All language subtitles for Air.Disasters.S04E04.Pushed.to.the.Limit.1080p.PMTP.WEB-DL.DDP5.1.H.264-maldini_track3_[eng]

Narrator: Cruising
in clear skies

35,000 feet above
the Indonesian jungle,

a 737 suddenly plummets
from the sky.

Man: The debris is at the bottom
of the river.

Man: Good lord.
take a look at this.

Narrator: Evidence points to
a serious mechanical failure--

one that could ground commercial
flights across the globe.

Man: Because of the history
of the 737, we were concerned.

Narrator: But when the full
story behind the crash

of Silk Air flight 185
is finally revealed...

Man: It's 2.5 units.

Narrator: The cause
is more disturbing

than anyone could have imagined.

Man: It was kind of shocking.

Man: I didn't really know
what to believe.

Pilot: Mayday, Mayday!

Flight attendant: We'll be
serving lunch shortly.

Tsu Way Ming: Good afternoon,
ladies and gentlemen,

this is your captain.

My name is Tsu Way Ming.

On the flight deck
this afternoon with me

is First Officer Duncan Ward.

We'd like to welcome you aboard,

and we are now climbing
through 19,000 feet.

Narrator: Silk Air flight 185

is climbing
to its cruising altitude.

The Boeing 737 is carrying
97 passengers and 7 crew

from Jakarta, Indonesia,

to the airline's home base,
Singapore.

The flight should take
about 80 minutes

heading North over
the rainforests of Sumatra

to Singapore's Changi
international airport.

Ming: We'll be cruising today
at 35,000 feet.

Peter Macmillan: Tsu Way Ming
was an experienced

Singapore air force pilot.

He'd been in their
aerobatic team.

He was always listed
as an above average pilot.

Narrator: Today's First Officer
is 23-year-old Duncan Ward.

The new Zealand-born pilot
has been flying with Silk Air

for a little more than a year.

Derek Ward: Duncan initially
found flying

at the age of about 14.

Suddenly he had
a purpose in life.

I think that's the best way
to describe it.

Macmillan: He came
from another operator

already top rated
on the Boeing 737,

and when I conducted his
induction training for Silk Air

I recognized that he was

a well above average
pilot as well,

despite his young age.

Ming: I'll get back to you

just before our descent
into Singapore

with an updated
weather forecast.

Thank you.

Narrator: The twin-engine jet
is the neWest addition

to the Silk Air fleet.

A Boeing 737-300 series, it went
into service just 9 months ago.

Macmillan: At the time
the 737 was probably

the most widely used
jet transport in the world.

Ward: Duncan reckoned
that he was

the luckiest guy in the world

because whereas some people

might go the office
in a Ferrari,

he went to the office in a 737,
so he loved it.

Duncan Ward: Silk air 185
maintaining 3-5-0.

Controller: Silk air 185
maintain 3-5-0

cleared direct to Pardi.

Duncan Ward:
Wilco Silk Air 1-8-5.

Ward: The flight to Jakarta
and back was a standard route.

Everything was absolutely
normal, absolutely routine.

Narrator: On flights
as smooth as this one,

it's common for pilots to get up
and stretch their legs.

Ming: I'm going back
for a while.

Finish your lunch.

Ward: I am.

Ming: Some water?

Narrator: 30 minutes
after takeoff

Jakarta air traffic control

makes its last scheduled
radio call to flight 185.

Controller: Silk Air 1-8-5
maintain 3-5-0.

At Pardi contact Singapore
1-3-4.4.

Ward: Silk Air 1-8-5 roger.
134.4 before Pardi.

Narrator: The crew is reminded
to check in next

with Singapore
air traffic control.

Macmillan: Singapore
air traffic control

did not expect to hear
from the aircraft

for another five to six minutes

so it was in a virtual
no man's land

as far as communications
are concerned.

Narrator: Moments later, while
still cruising at 35,000 feet,

the plane banks sharply
and begins to dive.

Macmillan: The cabin crew
were probably serving lunch

at the time,
with carts in the aisles.

It would have been horrific.

The aircraft would have been
inverted.

Anything unsecured would have
ended up on the ceiling.

Ward: What happens
to all of the people

who might be standing up?

to the people
who are not buckled in?

it doesn't bear
careful examination.

It's too horrible.

Narrator: At Jakarta
air traffic control,

Silk Air 185
has vanished from radar.

The controller has heard
no Mayday call.

He tries to get a message
to the missing flight

with the help of another pilot.

Controller:
Indonesia 2-3-8 Jakarta.

Pilot: Go ahead.
Indonesia 2-3-8.

Controller: Please relate
to Silk Air 1-8-5

to contact Singapore 1-3-4.4.

Pilot: Roger.
indonesia 2-3-8.

Narrator: But the 737
is already submerged

beneath the murky waters
of Indonesia's Musi river,

halfway between Jakarta
and Singapore.

Local villagers
report the crash.

Santoso Sayogo: And they're
telling stories

about the aircraft coming
very fast from an altitude.

Narrator: Along the river,
people search for survivors

but find only small bits
of debris.

A 50-ton aircraft
carrying 104 people

has all but disappeared.

News of the Silk Air crash
is met with shock in Singapore,

home to almost half
the passengers.

There is very little hope
that anyone has survived.

24 hours later,

following the crash
of Silk Air 185,

Indonesian Investigator
Santoso Sayogo

takes charge of the team

from the National Transportation
Safety Committee.

Sayogo: Empty those bags.

Put it with the other bags
for processing.

Sayogo: What we did is to go
to the crash site,

observe, and then record

and preserve anything
that we can use

for the later investigation.

More small debris.

Narrator: The scale of the
disaster soon becomes evident.

There are no survivors.

All 104 passengers and crew
have been killed,

including veteran pilot
Captain Tsu Way Ming

and his First Officer,
Duncan Ward.

Ward: It was just
complete bewilderment

as to how it
might have happened.

In that situation you go
into a complete state of shock.

I didn't really know
what to believe.

Narrator: The NTSC calls in
Navy divers and support ships

to help with
the recovery effort.

Sayogo: The debris is
at the bottom of the river.

If I can describe it,
it's murky water, mud and clay.

Most of the debris
was in the clay.

Narrator: At the Silk Air
crash site

there are no bodies
to mourn over.

Searchers have found
hardly any human remains at all.

Ward: It was just something that
as a father was so horrendous

that it just has an enormous
psychological effect on you.

Narrator: The 737 is the most
popular commercial airliner

in the world.

Five new 300-series jets

roll off the Boeing
assembly line every month.

Having one fall from the sky
on a calm, clear day

without any indication
of trouble

sends a chill through
the entire industry.

Investigators are under
intense pressure

to figure out what went wrong.

Following the crash
of Silk Air 185,

Indonesian Investigator
Santoso Sayogo

faces the biggest challenge
of his career.

Fortunately, he won't
have to face it alone.

Because the 737
is American-made,

U.S. Air accident Investigator
Greg Feith

joins the investigation.

Sayogo: Mr. Feith.

Narrator: He's one of the NTSB's
top investigators...

Feith: Santoso.

Narrator: With more than
17 years of experience.

Sayogo: And thanks
for coming so soon.

Feith: I'm glad to help.

I know you guys are
stretched pretty thin.

Greg Feith: Initially when we
were working

with the Indonesians,

they had never done any kind
of wreckage recovery

like this before.

We in the states
had had a lot of experience

with a variety
of different accidents.

Narrator: Investigators
initially suspect

some catastrophic
mechanical failure

but don't know which part
could be to blame.

Sayogo: Tough to get
the debris pattern.

It's all under water.

Narrator: Without knowing
how the wreckage is distributed,

it's hard to know
where to start.

Sayogo: We need the recorders.

Feith: One of our
primary concerns

was trying to get
the flight data recorder

and the cockpit voice recorder

because that was really
going to help

in establishing the course
of the investigation--

what directions, what elements

that we really needed
to focus our energies on.

Controller: Silk Air 1-8-5
maintain 3-5-0.

At Pardi contact Singapore
1-3-4.4.

Ward: Silk Air 1-8-5,
roger 134.4.

Narrator:
the plane's black boxes,

the electronic
recording devices,

capture every sound
in the cockpit

and provide a detailed picture
of how the plane was flying.

Feith: And the CVR and the FDR

will record all the way
till impact.

Narrator: Without them,
the investigation is crippled.

But for the divers
on the musi river,

the search is proving difficult.

Feith: The visibility
in the water

was basically six inches
in front of your face.

They had to swim down and feel
on the bottom in the mud

what they thought were pieces,

grab them and bring them
to the surface.

We didn't know if we were going
to get the CVR and/or the FDR.

Narrator: If the black boxes
are embedded deep in the mud,

they may be beyond reach.

Silk Air flight trainer
Peter Macmillan joins the team.

He has knowledge of the airline

and personal experience
working with both pilots.

Macmillan: I was basically
sent there as a conduit

between the investigation
and Silk Air

to explain any Silk Air
procedures to investigators.

Narrator: To understand
flight 185's sudden dive

he studies indonesian
radar returns

that show the plane's
flight path.

Macmillan:
the aircraft's transponder

identifies it
on the radar screens.

And it could also
show the height of the aircraft

and it could actually,
with some calculation,

determine the speed
of the aircraft.

Narrator: Macmillan calculates
that the flight time

from takeoff to the last
recorded radar return

was just under 36 minutes.

Macmillan: Good lord.
take a look at this.

Narrator: The first 35 minutes
are completely normal.

But the last 30 seconds
of the radar plot

paint a terrifying picture.

Macmillan: The aircraft
disappeared from radar returns

when it went below 20,000 feet.

But when the aircraft
left 35,000 feet

to below 20,000 feet,

it gave an approximate
rate of descent

of over 30,000 feet per minute.

The maximum rate of descent
is normally in the order

of 5, 6, 7,000 feet
per minute.

So this was a descent
of great magnitude.

Narrator:
Investigators determined

that in the seconds
before impact,

the plane was traveling faster
than the speed of sound.

Investigators are desperate
to recover the black boxes.

They intensify the musi river
salvage effort.

Feith: We brought in
heavy assets

which was this ocean-sized
dredge, 20, 25-foot bucket

that was able to scoop
very large mounds of mud

out of the musi river.

Narrator: But the river
is vast--almost a mile wide.

Even with the dredger,

the black boxes
May never be found.

Sayogo: They could be anywhere.

Sayogo here.

Man: Boss, I think we found
something important,

but it's not in the river,
it's on land.

Sayogo: On land? where?

Man: About four kilometers
East of the river.

Sayogo: We've got debris,
East of the river.

Narrator: They May have
their first solid lead.

Feith: Witnesses said
that they saw parts

or things fluttering down
that landed in the jungle.

Narrator: Aircraft debris
litters a site

in the Sumatran rainforest

just East of where flight 185
hit the Musi river.

Feith: This is part
of the horizontal stabilizer.

Sayogo: Be sure to get
the GPS coordinates.

Feith: We did in fact find

that the horizontal stabilizers
of the airplane--

the two small stabilizers
on the back--

had come off in flight.

Narrator: The fragments
are from control surfaces

on the plane's tail section.

Narrator: Small elevators on
the very back edge of the tail

help pitch the plane
up and down.

Sayogo: We're 4.5 kilometers
East of the main crash site.

Feith: Right.

Narrator: The distance tells
them that these fragments

were among the first
To break off: A key finding.

If parts of the tail broke away
at cruising altitude,

that might explain
the sudden dive.

What's more, it May point
to a larger problem.

Feith: Because of the history
of the 737

we were concerned about
the horizontal stabilizers

having separated from the rest
of the aircraft in flight.

Narrator: Though the 737
is generally regarded

as a safe airplane,

it has a disturbing chapter
in its history--

a dangerous malfunction known
as rudder hard over.

Sayogo: Rudder hard over
means that the rudder

kicks to the one side
of the aircraft,

so the aircraft will have
an unusual attitude.

Feith: The rudder would actually
move all by itself

without being commanded by the
captain or the First Officer

through the rudder pedals.

Narrator: In 1991, nearly seven
years before the Silk Air crash,

a United Airlines 737
on approach to Colorado Springs

took a sudden roll to the right.

It hit the ground seconds later,
killing everyone on board.

Three years later
it happened again.

132 people died when a U.S. Air
737 crashed near Pittsburgh.

Both accidents were caused

by the same type
of rudder malfunction.

Feith: That was a big concern
because all of the sudden now

you have the airplane
doing things

that the crew
isn't anticipating.

Sayogo: Okay. Wrap it up.

Narrator: Investigators fear

that the deadly
rudder phenomenon

May have struck again.

Feith: If the rudder had failed
and it had gone hard over,

as we had seen
in these other events,

that would have exposed it
to higher aerodynamic loads,

and it would have separated
from the aircraft.

Narrator: Even more disturbing,

the rudder problem was
supposed to have been solved.

Boeing engineers
came up with a fix

before construction even began

on the 737 that crashed
in Indonesia.

Sayogo:
For the accident aircraft

Boeing already modified
the rudder.

Feith: So the question is:
why would this airplane

have had an experience like that

given the fact that it had the
modifications to the rudder?

Narrator: It is now crucial
that the team figure out

exactly when flight 185's
tail section broke off.

Did it detach at 35,000 feet,
throwing the plane into a dive?

or did something else
cause the rapid descent,

causing the tail to break off
on the way down?

Feith: We had to examine
the wreckage,

see how these stabilizers
came off

and then put
that story line together.

Narrator: On day five
of the investigation

there's a major breakthrough.

Divers have found a key piece
of the investigative puzzle

in the mud at the bottom
of the musi river.

Sayogo: The accident happened
on the 19 December,

and we discovered
the flight data recorder

in the afternoon of the 24th,
one day before Christmas.

I can confirm.
it is the FDR.

Slightly damaged,
but it doesn't look too bad.

Macmillan: It was kept
in clean water

just to preserve
the information on it,

so it would not deteriorate.

Narrator: If the FDR recording
has survived,

investigators should soon know

exactly when flight 185's
tail section began to break off.

Sayogo: It's up to the guys
in Washington now.

Feith: We sent the flight data
recorder to our laboratories

at the national transportation
safety board

because the Indonesian's didn't
have a lab facility like that.

Narrator: Meanwhile
salvage teams continue to sift

through tons of mud
pulled from the river,

in the hope that the second
black box will soon turn up.

At the hangar,
the search is on

for another missing piece
of the plane.

Feith: I need you to find
the power control unit.

It's called a PCU.

I got a photo of one here.

Ah, that's what
we're looking for.

Narrator: The power control
unit, or PCU, is the component

proven to have caused
rudder failure

in previous 737 crashes.

Feith: One of the problems

with the power control unit
on the 737

was that through contamination
or environmental conditions

you could bind up
parts of the component.

Narrator: No one knows
if the critical component

has been found.

If it has, the PCU
could give investigators

a very important clue.

It's been 20 days
since Flight 185 disappeared

into the Musi river.

The dredging operation
is being wound down.

Sayogo: There is nothing more
they can collect

from the crash site,

so they decided to stop
the dredging operation.

Narrator: Hope of finding
the second black box

is all but gone.

But at the hangar
in Palembang...

Feith: That's what we're
looking for. Thank you.

Narrator: Long hours spent
combing through aircraft debris

has finally paid off.

Feith: Can you wheel that
air compressor over here?

Narrator: Greg Feith
can finally examine

Flight 185's power control unit,

the critical component
responsible

for the previous
rudder malfunctions.

Sayogo: If they had
the rudder hard over,

the opening up of the rudder PCU
will indicate

that they have experienced
the rudder hard over.

Narrator: Feith checks
for any sign

of contamination or corrosion.

Feith: The actuation looks good.

Sayogo: There was no corrosion
inside the rudder PCU.

Feith: This thing worked fine.

Macmillan: When the rudder PCU
was recovered,

it was examined by engineers
and investigators

and found to be
perfectly serviceable.

Narrator: Rudder failure did not
bring down Silk Air flight 185.

Investigators conclude that
the tail debris found on land

was ripped away during
the plane's supersonic plunge.

Feith: Those stabilizers
separated

from the rest of the airplane
at around 10 to 12,000 feet.

The aerodynamic forces

basically took those
flight control surfaces

off the airplane.

But that didn't answer
what prompted it.

Narrator: The pilots themselves
may have left clues

about what went wrong
at 35,000 feet.

But unless the missing cockpit
voice recorder turns up soon,

those clues will be gone
for good.

Sayogo: We are not
very optimistic

because of the situation
at that time.

Man on radio:
Santoso, are you there?

Sayogo: Anything to report?

Man, garbled:
the recorder's been found.

Sayogo: Say again.

Man: Recorder found.

Macmillan: The CVR was found
on the last day of dredging,

and it was found
under 27 feet of mud

under the bottom
of the musi river.

It was very fortunate.

Narrator: The second recorder
appears to be in good shape.

Macmillan: The CVR was then
handed over to Santoso Sayogo,

and he and I then accompanied it
to the NTSB in Washington.

Feith: We had to get them
back to the United States

to be read out,

and we were just hoping
that they were in a condition

where they were going to give us
what we needed.

Narrator:
With the second black box

on its way to Washington,

investigators may finally have
the evidence they need

to solve the mystery
of Silk Air 185.

Three weeks
into the investigation,

Santoso Sayogo travels
to the NTSB headquarters

to deliver the Silk Air CVR.

Sayogo: When I arrived
in Washington,

the flight data recorder
had already been read out.

Narrator: A printout of flight
185's flight data recorder

shows airspeed,
altitude, direction

and dozens of other parameters.

But there's a problem.

Sayogo: What happened here?

they told me that
the flight data recorder

was stopped in the air.

Narrator: For the first
34 minutes and 14 seconds,

all the flight parameters
are normal.

Then, suddenly, nothing.

No data at all.

Sayogo: They were at cruising
altitude with autopilot on.

Macmillan:
The FDR ceased recording

approximately one minute
before the aircraft

commenced its final descent.

Narrator: Investigators
are baffled.

Why would
the flight data recorder

on a newly built 737
suddenly stop

during a routine flight
in clear, calm weather?

and why, just moments later,
did the plane plummet to earth?

The mystery only grows deeper...

Macmillan: Ready when you are.

Narrator: When the team
looks for answers

on the cockpit voice recorder.

Ming: Good afternoon,
ladies and gentlemen.

This is your captain.

My name is Tsu Way Ming.

On the flight deck
this afternoon with me

is First Officer Duncan Ward.

We'd like to welcome you aboard,
and we are now climbing to...

Macmillan: It was just
a normal flight.

The crew were communicating
as they normally do,

and with the cabin crew.

There appeared to be
nothing untoward at all.

Ming: I'm going back
for a while.

Finish your lunch.

Duncan Ward: I am.

Feith: The crew never expressed
any problem with the aircraft.

It was normal communications
as best we could tell.

Ming: Some water?

Macmillan: The last noise that
we heard on the CVR recording

was the snap of Tsu's
shoulder harness hit the floor.

Sayogo: After that, the cockpit
voice recorder stopped.

That's it?

Narrator: Just like the FDR,
the CVR stops abruptly,

but not at the same time.

The cockpit voice recorder
went dead six minutes sooner.

Sayogo: That's almost
impossible.

Macmillan:
The flight data recorders

and the cockpit voice recorders

are extremely reliable
instruments,

power failures happening
very rarely.

Narrator: On the 737
both recorders are located

in the rear of the plane.

They both draw power
from the main electrical system.

Feith: There was nothing
to suggest

that they should have
stopped recording

until the airplane went
into the water.

So the question was:
why did they stop?

did something happen in the air
to the electrical system

that caused the power
to shut off?

Sayogo: There must be
an explanation.

Maybe a short circuit.

Find out what you can.

Narrator:
in a maintenance hangar,

technicians aboard a 737

run tests on the plane's
cockpit voice recorder.

Technician: Okay. Ready?

One. Two. Three.
Overload.

reset it, please.

Narrator: They overload the
recorder's electrical circuit

to see what it takes
to get the breaker to pop.

Technician: Let's run it again.

One. Two. Three.
Overload.

Narrator: During the test
they discover that it's possible

to overload the circuit
and trigger the breaker.

But they discover
something else.

When a power surge causes
the circuit breaker to pop,

it makes quite a loud sound.

Sayogo: We can clearly hear
the signature voice

of the circuit breaker pop out.

Narrator: When the test
recordings are played back...

Technician: One. Two. Three.
Overload.

Narrator: They discover
that the CVR keeps recording

for a split second
after power cuts out.

Technician: One. Two. Three.
Overload.

Narrator: Just long enough
to capture the sound

of its own circuit breaker
popping.

Sayogo: The cockpit microphone
definitely picked up the sound.

Narrator: The small noise
has big implications.

Sayogo: Now let's hear the end
of the flight 185 recording.

Ming: I'm going back
for a while.

Finish your lunch.

Ward: I am.

Ming: Some water?

Sayogo: Again, please.

Ming: I'm going back
for a while.

Finish your lunch.

Ward: I am.

Ming: Some water?

Narrator:
Reviewing the final seconds

of the Silk Air recording,

they hear no last second
snapping sound.

Sayogo: I don't hear it.

On the cockpit voice recorder,
we don't hear anything at all.

Feith: That told us
that the electronic device

did not fail from an overload
where you get a surge in power

that could have popped
the circuit breaker.

Narrator: Two recorders
on two separate circuits

failed within minutes
of each other,

and there's no evidence
of any electrical fault.

Pulling the breaker by hand
makes almost not sound at all.

It leads investigators
to an unsettling conclusion.

Macmillan: The only remaining
possibility

is that it was manually tripped.

Narrator: Someone in the cockpit

disabled the recorders
on purpose.

Feith: We couldn't find
any physical evidence

as to why those boxes
would have failed

from a component standpoint.

Sayogo: You know
what this means?

Feith: I do.

I don't like it, but I do.

Feith: It didn't pop because
of an overload or a surge,

but in fact somebody

would have manually manipulated
the circuit breaker

to shut down each of the boxes
from recording.

Narrator: It's against the laws
of commercial aviation

to tamper with
the flight recorders.

Investigators have
a disturbing theory

about why the recorders
were disabled.

They use a Boeing
flight simulator to prove it.

Sayogo: Okay. Let's input
Silk Air flight 185.

Feith: We took the data
that we were able to get

from the radar information

and we fed it into
this motion simulator

to try and understand better
the flight path of the airplane

during its spiraling descent
into the Musi river.

Narrator: They fly a simulation
to see what could cause a 737

to quickly drop from 35,000 feet
to just below 20,000,

Silk Air's last radar return.

Sayogo: Trigger yaw damper
failure, please.

Narrator: They simulate
a sudden mechanical failure

and watch to see if the flight

will follow the deadly path
of flight 185.

Sayogo: Not even close.

Narrator: They test more than 20
different scenarios.

Macmillan:
They completed exercises

with simulated rudder hard overs
and yaw damper failures

and various failures
of other systems,

but under each
of those conditions

there were unable to meet the
parameters as recorded on radar.

Narrator: They find there's
only one way to make a 737 drop

as steeply and quickly
as Silk Air 185.

Sayogo: This time no failure.

Sustain pilot input only.

The only plausible trajectory
that can match

is by using pilot control.

Narrator: It takes
an extraordinary effort,

but by rolling the plane
sharply to the right

and accelerating to top speed,

the test pilot can match
the Silk Air profile.

Feith: The only way
that this airplane

could maintain
a nose-down attitude

and a high speed dive

was if somebody had flown it
into that position.

Narrator: An air disaster that
took the lives of 104 people

is beginning to look
like a deliberate act,

by a skilled pilot.

Feith: That changed the
complexion of the investigation.

Narrator: Before they can make
a final judgment

on the cause of the crash,

investigators need
physical proof.

They find it in the plane's
tail section.

The salvage operation has
retrieved almost 75% of the 737,

including a key part
from the tail

that could confirm if flight 185

was in a commanded dive
before it hit the water.

Feith: One of the telltale
pieces of evidence that we found

was the trim jackscrew
for the horizontal stabilizer.

Narrator: The jackscrew
is a threaded rod

connected to
the horizontal stabilizer.

It rotates when pilots
press a trim switch

on their control column.

As it turns, it moves
the stabilizer up or down,

Changing the pitch
of the aircraft.

Narrator: Feith calculates
the final pitch angle

on the stabilizer

based on the jackscrew's
last setting.

Feith: It's 2.5 units.

It was moved deliberately
to nose down from level flight.

What we found was that the trim
was full nose-down trim.

Macmillan: The stabilizer trim
would have been

in the cruise position.

There was really no reason
for it to move forward.

Narrator: It confirms that
while cruising at 35,000 feet

one of the pilots
initiated the plane's dive

by moving the stabilizer down.

The Silk Air disaster has taken
on a chilling new dimension.

Evan Byrne is a psychologist and
human performance investigator

for the NTSB.

Evan Byrne:
it was becoming clear

that the flight crew's
performance

could not be ruled out

as a potential cause
of the accident.

Narrator: One of the two pilots

likely crashed the plane
on purpose,

killing everyone onboard.

Byrne:
Throughout our investigation

we were looking at both pilots--

their professional background,
their personal background,

what activities
they were performing

in the days before the accident.

Ward: They looked at everything.

They examined everything
in great detail.

I had great confidence
in the NTSB.

I had great confidence

in the technical investigators
themselves.

Ming: I'm going back
for a while.

Finish your lunch.

Ward: I am.

Ming: Some water?

Narrator: The last conversation
on the CVR indicates

that First Officer Ward
was alone

shortly before the plane
went into a dive.

Controller: Silk Air 1-8-5.

Narrator: Five minutes later
Ward was still on headset.

Ward: Silk air 1-8-5.
roger 134.4.

Narrator: And two minutes
after that...

The plane fell into a dive.

The key question:
Who was at the controls?

Byrne: Tell me a bit
about Duncan.

Ward: The questions related
to every aspect

of Duncan's state of mind
and psychology,

also trying to establish
whether or not he had

any possible motive for trying
to sabotage the aircraft.

Byrne: Did he seem at all
depressed in recent weeks?

Narrator: Byrne finds
that Duncan Ward

got on well with colleagues.

He had no debts and
no history of depression.

Byrne: His coworkers,
pilots that he flew with,

were all highly positive
about his performance

and skills in the cockpit.

Narrator: He learns
that Tsu Way Ming

was a married father
of three school-age boys.

Ming: Good afternoon,
ladies and gentlemen.

This is your captain.

Narrator: At Silk Air
the former air force top gun

was on the fast track.

But as they learn
from a former colleague,

Ming's record was not spotless.

Byrne: What was Ming like
to fly with?

he was known as a pilot
who liked to push the envelope

as far as increasing speed

to try to complete flights
faster than others.

Macmillan: I did hear reports
from other pilots

that he did try to cut corners
at times

by cutting sector times,
cruising at increased speed.

Narrator: Investigators learn

that 6 months before
the Silk Air disaster,

Ming had made a fast,
swerving landing.

He flew in so fast
that it made passengers sick.

Ming: I disagree.
the landing was fine.

Narrator: The airline
took disciplinary action.

Macmillan: When the company
investigated,

Tsu Way Ming was demoted
from a line instructor pilot

to an ordinary line captain.

Narrator: Investigators
dig deeper.

Byrne: And we learned
that the captain

was under significant
financial stress

about the time of the accident.

Narrator: The trouble stemmed

from high risk online
securities trading.

Over the last four years

Ming had lost more
than a million dollars.

Byrne: Shortly before
the accident,

for the second time in 1997,

Captain Tsu's trading privileges
in the Singapore stock market

were suspended because of debts
that he'd accumulated.

Narrator: They learn that
on the morning of the flight

Tsu Way Ming had promised
to repay the debt

as soon as he got back
to Singapore.

But the date of the crash
was important

for another reason as well.

Byrne: The Silk Air accident

occurred on the 19th
of December,

which was also
a significant date

in Captain Tsu's
Air Force career.

Narrator: 18 years earlier
to the day,

on December 19, 1979,

Tsu Way Ming took off on
an Air Force training mission

with three other fighter pilots.

Feith: But he had to turn back
during the course of that flight

because of a mechanical problem
with his airplane.

Yet his compatriots
kept on going.

Narrator: Ming's squadron mates
were all killed on that mission

when their fighters slammed
into a cloud-covered mountain.

Byrne: At least two
of the pilots onboard

would have been very close
friends to Captain Tsu.

Narrator: One of two
Silk Air pilots

committed a brutal, callous act.

Byrne: It's safe to say
that Ward is not our guy.

Narrator: Though the evidence
is circumstantial,

investigators are convinced.

Tsu Way Ming is
the one responsible

for the murder of 97 passengers
and 7 crew.

But how exactly did he manage
to carry out

such a horrendous crime?

No one can know for certain
what happened aboard flight 185,

but investigators have
a likely scenario.

Ward: Silk Air 1-8-5
maintaining 3-5-0.

Narrator: It has been six months
since Tsu Way Ming

was demoted by the airline.

Macmillan: Such a demotion to
an up-and-coming Singapore pilot

would be a major blow
to his morale.

Controller: Silk Air 1-8-5
maintain 3-5-0.

Cleared direct to Pardi.

Narrator: The 1997
Asian Financial Crisis

has thrown the region's
economies into turmoil.

The Singapore stock market
has taken a beating.

Traders like Ming are hurting.

Byrne:
The stresses in Captain Tsu's
financial background

may have served
as a distraction.

It may have affected
his performance

in other ways as well.

Narrator: Piloting a jet
on the anniversary

of the day he cheated death
18 years ago,

Ming makes a fateful decision.

Ming: I'm going back
for a while.

Finish your lunch.

Ward: I am.

Ming: Some water?

Ward: If he was going back,

his right hand would have
probably been within inches

of the cockpit voice recorder
circuit breaker.

Macmillan: It's not difficult
to pull one of those

leaving the cockpit without the
other pilot being aware of it.

Controller: Silk Air 1-8-5 at
Pardi contact Singapore 134.4.

Ward: Silk Air 1-8-5.
roger 134.4.

Narrator: Ming waits until
after the last radio call

before returning to the cockpit.

Ming: Duncan, there's a problem
in the galley.

Macmillan: He could easily
have said to Duncan Ward:

The girls want to see you
in the back.

There might be a leaky tap
or something like that.

Ward: All the person remaining
in the cockpit has to do

is to lock the door.

Macmillan:
If the circuit breaker

to the flight data recorder
is pulled,

it illuminates a master caution.

There's one
in front of each pilot.

So that's why he really
couldn't do that

while there was another pilot
in the cockpit.

Feith: The cockpit
voice recorder

was no longer recording.

The flight data recorder was
no longer recording.

Narrator: Ming wants no record
of what he's about to do next.

Ward: The flight profile is one
that Tsu Way Ming

would have been
quite familiar with

because he'd been
in the Singapore Air Force.

Narrator: Less than a minute
after disabling the FDR,

Ming puts the 737
into a hard right roll.

Macmillan: He places it
in an inverted dive

approximately 80 degrees
nose-down,

and he had to use considerable
force on the control column

to keep it there.

Narrator: Duncan Ward now has
no hope of saving the plane.

Ward: I know that he would have
done whatever he could.

Narrator: It's all over
in less than a minute.

Three years after
the Silk Air disaster,

Indonesia's National
Transportation Safety Committee

releases a report that comes
to a surprising conclusion.

Sayogo: We submit
to the chairman,

but the chairman seems
doesn't like what we submitted.

Narrator: The chairman
of Indonesia's NTSC

overrules his investigators,

declaring in the report that
the crash cannot be explained.

He argues that the cause
can't be known

because the final seconds
of the flight were not recorded.

Feith: It was kind of shocking.

Ward: This was
a political cover-up.

I think there's
no other word for it.

Narrator:
In an unprecedented move,

the NTSB publicly contradicts
the Indonesian report.

Feith: I authored,
on behalf of the NTSB,

a very long document
explaining that this was

an intentional act,
not an accident.

Macmillan: I don't think
any sane investigator

would find any other cause
for the crash.

Narrator:
Air Accident Investigators

can only offer conclusions
based on the evidence they have.

The Silk Air disaster
is a reminder

that sometimes evidence
can point different people

in different directions.

Ward: If you wish to do

somebody a great harm,

you couldn't do much more than

to kill one of their children

and then try and cover up

that fact and lie about it.

I know that Duncan would have

wanted the truth to come out.