All language subtitles for Air.Disasters.S06E02.Attack.Over.Baghdad.1080p.PMTP.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-maldini_track3_[eng]

NARRATOR: You wouldn't
think delivering

mail would be a dangerous job.

They have to try to land
an airliner in a way

no pilot has ever done before.

We've lost all hydraulics.

NARRATOR: All the
controls are dead.

They've become passengers
in their own plane.

And somehow, they
have to land it.

Even at journey's end,
their ordeal isn't over.

Do not move.

FLIGHT ATTENDANT:
Ladies and gentlemen,

we are starting our approach.

PILOT: We lost both engines.

FLIGHT ATTENDANT: Fasten your
seat belt. Emergency decent.

PILOT May day.
May day.

FLIGHT ATTENDANT:
Brace for impact.

MAN: Take a lost one.

MAN: Investigation
started into this crash.

MAN: It's going to crash.

NARRATOR: Baghdad,
November 22, 2003.

Officially, the war in Iraq
has been over for months.

But the country is
violent and unstable.

No one feels safe.

The American-led coalition
has been in charge of Iraq

for six months.

The Iraqi army is defeated.

Saddam Hussein, the deposed
president, remains in hiding.

Ominously, the main threat is
now from secret armed groups.

They are targeting civilians,
both Iraqi and foreign,

in order to make the
country unstable.

Perhaps, even
provoke a civil war.

They have plundered
Iraqi army stores

for every infantry
weapon there is,

even surface-to-air missiles.

Baghdad is a very
dangerous place.

Dawn, on the
outskirts of the city.

Claudine Vernier-Palliez,
from the French magazine

Paris Match, and her
photographer Jerome,

are going to a secret meeting
with Iraqi terrorists.

She's after the story
that everyone wants.

Who are they?

What do they want?

The previous day, she had met
the leader in a hotel room.

He called himself
Abdu Abdullah,

but no one knew his real name.

INTERPRETER: Evidently, this
man was very, very determined

to stop at nothing
to show the Americans

that he wanted no
more of them, at least

not their military tactics.

NARRATOR: Baghdad airport, key
to the US presence in Iraq.

Military planes fly in
daily to supply the troops

and to help rebuild
the shattered country.

Because of the threat
from Iraqi terrorists,

the US has
established a security

zone around the
airport, patrolled

by Apache helicopters.

On the tarmac today is one
of the few civilian aircraft

to use the airport,
An Airbus A300,

belonging to the
career firm DHL.

They have won the contract
to carry the soldiers mail.

INTERPRETER: They led us down
little roads for a long time

to be sure we would
lose our bearings.

NARRATOR: At the hotel,
Claudine and her photographer

had arranged to meet
the rebels at dawn

the next morning to take
pictures of the fighters

with their weapons.

INTERPRETER: We
arrived in a field

where we met other vehicles,
among them, a pickup truck.

The men got out of the cars.

INTERPRETER: And just
off the road, hidden

under some branches, the
men recovered some weapons

and some missiles.

They loaded their weapons
in their vehicles,

and Jerome took the
pictures we wanted.

NARRATOR: The journalists
have gotten the story

they came for,
but Abdu Abdullah

is not finished with them yet.

He tells them to follow.

They don't know where.

CLAUDINE VERNIER-PALLIEZ:

INTERPRETER: And he
told me that a new phase

in his resistance
actions would be

to shoot missiles at planes.

NARRATOR: A few miles
away, the DHL plane

is getting ready to depart.

Two flights a day
shuttle mail and packages

in and out of the war zone.

Baghdad Tower,
Oscar-Oscar-Delta-Lima-Lima,

Airbus A300, cargo,
information

Sierra .

NARRATOR: The Australian Air
Force is providing the air

traffic control in Baghdad.

Oscar-Oscar-Delta-Lima-Lima,
clear to start.

Before, start checklist.

Start to--

NARRATOR: Captain Eric
Gennotte is Belgian, 38

years old and single.

Into fuel.

NARRATOR: He
realized his dearest

ambition a year ago
when he qualified

to captain the Airbus A300.

In 2:45.

Door closed, AGT610.

NARRATOR: Flight engineer
Mario Rofail lives in Scotland

with his wife and children.

At 54, he's the oldest
and most experienced

member of the crew.

A veteran of many danger zones.

Start one.

open.

NARRATOR: The 29-year-old
co-pilot, Steeve

Michielsen is also Belgian.

He's been married
just three months.

Air blades.

Set.

NARRATOR: Cargo airliners are
great places for young pilots

to get the hours and
experience they need

to pilot commercial aircraft.

DHL has been flying into
Baghdad for six months.

But there is no
danger pay for crew.

The airport is an oasis
of calm in the middle

of a chaotic war zone.

Nevertheless, they're aware of
what's going on around them.

When we were crossing
already the border from Kuwait

to Iraq, the ambience in
the cockpit already changed.

You have a kind of
stress, at least for me.

NARRATOR: The journalists have
been taken to another location

by the terrorists.

By now, they're
beginning to get uneasy.

They'd like to leave, but they
have no idea where they are.

And they feel that a
dangerous situation will

develop if they attempt to go.

So what's going on here?

INTERPRETER: We're going to
do Special Operations today

You'll see I'll show you.

INTERPRETER: This is SAM-7.

We have them from
the old Iraqi army.

We have approximately 28.

We got them from two
different Iraqi army depots.

We have already fired about 25,
and we only have three left.

NARRATOR: They are heat-seeking
missiles, equipped with homing

devices, which detect
infrared emissions

from a plane's engines.

INTERPRETER: This SAM-14,
better than SAM-7.

We don't have so many.

I think we should
use this one today.

It was very good before.

Before?

We shot down a
plane near Nasiriyah

and my fighters
recorded 177 dead.

And we shot down another
plane with Americans on,

and we killed 70 men.

INTERPRETER: But no one
had ever heard about this.

I didn't believe a word of it.

From all over Baghdad,
you could have seen it.

So I thought the guy
was making it up.

So what are you going
to do with this one today?

INTERPRETER: What
do you think, we're

going to shoot down a plane?

I don't really give a damn.

INTERPRETER: I'll show you.

NARRATOR: The journalists
are getting worried.

What if he's not
bluffing after all?

This is not the
story they came for.

It's early in the day
at Baghdad airport.

A DHL Airbus A300
carrying letters

home from American
soldiers is just departing.

The crew is unaware
that just a few miles

away, a terrorist group has
its own plans for the aircraft.

Oscar-Oscar-Delta-Lima-Lima,
cleared for takeoff.

Take off.

NARRATOR: The plane is
a 24-year-old airliner

converted to carry cargo.

Its first stop will be the
Persian Gulf state of Bahrain.

It's a journey they
make twice a day.

100 knots.

V1.

Rotate.

V2.

Positive climb.

NARRATOR: Despite the
calm in the cockpit,

the crew knows that
below 10,000 feet,

they're vulnerable to
attack from the ground.

So far, no plane in
Iraq has been hit

with a surface-to-air missile.

But it's known that
the terrorists now

have such weapons.

ERIC GENNOTTE: It's
a strange ambience.

It's a strange feeling.

Between the time you take off
and you reach 10,000 feet,

you know that you
are in danger.

Gears up.

Gear up.

No lights.

NARRATOR: Meanwhile, the
terrorist leader Abdu Abdullah

appears to have
chosen his spot.

INTERPRETER: He asked us
to park our cars pointing

outwards so that
everybody could leave

in a different direction.

That's when I
should have realized

that the bluffing was over.

NARRATOR: The journalists
are now very alarmed.

They cannot leave.

They're trapped.

Uh-huh.
Uh-huh.

Uh-huh.
Uh-huh.

NARRATOR: This is video shot
by the terrorists themselves.

They'll deliver it to the
media in Baghdad the next day.

What's that?

CONTROLS: Bank angle.

Bank angle.

We've lost green and yellow.

CONTROLS: Bank angle.

Green and yellow?

MARIO ROFAIL: We had
three hydraulic systems.

They are identified
by color, which one is

the green and yellow and blue.

NARRATOR: Big jets depend
on hydraulic power.

Hydraulic fluid runs inside
pipes throughout the aircraft.

When the pilots move
the control column,

pistons push the
fluid in the pipes

to climb, descend,
or turn the plane.

With no hydraulics,
pilots have no way

to control their flight.

The missile has
exploded in the wing

where the pipes filled
with hydraulic fluid

are now draining.

It's like driving
a car at high speed

and suddenly losing
the steering wheel.

What do we do?

What do we do?

ERIC GENNOTTE: What do we do?

What could I answer?

What could I answer to him?

It was a very, very difficult
question he asked me.

STEEVE MICHIELSEN:
My initial reaction

was we have to do something.

And I asked to the captain,
like, what should we do?

Or any ideas or something?

And he said-- well,
his initial reaction

was we have to go back.

NARRATOR: A big jet
can survive with one

of the three hydraulic systems
knocked out, maybe even two.

But all three, none of
the controls will work.

CONTROLS: Bank angle.

Bank angle.

is good.

CONTROLS: Bank angle.

I think we hit something.

CONTROLS: Bank angle.

Bank angle.

Bank angle.

Flue is gone.

CONTROLS: Bank angle.

Bank angle.

We've lost all hydraulics.

NARRATOR: All three
hydraulic systems are gone.

There's nothing left.

The life of the aircraft
is now measured in minutes.

MARIO ROFAIL: That was
the end of everything--

procedures, what you've been
trained all these years.

And so all you needed then
is to keep calm, common sense

And, of course, here's
where your experience comes

to see whatever is left there.

We had nothing to come back
to or read or do or follow.

CONTROLS: Bank angle.

Flight DHL is in trouble.

He's on fire and
he's turning back.

Scramble the fire engines,
have medevac on standby.

CONTROLS: Bank angle.

NARRATOR: The control
columns have become useless.

Without the crucial
hydraulic systems,

there is no way to
move the controls.

ERIC GENNOTTE: When you
have this kind of emergency,

the three needle showing
zero and the flight

engineer saying your
only totally gone,

you are terrified as well.

CONTROLS: Bank angle.

MARIO ROFAIL: It was fear.

We had no control
of the aircraft,

of course, initially.

The aircraft continued
to climb at that time

until about 12,000 feet.

NARRATOR: The plane has
started to behave strangely.

It climbs to 12,000 feet,
then suddenly starts

to dive of its own accord.

CONTROLS: Sink rate.

NARRATOR: Then it climbs again.

CONTROLS: Sink rate.

It will not fly.

CONTROLS: Sink rate.

Back, back.

CONTROLS: Sink rate.

NARRATOR: This cycle repeats
itself over and over again,

like a deadly
roller coaster ride.

The crew can't stop the
plane's wild gyrations.

They're still
airborne, but somehow

they must regain control.

ERIC GENNOTTE: And now, Eric,
are you proud of yourself?

Look in each mess you are.

You know it was
dangerous to come here,

and what you will do
now to get out of here?

CONTROLS: Bank angle.

Bank angle.

I play with controls.

I will reduce thrust.

NARRATOR: By moving the
throttles to and fro,

perhaps they can flatten out
the huge dives and climbs.

NARRATOR: It's all
they can think of.

ERIC GENNOTTE: And then I
decided to take the challenge.

We have to come back.

NARRATOR: There is
no training to fly

a plane in this condition.

CONTROLS: Bank angle.

Bank angle.

So from that time
and on, all the books

and the procedures and this,
they're out of the window.

We have engines.

We can use the thrust.

NARRATOR: All they have
left now are the two

engines, which are undamaged.

But how do you fly and land
a plane with engines alone?

No airliner has ever done it.

Certainly not this one.

In August 1985, a Japan
Airlines Boeing 747

had suffered a
similar catastrophe

minutes after leaving Tokyo.

FLIGHT CREW:

NARRATOR: The bulkhead of the
back of a cabin burst open.

The force of the rushing air
blew off most of the tail fin

and cut all the
hydraulic lines.

Without hydraulic power,
the pilots of the 747

were little more than
passengers themselves.

A jet with 524 people on board
flying over the mountains

of Central Japan was virtually
helpless, swaying in the sky

like a drunken bird.

RON SCHLEEDE: It really
could be considered a miracle

that the pilots were able
to keep the airplane flying

for 30 minutes or more after
having lost all the hydraulics

and their flight controls.

But it kept circling,
and eventually worked

its way into the mountains.

And it became impossible
for them to land.

There was no real
alternative for them

at all except to
fly as long as they

could and hope for some
miracle, which never occurred.

NARRATOR: When the
747 hit a mountain,

it was the worst single
crash in aviation history.

520 people died.

CONTROLS: Bank angle.

NARRATOR: Can the DHL
crew succeed where

the Japanese pilots failed?

CONTROLS: Bank angle.

NARRATOR: The first task is to
try to calm the wild plunging

of the aircraft.

RON SCHLEEDE: The
airplane will tend

to go into what's called a
phugoid in the vertical mode.

It will descend, speed up,
therefore pick up more lift.

Then it would climb, pitch up
and climb, it would slow down,

lose lift.

And so it would go
into this and it

was very difficult for the
pilots to control that.

NARRATOR: They have to do it
by using engine power alone,

the only thing they have left.

They find that if they
reduce engine power,

the plane's nose drops and
they begin to gather speed.

If they then push the throttles
forward, the nose comes up

and they start to climb.

But they have to learn
precisely when to increase

and decrease power.

CONTROLS: Bank angle.

Bank angle.

NARRATOR: And there's
another complication.

The damage to the left wing
is creating drag on that side,

pulling them to the
left in a wide circle.

STEEVE MICHIELSEN:
One of the most

difficult things to master.

To keep the pitch
altitude in a normal way

was already difficult enough.

And now, on top of this, we
had to use asymmetrical thrust

because the airplane
was banking to the left

all the time.

There was a part of the
left wing which was gone.

Bank.

Bank.

NARRATOR: So they not only
have to move the throttles back

and forth to flatten out the
plane's roller coaster motion,

but they also have to apply
more power to the left engine

to compensate for the
damaged wing, which

is causing them to lose lift.

After several minutes of
violent pitching up and down,

the crew manages to flatten
out the flight path.

Even after we've learned how
to fly it using the throttles,

we still went through--

I would say, three to four
times, we went through almost

uncontrollable condition.

You know, we couldn't
control the airplane.

Like, very steep
dives and banks.

NARRATOR: By now,
the crew realizes

they've been hit by a missile
somewhere on the left wing.

Their Airbus has become
the first civilian aircraft

casualty of the war.

I knew we were on fire.

That I knew it.

So my intention was to come
back and land the aircraft.

And also, I was--

we were afraid, I was afraid
to be shot a second time.

NARRATOR: Their
fears are justified.

The terrorist leader,
Abdu Abdullah,

is waiting for a second
chance to finish them off.

INTERPRETER: They launched
a second missile that

missed the plane this time.

And then he told
everyone, let's go,

and we all left quickly.

NARRATOR: Madam
Vernier-Palliez later

came under a storm
of criticism for not

doing more to stop the attack,
or at least leave the scene.

INTERPRETER: I think
that any journalist

in the situation we
were in would have

reacted exactly as we did.

We have been criticized for
not having said to the group

leader when he told us he was
going to fire on an aircraft,

"no sir, we're leaving now."

On the one hand, if we
had said that to him,

it would have meant a bullet
in the head, that's clear.

And on the other hand,
right up to the last minute,

right up to the time when
they fired the missile,

I didn't think they
were going to do it.

I thought they were
still bluffing.

While we were trying
to find our way back

with our chauffeur, we saw
that the plane, its left wing

was on fire.

It was now turning like this.

It was like in a
film, it was unreal.

And it was only
when we could see

the plane on fire that
we thought of the people

on board.

And then we were scared.

NARRATOR: The crew knows
nothing of the second missile.

GROUND CONTROL: Joey to one.

PILOT:
did you guys say

there's an aircraft's on fire?

NARRATOR: This
remarkable video was

shot with the infrared
heat-sensitive camera of a US

Apache attack helicopter.

PILOT: Dragon
team, we're at 5-4.

NARRATOR: Apaches
routinely patrol

the area around the airport,
watching out for terrorists.

GROUND CONTROL:
5-4 down.

PILOT: Roger, 5-4 is
observing the aircraft inbound

under our sighting system.

He's got appears to be a
fire on his far left engine.

NARRATOR: The intense heat
of the fire on the Airbus

shows up as a blur
on the helicopter's

heat-sensitive camera.

CREW: Roger to Lima-Lima.

GROUND CONTROL: That's
Lima Lima tower.

CREW: Yes, we have
a bit of problems

controlling the aircraft.

MARIO ROFAIL: There was
a helicopter flying,

and he could see that the
fire was not from the engine,

but it was from the left wing.

So it gave Mario
the opportunity

to ask the tower again if they
could still see some flames

or smoke coming
from the airplane.

Could you confirm if there is
smoke coming from the aircraft

or fire or anything like that?

PILOT: Tower,
Dragon team at 5-4.

We still see smoke and flame
coming from the left tip

of the left wing.

OK, the left wing, keep
the fire and smoke up.

PILOT: That's affirmative.

Thank you.

STEEVE MICHIELSEN: We were on
a heading towards the airport,

we could see the airport.

Lower the gear.

Can I take control?

No, I have control.

I have control.

Lower the gear.

NARRATOR: With no
hydraulic power,

Mario has to crank open
the landing gear doors

and let the wheels drop
down by gravity alone.

The captain said, in
fact, we have to land.

And he called for the
gear down, which is quite

normal thing to go and land.

NARRATOR: But it has
an unintended effect.

Lowering the landing gear has
altered the entire balance

of the aircraft just
when they thought they'd

figured out how to control it.

It causes the nose to point
high in the air and the speed

to fall.

No, no.

No, the speed.

NARRATOR: It could easily
stall and then crash.

ERIC GENNOTTE: I didn't
expect that at all

and I saw the aircraft
taking a pitch up.

And then the speed, decreasing,
decreasing, decreasing.

And I was returning the
throttle and say, no, no.

No, no.

NARRATOR: The nose has gone up.

Their speed is falling,
and they're about to stall.

They have no choice but to pull
back the throttles to bring

the nose back down again.

They're nearly at stall speed.

That would have
been the end of it.

We would have fallen
out of the sky.

PILOT 1: You have
visual on this guy?

PILOT 2: No, I'm
looking right in it.

He's way out there.

PILOT 1: Man.

That's gut wrenching, man.

They're up there doing
everything they can.

I was afraid that maybe
one wing would stall,

and this time, it's finished.

PILOT 2: I think I'd rather
try to crash on a runway

than crash into the desert.

PILOT 1: Yeah, trying
to land on a runway

where as you can just belly
up in the desert and the sand

would probably
put out any fire.

PILOT 2: Yeah.

NARRATOR: Cautiously,
they managed to coax a bit

more speed from the engines.

Lowering the gear brought
them to the brink of disaster,

but now, the plane
is easier to control.

STEEVE MICHIELSEN: The
airplane miraculously

became more stable afterwards.

That's one of the first
factors which proves

how lucky we were that day.

Let's land.

Tower Lima-Lima.

GROUND CONTROL:
Oscar-Oscar-Delta-Lima-Lima,

Baghdad tower, can
you make approach now?

Runway is clear for landing.

NARRATOR: The Apache helicopter
has been joined by others who

are powerless to do anything
but provide information

to the stricken DHL plane.

PILOT 1: It looks like he
won't be too high again.

PILOT 2: I'm still
looking up in the flare.

Come on, buddies.

MARIO ROFAIL: You could
hear other aeroplanes

talking at the same time.

PILOT: Oh crap.

And that on its own
was a bit difficult.

GROUND CONTROL:
Oscar-Oscar-Delta-Lima-Lima.

CREW: Could you please
clear 33 left for us

as well, because
I think we lost

our flight control as well.

Oscar-Oscar-Delta-Lima-Lima,
runway

33 left is available as well
if you need to land there.

OK, keep both
runways open for us.

No more talking.

Bye.

PILOT: Help them, man.

Did you know tank
1-alpha is empty?

NARRATOR: Fuel has been
steadily streaming out

of the tanks in the left wing.

Now, one of them is empty.

Bank back.

CONTROLS: Bank angle.

Yes, got it.

CONTROLS: Bank angle.

Wind is down,
left wing coming up.

NARRATOR: Against
all odds, they've

made it back to the airport,
an incredible feat of flying.

They begin making
preparations to land.

Which runway?

We use 33 right, I think.

Lima-Lima.

GROUND CONTROL:
Lima-Lima, go ahead.

Could you please
declare full emergency.

Yes, we will need the fire
brigade, because our landing

gears might collapse as well.

GROUND CONTROL:
Oscar-Lima-Lima,

all available assistance
is available on the field.

Everyone is on full alert.

OK, thank you very
much, and no more calls.

PILOT 1: Man, that guy's
got to be pretty stressed.

PILOT 2: Rightfully so.

NARRATOR: Just on the brink of
success, it begins to unravel.

STEEVE MICHIELSEN:
At that time,

I realized that we
were a little bit too

high to come in and land
in the situation we were.

That's what I
thought as well.

We were too high and too near.

- We must land.
- We are too close.

We need a long final.

I mean, Steeve brought a
very important point here,

and I think it was
really a saver.

NARRATOR: Steeve is
giving his captain

news he doesn't want to hear.

He can't land.

They are too high
and too close.

If they attempt
a steep descent,

they'll crash on the runway.

Eric Gennotte will have
to turn around, fly away

from the airport
for over 20 miles,

turn again, and come back
on a long final approach,

slowly descending.

If we haven't
done this 20 miles,

we would have been circling
there forever until we dropped

to the sky or the wing.

You can't make it.

It's impossible.

Keep the speed up.

Keep the speed up.

I try.

I will do the best I can.

ERIC GENNOTTE: And then I
realized they were right.

We have to go on long final.

NARRATOR: But for
the last 13 minutes,

the wing has been on fire.

Do they have enough time?

20 miles final.

OK.

PILOT 1: He looks like
he's still pretty high.

You got him in sight now?

PILOT 2: He's still
got a long way to go.

PILOT 1: Yeah.

It looks like he started, like,
an extremely extended final.

PILOT 2: Yeah.

And I don't think
they can make it in.

NARRATOR: Time is running out.

The fire is eating
up the left wing.

They're still heading
away from the airport,

then they have to turn and
make a 23-mile approach.

Can they land before
the wing fails?

Two main structural spars
give the wing its strength.

The missile has made
a 16-foot-long crack

in the rear spar.

Too much stress and it
will snap like a twig.

There's another danger.

Fuel is streaming out
of the punctured tanks

in the left wing.

If the tanks run dry, an engine
will stall and they'll crash.

We were controlling the bank
and the pitch of the aeroplane

using the two engines.

So if we had lost one engine,
then we couldn't do anything

with the other engine.

So the end result would
have been disaster.

NARRATOR: Despite the fire, the
crew's confidence is growing.

Now, they have some
control over the plane.

But the prospects for a
safe landing are not good.

This is the closest
any commercial jet

has come to a safe landing
with no hydraulics.

In 1989, in the United States,
the crew of this United DC-10

lost all their controls
after an engine blew up

and turbine blades shredded
the hydraulic pipes.

The pilots managed to
regain some control,

moving the throttles
backwards and forwards

like the DHL crew.

There were 296 people on board.

But at the last minute, as they
approached the small airport

of Sioux City, Iowa disaster.

CREW: No,
I can't pull it off.

Feels like that's
what's turning it.

OK.
Yep.

Bank, bank, bank, bank left.

Bank left.

NARRATOR: In the Sioux
City crash, of the 296

people on board, 111 died.

So within four years,
two major airlines

had crashed because
a loss of hydraulics

crippled the planes,
killing 631 people.

In its investigation report
on the Sioux City disaster,

the US National
Transportation Safety Board

asked for urgent
research to find

ways of controlling
big jets that

had lost their hydraulics.

But over Baghdad,
14 years later,

the DHL crew has only
their wits to help

them as they try to land.

I remember the story of
the DC-10 of Sioux City

that it has been done before.

The only control we still have
on the aircraft in the cockpit

was the engine.

Nothing else.

NARRATOR: The crew is now 17
miles away from the airport,

getting close to
where they'll turn

in order to make their long
final approach to the runway.

15.2.

16.

Now, we turn right.

Not yet.

This is where
experience counts now

and you have to rely
on what you know.

We were pretty sure that we
were going to be able to make

it to the airport,
but we were absolutely

not sure that we
were going to be

able to make it to the runway.

16.5.

Now, we turn.

17 miles.

Now, we turn.

NARRATOR: The only
way they can turn

is by applying more
power to the left engine

to make them go
right, and vice versa.

They're swinging
around to the right,

trying to keep the
plane steady and descend

all at the same time, using
nothing but the engines.

Airport at 340,
come right, now 320.

Speed?

We're 10 knots and
stable, keep speed up.

Yes.

Yes.

4,000 feet.

3,500 feet.

3,200 feet.

We turn on the head.

NARRATOR: Against
all their instincts,

they'll have to keep
the speed up on landing

or the nose will drop
and they'll crash.

They should be landing at
around 185 miles per hour,

but they are coming in
60 miles an hour faster.

No one knows if the landing
gear will take the strain.

As they reach 400
feet, the hot air

from the ground and strong wind
blowing across their flight

path upsets all their plans.

The wind's coming
from the left,

and the turbulence, we
were drifting to the right.

That's where the
airport building was.

It's bumpy.

NARRATOR: As the plane
approaches the runway,

the nose is pointing
dangerously low,

and the left wing is dropping.

CONTROLS: Sink rate.

Come on, buddy.

They're carrying
too much speed.

They could over run the runway.

CONTROLS: Sink rate.

Sink rate.

Keep the speed up.

We are going left.

Yes, I increase.

CONTROLS: Sink rate.
50.

If you go to
landing,

may go off the runway.

They are landing 33 left.

Fire trucks on standby,
medevac on standby.

PILOT: I don't think
now.

Steady.

Steady.

You are approaching
the end of your life.

You realize it.

CONTROLS: Pull right.

PILOT: Come on, buddy.

Bank, OK.

PILOT 1: Oh.

It looks like one of
his gears collapsed.

PILOT 2: Yeah, it did.

Half runway.

Oh no.

PILOT 1: Looks like
he's in the dirt.

PILOT 2: Dirt, or did he
just come off the runway?

PILOT 1: That's
what's left of him.

NARRATOR: The DHL
Airbus has managed

to land through an
incredible feat of flying.

But their troubles
are not over.

Icelandic, wow.

Confirm evac.

Evacuate?

Evacuate.

Evacuation.

Both, I know.

NARRATOR: But after
getting to the ground

safely against all odds,
there's another danger.

She might blow.

FIREMAN: Hey guys, don't move.

That area has
unexploded ordnance.

Do not move.

What's that?

He's saying there
might be bombs here.

I don't believe this.

We're coming to get you.

NARRATOR: The area
is still littered

with unexploded
ordnance left over

from the battle to
capture the airport

from Saddam Hussein's army.

When we get to you,
we're going to back up

and you got to
follow in our tracks.

Now, we're going
to get out of here.

Keep coming.

Keep coming.

It's not much further now.

NARRATOR: Now, for
the first time,

the crew can see the
damage for themselves.

They have survived
the unsurvivable.

No crew has ever
successfully landed

such a badly damaged airliner.

They had to learn and practice
a whole new flying technique.

But the remarkable thing
is, had they known it,

the technology had already
been invented to save any pilot

in this desperate situation.

The DHL pilots have managed
to fly and land a plane

without any flying controls.

It's the first time
this has happened.

Two earlier occasions
near Tokyo and Sioux City,

Iowa ended with the
loss of over 600 lives.

In 1989, NASA began
to investigate

ways to land crippled aircraft
using only throttle controls.

Engineers and pilots came up
with software that could cope

with total hydraulic failure.

It's called PCA for Propulsion
Controlled Aircraft.

The PCA concept is simple.

Pilots tell the
aircraft's flight

management computer
what they want

to do-- turn, climb, descend.

But instead of sending those
commands down hydraulic lines

to the control surfaces, the
computer orders the engines

alone to do it.

To test this software,
the MD-11 Of an aircraft

is landing with no hydraulics
and using engine thrust alone.

The pilot is not
moving the throttles,

the PCA software is
doing it all for him.

Though none of the plane's
normal controls were used,

the MD-11's landing was not
only survivable, but very

similar to a normal landing.

One of the supporters
of the PCA system

is Captain Dennis
Fitch, one of the pilots

who survived the Sioux
City DC-10 crash.

This is just absolutely an
amazing piece of equipment.

What they have done and
what they have achieved

and the success
ratio that we have,

the survivability that we
now have with modern aircraft

completely controlled in
hydraulics to have this occur

again and have this
aboard the aircraft

is a very warm
feeling as a pilot.

gone.

We've lost all hydraulics.

NARRATOR: America's
Federal Aviation

Administration conducted
research into PCA,

but soon abandoned it.

It says the risk of
losing all hydraulics

is too low to make systems
like the PCA worthwhile.

DAVE HAYES: The FAA's
conclusion after their studies

was that these events
are so rare as to not

require the mandate of
an additional system.

And of course, they did
not consider the event

of, or the possibility, of
a surface-to-air weapons

attack on the aircraft.

NARRATOR: The DHL A300 is the
first plane in Iraq to be hit

by a surface-to-air missile.

But in recent
years, the threat of

terrorist-controlled
shoulder-launched

anti-aircraft missiles
has been growing.

There had been roughly
30-odd incidents of commercial

aircraft being
attacked by manned

portable surface-to-air
missiles,

leading up to the DHL one.

NARRATOR: What makes the risk
of missile attack in Iraq so

serious is that for
months, nobody was guarding

the abandoned weapons
stores of the Iraqi army,

leaving terrorists free to
help themselves to millions

of dollars worth of arms.

INTERPRETER: I believe
there are weapon

caches everywhere in Iraq.

In my opinion, they
also have many missiles.

NARRATOR: There is widespread
fear that these terror weapons

could soon be
targeting passenger

airliners all over the world.

The US government's Department
of Homeland Security

is spending over $100
million on research

to adapt military counter
missile technology

for civilian airlines.

JAMES O'HALLORAN: It
is inevitable today

that commercial
aircraft will have

to be fitted, at
some time, with laser

and infrared jamming systems.

If you look at things like
the queen's flight in the UK,

the president's
aircraft in the USA,

and the king of Jordan's
fleet, they're all fitted.

Terrorism is with us today,
and will always be with us

for the rest of our lives.

It's impossible to
defeat terrorism.

But what is possible
is to control

terrorism at a commercially
acceptable level.

If we don't do that, then
there's no future for us.

NARRATOR: But miraculously,
without any of this equipment,

the DHL crew brought their
plane to a successful landing.

It is the only confirmed
occasion in aviation history

when a missile exploded on a
large civilian airliner, which

then landed without crashing.

For Mario Rofail, it was a
good note on which to retire.

MARIO ROFAIL: It was a
good time to actually

say goodbye to aviation.

As you said, I've been
flying for 30 years.

And clean record, even
to the last minute.

We were lucky,
but also, we worked.

We fight to survive.

I learned some things
about life, maybe.

But I don't think it
makes me a better pilot.

NARRATOR: The three
DHL crew members

have received some
of the highest awards

that the civilian aviation
community has to offer,

in recognition of an
unprecedented achievement.

STEEVE MICHIELSEN: Teamwork
was absolutely the key factor

of bringing the airplane
back to the ground

with all three people alive.

NARRATOR: As for what
happened to the suspect

in the DHL bombing, no
one can say for sure.

What is certain is that the
threat of further missile

attacks on planes, both
military and civilian,

is still out there.