All language subtitles for Air.Disasters.S03E04.Impossible.Landing.1080p.PMTP.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-maldini_track3_[eng]

High above
the cornfields of Iowa

United Airlines flight 232...

...is in serious trouble.

-I have it.
-What was that?

One of the DC-10's
three engines has exploded.

The plane is out of control.

Close the throttles.

The crew's
best hope at landing

happens to be in the cabin.

Denny Fitch knows more
about flying a DC-10

than almost anyone on earth.

That's how
I transitioned from a passenger

to a crew member.

You want to go forward, Al.

I'm going to come back
and lead it away.

But nothing
in his vast experience

has prepared him
for what he finds.

Lost all three
hydraulic systems.

I took it all in.

The immediate fast
conclusion is,

Denny...

Today is the day
you're going to die.

Ladies and gentlemen,

we are starting our approach.

We lost both engines!

Put the mask over your nose.

Emergency descent.

Mayday, mayday.

Brace for impact!

I think I lost one.

Investigation starting.

He's gonna crash!

United Airlines
flight 232 is halfway through

its journey from
Denver, Colorado, to Chicago.

The DC-10 is cruising
at 37,000 feet.

The clear weather makes this
a relatively easy flight

for the captain and
his first officer,

both former fighter pilots.

Well, it looks like we're
going to make Chicago on time.

The airplane was trimmed up.

We'd enjoyed a cup of coffee.

Weather was good.

There was absolutely no reason

why we shouldn't have
a pretty normal flight that day.

Today is children's
day at United Airlines.

A child's ticket costs
only a penny.

Of the 285 passengers on
the flight, 52 are children.

Thanks for the cookies, Jan.

Now how about some more coffee?

Denny Fitch is
a United Airlines pilot

and a flight instructor
for the DC-10.

The flight was normal
in all respects.

We had climbed to altitude.

The lunch had been served.

The tray was being removed,

and I asked the flight attendant
if I may have a cup of coffee.

Heading home for a few days?

Yeah. It'll be good to get back.

Excuse me.

I'll take a refill
when you have a second.

Thank you.

Jerry Schemmel is
a basketball executive

on his way through Chicago for
a draft of college players.

It was a very smooth flight.

In fact, we were told
when we got on the plane

that there wasn't any expected
turbulence at all.

It should be a real smooth ride
for two hours to Chicago.

Then all of a sudden
with a bang,

it's just like being thrown into

a great, big tornado
of activity.

First officer
Bill Records

immediately shuts off
the autopilot

and takes manual control.

-I have it!
-What was that?

There was no alarms at all.

No bells, no whistles,
no lights flashing,

just this big explosion,
and that was it.

The first thing
I thought when I heard it,

and then I could feel it kind of
rip through the cabin,

was a bomb has gone off.

And I thought,
that's it for everybody.

And the conscious thought hit me

that people don't survive
bombs going off in planes.

Denny Fitch
pays close attention

to the DC-10's every move.

The coffee cup
no longer had coffee in it.

It was all over
the table linens.

My fanny was no longer
in the middle of the seat.

It was now up against
the left armrest.

That was followed by 10 seconds

of quite pronounced violent
airframe shuddering.

I've got control.
Check the gauges.

The pilots can barely
control the plane.

Captain Al Haynes tries
to figure out why.

The airplane
was shaking so bad

you couldn't read
the instruments.

And you had to lean way up
near the panel to read it.

We lost the number two engine.

The DC-10 has
three engines.

The number two engine is
mounted on the tail.

It's the one that's suffered
a catastrophic failure.

The people in my area
were calm.

But you could tell
they were very nervous.

They were, they were
anticipating like I was

what might happen.

And we knew that
what might happen

wasn't going to be
very positive.

First officer Records
is not able to level the plane.

We're losing hydraulics.

Let's shut
number two down.

The reason you shut down
an engine when it fails

is you don't know what
the damage is to the engine.

If it kept turning
it could tear itself apart.

Okay, that's got it.

But Denny Fitch suspects

there may be more to worry about
than the loss of an engine.

I was looking out
the window for clues.

And one of the clues that
first appeared to me,

and it was an abnormality,

was the fact that the right wing
of this aircraft was dropping.

It doesn't make sense.

The number two engine can't
cause these wing behaviors.

In other words,

its loss doesn't have anything
to do with what I'm seeing.

Bill said, "Al, I can't
control the airplane."

and that's a real
attention-getter.

And so I looked forward to see

what the flight controls
were doing.

The damaged engine
has been shut down.

The plane is not responding to
the first officer's commands.

It's banking further and further
to the right.

It's a very sickening feeling

to have the controls
all the way over

and have them all the way back
as far as you can go,

and the airplane was in fact
going the opposite direction.

I've got it, Bill.

If the pilots can't
find a way to level the plane,

it will soon be upside down.

He had the control wheel
as far as it can go to the left

and as far back in your lap
as it would go.

You can't do that in flight.

So there was something
drastically wrong there.

But the airplane was starting
to roll over on its back.

And we had to stop that.

This isn't working.

The plane has become
impossible to steer.

It's a dire situation,

and it can't be explained
by the loss of one engine.

Dudley, check the gauges.

What's going on back there?

We have no
hydraulic fluid left.

All systems are down to zero!

All three?

That's impossible!

A complex hydraulic
system carries the commands

from the pilot's control column

to the aircraft's
control surfaces

such as the elevators,
rudders and ailerons.

Without fluid in the system,

there is no way to move
these crucial flight controls.

Hydraulics are
the lifeblood of the airplane.

They provide the muscle
to move the flight controls,

to retract and lower
the landing gear,

to move the flaps.

A lot of the things that move
on the airplane

are done hydraulically.

If you do not have hydraulics,

you have absolutely no control.

You might as well just take
the control column out

and throw it out the window.

Even though the
control columns have no effect

on the movement of the plane,

both pilots instinctively
use them as though they did.

It's like driving a car.

If you're sliding on ice, nobody
lets go of the steering wheel,

even though the steering wheel
is not effective.

And it's the same way.

You're holding on to
the controls hoping,

I guess, that maybe
there's some hydraulic fluid

in there someplace.

What's it say in the book?

The DC-10 has three
separate hydraulic systems.

If one fails,
the other two act as backup.

But all three systems are
now empty of fluid.

There's nothing in here
for anything like this!

A Billion to one were
the odds that this would happen.

You're never trained for that.

You never drill for it,
you never train for it,

because technically
it can never happen.

No hydraulics means
no flight controls.

The plane could spiral to
the ground at any moment.

-Let's use the engines.
-Yeah. Why not?

Well, we kind of made it up
as we went along.

Everybody realized
that this was something

that we didn't have
a procedure for.

So you just kind of grabbed
for whatever was working.

The left and right
engines are still running.

The pilots decide to use them
to their advantage.

I'm gonna pull back
number one about 10%.

You go up on number three 10%,
nice and slow.

By adjusting the power

of the two remaining engines,

they may be able to
level the aircraft

and make it fly straight.

Easy, does it.

The engines are
at cruising speed.

The slightest miscalculation
could be catastrophic.

The plane begins to level off.

Ok.

That's got it.

The improvised method
of control seems to be working.

But with no hydraulics, the crew
and all their passengers

are still in grave danger.

-How far to O'Hare?
-About 400 miles.

Flying to Chicago
with only two engines

may be possible.

But without flight controls
the pilots have no idea

if they'll be able
to make a landing.

How are we going
to land this thing?

None of the parts
used to control the plane

can be moved.

No pilot has ever safely landed
a DC-10 without hydraulics.

296 people will soon die

unless the pilots can
find a way to do it now.

The nose is going down.

What's going on here?

United Airlines flight 232

has begun to accelerate
downwards.

Normally, pulling back
on the control column

would raise the elevators and
lift the nose of the plane.

We have no elevators.

But with no hydraulics,

that control is gone.

Normally, you just
pull back and hand over power

and pull the nose up,
but we didn't have the controls.

Okay. Let's ease them up,
see what happens.

The only things
working on the plane

are the two forward engines.

Let's try 10%.

Watch the gauges.

Easy.

By increasing power
to the engines,

the pilots hope they can create
enough lift under the wings

to raise the nose.

This is what
you have to do,

because the power
creates the lift.

And that's what you need.

The maneuver works.

The plane pulls out of the dive.

Okay.

That's got it.

Easy.

Easy.

We just dropped 1,000 feet.

Okay, we've got to
land this thing.

Find out where the hell we are

and get us to
the nearest airport.

Since the engine failure,

the plane has been
drifting to the right.

There is no way flight 232
can make it to Chicago

without flight controls.

The pilots need to find
a safe place to land

as soon as possible.

This is United 232.

We are declaring an emergency

and requesting a vector
to the nearest airport.

-What's going on?
-We've lost hydraulics.

We have to make
an emergency landing.

United 232, you're
heading towards Sioux city.

Would you like to go there?

We'll take Sioux city.

Affirmative.

Start getting
the cabin ready.

Okay.

Now we're climbing.

The plane suddenly
begins to climb.

As it does, airspeed drops.

The wings begin to lose lift.

If the climb continues,

the plane will stall
and fall from the sky.

What the hell's
going on here?

Watch the right side.

I got it.

To lower the nose,

captain Haynes must
reduce engine power,

while struggling to
maintain level flight.

Okay.

That's got it.

I felt the plane
start to drop.

And I'm just trying to think,

all right, what the heck is
going on with this aircraft?

-We're dropping again.
-Ease it up.

Gently.

Gently.

Okay.

275.

Jesus.

The plane has dropped
another 1,500 feet.

How far is Sioux city?

About 55 miles.

In 30 minutes,
the plane will hit the ground.

Jan, don't worry about this.

This airplane will fly fine
on two engines.

When I told her that, then she
replied to me, "oh, no, Denny."

"I just came from the cockpit."

Both the pilots are trying
to fly the aircraft."

The captain has told us
we've lost all our hydraulics.

Bingo.

That means no landing gear,

no slats, no flaps,

no flight controls.

Okay.

Tell the captain we've got

a DC-10 training check airman
back here.

If there's anything I can do
to help, I'm happy to do so.

United 232,

understand you're requesting
an emergency landing.

That's affirmative.

We've lost
all hydraulic control.

Requesting a vector
to the airport.

United 232, radar contact.

Turn left heading 255.

I don't think turning left

is something we want to try.

I wouldn't want to risk it.

Agreed.

The heading to
Sioux city requires a left turn.

But for some reason,

the damaged plane only
wants to turn right.

Forcing it to turn left
could be disastrous.

Okay, we're in
a right turn right now.

That's about the only way
we can go.

The tower gave us
a heading to fly.

We'd try to fly it.

And if we would drift off
to the right,

because we would lose it

somewhere in the manipulation
of the throttles,

rather than try and turn left,
we would just do a 360.

United 232, heavy.

Roger.

Right turn heading 255.

The pilots must
execute a precise right turn

without the use of
the plane's ailerons.

They carefully alternate power
between the two engines

to turn the crippled plane
around.

As they begin to turn,
the nose suddenly falls again.

The plane accelerates downward.

We're trying to keep
the airplane straight and level .

But as the airplane wanted
to turn to the right,

every time that
we'd turn to the right,

the nose would go down,

and the tendency is to
go over on your back.

We had to avoid that.

They manage to
complete the turn.

But they've dropped
another 1,000 feet.

Sioux city is still
40 miles away.

I don't think we're going to
make the airport, fellas.

There's a DC-10
instructor on board.

He's offering assistance.

Having a trainer,
instructor on board the airplane

was a relief to us,

because we thought he could give
us inputs that we didn't have.

Maybe he could help.

And he volunteered to come up,

and we were very happy
to have him come up.

Okay, let him come up.

Could you come with me?

And so that's how
I transitioned from a passenger

to a crew member.

I remember their forearms

and their tendons being tense.

I remember their knuckles
being white.

They both were on
the flight control wheels,

their respective wheels, trying
to fly the airplane together.

Now that's an anomaly,

'cause the airplane
will fly quite nicely

with one person
and two fingertips.

That's just the nature of
the beast when it's normal.

This is clearly not normal.

You want to go forward, Al.

Now go forward.

Let it come back
and lead it away.

Lost all three
hydraulic systems.

I took it all in.

The immediate
fast conclusion is,

Denny...

Today is the day
you're gonna die.

Tell me what you want.
I'll help you.

Take the throttles.

'cause he can stand between
Bill and myself now.

And he can operate
the alternating thrust

a lot easier than we can.

Okay.

Pull back, pull back.

Start it down.

Fitch must ease back
on the throttles

to stop the plane from climbing.

And it didn't take long

before I started to sense
the airplane's behavior.

No, no, no, no, no.
Not yet.

Wait a minute
till it levels off.

The flight attendants
are discreetly preparing

for an emergency landing.

It doesn't look good.

I watched the flight attendants,

I think like a lot of
people did, very closely,

just to kind of get a feel for
what they might be thinking,

what they might know,
what they might be feeling.

And for several minutes,

they just spent time
clearing the cabin.

Denny Fitch keeps
his eyes on the control column

to figure out what the pilots
want him to do.

Is this Sioux city
down to the right?

That's Sioux city.

Finally,
their destination is in sight.

Normally, the pilots would begin
reducing their speed

on approach to the airport.

But with no flight controls
that's something they can't do.

Because of
the loss of hydraulics,

they were not able to
configure the wings

for the normal landing.

So they had to come in
much, much faster

to maintain the necessary lift.

We had absolutely no way
to control the speed.

That was the biggest concern
of us all

was how fast we were going
and to try and slow down.

And there just was nothing
we could do about it.

If they can line up
with the runway at all,

they'll be hitting it
at a very high speed.

There's no telling what
the impact will do to the plane.

What was going to happen
when we touched down

was a great concern,

because we couldn't bring the
nose up for landing attitude.

And when we hit the ground,
what's going to happen is...

Was a question in my mind.

And were we going to
actually make the runway?

A little more right.

Fitch continues
to keep the plane level

and on course by alternating
power to the two engines.

Intuitively, I started
to sense the airplane.

And I felt that it was
becoming one with me,

if that makes sense.

I felt that the airplane
was sending me signals

that it was going to do
something before it did.

I'm Al Haynes.

Hi, Al.

Denny Fitch.

Bill Records here.

I'll tell you what,

we'll have a beer
when this is All done.

Well, I don't drink,
but I'll sure as hell have one.

We were facing death.

All of us were,
and our passengers.

United 232 is
less than 10 minutes

from a nearly
impossible landing.

No one is expected to survive.

Emergency workers
prepare for the worst.

As the pilots approach
the airport,

captain Haynes decides it's time
to tell the passengers

precisely what they're facing.

Ladies and gentlemen,

this is captain Al Haynes
speaking.

As you must be aware by now,

we're having some control
difficulties with the plane.

We're attempting an
emergency landing in Sioux city.

We'll be landing in
approximately eight minutes.

We've got about as much control
over the plane as we can get,

but I need you to understand

this is going to be
a crash landing.

Please review
your emergency procedures.

This is going to be worse

than anything you've ever
been through before,

and you need to be ready.

We will do everything
in our power

to get everyone to the ground,

but we need your cooperation.

I think captain Haynes
wanted to be

as honest as he could with us.

He didn't want to
sugarcoat anything.

He wanted to let us know that we
are in a very dire circumstance.

I was convinced
I wasn't going to make it.

I thought, this is my day to go.

There was serious uncertainty

as to what the outcome
was going to be.

I think there was a realization

that the airplane was going
to be very badly damaged,

and that there was a high
likelihood of injury or worse.

Okay.

Let's start this sucker down.

Flight 232 is
9,000 feet from the ground

and less than 10 minutes
from the airport.

But it's traveling
far too fast to land safely.

Instead of being at
the normal 120-140 knot range,

they were well over 200 knots to
be able to control the airplane.

This means that
it is going to arrive

with a whole lot more force.

It's going to need a much, much
greater distance to land.

And equally,
their margin for error

now becomes extremely small.

Anybody got any ideas
about putting the gear down?

I would.

Lowering the landing gear

will help slow the plane down.

Without hydraulics,

the pilots have to release
the gear manually

and hope that gravity
locks it into place.

I hope that does it.

If the gear doesn't
lock, the plane is doomed.

All green.

The gear
creates enough drag

to slightly reduce the airspeed.

But the plane is still traveling
Almost 70 knots faster

than it should be.

Okay.

Let's start it down now.

The passengers try
to prepare themselves

for what maybe
their final moments.

The last three things
I said to my wife were,

the last three words were,
"I love you."

I thought things were in place

for me not to survive
this incident.

And then the last couple minutes
I started thinking to myself,

you know what,
just in case you're wrong,

you better get ready
and form a game plan here.

So the last four
or five minutes,

I thought to myself, All right,

if you hit the ground
and you're dead,

or you're hurt seriously,
you might not be able to help.

But if you aren't,
don't flee the plane.

Don't panic. Stay around.

Stay under control and
try to help other people

as best I could.

The plane is only
16 miles away from the airport.

Do you want the seat?

Yeah.

Do you mind?

Okay.

All the pilots will
need to be securely strapped in

for the attempted landing.

Only a few miles away
from the airport,

the crew must make another
circle to the right

to adjust their course.

The airport's down there.

Got it.

I don't see it yet.

As soon as
it starts down, back we go.

The concern then was

how fast are we going
to hit the ground,

and what's going to happen
when we hit the ground?

When we hit the ground hard,

let's hope it's not hard enough
to tear the airplane apart.

Forward, forward, forward.

Without flaps,

airspeed is the only thing
keeping the plane in the air.

The pilots have no choice

but to keep the engines
at close to full power.

Won't this be
a fun landing?

Hold the heading, if you can.

That's fine.

From an Altitude
of 37,000 feet,

the pilots have corkscrewed
their way down

to within sight of a runway.

Now they have to get the plane
on the ground.

The plane is descending to the
runway at 1,600 feet per minute,

faster than the space shuttle
comes in to land.

That's fine.

I got the runway.

It's off to the right,
over there.

Over there.

But the pilots can't
slow their plane.

In fact, Fitch must
increase engine speed

to keep the nose up.

Bring it on down.

Oh, baby.

Ease her on down.

Tell them we're
two minutes away from landing.

Two minutes away
from landing.

Two minutes.

Your attitude is
you will get this done.

I will do this.

I will do it.

I will not accept failure.

I will not accept anything less
than the best.

And so even if I die,
that's the way I die.

That's the way I'm going to die.

232, you are cleared
to land on any runway.

Ah, you want to
make it particular

and make it a runway, huh?

I know that
we're close enough now,

coming in fast enough now that
we're going to make the airport.

That was the main thing.

Whether we'd actually make
the runway or not,

I don't know.

The aircraft
is still traveling

much faster than normal.

But the crew cannot
delay any longer.

This is their only shot
at a landing.

Get on the brakes with me.

Yeah.

They will have only
minimal braking power

and reverse thrust to stop
the plane on the ground.

They won't be able to steer.

No pilot at the controls
of a commercial jetliner

has ever landed a DC-10 safely
at this speed,

with or without flight controls.

Pull the power back.

That's right,
pull the left one back.

You could hear people crying.

And every once in a while,

you could hear people kind of
scream a little bit.

And I remember at the end
thinking, all right,

there's nothing else I can do
to get ready here.

Now I just got to see
what happens, see what unfolds.

The plane is
30 seconds from landing.

Brace, brace, brace!

I had no idea
what was going to happen

when we touched down.

We were going way too fast.

We had no flaps.

We had no brakes.

And we had no way to
steer the airplane

once we did arrive
at the runway.

At very bottom,

I was hoping to do the pitch-up
by putting more power in,

pulling the nose up,

causing the whole belly to
become drag into the wind

and slow us down,

so that we could touch down
on the landing gear

and then roll down the runway.

Controllers can't bear to watch

what's about to unfold.

Only 100 feet from the ground,

the nose dips again, increasing
its Already dangerous speed.

The nose lowered and
the airspeed got built up again,

and the right wing started
to go down again.

And we couldn't have that,
we had to try and get it level.

Close the throttles!

Close them off!
Pull them All off!

I can't pull them off
or we'll lose it.

That's what's turning it.

And we both said, okay.

He's in charge of the throttles,
do whatever you have to do.

There had to be complete trust.

Okay, okay.

Left! Left! Left!
Left! Left! Left!

We're turning,
we're turning, we're turning.

Didn't get it
quite right.

And...

We hit very hard.

My head smashed on into
the radio rack in front of me.

It's just like somebody
had a giant hand

on the back of my head

and just forced me face down
into this rack.

We had hit
just incredibly hard.

I don't think
for All the thoughts

about what it might be like that
I was ready for that impact.

I could feel the plane
go upside down.

And then we slid upside down
and backwards

for what seemed like forever.

I remember looking
out the window

and saw it got blue
for a split second

and darkened again
to brown and green.

And then more violence
than I can put in words.

I had to take
a couple seconds

to figure out whether
I was Alive or not.

I figured if I'm feeling pain,
I must be alive.

And then I realized
what had happened.

I realized we'd flipped over.

I was hanging upside down
in my chair.

I had no choice but to go back,

because smoke was chasing us all
to the back of the plane.

And I finally found an opening

where we had broken off
of the tail section,

and got out that way.

And I stepped out of the plane,
realized I was in a cornfield.

And I'd been in plenty of 'em.

That gave me some comfort.

I knew that at this point I was
probably in pretty good shape

and that I wasn't going to
perish in that crash.

I took a couple of steps
out of the plane,

and I heard a baby crying
back inside the wreckage.

And I didn't stand there
and weigh the risks.

I didn't think it through.

I just reacted to the sound.

The next thing I remember,
I'm back inside the wreckage.

It's okay.

It's okay.

Jerry Schemmel
manages to find the child

and helps reunite her
with her parents.

It's okay.

But others
are not so lucky.

The plane lies in pieces on
the runway and in a cornfield.

There is no sign of the cockpit
or the pilots.

On the initial
viewing of the aircraft

hitting the ground and
tumbling down the ground

in a huge fireball
and so on and so forth,

we didn't expect
to find survivors.

45 minutes
after the crash

the cockpit is discovered

600 feet from the rest
of the wreckage.

all four pilots have survived.

I was unconscious, fortunately.

I was knocked out on impact.

I have absolutely
no recollection

of the crash at all.

And then the next thing I heard
is somebody say,

"are there really
four of you in there?"

and I heard more than
one voice say, "yes."

I knew at the time

that I saw this fireman
coming across the field

that I have been in a crash,
and I'm alive.

I had no idea what
kind of shape I was in,

whether my legs were attached.

I had no...
I couldn't move my fingers.

I was just literally pinned
to the, to the ground.

I was compressed
in the wreckage.

A white hot pain
in my back and my side.

Broken ribs punctured the lung.

I never lost consciousness.

I have complete recall
of it all.

My time in the hospital,
first night, I almost died.

Subsequently nine surgeries
and 18 months of recovery.

111 passengers
and crew are dead,

including 11 children.

But 185 people have survived
the fiery crash landing.

The first feelings were

there are not likely to be
any survivors out of this.

And yet there were.

There were a large number
of survivors.

The damage to
the tail section confirms

what the pilots reported.

The number two engine
exploded in mid-flight.

Investigators need to know why,

and how it led to
the catastrophic loss

of all hydraulics.

We Already
pretty well knew

what we were looking for.

We knew we'd had an engine
failure of horrific proportions.

We knew we'd had
a hydraulic issue

that had depleted all three
hydraulic systems.

The NTSB's Bob Macintosh

is in charge of the team
dispatched to Sioux city.

The investigation
focused fairly quickly

on the shrapnel,

the trajectories of
the various parts

and how they could have
disabled the airplane

in the way that it did.

It doesn't take
investigators long

to discover that a vital piece
of the engine is missing.

The fan disk is
such an obvious part

of the front of the engine that
when it's missing, you know it.

The fan disk is
one of the largest pieces

of the engine.

It is responsible for
bringing air into the core.

It's around
almost 400 pounds.

It's about 32 inches
in diameter.

That was missing.

And we knew that it was going
to be our job to find that,

because that was
the destructive force

that had brought
this airplane down.

Since the accident
involved the failure

of such a key component,

metallurgists join the NTSB's
to help find the cause.

The rotating parts
in the engines of jet airplanes

have to withstand
a lot of stress.

So you want to use a material
that optimizes the strength

while minimizing the weight.

So at the front of the engine,
the fan disk, for example,

they use titanium alloys.

Jet engines are
extremely reliable.

To have a fan disk break off
is almost unheard of.

The failure of a major
rotating part of any kind,

whether it be at the front end
or anywhere in the engine,

is a major event.

Before they can
understand this rare failure,

investigators must find
the missing fan blade assembly.

The clue to solving the mystery
behind the crash

is likely lying in a farmer's
field somewhere in Iowa.

A massive search gets under way.

It was extremely
frustrating to us,

because we knew
we didn't have it.

And we knew it was going to be
a pretty tough job to find it.

We were motivated to find it.

But we knew it was
going to be tough.

Al, I can't control
the airplane.

Meanwhile, investigators

turn their attention

to the plane's hydraulics,

wondering how a system
with triple redundancy

could have failed.

In theory,
if you lose an engine,

you lose one of the systems.

Our challenge, recognizing
that the number two engine

was the origin of the problem

was to try and figure out why

all three hydraulic systems
had failed.

Each of the three
hydraulic systems

is powered by one of
the three engines.

Since only one engine failed,

two hydraulic systems
should have kept working.

Investigators
examine the wreckage

around the number two engine.

They begin to see what
might have happened.

There was a place where

all three hydraulic systems
were getting together.

And that was in
the horizontal stabilizer

to actuate the elevators for
up and down control.

all three of
the plane's hydraulic lines

concentrate at the back of the
plane, below the rear engine.

The number two system
was destroyed

when the fan disk blew apart.

Exploding shrapnel damaged
the two remaining systems.

all the hydraulic lines were
either punctured or severed.

The plane essentially
bled to death.

So we were able to understand

how an engine failure
in number two

would result in number one
and number three

being rendered inoperative.

Left! Left! Left!
Left! Left! Left!

Now that investigators

know how much damage

the broken fan disk caused,

it's all the more urgent to
figure out why it failed.

They must find the broken piece.

A $50,000 reward is offered
to anyone who can find it.

Three months after
United flight 232 crash landed

in Sioux city, Iowa,

a farmer finds the crucial
piece of the puzzle

lying in her field about
60 miles from the airport.

This is the hole.

I came upon in the combine

and the combine,
there was resistance,

and I backed up and I thought,
"oh, my gosh, this is it."

The lady who
found the fan disk

was our hero of the day.

This was an extremely important
piece of evidence.

The massive disk
is broken into two pieces.

How could it break like that?

It was extremely unusual,

and we really wanted to
try and figure out

why this thing had,
what we call, burst.

The titanium alloy
used to make this vital part

is extremely strong
and resilient.

It shouldn't just snap in two.

Take a look at this.

When you first see
the disk broken,

it's almost unimaginable to see
how something so large

could break into two big pieces.

It didn't happen overnight.

A close examination
of the broken part

reveals surprising evidence
of why it fractured.

It's definitely fatigue.

It was pretty easy to,
visually, to look at this

to see that there was
a fatigue crack there.

The investigation then continued

to see where did
the fatigue crack initiate?

Can you cut me a small section
from here?

Investigators need to know

what had weakened
this powerful alloy.

They trace the fracture
back to where it began

and remove the section
for testing.

Well, well, well.

They find elements

that should not be
in the metal--

nitrogen and oxygen
mixed in with the titanium.

Nitrogen and other
elements such as oxygen,

if they are present in
the titanium alloy

cause an increase
in brittleness.

So that when you load this area,
it'll crack very, very easily.

A bad batch of titanium?

I'd say so.

Investigators conclude

that a microscopic imperfection

in the titanium
used to make the fan blade

caused a crack that developed
slowly over 17 years.

It kept progressively
getting bigger and bigger,

each time the engine
started and stopped.

It was only
a matter of time

before the disk finally broke.

-I have it.
- What was that?

And disaster occurred.

This part was
supposed to be inspected

on a regular basis.

And indeed, it was.

But where the crack was located

simply was extremely difficult
to detect.

The NTSB's
immediately recommends

more thorough inspections
of all engine fan disks.

Titanium is now melted
three times in a vacuum

to remove impurities.

Any kind of
oxygen and nitrogen

that might be in the material
is sucked out into the vacuum

and drawn out.

The DC-10's hydraulic
system also gets an upgrade.

Designers add a series of valves

so that a line can be sealed
in case of a rupture.

Every accident is
a learning experience.

And Sioux city, although
it was several decades ago,

continues to be
a learning experience.

Despite the loss of life,

the pilots' actions
during the disaster

are hailed as a magnificent
feat of flying.

I think it surprised the
survivors that they had made it,

but it was a testament to
the skill of the crew

and the ruggedness
of the airplane.

We have no
hydraulic fluid left.

all systems are down to zero.

That's impossible.

Once they lost
the third hydraulic system,

they were in an uncharted area
with no checklist

and having to improvise it.

Let's use the engines.

It was a catastrophic event

that they made to turn out
reasonably well.

Tell me what you want,
and I'll help you.

Take the throttles.

Captain Haynes' decision

to accept an offer of help
in a moment of crisis

is what many people believe
saved the lives of 185 people.

Okay.

For Al Haynes to give
a perfect stranger

the only thing controlling
his airplane--

and I think he knew clearly
at this point

that was all that was there--

I think is a phenomenal feat.

And I can't give enough kudos
to him for that.

All four pilots
received the Polaris award.

It's the highest civilian
aviation decoration,

awarded for exceptional
airmanship and heroic actions.

We got the airplane
to the runway.

That's the most
we could hope for,

even more than most people
thought we could hope for.

And to say that we were heroes
in doing that, no.

We were just fortunate that
the things we tried worked.

I was willing
to give up my life.

No, I mean,
that's not being heroic.

I mean, I was willing
to give up my life.

Because, to me,
that's my responsibility

as an airline captain.

You trust me.

I don't want to fail that trust.

Al Haynes
and Bill Records

were back in the cockpit
within a year of the accident.

For Denny Fitch,
it took a bit more time.

Doctors,

god love 'em, they fixed me,

but they didn't believe I'd ever
make the captain seat again.

They didn't think
I'd ever be able to fly.

I think it was
16 or 18 months later.

It was flight 187 to Honolulu.

And if you'd been in the cabin

you would have heard
this announcement--

today in command of your flight
is captain Denny Fitch.

Never give up.