Original subtitles

(automation): Pull up. - Go around, Captain! Go around!

(narrator): With the runway in sight,

a passenger jet smashes down at catastrophic speed.

- Why did the crew go off the end of the runway?

Was there a problem with the airplane?

- Hang on to the sonofabitch!

(narrator): A Delta flight crew battle a deadly storm

during their final approach in Dallas.

- They didn't have any idea of the severity of what they were about to face.

- Speed! Oh, God! Go around!

(narrator): And tragedy strikes in San Francisco

when a Boeing 777 lands short.

- Hang on!

- How could a couple of highly trained, experienced pilots

simply fly an airplane into the ground short of the runway?

(narrator): Landing is a routine operation,

but also one of the most dangerous stages of flight.

Investigators have to determine what went wrong

when the safety of the runway was in sight.

- If you're not prepared to land the plane, you shouldn't do it.

- Mayday, mayday!

- It's going up!

(indistinct radio chatter)

(narrator): It's early morning on the Indonesian island of Java.

A Boeing 737 flies high overhead.

- Visibility: 8 kilometres.

27,000 feet.

- 27,000.

(narrator): The crew of Garuda Flight 200 is preparing to land.

(chiming)

There are 133 passengers on board this morning.

They're nearing the end of a short flight

from the Indonesian capital of Jakarta,

265 miles southeast to the city of Yogyakarta.

The plane is 15 minutes from touchdown.

- Okay, when we're cleared, we approach runway 9,

course 088.

(narrator): Captain Muhammad Marwoto Komar has been with Garuda

for 21 years.

- Approach flaps: 40, auto-brake: 2.

(narrator): As they near the airport,

he briefs First Officer Gagam Rachman

on the final steps needed to get their plane on the ground.

- Understood.

Approach briefing complete.

- Garuda 200, you're cleared to approach runway zero-niner.

Let me know when you have the runway in sight.

- Gear down.

- Gear down.

(narrator): They are now less than 3,000 feet above the ground.

The runway is in sight.

- Flaps: 15.

(narrator): But as the plane descends,

passengers notice something isn't right.

The plane is going very fast and is very low to the ground.

- Cleared to land. Two miles out.

(automation): Pull up. Too low. Terrain.

- Whoa. Go around, Captain! Go around!

(automation): Too low. Terrain. Terrain.

Pull up.

(screaming and grunting)

(narrator): Passengers are thrown violently

as the plane bounces a second time.

Even after a third impact, the plane isn't stopping.

(screaming) (alarm sounding)

(sirens wailing)

The 737 has come to a stop in a swampy rice field off the end of the runway.

But the disaster isn't over.

(screaming)

Inside the burning fuselage, passengers struggle to get out.

And outside, firefighters battle to reach the swampy crash site.

If the fuel tanks ignite, the plane could explode.

- Anytime you've got the possibility of fuel,

you need fire suppression right there, right now,

because you've got massive flames at 1800°.

You've got a lethal situation. (groaning) (coughing)

- Give me a hand with this!

(grunting)

(coughing)

(narrator): With an exit door finally open, passengers make their escape.

Of the 140 passengers and crew on board...

...21 people are dead.

- Clearly, you knew that people were not gonna survive this.

It's almost a miracle that so many did survive.

- There's a variety of different scenarios

that go with any kind of landing accident.

So from the challenges of an investigator

with regard to trying to piece these elements back together.

Why did the crew go off the end of the runway?

Were they flying the approach properly?

Was there a problem with the airplane?

(narrator): At the crash site,

investigators from Indonesia's National Transportation Safety Committee,

or NTSC...

...face the enormous task of determining what went wrong.

They're joined by members of the Australian Transport Safety Bureau,

including investigator Alan Stray.

- What've you got so far?

We have to establish: Where did it touch down?

Were there any runway marks? Did it bounce? Did it skid?

Looks like they hit pretty hard.

(narrator): Investigators quickly discover gouges

and shattered pieces of landing gear on the runway,

clear signs that the plane slammed down with unusual force.

The nose wheel digging in and fracturing

was indicative of a very hard G-force on that impact.

More skid marks here.

(narrator): It's also clear that the plane hit the runway more than once.

- So one... two... three,

then off the end of the runway.

(narrator): What caused the pilots to perform such a dangerous landing?

Investigators need to know what happened on board the aircraft.

Thankfully, the plane's flight recorders are quickly recovered

from the scorched wreckage.

- Alright. Let's get these into the lab.

Without that data, we're screwed.

(narrator): While they wait for the flight data,

investigators look into the mechanical systems of the 737.

- Was there a mechanical failure?

Looking at the performance of the aircraft,

was it physically possible for the aircraft to stop?

(narrator): The team focuses in on the systems used during landing,

including the wing flaps.

- The flap system on a modern jetliner like a 737

create greater lift,

and that means that we can approach an airport or take off from an airport

with a much lower and safer airspeed.

(narrator): They inspect the mechanical rods, or jackscrews,

that move the flaps.

- We measured the screw-jack extension...

to establish what the flap setting was.

(narrator): What they find is astonishing.

- It doesn't look like the flaps were all the way out.

(narrator): To provide enough lift on landing,

the flaps of a 737 are usually extended step by step,

from zero all the way to 40 degrees

as the plane slows and descends towards the runway.

However, the jackscrews show a flap setting of just five degrees,

not nearly enough for a safe landing.

- We just could not believe that the aircraft would've landed with only five degrees.

(narrator): Was there a malfunction within the flap system

that caused the terrifying landing? (screaming)

Investigators hope the data from the flight recorder will shed some light

on how the plane was operating before the crash.

- We were able to get information about the flap settings,

the speed on the approach, the thrust-reverser deployment,

the dynamics of the approach and landing itself.

Pull up the data for the flaps, would you, please?

There.

The flaps were set for five degrees.

Never more than five degrees.

(narrator): The data confirms the flaps were not configured properly for landing.

- To hear an airplane that has been in an accident

because of overrunning the runway

had a flap setting of only five in a 737 is very disturbing.

(narrator): As they continue to review the data,

investigators discover the 737 was coming in for landing blazingly fast.

Flight 200 hit the ground at over 250 miles an hour,

more than 100 miles an hour faster than normal.

- We're not stopping!

- The speed of the aircraft on short final and on touchdown

was so excessive... there was no way it was gonna stop.

(narrator): But why did the pilots touch down

at such a catastrophically high speed?

(narrator): After a painstaking data-recovery process... - Finally.

- ...investigators in Indonesia are able to listen to the cockpit voice recorder

from Garuda Flight 200.

- Fortunately, the recorder specialists at the laboratories,

uh, are a tenacious breed and they do not give up easily.

(narrator): They hope the recording will help explain

why the pilots failed to configure the aircraft properly for landing.

- Okay, let's hear it.

- Okay, when we're cleared, we approach runway 9, course 088.

- What you're doing is listening for the atmosphere and the tone,

the ambiance if you like, in the cockpit.

- Approach flaps: 40, auto-brake: 2.

- Approach briefing complete.

- The captain certainly doesn't sound stressed.

(narrator): Then the first hint that something's wrong.

- Looks like we're not gonna hit the glide slope.

(narrator): The plane is higher than it should be for this stage of the approach.

- Better get down a little faster.

(narrator): To land smoothly,

planes need to lose enough speed and altitude

to descend gradually and meet the runway at a shallow angle.

But Flight 200 is too high for a steady landing.

- He definitely has some work to do if he hopes to get on track.

- Check speed. Flaps: 15.

- Flaps: 5.

- The captain is calling for flaps 15.

Why is he saying flaps 5?

- Flaps: 15.

(narrator): The captain repeatedly tells the first officer...

- Check speed. Flaps: 15!

- ...to increase the flaps. - Check speed. Flaps: 15!

(narrator): But the first officer never moves them past five degrees.

- Okay.

First things first.

Why did the first officer ignore the captain and leave the plane at flaps 5?

- It's very perplexing. If you got professional pilots, we can make mistakes,

but usually that's why we've got two people up there, so one catches the other.

(automation): Pull up. (alarm sounding) (exclamations)

(narrator): When investigators revisit the speed of the landing,

they understand why the first officer was reluctant to increase the flap setting.

- Way too fast... for flaps 15.

(narrator): The plane is travelling 35 knots faster

than is designed for flaps at 15 degrees.

Wind drag could tear the flaps right off the wings

if the flaps are extended past five degrees.

- The first officer was exactly right in not putting them down.

- But why didn't the first officer say something?

Tell the captain to slow down?

(Nance): It's very clear the co-pilot should've said, "Captain, I got the airplane."

But what it tells me here is that this co-pilot

did not feel he could speak up one way or another.

(automation): Pull up. (alarm sounding)

(narrator): The captain's behaviour continues to stun investigators.

- Landing checklist completed, right?

- Landing checklist?

- There were 15 ground-proximity alerts and warnings

during that final stage of the approach.

When a crew member hears that, there should be instant action.

(narrator): But instead of reacting,

the captain becomes fixated on the landing checklist.

Stray and his team begin to question the quality of the crew's training.

- Fixation is when we are...

focused on, uh,

completing a task...

to the exclusion of other things that may be going on around us.

(narrator): Investigators theorize that the captain

is completely fixated on descending to the proper altitude.

(automation): Pull up. - Landing checklist completed, right?

(automation): Pull up. - In the case of a pilot fixating on a runway,

he or she can blank out the rest of the advice,

the ground-proximity warning system, everything.

(narrator): Pilot training is designed to combat fixation,

ensuring that pilots in a crisis situation

can break the spell and take in the information they need.

Better training might have helped the first officer

overcome his reluctance to correct the captain's mistake.

(automation): Pull up. - Go around, Captain. Go around! (automation): Pull up.

- Go around! (automation): Pull up.

- Landing checklist completed, right? (automation): Pull up.

- Without question, if the captain wasn't going to respond by going around,

which is what he should've done instantly on hearing "whoop-whoop, pull up,"

the co-pilot should've said, "I've got it," and done the same thing.

(alarm sounding)

(narrator): In 2008, Captain Marwoto Komar faced charges,

and was found guilty of negligence,

but the conviction was overturned on appeal.

In their final report,

investigators call for improved pilot training

with added focus on approach and landing procedures.

In the aftermath of the Garuda 200 disaster,

the airline overhauls its training and safety protocols,

and today it is a safer airline than it's ever been.

- The takeaway is that the organization has a responsibility

to provide the pilots with the best-available training,

flying the best-available equipment,

and then having a process to ensure...

that even when no one's looking, they're doing the right thing.

(narrator): But sometimes,

even the best-trained pilots can be taken by surprise on landing

when faced with an unpredictable force of nature.

(narrator): It's a scorching-hot day

at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport,

with the temperature reaching 101° Fahrenheit.

The intense heat triggers thunderstorms that surround the airport.

Delta Airlines Flight 191 heads in for landing at DFW.

- Weather's 6,000 scattered, 21,000 scattered.

Visibility: 10, temperature: 101.

Wind calm.

- A hundred and one? - A hundred-and-one degrees. Yes, sir.

(narrator): Captain Ed Connors and First Officer Rudy Price

are two of Delta Airlines' most experienced pilots.

Second Officer Nick Nassick is one of Delta's most highly regarded flight engineers.

They're flying a six-year-old L-1011 Tristar.

There are 152 passengers and 11 crew members on board.

- Ladies and gentlemen, we are starting our approach to DFW.

(narrator): The crew begins their final descent into the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

(ATC): Attention, all aircraft listening,

there's a little rain shower just north of the airport.

(narrator): While continuing with their approach procedures,

First Officer Price notices the upcoming storm.

- We're gonna get our airplane washed.

(narrator): Less than six miles from the runway,

the controller tells the crew to expect a stiff but manageable crosswind of up to 15 knots.

(ATC): ...at 5. Gusts: 15. - Tower.

Delta 191 heavy, out here in the rain. Feels good.

(narrator): First Officer Price is at the controls.

He realizes the storm is more than just a little rain.

- There's lightning coming out of that one.

- Where? - Right ahead of us.

- A thousand feet. I'll call 'em out to you. - Alright.

(narrator): One minute away from landing,

Price carefully guides the aircraft towards the runway.

Without warning, the intensity of the storm increases.

Driving rain pounds the L-1011.

All of a sudden, their airspeed picks up.

- Watch your speed.

(narrator): Price needs to slow the plane down

so they don't overshoot the runway.

They're only 600 feet off the ground.

- There it is!

(narrator): Suddenly, the plane drops sharply.

(screaming)

It's as though an invisible force is pushing it to the ground.

- Push it up! Push it way up! Way up!

- Way up! - Way up!

(narrator): The pilots' efforts are futile.

One mile short of the runway, the plane plows into a field,

travelling more than 200 miles an hour.

At that moment, the controller catches sight of Delta 191.

- He's gonna crash! Delta, go around!

- He cartwheeled into the tank in just an instant, and then, of course,

there was a wall of fire. (sirens wailing)

In the tower, it's just quiet,

and you just sit there... stunned,

wishing you could do anything to take it back.

(narrator): When firefighters and rescue workers arrive,

they discover 27 people have survived.

But Captain Connors,

First Officer Price and Second Officer Nassick are killed,

along with five other crew members

and a devastating 128 passengers.

- I was on a Delta flight behind that flight.

You could see this horrific fire and burning wreckage just out the plane window.

And we came into the gate where that plane was supposed to have come.

And at that time, families could go to the gates.

It was a sight I will never forget.

(narrator): Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board,

or NTSB, arrive at Dallas-Fort Worth, determined to find the cause.

- One of our field investigators would've been on scene,

trying to locate the flight-data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder,

which is, you know,

a very important part of the investigation.

(narrator): Thankfully, both flight recorders are recovered quickly,

and immediately sent for analysis.

Investigators hope the data will reveal what caused Flight 191 to crash

into a water tank off the end of the runway.

- This flight-data recorder gave us several parameters we didn't have before -

engine power, longitudinal acceleration -

and those parameters really enabled us to do

a more in-depth analysis.

(narrator): The device also records external elements,

like temperature, wind speed, altitude and air pressure.

When they review the data,

investigators discover an alarming weather pattern logged on the recorder.

- Then it shifts to a downdraft.

(narrator): In a matter of seconds,

the plane is hit with three strong winds from the front,

above and then behind.

- There you have it.

(narrator): Bud Laynor immediately recognizes the weather pattern.

The plane flew through a microburst.

A microburst is a violent shaft of air falling from a storm cloud.

On the day of the crash, it had been extremely hot, and hot air rises.

When that hot air meets the cold, moist air in the storm clouds,

it cools instantly and rushes violently back to Earth.

- If you're at the kitchen sink and you turn on the water,

and it goes straight down and it splashes out in all directions.

And that's kind of what a microburst is,

except that it is extremely... bad news

if you're an airplane flying through it at low altitude.

(narrator): The plane first faces a strong headwind,

which lifts the plane skyward.

Then it's hit by a downdraft, slamming it toward the ground.

Finally, the microburst delivers its most dangerous punch: the tailwind.

- And you would get a rapid descent,

a loss of lift and a rapid descent towards the ground,

and easily crash the airplane.

(narrator): It's clear that the 136 people on Flight 191

are the latest victims of the intense weather phenomenon.

- Unbelievable.

(narrator): But one mystery still remains.

- Altimeters? - How did such an experienced crew fall victim to a storm...

- You're in good shape.

- ...they were all trained to overcome?

(narrator): When NTSB investigators compare the actions

of Flight 191's pilots to the force of the microburst...

- A thousand feet.

- ...they uncover details of a fight to the death. - I'll call 'em out to you.

- A fight that the Delta pilots almost won. - Watch your speed.

(narrator): The increase in airspeed from the headwind

prompts First Officer Price to reduce power to his engines.

Power he'll desperately need in just a few seconds.

- You're gonna lose it all of a sudden. There it is.

- The captain knew the characteristics of a microburst.

He'd obviously been given an introduction to windshear

and microburst characteristics in his flight training.

(narrator): But when Connors and Price are hit with the tailwind,

there is very little they can do.

Only 500 feet off the ground,

they have insufficient speed and altitude with which to manoeuvre.

- Push it up! Way up!

(narrator): Then suddenly, the microburst delivers another blow:

a fierce crosswind that forces their plane to bank dangerously to the right.

(automation): Pull up. - Hang onto the sonofabitch!

(narrator): Combined with the other winds, the crew is defenseless.

- TOGA!

TOGA!

- TOGA is Take-Off Go-Around mode.

Let's abandon the approach. We're no longer gonna try to land this airplane.

(narrator): The skill and experience of the pilots are no match

for this fierce microburst.

It's too big, its winds too powerful and unpredictable.

Making matters worse,

investigators discover the storm at the foot of the runway arrives virtually unannounced.

Once trained weather observers see it on the radar,

it's too late to warn the crew of Delta 191.

- It's small, it's the length of a runway, roughly,

and it doesn't last very long, so...

it's something that can happen so quickly

that many accidents have occurred because nobody knew it was there.

(narrator): Investigators conclude that the Delta crash was caused

by the pilots' decision to continue their approach into the storm.

A decision that was made because the crew wasn't warned about the hazard.

After the crash of Delta 191,

the Federal Aviation Authority install Terminal Doppler Weather Radar at high-risk airports,

including Dallas-Fort Worth.

Doppler Radar detects the direction and speed of precipitation and wind flow.

- Doppler Radar, which is on the ground,

is incredibly effective in detecting microbursts.

And in fact, it can detect about 98% of a microburst.

- Even though we've learned a lot of information

from accidents involving thunderstorms,

things can still go wrong on a clear and sunny day,

only feet from the runway.

- Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. Hope you had a pleasant flight.

We'll be on the ground in about 30 minutes.

(narrator): Asiana Flight 214 is nearing the end of an overnight flight

from Seoul, Korea, to San Francisco.

The Boeing 777 is carrying 291 passengers and 16 crew members.

- Is that the Golden Gate?

(narrator): Captain Lee Kang Kuk takes in the sights

as he guides the plane towards the airport.

- The Golden Gate's over there. That bridge goes to Oakland.

- Ah. Okay.

(narrator): Lee Jung Min, also a captain,

is serving as First Officer today.

- Runway in sight.

- Okay. Gear down, sir.

- Gear down.

(narrator): In the cabin, the flight attendants prepare passengers for landing.

- Asiana 214 heavy, runway 28 left, cleared to land.

- Landing checklist complete.

Clear to land. On glidepath.

- Check.

(narrator): The plane is less than a minute from the runway

when a passenger notices something alarming.

- There's a small pier that extends out of the runway,

and I'm, like: Wow, we're very low.

(narrator): In the cockpit... - Speed! - ...a crisis hits.

(automation): Terrain. Pull up. - I've got control!

(automation): Pull up. Pull up. - Oh, God!

Go around!

(narrator): The captain pulls up the nose and tries to climb.

(screaming)

(automation): Terrain. Terrain. Pull up. - Ah!

- Ah!

Just wondering how it's gonna end, how it's gonna stop,

and when it's gonna stop. (all screaming)

- Hang on! Hang on!

(screaming and exclamations)

(narrator): In the cockpit, the pilots have survived,

but they have no idea of the extent of the damage.

The brutal impact has torn the tail off the body of the plane.

- Control, come in.

It's Asiana 214.

Initiating evacuation checklist.

We need help out here.

- Asiana 214 heavy, emergency vehicles are responding.

(woman): Oh, my God, that's scary.

(narrator): Eyewitness video captures the dramatic scene

as hundreds of people flee the cabin from only a few exits.

- Come on. Get out.

(narrator): Asiana Flight 214 has crashed on one of the airport's busiest runways.

Nearly 50 people are seriously injured.

Six were thrown out of the back of the plane when the tail broke off.

Two of them are dead.

- The challenges in the Asiana 214 investigation were... myriad.

You would think: Oh, okay, most everyone survived.

This shouldn't be a problematic investigation.

But it was.

(narrator): Investigators at the National Transportation Safety Board

quickly pull together a team.

Senior investigator Bill English leads the high-profile investigation.

- Everyone's on standby as of right now.

So the 777 had been in service for about 20 years at the time of this accident,

and this was the first fatal accident of a 777 in that entire time.

(narrator): The investigators arrive at the horrific crash site

the following morning.

Before searching the scorched wreckage,

they equip themselves with protective gear to shield them from the toxic fumes.

- Okay, here we go.

(narrator): For NTSB investigator Roger Cox,

the hunt for evidence is worth the risk.

- It was a tricky accident site.

Uh, we had to be properly garbed up to make sure

that we weren't affected too much

by the dangerous wreckage that was there.

(narrator): Cox gathers the pilots' charts and personal effects,

hoping to find clues about what the pilots were doing

in the final stages of the flight.

- That's everything I could find.

(narrator): Many of the documents are in Korean.

They'll need to be translated before they can be fully analyzed.

Meanwhile, at NTSB headquarters,

photos of the crash zone provide investigators with a crucial lead.

- Where it impacted on the rocks of the seawall

pretty much tells us it was too low.

It landed well short of where it should have.

(narrator): The team hopes the data recovered

from the 777's flight recorders

will help explain why the plane crashed into the seawall.

(screaming)

- We were able to see all the basic things, like airspeed, altitude,

the configuration of the airplane.

We were also able to see all the inputs that the crew made.

(narrator): English carefully plots the data.

Most of it looks completely normal.

But then he spots something unexpected.

- This is where they bring it back to idle.

(narrator): One minute before the crash, engine power suddenly drops to idle.

- Right here. - Ahem.

(narrator): The sudden change in power settings makes no sense.

Normally, the last moments of flight are when pilots need more power

to overcome drag from the landing gear and wing flaps.

And data from earlier in the flight

shows the engines were functioning properly.

- We could see that the engines were making proper power

all the way through the approach.

(narrator): The question now:

What was the crew doing to control engine power

in the critical final moments of flight?

- Speed.

- How did the pilots operate the airplane? (alarm sounding)

Why did they do what they did that got the airplane too low? (automation): Terrain. Terrain.

(narrator): Investigators turn their focus squarely on the actions of the pilots.

- "Gear down, sir."

(narrator): Understanding every nuance of the cockpit voice recording is crucial.

They listen as the pilots prepare for a visual approach and landing.

- Missed approach 3,000 feet.

- Landing checklist complete.

Clear to land. On glidepath.

(narrator): They combine what they hear with the data from the flight recorder

that shows how the pilots were manipulating the controls.

- This seems a little high.

(narrator): As the crew nears the runway,

the recording hints at the first sign of trouble.

The rate of descent is too slow.

They risk overshooting the runway.

- I will descend more.

(narrator): What the recording reveals next is stunning.

To speed up the rate of descent,

the captain switches the autopilot

to Flight Level Change Mode.

But he makes a dangerous mistake.

- He made an entry to the autopilot that, at first,

actually made the airplane climb.

Obviously, he didn't want to do that.

(narrator): Instead of descending,

the new mode instructs the plane to climb

to its preset go-around altitude of 3,000 feet.

- The autopilot mode switches here, starts all the confusion.

The pilot flying is supposed to actually select things

with the auto-flight system and call out what he's doing.

And the pilot monitoring is supposed to verify

that the change has actually occurred.

No callouts. How's anyone supposed to know what he's doing?

(narrator): To bring his plane back down,

the captain immediately pulls the throttles back to idle...

...stripping the plane of crucial airspeed they need for landing.

- It's low.

(narrator): Investigators now understand how the engines got to idle.

- Yeah.

(narrator): But why would an experienced captain make the mistake of leaving them there?

(automation): Pull up. - Oh, God! Go around! (alarm sounding)

(narrator): And why did the crew not notice they were dangerously low until it was too late?

(automation): Terrain. Pull up.

(narrator): NTSB investigators are anxious to interview the pilot

who was flying Asiana Flight 214

when it crashed onto a San Francisco runway.

- I'll try to help if I can.

(narrator): The captain explains he was worried about landing in San Francisco.

- I was a bit nervous.

(narrator): On the day of the crash,

the electronic runway equipment designed to help guide pilots in for landing was down.

- I thought that was very unusual coming from an experienced pilot,

because no one really needs an electronic glide slope on a clear day

to be able to land an airplane. It's a fundamental skill.

- Other pilots were making that landing.

I thought I should be able to make it too.

- Why did he not ask the other guy for help?

I think he just didn't want to admit the weakness.

- It's low.

(narrator): The captain tells investigators he doesn't understand

why the plane didn't have enough power on landing.

- I know I made some mistakes,

but I was certain that the auto-throttle would control the speed.

(narrator): Like other modern jets,

the 777 can automatically increase or decrease engine power

through a system known as the auto-throttle.

- He was confident the auto-throttle

was actually gonna take care of speed for him...

...that the auto-throttles would wake up,

advance the thrust and keep them safe. (automation): Up. Up.

(narrator): But investigators discover the auto-throttle never corrected the speed.

- Oh! Go around! (automation): Terrain. Pull up.

(narrator): Did the critical automated system fail in flight?

When they conduct an exhaustive search

of the plane's computerized functions...

...the team makes a surprising discovery.

- We could see some strange things happening with automation inputs

while that airplane was on short final.

(narrator): When they replicate the sequence of inputs made by the captain,

including changing the autopilot mode...

...and then reducing the thrust...

(beep) - Bingo! That does it.

- ...the unusual combination of commands

switches off the 777's auto-throttle system,

leaving the engines at idle.

- By doing that, that sent the signal to the auto-throttle system

that he wanted control of the power.

So at that point, in effect, the airplane was basically just gliding.

(narrator): Investigators finally understand

why the auto-throttle did not re-engage

and boost engine thrust on landing.

- Oh, God! (automation): Pull up. - Go around!

(narrator): But it doesn't explain why the captain was so uncertain

about autopilot function and why the crew were so slow to react.

- Twenty-two-thousand hours between them.

You'd think they'd notice the speed.

(narrator): The translated documents retrieved from the cockpit

provide some crucial answers.

They reveal that Captain Lee Kang Kuk

was training on the Boeing 777...

- Is that the Golden Gate?

- ...after flying the Airbus A320,

an aircraft with a very different style of automation.

- Check. - He was a little bit stressed,

because it was...

a training flight and he was being monitored by this more senior pilot.

(narrator): But why did the experienced first officer wait until it was too late

before taking control of the plane?

(automation): Pull up. - I've got control!

(narrator): If he had intervened sooner...

- Positive rate. - ...he would almost certainly have prevented the accident.

When they continue looking through company records,

investigators discover the first officer

had never before supervised a training flight like this one.

- It's low.

(narrator): His inexperience most likely led him to wait too long...

(alarm sounding) - Speed!

- ...before taking over the controls.

In their final report on the crash of Asiana 214,

investigators list pilot error as the probable cause,

but they also cite the complexities of the automation system

as a contributing factor.

- I am not confident that the majority of pilots, 777 pilots at the time,

would've been able to predict the modes that the airplane would end up in.

(narrator): The report calls for better pilot training,

more intuitive designs of aircraft automation,

and better cockpit alarms to warn pilots if their speed gets too low.

- Modern jets are very, very, very efficient,

which means that they're hard to slow down.

So getting the airplane on the proper speed

is one of the biggest challenges that jet pilots face.

(narrator): If pilots aren't prepared when the runway is in sight,

a routine landing can quickly become a tragedy.

- A stabilized approach says: I know we can make it.

If you're a pilot and ever say, "I think we can make it," you better be doing a go-around,

because those are the last words I've heard on so many cockpit voice recordings.

Subtitling: difuze