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  • 6/20/2025

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00:01Airfield in sight, runway in sight.
00:04A Boeing 737 crash lands in a night storm.
00:08It ended up impacting the ground short of the runway.
00:12A late-night take-off in Beirut...
00:17...turns to horror.
00:20Plane was out of control.
00:23The crew was never fully on top of what was happening.
00:27A jetliner plummets to the ground in the Swedish Arctic.
00:34Investigators uncover evidence that the pilots were disoriented in the darkness.
00:43It begins to get confusing and if you get past a certain point, that confusion can become terminal.
00:48Three different crews fall into the same trap in the dead of night.
00:53Do you have the runway in sight?
00:57BD, BD.
01:03Full stop.
01:05I need one-zero, for the area to make you open, my file.
01:07I don't want you to see that.
01:08I'm going to see that.
01:09I'm going to see that.
01:10I'm going to see that.
01:11I'm going to see that.
01:13It's just after midnight, 36,000 feet over the Caribbean Sea.
01:26Airy's flight 8250 carries tourists and locals from Bogota to the small Colombian island of San Andres.
01:34So much for grabbing dinner on the ground.
01:35Yeah, it's going to be a late night.
01:36Captain Wilson Gutierrez has almost 20 years of flying experience.
01:44First officer Camilo Piñeros has flown for Airees for more than three years, the last on the airline's new Boeing 737s.
01:52Looks like there's some weather ahead of us.
01:57Let's keep an eye on it.
01:58Airlines operate 24 hours a day, so pilots fly in all kinds of conditions, both daylight, dark, good weather, bad weather.
02:14The flight from Bogota to San Andres takes an hour and 40 minutes.
02:25Tonight, they'll have to pass through a storm front to get there.
02:28Ladies and gentlemen, please return to your seats and fasten your seatbelts.
02:40There was lightning, a lot of lightning, and the turbulence started to intensify.
02:54Check it out Camilo. It's building all around the island.
02:56With less than 20 minutes to go, weather at the airport is deteriorating quickly.
03:03Get a report from San Andres for me.
03:05OK, I'll ask.
03:08San Andres, good morning. Airees 8250.
03:11Go ahead.
03:12We want to know how the weather is at the airport, please.
03:15OK, Airees 8250, wind calm, visibility more than 10 kilometers, the scattered clouds at 1,500 feet.
03:27In the cabin, passengers are getting nervous.
03:32This shouldn't last long.
03:35We told them that we were in an intense weather system and that we would be out of it shortly.
03:40Airees 8250, there's now heavy rain at the airfield and visibility produced to 5 kilometers.
03:56Visibility down to 5 kilometers.
03:59Oh, man.
04:01If visibility gets any worse, the pilots won't be able to land.
04:04When you see particularly weather that's deteriorating, the thing that you're thinking about is, OK, how are we going to position the airplane to land in these conditions?
04:15Landing checklist.
04:18Speed brakes.
04:20Armed.
04:21Landing gear.
04:22Down.
04:24Moments from touchdown.
04:26Airees 8250, do you have the runway in sight?
04:27Airfield in sight, runway in sight.
04:28Airees 8250.
04:29Airees 8250, winds at 60 degrees at 15 knots.
04:30The wind has picked up.
04:31Five knots, head off.
04:32In case of wind shear.
04:33We use maximum flash flow to go around.
04:34Don't touch flaps or gear!
04:35Agreed, yes sir.
04:36But you can check the runway będziemy in sight tapi why is 8250.
04:37Very clear.
04:38Comście�!
04:40That's one way in sight.
04:41Oh, tenants only reported分 mentioning the other one.
04:42Pl
04:58Did you know 30 feet long ago?
04:59Look out, Captain.
05:12Can you make it?
05:14Climb, Captain!
05:29We felt a hard and sudden crash.
05:42The 737 skids more than 500 feet before finally coming to a stop.
05:49There's been an accident.
05:55Inside the cabin, flight attendant Adriana Cárdenas-Medina quickly opens the main door.
06:12Our number one priority was the passengers and getting everyone to safety, so we were
06:17all focused on that.
06:22A passenger is killed in the crash.
06:27Another is severely injured and dies two weeks later.
06:29It's now up to the team of investigators from the Colombian Aeronautical Authority to determine
06:47the cause of the accident.
06:50He was definitely lined up for a landing.
06:55When we first looked at the debris, we observed that the initial impact was approximately 40
07:00meters from the start of runway 06.
07:07What if the storm brought them down?
07:17If the storm took the pilots by surprise, they may have made errors in their approach.
07:25You get very close to the airport, that's when you want to make sure that you have a good
07:30understanding of the weather that you're about to deal with in the final approach segment
07:36of the flight.
07:38Can I show you this?
07:40Investigators questioned the air traffic controller.
07:43Did she inform the pilots about the rapidly changing weather conditions?
07:47I updated them regularly once aware in my airspace.
07:52There is now heavy rain at the airfield and visibility reduced to five kilometers.
07:59The controllers are very good about reading up changing weather conditions, particularly
08:05wind and visibility.
08:08Investigators are convinced that the controllers acted properly.
08:13Something else must have doomed the pilot's final approach.
08:19The team turns to the flight data recorder.
08:21Look at this.
08:24They were descending to the runway at 1,100 feet per minute.
08:28The data shows the plane was descending too fast and coming in too low.
08:34Investigators have a theory why.
08:37They must have been trying to get a visual fix of the runway as soon as possible.
08:41By bringing the airplane down early, the hope is that you'll see the runway earlier.
08:45You'll be underneath the clouds and your visibility will be improved the lower you get.
08:53But for some reason that strategy didn't work for the crew of the Ares flight.
09:02Investigators compare the approach the crew should have made with the one they actually
09:06flew.
09:08They should have stayed on the glide path.
09:11But instead they come in too low the entire way.
09:17Investigators are baffled by the captain's actions on board flight 8250.
09:21Why would a person operating an aircraft make that type of approach?
09:39Colombian investigators ask the captain of flight 8250 about the moments leading up to
09:44the crash.
09:45It was stormy.
09:46It must have been the lightning or the wind.
09:51They never questioned the type of approach that they made.
10:00They never doubted that their procedure was adequate.
10:03And they said it was probably the wind that caused their accident.
10:06I was focused on the green lights at the threshold, like I always do.
10:15In sight landing.
10:16Check, we're all set for landing.
10:21Green lights and a series of white strips painted on the tarmac mark the threshold at the start
10:27of the runway.
10:30The thinking of some pilots has been, I want on the runway as early as possible so that I
10:35can make sure that we get stopped if there's a problem with the brakes.
10:42But landing right on the threshold leaves little room for error, especially in stormy conditions.
10:49Investigators ask the captain why he did it.
10:52That's my training.
10:53I was just doing what we've always done.
10:59The team digs further into the captain's training and experience.
11:04He's only been flying to 737 for eight months.
11:0712 years before that, he flew turboprops.
11:12They learn Captain Gutierrez recently switched from commanding smaller Dash 8 turboprops to
11:18the much larger 737 jets.
11:21In turboprops, everything is much easier.
11:24It's a slower plane.
11:26It reacts faster.
11:27It raises up easily.
11:29A turboprop is very forgiving.
11:31A jet doesn't forgive.
11:36The captain, new to the Boeing 737, purposely tried to land it as he would a turboprop on
11:43the runway's threshold.
11:46It's risky in a jet.
11:48But that's not enough to explain why the plane crashed short of the runway.
11:55Investigators hope the cockpit voice recorder will provide the missing piece of the puzzle.
11:5850.
11:59Look out, Captain.
12:0140.
12:0230.
12:03Can you make it?
12:0520.
12:06Clive, Captain!
12:07So, from the point he gets a visual of the runway, the captain does nothing to correct
12:15his altitude right up to the crash.
12:18Not even when the first officer gives him warnings.
12:21So what's going on in his head?
12:23When the investigators looked at the flight profile and they realized that it ended up
12:29impacting the ground short of the runway without ever really arresting itself, the next question
12:36is what is this consistent with?
12:39You have rain causing poor visibility.
12:42Some lights on the right, very few.
12:45The runway lights, that's about it.
12:49It's a black hole illusion.
12:52The black hole illusion occurs on dark nights when there are no ground lights between an airplane
12:58and the runway threshold.
13:01The contrast between the lights and total darkness creates an illusion that deceives pilots into
13:07thinking the runway is closer than it actually is, which leads them to put the plane down
13:11too early.
13:17It was a night time approach on an island with no noticeable difference between land and water.
13:27And only the runway lights is reference.
13:31A black hole illusion explains the crash of Ares 8250.
13:38That's why the crew was constantly below the flight path without being aware of it, and
13:43they never made it to the runway.
13:48Following the investigation, the Colombian Aeronautical Authority recommends Ares Airlines revises its
13:54procedures for visual landings.
13:59I think one of the most important recommendations from this investigation was strengthening crew
14:04training, especially for those transitioning from turboprop to jet.
14:12The pilots of flight 8250 were deceived by an illusion of the night sky.
14:20Time and again investigators have found that even the most experienced pilots can get tripped
14:25up by the dark at a critical moment.
14:36At Rafiq Hariri International Airport in Beirut, Lebanon, Captain Haptamu Nagasa prepares Ethiopian
14:43Airlines Flight 409 for departure.
14:47He's been with the airline for more than 20 years.
14:54First officer Alula Beyene is a recent graduate of the Ethiopian Airlines Flight Academy.
15:02The 82 passengers aboard the Boeing 737 are preparing for an overnight flight to Addis Ababa,
15:09Ethiopia.
15:10Good for takeoff runway 21, immediate right turn to Shechem, Ethiopian 409.
15:20Takeoff thrust set, speed increasing, rotate.
15:31It's just after 2.30 in the morning.
15:36Your takeoff procedure and the initial part of the takeoff seemed entirely routine and
15:41ordinary and well executed.
15:44Heading select.
15:45Heading select.
15:46Check.
15:47Ethiopian 409, good morning.
15:50Climb flight level 290.
15:54Flight level 290, Ethiopian 409.
15:58Weather ahead is now a problem.
15:59If there's lightning in the air, you see the flashes.
16:02You're beginning to feel turbulence.
16:05I suggest that due to the weather, you follow heading 270 to be in the clear.
16:092-1, say again.
16:11Confirm heading 2-1-0.
16:20Suddenly, the situation in the cockpit turns critical.
16:24The airplane is being banked beyond its normal operational limits.
16:30Captain Negasa attempts to correct the problem by turning the plane back towards the thunderstorm.
16:36Ethiopian 409, follow heading 270.
16:46Turn right heading 270.
16:48Okay.
16:49What heading did he say?
16:50270.
16:51Set.
16:52What is it?
16:53Speed.
16:54What is it?
16:55Go around.
16:56Go around.
16:57Roger.
16:58Go around.
16:59Roger.
17:00Go around.
17:01Get ahead.
17:02Jedi.
17:03Great people.
17:04Go ahead.
17:05Speed.
17:06Speed.
17:07Speed.
17:08Beagle.
17:09What is it?
17:11Go around.
17:12Beagle.
17:13They've been engaged.
17:14Roger.
17:15Go around.
17:16Fear right ahead.
17:17Get ahead.
17:19Earth!
17:20Oh!
17:21Ethiopian 409.
17:23Follow heading 270, sir.
17:25Follow heading 270.
17:277-0, turn right, heading 2-7-0 now.
17:31Whenever a controller tells a pilot to do something now,
17:35the controller is telling the flight
17:38that they're in immediate danger.
17:43Flight 409 is in jeopardy shortly after taking off from Beirut.
17:48Ethiopian 409, you are going into the mountain.
17:51Turn right now, heading 2-7-0.
17:53He was worried that the crew was going to fly the airplane
17:56into the hills behind Beirut airport.
18:00But the aircraft doesn't get that far.
18:10The 737 plunges from the sky...
18:13Oh, God!
18:16Oh, God!
18:19...into the Mediterranean Sea.
18:26Ships in the area are alerted.
18:35And Lebanon's Civil Aviation Authority dispatches investigators.
18:38So you want to answer very important questions to the family.
18:43Why my relative died?
18:45It's soon apparent there are no survivors.
18:53Most of the plane is lying at the bottom of the sea.
18:57Without more wreckage, investigators may never discover
19:00what brought down Flight 409.
19:08Because the 737 is American-made,
19:11the National Transportation Safety Board's Dennis Jones joins the team.
19:15It's coming along.
19:16We still didn't have a crash site, per se.
19:18The flight recorded, which is always a big concern of interest,
19:21was still yet to be found.
19:22The flight track from the area...
19:24Desperate for clues,
19:25investigators pieced together the plane's flight path.
19:29When we first got there,
19:30some of the information we had that was helpful
19:32was the radar data.
19:35It paints a confusing picture.
19:37It's like no one's flying.
19:38Exactly.
19:45After take-off,
19:46the plane follows an unusual, erratic course.
19:50You would wonder what really were happening.
19:55As if there were no crew in the cockpit.
20:01The investigation is at a standstill
20:03when it gets a major boost.
20:06Let's get that out.
20:06The flight recorders are required.
20:09Yeah, that's it.
20:11They may reveal why the plane was flown so erratically.
20:20Exterior check is complete.
20:22The team listens to the cockpit voice recorder
20:25for any sign of trouble.
20:27We want to try to get a better understanding
20:29if there might have been some kind of mechanical problem.
20:33The take-off sounds completely normal.
20:37Rotate.
20:38Then investigators hear the controller
20:40give the pilots a new heading.
20:43But that's not the direction the plane flies.
20:45As they approached the heading that they had been assigned,
20:52they overshot the heading.
20:54They're way off course.
20:55Sir, I suggest that due to the weather,
20:57you follow heading 270 to be in the clear.
21:00Each time the pilots try to correct their course,
21:03they turn too far and bank too steeply.
21:08Ethiopian 409, you are going into the mountain.
21:11You turn right now heading 270.
21:13The airplane was rolling into an ever-steeper bank.
21:22Ultimately leading to a spiral.
21:30The plane was out of control.
21:34Nothing on the recording indicates a mechanical failure.
21:38It was just something that we certainly didn't have any answers for
21:41in the beginning.
21:43Investigators scour the cockpit recording
21:50for clues they may have missed.
21:53Exterior checks complete.
21:56Check complete, no problems.
21:58They notice something odd.
22:00During the take-off roll.
22:04Do you see that?
22:07The captain saw something because he tells his first officer,
22:10did you see that?
22:11But then there was no reaction from the first officer.
22:17The first officer is silent.
22:19Engage the autopilot.
22:23Engage the autopilot.
22:24Hold on.
22:28Just stop for a second.
22:31I would have changed things.
22:33The advantage of engaging the autopilot in that situation is that the pilot can then let the autopilot
22:39worry about the attitude of the airplane while he sits back and takes the big picture.
22:46Maintains situational awareness.
22:48Had the autopilot been engaged when the captain ordered the first pilot to engage it, would have saved the whole flight.
23:05Investigators need to find out why the first officer failed to act.
23:13Investigators now know the first officer of flight 409 didn't turn on the autopilot when the captain commanded him to do so.
23:21But the recording also reveals some questionable behavior on the part of the captain.
23:29He never noticed that the autopilot wasn't engaged.
23:36It forces investigators to consider an unlikely explanation of what else went wrong.
23:42Something called subtle incapacitation.
23:44If the pilot at the control has a stroke and slumps over the control wheel, there's no question that you've got a person who's incapacitated.
23:54However, if the pilot at the controls starts to lose the picture and does so silently and starts to misapply controls or push the wrong buttons,
24:08it may take a while before the other crew members pick up on that failure.
24:12That sequence is called subtle incapacitation.
24:21It's a dynamic that goes beyond the usual definition of pilot error.
24:27Subtle incapacitation can come from physiological reasons, psychological reasons, or a combination of both.
24:35It could be something minor.
24:37Medications could cause it. Stress could cause it. Fatigue could cause it.
24:41Investigators scrutinize the cockpit recording for more information.
24:46What are these guys doing?
24:47They listen to the crew's conversation just before takeoff.
24:51This room doesn't make you sleepy.
24:53If you hear someone in the recorder saying sleep, immediately our antennas stick up.
24:58What are they doing up there?
25:00The team hears the crew discussing symptoms of fatigue.
25:05Did you feel dizzy?
25:08Oh, I couldn't sleep.
25:10Well, me too.
25:16Investigators question why the pilots were so tired.
25:19Employment records revealed that the captain worked almost non-stop for nearly two months.
25:30That supports the theory of subtle incapacitation.
25:35Sir, I suggest that due to the weather, you follow heading 270 to be in the clear.
25:4021C again.
25:41Fatigued and under increasing stress, the pilots become disoriented in the dark.
25:52It seems that the crew was never fully on top of what was happening.
25:58Go around. Go around. Go around.
26:02Roger. Go around.
26:03Investigators conclude that the accident was caused by a crew that was too tired to properly recover from a wrong turn.
26:23They recommend Ethiopian Airlines introduce rigorous new rules regarding flight crew rest.
26:29It's one thing to have the experience and the expertise to do the work.
26:32But we have to be in good condition in order to perform.
26:37When a flight crew is lost in the dark, they may have just seconds to regain their bearing.
26:43Because when they don't, the result can be fatal.
26:5333,000 feet above the Arctic, a Bombardier CRJ-200 jet is on a late-night mail run for one of Sweden's largest cargo companies, West Air Sweden.
27:02We are approaching Boudou, where the outside air temperature is a balmy minus 61 Celsius.
27:09The 42-year-old Spanish captain has more than 3,300 flying hours.
27:15We're holding at minus 30. We're good.
27:18They're on a 90-minute flight from Oslo to Tromsø, a remote community north of the Arctic Circle.
27:32The plane is due to land in Tromsø in about 30 minutes.
27:51And according to us, ATOS, we can expect light wind and zero.
27:58What the hell?
28:02The captain suddenly notices that his plane is climbing.
28:08What?
28:09The pilots can no longer make sense of what's happening.
28:34Flight 294 speeds towards the ground at more than 450 miles an hour.
28:48The pilots of West Air Sweden Flight 294 fight to regain control as their plane hurtles towards the ground.
28:54The plane slams into the ground at close to 600 miles an hour.
29:22It takes rescue helicopters three hours to find the crash site.
29:34The information we got from the rescue efforts was that the accident was most probably not at all survivable.
29:45The next day, a team from Sweden's accident investigation authority, known as the SHK, arrives at the crash site.
29:56They find a crater 20 feet deep.
29:59They definitely came in hard and fast.
30:02That's not normal.
30:04You probably don't have a lot of control over the aircraft at that time.
30:08The position of the wreckage and the size of the crater suggests the plane hit the ground at very high speed and upside down.
30:17The question facing the SHK is how Flight 294 came to such a tragic end.
30:30Incredibly, both of the plane's black boxes have survived the crash.
30:38Investigators hope the flight data will help reveal the cause.
30:41So they're cruising at 33,000 feet when suddenly they start to pitch way up.
30:48A plane normally changes pitch by about one degree per second.
30:52But in this case you have six degrees per second.
30:56So it was a really rapid change of pitch.
30:59Then the plane starts pitching down and starts rolling out of control.
31:05When a plane pitches up, it should also gain altitude and slow down.
31:25But the data indicates that's not what Flight 294 did.
31:28His airspeed indicator was not changing.
31:33Same with the altitude.
31:35The altitude should have showed a climb.
31:37That can't be what the plane was doing.
31:40The plane's pitch data makes no sense.
31:44We made calculations to determine the real pitch of the aircraft during the event.
31:53The calculations point to something astounding.
31:55So, no pitch up at all?
32:00Not that we can tell.
32:03What the hell?
32:04It seems the captain thought the plane was pitching up,
32:07when actually it was still flying level.
32:15If they aren't actually pitching up, why are they pushing the nose down?
32:19Data on the plane's pitch comes from what's called an Inertial Reference Unit, or IRU.
32:27It's made up of gyroscopes that provide information to both the cockpit displays and the flight data recorder.
32:34There are two IRUs, one for each pilot's display.
32:37The FDR gets its data from the captain's side, IRU.
32:44Now this is what the captain was seeing.
32:50The captain's instrument was telling him that the plane was pitching up, even though it was flying level.
32:55And that it was rolling to the right, when it was actually in a left roll.
33:05What the hell?
33:06It's now clear the captain was receiving bad information from a faulty IRU.
33:11So what then was the first officer seeing?
33:23Investigators turned to the cockpit voice recorder.
33:25All right.
33:27Let's see what they say.
33:28They listened for anything that might reveal what the first officer's pitch display was telling him.
33:34We need to climb.
33:35Come on, we need to climb.
33:36Yes, we need to climb.
33:37Go left.
33:37Go left.
33:39Bank angle.
33:41The bank angle warning is fed data from the IRU designated to the first officer's side.
33:50Bank angle.
33:51The presence of that warning tells investigators that his IRU was working properly.
33:56Bank angle.
33:56Come on, help me.
33:58Help me, please.
33:58I don't know.
33:59I don't see anything.
34:00In Earth, the reference unit number two was working as it should be.
34:05The first officer was getting good information.
34:07The discovery confirms the first officer should have known the plane wasn't pitching up.
34:15So why did he let the captain fly the plane into the ground?
34:24What the hell?
34:25When the captain of Flight 294 mistakenly put his plane into a nosedive, the first officer
34:33should have identified the problem when he looked at his display.
34:36So why didn't he intervene?
34:43As the team digs deeper into the FDR data, they make an important discovery.
34:49Midday, midday, midday, F-3214.
34:53Both pilots received what's called a miscompare warning.
34:57The warning is shown on both displays when there's an inconsistent reading between them.
35:02In this case, P-I-T for pitch.
35:07The flight data reveals that both pilots got the pitch discrepancy warning, yet took no
35:12action to address it.
35:17It's a puzzling find.
35:19Investigators need to understand exactly what the pilots experienced when their instruments
35:32began to fail.
35:34They book time in a CRJ flight simulator.
35:39Okay, so let's start the air on the left side, please.
35:44They program a fault into the IRU on the captain's side.
35:52When the captain's faulty display shows a sudden climb, the miscompare warning comes on,
35:58informing the flight crew that they are receiving different pitch readings.
36:02Okay.
36:03All right, let's pick it up here.
36:09Now we've got the declutter mode kicking in.
36:12Freeze it there, please.
36:14When a pilot's display reaches extreme pitch or roll values, it goes into something called
36:20declutter mode.
36:21All non-essential information disappears.
36:25And guess what disappears in declutter mode?
36:29The P-I-T discrepancy warning alerting the pilots of mismatched displays also vanishes.
36:36Four seconds after that warning appeared, it disappears for good.
36:41Not enough time for the captain to detect it.
36:44What the hell?
36:45What the hell?
36:46He instinctively pushes the nose down, not realizing he's actually putting the plane into a dive.
36:54The first officer's gauge also goes into declutter mode,
37:00but accurately shows the opposite configuration of the captain's faulty display.
37:05Now, neither one of them has a discrepancy warning.
37:11As the pilots struggle to regain control...
37:16Don't lift.
37:18Don't lift.
37:19Don't lift.
37:19Don't lift.
37:20Both miss a vital piece of information that their displays are showing different pitch angles.
37:26That's one bit of information that really should not have been removed when it goes to a decluttering function.
37:33The team now has a detailed picture of what happened in the cockpit.
37:37We need to climb.
37:38Come on.
37:39Yes, we need to climb.
37:40Don't lift.
37:41Don't lift.
37:41Don't lift.
37:42Don't lift.
37:42But even though the crew's instruments failed them, there might have been a way to escape catastrophe.
37:48Even when flying at nighttime, there can still be visual cues that can help you understand the orientation of your aircraft.
37:56Things like you can still see a visible horizon sometimes when there are a lot of city lights.
38:01Investigators now want to know what the pilots could see that night.
38:05To do that, they take to the skies, in an identical plane, on the same route, and under the same conditions as on the night of the accident.
38:15And I can just see the horizon over there.
38:20At first, the test reveals nothing out of the ordinary.
38:25Okay.
38:26Let's start the descent into Tromsel.
38:28Now I can't see anything out there.
38:37It was very difficult to discern the horizon during this flight when you had the cockpit illumination on.
38:53It's the breakthrough investigators need.
38:56With the cockpit lights turned on, it would have been impossible for the pilots to see the lights below, much less the horizon.
39:07The pilots on flight 294 would have depended entirely on their instruments for guidance.
39:13But those instruments contradicted each other.
39:16When we can't see outside, we trust our instruments.
39:20But if your instrument is telling you something that is completely separate from what your body is telling you,
39:24it's not a matter of ignoring one or the other, it's a matter of verifying what the situation is.
39:30The discovery reveals the last critical piece of the puzzle.
39:34Ready for the approach, Brayvon?
39:37Let's do it.
39:38Shortly after the captain of flight 294 switches on the cockpit lights,
39:42his display shows the plane suddenly pitching up.
39:47But glare inside the cockpit means the pilot cannot see the horizon.
39:55The captain can't tell that the plane is actually flying level.
39:58Had this happened earlier, when they might have had some form of a visible horizon,
40:04it could have had an entirely different outcome.
40:06In less than 30 seconds, the plane is upside down and diving.
40:14Investigators believe that rapid-fire chain of events
40:17triggers what's known as startle or surprise effect in both pilots.
40:22That surprised effect, together with the lack of communication between the pilots,
40:28can explain the difficulties there were to solve the problem.
40:32Upside down and hurtling to the ground,
40:36the first officer's display shows what the plane is actually doing,
40:40diving and banking left.
40:44But the captain sees the opposite, a plane climbing and rolling right.
40:49His first officer's plea to climb makes no sense.
40:53Come on, help me.
40:55Yes, I'm trying.
40:55Down left.
40:57Down left.
40:57It's an induced reality.
40:59Then it begins to get confusing.
41:01And if you get past a certain point, that confusion can become terminal.
41:12The captain's faulty IRU was recovered from the crash site,
41:16but it's too damaged to reveal the cause of the malfunction.
41:19In their final report, investigators list the faulty IRU
41:30and the pilot's ensuing failure to communicate
41:33among the main factors causing the accident.
41:36It's important to communicate really early when you've got a problem
41:42so the other pilot can understand what's going on.
41:46Three deadly crashes are triggered when pilots fly blind.
41:53Only training, experience and teamwork can prevent disaster
41:56when the view from the cockpit goes dark.
41:59We are dealing in a hostile environment up there
42:01and when push comes to shove,
42:03we need to know what our body's response is,
42:05our mental response, our eyes and brain
42:08and what they're going to tell us.
42:09Without that, we're gambling.
42:11We need to know what our body's response is.
42:12We need to know what our body's response is.
42:13We need to know what our body's response is.
42:14We need to know what our body's response is.
42:15We need to know what our body's response is.
42:16We need to know what our body's response is.
42:17We need to know what our body's response is.
42:18We need to know what our body's response is.
42:19We need to know what our body's response is.
42:20We need to know what our body's response is.
42:21We need to know what our body's response is.
42:22We need to know what our body's response is.
42:23We need to know what our body's response is.
42:24We need to know what our body's response is.
42:25We need to know what our body's response is.
42:26We need to know what our body's response is.
42:27We need to know what our body's response is.