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  • 5/31/2025

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00:01Folks, this is your captain speaking.
00:04We'll soon be landing in Durango.
00:06A commuter flight over the Rocky Mountains speeds towards disaster.
00:14Somewhere out there in the black of night was an aircraft down in our county.
00:19A desperate search uncovers twisted wreckage five miles from the runway.
00:24Half the people were killed.
00:26What are we missing here?
00:29We were having a hard time understanding how the crew's impact is so far short of the airport.
00:35An unexpected tip-off points to a shocking possibility.
00:39What exactly did she say?
00:41One that will rock the entire airline industry.
00:44The best way I could describe the investigators was astounded.
00:59It's a cold winter's evening at Stapleton Airport in Denver, Colorado.
01:09Captain Steven Silver and First Officer Ralph Harvey are just about ready for takeoff.
01:25Hey, everybody seated?
01:26Yep, everybody's in.
01:27No good outside?
01:28The walk around was all clear.
01:29Trans-Colorado flight 2286 is a short hop to Durango La Plata County Airport in Southern Colorado.
01:43Listen, when we get to Durango, I'd like to get in the air again as quickly as possible.
01:47Shouldn't be the problem.
01:49We won't need to refuel.
01:50It's the crew's fourth flight of the day, and they're running late.
01:55Bad weather has put them 40 minutes behind schedule.
01:58Let's see what else we could do to get these folks back on time.
02:01You got it.
02:02We're always running behind, it seems like.
02:04You're constantly trying to get caught back up, because you have connecting flights.
02:09Passengers want to make these flights, just as we would, too, if we were a passenger in the back.
02:17Tonight, there are 15 people in the cabin of the turboprop commuter plane, including Susie Welch.
02:27My brother was sick in California, and I was there coming home from visiting him, and I missed my connection.
02:38So, it was a plane that I wasn't supposed to be on in the first place.
02:42Trans-Colorado 2286, you are cleared for takeoff.
02:46Trans-Colorado is a small regional carrier that operates flights for Continental Airlines.
02:532286, cleared for takeoff, thank you.
02:56Captain Silver is in command.
02:59He loved flying.
03:00You know, it was in his blood, you could see it.
03:03Brad Howard flew with Captain Silver in the late 1980s.
03:08Steve was a very happy, jovial, energetic pilot.
03:14I enjoyed flying with Steve.
03:16You're heading with flying this leg, right?
03:18You bet.
03:20First Officer Harvey will operate the controls for this flight.
03:24Leaving the captain free to handle radio calls.
03:29Takeoff power.
03:31Airline pilots routinely trade the flying duties.
03:37Part of it is for the reduction of fatigue, so that one person is not doing all the work.
03:42But it also divides the jobs up, so that first officers that will be captains are gaining experience.
03:52100.
03:54The captain keeps an eye on the airspeed as they accelerate for takeoff.
03:57B-1.
03:58And rotate.
04:00I was a little bit apprehensive because the weather wasn't so great before I got on.
04:16But when I got on, I thought, wow, this is, what was I worrying about? It's fine.
04:23The cruise day began in Denver.
04:27After two short hops to Riverton and Casper, Wyoming, they circled back to Denver.
04:32Now they're headed for Durango, a route that takes them over the southern Rocky Mountains.
04:39In fact, just about 20 miles to the north of Durango is the most numerous 14,000-foot peaks within the continental United States.
04:48Denver Flight Watch, Trans-Colorado Flight 2286. I'd like the latest weather for Durango and Cortez, please.
04:59The latest we have is indefinite ceiling, obscured visibility, light snow and fog.
05:07They're still forecasting moderate icing below 18,000.
05:12The mountains come very obscured, quite fast when a front moves through, and the visibility course then drops down.
05:21Nothing we can't handle.
05:31About 20 minutes from the airport, the captain and the first officer review the landing.
05:36So we're still doing the straight into runway 20, okay?
05:40Runway 20, sounds good.
05:42Control, we'll plan on a DME to runway 20.
05:46That's approved, Trans-Colorado 2286, cleared for runway 20 approach at Durango Airport.
05:53Like many small airports in America, Durango does not have its own air traffic control.
05:59The controller is in Denver, more than 200 miles away.
06:03Once they cleared you for that approach, they basically gave you the responsibility to get that airplane down on the ground.
06:13Radar coverage terminated. Please report landing by radio. Have a good night.
06:19Okay, we're down to 1-4 and we're cleared for the approach. 2286, we'll go.
06:24The passengers should be on the runway in less than five minutes.
06:33Folks, this is your captain speaking.
06:35We'll soon be landing in Durango, so if you could please buckle up your seatbelts, we should have you on the ground shortly.
06:39The entire flight actually was smooth as glass. Like one of the smoothest flights I've ever had.
06:48There was no cause for alarm, anything unusual at all.
06:54Speed set. One quarter flaps. One quarter flaps.
07:05The pilots work quickly to prepare for landing.
07:09Gear down. Gear down.
07:12They know that they have a lot of altitude to lose, they got a lot of airspeed to lose, and it also requires the appropriate use of different devices on the airplane to create additional drag to help it slow down.
07:29Do you have the runway?
07:50Something's wrong.
07:53The pilots can't see the runway.
07:56Damn, we're too low.
07:57Hold up!
07:59No, no, no, no, no, no!
08:00Hold up!
08:08There was this just big boom.
08:10I thought we just had a rough landing.
08:14And the plane began to do a flip.
08:18That's when I thought, it's happening. We're crashing.
08:20Oh, my Jesus!
08:22Oh, my Jesus!
08:27Oh, my Jesus!
08:29Oh, my Jesus!
08:34Trans-Colorado 2286. This is Denver. Please come in.
08:48The flight to Durango is now overdue.
08:52Trans-Colorado 2286. How do you read?
09:00Trans-Colorado 2286.
09:04How do you read?
09:05Both Denver and the La Plata County Airport personnel had tried to contact the aircraft via radio.
09:13Trans-Colorado 2286. Please come in.
09:17It was pretty much aircraft was overdue and somewhere out there in the black of night was an aircraft down in our county.
09:26Trans-Colorado 2286. Please come in.
09:30Trans-Colorado 2286. Please come in.
09:41Trans-Colorado 2286. Please come in.
09:43Trans-Colorado 2286. Please come in.
09:45It was dark, and it was very cold, and just looking around, I could see that we could
10:12be anywhere.
10:16Please, is anyone out there?
10:20I just thought, here I am, Lord help me.
10:26Susie Welch discovers that she's not badly injured.
10:30But it's clear other survivors of the Trans-Colorado crash are suffering terribly.
10:35We have to get out.
10:39They needed help as quickly as they could get it.
10:42And we couldn't give what they needed at the time.
10:46Susie faces a difficult decision, stay and tend to the injured, or leave in search of
10:52help.
10:53They usually say, stay where you are, someone will come and get you.
10:58But we were out in the middle of nowhere.
11:00We didn't know if anybody knew anything.
11:06The weather wasn't really good that night at all.
11:08There were snow flurries in the area, and it was extremely cold.
11:12If the injured don't get help soon, they could freeze to death.
11:16Just hang on, listen, for help.
11:26Welch and some other able-bodied passengers decide to set out on foot.
11:31It may be the best chance of survival for everyone.
11:47I was thinking, my family, they don't know where we are.
11:52They have no idea if I'm even alive.
11:57That gets me.
12:02We had approximately four feet of snow on the ground, which really hampered our rescue
12:07activities.
12:11After more than an hour, they catch a lucky break.
12:14They come across a highway.
12:15I saw a semi and a car, and I thought, hallelujah.
12:22That was a relief to see that.
12:25Some passengers are now safe.
12:28Rescuers go in search of the others.
12:30We moved emergency responders and equipment to that particular location on US Highway 160,
12:36east of Durango, approximately six miles.
12:44It was a remote area.
12:46So it made it difficult for the emergency responders to get there.
12:52It took us a long time to figure out exactly where the crash was.
12:56Finally, rescuers reach the airplane.
12:59Of the 17 people on board, the crash has killed nine, including both pilots.
13:06Half the people were killed, which is, you know, it's, it's, of course, it's a heartbreaker
13:11for a lot of people.
13:16The next morning, daylight reveals the full extent of the destruction.
13:27The front of the aircraft from the wing forward was fairly well demolished.
13:33The tail, it was broken off in parts, and the good portion of the left wing was missing.
13:41Tom Houter of the National Transportation Safety Board now faces a huge task.
13:47Yeah, left wing tip right here.
13:49Yeah, thanks, guys.
13:51Figuring out why a commuter plane slammed into the ground five miles from the airport.
13:57We were having a hard time understanding how the crew impacted so far short of the airport.
14:03That was going to be the big mystery here to try to understand.
14:07Sorting through the wreckage is like trying to piece together a giant jigsaw puzzle.
14:12And that's not the only challenge.
14:14In 1988, planes with fewer than 20 passengers are not required to carry flight recorders.
14:23The lack of a cockpit voice recorder and digital flight data recorder makes things much, much
14:29more difficult because you have to then take the evidence from the airplane and then deduce
14:36what happened to lead the airplane into the ground.
14:46Houter immediately turns his attention to an obvious suspect.
14:51The weather.
14:54Denver Flight Watch, Trans-Colorado Flight 2286.
14:58I'd like the latest weather for Durango and Cortez, please.
15:01Trans-Colorado 2286, Durango, the latest we have is indefinite ceiling, obscured visibility,
15:07light snow and fog.
15:09They're still forecasting moderate icing below 18,000.
15:13Icing is a potentially deadly phenomenon that can occur from 32 down to minus 4 degrees Fahrenheit.
15:21Supercooled water coats the surface of an aircraft's wings and freezes, degrading aerodynamic performance.
15:30The biggest problem is it changes the shape of the wing.
15:34All of a sudden, you start getting, instead of a nice rounded edge, it starts becoming a blunt edge.
15:38And now, through the smooth airflow, you get turbulent airflow and you start losing lift on the wing.
15:44That's what happened to American Eagle Flight 4184.
15:49The plane was en route to Chicago.
15:51When ice spilled up on the wings, sent it into a deadly roll.
15:55The crash killed all 68 people on board.
16:02The critical question now, did ice on the wings of Flight 2286 lead to a similar tragedy on a snowy night in the Colorado Rockies?
16:16The descent to runway 20 in Durango is over mountainous terrain.
16:23A crew would have had little time to recover if ice on the wings caused a sudden loss of lift.
16:31No, no, no, no, no!
16:32Pull up!
16:33Did the plane's wings ice over?
16:38Is it the right temperature range for icing?
16:48Howter studies weather reports from Durango's airport.
16:53Normally, icing's a problem if you have a liquid that's very cold, hits the airplane, and freezes on it.
17:00It has to be raining or drizzle.
17:03The weather at the airport was overcast and cloudy, but the temperature was negative 24 Fahrenheit.
17:09It's a dead end. Temperatures were well below the minimum required for icing.
17:15It was so cold that night, there's no liquid water out there to form on the airplane, just snow.
17:21And so icing could be eliminated pretty quickly.
17:27The location of the crash site, just five miles from the runway, suggests another possibility.
17:36One quarter flaps.
17:40To prepare for landing, the pilots have to extend the plane's flaps and lower the landing gear.
17:47Gear down.
17:49Three green.
17:51The increased drag means the plane needs more power to maintain lift during the last few minutes of flight.
18:02Investigators wonder, did a sudden loss of engine power cause the crash?
18:08Were they producing power at impact? Was there any obvious problems with the engines prior to impact?
18:13So you start looking at everything in detail.
18:16They check the position of the engine levers.
18:19The engine speed is set for high, exactly where it should be.
18:24It seems the pilots have the right settings.
18:27Speed set.
18:29What about the engines themselves? Did they somehow fail?
18:37A trained investigator can find clues to engine performance by looking at the propeller blades and how they bent in the crash.
18:44The blades are in position to produce thrusts and also by the rotational damage, they were running at impact.
18:50If they hadn't been running, they would have been just pulled back.
18:53But you could see where they were actually chopping away at the ground and trees being pulled forward when they hit.
18:58It was definitely going at full speed. No fault with the engine.
19:05With no black boxes, it's difficult to know where else to look.
19:10Accident investigators very definitely utilize a process of elimination.
19:16You eliminate the things that you know that didn't contribute and then eventually you'll get to the three or four or five things that did contribute to it.
19:30An unexpected call brings a surprising new lead.
19:35One of the survivors has made an alarming allegation.
19:39Really?
19:43Hi. Welcome aboard. You're down to the left.
19:49Good evening. How are you? You are right in the back there.
19:54One of the passengers reported that she thought she smelled alcohol on the first officer.
20:03The first officer helped board the passengers.
20:05A very gracious gentleman by all accounts, but she was disturbed by that.
20:10The NTSB immediately adds aviation psychologist Malcolm Brenner to the investigative team.
20:26We were actually alarmed. We were very concerned that alcohol might turn out to be a factor in this case.
20:32As soon as the team came back, I was launched, I think, the next day almost immediately to follow up and see what I could learn about the first officer.
20:44Unbelievable.
20:46A check of the first officer's driving record turns up more damning evidence.
20:52Arrested twice for drunk driving.
20:53For us, that is a major trouble sign. That would suggest that there is a serious alcohol issue.
21:03Lab tests are ordered to check for alcohol in the blood and urine of both pilots.
21:09Let me know when you get the results.
21:12You're heading over to flying this leg, right?
21:14You bet.
21:15If the first officer was impaired when flight 2286 left Denver, that could explain the aircraft's tragic fate.
21:34So this is the route from Denver to Durango.
21:38And here is where they hit the ground.
21:40While they wait for lab results, investigators examine other evidence.
21:46They hope recordings of the controller's conversations and transponder data can help them build a better picture of what was happening in the cockpit.
21:55France, Colorado 2286. Climb and maintain flight level 230. Climb and maintain 230. Thank you.
22:03For most of the flight, there's no sign of a problem.
22:06They didn't provide a mayday, any calls, or any warnings like that.
22:11TransColorado 2286. Press the Durango one mile. Fix at or above.
22:1614000. Cleared for runway 20 approach.
22:20So now they're here.
22:22Okay, we're down to 14 and we're cleared for the approach.
22:262286, we'll go.
22:29But as the plane approaches Durango...
22:31Investigators spot something very strange.
22:41They're dropping really fast.
22:44Planes usually descend at a slow, steady rate of about a thousand feet per minute.
22:52Flight 2286 is descending at nearly triple that rate.
22:56Much faster, much greater rate of descent approach than normal.
23:01And so we're trying to wondering what was happening here.
23:05Did alcohol impairment cause the pilot flying to make a reckless descent?
23:10Was the first officer flying drunk?
23:12Blood and urine tests are in.
23:26Technicians have carefully checked samples from both pilots.
23:29Despite suspicions raised by a passenger's tip-off,
23:35the results show no alcohol in the first officer's blood.
23:40He was not drinking before the crash.
23:43Hello, sir.
23:45The passenger must have been mistaken.
23:47Either she smelled cologne or something else,
23:50but fortunately it turns out alcohol was not an issue.
23:52And I was relieved to find out that the first officer had dealt with that issue.
24:01And it did seem to be in a commendable way.
24:07What went wrong in the final minutes of flight 2286 is still a mystery.
24:12OK, we're down to 1-4 and we're cleared for the approach.
24:162286, we'll go.
24:17Hello.
24:19Investigators now wonder about the instructions the crew received from air traffic control.
24:26Were they told to fly an approach that was simply too risky for the conditions that night?
24:40The air traffic recording soon gives investigators their answer.
24:43Trans-Colorado 2286 for your approach to Durango.
24:48Would you rather shoot the ILS or will the approach to runway 20 be sufficient?
24:52The recording reveals that the controller did not dictate the approach to Durango.
24:57Instead, he gave the crew two options.
25:00The first was to fly an easy path around the airport to a runway equipped with an instrument landing system,
25:08or ILS, that guides the pilots down.
25:12The second option, runway 20, has no ILS.
25:17It requires pilots to descend in a series of steep steps to avoid mountains north of Durango.
25:23The way that the air traffic controller handled the flight was exemplary.
25:28They offered them the choice of which runway and which instrument procedure that they would like to do,
25:35but left the decision appropriately to the captain.
25:38We'll plan on using the 2-0, thank you.
25:42For some reason, the captain chose to fly the steeper, more difficult approach.
25:50We have hills here, here, and here.
25:56Why didn't they take the easy way down?
25:58These are normally very, very well-trained pilots, so what could have been the factors that occurred here?
26:15Thanks for coming. Have a seat.
26:18Malcolm Brenner hopes other trans-Colorado pilots can explain the decision.
26:23So tell me about Captain Silver, what kind of a pilot was he?
26:27Everyone agrees that Steven Silver was a skilled pilot.
26:31But he was known to want to rush at times.
26:35A number of people noted he tended to push to keep the airplane on time.
26:39He was a person that pushed the limit on things as a personality type.
26:46There's even a letter in his file praising him for his ability to get in and out of an airport in just seven minutes.
26:54Listen, when we get to Durango, I'd like to get in the air again as quickly as possible.
27:01Shouldn't be a problem. We won't need to refuel.
27:04Let's see what else we can do to get these folks back on time.
27:08The captain's concern over lateness helps explain his chosen approach to Durango.
27:13So we're still doing the straight-in to runway 20, okay?
27:17Runway 20, sounds good.
27:20Control, we'll plan on a DME to runway 20.
27:24Cleared for runway 20 approach.
27:27Estimates show that the straight-in approach to runway 20 saves about 10 minutes of flight time.
27:35To me, it seems almost instinctive that he thought this is his way to catch up and get in faster.
27:43Folks, this is your captain speaking. We'll soon be landing in Durango.
27:47I think what this captain felt as though it was his responsibility to try to get the passengers where they wanted to go when they were expected to be there.
27:58And he took that very personally.
28:02The information explains why Captain Silver chose such a challenging approach on a snowy night.
28:09But it doesn't explain the crash.
28:12Other pilots say they often use the very same runway approach.
28:17Professional pilots do these kinds of approaches with great regularity.
28:22So I suspect that they were aware of the challenging nature of the approach.
28:29Tricky approach.
28:32Lots of pilots say they did it all the time.
28:35To try to understand where things went wrong, investigators compare the flight path pilots are supposed to follow for runway 20 to the actual descent of flight 2286.
28:47What they discover is astonishing.
28:51Look at this. They're way too steep. Even for this approach.
28:55The comparison reveals that after opting for a challenging approach requiring a steep descent, the trans-Colorado pilots flew in even steeper.
29:06And here, they're finally on the right flight path.
29:09But they just keep traveling.
29:13It's like they had no idea of their altitude.
29:17We don't know exactly what happened, obviously, because we don't have the recorded information we do in a modern airplane.
29:23It's quite clear that the crew descended below the published approach. Why exactly, we don't know.
29:34Investigators wonder if the plane's altimeters or any other flight instruments might have malfunctioned.
29:40Were they possibly internal failures? Do we see anything clogging the lines that provide pressure to the instruments?
29:51And so, you look at all the connections.
29:53A thorough inspection turns up nothing.
29:57All the control systems were properly hooked up and should have been functional at the time.
30:01We found nothing mechanically wrong with the aircraft.
30:04Once again, the investigation hits a wall.
30:12Do you have the runway?
30:13There's still no explanation for why two trained airline pilots flew their plane into a hillside just short of the Durango Airport.
30:24Damn, we're too low!
30:26Hold up!
30:27No, no, no, no, no!
30:30Hold on!
30:31In Denver, Malcolm Brenner digs into the qualifications of the two pilots on Trans-Colorado Flight 2286.
30:47People don't normally go out with intention of crashing airplanes.
30:51So, what was it in their training, their background, something in their personal history, anything else that could have caused them to make this error?
30:59The file of First Officer Ralph Harvey, the pilot who was flying, contains some disturbing details.
31:11Tested for captain. Failed. Proficiency test. Failed. Instrument flying. Below average.
31:21Brenner uncovers a history of failed tests.
31:24He learns that the First Officer's mediocre flying actually cost him a job.
31:31He was released from a previous employer because he failed to be able to upgrade.
31:36In complex instrument flying conditions, this particular individual was very challenged to do this on a regular basis and do it well.
31:45So, we're still doing this straight into runway 20, okay?
31:54Runway 20. Sounds good.
31:56Nothing we can't handle?
31:59Brenner suspects that flying the challenging approach to Durango, in limited visibility, was more than the First Officer could manage.
32:06I think as long as the weather is good, he would probably be a very adequate pilot. His trouble is when things start to happen very fast, it seems like.
32:16But there's another troubling question. The duties of airline pilots are usually carefully divided.
32:23Landing lights. On.
32:25On.
32:26The First Officer was flying.
32:28Speed set.
32:30So, the captain should have been monitoring the instruments and watching for mistakes.
32:35This First Officer had a history of having some difficulties with complex instrument procedures, and so this would be a First Officer that a captain would want to watch pretty closely.
32:47It seems Captain Silver was not watching closely. The evidence suggests he never corrected his First Officer's mistakes.
32:56For some reason, the captain didn't take over and save the plane. I need to know why.
33:06They contact friends and family, trying to piece together what the pilots were doing in the hours leading up to their last flight.
33:14They're looking for any sign of stress or fatigue.
33:19Fatigue can be insidious, and a lot of it depends on what was the quality of sleep that he got the night before.
33:29Brenner learns that the captain had dinner with his parents the night before the crash.
33:34Looks like plenty of time to rest.
33:36As far as anyone can tell, Captain Silver spent a quiet evening with family, then went home to sleep.
33:43What a day.
33:44Less than 24 hours later, he would fail to correct his First Officer's perilously quick descent towards Durango.
33:50After an exhaustive investigation, Brenner and his colleagues still don't know why.
34:03What are we missing here?
34:18When you find a mechanical failure, it's obvious. Something fatigued and broke.
34:23And because that part failed, this happened. Trying to really understand why people make mistakes can be very difficult.
34:36The case seems to have hit a dead end.
34:41Until a phone call changes everything.
34:43Yes.
34:45What?
34:49What exactly did she say?
34:52We got a call from a member of the public.
34:56This was a pilot who said that he had met with a woman who he believed was the fiancée of the captain who died in the accident.
35:08What a day.
35:13Investigators learn that on the eve of the crash, Captain Silver may not have spent a quiet night alone after all.
35:22Time to have a bit of fun.
35:24Now you're speaking my language.
35:28They hear a story about drug use and a woman who is alleged to have made a stunning admission.
35:33I'm sure glad we buried him right after the accident. The night before, we'd done a bag of cocaine. We did a bag of cocaine. Would you like to go first?
35:50Yeah.
35:51A bag of cocaine? That's the expression she used.
35:57It's enough for a couple to party all night.
36:02You realize this is a very serious allegation.
36:06The best way I could describe the investigators was astounded.
36:11It's very disturbing to have a drug involved.
36:16Cocaine was something that we hadn't really expected.
36:21We've got a new story on the captain.
36:24The stunning claim contradicts what many friends and family have said about the dedicated pilot.
36:30Everything that we received on the captain of the aircraft is that he was well trained, a good pilot, certainly had all the experience and there were no issues.
36:44And the captain's fiancee denies the entire story.
36:47A letter from her lawyer contends she wasn't even with the captain the night before the crash.
36:57The ingestion of these drugs, you just don't see this with professional pilots.
37:07Though the captain's blood has already been analyzed, the test wasn't sensitive enough to detect cocaine use.
37:14The first one was done by the hospital and their testing was at a very high level.
37:22They were looking only for overdose.
37:24Call the lab. We need to run the captain's samples again.
37:27Subsequently, the specimens were sent to the toxicology lab in Oklahoma City.
37:34In that case, they go down to very sensitive levels.
37:37If the captain of flight 2286 really was using cocaine, the implications for the entire aviation industry will be huge.
37:52I always thought pilots were squeaky clean.
37:56I mean, they are carrying people's lives.
37:59They have people's lives in their hands.
38:00Technicians conduct a second and then a third toxicology test on samples from the deceased captain of flight 2286.
38:15Because of the seriousness of it, they wanted to make sure that there wasn't laboratory error involved.
38:20The results leave no room for doubt.
38:28They reported that in the blood there had been cocaine in the recent past.
38:35He wasn't asleep.
38:38He was up using cocaine.
38:40If, as the evidence suggests, the captain had been partying all night and had come to work, he probably got very limited sleep.
38:49He was in withdrawal by the time of the accident.
38:52And many of the things that are characteristic of withdrawal, such as a slowing of reaction and a general feeling of not being well, would not help him on this type of approach.
39:01Brenner now understands the shocking chain of errors, negligence and criminal behavior that led to the crash.
39:14This accident begins with a captain who was in no shape to fly.
39:17After a long night of drug use, the captain sets off for work.
39:34His first flight of the day is scheduled to depart at 1.15pm.
39:41He must report for duty at 12.30.
39:43Seven hours later, after three flights, the twin turboprop is running late and the captain is feeling the effects of cocaine withdrawal.
39:56Listen, when we get to Durango, I'd like to get in the air again as quickly as possible.
40:00Shouldn't be a problem. We won't need to refuel.
40:03Because of his actions, his deliberate actions, he presented himself for duty, not qualified.
40:09And that goes against everything that professional pilots are taught.
40:23France, Colorado 2286 for your approach to Durango.
40:26Would you rather shoot the ILS or will the approach to runway 20 be sufficient?
40:32Control will plan on a DME to runway 20.
40:36The captain's habit of rushing leads him to choose a risky approach when a safer option is available.
40:45What a horrible decision.
40:47In withdrawal, he's not half the pilot he is when he's alert.
40:55The struggling first officer is soon overwhelmed by the difficult approach.
40:59But the captain doesn't notice.
41:05Do you have the runway?
41:11For this individual to have allowed himself to fall into this condition is very, very hard for me to understand.
41:20With one pilot struggling at the controls and the other battling fatigue, neither is watching the plane's altitude.
41:27Dan, we went too low!
41:28Pull up!
41:29No, no, no, no, no!
41:30Dan, we went too low!
41:31Pull up!
41:32No, no, no, no, no, no!
41:34No, no, no, no, no, no!
41:36No, no, no, no, no!
41:56Once they lost track of their altitude, they didn't have a chance.
41:58They didn't have a chance.
42:00The NTSB's final report cites the first officer's poor flying
42:05and the captain's use of cocaine
42:07as contributing causes of the Trans-Colorado crash.
42:13The drug revelations make headlines across the country.
42:17It's thought to be the first time that a commercial pilot
42:20involved in a crash has tested positive for drugs.
42:28I was totally naive to the situation with Steve.
42:33It totally shocked me.
42:34The FAA soon implements important changes,
42:38including more frequent drug testing for pilots.
42:42As a result of this accident, to a large extent,
42:46drug testing programs became practical,
42:49and they've been very, very successful.
42:51To my knowledge, there has not been any other case
42:54of drugs involved in an airline accident.
42:56The Durango crash leads to other reforms as well.
43:01Regulations now require black boxes in all commuter planes.
43:06And any plane with 10 or more seats
43:09must have a ground proximity warning device...
43:12Pull up!
43:14...to alert pilots if they're flying too low.
43:18In the case of this accident,
43:20the safety board reconstructed that a ground proximity device
43:24would have given warning at least 23 seconds prior to the collision.
43:29In aviation, that actually is quite a bit of time.
43:34For survivors like Susie Welch, painful memories linger.
43:38But she knows her ordeal and the terrible loss of life
43:43were not in vain.
43:45Flying is safer now than it ever was
43:48because they're making these changes.
43:51And so I think that makes me really happy.
43:54buggy...
43:55Yeah.
43:56isten mesmerè—¤
43:56Uranus
43:59Right.
43:59Under the
44:06Broadway
44:07World