1 00:00:03,931 --> 00:00:05,137 Pull down and turn to your right. 2 00:00:06,103 --> 00:00:07,068 If you force it, you'll break it. 3 00:00:07,172 --> 00:00:08,379 This won't come out, Bob. 4 00:00:08,482 --> 00:00:09,620 Push the switch forward. 5 00:00:10,551 --> 00:00:12,172 A single lightbulb 6 00:00:12,275 --> 00:00:14,000 is preventing a modern jetliner from landing. 7 00:00:15,241 --> 00:00:17,241 Screwing around with a 20-cent piece 8 00:00:17,344 --> 00:00:19,758 of light equipment. On this plane. 9 00:00:19,862 --> 00:00:21,758 Struggling to fix a minor problem, 10 00:00:21,862 --> 00:00:24,724 a much more serious one occurs. 11 00:00:24,827 --> 00:00:27,206 - We're still at 2,000, right? - Hey, what's happening here? 12 00:00:37,586 --> 00:00:40,000 Those who survived the crash face a new danger. 13 00:00:41,310 --> 00:00:43,206 The swamp has filled with jet fuel. 14 00:00:44,482 --> 00:00:45,586 No one light a match. 15 00:00:47,068 --> 00:00:50,310 Eastern 401 was a pivotal accident in aviation history. 16 00:00:50,413 --> 00:00:52,655 The crash would point investigators 17 00:00:52,758 --> 00:00:56,241 to an astonishing danger lurking in all commercial cockpits. 18 00:01:03,068 --> 00:01:04,551 Mayday! Mayday! 19 00:01:24,000 --> 00:01:26,724 December 29th,1972, 20 00:01:26,827 --> 00:01:28,620 the dawn of the jumbo jet era. 21 00:01:30,310 --> 00:01:33,586 On its way to Florida, this L-1011 TriStar 22 00:01:33,689 --> 00:01:37,344 is the most advanced passenger jet in the world. 23 00:01:37,448 --> 00:01:39,793 The Lucky TriStar was a fascinating bird. 24 00:01:39,896 --> 00:01:41,551 It was a beautifully flying airplane. 25 00:01:41,655 --> 00:01:43,241 It had a tremendous amount of power 26 00:01:43,344 --> 00:01:44,965 and a lot of innovation to it. 27 00:01:46,275 --> 00:01:48,482 The cabin of this Eastern Airlines jet 28 00:01:48,586 --> 00:01:50,310 is large and quiet. 29 00:01:50,413 --> 00:01:52,103 The service is first rate. 30 00:01:53,655 --> 00:01:57,689 Bob Loft is the captain for Eastern Airlines Flight 401. 31 00:01:57,793 --> 00:02:00,344 He's been with the airline for more than 30 years. 32 00:02:01,620 --> 00:02:03,655 His first officer is Albert Stockstill. 33 00:02:04,655 --> 00:02:06,655 His second officer is Donald Repo. 34 00:02:08,379 --> 00:02:11,344 The jet has left the bitter cold of New York behind 35 00:02:11,448 --> 00:02:13,413 and is now descending towards Miami. 36 00:02:13,965 --> 00:02:15,344 Welcome to Miami. 37 00:02:15,448 --> 00:02:17,448 The temperature's in the low 70s, 38 00:02:17,551 --> 00:02:19,310 and it's a beautiful night out there tonight. 39 00:02:21,758 --> 00:02:22,655 Go ahead and throw 'em out. 40 00:02:31,517 --> 00:02:35,724 Angelo Donadeo is an off-duty Eastern Airlines maintenance expert. 41 00:02:35,827 --> 00:02:38,068 He's catching a ride back to Miami. 42 00:02:40,862 --> 00:02:44,310 There are 176 people on board tonight's flight. 43 00:02:44,413 --> 00:02:46,655 Most are heading south for New Year's. 44 00:02:49,068 --> 00:02:50,862 Ron and Lilly Infantino 45 00:02:50,965 --> 00:02:53,137 have been married for only 20 days. 46 00:02:53,241 --> 00:02:55,137 They've just spent Christmas with his family. 47 00:02:56,551 --> 00:02:58,482 The seatbelt sign came on as normal. 48 00:02:58,586 --> 00:02:59,896 We're in a final approach. 49 00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:03,620 I look out the window there and I could see lights 50 00:03:03,724 --> 00:03:04,620 at the airport. 51 00:03:06,448 --> 00:03:09,034 Close to midnight, the plane begins its approach 52 00:03:09,137 --> 00:03:10,655 to Miami International Airport. 53 00:03:12,482 --> 00:03:13,896 Stockstill flies the plane, 54 00:03:14,000 --> 00:03:16,517 while Repo performs a landing checklist. 55 00:03:17,517 --> 00:03:19,379 - Radar. - Up. Off. 56 00:03:20,413 --> 00:03:22,034 Hydraulic panels checked. 57 00:03:22,137 --> 00:03:23,413 Thirty five, thirty three. 58 00:03:23,517 --> 00:03:24,344 Gear down. 59 00:03:26,241 --> 00:03:27,793 The captain notices a problem. 60 00:03:29,620 --> 00:03:30,551 Bert, is that handle in? 61 00:03:34,724 --> 00:03:36,758 No nose gear. 62 00:03:36,862 --> 00:03:40,413 The light showing that the nose gear is locked hasn't lit up. 63 00:03:40,517 --> 00:03:41,758 I'm going to raise it back up. 64 00:03:43,275 --> 00:03:45,206 The gear might not be all the way down. 65 00:03:48,793 --> 00:03:49,689 Loft tries again. 66 00:03:51,862 --> 00:03:54,758 The sound of the landing gear echoes through the plane. 67 00:03:54,862 --> 00:03:56,896 It makes a pretty loud grinding noise. 68 00:03:57,000 --> 00:03:57,896 If you've flown very much, 69 00:03:58,000 --> 00:04:00,068 you're familiar with that sound, so... 70 00:04:00,172 --> 00:04:01,655 they did that several times. 71 00:04:01,758 --> 00:04:02,965 The pilots did that several times, 72 00:04:03,068 --> 00:04:04,482 and we weren't alarmed. 73 00:04:04,586 --> 00:04:07,551 It's just one of those things that happens sometimes, and... 74 00:04:07,655 --> 00:04:09,172 We just kind of looked at each other, and said, 75 00:04:09,275 --> 00:04:10,724 "Great, we're going to be late getting home." 76 00:04:15,275 --> 00:04:16,413 Still no light. 77 00:04:17,758 --> 00:04:20,448 Loft isn't sure if his front landing gear is locked. 78 00:04:21,758 --> 00:04:23,896 If it isn't, landing could be disastrous. 79 00:04:25,413 --> 00:04:28,620 Tower, this is Eastern 401. 80 00:04:28,724 --> 00:04:30,482 Looks like we're going to have to circle. 81 00:04:30,586 --> 00:04:32,310 We don't have a light on our nose gear yet. 82 00:04:33,206 --> 00:04:35,551 Eastern 401, heavy, roger. 83 00:04:35,655 --> 00:04:38,275 Pull up climb straight ahead to 2,000. 84 00:04:38,379 --> 00:04:41,862 Go back to approach control, 1-28-6. 85 00:04:45,275 --> 00:04:46,793 You want me to test the lights or not? 86 00:04:46,896 --> 00:04:47,793 Yeah. Check it. 87 00:04:49,275 --> 00:04:51,620 Flight Engineer Repo performs a test 88 00:04:51,724 --> 00:04:53,655 nicknamed the Christmas tree. 89 00:04:53,758 --> 00:04:56,241 It lights up every warning light in the cockpit 90 00:04:56,344 --> 00:04:57,689 to see if the bulbs are working. 91 00:04:58,896 --> 00:05:01,724 The nose gear indicator light fails the test. 92 00:05:03,241 --> 00:05:04,620 The bulb is probably burned out. 93 00:05:07,482 --> 00:05:10,862 But there's a slim chance of a double failure. 94 00:05:10,965 --> 00:05:14,137 Both the light bulb and the landing gear could be broken. 95 00:05:14,241 --> 00:05:15,862 Bob, could you just jiggle the light? 96 00:05:17,931 --> 00:05:20,379 But the troublesome bulb is out of the captain's reach. 97 00:05:22,551 --> 00:05:25,965 On the ground, Air Traffic Control directs Flight 401 98 00:05:26,068 --> 00:05:28,862 to climb to 2,000 feet... 99 00:05:28,965 --> 00:05:31,827 and circle away from the airport until the problem is solved. 100 00:05:34,586 --> 00:05:35,793 - You want me to fly it, Bob? - Uh... 101 00:05:35,896 --> 00:05:38,448 Uh, what frequency did he want us on, Bert? 102 00:05:38,551 --> 00:05:40,689 - 1-28-6. - I'll talk to him. 103 00:05:40,793 --> 00:05:42,689 It's right above that red one, isn't it? 104 00:05:42,793 --> 00:05:44,034 Yeah, I can't get at it from here. 105 00:05:45,241 --> 00:05:46,862 Wow. 106 00:05:46,965 --> 00:05:48,000 Yeah. I can't make it pull out either. 107 00:05:53,448 --> 00:05:55,172 It's a moonless night. 108 00:05:55,275 --> 00:05:57,517 As the plane veers away from Miami, 109 00:05:57,620 --> 00:05:59,344 there's total darkness outside. 110 00:06:01,241 --> 00:06:03,344 All of a sudden it turned pitch dark again. 111 00:06:05,034 --> 00:06:07,172 And that means we were going back out west 112 00:06:07,275 --> 00:06:08,137 towards the Everglades. 113 00:06:09,482 --> 00:06:12,655 Co-Pilot Stockstill is flying the plane, 114 00:06:12,758 --> 00:06:16,172 but Captain Loft needs his help to solve the problem. 115 00:06:16,275 --> 00:06:18,586 - Put the autopilot on here. - All right. 116 00:06:18,689 --> 00:06:20,034 The TriStar is equipped 117 00:06:20,137 --> 00:06:23,172 with the most sophisticated autopilot in history. 118 00:06:23,275 --> 00:06:26,275 It actually has the ability to land the plane on its own. 119 00:06:27,758 --> 00:06:30,689 Stockstill programs it to fly at 2,000 feet. 120 00:06:33,344 --> 00:06:34,931 Now, see if you can get that light out. 121 00:06:43,310 --> 00:06:44,551 Ah-ha! 122 00:06:44,655 --> 00:06:46,137 The light is finally removed. 123 00:06:55,310 --> 00:06:57,862 Richard Pragluski is an aviation engineer. 124 00:07:00,137 --> 00:07:02,103 He takes this flight regularly 125 00:07:02,206 --> 00:07:05,034 and can tell that the plane is experiencing technical problems. 126 00:07:06,551 --> 00:07:08,137 He was heading out towards the Everglades. 127 00:07:08,241 --> 00:07:10,655 I knew there was something wrong with the plane. 128 00:07:10,758 --> 00:07:13,206 Because if if you have a delay, they'll circle the plane. 129 00:07:14,689 --> 00:07:17,310 The irritating problem isn't getting better. 130 00:07:17,413 --> 00:07:20,241 Now, Stockstill can't get the light back in. 131 00:07:20,344 --> 00:07:22,896 Now, push the switch just forward. 132 00:07:23,000 --> 00:07:25,896 Okay. You got it sideways there. 133 00:07:26,000 --> 00:07:29,206 Eastern 401, turn left, heading 3-0-0. 134 00:07:29,310 --> 00:07:31,310 Okay, 3-0-0, Eastern 401. 135 00:07:33,793 --> 00:07:35,172 Hey. Hey, get down there 136 00:07:35,275 --> 00:07:37,482 and see if that damn nose wheel is down. 137 00:07:37,586 --> 00:07:39,103 The electronics bay on the plane 138 00:07:39,206 --> 00:07:40,758 is underneath the cockpit. 139 00:07:40,862 --> 00:07:42,862 The room, nicknamed the Hell Hole, 140 00:07:42,965 --> 00:07:45,793 is a unique feature on wide-bodied jets. 141 00:07:45,896 --> 00:07:49,068 The front landing gear mechanism can be seen from there. 142 00:07:49,172 --> 00:07:50,482 You got a handkerchief or something? 143 00:07:50,586 --> 00:07:51,931 So I can get a little better grip on this? 144 00:07:52,034 --> 00:07:53,379 Pull down and turn to your right. 145 00:07:53,482 --> 00:07:54,379 Anything I can do it with? 146 00:07:54,482 --> 00:07:55,758 Now turn to your left one time. 147 00:07:55,862 --> 00:07:57,310 Get down there and see if that damn thing... 148 00:07:57,413 --> 00:07:58,896 This won't come out, Bob. 149 00:07:59,000 --> 00:08:01,068 If I had a pair of pliers, I could cushion it with that Kleenex. 150 00:08:01,172 --> 00:08:02,172 I can give you a pair of pliers. 151 00:08:02,275 --> 00:08:03,689 But if you force it, you'll break it. 152 00:08:03,793 --> 00:08:04,965 - Just believe me. - To hell with it. 153 00:08:05,068 --> 00:08:06,103 To hell with this! 154 00:08:06,206 --> 00:08:08,275 Get down and see if we're lined up with that red line. 155 00:08:08,379 --> 00:08:09,724 That's all we care. 156 00:08:09,827 --> 00:08:11,137 Screwing around with a... 157 00:08:11,241 --> 00:08:13,413 20-cent piece of light equipment... 158 00:08:13,517 --> 00:08:14,517 On this plane. 159 00:08:19,241 --> 00:08:21,241 As the crew struggles to fix the problem, 160 00:08:22,896 --> 00:08:24,724 in the cabin, Richard Pragluski 161 00:08:24,827 --> 00:08:26,724 sees something peculiar out of his window. 162 00:08:29,172 --> 00:08:33,517 I could see the tower to my right in the distance, 163 00:08:33,620 --> 00:08:35,896 and it looked like we were going into a glide path... 164 00:08:37,068 --> 00:08:39,620 which I found very strange. 165 00:08:39,724 --> 00:08:43,482 Pragluski has noticed something the pilots haven't. 166 00:08:43,586 --> 00:08:47,275 The plane is getting closer and closer to the swamp below. 167 00:08:52,689 --> 00:08:54,620 Eastern Airlines Flight 401 168 00:08:54,724 --> 00:08:57,586 is flying over the Florida Everglades. 169 00:08:57,689 --> 00:09:00,172 Below it, nothing but a dark, deserted swamp. 170 00:09:02,586 --> 00:09:04,275 To passenger Richard Pragluski, 171 00:09:04,379 --> 00:09:05,689 something doesn't seem right. 172 00:09:07,379 --> 00:09:08,620 I felt it kind of strange 173 00:09:08,724 --> 00:09:11,586 that they hadn't made any announcements. 174 00:09:11,689 --> 00:09:14,724 But again, he was still fairly high off the ground... 175 00:09:14,827 --> 00:09:17,206 and I figured they would come out and tell us that 176 00:09:17,310 --> 00:09:19,000 when they were going to make the landing, 177 00:09:19,103 --> 00:09:21,000 so I wasn't overly concerned. 178 00:09:22,620 --> 00:09:23,896 Put it in the wrong way, huh? 179 00:09:24,000 --> 00:09:24,965 Looks square to me. 180 00:09:25,068 --> 00:09:26,655 Can't you get the hole lined up? 181 00:09:26,758 --> 00:09:28,689 I don't know what the hell's holding that damn thing in there. 182 00:09:30,034 --> 00:09:31,241 It's always something. 183 00:09:31,344 --> 00:09:32,344 We could've made schedule. 184 00:09:34,172 --> 00:09:36,241 Without a green light, they still don't know 185 00:09:36,344 --> 00:09:37,793 if their landing gear is locked. 186 00:09:47,517 --> 00:09:48,896 Flight Engineer, Don Repo 187 00:09:49,000 --> 00:09:50,482 is now in the belly of the plane. 188 00:09:52,172 --> 00:09:53,793 There's a viewing window in the Hell Hole, 189 00:09:53,896 --> 00:09:55,000 which should let him see 190 00:09:55,103 --> 00:09:56,965 if the front wheels are locked in place. 191 00:09:58,068 --> 00:09:58,931 Damn. 192 00:10:01,965 --> 00:10:03,551 - I don't see it down there. - Eh? 193 00:10:03,655 --> 00:10:05,620 - I don't see it. - It's not lined up? 194 00:10:05,724 --> 00:10:07,620 I can't see it. It's pitch dark, 195 00:10:07,724 --> 00:10:09,413 and I throw the little light and get nothing. 196 00:10:11,655 --> 00:10:13,344 - Wheel well lights on? - Pardon? 197 00:10:13,448 --> 00:10:16,000 Wheel well lights on? 198 00:10:16,103 --> 00:10:19,482 Captain Loft has forgotten to turn on lights outside the plane 199 00:10:19,586 --> 00:10:20,689 that illuminate the landing gear. 200 00:10:22,137 --> 00:10:22,965 Now try it. 201 00:10:29,206 --> 00:10:31,413 97-37-0-0-7-4. 202 00:10:36,586 --> 00:10:38,206 At Miami International, 203 00:10:38,310 --> 00:10:40,931 Controller Charlie Johnson has just finished dealing 204 00:10:41,034 --> 00:10:42,793 with another troubled jet. 205 00:10:42,896 --> 00:10:45,827 National 607 has landed without incident. 206 00:10:45,931 --> 00:10:48,275 Fire trucks were deployed, but they weren't used. 207 00:10:51,862 --> 00:10:54,965 He notices that Eastern Airlines Flight 401 208 00:10:55,068 --> 00:10:58,551 seems to have dropped from 2,000 feet to 900. 209 00:11:01,310 --> 00:11:02,793 But he's not overly concerned. 210 00:11:04,103 --> 00:11:06,172 It's not unusual to get false readings 211 00:11:06,275 --> 00:11:08,172 for several radar sweeps in a row. 212 00:11:09,103 --> 00:11:11,137 Eastern 401... 213 00:11:11,241 --> 00:11:12,586 how are things coming along out there? 214 00:11:13,758 --> 00:11:17,344 Okay, we'd like to turn around and come... 215 00:11:17,448 --> 00:11:18,655 come back in. 216 00:11:18,758 --> 00:11:21,379 Captain Loft believes that he'll soon get confirmation 217 00:11:21,482 --> 00:11:22,586 that his gear is locked. 218 00:11:22,689 --> 00:11:24,620 He wants to return to the airport. 219 00:11:24,724 --> 00:11:27,344 Eastern 401, turn left, heading... 220 00:11:27,448 --> 00:11:29,172 1-8-0. 221 00:11:41,758 --> 00:11:45,103 The plane is heading west, away from the airport. 222 00:11:45,206 --> 00:11:47,655 It will take several minutes to get lined up for the landing. 223 00:11:53,586 --> 00:11:54,931 Deep in the Everglades, 224 00:11:55,034 --> 00:11:57,275 Bob Marquis is hunting frogs with a friend. 225 00:12:00,551 --> 00:12:04,172 Eastern Airlines Flight 401 roars past. 226 00:12:06,448 --> 00:12:09,241 I just saw the lights blinking 227 00:12:09,344 --> 00:12:12,000 across the sky, and it was so black. 228 00:12:12,103 --> 00:12:15,103 There was no horizon in the West, and... 229 00:12:15,206 --> 00:12:18,517 you couldn't tell how high the plane was. 230 00:12:18,620 --> 00:12:21,310 Suddenly, the pilots make an alarming observation. 231 00:12:21,413 --> 00:12:22,793 We did something to the altitude. 232 00:12:22,896 --> 00:12:24,793 - What? - We're still at 2,000, right? 233 00:12:24,896 --> 00:12:26,068 Hey, hey, what's happening here? 234 00:12:40,344 --> 00:12:41,517 I see the lights in the cabin 235 00:12:41,620 --> 00:12:42,689 just flickering on and off, 236 00:12:42,793 --> 00:12:44,172 and then I heard a noise. 237 00:12:44,275 --> 00:12:47,689 There was a violent, I mean, a violent whipping sensation. 238 00:12:47,793 --> 00:12:50,344 And then all of a sudden, all hell broke loose. 239 00:13:03,448 --> 00:13:06,655 Charlie Johnson notices that Flight 401's altitude 240 00:13:06,758 --> 00:13:09,413 now reads as coastal or sea level. 241 00:13:09,517 --> 00:13:11,206 Eastern 401, 242 00:13:11,310 --> 00:13:13,620 I've lost you on the radar there, your transponder. 243 00:13:13,724 --> 00:13:14,620 What's your altitude now? 244 00:13:16,655 --> 00:13:18,965 There's no response from Eastern 401. 245 00:13:21,896 --> 00:13:24,965 Another plane makes a disturbing report. 246 00:13:25,068 --> 00:13:27,034 Miami Approach, this is National 611. 247 00:13:27,137 --> 00:13:30,241 We just saw a big flash. It looked like it came out west. 248 00:13:30,344 --> 00:13:32,137 Don't know what it means, but wanted to let you know. 249 00:13:41,379 --> 00:13:43,275 In a dark, remote swamp, 250 00:13:43,379 --> 00:13:46,620 those who survived the crash find themselves in a nightmare. 251 00:13:54,344 --> 00:13:57,965 Bob Marquis races towards the site of the crash. 252 00:13:58,068 --> 00:14:00,310 Oh, I was going as fast as I could. 253 00:14:00,413 --> 00:14:02,172 It took me about 15 minutes, I think, 254 00:14:02,275 --> 00:14:03,448 to get to the crash site. 255 00:14:24,172 --> 00:14:26,724 Remarkably, Richard Pragluski is alive. 256 00:14:28,965 --> 00:14:30,689 I knew I was badly injured 257 00:14:30,793 --> 00:14:33,724 because I could see my clothes hanging from my body. 258 00:14:33,827 --> 00:14:35,827 I had almost no clothes on the upper half of my body 259 00:14:35,931 --> 00:14:38,586 and I could see skin coming down my arms. 260 00:14:40,655 --> 00:14:44,620 And I also knew that when you're in shock, you feel no pain. 261 00:14:44,724 --> 00:14:47,793 So I knew I really was seriously injured. 262 00:14:47,896 --> 00:14:48,931 And I started thinking... 263 00:14:49,034 --> 00:14:51,137 I said, "Well, you know, the pain will come later. 264 00:14:51,241 --> 00:14:53,965 "But how do I keep calm 265 00:14:54,068 --> 00:14:56,620 "and get out of there because the longer I'm in that swamp 266 00:14:56,724 --> 00:14:58,241 "in the condition I'm in, the more danger I'm in." 267 00:15:01,689 --> 00:15:02,896 When the plane crashed, 268 00:15:03,000 --> 00:15:05,310 a huge fireball tore through the cabin. 269 00:15:07,310 --> 00:15:09,758 I remember that fire coming to my face. 270 00:15:10,655 --> 00:15:12,862 I remember the flash. 271 00:15:12,965 --> 00:15:14,793 I remember that I tried breathing. 272 00:15:14,896 --> 00:15:16,000 I could not get my breath. 273 00:15:16,103 --> 00:15:19,448 Of course, the fire took all the oxygen out of the air. 274 00:15:19,551 --> 00:15:21,724 And that's the last thing I remember 275 00:15:21,827 --> 00:15:23,827 until I got up in the swamp itself. 276 00:15:25,655 --> 00:15:28,931 Ron Infantino was knocked out by the crash. 277 00:15:29,034 --> 00:15:30,482 He wakes up in the swamp. 278 00:15:31,344 --> 00:15:33,517 So I was thrown quite a bit. 279 00:15:33,620 --> 00:15:35,724 And I was away from everybody else. 280 00:15:35,827 --> 00:15:36,758 Nobody was even near me. 281 00:15:37,896 --> 00:15:38,793 Lilly. 282 00:15:43,206 --> 00:15:44,206 Lilly. 283 00:15:45,068 --> 00:15:46,206 He's badly wounded. 284 00:15:47,620 --> 00:15:50,310 His new wife, Lilly, was sitting next to him, 285 00:15:50,413 --> 00:15:51,965 but now she's nowhere to be seen. 286 00:15:59,862 --> 00:16:02,103 Swamp water doused the initial flames. 287 00:16:03,793 --> 00:16:07,551 But 20,000 kg of jet fuel has now leaked into the swamp. 288 00:16:09,551 --> 00:16:12,241 A single spark could start a deadly blaze. 289 00:16:13,724 --> 00:16:15,000 No one light a match. 290 00:16:17,034 --> 00:16:18,206 We're covered in jet fuel. 291 00:16:19,827 --> 00:16:23,482 What a sad thing to come through that crash... 292 00:16:23,586 --> 00:16:26,137 and then have somebody do something stupid 293 00:16:26,241 --> 00:16:29,137 like strike a match and have us all just blow up. 294 00:16:29,241 --> 00:16:30,586 That was the real fear. 295 00:16:35,620 --> 00:16:37,379 Hoping to help the survivors, 296 00:16:37,482 --> 00:16:40,689 Bob Marquis jumps into the swamp. 297 00:16:40,793 --> 00:16:43,655 He immediately feels the sting of the jet fuel on his skin. 298 00:16:44,827 --> 00:16:46,000 It burnt my legs, 299 00:16:46,103 --> 00:16:49,310 and I had to treat my legs for burns for about a week. 300 00:16:51,103 --> 00:16:52,724 Marquis quickly spots a survivor 301 00:16:52,827 --> 00:16:53,896 who's in grave danger. 302 00:16:55,793 --> 00:16:58,620 The badly wounded man is still strapped to his seat. 303 00:16:58,724 --> 00:17:01,000 He's on the verge of drowning. 304 00:17:01,103 --> 00:17:03,586 His head kept dropping down in the water. 305 00:17:05,137 --> 00:17:07,103 He came up and he said "Help me. 306 00:17:07,206 --> 00:17:08,793 "I can't hold my head up much longer," 307 00:17:08,896 --> 00:17:10,344 and then dropped back down in the water. 308 00:17:11,482 --> 00:17:14,000 So I helped him, I pulled him up. 309 00:17:14,103 --> 00:17:16,517 Don't worry. I gotcha. I gotcha. 310 00:17:18,551 --> 00:17:20,862 Bob Marquis saves dozens of lives, 311 00:17:20,965 --> 00:17:22,931 preventing many people from drowning. 312 00:17:28,896 --> 00:17:31,517 Isolated from the other survivors and unable to move, 313 00:17:33,000 --> 00:17:37,379 Ron Infantino now has a new reason to fear for his life. 314 00:17:37,482 --> 00:17:40,310 After a while, the alligators and the snakes, 315 00:17:40,413 --> 00:17:42,206 you could hear them in the weeds... 316 00:17:42,310 --> 00:17:45,172 coming by. And you could hear the croaking of the alligators, 317 00:17:45,275 --> 00:17:47,310 because they started to come back to their natural habitat. 318 00:17:50,620 --> 00:17:51,620 And as far as I'm concerned, 319 00:17:51,724 --> 00:17:52,724 if a 'gator came up to me or a snake, 320 00:17:52,827 --> 00:17:55,068 I was dead meat because I couldn't defend myself at all. 321 00:17:57,103 --> 00:17:58,758 And then I heard Christmas caroling. 322 00:17:59,862 --> 00:18:01,655 ♪ Silent night 323 00:18:01,758 --> 00:18:03,241 ♪ Silent night 324 00:18:04,241 --> 00:18:07,827 ♪ Holy night 325 00:18:08,896 --> 00:18:12,896 ♪ All is calm... ♪ 326 00:18:13,000 --> 00:18:14,827 To rally the survivors' spirits, 327 00:18:14,931 --> 00:18:17,655 Trudy Smith and others sing Christmas carols. 328 00:18:18,793 --> 00:18:22,482 ♪ Round yon virgin... ♪ 329 00:18:22,586 --> 00:18:25,034 We knew instinctively 330 00:18:25,137 --> 00:18:27,000 that we weren't going to get out of there in a hurry 331 00:18:28,000 --> 00:18:29,413 because nobody knew where we were. 332 00:18:31,379 --> 00:18:34,000 In the middle of the swamp, midnight... 333 00:18:35,793 --> 00:18:37,206 So what else are you going to do? 334 00:18:37,310 --> 00:18:42,137 ♪ Sleep in heavenly peace ♪ 335 00:18:42,241 --> 00:18:43,862 And you've got to picture us this, I mean, 336 00:18:43,965 --> 00:18:46,206 in the dark, at night, 337 00:18:46,310 --> 00:18:48,068 all you hear is singing in the wilderness. 338 00:18:48,172 --> 00:18:53,793 ♪ Sleep in heavenly peace ♪ 339 00:18:53,896 --> 00:18:57,758 It was like being on the Titanic going down, type of thing, you know? 340 00:18:57,862 --> 00:18:59,000 It was unbelievable. 341 00:19:04,241 --> 00:19:06,379 Within minutes, Coast Guard helicopters 342 00:19:06,482 --> 00:19:09,689 are sent out in search of the crash site. 343 00:19:09,793 --> 00:19:12,689 But in the pitch black night, they can't find the wreckage. 344 00:19:15,965 --> 00:19:19,034 Bob Marquis tries to signal the distant helicopters. 345 00:19:20,931 --> 00:19:24,620 But I could see where they were and they were going the wrong direction. 346 00:19:24,724 --> 00:19:27,965 nd I just waved the light at them until I saw them turn 347 00:19:28,068 --> 00:19:29,137 and head back towards us. 348 00:19:38,000 --> 00:19:40,310 It seemed like we'd been in the swamps 349 00:19:40,413 --> 00:19:42,379 for a really long time when we heard... 350 00:19:44,103 --> 00:19:45,758 a helicopter and... 351 00:19:47,275 --> 00:19:49,137 it was such a welcoming sound 352 00:19:49,241 --> 00:19:52,000 because that means somebody knows that you're there. 353 00:19:57,344 --> 00:19:59,448 Less than half an hour after the crash, 354 00:19:59,551 --> 00:20:00,724 the Coast Guard arrives. 355 00:20:03,862 --> 00:20:06,413 But the nearest landing site is 100 meters away. 356 00:20:08,931 --> 00:20:11,068 Marquis rushes to meet the helicopter 357 00:20:11,172 --> 00:20:13,172 and ferry the rescuers back to the crash site. 358 00:20:15,379 --> 00:20:18,344 His first passenger is rescue worker Don Schneck. 359 00:20:19,482 --> 00:20:21,482 I made it to the airboat. 360 00:20:21,586 --> 00:20:24,827 He asked me, "Where are all the rescuers?" 361 00:20:26,310 --> 00:20:27,896 And I said, "This is it. Let's go." 362 00:20:32,586 --> 00:20:36,172 He took us out into the Glades 363 00:20:36,275 --> 00:20:39,827 to a point where he said, "This is as far as I want to go 364 00:20:39,931 --> 00:20:42,103 "because I don't want to run anybody over." 365 00:20:42,206 --> 00:20:45,000 And he said, "There are bodies out here all over the place." 366 00:20:51,241 --> 00:20:53,517 Don Schneck starts searching for survivors. 367 00:20:56,379 --> 00:20:58,275 I approached the... 368 00:20:58,379 --> 00:21:01,758 large object that I had seen at a small distance 369 00:21:01,862 --> 00:21:05,344 and realized it was the nose section of the aircraft. 370 00:21:08,172 --> 00:21:09,482 He's amazed to discover that 371 00:21:09,586 --> 00:21:12,655 Captain Bob Loft has survived the crash. 372 00:21:18,793 --> 00:21:19,758 He was in bad shape. 373 00:21:22,896 --> 00:21:26,137 He had lacerations, so I knew he had broken ribs. 374 00:21:27,517 --> 00:21:29,206 I could tell he was in shock. 375 00:21:29,310 --> 00:21:33,724 So I calmed him down, told him I'm the only one here right now, 376 00:21:33,827 --> 00:21:34,793 but they're coming. 377 00:21:35,482 --> 00:21:36,551 Just hang in there. 378 00:21:37,655 --> 00:21:39,068 I'm going to die. 379 00:21:40,517 --> 00:21:41,448 He told me that, 380 00:21:42,275 --> 00:21:43,310 and I argued with him. 381 00:21:44,517 --> 00:21:46,000 Anything to keep his... 382 00:21:46,724 --> 00:21:47,758 anything going. 383 00:21:47,862 --> 00:21:50,758 It just made me feel so inadequate. 384 00:21:51,896 --> 00:21:54,103 Because it was just me. 385 00:21:54,206 --> 00:21:56,655 I turned around and I looked back towards Miami 386 00:21:57,551 --> 00:21:59,758 and thinking, 387 00:21:59,862 --> 00:22:01,827 "Where in the heck is everybody?" 388 00:22:03,793 --> 00:22:05,379 And at that time when I looked, 389 00:22:05,482 --> 00:22:08,344 I must have seen 50 lights coming. 390 00:22:09,241 --> 00:22:10,689 And I went, "Thank God." 391 00:22:13,724 --> 00:22:15,517 First Officer Burt Stockstill 392 00:22:15,620 --> 00:22:17,862 was killed during the crash. 393 00:22:17,965 --> 00:22:20,448 Captain Bob Loft soon dies at the scene. 394 00:22:25,482 --> 00:22:27,862 Angelo Donadeo and Don Repo 395 00:22:27,965 --> 00:22:30,000 have survived and are taken to hospital. 396 00:22:34,517 --> 00:22:37,724 In all, 77 people survived the crash. 397 00:22:38,931 --> 00:22:42,620 99 people are killed. 398 00:22:42,724 --> 00:22:46,344 By dawn, all the wounded have been transported to Miami hospitals. 399 00:22:50,310 --> 00:22:54,172 Ron Infantino is one of the many who are struggling to survive. 400 00:22:54,275 --> 00:22:56,620 A priest comes over, and does the last rites. 401 00:22:56,724 --> 00:22:58,965 So right then I knew I was in bad shape. 402 00:22:59,758 --> 00:23:01,724 And it's a scary thought. 403 00:23:01,827 --> 00:23:03,000 And of course, at that time, 404 00:23:03,103 --> 00:23:04,379 I'm still asking for Lilly, you know? 405 00:23:04,482 --> 00:23:05,655 Have they seen her? 406 00:23:05,758 --> 00:23:07,931 It was such a madhouse there that night, you could imagine. 407 00:23:08,034 --> 00:23:08,931 Lilly. 408 00:23:11,448 --> 00:23:12,310 Where's Lilly? 409 00:23:19,379 --> 00:23:21,862 The crash is headline news around the world. 410 00:23:23,517 --> 00:23:26,034 It's the first ever jumbo jet crash, 411 00:23:26,137 --> 00:23:28,275 and it produces the largest number of deaths 412 00:23:28,379 --> 00:23:30,172 in US civil aviation history. 413 00:23:33,896 --> 00:23:35,931 There's tremendous pressure on investigators 414 00:23:36,034 --> 00:23:38,517 from the National Transportation Safety Board 415 00:23:38,620 --> 00:23:40,931 to find out what happened. 416 00:23:41,034 --> 00:23:43,172 It was an enormous puzzle, 417 00:23:43,275 --> 00:23:46,551 because this was the newest, the most sophisticated, 418 00:23:46,655 --> 00:23:48,448 the best of the airliners, 419 00:23:48,551 --> 00:23:52,000 that apparently was in perfect working condition. 420 00:23:52,103 --> 00:23:55,689 So the NTSB perceived that this was going to be 421 00:23:55,793 --> 00:23:57,655 a very long investigation 422 00:23:57,758 --> 00:24:00,758 that involved multi-level potential problems. 423 00:24:02,551 --> 00:24:05,137 The crash site itself is an important clue 424 00:24:05,241 --> 00:24:07,000 for investigators arriving at the scene. 425 00:24:08,448 --> 00:24:10,482 The trail of debris is enormously long. 426 00:24:11,655 --> 00:24:13,931 That suggests that the plane hit the swamp 427 00:24:14,034 --> 00:24:15,965 almost in the same nose-on position 428 00:24:16,068 --> 00:24:17,724 as it would while landing at an airport. 429 00:24:20,034 --> 00:24:22,517 Its descent was clearly slow and gradual. 430 00:24:24,896 --> 00:24:27,068 NTSB investigators have documented 431 00:24:27,172 --> 00:24:29,724 the final settings for many of the instruments in the cockpit. 432 00:24:32,103 --> 00:24:34,103 They discover that the autopilot 433 00:24:34,206 --> 00:24:36,517 was set to maintain an altitude of 2,000 feet. 434 00:24:38,206 --> 00:24:39,379 So why didn't it? 435 00:24:43,344 --> 00:24:46,241 Maintenance expert, Angelo Donadeo is interviewed. 436 00:24:46,344 --> 00:24:49,413 All he can tell investigators is the crew was trying to fix 437 00:24:49,517 --> 00:24:51,379 a light bulb before the crash. 438 00:24:54,172 --> 00:24:56,965 Within days, the plane's two black boxes are recovered. 439 00:24:58,241 --> 00:25:00,965 Investigators hope they will provide some answers. 440 00:25:02,620 --> 00:25:04,241 Before they can extract the data... 441 00:25:05,517 --> 00:25:08,482 Flight Engineer, Don Repo dies in hospital. 442 00:25:10,827 --> 00:25:13,931 Ron Infantino is given some devastating news of his own. 443 00:25:15,241 --> 00:25:16,758 The body of his wife, Lilly, 444 00:25:16,862 --> 00:25:18,896 has been found under the plane's wing. 445 00:25:24,103 --> 00:25:25,551 She's just a wonderful person. 446 00:25:25,655 --> 00:25:28,586 I was 27 years old and she was the same age, and... 447 00:25:28,689 --> 00:25:31,137 she was actually my first love. 448 00:25:31,241 --> 00:25:33,413 Infantino is haunted by the memory 449 00:25:33,517 --> 00:25:35,896 of switching seats with Lilly just before the crash. 450 00:25:38,103 --> 00:25:40,655 They had swapped seats quite casually earlier, 451 00:25:40,758 --> 00:25:42,413 during the flight, when she had gotten up 452 00:25:42,517 --> 00:25:44,620 to go to the restroom. 453 00:25:44,724 --> 00:25:47,482 She was thrown into the swamp and drowned, and he lived. 454 00:25:50,137 --> 00:25:52,103 The swamp proves both a blessing 455 00:25:52,206 --> 00:25:53,793 and a curse for survivors. 456 00:25:55,103 --> 00:25:57,896 That's what saved most of the lives, actually. 457 00:25:58,000 --> 00:26:00,793 Because the plane broke up, it absorbed all the energy. 458 00:26:02,344 --> 00:26:06,241 You know, the mud absorbed it and the plane just dispersed. 459 00:26:07,931 --> 00:26:10,206 The swamp water is so thick with mud, 460 00:26:10,310 --> 00:26:12,482 it also clogs survivors' wounds, 461 00:26:12,586 --> 00:26:14,448 preventing many from bleeding to death. 462 00:26:20,034 --> 00:26:22,931 But there's a deadly new threat facing some survivors. 463 00:26:25,758 --> 00:26:27,931 Their wounds have become infected, 464 00:26:28,034 --> 00:26:30,137 contaminated by a deadly organism 465 00:26:30,241 --> 00:26:32,275 found in the black mud of the Everglades. 466 00:26:36,068 --> 00:26:40,482 The organism produces an infection called gas gangrene. 467 00:26:40,586 --> 00:26:42,724 It can kill a person in just two days. 468 00:26:45,137 --> 00:26:48,241 Gas gangrene can only be destroyed in a hyperbaric chamber. 469 00:26:50,275 --> 00:26:51,827 It's a pressurized container 470 00:26:51,931 --> 00:26:53,793 that gets filled with high levels of oxygen. 471 00:26:55,862 --> 00:26:59,448 The oxygen gets forced into the wounds and kills the bacteria. 472 00:27:02,862 --> 00:27:06,310 Eight of the surviving passengers are infected with gas gangrene. 473 00:27:08,137 --> 00:27:10,724 Hyperbaric chambers must be found for all of them. 474 00:27:12,551 --> 00:27:14,310 The only other way to save patients 475 00:27:14,413 --> 00:27:16,275 is to amputate the infected limb. 476 00:27:19,620 --> 00:27:23,793 Ron Infantino's arm is badly infected. 477 00:27:23,896 --> 00:27:28,344 Doctor came in and says, "Well, we've diagnosed it as gas gangrene." 478 00:27:28,448 --> 00:27:30,448 He says, "We've got to take your arm off immediately, 479 00:27:30,551 --> 00:27:33,172 "or have to get you to a hyperbaric chamber." 480 00:27:33,275 --> 00:27:35,344 "Unfortunately," he says, "the only hyperbaric chambers 481 00:27:35,448 --> 00:27:38,827 "at Mercy Hospital, that's all been taken advantage of." 482 00:27:38,931 --> 00:27:41,517 Unless doctors can find a chamber soon, 483 00:27:41,620 --> 00:27:43,620 Infantino will lose his arm. 484 00:27:47,724 --> 00:27:50,655 While doctors search for a chamber for Ron Infantino, 485 00:27:52,379 --> 00:27:55,724 investigators examine what's left of the plane. 486 00:27:55,827 --> 00:27:59,275 They test its flight controls, engines, instruments, 487 00:27:59,379 --> 00:28:01,551 and its electrical and hydraulic systems. 488 00:28:04,862 --> 00:28:06,862 The plane was virtually new. 489 00:28:06,965 --> 00:28:08,551 It was in perfect condition. 490 00:28:08,655 --> 00:28:11,586 There was no mechanical reason found 491 00:28:11,689 --> 00:28:14,172 that would have caused the crash. 492 00:28:14,275 --> 00:28:17,586 In fact, some parts of the plane are in such good condition, 493 00:28:17,689 --> 00:28:20,586 that the NTSB gives them back to Eastern Airlines 494 00:28:20,689 --> 00:28:23,068 so they can be installed on other airplanes in its fleet. 495 00:28:29,206 --> 00:28:32,137 An unused hyperbaric chamber is finally found 496 00:28:32,241 --> 00:28:35,103 for Ron Infantino at a Navy base in Panama City. 497 00:28:39,344 --> 00:28:41,000 He spends 40 hours in the chamber. 498 00:28:42,137 --> 00:28:45,000 The pressurized oxygen kills the bacteria 499 00:28:45,103 --> 00:28:46,413 and saves his life. 500 00:28:48,551 --> 00:28:53,206 Gentlemen, we have three causes of the crash to explore. 501 00:28:53,310 --> 00:28:56,413 A state of the art jetliner plunged 2,000 feet 502 00:28:56,517 --> 00:28:58,068 without the crew noticing. 503 00:28:58,172 --> 00:29:01,862 Investigators know the plane was mechanically sound. 504 00:29:01,965 --> 00:29:05,379 They now focus on other possible reasons for the unobserved descent. 505 00:29:07,551 --> 00:29:08,965 At the top of the list 506 00:29:09,068 --> 00:29:11,275 is "subtle incapacitation of the pilot." 507 00:29:13,620 --> 00:29:15,482 The autopsy of Captain Bob Loft 508 00:29:15,586 --> 00:29:17,103 has yielded a gruesome discovery. 509 00:29:21,172 --> 00:29:23,793 Captain Loft had a large, undetected tumor 510 00:29:23,896 --> 00:29:24,965 growing in his brain. 511 00:29:26,586 --> 00:29:29,344 It pressed into the part of his brain responsible for sight. 512 00:29:31,310 --> 00:29:35,241 Medical records reveal that between the ages of 50 and 52, 513 00:29:35,344 --> 00:29:39,275 vision in the pilot's left eye had rapidly deteriorated. 514 00:29:39,379 --> 00:29:40,965 Doctors believe that the captain 515 00:29:41,068 --> 00:29:42,965 may have had reduced peripheral vision. 516 00:29:44,379 --> 00:29:46,689 The tumor could have created blind spots. 517 00:29:48,344 --> 00:29:51,068 As his attention became focused on the malfunctioning light, 518 00:29:51,172 --> 00:29:54,620 he may not have noticed dire warnings on his altimeter. 519 00:30:00,206 --> 00:30:03,000 Investigators consider a stunning possibility. 520 00:30:05,137 --> 00:30:07,103 An undetected medical ailment 521 00:30:07,206 --> 00:30:11,206 may have contributed to the world's first jumbo jet disaster. 522 00:30:11,310 --> 00:30:12,620 We're still at 2,000, right? 523 00:30:13,448 --> 00:30:14,620 Hey, hey, what's happening here? 524 00:30:17,724 --> 00:30:21,103 Investigators learn what they can about Captain Bob Loft. 525 00:30:22,448 --> 00:30:24,379 They interview people who knew him 526 00:30:24,482 --> 00:30:26,172 and pore over his medical records. 527 00:30:27,310 --> 00:30:29,862 The investigators heard that Captain Loft, 528 00:30:29,965 --> 00:30:32,241 so far as his family and friends knew, 529 00:30:32,344 --> 00:30:33,344 had perfect vision. 530 00:30:33,448 --> 00:30:35,379 He was an expert marksman. 531 00:30:35,482 --> 00:30:39,586 He shot doves particularly, which are a very small target. 532 00:30:39,689 --> 00:30:42,517 Loft's records show that he had recently passed a medical 533 00:30:42,620 --> 00:30:45,275 in which he was issued corrective glasses for flying. 534 00:30:47,724 --> 00:30:49,862 But the evidence doesn't support the notion 535 00:30:49,965 --> 00:30:51,827 that his vision was dangerously impaired. 536 00:30:52,827 --> 00:30:54,172 He was 55 years old 537 00:30:54,275 --> 00:30:57,206 and who gets to be 55 without wearing reading glasses? 538 00:30:57,310 --> 00:30:58,827 Not many. 539 00:30:58,931 --> 00:31:02,517 Dr. Joe Davis, who did the autopsy, told me 540 00:31:02,620 --> 00:31:06,448 that even though the tumor was pressing on areas of his brain that control vision, 541 00:31:06,551 --> 00:31:08,206 there was no reason to think 542 00:31:08,310 --> 00:31:11,344 that it had yet begun to affect it. 543 00:31:11,448 --> 00:31:14,000 He felt it had nothing to do with the accident. 544 00:31:15,724 --> 00:31:17,586 Investigators still don't know 545 00:31:17,689 --> 00:31:21,758 why Flight 401 started descending in the first place. 546 00:31:21,862 --> 00:31:23,620 - Put the autopilot on here. - All right. 547 00:31:26,379 --> 00:31:27,931 Could the autopilot, 548 00:31:28,034 --> 00:31:30,965 which was supposed to keep the plane at 2,000 feet have malfunctioned? 549 00:31:32,241 --> 00:31:34,206 The plane's computers survived the crash. 550 00:31:35,827 --> 00:31:37,137 They're removed and examined. 551 00:31:39,931 --> 00:31:43,068 Eleven days after the crash, the autopilot computers 552 00:31:43,172 --> 00:31:45,172 are installed on another TriStar. 553 00:31:47,965 --> 00:31:50,655 It flies the same route as Flight 401. 554 00:31:53,310 --> 00:31:56,172 The autopilot holds that plane at 2,000 feet. 555 00:31:57,827 --> 00:32:01,137 So why hadn't it on the night of the accident? 556 00:32:01,241 --> 00:32:04,172 Investigators will need to explore other leads to find out. 557 00:32:08,068 --> 00:32:10,413 There's another question that dogs this investigation. 558 00:32:12,862 --> 00:32:15,517 Why didn't the Miami Tower alert the crew 559 00:32:15,620 --> 00:32:16,724 that their plane was dropping? 560 00:32:19,000 --> 00:32:21,551 The world's first three-dimensional radar 561 00:32:21,655 --> 00:32:23,068 had recently been installed there. 562 00:32:25,000 --> 00:32:27,206 It meant that Controller, Charlie Johnson 563 00:32:27,310 --> 00:32:31,000 knew the location, altitude and speed of Flight 401. 564 00:32:38,689 --> 00:32:40,344 National 607 is declaring an emergency... 565 00:32:40,448 --> 00:32:44,068 Investigators study recordings of Johnson's conversations... 566 00:32:44,172 --> 00:32:45,827 Fire and ambulance sent out right away. 567 00:32:45,931 --> 00:32:47,620 ...and discover that on the night of the crash 568 00:32:47,724 --> 00:32:50,620 it was another plane that demanded most of his attention. 569 00:32:52,724 --> 00:32:56,172 National Airlines Flight 607 was coming in to land 570 00:32:56,275 --> 00:32:58,000 just ahead of Flight 401. 571 00:32:59,655 --> 00:33:02,344 That flight was having its own landing gear problems. 572 00:33:02,448 --> 00:33:06,310 Runway 9 will need Fire and ambulances sent out right away. 573 00:33:06,413 --> 00:33:10,137 As he focused on the emergency, Johnson handed flight 401 574 00:33:10,241 --> 00:33:11,758 over to another controller. 575 00:33:13,379 --> 00:33:17,862 But just as National 607 came in for its emergency landing, 576 00:33:17,965 --> 00:33:19,620 the other controller phoned Johnson 577 00:33:19,724 --> 00:33:21,862 and handed Flight 401 back to him. 578 00:33:21,965 --> 00:33:23,620 Eastern 401, Heavy's coming back to you. 579 00:33:23,724 --> 00:33:24,758 Unsafe nose gear. 580 00:33:25,655 --> 00:33:27,724 Uh, no. 581 00:33:27,827 --> 00:33:31,000 At the time, Flight 401 was already over the swamp. 582 00:33:33,000 --> 00:33:35,413 Johnson had five other planes to monitor. 583 00:33:35,517 --> 00:33:37,517 He was also dealing with the aftermath 584 00:33:37,620 --> 00:33:38,862 of his emergency landing. 585 00:33:38,965 --> 00:33:41,448 National 607 has landed without incident. Trucks were deployed... 586 00:33:41,551 --> 00:33:44,482 That's when he noticed that Flight 401's altitude 587 00:33:44,586 --> 00:33:46,482 had dropped to 900 feet. 588 00:33:47,241 --> 00:33:48,896 The way the radars work, 589 00:33:49,000 --> 00:33:50,344 still, to a certain extent this happens, 590 00:33:50,448 --> 00:33:52,206 but back then it was even worse. 591 00:33:52,310 --> 00:33:54,586 "Coast Mode" was a very well-known phenomena. 592 00:33:54,689 --> 00:33:57,103 I mean, you might lose the target for two or three minutes 593 00:33:57,206 --> 00:33:59,448 in terms of the altitude reporting part of it, 594 00:33:59,551 --> 00:34:01,758 and it goes and gives you some weird altitude. 595 00:34:01,862 --> 00:34:04,068 And then, boom, it's right back where it should be. 596 00:34:04,172 --> 00:34:05,758 But the controller didn't stop there, 597 00:34:05,862 --> 00:34:06,896 and this was really to his credit. 598 00:34:07,000 --> 00:34:10,689 Johnson decided to make contact with Flight 401. 599 00:34:10,793 --> 00:34:14,241 Eastern 401, how are things coming along? 600 00:34:15,724 --> 00:34:20,034 Okay, we'd like to turn around and come back in. 601 00:34:21,689 --> 00:34:26,068 Eastern 401, turn left, heading 1-8-0. 602 00:34:28,000 --> 00:34:32,620 After that brief exchange, Johnson assumed there was no problem. 603 00:34:32,724 --> 00:34:34,034 Eastern 401... 604 00:34:35,172 --> 00:34:36,034 How are things coming along? 605 00:34:37,310 --> 00:34:38,344 Okay... 606 00:34:38,448 --> 00:34:41,206 Investigators concluded that at that moment, 607 00:34:41,310 --> 00:34:42,931 Controller Johnson was the only one 608 00:34:43,034 --> 00:34:45,862 who could see that the plane was losing altitude. 609 00:34:45,965 --> 00:34:48,517 Why hadn't he passed that information along to the crew? 610 00:34:52,000 --> 00:34:55,586 US Government regulations for air traffic controllers provide the answer. 611 00:34:58,241 --> 00:35:00,586 It simply wasn't part of a controller's job. 612 00:35:02,103 --> 00:35:03,620 At the time of the crash, 613 00:35:03,724 --> 00:35:06,448 the FAA required approach controllers 614 00:35:06,551 --> 00:35:09,275 to maintain a separation of the airplanes. 615 00:35:09,379 --> 00:35:12,344 It did not give them a duty 616 00:35:12,448 --> 00:35:15,896 to maintain the altitude of the airliner 617 00:35:16,000 --> 00:35:17,068 with regard to the ground. 618 00:35:19,206 --> 00:35:21,034 Now investigators try to determine 619 00:35:21,137 --> 00:35:22,896 how the plane's own warning system 620 00:35:23,000 --> 00:35:25,344 failed to alert pilots to their growing danger. 621 00:35:27,379 --> 00:35:30,275 The L-1011 is equipped with an alarm that sounds 622 00:35:30,379 --> 00:35:32,413 if the plane goes 250 feet, 623 00:35:32,517 --> 00:35:35,413 above or below the altitude selected by the pilots. 624 00:35:37,896 --> 00:35:40,896 As investigators replay the tape from the black box, 625 00:35:41,000 --> 00:35:43,862 they clearly hear that alarm sounding in the cockpit 626 00:35:43,965 --> 00:35:46,344 as the plane passed through 1,750 ft. 627 00:35:49,586 --> 00:35:50,793 Did you hear that? 628 00:35:50,896 --> 00:35:51,793 How'd they miss it? 629 00:35:53,448 --> 00:35:56,586 Investigators closely examine the cockpit transcript 630 00:35:56,689 --> 00:35:59,241 to try to understand how the alarm was missed. 631 00:36:00,655 --> 00:36:03,275 - Put it in the wrong way, huh? - Look's square to me. 632 00:36:03,379 --> 00:36:07,172 Investigators noticed that just before the alarm sounded in the cockpit, 633 00:36:07,275 --> 00:36:10,000 warning the crew that the plane is too low, 634 00:36:10,103 --> 00:36:11,896 both pilots were completely absorbed 635 00:36:12,000 --> 00:36:14,137 with the landing gear light. 636 00:36:14,241 --> 00:36:16,379 The conversation also tells investigators 637 00:36:16,482 --> 00:36:20,068 that the flight engineer was below in the hell hole. 638 00:36:20,172 --> 00:36:23,379 The warning chime came out of a speaker at his work station. 639 00:36:25,103 --> 00:36:27,793 Investigators begin to realize that the two pilots 640 00:36:27,896 --> 00:36:31,586 were unable to hear a perfectly audible alarm, 641 00:36:31,689 --> 00:36:34,758 because they were focused so entirely on solving another problem. 642 00:36:36,482 --> 00:36:41,172 Their chime, which is clearly heard on the cockpit voice recorder, 643 00:36:41,275 --> 00:36:44,310 was not registering in the minds of all the men on that flight deck. 644 00:36:44,413 --> 00:36:46,379 Not because they weren't trying to pay attention, 645 00:36:46,482 --> 00:36:49,344 but because they were tunneled in on this one problem. 646 00:36:49,448 --> 00:36:50,896 That's what we do as humans. 647 00:36:52,379 --> 00:36:55,275 Investigators now focus on crew distraction 648 00:36:55,379 --> 00:36:57,275 as a likely cause of this accident. 649 00:36:59,172 --> 00:37:03,758 Several instruments would have displayed the decreasing altitude. 650 00:37:03,862 --> 00:37:07,413 The major question was, why were the pilots so preoccupied 651 00:37:07,517 --> 00:37:10,172 that they were not looking at the instrument panel? 652 00:37:10,275 --> 00:37:12,724 They had to look at the human beings. 653 00:37:12,827 --> 00:37:13,965 They had to look at the interaction. 654 00:37:14,068 --> 00:37:15,862 They had to look at why no one 655 00:37:15,965 --> 00:37:17,793 was paying attention to the airplane 656 00:37:17,896 --> 00:37:20,275 as it began to creep out of 2,000 feet. 657 00:37:20,379 --> 00:37:24,137 That was scary territory in 1972. 658 00:37:24,241 --> 00:37:26,620 Investigators interview a number of pilots 659 00:37:26,724 --> 00:37:28,413 and make a startling discovery. 660 00:37:30,827 --> 00:37:33,103 Pilots admitted that they placed a lot of trust 661 00:37:33,206 --> 00:37:36,896 in the modern new autopilots flying their planes. 662 00:37:37,000 --> 00:37:39,620 They may have become overly dependent on the technology. 663 00:37:40,896 --> 00:37:42,793 - Put the autopilot on here. - Okay. 664 00:37:42,896 --> 00:37:47,793 Investigators suspect that the Eastern crew was so confident in their autopilot 665 00:37:47,896 --> 00:37:49,586 that they didn't monitor their instruments 666 00:37:49,689 --> 00:37:51,448 as closely as they should have. 667 00:37:51,551 --> 00:37:53,137 Now see if you can get that light out. 668 00:37:56,896 --> 00:37:59,103 Once the autopilot was on, 669 00:37:59,206 --> 00:38:01,034 none of the pilots paid attention 670 00:38:01,137 --> 00:38:03,068 to actually flying the plane. 671 00:38:06,379 --> 00:38:07,379 We've still got to find out... 672 00:38:08,241 --> 00:38:10,448 why that plane went down. 673 00:38:10,551 --> 00:38:12,482 Investigators still haven't determined 674 00:38:12,586 --> 00:38:14,206 the most crucial piece of information. 675 00:38:17,724 --> 00:38:19,758 If the autopilot was working, 676 00:38:19,862 --> 00:38:21,758 why did the plane dive into the swamp? 677 00:38:24,620 --> 00:38:26,620 - We did something to the altitude? - What? 678 00:38:26,724 --> 00:38:28,862 The pilots' conversation clearly shows 679 00:38:28,965 --> 00:38:30,965 that they hadn't deliberately started descending. 680 00:38:31,068 --> 00:38:32,517 We're still at 2,000, right? 681 00:38:32,620 --> 00:38:34,724 Hey, hey, what's happening here? 682 00:38:34,827 --> 00:38:36,103 So why did it happen? 683 00:38:41,000 --> 00:38:43,103 The answer comes in a dramatic form 684 00:38:43,206 --> 00:38:46,137 when the NTSB conducts a public hearing in Miami 685 00:38:46,241 --> 00:38:47,482 two months after the crash. 686 00:38:51,379 --> 00:38:53,620 Before the hearing, an Eastern Airlines pilot 687 00:38:53,724 --> 00:38:56,827 named Daniel Gellert wrote the chairman of the NTSB, 688 00:38:56,931 --> 00:38:58,862 offering to testify on his own behalf. 689 00:39:02,482 --> 00:39:06,689 He had flown the TriStar L-1011 and noticed some abnormalities. 690 00:39:08,517 --> 00:39:13,172 The world of airline piloting in 1972 was hostile to a pilot 691 00:39:13,275 --> 00:39:15,448 going around his chief pilot and his airline 692 00:39:15,551 --> 00:39:17,793 and raising his hand to the NTSB and saying, "Hey, wait a minute, 693 00:39:17,896 --> 00:39:19,310 "I've had an experience, too," 694 00:39:19,413 --> 00:39:22,103 because airlines were far more insular than they are today. 695 00:39:24,413 --> 00:39:25,724 Gellert tells the hearing 696 00:39:25,827 --> 00:39:27,793 that during a recent flight on a TriStar, 697 00:39:27,896 --> 00:39:30,931 he had accidentally dropped a map on the cockpit floor. 698 00:39:32,862 --> 00:39:35,931 As he bent down to pick it up, he nudged his control column. 699 00:39:38,413 --> 00:39:42,758 He noticed immediately that the plane's autopilot had been affected. 700 00:39:42,862 --> 00:39:45,000 The part of the autopilot controlling altitude 701 00:39:45,103 --> 00:39:46,068 had been turned off. 702 00:39:49,310 --> 00:39:52,724 The NTSB discovers that Gellert's experience is shared by others. 703 00:39:57,965 --> 00:40:00,482 In fact, 17 days after the accident, 704 00:40:00,586 --> 00:40:04,137 Eastern Airlines tacked a notice onto a company bulletin board 705 00:40:05,586 --> 00:40:08,310 and also mailed it to all of its TriStar pilots. 706 00:40:10,793 --> 00:40:14,034 The bulletin warned against accidentally bumping the control wheel. 707 00:40:15,310 --> 00:40:16,758 One of the things that we built into 708 00:40:16,862 --> 00:40:19,103 all the modern jetliners and airliners, 709 00:40:19,206 --> 00:40:20,551 is simply a pressure switch. 710 00:40:20,655 --> 00:40:23,379 So if you if you need to take over right now, 711 00:40:23,482 --> 00:40:25,241 you don't want to be wasting time down here 712 00:40:25,344 --> 00:40:26,827 on the panel turning the autopilot off. 713 00:40:26,931 --> 00:40:28,896 You just grab it and the autopilot goes away. 714 00:40:30,344 --> 00:40:31,517 The Flight Data Recorder 715 00:40:31,620 --> 00:40:34,068 tells investigators the precise moment 716 00:40:34,172 --> 00:40:35,862 that the plane's altitude started to drop. 717 00:40:36,965 --> 00:40:39,724 It was 11:37 and 8 seconds. 718 00:40:43,413 --> 00:40:46,310 By studying the voice recorder transcript, 719 00:40:46,413 --> 00:40:48,655 investigators can tell what was happening 720 00:40:48,758 --> 00:40:50,862 in the cockpit at that exact time. 721 00:40:52,551 --> 00:40:53,896 Hey, hey, get down there 722 00:40:54,000 --> 00:40:56,551 and see if that damn nose wheel is down. 723 00:40:56,655 --> 00:40:59,172 By turning to speak to the flight engineer, 724 00:40:59,275 --> 00:41:03,310 investigators believe that Captain Loft bumped his control wheel. 725 00:41:03,413 --> 00:41:05,172 He did it with just enough pressure 726 00:41:05,275 --> 00:41:07,620 to disengage that part of the autopilot 727 00:41:07,724 --> 00:41:09,724 that had been controlling the plane's altitude. 728 00:41:11,068 --> 00:41:12,655 Without anyone realizing it, 729 00:41:12,758 --> 00:41:16,896 a simple nudge of the control wheel started a gradual descent. 730 00:41:17,000 --> 00:41:20,448 On a dark, moonless night, the pilots had no visual cues 731 00:41:20,551 --> 00:41:21,586 to tell them they were falling. 732 00:41:25,517 --> 00:41:28,137 It was determined that occasionally, 733 00:41:28,241 --> 00:41:29,689 with just a soft bump, 734 00:41:29,793 --> 00:41:32,482 an autopilot had been disengaged. 735 00:41:32,586 --> 00:41:35,655 So before the crash, it wasn't part of their training. 736 00:41:35,758 --> 00:41:38,000 A training director for Eastern Airlines 737 00:41:38,103 --> 00:41:40,862 eventually reveals that before the Everglades crash, 738 00:41:40,965 --> 00:41:44,517 pilots were never taught that a bump could disengage the autopilot. 739 00:41:46,724 --> 00:41:49,275 The NTSB comes to a sobering conclusion. 740 00:41:50,827 --> 00:41:53,586 The plane crash was due to pilot error. 741 00:41:53,689 --> 00:41:56,172 The crew was distracted. 742 00:41:56,275 --> 00:41:59,137 They mishandled the plane's sophisticated automation, 743 00:41:59,241 --> 00:42:01,448 and they hadn't been properly trained. 744 00:42:03,344 --> 00:42:07,103 Eastern 401 was a pivotal accident in aviation safety history 745 00:42:07,206 --> 00:42:10,034 and we really didn't know this for about 10 or 15 years 746 00:42:10,137 --> 00:42:12,758 in terms of the true import of what it did to us. 747 00:42:12,862 --> 00:42:14,517 In focusing our attention on the fact 748 00:42:14,620 --> 00:42:16,862 that the way we handle things in a cockpit, 749 00:42:16,965 --> 00:42:18,482 was not only not correct, but it was dangerous. 750 00:42:20,137 --> 00:42:24,000 Investigators also make a disheartening find. 751 00:42:24,103 --> 00:42:27,448 When the nose gear indicator light assembly is examined, 752 00:42:27,551 --> 00:42:30,310 they discover that a light bulb inside is burnt out. 753 00:42:33,448 --> 00:42:34,724 Go ahead and throw 'em out. 754 00:42:34,827 --> 00:42:38,068 Flight 401's landing gear was locked. 755 00:42:38,172 --> 00:42:40,000 The plane could have landed. 756 00:42:41,275 --> 00:42:43,689 The only piece of the plane that failed 757 00:42:43,793 --> 00:42:45,241 was a $12 light bulb. 758 00:42:48,206 --> 00:42:52,965 The full legacy of Flight 401 will take years to unfold. 759 00:42:53,068 --> 00:42:55,758 It will ultimately alter how pilots are trained, 760 00:42:55,862 --> 00:42:57,620 and how accidents are investigated. 761 00:43:00,241 --> 00:43:03,379 But first, the tale of Eastern Airlines Flight 401 762 00:43:03,482 --> 00:43:05,551 will take a very bizarre twist. 763 00:43:11,000 --> 00:43:13,448 As far as the NTSB is concerned, 764 00:43:13,551 --> 00:43:18,413 the investigation into Eastern Airlines Flight 401 is over. 765 00:43:18,517 --> 00:43:20,689 Several recommendations were laid out 766 00:43:20,793 --> 00:43:22,103 to prevent similar accidents. 767 00:43:23,000 --> 00:43:24,931 Those include new regulations 768 00:43:25,034 --> 00:43:27,586 instructing air traffic controllers to warn pilots 769 00:43:27,689 --> 00:43:29,241 when they're getting too close to the ground. 770 00:43:31,655 --> 00:43:33,862 But four years later, it became clear 771 00:43:33,965 --> 00:43:37,655 there was a bigger lesson to be learned from Eastern Airlines Flight 401. 772 00:43:41,310 --> 00:43:44,586 In 1977, two 747s collided 773 00:43:44,689 --> 00:43:47,758 on a runway in Tenerife on the Canary Islands. 774 00:43:47,862 --> 00:43:50,206 It was the deadliest plane crash of all time. 775 00:43:51,827 --> 00:43:54,000 And we're now at take-off. 776 00:43:58,413 --> 00:44:00,448 1736, report when runway clear. 777 00:44:00,551 --> 00:44:02,551 That accident was caused 778 00:44:02,655 --> 00:44:05,068 by a string of miscommunications in the cock pit. 779 00:44:11,827 --> 00:44:15,379 Investigators establish that 70% of crashes 780 00:44:15,482 --> 00:44:16,827 were due to pilot error. 781 00:44:23,068 --> 00:44:24,206 Both of these accidents, 782 00:44:24,965 --> 00:44:26,586 Tenerife and 401, 783 00:44:26,689 --> 00:44:30,551 what you see is crews dedicated to doing a good job 784 00:44:30,655 --> 00:44:32,620 but not realizing that they're human, 785 00:44:32,724 --> 00:44:35,241 not realizing how many things can go wrong 786 00:44:35,344 --> 00:44:37,344 if you don't appreciate how human beings fail. 787 00:44:39,275 --> 00:44:42,724 By the late 1970s, NASA began to explore 788 00:44:42,827 --> 00:44:46,517 a new behavioral science designed to reduce pilot error. 789 00:44:46,620 --> 00:44:51,172 And pilots be on the lookout for any different behavior... 790 00:44:51,275 --> 00:44:54,310 It's called crew resource management or CRM. 791 00:44:55,793 --> 00:44:57,620 Crew resource management simply means that 792 00:44:57,724 --> 00:44:59,379 we're not going to have one pilot leading 793 00:44:59,482 --> 00:45:00,724 and everybody else following. 794 00:45:00,827 --> 00:45:03,103 It means that the captain has to be a leader, 795 00:45:03,206 --> 00:45:07,103 and listen to and interact with his subordinate crew members 796 00:45:07,206 --> 00:45:08,724 and the subordinate crew members have to speak up. 797 00:45:10,034 --> 00:45:13,241 Decades later, Flight 401 is taught 798 00:45:13,344 --> 00:45:14,103 in aviation courses around the world 799 00:45:15,103 --> 00:45:17,724 as a textbook example of poor CRM. 800 00:45:21,551 --> 00:45:24,965 The problem was that we did not teach Bob Loft or Stockstill 801 00:45:25,068 --> 00:45:26,931 or any of these folks at the time, 802 00:45:27,034 --> 00:45:28,862 that when something goes wrong, 803 00:45:28,965 --> 00:45:31,000 the commander's first responsibility 804 00:45:31,103 --> 00:45:32,793 is to maintain aircraft control 805 00:45:32,896 --> 00:45:34,482 and either do it himself or assign somebody. 806 00:45:34,586 --> 00:45:36,689 We're up to 2,000. 807 00:45:36,793 --> 00:45:37,931 You want me to fly it, Bob? 808 00:45:38,034 --> 00:45:41,206 Uh, what frequency did he want us on, Bert? 809 00:45:41,310 --> 00:45:43,344 - 1-28-6. - I'll talk to him. 810 00:45:44,068 --> 00:45:45,896 On Flight 401, 811 00:45:46,000 --> 00:45:50,172 Captain Loft did not clarify who should be doing what. 812 00:45:50,275 --> 00:45:53,448 Instead, all three crew members worked on the same problem. 813 00:45:54,413 --> 00:45:55,931 Bob, could you just jiggle the light? 814 00:45:57,862 --> 00:46:00,862 It's gotta come out a little bit and then snap in. 815 00:46:02,758 --> 00:46:05,551 With the co-pilot flying, the captain commanding from the left seat, 816 00:46:05,655 --> 00:46:07,310 you already had cross purposes here. 817 00:46:08,206 --> 00:46:09,793 It's right above that red one. 818 00:46:09,896 --> 00:46:12,137 Yeah, I can't get at it from here. 819 00:46:12,241 --> 00:46:13,206 And you had a light quadrant 820 00:46:13,310 --> 00:46:14,793 the captain couldn't quite reach 821 00:46:14,896 --> 00:46:17,620 and the co-pilot could, but the co-pilot is flying the airplane. 822 00:46:17,724 --> 00:46:19,379 You've just set them up... 823 00:46:19,482 --> 00:46:20,655 for a major problem. 824 00:46:20,758 --> 00:46:23,448 And guess what? Systemically, we never taught them what to do. 825 00:46:25,448 --> 00:46:28,103 Today, CRM also trains flight crews 826 00:46:28,206 --> 00:46:30,758 not to be intimidated by one crew member's mood. 827 00:46:32,413 --> 00:46:33,793 You got a handkerchief or something 828 00:46:33,896 --> 00:46:35,862 so I can get a little better grip on this? 829 00:46:35,965 --> 00:46:36,931 Anything I can do it with? 830 00:46:37,034 --> 00:46:39,000 Get down there and see if that damn thing... 831 00:46:39,103 --> 00:46:40,241 This won't come out, Bob. 832 00:46:40,344 --> 00:46:42,137 So if the leader is having a problem, 833 00:46:42,241 --> 00:46:43,275 in this case, with a light bulb. 834 00:46:43,379 --> 00:46:46,310 Okay, you got it sideways then. 835 00:46:46,413 --> 00:46:48,413 And he's really irritated at it, 836 00:46:48,517 --> 00:46:50,793 and the co-pilot has now made the problem worse, 837 00:46:50,896 --> 00:46:53,275 co-pilot's not going to be happy with himself over that. 838 00:46:53,379 --> 00:46:55,827 I don't know what the hell is holding that damn thing in there. 839 00:46:55,931 --> 00:46:58,448 Don Repo is not going to be happy that he got downstairs 840 00:46:58,551 --> 00:47:00,689 to try to solve the problem and he couldn't see anything, 841 00:47:00,793 --> 00:47:01,965 and he's got to come up and report that. 842 00:47:02,068 --> 00:47:03,034 I don't see it. 843 00:47:03,137 --> 00:47:04,172 They're all tense. 844 00:47:04,275 --> 00:47:05,862 - It's not lined up? - I can't see it. 845 00:47:05,965 --> 00:47:08,275 And when you get a crew like that tense, 846 00:47:08,379 --> 00:47:10,000 it's not time to turn around to the captain 847 00:47:10,103 --> 00:47:11,655 and say, "You shouldn't have done that." 848 00:47:11,758 --> 00:47:15,413 But this is part of the evolution of what air safety has now learned 849 00:47:15,517 --> 00:47:17,413 and been able to teach so many other industries. 850 00:47:19,896 --> 00:47:22,827 The enduring legacy of Flight 401 851 00:47:22,931 --> 00:47:26,000 is the delegation of specific tasks in the cockpit. 852 00:47:26,103 --> 00:47:28,827 The result is fewer crashes. 853 00:47:28,931 --> 00:47:31,965 There was also much more bizarre fallout from this crash. 854 00:47:35,206 --> 00:47:38,758 For a while, it seemed that the crew of Flight 401 855 00:47:38,862 --> 00:47:41,034 was haunting other Eastern Airlines flights. 856 00:47:42,448 --> 00:47:44,172 For some time after the crash, 857 00:47:44,275 --> 00:47:46,172 flight crews and passengers report 858 00:47:46,275 --> 00:47:49,655 seeing lifelike apparitions of Flight 401's crew. 859 00:47:56,896 --> 00:47:59,275 Many of the ghost sightings were on aircraft 860 00:47:59,379 --> 00:48:02,275 fitted with recovered parts from Flight 401. 861 00:48:03,689 --> 00:48:05,689 The ghost stories spread quickly. 862 00:48:07,206 --> 00:48:09,517 One book devoted entirely to those stories 863 00:48:09,620 --> 00:48:11,137 suggests that the ghosts were there 864 00:48:11,241 --> 00:48:13,758 to protect passengers and crew from further mishap. 865 00:48:15,655 --> 00:48:17,827 The official reaction at Eastern Airlines 866 00:48:17,931 --> 00:48:19,655 to these ghost stories 867 00:48:19,758 --> 00:48:23,206 was one of, absolute eye rolling denial in public, 868 00:48:23,310 --> 00:48:25,206 and in private, a certain bit of panic. 869 00:48:26,827 --> 00:48:28,689 There are so many ghost sightings 870 00:48:28,793 --> 00:48:32,551 that eventually, Eastern Airlines removes Flight 401's 871 00:48:32,655 --> 00:48:35,137 cannibalized plane parts from all other aircraft. 872 00:48:39,034 --> 00:48:40,827 None of those who survived the crash 873 00:48:40,931 --> 00:48:42,689 will ever forget the horror they witnessed 874 00:48:42,793 --> 00:48:44,034 in the Everglades that night. 875 00:48:49,413 --> 00:48:52,000 And 35 years after their ordeal, 876 00:48:52,103 --> 00:48:54,310 many of them returned to that swamp 877 00:48:54,413 --> 00:48:58,862 to finally recognize the heroic efforts of Bob Marquis. 878 00:48:58,965 --> 00:49:00,793 We're here today to recognize 879 00:49:00,896 --> 00:49:02,103 and to say thank you... 880 00:49:04,482 --> 00:49:05,620 Many of the ones who lived, 881 00:49:05,724 --> 00:49:10,275 lived because Robert Marquis was there with his airboat. 882 00:49:10,379 --> 00:49:13,310 He saw them drowning and decided that the thing that he could do 883 00:49:13,413 --> 00:49:14,862 would be to save the ones he could save. 884 00:49:20,172 --> 00:49:22,103 Robert Marquis was the kind of person 885 00:49:22,206 --> 00:49:23,724 that I hope that all of us 886 00:49:23,827 --> 00:49:26,172 ultimately would be if we were confronted with that sort of thing. 887 00:49:26,275 --> 00:49:28,793 But he drew on some special courage to do what he did. 888 00:49:30,275 --> 00:49:33,275 He was one of the true heroes of the crash.