All language subtitles for Air Disasters S17E07 Tree Strike Terror 1080p PMTP WEB-DL AAC2 0 H 264_track3_[eng]

NARRATOR: On approach
during a thunderstorm.

Both runways are wet.

Severe turbulence.

NARRATOR: American
Airlines Flight

1572 loses a valuable lifeline.

TRAFFIC CONTROLLER
(ON RADIO): Be advised,

the tower is closed.

There's a leaky
window in the tower.

The tower had actually
been abandoned.

This is a very
unusual situation.

NARRATOR: NTSB investigators
learn that a supervisor

went to the deserted tower.

I told them they could land.

Landing is at your discretion.

The runway does
appear to be clear.

NARRATOR: Moments
before touchdown,

disaster strikes, and both
of the plane's engines fail.

What role did an
out of service tower

play in jeopardizing the lives
of the 78 people on board?

Tom, we're going down.

NARRATOR: On a stormy
November night,

American Airlines
Flight 1572 cruises

35,000 feet above Pennsylvania.

Smoother ride up here
than at 33,000.

NARRATOR: Captain Kenneth
Lee, a former military pilot,

has been flying with American
Airlines for 10 years.

That's for sure.

NARRATOR: First Officer
John Richards also

flew with the military
and has seven years of

commercial aviation experience.

This was a very
experienced flight

crew that was very
comfortable with the aircraft

they were flying.

NARRATOR: They're
flying the MD-83,

a twin engine narrowbody jet.

It has two turbofan
engines mounted in the tail.

It has a T tail
and a swept main wing.

It was one of the last
aircraft that actually had

a direct connection between
the controls in the cockpit and

the surfaces on the airplane.

Better get the cabin
ready for our descent.

Hi.

We're starting our descent
now so you can lock the cabin

up and prepare for landing.

Will do.

Please, fasten your seatbelt.

NARRATOR: It's a short 2-hour
flight from Chicago's O'Hare

Airport to Bradley
International Airport

at Windsor Locks, Connecticut.

There are five crew
and 73 passengers

on board, many of them
returning home.

Please, put your seat
in the upright position.

Flight started out
rather routinely.

It was the second day
of a three-day leg

trip for these guys.

TRAFFIC CONTROLLER
(ON RADIO): American 1572,

descend at pilot's discretion.

Maintain flight level 190.

Pilot's discretion to 190.

American 1572.

Let's go down.

NARRATOR: The flight is
25 minutes from landing.

I'm gonna get the ATIS
real quick.

TRAFFIC CONTROLLER (ON RADIO):
Bradley Airport Information,

Victor 03.

NARRATOR: ATIS, or Automatic
Terminal Information Service,

provides pilots with
important airport data,

like weather and approaches.

TRAFFIC CONTROLLER
(ON RADIO): Notice

to airmen, runway 24 and 15.

Both runways are wet.

Severe turbulence.

All right.

Sounds like it's
gonna be a bumpy ride.

I'll tell the passengers.

NARRATOR: They'll encounter some
rough weather along the way,

but nothing this experienced
crew can't manage.

Many times, I have experienced
the same kind of winds

and weather that
this crew has had,

and the winds will have a
drastic effect on the airplane

and pushing it around.

The crew was very familiar
with the weather

and they were highly experienced
enough to handle anything.

KENNETH LEE: We've
started our descent.

And right now, they've reported
some moderate turbulence

on the descent, so it
might get a little choppy.

Just watch me the whole way.

Yeah, man, you got it.

NARRATOR: The pilots
prepare for the landing.

Any comments, just scream out.

You're gonna get
a lot of turbulence.

You know how to land it.

They support each other.

They back each other up.

If anything goes wrong or
somebody does something wrong,

the other one catches
it and corrects it.

NARRATOR: 50 miles from the
airport, the weather worsens.

That's a lot of rain.

I can see that.

The end route controllers
had told them

the weather was gonna be bad
due to thunderstorms and wind

shear.

NARRATOR: Wind shear
is a sudden change

of wind speed or direction
that can be

dangerous close to the ground.

American 1572,
descend and maintain 4,000.

Descending 4,000.

1572.

NARRATOR: Fight 1572
is the last plane flying

into Bradley Airport tonight.

Approaching 4,000.

NARRATOR: The crew is
making a difficult,

non-precision approach.

Well, a non-precision
approach means that you

don't have a navigation aid.

There's more reliance on the
crew to figure out the altitude

and descend those altitudes
correctly and avoid all

the terrain that's below there.

We're established
on the inbound track

for the VOR approach.

Flaps five.

Check.

Flaps five.

NARRATOR: This type
of approach creates

extra work for the pilots.

The non-precision approach
is the hardest of all

the approaches to fly
because it takes so much

attention to fly the approach.

It has to be set up correctly.

TRAFFIC CONTROLLER (ON RADIO):
American 1572, be advised,

the tower is closed at this time
due to a problem with one

of the windows.

NARRATOR: The non-precision
approach in rough weather

aren't the only challenges
facing the crew.

Copy.

There's a leaky
window in the tower.

NARRATOR: At larger airports,
the control tower

has two areas for managing
incoming and outgoing flights,

approach control,
typically located

on one of the lower floors,
and tower control at the top.

Mark Guiod is the air
traffic manager at Bradley

Airport for 12 years.

Once they're within
5 miles of the airport,

the approach controller
turns them over to the tower,

bring them in for landing
and taxiing to the gate.

NARRATOR: But a leaky window
has shut down

the tower,
forcing the air traffic

controller to leave her post.

Tower controllers are
the pilot's eyes on the ground.

They're the ones that
ensure that the runway is

sterile and clear
for them to land

on, that there are no
obstructions, no other traffic.

They also provide critical
information in the late stages

of the flight.

Flaps 11, please.

You got it.

NARRATOR: The pilots must now
rely on their own observations

to land safely.

The pilots were
expecting someone

to be able to be in the tower,
the controller,

to see the condition
of the runway

and to give them the information
needed to see if anything

during the thunderstorm
had blown onto the runway

so they could make
a safe landing.

NARRATOR: The
approach controller is

closely monitoring the flight.

He notices the plane
is veering off course.

American 1572,
it looks like you're

a bit to the left of final.

Yeah, it looks like
we're left a bit.

Copy.

NARRATOR: 7 miles from
the airport, Captain Lee

gets the plane back on course.

Set gear down.

Gear down.

I'm going up to the tower.

NARRATOR: The supervisor
in approach control volunteers

to give the crew
of Flight 1572 some guidance.

American 1572, there
is someone in the tower.

It's not officially open,
but you

can change the tower frequency.

It would have been
a big relief to the crew

to have someone in the tower,
the controller

up there to give them
the information

they need for the approach.

Hey, tower, American 1572.

We are 6 miles from runway 15.

Landing is at your discretion.

The runway does appear
to be clear.

PILOT (ON RADIO): Copy.

Any landing is really
at the pilot's discretion,

but in this
particular case, they

needed to be extra vigilant
because they did not have

any official tower assistance.

Flaps 40.

NARRATOR: The pilots configure
the aircraft for landing.

Flaps and slats to 40-40.

You are cleared to land.

There's 1,000 feet.

KENNETH LEE: OK.

NARRATOR: Flight 1572 is just
60 seconds from touchdown.

What the--

(screaming)

Bells and whistles were going
off, lights were flashing,

and something had to be done.

NARRATOR: 2 and 1/2 miles from
Bradley Airport in Connecticut,

American Airlines Flight
1572 has struck something

while descending to the runway.

The pilots must act quickly
to avoid crashing.

Go, go round.

Going around.

NARRATOR: They pulled the nose
up in an attempt to recover.

Flaps 15.

Positive rate, gear up.

Gear up.

The crew immediately began
a go around procedure.

They raised the gear,
raised the flaps,

crammed the engines forward, and
immediately after that, things

went downhill very quickly.

(alarm sounding)

Left motor's failed.

NARRATOR: Seconds
after the pilots

commence the go around,
the plane's left engine

loses power.

That's the last thing you
need to have happen is a power

failure on one of the engines.

There's the runway,
straight ahead.

OK, tell them
we're going down.

Tell them emergency.

Hey, tower, call for
emergency equipment.

We're going down on the runway.

Looks like we've got
an emergency on 1572.

Send the trucks.

Emergency vehicles
have been dispatched.

NARRATOR: As the pilots prepare
for an emergency landing,

the situation worsens.

The right engine
also fails, turning

the MD-83 into a 60-ton glider.

They realized they had
the second power failure,

which made double trouble.

NARRATOR: Without its
engines, the plane

has drifted further off course.

Captain Lee tries to line
it back up with the runway.

You've got it, dude.
You're gonna make it.

NARRATOR: But they may not
have enough lift to reach it.

A stall is an
aerodynamic effect.

It's when the wings lose
lift and the airplane

loses directional control.

The only way to
fly out of a stall

is max power, which
they did not have.

Hold on, guy.

Hold it down, Lee.

Hold it down.

Hold it down.

Hold it down.

Hold it down.

Hold it.

God bless you.

You made it.

It was a miracle
that the first officer

saw the runway and the
crew reacted so quickly.

It was a very good
reaction and certainly

saved a lot of people's lives.

NARRATOR: Flight 1572
has landed safely after

a treacherous final approach.

Everyone has survived, and
remarkably, only one person

has suffered a minor injury.

The pilots are hailed as
heroes for saving their plane

and everyone on board.

One of the key things
about something like this

is that you never stop
flying the airplane.

And those who do don't
live to tell about it.

NARRATOR: The events that
nearly brought down Flight

1572 are a complete mystery.

What have we got so far?

NARRATOR: It will be
up to investigators

from the National
Transportation Safety Board,

or NTSB, to find the answers.

Bob Benson heads up the team.

I was the
investigator in charge

with about a dozen NTSB
people underneath me,

plus many people
from the industry.

The aircraft hit the ground
hard approaching

the runway threshold.

Maybe the engines had
something to do with it.

NARRATOR: Did a loss
of engine power cause

Flight 1572 to crash land

in front of the
runway threshold.

When we first arrived
at the accident site,

our first order
of business really

was to kind of do
a reconnaissance,

look at the aircraft.

This thing looks like it
flew through a war zone.

And during our
initial examination,

the aircraft was very,
very damaged.

It reminded me of
something like a B-17

that had gone through a raid
on Schweinfurt in World War II.

It was beat to heck.

Branches sticking out
of the landing gear,

engine blades missing,
battered flaps.

The aircraft was unflyable.

They definitely hit some trees.

They sure did.

And the engines definitely
had power when

they shredded those branches.

NARRATOR: Mangled branches
in the plane's engines

indicate that they
were working normally.

The discovery raises
another question.

If the engines had power,
why'd they hit the trees?

The main question became
why the aircraft

was low enough to hit trees and
still make it to the runway.

If you're gonna analyze an
action like this which is be

categorized as a controlled
flight into terrain,

you have to understand
where the airplane went

and when it went there
and why it went there.

Where exactly did they
hit the trees?

NARRATOR: To understand
why Flight 1572 struck trees,

investigators try to identify
the first point of impact.

The trees they hit are on
top of a ridge about 2 and 1/2

miles northwest of the runway.

We have a team out there now.

Let's see if the trees or the
ridge were marked on the chart.

The approach chart itself,
when you look at it,

had the ridge marked with a
small dot with the altitude.

The chart has the top
of the ridge at 819 feet.

Once we began to look
at the approach

chart itself that
the crew was using,

we noted that the ridge line was
just a mere dot with the number

819 next to it and altitude.

That dot could
have been anything.

It could have been a
building, a giant tree.

Other airlines use
a slightly different

chart that shows
topographical features,

including this ridge line.

NARRATOR:
Did Flight 1572 come in

too low because there
was a lack of detail

on their approach chart?

Do we have an altitude
for the tree strike?

I need an altitude for
the first impact mark.

INVESTIGATOR
(ON RADIO): 771 feet.

They shouldn't have been
anywhere near those trees.

NARRATOR: The team is surprised
to discover that when Flight

1572 hit trees, it was 48 feet
below the altitude

listed for the ridge line.

They weren't just
below the ridge.

They dropped 309 feet below
the minimum descent altitude.

NARRATOR: The Minimum
Descent Altitude, or MDA,

is the lowest altitude a crew
can descend to until they're

able to see the runway.

It's designed to keep planes
above terrain or obstructions.

Those altitudes are
hard altitudes.

When the FAA builds those
altitudes in there,

they have to take in
consideration

of all the clearances,
the trees,

the elevation to keep the
airplane at a safe altitude.

Why would they drop so low?

Maybe there was something
wrong with their altimeters.

Investigators see the airplane
descended too low,

so the question is, did the crew
have the correct indication?

See if the static system
is working.

Pitot-static system was quite
important because that system

controls altitude, altimeters.

It controls airspeed indicators.

And it also controls the
vertical velocity indications.

NARRATOR: Did sensors
provide incorrect data

to the plane's altimeters?

The MD-83 has three
sets of sensors

on the exterior fuselage.

They measure air pressure
to determine airspeed,

altitude, and vertical speed.

If one of the static sensors
is leaking or obstructed,

it can give pilots
inaccurate information,

making them think they're above
or below their actual altitude.

If the pitot tube
is clogged,

you lose those
vital instruments,

and that can happen from
a variety of reasons.

Pitot-static systems have
caused problems before,

problems severe enough
to cause crashes.

You ready?

Yep.

NARRATOR: The test forces
air into the sensor

to determine if the air pressure
is being measured accurately.

But it proves to be a dead end.

The static system is working.

Well, then, let's see what
the controllers can tell us.

It's always valuable to be able
to speak to the air traffic

controllers after an accident.

Well, often, the air
traffic controller

is the last person to speak to
the crew prior to an accident.

Did the crew report anything
unusual on their descent

into Windsor Locks?

No.

No, it was a standard approach.

But the weather conditions
weren't great at the time.

Were there any downdrafts?

NARRATOR: Did strong winds push
Flight 1572 into the trees?

If an airplane encounters
severe downdrafts,

it could push the airplane
down several hundred feet.

NARRATOR: Wind shear poses
a danger to aircraft.

In 1985, a severe downdraft
slammed Delta Airlines Flight

191 into the ground more than
a mile short of the runway

in Dallas, Texas.

137 people lost their lives.

In 1994, a year before
Flight 1572's close call

in Connecticut, US Air Flight
1016 crashed into trees

while attempting to land
in a powerful thunderstorm

in North Carolina.

They plowed into a
residential neighborhood,

killing 37 people.

Thunderstorms have
incredible wind shear.

They can have updrafts
200 miles an hour.

And then, you know,
about half a second later,

after you pass through that,
you get a downdraft

at 200 miles an hour.

There was a lot of wind
around the airport all night.

What about when this flight
was coming through?

There was some wind shear.

NARRATOR: Investigators
learned that airport sensors

registered some downdrafts.

We made sure to
give them updates.

Like I said, it was rough.

So they knew what
they were flying into?

Yes.

Given the weather
conditions at the time

and the unstable air,
investigators

were able to determine that
there may have been downdrafts

up to 300 to 400 feet
per minute occurring

at the time of this event.

So if there was a downdraft,
these guys would

have been prepared for it?

Oh, yes.

It was possible that wind
shear could have pulled

the aircraft down
into the trees,

but a careful look at
the weather at the time,

after that, we determined
that simply wasn't true.

Was there anything else
out of the ordinary

that night besides the weather?

Well, the tower was shut down
for repairs at the time.

Leaky window.

One of our supervisors went up
to make sure they landed OK.

You mean the tower was down
during their approach?

Yes.

I'd like to speak
with the supervisor

who was in the tower.

Sure, of course.

NARRATOR: Did Flight 1572
slam into trees due to a lack

of guidance from the tower?

Air traffic control work
is demanding

and it's a precise job.

If-- if there are any
major disruptions,

either in the tower
or on the radar scope,

it could affect aircraft
traffic greatly.

Were there any signs
the crew was

having trouble during approach?

Not really.

It was all normal until they
called in the emergency.

Take me through what happened.

They were already 6 miles out,
lined up with the runway.

The runway looked clear, so
I told them they could land.

PILOT (ON RADIO): We are
6 miles from runway 15.

Landing is at your discretion.

The runway does appear
to be clear.

PILOT (ON RADIO): Copy.

Did you give them an
actual clearance for landing?

The tower was closed.

I could only give advisories.

It's up to them to decide after
that if they want to land.

Advisories are just
information provided

to the pilot for their own use.

They can listen to it,
they can not listen to it.

It's up to them.

In this case,
the tower was not open,

so therefore,
he didn't have authority

to issue with any clearance.

NARRATOR: Investigators still
don't know if poor weather

and a closed control
tower caused

the pilots to drop below
the minimum descent altitude

and into the trees.

Let's start it at 12:53 when
the crew contacts the tower.

NARRATOR: Investigators turn
to the cockpit voice recording

of Flight 1572's final
approach to determine

why the plane dropped too low
and flew into trees.

TRAFFIC CONTROLLER (ON RADIO):
Landing is at your discretion.

The runway does appear
to be clear.

And what are you showing
right now for winds?

170 at 24.

PILOT (ON RADIO): Copy.

He's checking the runway,
giving them weather updates.

Solid job so far.

NARRATOR: The team listens to
the supervisor giving the crew

guidance to help them land.

It was a good initiative
for him to do that.

It was something some people
would not have done based

on the fact that
the tower itself

was a bit of a precarious area.

PILOT (ON RADIO): Flaps 40.

Flaps and slats to 40-40.

You are clear to land.

OK.

Give me 1,000 down.

1,000 down.

You got it.

Stop that.

1,000 feet a minute?

There's no way.

NARRATOR: As they
neared the ground,

the crew decided to make
their final descent

at 1,000 feet per minute,
nearly double what is normal.

That, in my mind,
is quite excessive.

He didn't have to descend
that steeply.

Especially on a non-precision
approach where you have

a minimum descent altitude that
you should not be going below,

the faster you're descending,
the earlier you have to start

leveling off or else
you end up going below

the target altitude
by the time you

correct and come back up again.

According to the descent
profile,

they're 5 miles from
the airport at 1,900 feet.

NARRATOR: Using the radar beacon
data from air traffic control,

investigators track Flight
1572's cockpit conversation

throughout the descent.

At 1,000 feet per minute,
they're below their MDA

in less than a minute.

Sure, that's fast, but
the first officer should

be calling out the altitudes.

While the aircraft
is descending,

the pilot is supposed to
monitor the airplane's

MDA, minimum descent altitude.

The first officer should
call at 1,000 above the MDA

to the captain, and then
100 foot to the MDA,

and then the MDA altitude.

OK.

Let's listen to the first
officer's call outs.

PILOT (ON RADIO):
There's 1,000 feet.

Good.

He made the 1,000 foot call out.

NARRATOR: But they don't hear
any more call outs after that.

The first officer called out
the 1,000 foot above the MDA.

He did not call out
the 100 foot above the MDA.

NARRATOR: Investigators
then hear something unusual.

1,080 is your--

Right.

You're going below your--
your--

Hang on.

Was that the minimum
descent altitude call out?

I think it was supposed to be.

NARRATOR: The team discovers
that the first officer

mishandled the
remaining call outs.

The first officer started
to call out for the MDA,

but never finished his sentence.

So he makes half a call
at their minimums.

And then doesn't say anything
else until they're below it.

And by then,
they've hit the trees.

NARRATOR: Why did the pilots
make such a critical error

so close to landing?

Let's talk to the pilots.

In this particular case, we
were very fortunate to have

a live crew to interview.

We wanted to determine exactly
what they were thinking

about during the accident.

Walk me through your actions
4 miles from the airport

as you approached
minimum descent altitude.

Look, the weather was rough.

We were two hours
late departing.

I was monitoring
the instruments.

1,080 is your--

Right.

OK, and then what?

As we got closer to the
minimum descent altitude,

I looked outside
for the airport,

and when I looked back,
we were below minimums.

You're going below your--

During that time
he was looking out,

he was not monitoring
the flight gauges as

closely as he should have been.

In this case,
the appropriate procedure

would have had the first
officer glued to the altimeter

and the compass and other
instruments in the cockpit

until the captain said,
I see the runway.

Why didn't you call
for a go around?

Well, there was no time.

We immediately hit the trees.

What the--

It was a stressful night.

There could be a-- a bit
of task saturation in there.

This went from an easy,
kind of relaxed flight

with a little bit of weather
difficulty to, oh my gosh,

everything's going wrong
really, really fast.

Something doesn't add up.

The first officer couldn't have
been at his minimum seconds

before hitting the trees.

Maybe there was an issue
with the altimeter settings.

NARRATOR: Pilots must
calibrate the altimeters based

on outside air pressure,
which can change dramatically

in extreme weather conditions.

Pilots frequently recalibrate
the altimeters to maintain

an accurate altitude reading.

Altimeter settings
are very important.

You can't do an approach
in bad weather

unless you know what the
altitude of your airplane is.

Let's see what
settings they used.

There's a lot of rain.

I can see that.

In this case, because of
this storm that was going

through that area, the
pressure was falling rapidly,

and when that happens,
your altimeter setting

goes down quickly.

It means if you don't
reset your altitude,

then your airplane is flying
lower than you think it is.

Here.

The dispatcher updated them with
an altimeter setting of 29.23.

NARRATOR: NTSB investigators
check whether the pilots

of American Airlines
Flight 1572 properly

set the altimeter during
the stormy approach

into Bradley Airport.

What time was that?

12:30 AM.

That was 25 minutes
before they hit the trees.

And with the changing
weather conditions,

they must have received an
update from Bradley ATC.

One thing that the crew
considers and expects

from the tower, our air traffic,
is the update of the weather

as quick as possible
so they can also

amend what they need to do.

OK, they first contacted
approach control at 12:43.

Bradley approach, American
1572, we are at 11,000 feet.

NARRATOR: Investigators expect
the approach controller to give

the crew a weather update,
including

the altimeter pressure setting.

The approach control
issue the altimeter setting

on initial contact when
an arriving aircraft

enters their airspace.

The altimeter is displayed
as a digital display

in the control tower as well.

TRAFFIC CONTROLLER
(ON RADIO): American

1572, Bradley approach, roger.

Expect VOR runway 15 approach.

NARRATOR: But the update
is never provided.

Approach did not
update their altimeter

setting, even though the
pressure was dropping rapidly.

There's nothing at all from
approach right up until he

passes them off to the tower.

Why wouldn't the
approach controller

give them a weather update?

Good question.

Let's ask him.

One thing that puzzled
investigators was why the air

traffic controllers
in the Bradley tower

didn't keep the pilots updated
with the current altimeter

setting.

You mentioned before
that the weather

was quite active that night.

Yes.

It was changing
quickly all night.

What was the airport's
altimeter setting

at the time of the accident?

Let me see.

29.15.

NARRATOR: Investigators learn
that the altimeter pressure

setting at the time
of the accident

was not the setting the pilots
were originally given.

Why didn't the crew
receive an updated setting?

Um.

29.15.

I didn't think to
give it to them.

Sometimes things that you do
over and over and over again

become too routine, and late
at night, when there's not

a whole lot going on,
sometimes, those are the things

that drop through the cracks.

We wondered about that--

that excuse a little bit,
but it's what he said.

So in essence,
the pilots did not

have the current
altimeter setting

when they flew the approach.

We got the
altimeter setting

from the time of the accident.

NARRATOR: Comparing the
two altimeter settings will

reveal how much lower
the plane was flying

than it should have been.

0.08.

The difference in the
altimeter setting from what

they had put on
their instruments

to what reality was about
0.08 inches of mercury,

which equates to 76 feet.

Because of the pilot's
outdated setting,

they thought they were 76 feet
higher than they actually were.

NARRATOR: The discovery
is eye-opening.

Once you get close to the
ground, 76 feet is a big deal.

Once you're coming across
the minimum descent altitude

and you're keeping the airplane
level at the minimum descent

altitude, 76 feet is critical.

The question is, would
they have hit anything

had they been 76 feet higher?

Well, we know they
struck the trees

at an altitude of 771 feet.

Add 76 feet to that.

They wouldn't
have hit anything.

No impact.

If they had the correct
altimeter setting,

even though they
went below the MDA,

they still would have been
76 feet higher

and we probably wouldn't
be talking about this right

now because they would
have missed the trees.

That doesn't explain
why they were

309 feet below the
minimum descent altitude.

76 feet of that are on ATC.

The other 233 feet
are pilot error.

This was out of the control of
the pilots to a certain extent,

but going below
the MDA should have

been caught by both the first
officer and the captain.

This is what created
the accident.

In the end, it came down
to the crew's decision.

NARRATOR: Investigators
now understand

what happened to Flight 1572.

The outdated altimeter
setting and the rough weather

meant that the crew had
almost no room for error

on the approach.

And when they were
descending too fast

and passed their minimum
descent altitude,

there was no way
they could recover

before hitting the trees.

NARRATOR: Only one question
remains unanswered.

In spite of hitting the trees,
how did they make that landing?

Here's the FDR readout.

NARRATOR: NTSB investigators
turn to Flight 1572's flight

data recorder
to learn how the crew

managed to recover their jet
after they struck the trees.

So they hit the trees and they
immediately pull the flaps back

to 15 and go to max thrust.

NARRATOR: The data shows that
the crew quickly configured

the plane for a go around.

Go, go around.

Go around.

Flaps 15.

Positive rate.

Gear up.

Gear up.

Then, just as they begin
their go around,

they lose their left engine.

The aircraft actually ingested
trees, the tops of the trees

into the engines.

Left motor's failed.

Followed by their
right engine.

(alarm blaring)

Here, you have a scenario
where something devastating

just happened, we just plowed
through some trees in the top

of a ridge 2 and 1/2 miles
away from the runway,

and losing capabilities on
this aircraft by the second.

They've got the nose way up,
they're losing speed,

and both their engines are gone.

That's a recipe for a stall
if I've ever seen one.

All of a sudden, they were
starting to lose airspeed.

They were in a
nose high attitude,

and that's the worst time
that can happen.

Airspeed is what makes
the airplane fly.

If there isn't enough air
moving over the wings,

the wings stop flying.

And that is what's
referred to as a stall.

There's the runway
straight ahead.

Fortunately, the first
officer saw the runway.

They had to get the airplane
on the ground in a hurry

because it would not be
able to keep on flying

with the engine power they had.

OK.

Tell them we're going down.

Tell them emergency.

So now, he's gotta reconfigure
the aircraft again.

And remember, this is
all happening in seconds.

He's gotta focus on trying
to save whatever altitude

and airspeed he has left
to make it across the fence

into the runway environment.

This is a critical
stage of flight

now because he doesn't
have power.

All he can do is trade
altitude for airspeed.

And we know their flaps
were all the way down at 40.

Flaps 40.

All the way down.

They're all the way down.

He's gotta generate
something else that's

gonna get him across
the fence, and that's

when he drops 40 degrees flaps.

The drag from the flaps
slows them down,

but for the first few seconds,
it balloons them up.

40 degrees of flaps change
the curve of the wing,

which increases the lift of
the wing and gives him that--

that extra little bounce to
get a little bit further.

If he had not had done that
or if he would have delayed it

a little bit, the accident could
have been totally catastrophic.

You've got it, dude.
You're gonna make it.

They glide down to the runway.

Unfortunately, they didn't
have quite enough airspeed

and altitude,
so they landed early,

kind of scooted and flopped
onto the pavement of the runway.

They made mistakes going into
the tree strike, if you will,

and yet, did a brilliant job
landing the aircraft.

That's an incredible show
of airmanship.

The crew's actually excellent
cockpit resource management

in the very difficult
situation that occurred

after they hit the ridge line.

They cooperated,
they didn't panic.

The way these two pilots
worked together was--

was remarkable.

And one of the last things
that's on the tape that kind

of really gives you a chill is--
is after they make the runway,

the first officer says--

God bless you.
You made it.

This is an accident that
probably is not well known

to a lot of people, and
that's because the aircraft

was able to end up on a runway
and nobody was killed.

NARRATOR: The captain's
impressive recovery doesn't

make up for the crew's errors.

The NTSB's final report
concludes

that the probable cause
of this accident

was the crew flying below
the minimum descent altitude

before they could
see the runway.

We think, in essence,
the main factor involved in--

in the accident was
the fact that the pilots

did not monitor
the altitudes they

were flying through correctly.

They-- they should have
leveled off at a point,

and they simply did not do so.

NARRATOR: Following
the accident,

American Airlines increased
the MDA requirement by 100 feet

and visibility requirement
by half

a mile for non-precision
approaches to Bradley airport.

It's a lot of rain.

NARRATOR: The NTSB also
recommends that in conditions

where pressure
is falling rapidly,

controllers should issue
altimeter setting updates

as frequently as possible.

The approach controller issues
the current altimeter setting.

That didn't happen either.

Right?

What's important to
understand, though,

in terms of responsibility
is that the captain

is the final authority
on the flight.

It's ultimately the captain's
responsibility to ensure

the safety of the flight.

In this case, he did not
ensure that he had the most

current altimeter setting.

This accident
was important to me

because it was one of the
few where nobody was killed,

nobody was hurt, and yet,
the safety Board

came up with some pretty
good recommendations

to mitigate some of the factors
that existed.