Original subtitles

Narrator: On a dark road near Zurich, Switzerland...

Man: It was coming down very fast.

Narrator: A fireball lights up the sky.

Man: It was a hell of an explosion.

Narrator: The crash of a Swiss commuter plane

kills everyone on board.

Man: Give me that one there.

Narrator: Air crash investigators

face an enormous challenge,

trying to piece together what went wrong.

Man: That timing can't be coincidence.

Man: 4-9-8 turn left to Zurich East.

Man: Suddenly he loses control.

Pilot: Oh, nah, nah.

Man: What triggered it?

Narrator: Evidence from the crash site

points to a stunning possibility.

Man: You're not supposed to take any kind of drugs

when we go flying.

Narrator: The pilot may not have been in any shape to fly.

Flight Attendant: Ladies and gentlemen, we are starting our approach.

Pilot: We lost both engines!

Flight Attendant: Put the mask over your nose.

Emergency descent.

Pilot: Mayday, mayday.

Flight Attendant: Brace for impact!

Controller: I think I lost one.

Man: Investigation starting...

Man: He's gonna crash!

Narrator: Zurich International Airport.

Passengers on board Crossair flight 498

are waiting to take off.

Narrator: The flight to Dresden, Germany

is popular with business travelers.

Man: Ciao. Ciao. I'm sorry. I'm done.

Narrator: It's one of more than 100 destinations

served by the fast-growing Swiss Airline.

Slavomir Pjatak: It's a regional airliner...

Very, very popular

for short hops from town to town.

Pilot: Engine ready?

Narrator: Captain Pavel Gruzin will fly the plane,

while Rastislav Kolesar acts as first officer.

Rastislav Kolesar: Checklist completed.

Pjatak: Rastislav Kolesar loved flying very much.

Narrator: Former Crossair Pilot Slavomir Pjatak

was a close friend of Kolesar.

Pjatak: You could see sparks in his eyes

when he was speaking about flying.

You know, he changed the look in his face.

He was smiling, you know.

Really, he was very passionate about flying.

Pavel Gruzin: Set takeoff power.

Kolesar: Takeoff power set.

Narrator: The plane they're flying this evening

is a SAAB 340.

Hans-peter Graf: A SAAB 340

is a Swedish-built commuter airplane.

It had a digital autopilot.

It was able to fly very accurately.

Kolesar: V-1.

Rotate.

Gruzin: Gear up.

Kolesar: Gear is up.

Graf: The airplane was easy to handle

and smooth on the controls.

Narrator: The flight is scheduled to take about an hour.

Graf: After, let's say, two or three minutes flight time,

they should have been in the clear, above the clouds,

to fly to their destination.

Narrator: At the last minute,

the controller makes a slight change to their flight path.

Controller: 4-9-8 turn left to Zurich East.

Kolesar: Turning left to Zurich East,

Crossair 4-niner-8.

Narrator: The new route

loops them south of the airport

and over a navigation beacon,

before going on to Dresden.

Kolesar: Long range navigation setting is to...

Zurich East. Yeah.

Gruzin: Ok.

Narrator: The plane begins to turn.

But there's something's wrong.

Kolesar: Turning...

Turning left to Zurich East.

We should left.

Gruzin: Oh, nah, nah.

Controller: Crossair 4-9-8 confirm you are turning left.

Kolesar: Please, stand by.

Narrator: The plane should be turning left,

but instead it's banking to the right.

Controller: Ok, continue right to Zurich East.

Narrator: Captain Gruzin struggles to control the plane,

but it's not working.

Kolesar: Left! Left!

Left!

Narrator: They're falling out of the sky.

Thomas Moscheni: I was driving home.

And then, on the left-hand side,

I seen something.

I was sure it's a plane.

It's coming down very fast.

Moscheni: It was a hell of an explosion.

I'd been about 50 meters away from this.

And it was just one explosion,

and then always a new smaller explosion.

I couldn't go too close there.

It was too hot.

Narrator: It's impossible even to attempt to rescue anyone.

Moscheni: I couldn't see anything from the plane,

just little small things.

This time I was quite sure there's no...no survivors,

not at all.

Narrator: Flight 498 has slammed into the ground

just 4 miles from the airport.

All 10 passengers and crew are dead,

including Pavel Gruzin and Rastislav Kolesar.

Pjatak: At that very night

we just knew that we lost a friend.

Narrator: The next morning,

investigators are at the crash site.

They see little that resembles an airplane.

Michael Flueckiger: When I approached the scene,

I saw a smoking hole.

And I couldn't identify

a large piece of structure of an aircraft.

Narrator: Michael Flueckiger

is with the Swiss accident investigation board.

It's his job to find the clues that can explain what happened.

Most of the plane is buried in a deep crater.

The rest is broken into small pieces

scattered across a field.

Flueckiger faces the biggest challenge of his career.

Flueckiger: We have really a mess.

And then you have also the emotional part.

You don't know what you're going to touch next.

It may be a piece of a human body...

It may be a piece of the aircraft or...

It was a hard job.

Narrator: The deep crater tells Flueckiger

that the plane hit the ground very fast at a very steep angle.

Flueckiger: A photo, take this shot here.

If you can't see a bigger structure of an aircraft

and you see a crater,

that leads you to the idea that this aircraft has to be...

Come quite steep into the ground.

Narrator: The pattern of debris

also reveals the direction the plane was flying.

Flight 498 was turning the wrong way

at the time of the crash.

Human factors expert Daniel Knecht

joins the investigative team.

Daniel Knecht: A crash just after departure

is very uncommon.

So we were sure

that it must have been something very unusual.

Let's get someone over to the ATC,

find out what departure they were flying.

Narrator: Investigators question air traffic controllers

to learn more about the unusual flight path.

Knecht: If you have a radar plot

and also some recordings of air traffic communication,

then you have a first idea what happened.

Man: Why weren't they flying the standard departure?

Controller: Oh, I was just trying to save them some time.

Narrator: Controllers tell investigators

that they gave flight 498 a shortcut

on the night of the crash.

Controller: 498 turn left to Zurich East.

Narrator: The new heading

was a slightly shorter route to Dresden.

Graf: ATC controllers,

they provide this kind of shortcut whenever they can.

Kolesar: Turning left to Zurich East.

Graf: And that makes a difference

of about three to four minutes,

which is very much appreciated by the pilots

and everybody else.

Knecht: At first glance,

this communication and also this radar plot

showed nothing unusual.

There was simply a takeoff,

and ATC was commanding an early left turn.

Narrator: But for some reason,

the crew didn't follow the controller's instruction.

Controller: Crossair 498 confirm you are turning left.

Kolesar: Please, stand by.

Narrator: The controller assumed

the pilot wanted to follow a different route

and approved that decision.

Controller: Ok, continue right to Zurich East.

Narrator: Moments later,

the plane fell into a deadly spiral to the right.

If the spiral was caused by a mechanical failure,

investigators need to know as soon as possible.

A problem with aircraft maintenance

or a design flaw in one of the parts...

Kolesar: Left! Left!

Narrator: Could mean that thousands of passengers

flying on the SAAB 340 are at risk every day.

At the crash site of Crossair flight 498,

investigators search for evidence

of a mechanical failure.

Witnesses report seeing fire in the sky

moments before the plane hit the ground.

Knecht: Show me how high the plane was

when you saw the flames.

We had the impression

that there could have been an in-flight fire

because there were some people...

Were describing an aircraft burning before impact.

Any sign of the black boxes?

Narrator: The answers investigators need

may lie in the plane's two flight recorders.

Kolesar: Turning left to Zurich East.

Narrator: They capture vital information

about what the pilots say and do in the cockpit.

Kolesar: 4-niner-8.

Narrator: But so far, there's no sign of them.

Flueckiger: We made a plan to go layer by layer

and take the pieces,

and one day the FDR and CVR may come up to light.

Gruzin: APR off.

Narrator: Meanwhile, questions are raised

about the two pilots' ability to communicate.

Kolesar: Climbing level 1-1-0.

Narrator: English wasn't either pilot's first language.

Perhaps they were off course

because they didn't understand the controller's command.

Gruzin: APR off.

Kolesar: It's coming.

Graf: One of the most important things

in working together in the cockpit is communication.

Kolesar: Long range navigation setting is to...

Zurich East. Yeah.

Graf: Fluency of a common language

is of utmost importance.

Narrator: Investigators study the pilots' records.

Knecht: They look very experienced.

Narrator: The records are spotless.

Both men are well-qualified

and can speak enough English to fly a plane.

Pjatak: I flew with both of them.

I knew Rastislav's English was very good.

I could talk to Pavel,

and he understood, he responds very well.

Narrator: Investigators are no closer to understanding

why the pilots turned the wrong way

and lost control of the plane.

Knecht: A steep right turn developed,

which led to a collision with ground.

But there was no indication about the reason for that.

Narrator: Search efforts at the crash site

bring the team a big step closer

to understanding what happened in the cockpit.

They recover both black boxes.

The crucial recorders are sent to the lab for analysis.

Meanwhile, the rest of the wreckage

is taken to a hangar in Zurich.

Perhaps a mechanical failure

can explain why the plane spiraled out of control.

Knecht: At this point of the investigation,

a malfunction was a major point of discussion

because it would have been an explanation

for this loss of control.

Narrator: Investigators study damaged parts from the engines.

Graf: If an airplane spirals down from the skies,

a possible engine failure is always...

Could be one of the reasons.

Narrator: The SAAB 340

is powered by two turbo prop engines.

Flueckiger: If you have two engines,

one each side of the aircraft,

and if, for instance, the left engine

provides you with more power than the right one,

the aircraft tends to turn to the right.

Narrator: If the right engine failed,

it could explain the fatal spiral.

Flueckiger: Spinning at high speed.

Narrator: But both engines show distinct damage

that can mean only one thing.

Knecht: It was quite clear

in just a short time after the accident

that the engines were running

and they were running even on high speed.

Narrator: Engine failure did not bring down flight 498.

Investigators dig through the plane's maintenance records

in search of a solid lead.

Knecht: I think I've got something.

You see here...

And here...

And again here.

Graf: The airplane had a history of uncontrolled flap movement.

Narrator: In the last 18 months,

crews lodged more than 20 complaints

about the flaps on this very plane.

Knecht: It's a lot of complaints.

Flueckiger: 21 in 18 months.

That catched our interest.

Narrator: Flaps are small surfaces

that extend from the back of the wing during takeoff

to increase lift.

If the flaps on one wing don't extend properly,

it can make the plane hard to control.

Flueckiger: If something is wrong with the system

and one flap is moving faster than the other

or going further than the other,

you're inducing, at this wing, more lift

but also more drag.

So that will tend you to roll

in this left or right direction.

Narrator: Evidence of a flap malfunction on flight 498

could be the break investigators need.

They sort through fragments of wing wreckage,

but it's no use.

The parts are too badly damaged to provide any answers.

Flueckiger: They were damaged in...

I don't remember in how many pieces.

The actual flap was destroyed.

Narrator: They won't know for sure

if the flaps malfunctioned

until they can study data from the flight recorder.

But the wreckage does allow investigators

to explore a different theory.

Witnesses reported seeing a fire on board

before the plane hit the ground.

Flueckiger: So that was quite interesting

that the eyewitnesses told us

that they saw the aircraft in flames.

That made us curious,

so we need to go to the wreckage and make an investigation.

Narrator: Flames leave distinctive scorch marks

on the skin of a plane.

Flueckiger: Give me that one there.

Narrator: If the plane caught fire before the crash,

debris from the same part of the aircraft

should show the same pattern of soot marks,

much like neighboring pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.

That's not the case

if the fire started when the plane was already in pieces.

Flueckiger: If you have a fire after the accident,

those pieces may be already split up

and they don't match the...

The fire traces don't match anymore.

Narrator: It's a painstaking procedure.

Investigators must map each piece of debris

to a precise location before they can compare the burn marks.

In 1991, burn mark analysis

helped investigators in Saudi Arabia

understand the crash of Nation Air flight 2120.

After a wheel caught fire on takeoff,

the dc-8 became engulfed in flames.

None of the 261 people on board survived.

Now Swiss investigators struggle to determine

if an in-flight fire brought down Crossair flight 498.

Flueckiger: It took us also a long time

to find all the pieces.

Narrator: The results are conclusive.

Flueckiger: See here? And here?

The scorching was definitely post-impact.

At the end, we could determine

that it had a post-impact fire, that's for sure.

Narrator: The witnesses are wrong.

There was no in-flight fire.

Flueckiger: Witnesses often tell us some observations,

but it's not necessarily in the right order chronologically.

That's, uh...that's quite often the case.

Narrator: Crash site debris soon produces another lead.

A pilot's flight bag was thrown clear of the crater on impact.

It's quickly identified as belonging to Captain Gruzin.

The contents are disturbing.

Knecht: There were some personal items in there,

and with them we found this medication.

No label or box with it?

It is quite uncommon

that you find some medication in a pilot's bag.

Kolesar: Turning left to Zurich East.

We should left.

Narrator: A drug-impaired pilot could explain the accident.

Graf: It is always of great concern

because we all know that you're not supposed to take

any kind of drugs when we go flying.

Narrator: Investigators need to know

exactly what type of drug they're dealing with

and whether Captain Gruzin took any on the day of the crash.

Knecht: Take this to the lab.

Narrator: Tests reveal that the medication is phenazepam,

a powerful sedative similar to valium

that's used to treat anxiety disorders.

Knecht: In this case,

there was medication which was very strong

and which can have an effect

on your capability to fly an airplane.

Narrator: Daniel Knecht may have finally found the reason

why 10 people died on board flight 498.

Figuring out if the drug was in the captain's system

will require tissue analysis.

That will take more time.

But valuable new information has been recovered

from the plane's flight data recorder.

Flueckiger: See what this looks like.

Narrator: Investigators use the data

to create a simulation

that replicates the plane's motion during the flight.

They hope it will tell them

if malfunctioning wing flaps led to the crash.

Gruzin: Set takeoff power.

Kolesar: Takeoff power set.

Flueckiger: A physical examination of the flap panels

was not possible anymore,

so we needed to find another way.

Narrator: Flaps affect lift and drag.

If there was something wrong with them,

it will show up in the simulation.

Gruzin: APR off.

Controller: Crossair 4-9-8 climb to flight level 1-1-0.

Kolesar: Climbing level 1-1-0, Crossair 4-niner-8.

Narrator: The plane climbs normally.

Kolesar: Climbing to 3,000 feet.

Narrator: There's no sign of any flap malfunction.

Flueckiger: We could rule that out at this point.

Kolesar: Bleeds are on.

Knecht: Their flaps were working as they were designed.

Flueckiger: No problem at all.

We saw the engines were running,

we saw they have a good speed, everything is climbing,

everything is going good.

And suddenly he switches from a left turn to a right turn

and he loses control.

Gruzin: Oh, nah, nah.

Flueckiger: It's like no one is flying.

The big question is why? What happened?

What triggered it?

Kolesar: Left! Left!

Narrator: Investigators travel to Moldova

to meet with the captain's widow.

They ask her why her husband was carrying tranquilizers.

Man: I'm sorry. I know this is a difficult time.

Narrator: She explains that her husband

was under a lot of stress.

Knecht: She knew that he was taking his medication,

and it was, I think, also due to the situation

that he was separate from her,

living in Switzerland.

Narrator: The captain was working far from home

and sending money to his family in Moldova.

Knecht: He was not very happy to be separate from his family,

from his spouse,

from all the people he knew.

He was in another country,

able to speak English,

but not German or French.

And I think this was not easy for him.

Narrator: But was Captain Gruzin unhappy enough

to risk taking a tranquilizer

before piloting a commercial flight?

Investigators hope the tissue analysis

will tell them if the captain was impaired

when he took off from the Zurich Airport.

The results are inconclusive.

Though he had traces of the sedative in his system,

the tests can't reveal if it was enough to affect his flying.

Knecht: We were not able to rule out

this effect in the accident,

but we were also not sure

that this medication had an effect for sure.

Narrator: But investigators aren't giving up.

Gruzin: Oh, nah, nah.

Narrator: There may be another way to determine

if the captain was impaired.

Kolesar: Left! Left!

Narrator: A friend of Captain Gruzin

is brought in to help with the investigation.

Knecht: So, just have a listen and see how he sounds to you.

Narrator: He's asked to listen to conversations

captured on the cockpit voice recorder.

Gruzin: Change heading.

Kolesar: Checklist completed.

Gruzin: Set takeoff power.

Narrator: He listens for any hint

about how the captain was feeling,

any sign that he was impaired when the plane took off.

Kolesar: Takeoff power set.

Knecht: The tone or the pronunciation,

all those things are very important.

For example, if you have people who are under medication,

if pronunciation is not so clear,

this could be a clue.

Gruzin: APR off.

Knecht: How about that?

Keep listening. Be sure.

Kolesar: Bleeds are on.

Narrator: But the captain's friend

hears nothing out of the ordinary.

Gruzin's voice sounds completely normal.

There's no sign at all that he's impaired by drugs.

Knecht: The behavior...

All the discussion was very calm.

Ok. One more time.

Narrator: Investigators are running out of leads.

Kolesar: Checklist completed.

Narrator: The cockpit recording seems to offer little, until...

Gruzin: Set takeoff power.

Knecht: Hold on. Kolesar: Takeoff power set.

Knecht: Play it back.

Narrator: They hear an odd sound.

Gruzin: Set takeoff power.

Kolesar: Takeoff power set.

Knecht: Sounds like cell phone interference.

We had some indication on the CVR

that there was a cell phone working in the airplane.

Narrator: In the year 2000,

there's a potential new threat to aviation safety.

Narrator: More and more people are carrying mobile phones,

and their effect on planes is unknown.

When a mobile phone is in use,

it transmits a signal to the mobile phone tower

and can create interference.

The signal has been captured as a buzz

on the cockpit voice recorder.

Kolesar: Takeoff power set.

Narrator: Investigators wonder if interference

could also have affected the plane's instruments.

Knecht: There are malfunctions

where you don't have any indication

about the malfunction.

The instrument is showing a normal indication.

This kind of malfunction is very difficult to detect.

Controller: Crossair 4-9-8, climb to flight level 1-1-0.

Kolesar: Climbing level 1-1-0, Crossair 4-niner-8.

Narrator: Commercial pilots

rely almost entirely on their instruments

to tell them their plane's position in the sky.

Pjatak: The main instrument to follow is artificial horizon--

an instrument that gives you the idea of climb or descent

and also the indication of bank--left or right bank.

Narrator: If mobile phone interference

affected the artificial horizon,

it might explain why the pilots didn't know

they were turning the wrong way.

Gruzin: Oh, nah, nah.

Narrator: Investigators learn that a Slovenian Airliner

was forced to make an emergency landing

after mobile phone signals

caused the plane's electronics to malfunction,

triggering a false alarm indicating an onboard fire.

Flueckiger: It can influence the aircraft systems,

more or less send you messages that are not true.

Narrator: There's no question

there were mobile phones on board.

Crossair pilots even carry one in the cockpit

to communicate with the ground crew.

Investigators set up a series of tests in an identical plane.

Flueckiger: Ok. All set here.

So, go to the back and trigger a signal.

Narrator: They look for any sign that a mobile phone signal

can affect vital flight instruments.

Flueckiger: With this test equipment,

you can emulate a cellular phone.

And we went close to the avionics racks.

We tried to stimulate the system.

Man: Nothing yet.

Flueckiger: Try again.

Narrator: There are mobile phones

on nearly every plane in the sky.

If mobile interference really is the cause of the crash,

investigators need to know before it happens again.

Investigators obtain the mobile phone records

of every passenger on the plane.

They check to see if anyone on board used their phone

in the critical last moments of the flight.

Knecht: Nothing yet.

You?

Graf: Cell phones normally don't do any damage

or any harm to aircraft systems

because they're very well shielded

from such electronic interference.

Narrator: The onboard testing confirms

that mobile signals can create electronic interference

in the cockpit.

Flueckiger: There it is.

Narrator: But can that interference

cause flight instruments to malfunction?

After repeated testing....

Flueckiger: Try again.

Narrator: Investigators can find nothing to support that theory.

Flueckiger: We didn't have any evidence

that the cellular phone was a problem.

Narrator: The phone records show...

Man: Ciao.

Narrator: That all mobile phone calls to and from the plane

ended before takeoff.

Man: Ciao.

Knecht: During the flight, we had no communication

between one of the cell phones and ground stations.

Narrator: It now seems

that other than the noise captured on the CVR

when the plane was still on the ground...

Mobile phones had no effect on the flight at all.

None of the crash theories are panning out.

Investigators re-examine the best evidence they have:

The pilots' comments recorded in the cockpit...

Gruzin: Gear up.

Narrator: And the information from the flight data recorder.

Kolesar: Gear is up.

Gruzin: APR off.

Controller: Crossair 4-9-8 climb to flight level 1-1-0.

Kolesar: Climbing level 1-1-0, Crossair 4-niner-8.

Gruzin: APR off.

Kolesar: It's coming.

Narrator: They listen for anything that can tell them

how the instruments were working that night.

Knecht: Right here the turn is starting to get very steep.

Kolesar: Turning left to Zurich East.

We should left.

Gruzin: Oh, nah, nah.

Narrator: A sudden reaction from the captain

provides a clue.

Knecht: That timing can't be coincidence.

Narrator: Investigators know

that the captain's flight display

changes in appearance

the moment a turn gets too steep.

Flueckiger: The system is designed

that if you go into an abnormal bank or pitch angle,

it removes unnecessary information

to make the recovery easier for the pilot.

Knecht: This was just at the moment

when the captain was commenting this, "oh, nah, nah."

Narrator: The timing of the captain's remark

convinces investigators that his instruments were working

but that he didn't understand

what the gauges were telling him.

Knecht: People who are confused

are not detecting this confusion at the moment.

Kolesar: Left! Left!

Left!

Knecht: I think the problem was

that he was not aware what was going on.

Narrator: The troubling question:

How could a qualified pilot become so confused

that he didn't know the difference

between left and right?

The search for an answer takes investigators to Russia,

where Captain Gruzin learned to fly.

Man: Thank you for seeing us.

Narrator: They meet with Russian aviation experts.

Crossair recruits many pilots from the former Soviet Union.

If Russian training is faulty, lives could be at risk.

Pjatak: Crossair was expanding dramatically

with no resource of own pilots

from Switzerland or neighboring countries,

so it was very easy for pilots

to transfer to Crossair airplanes.

Narrator: They study the pilots' histories

before they moved to Crossair.

Captain Gruzin was 41 years old.

He had over 8,000 hours total flying time

and almost 1,900 hours on the SAAB 340.

The 35-year-old first officer, Rastislav Kolesar,

had more than 1,100 hours on the plane.

Pjatak: He was a very capable pilot

and well organized.

Narrator: Both pilots were highly qualified.

There seems to be no reason to suspect pilot error...

Until the Russian investigators suggest a stunning theory

that could change everything.

They tell investigators about a troubling cluster of accidents

caused by Russian-trained pilots becoming confused

by a crucial flight instrument.

Knecht: This was very surprising for us

because this problem was not well known at this time

in the western part of aviation.

Narrator: Pilots in the Soviet Union

were trained to fly using an artificial horizon

that looks very different from the one used in western planes.

Kolesar: Turning left to Zurich East,

Crossair 4-niner-8.

Narrator: In the west,

the airplane symbol in the middle remains stable

as the background moves.

Soviet horizons work in the opposite way.

The airplane symbol shows the motion,

and the horizon is fixed in place.

Man: It's easy to see how a pilot might get confused.

Narrator: A left turn on a Soviet display

looks very similar to a right turn

on a western display.

Knecht: There were two different philosophies

of artificial horizons in the western aviation system

and in the eastern aviation systems.

And these two systems,

they can lead to a certain confusion.

Narrator: As countries in Eastern Europe

began buying more western planes,

that confusion proved deadly.

15 crashes involving spiral dives.

Knecht: This discovery was really crucial

for a probable cause of this accident.

Narrator: Under stress

and possibly under the influence of a tranquilizer,

Captain Gruzin may have fallen back on what he learned

when he first became a pilot.

Kolesar: No!

Pjatak: What you learn at your first very initial training,

it goes back to your reptile brain,

is where you really store it in the long-term memory basis.

That's what you remember,

and you go back to your basic training.

Narrator: In his confusion,

he became convinced he was in a steep left turn.

He was turning right to try to correct that problem.

Knecht: If you were driving in Switzerland,

driving on the right side of the street,

if I go to the united kingdom,

I will be able to drive without a problem.

But perhaps in a roundabout or when I am under pressure

and I have to decide in a few seconds what to do,

I will fall back

in the mode I was trained several years before,

and I will choose the wrong direction.

Narrator: The air traffic controller

only added to his confusion.

Controller: Crossair 4-9-8 confirm you are turning left.

Narrator: The instruction may have seemed

like confirmation that the plane was turning left,

even though it was not.

Graf: He said, "4-9-8 confirm you're turning left."

How much does that help to a crew?

Kolesar: Please, stand by.

Graf: The only thing he could have done, in my opinion,

is to say either, "Crossair 4-9-8 turn left,

heading...whatever,"

or "Crossair 4-9-8 I see you in a right turn."

Kolesar: Left! Left!

Graf: What he actually said didn't help anybody.

Narrator: The captain's constant attempt

to level the plane he believed to be turning sharply left

actually put the aircraft into a deadly spiraling dive

to the right.

Investigators also discover another important difference

between Russian and western aviation.

Man: That is a lot of hand-flying.

Narrator: Russian pilots have a different approach

to the use of the autopilot.

Kolesar: Long range navigation setting is to...

Zurich East, yeah.

Narrator: The autopilot can fly the plane...

Gruzin: Ok.

Narrator: Even if both pilots

have their attention on other tasks.

Pjatak: Eastern philosophy from the previous Soviet Union

would be to fly the aircraft as long as possible

with hand-flying,

just to prove the ability of the pilot to fly.

And that's really different from the western philosophy.

Narrator: The Captain of Crossair 498

was flying by hand.

The autopilot was not engaged.

Graf: If the captain

had engaged the autopilot after takeoff,

the accident would not have happened.

Knecht: We would never have talked about this flight

because the airplane would have simply flown to Zurich East

and reached Dresden about one hour later.

Narrator: But there's another troubling question.

There were two pilots on board that day.

Even if the captain was confused by his instrument,

why didn't the first officer notice the problem

and take steps to save the plane?

Knecht: If somebody sees something going wrong,

then he should intervene.

Pass me the specs for the Crossair fleet,

would you, please?

Narrator: Investigators wonder what could have prevented

first officer Kolesar from noticing his captain's mistake.

Kolesar: Climbing level 1-1-0, Crossair 4-niner-8.

Narrator: It was the first officer's job

to monitor the instruments.

Gruzin: APR off.

Kolesar: It's coming.

Narrator: But he had an extra challenge during flight 498.

Controller: 4-9-8 turn left to Zurich East.

Kolesar: Turning left to Zurich East,

Crossair 4-niner-8.

Narrator: The plane's computerized navigation system

was a new addition to the cockpit.

Cockpit design is a complicated process.

Pilots need to be able to reach everything easily...

As well as monitor a vast array of instruments,

including the artificial horizon

located directly in front of them.

Flueckiger: The SAAB 340 is not a huge aircraft.

You don't have space to place everything

in an optimum area,

so it's a challenge to organize the cockpit.

Narrator: Investigators wonder if an awkward cockpit design

made it difficult for the first officer

to see what was going on.

To find out, they conduct an unusual experiment.

Knecht: Ok, let's begin.

Kolesar: V-1.

Narrator: They reconstruct the flight

to see exactly where the first officer was looking

when things started to go wrong.

Gruzin: Gear up.

Knecht: Looking at the gear handle.

Kolesar: Gear is up.

Gruzin: APR off.

Controller: Crossair 4-9-8 climb to flight level 1-1-0.

Kolesar: Climbing level 1-1-0, Crossair 4-niner-8.

Pjatak: After-takeoff procedure for SAAB 340

requires from a pilot which is not flying

to do most of his job either head down or head up.

He would either follow the overhead panel

to put the switches in a proper position,

or would look down to turn the knobs

and try to settle the center pedestal panel.

Gruzin: Set climb power.

Kolesar: Coming.

Narrator: His duties keep his gaze away

from the artificial horizon.

Knecht: Now he's looking here.

Now I can look up.

Narrator: By the time the first officer

could see what was happening,

the plane was already in a steep right bank.

Kolesar: Turning left to Zurich East.

Graf: If you do not pay attention, when you look back,

you will probably find an attitude you didn't expect.

Researchers found out that it takes 4 to 18 seconds

to have an idea what the airplane is doing,

what kind of attitude the airplane actually is,

and what kind of action has to be taken

to recover from it.

Kolesar: We should left.

Controller: Crossair 4-9-8 confirm you are turning left.

Kolesar: Please, stand by.

Knecht: It was clearly detectable

that stress was increasing.

Kolesar: No!

Narrator: The first officer's stress

shows he knew there was a serious problem.

The captain thought his plane was turning left.

He didn't understand

what his first officer was trying to tell him.

Kolesar: Left!

Graf: Their English was basically aviation English...

Graf: And it is hard to communicate fluently

and to communicate concerns well enough.

Knecht: All he had to say was, "stop.

You're turning the wrong way."

It is normal in aviation

that you have an exchange of people from different countries,

and I think that's a nice part of aviation--

that it's international.

But you have to analyze their cultural background.

You have to give them the tools they need

to do their job safely.

Narrator: After the crash of flight 498,

the airline improved training

for pilots from former Soviet bloc countries.

They now get three months of extra instruction.

They also must pass an English-proficiency test.

Flueckiger: Everybody's working hard

to make good aircraft

with good trained people,

good aircraft systems.

Narrator: Finally, all Swiss crews are now required

to engage the autopilot immediately after takeoff,

ensuring that they can pay proper attention

to the progress of the flight.