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  • 6/3/2025

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00:01Come on, climb!
00:02Climb!
00:03Climb!
00:05An Airbus A300 veers fatally off course.
00:13It was the biggest human loss in Indonesian history.
00:19It really was overwhelming.
00:21These are two pieces we need to find.
00:23The task was to find the black box.
00:25As investigators begin to examine the evidence...
00:28Indonesia 152, turn right heading 046.
00:32Here.
00:33Right on course.
00:34Each new clue is more perplexing than the last.
00:38Let's go around, pal.
00:39We cannot figure it out.
00:41The impact point was nowhere near
00:43where we would expect the aircraft to be.
00:45Where did they think they were going?
00:47We just didn't understand that.
00:58There are 222 passengers on board Garuda Indonesia Flight 152.
01:12They're on their way to the city of Medan, on the Indonesian island of Sumatra.
01:30Let's stay on autopilot as long as we can.
01:41Yes, sir.
01:43Captain Rachmo Wiogo has been flying in Indonesia for nearly 20 years.
01:48He's extremely familiar with today's flight path.
01:52For missed approach, climb straight ahead to 2500 and contact ATC.
01:57You don't have to break this line.
02:00Just relax.
02:01Yes.
02:02Please, sir.
02:03Tata Zualdi has only recently upgraded from flight engineer to first officer.
02:09The plane they're flying is an Airbus A300, one of the most reliable commercial airliners in the sky.
02:22Flight 152 left the Indonesian capital of Jakarta nearly 90 minutes ago.
02:27Headed northwest, it is expected to arrive at its destination in about half an hour.
02:33Surface winds, calm. Visibility, 400 meters.
02:37An automated weather report alerts the crew to one factor about their flight that's not routine.
02:44Present weather, smoke.
02:48Forest fires in Sumatra have sent a thick blanket of smoke across all of Southeast Asia.
02:56It's wreaking havoc on people's health and on air traffic.
03:00Smoke is limiting visibility to a degree that would make the descent and the approach really quite difficult.
03:08Not impossible, but really quite difficult.
03:12The cabin crew of Flight 152 begin preparing for the upcoming descent.
03:17On the ground, it's a busy afternoon for Medan air traffic controllers.
03:25Indonesia 152 requesting descent clearance.
03:29They're handling flights from several domestic airlines, including Mapati, Burak and Garuda Indonesia.
03:36Confirming descent to flight level 140.
03:42The controller clears Garuda 152 to begin its descent.
03:46Descending to flight level 140.
03:48Medan Air port has just one runway.
03:50Right now the controller has a Burak Airlines flight ready to take off.
04:05He needs to slow the approaching Garuda flight until that plane clears the runway.
04:11Indonesia 152 descend to 3,000 feet for runway 05.
04:18Reduce speed 220.
04:22Reduce speed to 220 knots, Indonesia 152.
04:30Seat belt, no smoke.
04:36Less than 15 minutes from the airport.
04:38Flight 152 descends through 10,000 feet.
04:46Smokey here below 10,000.
04:50Yeah.
04:54The pilot would never have been able to get any external visual cues.
05:01He would have been flying entirely on instruments.
05:08The reduced visibility puts added pressure on the controllers.
05:15If there is smoke all the way down to the ground, the controller knows the pilot is going to encounter problems.
05:26They're going to need all the help they can get, and the controlling should be very accurate.
05:33The captain adjusts the power to his engines.
05:37For PADI 152, turn left heading 2, 4, 0 to intercept runway 05.
05:38Number one always lags behind a bit, so keep an eye on it for me.
05:39Okay.
05:40Indonesia 152, do you read?
05:41Indonesia 152, say again.
05:42Okay, turn left heading 2, 4, 0 to intercept runway 05.
05:45Number one always lags behind a bit, so keep an eye on it for me.
05:49Okay.
05:51Indonesia 152, do you read?
05:56Indonesia 152, say again.
05:58Okay, turn left heading 2, 4, 0, 2, 3, 5 now to intercept runway 05.
06:05Roger, left heading 2, 3, 5.
06:06Indonesia 152, do you read?
06:07The plane below has now taken off.
06:08The runway is clear.
06:09Burak 683, turn left heading 1, 2, 0.
06:10Indonesia 152, do you read?
06:11The plane below has now taken off.
06:16The runway is clear.
06:18Burak 683, turn left heading 1, 2, 0.
06:23Indonesia 152, traffic clear, descend to 2,000 feet.
06:28Descending to 2,000 feet, Indonesia 152.
06:31If it wasn't for the heavy smoke, passengers would be able to see the ground by now.
06:39They had very limited visibility.
06:41Anybody who's driven a car in fog will know what I'm talking about.
06:49Indonesia 152, turn right heading 0, 4, 6.
06:53Turn right heading 0, 4, 6, Indonesia 152.
06:56Flaps 8.
06:57Speed check.
06:58Flaps 8.
06:59The cockpit is hot.
07:00See what you can do.
07:01It's so hot.
07:02It's set to cool, sir.
07:03It should be fine.
07:04Any second now, the controller expects to see Flight 152 turn onto final approach.
07:26What?
07:27The airbus has somehow become dangerously close to the ground.
07:38Come on!
07:39Come on!
07:40Come on!
07:41Come on!
07:42The crew struggles to raise the plane's nose and gain altitude.
07:45But the 130 ton jet takes time to respond.
07:50Time they don't have.
07:52Go boy!
07:54Go!
07:55Go!
07:56Go!
08:01Go!
08:09No!
08:11No!
08:12No!
08:13No!
08:14No!
08:15No!
08:17No!
08:21Locals rush to the crash site, 17 miles from Medan Airport.
08:28It's soon clear there's nothing they can do to help.
08:33All 234 people on board the flight are dead.
08:39This is the deadliest aviation accident in Indonesia's history.
08:46The entire nation wants answers.
08:50I come to the answer on not only what happened, how it happened, but also why it happened.
08:59Investigators soon join the throngs of police and locals already at the crash site.
09:05Let's see how far back this wreckage goes.
09:07Santoso Seogo is a key member of the investigative team,
09:11and the accident has affected him personally.
09:15I knew both the captain and first officer for a long, long time.
09:22When you found out that your two friends was the victim of the accident,
09:30it's quite a shocking experience.
09:33Santoso, we'll need to secure the site somehow.
09:39The Air Accidents Investigation Branch sends Rob Carter to assist with the investigation.
09:45The site was chaotic.
09:48There were lots of people around, some in uniform, but it didn't seem like very many.
09:54There was no overall control.
09:56Lots of people doing different things.
09:59Very little that seemed to be related to accident investigation.
10:04The smell was almost overpowering at that stage, coupled with the heat and the humidity and the pollution.
10:13It really was overwhelming.
10:15The chaotic scene is an immediate concern for Carter.
10:20He's worried the lack of security could compromise the investigation.
10:24A tremendous number of local people were going over the wreckage in different ways,
10:30and they were carrying pieces away.
10:32We worried that they might be carrying away bits of aircraft which we would be really interested in.
10:37If authorities can't gain control of the site and protect valuable evidence,
10:42the truth about what happened to Garuda Indonesia Flight 152 may never be known.
10:47Okay, good.
10:56Left engine was found here.
10:59Excellent.
11:00The wreckage from Flight 152 lies 17 miles southwest of Medan Airport.
11:08The compact nature of the crash zone tells investigators that the plane was in one piece when it hit the ground.
11:16It looked as if we had most of, if not all, of the aircraft within an area 120 by 80.
11:23That's pretty compact.
11:25The wreckage tells investigators something else as well, something they can't explain.
11:33The debris field shows that the plane was flying away from the airport when it slammed into a hillside southwest of the runway.
11:41It's exactly opposite from the direction they should have been flying.
11:45One of the things that seemed so strange was where the impact point was.
11:50It was nowhere near where we would expect the aircraft to be for the proper sort of approach into the airport.
11:57We just didn't understand that.
11:59These are the two pieces we need to find.
12:03They hope the plane's flight recorders can help clear up the mystery.
12:07They should be in this area.
12:08Here.
12:09Okay, let's go.
12:10Our principle is find the black box and the clues and the evidence are there.
12:24Investigators fear the boxes may have been carried off by looters.
12:28They recruit hundreds of local people to search for them.
12:31We were really looking very strongly for the cockpit voice recorder, flight data recorder, really to fill in any sort of detail on how this had happened.
12:43At the same time, they gather information from the air traffic controller, the last person to have communicated with flight 152.
12:53They approach from the southeast. I was trying to bring them in this way. Left turn, then a right turn that gets them into runway 05.
13:02The controller suspects the captain somehow misinterpreted his instructions and missed the final turn.
13:09He didn't understand which way to turn. He made a left turn here instead.
13:14But without the cockpit recording and the flight data, it's impossible to say why the plane turned the wrong way.
13:22Perhaps there was a mechanical failure or some other last minute crisis.
13:26We could not determine why the captain made the aircraft turning to the left. This is very interesting. This is a big puzzle.
13:39With no sign of the black boxes, investigators gather air traffic recordings made in the tower.
13:46It's hoped they can shed some light on why the plane turned away from the airport instead of towards it.
13:53We were still wondering whether it could be some sort of systems failure, possibly even some sort of mild structural failure, some distracting aspect for the pilots.
14:04It really left that pretty wide open.
14:07Roll tape.
14:10Confirming descent to flight level 140.
14:14The air traffic recordings capture only the radio calls between the pilots and the controller.
14:19Indonesia 152 descent to 3000 feet for runway 05.
14:26They're not as helpful as a CVR recording, which would reveal all sounds and conversation inside the cockpit.
14:33Reduce speed 220.
14:36It needs to get Borac 683 airborne.
14:39But investigators listen closely for any clue as to why the A300 veered so badly off course.
14:48At first the communication seems completely normal.
14:52Merpati 152, turn left heading to 40 to intercept runway 05 from the right side.
15:01But then, the controller uses the wrong callsign.
15:09Yeah, Merpati 152.
15:11Now he's got Garuda 152.
15:12Records show that earlier in the day, the controller was talking to a Merpati flight with the same number, 152.
15:22It seems that now he's mixed up the two callsigns.
15:26Instead of Garuda 152, he said Merpati 152.
15:30The Garuda pilot didn't pick this message up, for obvious reasons.
15:35Indonesia 152, do you read?
15:39Indonesia 152, say again.
15:43Then, suddenly the controller realised that he'd given the wrong callsign, so he called up for a second time.
15:50Okay, turn left heading 240, 235 now to intercept runway 05.
15:57Left heading 235.
16:01Roger, left heading 235, Indonesia 152.
16:03It appears the misunderstanding is quickly cleared up.
16:10The controller says they made that turn.
16:13After the brief moment of confusion, the Garuda flight is exactly where it should be.
16:19On heading 215, Indonesia 152.
16:26That puts them about here, right on course.
16:30One more right turn, and he's lined up with the runway.
16:37Indonesia 152, turn right heading 046.
16:42There it is, clear as day.
16:44Turn right heading 046, Indonesia 152.
16:47Okay, stop there.
16:48They definitely understood turn right.
16:49How the flight went so horribly wrong in the final few moments is baffling.
17:01It's in the exact opposite direction they were told.
17:10Why?
17:12The ATC gave instruction, Indonesia 152, turn right onto heading 046, but the aircraft turned to the left.
17:19At that stage, we do not have any clue at all.
17:25Investigators need the CVR if they hope to figure out what exactly went on in the cockpit of flight 152.
17:32A week after the crash of Garuda, Indonesia 152, devastating scenes of loss and suffering underscore the accident's human toll.
17:49Indonesians from all walks of life want to know what caused this deadly tragedy.
17:58They have to be somewhere.
18:12Let's go back to where we started and look again.
18:14Let's go.
18:15Come on.
18:16Let's go.
18:17There's still no sign of the plane's black boxes.
18:20Investigators are beginning to worry that the answers so many people are hoping for may never be found.
18:26We've got to find them.
18:29It was very frustrating not having the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder.
18:34They are really crucial to understanding the subtleties of an aircraft accident.
18:43The terrible conditions at the accident site aren't helping.
18:47At that time, it was rainy season and we can imagine how wet it was and slippery as well.
18:56Despite the setbacks, the team presses on.
19:02Let's see if we can figure out what this plane was doing.
19:06They collect key pieces of wreckage, including flight instruments from the cockpit.
19:10Sorian Tutor Jono of the National Transportation Safety Committee hopes those instruments will tell him how the plane was performing.
19:22We could not find the black box, so we use anything from the cockpit like the gauges, any instrument in the cockpit.
19:32Many of the gauges on this version of the airbus are electronic, which means that when they lose power, they display their final readings like a snapshot in time.
19:43When electrical power goes off, the instrument freezes.
19:49Those readings provide valuable insight into the final moments of flight 152.
19:54There it is. Looks like 1.552.
20:06That's go-around power. They're trying to fly out of trouble.
20:10The engine instruments showed us that the engines were actually at a very high level of thrust at the point that they lost electrical power.
20:19The finding reveals that the pilots saw the danger ahead and tried desperately to get their plane to climb.
20:26The crew had responded by increasing the engine thrust when they realized they were close to the ground.
20:34As the evidence begins to add up, the likelihood of a mechanical failure aboard Garuda 152 looks increasingly remote.
20:43It sure seems like the aircraft was under control.
20:46Putting it all together, the instruments seem to indicate to us that the aircraft was what we call a going concern when it hit that ridge.
20:56That it was some sort of controlled flight into terrain.
21:01Controlled means that there's nothing wrong with the aeroplane.
21:10And yet it plows into a mountainside.
21:12It's been 26 days since the crash of flight 152.
21:23Investigators still have no explanation for its mysterious final turns and fatal impact.
21:29But then they get their first big break.
21:39Well, well, well.
21:40It turns out that the plane's voice and data recorders were not carried off by looters.
21:47But they were almost completely hidden from sight in the dense Indonesian forest.
21:52It was a surprise for us to find that the two black box were sitting there for 26 days until we found it in a very soft soil and entangled with the root of the falling tree.
22:11Let's hope they hold some answers.
22:12They rush the boxes to a lab where technicians will work to recover cockpit sounds and conversation along with detailed aircraft performance data.
22:22The long wait for the most crucial evidence is almost over.
22:29We try to concentrate first on the FDR and try to figure out the flight path of the aircraft.
22:36When investigators plot the newly found data, they see that it finally rules out any chance of a mechanical failure.
22:44So, left away from the airport and then a right turn, smack into the mountains.
22:54It clearly shows that the pilots deliberately commanded that fatal turn.
23:01Where did they think they were going?
23:03Can you bring me the descent profile, please?
23:08After we get the FDR, some questions get some answers.
23:21The data also shows that the plane was in a steady descent until it hit a treetop at about 1,500 feet.
23:30So, why didn't they level off at 2,000 feet?
23:33Indonesia 152, traffic clear, descend to 2,000 feet.
23:38The crew was not clear to descend any lower than 2,000 feet.
23:43They should have held that altitude.
23:49So, here we were, somehow with the aircraft hitting a tree about 500 feet below its last cleared altitude.
24:00That was a real mystery.
24:04Investigators now know the pilots turned in a direction opposite to the controller's instructions and dropped below their assigned altitude.
24:15What they still don't know is why.
24:18They hope the cockpit voice recorder can provide an answer.
24:22Let's start with turn number one.
24:26Here.
24:34Indonesia 152 requesting descent clearance.
24:38For Santoso Sayogo, the job of listening to the recording comes with an extra burden.
24:43I knew both pilots, the captain and the first officer, and I personally can recognize whose voices are coming from the CVR.
24:57It's not easy to listen to the tape.
25:03For PADI 152, turn left heading 240 to intercept runway 05 from the right to side.
25:10Okay, that's a confused call sign.
25:13Number one always lags behind a bit, so keep an eye on that for me.
25:17Okay.
25:18The tape reveals that the Garuda pilots don't respond to the first instruction because they don't think it's for them.
25:26Indonesia 152, do you read?
25:31Indonesia 152, say again.
25:33Okay, turn left heading 240, 235 now to intercept runway 05.
25:43The controller repeats himself.
25:45Roger, left heading 235, Indonesia 152.
25:56The crew then make the turn as instructed.
25:59Why so far out?
26:02So far out?
26:04And yet, the recording leaves investigators with a disturbing impression.
26:08152, heading 235.
26:11Confirm that we are clear of the mountainous area.
26:14He doesn't sound sure of where he is.
26:17There seems to be some degree of confusion between the pilots and the air traffic controller as to where the aircraft was.
26:25Confirmed, sir. Continue turning left heading 215.
26:31They're on course.
26:33A right turn toward the runway is next.
26:38Indonesia 152, turn right heading 046.
26:42Turn right heading 046, Indonesia 152.
26:46They turn left instead.
26:49What investigators hear next makes the left turn even more baffling.
26:53Flaps 8.
26:56Speed check. Flaps 8.
26:58Even though the crew is turning away from the airport, they're configuring their plane as though heading towards it.
27:04Why would you extend Flaps while turning away from the airport?
27:09What if he thinks he is turning towards the airport?
27:15What if he thinks he's here?
27:18He believes he has to turn left to get to the runway.
27:22Feeling he may be close to a breakthrough, Santoso Sayogo reviews the airport approach chart.
27:32The charts layout what the normal approach is and the pilots normally expect to fly that.
27:39He discovers that Garuda 152 wasn't on the standard approach.
27:46The standard approach to Medan is from the left side, which involves making a final left turn to line up with the runway.
27:53But because there was an aircraft departing, the Garuda captain was instructed to approach from the right side of the runway, requiring something he wasn't used to, a right turn before landing.
28:06The controller took them in a direction which was not what they would have expected according to the approach chart.
28:14But there shouldn't really have been a problem with that.
28:18Controllers are supposed to confirm the approach path with the pilots well before they get to the runway.
28:25How could he not have known which approach he was flying?
28:27Back to 127, please.
28:37For PADI 152, turn left heading 240 to intercept runway 05 from the right side.
28:45As Santoso Sayogo listens again to what he thought was a harmless callsign mix-up, he suddenly realises that it had major consequences.
28:54When the controller repeats the approach instructions, he leaves out a critical detail.
29:05Turn left heading 240, 235 now to intercept runway 05.
29:12He didn't repeat which side they were approaching from.
29:16He should have made it clear, you're not going to come in from the left-hand side of the runway.
29:21You're going to come in from the right-hand side.
29:25He thinks he's flown past the airport when he's told to make this turn.
29:29He's expecting the next turn to be a left turn, but instead he's told to turn right.
29:34It seems that the captain, still unable to see the ground through the smoke, dials in a left turn out of habit.
29:42It is a tragic error that leads to disaster.
29:44But investigators now wonder, why did the first officer not notice his captain's mistake?
29:52Indonesia 152, turn right heading 046.
29:57Turn right heading 046, Indonesia 152.
30:00First officer Zewaldi clearly acknowledges the instruction for a right turn.
30:06Yet seconds later, the plane turns left.
30:09It's almost impossible to understand.
30:16Investigators have established that the captain of Garuda Indonesia flight 152 made a fatal turn.
30:22After a radio call mix-up left him with a confused mental picture of the approach he was flying.
30:29The vectors, the directions given them by the air traffic controller, can create a bit of confusion.
30:37Controllers didn't make it clear enough to the pilots that this was not going to be the standard pattern.
30:44Indonesia 152, turn right heading 046, turn right heading 046.
30:52Indonesia 152.
30:57They focus on the words of the first officer in an attempt to understand why he didn't immediately react to the wrong turn.
31:05It's getting hot, isn't it?
31:07The cockpit is hot.
31:09It's what you can do.
31:11It's so hot.
31:12The captain asked the first officer to check the air conditioning.
31:17The co-pilot turned his eyes upward to the panel where you check the air conditioning controls.
31:24The brief distraction diverts the first officer's attention from his instruments at a critical moment.
31:31It's said to cool, sir. It should be fine.
31:34As a result, the co-pilot missed crucial information from the instruments.
31:40Turn right.
31:44He looked back. He was surprised to find out that the aircraft turning to the left instead turning to the right.
31:54In Indonesia 152, confirm turning left or right heading 046.
31:59Turning right, sir.
32:00Sir.
32:01Sorry.
32:02Sorry.
32:08Roger 152.
32:09Roger 152.
32:10Roger 152, confirm you are turning left now.
32:13Roger 152, confirm you are turning left now.
32:16We are turning right now.
32:18Roger 152, okay.
32:20Continue turning left.
32:21In all the confusion over which way to turn.
32:25Left. We are turning right now.
32:28Oh, God.
32:29Okay.
32:30Valuable seconds are lost.
32:34Flying straight towards the belt.
32:36There were many confusing factors for him.
32:39What?
32:40The smoke pollution was certainly one of them.
32:45The confused instructions of air traffic control.
32:49He did not really have a good mental picture of where the aircraft was and where it was meant to be.
32:55Mime! Mime! Mime!
32:56The moment they took the wrong turn, they were doomed.
33:04It was this uncertainty, lack of clarity in the captain's head which really let this accident happen.
33:17The recording helps explain how Garuda Flight 152 ended up so badly off course.
33:23But it doesn't answer another critical question.
33:27Indonesia 152, traffic clear, descend to 2,000 feet.
33:32Descending to 2,000 feet, Indonesia 152.
33:35The crew was instructed to descend no lower than 2,000 feet.
33:40And their autopilot should have kept them at that altitude.
33:44They had gone straight through 2,000 feet and were heading for 1,500.
33:48And that was too low.
33:49How did they end up below 2,000 feet?
33:53Either the autopilot had failed in some way or other, which is unusual, or the crew had input the wrong altitude.
34:03Unfortunately for investigators, the plane's autopilot system was destroyed in the crash.
34:09This impact was so severe, they could pick up the bits afterwards, but they couldn't establish whether there was something wrong with it on the day.
34:18Maintenance records show no history of the autopilot ever failing to maintain proper altitude.
34:27So a malfunction seems unlikely.
34:31And a report from Airbus all but eliminates the possibility of autopilot failure.
34:38Engineers calculated that the odds of such a failure are less than 1 in 2 billion.
34:45It's almost impossible for it to fail.
34:54Descending to 2,000 feet, Indonesia 152.
34:57Investigators suspect the captain made an error while entering his minimum altitude.
35:02It was more probably crew missed setting than it was autopilot failure.
35:07Indonesia 152, confirm turning left or right heading 046.
35:13Turning right, sir.
35:15Sorry.
35:16Roger, 152.
35:17As the aircraft passes below its target altitude of 2,000 feet,
35:30152, confirm you are turning left now.
35:33We are turning right now.
35:35The pilots are engaged in a confusing conversation about which direction to turn.
35:39152, okay. Continue turning left.
35:42Left, turning right now.
35:52They were so preoccupied with their turn, they didn't notice their altitude.
35:58Both pilots didn't realize that the aircraft already left 2,000 feet.
36:04By the time the first officer does notice the dangerously low altitude...
36:09We're descending.
36:10What?
36:13It's too late.
36:16The quality of their monitoring of their instruments was not up to scratch.
36:22Come on, climb!
36:23No.
36:24Climb! Climb!
36:26And that's why they got too low and they hit the high ground.
36:30It's finally clear how Garuda Indonesia flight 152 dropped below the minimum safe altitude.
36:48But there are still important questions to answer.
36:50Indonesia 152, traffic clear, descend to 2,000 feet.
36:56The controller in Medan had a readout of flight 152's altitude and direction.
37:02If he'd recognized the danger and warned the crew hundreds of lives could have been saved.
37:10Why didn't that happen?
37:11Ascending to 2,000 feet, Indonesia 152.
37:12Investigators need to understand why the Medan controller never warned the Garuda pilots of impending danger.
37:26They pore over the technical specifications for Medan's radar system.
37:32Most advanced radar systems refresh every five seconds.
37:37But they soon discover that the radar in Medan is far from advanced.
37:42The radar only refreshed every 12 seconds.
37:49That means the controller only gets an updated picture of where the aeroplane is every 12 seconds.
37:57152, confirm you are turning left now?
38:00We are turning right now.
38:02A lot can happen in 12 seconds.
38:05So when the pilot turned in completely the wrong direction...
38:09Continue turning left.
38:10The controller was not seeing what the pilot was doing.
38:17Until it was getting to be too late.
38:29Investigators are close to fully understanding the tragic crash of flight 152.
38:35There's just one last mystery to solve.
38:37Most commercial jets have a cockpit alarm that sounds when the plane flies too close to terrain.
38:44Terrain, terrain, pull up.
38:47It's called the ground proximity warning system.
38:51A loud, automated voice alerting pilots to danger.
38:54One of the big questions for us was why did the accident happen when the aircraft was equipped with a ground proximity warning system.
39:05According to the flight data recorder, the GPWS on flight 152 was triggered five times.
39:12The crew should have heard the first warning 37 seconds before impact.
39:19But when they check the cockpit recording, they only hear the voice alarm once.
39:24Pull up, pull up, pull up.
39:26Pull up.
39:27And it comes just four seconds before impact.
39:31Something's not right.
39:33They send the tape to an audio lab where sound technicians enhance the quality of the recording.
39:38Listening to the enhanced tape, investigators make a stunning discovery.
39:53Pull up, pull up, pull up.
39:55Pull up.
39:56The alert, pull up, pull up, is not the sound of an automated voice.
40:04It's definitely Zewaldi.
40:06Staff officer.
40:10Then we realized the recorded of pull up, pull up wasn't from the GPWS, but it was from one of my friends.
40:22It can mean only one thing.
40:27We knew that the GPWS was not working.
40:36It's ultimately revealed that there is a flaw in the GPWS that prevents a warning from sounding when planes are descending over certain types of mountainous terrain.
40:47The GPWS never gave the warning to the pilot.
40:52Over the years, GPWS has saved countless lives.
40:57It was sad in this case that those lives weren't saved.
41:01And the modern systems, enhanced GPWS, certainly would have worked way better.
41:06Investigators have finally uncovered the tragic series of events that led to the loss of 234 lives.
41:17It all starts with a controller who confuses one call sign for another.
41:23We're PADI 152, turn left heading 2, 4, 0 to intercept runway.
41:28We're one always left behind a bit, so keep an eye on it for me.
41:32The mix-up means the crew of flight 152 never hear a critical instruction to approach the runway from the right side, instead of the usual left.
41:42Indonesia 152, say again.
41:44The captain compounds the problem when he enters an incorrect altitude into the autopilot.
41:52Indonesia 152, traffic clear, descend to 2,000 feet.
41:57Descending to 2,000 feet, Indonesia 152.
41:59The error keeps the autopilot from holding the plane at 2,000 feet, as the crew expects.
42:10Thick smoke from forest fires obscures the view of landmarks on the ground.
42:17Thinking the runway is to his left, the captain turns away from the airport, towards mountains.
42:221-5-2, confirm you're turning left now.
42:26We're turning right now.
42:271-5-2, okay.
42:29Continue turning left.
42:31In the confusion over the turn, no one notices that the Airbus is dropping dangerously close to the ground.
42:38Ultimately, the warning that should alert them to the danger never sounds.
42:45What?
42:46Come on, climb!
42:50Climb!
42:51Pull up!
42:52Pull up!
42:53Pull up!
42:59No!
43:00No!
43:01No!
43:02No!
43:03No!
43:07In their final report, Indonesian investigators call for improved communications training for pilots,
43:13as well as upgrades to Medan's radar system.
43:17They also advise against using the same flight number for more than one plane on the same route.
43:23I think what really hit home to me about this accident and the loss of so many lives was how avoidable it was.
43:32At the end of investigation, we were surprised that there were so many human errors that happened one after another.
43:47All of these things came together to make an accident very much more likely.
43:53If you took away any one of those factors, the accident might not have happened.
43:59We were found at the same risk now.
44:02Today you're based on the policy of the pilot, and you need to find the same out.
44:05the pilot is lost on the plane.
44:07It seems to be a result, an accident to the plane.
44:09The pilot was on the plane, it was a to be the pilot and it was a to be the pilot and it has to be the pilot.
44:12It was released at the pilot and it was so many people had to control the plane.
44:14It was too late.
44:15The pilot was called a pilot and it seemed to have an accident of the plane, which is happening now.
44:18It's been to the pilot and it was a pilot, but a pilot based on the pilot.