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  • 6/20/2025

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00:00Descending through thick clouds.
00:08Ansett New Zealand Flight 703 slams into a hill.
00:13It was just an almighty crash. Horrendous sound.
00:17Ansett 703, do you read?
00:19Those lucky enough to survive the crash find themselves stranded.
00:22There's no signals at all and they're off radar.
00:24And facing the possibility of freezing to death.
00:28Opithymia would have been a major problem.
00:31Once investigators finish piecing together the clues.
00:34There it is, clear as day.
00:36It was obvious that there was a malfunction.
00:38Their findings lead to an unprecedented charge of manslaughter.
00:42This accident should not have happened.
00:46Mayday, mayday.
00:58It's nine in the morning as Ansett New Zealand Flight 703 cruises towards the city of Palmerston North, New Zealand.
01:17Best approach heading is set.
01:23We're on heading 250.
01:25At the controls is 40-year-old Captain Gary Sotheren.
01:29A six-year Ansett veteran with almost 8,000 flying hours.
01:33Ansett 703 established inbound.
01:3633-year-old First Officer Barry Brown has more than 6,000 hours.
01:43Will do at 10 miles, Ansett 703.
01:46That was a fairly standard sort of commuter flight.
01:50And these two pilots were very, very qualified to fly this plane.
01:54There are 18 passengers on board the short flight.
02:08William McGrory is flying to his company's head office for an early morning meeting.
02:13I was working for a plumbing company.
02:16I was based in Auckland and they were based in Palmerston North.
02:21Do you race?
02:23Oh, nah.
02:24Never wants to race in my life.
02:26Pass the tone though.
02:27Are you headed home?
02:28And then the hostess sat down in the seat in front of me on the armrest and started chatting.
02:35She was telling about her life and I was telling her what I was up to and she was great.
02:39Just full of life, full of beans and had her life planned.
02:44I'm trying to save enough to buy a house.
02:46She was from Christchurch and I believe that's where she was going to buy her house.
02:49She was really excited about that.
02:52Captain Southern again.
02:53We are beginning our approach to Palmerston North.
02:55We should have you on the ground right around 9.30.
02:58The pilots are flying a Dash 8 100 series.
03:01A 40-seat regional airliner known for its short take-off and landing capability.
03:07And caused the virus active.
03:09Check.
03:10Flight 703 left Auckland for the one-hour flight to Palmerston North.
03:15It's a 250-mile journey south.
03:20To a region with notoriously unpredictable weather.
03:23There was low clouds around the Palmerston North area.
03:26So, I mean, it wouldn't have been a great day to fly because of the lack of visibility.
03:31As we were on approach.
03:34Hang on a minute.
03:35And she looked out the window and looked a bit concerned.
03:40She looked on the other side as well and she said,
03:45I don't think the landing gear is down on the right side. Can you check your window?
03:52The landing gear on the Dash 8 is located in the engine's housing on the wings.
03:58Because the wings are on top of the airplane, when the landing gear is extended, it's clearly visible from the cabin.
04:04No, I can't see the landing gear at all.
04:07We were looking straight out under the wing pretty much.
04:10So, yeah, you'll be able to see it all right.
04:12I could tell that it wasn't extended.
04:14Excuse me.
04:19Karen Gallagher alerts the pilots.
04:22I'll keep an eye on the airplane while you're doing that.
04:24Yeah, okay.
04:25In the cockpit, Captain Sotheran and his first officer are already troubleshooting the problem.
04:32Right landing gears are down. I guess you guys know that.
04:35Yeah, we know.
04:37Alternate gear extension, approach and landing checklist, pressurization.
04:43When the gear doesn't go down normally, every airplane has a checklist to have a backup system.
04:49That's required by design. Dash 8 is no exception. It should not be a big deal.
04:54We're good.
04:58We have everything under control.
05:03There's a standard procedure that they're running through.
05:07She came back and sat down again on the armrest and said they're just doing a manual reset
05:12and they'll have the wheel down in no time.
05:14She wasn't stressed, not alarmed at all.
05:17As flight 703 nears Palmerston North, the pilots follow the procedure for lowering landing gear manually.
05:25Air speed below 140 knots.
05:27It's 140.
05:28Karen was sitting right there in front of me and the next minute.
05:34And then I'll have a few days off, so I'll probably head down to you.
05:37There was just an almighty crash, just horrendous sound.
05:43And then the sound stopped.
05:46And we must have lifted off the ground.
05:52Another crash and then we seem to be sliding.
05:57It's just horrible, horrible noise.
05:59All the metal and all the things flying around inside the plane.
06:08Eventually, we came to a stop.
06:12And it was just this strange silence of no more grinding and metal and things happening around me.
06:19The impact fractured a vertebra in McRory's back, but the rush of adrenaline keeps him from feeling the pain.
06:27I guess it just clicked into survival mode and it didn't really matter what was wrong with me.
06:31Just, I was alive.
06:33To get out of this plane, that was probably the only single thing that was on my mind at the time.
06:39I saw a hole in front of me on the right-hand side and saw that as an opportunity to get out.
06:44William McRory has survived the crash of Ansett Flight 703, but now fears the possibility of a fire.
06:53I assumed that we had crash-landed on the tarmac without the wheel down.
06:59And any minute now, all the fire engines will be screaming up to us to spray all the foam on and make sure we didn't catch fire.
07:06McRory suddenly realizes he's nowhere near the airport and has no idea where he is.
07:12I just looked back and thought, hell, we're in a paddock somewhere in the hills.
07:19And that's when I went back to the plane because there was people starting to come out through the holes in the sides.
07:26And I went back to assist.
07:30There were some people pretty badly injured. Some of the passengers were still unconscious.
07:35Up in the cockpit, the two pilots had survived but were pretty badly injured.
07:42Passengers, still trapped in the wreckage, are in urgent need of medical help.
07:45Ansett 703, Ansett 703, this is Palmerston Tower, do you read?
07:52In the airport's tower, controller Tony Chapman tries to contact Ansett Flight 703.
07:57I don't know where they are. There's no signals at all and they're off radar.
08:02Well, the emergency services were ready to go. There's firefighters at Palmerston North Airport.
08:07But they didn't know where the plane was exactly.
08:10To make matters worse, it's extremely cold and windy.
08:14Survivors need to find a way to keep warm until help arrives.
08:17I thought, hell, we need some, we need some gear to get everyone warm.
08:22There must be blankets or maybe there's some bags at the back.
08:26You know, we can just get some jerseys or jumpers or shirts or whatever just to get people warm.
08:31But there was nothing, nothing at all to keep us warm.
08:36We're out in front of the nose now, which was facing back the way we came.
08:40I saw my little briefcase.
08:42So I grabbed that and opened it up knowing full well that my phone was in there.
08:48In 1995, not many New Zealanders would have had cell phones at all.
08:51So it's pretty amazing that he had one and then saw it and it was still working.
08:57They rang 111 and they said, what emergency do you need? Ambulance, fire or police?
09:04And I said, send the whole bloody lot.
09:07We've got a plane crash, send everything.
09:08And she immediately changed her tone and said, just hang up and we'll get back to you.
09:16You're looking for a white twin engine prop plane.
09:19We're flying west along Manawatu Gorge heading towards the airport.
09:22Flight 703 last reported being on final approach for runway 25.
09:27The plane could now be anywhere in a 150 square mile area.
09:32Everyone was huddled together to try and keep warm as the shock was really setting in at this stage.
09:40Hypothermia would have been a concern for the passengers who had survived.
09:43The ones that were injured in particular, the last thing you want is to be exposed to the cold.
09:47For the survivors of Ansett 703, time is running out.
09:55Ansett New Zealand Flight 703 has crashed somewhere in the hills around Palmerston North.
10:01Passenger William McRory anxiously waits for the emergency operator to call back.
10:05Did he say where they were?
10:08Okay, did you get a number?
10:11The operator has notified Palmerston North's tower of McRory's call.
10:17Perfect, thank you.
10:19Got a witness called in, said he saw the crash.
10:22They had been told that I saw the crash, and they didn't know that I was actually in the crash at the time.
10:37So I straightened them up on that pretty quickly.
10:39Witnessed? No, I was on the bloody thing.
10:42William, whatever happens, do not hang up the phone. You have to stay on the phone with me.
10:48Okay, okay.
10:49The person from the control tower said, we need to know where you are.
10:52Can you give us some descriptions of what's around you?
10:56We're on a hill.
10:58It could be a farm.
11:00It's freezing cold.
11:02The passengers who had survived, of course, would be going into shock.
11:05And it was very cold for them, and that could have had unfortunate consequences.
11:09Okay, do whatever you can to keep everybody warm.
11:12Survivors build a makeshift shelter from the wreckage to protect themselves from the howling winter wind.
11:17It had been snowing the day before, so the cold was all there.
11:21It was just a horribly bitter day.
11:23All right, I'll see what we can find.
11:25Can you see if you can find some kind of landmark, anything that can help them find us where we are?
11:30How long is your battery going to last?
11:35About an hour.
11:37Okay, good.
11:39Don't hang up.
11:41The passenger who had come to help me said, I'll have a look around.
11:44So he went off, up the hill, and he'd gone quite a distance in quite a while, really.
11:51And he came back some time later, and he said, there's a big holding pen for sheep up the hill further.
11:56We're next to a very large sheep holding pen.
12:01Wood, maybe 30 metres long.
12:04Okay, William.
12:06Some of the rescuers who were listening to this conversation, someone recognised it and knew where to go.
12:11Looks like they're near the Buckley Stockyard up by a whole block road.
12:17One of them knew that the only holding pen of that size, anywhere around that area, was so-and-so's farm.
12:24With the location of the crash roughly pinpointed, rescuers make their way to the scene.
12:30One rescue helicopter pilot described it as flying in the inside of a milk bottle, to give you an idea of flying up in the cloud.
12:41I can hear a helicopter.
12:44That's good, William.
12:46It's getting closer.
12:50There it is! It's there! There it is!
12:58I remember the helicopter coming up through the cloud, and I saw its lights hidden for us.
13:04It was just incredible.
13:06I'll never forget that feeling of seeing those lights, and the sound of the helicopter.
13:10I'll never forget it after it.
13:11Okay, William. You can hang up now. Thank you.
13:13And that's when the adrenaline stopped pumping, and I started feeling the pain and the cold and the misery that everyone else was going through.
13:31Flight 703 has crashed into a hill ten miles from the airport at Palmerston North.
13:38Fifteen passengers and both pilots have survived.
13:42Tragically, three passengers and flight attendant Karen Gallagher are killed.
13:46We were very, very lucky that 17 of us survived. I think so sadly for those that did lose their lives. The hostess and the others that died on that day was so unnecessary.
13:58Investigators from New Zealand's Transport Accident Investigation Commission, the TAIC, are quickly on the scene.
14:14At the time it was massive news. There's not many plane crashes in New Zealand, and particularly in this case because there were so many survivors.
14:27Well, definitely hit more than once.
14:31Because the plane was manufactured in Canada, Larry Vance from the Canadian Transport Safety Board is sent to New Zealand to assist with the investigation.
14:40There was a main fuselage piece that was basically intact. There was a separated tail, there was a separated left wing. They were spread out over the rolling hills.
14:54The land was sloped, so it was pretty strewn about.
15:01Right here. The nose wheel hits first.
15:04The marks on the ground tell investigators that the plane's forward landing gear wheels hit the ground first.
15:14The fact that the nose wheel hit first, and then the rest of the aircraft followed, told us that the aircraft was flying somewhat level.
15:21It wasn't going nose first into the ground.
15:25The most critical clue is the one that's missing.
15:29Our tire tracks.
15:30The ground where the right landing gear should have touched down is undisturbed.
15:36What we saw from ground markings, it was entirely consistent with the fact that the right landing gear was not extended.
15:43The marks on the ground show that Flight 703 was flying level when the forward landing gear hit the ground.
15:50But the right main landing gear was not extended.
15:52In the cockpit, investigators find evidence that the pilots attempted to lower the landing gear.
16:05We saw that the landing gear selector was down.
16:10We saw that the emergency landing gear selector was being used.
16:15So we knew they were dealing with a landing gear problem simply by looking in the cockpit.
16:21Landing data, altimeters, tanks, belt smoking, ASB below 140 knots?
16:26It's 140.
16:28Landing gear selected down.
16:30Yep.
16:32Landing gear, alternate release door fully open, which it is.
16:35The alternate method should have lowered the gear.
16:38For some reason, the plane hit the ground less than a minute later.
16:41Hey.
16:43We had two main questions.
16:45The first one was, why did the landing gear not extend?
16:48And the second one was, why did the pilots fly the aircraft into the ground?
16:52Investigators need to examine the wreckage of ANSET 703 to determine why the pilots were unable to get their landing gear down.
17:03But the muddy terrain is presenting a challenge.
17:06It was virtually impossible to get equipment onto that site.
17:12It would just slip and they would get stuck and slide down hills and so on.
17:16Vance comes up with a solution.
17:19They had a huge helicopter owned by Russians.
17:23What we suggested to them that they do is get a big long cable and put the cable through the fuselage.
17:28The ribs were in good enough condition that they would basically hold the weight of that fuselage.
17:34They brought that helicopter in on a 200 foot long line and they lifted that fuselage out all in one piece.
17:41With all the wreckage in a hangar, investigators are able to examine the right landing gear to understand why it didn't come down.
17:54Right landing gear doesn't come down.
17:58Start the ultimate procedure and then slim into a hill eight and a half miles from the runway.
18:04First question is what went wrong with that gear?
18:08What we were thinking is there's really only a couple of things that can keep that gear from extending.
18:14It's hard to tell why it didn't come down.
18:17Vance is joined by Jim Donnelly, a maintenance engineer from de Havilland, the Dash 8's manufacturer.
18:22It was obvious that there was a malfunction of the right main landing gear to extend.
18:27So we needed to look at what may have influenced the landing gear system operation.
18:34When the landing gear is up, a latch holds a roller on the gear's leg in the retracted position.
18:41When pilots lower the gear, an actuator moves the up-lock latch to release the roller, allowing the landing gear to extend.
18:49This is probably where the problem was.
18:53Well, when we got to the hangar, we could actually have a better look.
19:00We had better lighting and more controlled climate.
19:04And everything pointed to the right main landing gear up-lock actuator and the up-lock actuator latch.
19:12Latch is definitely showing signs of wear.
19:16When we visually examined the up-lock latch, we really didn't notice a great deal.
19:24However, you could feel a very slight detent on the latch itself where the roller sat.
19:32Over time, the roller wore a small groove into the right side latch.
19:37It was enough to prevent it from sliding into the down position.
19:43It was similar to what you would find if you got your car stuck on ice and you started spinning your tire.
19:49And the tire would wear itself down a little bit of a dip down into the ice.
19:54And once you get one of those, of course, it's awfully hard to get out of.
20:01Here's another.
20:03Landing gear fail sticks in.
20:07Yeah.
20:09It definitely was an issue.
20:11Investigators dig through the Dash 8's history.
20:13The issue with the up-lock actuator wear was well documented on early model Dash 8's.
20:23A number of operators experienced it.
20:26The ANSET fleet sure he did share problems.
20:31Both are Dash 8's by the looks of it.
20:34ANSET New Zealand's Dash 8's had been experiencing landing gear failures for years.
20:41There were incidents of the landing gear either not lowering or lowering very slowly.
20:51The problem became so widespread that de Havilland offered airlines a modified up-lock mechanism designed to overcome the problem.
20:59It was found that a change of material would be of benefit to prevent these issues.
21:08And it would be a harder material.
21:10Something that didn't have the same wear properties.
21:13Just the left side.
21:15Gotcha.
21:17Thanks for that.
21:19They replaced the mechanism on the left side.
21:22But we're waiting on pads for the right.
21:24ANSET only replaced the left up-lock actuator because that is where they experienced the majority of their issues.
21:34But all of these gear problems were easily dealt with.
21:38In every case the pilots used the alternate method to lower the gear.
21:42And they all landed safely.
21:43If the gear didn't lower normally, pilots could pull a handle in the cockpit that manually disengaged the latch so that the gear can drop into position.
21:57The alternate system is 100% reliable.
22:00There has never been an issue with the alternate landing gear extension system failing to lower a landing gear.
22:06But evidence from the cockpit wreckage reveals the first officer didn't pull the handle hard enough to release the landing gear.
22:17We saw that the handle that is normally pulled was partially pulled.
22:23Failing to lower the landing gear is unusual.
22:27But it doesn't explain why the pilots of ANSET Flight 703 slammed into a hill just a few miles from the airport.
22:36Investigators need to know what was happening inside the cockpit.
22:40You're looking to see who's actually flying the airplane, who's monitoring the altitude, who's doing the call-outs.
22:46This is what investigators have to look at.
22:47The pilots of ANSET Flight 703 have suffered severe head trauma and are unable to be interviewed.
22:56It's a major setback.
22:58Not below 4,600 to start off with.
23:00Not below 3,009 miles.
23:02Investigators now depend on the cockpit voice recorder to uncover the cause of the crash.
23:07ANSET 703, stop descent at 6,000 feet for the VOR DME, approach runway 25.
23:17Stop descent 6,000 for approach 25, ANSET 703.
23:22The approach to runway 25 at Palmerston North involves making a right turn 14 miles from the airport and approaching the runway from the east.
23:32Everything seemed to be pretty well nominal until they got on final approach.
23:38Not below 4,600 to start off with.
23:42Not below 3,009 miles.
23:44Not below 2,500 at 7 miles.
23:47Yep.
23:49And 1,600 at 5 miles.
23:50Because of the steep terrain surrounding the airport, the pilots need to hit prescribed altitudes at specified distances from the airport.
24:00And it's right on the limits, so we've got to stick to that.
24:033,009, 2,500 at 7, 1,600 at 5.
24:09They knew their minimums.
24:10The recording shows that the pilots knew their minimum altitudes throughout the descent.
24:20Hello there, flags.
24:22Missed approach heading is sit.
24:28We're on heading 250.
24:30Check.
24:34ANSET 703, established inbound.
24:36Flight 703 makes the final turn and reports flying on a heading towards the airport.
24:43ANSET 703, roger. Contact Palmerston Tower at 10 miles.
24:47Will do at 10 miles, ANSET 703.
24:51Awesome, second place.
24:53Okay.
24:55They knew their minimums.
24:57They're 13 miles out, known course.
24:58And in two and a half minutes, they'll hit the ground.
25:11Gear down.
25:15Say again.
25:17Gear down.
25:19Yep.
25:23Selected.
25:25And on profile, hang on.
25:29Fraction low.
25:31Check.
25:35Flaps 15.
25:38Oh, crap.
25:41Oh, look at that.
25:43I don't want that.
25:45Sounds like they just noticed the gear isn't down and locked.
25:48Yeah, that's not good.
25:49Okay, so, uh, she's not locked.
25:52Alternate, uh, landing gear?
25:54Seemed to be on top of it.
25:56Alternate extension.
25:57Do you want to grab the QRH?
25:59Yep.
26:00Captain Sotheran instructs his first officer to run through the alternate procedure,
26:04which is set out in the plane's quick reference handbook.
26:07Checklist is designed to make sure the gear does come down,
26:10so ultimately it will come down and then you can land.
26:14Whip through that one, see if we can get it out of the way before it's too late.
26:18Yeah, living in a half miles out.
26:21Gonna have to move it to get that gear down.
26:27I'll keep an eye on the airplane while you're doing that.
26:30Yeah, okay.
26:34Good separation of duties.
26:36Captain Fleiss on the FO.
26:38There's the checklist.
26:40The right landing gear isn't down.
26:42I guess you guys know that.
26:43It's, uh, here in Gallagher.
26:46Yeah, we know.
26:51Alternate gear extension.
26:53Approach landing checklist.
26:54Pressurization.
26:55Skip down to the actual applicable stuff.
26:58When the captain asked the first officer to skip over those steps,
27:00he had the authority under answer to do so.
27:03And so this is just something that's, again, not unusual,
27:05was not breaking a rule.
27:06But the crew is rushing, rushing to get this checklist done,
27:09which they needed to do if they wanted to land the airplane.
27:12Yeah.
27:13Uh, landing data, altimeters, tanks, uh, belt.
27:17Smoking.
27:18Airspeed below 140 knots.
27:20It's 140.
27:22Landing gear selected down.
27:23Yeah.
27:25Landing gear alternate release door open.
27:27The first officer would open a door in the ceiling,
27:30and that exposes the handle.
27:34You pull it until you can't pull it anymore.
27:37And the landing gear drops.
27:39And then it free falls to the down and lock position.
27:42So far, so good.
27:44A few more steps.
27:46The gear will be down and locked with...
27:48About four and a half minutes to spare.
27:50And set 703, establish finals upon us to North.
27:55And set 703, that's understood.
27:58And insert this handle.
28:03Insert handle till...
28:06First Officer Brown is struggling with the procedure.
28:10If there was any chance that the landing gear
28:13would not go down to the locked position,
28:15there's a hand pump down in the floor
28:16that you open another door in the floor,
28:19you put a handle in and make a selection.
28:21And you start pumping.
28:23And operate until the main gear locks.
28:27You missed a step.
28:29He's fussing with the pump handle,
28:30he hasn't even pulled the gear release yet.
28:33Oh, yeah.
28:35And operate until the main gear locks.
28:38You're supposed to pull the handle.
28:39It's actually got that after that.
28:42Yeah.
28:43Yeah, it's pulled.
28:44They pulled it?
28:45But not all the way.
28:47That's why the gear was still up when they hit.
28:49The plane is only a few hundred feet from the ground,
28:51but the pilots still haven't lowered the right landing gear.
28:54Marine, Marine, pull up.
28:55Marine, Marine, pull up.
28:57Marine, Marine, pull up.
28:59Could one missed step on a checklist have doomed the passengers and crew of Flight 703?
29:00Alternate landing gear.
29:01Alternate extension.
29:02You want to grab the Q-1?
29:03That's why the gear was still up when they hit.
29:04That's why the gear was still up when they hit.
29:06The plane is only a few hundred feet from the ground,
29:07but the pilots still haven't lowered the right landing gear.
29:10Marine, Marine, pull up.
29:11Marine, pull up.
29:14Marine, Marine, pull up.
29:18Could one missed step on a checklist have doomed the passengers and crew of Flight 703?
29:24Alternate landing gear. Alternate extension.
29:29You want to grab the QRH?
29:30Yep.
29:33I'll keep an eye on the airplane.
29:34What are you doing there?
29:35Yeah, okay.
29:36Investigators struggle to understand how two experienced pilots failed to notice they were flying dangerously low.
29:44The captain clearly said,
29:47I'll keep an eye on the airplane.
29:50Doesn't sound like he did that.
29:51There are two people in the cockpit.
29:53The captain was to fly the airplane, but now he's involved in the checklist.
29:57Oh, yeah. And operate until the main gear locks.
30:00You're supposed to pull the handle.
30:03The voice recording has revealed that instead of monitoring the airplane as he said he would,
30:08the captain was helping his first officer with the landing gear checklist.
30:12In any emergency, somebody has to fly the airplane and keep the airplane where it needs to be.
30:17Let's see the approach profile.
30:18The flight data shows exactly when Flight 703 began to stray from its planned descent path.
30:25They were approaching their minimum altitude when the gear hangs up.
30:29And they keep descending.
30:35Fast.
30:36The data shows that Flight 703 kept dropping lower and lower until it was almost 1400 feet too low.
30:44And the aircraft started to descend quite quickly down below what would be a desirable glide path.
30:50And the captain didn't notice that.
30:52He was paying more attention to what the co-pilot was doing because the co-pilot was struggling trying to get the landing gear sequence right.
30:58They should have been descending at about 580 feet per minute.
31:06Instead, they were descending at around 1200 feet per minute.
31:11Why is that?
31:12The captain should have put some more power to the engines and adjusted the nose attitude to decrease his rate of descent.
31:21That's what should have been happening.
31:23Okay, right here.
31:25The engines are cut back to flight idle.
31:29Course bar is active. Check.
31:32Going down to 4600 now.
31:33Captain Sotheran brought his engines to flight idle to aid his descent, and then left them in that position for more than a minute.
31:44During that time, Flight 703 descended below the recommended altitude.
31:50The captain eventually increased engine power, but not enough.
31:56And flaps 15.
31:57And up to 33 percent.
32:01And back to flight idle.
32:03And up to 10 percent.
32:05Not giving it a lot of power.
32:11He allowed the airplane to get way below the profile.
32:14He didn't notice that because, again, he was busy, he was distracted.
32:17The co-pilot didn't notice because he's trying to deal with his checklist.
32:20So nobody noticed the airplane went descending below profile.
32:22But there is a device on the Dash 8 that should have warned the pilots that they were rapidly approaching the ground.
32:30The Ground Proximity Warning System, or GPWS.
32:35The system uses radio signals to measure the distance from the ground and the plane's closing speed.
32:42If the plane is getting too close to the ground, or descending too quickly, a warning sounds, advising the pilots to pull up.
32:49OK.
32:54Let's listen to what they heard in the cockpit.
32:57Investigators listen for the warning sounds from the GPWS.
33:01You're supposed to pull the handle.
33:03It's actually got that after that.
33:07It's pulled.
33:12There it is, clear as day.
33:13Hooray, hooray, pull up.
33:21We thought 4.5 seconds before impact.
33:25Not a lot of time to rear.
33:31Hooray, hooray, pull up.
33:33The voice recording reveals that the warning system didn't give the pilots much time to pull up and save the plane.
33:38It was quite obvious to us that they had made an attempt to start an immediate climb away.
33:45Hooray, hooray, pull up.
33:48They had started to put on power.
33:50They had obviously brought the nose up from the aircraft's previous nose down attitude.
33:55Computer simulations show that the GPWS on the Dash 8 should have provided a warning well before Flight 703 hit the hill.
34:0617 seconds. That's more like it.
34:10The pilots would have an ample time to avoid a collision.
34:13Had it been 17 seconds, I suspect the airplane would have cleared the hill.
34:17It would have been a scary moment, but they would have cleared the hill.
34:22There's a big difference between 17 seconds and 4.5 seconds.
34:28Sure is.
34:29A 4.5 seconds warning before you hit the hill isn't particularly helpful.
34:37The team now wonders why the crew of Flight 703 got a late warning from their GPWS.
34:47Hooray, hooray, pull up.
34:48Investigators have recovered the GPWS computer from the wreckage of ANSET Flight 703.
35:02We didn't know if there was anything wrong with that system, but we knew it warranted looking at further.
35:16This checks out. No problems at all.
35:18The unit appears to be in good working order.
35:22Investigators know the GPWS didn't warn the pilots until it was too late.
35:28Did something interfere with the altimeter that feeds the unit altitude data?
35:33What do we know about this?
35:36The issue was brought up about the nearby telecommunications tower and whether or not that had any potential for interference with the operation of the airplane.
35:48What do you got?
35:49It's a radio transmission tower.
35:52Signals are in the 800 to 900 megahertz range.
35:56Those frequencies wouldn't affect the radio altimeter.
36:10The main reason that we ruled out the telecommunications tower very quickly was that it was not in the same frequency range at all that's used by the GPWS.
36:19Two entirely different frequencies.
36:26It's been painted.
36:30To prevent any disruption to reception, the antenna for the radio altimeter is marked with the words, do not paint.
36:38It appears ANSET ignored that.
36:41The GPWS antenna sends and receives radio altimeter signals as the aircraft passes over the ground.
36:50It was painted. It shouldn't have been painted. We had no idea what this meant to the operation of the system.
36:59The non-metallic paint used would not inhibit radio signals.
37:04So that's not it.
37:07They're running out of leads.
37:09It's got to be the software.
37:11Investigators determined that a software glitch prevented the GPWS from getting accurate altitude readings.
37:17As the plane descended faster than normal over unusually hilly terrain.
37:22We concluded that probably the radio altimeter missed a beat or two as they were approaching the undulating terrain.
37:30That it just dropped out for whatever one or two hits.
37:35Enough to cause it to give only a four or five second warning.
37:40Landing gear alternate release door open, which it is.
37:44It is.
37:45But the failed GPWS doesn't answer the investigation's most pressing question.
37:50Why didn't the pilots discontinue their approach while they struggled with their gear?
37:55Career now to set the landing gear issue here.
37:58Twelve miles out.
38:00That only gives them about five minutes to get the gear down and land.
38:03Why not go around and buy some time?
38:09Good question.
38:11Time is your friend.
38:13And if you don't have enough time, it's your enemy.
38:15So you want to make sure you give yourself time.
38:17Because these procedures do take time to lower the gear.
38:20Question is, why did it continue?
38:22Investigators now realize that the entire sequence of events put in motion by the failed gear
38:27could have been prevented if the pilots had taken one simple action.
38:33I've ordered all of this by just going around.
38:40Oh crap.
38:42Yeah, look at that.
38:43I don't want that.
38:44Yeah, that's not good.
38:46Okay, so she's not locked.
38:49Alternate landing gear?
38:51Alternate extension.
38:52You want to grab the QRH?
38:54Yeah.
39:02Just whip through that one.
39:03See if we can get it out of the way before it's too late.
39:06The team believes Captain Sotheran's decision to continue the approach
39:10while trying to lower the gear was a tragic mistake.
39:12When this landing gear did not come down, the pilots should have stopped their approach right away.
39:18They should have said we're going to go somewhere and hold
39:21and we're going to get the landing gear down.
39:23Oh, yeah.
39:25And operate until the main gear locks.
39:28You're supposed to pull the handle.
39:31But instead, Captain Sotheran made the decision to continue his approach to Palmerston North.
39:37In human factors terms, it's called continuation bias.
39:40Continuation bias means that you've got a plan to do something.
39:44Other things come up to show you that the plan may not be as good as you hoped,
39:48but you don't accept those other things.
39:50His resolve to continue the approach proves deadly.
39:54All right, all right.
39:56Pull up.
39:57Pull up.
39:58Pull up.
39:59Pull up.
40:00Pull up.
40:01Pull up.
40:02Pull up.
40:04Pull up.
40:06Pull up.
40:08Pull up.
40:13In their final report, investigators fault Captain Sotheran for not making proper power adjustments,
40:18adjustments, for losing track of his altitude, for not focusing on flying the airplane and for
40:24continuing the approach while troubleshooting the landing gear. A landing gear issue should not
40:34cause an airplane accident. Flight crews are trained to overcome this type of emergency.
40:39This accident was about the performance of the pilots. This accident should not have happened.
40:46ANSET New Zealand revised its operations manual following the accident. Pilots are now
40:52instructed to discontinue their approach and resolve any abnormal situations before attempting
40:57to land. What I learned from this accident was, give yourself time. It's not a critical emergency,
41:03it's something you can do in an organized way, but you need time. In the year 2000, in an unprecedented
41:10move, Captain Sotheran is charged with manslaughter for operating an aircraft in a careless manner.
41:16After a six-week trial, six years after the accident, a jury finds him not guilty.
41:22It was a gruelling trial for the captain. He never flew for ANSET again and had to leave
41:28the country to resume his flying career. To this day, William McGrory bears no ill will towards the crew of
41:35ANSET Flight 703. Yes, there was part of the era, but I did not at any time blame the pilots for the crash.
41:42It's a whole host of things on the day that came together, like the perfect storm. At the time after
41:49the crash, I learned to appreciate life in general. And I often have to pinch myself and say, hey,
41:55smell the roses, tell people you love them again. And remember that one instant you can be here,
42:02the next instant you could be dead. So it's been good for me in that respect that it makes you
42:08appreciate what you have got.