1 00:00:02,862 --> 00:00:03,965 Rain... 2 00:00:04,068 --> 00:00:06,034 We're gonna get our airplane washed. 3 00:00:07,310 --> 00:00:08,379 ... hail... 4 00:00:08,482 --> 00:00:10,206 I don't know how we get through here, Bill. 5 00:00:10,310 --> 00:00:12,068 We're down... we're sliding. 6 00:00:12,172 --> 00:00:13,310 - ...wind... - Oh, no! 7 00:00:13,413 --> 00:00:15,344 CO-PILOT: On the brakes. 8 00:00:15,448 --> 00:00:17,344 - In a heartbeat... - He's gonna crash! 9 00:00:17,448 --> 00:00:21,068 ... bad weather can turn an ordinary flight into a fight for survival. 10 00:00:23,310 --> 00:00:26,000 The pilots did their very best to recover from the situation. 11 00:00:27,137 --> 00:00:28,517 And it didn't work out. 12 00:00:30,034 --> 00:00:32,448 The right information, the right equipment 13 00:00:32,551 --> 00:00:35,482 can be the difference between life and death... 14 00:00:35,586 --> 00:00:38,034 All four engines have failed. 15 00:00:38,137 --> 00:00:41,379 ...in a constant battle between the planes we fly 16 00:00:41,482 --> 00:00:42,862 and the weather that batters them. 17 00:00:43,517 --> 00:00:45,000 Brace for impact. 18 00:01:10,793 --> 00:01:12,241 It's early December, 19 00:01:12,344 --> 00:01:16,344 a massive winter storm is pounding the eastern United States. 20 00:01:16,448 --> 00:01:18,103 This is a pretty interesting weather pattern 21 00:01:18,206 --> 00:01:19,413 we have for this time of year. 22 00:01:19,517 --> 00:01:22,275 We're getting a mixed bag of precipitation 23 00:01:22,379 --> 00:01:25,482 and weather across the Eastern United States. 24 00:01:25,586 --> 00:01:29,172 For most people, the winter weather is no more than an inconvenience. 25 00:01:32,275 --> 00:01:36,413 But for those who fly, the bad weather can be deadly. 26 00:01:36,517 --> 00:01:39,517 A Continental Airlines commuter plane with 48 people aboard 27 00:01:39,620 --> 00:01:42,000 crashed into a home in suburban Buffalo. 28 00:01:42,103 --> 00:01:45,275 No survivors. One person on the ground also killed. 29 00:01:45,379 --> 00:01:47,586 The plane was en route from Newark to Buffalo. 30 00:01:47,689 --> 00:01:50,482 It was raining with some sleet at the time. 31 00:01:50,586 --> 00:01:53,862 People are making life and death decisions every day 32 00:01:53,965 --> 00:01:55,275 based on the weather. 33 00:01:55,379 --> 00:01:57,379 Should I go or should I not go today? 34 00:01:57,482 --> 00:01:58,689 And once they're up in the air, 35 00:01:58,793 --> 00:02:01,103 how am I going to make a decision in the next five minutes 36 00:02:01,206 --> 00:02:06,827 that's going to keep myself, my passengers or my aircraft out of harm's way? 37 00:02:06,931 --> 00:02:09,413 On this day, flights from New York to Houston 38 00:02:09,517 --> 00:02:11,379 have been delayed and canceled. 39 00:02:11,482 --> 00:02:13,241 Thousands of travelers are affected. 40 00:02:16,068 --> 00:02:18,517 That's largely because the people in this room 41 00:02:18,620 --> 00:02:21,793 have decided that it is unsafe for pilots to fly in this weather. 42 00:02:23,379 --> 00:02:26,172 Our mission here is, is to provide safety and safe flying. 43 00:02:26,275 --> 00:02:29,103 What's happening now? It's an existing condition so... 44 00:02:30,655 --> 00:02:33,413 Looks like some discrete super cells in there. 45 00:02:33,517 --> 00:02:36,103 This room is every pilot's first line of defense 46 00:02:36,206 --> 00:02:38,551 against getting caught in a storm. 47 00:02:38,655 --> 00:02:43,172 It's the federal government's Aviation Weather Center in Kansas City, Missouri. 48 00:02:43,275 --> 00:02:46,241 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 49 00:02:46,344 --> 00:02:50,275 the meteorologists in this room scan the skies across the United States 50 00:02:50,379 --> 00:02:53,793 for the kind of weather that can bring down a plane. 51 00:02:53,896 --> 00:02:57,862 The storm they're tracking today is just that kind of weather. 52 00:02:57,965 --> 00:03:03,034 What we're monitoring is a lot of severe weather in the Carolinas 53 00:03:04,068 --> 00:03:06,724 and continuing to get 54 00:03:06,827 --> 00:03:09,241 severe thunderstorm warnings and tornado warnings there. 55 00:03:12,275 --> 00:03:14,482 The meteorologists have detected thunderstorms 56 00:03:14,586 --> 00:03:16,965 moving towards Atlanta, Georgia. 57 00:03:17,068 --> 00:03:20,448 They've warned pilots and air traffic controllers of the looming danger. 58 00:03:21,310 --> 00:03:22,517 The result is immediate. 59 00:03:24,241 --> 00:03:26,172 So you had planes that were on the ground 60 00:03:26,275 --> 00:03:28,103 that could not take off. 61 00:03:28,206 --> 00:03:29,310 Then you had planes that were arriving 62 00:03:29,413 --> 00:03:31,896 that were unable to land. And then you have to factor in 63 00:03:32,000 --> 00:03:34,827 that they were going several hundred miles 64 00:03:34,931 --> 00:03:36,241 around this... this line of thunderstorms. 65 00:03:39,413 --> 00:03:42,379 The meteorologists will track this storm throughout the day. 66 00:03:44,000 --> 00:03:46,655 They know weather can change in an instant. 67 00:03:46,758 --> 00:03:49,241 So they're not just tracking storm systems, 68 00:03:49,344 --> 00:03:52,241 they're also trying to predict where new storms are going to develop. 69 00:03:55,000 --> 00:03:57,241 We've got to keep our eye on every hazard, 70 00:03:57,344 --> 00:03:59,310 and always be prepared for it to pop up. 71 00:04:01,172 --> 00:04:02,758 Today, the people who work here 72 00:04:02,862 --> 00:04:06,137 also have to find a way to keep planes out of the storms 73 00:04:06,241 --> 00:04:07,379 that are rolling through the South. 74 00:04:09,206 --> 00:04:12,517 As traffic managers, we need to work with the FAA 75 00:04:12,620 --> 00:04:15,655 in routing safe routes for aircraft to go around those thunderstorms, 76 00:04:15,758 --> 00:04:18,793 because they just can't go through them or over them. 77 00:04:18,896 --> 00:04:22,103 So, using these two images together, we can get a good three-dimensional 78 00:04:22,206 --> 00:04:24,103 or even four-dimensional picture of the atmosphere 79 00:04:24,206 --> 00:04:26,310 and how moisture is moving around in there. 80 00:04:28,965 --> 00:04:32,034 Thunderstorms are a lethal threat to pilots. 81 00:04:32,137 --> 00:04:35,137 The clouds that contain them are massive. 82 00:04:35,241 --> 00:04:37,758 They're usually much too tall to fly over. 83 00:04:37,862 --> 00:04:40,137 And the weather inside them can be treacherous. 84 00:04:41,965 --> 00:04:45,758 In no instance does any aircraft want to go into a thunderstorm. 85 00:04:45,862 --> 00:04:50,034 Uh, lightning strikes, hail can certainly damage the airframe 86 00:04:51,103 --> 00:04:52,965 and in... in the extreme cases, 87 00:04:53,068 --> 00:04:54,793 there can be so much liquid precipitation 88 00:04:54,896 --> 00:04:58,517 in that thunderstorm that will cause a jet engine to flame out. 89 00:04:58,620 --> 00:05:02,586 The meteorologists here understand the danger of thunderstorms. 90 00:05:02,689 --> 00:05:06,034 And one devastating crash has taught them much of what they know. 91 00:05:11,551 --> 00:05:13,827 It's April the 4th, 1977. 92 00:05:15,551 --> 00:05:17,103 - Good afternoon, sir. - Good afternoon. 93 00:05:17,206 --> 00:05:18,620 May I see your boarding pass please? 94 00:05:18,724 --> 00:05:22,103 Southern Airways Flight 242 is bound for Atlanta, Georgia. 95 00:05:22,206 --> 00:05:24,827 Just down the aisle on the right sir. Enjoy your flight. 96 00:05:24,931 --> 00:05:26,137 Thank you. 97 00:05:26,241 --> 00:05:27,689 Boarding pass. 98 00:05:27,793 --> 00:05:30,517 Here In the United States, the weather in the southeast 99 00:05:30,620 --> 00:05:33,344 usually consists of high humidity and high temperature. 100 00:05:33,448 --> 00:05:35,482 That's a perfect recipe for thunderstorms. 101 00:05:40,862 --> 00:05:43,137 It was raining in Huntsville and... 102 00:05:43,241 --> 00:05:45,655 they said, "Oh, it's gonna to be some bad weather, don't serve." 103 00:05:45,758 --> 00:05:47,551 So we did not serve from Huntsville to Atlanta, 104 00:05:47,655 --> 00:05:49,586 which is a very short route, 105 00:05:49,689 --> 00:05:51,137 And we were delighted not to be serving. 106 00:05:53,724 --> 00:05:56,172 Aircraft dispatchers provide flight crews with 107 00:05:56,275 --> 00:05:57,689 preflight weather information. 108 00:06:00,517 --> 00:06:02,275 Looks like you guys got a good one coming. 109 00:06:02,379 --> 00:06:03,758 Sure thing. Have a good one. 110 00:06:05,482 --> 00:06:07,206 That weather was two hours old. 111 00:06:07,310 --> 00:06:08,620 It was no longer updated. 112 00:06:11,448 --> 00:06:13,862 I was a little surprised that we took off when we did. 113 00:06:13,965 --> 00:06:16,448 I really thought we'd taxi out to the end of the runway 114 00:06:16,551 --> 00:06:19,689 and hold for a while because the weather looked so bad. 115 00:06:19,793 --> 00:06:21,931 But we taxied out and immediately took off. 116 00:06:26,241 --> 00:06:28,310 Before the pilots get very far, 117 00:06:28,413 --> 00:06:32,517 they receive an ominous weather warning from air traffic control. 118 00:06:32,620 --> 00:06:36,000 Southern Airways 242, I'm painting a line of weather 119 00:06:36,103 --> 00:06:39,827 which appears to be moderate to possibly heavy precipitation, 120 00:06:40,620 --> 00:06:42,931 starting about five miles ahead. 121 00:06:43,034 --> 00:06:45,793 Okay. We're in the rain right now, uh... 122 00:06:45,896 --> 00:06:48,413 It doesn't look much heavier than what we're in right now, does it? 123 00:06:50,896 --> 00:06:52,448 Back in 1977, 124 00:06:52,551 --> 00:06:55,275 pilots were more reliant on their own skills, abilities and knowledge 125 00:06:55,379 --> 00:06:57,655 than they were on air traffic control. 126 00:06:57,758 --> 00:07:01,482 In this particular instance, they had on-board weather radar. 127 00:07:01,586 --> 00:07:03,689 CO-PILOT: I can't read that. That just looks like rain, Bill. 128 00:07:03,793 --> 00:07:05,620 What do you think? There's a hole. 129 00:07:05,724 --> 00:07:08,034 There's a hole right there. That's all I see. 130 00:07:09,689 --> 00:07:12,896 Pilots use their radar to avoid bad weather. 131 00:07:13,000 --> 00:07:16,241 They stay away from regions that are illuminated on the display screen. 132 00:07:18,551 --> 00:07:20,103 Coming over we had pretty good radar, 133 00:07:20,206 --> 00:07:23,344 I believe right straight ahead, there. 134 00:07:23,448 --> 00:07:25,206 The next few miles is probably the best way we can go. 135 00:07:26,482 --> 00:07:28,137 So between that information 136 00:07:28,241 --> 00:07:29,448 and looking out the window, 137 00:07:29,551 --> 00:07:31,137 they were able to make what they believed 138 00:07:31,241 --> 00:07:35,103 were the right decisions about traversing the weather. 139 00:07:35,206 --> 00:07:39,344 As the pilots of Southern Airways Flight 242 attempt to carve a path 140 00:07:39,448 --> 00:07:43,137 through the thunderstorms, they encounter a wall of storm cells, 141 00:07:45,103 --> 00:07:47,827 Looks heavy. Nothing's going through that. 142 00:07:47,931 --> 00:07:50,000 The storm closes in on the aircraft. 143 00:07:52,793 --> 00:07:54,586 CO-PILOT: That's a hole, isn't it? 144 00:07:54,689 --> 00:07:57,034 It's not showing a hole, is it? 145 00:07:57,137 --> 00:07:58,620 The gap between the thunder heads 146 00:07:58,724 --> 00:08:01,172 the pilots thought they had seen on their radar 147 00:08:01,275 --> 00:08:02,758 no longer seems to exist. 148 00:08:04,793 --> 00:08:07,620 Pilots don't like thunderstorms in any way, shape or form 149 00:08:07,724 --> 00:08:11,689 only because it poses a threat to the safe operation of the airplane. 150 00:08:11,793 --> 00:08:15,448 Because of the high velocity winds, the potential for hail, wind shear, 151 00:08:15,551 --> 00:08:19,586 that all has a dramatic effect on the capabilities of not only the pilot, 152 00:08:19,689 --> 00:08:21,482 but of course, the aircraft as well. 153 00:08:29,172 --> 00:08:32,241 The hail was probably the loudest noise I've ever heard. 154 00:08:32,344 --> 00:08:34,310 It sounded like I was in a metal barrel 155 00:08:34,413 --> 00:08:35,827 with someone throwing rocks at me. 156 00:08:37,827 --> 00:08:40,068 The DC-9 plunges into the storm clouds. 157 00:08:42,689 --> 00:08:44,620 CO-PILOT: Which way do we cross here or go out? 158 00:08:44,724 --> 00:08:46,620 I don't know how we get through here, Bill. 159 00:08:46,724 --> 00:08:50,000 Enormous hailstones continue to pound the aircraft. 160 00:08:50,103 --> 00:08:51,724 You're just gonna have to go out. 161 00:08:51,827 --> 00:08:53,206 Yeah, right across that band. 162 00:08:53,310 --> 00:08:55,689 All clear left approximately right now. 163 00:08:55,793 --> 00:08:58,000 The pilots try to escape the storm. 164 00:08:58,103 --> 00:08:59,827 They use their radar to guide them through it. 165 00:09:02,620 --> 00:09:04,413 I think we can cut across there. 166 00:09:04,517 --> 00:09:08,000 But their radar is deceiving them. What they think is a hole 167 00:09:08,103 --> 00:09:10,793 is in fact, the most intense part of the storm ahead. 168 00:09:13,310 --> 00:09:15,586 The pilots of Southern Airways 242 169 00:09:15,689 --> 00:09:17,344 ended up flying into an environment 170 00:09:17,448 --> 00:09:20,172 where multiple thunderstorms came together 171 00:09:20,275 --> 00:09:22,724 and created a line or what they call a squall line. 172 00:09:25,068 --> 00:09:27,413 That's an area of fast moving thunderstorms, 173 00:09:27,517 --> 00:09:29,931 the weather system is moving very quickly, 174 00:09:30,034 --> 00:09:31,896 and that created not only tornadoes 175 00:09:32,000 --> 00:09:35,448 but high velocity winds and hail. 176 00:09:35,551 --> 00:09:39,379 Okay, 242, we just got our windshield busted and 177 00:09:39,482 --> 00:09:42,793 we'll try to get it back up to 15, we're at 14. 178 00:09:42,896 --> 00:09:46,206 While I was looking out at the front of the left engine, 179 00:09:46,310 --> 00:09:50,655 I could see the hail continuing to put more and more dents into the cowling 180 00:09:50,758 --> 00:09:54,241 around the engine and into the cone in the center of the engine. 181 00:09:54,344 --> 00:09:57,310 And the engine was starting to make sounds like it was quitting. 182 00:09:59,896 --> 00:10:04,448 The torrent of hail and water overwhelms the engines of the DC-9. 183 00:10:04,551 --> 00:10:07,034 It clogs the critical air-flow passages 184 00:10:07,137 --> 00:10:09,551 and causes the engines to break apart. 185 00:10:09,655 --> 00:10:11,068 CO-PILOT: Left engine won't spool. 186 00:10:12,965 --> 00:10:14,241 Our left engine just cut out. 187 00:10:16,413 --> 00:10:19,275 You say you lost an engine and a busted your windshield? 188 00:10:20,413 --> 00:10:21,206 Yes, sir. 189 00:10:22,517 --> 00:10:25,000 CO-PILOT: My God! The other engine's going too. 190 00:10:25,862 --> 00:10:27,172 Got the other engine going too. 191 00:10:28,379 --> 00:10:29,896 Southern 242 say again. 192 00:10:30,965 --> 00:10:31,793 Standby... 193 00:10:37,620 --> 00:10:38,655 we lost both engines. 194 00:10:42,655 --> 00:10:44,689 What happens next leads to one of the most 195 00:10:44,793 --> 00:10:47,241 horrific crashes in aviation history 196 00:10:47,344 --> 00:10:51,206 and spurs fundamental changes to the way weather forecasts are made. 197 00:10:51,862 --> 00:10:53,310 Brace for impact. 198 00:10:57,724 --> 00:11:01,931 High above Georgia, Southern Airways Flight 242 is falling from the sky. 199 00:11:03,965 --> 00:11:05,827 We lost both engines. 200 00:11:05,931 --> 00:11:11,931 This DC-9 is a glider and it's falling at 56 feet per second. 201 00:11:12,034 --> 00:11:15,586 They're at 14,000 feet. They don't have a lot of time. 202 00:11:17,310 --> 00:11:19,482 I realized I was in an emergency situation 203 00:11:19,586 --> 00:11:21,862 and I felt like I was going to die. 204 00:11:21,965 --> 00:11:26,586 But I decided I would do everything I could to try to help my chances. 205 00:11:26,689 --> 00:11:29,586 The plane emerges from the storm with two dead engines. 206 00:11:32,241 --> 00:11:33,068 Get those engines started. 207 00:11:38,793 --> 00:11:40,103 CO-PILOT: Bill, you have to find me a highway. 208 00:11:40,206 --> 00:11:41,655 Let's get the next clear open field. 209 00:11:41,758 --> 00:11:43,172 No, Bill. 210 00:11:43,275 --> 00:11:45,413 Lyman Keele, is a young man who has just come back 211 00:11:45,517 --> 00:11:49,000 from the proving ground of Southeast Asia, where he was a Naval aviator, 212 00:11:50,448 --> 00:11:52,758 he learned the niceties of landing 213 00:11:52,862 --> 00:11:55,551 on a rolling pitching aircraft carrier 214 00:11:55,655 --> 00:11:58,172 in the South China Sea in the middle of the night. 215 00:11:59,758 --> 00:12:01,827 What he was confronted with right now 216 00:12:01,931 --> 00:12:05,965 was even a greater test, the greatest test he'd ever confronted 217 00:12:06,068 --> 00:12:07,965 in his life as an airman. 218 00:12:09,793 --> 00:12:10,620 Flaps 219 00:12:13,448 --> 00:12:15,241 They're down to 50. 220 00:12:15,344 --> 00:12:19,344 Unable to restart the engines, Lyman Keele prepares to land his aircraft 221 00:12:19,448 --> 00:12:22,172 on Georgia State Highway 92 without power. 222 00:12:24,344 --> 00:12:26,655 I'm gonna land it right over that guy. 223 00:12:26,758 --> 00:12:27,793 There's a car ahead. 224 00:12:28,344 --> 00:12:29,310 Got it. 225 00:12:29,413 --> 00:12:30,551 I've got it now. 226 00:12:30,655 --> 00:12:31,551 I got it. 227 00:12:36,620 --> 00:12:37,931 Brace for impact. 228 00:12:44,758 --> 00:12:46,931 The aircraft touches down on the highway 229 00:12:47,034 --> 00:12:48,965 running through the town of New Hope, Georgia. 230 00:12:50,206 --> 00:12:52,793 Before the plane completely stopped moving, 231 00:12:52,896 --> 00:12:56,206 there was fire, blowing through the cabin. 232 00:12:58,137 --> 00:12:59,758 The plane clips a utility pole... 233 00:13:06,103 --> 00:13:07,586 ... and slams into a gas station. 234 00:13:10,103 --> 00:13:12,379 Where I found myself after we woke-up 235 00:13:12,482 --> 00:13:16,448 was sort of indescribable. And I could see a crack of light 236 00:13:16,551 --> 00:13:19,862 and I thought, I'm going through that crack of light, come hell or high water. 237 00:13:32,344 --> 00:13:35,689 I saw a red reflection like fire in the door. 238 00:13:39,137 --> 00:13:41,172 That's when I saw what was happening. 239 00:13:44,620 --> 00:13:47,034 I saw smoke and fire. 240 00:13:52,655 --> 00:13:54,793 And the people that were coming toward me, 241 00:13:54,896 --> 00:13:58,310 they weren't screaming, they weren't yelling. They were quiet. 242 00:13:58,413 --> 00:14:02,068 I got back to the kitchen and I was just circled by people. 243 00:14:02,172 --> 00:14:05,344 They knew they were in a house, and I guess they felt safe, 244 00:14:05,448 --> 00:14:06,793 and they needed somebody to help them. 245 00:14:10,758 --> 00:14:14,413 I'll remember to the day I die just staring 246 00:14:14,517 --> 00:14:19,379 at the trees burning and pine trees burning, pieces of aircraft, 247 00:14:19,482 --> 00:14:21,448 and it's, it was so uh, unreal. 248 00:14:23,068 --> 00:14:26,103 22 people survive the crash of flight 242. 249 00:14:27,344 --> 00:14:29,344 72 people were killed. 250 00:14:29,448 --> 00:14:31,448 Southern flight 242 crashed 251 00:14:31,551 --> 00:14:34,413 after the DC-9 jet lost power in both engines. 252 00:14:36,241 --> 00:14:39,482 The tragedy involving flight 242 was avoidable, 253 00:14:39,586 --> 00:14:44,413 had the crew been provided up to date weather information when they were in Huntsville, 254 00:14:44,517 --> 00:14:47,034 had they had an understanding of the area of thunderstorms, 255 00:14:47,137 --> 00:14:48,758 how they were starting to come together 256 00:14:48,862 --> 00:14:50,931 and how it was going to affect their route of flight, 257 00:14:51,034 --> 00:14:54,000 they probably either would have found an alternate place to go. 258 00:14:54,103 --> 00:14:55,517 or they would have stayed in Huntsville. 259 00:14:58,379 --> 00:15:01,000 The importance of timely weather information 260 00:15:01,103 --> 00:15:03,620 makes the aviation weather center critical. 261 00:15:07,896 --> 00:15:12,344 After Southern Airways 242 crash in 1977, 262 00:15:12,448 --> 00:15:16,689 the NTSB, after their research, came out with two recommendations. 263 00:15:16,793 --> 00:15:20,517 One was to improve the resolution of the convective, 264 00:15:20,620 --> 00:15:23,068 or the thunderstorm forecast information. 265 00:15:23,172 --> 00:15:25,241 And the other was to put 266 00:15:25,344 --> 00:15:28,724 Weather Service meteorologists in each of the air traffic control centers. 267 00:15:28,827 --> 00:15:30,103 And within a year we did that. 268 00:15:32,413 --> 00:15:35,103 At the time of the Southern Airways crash, 269 00:15:35,206 --> 00:15:39,896 the weather center issued thunderstorm advisories every four hours. 270 00:15:40,000 --> 00:15:43,344 And in the United States, that's just too long of a window 271 00:15:43,448 --> 00:15:47,034 to capture the rapid development that we see in thunderstorms. 272 00:15:47,137 --> 00:15:50,482 So what they recommended, which we have done ever since, 273 00:15:50,586 --> 00:15:55,241 is communicate to controllers and two pilots that are en route every hour 274 00:15:55,344 --> 00:15:58,275 and if need be, we can do it in between those hourly observations 275 00:15:58,379 --> 00:16:01,275 if the conditions are developing fast enough. 276 00:16:01,379 --> 00:16:05,379 As a result of the crash, the weather center created a new position. 277 00:16:05,482 --> 00:16:08,310 A meteorologist who does nothing but monitor the skies 278 00:16:08,413 --> 00:16:10,517 above the United States for thunderstorms. 279 00:16:14,068 --> 00:16:18,758 On this December day, the meteorologists tracking thunderstorms are very busy. 280 00:16:18,862 --> 00:16:21,172 Storms that have battered Atlanta are on the move. 281 00:16:24,172 --> 00:16:27,655 And you can see up in here there's a minimum of aircraft, 282 00:16:27,758 --> 00:16:30,896 especially where those heavier storms were over Eastern North Carolina. 283 00:16:32,482 --> 00:16:34,344 In addition to providing weather reports, 284 00:16:34,448 --> 00:16:37,965 the people here perform other crucial tasks. 285 00:16:38,068 --> 00:16:39,379 When the weather gets bad enough, 286 00:16:39,482 --> 00:16:42,517 they can also shut down huge areas of airspace. 287 00:16:44,655 --> 00:16:47,931 They do that by issuing warnings called SIGMETs. 288 00:16:48,034 --> 00:16:51,448 It's short for Significant Meteorological Information. 289 00:16:51,551 --> 00:16:55,034 It's an advisory to pilots to steer clear of the bad weather. 290 00:16:55,137 --> 00:16:56,137 All right now on radar. 291 00:16:56,241 --> 00:16:59,103 Once we become aware or or are highly confident, 292 00:16:59,206 --> 00:17:01,620 that there will be some dangerous weather 293 00:17:01,724 --> 00:17:03,827 or severe turbulence or severe icing, 294 00:17:03,931 --> 00:17:05,586 then we will issue what's called a SIGMET. 295 00:17:06,793 --> 00:17:08,586 What do I want the pilots to do? 296 00:17:08,689 --> 00:17:12,344 I want them to avoid that area, the lightning, it's still pretty decent, so... 297 00:17:14,413 --> 00:17:16,275 Today's storms are so severe 298 00:17:16,379 --> 00:17:18,896 that the meteorologists at the Aviation Weather Center 299 00:17:19,000 --> 00:17:21,931 are declaring areas of airspace out of bounds for aircraft. 300 00:17:24,689 --> 00:17:30,793 We issued a large area from Norfolk down through the coastal waters of Georgia 301 00:17:30,896 --> 00:17:33,862 for severe thunderstorms. 302 00:17:33,965 --> 00:17:37,965 Issuing a SIGMET is simple. The meteorologists highlight the area 303 00:17:38,068 --> 00:17:40,517 that planes are to avoid on their computers. 304 00:17:40,620 --> 00:17:43,034 The information is passed on to dispatches, 305 00:17:43,137 --> 00:17:46,344 air traffic controllers and pilots around the country. 306 00:17:46,448 --> 00:17:48,000 Planes are diverted immediately. 307 00:17:50,586 --> 00:17:53,862 Now some of those planes going through there may be going 308 00:17:53,965 --> 00:17:56,896 around they may be being helped by air traffic control 309 00:17:57,000 --> 00:18:00,034 to actually navigate around those individual thunderstorm cells. 310 00:18:00,137 --> 00:18:04,103 No doubt that they're being routed either away from or individually 311 00:18:04,206 --> 00:18:08,206 being very carefully, tactically moved around those thunderstorm cells. 312 00:18:09,551 --> 00:18:12,068 The SIGMET issued by the Aviation Weather Center 313 00:18:12,172 --> 00:18:15,827 affects hundreds of flights along the Eastern Seaboard. 314 00:18:15,931 --> 00:18:20,034 Once it's issued, pilots often have to find a way around the danger zone. 315 00:18:20,137 --> 00:18:21,689 It's no longer just a suggestion. 316 00:18:24,103 --> 00:18:29,103 There are legal consequences to people to adhere to what we put out. 317 00:18:29,206 --> 00:18:31,827 They're just legally not allowed to go into that airspace 318 00:18:31,931 --> 00:18:33,137 while that SIGMET's in effect. 319 00:18:34,896 --> 00:18:38,482 Declaring a SIGMET has enormous implications. 320 00:18:38,586 --> 00:18:41,896 You're shutting down a volume of space that's the size of Georgia. 321 00:18:42,000 --> 00:18:44,103 so that severely impacts traffic. 322 00:18:44,206 --> 00:18:47,379 The FAA and the air traffic controllers now need to decide 323 00:18:47,482 --> 00:18:49,172 how they're going to as a system. 324 00:18:49,275 --> 00:18:51,482 move these routes and these aircraft, 325 00:18:51,586 --> 00:18:52,896 which can be hundreds of them, 326 00:18:53,000 --> 00:18:56,655 operating in this space, around this particular hazard 327 00:18:56,758 --> 00:19:00,517 over the next four to six or even longer hours. 328 00:19:00,620 --> 00:19:03,896 Planes can fly around the area affected by a SIGMET 329 00:19:04,000 --> 00:19:09,000 but that increases travel time and costs the airlines in extra fuel. 330 00:19:09,103 --> 00:19:13,517 The alternative is to keep planes on the ground until the SIGMET is lifted. 331 00:19:13,620 --> 00:19:16,103 They may increase safety, but SIGMETs are a headache 332 00:19:16,206 --> 00:19:18,068 for airlines and air traffic controllers. 333 00:19:22,206 --> 00:19:25,206 It averages out at about 7000 planes to 8000 planes 334 00:19:25,310 --> 00:19:27,034 at any moment being managed. 335 00:19:27,137 --> 00:19:30,241 And so when you start shutting down large areas of airspace, 336 00:19:30,344 --> 00:19:33,448 which we certainly can do on a very active thunderstorm day, 337 00:19:33,551 --> 00:19:37,172 It leaves very little operating room 338 00:19:37,275 --> 00:19:40,586 for air traffic controllers to put planes through. 339 00:19:43,068 --> 00:19:45,413 Technology allows he meteorologists here 340 00:19:45,517 --> 00:19:48,724 to keep planes away from dangerous weather. 341 00:19:48,827 --> 00:19:52,551 But in aviation, some of the most dangerous weather is all but invisible. 342 00:19:58,655 --> 00:20:00,931 August the 2nd, 1985. 343 00:20:01,034 --> 00:20:03,655 Ten degree flaps, please. 344 00:20:03,758 --> 00:20:08,862 Delta Airlines Flight 191 is approaching Dallas Fort Worth International Airport. 345 00:20:08,965 --> 00:20:10,241 Contact departure when airborne. 346 00:20:12,586 --> 00:20:16,344 Texas heat has turned into afternoon storms. 347 00:20:16,448 --> 00:20:19,655 Traffic at the airport is beginning to back up as the weather gets worse. 348 00:20:22,275 --> 00:20:24,034 We're gonna get our airplane washed. 349 00:20:25,310 --> 00:20:26,137 What? 350 00:20:27,241 --> 00:20:28,965 We're going to get our airplane washed. 351 00:20:31,586 --> 00:20:35,206 Nothing seemed unusual other than the fact that we were 352 00:20:35,310 --> 00:20:39,689 starting to get busy and aircraft were starting to pile up. 353 00:20:45,068 --> 00:20:48,448 Tower, Delta 191 heavy out here in the rain, feels good. 354 00:20:48,551 --> 00:20:50,068 191 heavy? 355 00:20:50,172 --> 00:20:52,965 We're not getting any bad warnings from the weather 356 00:20:53,068 --> 00:20:56,862 or from other pilots, which we rely on as they come through it. 357 00:20:58,931 --> 00:21:02,310 As the pilots of Delta 191 prepare for landing, 358 00:21:02,413 --> 00:21:04,103 the rain begins to fall harder. 359 00:21:07,344 --> 00:21:09,724 It seemed like the closer we got into DFW 360 00:21:09,827 --> 00:21:12,379 the worse the weather got. 361 00:21:12,482 --> 00:21:18,103 And it was turning into the rain instead of going around it. 362 00:21:18,206 --> 00:21:20,241 At the foot of the runway, one of the most 363 00:21:20,344 --> 00:21:23,034 ferocious types of storm clouds stands in their way. 364 00:21:25,896 --> 00:21:26,758 Before landing check. 365 00:21:27,517 --> 00:21:28,344 Landing gear. 366 00:21:29,103 --> 00:21:30,448 Down. Three green. 367 00:21:30,551 --> 00:21:33,620 At the time... the type of storm the Delta crew is approaching 368 00:21:33,724 --> 00:21:34,586 barely has a name. 369 00:21:37,103 --> 00:21:40,896 John McCarthy is one of the world's leading experts on these storms. 370 00:21:41,000 --> 00:21:43,034 JOHN McCARTHY: It is a tiny thing, 371 00:21:43,137 --> 00:21:46,275 meteorologically speaking, compared to a a big storm 372 00:21:46,379 --> 00:21:50,586 or a snowstorm or a hurricane, it's just a like a needle in a haystack. 373 00:21:51,862 --> 00:21:53,482 The needle is a microburst, 374 00:21:53,586 --> 00:21:55,172 one of the deadliest and at the time, 375 00:21:55,275 --> 00:21:57,344 most poorly understood weather phenomenon. 376 00:21:59,482 --> 00:22:02,344 They've taken down airliners before. 377 00:22:02,448 --> 00:22:06,344 But as Delta 191 makes its approach, there are no warning systems 378 00:22:06,448 --> 00:22:09,344 that can effectively alert the pilots of the danger they're in. 379 00:22:10,620 --> 00:22:13,103 Prior to 1985, the radars aboard the aircraft 380 00:22:14,103 --> 00:22:16,034 were built to detect thunderstorms, 381 00:22:17,206 --> 00:22:19,103 Essentially heavy areas of precipitation. 382 00:22:19,896 --> 00:22:20,965 They were not effective. 383 00:22:21,068 --> 00:22:23,068 They weren't designed to detect a microburst. 384 00:22:25,482 --> 00:22:29,068 If you're at the kitchen sink and you turn on the water 385 00:22:29,172 --> 00:22:32,413 and it goes straight down and splashes out in all directions. 386 00:22:32,517 --> 00:22:35,310 And that's kind of what a microburst is, 387 00:22:35,413 --> 00:22:38,551 except that it is extremely bad news 388 00:22:38,655 --> 00:22:40,862 if you're an airplane flying through it. 389 00:22:42,482 --> 00:22:44,034 When a plane hits a microburst, 390 00:22:44,137 --> 00:22:47,793 it encounters a complex and powerful set of conditions. 391 00:22:47,896 --> 00:22:50,758 Downdrafts and tail winds batter a plane. 392 00:22:50,862 --> 00:22:52,379 It's a deadly combination. 393 00:22:56,275 --> 00:23:01,000 At its maximum strength, it's no more than two miles across 394 00:23:01,103 --> 00:23:02,862 and it lasts no more than 15 minutes. 395 00:23:05,586 --> 00:23:09,344 So if you look at that little space and time window, it's very small. 396 00:23:10,586 --> 00:23:12,896 And so the probability of hitting one is low. 397 00:23:14,965 --> 00:23:16,034 Just short of the runway, 398 00:23:16,137 --> 00:23:18,758 Delta 191 flies into the microburst. 399 00:23:22,827 --> 00:23:24,275 You're gonna lose it all of a sudden. 400 00:23:25,482 --> 00:23:26,310 There it is. 401 00:23:34,310 --> 00:23:36,551 Push it up, push it way up. 402 00:23:36,655 --> 00:23:37,758 Way up. 403 00:23:37,862 --> 00:23:39,241 Way up! 404 00:23:42,758 --> 00:23:45,241 I pulled my seat belt as tight as I could 405 00:23:45,344 --> 00:23:48,827 but, at the same time you could hear a pin drop, nobody was talking. 406 00:23:48,931 --> 00:23:50,586 Hang on to the son-- 407 00:23:56,379 --> 00:23:57,724 - It's gonna crash. - CO-PILOT: Damn it! 408 00:24:08,379 --> 00:24:12,586 The pilots of Delta Flight 191 did their very best to recover from the situation. 409 00:24:13,724 --> 00:24:14,620 And it didn't work out. 410 00:24:17,586 --> 00:24:20,586 I must have caught sight of him just at the last millisecond 411 00:24:20,689 --> 00:24:23,206 and it cart wheeled into the tank in just an instant 412 00:24:23,310 --> 00:24:25,344 and then, of course, there was fire, 413 00:24:25,448 --> 00:24:27,586 not a ball of fire, but a wall of fire. 414 00:24:31,551 --> 00:24:33,620 It seemed like there was only a few seconds, 415 00:24:33,724 --> 00:24:34,827 five seconds at the most. 416 00:24:34,931 --> 00:24:36,103 I don't know how long it was. 417 00:24:37,310 --> 00:24:38,551 We was... everything was stopped. 418 00:24:42,965 --> 00:24:47,000 Then all of a sudden you look up and it's just nothing there. 419 00:24:47,103 --> 00:24:48,172 It's everything's gone. 420 00:24:48,275 --> 00:24:50,655 You just see the whole big picture outside. 421 00:24:50,758 --> 00:24:52,620 Like the plane just opened up. 422 00:24:59,551 --> 00:25:03,000 People just thrown around on the ground. 423 00:25:03,103 --> 00:25:06,137 Some with clothes on, some without clothes on, some were burned. 424 00:25:09,068 --> 00:25:12,896 Just 27 people survived the crash of Delta 191. 425 00:25:13,862 --> 00:25:16,000 Help! Over here! 426 00:25:16,103 --> 00:25:18,620 137 people are killed. 427 00:25:22,275 --> 00:25:25,689 I had seen death before as a medic in Vietnam, 428 00:25:25,793 --> 00:25:28,310 But it had never been aimed at civilians, 429 00:25:28,413 --> 00:25:30,896 and certainly not on a mass casualty situation 430 00:25:31,000 --> 00:25:32,620 and certainly not this suddenly. 431 00:25:37,275 --> 00:25:38,931 JOHN McCARTHY: It's hard to blame the Air crew. 432 00:25:40,137 --> 00:25:41,689 Their job is to avoid thunderstorms 433 00:25:41,793 --> 00:25:44,103 and there's probably a forecast 434 00:25:44,206 --> 00:25:46,310 for thunderstorms every day at Dallas in the summertime. 435 00:25:47,896 --> 00:25:49,655 Which ones do you avoid? 436 00:25:49,758 --> 00:25:53,068 And, it's, you know, it's It's a very difficult problem. 437 00:25:53,172 --> 00:25:57,758 After the crash of Delta 191, the Federal Aviation Administration races 438 00:25:57,862 --> 00:26:01,172 to develop technology that can prevent microbursts from killing again. 439 00:26:04,413 --> 00:26:07,793 If there is one crash that we can look back on now, 440 00:26:08,793 --> 00:26:12,482 and say this made things safer, 441 00:26:12,586 --> 00:26:14,206 because we learned from it. 442 00:26:14,310 --> 00:26:15,482 It was Delta 191. 443 00:26:16,931 --> 00:26:19,137 One of the most important lessons, 444 00:26:19,241 --> 00:26:23,482 that the technology in use at the time simply wasn't good enough. 445 00:26:23,586 --> 00:26:27,931 What we found out is that Doppler radar, which is on the ground, 446 00:26:28,034 --> 00:26:32,482 is incredibly effective in detecting microbursts. 447 00:26:32,586 --> 00:26:36,655 Unlike weather radar in use at the time of the crash of Delta 191, 448 00:26:36,758 --> 00:26:40,620 Doppler radar can also detect the direction of winds inside a storm. 449 00:26:42,275 --> 00:26:43,724 And if you look through the Doppler radar, 450 00:26:43,827 --> 00:26:46,448 you see a part of it that is going away from the radar, 451 00:26:46,551 --> 00:26:48,724 and a part that's coming towards the radar. 452 00:26:48,827 --> 00:26:52,448 And if it's small, It's absolutely a microburst. 453 00:26:52,551 --> 00:26:53,965 It can be nothing else. 454 00:26:54,068 --> 00:27:00,241 So it has what we call an unambiguous signature of a microburst, 455 00:27:00,344 --> 00:27:02,724 which means, we got it. 456 00:27:02,827 --> 00:27:06,379 When the Doppler radar system at an airport detects a microburst, 457 00:27:06,482 --> 00:27:09,344 it sends an alert to air traffic controllers. 458 00:27:09,448 --> 00:27:12,344 The controllers relay the warning to pilots on approach. 459 00:27:12,448 --> 00:27:14,275 Flight 236 microburst alert. 460 00:27:14,379 --> 00:27:17,068 Flight 095, one mile final, say intentions. 461 00:27:17,172 --> 00:27:19,965 After the crash of Delta 191 462 00:27:20,068 --> 00:27:22,827 Terminal Doppler Weather Radar was installed in airports 463 00:27:22,931 --> 00:27:25,172 across the United States. 464 00:27:25,275 --> 00:27:28,344 Dallas Fort Worth was one of the first to apply the system. 465 00:27:30,103 --> 00:27:32,551 But technology is only one link in the chain. 466 00:27:36,379 --> 00:27:39,275 Sometimes even with all the right information, 467 00:27:39,379 --> 00:27:41,689 pilots make disastrous decisions. 468 00:27:41,793 --> 00:27:42,931 There's your big wadiddily. 469 00:27:44,344 --> 00:27:45,655 Yeah, we got to get over there real quick. 470 00:27:50,586 --> 00:27:52,344 This December day has been a long one 471 00:27:52,448 --> 00:27:56,103 for thousands of airline passengers across North America. 472 00:27:56,206 --> 00:27:59,758 A winter storm is moving across the southeastern United States. 473 00:28:01,482 --> 00:28:03,931 The meteorologists at the Aviation Weather Center 474 00:28:04,034 --> 00:28:06,448 have shut down a large area of airspace. 475 00:28:08,172 --> 00:28:10,068 Hundreds of flights have been grounded 476 00:28:10,172 --> 00:28:13,103 or forced to divert around the storm. 477 00:28:13,206 --> 00:28:16,000 But shutting down that airspace doesn't take the pressure off. 478 00:28:18,793 --> 00:28:22,379 If thunderstorms do start to develop and become very strong and organized, 479 00:28:22,482 --> 00:28:25,000 we can't let that distract us from other hazards, 480 00:28:25,103 --> 00:28:29,551 such as icing, turbulence or even strong surface winds or low-level wind shear. 481 00:28:31,689 --> 00:28:35,068 The meteorologists here can see troubling weather ahead 482 00:28:35,172 --> 00:28:37,931 and let pilots know how to avoid it. 483 00:28:38,034 --> 00:28:42,379 But sometimes what pilots do with that information can lead to disaster. 484 00:28:47,517 --> 00:28:50,275 June, the 1st 1999, 485 00:28:50,379 --> 00:28:53,689 American Airlines Flight 1420 has been delayed by weather. 486 00:28:54,793 --> 00:28:55,620 Dispatch please... 487 00:28:57,103 --> 00:28:58,448 Yeah, it's Michael Origell. 488 00:28:58,551 --> 00:29:01,068 Storms threaten this flight's destination, 489 00:29:01,172 --> 00:29:03,172 Little Rock National Airport in Arkansas. 490 00:29:06,103 --> 00:29:09,862 The pilots of 1420 had received a briefing from their dispatch department 491 00:29:09,965 --> 00:29:11,793 about all of the thunderstorm activity 492 00:29:11,896 --> 00:29:14,482 that they were going to encounter between Dallas and Little Rock. 493 00:29:16,758 --> 00:29:18,620 They were also warned about the fact that 494 00:29:18,724 --> 00:29:20,827 because of the fast moving weather system 495 00:29:20,931 --> 00:29:22,620 that they would be entering into an area called 496 00:29:22,724 --> 00:29:24,896 or what was characterized as the "bowling alley". 497 00:29:32,413 --> 00:29:35,896 Two hours behind schedule, the pilots decide to make the flight. 498 00:29:42,896 --> 00:29:45,620 They race to fly through a gap in the storm system. 499 00:29:46,931 --> 00:29:49,206 Whoa! Looks like it's moving this way, though. 500 00:29:49,310 --> 00:29:53,620 Yeah, just some lightning straight ahead. 501 00:29:53,724 --> 00:29:55,482 I think we're going to be okay, though. 502 00:29:55,586 --> 00:29:56,931 Right there. 503 00:29:57,034 --> 00:29:58,965 Right down the bowling alley. 504 00:29:59,068 --> 00:30:00,827 As my friends would say, California cool. 505 00:30:01,517 --> 00:30:03,620 Cool. Peachy. 506 00:30:04,103 --> 00:30:05,758 Exactly. 507 00:30:05,862 --> 00:30:07,482 If they don't make it in time, 508 00:30:07,586 --> 00:30:10,034 they will either have to divert to another airport 509 00:30:10,137 --> 00:30:13,379 or land in severe weather conditions. 510 00:30:13,482 --> 00:30:16,413 They were made aware by dispatchers that they were going to have 511 00:30:16,517 --> 00:30:19,379 to get into this alley or this area of clear weather, 512 00:30:19,482 --> 00:30:21,172 and they didn't have a lot of time to do it. 513 00:30:29,448 --> 00:30:32,413 But as they near the airport, the weather gets even worse. 514 00:30:35,655 --> 00:30:37,724 American 1420 it appears like we have 515 00:30:37,827 --> 00:30:39,896 the second part of this storm moving through. 516 00:30:40,482 --> 00:30:41,655 The wind now is 517 00:30:41,758 --> 00:30:44,827 three four zero at one six. Gusts, three four. 518 00:30:47,793 --> 00:30:49,206 Okay. Did you notice something? 519 00:30:49,310 --> 00:30:50,862 Did you see the airport there? 520 00:30:50,965 --> 00:30:52,448 - Where? - There okay. 521 00:30:52,551 --> 00:30:54,413 Right. you're on a base for it. 522 00:30:54,517 --> 00:30:56,172 Okay? It's It's right there. 523 00:30:56,275 --> 00:30:57,551 But I'm on a base now. 524 00:30:57,655 --> 00:30:59,241 It's... It's like a dog leg. 525 00:30:59,344 --> 00:31:01,965 We're coming in, and there it is, right there. 526 00:31:03,413 --> 00:31:06,034 I lost it, and I don't see how we can maintain visual. 527 00:31:09,137 --> 00:31:11,137 The plane was rocking and rolling at that point. 528 00:31:11,241 --> 00:31:13,206 It was pretty doggone unstable. 529 00:31:13,310 --> 00:31:17,068 I don't know what made me aware, so doggone aware, 530 00:31:17,172 --> 00:31:18,655 that we were going to have a problem. 531 00:31:18,758 --> 00:31:19,758 I don't know what did that. 532 00:31:25,344 --> 00:31:26,620 One of the things that we analyzed 533 00:31:26,724 --> 00:31:28,172 was a statement by the captain 534 00:31:28,275 --> 00:31:31,896 that was recorded on the cockpit voice recorder. 535 00:31:32,000 --> 00:31:35,206 See, I hate droning around visual at night in weather 536 00:31:35,310 --> 00:31:36,793 without having any clue where we are. 537 00:31:38,620 --> 00:31:42,241 It gave us an indication that they didn't have situational awareness. 538 00:31:42,344 --> 00:31:44,275 They didn't really understand the gravity, 539 00:31:44,379 --> 00:31:46,137 the environment that they were flying into. 540 00:31:47,310 --> 00:31:48,724 American 1420. 541 00:31:48,827 --> 00:31:51,448 Right now we have heavy rain on the airport. 542 00:31:51,551 --> 00:31:55,896 I don't have a new weather for you. But visibility is less than a mile. 543 00:31:56,000 --> 00:31:58,655 And the runway four right RVR is 3,000. 544 00:32:01,241 --> 00:32:05,448 As the pilots of American Airlines Flight 1420 attempt to land, 545 00:32:05,551 --> 00:32:07,551 visibility has been reduced even further. 546 00:32:10,172 --> 00:32:14,793 The wind now is three five zero three zero. Gusts, four five. 547 00:32:15,482 --> 00:32:16,965 Can we land? 548 00:32:17,068 --> 00:32:20,000 Zero three zero at four five. American 1420. 549 00:32:20,103 --> 00:32:21,827 Three thousand RVR? We can't land on that. 550 00:32:21,931 --> 00:32:23,448 - No, 3,000-- - What do we need? 551 00:32:23,551 --> 00:32:25,310 No. It's twenty-four hundred RVR. 552 00:32:25,413 --> 00:32:26,344 Okay. Right. 553 00:32:26,448 --> 00:32:27,655 Yeah, we're fine. 554 00:32:27,758 --> 00:32:29,620 The stress level of a pilot increases, 555 00:32:29,724 --> 00:32:32,275 especially in an environment where there's thunderstorms, 556 00:32:32,379 --> 00:32:35,206 only because multiple decisions are having to be made 557 00:32:35,310 --> 00:32:36,517 in very short periods of time. 558 00:32:37,206 --> 00:32:38,034 Uh, fifteen. 559 00:32:42,241 --> 00:32:43,344 Landing gear down. 560 00:32:46,068 --> 00:32:47,482 Lights please. 561 00:32:47,586 --> 00:32:50,068 The pilots could divert to another airport, 562 00:32:50,172 --> 00:32:52,172 but they decide to attempt the landing. 563 00:32:54,586 --> 00:32:56,206 Air traffic controllers have detected 564 00:32:56,310 --> 00:32:58,137 a dangerous crosswind on the runway. 565 00:32:59,655 --> 00:33:01,965 Windshear alert on center field wind. 566 00:33:02,068 --> 00:33:05,758 3-5-0 at 3-2. Gusts 4-5. 567 00:33:05,862 --> 00:33:09,310 North Boundary wind 3-1-0 at 2-9. 568 00:33:09,413 --> 00:33:13,103 Northeast boundary wind 3-2-0 at 3-2. 569 00:33:14,551 --> 00:33:18,793 Thousand feet. Twenty. Forty-forty land. 570 00:33:18,896 --> 00:33:21,034 This is a can of worms. 571 00:33:21,137 --> 00:33:24,448 Wind is 3-3-0 at 2-8. 572 00:33:24,551 --> 00:33:26,068 I'm going to stay above it a little. 573 00:33:26,172 --> 00:33:27,758 There's a runway off to your right. Got it? 574 00:33:27,862 --> 00:33:29,793 - No. - I got the runway in sight. 575 00:33:29,896 --> 00:33:31,965 - You're right on course. - I got it! I got it! 576 00:33:34,103 --> 00:33:36,689 Winds 3-3-0 at 2-3. 577 00:33:36,793 --> 00:33:38,758 Damn! We're off course. - No, I can't see it. 578 00:33:38,862 --> 00:33:40,689 - Way off! - I can't see anything. 579 00:33:40,793 --> 00:33:42,586 - Got it? - Got it. 580 00:33:42,689 --> 00:33:46,206 With winds pounding the airport and the runways slick with rain, 581 00:33:46,310 --> 00:33:48,482 the pilots make their final approach. 582 00:33:48,586 --> 00:33:49,517 Forty, 583 00:33:51,206 --> 00:33:52,241 thirty, 584 00:33:53,586 --> 00:33:54,620 twenty, 585 00:33:56,103 --> 00:33:57,000 ten... 586 00:34:03,586 --> 00:34:05,758 We're down, we're sliding. 587 00:34:06,275 --> 00:34:07,862 Oh! no. 588 00:34:07,965 --> 00:34:10,724 They lose control of the aircraft as they speed down the runway. 589 00:34:11,827 --> 00:34:12,931 Put on the brakes! 590 00:34:21,172 --> 00:34:23,827 Other one. 591 00:34:35,931 --> 00:34:38,586 The plane runs off the end of the runway 592 00:34:38,689 --> 00:34:41,655 and crashes into several steel columns. 593 00:34:41,758 --> 00:34:44,068 Well, I knew I was not going to die in that thing. 594 00:34:44,172 --> 00:34:47,241 I got out of that plane, probably in ten seconds. 595 00:34:47,344 --> 00:34:48,413 It was like being in a war. 596 00:34:48,517 --> 00:34:49,310 Go, go, go. 597 00:34:51,172 --> 00:34:53,827 But not everyone is so lucky. 598 00:34:53,931 --> 00:34:58,586 11 people are killed in the crash of American Airlines Flight 1420 599 00:34:58,689 --> 00:35:00,586 including Captain Richard Bushman. 600 00:35:04,206 --> 00:35:07,034 Did they really know what they were getting themselves into? 601 00:35:07,137 --> 00:35:09,413 That was a key point for us as investigators. 602 00:35:09,517 --> 00:35:11,034 They went into an environment 603 00:35:11,137 --> 00:35:12,551 that was detrimental to their safety. 604 00:35:16,206 --> 00:35:19,655 The National Transportation Safety Board rules that the pilot's decision 605 00:35:19,758 --> 00:35:23,241 to land at Little Rock Airport was the primary cause of the accident. 606 00:35:27,275 --> 00:35:29,896 On the day of the crash, the pilots of Flight 1420 607 00:35:30,000 --> 00:35:32,551 had to rely on controllers to relay information 608 00:35:32,655 --> 00:35:34,068 about conditions on the runway. 609 00:35:41,206 --> 00:35:43,241 At the Aviation Weather Center. 610 00:35:43,344 --> 00:35:46,413 meteorologists are trying to get rid of that middle man. 611 00:35:46,517 --> 00:35:49,517 We can provide a picture right in the cockpit, 612 00:35:49,620 --> 00:35:52,793 and the pilot can navigate looking at a picture, 613 00:35:52,896 --> 00:35:55,172 as opposed to trying to translate some words 614 00:35:55,275 --> 00:35:56,793 that they've heard read to them over radio. 615 00:35:56,896 --> 00:35:59,137 They can see what the hazards are going to be in relation 616 00:35:59,241 --> 00:36:02,034 to aircraft and start making decisions immediately 617 00:36:02,137 --> 00:36:06,517 as opposed to decoding, drawing where that hazard is, 618 00:36:06,620 --> 00:36:08,758 thinking about where they are in relation to the hazard, 619 00:36:08,862 --> 00:36:11,241 and then trying to make that decision, it will speed up the process. 620 00:36:13,620 --> 00:36:16,000 Throughout the day, meteorologists in this room 621 00:36:16,103 --> 00:36:18,413 have been tracking a band of fierce thunderstorms 622 00:36:18,517 --> 00:36:19,931 in the southern United States. 623 00:36:22,068 --> 00:36:25,068 Those storms are beginning to die down. 624 00:36:25,172 --> 00:36:27,551 Meteorologists have started to reopen airspace 625 00:36:27,655 --> 00:36:28,793 they had previously closed. 626 00:36:32,068 --> 00:36:33,724 Air traffic is returning to normal. 627 00:36:36,275 --> 00:36:37,793 The most active convective weather 628 00:36:37,896 --> 00:36:40,931 was over eastern North Carolina and southward. 629 00:36:41,034 --> 00:36:43,448 Now there is a lot of lower topped precipitation 630 00:36:43,551 --> 00:36:45,137 that doesn't have thunderstorms. 631 00:36:45,241 --> 00:36:47,034 And they're more than likely if they're going up 632 00:36:47,137 --> 00:36:50,137 across western North Carolina and in central Virginia, 633 00:36:50,241 --> 00:36:52,310 they're able to pretty much fly over that weather. 634 00:36:55,448 --> 00:36:59,137 The thunderstorms in the Southern United States are dying down. 635 00:36:59,241 --> 00:37:01,793 But the meteorologists are now keeping a close eye 636 00:37:01,896 --> 00:37:04,758 on a very dangerous new development. 637 00:37:04,862 --> 00:37:07,206 A volcano south of the United States. 638 00:37:10,793 --> 00:37:12,793 Volcanic ash clouds can be a hazard 639 00:37:12,896 --> 00:37:15,862 and do a lot of damage to the aircraft and to engines. 640 00:37:22,137 --> 00:37:25,172 Nolan Duke is tracking weather over the Gulf of Mexico. 641 00:37:27,344 --> 00:37:29,413 This is Soufriere Hills, this is near Antigua. 642 00:37:30,344 --> 00:37:32,896 in the Windward Islands, 643 00:37:33,000 --> 00:37:36,206 South, Southeast of Puerto Rico, 644 00:37:36,310 --> 00:37:38,206 and, it blew its stack. 645 00:37:41,965 --> 00:37:45,310 Soufriere Hills volcano has been venting ash for the past week. 646 00:37:46,517 --> 00:37:48,551 The volcanic ash cloud it's been releasing 647 00:37:48,655 --> 00:37:51,000 could prove deadly if pilots were to fly through it. 648 00:37:54,551 --> 00:37:57,137 The Aviation Weather Center has issued a SIGMET 649 00:37:57,241 --> 00:37:59,448 to keep planes away from the plume. 650 00:38:01,275 --> 00:38:04,724 Each one of these frames is an hour. 651 00:38:08,620 --> 00:38:09,551 And by sunrise, 652 00:38:10,655 --> 00:38:12,586 the volcanic ash cloud 653 00:38:12,689 --> 00:38:15,551 is this little milky region right in here. 654 00:38:16,586 --> 00:38:18,103 Sometimes it's very difficult 655 00:38:18,206 --> 00:38:21,724 to discern between the ash clouds and the meteorological clouds, 656 00:38:21,827 --> 00:38:24,379 but a well-trained eye with a lot of experience 657 00:38:24,482 --> 00:38:25,896 will see this ash cloud. 658 00:38:29,379 --> 00:38:32,655 We have 30,000 people living on platforms, 659 00:38:32,758 --> 00:38:35,448 drilling platforms out here at any given time. 660 00:38:35,551 --> 00:38:38,275 And they have 650 helicopters 661 00:38:38,379 --> 00:38:40,931 that fly every day over the northern Gulf of Mexico 662 00:38:41,034 --> 00:38:43,344 delivering people, materials and food 663 00:38:43,448 --> 00:38:46,896 to keep these drilling operations going. 664 00:38:47,000 --> 00:38:50,758 We thought it would end yesterday and they forecasted it to puff and and disappear, 665 00:38:50,862 --> 00:38:52,448 but it's still going today. 666 00:38:52,551 --> 00:38:56,000 As long as we can see the ash plume, 667 00:38:56,103 --> 00:38:58,413 we will continue to issue the SIGMET. 668 00:39:01,206 --> 00:39:04,137 Unlike ash that you might see in a chimney 669 00:39:04,241 --> 00:39:06,551 or after a fire in a forest, 670 00:39:06,655 --> 00:39:09,551 this is not soft material at all. 671 00:39:09,655 --> 00:39:12,724 This is very fine ground up particles 672 00:39:12,827 --> 00:39:15,758 of solid rock and minerals. 673 00:39:15,862 --> 00:39:20,103 But that fine dust has the power to stop a 300 ton airliner. 674 00:39:23,068 --> 00:39:25,655 On June the 24th, 1982, 675 00:39:25,758 --> 00:39:28,344 the devastating effects of an ash cloud took the crew 676 00:39:28,448 --> 00:39:31,000 of a British Airways jet completely by surprise. 677 00:39:34,551 --> 00:39:37,034 CO-PILOT: Barry and I, were just sitting there minding the shop. 678 00:39:37,137 --> 00:39:38,896 Pitch dark night, of course. 679 00:39:39,000 --> 00:39:42,482 And then we started to get these pinpricks of light on the... on the windscreen. 680 00:39:44,586 --> 00:39:47,793 Mount Galunggung on the island of Java has erupted, 681 00:39:47,896 --> 00:39:50,000 but no warnings have been issued to pilots. 682 00:39:52,172 --> 00:39:54,965 When the 747 flies into the cloud, 683 00:39:55,068 --> 00:39:58,758 it collides with the volcanic ash particles inside. 684 00:39:58,862 --> 00:40:01,862 The friction creates a bright, shimmering glow on the windscreen. 685 00:40:05,965 --> 00:40:08,448 Because it's such a dry environment up there, 686 00:40:08,551 --> 00:40:12,517 that frictional electrification produces the glow 687 00:40:12,620 --> 00:40:14,965 that we refer to as St. Elmo's Fire. 688 00:40:16,034 --> 00:40:17,448 Same on my side. 689 00:40:17,551 --> 00:40:19,896 But the crew had no idea what they were looking at. 690 00:40:21,310 --> 00:40:24,379 This light show, if you like, had become more intense. 691 00:40:24,482 --> 00:40:27,827 In fact, we ended up sitting there with... with two sheets 692 00:40:27,931 --> 00:40:30,724 of brilliant white light in front of us in place of the windscreens. 693 00:40:34,000 --> 00:40:35,931 Passengers aboard the flight also see 694 00:40:36,034 --> 00:40:38,172 a strange glow around the plane's jet engines. 695 00:40:40,689 --> 00:40:44,137 Smoke begins to seep into the cabin around them. 696 00:40:44,241 --> 00:40:47,620 Volcanic ash has been sucked into the aircraft's ventilation system. 697 00:40:50,551 --> 00:40:54,172 With ash particles clouding the cabin and the aircraft lit up, 698 00:40:54,275 --> 00:40:57,068 the volcanic cloud deals it's most deadly blow. 699 00:41:01,586 --> 00:41:03,655 Engine failure, number four. 700 00:41:03,758 --> 00:41:05,379 Fire action, number four. 701 00:41:05,482 --> 00:41:06,862 The ash has snuffed out 702 00:41:06,965 --> 00:41:08,896 one of the jet's four massive engines. 703 00:41:09,000 --> 00:41:11,896 Closed. Start level off. 704 00:41:12,000 --> 00:41:16,034 There were huge flames coming out of the back of the engines. 705 00:41:16,137 --> 00:41:19,448 20, some people said 40 feet long, 706 00:41:19,551 --> 00:41:22,448 shooting out of the back of all the engines. 707 00:41:22,551 --> 00:41:25,586 Is it going to penetrate from the outside of the aircraft? 708 00:41:25,689 --> 00:41:27,000 Is it going to come into the cabin? 709 00:41:28,034 --> 00:41:29,758 Are we going to burn to death? 710 00:41:29,862 --> 00:41:31,758 Are we going to choke to death on the smoke? 711 00:41:37,793 --> 00:41:39,000 Number two engine's gone. 712 00:41:40,448 --> 00:41:41,965 All right then, begin the engine shut-down drill. 713 00:41:42,068 --> 00:41:42,965 No, wait! 714 00:41:45,517 --> 00:41:47,862 They've all gone. All four engines have failed. 715 00:41:50,034 --> 00:41:52,689 The other three just went out almost immediately. 716 00:41:52,793 --> 00:41:57,103 And that's when it begins to be a serious emergency. 717 00:41:57,206 --> 00:41:59,310 In a minute and a half we've gone from... 718 00:41:59,413 --> 00:42:02,551 four engines running normally to having none. 719 00:42:02,655 --> 00:42:06,655 The 747 is suddenly powerless, and it's quickly falling to the sea. 720 00:42:10,275 --> 00:42:13,965 Starting the engines has become the crew's only priority. 721 00:42:14,068 --> 00:42:16,448 But volcanic ash is making that task impossible. 722 00:42:20,758 --> 00:42:22,482 The temperatures in the combustion chamber 723 00:42:22,586 --> 00:42:26,724 where this ash's flowing through is around 2000 degree centigrade. 724 00:42:26,827 --> 00:42:33,517 And so the volcanic ash we know melts at about 1300-1400 degrees. 725 00:42:33,620 --> 00:42:38,482 The volcanic ash transforms into molten goo within the jet engines. 726 00:42:38,586 --> 00:42:40,724 The material blocks key air passages 727 00:42:40,827 --> 00:42:43,379 and causes the engines to surge and shut down. 728 00:42:46,827 --> 00:42:49,482 We got a fundamental disturbance of the air flow 729 00:42:49,586 --> 00:42:54,896 in the main core of the engine which caused the engines to backfire. 730 00:42:55,000 --> 00:42:58,000 And the engines flamed out, and that was the cause of the problem. 731 00:43:05,310 --> 00:43:06,413 Roger, declare emergency. 732 00:43:07,517 --> 00:43:10,241 Mayday. Mayday. Mayday. Speed bird Nine. 733 00:43:10,344 --> 00:43:13,793 We have lost all four engines out of 370. 734 00:43:18,241 --> 00:43:21,862 Without the engines, the 747 begins to fall from the sky. 735 00:43:24,413 --> 00:43:26,827 At an altitude of 35,000 feet, 736 00:43:26,931 --> 00:43:28,724 the pilots have less than half an hour 737 00:43:28,827 --> 00:43:31,379 before their aircraft will crash into the Indian Ocean. 738 00:43:34,000 --> 00:43:37,241 All right, Begin Restart drill. Battery. 739 00:43:37,344 --> 00:43:38,896 Check on. 740 00:43:39,000 --> 00:43:42,758 The standard restart drill takes three minutes to complete. 741 00:43:42,862 --> 00:43:45,517 Anything... anything? 742 00:43:45,620 --> 00:43:46,758 - No. - Again. 743 00:43:46,862 --> 00:43:48,862 All right then, from the top. Battery. 744 00:43:48,965 --> 00:43:52,172 The crew will have fewer than ten attempts to start the engines. 745 00:43:52,275 --> 00:43:53,103 Fire switch. 746 00:43:53,689 --> 00:43:54,620 In. 747 00:43:57,965 --> 00:44:01,103 British Airways flight 009's dead engines 748 00:44:01,206 --> 00:44:03,172 are having an effect inside the cabin. 749 00:44:03,275 --> 00:44:06,034 The engines usually maintain air pressure. 750 00:44:06,137 --> 00:44:08,068 Without them, the pressure is dropping. 751 00:44:08,172 --> 00:44:10,517 Passengers are having difficulty breathing. 752 00:44:14,137 --> 00:44:16,413 Breathe normally, but not deeply. 753 00:44:16,517 --> 00:44:18,517 - Standby power. - Open. 754 00:44:18,620 --> 00:44:20,310 - Cross feed valve. - In. 755 00:44:20,413 --> 00:44:21,689 - Fire switch. - Closed. 756 00:44:23,310 --> 00:44:26,379 We haven't had any success with the drill at all. 757 00:44:26,482 --> 00:44:28,620 And despite all the efforts we were putting in, 758 00:44:28,724 --> 00:44:31,448 but it was the only thing we had left to cling on to. 759 00:44:31,551 --> 00:44:32,793 So that's what we did. 760 00:44:32,896 --> 00:44:35,103 - From the top again. Battery. - Check. On. 761 00:44:37,448 --> 00:44:39,517 Standby ignition. - On. 762 00:44:39,620 --> 00:44:41,517 Start lever. On. 763 00:44:41,620 --> 00:44:42,931 All right. Are we getting something? 764 00:44:43,689 --> 00:44:45,103 It's not starting. 765 00:44:45,206 --> 00:44:49,241 I knew it was so difficult to land airplanes on the sea. 766 00:44:49,344 --> 00:44:52,137 Even when you had everything going for you. 767 00:44:52,241 --> 00:44:54,586 And I thought that well, we haven't got much going for us here. 768 00:44:55,275 --> 00:44:56,379 I'd never done it before. 769 00:45:00,413 --> 00:45:02,931 Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. 770 00:45:03,034 --> 00:45:04,482 We have a small problem. 771 00:45:04,586 --> 00:45:06,482 All four engines have stopped. 772 00:45:06,586 --> 00:45:08,862 We're doing our damnedest to get it under control. 773 00:45:08,965 --> 00:45:10,965 I trust you're not in too much distress. 774 00:45:13,000 --> 00:45:14,655 All right, from the top then. Battery. 775 00:45:14,758 --> 00:45:16,310 - Check. On. - Standby pump. 776 00:45:16,413 --> 00:45:17,931 On. 777 00:45:18,034 --> 00:45:20,965 - Start lever? Well, anything? - No. 778 00:45:21,068 --> 00:45:22,586 All right, then, From the top again, battery. 779 00:45:23,931 --> 00:45:28,896 We had very few chances left of starting the engines 780 00:45:29,000 --> 00:45:31,655 before having to turn out to to sea again 781 00:45:31,758 --> 00:45:33,896 because we wouldn't have been able to clear the the mountains 782 00:45:34,000 --> 00:45:35,000 on the south coast of Java, 783 00:45:36,655 --> 00:45:38,586 Then, with just 12,000 feet 784 00:45:38,689 --> 00:45:42,000 separating British Airways Flight 009 from the ocean... 785 00:45:43,586 --> 00:45:45,793 engine number four roars to life. 786 00:45:52,758 --> 00:45:53,965 Engine four back on line. 787 00:45:56,034 --> 00:45:58,827 The noise a Rolls Royce engine makes when it starts up 788 00:45:58,931 --> 00:46:00,655 is low rumbling noise, you know? 789 00:46:00,758 --> 00:46:04,517 And it was it was just, well, it was wonderful to hear it. 790 00:46:04,620 --> 00:46:07,344 The glass is now half full it's not half empty. 791 00:46:07,448 --> 00:46:10,103 We're now in with a real chance, and I'll tell you what, 792 00:46:10,206 --> 00:46:13,448 the three of us would have dragged that airplane around the whole island of Java. 793 00:46:13,551 --> 00:46:15,586 - Thrust lever. - Closed. 794 00:46:15,689 --> 00:46:17,172 - Start lever? - Cut off. 795 00:46:17,275 --> 00:46:20,206 - Fuel pressure? - Available. 796 00:46:20,310 --> 00:46:21,724 Standby ignition on. 797 00:46:22,896 --> 00:46:24,172 Start lever on. 798 00:46:28,758 --> 00:46:30,068 Engine three, back online, 799 00:46:34,793 --> 00:46:36,379 I can't believe it. 800 00:46:36,482 --> 00:46:39,655 Engines one and two both back on line. 801 00:46:39,758 --> 00:46:42,172 As soon as you came out of the volcanic ash 802 00:46:42,275 --> 00:46:44,689 and the engines were not running, remember, 803 00:46:44,793 --> 00:46:46,586 so everything cooled down. 804 00:46:46,689 --> 00:46:49,517 It was enough for this stuff to break off 805 00:46:49,620 --> 00:46:51,413 and allow the engines to restart. 806 00:46:53,689 --> 00:46:55,655 We say, right, let's get this thing on the ground 807 00:46:55,758 --> 00:46:57,137 as quickly as we can. 808 00:46:57,241 --> 00:46:59,896 Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. 809 00:47:00,000 --> 00:47:02,172 We seem to have overcome that problem 810 00:47:02,275 --> 00:47:04,965 and have managed to start all the engines. 811 00:47:13,034 --> 00:47:17,000 We are diverting to Jakarta and expect to land in about 15 minutes. 812 00:47:18,793 --> 00:47:22,586 British Airways flight 009 landed safely. 813 00:47:22,689 --> 00:47:26,000 No one was injured, and an important lesson was learned. 814 00:47:27,655 --> 00:47:29,206 We have learned quite a bit, 815 00:47:29,310 --> 00:47:33,482 and we've incorporated this learning into pilot training. 816 00:47:33,586 --> 00:47:37,793 Pilots now, for example, know what signs to look for. 817 00:47:37,896 --> 00:47:42,310 After British Airways Flight 009's emergency landing in Jakarta, 818 00:47:42,413 --> 00:47:45,448 communications were improved between the geologists 819 00:47:45,551 --> 00:47:47,517 who watch volcanoes on the ground 820 00:47:47,620 --> 00:47:50,551 and the pilots who must avoid the ash clouds. 821 00:47:50,655 --> 00:47:54,068 During the day, they are plainly visible to pilots. 822 00:47:54,965 --> 00:47:56,206 and then at nighttime, 823 00:47:56,310 --> 00:47:59,068 they're relying a lot on their on board radar. 824 00:47:59,172 --> 00:48:01,655 And that's not going to detect volcanic ash. 825 00:48:02,482 --> 00:48:03,344 Anything on the radar? 826 00:48:04,724 --> 00:48:05,758 No. 827 00:48:05,862 --> 00:48:08,758 So they're completely blind to it. 828 00:48:08,862 --> 00:48:11,448 They just blindly fly right into the ash cloud. 829 00:48:17,586 --> 00:48:20,482 Today, meteorologists were forced to shut down airspace 830 00:48:20,586 --> 00:48:23,241 due to violent thunderstorms and volcanic ash. 831 00:48:25,137 --> 00:48:27,344 The weather on the East Coast is now clearing, 832 00:48:27,448 --> 00:48:29,241 and the volcanic plume is starting to thin. 833 00:48:33,103 --> 00:48:35,896 We never really seemed to get a break where we can sit back 834 00:48:36,000 --> 00:48:38,241 and put our feet on the desk and relax. 835 00:48:38,344 --> 00:48:40,275 There's always something going, and there's always the next storm 836 00:48:40,379 --> 00:48:43,172 coming down the pipeline and and we've got to address it. 837 00:48:45,068 --> 00:48:47,103 The next storm has begun to appear. 838 00:48:49,275 --> 00:48:53,103 Pilots in the Seattle region are calling in with reports of severe turbulence. 839 00:48:54,655 --> 00:48:56,379 We've got two systems actually over the West 840 00:48:56,482 --> 00:48:59,275 that we're watching one over now over Central California 841 00:48:59,379 --> 00:49:02,000 and what looks like it's a little bit more powerful storm 842 00:49:02,103 --> 00:49:04,655 coming onshore into Washington and Oregon. 843 00:49:04,758 --> 00:49:07,827 That's certainly going to be our attention getter for the next day and a half. 844 00:49:09,517 --> 00:49:11,655 More than a million people got on an airplane 845 00:49:11,758 --> 00:49:13,206 on this stormy December day. 846 00:49:14,310 --> 00:49:16,000 Some planes were delayed, 847 00:49:16,103 --> 00:49:18,965 but there wasn't a single accident due to weather. 848 00:49:19,068 --> 00:49:22,758 That's the kind of result these meteorologists hope for every day. 849 00:49:25,689 --> 00:49:27,862 Ideally, we'd never have clouds or... 850 00:49:27,965 --> 00:49:29,586 or any type of a hazardous weather 851 00:49:29,689 --> 00:49:32,310 for pilots and everything be clear skies and smooth sailing. 852 00:49:33,620 --> 00:49:35,620 We're here to help people be safe and... 853 00:49:35,724 --> 00:49:38,620 and when that that duty calls, we're prepared. 854 00:49:38,724 --> 00:49:40,793 We'll catch our breath today and get ready for tomorrow.