All language subtitles for Air.Disasters.S20E04.Engines.Out.1080p.SMIT.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-maldini_track3_[eng]

NARRATOR: An Airbus A330 loses
power en route to Hong Kong.

The hell was that?

MALCOLM WATERS: We now
have two engines stalled,

and my blood ran cold.

NARRATOR: To survive,
the pilots must avoid

ditching in the Indian Ocean.

[screaming]

Soaring six miles in the air,
a British Airways 747 suffers

a mysterious engine flameout.

[exclaiming]

Mayday, mayday, mayday!

What the crew had to deal
with was mind boggling.

NARRATOR: And with
four engines down,

China Airlines Flight
006 plummets thousands

of feet in just seconds.

[yelling]

BILL PEACOCK: This airplane
is totally out of control.

NARRATOR: In three terrifying
events with all engines out--

That is one of the most dire
situations any crew can be in.

NARRATOR: --can
investigators piece

together what really happened?

ANNE EVANS: Stop.

Would you look at that?

WOMAN: Ladies and gentlemen,
we are starting our approach.

MAN: We lost both engines.

WOMAN: Emergency dispatch.

MAN: Mayday, mayday!

WOMAN: Brace for impact!

[crash]

MAN: I think I lost one.

MAN: Investigations
starting traffic.

MAN: It's going to crash!

[crashes]

[intriguing music]

WOMAN: Seat belt, please.

WOMAN: Thank you.

NARRATOR: Cathay Pacific
Flight 780 cruises at 38,000

feet over the South China Sea.

PILOT: This is your
captain speaking.

We'll be starting our descent
into Hong Kong shortly.

NARRATOR: On a
four-and-a-half-hour flight

from Surabaya, Indonesia, the
plane is just 30 minutes from

its destination of Hong Kong.

MALCOLM WATERS: It's
a crisp morning,

clear skies, light wind.

It was a nice day to go flying.

NARRATOR: Captain Malcolm
Waters is one of Cathay

Pacific's youngest captains.

His first officer,
David Hayhoe, is

an ex-fighter pilot with the
Royal Australian Air Force.

The Airbus A330
is powered by two

Rolls-Royce Trent 700 engines.

Every aspect of flight operation
is aided by advanced computers.

DAVID HAYHOE: The
engineering and complexity

that goes into them
and the science

that presents information--
they're incredible machines.

NARRATOR: 165 miles from
Hong Kong Airport, the Airbus

leaves cruising altitude
and begins its descent.

MALCOLM WATERS: I have
speeds of 295 knots.

NARRATOR: The aircraft
is performing perfectly.

[rattling]

And then something goes wrong.

[beeping]

The hell was that?

MALCOLM WATERS: I'd describe
it as a low thumping

noise and airframe vibration.

So David and myself kind of
looked at each other like,

that's unusual.

NARRATOR: The flight computer
alerts the pilots to a problem.

OK, let's see what we got.

Engine 2 stall.

NARRATOR: The plane's
monitoring system

indicates there's an issue
with the right engine,

engine number 2.

[plane engines roaring]

OK, thrust lever number 2.

Confirm.

Confirm.

[tense music]

NARRATOR: Captain Waters reduces
power in the engine to idle

to protect it from damage--

MALCOLM WATERS: Idle.

NARRATOR: --the
lowest possible level

while still keeping it running.

[plane engines whining]

It has an immediate effect.

The engine noises disappear.

That's better.

[plane engines whining]

NARRATOR: Without thrust
from the right engine,

the pilots are now relying
exclusively on the left engine

to get them to Hong Kong.

MALCOLM WATERS: A single-engine
approach is not a big deal.

We practice it a lot
in the simulator.

NARRATOR: But as the flight
crew prepares for landing,

the left engine, engine
number 1, also fails.

[beeping]

DAVID HAYHOE: We were
relying on this one engine

to get us safely on
the ground, and now it

had exactly the same
symptoms and noises

and sounds as the other engine.

Engine 1 stall.

Engine 1 stall confirmed.

Engine 1 to idle.

NARRATOR: Both engines
are now still running

but producing no thrust.

The plane is gliding.

MALCOLM WATERS: Dammit!

Our descent rate is
not looking good.

NARRATOR: Without trust,
they won't make it to Hong

Kong or any other airport.

[ominous music]

Despite several attempts,
the pilots cannot get

the engines to produce power.

MALCOLM WATERS: We've
only got five, six minutes

before we're at sea level.

I felt fear, and you have all
those human responses to fear--

the hair standing up on
the back of your neck,

the tightening of your stomach,
the dryness in your mouth.

NARRATOR: The pilots confront
the grim prospect of ditching

in the South China Sea.

I'm calling a mayday.

Do it.

Approach, mayday, mayday,
mayday, Cathay 780 had engine 1

stall and engine 2 stall.

Cathay 780, understood.

MALCOLM WATERS: The
seas looked very rough.

It was a lot of whitecaps.

The swells would
be 1 to 2 meters.

I felt that our engines
would act as two big scoops,

and we pitch the aircraft
down quite violently.

And that would probably
result in us cartwheeling

and breaking apart.

This cannot be happening.

NARRATOR: First
officer Hayhoe begins

preparing to ditch the plane.

[tense music]

Then Captain Waters
gets an idea.

MALCOLM WATERS (VOICEOVER):
OK, try slow movements.

Go slowly.

Just ease in fuel.

Easy does it.

MALCOLM WATERS: I
was just pinching

the side of the thrust lever
just to move it a millimeter.

Each time I pinched it, it
would just go up a millimeter.

NARRATOR: Incredibly, it
seems to be having an effect.

Rotation increasing
an engine 1.

It's working.

MALCOLM WATERS: The
rotation of the fan

was increasing from 28%
to 29% to 30% to 32%

as I move this very, very
slowly and gently up.

NARRATOR: Captain Waters
realizes that the engine won't

go any higher than 74% power.

That'll have to do.

MALCOLM WATERS: We got a
thrust setting that resulted

in us being able to fly level.

We weren't descending anymore,
and that was a huge relief.

[plane engines whining]

NARRATOR: With one
engine working,

the pilots can now attempt a
landing at Hong Kong Airport.

But there's no margin for error.

MALCOLM WATERS: You see that?

Altitude is holding.

Fantastic.

OK, approach preparation.

We did have an engine
that was now functioning,

but I didn't trust it.

Let's do this.

OK, flaps 1.

Gear down.

Gear down.

NARRATOR: The safest plan is
to get the plane 5,500 feet

from the ground, then pull
engine 1 back to idle,

reducing speed and altitude in
preparation for a gentle glide

onto the runway.

[somber music]

Cathy 780, we
have both runways

available for your approach.

Final items OK.

[beeping]

NARRATOR: But just one
minute from touchdown--

[tense music]

It's overspeed.

NARRATOR: --an overspeed warning
sounds, a signal the aircraft

is flying too fast.

They should be slowing down.

DAVID HAYHOE: Speed
checked 240, 800 feet.

Yeah, and my blood ran cold.

It just looked completely
wrong, and I was very uneasy

that things would
get out of my control

and that there was something
that I was missing.

NARRATOR: Then he sees it.

Engine 1 is still running
at high speed, too high

to land safely.

MALCOLM WATERS: I had that whole
feeling again of fear, anger.

It was a scary moment.

NARRATOR: The pilots
have no choice

but to risk a high-speed
landing on a runway

at the edge of the ocean.

It was our one chance
to get this on the ground,

and we had to make
the best go at it.

[plane engines whining]

AUTOMATED: Too low terrain.

Too low terrain.

Pull up.

NARRATOR: Going 100 knots or a
little over 115 miles per hour

faster than normal,
Captain Waters

pushes the nose down, forcing
the Airbus onto the runway.

Brace!

NARRATOR: At the
end lies open water.

[plane wheels screeching]

MALCOLM WATERS: The aircraft
did not want to land,

and I remember thinking,
well, this is it,

because it was very violent.

[screaming]

Full reverse!

NARRATOR: The crew
deploys reverse thrust

and applies full
braking power to avoid

overshooting the runway.

No number 2 reverse!

No decel!

MALCOLM WATERS: Immediately,
I just step on the brakes,

hold them, toe
brakes to the floor.

NARRATOR: Just one faulty engine
is providing reverse thrust.

Will it be enough
to stop the plane

from careening into the sea?

NARRATOR: Cathay
Pacific Flight 780

screeches to a halt just
a few feet from the end

of the airport's runway.

[peaceful music]

I can't believe it.

We made it.

Nice one.

MALCOLM WATERS: It was
just this humongous relief.

You're so happy that, you
know, we were going to go

home and see our families.

[sirens approaching]

NARRATOR: The passengers
and crew evacuate safely

with only a few minor injuries.

Hong Kong Civil Aviation
Department immediately

launches an investigation.

Thank you.

NARRATOR: Because the plane's
Trent 700 engines were made

by British company
Rolls-Royce, Anne Evans

of the British Air Accidents
Investigation Branch

joins the investigation.

This Trent 700 is a very
common engine fitted to a lot

of airplanes all over the world,
so if there's an engineering

problem with a
particular design,

then we want to
find that quickly.

[intriguing music]

NARRATOR: Investigators
look to the plane's flight

data recorder for answers.

They start with A330's
engine functions.

ANNE EVANS: Stop.

What's going on here?

NARRATOR: Right away, they
notice something unusual.

Thrust levers are moving,
but fuel flow's flatlining.

NARRATOR: Right after the
pilots tried to restore power

to the engines by
pushing the throttle up,

the fuel flow remained the same.

MALCOLM WATERS: Nothing happens.

The engines just are
not responding at all.

They're just remaining at idle.

Dammit!

NARRATOR: Investigators wonder
if a fuel flow problem caused

Flight 780's engine trouble.

Thank you.

NARRATOR: Evans turns to the
plane's in-depth data logs.

They explain in detail
the error messages--

Engine 2 stall.

NARRATOR: --that appeared
on the monitoring system

throughout the flight.

ANNE EVANS: Engine 2
control system fault.

NARRATOR: Anne Evans discovers
that early in the flight

the computers detected a problem
in a key part of the fuel

system called the
main metering valve.

ANNE EVANS: So the warnings
that were coming up

were warnings to do with
the main metering valve

supplying fuel to the engine.

NARRATOR: The main metering
valve is made up of a piston

that slides within a cylinder.

When the pilots move
the thrust levers,

it increases or decreases
the flow of fuel

to the A330's turbofan engines.

When investigators cut the
valve open to study it--

That's not normal, is it?

NARRATOR: --they find something
they've never seen before.

[tense music]

ANNE EVANS: What we saw seemed
like very, very fine powder,

even finer than caster sugar,
very, very small particles.

NARRATOR: Microscopic analysis
reveals that the powder is

a type of super absorbent
polymer, or SAP,

made up of tiny spheres.

These are organic compounds
designed to absorb water.

That gave us a clue as to
where they'd come from.

NARRATOR: The powder
is used in refueling

trucks to prevent
water from getting

into the aircraft's fuel tanks.

The refueling trucks pump
fuel from underground tanks

and pipes through a
filter on the truck

and into the aircraft.

If the fuel is contaminated with
water, the powder in the filter

absorbs it by forming a
gel inside the filter,

but the waterlogged gel is
supposed to stay in the filter.

It should never
end up in the fuel.

ANNE EVANS: It is
so commonly used

within the industry for this
purpose of filtering out water.

What we didn't
understand was, how did

it get on board the aircraft?

[plane engines roaring]

[intriguing music]

This one looks
somehow collapsed.

NARRATOR: Investigators recover
the filters from the truck used

to refuel Flight 780
at Surabaya Airport,

and when they examine
a sample of the filter

under a microscope,
investigators

make a puzzling find.

It looks like sodium crystals.

NARRATOR: The powder spheres
are encrusted with salt.

ANNE EVANS: Had salt water
got into the fuel system?

This one's straight
from the manufacturer.

NARRATOR: When Anne's team
conducts tests on fresh filters

exposing them to salt water--

Wow, would you look at that?

NARRATOR: --the filters
collapse, just like the ones

used to fuel Flight
780, allowing

both the salt crystals and white
powder spheres to pass through.

What was important
was that we demonstrated

we could generate spheres.

NARRATOR: Investigators now
believe salt water collapsed

the fuel filters, leading
to powder contamination

in the fuel system
of Flight 780,

but one critical
question remains.

MAN: So how did saltwater
get into the fuel system?

NARRATOR: After a careful
review of the fuel

system at Surabaya
Airport, investigators

make a stunning discovery.

The fuel system is
located close to the sea,

and during a recent upgrade, the
open fuel pipes were possibly

exposed to groundwater.

Investigators now believe
they know what happened

to Cathay Pacific Flight 780.

[tense music]

The underground fuel supply,
contaminated with saltwater,

broke down a filter, releasing
a powder into the fuel.

The powder jammed the metering
valves, preventing enough fuel

from reaching the engines.

[plane engines whining]

[beeping]

Engine 1 stall.

ANNE EVANS: We had
fuel contamination,

and that contamination
throughout the fuel system

led to the seizure of
both main metering valves

such that the pilot
no longer had control

over the power of the engines.

NARRATOR: Investigators
believe Captain Waters was

able to restore some
thrust in engine number 1

only because its
fuel metering valve

wasn't yet completely jammed.

Only a small trickle of
fuel was getting through.

MALCOLM WATERS: Slowly, slowly.

Come on.

Rotation increasing
an engine 1.

It's working.

NARRATOR: Once the
spheres jammed the valve,

it was stuck open--

[grunts]

NARRATOR: --forcing
Captain Waters to make

the risky high-speed landing.

[dramatic music]

No number 2 reverse!

NARRATOR: Expert piloting
brought Flight 780 safely

to the ground.

[exclaiming]

I can't believe it.

[peaceful music]

NARRATOR: Since
the accident, there

have been efforts to improve
the regulation of aviation

fuel handling and storage.

Manufacturers have designed
the filters to prevent collapse

and powder contamination.

The crew's heroic efforts in
the face of engine failure

saved Cathay Flight 780 from
all but certain disaster.

Total engine failure is
an ultra rare occurrence

on modern airliners.

WOMAN: Seat belt, please.

WOMAN: Thank you.

NARRATOR: Fortunately, the
fast-thinking flight crew

of Flight 780 had some control
of their jet's engines,

allowing them to bring
the plane to safety.

[plane engines whining]

But 28 years earlier,
a bizarre incident

puts the pilots of
British Airways Flight 9

to the ultimate test.

Oh my lord, look at engine 4.

It's the same on my side.

When you have an
uncontrollable and

unpredictable event that
puts your airplane at risk,

that takes a whole different
set of skills to resolve.

Dad!

The engine's on fire!

They've all gone!

All four engines have failed!

British Airways Flight 9
cruises high over Indonesia.

In a few hours, the plane
and all 263 people on board

are scheduled to land
in Perth, Australia.

Captain Eric Moody
commands the flight.

He's one of the first
ever trained on the 747.

Roger, check with Jakarta.

Jakarta Control, Speedbird
9 over Halim at level 370.

MAN (OVER RADIO):
Speedbird 9, roger.

NARRATOR: First Officer Roger
Greaves has been co-pilot

for more than six years.

Barry Townley-Freeman
has been a flight

engineer on these aircraft
for a little longer.

ROGER GREAVES: I'd not flown
with Eric before, or Barry.

That was the first
time we'd actually--

we'd actually met on that--

that flight.

All right, Roger,
it's all clear.

Just keep your eyes open.

I'll be back in a moment.

Just got to use the loo.

[pensive music]

NARRATOR: But while he's gone,
conditions in the cockpit

become unusual.

ROGER GREAVES: We started to
get these pinpricks of light

on the-- on the windscreen.

ERIC MOODY: It smelled like
a sulfuric electrical smell,

and I went on that
flight deck expecting

to hear that we had
some electrical smoke

somewhere on the aircraft.

But nothing was
further from the truth.

Anything on radar?

ROGER GREAVES: No, it's
clear, not a cloud.

Oh my lord, look at engine 4.

It's lit up somehow.

Captain, Captain, have
a look at number 1.

It's the same on my side.

NARRATOR: The pilots noticed
that the plane's engines are

lit by a brilliant white glow.

[plane engines roaring]

But it's the flight's passengers
who first spotted flames.

Dad!

The engine's on fire!

There were huge
flames coming out

of the back of the
engines 40 feet long,

shooting out of the
back of all the engines.

What's going to happen?

NARRATOR: As fire engulfs
the engines, one of them

revs loudly and flames out.

Engine failure, number 4.

ERIC MOODY: Once
one engine fails,

you call for the drill
to shut that one down.

[plane engines whining]

NARRATOR: Then the
unthinkable happens.

Number 2 engine's gone.

All right, then, begin
the engine shutdown.

No, wait!

They've all gone!

All four engines have failed!

[dramatic music]

NARRATOR: Somehow,
all four engines have

completely stopped working.

Roger, declare emergency.

Mayday, mayday, mayday!

Speedbird 9.

We have lost all four engines.

NARRATOR: Without
engine power, the 747

is now an enormous glider.

One of the nightmares
for a commercial airman

is the idea of losing
all your power.

The 747 can glide 120
miles from high altitude,

but at the end of
that, you're going

to come in contact with the
surface of the Earth one

way or another.

All right, begin
restart drill.

Set.

- Battery.
- Check.

On.

NARRATOR: The flight crew
tries to restart the engines.

Standby power.

On.

Anything?

Anything?

No.

NARRATOR: Plunging
toward the Indian Ocean,

the crew has to get
their engines going.

Come on.

Again, gentlemen.

All right, from
the top, battery.

Check.

On.

NARRATOR: Without engine
power, the cabin's

air pressure decreases,
releasing the oxygen masks.

[exclaiming]

Standby.

NARRATOR: Captain Eric Moody
is running out of options.

Come on.
Anything?

No.

We haven't had any success
with the drill at all,

despite all the efforts we
were putting in, but it was--

it was the only thing we
had left to cling on to.

NARRATOR: Descending
steadily, the flight crew

prepares to ditch the Boeing
747 in the Indian Ocean.

Move.

All right, then.

ERIC MOODY: I knew it was so
difficult to land aeroplanes

on the sea, even when you
had everything going for you,

and I thought that, well, we
haven't got much going for us

here.

I'd never done it before.

NARRATOR: As a
precaution, Captain Moody

decides to turn the plane back
to the closest airport, Halim,

just outside Jakarta.

If they must ditch, the
chances of a successful rescue

are higher if the plane
is closer to land.

- Start lever.
- Cut off.

Fuel pressure.

None available.

Standby ignition on.

NARRATOR: And then as suddenly
as it stopped working,

the fourth engine
roars back to life.

[plane engine roaring]

Engine 4 back online.

The noise that a
Rolls-Royce engine

makes when it starts up-- well,
it was wonderful to hear it.

NARRATOR: As the plane
falls past 13,000 feet,

another engine coughs
and comes back to life.

Engine 3, back online!

[majestic music]

NARRATOR: It's followed
quickly by the final two.

I don't believe it.

Engines 1 and 2
both back online!

[laughter]

NARRATOR: The crippled jet
is back under full power.

[cheering and applause]

Oh my god, Ma!

Jakarta, Speedbird 9.

We are back in business.

NARRATOR: The crew calls for an
emergency landing in Jakarta.

--at 12,000.

Let's get this thing on the
ground as quickly as we can.

ROGER GREAVES: 50 feet, 30 feet.

Reverse.

[laughter]

When the airplane
just landed itself--

it seemed to, anyway.

It kissed the earth.

It was beautiful.

Wow, that's-- that's amazing.

[cheerning and applause]

NARRATOR: Flight 9 and
its passengers and crew

are safely on the ground, but
no one knows what happened.

The next morning,
the flight crew

returns to Halim Airport in
Jakarta to inspect their plane.

The pilots and investigators are
shocked by what they discover.

ERIC MOODY: The airplane
had lost its sheen,

and in some places, it had
been sandblasted quite well.

And all the decals and
the paint had come off.

It really was very
little to see until they

stripped the engines down.

NARRATOR: The flight crew
and investigators have never

seen anything like this before.

[ominous music]

And their surprising
discovery changes aviation

safety procedures forever.

WOMAN: This was an event which
was unique in aviation history.

are sent to their manufacturer,
Rolls-Royce, in the UK.

Engineer Malcolm
Grayburn and his team

are tasked with figuring
out what caused them

all to mysteriously flame out.

Dad!

The engine's on fire!

NARRATOR: --and
come back to life.

We did do a forensic
analysis of the engines.

NARRATOR: Grayburn is
stunned by what he discovers.

The engines were choked with
fine dust, pieces of rock,

and sand.

On close study, he
discovers that the debris

is volcanic ash.

The evidence points
to a clear suspect.

On the night of the flight,
the Mount Galunggung volcano,

located just 100 miles
southeast of Jakarta,

erupted unexpectedly.

The enormous ash cloud rose
miles high right into the path

of British Airways Flight 9.

Never before had
a volcanic cloud

seriously affected an airplane.

Mayday, mayday, mayday!

We have lost all four engines.

NARRATOR: A turbofan jet
engine works by sucking

in enormous amounts of air.

The air is then highly
pressurized by the engine's

compressor.

This tightly packed air is
mixed with fuel and ignited.

The force of this
reaction propels the jet

through the sky.

[plane engines roaring]

MALCOLM GRAYBURN:
The temperature

in the combustion chamber where
this ash is flowing through--

around 2,000 degrees centigrade.

And so the volcanic ash, we
know, melts at about 1,300,

1,400 degrees.

NARRATOR: But when the
liquid ash reached deeper

into the engine, it
cooled slightly, turning

into a sticky molten goo.

It attached itself to the
engine and began choking it.

We got a fundamental
disturbance of the airflow

in the main core of
the engine, which

caused the engine to backfire.

Engine failure, number 4!

NARRATOR: But if the engines
were choked with ash,

how did they suddenly
roar back to life?

Engine 3, back online!

NARRATOR: What
Grayburn discovers

next is that a remarkable piece
of chemistry saved the plane.

MALCOLM GRAYBURN: As soon as you
came out of the volcanic ash,

everything cooled down.

It was enough for this
stuff to break off and allow

the engines to restart.

[plane engines starting]

I can't believe it.

Engines 1 and 2
both back online!

[laughter]

NARRATOR: The pilots of Flight
9 are celebrated as heroes

for overcoming
total engine failure

and guiding their plane and
its passengers to safety,

but their miraculous discovery
also provokes a giant leap

forward in aviation safety.

Now, more than 30 years later,
there's a worldwide system

in place to warn
pilots when there

is a risk of volcanic
ash in the air,

so the aircraft can avoid
this kind of hazard.

It has worked wonderfully
over the last few years.

[PASSENGERS CHATTERING
INDISTINCTLY]

Hey, I don't--

I don't-- hey, there she is.

Hey, wassup?

NARRATOR: But total
engine failure happens

again just three years later.

[peaceful music]

China Airlines Flight
006 cruises on autopilot

39,000 feet above the Pacific.

BILL PEACOCK: It was a
routine commercial flight.

I sat there and read some
books, went to sleep.

NARRATOR: While many of
the 251 passengers doze,

the plane nears its destination
of Los Angeles, California.

Sleep well?

NARRATOR: In the cockpit, the
experienced three-men flight

crew, led by
Captain Min-Yuan Ho,

has amassed more than
38,000 flight hours.

But as the crew prepares
for an easy landing--

Engine 4 is giving
us weak thrust.

NARRATOR: --the flight engineer
spots something troubling.

There's a problem with
one of the engines.

When the engine is throttled,
it doesn't respond.

We're losing speed.

NARRATOR: Then the
strange situation

suddenly gets much worse.

FLIGHT ENGINEER:
Engine 4 flamed out.

NARRATOR: Engine four
stops working completely.

Take a look at
engine-out procedures.

Work out a three-engine
cruise altitude.

Yes, Captain.

NARRATOR: Without the fourth
engine, the plane slows down.

Airspeed 240.

Reignite engine 4.

Yes, Captain.

NARRATOR: At 39,000 feet,
there isn't much oxygen,

so the chances of a
successful relight are slim.

No response, Captain.

NARRATOR: As the crew tries
to restart their engine,

their plane slowly begins
to roll to the right.

We're banking right,
Captain, airspeed 230.

NARRATOR: As the
plane loses speed,

it's in danger of stalling.

Altitude hold off.

Nose down.

NARRATOR: Hoping to
increase his speed,

Captain Ho tries pushing
the plane's nose down.

Nothing the crew
does seems to help.

Their jet is banking
more and more steeply.

I'm disengaging autopilot.

[dramatic music]

[yelling]

[plane engines whining]

NARRATOR: Captain Ho takes
manual control of the aircraft,

but he struggles as the plane
veers into thick clouds.

He can't see the horizon.

The attitude
direction indicators,

or ADIs, instruments
that normally would help

him keep the plane
level with a horizon,

don't seem to be working.

[beeping]

FIRST OFFICER: It's
going out of limits!

NARRATOR: Just minutes
after engine number 4

stopped working,
the China Airlines

flight suddenly stalls and
begins falling from the sky.

China Airlines
Flight 006 plunges

toward the Pacific Ocean.

People just popped up like
popcorn, hitting the cabin.

[yelling, dramatic music]

NARRATOR: In the cockpit,
the flight engineer

struggles against the
plane's wild motion

to restart his fourth engine.

The G-forces are so powerful
that the flight engineer is

pinned to the control pedestal.

Ignition.

[beeping]

NARRATOR: But his
attempt is unsuccessful.

Then the situation
suddenly gets a lot worse.

FLIGHT ENGINEER: Engines
1, 2, and 3 have no thrust!

[grunts]

No response, Captain!

FIRST OFFICER:
42, 370, 360, 350.

NARRATOR: In the cabin,
the G-forces are punishing.

And I closed my eyes.

I thought I was gone.

[yelling]

And falling.

No response.

The engines have flamed out.

NARRATOR: The stress of
the dive tears the landing

gear doors off the plane.

[sobbing]

In less than a minute, the
plane drops almost 20,000 feet.

[screams]

Emergency!

Emergency!

NARRATOR: The plane suddenly
breaks free from the clouds.

I can see the horizon.

Altitude?

10,000 feet.

NARRATOR: The captain
uses the horizon

as a reference to level
the plane just 30 seconds

before they hit the ocean.

Now, the G-forces
suddenly change direction.

[dramatic music]

Passengers are
pressed to the floor,

feeling five times
their normal weight.

You know, the
G-force was so strong.

And I weigh 200 pounds, so my
weight was almost 1,200 pounds.

[screaming]

NARRATOR: It's a
race against time.

[beeping]

And finally--

ADI's coming back.

NARRATOR: --the
plane starts to win.

[peaceful music]

ADI's coming in.

NARRATOR: As mysteriously
as the incident began,

three of the plane's
engines regain power.

FLIGHT ENGINEER: Engine
4 still negative.

Reignite engine 4.

Yes, captain.

NARRATOR: Once again,
the flight engineer tries

to reignite the fourth engine.

[plane engine starting]

Engine 4 reignited.

NARRATOR: But now, for
the first time in minutes,

the plane is flying
under control.

[plane engines roaring]

[mysterious music]

PETER LADKIN: They
saved the airplane.

That was a
masterpiece of flying.

Ladies and gentlemen, this
is the captain speaking.

Is anyone hurt?

Do we have a doctor on board?

[groaning]

NARRATOR: Captain Ho
declares an emergency

and diverts the flight
to San Francisco.

[cheerning and applause]

[plane engines slowing]

[cheerning and applause]

BILL PEACOCK: He made one of the
best landings I've ever seen.

I mean, it was just
perfect touchdown.

[somber music]

NARRATOR: On the ground, the
full extent of the damage

to the plane shocks everyone.

PETER LADKIN: Parts of the
entire tailplane at the end

were ripped off as though
a tornado had come through.

NARRATOR: Two dozen passengers
have minor injuries.

A near disaster was
avoided, but what had

gone wrong in the first place?

[pensive music]

The National
Transportation Safety

Board is on site that very day.

The cockpit voice recorder
is sent to Washington,

but it's designed to tape
over itself every 30 minutes.

None of what happened
in the cockpit

during the terrifying
plunge from the sky remains.

BARRY STRAUCH: Without a
cockpit voice recorder,

we had to reconstruct
what the crew said

and how they interpreted
things and what was going

on in the cockpit to the
best of our abilities

with the other data that
was available to us.

NARRATOR: But the plane's flight
data recorder, which suffered

intense electrical damage, has
several gaps in the data log

that have to be
painstakingly reconstructed.

In the meantime, investigators
begin by inspecting

the plane's engines.

Despite the horrific
dive to the sky,

engines 1, 2, and 3 are
found to be in working order.

Engine 4, the first engine to
fail, gets special scrutiny.

They believed that the
engine had flamed out

or that there was
something seriously

wrong with the engine.

NARRATOR: After examining
every inch of engine 4,

investigators determined
that it was faulty.

Engine 4 is giving
us weak thrust.

NARRATOR: And at
39,000 feet, it wasn't

able to produce
adequate thrust to keep

the faulty engine running.

Engine 4 flamed out.

The loss of thrust on a
four-engine airplane is a minor

event, and the airplane
will fly on three

engines with no difficulty.

NARRATOR: Investigators
are puzzled.

If the 747 was never
in immediate danger,

is it possible that the plane's
swift plunge began somewhere

other than in the engines?

Before we took off.

Maybe that's it.

Mm-hmm.

[dramatic music]

NARRATOR: The crew
of China Airlines

Flight 006 are brought
in for intensive

interviews by the NTSB.

I heard the captain
report the ADI was lost.

NARRATOR: Without a
cockpit voice recorder,

investigators rely on
the pilot's statements

to piece together how
a manageable problem

became a near catastrophe.

I've lost ADI.

The ADIs have malfunctioned.

It's going out of limits.

When we started
banking right, engine 4

was already flamed out.

We started to descend faster,
and engines 1, 2, and 3 also

failed.

Engines 1, 2, and
3 have lost power!

[somber music]

NARRATOR: But the pilot's
stories don't match the flight

data, which clearly
shows that engines

1, 2, and 3 were running
perfectly the entire flight.

They never lost thrust.

[plane engines roaring]

What could possibly have caused
the plane to flip, twist,

and hurtle toward the sea?

[yelling]

After months of analyzing
the flight data and pilot

interviews, the NTSB
can finally piece

together the series of events
that led to this near disaster.

Just after 10:00 Pacific
time, the flight engineer

spots the engine trouble.

Engine 4 is giving
us weak thrust.

NARRATOR: He struggles
to fix the problem,

but investigators discover
he misses a basic step.

He leaves the engine's
bleed air valve open.

The bleed air valve
regulates the flow

of compressed air from the
engines into the cabin.

When an engine isn't
working properly,

the valve is supposed
to be closed,

so the engine can use all
available air to restart.

PETER GARRISON: It's
a little puzzling

that the flight engineer
didn't shut off bleed air.

The end result is that the
engine which is slow to start

won't start at all.

NARRATOR: Unwittingly,
the flight engineer

has started a ticking clock.

Engine 4 is slowly losing
its ability to stay lit.

We're losing speed.

NARRATOR: With more engine
power on the left wing

than on the right, the China
Airlines flight begins turning.

The proper thing
to do would have

been to step on the rudder.

That would have produced a
twisting force, so to speak,

that would have overcome the
imbalance of the engines.

NARRATOR: Instead of
adjusting the rudder himself,

Captain Ho continues to let
the autopilot fly the jet.

[plane engines roaring]

But the autopilot isn't
designed to move the rudder.

The autopilot can adjust
the ailerons and spoilers

in the plane's wings,
but these flaps

aren't strong enough to
overcome the imbalance

that the plane is experiencing.

I'm disengaging autopilot.

[dramatic music]

[yelling]

NARRATOR: By the
time Captain Ho takes

manual control of the plane,
it's already banking alarmingly

to the right.

I've lost ADI.

NARRATOR: While he
fights for control,

the 747 flips onto its back
and enters a vertical nosedive.

Moments later, as
G-forces rapidly increase,

the flight engineer makes
another enormous mistake.

We started to descend faster,
and engines 1, 2, and 3 also

failed.

[beeping]

Engines 1, 2, and
3 have lost power.

NARRATOR: But the engines
are perfectly fine.

Investigators now know the
throttles were deliberately

set to idle in an attempt to
slow the jet's furious fall,

something the flight
engineer doesn't

notice in the chaotic dive.

If he had not seen the
captain pull the-- the power

to idle on the--

the engines, he would
reasonably assume

that the fact that
they went to idle

was a problem rather
than intentional.

[somber music]

An investigation that starts
with faulty engines reveals

that, in fact, a
chain of mistakes

by the crew puts Flight 006
just moments from certain death.

The crew didn't behave as
they should have behaved--

pilot error.

NARRATOR: But whatever
mistakes the flight crew made--

ADI's coming in.

NARRATOR: --they still
achieved the ultimate goal.

The one big thing
they did right is they

saved the airplane.

JOHN COX: China Airlines
006 is a extreme

example of why high-altitude
upset recovery training is

so important.

It became a learning experience
based on what this crew did.

NARRATOR: When an aircraft
loses engine power,

the response must be quick,
concise, and efficient.

MALCOLM WATERS: I
can't believe it.

We made it.

When you've got
an engine problem,

when you've lost an engine--

Dad!

The engine's on fire!

--the only thing you have
to rely on is literally

your training as a pilot.

I can see the horizon.

And it makes all the
difference in the world.

[plane wheels screeching]

[cheering and applause]

[exhales]