1 00:00:06,103 --> 00:00:08,068 At the chaotic end of a bitter war... 2 00:00:09,862 --> 00:00:12,344 ...the world's largest airplane is loaded with orphans, 3 00:00:13,103 --> 00:00:14,344 and headed for safety. 4 00:00:16,448 --> 00:00:17,310 Advancing throttles now. 5 00:00:18,586 --> 00:00:20,034 Time. Go. 6 00:00:22,034 --> 00:00:23,241 We needed to get out of missile range. 7 00:00:24,758 --> 00:00:26,379 But only minutes into their escape... 8 00:00:28,620 --> 00:00:31,206 There was this loud explosion. One quick bang. 9 00:00:31,310 --> 00:00:32,827 What was that? 10 00:00:32,931 --> 00:00:34,482 The plane is out of control... 11 00:00:34,586 --> 00:00:37,793 I kept going faster, and faster, and faster. 12 00:00:37,896 --> 00:00:39,724 ...and headed for the ground. 13 00:00:39,827 --> 00:00:41,379 Prepare for emergency landing! 14 00:00:42,000 --> 00:00:43,103 Mom! Get down. 15 00:00:57,931 --> 00:01:00,931 And then... it was quiet. 16 00:01:05,517 --> 00:01:06,724 Mayday! Mayday! 17 00:01:31,379 --> 00:01:34,241 South Vietnam, April 1975. 18 00:01:37,448 --> 00:01:39,586 After more than ten years of fighting, 19 00:01:39,689 --> 00:01:42,206 the United States is on the verge of defeat. 20 00:01:42,310 --> 00:01:44,241 The end of the war is fast approaching. 21 00:01:46,896 --> 00:01:48,896 The enemy is closing in on the capital. 22 00:01:56,068 --> 00:01:57,413 On April the 4th, 23 00:01:57,517 --> 00:02:00,103 at a military base in the South Vietnamese capital of Saigon, 24 00:02:02,655 --> 00:02:06,586 a strange cargo is being loaded onto an enormous C5-A Galaxy. 25 00:02:08,931 --> 00:02:11,000 This is one of the largest planes in the world. 26 00:02:25,413 --> 00:02:28,103 The C5-A is primarily a cargo plane. 27 00:02:29,620 --> 00:02:32,689 Its hold is wide enough to carry tanks 28 00:02:32,793 --> 00:02:34,517 and tall enough to move buses. 29 00:02:37,103 --> 00:02:39,689 Above the cargo area, there's a small number of seats. 30 00:02:42,068 --> 00:02:44,379 Both the passenger area and the cargo bay 31 00:02:44,482 --> 00:02:46,000 are being pressed into service today. 32 00:02:51,103 --> 00:02:52,758 Dozens of Vietnamese orphans 33 00:02:52,862 --> 00:02:55,344 have been loaded onto the plane to be flown to safety. 34 00:02:58,586 --> 00:03:00,862 There are thousands of orphans to be flown out 35 00:03:00,965 --> 00:03:02,965 before the North Vietnamese take Saigon. 36 00:03:04,241 --> 00:03:07,000 Barb Adams works for the American Embassy. 37 00:03:07,103 --> 00:03:09,620 She and her daughter, Linda, are also fleeing. 38 00:03:14,241 --> 00:03:17,758 On April 4th, my mom came home and told me 39 00:03:17,862 --> 00:03:21,448 that I had one hour to pack one suitcase, 40 00:03:21,551 --> 00:03:24,379 and that we were going to be escorting the orphans 41 00:03:24,482 --> 00:03:26,862 on an orphan airlift back to the United States. 42 00:03:28,517 --> 00:03:31,034 When my mother and I went upstairs to the troop compartment, 43 00:03:31,137 --> 00:03:32,896 there's traditional airline seats 44 00:03:33,000 --> 00:03:35,482 and all of the seats were filled with babies. 45 00:03:42,724 --> 00:03:46,931 Sergeant Ray Snedegar is in charge of loading the plane's massive cargo bay. 46 00:03:48,068 --> 00:03:49,448 Make sure it's secure. We got people down here. 47 00:03:51,448 --> 00:03:53,793 It was hard to control the situation. 48 00:03:53,896 --> 00:03:56,413 So many people were there. So much news media, 49 00:03:56,517 --> 00:03:59,724 so many people from the orphanages, so many military people... 50 00:03:59,827 --> 00:04:02,000 that it was actually pure chaos. 51 00:04:03,793 --> 00:04:07,103 Just the day before, American President Gerald Ford 52 00:04:07,206 --> 00:04:10,275 announced the start of this desperate mission of mercy, 53 00:04:10,379 --> 00:04:12,965 a remarkable effort called Operation Babylift. 54 00:04:14,862 --> 00:04:16,172 I have directed that 55 00:04:16,965 --> 00:04:18,517 C5-A aircraft, 56 00:04:19,689 --> 00:04:21,206 and other aircraft 57 00:04:21,310 --> 00:04:24,310 especially equipped to care for these orphans 58 00:04:24,413 --> 00:04:26,965 during the flight, be sent to Saigon. 59 00:04:27,068 --> 00:04:32,275 I expect these flights to begin within the next 36 to 48 hours. 60 00:04:32,379 --> 00:04:36,724 Arnold Isaacs was covering the end of the war for the Baltimore Sun. 61 00:04:36,827 --> 00:04:39,827 We had transport aircraft flying into Saigon every day, 62 00:04:39,931 --> 00:04:42,068 unloading military supplies 63 00:04:42,172 --> 00:04:43,034 and going back empty. 64 00:04:44,862 --> 00:04:47,620 And so, it was decided that they could carry out 65 00:04:47,724 --> 00:04:50,206 the orphans on those returning flights. 66 00:04:53,000 --> 00:04:56,344 There were a lot of cameras and reporters out there 67 00:04:56,448 --> 00:04:58,862 covering the loading and the departure of the plane. 68 00:05:06,482 --> 00:05:08,413 Captain Bud Traynor is in charge 69 00:05:08,517 --> 00:05:10,482 of Operation Babylift's first flight. 70 00:05:12,793 --> 00:05:14,551 I got a call from the command post 71 00:05:14,655 --> 00:05:15,517 back in the States, 72 00:05:16,379 --> 00:05:18,413 and they said to me, 73 00:05:18,517 --> 00:05:21,448 "How many people could you take out of Saigon 74 00:05:21,551 --> 00:05:23,758 "if you were asked?" 75 00:05:23,862 --> 00:05:26,206 Because of the last minute nature of the flight, 76 00:05:26,310 --> 00:05:27,482 they're running behind schedule. 77 00:05:30,241 --> 00:05:32,655 The plane is already five hours late, 78 00:05:32,758 --> 00:05:34,758 and Captain Traynor wants to be in the air. 79 00:05:36,034 --> 00:05:38,344 He orders the cargo bay doors to be closed. 80 00:05:39,655 --> 00:05:41,758 Tell everyone to get the doors closed. 81 00:05:41,862 --> 00:05:43,586 Loadmaster, close the cargo bay doors. 82 00:06:11,034 --> 00:06:14,275 The youngest of the 145 children 83 00:06:14,379 --> 00:06:16,896 have been crammed into the upper passenger section of the jet. 84 00:06:20,000 --> 00:06:22,000 My mother and I were both assigned 85 00:06:22,103 --> 00:06:25,758 three rows of seats with maybe four to a row. 86 00:06:25,862 --> 00:06:30,620 So it would be 12-15 babies that we would be taking care of on the flight. 87 00:06:30,724 --> 00:06:33,620 Feeding them, changing them, whatever they needed to have done. 88 00:06:40,862 --> 00:06:41,689 Ina? 89 00:06:42,758 --> 00:06:44,137 Have a good flight, Ina. 90 00:06:48,517 --> 00:06:49,310 Have a good flight. 91 00:06:54,448 --> 00:06:57,620 There are 102 older children in the cargo area below. 92 00:07:01,206 --> 00:07:03,344 A number of adults from the American Embassy 93 00:07:03,448 --> 00:07:05,931 are also down here, keeping an eye on the orphans. 94 00:07:10,137 --> 00:07:13,965 Getting out of Vietnam starts by leaving the safety of the U.S. base. 95 00:07:15,000 --> 00:07:15,896 Advancing throttles now. 96 00:07:18,931 --> 00:07:20,310 Fifteen. 97 00:07:21,379 --> 00:07:22,275 Twenty. 98 00:07:24,137 --> 00:07:25,137 Time, go. 99 00:07:38,896 --> 00:07:39,965 Gear up. 100 00:07:48,965 --> 00:07:51,482 I remember that we had to take off at a pretty steep angle. 101 00:07:53,724 --> 00:07:55,344 And we didn't have seats, 102 00:07:55,448 --> 00:07:57,793 so we were to kneel on the floor 103 00:07:57,896 --> 00:07:58,965 between the seats during takeoff. 104 00:08:02,965 --> 00:08:04,413 The cargo plane is heading for 105 00:08:04,517 --> 00:08:07,103 Clark Air Force Base in the Philippines. 106 00:08:07,206 --> 00:08:08,689 It's a two-and-a-half hour flight. 107 00:08:10,275 --> 00:08:11,931 From there, the orphans will be sent 108 00:08:12,034 --> 00:08:14,827 to adoption agencies in North America and Australia. 109 00:08:16,896 --> 00:08:19,206 We needed to take off from Saigon and make a... 110 00:08:19,310 --> 00:08:23,137 a very rapid ascent to get out of missile range. 111 00:08:23,241 --> 00:08:25,689 Cargo planes are easy targets. 112 00:08:25,793 --> 00:08:28,000 They're slow moving and large. 113 00:08:28,103 --> 00:08:30,310 The possibility of an attack is very real. 114 00:08:33,413 --> 00:08:34,965 Just five days before, 115 00:08:35,068 --> 00:08:38,137 North Vietnamese troops captured the South's second largest city, 116 00:08:38,689 --> 00:08:39,517 Da Nang. 117 00:08:42,310 --> 00:08:45,000 South Vietnamese forces are retreating towards Saigon. 118 00:08:49,827 --> 00:08:53,034 In the capital, the situation is chaotic. 119 00:08:53,137 --> 00:08:56,275 Thousands of South Vietnamese civilians are desperate to leave. 120 00:08:58,793 --> 00:09:01,000 Every day, another province was lost. 121 00:09:01,103 --> 00:09:03,000 Especially after Da Nang fell, 122 00:09:03,103 --> 00:09:06,413 the population of Saigon, I think, began to... 123 00:09:07,827 --> 00:09:09,172 fall into a... 124 00:09:09,275 --> 00:09:13,034 sort of a paralyzed, petrified terror. 125 00:09:16,551 --> 00:09:18,620 Never, not for one moment that I remember, 126 00:09:18,724 --> 00:09:22,275 did you have a feeling of anyone rallying to defend the country. 127 00:09:38,137 --> 00:09:39,482 How's the air in the troop compartment? 128 00:09:40,310 --> 00:09:41,586 It's all right. 129 00:09:41,689 --> 00:09:43,793 The babies still squalling, or... 130 00:09:43,896 --> 00:09:45,344 have they quieted down with all the noise? 131 00:09:47,310 --> 00:09:48,344 Most are asleep. 132 00:09:50,862 --> 00:09:52,103 Just as well. 133 00:09:58,931 --> 00:10:00,620 Then, shortly after takeoff... 134 00:10:02,965 --> 00:10:05,620 as the plane climbs through 23,000 feet... 135 00:10:29,413 --> 00:10:31,344 When the rapid decompression occurred, 136 00:10:31,448 --> 00:10:33,517 the plane filled with this mist, 137 00:10:33,620 --> 00:10:37,551 and so, until it dissipates, it's... you cannot see. 138 00:10:37,655 --> 00:10:40,413 And it was this loud explosion. One quick bang. 139 00:10:40,517 --> 00:10:42,137 What was that? 140 00:10:42,241 --> 00:10:43,517 And she said, "I'm not sure." 141 00:10:43,620 --> 00:10:45,620 And you could feel the plane heading downward. 142 00:10:46,931 --> 00:10:48,793 Debris started flying around. 143 00:10:57,000 --> 00:10:59,482 It's a classic decompression. 144 00:10:59,586 --> 00:11:02,448 Somewhere, there's a massive hole in the plane's fuselage. 145 00:11:03,724 --> 00:11:05,931 The air inside the jet is rushing out. 146 00:11:07,482 --> 00:11:11,413 At 23,000 feet, there's barely enough oxygen to breathe. 147 00:11:11,517 --> 00:11:13,724 So I looked over at the co-pilot, 148 00:11:13,827 --> 00:11:16,137 and he was putting on his oxygen mask, 149 00:11:16,241 --> 00:11:18,241 and I thought, "I'd better do that, too." 150 00:11:20,551 --> 00:11:23,655 The oxygen masks dropped automatically. 151 00:11:23,758 --> 00:11:28,206 But on such an overcrowded flight, there aren't enough to go around. 152 00:11:28,310 --> 00:11:30,896 The ones that are available weren't designed to reach babies. 153 00:11:37,379 --> 00:11:40,275 As I looked out the window, I saw the ocean. 154 00:11:40,379 --> 00:11:43,482 And I said to my mom, I said, "We're crashing, aren't we?" 155 00:11:50,206 --> 00:11:52,241 At the back of the passenger compartment, 156 00:11:52,344 --> 00:11:55,827 Lieutenant Marcia Wirtz checks in with the crew. 157 00:11:55,931 --> 00:11:59,379 From there, she can usually see down to the cargo bay below her. 158 00:11:59,482 --> 00:12:02,241 Pilot, this is Wirtz. 159 00:12:02,344 --> 00:12:04,724 I'm at the top grate of the troop compartment. 160 00:12:04,827 --> 00:12:07,137 I can see the China Sea out the rear of the plane. 161 00:12:07,241 --> 00:12:08,103 What? 162 00:12:09,000 --> 00:12:11,068 The cargo door is gone. 163 00:12:19,793 --> 00:12:22,379 With more than 300 people on board, 164 00:12:22,482 --> 00:12:25,275 Captain Bud Traynor's jet has lost its breathable air. 165 00:12:26,655 --> 00:12:29,793 Somehow, his massive aircraft has been badly damaged. 166 00:12:31,448 --> 00:12:33,965 And he's a long way from a safe place to land. 167 00:12:38,862 --> 00:12:41,482 The inaugural flight of Operation Babylift 168 00:12:41,586 --> 00:12:43,137 will not make it out of Vietnam. 169 00:12:45,103 --> 00:12:48,206 The next few minutes will determine if anyone even survives. 170 00:12:50,551 --> 00:12:52,862 Oxygen levels are dangerously low. 171 00:12:54,103 --> 00:12:56,482 Unlike the passenger compartment above, 172 00:12:56,586 --> 00:13:00,000 there are only a few portable masks for passengers in the cargo bay. 173 00:13:03,551 --> 00:13:05,620 My first priority after a rapid decompression 174 00:13:05,724 --> 00:13:10,034 is to get the aircraft back down to a breathing altitude for all the passengers, 175 00:13:10,758 --> 00:13:12,413 which is 10,000 feet. 176 00:13:12,517 --> 00:13:13,620 Taking it back to the airport. 177 00:13:17,620 --> 00:13:19,689 And so, I turned 180 degrees, 178 00:13:19,793 --> 00:13:21,482 and now I'm heading back to Saigon. 179 00:13:23,137 --> 00:13:24,965 But before he gets back to Saigon... 180 00:13:25,068 --> 00:13:26,241 Sergeant Snedegar! 181 00:13:26,344 --> 00:13:29,586 ...Traynor needs to know how bad the situation is. 182 00:13:29,689 --> 00:13:32,000 The airplane is going down in a left bank. 183 00:13:32,103 --> 00:13:34,896 At that particular point, I had a sense that we're going down. 184 00:13:35,000 --> 00:13:36,379 I go to the cockpit... 185 00:13:36,482 --> 00:13:38,551 - Sir. - See what's going on. 186 00:13:38,655 --> 00:13:41,655 And Captain Traynor tells me to go to the cargo compartment 187 00:13:41,758 --> 00:13:42,931 to see what's happening down there. 188 00:13:45,586 --> 00:13:49,724 When I was in my descent, I went to my maximum speed, 189 00:13:49,827 --> 00:13:52,931 which is what you're supposed to do to get to 10,000 feet. 190 00:13:53,034 --> 00:13:54,965 I got to my maximum speed, 191 00:13:55,068 --> 00:13:56,310 I pulled back on the yoke... 192 00:13:57,137 --> 00:13:58,103 And nothing happened. 193 00:13:58,206 --> 00:13:59,241 I kept going faster, 194 00:13:59,344 --> 00:14:01,379 and faster, and faster. 195 00:14:01,482 --> 00:14:04,275 Traynor's plane is diving to the ground, 196 00:14:04,379 --> 00:14:05,793 and he can't get it to pull up. 197 00:14:09,965 --> 00:14:13,586 At the back of the plane, Ray Snedegar descends into the center of the storm. 198 00:14:19,448 --> 00:14:24,034 When I came down, I noticed there was a lot of chaos in the cargo compartment. 199 00:14:24,137 --> 00:14:25,931 Obviously, people were frightened, 200 00:14:26,034 --> 00:14:28,965 So I'm actually crawling and stepping over people, 201 00:14:29,068 --> 00:14:30,793 that are combat-loaded on the floor. 202 00:14:36,551 --> 00:14:39,379 And I saw this huge, gaping hole in the back of the airplane. 203 00:14:42,793 --> 00:14:44,965 All day light back there. 204 00:14:45,068 --> 00:14:49,551 And then, Snedegar spots what could be an even more serious problem. 205 00:14:49,655 --> 00:14:51,241 Hydraulic fluid is pumping out. 206 00:14:53,275 --> 00:14:56,103 Control cables are dangling in the breeze, flopping back and forth. 207 00:14:56,206 --> 00:14:58,379 And it just reminded me of looking at some spaghetti. 208 00:14:58,482 --> 00:14:59,379 That's the first thought in my mind. 209 00:15:02,517 --> 00:15:04,896 The flight engineer also notices that the plane 210 00:15:05,000 --> 00:15:06,862 is losing its hydraulic fluid fast. 211 00:15:08,482 --> 00:15:11,241 Pilot, we've lost number one hydraulic system. 212 00:15:17,482 --> 00:15:20,172 We've just lost number two hydraulics. 213 00:15:20,275 --> 00:15:25,241 Hydraulic fluid helps the crew move the massive control surfaces on the plane, 214 00:15:25,344 --> 00:15:30,413 the rudder and elevator in the back and the ailerons and flaps on the wings. 215 00:15:30,517 --> 00:15:33,655 There are four separate hydraulic systems on the plane. 216 00:15:33,758 --> 00:15:35,896 Now, two of them are completely empty. 217 00:15:38,000 --> 00:15:40,551 And as Traynor dives towards 10,000 feet, 218 00:15:40,655 --> 00:15:43,517 his plane is going much faster than it should, 219 00:15:43,620 --> 00:15:46,000 and he can't pull up. 220 00:15:46,103 --> 00:15:48,103 And I kept pulling back on the yoke, 221 00:15:48,206 --> 00:15:49,551 thinking that I could slow it down. 222 00:15:49,655 --> 00:15:51,103 Pulled back more and more and more. 223 00:15:51,206 --> 00:15:52,655 I'm not getting anything out of the yoke. 224 00:15:53,965 --> 00:15:54,862 How about you? 225 00:15:55,965 --> 00:15:57,000 Nothing! 226 00:15:57,103 --> 00:15:58,655 And we were just totally puzzled. 227 00:16:00,896 --> 00:16:02,620 What is going wrong? 228 00:16:02,724 --> 00:16:06,137 Pulling on his yoke should bring the plane's nose up and slow it down. 229 00:16:07,793 --> 00:16:09,586 If he can't pull the plane up soon, 230 00:16:09,689 --> 00:16:11,344 it'll plow straight into the ground. 231 00:16:13,137 --> 00:16:16,068 And I'm concerned at that point, we are still falling. 232 00:16:16,172 --> 00:16:17,068 We're not leveling out. 233 00:16:19,172 --> 00:16:21,172 In the belly of the plane, Ray Snedegar 234 00:16:21,275 --> 00:16:22,931 reports what he sees to the cockpit. 235 00:16:24,448 --> 00:16:26,931 Pilot! Cargo bay! 236 00:16:27,034 --> 00:16:28,000 Go ahead. 237 00:16:28,103 --> 00:16:30,103 I told him that a part of the ramp was missing. 238 00:16:31,896 --> 00:16:33,448 The pressure door was gone. 239 00:16:33,551 --> 00:16:35,793 And hydraulic lines and control cables have been cut. 240 00:16:40,103 --> 00:16:43,206 The problem is now much worse than we thought. 241 00:16:43,310 --> 00:16:44,379 Declare an emergency. 242 00:16:45,689 --> 00:16:49,206 Saigon, this is MAC 80218. 243 00:16:49,310 --> 00:16:50,965 We're declaring emergency. 244 00:16:51,068 --> 00:16:53,551 We require immediate return to base. 245 00:17:04,172 --> 00:17:06,689 Unlike commercial airlines, there was nobody 246 00:17:06,793 --> 00:17:09,137 that came on to the PA system and announced what was happening. 247 00:17:10,965 --> 00:17:13,137 So, I just kind of focused on the children. 248 00:17:16,379 --> 00:17:18,482 After struggling with his crippled jet, 249 00:17:18,586 --> 00:17:21,137 Traynor's efforts finally seem to pay off. 250 00:17:22,586 --> 00:17:25,448 And now the airplane levels itself off 251 00:17:25,551 --> 00:17:27,586 and we're saying, "Wow, thank goodness 252 00:17:27,689 --> 00:17:31,344 "that we're finally making it out of this." 253 00:17:31,448 --> 00:17:35,275 As quickly as it leveled off, the plane begins to climb again. 254 00:17:35,379 --> 00:17:37,758 The nose of the jet begins pulling up into the sky. 255 00:17:39,689 --> 00:17:42,344 And so I relax the yoke, and what happens? 256 00:17:42,448 --> 00:17:44,172 Nothing. I'm still going straight up now. 257 00:17:47,896 --> 00:17:51,793 Unless Traynor can gain some speed, his plane will soon stall 258 00:17:51,896 --> 00:17:53,000 and tumble from the sky. 259 00:17:53,103 --> 00:17:55,586 And it got higher and higher. 260 00:17:55,689 --> 00:17:57,310 And pretty soon, I'm going almost straight up. 261 00:17:59,896 --> 00:18:03,379 In desperation, he dips one wing, forcing the nose down. 262 00:18:04,793 --> 00:18:08,068 I'm now in a very, very steep dive. 263 00:18:08,172 --> 00:18:12,034 And there's nothing I can do, seemingly, to bring the nose up. 264 00:18:14,551 --> 00:18:18,482 And so, counterintuitive, I added power. 265 00:18:18,586 --> 00:18:23,655 And when I did that, the airplane pulled itself out of the dive, 266 00:18:23,758 --> 00:18:25,620 and I started to go back up again. 267 00:18:25,724 --> 00:18:28,413 This time I stopped it at 10,000 feet, 268 00:18:28,517 --> 00:18:33,758 and rolled out, and I realized that I had learned how to control the airplane. 269 00:18:37,034 --> 00:18:39,275 Traynor can't control his plane's pitch 270 00:18:39,379 --> 00:18:43,586 as he usually does, by pushing and pulling on his control column. 271 00:18:43,689 --> 00:18:47,689 Instead, by gently increasing and decreasing power to his engines, 272 00:18:47,793 --> 00:18:49,793 he seems to be able to keep his plane leveled. 273 00:18:50,965 --> 00:18:53,068 At that point, I've realized that 274 00:18:53,172 --> 00:18:56,482 my only pitch control was the throttle. 275 00:18:58,068 --> 00:19:00,896 The plane has descended to 10,000 feet. 276 00:19:01,000 --> 00:19:02,655 There's now enough oxygen to breathe. 277 00:19:04,000 --> 00:19:06,724 One, zero, zero. It's safe to remove our masks. 278 00:19:09,724 --> 00:19:11,724 Gear down. Before landing checklist. 279 00:19:13,275 --> 00:19:15,620 I just headed directly for Saigon 280 00:19:15,724 --> 00:19:17,206 and began a descent 281 00:19:17,310 --> 00:19:21,448 and began positioning myself for a final, much like you would in a glider. 282 00:19:35,724 --> 00:19:38,448 Don't worry. They're taking care of it up in the cockpit. 283 00:19:40,586 --> 00:19:41,517 We're gonna be out soon. 284 00:19:43,275 --> 00:19:46,931 I'm trying to provide comfort to these passengers. 285 00:19:47,034 --> 00:19:49,655 At the same time, I know we're in serious trouble, 286 00:19:49,758 --> 00:19:51,551 because the airplane is still going down. 287 00:19:54,793 --> 00:19:59,103 Captain Traynor has coaxed his injured jet down to just over 4,000 feet. 288 00:20:00,758 --> 00:20:02,793 Eleven kilometers from the airport, 289 00:20:02,896 --> 00:20:05,448 he turns his jet to line up with the runway, 290 00:20:05,551 --> 00:20:07,241 when his plane surprises him again. 291 00:20:09,137 --> 00:20:11,862 In the final turn to the runway, 292 00:20:11,965 --> 00:20:14,137 when I banked the airplane, 293 00:20:14,241 --> 00:20:18,034 the nose dropped and I couldn't continue my turn. 294 00:20:18,137 --> 00:20:20,482 I had to level the wings 295 00:20:20,586 --> 00:20:24,206 so that I had enough lift that the nose didn't keep descending. 296 00:20:26,551 --> 00:20:28,482 Captain Traynor had to stop turning 297 00:20:28,586 --> 00:20:30,724 before he could line up with the runway. 298 00:20:30,827 --> 00:20:32,793 He's now losing altitude fast, 299 00:20:32,896 --> 00:20:35,413 and his prospects are becoming increasingly grim. 300 00:20:35,517 --> 00:20:36,965 While we were working in the cargo department, 301 00:20:37,068 --> 00:20:38,344 loadmaster came to me and said, 302 00:20:38,448 --> 00:20:40,137 "We need to get upstairs, 'cause we're going to crash land." 303 00:20:42,448 --> 00:20:45,344 When I get to the top of the ladder, I've changed my mind, 304 00:20:45,448 --> 00:20:47,310 and I think I need to be in the cargo compartment 305 00:20:47,413 --> 00:20:49,586 when this airplane does get on the runway, 306 00:20:49,689 --> 00:20:51,965 so I can help evacuate down there. 307 00:20:52,068 --> 00:20:54,068 As I try to leave, the flight engineer 308 00:20:54,172 --> 00:20:56,655 grabbed me by my left elbow, throws me into a seat. 309 00:20:56,758 --> 00:20:58,724 And about the time I hit the seat, 310 00:20:58,827 --> 00:21:00,275 I can hear the ground screaming. 311 00:21:01,896 --> 00:21:04,068 It's a loud scream. It's coming closer. 312 00:21:06,586 --> 00:21:08,379 Prepare for an imminent crash landing. 313 00:21:09,206 --> 00:21:11,241 Get down on the floor! 314 00:21:11,344 --> 00:21:13,379 Prepare for emergency landing! 315 00:21:13,482 --> 00:21:14,827 Mom, get down! 316 00:21:16,413 --> 00:21:18,586 When we started to go down, 317 00:21:18,689 --> 00:21:20,758 my mother and I were focusing on, 318 00:21:20,862 --> 00:21:24,034 "What should we be doing to brace for impact?" 319 00:21:24,137 --> 00:21:26,517 We had a big open field in front of us. 320 00:21:28,310 --> 00:21:31,379 I got within about 200 feet of the ground, 321 00:21:32,172 --> 00:21:33,137 I said... 322 00:21:33,241 --> 00:21:34,758 We're going in! 323 00:21:34,862 --> 00:21:36,931 The plane is hurtling towards the ground 324 00:21:37,034 --> 00:21:39,310 at almost 500 kilometers per hour. 325 00:21:39,413 --> 00:21:41,448 I reached down, grabbed my seatbelt... 326 00:21:41,551 --> 00:21:43,586 And when the seatbelt snaps... 327 00:21:54,000 --> 00:21:56,931 We touched the ground relatively easily 328 00:21:57,034 --> 00:21:58,793 and we popped back in the air. 329 00:22:00,379 --> 00:22:02,448 The jumpseat said to me, 330 00:22:02,551 --> 00:22:04,413 "Bud, we're going to make it." 331 00:22:04,517 --> 00:22:08,310 But I could see looming ahead of me was this huge, huge river. 332 00:22:08,413 --> 00:22:09,551 So I added power. 333 00:22:14,931 --> 00:22:17,172 My mom was on one side of the aisle, 334 00:22:17,275 --> 00:22:18,275 and I was on the other. 335 00:22:20,827 --> 00:22:22,448 And she says, "Come over here and sit with me." 336 00:22:28,724 --> 00:22:33,068 Even with full power, at that point, I was still continuing to sink. 337 00:23:09,137 --> 00:23:11,758 My whole life went into slow motion, 338 00:23:13,620 --> 00:23:15,551 The airplane is coming apart where I'm sitting. 339 00:23:17,034 --> 00:23:19,103 All kinds of debris is flying through the air. 340 00:23:22,551 --> 00:23:26,241 And it went on and on and on. It seemed like forever. 341 00:23:29,793 --> 00:23:31,551 When I was going upside down, 342 00:23:31,655 --> 00:23:34,724 I remember saying, you know, goodbye to my wife a couple of times. 343 00:23:34,827 --> 00:23:35,827 'Cause I was a goner. 344 00:23:47,827 --> 00:23:50,551 And then... it was quiet. 345 00:24:21,448 --> 00:24:25,379 When the plane came to a stop, I looked for my mom. I didn't see her anywhere. 346 00:24:29,413 --> 00:24:32,448 At that point, it was all a little bit surreal, 347 00:24:32,551 --> 00:24:37,310 that I didn't even really know what had just happened. 348 00:24:40,827 --> 00:24:44,275 All I knew was that we needed to get the babies out of there. 349 00:24:56,689 --> 00:24:59,724 Traynor and the rest of the cockpit crew have survived. 350 00:25:01,103 --> 00:25:02,896 When I stepped out of the window, 351 00:25:03,000 --> 00:25:05,551 it was clear after you looked around, 352 00:25:05,655 --> 00:25:09,068 the airplane broke up into its component parts. 353 00:25:09,172 --> 00:25:11,000 The tail dropped off. 354 00:25:11,931 --> 00:25:13,896 The flight deck broke away. 355 00:25:14,000 --> 00:25:18,931 The troop compartment, the wings, they separated from the cargo compartment. 356 00:25:19,034 --> 00:25:23,068 The cargo compartment itself disintegrated, essentially. 357 00:25:28,344 --> 00:25:30,655 Behind the cockpit, the plane's wings, 358 00:25:30,758 --> 00:25:32,724 which hold the fuel tanks, are burning. 359 00:25:35,241 --> 00:25:39,000 The passenger section of the plane is largely intact, 360 00:25:39,103 --> 00:25:41,965 and separated from the scorching heat of the burning wings. 361 00:25:45,586 --> 00:25:47,862 Lieutenant Wirtz and many others 362 00:25:47,965 --> 00:25:51,310 who have been in the passenger section, survive. 363 00:25:51,413 --> 00:25:53,413 Then we started bringing babies out. 364 00:25:57,482 --> 00:25:59,689 And I could hear some helicopters coming. 365 00:26:01,379 --> 00:26:04,482 At that point, I was not looking for my mother, 366 00:26:04,586 --> 00:26:07,275 because I had been assured that she was okay. 367 00:26:07,379 --> 00:26:10,827 I was to go to the hospital and just wait for her there. 368 00:26:10,931 --> 00:26:14,310 And then that's when I took a couple of the babies and walked over, 369 00:26:14,413 --> 00:26:15,689 and got on. 370 00:26:21,793 --> 00:26:23,655 A day that began with the promise of hope, 371 00:26:25,344 --> 00:26:26,758 has ended in disaster. 372 00:26:34,310 --> 00:26:37,724 Just minutes after the crash of the first Babylift mission, 373 00:26:37,827 --> 00:26:40,896 rescue workers are on the scene searching for survivors. 374 00:26:44,655 --> 00:26:47,862 Almost everyone in the cargo area was killed instantly... 375 00:26:50,551 --> 00:26:52,896 when the plane slammed down the second time. 376 00:26:56,517 --> 00:26:58,551 The dead, the injured and the survivors 377 00:26:58,655 --> 00:27:02,793 are taken to hospitals in Saigon and Thailand. 378 00:27:02,896 --> 00:27:06,586 Since I was not injured, I just took a seat and was waiting for my mother 379 00:27:06,689 --> 00:27:09,275 while they brought in a lot of the babies. 380 00:27:11,275 --> 00:27:15,344 Then somebody came over to me and told me that my mother had died. 381 00:27:16,655 --> 00:27:19,862 I remember holding on for dear life, 382 00:27:19,965 --> 00:27:23,586 so she said, "Come over here and sit with me." 383 00:27:23,689 --> 00:27:26,724 Barb Adams' last decision was to be near her daughter. 384 00:27:28,551 --> 00:27:32,689 Just as I sat down on the floor, we must have hit. 385 00:27:35,965 --> 00:27:37,448 She flew forward somewhere. 386 00:27:40,689 --> 00:27:42,482 And that's the last time I saw my mother. 387 00:27:50,241 --> 00:27:54,310 175 people survived the crash of the Air Force jet, 388 00:27:57,034 --> 00:27:59,000 but more than 150 have been killed. 389 00:28:00,724 --> 00:28:02,448 More than half of them were children. 390 00:28:10,931 --> 00:28:13,931 And it was really such a blow 391 00:28:14,034 --> 00:28:17,344 in what had already been a very tragic, 392 00:28:17,448 --> 00:28:20,068 sad story of the collapse of South Vietnam. 393 00:28:20,172 --> 00:28:21,379 And then, who would have thought 394 00:28:21,482 --> 00:28:23,000 that in the middle of all that tragedy, 395 00:28:24,000 --> 00:28:27,034 the American Air Force would crash 396 00:28:27,137 --> 00:28:30,827 a plane full of Vietnamese babies and small children. 397 00:28:35,896 --> 00:28:37,551 The investigation begins immediately. 398 00:28:41,413 --> 00:28:43,689 The next day, along with the investigators, 399 00:28:43,793 --> 00:28:45,586 Captain Bud Traynor returns 400 00:28:45,689 --> 00:28:47,241 to the smoldering wreckage of his plane... 401 00:28:48,379 --> 00:28:50,034 on a special mission of his own. 402 00:28:51,827 --> 00:28:54,931 I had to leave a couple of crew members out at the aircraft. 403 00:28:56,137 --> 00:28:57,620 And so, I went back the next morning. 404 00:28:58,931 --> 00:29:00,724 The bodies of two dead crewmen 405 00:29:00,827 --> 00:29:02,862 are still pinned down by the wreckage. 406 00:29:02,965 --> 00:29:05,517 So we took a lot of tie down chains, 407 00:29:05,620 --> 00:29:06,896 put them together... 408 00:29:09,000 --> 00:29:11,724 did the old heave-ho with a whole lot of people 409 00:29:11,827 --> 00:29:15,344 to move the flap of wreckage that was pinning the two crew members. 410 00:29:20,172 --> 00:29:21,310 And we got them out of there. 411 00:29:23,275 --> 00:29:26,965 It's always important to finish the job. 412 00:29:27,724 --> 00:29:28,793 And we did. 413 00:29:32,034 --> 00:29:34,413 But then, I had a very naive approach 414 00:29:34,517 --> 00:29:36,482 to what was going to happen next. 415 00:29:36,586 --> 00:29:41,379 I kind of envisioned the guys in the silver helmets would put out the white rope. 416 00:29:41,482 --> 00:29:43,034 This was going to be a secure site. 417 00:29:43,137 --> 00:29:44,931 But that was when I got the shock that, 418 00:29:45,034 --> 00:29:46,655 "Hey, there are no guards out here." 419 00:29:47,758 --> 00:29:49,137 There was a Vietnamese soldier 420 00:29:49,241 --> 00:29:52,034 going through my suitcase, wearing my flight jacket. 421 00:30:01,517 --> 00:30:03,758 He had an AR-15 and I didn't. 422 00:30:05,172 --> 00:30:06,344 That's my jacket. 423 00:30:07,310 --> 00:30:08,310 I'm Bud Traynor. 424 00:30:09,551 --> 00:30:12,172 And we established that my coat... 425 00:30:13,000 --> 00:30:14,206 had the same name on it... 426 00:30:14,310 --> 00:30:15,793 That's mine. 427 00:30:15,896 --> 00:30:19,448 ...as my flight suit. And so, the coat he was wearing was mine. 428 00:30:19,551 --> 00:30:21,758 So he begrudgingly gave me my coat, 429 00:30:21,862 --> 00:30:24,310 and then proceeded to go through the rest of my suitcase. 430 00:30:43,724 --> 00:30:45,931 It's not only Traynor's jacket. 431 00:30:46,034 --> 00:30:47,551 Looters are picking the plane clean. 432 00:30:49,896 --> 00:30:52,379 Dave Scheiding is a structural engineer with the Air Force. 433 00:30:55,517 --> 00:31:00,448 When we got to the site, we had some concern to begin with because there was 434 00:31:00,551 --> 00:31:03,896 a tremendous amount of civilian people out there actually picking up parts, 435 00:31:04,000 --> 00:31:06,965 which, of course, that didn't help us much as far as the investigation goes. 436 00:31:08,620 --> 00:31:10,827 He's part of a team that goes to Saigon 437 00:31:10,931 --> 00:31:13,068 to try to figure out why the plane crashed. 438 00:31:16,310 --> 00:31:19,310 This investigation was very unique from a couple of standpoints. 439 00:31:19,413 --> 00:31:22,724 The first standpoint, of course, the people taking parts away from us. 440 00:31:22,827 --> 00:31:28,000 But second, the country was in extreme chaos. It was essentially falling. 441 00:31:28,103 --> 00:31:30,551 Frank Huskin is also part of the investigative team. 442 00:31:32,379 --> 00:31:35,068 The NVA and the Vietcong are all around, and... 443 00:31:35,172 --> 00:31:37,586 we were only out there during the daytime. 444 00:31:37,689 --> 00:31:39,448 But it was a very uncomfortable feeling. 445 00:31:40,448 --> 00:31:41,413 Very uncomfortable feeling. 446 00:31:44,862 --> 00:31:47,931 One of the first things we wanted to rule out was sabotage and a bomb. 447 00:31:48,034 --> 00:31:52,241 So we brought in dogs from the Philippines, bomb sniffing dogs. 448 00:31:56,241 --> 00:31:57,517 Take him back there to the rear of the plane. 449 00:32:00,241 --> 00:32:03,000 With North Vietnamese soldiers so close, 450 00:32:03,103 --> 00:32:06,206 a direct attack or sabotage are obvious theories. 451 00:32:11,482 --> 00:32:14,724 Initially, they had all thought that it had been a bomb placed 452 00:32:14,827 --> 00:32:16,172 in the luggage compartment, 453 00:32:16,275 --> 00:32:19,517 or it had been a missile that shot the plane down. 454 00:32:21,103 --> 00:32:23,241 During the rush to board the aircraft, 455 00:32:23,344 --> 00:32:26,620 personal luggage was loaded, but not thoroughly checked. 456 00:32:26,724 --> 00:32:30,206 This added to the speculation that a bomb may have been smuggled on board. 457 00:32:32,413 --> 00:32:34,000 The dogs find no trace of a bomb, 458 00:32:35,172 --> 00:32:36,862 and investigators find no evidence 459 00:32:36,965 --> 00:32:38,586 of explosive residue on the plane. 460 00:32:39,793 --> 00:32:41,034 It clearly wasn't attacked. 461 00:32:42,413 --> 00:32:44,827 But something had caused the cargo door to fail. 462 00:32:46,517 --> 00:32:52,137 We had to find the doors, if at all possible, to... 463 00:32:52,241 --> 00:32:57,000 make sure that we didn't have a problem with other C5s 464 00:32:57,103 --> 00:32:59,344 that would cause this type of crash. 465 00:33:01,172 --> 00:33:04,413 Soon, the massive C5-As will be desperately needed 466 00:33:04,517 --> 00:33:06,793 to get America out of Vietnam. 467 00:33:06,896 --> 00:33:09,517 Finding out what happened to this one couldn't be more urgent. 468 00:33:11,034 --> 00:33:13,137 It was beyond important. 469 00:33:13,241 --> 00:33:18,137 At the time, we had approximately 100 C5 aircraft. 470 00:33:18,241 --> 00:33:22,620 We grounded the C5s until such time that we could figure out 471 00:33:22,724 --> 00:33:24,413 one, what the problem was, 472 00:33:24,517 --> 00:33:27,206 and two, what were we going to do 473 00:33:27,310 --> 00:33:28,827 to prevent it from happening again? 474 00:33:33,275 --> 00:33:34,827 Hey, guys! 475 00:33:34,931 --> 00:33:36,827 As they examined the wreckage, 476 00:33:36,931 --> 00:33:39,000 investigators also try to find out 477 00:33:39,103 --> 00:33:41,586 why the crew had such difficulty controlling the plane. 478 00:33:44,620 --> 00:33:45,793 Look how this is sheared off. 479 00:33:49,172 --> 00:33:52,551 The cables that Ray Snedegar saw leaking hydraulic fluid 480 00:33:52,655 --> 00:33:54,689 were the ones that controlled the plane's elevator. 481 00:33:56,206 --> 00:33:58,655 Since the elevator controls pitch, 482 00:33:58,758 --> 00:34:02,034 Captain Traynor had no way of guiding his plane up and down. 483 00:34:02,586 --> 00:34:03,896 Cargo bay! 484 00:34:04,000 --> 00:34:06,241 - Declare an emergency. - Saigon, emergency. 485 00:34:06,344 --> 00:34:08,793 Immediate return to base. 486 00:34:08,896 --> 00:34:12,413 When there's no control of the elevator, 487 00:34:12,517 --> 00:34:14,655 which allows for up and down pitch, 488 00:34:14,758 --> 00:34:19,517 an airplane will set up an oscillation up and down. 489 00:34:19,620 --> 00:34:21,689 His oscillation started 490 00:34:21,793 --> 00:34:25,034 as nose was going down, and then it picked up speed, 491 00:34:25,137 --> 00:34:26,655 and then it started pitching up. 492 00:34:28,482 --> 00:34:30,586 A falling plane's aerodynamic properties 493 00:34:30,689 --> 00:34:33,724 will force it to follow a predictable pattern. 494 00:34:33,827 --> 00:34:37,965 As lift increases, the nose naturally tilts upwards. 495 00:34:38,068 --> 00:34:40,413 Without the elevators to counteract the motion, 496 00:34:40,517 --> 00:34:42,793 it will continue until the plane moves so slowly 497 00:34:42,896 --> 00:34:44,896 that it stalls, falling back to the ground. 498 00:34:47,103 --> 00:34:50,689 It explains the strange motion of the giant C5-A. 499 00:34:50,793 --> 00:34:52,793 By adjusting the thrust of his engines, 500 00:34:52,896 --> 00:34:55,379 Traynor was able to keep the jet from rising and falling. 501 00:34:58,482 --> 00:35:01,310 Investigators believe the cables were sheared off 502 00:35:01,413 --> 00:35:03,448 when the cargo door exploded from the plane. 503 00:35:09,724 --> 00:35:14,103 But they still don't know why the door failed in the first place. 504 00:35:14,206 --> 00:35:19,206 Then we made the determination we were going to have to try and find the doors. 505 00:35:19,310 --> 00:35:22,620 But the doors are somewhere at the bottom of the South China Sea. 506 00:35:24,413 --> 00:35:29,344 Our next problem was trying to figure out the ballistics of those doors. 507 00:35:29,448 --> 00:35:33,206 Nobody had ever even thought of figuring out ballistics 508 00:35:33,310 --> 00:35:37,655 of two doors flying through the air from 23,000 feet. 509 00:35:37,758 --> 00:35:39,724 Relying on the air speed and the altitude 510 00:35:39,827 --> 00:35:41,758 at the moment of decompression, 511 00:35:41,862 --> 00:35:46,551 investigators learn the plane was 46 kilometers from the coast of Vietnam. 512 00:35:46,655 --> 00:35:50,896 When the doors went out, the airplane was moving across the water 513 00:35:51,000 --> 00:35:54,068 at about 600 feet per second. 514 00:35:54,172 --> 00:35:57,827 Therefore, we had to come down with a pretty good estimate... 515 00:35:58,965 --> 00:36:01,034 for the Navy to even know where to look. 516 00:36:03,275 --> 00:36:05,448 Ships from the US Seventh Fleet 517 00:36:05,551 --> 00:36:08,758 crisscross the South China Sea looking for the rear door. 518 00:36:10,827 --> 00:36:13,172 For the first several days, they can't find anything. 519 00:36:15,620 --> 00:36:18,000 The South China Sea has swallowed the evidence. 520 00:36:25,103 --> 00:36:28,655 At the crash site, investigators are becoming increasingly frustrated. 521 00:36:30,068 --> 00:36:32,965 A great deal of wreckage has been stolen by scavengers. 522 00:36:34,448 --> 00:36:37,344 An important clue could be among the pieces taken away. 523 00:36:44,655 --> 00:36:48,655 To retrieve these parts, the Air Force offers to buy them back. 524 00:36:48,758 --> 00:36:51,827 The strategy was to provide leaflets 525 00:36:51,931 --> 00:36:55,655 throughout the city of Saigon and the surrounding area. 526 00:36:55,758 --> 00:36:59,137 We want every piece of material from the aircraft back, 527 00:36:59,241 --> 00:37:03,413 and we will also pay you if you will turn this into us. 528 00:37:08,000 --> 00:37:09,655 Eleven days after the crash, 529 00:37:09,758 --> 00:37:11,586 flyers are delivered to local officials 530 00:37:11,689 --> 00:37:13,172 and distributed throughout the city. 531 00:37:17,620 --> 00:37:20,310 Investigators do eventually recover the camera 532 00:37:20,413 --> 00:37:22,241 that was used by a film crew on board the plane. 533 00:37:26,827 --> 00:37:28,965 They hope it could show them exactly what happened. 534 00:37:34,896 --> 00:37:37,448 But the film inside the camera has already been removed. 535 00:37:42,206 --> 00:37:44,862 Another piece of the wreck turned in during the buyback program 536 00:37:44,965 --> 00:37:46,344 is just what they're looking for. 537 00:37:48,310 --> 00:37:50,000 We were trying to get the black boxes back, 538 00:37:50,103 --> 00:37:51,275 because that's the thing we really wanted. 539 00:37:52,827 --> 00:37:55,517 All C5-As are fitted with a computer system 540 00:37:55,620 --> 00:37:59,206 that records vital information about the plane's operation. 541 00:37:59,310 --> 00:38:02,344 It records engine settings, air speed, altitude, 542 00:38:02,448 --> 00:38:04,896 and hundreds of other parameters onto a magnetic tape. 543 00:38:07,379 --> 00:38:12,620 The system is called MADAR, Malfunction Detection Analysis and Recording System. 544 00:38:12,724 --> 00:38:14,068 It wasn't found at the crash site. 545 00:38:19,827 --> 00:38:23,206 The MADAR is eventually returned for a reward, 546 00:38:23,310 --> 00:38:24,758 but it proves to be a disappointment. 547 00:38:26,689 --> 00:38:31,965 It didn't identify the reason for the doors and the ramps failing, 548 00:38:32,068 --> 00:38:35,034 but it did provide us a sequence of events, 549 00:38:35,137 --> 00:38:39,448 in a lot of areas, including altitude, airspeed... 550 00:38:39,551 --> 00:38:44,241 the performance of the aircraft itself during that time frame. 551 00:38:50,862 --> 00:38:54,068 As investigators continue to look for the cause of the crash, 552 00:38:54,172 --> 00:38:56,172 the situation in Vietnam gets worse. 553 00:38:57,517 --> 00:38:59,793 Two days after they received the MADAR, 554 00:38:59,896 --> 00:39:01,931 the South Vietnamese President resigns. 555 00:39:05,758 --> 00:39:11,517 On April the 23rd, 100,000 North Vietnamese troops approach Saigon. 556 00:39:11,620 --> 00:39:13,448 The noose around the city is tightening. 557 00:39:15,241 --> 00:39:16,482 While we were out in the rice paddy, 558 00:39:16,586 --> 00:39:19,344 you could see burning hamlets and villages, and... 559 00:39:19,448 --> 00:39:21,655 in the distance, they were on fire. 560 00:39:21,758 --> 00:39:24,862 You could hear the explosions and so forth, mortars... 561 00:39:28,413 --> 00:39:31,517 While the situation in Vietnam continues to unravel, 562 00:39:31,620 --> 00:39:35,000 the US Navy finally has some success at sea. 563 00:39:36,724 --> 00:39:38,896 On April the 26th, 564 00:39:39,000 --> 00:39:42,551 they find the cargo ramp and part of the pressure door of Traynor's plane. 565 00:39:43,862 --> 00:39:46,206 If investigators don't find the answers here, 566 00:39:46,310 --> 00:39:48,448 they may not find them anywhere. 567 00:39:48,551 --> 00:39:51,310 They're running out of time, and they're running out of leads. 568 00:39:53,068 --> 00:39:56,586 When the ramp is examined, investigators make a disturbing discovery. 569 00:39:56,689 --> 00:40:00,689 On that ramp, two of the stirrups were in great condition. 570 00:40:00,793 --> 00:40:02,827 They were perfect. They had not failed. 571 00:40:02,931 --> 00:40:08,413 So obviously, it told us that at least two of the locks had just unlocked themselves. 572 00:40:08,517 --> 00:40:12,448 The C5-A has 14 locks holding the rear cargo door shut, 573 00:40:12,551 --> 00:40:13,620 seven on each side. 574 00:40:16,551 --> 00:40:19,931 The door recovered from the sea tells investigators that, for some reason, 575 00:40:20,034 --> 00:40:22,413 three of the locks designed to hold it shut 576 00:40:22,517 --> 00:40:25,206 had either unlocked in flight, or had never locked at all. 577 00:40:27,413 --> 00:40:29,172 This flight was actually like a ticking bomb. 578 00:40:30,655 --> 00:40:33,068 When they closed the ramps, all those locks would look like 579 00:40:33,172 --> 00:40:35,344 they were in a locked position. 580 00:40:35,448 --> 00:40:37,931 When it took off, the fuse was lit. 581 00:40:38,034 --> 00:40:41,379 And as the aircraft climbed out, the fuse kept burning. 582 00:40:41,482 --> 00:40:43,517 As the plane climbed away from Saigon... 583 00:40:43,620 --> 00:40:44,827 Gear up. 584 00:40:44,931 --> 00:40:47,206 ...the pressure outside the jet dropped. 585 00:40:47,310 --> 00:40:51,344 The air inside pushed with increasing force against the cargo door. 586 00:40:53,586 --> 00:40:56,586 Then, as the plane passed through 23,000 feet 587 00:40:56,689 --> 00:41:01,206 with three latches unlocked, the pressure on the door was too much. 588 00:41:09,034 --> 00:41:10,931 With the three locks that failed all in a row, 589 00:41:11,034 --> 00:41:14,965 it was just too much load for the other four locks to actually pick up. 590 00:41:15,068 --> 00:41:19,517 And what's resulted in a catastrophic failure of the ramp itself. 591 00:41:19,620 --> 00:41:22,206 But investigators still don't know why the locks failed. 592 00:41:24,379 --> 00:41:26,206 Before they can find the answer, 593 00:41:26,310 --> 00:41:29,034 the situation in Vietnam deteriorates completely. 594 00:41:30,241 --> 00:41:31,655 Saigon is under siege. 595 00:41:33,103 --> 00:41:34,517 On April the 27th, 596 00:41:34,620 --> 00:41:38,758 the investigators take all of the evidence they can and leave. 597 00:41:38,862 --> 00:41:40,344 It's simply too dangerous to stay. 598 00:41:41,448 --> 00:41:43,413 When we left Saigon, 599 00:41:43,517 --> 00:41:46,758 we were the last two C-141s to leave Johnson airbase. 600 00:41:50,655 --> 00:41:53,379 They were essentially losing their country at that time, 601 00:41:53,482 --> 00:41:55,724 and after that it was only helicopters that got out. 602 00:41:57,517 --> 00:42:00,137 Investigators hope they have all the clues they need 603 00:42:00,241 --> 00:42:01,793 to solve the mystery of the crash. 604 00:42:03,517 --> 00:42:06,517 They know they won't be coming back to Vietnam to look for any more. 605 00:42:14,206 --> 00:42:16,137 April the 30th, 1975. 606 00:42:17,206 --> 00:42:19,482 The war in Vietnam ends. 607 00:42:19,586 --> 00:42:22,137 From the rooftop of the American Embassy, 608 00:42:22,241 --> 00:42:25,379 the last remaining Americans in Vietnam are flown to safety. 609 00:42:31,344 --> 00:42:35,586 Back in the United States, investigators continue their work. 610 00:42:35,689 --> 00:42:38,034 Since the C5 is in service around the world, 611 00:42:38,137 --> 00:42:41,517 they need to know why three locks on the cargo door failed. 612 00:42:44,172 --> 00:42:49,275 When we got back to Texas, it was to help us verify the failure sequence. 613 00:42:49,379 --> 00:42:51,896 Investigators discover something potentially alarming 614 00:42:52,000 --> 00:42:53,620 about the cargo plane's rear door. 615 00:42:57,482 --> 00:43:01,896 Parts from the C5-A were actually removed from the plane, 616 00:43:02,000 --> 00:43:04,379 cannibalized to service another cargo plane. 617 00:43:05,896 --> 00:43:08,068 The locks on the rear door of the C5-A 618 00:43:08,172 --> 00:43:11,310 are connected to each other by a series of tie rods. 619 00:43:13,310 --> 00:43:18,586 The rods can be lengthened or shortened to ensure the locks are completely closed. 620 00:43:18,689 --> 00:43:21,689 It's these tie rods which were removed from the Babylift plane. 621 00:43:25,000 --> 00:43:28,000 At the time, the enormous cargo planes were in constant demand. 622 00:43:29,793 --> 00:43:32,068 The Air Force was very short of parts, 623 00:43:32,172 --> 00:43:36,137 and so they came up with a standard practice for maintenance 624 00:43:36,241 --> 00:43:40,551 that they could cannibalize parts off of aircrafts that are not being flown. 625 00:43:40,655 --> 00:43:43,137 It's authorized and it's... It's a good operation if... 626 00:43:43,241 --> 00:43:46,344 if you respect it and treat it properly, 627 00:43:46,448 --> 00:43:50,896 The tie rods were replaced before the Babylift plane left for Saigon, 628 00:43:51,000 --> 00:43:52,241 but for some reason, they hadn't held. 629 00:43:54,034 --> 00:43:55,896 To try to figure out what happened, 630 00:43:56,000 --> 00:43:58,000 investigators rebuild one of the locks 631 00:43:58,103 --> 00:43:59,793 that was supposed to keep the rear door closed. 632 00:44:01,724 --> 00:44:05,689 We essentially built a working model of that ramp. 633 00:44:05,793 --> 00:44:08,275 And we had to do that, because we didn't get all the parts back, 634 00:44:08,379 --> 00:44:09,551 because the people picking them up, 635 00:44:09,655 --> 00:44:13,379 parts out in the ocean and everything that we never got back. 636 00:44:13,482 --> 00:44:14,931 Investigators aren't convinced 637 00:44:15,034 --> 00:44:18,275 that the problem is in the basic design of the lock. 638 00:44:18,379 --> 00:44:21,517 They suspect that before the plane left California, 639 00:44:21,620 --> 00:44:23,482 the engineers who replaced the rods 640 00:44:23,586 --> 00:44:25,275 didn't follow the proper procedures. 641 00:44:26,241 --> 00:44:27,965 When we're talking about the locks, 642 00:44:28,068 --> 00:44:30,551 the distances that we're talking about are very, very small. 643 00:44:30,655 --> 00:44:35,103 We could be talking about a 16th, 32nd of an inch difference 644 00:44:35,206 --> 00:44:38,172 between being locked and unlocked. 645 00:44:38,275 --> 00:44:41,620 The re-rigging was done before the plane left the United States. 646 00:44:43,482 --> 00:44:44,827 After the locks were re-rigged, 647 00:44:44,931 --> 00:44:46,724 they should have checked to make sure they were working. 648 00:44:48,310 --> 00:44:49,655 That wasn't done. 649 00:44:49,758 --> 00:44:51,448 Without the check, no one would have noticed 650 00:44:51,551 --> 00:44:53,551 that the re-rigging was done improperly. 651 00:44:53,655 --> 00:44:56,482 I would say that this accident actually started 652 00:44:56,586 --> 00:44:59,586 back at Travis Air Force Base in California. 653 00:44:59,689 --> 00:45:03,655 When the two tie rods that had been cannibalized earlier were replaced, 654 00:45:03,758 --> 00:45:05,896 they were not installed properly. 655 00:45:06,000 --> 00:45:07,551 Loadmaster, close cargo bay door. 656 00:45:10,724 --> 00:45:13,379 When the door was opened and shut in Saigon, 657 00:45:13,482 --> 00:45:15,655 there was a warning that not everything was perfect. 658 00:45:17,931 --> 00:45:19,862 We had some difficulty getting it to lock, 659 00:45:19,965 --> 00:45:22,482 so we had to open and close it three, four times. 660 00:45:28,965 --> 00:45:32,000 But it seemed to be routine, and in the heat of the moment... 661 00:45:32,103 --> 00:45:33,413 we didn't... we didn't think anything about it. 662 00:45:36,931 --> 00:45:38,793 But 12 minutes after liftoff, 663 00:45:38,896 --> 00:45:40,793 as the plane continued to climb, 664 00:45:40,896 --> 00:45:42,448 the three improperly closed locks 665 00:45:42,551 --> 00:45:44,551 were forced open by the building air pressure. 666 00:45:46,448 --> 00:45:48,896 The remaining locks could not take the extra load. 667 00:45:55,448 --> 00:45:58,689 The cargo door burst open and was torn off the fuselage. 668 00:46:00,896 --> 00:46:02,724 You just can't take shortcuts. 669 00:46:02,827 --> 00:46:05,482 And if you just pulled a couple of rods out, run out and put them back in, 670 00:46:05,586 --> 00:46:06,482 that's not going to hack it. 671 00:46:08,448 --> 00:46:10,620 The investigators have found their answers 672 00:46:10,724 --> 00:46:13,517 and in their final report, make specific recommendations 673 00:46:13,620 --> 00:46:15,586 that will make the C5-A safer. 674 00:46:18,862 --> 00:46:23,517 As a result, the Air Force designs a pin that slips through each lock. 675 00:46:23,620 --> 00:46:28,448 If the door isn't properly shut, the pins can't slide into place. 676 00:46:28,551 --> 00:46:31,724 We essentially Murphy-proofed it by putting steel pins in there 677 00:46:31,827 --> 00:46:34,586 so that when the lock is in the over-center position, 678 00:46:34,689 --> 00:46:36,758 if you can insert these safety pins, 679 00:46:36,862 --> 00:46:39,000 then you know that the system is properly rigged. 680 00:46:46,206 --> 00:46:49,655 Ray Snedegar retired from the Air Force as a Chief Master Sergeant. 681 00:46:50,551 --> 00:46:52,172 This mission... 682 00:46:52,275 --> 00:46:54,793 was probably the most discouraging in some ways, 683 00:46:54,896 --> 00:46:56,448 based on part of the outcome. 684 00:46:56,551 --> 00:46:58,344 Pilot! Cargo bay! 685 00:46:58,448 --> 00:47:01,827 But also, it was refreshing in the fact that... 686 00:47:01,931 --> 00:47:05,103 we displayed such good airmanship, such courage, 687 00:47:05,206 --> 00:47:07,758 and we were able to save so many people. 688 00:47:07,862 --> 00:47:12,482 After 28 years of service, Bud Traynor retired from the Air Force as a Colonel. 689 00:47:13,931 --> 00:47:16,931 I think everyone second guesses themselves, 690 00:47:17,034 --> 00:47:19,965 to see if there was something else that they could do. 691 00:47:20,068 --> 00:47:22,931 I am very fortunate in that I never found something 692 00:47:23,034 --> 00:47:25,896 that I said, "I sure wish I had done X." 693 00:47:27,137 --> 00:47:29,137 It just wasn't there. 694 00:47:29,241 --> 00:47:31,068 That pilot did a super job. 695 00:47:31,172 --> 00:47:35,310 The fact that anybody survived this crash is just remarkable. 696 00:47:35,413 --> 00:47:37,344 The ones that were saved are very fortunate 697 00:47:37,448 --> 00:47:40,586 that that particular crew was in charge of that aircraft. 698 00:47:41,379 --> 00:47:43,172 Being a pilot myself 699 00:47:43,275 --> 00:47:46,758 and knowing that it only had one aileron and four engines... 700 00:47:46,862 --> 00:47:48,517 by rights, they all should have been dead. 701 00:47:49,896 --> 00:47:52,517 The Investigation Board does not normally 702 00:47:53,172 --> 00:47:55,310 recommend decorations. 703 00:47:55,413 --> 00:47:57,172 That's not part of their job. 704 00:47:57,275 --> 00:48:01,344 But in this case, we recommended to the Air Force 705 00:48:01,448 --> 00:48:05,448 that they be considered for a high decoration. 706 00:48:05,551 --> 00:48:09,241 Surviving crew members including Captain Bud Traynor 707 00:48:09,344 --> 00:48:12,896 and Sergeant Ray Snedegar were awarded medals by the Air Force 708 00:48:13,000 --> 00:48:15,137 for heroism and extraordinary achievement. 709 00:48:27,275 --> 00:48:30,310 One of the orphans that survived was baby Ina. 710 00:48:34,275 --> 00:48:36,896 Today, she's known as Kelly Jackson-Brownlee. 711 00:48:38,620 --> 00:48:41,655 April 4th, 1975. 712 00:48:41,758 --> 00:48:45,206 It's definitely a pivotal point in my life, 713 00:48:46,206 --> 00:48:47,551 where I left 714 00:48:49,068 --> 00:48:51,482 part of myself behind in Vietnam. 715 00:48:53,896 --> 00:48:55,793 When Operation Babylift resumed, 716 00:48:55,896 --> 00:48:58,103 Kelly, along with hundreds of other orphans, 717 00:48:58,206 --> 00:48:59,862 were flown to the United States. 718 00:49:02,758 --> 00:49:05,896 She was eventually adopted by a family near Seattle, Washington. 719 00:49:07,517 --> 00:49:11,620 There was a 25-year anniversary in April of 2000, 720 00:49:11,724 --> 00:49:14,827 and it brought together all of the adults 721 00:49:14,931 --> 00:49:17,413 that were adopted from Vietnam. 722 00:49:17,517 --> 00:49:22,068 And... I ended up meeting someone who was very special, 723 00:49:22,172 --> 00:49:24,724 and actually ended up marrying. 724 00:49:24,827 --> 00:49:27,448 Chris Brownlee and his wife, Kelly, 725 00:49:27,551 --> 00:49:31,586 were both airlifted out of Vietnam on April the 5th, 1975, 726 00:49:32,758 --> 00:49:34,206 one day after the crash.