All language subtitles for Air.Disasters.S20E02.Rookie.Errors.1080p.SMIT.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-maldini_track3_[eng]

NARRATOR: A botched
takeoff in Buenos

Aires stuns investigators.

To me, that was unprecedented.

Get out of it.

Get out of it.

NARRATOR: A shocking error--

We're stuck in it.

NARRATOR: --lies behind the
deadly freefall of American

Airlines flight 587.

And when Continental
Connection 3407 stalls,

flight crew's
reaction is baffling.

Not only did they
not respond correctly,

they responded in a the
exactly opposite way.

NARRATOR: Commercial pilots
undergo hundreds of hours

of training and testing.

Still, experienced pilots
make rookie mistakes.

Rookie errors don't necessarily
occur to just rookie pilots.

It can happen to the
most experienced pilot.

STEWARDESS: Ladies
and gentlemen,

we are starting our approach.

We lost both engines.

[muffled radio chatter]

Mayday, mayday.

STEWARDESS: Brace for impact.

PILOT: I think I lost one.

REPORTER: Investigations start--

BYSTANDER: He's going to crash.

NARRATOR: It's 8:30 PM
at Jorge Newbery Airfield

in Buenos Aires, Argentina

Wind 020 at 5,
altimeter 30.10.

NARRATOR: A Boeing 737 flight
crew prepares for takeoff.

The plane is operated by the
Argentinean airline LAPA.

Jamaica?

No.

Hey, captain.

Hey.

NARRATOR: The captain of LAPA
flight 3142 is Gustavo Weigel.

He's an experienced
pilot who's been

flying for more than 20 years.

Everything OK?

Fine.

Everything's fine.

We're just
waiting on our fuel.

NARRATOR: First officer
Luis Etcheverry has logged

more than 500 hours in the 737.

Total fuel required
8,500 kilograms

to be transferred to the wings.

NARRATOR: Tonight's flight
is a little over an.

Hour its destination, the city
of Cordoba, 400 miles west

of Buenos Aires.

Along with the pilots,
three flight attendants

and 95 passengers are on board.

Before start checklist.

Before start checklist.

NARRATOR: The crew
is making last minute

preparations for takeoff.

Cockpit preparations?

Completed.

[speaking spanish]

The relationship between the
crew seemed to be very close.

It appeared that
they were friends.

You guys should come
for dinner in Cordoba.

That sounds good.

What should we bring?

You can bring the ice cream.

You know, we're seconds away.

You should probably get
back there and strap in.

All right, guys.

It's been a pleasure.

See you soon.

Cleared for
takeoff, LAPA 3142.

Taking off.

NARRATOR: Flight 3142
speeds down the runway.

As the aircraft lifts off,
it's immediately apparent

that something is wrong.

[speaking spanish]

TRANSLATOR: The plane
begins to take off,

but instantly it
starts shaking like it

was going to fall apart.

What the hell?

NARRATOR: Hurtling
forward at 160 knots,

the 737 slams violently
back to the ground.

They're now headed
straight for a busy highway

and an industrial gas plant.

[screams and honks]

Stop, stop, stop, stop.

[speaking spanish]

TRANSLATOR: It was very quick.

I just looked at my friends
and I braced my head.

No, no, no, no, no, no.

The airplane
crossed a busy highway

without warning, killed
people who were commuting

at that time in their cars.

[screams]

NARRATOR: Flight 3142
slams into the gas plant.

TRANSLATOR: I could feel
extreme heat all around me.

I was suffocating.

And I needed to get out, but I
couldn't release my seat belt.

NARRATOR: Rescuers raced
to the site of the crash.

But survivors on board
don't have much time.

Fire threatens to
consume the entire plane.

[speaking spanish]

TRANSLATOR: I felt
like I was dying.

And someone said
to me, "get out."

NARRATOR: Though badly injured,
Marissa is lucky to survive.

The crash has killed 60
passengers, three crew members,

including both pilots,
and two motorists.

It's a disaster
unlike anything Buenos

Aires has ever seen before.

It was a major calamity.

It involved automobiles.

It involved a natural
gas regulating plant.

A lot of smoke, hard
to see anything.

NARRATOR: Horacio La Rosa
is a senior investigator

for Argentina's Accident
Investigation Unit.

[speaking spanish]

You try to focus on the job
and look for details that later

on could be harder to
find once the rescue

teams have finished their work.

Neither pilot survived.

OK.

NARRATOR: Any hope of
finding out what went

wrong lies in the wreckage.

Because the 737
is American-made,

the US National
Transportation Safety

Board joins the investigation.

Whatever you need,
we're here to help.

There was just a tremendous
amount of public concern

and a great deal of
encouragement to try to solve

this definitively and quickly.

One of the big
questions was, how

did this aircraft go off the
end of the runway, especially

on takeoff?

Look here.

NARRATOR: The wings
of the downed plane

reveal the first clue
for investigators.

[speaking spanish]

TRANSLATOR: I was able
to observe with some

of my colleagues that
the aircraft's flaps

were apparently not extended.

Let's get this wing
piece out of here.

NARRATOR: For takeoff,
737 pilots must always

extend the plane's wing flaps.

The flaps increase
the area of the wing

and give it extra lift.

Without them, a fully-loaded
737 cannot get off the ground.

Did the flaps retract
during the crash

or were they never deployed
in the first place?

When you see something
that's out of place,

you begin to wonder,
what has happened?

Has someone raised the flaps?

Or has some electronic
or hydraulic intervention

made the flaps come up?

We need to study
the entire system.

NARRATOR: In the meantime--

Oh, oh, yep.

NARRATOR: --the team
on site retrieves

the plane's black boxes.

The importance
of flight recorders

in accident investigation
cannot be overemphasized.

NARRATOR: But
they're badly damaged

and immediately sent to
Washington for repair.

There was a good
deal of pressure

to get back the
cockpit voice recorder

and the flight recorder
information in a timely way.

NARRATOR: In a nearby
hangar, investigators

carefully examine
every wire, gear,

and screw of the wing flaps.

Actuators seem fine.

NARRATOR: They focus on a
part that controls the flaps

movement, the jack
screw, which acts much

like a jack used to lift a car.

As it turns, it moves a nut that
extends or retracts the flaps.

BOB MACINTOSH: That nut
travels along the shaft.

It stops at various places
to indicate various degrees

of flap extension.

We had discovered
the nuts on the screw

were in the retracted position.

NARRATOR: The flap
lever from the cockpit

confirms the finding.

The lever is pretty banged
up but it sure looks like

it's in the flaps-up position.

[speaking spanish]

TRANSLATOR: It had left
a mark with the flap

lever in the upright position.

So there was no chance that it
had moved during the accident.

NARRATOR: The astonishing
discovery reveals

the flaps were never extended.

Flight 3142's configuration
for takeoff was all wrong.

Baffled investigators wrestle
with a difficult question.

How could an
attempt to take off

be made with the flaps
in this position?

how the experienced crew
on board flight 3142

took off without
their flaps extended.

No, no, no, no, no.

[speaking spanish]

TRANSLATOR: You find
yourself wondering,

why did this action
not take place when

it is indispensable for flight?

Can we get the FDR
data on the screen?

NARRATOR: The crucial
black box data finally

arrives from Washington.

Investigators hope this will
help explain what happened.

Great.

Let's go to the flap positions
and engine performance.

NARRATOR: The flight data
recorder confirms suspicions.

With no flaps, they stall.

They get the plane
back down here,

50 meters from the
end of the runway.

There's no way they
could stop in time.

NARRATOR: It verifies the flaps
were not extended, but not why.

Investigators turn
to the cockpit

voice recorder for clues.

[speaking spanish]

The only possibility
was in the voice recorder.

STEWARDESS: Everything OK?

GUSTAVO WEIGEL: Fine.

Everything's fine.

NARRATOR: Investigators begin
by listening to what was

happening just before takeoff.

LUIS ETCHEVERRY: Just
waiting on our fuel.

GUSTAVO WEIGEL: So besides
him, any other guys

you're interested in?

STEWARDESS: Yes, but
you don't know him.

I haven't seen him in a while.

NARRATOR: What they hear
from the crew is astounding.

STEWARDESS: A couple of
things getting complicated.

GUSTAVO WEIGEL: You're
breaking my heart.

NARRATOR: Not only unexpected,
but entirely unprofessional.

They should be
running checklists.

What's going on?

They're required to
have a sterile cockpit.

Once you start the
engines, up to 10,000 feet

you talk only about
operational procedures.

And this is to
prevent distraction.

STEWARDESS: You guys should
come for dinner in Cordoba.

That sounds good.

What should we bring?

You can bring the ice cream.

OK.

Before start checklist.

Before start checklist.

They're talking about
planning a meal together.

They're talking about
their romantic lives.

And this is interspersed
with the checklist.

Hey, you know I'm with you
in the good times and the bad,

moron.

It's a good thing
I'm nothing like you.

You're full of it.

You're only with me
for the good times.

Cockpit preparations?

Completed.

The checklists
were interrupted

and were performed incorrectly.

Flaps are part of the
before takeoff checklist.

Do they even do that?

Anti ice.

Off.

Start levers.

Idle stop.

Radio taxi 3142?

DISPATCHER: 3142, ready to
taxi, Charlie Five to Runway 13.

Charlie Five to 13.

STEWARDESS: Don't
smoke all of it.

Give me a puff at least.

Even a puff can
make you look great.

Thanks.

They're actually
smoking in the cockpit.

Three of them are
passing a cigarette, which

is prohibited by the company.

They're not supposed to be
smoking in the cockpit at all.

No mention of flaps.

They're starting to taxi.

You should probably head
back there and strap in.

All right, guys.

NARRATOR: The reason the
crew failed to extend

the flaps is now clear.

Hurry, hurry.

NARRATOR: They were
simply too distracted

by their own careless behavior.

STEWARDESS: Prepare
for takeoff, LAPA 3142.

NARRATOR: But what
investigators hear next

is even more shocking.

[dinging]

There it is.

NARRATOR: It's an alarm, warning
the crew of their mistake.

[speaking spanish]

TRANSLATOR: The sound
of the alarm was loud.

It could be heard perfectly in
the voice recorder many times.

[dinging continues]

I don't know what the
alarm is, my friends.

Everything seems fine.

OK, pause.

How can they ignore that?

NARRATOR: How
could a crew forget

to perform one of the most
basic takeoff procedures

and then go on to ignore
the loud persistent warning,

designed to alert them
to their serious mistake?

[speaking spanish]█

I believe they
didn't understand

the importance of this
alarm, which was absolutely

critical for takeoff.

[screams]

NARRATOR: 65 people
lost their lives

because the crew
wasn't paying attention

to what they were doing.

[speaking spanish]

If the alarm went
off and it warned

that the flaps
weren't configured,

why didn't they do something?

NARRATOR: In their final report.

Investigators stressed the need
for pilots to always comply

with a sterile cockpit rule.

It restricts crew conversation
and helps minimize distractions

during key parts of the flight.

By not maintaining
sterile cockpit,

and following every checklist,
and doing exactly what you're

supposed to do, people died.

NARRATOR: But
sometimes, following

strict operational discipline
can still lead to catastrophe.

Even when pilots are following
the procedures correctly,

you can still have
the rookie error.

Get out of it.

Get out of it.

attacks, New York's John F
Kennedy Airport is busy again.

American Airlines flight 587
is carrying 251 passengers

en route to the Caribbean.

[groan]

Your leg.

You check the rudders.

NARRATOR: The crew is preparing
the plane for takeoff.

Rudders check.

Taxi checklist is complete.

OK.

NARRATOR: Captain Ed States
is a former military pilot

who joined American
Airlines 16 years ago.

First officer Stan
Mullen has racked up

more than 4,000
hours of flying time

and is the pilot flying today.

Winds checked.

American 587, follow
Japan Air Boeing 747 ahead.

STAN MULLEN: Follow
Japan Air, American 587.

NARRATOR: Flight 587's
flight plan takes it out

over New York's Jamaica
Bay before heading south

to the Dominican Republic.

You have the airplane.

The captain indicated
the first officer would be

the flying pilot on this leg.

The captain designated
him to fly the flight.

That's routine.

It's the captain's choice.

American 587, Kennedy Tower.

Caution, wake turbulence,
runway 31, left.

Taxi into position and hold.

You happy with that distance?

We'll be all right
once we get rolling.

He's supposed to be five miles
by the time we're airborne.

That's the idea.

So you're happy?

I'm on the roll.

Thank you, sir.

V1, rotate.

NARRATOR: Flight 587
lifts off at 9:14 AM.

American 587 heavy.

Climb and maintain 13,000.

NARRATOR: Residents
of Queens, New York

hear the familiar
sound of jets overhead.

JASON SHORR: Planes
take off and land.

They fly right over the
Peninsula every 45 seconds.

It was just a normal thing.

NARRATOR: High above, a patch
of turbulence rocks flight 587.

OK.

Max power.

You all right?

Yeah, I'm fine.

Hang on to it.

Hang on to it.

Let's go for power, please.

NARRATOR: 2,300 feet above
the ground, disaster strikes.

Holy crap.

NARRATOR: The plane
is losing altitude

and falling out of the sky.

What the hell are we into?

NARRATOR: There are
more than 68,000 pounds

of flammable jet fuel on board.

[screaming]

Flight 587 plummets
towards Queens, New York.

We're stuck in it.

Get out of it.

Get out of it.

Get out of it.

The house are
vibrating very heavily.

This all happened really quick.

[sounds of an explosion]

NARRATOR: At impact, the fuel
ignites a massive fireball,

engulfing several homes.

Plane crashed pretty
much in the backyard,

in the street, exploded.

[alarms going off]

It's a plane.

It looks like a war zone.

NARRATOR: All 260 people
on board are dead,

as well as five
people on the ground.

Many wonder, was
this an accident?

We are still heavily involved
in the investigation of 9/11.

I immediately get
concerned as to,

was this another
terrorist attack?

NARRATOR: That means the FBI and
the NTSB will be investigating

this air crash together.

BOB BENZON: This
accident occurred

so close to the tragedy
of 9/11 that we naturally

jumped to conclusions.

Then we had to force ourselves
to back up and carefully study

the evidence.

It came in fast and steep.

Let's hope it's
not what we think.

NARRATOR: Their mission is to
answer a vital question was

this terrorism or an accident?

Any evidence of a bomb--

Airplane parts go in
the bins, everything else

stays here for now.
- --would be in the debris.

BARRY MAWN: Experts would
be physically examining all

of the parts of the plane to see
if there was any indentations

indicating that the
explosion was inside

and pushed everything out.

NARRATOR: But the crash site
and tests for explosive residue

reveal no evidence that a
bomb took down the plane.

We learned very
quickly that, in fact,

it was not a terrorist event.

NARRATOR: Then a discovery--

3/4 of a mile from the
crash provides investigators

with a massive clue.

We found the
vertical stabilizer

miles and miles away.

The vertical stabilizer
is found in Jamaica Bay,

between the airport
and the crash site.

The location tells investigators
it broke off while the plane

was still in the air.

It was a good
first step for us.

NARRATOR: The vertical
stabilizer is part of the tail.

Along with the
horizontal stabilizer,

it's critical for stable flight.

You can't fly without a tail.

I mean, you can't.

The airplane is
going to go down.

There's nothing you
can do about it.

NARRATOR: NTSB investigators
are under pressure to find out

what happened to the A
300, one of the world's

most popular aircraft.

How does a vertical
stabilizer just fall off?

I've been an
investigator in charge

with the NTSB for, at that
time, gosh, 20 years or so.

And I had never seen
anything quite like this.

NARRATOR: Investigators turned
to the plane's cockpit voice

recorder, hoping
to discover what

went wrong with the stabilizer.

DISPATCHER: American
587, Kennedy Tower.

Caution wake turbulence,
runway 31 left.

Taxi into position and hold.

NARRATOR: After the
controller issues

a warning about wake
turbulence, the first officer

sounds concerned.

Are you happy
with that distance?

We'll be OK once
we get rolling.

He's supposed to be five miles
by the time we're airborne.

NARRATOR: Wake turbulence is
caused by the movement of air

over and under the wing.

When the two streams of
air meet at the wingtips,

they combine to create
a powerful vortex

that trails behind the plane.

Max power.

You all right?

Holy crap.

NARRATOR: Did the pilots
get too close to the plane

in front of them?

Holy crap.

NARRATOR: Investigators
listen as First Officer

Mullen wants more
speed to help them

fly through the turbulence.

Hang on to it.

Hang on to it.

Hang on to it.

NARRATOR: Moments later,
catastrophe strikes.

15:48, that's the
tail coming off.

NARRATOR: Was the aircraft
upset by the wake of a plane

taking off ahead of it?

BOB BENZON: We knew, of course,
from listening to the air

traffic control tapes, that
the accident aircraft took off

a minute and a
half or two minutes

after a JAL, Japanese
Airline, Boeing 747.

NARRATOR: Radar data
shows that flight 587

was flying at a safe distance.

The wake was too
weak to be dangerous.

Not even close to
what it would take

to rip the tail off an Airbus.

NARRATOR: But another piece of
data provides a vital clue--

frantic rudder movements.

11 degrees left.

11 degrees right.

We saw the rudder
go back and forth

to its maximum deflection
several times very,

very rapidly.

Could he have ripped the
tail off his own plane?

movements on flight 587
created an aerodynamic force

strong enough to rip the
vertical stabilizer off.

We needed to determine
whether that particular motion

would be violent enough to snap
the vertical stabilizer off.

NARRATOR: Normally,
pilots only move

the rudder a couple of
degrees in either direction

to steer the plane.

But First Officer Stan
Mullen was moving his plane's

rudder much more than that.

Are you ready?

NARRATOR: To learn more, to
create a computer simulation

of an A 300 and fly at the same
way as First Officer Mullen,

moving the rudder 11 degrees
back and forth three times.

With each rudder deflection,
the aerodynamic loads

on the tail increase.

There.

That would have done it.

And it was those increasing
loads that caused this.

Well, he's doing
it to himself.

NARRATOR: The discovery
finally explains

what happened to American
Airlines flight 587.

But it doesn't explain why.

So now we've
eliminated several items

and we're starting to look at
the actions of the flight crew

very carefully.

NARRATOR: Why would
an experienced pilot

move his rudder so violently
to fly out of the wake?

When they talk to pilots
who flew with Mullen,

investigators make a
surprising discovery.

You can take a seat.

We began to suspect that
the first officer overreacted.

Tell me what happened.

He had a history of
responding very aggressively

to wake turbulence.

He did the same thing
seven years ago.

He moved the rudder pedal
quickly back and forth.

The captain said that
he was shocked by this.

He was overworking
the rudders.

He said, why did you do that?

Why did you respond like that?

And according to the
statement, the first officer

said, they taught us to respond
like that in the training.

NARRATOR: When investigators
turn their attention

to American Airlines
training, they're

shocked by what they learn.

Pilots are taught that
minor wake turbulence

can induce a sudden steep roll.

BOB BENZON: We determined that
they were actually providing--

inadvertently, providing
some negative training

to their pilots that
led us to the conclusion

that he overreacted.

NARRATOR: First Officer
Mullen was trained

to believe that severe
weight turbulence could

cause a catastrophic upset.

Max power.

You all right?

The captain asks
him, are you all right?

And it's noteworthy that the
captain does not add max power.

In the captain's
opinion, max power is not

appropriate in this situation.

The first officer
began responding

with wheel back and
forth, and accompanied

by back and forth rudder.

Hang on onto it.

Hang on to it.

First officer
overreacted on the rudders.

He didn't let the
aircraft stabilize

in one position or the other.

So it hits a stop and
then flips itself back--

back and forth, back and forth.

And this creates huge loads on
the vertical part of the fin.

NARRATOR: The first
officer's actions

stress the vertical
stabilizer until it

breaks under the strain.

What the hell are we going to?

Get out of it.

Get out of it.

Get out of it.

[screaming]

NARRATOR: After the
accident, American Airlines

changes its training
procedures for wake turbulence.

Once it became clear that some
negative training was going on,

American Airlines,
to their credit,

revamped the program to
prevent this type of activity.

NARRATOR: American Airlines
modifies their training

simulator to be more realistic.

Pilots are now taught not to
use the rudder at high speed.

A new warning light is also
installed in the cockpit

to help prevent pilots from
deflecting the rudder too far.

GREG FEITH: I think 587
brought an awareness

to the aviation industry.

Pilots, they push that
rudder in full deflection,

it could have
disastrous effects.

NARRATOR: But despite the
lessons learned from the crash

of American Airlines 587,
a rookie mistake causes

disaster seven years later.

Gear down.

Locs alive.

Gear's down.

All right.

[gasping]

Jesus Christ.

[screaming]

NARRATOR: Continental
Connection flight

3407, operated by Colgan Air,
is en route from Newark, New

Jersey to Buffalo, New York.

It's been a busy flight
for Captain Marvin Renslow.

He's providing guidance
to a new first officer.

[sneezes]

24-year-old Rebecca Shaw
has been with the airline

for just over a year.

She must decide now if she
wants to become a captain.

I don't know what I want
to do with the upgrade.

If you stayed on
the queue, obviously

you're not making captain rate.

Right.

But you may have a
better quality of life

with regards to buying a
house, having a schedule.

NARRATOR: Shaw trained on
the plane they're flying now,

a Canadian-made Bombardier Q400.

400.

There are 45
passengers on board.

Flight 3407 is heading
northwest over upstate New York.

The trip is only 53 minutes.

Visibility is poor and
there's a forecast of snow

and moderate winds in Buffalo.

Folks, from the flight deck,
your first officer speaking.

At this time, we're about 15
minutes outside of Buffalo.

Weather in Buffalo
is pretty foggy.

Snowing a little bit there.

I'd like to make sure
everyone remains in there

seats so the flight
attendants can

prepare the cabin for arrival.

NARRATOR: As the flight
makes its approach.

The pilots prepare the
aircraft for landing.

Gear down.

Locs alive.

Gear's down.

All right, flaps 15?

NARRATOR: Extending
the flaps provides

more lift, allowing
the plane to slow

to its final approach speed.

Uh-- [gasping].

Jesus Christ.

NARRATOR: Suddenly, the
Q400 slips out of control.

Captain Renslow struggles
to contain his aircraft.

[gasping] [groaning]

Mother--

NARRATOR: But it seems to
have a mind of its own.

[screaming]

Mother--

Should gear be up?.

Gear up.

NARRATOR: It's too late.

The plane is now in a stall
and Renslow can't recover.

Oh, we're down.

[screaming]

NARRATOR: The plane crashes
into a suburban home

in Clarence Center, a town five
miles short of Buffalo airport.

All 49 passengers and
crew are killed on impact.

One person on the
ground also dies.

The devastated house and down
plane are a blazing inferno.

MIKE ROGOWSKI: The height
of it was just unbelievable.

Obviously, because of the fuel,
that was probably added to it.

And the debris area
was very large.

It was a horrific sight.

NARRATOR: Firefighters worked
tirelessly through the night.

The scene in the morning is
one of utter devastation.

Clint Crookshanks
from the NTSB.

Can I start poking around?

NARRATOR: Clint Crookshanks is
one of the first investigators

on the case.

CLINT CROOKSHANKS: When
we arrived on scene,

there was the fire
still burning.

It turns out it was
from a gas line that

had been broken in the house.

The firemen would
put the fire out

and it would re-ignite
every couple of minutes.

NARRATOR: Investigators hope
the flight's black boxes

will provide answers.

We were able to cut a hole
in the side of the fuselage.

Once we took the recorders
out of the airplane,

we put them on the jet and they
were flown back to Washington

DC, to our headquarters.

NARRATOR: At the NTSB
labs in Washington,

systems investigator Scott
Warren analyzes the aircraft's

cockpit voice recorder,
or CVR, to determine

if there are any indications
of a problem in the cockpit.

Is that ice on the windshield?

NARRATOR: He discovers that
six minutes before the crash,

the crew of flight 3407
notices a buildup of ice

on the aircraft.

I've got it on my side.

You don't have yours?

Oh, yeah, Oh,
it's lots of ice.

NARRATOR: Ice can be a deadly
threat to any airplane.

If an aircraft has ice on it,
it will have more drag on it.

So it will require more power
to maintain a given airspeed.

ROGER COX: When ice
accretes on a wing,

it adds weight to the airplane.

But most importantly, it
changes the shape of the wing.

And of course, it's the curve
of the shape of the wing

that actually creates the lift.

So by changing the
lift characteristics

of the airplane, it makes
it less able to fly.

NARRATOR: The CVR
reveals that only minutes

after the crew
detects ice, a device

called the stick
shaker goes off.

[gasping]

PILOT: Jesus Christ.

NARRATOR: It's a
warning to pilots

that the plane is
losing airspeed.

If they don't go
faster, the plane will

stall and fall out of the sky.

[screaming]

Scott Warren knows
the Q400 has a

sophisticated de-icing system.

To prevent ice
accumulating, the plane

has rubber bladders along
the front of the wings

called de-icing boots.

A series of valves uses
air from the engines

to inflate the boots and
crack the ice off the wing.

Studying the flight
data recorder, or FDR,

will reveal whether the
de-icing system was switched on.

SCOTT WARREN: We know
from the FDR data

that the de-icing system had
been selected on by the crew.

And it was on during the
majority of the flight.

NARRATOR: The
pilots had switched

the de-icing mechanisms on.

But were they working properly?

To answer that
question, investigators

sift through piles of
charred wreckage until they

find the de-icing valves.

We took those valves.

And as far as we could
tell, all those valves

were working properly.

NARRATOR: If ice didn't
bring down flight 3407,

what else caused
the plane to stall,

crash, and kill 50 people?

were not bad enough to
take down Continental

Connection flight 3407.

[screaming]

Something else must have caused
it to suddenly lose air speed.

NTSB investigator Scott Warren
knows the plane was flying

at 131 knots when the
stick shaker went off,

more than enough speed
to stay airborne.

All right, flaps 15.

When the stick
shaker went off--

[gasping]

Jesus Christ.

--they were not necessarily
at the edge of a stall.

They were still 20 knots
or so away from the stall.

NARRATOR: This new
revelation deepens

the mystery of flight 3407.

The storm warning was triggered
when the plane was in no danger

of slowing to a stall speed.

Investigators work with the
plane's manufacturer to learn

more about the aircraft.

They discovered
that the Bombardier

Q400 has a unique
safety feature known

as a reference speed switch.

The switch changes the air
speed at which the plane's

stall warning is activated.

Some kind of
variable ref speed?

NARRATOR: Captain
Renslow should have

activated the switch before
flying through the icy weather.

ROGER COX: When you
are in icy conditions

and ice does accrue
on the wing, it can

cause the stall speed to go up.

And so this ref speed
switch correspondingly

causes the warning to come on
sooner, or at a higher speed.

What that switch does, is it
basically changes the trigger

settings for the stick shaker.

NARRATOR: If ice was
slowing the plane,

Captain Renslow would
be alerted sooner

than usual to pick up speed
and avoid a stall situation.

Investigators eventually find
the reference speed switch

panel buried in layers
of crash debris.

Bingo.

NARRATOR: And it's in
the activated position.

And we'll probably
be picking up some ice.

NARRATOR: If Renslow and
Shaw remembered to configure

the plane properly by turning
on the reference speed switch,

why didn't they notice
their airspeed was too

slow for the icy conditions?

Obviously you're not
making captain, right?

Right.

NARRATOR: The CVR reveals
a chilling answer.

[chatter continues]

The flight crew had been
talking throughout the flight,

continuing into the landing
approach, a violation

of the sterile cockpit rule.

REBECCA SHAW: Yeah,
that's another thing.

He said, yeah, you're going
to be upgraded in six months.

Blah, blah, blah.

NARRATOR: When the
stick shaker goes off,

the distracted crew
is caught off guard.

[gasping]

Jesus Christ.

Once the stick
shaker was activated,

they could have
turned the switch off

or they could have
put the nose down

and increase their airspeed.

NARRATOR: Using data from
the flight recorders,

investigators create
a computer simulation

to give them a better
understanding of the crash.

Watch what happens just after
the stick shaker goes off.

NARRATOR: It
illustrates that just

after the stick
shaker was triggered,

the plane suddenly pulled up.

This action dramatically
slowed the aircraft.

And at this point, it did stall.

Essentially, the airplane
entered an aerodynamic stall

from which it did not recover.

It pitched over
and hit the ground.

NARRATOR: Investigators
are dumbfounded.

Both pilots should
have known how

to respond to one of the
flight's most basic tasks.

The crew's every action
during the critical seconds

after the stall warning sounded
now demand careful scrutiny.

We wanted to see if the
way they flew the airplane

was the way they were trained.

NARRATOR: Investigators dig
deeper into the FDR data

to examine how the pilot
maneuvered the plane after

the stick shaker was triggered.

[gasping]

They focus in on
the control column.

What Scott Warren
finds is stunning.

In response to the stick
shaker, Captain Renslow

should have pushed the
column forward to bring

the nose down and gain speed.

But the distracted captain
did the exact opposite.

We found that the crew,
instead of pushing forward,

which is the normal response
to a stick shaker triggering,

the crew was actually
pulling back on the controls.

NARRATOR: This had the effect
of pulling the nose up, causing

the airspeed to drop,
and tipping the aircraft

into an actual stall.

Captain Renslow
apparently mishandled

one of the most elemental
piloting maneuvers,

how to recover from a stall.

And had the first
officer simply called out,

you're stalled, advance the
power, push the nose over,

the airplane would have
been able to recover.

From a human
point of view, it's

sad to recognize that those
sorts of things happened

and the tragedy
that came from that.

NARRATOR: It's concluded that
Captain Renslow's failure

to properly respond
to the stall warning

was the primary cause of
the crash of Flight 3407.

He reacted in the
worst possible way

and sealed the
fate of the plane.

You get a stall
warning, and you

have to take corrective
action, and you

know the altitude is very low.

You don't have a lot of options.

You just have to
be able to react.

[screaming]

No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

NARRATOR: At the heart of
some of the worst airline

accidents lie mistakes
of staggering simplicity.

What the hell
are we going to do?

Rookie errors
don't necessarily

occur to just rookie pilots.

It can happen to the
most experienced pilot.