All language subtitles for Air.Disasters.S05E07.Massacre.Over.the.Mediterranean.1080p.PMTP.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-maldini_track3_[eng]

Narrator:
A mysterious phone call

to an Italian journalist...

Man: Where did you
get this information?

And he said, "Do not believe
what they are going to say."

Narrator: Throws an air crash
investigation into turmoil.

Man: We absolutely have to have
more of the wreckage.

Narrator:
There are rumors of a cover-up.

Man: Nobody on the legal side
believed us.

Narrator:
Investigators suspect foul play.

Man: I think it was a bomb.

Narrator: 81 people
are killed in an instant.

Man: All of a sudden,

the airplane was in pieces
in the sky.

Man: It was shot down
by a missile.

Narrator: What brought down
the passenger plane?

A bomb or a missile?

Man: They said that my theory
was ridiculous.

Man: The goal that
we were presented with

was to find the truth.

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:
In the glow of the setting sun,

Itavia Airlines flight 870

cruises 29,000 feet
above the Mediterranean sea.

Pilot: Good evening, 8-7-0
maintaining 2-9-0 over puma.

Controller: Roger.
Proceed Latina Ponza.

Pilot: Roma 8-7-0.

Narrator: Captain Domenico Gatti
and First Officer Enzo Fontana

are at the controls of the DC-9.

David Learmount: The crew
had the kind of experience

that you would hope to see
with your own particular crew

on the flight that
you're just about to take.

And the flight itself was short
and very easy to do.

Narrator:
Among the 77 passengers

is Alberto Bonfietti,

a journalist on his way
to meet his family in Palermo.

Alberto Bonfietti: Grazie.

Daria Bonfietti, translated:
That Friday afternoon,

my brother Alberto
took that plane to go to Palermo

and meet his wife and daughter

who were already there
on vacation.

Narrator: The flight
from bologna to Palermo

takes about an hour and a half.

But just halfway
to their destination,

First Officer Fontana
is running into a problem.

Enzo Fontana: Look at this.
I'm getting nothing.

Domenico Gatti:
Try Ponza instead.

Fontana: Nothing.

Narrator: There's no signal from
many of the navigation beacons

that normally guide pilots
toward Palermo.

Fontana: 8-7-0, Roma,
it's like a graveyard tonight.

We haven't found a single beacon
working properly.

Controller:
Everything is a bit out.

What is your heading?

Fontana: We are at 1-9-5.

Narrator:
Without the beacons,

the pilots need directions
from air traffic control.

Controller: I don't know if you
want to keep that heading.

Otherwise you can go right
15 or 20 degrees.

Fontana: Ok.

We put in 2-1-0.

Narrator: The plane turns

and flies into
a pocket of turbulence.

Learmount:
High-level turbulence,

it's just like...

It's like being on a road
which has got potholes in it.

On many flights
that anybody will take,

at some stage during the journey

you will encounter
some degree of turbulence.

Narrator: The pilots
hope a lower altitude

will give their passengers
a smoother ride.

Gatti: Let's try
to get under this.

Fontana: This is 8-7-0.

Is it possible to get 2-5-0?

Controller: Affirmative.
You can start your descent now.

Learmount: Pilots quite often
ask for a change of level.

If they've got
a little bit of choppiness,

which they know will make
the passengers uncomfortable

or even nervous,

then they'll try another level.

And that's what we think
they were trying to do.

Fontana:
Ah. There we go. Finally.

Narrator:
There's more good news.

Fontana:
Palermo is coming in well.

Narrator: The navigation beacons
are now working.

Fontana: And we have...
We have the Ponza DME.

Controller: Good.
Call back for descent.

Fontana:
Thank you for everything.

We'll call you
for descent. 8-7-0.

Narrator:
The controllers will have

no further contact
with the pilots

until they begin their landing.

.

But just seconds later,

Itavia flight 870
breaks into pieces

and disappears from radar.

Controller: Itavia 8-7-0, Rome.

Itavia 8-7-0, Rome.

.

We're missing a flight.

Itavia 8-7-0.

It's gone.

Narrator: Flight 870 has crashed
into the Mediterranean Sea.

Learmount: It's very surreal

for a controller to go through
an experience like that,

because you can't quite believe
what you're seeing.

I mean, accidents
are very, very rare.

So when you're a part of one,
when you're watching one happen,

you don't quite believe it.

Narrator: By morning,
Italian search and rescue teams

are scanning the waters near
the plane's last known position.

Family members
waiting at the airport

are told only
that the plane is missing,

its fate unknown.

Bonfietti:
The first words we heard

were that the plane
was assumed to be lost.

Narrator: Searchers
soon confirm the worst.

There are no signs
of any survivors.

All 81 passengers
and crew are dead,

including Alberto Bonfietti.

Bonfietti: I bought my brother's
ticket for that damn flight,

and I never saw him again.

Narrator:
The loss of flight 870

makes news around the world.

There seems to be
no way to explain

why a modern airliner
fell from the sky so suddenly.

Andrea Purgatori
is a well-known reporter

for one of Italy's
largest daily newspapers.

Andrea Purgatori: In 1980,

I was an investigative reporter
for "Corriere Della Sera,"

which was and is still

the most important
newspaper in Italy's.

Narrator:
On the night of the crash,

he gets
an astounding phone call.

Purgatori:
I received a phone call

from an air traffic
controller in Rome.

Where did you get
this information?

And he said, "I cannot talk
to you long from this phone,

but do not believe
what they are going to say,

because it was shot down
by a missile."

Narrator: The source points him
toward a controversial theory:

Flight 870
was caught in the crossfire

during a dogfight
between NATO and Libyan jets.

Purgatori: There was a situation
of tension in the Mediterranean

which was very close to,
you know,

the tension you have
before a war.

Narrator: In 1980,

the Mediterranean
is a military hot zone.

Italy lies just across the sea
from Libya.

It's an outlaw nation

ruled by
Colonel Muammar Gaddafi,

an International Pariah.

Purgatori: At that time,

Gaddafi was like Saddam Hussein
or Osama Bin Laden

for the United States
and most of the western world.

Narrator:
Has the political tension

between Libya and the west

somehow claimed the lives
of 81 innocent people?

Purgatori: Yes.

I can guarantee
your identity is safe with me.

Narrator:
Purgatori is convinced

he's on the verge of breaking
a major international story.

Purgatori: That was the kind
of story that, as a reporter,

you can, you know,
find probably once in your life,

once in your career.

Ok. Let's meet.

Narrator: But it will take
more than 30 years

to find out
what really happened that night

in the skies over Italy's.

Two days after
the Itavia Airlines tragedy,

Andrea Purgatori
writes a front-page story

that shocks Italy's and the
world.

Purgatori: It's out.

I was the first to say,
"Ok, there's a possibility

that the DC-9
was hit by a missile."

Narrator:
Purgatori does some digging

and comes up
with an astounding theory.

Purgatori:
Western jet fighters,

probably French,

were engaging in an act of war
with Libyan airplanes.

And the Libyan airplanes were
probably hiding themselves

behind the DC-9.

And the DC-9
was just, you know,

in the wrong place
in the wrong moment,

and it was hit
by one of the missiles.

Narrator: The Italian government
dismisses early media reports

that a missile
brought down flight 870

and launches an official
investigation into the crash.

Purgatori:
The Italian air force

decided to give
a press conference

which they said that
my theory was ridiculous.

Narrator: 38 bodies have been
recovered from the crash site.

But most of the wreckage
from flight 870

has sunk to the bottom
of the Mediterranean.

Investigators
have little to go on.

Man: Is this all we have?

Learmount: The early
investigators of this accident

didn't have very much
to look at.

There wasn't very much wreckage.

Narrator: They hope
air traffic controllers

on duty at the time of the crash
will have more information.

Controller:
There was some problem

with the beacons on the night.

But otherwise
everything seemed fine.

Narrator: But the controllers
have no idea what went wrong.

Fontana:
Palermo is coming in well.

Controller: Good.
Call back for descent.

Narrator: They heard no sign
of trouble from the crew.

Fontana:
Thank you for everything.

We'll call you
for descent. 8-7-0.

Learmount: If it's a slowly
gathering emergency

where things go wrong bit by bit

until the aircraft
becomes uncontrollable,

the pilots as sure as hell
going to tell somebody.

They didn't.

They didn't have time to.

So whatever it was
had been really sudden.

Narrator: A mid-air collision
could explain the accident.

Controllers aren't sure if there
were other aircraft nearby.

Their radar works best when
receiving transponder signals

broadcast by aircraft.

But some smaller planes are not
required to have transponders.

Controller:
This is all that I saw.

Narrator:
Investigators need a solid lead.

They have no proof

that a missile
brought down the plane,

but there's no proof
of any other cause either.

Man: We need to look
at every possible explanation.

Learmount:
An investigator, of course,

if, for example,
the press is speculating

about the aircraft
having been shot down,

the investigators will read that
like other people do,

but they'll be keeping
an open mind.

Narrator:
They study other incidents

involving
the same type of plane.

Learmount: They were casting
around for any historic evidence

that might tell them
what happened.

Narrator: They learn
that in the last decade,

four other DC-9s
suffered structural failures.

If the Itavia plane broke apart

because of metal fatigue
or a design flaw,

thousands of lives
could be at risk.

But the research sheds
no new light on the crash.

Man: This one landed safely.

Narrator:
In each previous emergency,

the pilots have enough warning
to take action...

Man: This one, too.

Narrator:
And land their planes safely.

Man: We've got nothing here.

Narrator:
With most of the wreckage

at the bottom of the sea,

investigators have only
floating debris to work with.

Learmount: You can have
seat cushions--

they float--

equipment from the galleys,

from the kitchens
on board the aircraft--

they float.

Plastic components
from the overhead lockers.

These are all
the sorts of things

that you would expect to float.

And sure enough,
they found those.

Narrator:
They carefully map the location

of each recovered piece.

The size and shape
of the debris field

could provide clues
about what happened.

Man: Let me see
those winds again.

Narrator: If the DC-9
hit the water in one piece,

it would have disintegrated
on impact,

leaving debris
in a small concentrated area.

But if it broke up in flight,

its forward momentum

would have scattered debris
over a large area.

Pieces of the plane
have been found spread across

more than 80 square miles
of ocean.

It's a revealing discovery.

Man: Too far apart
to have happened on impact.

Learmount: The crew didn't
know it was coming,

air traffic control
didn't know it was coming.

And then, all of a sudden,

the airplane
was in pieces in the sky.

Narrator: Investigators
scrutinize the debris

for evidence
that another airplane

collided with flight 870.

They find nothing.

Speculation
about a missile strike

only grows stronger.

Bonfietti: Certainly
there were many reports--

the newspapers, the television,

the media
talked about it a lot.

Narrator: Investigators hope
a detailed analysis of the radar

can give them some answers.

They want to know if there was
anything else in the skies

that could have
brought down the plane.

They contact John Macidull

of the United States National
Transportation Safety Board.

John Macidull:
Let's see what we can see.

Narrator: Macidull
is well-suited for the job.

He's a former navy pilot
and a radar expert.

Macidull: There is an obligation
for the United States

to help other countries
with their investigation

of an aircraft accident
in their country

if it was a United States
manufactured aircraft.

In this case,
it was a Douglas DC-9.

Narrator: He studies
an enhanced version

of flight 870's radar track--

one that shows more detail

than the air traffic controller
could see.

Macidull: I received
their radar printout,

which included the beacon code
track of this DC-9.

Looks like
this is where it broke up.

Here are the pieces here.

Narrator: Radar works

by bouncing radio waves
off objects.

When a plane breaks apart,

each piece creates
its own signal or return.

Air traffic controllers

tune their radar
to detect airliners,

but radar can be adjusted
to display other objects.

Macidull: I want to get
a closer look at this.

Learmount:
You eventually start getting

more than one radar return.

So, there's plenty to see.

Narrator: Macidull sees no sign
of a mid-air collision.

Macidull:
Now, what have we here?

Narrator: But he does notice
something unusual.

There are three
unidentified radar blips

to the west of flight 870.

Macidull reaches
a startling conclusion.

Macidull: At that altitude
and this kind of speed,

I'd say that was
a high-speed jet.

Purgatori: He could see
traces of another airplane

which was not a civil plane.

Macidull: Coming from the west,

at that time of day,

they'd never see them coming.

This unidentified object
came out of the sun,

which is a standard
fighter pilot technique.

Narrator: Blinded by the sun,

the DC-9 pilots
would have had little chance

to spot an incoming jet.

Macidull: I told them
that it was possible

that something was fired
from another aircraft.

Purgatori: It was quite clear

that it was a fighter
shooting a missile.

Narrator: Macidull's analysis
makes it more likely than ever

that a fighter jet
was flying near the DC-9.

But there's still
no proof of a missile.

Man: It could have been
a missile.

It looks like a missile.

It was a missile.

We need to prove it.

Narrator:
Three weeks after the crash,

new evidence comes to light.

The wreckage
of a Libyan fighter jet

is found in the mountains
of southern Italy's.

The discovery
raises more suspicion

and adds fuel
to the missile theory.

Purgatori: In my opinion,

there were
French fighters taking off

from the base of Solenzara
in the Island of Corsica,

intercepting the Libyan planes,

and there was an act of war.

Narrator:
For reporter Andrea Purgatori,

the crashed fighter
confirms his belief

that flight 870
was an unintended casualty

in a secret skirmish
between NATO and Libyan jets.

Purgatori: Were the French
firing to the Libyans,

or the Libyans
firing to the French?

This is difficult to say.

But then the French fighters
tried to chase the Libyan plane

until it crashed
on the mountains of Calabria

in the southern part of Italy's.

Learmount:
The aircraft disappeared.

There was an explosion.

Was it a missile?

Certainly I thought,
yeah, this is...

This is going to be
distinctly possible.

Narrator: So far,

the evidence for a missile
strike is circumstantial.

Then investigators
get a lucky break.

They come across
an intriguing clue:

A piece of shrapnel embedded
in the body of a passenger.

If they can identify
where it came from,

it might tell them
what caused the explosion.

Man: There's something
I would like you to see.

Narrator: Italian investigators
travel to Washington

with the piece of metal.

Macidull:
Welcome to Washington, sir.

Man: Grazie.

Macidull: Is this it?
Man: Yes.

Narrator:
They ask NTSB's John Macidull

to help identify it.

Macidull: Ok,
let's take a look at it.

It was about that size...

Of a pen.

Slightly curved, ok?

Flat on one side.

Now...

Where are you from?

It was found in the thigh
of one of the passengers.

At NTSB's we had
structural schematics

of an entire DC-9.

And based on what I thought
about missiles,

I started looking
at the middle of the aircraft.

Narrator:
The type of metal hints

that it's from
outside the cabin.

Macidull: We're gonna need
to look at the wheel wells.

We looked in both wheel wells

and matched
this piece of metal up

with the curved ribbing,

unique ribbing in this panel...

Next.

Under the right wheel well,
not the left wheel well.

It wouldn't match
the left wheel well.

Bingo.

Say the jet fired
the missile from here.

It would explode as soon
as it got close, about here.

That would drive the shrapnel,

including our piece
from the wheel well,

into the cabin.

So, to me, it was
conclusive information.

Purgatori: My reaction after
John Macidull's conclusions was,

you know, I was right.

Narrator: Investigators send
pieces of wreckage to the lab

to test for explosives.

The analysis
confirms an explosion.

The debris is coated
with trace amounts of TNT.

But the result doesn't prove

a missile
brought down the plane.

It's just as possible
the explosives came from a bomb.

Learmount: TNT is not only
used by the military.

I wouldn't say
it's easy to get hold of,

but somebody
who's determined enough

could get hold of it.

Narrator: Five weeks
after the Itavia disaster,

Italians are shocked
by another tragedy.

A bombing at the bologna railway
station kills 85 people.

Neo-fascist terrorists
are blamed for the attack,

fueling fears
that the same group

may have placed a bomb
on flight 870.

Purgatori: You must remember
that in this country

we had so many episodes
of terrorism, bombings,

which were not clear.

Narrator: The new evidence

leaves investigators
with a dilemma.

They have
circumstantial evidence

for both the missile
and the bomb theories.

But there's no hard proof
to determine which one

caused the explosion.

Man: We're going to have to say
we don't know.

Purgatori: The commission
of the transportation ministry

worked for two years,

and ended
saying that the accident

was caused by an explosion.

But they were not able to say

if the explosion
was outside or inside the plane,

a bomb or a missile.

Narrator:
Under extreme public pressure

to come up with an answer,

the Italian government
issues a report

that says only
an explosion of unknown origin

brought down the plane.

Learmount:
It's very unsatisfactory.

It's distressing.

You can't say that
any of us, like me,

who care about things like this,

or particularly
for the families,

you can't say they have closure.

Narrator: Daria Bonfietti
continues to demand answers

about what happened
to her brother.

She's not alone in her fight.

Bonfietti: Under our guidance,
a group of intellectuals

wrote a letter
to the president of Italy's,

asking why we didn't know
the truth about this accident

and asking that
all the obstacles be removed

so the truth could come out.

Narrator:
The pressure pays off.

Five years after the first
inconclusive investigation,

the Italian government agrees
to launch a new inquiry.

In may of 1987,

a multi-million-dollar
salvage operation

recovers
the cockpit voice recorder.

Seven years after flight 870
crashed into the Mediterranean,

the cockpit voice recorder
allows investigators to hear

what the pilots said during
the last moments of the flight.

Controller: Itavia 8-7-0,
call back for descent.

Fontana:
Thank you for everything.

We'll call you
for descent. 8-7-0.

Narrator: The captain
starts to say guarda--

Italian for "look."

Gatti: Guarda.

Narrator: Then the recording
abruptly cuts off.

Investigators wonder
if he caught a glimpse

of a missile
heading for the plane.

Macidull: It's what you would
expect someone to say

if they saw something
that was really strange

coming toward you.

Learmount: Conjecture is that
he was starting to say "Look."

But you might say, "Look at
the artificial horizon."

It could have been that.

Narrator: The salvage effort

has recovered
hundreds of pieces of debris

from the sea floor.

They're now being reassembled
at a hangar near Rome.

More than 50% of the aircraft
remains missing.

But the outline of the plane
begins to take shape.

Learmount:
It's a jigsaw puzzle.

If you theorized
on how the aircraft came apart,

the more you can visually
build up this picture,

the more clear that becomes.

Narrator: A key piece of debris

adds weight to the theory
that a missile hit the plane.

It has two small holes

with edges that bend in,
not out.

Investigators
have also discovered debris

in a seat cushion
from the cabin.

It's from a galley
at the front of the plane.

If a missile exploded
near the front of the plane,

it might have blown the piece
toward the back.

But there is
too much wreckage missing

to reach
a definitive conclusion.

Man: It's not much to go on.

Learmount:
We have some wreckage.

We have some evidence
from radar.

But it's not primary evidence.

The real evidence
is the bits of airplane.

Narrator: Italian investigators
are under intense pressure

to announce
what blew the plane apart.

Purgatori:
People started to say,

"Tell us exactly what happened
to this airplane."

Man: It all fits
with the missile theory.

Narrator: They decide
to stick their necks out.

In 1989, they release
an accident report

that concludes the explosion
was probably caused

by a missile fired
from an unidentified aircraft.

As the first person
to advance that theory,

reporter Andrea Purgatori
feels vindicated.

Purgatori: I was right.

I was right
in investigating this case,

in, you know, putting, you know,

the truth,
the possible truth,

piece by piece together.

Bonfietti: Because of this
and only from this moment,

we, the relatives
of the victims,

started to say the DC-9
was hit by a missile.

Narrator:
But just one year later,

the entire investigation
crumbles

when the unthinkable happens.

Citing a lack of evidence,

two Italian investigators
retract their opinion

that a missile
brought down the plane.

Man: We're back at square one.

Learmount: It's quite rare

to have so little certainty
about an accident.

This is a very extraordinary
accident in that respect.

Narrator: The Italian government
orders a third investigation

to answer the question
once and for all.

Did a missile
bring down flight 870,

or was it a bomb?

They assemble an international
group of experts...

Including veteran British air
accident investigator

Frank Taylor.

Frank Taylor: Ok, let's get
those set up over there.

The goal that
we were presented with

was to find the truth,

to find out
what had actually happened

and report on that.

And that was...
That was absolutely splendid,

because that's what you do
in an investigation.

You look at the evidence and
try to work out what it means.

Narrator:
Taylor is uniquely qualified

to identify evidence of a bomb.

He's investigated
more than 20 air disasters,

including the bombing
of pan am flight 103

over Lockerbie, Scotland.

In 1988,
Libyan terrorists planted a bomb

in the cargo hold
of flight 103.

When it exploded,
it destroyed the plane,

killing 270 people.

Engineer Goran Lilja of Sweden
is also on Taylor's team.

Narrator:
Taylor is immediately concerned

by how little wreckage has been
recovered from flight 870.

Taylor: Is this
all the wreckage you've got?

We're surprised that anybody
came to any conclusion at all

on the evidence we have,

other than it was almost
certainly an explosion

of some sort, somewhere.

Well, the first thing
we've got to do

is find the rest of this plane.

Narrator: Taylor's first job

is to convince the government
to fund a new search.

Taylor: Yes, could you
put me through, please?

Narrator:
It could cost millions,

and there's no guarantee
it will solve the case.

Taylor: No. We absolutely
have to have more of the plane.

A basic conclusion
from what we inherited

was that we needed
to recover more wreckage,

and we said so very clearly.

There's no way
to make any conclusions

without more of the wreckage.

Yeah. Yeah.

Ok, ok.

Thanks very much.
Thank you. Bye.

Narrator: If anyone
can find the wreckage,

it would be Taylor.

During the Lockerbie
investigation,

he helped create
a software program

to locate
widely scattered debris.

Taylor: You have two effects:

How far a piece will travel
in the direction

that the aircraft
was originally traveling,

and how far
it will be blown downwind

by whatever winds there are.

But the computer can do this
very easily.

Narrator: Taylor convinces
the Italian government

that his program
can find more wreckage.

Taylor: Ok.

Altitude around 24,000.

Narrator:
They approve his request

for a new salvage operation.

Taylor: Wind is westerly,
about a hundred knots.

Narrator: But the pressure's on
to deliver.

Taylor: Now, that's where
we should be looking.

The wind data was available,

so we could feed that
into our computer,

and it told us more or less

where the rest
of the wreckage would be.

Narrator: The strategy works.

The effort soon recovers
another 40% of the plane.

Taylor:
Eventually we found it.

It was there, more or less,

within a few meters virtually
of where we'd predicted.

Narrator: The location
of the Itavia wreckage

on the sea floor

tells Taylor which pieces
came off the plane first.

Investigators now have a theory
about how the plane came down.

Taylor:
See those first pieces?

The explosion
was at the back of the plane,

not the front.

Then it hit nose first...

Like this.

Narrator: The reconstruction
seems to match his theory.

The wreckage at the front

is in much smaller pieces
than the rest of the plane.

Learmount: If an aircraft
comes down very steeply

at a very high rate of descent,

if it hits
the surface of the water,

it's very, very nearly
as disastrous to the structure

as it would be if it were to hit
the granite side of a mountain.

Taylor: It hit with one poof.

Narrator:
The theory also explains

how debris
from the front of the plane

could have ended up
towards the back...

Or embedded
in the body of a passenger,

and why the cargo door
had holes that bent inwards.

Taylor:
As the fuselage sides crumpled,

some of the windows
would shatter,

the rivets and so forth
from the outer skin

would be fired inwards,
outwards, in all directions.

And that explained why there
were all these fragments

embedded in seat cushions

and bodies found
in the very early stages.

Narrator:
But not all of the evidence

supports Taylor's theory

that there was an explosion
near the back of the plane.

He has no explanation

for an obvious hole
near the front of the fuselage.

Taylor: I don't get it.

We need more evidence.

Learmount: You can't just take
a piece of information of...

There's some pieces
missing from the front

and just say,
"Ah, that must mean this."

No, it doesn't...
Nothing is that obvious.

Narrator: Investigators dig up
the radar for another look.

Taylor: Ok, now there's
our flight 8-7-0.

Narrator:
They want to see for themselves

if there's any evidence
of a fighter jet

in the vicinity of the plane.

Taylor: Yeah, ok.

Now, eliminate the ones
we think are just noise.

Narrator: They discover there
are many unidentified returns,

not just the three previously
identified as a fighter jet.

Random or stray radar plots
are not uncommon.

Taylor: There are many, many
other unexplained returns

in the area,

but it so happened, probably,
that these were the only ones

that sort of linked together,
you know,

to make people think that
they were another aircraft.

Narrator: Taylor concludes

that what Macidull thought
was another aircraft

is actually debris
falling from flight 870

as it breaks apart.

Taylor: Well, I'll tell you
what plane this is.

It's our plane.

And this is a piece of debris.

Narrator: The investigation
has reached an impasse.

Radar evidence of another jet
has been discounted.

But there's still no proof
of a bomb on board.

Then Frank Taylor
notices something odd

near the back of the plane.

There are a number of
small crumpled pieces of debris

mixed in with areas
that are nearly untouched.

Taylor:
Something's not right.

Narrator: For Frank Taylor,

it's a sign the debris has been
placed in the wrong location.

Taylor: Basically
it just looked wrong.

The progression of damage
from intense crumpling--

very small pieces
to very large pieces

and then back to small pieces--

just did not make
any sense at all.

Narrator: One piece
of wreckage stands out.

Taylor: Those numbers.

I've seen them somewhere else.

I came across
quite a large piece of skin

which had got penciled numbers
written on the inside,

close to the stringers--

those are the horizontal
stiffening pieces

along the fuselage.

I had never seen
that piece before,

but I remembered somewhere

seeing another piece
with penciled numbers on.

I couldn't remember
exactly where.

I had a rough idea,
so I just went looking.

Gotcha!

Can you remove
that piece for me, please?

And eventually I found it
in the forward fuselage.

And the numbers
ran consecutively

from the piece
in the forward fuselage

to the piece at the rear.

Ok.

A little bit further down.
A little bit further down.

A little bit further.

That's it!

That's where you belong.

Lovely.

Could you wire those in?

And that was the first bit.

And that gave us then
total confidence

that, yeah, ok,
this is going to work.

Narrator:
Once all the debris is checked

and moved
to the correct position,

evidence of a missile hit
on the front of the aircraft

is gone.

Taylor: Well, you could
quite clearly see

that there'd been no explosion
of a missile outside

in the areas
that previous commissions,

going right back
to the early stages,

had predicted.

Narrator: Itavia flight 870's
reassembled fuselage

reveals a new hole
at the back of the plane.

It appears to have been
caused by a bomb.

Taylor: Yes, well,
we know what that is.

Narrator: Investigators
study more wreckage

from that part of the plane.

Taylor: What have we got here?

Huh!
Well, look at you!

Narrator: The steel wash basin

has been bent upwards
by an explosion--

just what investigators
would expect to see

if a bomb exploded
in the rear lavatory.

Taylor: The more we discovered,
the more they all pointed back

to an explosion
in the rear toilet area.

Narrator: Taylor and his team
finally have enough evidence

to say what brought down
Itavia flight 870.

Taylor:
I think it was a bomb.

There was no eureka moment.

We just...from there,

it was was just
a gradual process

of finding more evidence

and no contradictory evidence.

Narrator: There's just
one more test they need to do

to be sure.

Taylor: Ok. Let's blow it up
and see what happens.

Narrator:
Investigators place explosives

inside a DC lavatory

to test their theory that a bomb
brought down flight 870.

Man: Three, two, one.

.

If the shattered pieces
match flight 870's debris...

Taylor:
Ok, let's go see how we did.

Narrator: It will provide strong
evidence that they're right.

The explosion creates
distinctive damage.

It's nearly identical
to what was seen in the debris

from the lavatory of flight 870.

Taylor: Ok, measure that one,
will you? Yeah.

We were absolutely sure.
Yes, yes, there's no doubt.

Narrator: The evidence can't
reveal who planted the bomb,

but investigators
now have a good idea

where it was placed.

The bomb
was probably small enough

to hide inside
the tissue holder

or behind the wash basin.

Taylor: You can put
something in there.

You can reach around behind that

and get closer
to the aircraft skin.

Narrator:
Based on the physical evidence,

the aircraft's
last radar return,

and the location of debris,

investigators
now have a clear picture

of flight 870's final moments.

Controller: Itavia 8-7-0
call back for descent.

Fontana:
Thank you for everything.

We'll call you
for descent. 8-7-0.

Gatti: Guarda!

Taylor: It was an explosion

close to the pylon
of the right-hand engine,

which caused the right-hand
engine to come off.

Narrator:
In less than ten seconds,

the plane breaks apart...

And plunges into the sea.

In 1994,
after four years of work,

Frank Taylor's team
files its report.

For the first time
since the disaster,

investigators claim to have
indisputable evidence

that a bomb blew up flight 870.

Learmount: Frank Taylor's team
didn't reach any conclusions

except ones which were based
on hard physical evidence.

There was no theorizing
going on.

Narrator:
Taylor's report is the last word

on the technical investigation
of the Itavia tragedy.

But in Italy's,

his findings are overshadowed
by an ongoing judicial inquiry

that has been consumed
with the missile theory

since the beginning.

Learmount: In Italy's,
really the judiciary

just seem to be able
to ride roughshod

over whatever's happening.

Taylor: What we were told...

In effect that our report
was useless.

Learmount:
The judiciary in Italy's

just found Frank Taylor's
findings inconvenient.

Um, I don't think they ordered
it not to be published.

They just made a decision
that they wouldn't publish it.

Narrator: Most Italians still
believe in the missile theory,

despite scientific evidence
to the contrary.

Purgatori: The public opinion
was much more intrigued

by the possibility
that there was a cover-up,

military or political cover-up.

Narrator: In 2013,

at a hearing to assign
financial liability

for the accident,

the Italian supreme court rules

that a missile of unknown origin
shot down flight 870

and orders the government
to pay 100 million euros

to the victims' families.

The ruling is a relief
to the families,

but leaves some wondering if
important evidence was ignored.

Learmount: I'm sorry,

but Italy's is a dreadful place

to have an aviation accident.

If you want the truth,

you're less likely
to find it there

than just about
anywhere else in the world.

Narrator: For air accident
investigator Frank Taylor,

the evidence speaks for itself.

Taylor:
We discovered quite clearly

that somebody
had planted a bomb there.

But nobody on the legal side,
it would appear, believed us.

And therefore,
so far as we're aware,

there has been no proper search
for who did it,

why they did it,

or anything else.

As an engineer
and an investigator,

I cannot see why anybody would
want to consider anything...

Anything other than the truth.