All language subtitles for Air.Disasters.S05E01.Fight.To.The.Death.1080p.PMTP.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-maldini_track3_[eng]

NARRATOR: In 1972, the
Hawker Siddeley Trident is

the pride of British aviation.

Rotate.

DAVID LEARMOUNT: The
Trident was a completely

British-built airplane.

And the carriage up.

COLIN WRIGHT: It
was the equivalent

of having a sports car.

NARRATOR: When BEA Flight 548--

Look at the speed.

Look at the speed.

NARRATOR: --falls from the
sky moments after takeoff.

The carnage shocks the nation.

FRANCES CASTLEDINE: It
was so tragic that there

wasn't anyone who survived.

DAVID LEARMOUNT:
It was the worst

airline accident that
Britain had ever experienced.

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
started on the tragedy.

He's going to crash!

NARRATOR: London's
Heathrow Airport,

Beeline 548 requesting start.

NARRATOR: The crew of British
European Airways Flight 548

is completing final
preparations for an afternoon

flight to Brussels.

Looks like the
weather is going

to give us a bumpy ride today.

Beeline 548 cleared for start.

NARRATOR: Captain
Stanley Key was

supposed to have
today off, but was

called in at the last minute.

Key is a former Royal Air Force
pilot and one of the airline's

most qualified captains.

Starter master.

On.

Captain Key had been on the
aircraft for a long time.

So he's very experienced.

And if you expected
to fly with him,

you expected to fly
to the book and to do

it accurately with no arguing.

NARRATOR: Many of
the 112 passengers

are business travelers
taking advantage of BEA's

rapid service to Brussels.

The jet-powered
Trident can make

the trip in just 45 minutes.

COLIN WRIGHT: The
Trident was really

competition for the propeller
and the turboprop aircraft,

which were much slower.

So you now had an
aircraft which was fast,

it flew above the weather,
and it was halving the time

to European
destinations, which is

an enormous economic
advantage to the airline.

NARRATOR: It takes three
pilots to fly the plane.

Droops down.

NARRATOR: Jeremy
Keighley is the co-pilot.

Flaps 20.

Simon Ticehurst will help
monitor the instruments.

Engine one start.

Engine one start.

COLIN WRIGHT: It was
an immensely popular

airplane because it
was the equivalent

of having a sports car.

It had terrific performance.

It had very powerful controls,
which were all hydraulic.

It was a delight to fly
once you got used to it.

NARRATOR: Today's flight is
getting off to a slow start.

The airline has told
the crew to wait for

some last minute passengers.

Another flight crew
needs a ride to Brussels.

Have a seat, captain.

COLIN WRIGHT: It
was over 30 years

difference between
Captain Key and the two

other members of his crew.

And this produces the
natural differences

you have between a generation.

One regards the other as
old and stuffy, and then

one who regard the
youngsters as being

young and irresponsible.

This produced a
generational gap.

Beeline 548
ready for takeoff.

TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: Beeline
548 clear for takeoff.

548.

NARRATOR: The captain
calls for takeoff power.

Maximum thrust.

NARRATOR: The
Trident gets its name

from its three rear-mounted
Rolls-Royce engines.

Second officer Ticehurst
monitors the plane's speed.

100 knots.

NARRATOR: They can't
lift off until they reach

rotation speed, 139 knots.

Stopwatch on.

NARRATOR: Meanwhile, Keighley
keeps a close eye on the time.

It's part of a
special procedure

designed to minimize aircraft
noise over populated areas.

It's a very noisy
engine with a particularly

nasty crackle to it.

So noise abatement would be
an issue wherever it flew.

Rotate.

NARRATOR: Once they've
gained enough altitude,

they'll have to throttle
back slightly to reduce

the noise of the engines.

They've got to
adjust the power, i.e.

reduce it just when it would
be really rather nice to keep

the full power on, but
they've got to reduce it

for noise abatement reasons.

NARRATOR: Officials at the
airport measure the noise

level after 90 seconds.

If the pilots get it wrong,
it'll go on their record.

The pressure on you
is to do it quickly

and to do it accurately.

Undercarriage up.

60 seconds.

NARRATOR: As the plane
climbs, passengers

are rocked by turbulence.

It was a gusty day.

And gusty days give
you a bumpy ride.

Left, heading 145.

Heading 145.

NARRATOR: The
plane's flight plan

calls for a left turn
just after takeoff, taking

it east of the town
of Staines before it

flies on to Brussels.

Beeline 548
climbing as cleared.

TRAFFIC CONTROLLER:
548 airborne at 09.

Good day.

Roger.

NARRATOR: Keighley prepares
to throttle back the engines.

If he does it too
soon, the plane won't

have enough power to climb.

JEREMY KEIGHLEY: 75 seconds.

NARRATOR: He'll have just
5 seconds to get it right.

There is a lag in the
time that the engines

take to respond to that.

And on occasions, you can
actually reduce the power

by more than you intended.

And it would take
a while to actually

get the engines to settle.

85 seconds.

90 seconds.

NARRATOR: Keighley reduces
power just in time.

Passing 1,500 feet.

NARRATOR: The
procedure goes well.

TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: 548
climbed to flight level 60.

Squawk 6615.

NARRATOR: The tower clears
them to a higher altitude.

Up to 60.

NARRATOR: Then--

What was that?

NARRATOR: --the plane
begins to lose altitude.

Look at the speed!

Look at the speed!

COLIN WRIGHT: The air speed
dropped quite rapidly.

It was in a very
high rate of descent.

They were just passengers
in their own aircraft.

NARRATOR: The plane has crashed
in an empty field just yards

from the town of Staines.

I was at home with
my baby of 12 weeks,

and I heard a very loud thump.

NARRATOR: Local resident
Frances Castledine

leaves her infant
son with a neighbor

and rushes to the crash site.

If it had gone
another 50 yards,

it would have hit the center
of Staines with the shops

and the houses there.

NARRATOR: Frances is a nurse.

She immediately
begins searching

the wreckage for survivors.

I was very much
afraid there was

going to be a fire
because the vapor

was very heavy in the air.

And I had to decide, basically,
whether I was going to go back

home to my baby
or whether I was

going to go forward and help.

But I had had a lot
of intensive training

in the accident and
emergency department,

and I really felt that
I needed to be there.

NARRATOR: Nearly
everyone is dead,

but Frances is able
to help one survivor.

Can you hear me?

FRANCES CASTLEDINE:
I did my best.

I did what I could.

Can you hear me?

I manipulated his legs and
put them into some wreckage

splints with some bandages.

You are going to be OK.

Hey!

Hey!

Help is on the way.

NARRATOR: The man's
injuries are too severe.

Despite her quick
response, he dies.

FRANCES CASTLEDINE: It just
was so tragic that there

wasn't anyone who survived.

NARRATOR: All 118 people aboard
BEA Flight 548 are killed

DAVID LEARMOUNT: This
accident was pretty horrifying

because it was the worst
airline accident that Britain

had ever experienced and BEA
was reckoned in those days

to be the kind of airline
that just didn't have crashes.

And this time, they did.

REPORTER: Flight BE 548 en
route to Belgium crashes

in a field not
far from Heathrow

and only a few feet from
houses in the main road.

NARRATOR: News that a
plane crashed and narrowly

missed the town of Staines
is soon the top story

across the country.

Within an hour, the news
reaches Chris Pollard,

a new investigator with
Britain's Accidents

Investigation Branch.

CHRIS POLLARD: At the time
that I arrived on the site,

the rescue attempt
had started big time

and the site was very,
very active with people.

NARRATOR: Investigators are
struck by something unusual.

In most accidents, momentum
carries the wreckage forward

after it hits the ground.

The crash at Staines
is different.

CHRIS POLLARD: The
tail had not moved

very far from where it had
initially struck the ground.

And the rest of the aircraft
probably hadn't moved forward

more than about 50 yards, which
for such a heavy aeroplane

is very, very little distance.

NARRATOR: Nearby, power
lines tell part of the story.

CHRIS POLLARD: The older
investigators, they

were pointing out the
power lines, which

it had passed over
very, very shortly

before the first impact point.

PETER COOMBS: If you walked
around the back of the remains

of the tail unit, you could
look backwards and upwards,

and there were overhead
high tension cables.

This told you really that the
aircraft must have been coming

down at a very
steep angle in order

not to interfere
with the cables.

NARRATOR: The undamaged
wires and compact crash zone

tell investigators that the
plane fell to the ground

suddenly and steeply.

It's a sure sign that
the plane stalled.

DAVID LEARMOUNT:
An aircraft stalls

when it's flying too
slowly to generate

sufficient wind over the
wings to give it lift.

When that aircraft
hit the ground,

it was actually
slightly nose up.

It was falling through
the sky like that.

All the sort of
basic impact signs

were that the
aircraft was stalled.

The first question is, why?

NARRATOR: An airplane can stall
for many different reasons

from engine failure
to pilot error.

Pollard studies the wreckage in
search of the specific reason

for the stall.

Every piece of debris
is a potential clue.

CHRIS POLLARD: You may
come across something

which-- which is unexpected.

At which point, you have
to try to explain it.

It may prove to
be a red herring.

It may prove to be
something crucial.

How you do the salvage
actually very much

influences how easy you
make things for yourself.

Hang on, will you?

You can by careless salvage
make things incredibly

difficult for yourself.

NARRATOR: There's
another challenge.

In 1972, planes in
the United Kingdom

are not required to carry
cockpit voice recorders.

GRAHAM BRAITHWAITE:
The modern investigator

is helped enormously in so
many accident situations

where a cockpit voice recorder
is present because it really

does help you
understand what was

going on in the flight deck.

I think we forget
how difficult this

must have been to investigate.

NARRATOR:
Investigators will only

have the information from the
Trident's flight recorders.

It will take time to recover
and process that data.

The rest of the
debris is carefully

labeled and sent to AAIB
headquarters in Farnborough.

All this has to get
back to the hangar.

NARRATOR: There the
plane will be put back

together like a jigsaw
puzzle, a process

that could take months.

PETER COOMBS: Following
an impact of this sort,

everything is comprehensively
wrecked and jumbled up,

and most of the components
on the aircraft,

particularly the
electronic components, all

look very similar.

NARRATOR: The team
has no time to lose.

If there's a problem
with the Trident,

investigators need to
know as soon as possible.

There is enormous pressure to
find the cause of the crash.

DAVID LEARMOUNT: You
have to recognize

that the Trident was a
completely British-built

and British-engined aeroplane.

Therefore, for
British industry,

it was very important
that if there

was anything wrong
with the Trident,

it should be found
out and corrected.

GRAHAM BRAITHWAITE:
It's usually

a very complex picture
drawn painstakingly

over months, sometimes years.

And so the pressure
to find the answer

can be quite significant.

NARRATOR: The weather could
provide an early lead.

COLIN WRIGHT: There was a cold
front about 30 miles away.

And at the airport at the
time, there was low cloud

at about 1,000 feet--

And the carriage up.

COLIN WRIGHT: --and there
was moderate turbulence,

which would vary
rather like driving

a car over a rough road.

NARRATOR: In bad weather,
storm clouds sometimes create

powerful columns
of air that can

force a plane to the ground.

PETER COOMBS: Extreme
wind shear or something of

that sort can lead to a stall.

NARRATOR: Planes are especially
vulnerable during takeoff.

They're so close to the ground
that pilots have little time

to recover from the problem.

DAVID LEARMOUNT: The aircraft
had only just taken off

and it was still pretty low.

If a stall like this had
happened at multiple thousands

of feet, there would
have been plenty of time

to recognize what
the problem was

and to do something about it.

NARRATOR: Investigators
need to just how severe

the weather conditions
were at Heathrow

when the Trident took off.

The AAIB receives detailed
meteorological reports

from the day of the crash.

They reveal that the
turbulence simply

wasn't strong enough to
knock a plane out of the sky.

PETER COOMBS: There
was no wind shear.

There was nothing
excessive in the weather.

And certainly, it
would have to be

very extreme to
contribute to a stall

at that phase in the flight.

NARRATOR: Meanwhile,
investigators

turn their attention to
the preliminary information

captured on the
Trident's black box.

PETER COOMBS: The amount
of recording on the Trident

was the greatest
amount of any airliner

I was aware of at that time.

It was very much
state of the art.

NARRATOR: They focus on engine
data, searching for any sign

that the engines flamed
out or lost power.

A sudden loss of thrust could
explain why the aircraft

stalled, but the data
shows the engines

were working perfectly.

The Trident had climbed
with enough thrust

to maintain a safe speed.

PETER COOMBS: With
regard to the engines,

we were quite satisfied
that there was no evidence

of a gross loss of thrust.

NARRATOR: Engine failure did
not bring down Flight 548.

DAVID LEARMOUNT: The stall
happened very suddenly

during a normal climb.

The speed, although it was a
bit lower than it should have

been, it was not
dramatically, though,

lower than it should have been.

It should not have
led to a stall.

NARRATOR: At AAIB headquarters,
engineers piece together

the wreckage of Flight 548.

CHRIS POLLARD: When
you do a reconstruction

for investigation,
the best technique

is to try to lay the wreckage
out in-- in plan form

so that in essence you know
automatically if you're

looking for-- for
a particular bit,

you know where to go for it.

NARRATOR: By testing
the reassembled systems,

investigators should be
able to tell if there is

a broken part or
faulty mechanism that

could have caused the stall.

PETER COOMBS: By
reconstructing the aircraft,

it's possible to
untangle flying control

cables and hydraulic
pipes and identify

whether there are any failures
that preceded the impact.

NARRATOR: They soon
notice a problem.

That can't be right.

NARRATOR: A lever is set
to an unexpected position.

It's used to operate
crucial lift devices

on the wing known as droops.

It could be seen
that the droop lever

was in the retracted position.

NARRATOR: Droops are
aerodynamic surfaces

that can be extended from
the front of the wing.

They increase lift
during takeoff

to help the plane climb.

The front section of the
wing was hydraulically powered

and would lean
and droop forward

to give an extra
curvature of the wing.

And at lower speed, that
would give you extra lift.

NARRATOR: Droops should
only be retracted

once the plane has enough speed
to maintain lift without them.

If one of the pilots pulled
in the droops too early,

it would have instantly put the
plane into a dangerous stall.

The discovery baffles
investigators.

PETER COOMBS: How on
Earth did somebody

manage to retract the droop
lever and nobody noticed

that that had happened?

And it didn't make
a lot of sense.

NARRATOR: There's
no way to tell just

by looking at the droop lever
whether the crew moved it

before the crash or
if it was jostled out

of place by the crash itself.

It might even have been moved
during recovery operations.

Hang on, will you?

We had the whole-- the droop
system laid out on tables

in front of the wing.

NARRATOR: To determine how the
all-important lever was last

moved, Pollard must
carefully examine

the cables connected to it.

The droop lever operated a
cable system which went down

to the drive motor and selected
a position, which the drive

motor would drive to.

Retracted.

DAVID LEARMOUNT: They
determined by an examination

of the wreckage that the droops
had been retracted at impact.

NARRATOR: There's no longer any
doubt, someone in the cockpit

moved the droop lever.

It's a troubling discovery.

PETER COOMBS: As the awareness
develops that there had been

incorrect operation
of the droop lever,

the inevitable question arose,
well, who had operated it?

NARRATOR: The
deadliest aviation

accident ever to
occur on British soil

was caused by pilot error.

This prompts urgent questions
about the mental and physical

state of the crew.

DAVID LEARMOUNT: Autopsies are
always done on flight crews

if they don't
survive an accident.

A very simple thing is
they want to find out

whether there was
any alcohol or drugs

in the blood of the pilots.

NARRATOR: While pathologists
search for a physical cause--

Put up the personnel
records, will you?

NARRATOR: --investigators
focus their attention

on the pilot's history.

GRAHAM BRAITHWAITE: The
technical investigation

at Staines had to rule
out technical causes

of the accident.

And when it had
done that, it really

needed to look at the
performance of the crew,

why did they do what they did
or why did they not do what

they may have done on the day?

So--

NARRATOR: They study the
captain's previous flights.

He has an impeccable
reputation.

GRAHAM BRAITHWAITE:
Captain Key was a very

experienced Trident pilot.

He had over 4,000 hours, and
he was an experienced captain

as well.

NARRATOR: His
takeoffs from Heathrow

are almost always flawless.

Undercarriage up.

NARRATOR: But on the
day of the crash,

he does things differently.

Let me see those air speeds
from the day of the crash.

Thanks.

Beeline 548
climbing is cleared.

TRAFFIC CONTROLLER:
548 airborne at 09.

Good day.

Roger.

NARRATOR: As he flew
out of Heathrow,

Key was flying the Trident
a bit slower than usual.

DAVID LEARMOUNT:
On this occasion,

from almost immediately
after takeoff

until the accident
had occurred itself,

there was a noted disparity
between the speed that he

should have been aiming
at and the speeds that he

was actually achieving.

NARRATOR: It's an
intriguing clue.

This is not the way Captain Key
usually ascends after takeoff.

COLIN WRIGHT: The
performance at low speed

was quite critical.

The aircraft relies on
its speed to provide lift.

That means, particularly
close to the ground,

it has to be flown
very accurately.

Put up the photo of Key.

DAVID LEARMOUNT: Key's
normal performance came up

to normal standards,
but this on the day

was well below standard.

So they looked for reasons
why this might be so.

Now the tray table
from the wreckage.

NARRATOR: A piece
of wreckage points

to a possible explanation.

In the sort of
engineer's area,

there was a little table.

And on that table, there
was some graffiti scribbled

which gave a few rather
facetious comments,

obviously, from a pilot who'd
been sitting in that position.

Bloody fools.

COLIN WRIGHT: It
said, key must go,

and then a few other derogatory
comments added as well.

Could you hand
me the photograph?

Thank you.

NARRATOR: A note I found
in the cockpit hints

that the crew wasn't
getting along.

Perhaps a poisonous
atmosphere inside the cockpit

made it difficult for the
pilots to do their job.

Lights up.

GRAHAM BRAITHWAITE:
Investigators looking

for any kind of
clue that tells you

about perhaps the atmosphere
within the airline

or within the crew on the day.

Could you get this over to
handwriting analysis for

me, please?

GRAHAM BRAITHWAITE: Was
it particularly tense?

Was it particularly aggressive?

And these are
small factors that

might give a clue to that.

NARRATOR: If handwriting
analysis can identify who

wrote the note, investigators
may be one step closer

to understanding what really
happened in the cockpit of BEA

Flight 548.

Investigators interview other
BEA pilots to find out all

they can about Captain
Stanley Key and his crew.

I hear you're someone
we should talk to.

Yeah, I need to tell
you what happened.

NARRATOR: Pilots at
British European Airways

are on the verge of a strike.

Captain Key is seen by
many as a company man.

COLIN WRIGHT: There was
a work-to-rule going on.

Most of the co-pilots, which
included me, working to rule,

and he thoroughly disapproved
of this as not being

a professional way to behave.

I was leading a
campaign against it.

NARRATOR: According
to witnesses,

things came to a
head 90 minutes

before the flight to Brussels.

I'd say it was just a couple
of hours before the flight

when it all happened.

Captain Key, may the battle
start and go our the way.

What did you say?

I-- I just meant that--

You know that during the
war we flew in real battles?

Captain Key was
very, very angry.

He felt very passionate this
strike should not go ahead.

Acting like some selfish,
pampered, immature crybabies

making a lot of
ridiculous demands.

Look here, just because
your lot flew in the war--

And as for your refusal to--

Witnesses describing
captain Key's outburst

at this other pilot described
it as being just exactly that.

It was a real
outburst, a tirade.

You ungrateful bastard!

If you're flying
that plane for money,

then you're in the
wrong profession.

I think we better
agree to disagree.

Bunch of fools.

NARRATOR: The argument is
so severe that investigators

consider an unusual
theory, that the captain's

agitation interfered with
his ability to fly the plane.

Bloody fools.

TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: 548
climb to flight level 60.

Squawk 6615.

NARRATOR: Distracted
and angry--

Up to 60.

NARRATOR: --he might
have pulled the droop

handle without thinking.

The multiple warnings would
have added to his confusion.

If you go from what is
apparently a normal flight

into something which
is seriously dangerous,

it will produce
a shock response.

And that means your
ability to think clearly

and to act decisively
is very difficult.

When we've got that cued
up, let me listen to it,

will you, please?

Thanks.

NARRATOR: Although the Trident
is not equipped with a cockpit

voice recorder--

STANLEY KEY (ON SPEAKER):
Beeline 548 ready for takeoff.

NARRATOR: --the captain's
conversations with air

traffic control are recorded.

TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: Beeline 548
clear for takeoff, 28 right.

STANLEY KEY (ON SPEAKER): 548.

GRAHAM BRAITHWAITE: The human
performance investigator

is trying to understand
a simple thing, what

was going through
the mind of the crew

at the time of the accident?

Why did what happen make
sense to them at the time?

STANLEY KEY (ON
SPEAKER): Beeline 548

climbing as cleared.

TRAFFIC CONTROLLER:
548 airborne at 09.

Good day.

STANLEY KEY (ON
SPEAKER): Roger.

NARRATOR: They immediately
notice something unusual.

Captain seems awfully quiet.

TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: 548
climb to flight level 60.

Squawk 6615.

STANLEY KEY (ON
SPEAKER): Up to 60.

NARRATOR: The
captain's infrequent

radio calls are so
short they don't

even meet aviation standards.

COLIN WRIGHT: For a proper
response, if you are given

a clearance, you have to
repeat it back with a course

on of the aircraft.

That was all missing.

NARRATOR: Inadequate
responses are out of character

for this strict captain.

DAVID LEARMOUNT: With
hindsight, you and I

might make a judgment about
the way Captain Key was feeling

at the time, that he felt he
was under stress or very busy

or having to concentrate very
hard or maybe all of those.

NARRATOR: The conversation
with the controller

provides no hint about why
the captain is stressed.

Investigators are left
with yet another question.

What was going
on in that cockpit?

GRAHAM BRAITHWAITE:
Stress takes many forms.

It can be physical
stress, or it

can be anxiety perhaps
caused by, well,

in this case, an argument.

All of those things will
add workload to our brains

and reduce our ability
to deal with things.

NARRATOR: Results from the
handwriting analysis are in.

These are similar C's on
the BRAC and on the license.

NARRATOR: Discovering who
wrote the note in the cockpit

could be the break
investigators need.

Experts find that
the handwriting

sample is similar to
the co-pilot's, but it's

not a match.

DAVID LEARMOUNT: They
never positively identify

the handwriting
and the graffiti

as definitely being one of the
pilots who was in that crew.

NARRATOR: It's
another dead end.

Investigators are no closer
to understanding why BEA

Flight 548 ended in tragedy.

All right, could you show
me some of the switches

on the Trident here?

NARRATOR: Desperate for leads,
they travel to BEA's flight

simulator outside London.

The team hears about a
nagging problem for pilots

of the Trident plane.

The handle used to
retract the droops

is nearly the same shape as the
one used to adjust the flaps.

I can see why
you confuse them.

COLIN WRIGHT: One has to bear
in mind that it's being moved

by the palm of the hand and
it's not easy to identify one

from another.

Beeline 548
climbing as cleared.

NARRATOR: It's the co-pilot
who's supposed to raise

the flaps after takeoff.

TRAFFIC CONTROLLER:
548 airborne at 09.

Good day.

Roger.

NARRATOR: But the third
pilot sometimes helps out.

85 seconds.

NARRATOR: The noise
abatement procedure

added to the pressure.

If the flaps were
already up, it

would be all too easy to
pull in the droops instead.

DAVID LEARMOUNT: There were
circumstances under which it

would be possible,
quite easily,

to retract the droops
early, and that

could be catastrophic.

NARRATOR: If their
theory is right,

investigators should be able
to find other cases where

pilots made the same mistake.

The team reviews the
flight records from nearly

100 other Trident flights.

It's not just this crew.

NARRATOR: They find two near
accidents where pilots pulled

in the droops by mistake.

It's suddenly beginning to look
like the captain's argument

in the crew room had nothing
to do with the accident.

Poor design may
be the real cause.

Then comes news that
puts investigators

on an entirely new path.

DAVID LEARMOUNT:
In Captain Key's

routine medical
examinations before this,

nothing was reckoned to
be wrong with his health.

It was only after the accident
when an autopsy was carried

out that it was found
that he actually had

some severe coronary problems.

PETER COOMBS: There
was medical evidence

showing that the captain
suffered of a heart condition.

It seemed to be
the missing link.

NARRATOR: Although the
captain's heart problem did

not show up in his
regular medical exams,

he had a deadly
heart condition.

Now, as you can see--

DAVID LEARMOUNT: Key had,
without even knowing it,

a clogging of the
coronary arteries.

This in turn caused
the heart attack.

What did you say?

Do you realize that during the
war we flew in real battles?

Acting like some
pampered, crybaby--

NARRATOR: Pathologists believe
that Captain Key suffered

heart failure sometime
within a 2-hour window

before the crash.

Totally unprofessional.

NARRATOR: It may have been
caused by a sudden rise

in blood pressure.

You ungrateful bastard!

GRAHAM BRAITHWAITE:
Captain Key may not

have had symptoms of a
heart condition prior

to the accident, but following
a stressful event, perhaps

after the argument, it
seems to have started

to have an effect on him.

Bloody fools!

NARRATOR: The theory could
help explain the captain's

unusual radio calls.

TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: Beeline
548 clear for takeoff.

STANLEY KEY (ON SPEAKER): 548.

TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: 548
climb to flight level 60.

Squawk 6615.

Up to 60.

NARRATOR: If Captain
Key was in enough pain,

he would have kept his
replies as short as possible.

His discomfort might even
explain why the droop

lever was pulled too soon.

PETER COOMBS: His level of
pain would have increased over

the period up to a point where
he would have become partly

or totally incapacitated.

GRAHAM BRAITHWAITE:
Anything from what

may feel like heartburn
or indigestion

through to a violent
pain close to death.

If you're flying that
plane for the money,

then you're in the
wrong profession.

NARRATOR: Finally,
investigators

have a possible explanation
for what happened

in the cockpit of Flight 548.

Bunch of fools.

DAVID LEARMOUNT: If his blood
pressure was particularly high

because he was agitated, it
might affect his reasoning,

because if you have the oxygen
level in your brain reduced,

even slightly, it affects your
alertness and your ability

to reason.

And the accident investigators
reckoned that that may well

have been so in this case.

Right, so we have to comb
through all the information.

NARRATOR: There's still
a nagging question.

There were other
qualified pilots

in the cockpit that day.

Why didn't one of them do
something to save the plane?

The second captain
seated in the back

was too far from the
controls to be of any help,

but the two co-pilots could
have responded to the crisis.

DAVID LEARMOUNT:
Neither Captain Key

nor the other pilots realized
that it was the retraction

of the droop which
had caused the stall

because nobody attempted
to put it back down again.

If they had done, they could
have uninstalled the airplane.

Jeremy Keighley.

NARRATOR: Crew records provide
a possible explanation.

22.

NARRATOR: Because of the
labor dispute at the airline--

Age 22.

NARRATOR: --pilot training
had been disrupted.

Both the co-pilots on Flight
548 were very inexperienced.

What was that?

GRAHAM BRAITHWAITE: In
the right hand seat,

his first officer had less
than 30 hours of experience

on the Trident.

COLIN WRIGHT: There's
obviously some opinion

that these pilots
were too young,

they needed more experience.

NARRATOR: The junior pilots may
have been distracted by having

a guest in the cockpit
or they may have

simply not known what to do.

Investigators
believe there's yet

another piece to the puzzle.

It all comes back
to that argument.

Pampered crybabies making
a lot of ridiculous demands.

Look here, just because
your lot flew the war--

And as for your refusal to
fulfill all of your duties--

NARRATOR: Investigators
learn that an hour

and a half before takeoff
co-pilot Jeremy Keighley

witnessed Key's outburst.

If you're flying
that plane for money,

you're in the wrong profession.

NARRATOR: They suspect
it made a big impact

on the young pilot.

COLIN WRIGHT: Having witnessed
an outburst like that,

one can only surmise that
if you are new to the fleet,

you don't know the
captain, you're

slightly unconfident yourself.

You may be nervous of
your own performance.

This is not likely
to enhance it.

And I would expect it would
have been quite intimidating.

NARRATOR: Shaken by
his captain's temper--

Bunch of fools!

NARRATOR: --Keighley
may have been

more likely to make mistakes
and less likely to correct

his captain's errors.

DAVID LEARMOUNT:
It would certainly

reinforce the concept that
the captain was authoritarian

and not somebody that you
should challenge lightly,

especially on that day.

NARRATOR: There is
yet another mystery.

Investigators know
that the Trident

is equipped with
a safety system

known as a stick shaker.

If the plane's
speed drops too low,

the control column
begins to shake,

giving the crew a dramatic
warning that their plane

is about to stall.

PETER COOMBS: It will shake
the column very distinctly

and produce an
unmistakable rattling

noise at the same time.

NARRATOR: Pilots are trained
to react to the stick shaker

by pushing the nose of the
plane down to gain speed

and increase lift.

If that doesn't
work, the system has

a failsafe, the stick pusher.

It will move the controls
forward to push the nose

down even if the pilots don't.

COLIN WRIGHT: The
pusher will make sure

that firmly the aircraft's
nose was lowered

into an altitude where
the speed would increase

and you would recover.

NARRATOR: Why didn't
the system prevent

Flight 548 from stalling and
save the lives of everyone

on board?

Investigators study flight
data from BEA Flight 548,

searching for any
sign that the plane's

anti-stall system failed.

So it looks as though
it came on here and here

but didn't stay on.

NARRATOR: The data shows that
the stick pusher did engage,

but it didn't stay on long
enough to prevent the crash.

The finding can be explained
in only one of two ways,

either the stick pusher
malfunctioned or the crew

disabled it.

PETER COOMBS: The
stall recovery system

was capable of being
inhibited if they

concluded that the thing
was operating incorrectly.

NARRATOR: To figure out
what actually happened,

engineer Peter
Coombs has to test

every electrical
connection in the system.

PETER COOMBS: Fortunately, the
incident sensors had actually

survived the accident in an
apparently undamaged state,

and there were a number
of other components

to the system.

And they were tested and found
to be operating accurately.

NARRATOR: Coombs'
test results point

to a stunning conclusion.

The plane's anti-stall
system was working perfectly,

but for some reason, perhaps
because they didn't think

their plane was actually
stalling, one of the pilots

disabled it.

DAVID LEARMOUNT: By pulling out
the stick pusher, by disabling

it, they took away the natural
stall recovery of the airplane

and took the aircraft
back into the stall.

And after that,
they were doomed

because the aircraft didn't
have enough height left

to recover from the stall.

NARRATOR: It now seems the
crash of BEA Flight 548

was the result of a tragic
combination of factors.

First, a looming strike
that led to an argument.

Bunch of crybabies making
a lot of ridiculous demands.

Look here, just
because your--

And as for your
refusal to fulfil--

NARRATOR: A heart
failure that was possibly

triggered by the fight,
confusion over control levers,

and co-pilots too junior or
too intimidated to step in when

things started to go wrong.

For investigators,
each piece of the chain

is as important as the other.

GRAHAM BRAITHWAITE: Trying to
solve something that-- that's

enormously complex,
there's likely to be lots

of small factors that
influence any accident,

no one simple thing.

NARRATOR: After the
crash, authorities

implemented a number
of changes designed

to prevent similar accidents
from happening again.

Handles on the Trident
and other planes

are redesigned to eliminate
the possibility of confusion.

Cockpit voice recorders
are now standard equipment

in almost all commercial
passenger planes.

Somebody-- and
we're never quite sure

who it was among
the crew, somebody

retracted the droops early.

And the conclusion of the
investigators in this case

is that they could more likely
have determined who was doing

what in the cockpit
if they had been

able to judge what the pilots
were saying to each other.

NARRATOR: Cockpit
voice recorders

provide a major source
of information for nearly

every crash, but some
experts don't think

the recorders are enough.

PETER COOMBS: Listening to
a cockpit voice recorder

rather resembles watching
a television program

with the picture switched off.

It's quite difficult to
work out what's going on.

And on a flight deck, a lot of
communication is by gesture.

DAVID LEARMOUNT: One of the
recommendations for flight

decks now to help
investigators is that there

should be permanent
filming of what

happens on the flight deck.

It doesn't have to be
widescreen filming which shows

what the pilots are doing
and how they're drinking

their coffee, but literally a
narrow focus lens which looks

at the controls
that they handle

and all the flight instruments.

NARRATOR: So far, there
are no legal requirements

for the new technology,
but some aviation

authorities promote
the voluntary use

of cockpit image recorders.

In the years
following the crash,

Hawker Siddeley faced
growing competition

from rival manufacturers.

Trident production
ended in 1978.

DAVID LEARMOUNT: It was being
challenged by the Boeing 727,

which had a similar layout,
three engines in the tail,

and in some respects had
slightly superior performance.

NARRATOR: But the legacy of
the Staines disaster lives on.

PETER COOMBS: The accident
drew into perspective

the whole importance of human
factors on the flight deck.

Bloody fools.

DAVID LEARMOUNT:
Nowadays, the way

that crews interact
together is taken

very much more seriously.

COLIN WRIGHT: The modern
airline is operated

very, very differently.

The way the crews handle
things is improved.

It's a much better
and safer world.

The regret is
we've had to build

it on the death of 118 people.