 00:17:52,482 before the batteries in the pingers will die out. 323 00:17:52,517 --> 00:17:56,965 Meanwhile blood tests are performed on the human remains pulled from the debris field. 324 00:17:58,034 --> 00:18:01,862 All show traces of soot in their trachea. 325 00:18:01,896 --> 00:18:04,103 It's determined that at least two of the passengers 326 00:18:04,137 --> 00:18:06,172 died from smoke inhalation. 327 00:18:07,586 --> 00:18:10,965 Investigators face a disturbing realization. 328 00:18:11,000 --> 00:18:14,034 Even as the crew was struggling to land their plane, 329 00:18:14,068 --> 00:18:16,275 some of the passengers were already dead. 330 00:18:20,448 --> 00:18:22,103 While searching for the black boxes, 331 00:18:22,137 --> 00:18:25,206 investigators continue to examine the floating wreckage. 332 00:18:29,206 --> 00:18:31,724 Amongst the hundreds of recovered items, 333 00:18:31,758 --> 00:18:36,275 a partly-melted graphite tennis racket offers a telltale clue about the fire. 334 00:18:38,068 --> 00:18:43,551 Graphite only burns at temperatures greater than 600 degrees Celsius. 335 00:18:43,586 --> 00:18:48,551 Investigators now know that the fire on theHelderberg was extremely hot. 336 00:18:48,586 --> 00:18:53,586 This discovery may explain why a fully-charged extinguisher from the front of the plane is 337 00:18:53,620 --> 00:18:56,448 recovered with other floating wreckage. 338 00:18:56,482 --> 00:18:59,413 Investigators notice a melted piece of cargo netting 339 00:18:59,448 --> 00:19:02,172 on the outside of the extinguisher. 340 00:19:02,206 --> 00:19:05,724 They determine that the extinguisher is from the passenger cabin, 341 00:19:05,758 --> 00:19:07,551 suggesting that as the fire burned, 342 00:19:07,586 --> 00:19:09,655 a crew member grabbed the extinguisher 343 00:19:09,689 --> 00:19:11,413 and brought it to the cargo area. 344 00:19:14,965 --> 00:19:16,206 A full fire extinguisher 345 00:19:16,241 --> 00:19:18,689 in a plane that was brought down by a fire shows 346 00:19:18,724 --> 00:19:20,931 that for whatever reason it wasn't discharged, 347 00:19:20,965 --> 00:19:25,241 because the crewmember couldn't access the area because of the heat, 348 00:19:25,275 --> 00:19:27,413 or the fact that there was melted metal 349 00:19:27,448 --> 00:19:31,034 on the fire extinguisher is further evidence to the intensity of the fire. 350 00:19:32,758 --> 00:19:34,068 Before this accident, 351 00:19:34,103 --> 00:19:37,344 in the 20-year history of the 747 Combi, 352 00:19:37,379 --> 00:19:40,379 no one had ever died from fire or smoke. 353 00:19:41,689 --> 00:19:44,275 When we heard about a fire in the Helderberg, 354 00:19:44,310 --> 00:19:47,000 this was the first time for a wide-body airplane. 355 00:19:47,034 --> 00:19:50,827 It was... it was news. And because it was so new 356 00:19:50,862 --> 00:19:55,206 and the thought was that we really couldn't have anything like that. 357 00:19:58,103 --> 00:20:01,862 What could have caused such an intense fire on the Helderberg? 358 00:20:01,896 --> 00:20:04,034 Was it a wiring problem on the plane, 359 00:20:04,068 --> 00:20:08,068 or had the cargo itself somehow started the blaze? 360 00:20:08,103 --> 00:20:12,310 Initially, the investigation focused on, "What was the cargo?" 361 00:20:12,344 --> 00:20:14,448 The fire obviously had originated 362 00:20:14,482 --> 00:20:16,310 in the main deck cargo compartment, 363 00:20:16,344 --> 00:20:18,793 so the logical thing is to look 364 00:20:18,827 --> 00:20:23,689 what did the waybills indicate was carried in the airplane. 365 00:20:23,724 --> 00:20:28,413 Investigators learn that there were six pallets of cargo on board Flight 295. 366 00:20:30,517 --> 00:20:33,241 Using master waybills, Van Zyl's team is 367 00:20:33,275 --> 00:20:36,310 able to determine that 47,000 kilograms 368 00:20:36,344 --> 00:20:38,793 of baggage and cargo was officially on board. 369 00:20:42,034 --> 00:20:44,620 Investigators discover that before takeoff, 370 00:20:44,655 --> 00:20:48,000 a Taiwanese customs official performed a random inspection 371 00:20:48,034 --> 00:20:51,379 of some of the cargo. He found nothing suspicious. 372 00:20:57,448 --> 00:20:59,413 More than ever, investigators need 373 00:20:59,448 --> 00:21:01,310 to find the rest of the plane, 374 00:21:01,344 --> 00:21:03,689 and locate the Helderberg's black boxes. 375 00:21:04,551 --> 00:21:06,517 But 30 days after the crash, 376 00:21:06,551 --> 00:21:09,758 Van Zyl's team gets some very bad news. 377 00:21:09,793 --> 00:21:13,103 There's still no signal detected from the black boxes. 378 00:21:13,137 --> 00:21:14,275 And they are still not certain 379 00:21:14,310 --> 00:21:16,862 exactly where the majority of the wreckage is. 380 00:21:18,241 --> 00:21:22,206 So far, the search has cost 1.5 million US dollars, 381 00:21:22,241 --> 00:21:26,034 and the team has been unable to locate vital evidence. 382 00:21:26,068 --> 00:21:28,517 The Helderberg crash is quickly becoming a test 383 00:21:28,551 --> 00:21:31,862 of Van Zyl's abilities and his resolve. 384 00:21:31,896 --> 00:21:34,482 The investigation reaches a stand still. 385 00:21:34,517 --> 00:21:37,241 Van Zyl has failed to discover the cause of the fire 386 00:21:37,275 --> 00:21:39,034 or even find the plane's wreckage. 387 00:21:41,137 --> 00:21:44,172 If he keeps looking, it will cost millions more, 388 00:21:44,206 --> 00:21:47,482 and the chances of success are getting increasingly remote. 389 00:21:49,586 --> 00:21:52,275 This wasn't just an airplane, this was a Boeing 747. 390 00:21:52,310 --> 00:21:53,931 It was the largest airplane of its type. 391 00:21:53,965 --> 00:21:59,034 And this was a 747 of South Africa's national airlines. 392 00:21:59,068 --> 00:22:02,413 Hundreds of thousands of people who flew the 747 every day 393 00:22:02,448 --> 00:22:05,896 at that time were dependent on a satisfactory answer 394 00:22:05,931 --> 00:22:08,241 as to whether or not this aircraft was safe, 395 00:22:08,275 --> 00:22:10,344 and whether or not there were any structural 396 00:22:10,379 --> 00:22:12,551 or design deficiencies in the airplane. 397 00:22:12,586 --> 00:22:15,517 So the stakes for us were quite large, 398 00:22:15,551 --> 00:22:17,275 and the stakes for Mr. Van Zyl as the head 399 00:22:17,310 --> 00:22:20,758 of the South African investigation were enormous. 400 00:22:23,275 --> 00:22:26,103 It would have been very, very easy 401 00:22:26,137 --> 00:22:28,379 for the South African government to say, 402 00:22:28,413 --> 00:22:31,827 "The water's too deep, it's too far from Mauritius, 403 00:22:31,862 --> 00:22:33,827 "we cannot investigate this accident." 404 00:22:39,344 --> 00:22:42,034 Well beneath the gray waves of the Indian Ocean, 405 00:22:42,068 --> 00:22:44,482 the wreckage of the Helderberg remains hidden. 406 00:22:48,206 --> 00:22:51,793 Now one man, Rennie Van Zyl, must decide whether to spend 407 00:22:51,827 --> 00:22:54,241 the money needed to recover the plane's wreckage. 408 00:22:56,758 --> 00:23:00,517 But almost two months after the Helderberg slammed into the Indian Ocean, 409 00:23:00,551 --> 00:23:04,103 no one even knows the precise location of the main wreckage. 410 00:23:06,413 --> 00:23:09,655 Van Zyl decides he must try to recover what he can. 411 00:23:09,689 --> 00:23:11,758 Without the wreckage, we'll never know the truth. 412 00:23:13,482 --> 00:23:15,275 So they spent on one investigation 413 00:23:15,310 --> 00:23:17,448 what we spent in six months of conducting 414 00:23:17,482 --> 00:23:20,965 all of our investigations in the United States. 415 00:23:21,000 --> 00:23:23,896 Before investigators can salvage the Helderberg, 416 00:23:23,931 --> 00:23:26,137 they must find it. 417 00:23:26,172 --> 00:23:29,137 The wreckage lies somewhere very deep underwater. 418 00:23:30,448 --> 00:23:33,586 Sixty-one days after the crash of the Helderberg, 419 00:23:33,620 --> 00:23:37,241 Van Zyl receives some intriguing news from his team. 420 00:23:37,275 --> 00:23:40,896 Sophisticated sonar equipment has detected a large object 421 00:23:40,931 --> 00:23:44,793 4,400 meters underwater on a flat plateau. 422 00:23:44,827 --> 00:23:46,310 It could be the Helderberg. 423 00:23:47,448 --> 00:23:50,344 And they presented me with a piece of paper 424 00:23:50,379 --> 00:23:54,000 with a lot of black dots of various sizes on it, 425 00:23:54,034 --> 00:23:56,310 and they said, "That's your wreckage." 426 00:23:56,344 --> 00:23:58,275 And my question to them was, 427 00:23:58,310 --> 00:24:01,310 "How do I know it's the wreckage of the 747?" 428 00:24:01,344 --> 00:24:02,965 Maybe this is a submarine 429 00:24:03,000 --> 00:24:04,862 from the Second World War or something. 430 00:24:05,965 --> 00:24:08,793 And the response was just, "Rennie, it is it, 431 00:24:08,827 --> 00:24:10,758 "because we tell you it is the wreckage." 432 00:24:12,068 --> 00:24:15,275 But no one's ever gone that deep to salvage anything, 433 00:24:15,310 --> 00:24:17,000 including the Titanic. 434 00:24:17,862 --> 00:24:19,827 Van Zyl has no choice. 435 00:24:19,862 --> 00:24:22,241 To find out whether the sonar images are 436 00:24:22,275 --> 00:24:24,413 in fact the wreckage, he must launch 437 00:24:24,448 --> 00:24:27,206 the most expensive part of the investigation, 438 00:24:27,241 --> 00:24:28,551 Operation Resolve. 439 00:24:30,172 --> 00:24:33,068 A remote controlled sub called theGemini will be sent 440 00:24:33,103 --> 00:24:36,551 to the ocean floor to videotape what's there. 441 00:24:36,586 --> 00:24:39,241 If it is the Helderberg, the Gemini will search 442 00:24:39,275 --> 00:24:41,689 for key items, including the black boxes. 443 00:24:43,000 --> 00:24:45,034 The problem is that the mini sub must 444 00:24:45,068 --> 00:24:48,689 be attached to the mother ship by a flexible fiber optic cable 445 00:24:48,724 --> 00:24:51,310 that's almost seven kilometers long. 446 00:24:51,344 --> 00:24:54,655 No cable that long has ever been built. 447 00:24:54,689 --> 00:24:57,793 We needed a 20,000 foot cable. 448 00:24:57,827 --> 00:24:59,655 There was no existing cable, 449 00:24:59,689 --> 00:25:02,206 so we had to go to a cable manufacturer 450 00:25:02,241 --> 00:25:05,965 and get a cable designed and built. 451 00:25:06,000 --> 00:25:08,793 But before the fiber optic cable is assembled, 452 00:25:08,827 --> 00:25:11,206 Van Zyl launches a separate investigation 453 00:25:11,241 --> 00:25:13,620 into the fire-fighting capabilities of the Helderberg. 454 00:25:15,931 --> 00:25:17,862 He would discover that the very design 455 00:25:17,896 --> 00:25:20,379 of the Combi may have doomed the flight. 456 00:25:25,241 --> 00:25:27,517 Investigators want to know whether the Combi was 457 00:25:27,551 --> 00:25:29,551 properly designed to protect the passengers 458 00:25:29,586 --> 00:25:33,758 on South African Airways Flight 295 from fire. 459 00:25:33,793 --> 00:25:36,172 The smoke should not have entered the Combi's cabin. 460 00:25:37,620 --> 00:25:40,448 The American team leader in the investigation, 461 00:25:40,482 --> 00:25:42,551 Barry Strauch, goes to Boeing's headquarters 462 00:25:42,586 --> 00:25:45,689 in Seattle to find out how the Combi was tested 463 00:25:45,724 --> 00:25:47,758 for certification in fire prevention. 464 00:25:49,586 --> 00:25:51,310 Strauch's team learns that to comply 465 00:25:51,344 --> 00:25:53,103 with federal regulations, 466 00:25:53,137 --> 00:25:55,586 Boeing's fire tests were conducted by setting 467 00:25:55,620 --> 00:25:58,000 a bale of tobacco leaves on fire. 468 00:25:59,448 --> 00:26:01,551 When a technician enters the cargo area 469 00:26:01,586 --> 00:26:03,517 to fight the demonstration fire, 470 00:26:03,551 --> 00:26:06,068 no smoke enters the passenger cabin. 471 00:26:06,103 --> 00:26:08,482 The smoke remains localized. 472 00:26:08,517 --> 00:26:10,517 The fire is quickly extinguished. 473 00:26:12,000 --> 00:26:13,413 Well, that was in the test conditions 474 00:26:13,448 --> 00:26:17,724 that Boeing used to get the airplane approved. 475 00:26:17,758 --> 00:26:21,103 But in the reality, as we saw in this accident, 476 00:26:21,137 --> 00:26:23,793 it didn't work that way because, um, you didn't have 477 00:26:23,827 --> 00:26:26,517 a nice clean fire with fans blowing 478 00:26:26,551 --> 00:26:27,793 the smoke towards the ceiling. 479 00:26:27,827 --> 00:26:30,000 You had pallets, you had a fire 480 00:26:30,034 --> 00:26:31,448 that would have grown considerably 481 00:26:31,482 --> 00:26:32,517 before the smoke is generated 482 00:26:32,551 --> 00:26:34,482 and you had plastic sheeting 483 00:26:34,517 --> 00:26:36,448 that would provide fuel to the fire, 484 00:26:36,482 --> 00:26:38,103 in addition to all the cardboard 485 00:26:38,137 --> 00:26:40,758 and packing materials within the pallets themselves. 486 00:26:40,793 --> 00:26:42,931 The Combi is designed to prevent smoke 487 00:26:42,965 --> 00:26:45,137 from entering the passenger cabin. 488 00:26:45,172 --> 00:26:47,827 The air there is kept at a slightly higher pressure 489 00:26:47,862 --> 00:26:49,827 than in the cargo area. 490 00:26:49,862 --> 00:26:52,034 When the door between the two is opened, 491 00:26:52,068 --> 00:26:54,448 the air should flow into the cargo area, 492 00:26:54,482 --> 00:26:56,103 keeping the passengers safe. 493 00:27:02,758 --> 00:27:05,827 Investigators then conduct their own test. 494 00:27:05,862 --> 00:27:09,310 They set a large pallet of tightly packed cargo on fire, 495 00:27:09,344 --> 00:27:12,241 mimicking conditions on the Helderberg. 496 00:27:12,275 --> 00:27:16,137 The blaze is more intense and the temperature is hotter. 497 00:27:16,172 --> 00:27:19,482 Investigators discover that this much hotter flame has 498 00:27:19,517 --> 00:27:22,000 a radical impact on the air in the cargo hold. 499 00:27:22,896 --> 00:27:24,551 When the cargo door is opened, 500 00:27:24,586 --> 00:27:28,172 the smoke now flows into the passenger cabin. 501 00:27:28,206 --> 00:27:32,068 Boeing tests used tobacco leaves and batches of tobacco. 502 00:27:33,310 --> 00:27:35,000 In the fire in the Helderberg, 503 00:27:35,034 --> 00:27:37,000 it was a very, very different fire 504 00:27:37,034 --> 00:27:39,413 than the kind of smoke-generating fire 505 00:27:39,448 --> 00:27:41,448 that Boeing used in their test. 506 00:27:41,482 --> 00:27:44,724 Heat would have been generated within the cargo compartment 507 00:27:44,758 --> 00:27:46,965 that would have created its own pressure, 508 00:27:47,000 --> 00:27:49,310 and would have negated the pressure differential 509 00:27:49,344 --> 00:27:51,862 between the cargo compartment and the passenger compartment. 510 00:27:51,896 --> 00:27:53,068 And without the pressure differential 511 00:27:53,103 --> 00:27:56,517 there would be nothing to restrain the smoke 512 00:27:56,551 --> 00:27:58,551 and keep it on the cargo side. 513 00:27:58,586 --> 00:28:01,103 And therefore, the smoke would have penetrated into the passenger side, 514 00:28:01,137 --> 00:28:02,482 smoke that contained, 515 00:28:02,517 --> 00:28:06,000 as we know, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide. 516 00:28:06,034 --> 00:28:07,620 Then investigators discover 517 00:28:07,655 --> 00:28:10,103 something potentially more lethal. 518 00:28:10,137 --> 00:28:12,551 As the passenger cabin filled with smoke, 519 00:28:12,586 --> 00:28:18,206 a checklist instructed the crew to turn on the cabin's recirculating fans. 520 00:28:18,241 --> 00:28:22,344 The intention of the checklist is to dissipate the smoke in the passenger cabin 521 00:28:22,379 --> 00:28:24,862 after the fire has been extinguished. 522 00:28:24,896 --> 00:28:26,586 Recirculating fan switches... 523 00:28:28,344 --> 00:28:31,068 on. 524 00:28:31,103 --> 00:28:34,896 But in this case, turning the fans on may have been deadly. 525 00:28:35,965 --> 00:28:38,655 Fans draw air from above the cabin's ceiling 526 00:28:38,689 --> 00:28:40,206 and from the cargo compartment, 527 00:28:40,241 --> 00:28:43,000 before recirculating it back to the passengers. 528 00:28:44,310 --> 00:28:48,379 The carbon monoxide levels were extremely high, 529 00:28:48,413 --> 00:28:49,896 and were fatally high. 530 00:28:50,793 --> 00:28:53,620 In fact, the one body... 531 00:28:53,655 --> 00:28:58,034 And we have to stress again that he was allocated the seat 532 00:28:58,068 --> 00:29:01,827 really below the recirc fan inlet area. 533 00:29:01,862 --> 00:29:03,586 That was the highest level. 534 00:29:03,620 --> 00:29:06,000 I think we're talking around about 66 percent. 535 00:29:09,827 --> 00:29:12,275 That is not a survivable level at all. 536 00:29:15,206 --> 00:29:17,689 By following their checklist, the crew may 537 00:29:17,724 --> 00:29:20,275 have fed toxic gas into the passenger cabin. 538 00:29:22,586 --> 00:29:24,827 And it might very well have been 539 00:29:24,862 --> 00:29:28,965 that most of your passengers were asphyxiated before impact. 540 00:29:29,000 --> 00:29:31,689 No checklist for a 747 Combi had 541 00:29:31,724 --> 00:29:34,965 ever foreseen the Helderberg's simultaneous problems. 542 00:29:35,000 --> 00:29:38,758 A cargo fire problem, and a cabin smoke problem. 543 00:29:38,793 --> 00:29:42,689 The smoke removal checklist is predicated on the assumption 544 00:29:42,724 --> 00:29:44,344 that the fire has been extinguished. 545 00:29:44,379 --> 00:29:46,344 In that event, 546 00:29:46,379 --> 00:29:49,103 descending to 14,000 feet and opening the cabin door 547 00:29:49,137 --> 00:29:51,241 would be the appropriate thing to do. 548 00:29:51,275 --> 00:29:52,931 It would get the smoke out of the airplane, 549 00:29:52,965 --> 00:29:55,379 and enable people to breathe regular air. 550 00:29:56,379 --> 00:29:58,137 If the fire hasn't been extinguished, 551 00:29:58,172 --> 00:30:02,448 that would have the function of actually increasing the airflow to the fire, 552 00:30:02,482 --> 00:30:05,344 and increasing the supply of oxygen to the fire. 553 00:30:05,379 --> 00:30:06,827 We think that's what happened in this case, 554 00:30:06,862 --> 00:30:08,862 that the fire had never been extinguished. 555 00:30:08,896 --> 00:30:12,793 And in fact, the crew's attempts to make the situation better 556 00:30:12,827 --> 00:30:14,551 may have in fact made the situation worse. 557 00:30:16,413 --> 00:30:18,172 Investigators begin to realize 558 00:30:18,206 --> 00:30:21,137 that fighting a fire in the Combi's cargo area is 559 00:30:21,172 --> 00:30:23,586 much more difficult than previously thought. 560 00:30:27,896 --> 00:30:30,862 If there was a fire in one of these pallets, 561 00:30:30,896 --> 00:30:32,965 it was quite likely that by the time the crew was 562 00:30:33,000 --> 00:30:36,758 alerted to the fire, it would be too late. 563 00:30:36,793 --> 00:30:39,827 Then the cabin instantly filled up with smoke. 564 00:30:39,862 --> 00:30:41,965 But Van Zyl still doesn't know 565 00:30:42,000 --> 00:30:44,206 what caused such a fierce fire. 566 00:30:44,241 --> 00:30:46,172 How had the blaze started, 567 00:30:46,206 --> 00:30:49,413 and how had it brought the plane down? 568 00:30:49,448 --> 00:30:51,931 The answers are still deep under the ocean. 569 00:30:51,965 --> 00:30:54,448 It takes months to build the fiber optic cable 570 00:30:54,482 --> 00:30:57,655 that's long enough for the Gemini to reach the bottom of the sea, 571 00:30:57,689 --> 00:31:00,827 and to modify the submarine for this mission. 572 00:31:00,862 --> 00:31:05,103 We had to take the ROV, existing ROV that we had, 573 00:31:05,137 --> 00:31:07,586 which was designed for 6,000 feet, 574 00:31:07,620 --> 00:31:09,724 and we had to modify it 575 00:31:09,758 --> 00:31:13,862 so it would go to 20,000 feet. 576 00:31:13,896 --> 00:31:17,103 Roy Truman's team had to give the sub thicker walls 577 00:31:17,137 --> 00:31:19,931 to withstand the enormous pressure it would encounter, 578 00:31:19,965 --> 00:31:22,724 and modify its cameras for the extreme depth. 579 00:31:23,724 --> 00:31:26,310 On September the 23rd, 1988, 580 00:31:26,344 --> 00:31:29,172 the Gemini begins its record breaking journey. 581 00:31:29,206 --> 00:31:32,965 We were hesitant to say that everything would work, 582 00:31:33,000 --> 00:31:35,689 because we didn't even have time to do sea trials 583 00:31:35,724 --> 00:31:37,689 on all of this new equipment. 584 00:31:38,965 --> 00:31:41,344 The cable allows technicians at the surface 585 00:31:41,379 --> 00:31:45,103 to manipulate the Gemini at 4,400 meters. 586 00:31:45,137 --> 00:31:48,551 It also carries video signals from that remarkable depth. 587 00:31:50,448 --> 00:31:52,379 It's the first time that video images have 588 00:31:52,413 --> 00:31:55,655 been recorded from this deep in the Indian Ocean. 589 00:31:55,689 --> 00:31:57,793 Marine biologists are fascinated 590 00:31:57,827 --> 00:32:00,310 by the discovery of unique new species. 591 00:32:03,758 --> 00:32:06,206 Some of the stuff that we saw 592 00:32:06,241 --> 00:32:10,758 on the sea bed was pretty mind-blowing. 593 00:32:10,793 --> 00:32:14,172 Then one year to the day after it disappeared, 594 00:32:14,206 --> 00:32:16,551 the Helderberg is found. 595 00:32:16,586 --> 00:32:18,965 From a depth of 4,400 meters, 596 00:32:19,000 --> 00:32:22,448 the submarine sends back images that could only be the wreckage 597 00:32:22,482 --> 00:32:25,241 of South African Airways Flight 295. 598 00:32:26,862 --> 00:32:29,137 There would be lots of luggage 599 00:32:29,172 --> 00:32:32,206 just strewn all over the sea bed, 600 00:32:32,241 --> 00:32:35,827 massive structures, the wings, the tail, 601 00:32:35,862 --> 00:32:40,689 huge parts of the cabin split open, 602 00:32:40,724 --> 00:32:42,758 and you could see all of the ribs, 603 00:32:42,793 --> 00:32:46,862 and the wiring, the hydraulic piping. 604 00:32:46,896 --> 00:32:50,344 I mean, it was incredible just to see 605 00:32:51,655 --> 00:32:53,862 everything that went into a machine 606 00:32:53,896 --> 00:32:58,448 spread over an area of about five, six square miles. 607 00:32:58,482 --> 00:32:59,931 It was incredible. 608 00:32:59,965 --> 00:33:03,172 Van Zyl's expensive gamble is beginning to pay off. 609 00:33:03,206 --> 00:33:05,275 Descending to the Helderberg's wreckage is 610 00:33:05,310 --> 00:33:08,068 a triumph for him and his team. 611 00:33:08,103 --> 00:33:10,965 But just finding the debris isn't nearly enough. 612 00:33:11,655 --> 00:33:13,275 A year after the accident, 613 00:33:13,310 --> 00:33:15,965 Van Zyl is still hoping for the improbable, 614 00:33:16,000 --> 00:33:19,034 the recovery of the cockpit voice recorder. 615 00:33:19,068 --> 00:33:22,689 One of the major aspects we aimed at 616 00:33:22,724 --> 00:33:26,896 in Operation Resolve was the recovery of the CVR. 617 00:33:26,931 --> 00:33:31,689 We really wanted to know whether the cabin crew reported 618 00:33:31,724 --> 00:33:34,448 to the captain that there was an explosion, 619 00:33:34,482 --> 00:33:36,551 or what was happening at the back. 620 00:33:38,172 --> 00:33:40,965 Hundreds of hours of videotape are recorded. 621 00:33:41,000 --> 00:33:43,206 It's exhausting work. 622 00:33:43,241 --> 00:33:45,896 If you can imagine being on a football field 623 00:33:45,931 --> 00:33:47,586 with a flashlight, 624 00:33:47,620 --> 00:33:51,689 that only illuminates a square foot of the football field, 625 00:33:51,724 --> 00:33:54,275 and you're looking for an earring 626 00:33:54,310 --> 00:33:58,172 one of the football players lost during the game 627 00:33:58,206 --> 00:34:00,517 in the dead of night, that's similar to what 628 00:34:00,551 --> 00:34:02,586 it's like when we're on the sea bed. 629 00:34:03,724 --> 00:34:05,793 Then at nine o'clock one morning, 630 00:34:05,827 --> 00:34:08,655 something catches the eye of one of the technicians. 631 00:34:09,551 --> 00:34:11,068 Go back, go back for a second. 632 00:34:11,103 --> 00:34:12,137 We might have passed something. 633 00:34:14,862 --> 00:34:17,793 At long last, the black box is discovered. 634 00:34:19,724 --> 00:34:22,344 There. That's it. That's it right there! 635 00:34:23,551 --> 00:34:25,241 My God, we found it! 636 00:34:26,137 --> 00:34:27,413 We found it! 637 00:34:30,620 --> 00:34:33,310 That was a very fulfilling moment, 638 00:34:33,344 --> 00:34:36,034 you know, find what we had aimed for, 639 00:34:36,068 --> 00:34:37,827 we have achieved. We're getting it. 640 00:34:38,827 --> 00:34:40,655 It takes a full five hours 641 00:34:40,689 --> 00:34:42,655 for the Gemini to bring the black box up 642 00:34:42,689 --> 00:34:44,206 from the bottom of the sea. 643 00:34:49,862 --> 00:34:52,206 The South African media turns the discovery 644 00:34:52,241 --> 00:34:54,000 into front-page news. 645 00:34:55,620 --> 00:34:57,103 It's now 1989 646 00:34:57,137 --> 00:34:59,448 and the Apartheid government is still running the country 647 00:34:59,482 --> 00:35:01,931 with an iron fist. 648 00:35:01,965 --> 00:35:04,689 Van Zyl makes an unusual decision. 649 00:35:04,724 --> 00:35:07,517 He takes the sealed black box to Washington 650 00:35:07,551 --> 00:35:10,344 and opens it there. 651 00:35:10,379 --> 00:35:11,827 Because otherwise, I would have been accused 652 00:35:11,862 --> 00:35:14,965 of having covered up something, 653 00:35:15,000 --> 00:35:17,000 or left something out, or whatever. 654 00:35:17,034 --> 00:35:21,068 And we, the FAA, and the NTSB guys 655 00:35:21,103 --> 00:35:24,000 all listened to this tape at the same time for the first time. 656 00:35:26,586 --> 00:35:28,655 Tension in the room is high. 657 00:35:28,689 --> 00:35:30,758 The cockpit voice recorder should be a tape 658 00:35:30,793 --> 00:35:33,206 of the last 30 minutes of the flight, 659 00:35:33,241 --> 00:35:34,965 as the crew fought the fire. 660 00:35:36,517 --> 00:35:39,413 But the tape turns out to be a major frustration. 661 00:35:39,448 --> 00:35:41,586 After a year on the bottom of the ocean, 662 00:35:41,620 --> 00:35:44,000 it's difficult to understand anything. 663 00:35:55,827 --> 00:35:58,172 It was the worst time of my life, 664 00:35:58,206 --> 00:36:02,896 sitting in the playback room at the NTSB facilities 665 00:36:03,689 --> 00:36:05,172 and you watch the time, 666 00:36:05,206 --> 00:36:10,206 and there is absolutely no indication of problems on the tape. 667 00:36:11,379 --> 00:36:13,344 And I'm watching the clock. 668 00:36:13,379 --> 00:36:15,862 At about 25 minutes I was 669 00:36:15,896 --> 00:36:18,724 really getting very, very anxious. 670 00:36:24,724 --> 00:36:27,965 For 28 minutes, the tape reveals nothing unusual. 671 00:36:28,000 --> 00:36:30,482 Then everything changes. 672 00:36:30,517 --> 00:36:34,448 The next minute, of course, the alarm bell goes on the CVR 673 00:36:34,482 --> 00:36:36,068 and we had about a... 674 00:36:37,206 --> 00:36:40,310 a minute's worth of relevant recording 675 00:36:40,344 --> 00:36:42,206 on the tape before the tape stopped. 676 00:36:43,379 --> 00:36:44,862 Normally the black box records 677 00:36:44,896 --> 00:36:48,724 the final moments of a flight. But not this time. 678 00:36:48,758 --> 00:36:50,517 Instead, investigators are able 679 00:36:50,551 --> 00:36:52,344 to listen to the start of the accident 680 00:36:52,379 --> 00:36:54,689 before the recording mysteriously stops. 681 00:36:56,000 --> 00:36:58,482 It's not what Van Zyl was hoping for, 682 00:36:58,517 --> 00:37:01,310 but it gives him crucial new insight into the fire. 683 00:37:01,344 --> 00:37:04,206 Read out the fire checklist for us, please. 684 00:37:04,241 --> 00:37:07,000 Fourteen seconds after the fire alarm goes off, 685 00:37:07,034 --> 00:37:10,000 the plane's circuit breakers start to pop. 686 00:37:10,034 --> 00:37:12,758 The breaker popped as well. Huh? 687 00:37:12,793 --> 00:37:14,310 We'll check the breaker panel as well. 688 00:37:14,344 --> 00:37:15,896 Yeah. 689 00:37:15,931 --> 00:37:17,241 Investigators estimate 690 00:37:17,275 --> 00:37:20,137 that up to 80 circuits were disabled. 691 00:37:20,172 --> 00:37:23,034 The wires to the cockpit voice recorder are destroyed 692 00:37:23,068 --> 00:37:26,551 only 81 seconds after the fire alarm first goes off. 693 00:37:28,827 --> 00:37:32,206 Van Zyl has not received the key evidence that he hoped for. 694 00:37:32,241 --> 00:37:35,793 But the fire is revealed as more violent than previously thought. 695 00:37:37,413 --> 00:37:40,068 The recording leaves many questions unanswered. 696 00:37:41,482 --> 00:37:44,172 But it does help Van Zyl to arrive at a personal opinion 697 00:37:44,206 --> 00:37:46,310 as to why the plane may have crashed. 698 00:37:47,862 --> 00:37:50,000 A lot of things were happening in the cockpit, 699 00:37:50,034 --> 00:37:52,551 and we believe that he probably was faced 700 00:37:52,586 --> 00:37:54,793 with up to 80 circuit breakers popping 701 00:37:55,620 --> 00:37:57,172 in the cockpit at the time 702 00:37:58,275 --> 00:38:00,551 may have made controlling 703 00:38:00,586 --> 00:38:03,241 half the aircraft extremely difficult, 704 00:38:04,103 --> 00:38:06,344 and the possibility then even 705 00:38:06,379 --> 00:38:10,379 of the airplane just gradually descending into the sea. 706 00:38:10,413 --> 00:38:12,827 Whether it was a controllable flight, 707 00:38:12,862 --> 00:38:14,862 uh, I have my doubts. 708 00:38:16,862 --> 00:38:19,241 I put myself in the cockpit on this thing and I said, 709 00:38:19,275 --> 00:38:20,310 "I would have been terrified." 710 00:38:21,931 --> 00:38:24,965 I mean, you know, we're just figuring. Now what do we do? 711 00:38:25,000 --> 00:38:28,000 You know, did they do the checklist... correctly? 712 00:38:28,034 --> 00:38:29,275 We'll never know. 713 00:38:30,689 --> 00:38:32,586 But investigators still don't know 714 00:38:32,620 --> 00:38:35,068 what triggered the Helderberg fire. 715 00:38:35,103 --> 00:38:37,310 The mystery can now only be solved 716 00:38:37,344 --> 00:38:40,482 by salvaging parts from the crashed plane. 717 00:38:40,517 --> 00:38:45,379 We realized that what we had to do was just to continue 718 00:38:45,413 --> 00:38:47,310 recover as much wreckage 719 00:38:47,344 --> 00:38:50,379 as we could from the ocean floor. 720 00:38:52,034 --> 00:38:54,758 Van Zyl's focus is on certain key pieces 721 00:38:54,793 --> 00:38:57,103 of the Combi's cargo area. 722 00:38:57,137 --> 00:38:59,620 They are brought to a hangar and re-assembled 723 00:38:59,655 --> 00:39:02,413 like a giant jigsaw puzzle. 724 00:39:02,448 --> 00:39:05,586 His plan is to reconstruct the section of the cargo area 725 00:39:05,620 --> 00:39:08,689 where the fire most likely started. 726 00:39:08,724 --> 00:39:13,103 Van Zyl discovers that the cargo area floor is untouched by fire. 727 00:39:15,068 --> 00:39:20,793 So we know that the fire never burned lower than one meter off the cargo floor. 728 00:39:22,206 --> 00:39:23,689 But the walls and ceiling 729 00:39:23,724 --> 00:39:27,000 at the front of the cargo area reveal severe fire damage. 730 00:39:28,000 --> 00:39:30,413 Van Zyl makes a dramatic discovery. 731 00:39:30,448 --> 00:39:34,965 The seat of the fire was on the front right pallet of the cargo. 732 00:39:35,000 --> 00:39:41,758 So we were looking at the very localized fire on one pallet. 733 00:39:41,793 --> 00:39:45,137 The front right pallet was mostly filled with computers, 734 00:39:45,172 --> 00:39:47,413 protected by polystyrene packaging. 735 00:39:48,551 --> 00:39:50,689 Investigators suspect that a fire 736 00:39:50,724 --> 00:39:52,413 within the pallet came in contact 737 00:39:52,448 --> 00:39:54,448 with the polystyrene packing material, 738 00:39:54,482 --> 00:39:57,413 producing gases which accumulated near the ceiling. 739 00:39:58,379 --> 00:40:00,517 When the gases became hot enough, 740 00:40:00,551 --> 00:40:02,482 they ignited into a flash fire 741 00:40:02,517 --> 00:40:05,034 that spread throughout the cargo hold. 742 00:40:05,068 --> 00:40:08,965 Once smoke penetrated the polyethylene sheets 743 00:40:09,000 --> 00:40:11,344 that fire would have been very, very hot. 744 00:40:11,379 --> 00:40:13,310 But even if the packing material had 745 00:40:13,344 --> 00:40:17,172 helped spread the blaze, Van Zyl still didn't know why it started. 746 00:40:17,206 --> 00:40:18,620 After millions of dollars, 747 00:40:18,655 --> 00:40:20,620 and more than a year and a half of work, 748 00:40:20,655 --> 00:40:22,448 he has to end his investigation. 749 00:40:22,482 --> 00:40:27,482 I would have felt a lot better if we had been in a better position 750 00:40:27,517 --> 00:40:30,275 to give more factual information 751 00:40:30,310 --> 00:40:33,517 to the board to consider. 752 00:40:33,551 --> 00:40:35,344 But that was not to be, 753 00:40:35,379 --> 00:40:38,862 and we were not going to fabricate. 754 00:40:39,758 --> 00:40:40,827 But interest in the wreck 755 00:40:40,862 --> 00:40:43,758 of the Helderberg doesn't die. 756 00:40:43,793 --> 00:40:48,034 Dark rumors circulate about a possible cause of the fire. 757 00:40:48,068 --> 00:40:49,448 It's against this backdrop 758 00:40:49,482 --> 00:40:52,758 of a very repressive Apartheid government. 759 00:40:52,793 --> 00:40:56,344 At that particular time, the first thought, I think, 760 00:40:56,379 --> 00:40:59,689 for many, many South Africans was what was on that plane. 761 00:41:01,103 --> 00:41:03,241 Was there something in that cargo hold 762 00:41:03,275 --> 00:41:05,172 that could have caused that terrible fire, 763 00:41:05,206 --> 00:41:09,000 because planes don't just burst into flames midair and crash. 764 00:41:10,758 --> 00:41:14,620 Then a South African government chemist makes a startling discovery, 765 00:41:14,655 --> 00:41:17,206 which leads to a controversial new theory. 766 00:41:18,724 --> 00:41:21,724 A microscopic iron particle on the nylon netting 767 00:41:21,758 --> 00:41:23,827 next to the pallet has a unique profile. 768 00:41:27,551 --> 00:41:29,586 The airflow patterns on the iron suggest 769 00:41:29,620 --> 00:41:33,896 that it traveled at a very high velocity while in a molten state. 770 00:41:33,931 --> 00:41:35,241 The discovery could mean 771 00:41:35,275 --> 00:41:36,862 that the fire on the Helderberg was not 772 00:41:36,896 --> 00:41:39,793 a flash fire triggered by packing materials. 773 00:41:41,448 --> 00:41:43,862 This was a different kind of fire. 774 00:41:43,896 --> 00:41:47,310 This was a fire that had its own oxygen. 775 00:41:48,758 --> 00:41:50,965 If you can imagine something like a sparkler, 776 00:41:51,000 --> 00:41:53,689 which has fuel and its own oxygen. 777 00:41:53,724 --> 00:41:57,620 It was some kind of material similar to a sparkler 778 00:41:58,482 --> 00:42:00,517 that we feel was the cause of the fire. 779 00:42:02,103 --> 00:42:04,724 A British fire and explosion analyst examines 780 00:42:04,758 --> 00:42:07,275 the exterior skin of the plane above the pallet 781 00:42:07,310 --> 00:42:09,034 and comes up with another piece of evidence 782 00:42:09,068 --> 00:42:10,965 to support the new theory 783 00:42:12,172 --> 00:42:14,517 The skin on the outside of the plane reached 784 00:42:14,551 --> 00:42:17,413 temperatures as high as 300 degrees centigrade. 785 00:42:19,344 --> 00:42:21,206 You must remember that it's very difficult 786 00:42:21,241 --> 00:42:23,241 to burn through an airplane skin in flight, 787 00:42:23,275 --> 00:42:27,000 because the tremendous amount of cooling from the airflow on the outside of the skin. 788 00:42:28,896 --> 00:42:31,827 Dr. David Klatzow is one of numerous experts 789 00:42:31,862 --> 00:42:33,931 who question what caused the fire. 790 00:42:35,103 --> 00:42:36,931 It would have involved substances 791 00:42:36,965 --> 00:42:40,551 which normally would not have been carried aboard an aircraft, 792 00:42:40,586 --> 00:42:42,517 particularly a passenger aircraft. 793 00:42:42,551 --> 00:42:46,241 In other words it could not have been a normal packing material, 794 00:42:46,275 --> 00:42:49,275 wood, cardboard, plastic fire. 795 00:42:51,275 --> 00:42:55,275 You don't carry the things of that nature, 796 00:42:55,310 --> 00:42:56,931 which carry their own oxygen, 797 00:42:56,965 --> 00:42:59,517 which can produce an accelerated fire 798 00:42:59,551 --> 00:43:00,827 for a number of reasons. 799 00:43:00,862 --> 00:43:03,551 One of which, they are generally unstable. 800 00:43:03,586 --> 00:43:08,241 The second reason is that normal fire extinguishing methods will not put them out. 801 00:43:08,275 --> 00:43:10,241 What could start such a fire? 802 00:43:10,275 --> 00:43:11,655 The only dangerous goods listed 803 00:43:11,689 --> 00:43:14,620 on the cargo manifest are computer batteries. 804 00:43:14,655 --> 00:43:18,793 Some believe the Helderberg must have been carrying cargo that wasn't listed. 805 00:43:19,689 --> 00:43:21,586 At the time, South Africa was under 806 00:43:21,620 --> 00:43:23,586 an international arms embargo. 807 00:43:23,620 --> 00:43:26,793 The country was also fighting a war with Angola. 808 00:43:26,827 --> 00:43:28,689 South Africa didn't have capacity 809 00:43:28,724 --> 00:43:31,137 to do everything itself, and there were times 810 00:43:31,172 --> 00:43:33,586 when it had to buy from other countries. 811 00:43:34,655 --> 00:43:38,413 SAA was seen as a surrogate cargo carrier 812 00:43:38,448 --> 00:43:40,275 that they could somehow, 813 00:43:40,310 --> 00:43:44,517 through its commercial airline use, 814 00:43:44,551 --> 00:43:45,793 also bring in substances 815 00:43:45,827 --> 00:43:47,379 for the South African government 816 00:43:47,413 --> 00:43:50,586 undercover, under protection, no questions asked. 817 00:43:52,517 --> 00:43:57,379 It was not that easy for them to fly a quasi-military airline 818 00:43:57,413 --> 00:44:00,931 into different countries and pick up military contraband, 819 00:44:00,965 --> 00:44:02,793 which you must remember we were laboring 820 00:44:02,827 --> 00:44:04,413 under an arms embargo at the time. 821 00:44:05,551 --> 00:44:07,965 The media fuels the flames of suspicion 822 00:44:08,000 --> 00:44:10,137 that the government was using passenger jets 823 00:44:10,172 --> 00:44:13,034 to secretly import weapons. 824 00:44:13,068 --> 00:44:16,000 Armscor is the corporation responsible for supplying 825 00:44:16,034 --> 00:44:18,275 the South African forces with munitions. 826 00:44:19,931 --> 00:44:22,517 At the time, there was a need 827 00:44:22,551 --> 00:44:24,793 to produce a better rocket system, 828 00:44:24,827 --> 00:44:26,172 a more efficient rocket system, 829 00:44:26,206 --> 00:44:29,827 for dealing with the air menace in Angola. 830 00:44:29,862 --> 00:44:33,103 And the rocketry systems which are used 831 00:44:33,137 --> 00:44:36,068 for those purposes have as their propellant... 832 00:44:36,103 --> 00:44:39,034 the major component of the propellant is ammonium perchlorate. 833 00:44:40,000 --> 00:44:42,000 And that is what I believe was 834 00:44:42,034 --> 00:44:43,172 being carried aboard the Helderberg. 835 00:44:45,551 --> 00:44:46,862 But it is not the sort of compound 836 00:44:46,896 --> 00:44:48,379 you want on an aircraft 837 00:44:48,413 --> 00:44:50,448 when you are flying on that aircraft, 838 00:44:50,482 --> 00:44:52,551 because it is unstable. 839 00:44:52,586 --> 00:44:55,517 It is susceptible to self-ignition 840 00:44:55,551 --> 00:44:59,241 by any kind of vibration and violent movement. 841 00:45:00,103 --> 00:45:01,413 The official investigation 842 00:45:01,448 --> 00:45:03,517 into the crash does not come to the conclusion 843 00:45:03,551 --> 00:45:06,034 that the Helderberg was carrying illegal arms. 844 00:45:07,206 --> 00:45:09,517 But the rumors won't go away. 845 00:45:09,551 --> 00:45:12,034 And more than 10 years after the crash, 846 00:45:12,068 --> 00:45:13,517 the dark theories force 847 00:45:13,551 --> 00:45:16,896 a very different South African government to take another look. 848 00:45:26,482 --> 00:45:28,448 The Helderberg accident revealed 849 00:45:28,482 --> 00:45:30,344 that the 747 Combi was 850 00:45:30,379 --> 00:45:33,896 vulnerable in the event of an onboard fire. 851 00:45:33,931 --> 00:45:39,000 South African Airways immediately stops using the 747 Combi. 852 00:45:39,034 --> 00:45:41,310 American officials take notice. 853 00:45:43,965 --> 00:45:47,724 And the FAA went through and developed some new regulations, 854 00:45:47,758 --> 00:45:50,103 but for the weight and everything that was 855 00:45:50,137 --> 00:45:54,689 going to have to be added in there did not make it economically feasible. 856 00:45:54,724 --> 00:45:58,379 And, so essentially after the Helderberg accident, 857 00:45:58,413 --> 00:46:01,068 747 Combis were not used anymore. 858 00:46:08,862 --> 00:46:13,103 There are tributes and memorials to the 159 victims, 859 00:46:14,586 --> 00:46:18,206 but closure does not come easily for the families. 860 00:46:18,241 --> 00:46:21,241 I need an answer for why I was orphaned at 14. 861 00:46:22,586 --> 00:46:23,896 And I feel that... 862 00:46:25,275 --> 00:46:27,931 as I say I'm probably touching on hearsay, 863 00:46:27,965 --> 00:46:29,827 but there's a lot of evidence 864 00:46:29,862 --> 00:46:33,758 that does point to something not being right on that flight, 865 00:46:33,793 --> 00:46:35,965 and that the flight was carrying something illicit. 866 00:46:38,344 --> 00:46:41,551 Ten years after the Helderberg crash, 867 00:46:41,586 --> 00:46:43,689 the new South African government, 868 00:46:43,724 --> 00:46:46,758 launches a commission to reexamine the accident. 869 00:46:47,206 --> 00:46:48,758 Okay. 870 00:46:48,793 --> 00:46:51,344 The Truth Commission was tasked with basically uncovering 871 00:46:51,379 --> 00:46:53,034 the truth about Apartheid atrocities, 872 00:46:53,068 --> 00:46:56,551 and one of the areas it was tasked to look at was the role 873 00:46:56,586 --> 00:47:00,551 of the SAA in sanctions busting during the '80s, 874 00:47:00,586 --> 00:47:03,068 and whether or not the Helderberg was 875 00:47:03,103 --> 00:47:04,448 a freak accident or not. 876 00:47:06,068 --> 00:47:09,034 In 1998, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission 877 00:47:09,068 --> 00:47:10,965 makes a controversial conclusion. 878 00:47:12,275 --> 00:47:15,586 Namely, that nothing that was listed in the cargo manifest 879 00:47:15,620 --> 00:47:18,172 could have caused the fire. 880 00:47:18,206 --> 00:47:20,793 And the Truth Commission recommended that there was 881 00:47:20,827 --> 00:47:23,275 something untoward about what had happened to the Helderberg. 882 00:47:24,896 --> 00:47:30,206 The Truth and Reconciliation Commission exposed the improbabilities 883 00:47:30,241 --> 00:47:34,000 of the government version as to what had happened. 884 00:47:34,034 --> 00:47:38,551 If nothing in the cargo inventory caused the fire, what did? 885 00:47:39,620 --> 00:47:41,379 And how did it get onboard? 886 00:47:42,310 --> 00:47:44,103 The reality unfortunately is 887 00:47:44,137 --> 00:47:49,172 unless somebody today comes up and says, 888 00:47:49,206 --> 00:47:53,344 "Yes, I did this," or "Yes, we were responsible for this," 889 00:47:53,379 --> 00:47:57,896 and you can prove them not to be involved in a hoax, 890 00:47:57,931 --> 00:48:00,413 that will be possibly the only time 891 00:48:00,448 --> 00:48:02,103 in which we will really know 892 00:48:02,896 --> 00:48:05,862 what had happened in and caused 893 00:48:05,896 --> 00:48:08,172 and was the source of ignition of the fire. 894 00:48:09,931 --> 00:48:12,931 In its final report, the Commission suggests 895 00:48:12,965 --> 00:48:15,000 that the Attorney General's office continue 896 00:48:15,034 --> 00:48:17,068 to investigate the accident. 897 00:48:17,103 --> 00:48:19,620 But surprisingly, that has never happened. 898 00:48:19,655 --> 00:48:21,862 The ANC-led government hasn't pursued that. 899 00:48:21,896 --> 00:48:23,551 And of course, we have to ask ourselves why. 900 00:48:24,793 --> 00:48:27,068 And I think that the answer lies 901 00:48:27,103 --> 00:48:28,482 in what many people believe is 902 00:48:28,517 --> 00:48:30,448 that it's just going to be too costly. 903 00:48:34,172 --> 00:48:36,068 They don't want to open it for the simple reason 904 00:48:36,103 --> 00:48:39,379 that it would be financially disastrous for the airline. 905 00:48:39,413 --> 00:48:42,413 Rennie Van Zyl devoted years of his life to solving 906 00:48:42,448 --> 00:48:44,068 the mystery of the Helderberg. 907 00:48:45,068 --> 00:48:46,965 His inability to definitely prove 908 00:48:47,000 --> 00:48:49,827 the cause for the fire does not stop him 909 00:48:49,862 --> 00:48:52,655 from seeing the benefit of his investigation. 910 00:48:52,689 --> 00:48:56,620 I believe that we as a team had done the best that we could 911 00:48:56,655 --> 00:49:01,275 under extreme challenging conditions 912 00:49:01,310 --> 00:49:03,068 and circumstances. 913 00:49:03,103 --> 00:49:05,655 What we had done had never been done before. 914 00:49:05,689 --> 00:49:07,896 It was pioneering work. 915 00:49:07,931 --> 00:49:13,137 The frustration is we could not establish the source of ignition 916 00:49:14,379 --> 00:49:16,517 and we will probably never know. 917 00:49:19,241 --> 00:49:20,758 I believe that those people are still out there 918 00:49:20,793 --> 00:49:22,758 that know exactly what happened to that aircraft. 919 00:49:23,862 --> 00:49:26,689 I know that the thought processes 920 00:49:26,724 --> 00:49:29,206 at the time were, "Our country was at war, 921 00:49:29,241 --> 00:49:33,103 "and they were doing their duty for their country," 922 00:49:33,137 --> 00:49:35,275 but I just feel that they should have 923 00:49:35,310 --> 00:49:39,379 a heart for the families and bring out that information.