All language subtitles for Historys Most Shocking S01E06 1080p WEB h264-EDITH_track3_[eng]

- Tonight on "History's
Most Shocking".

[people screaming]
Who's in charge

of steering this cruise ship?

- Imagine how bad this guy
must be at parallel parking.

- [Passenger] Oh my God!

- [Tony] What happened when
this clueless pedestrian

took a fateful step?

- The train may look
like it's moving slowly,

but when something
has that much mass,

it's gonna cut
right through you.

- [Snowmobiler] Oh, dear God.

- [Tony] Was this snowmobiler

just in the wrong place
at the wrong time?

- It felt like I was
getting ran over by a truck.

I wasn't able to breathe.

- [Tony] Why it's always best
to avoid burning bridges.

- It was way worse
than any other fire

we had ever encountered.

The best thing we could do
was sit back, stay safe.

- [Tony] And what happened
with the real $6 million man

and his real caught-
on-camera disaster?

- [Ground control]
Peterson, brake!

- Believe it or not,

this crash brought
us the space shuttle.

[graphic whooshes]
[intense ambient music]

- [Tony] Disasters.

[loud explosion]
- [Reporter] Oh, the humanity.

[person screaming]
- [Tony] Shocking video.

Life or death decisions
[people screaming]

behind history's
caught-on-camera moments.

- What to do with
one dead whale?

[explosion]

- [Tony] Are the mysteries
of how and why they happened.

- Some sort of metal
fatigue was most likely

[people screaming]
at fault here.

[wave crashes]
- It's like a bulldozer.

Very few buildings
can actually withstand

that force of moving water.

[water cascading]

- I'm Tony Harris.

[big cat growling]

[motorcycle revving]

Prepare to be shocked.

[dramatic music]

Good evening and welcome to
"History's Most Shocking."

Most people's cruise
ship nightmares

involve an unforeseen disaster
happening way out at sea,

but we're about to show
you a much more common

and dangerous problem,

and it happens
when the passengers

are already packed for home
and about to disembark.

[graphic whooshes]
[intense ambient music]

June 2nd, 2019, after
touring the Greek islands,

the cruise ship MSC Opera is
returning to Venice, Italy.

Over the years,
Elisabeta Pasqualin

has witnessed dozens
of these ships

dock here from her apartment
overlooking the pier.

[horn blaring]
- [Tony] The 900-foot-long,

nearly 150 million
pound behemoth

barrels toward the dock
with its horns blaring.

- [Tony] Meanwhile, from
the upper deck of the ship,

a passenger also captures
the mayhem as it unfolds.

- Zooming in,

we can see pedestrians on
the dock fleeing in terror.

- [Tony] And then it happens.

- [Tony] Watch again as
from across the harbor

another camera captures the
terrifying moment of impact.

[loud crash]

- What's happening here is a
very scary, real-life example

of Newton's first law.

An object in motion
remains in motion

unless acted upon by
an external force.

- [Tony] If you
look at the numbers

with more than 300 cruise
ships in operation,

accidents like
these aren't common,

but they're not
extremely rare either.

- According to the
Maritime Injury Guide,

between the year 2005 and 2023,

there were close to 450

major cruise ship
accidents around the world.

[wind blaring]

- [Tony] Here's
the Norwegian Epic

taking out a dock in
San Juan, Puerto Rico,

and here we see the Carnival
Glory getting up close

and personal with
the Carnival Legend

as it attempts to dock
in Cozumel, Mexico.

- So this is something that
happens fairly regularly.

It's basically a failure to
gauge the motion of the ship.

It's a failure to
maintain control.

[people screaming]

- In recent years, port
cities in Florida, Maine

and California tried to limit

or even ban cruise liners,

over-tourism and pollution
were the stated reasons,

but with accidents like these,
safety could be a factor, too.

But does size really matter?

Is what happened
to the MSC Opera

just the case of a big ship
trying to fit into a small port

or is something else going on?

[graphic whooshes]
[intense ambient music]

So how do we wind up with a
cruise ship out of control?

- [Tony] Some say the
industry has eclipsed

what ports can handle,

especially ancient
ones like Venice.

- Cruise ships have been
getting bigger and bigger

for decades, and the
simple reason is economics.

The more they need to
compete with one another,

the more kind of extravagant
and crazy they get.

So we have
increasingly huge ships

that make the Titanic
look like a bathtub toy.

- [Tony] In 1912,

the Titanic was the
largest ship in the world.

Now compare that to
the Icon of the Seas,

which is five times larger.

- But as ships get
bigger and bigger,

the ports aren't getting
bigger and bigger,

- [Tony] And in this case,
it's not just all about size,

speed is also a factor.

- The ship is going way too fast

[intense ambient music]
as it comes into dock,

I would say somewhere
between six to eight knots.

A ship that size,

you're gonna be looking
at several football fields

before you could
bring it to a stop.

[horn blaring]

- [Tony] So why is
the ship going so fast?

Typically, tugboats would be
helping guide ships into Venice

at the proper safe speed.

- You can see that the tugs
are in the wrong position.

That indicates to me

that the ship has
gone completely astray

and the tugs were not able
to lash onto it safely.

[horn blaring]
- [Tony] But the issue

with the tugs was just a
symptom of a bigger problem,

one that you can't
see in the footage.

- [Kenn] An alarm went off
[alarm blaring]

that was completely ignored
by the chief engineer

and the chief
electrical officer.

Had they responded
to that alarm,

they would've found that there
was a power supply failure.

- [Tony] The alarms
had been ringing

for almost an hour by the time

anyone on the bridge
decided to take action,

but by then the backup
systems had also failed,

and the captain was unable to
control or maneuver the ship.

Two tugboats tried
everything they could

to slow and steer it,

but the ship's momentum
was just too great.

Thankfully, no one was
killed in the incident,

but four people were
hospitalized for minor injuries.

- Negligent would actually
be an understatement.

When you're on the bridge of
a ship and you're in command,

you are responsible

for the safe navigation
and operation of that ship.

Period, end of story.

That's maritime law.

[people screaming]

[intense ambient music]

- The takeaway, human
error and negligence.

In fact, the MSC Opera
case was so serious,

the captain and officers were
slapped with jail sentences,

although those were later
commuted into monetary fines.

[graphic whooshes]
[intense ambient music]

Now from the seas
to the railway.

Let's face it, in the age
of information overload,

it's really easy
to get distracted,

but in your train tracks,

the downside of
distraction can be deadly.

[graphic whooshes]
[intense ambient music]

The footage you are seeing

is all taken from commuter
train station cameras

in Auckland, New Zealand.

Apparently New Zealand

has a little bit of
a crisis on its hands

involving distracted citizens,
and it looks a lot like this.

Watch how this man steps out
in front of a commuter train

before quickly
realizing his mistake,

and jumping back just
in the nick of time.

Next, a woman crosses in
front of a barreling train

and quickly lunges back
barely escaping certain death.

Now watch this cyclist
fly across the platform,

seemingly oblivious
to the oncoming train

that narrowly misses him.

When we see these incidents,

we instantly think
of the pedestrians.

But it's important to note,

even near misses can
traumatize the engineers, too.

- It's a matter of percentages,

and after a while
they do hit people

and it takes an
emotional toll on them.

They just feel terrible that
they couldn't do anything

to prevent that person from
making a stupid mistake.

- These video clips are
all from New Zealand,

but it's not just a
New Zealand problem,

this is a human problem.

People all over the world

are getting close
calls with trains.

[train roars past]
[dramatic music]

- [Tony] Check out
this woman from Turkey.

So distracted, she actually
gets clipped by the train

and these videos from the US
show how not paying attention

and crossing train
tracks don't mix,

a growing epidemic

that has been the
subject of news headlines

around the country.

[intense ambient music]

- If you get hit by a train,

the blunt force trauma
will be so traumatic

and so extensive,

that if they find your body,
it will be a pile of jelly.

[train whistle screeches]

- More than 400 people
a year are killed

while trespassing
on train tracks.

That's according to the US
Federal Railroad Administration.

But why are these
near misses happening?

The answer might not be
as obvious as it seems.

[graphic whooshes]
[intense ambient music]

To no one's surprise, recent
studies show that humanity

has become more
distracted than ever.

- Distraction is
becoming a bigger issue

as we have electronic devices,

our headsets, our earphones,

all these different things

that allow us to be focused
on the internal world

and not the external world.

As a result of that,

we can end up in a
very unsafe situation.

- [Tony] But there's a less
obvious factor at play here too,

the trains themselves are
now easier to tune out.

- The trains are getting quieter
as they're more electric,

and so that requires
us to be more diligent,

especially when we
come into a marked area

that makes us cross
the railroad station.

They can be coming
from either direction.

- [Tony] Even so, why
aren't these stealthy trains

just slamming on the brakes

when they see someone
on the tracks?

Turns out it's not that easy.

- Trains always have
the right of way by law,

and the reason
they do is because

they can't stop on a dime.

- [Tony] In fact, a
typical freight train

can weigh anywhere between
three and 18,000 tons

and require a full mile or more
to come to a complete stop.

- Situational awareness
is a key to your safety,

and if you're not aware
of what's going on,

you have a high potential
to get hurt or killed.

- [Tony] One attempt
to combat this problem

is an automated braking system

that uses sensors
and control overrides

to avoid train collisions
and derailments.

The hope is that this tech

will soon be able to detect
people on the tracks as well.

But unfortunately, its
moment has yet to arrive.

- There's nothing on the planet,
no laser sensor, no radar,

no emergency braking system

that's gonna save your
life in this situation.

You need to be
aware, it's on you.

[intense ambient music]

- The takeaway, quiet trains
and quite tuned-out people.

In the United States,

a person or vehicle

is struck by a train
almost every three hours.

While the National
Transportation Safety Board

is trying to find new ways
to prevent these disasters,

it's really on us

to avoid being distracted
in these high danger areas.

Be aware of your surroundings

and take out those earbuds,
could save your life

- Many of us have spent hours
carefully setting up dominoes

just to knock them all down,

but imagine spending years

and millions of dollars
constructing real buildings

only to see them fall
down within seconds.

This video is proof.
It really happened.

[graphic whooshes]
[intense ambient music]

August 27th, 2021,
Kunming, China.

A group of locals is filming
15 high-rise buildings.

They're brand new, not old,

which makes what happens
next so unexpected.

[loud explosion]
Within seconds,

most of the towers transform
into dust and debris.

Let's see that again.

One second after the
initial explosion,

the first towers
begin to collapse.

Nine seconds later,

the two buildings to the
right start to implode.

Within 22 seconds, the
scene is reduced to rubble.

This wholesale leveling
of prime real estate

confused the internet,

but it's actually an example

of what's known as a
controlled demolition.

It really took off as its own
science after World War II.

- You had buildings that
were completely bombed out,

standing next to buildings

that were untouched
by the conflict.

So ultimately what had to occur

was bringing down these
partially-destroyed structures

without causing damage

to the surrounding buildings
or surrounding area.

[debris crashes to ground]

- [Tony] Dynamite and TNT
have been used countless times

in tightly controlled ways

to make space for
new developments.

Most notably,

when the Las Vegas strip began
to transform in the 1990s,

[intense ambient music]
the first hotel to come down

was "The Dunes",

which was the 10th casino resort

to be built on the
strip back in 1955.

- As hotels on it
became outdated,

the government of
Las Vegas detonated

and demolished multiple hotels
to basically clear them away

so that the modern Vegas
of today could be built.

[graphic whooshes]
[intense ambient music]

- [Tony] As we've seen
throughout the history

of building implosions,

like this one in Germany,

the purpose is to
clear out the old

to make space for the new.

But that doesn't explain

what happened in the
Kunming, China demolition.

As we said, this
was new construction

that was still being finished.

So how and why did this
massive demolition take place?

[graphic whooshes]
[intense ambient music]

[loud explosion]

To begin, we break down how
these implosions are set up.

- Gravity is actually the item

that we rely on the
most for an implosion.

What we see here is

the placement of the
dynamite strategically,

and the detonating cord also
has to be placed correctly

so that gravity can take
that the rest of the way.

- [Tony] The explosives are
generally placed in bore holes,

drilled into load-bearing
concrete support columns

primarily on the lower
half of the building.

As the concrete crumbles,

the weight of the
top floors collapses

the building onto itself.

- There were five
tons of explosives

and approximately 85,000
blasting caps used.

That's about right to take
down 14 of the 15 buildings.

- [Tony] Apart from
the explosives,

the timing of the
detonation is crucial

so that the buildings
[intense ambient music]

systematically fold
in on each other,

therefore limiting
the amount of debris.

- You have to strategically
place detonators

at different points
of the building

so that ideally the
building will fall

how you intend it to fall.

If this isn't done
appropriately,

you may have the building
falling to one side or the next

or maybe even rolling
some sort of distance.

- [Tony] Because
of these hazards,

implosions account for less
than 1% of demolition work,

and they are rarely
the first option.

So why do this to new buildings?

- These buildings
were the side effect

of China's progressive
urban development model,

which caused a lot of
unintended ghost cities.

They were building much
faster than they were selling,

and then to compound things,
the Zero Covid Policy

set up by the Chinese government

left millions of apartments
unsold across China.

The buildings in Sunshine City

have been neglected for so long

that flooding caused irreparable
damage to the foundation.

It became more affordable
to just demolish them

as opposed to repairing them.

- [Tony] And it turns
out, as demolitions go,

this one was almost perfect.

- You can see one or two
of the buildings collapsing

in the wrong direction,
but that does happen.

14 out of 15 buildings, I would
say this is very successful.

[graphic whooshes]
[intense ambient music]

- The takeaway, this implosion

was due to Chinese
urban overdevelopment,

and this may not be
the last one we see

in the city of Kunming.

News reports say
authorities counted 93

unfinished property projects
in this one city as of 2021.

They could also be demolished

if not taken over
by new developers.

[graphic whooshes]
[intense ambient music]

Moving on.

Nothing can shatter the peace

of traversing a snow-
covered mountaintop,

quite like the word avalanche.

Watch what happens

when one vacationing
snowmobiler's adventure

turns into a literal
fight for his life.

[graphic whooshes]
[intense ambient music]

March 13th, 2016,

the Gorman Lake Snowmobile
Area in British Columbia

is a location that's well known

for extreme riders
like Doug Lakeman,

who enjoys adrenaline spikes
with his snowmobiling.

[engine droning]
- It was the third day

that we've been
out in that area,

so just looking for
another gorgeous day

of riding in the mountains.

[snowmobile drones]
- [Tony] Doug fires up

his GoPro camera and shoots
up the mountain side.

Everything seems fine as he
rockets towards the summit,

but when he reaches
the mountain's peak,

disaster strikes.

The fresh powder around him
begins to crack and shift.

- When that snow broke away,

it was instant that you
know there is a problem.

[engine droning]

- {Tony] Suddenly the entire
snow top breaks apart.

It's an avalanche.

Doug is tossed
from his snowmobile

and is submerged in a
white wave within seconds.

- [Doug] It felt like I was
getting ran over by a truck,

I wasn't able to breathe.

- [Tony] How did Doug
survive being buried alive?

- [Tony] Snowmobiler
Doug Lakeman

is caught in an avalanche.

He's fighting for his life,
and the odds are against him.

[grinding roar of avalanche]

- Each year, an average of about
24 people die in avalanches

across the United States.

Some of these avalanches

can travel at speeds
up to 200 miles an hour,

and trying to outrace
them on a snowmobile

is not usually an option.

- [Tony] You don't
even necessarily

have to be in the snow
to fall victim to an avalanche.

Just ask the backpacker

who captured this
incredible video

while hiking in Kyrgyzstan.

- [Hiker] Oh, dear God.

- He and the group
he was hiking with

thought they were
at a safe distance

as they watched
this wall of snow

come barreling down
the mountainside,

but it just kept getting closer.

- [Hiker] Oh God, oh dear God,

[intense dramatic music]

- Going out there in
avalanche country,

you are literally taking
your life in your own hands.

[graphic whooshes]
[intense ambient music]

- In the famous Dyatlov
Pass Incident of 1959,

nine Soviet hikers were killed
by an avalanche so violent,

many thought they'd been
brutally murdered by a Yeti.

But what triggered this
particular avalanche,

and how did Doug escape
when many others don't?

[graphic whooshes]
[intense ambient music]

[engine droning]

If Doug wanted to avoid this
avalanche in the first place,

taking heed of regional warnings

would've been a
good way to start.

- Avalanche Canada
had put out a bulletin

that there was
considerable risks

of avalanches on this specific
day due to recent snowfall

that likely is
bearing any wind slabs

that had developed in
the last several days.

[roaring wind]

- [Tony] When a heavy wind
going up one side of a mountain

pushes snow onto the other side,

it creates what's
called a wind slab,

a smooth, rounded and
dense snow deposit

that forms over a
weaker layer of snow.

Unfortunately, these wind
slabs can be impossible to see

due to their snow covering,

[engine droning]
and can break into pieces

when the weaker layer
underneath gives way.

- The weight of
his snow machine,

the vibration of the engine,

the turns that he's making
has caused the weak layer

that was supporting the
heavier layer to collapse.

You can see a lot of the slab

that is now giving way
[engine droning]

is breaking up into pieces
and starting to move,

and he's unfortunately
in the middle of it.

- All it took was
one snowmobiler

to move across that
fresh powder of snow

[engine droning]
to cause the avalanche

to give way.

- [Tony] So Doug can take credit
for starting this avalanche

as well as surviving it,

and though getting tossed
from his snowmobile

looks terrifying, it might
have been for the best.

- What a lot of people
assume about avalanches

is that people die
by suffocation,

but very often
avalanche fatalities

come from the trauma
of being washed through

heavy blocks of ice and
snow or through trees,

or in this case

to get rolled up with a
big heavy snow machine.

[dark threatening drone]

- [Tony] After getting
away from the snowmobile,

Doug's still under the
snow, but not for long.

- The tumbling of snow as it
drifts over the train below

has somehow very
luckily enabled him

to return closer to the surface

in a scenario where
now maybe he can swim.

- [Tony] In an avalanche,

swimming has the same
definition as it does in water,

paddling your arms and legs

to keep yourself
above the surface.

What you're seeing here
on Doug's helmet cam

is his Michael Phelps
impersonation in snow.

That's his right arm
paddling desperately

to keep him from sinking down
into a white frozen oblivion.

- All I really thought
of for survival

is to swim as hard as I could,

and I always call it
doggy paddle from hell.

- [Tony] It's a move that
may have saved his life,

as Doug is able to ride out
the end of the avalanche.

- You're gonna be found
quicker and easier

if you have some part
of your body exposed.

Luckily enough of him is exposed

and his friends already
have a visual on him,

and that makes it extremely
fast getting to him,

which is gonna
increase his chances

for success dramatically.

[graphic whooshes]
[intense ambient music]

- The takeaway,

this was a weak snow slab
triggered by a snowmobile.

Luckily, Doug left the
scene with just bruises

and sore muscles and he has
no intention of quitting.

[graphic whooshes]
[intense ambient music]

Now check this out.

In 2021,

the US Congress passed a $1
trillion infrastructure bill

designed to improve the
nation's railroad tracks

and bridges, among other things.

As our next video proves,

those upgrades can't
come soon enough.

[graphic whooshes]
[intense ambient music]

It's mid-afternoon
on May 19th, 2013

in Lampasas County, Texas.

Lometa Volunteer Fire
Department Captain, Jamie Smart,

has been called out
[siren blaring]

with his crew to a remote fire

20 minutes from any
city or water source.

- We rolled out there
with three brush trucks

expecting to fight a brush fire,

and when we got there,

the scene that we saw
was pretty amazing.

- [Tony] Jamie pulls
out his cellphone

and captures this 900-foot-
long wooden train trestle

engulfed in flames.

- It was way worse

than any other fire we
had ever encountered,

and we knew with only
having 3000 gallons

and the magnitude
of fire that we had

that the best thing we could
do was sit back, stay safe.

- [Tony] It's a good
thing firefighters

didn't get too close

because nobody was
ready for this.

[intense ambient music]

[loud crackling]

Watch as the wooden frame
built way back in 1910 buckles

and then starts to cave in.

[intense dramatic music]

- The trestle fell
like dominoes falling,

and then you just see the big
huge burst of dust and smoke

and fire that comes
out of that thing.

- [Tony] Take another look.

At first, the crumbling
supports knock each other down

until finally the bridge
appears to collapse

almost all at once.

- I've been on lots of
fires throughout the years

and this by far was the most
amazing scene I had ever seen.

[graphic whooshes]
[intense ambient music]

- This incident is reminiscent
of another train trestle fire

that broke out on a
bridge in Sherwood, Oregon

in August of 2015, that
was accidentally started

by some teens who were smoking.

So what caused
this fire in Texas?

And why did it topple the
bridge the way it did?

[graphic whooshes]
[intense ambient music]

First, let's explain

just how trestle bridges
like this are designed.

- The supports between
these vertical members

are called bents.

The cross bracing between
the bents is an integral part

of a trestle bridge

that gives interlocking
support to each of the bents.

As you can see in this
video, that's missing.

There's hardly
anything left here,

and I think this has
been burning long enough

where the cross members
burnt and fell away,

and without that bracing

to keep them on
top and everything,

you're gonna see
that domino effect

bend-at-the-knees-failure.

- [Tony] But why did the
fire spread like that?

Quimby believes the culprit

must have been some
sort of accelerant.

- This looks like it was
some kind of a fuel spill,

and I suspect

there might have been kind
of a fuel tank rupture.

They might have had an earlier
train go over the structure

and leak fuel on it
and soak into it,

and something come along,

whether it's a welder's
spark working on the track

or the rails or something else
might have sparked this fire.

- [Tony] But when
all is said and done,

did the first responders
do the right thing

by letting the bridge fall?

- In an ideal world to save
this bridge before it collapsed,

you would need dozens
of ladder trucks

and several more fire trucks.

You're also gonna need
1000s of gallons of water,

and there's no way to get
that amount of water supply

in a rural area like this.

So in this specific instance,

the best thing for them to
do is to keep everyone safe.

[graphic whooshes]
[intense ambient music]

- The takeaway, mechanical
sparks likely caused this fire

and a fuel spill may have
caused it to spread so fast.

The state's fire marshal
determined a backhoe

or tractor with its bucket down

may have created
those initial sparks

while operating on the trestle.

A new bridge has been
built as a replacement,

and this time it's made
out of metal and concrete.

- We think of police officers

and firefighters as
having risky jobs,

but utility workers

have twice the number
of fatalities each year.

And as you're about
to see day or night,

electric company employees
put their lives on the line,

literally.

[graphic whooshes]
[intense ambient music]

It's early morning,
April 15th, 2019

in Manchester
Township, New Jersey.

A utility worker is trying to
untangle a downed power line

stuck on a traffic light
pole after a storm,

but suddenly it's lights out.

[loud crackling]

Let's take another look.

As the wire hits
the wet pavement,

it explodes into a ball of
fire right in the man's hand.

The worker makes a run
for it away from the flames

as the electrical
fire rapidly spreads.

- This is what happens when a
live wire hits wet ground.

It doesn't want to die,
it wants to keep going.

- [Tony] In fact, it looks like
the actual road catches fire

almost like there's oil on
it rather than rainwater.

What on earth?

- This shows you the power

of what happens when a high
voltage line comes down

and starts to ignite
what's on the ground.

[loud crackling]

- [Tony] It's one of the dangers

of having overhead power lines,

a decision with its roots
in the first few decades

of the 20th century.

- Building underground power
lines was too expensive.

The choice was made,
put them up on poles.

- [Tony] And to this day,

it's cheaper to install
and repair overhead lines

since accessing
underground wires

often involves
disruptive digging.

- Now we have a nation
filled with electric lines

running with high
voltage right overhead,

and an army of people risking
their lives to maintain it.

[loud crackling]
[graphic whooshes]

- This critical
infrastructure decision

is how transformer explosions

and similar electrical accidents

became regular
parts of daily life,

and why an average
of 30 to 60 linemen

die in the line
of duty each year.

But what happened here?

How does the wet ground
seemingly catch fire?

And how did this
worker manage to live?

[graphic whooshes]
[intense ambient music]

First, we look into

what set off this chain
of dangerous events.

[loud crackling]

- The power company
should have shut off power

to this particular
area, but he reached up

and pulled the wire
down on top of themself.

I don't see any reason why
you would do that there.

- [Tony] Bringing that wire
down was the first step

in everything going wrong.

- Water and electricity
don't go together.

When that electrical wire

that's charged
reaches the water,

it arcs and it explodes,

and you can see little
sparks turning into flames.

- [Tony] The electricity arcs

when its path through
the wire is disrupted

as it's grounded,

so the current travels
through the water and air

in a powerful sustained
electrical discharge.

And though it may look like
the ground itself is on fire,

it's actually just the wire
that's sparking and burning.

The wet pavement's causing
the flames to reflect

and adding another
layer of danger.

[loud crackling]

- The cable that was dangling
was a high voltage cable,

perhaps voltage is
up to 44,000 volts.

Water is a conductor.

Electricity is
looking for a pathway,

and if you grab that
cable with one hand

and your foot is in the water,

that pathway is
through your body.

You'll die as a consequence.

- [Tony] Luckily,
this guy appears

to have escaped death this time.

- Honestly, what probably
saved him was his PPE

or his personal
protective equipment.

- [Tony] This includes his
heavy rubberized boots.

Rubber doesn't
conduct electricity

because its electrons hold
onto their atoms so tightly.

Electric current cannot
flow freely through them.

- It's his thick,
heavy rubber boots

which prevent the electricity
from finding ground.

- [Tony] So what should
this worker have done?

- There's something
called a hot stick

that you can use to get
an idea of whether or not

a power line is still active.

If there was still
current in there,

he should have contacted
the power company

to shut down power to
that particular area.

- There are tools
that could be used

to help him move that
wire to a safe location.

He's very lucky

that he was able to get
away from there alive.

[electricity roars and crackles]

[graphic whooshes]
[intense ambient music]

- The takeaway, that line
shouldn't have been live

and the worker should
have been more careful.

The way the fire arcs is
fairly typical of these things,

so beware.

And if you ever see a
downed line, call the pros.

You may be old enough to
remember the classic TV show,

"The $6 Million Man".

It's about a
fictional test pilot

and former astronaut
named, Steve Austin

whose aircraft crashes

and who is then turned
into a bionic secret agent.

But what you might not know
is that the opening sequence

which depicted
Steve Austin's crash

is footage from a real
incident with a real hero.

[graphic whooshes]
[military drumming]

It's May 10th, 1967 at Edwards
Air Force Base in California.

NASA is testing the M2F2,

an unpowered lifting
body aircraft

by dropping it from a
B-52 at 44,000 feet.

Pilot Bruce Peterson
is at the controls.

Fuzzy black-and-
white ground footage

shows the triangular vehicle
descending from the sky,

but there appears
to be a problem.

[alarm blaring]
The vehicle

rocks back and forth nearly
flipping upside down.

- [Ground control]
Peterson, brake!

- Then seconds later,

it slams hard into the ground
and tumbles across the desert.

[dramatic music]

Whoa, take another look.

The M2F2 flips over
multiple times.

- It starts to tumble around,

there's smoke
billowing out the sides,

and ultimately it looks like
a pretty awful plane crash.

- [Tony] So what
is Peterson out here

risking it all for?

- This video was shot in 1967,

which was really the
height of the space race.

There was significant pressure

by the United States
government to try and develop

as much cutting edge
technology as possible

to allow for the moon
mission to occur,

and ultimately beat
the Soviet Union.

- [Tony] This wrecked craft

was part of a
12 year NASA mission

to develop a new
concept in space flight.

- The idea was simple, we
needed to get astronauts

from outer space back to
Earth in a controlled way.

Early space flight was
all done by capsules,

so the return to Earth was in a,

basically a metal sort
of cone shaped object

that was strapped to a parachute

and you couldn't
really control it.

The M2F2 was a lifting body

designed to basically
enter the atmosphere

and land much like an
airplane would land.

[graphic whooshes]
[intense ambient music]

- The M2F2 had 15
successful test flights

before it crash landed in
this now famous footage.

But why did that 16th
flight go so wrong?

And what happened to the pilot?

[graphic whooshes]
[intense ambient music]

First, let's explain how the
M2F2 is supposed to work.

- Unlike a traditional
aircraft that achieves flight

through conventional wings,

the M2F2, its entire body
of its aircraft is the wing.

It is able to sustain flight

by the air pressure
coming underneath it.

When you're reentering

the Earth's atmosphere

coming from outer space,

you're being exposed to a
lot more air friction, heat,

all of the forces

that would potentially rip
apart a conventional aircraft

because of that
increased drag surface

of a winged
conventional aircraft.

So the lifting body aircraft

are really ideal to travel fast

back into the
Earth's atmosphere.

- [Tony] So what went wrong?

It looks like we
can see the moment

the trouble begins right here.
[alarm blaring]

- As you go slower and slower,

your control surfaces are
less and less effective.

You can get into what's called
a pilot-induced oscillation

where maybe you're pointing
too far to the right

and so you put in a big input

and you start to
swing the other way,

and you get into these
wild swinging motions

that can be very,
very dangerous.

- [Tony] Peterson is able to
regain control of the aircraft,

but he's not out of danger yet.

- Because of the instability,

a lot of his runway markers

that he would be
using to guide him

for his landing were
no longer visible.

[alarm blaring]
And you also

had another aircraft,

this rescue helicopter,
in his line of sight now.

You've got threat
of a collision.

- [Tony] These distractions

may have played a role
in Peterson's inability

to extend his
landing gear in time.

However, the crash
did provide engineers

with some much-
needed information.

- One of the things that came
out of this is the realization

that the dual fin design
actually didn't stabilize it,

made it more unstable.

- So they added a vertical tail
fin that provided stability,

and that was enough
of an improvement

that the whole program
was able to progress

and ultimately arrived
at the space shuttle,

the crowning achievement
of the US space program.

- [Tony] And fortunately,

despite the horrific crash,

test pilot, Bruce
Peterson survived,

though he did go
blind in his right eye

from an infection he
got while hospitalized,

while his story and this footage

joined "The $6 Million
Man" as part of TV history.

[graphic whooshes]
[intense ambient music]

The takeaway, the crash was due
to pilot-induced oscillation

and Peterson losing

sight of the runway markings.

Plus, that helicopter
didn't help.

And while Peterson didn't
become a bionic secret agent,

he was a hero, playing a key
role in America's space program.

- A hidden danger
on the highway.

It's estimated that in 2024,

there will be almost one
and a half billion vehicles

in the world, moving on
nearly 6 billion tires.

But sometimes tires can
decide to travel on their own.

And when that happens, look out.

[graphic whooshes]
[intense ambient music]

March 23rd, 2023,
Chatsworth, California,

just outside of Los Angeles.

We're on the 118
freeway as a dashboard

camera records a
silver Chevy pickup

transitioning into
the middle lane.

Watch as a black Kia
rolls up beside it,

and this happens.

[tires screeching]
[loud explosion]

Let's see that again.

[intense ambient music]

The truck's front left
tire somehow comes off

and moves right into
the path of the Kia

with devastating consequences.

And what's really scary

is that these cases of tires
gone wild aren't that uncommon.

This happens an estimated
50,000 times a year

in North America.

[tires screeching]
And not just here,

check out this
footage from Thailand.

- So look at our gentleman
here eating his lunch

in a car shop

when all of a sudden an
unexpected visitor comes in.

[loud crash]

[graphic whooshes]

- Thankfully the man
in Thailand survived.

But what happened to the
person driving the Kia

in Los Angeles,

and what causes a tire

to become a projectile
in the first place?

Our experts take the wheel.

[graphic whooshes]
[intense ambient music]

We don't know what vehicle

that rogue tire in
Thailand came from,

but when it comes to
that Chatsworth incident.

- The great suspicion is

that there was work done on the
truck several months before.

That's when these
things often happen.

- [Tony] Loose lug nuts

would be the most
obvious explanation,

but does the visual evidence
support that theory?

- If those lug nuts
were becoming loose

because they hadn't
been tightened enough,

you'd start to see the wheel

come away from
the vehicle a bit.

And at a speed like that,

it would certainly
be wobbling around.

Now we don't see any of that.

[tires screeching]

- [Tony] So no wobbling
means no loose lug nuts,

but could it be the
other way around?

Were the lug nuts
over tightened?

Turns out that could
lead to disaster too.

- What you can do

is you can put too much
tension into the material

so that it cracks or even snaps.

Now that is a very sudden
failure that would occur,

and that's more like
we see in the clip.

- [Tony] But hang on,
there's another theory,

based on an apparent
size mismatch

between the tires and the truck.

- It kinda looks like
these tires may be larger,

maybe a little bit oversized
on the pickup truck.

There are a lot of conditions

that you could change by putting
on the wrong wheel and tire

on a given vehicle,

and that may've contributed
to what's going on here.

- [Tony] The official
California Highway Patrol report

didn't find any negligence,

but it did suggest a surprising
and troubling culprit,

the wheel studs, those
threaded fasteners

that hold the wheels on were
broken on the left front axle.

[tires screeching]
[loud crash]

- What they did conclude was
that some sort of metal fatigue

or failure in the axle area
was most likely at fault.

- [Tony] We can't say

if that was an issue only
with this tricked-out truck

or if there's a more
widespread risk.

What we can say is
that fortunately,

the driver in the Kia
survived with minor injuries,

a testament to the benefits
of seat belts and airbags.

[graphic whooshes]
[intense ambient music]

Our takeaway, well,
this highway nightmare

was likely caused by
wheel stud failure.

There have been no recalls

of that nature on
this particular truck,

so the accident could
have been a one off,

but the threat from
tires gone wild is real.

So keep your eyes on the road
and fasten your seat belts.

And that's our show for tonight.

Thank you so much for watching.

And stay safe out there.