All language subtitles for Mayday.S03E02.Attack.Over.Baghdad.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DD+2.0.H.264-playWEB_track3_[eng]

You wouldn't think
it was a dangerous job

delivering the mail.

They have to try to land
an airliner

in a way no pilot
has ever done before.

We've lost all hydraulics.

All the controls are dead.

They've become passengers
on their own plane.

And somehow,
they have to land it.

Left runway!

Even at journey's end,
the ordeal isn't over...

Do not move!

3000.

We're not getting any oxygen.

We have the terrain alarm.

We are in an emergency.

Baghdad, November 22,
2003.

Officially, the war in Iraq
has been over for months.

But the country
is violent and unstable.

No one feels safe...

A civilian cargo plane
has just taken off

from the city's airport.

What's that?

Within seconds the crew
lose control,

unable to figure out what has
happened to their aircraft.

We've lost hydraulics.

T- hey struggle to master
100 tons of wide-bodied jet.

Their plane is on fire.

Unless they can land soon,
the wing will burn up.

They'll crash and die.

Steady!

They're carrying
too much speed.

They're going so fast,
they may not make the Runway.

No one has ever successfully
done this before.

By November 2003,

the American-led coalition
has been in charge of Iraq
for six months.

The Iraqi army is defeated.

Saddam Hussein, the deposed
President,

remains in hiding.

Ominously, the main threat
is now from secret armed
groups.

They are targeting civilians,
both Iraqi and foreign,

in order to make
the country unstable,

perhaps even provoke
a civil war.

They have plundered Iraqi
army stores

for every infantry weapon
there is,

even surface-to-air missiles.

Baghdad is a very dangerous
place.

Dawn, on the outskirts
of the city,

Claudine Vernier-Palliez,
from the French weekly magazine
Paris Match,

with her photographer
Jerome,

is going to a secret meeting
with Iraqi terrorists.

She's after the story that
everyone wants.

Who are they?
What do they want?

The previous day she had met
the leader in a hotel room.

He called himself Abu Abdallah,
but no one knew his real name.

Evidently this man was very,
very determined

to stop at nothing to show
the Americans

that he wanted no more of them
at least,

not their military tactics.

Baghdad Airport,
key to the US presence in Iraq.

Military planes fly in daily
to supply the troops,

and to help rebuild
the shattered country.

Because of the threat
from Iraqi Terrorists,

the US has established a
security zone around the
airport

patrolled by Apache helicopters.

On the tarmac today is one
of the few civilian aircraft
to use the airport,

an Airbus A300 belonging to
the courier firm DHL,

they have won the contract to
carry the soldier's mail.

They led us down
little roads for a long time

to be sure we would lose
our bearings.

At the hotel meeting,

Claudine and her photographer
had arranged to meet the rebels

at dawn the next morning

to take pictures of the fighters
with their weapons.

We arrived
in the field where we met
other vehicles,

among them a pick-up truck.

The men got out of their cars...

and just off the road hidden
under some branches,

the men recovered some weapons
and some missiles.

They loaded their weapons
in their vehicles

and Jerome took the pictures
we wanted.

The journalists have got
the story they came for.

But Abu Abdallah is not finished
with them yet.

He tells them to follow.

They don't know where.

And he told me that a new
phase in his resistance actions

would be to shoot missiles
at planes.

A few kilometers away,

the DHL lane is getting
ready to depart.

Two flights a day shuttle post
and packages

in and out of the war zone.

Baghdad Tower, Oscar Oscar,
Delta, Lima Lima,

the Airbus 1800 cargo...

The Australian Air Force
is providing

the air traffic control
in Baghdad.

Oscar Oscar Delta Lima Lima,
clear to start.

Before start check list.

Start turn...

Captain Eric Gennotte
is Belgian, 38 years old,

and single. He realized his
dearest ambition a year ago

when he qualified to captain
the Airbus A300.

In 2.45.

Rough close to...

Flight engineer Mario Rofail
lives in Scotland

with his wife and children.

At 54, he's the oldest and most
experienced member of the crew,

a veteran of many danger zones.

Start one...

Valve open.

The 29-year-old co-pilot,
Steeve Michielsen,

is also Belgian.

He's been married just
three months.

Cargo airliners are great places
for young pilots

to get the hours and experience
they need

to pilot commercial aircraft.

0, 16.

DHL has been flying into
Baghdad for 6 months,

but there is no danger money
for crew.

The airport is an oasis
of calm in the middle of
a chaotic war zone.

Nevertheless, they're aware
of what's going on around them.

When we were crossing
the border from Kuwait to Iraq,

the ambience in the cockpit
really changed.

You had a kind of stress,
at least, for me.

The journalists have
been taken

to another location
by the terrorists.

By now they're beginning
to get uneasy.

They'd like to leave, but
they have no idea where they
are

and they feel that a dangerous
situation will develop

if they attempt to go.

So, what's going on here?

We're going to do
special operations today...

You'll see, I'll show you.

This is Sam 7.

We have them from
the old Iraqui army.

We have approximately...

28. We got them from two
different Iraqui army depots.

We have already fired about 25
and we only have three left.

They are heat-seeking
missiles,

equipped with homing devices
which detect infrared emissions

from a plane's engines.

This is Sam 14
better than Sam 7.

We don't have so many.

I think we should use
this one today.

It was very good before.

Before...?

We shot down a plane
in Lasaria

and my fighters recorded
177 dead.

And we shot down another
plane with Americans on

and we killed 70 men.

But no one had ever
heard about this.

I didn't believe a word of it.

From all over Bagdad
you could have seen it.

So, I thought the guy
was making it up.

Sir what are you going
to do with this one today.

What do you think, we're going
to shoot down a plane?

I'll show you.

The journalists
are getting worried.

What if he's not bluffing
after all?

This is not the story
they came for.

It's early
in the day at Baghdad Airport.

A DHL Airbus A300 carrying
letters home

from US soldiers,
is just departing.

The crew is unaware that
just a few kilometres away

a terrorist group has
its own plans for the aircraft.

Oscar Oscar Delta Lima Lima,
clear for take off.

Takeoff.

The plane is a 24-year-old
airliner

converted to carry cargo.

Its first stop will
be the Persian Gulf state
of Bahrain.

It's a journey they make
twice a day.

100 knots.

V1.

Rotate...

V2.

Positive climb.

Despite the calm in
the cockpit,

the crew knows that below
3000 metres,

they're vulnerable to attack
from the ground.

So far, no plane in Iraq
has been hit with a
surface-to-air missile.

But it's known that
the terrorists now have
such weapons.

It's a strange ambience,
it's a strange feeling

between the time you take off
and you reach 10,000 feet

you know that you are in danger.

Gear up

Gear up.

No lights.

Meanwhile, the terrorist
leader, Abu Abdallah,

appears to have chosen his spot.

He asked us to park our cars
pointing outwards

so that everybody could leave
in a different direction.

That's when I should have
realized that the bluffing
was over.

The journalists
are now very alarmed.

They cannot leave
they're trapped.

This is video shot by
the terrorists themselves.

They'll deliver it to the media
in Baghdad the next day.

What's that?

We've lost green and yellow.

Green and yellow?

We have three hydraulic
systems

and they are identified
by colour.

One is green, yellow
and blue.

Big jets depend on
hydraulic power.

Hydraulic fluid runs inside
pipes throughout the aircraft.

When the pilots
move the control column,

pistons push the fluid
in the pipes to climb, descend,

or turn the plane.

With no hydraulics, pilots have
no way to control their flight.

The missile has exploded
in the wing,

where the pipes filled with
hydraulic fluid

are now draining.

It's like driving a car
at speed

and suddenly losing
the steering wheel.

What do we do? What do we do?

What do we do?

What could I answer?

What could I answer to him?

It was a very difficult
question, yes.

My initial reaction was...

we have to do something and
I asked the Captain,

"What shall we do?"
Or any ideas or something.

His initial reaction was,
"We have to go back."

A big jet can survive with
one of the three

hydraulic systems knocked out.

Maybe even two.

But all three? None of
the controls will work, period.

Blue is gone.

I think we hit something.

Blue is gone...

We've lost all hydraulics.

All three hydraulic
systems gone.

There's nothing left.

The life of the aircraft
is now measured in minutes.

That was the end
of everything procedures,

what you've been trained
all these years.

So all you needed then
is to keep calm,

common sense,
and of course,

here's where
your experience comes.

To see whatever is left there.

But we had nothing to come
back to,

to read, or to do or to follow.

That DHL is in trouble.

He's on fire
and he's turning back.

Grab all the fire engines,
have medevac on standby

The control columns have
become useless.

Without the crucial hydraulic
system,

there is no way of moving
the controls.

When you have this kind
of emergency,

the three needles showing
zero...

and the flight engineer
saying to you

all hydraulics gone,

you are terrified as well.

It was fear,

we had no control
of the aircraft actually.

The aircraft continued
to climb at that time

to about 12,000 feet.

The plane has started
to behave strangely.

It climbs to 3800 metres,

then suddenly starts to dive
of its own accord.

Then it climbs again.

We're not flying!

Back! Back!

This cycle repeats itself
over and over again,

like a mad
rollercoaster ride.

The crew can't stop
the plane's wild gyrations.

They're still airborne

but somehow they must regain
control.

And now Eric are
you proud of yourself?

Look in which mess you are.

You know it was dangerous to
come here

and now what will you do
to get out of here?

I play with controls!

Reduce thrust?

By moving the throttles
to and fro,

perhaps they can flatten out
the huge dives and climbs.

It's all they can think of.

And then I decide to take
the challenge.

We have to come back

There is no training to fly
a plane in this condition.

So from that time on,

all the books and procedures
are right out the window.

We have engines?

We can use the thrust.

All they have left
are the two engines,

which are undamaged.

But how do you fly and land
a plane with engines alone?

No airliner has ever done it.

Certainly not this one.

In August 1985,

a Japan Airlines Boeing 747
had suffered a catastrophe

minutes after leaving Tokyo.

The bulkhead at the back of
the cabin burst open.

The force of the rushing air
blew off most of the tail fin

and cut all the hydraulic lines.

Without hydraulic power,
the pilots of the 747

were little more than passengers
themselves.

A jet with 524 people
on board,

flying over the mountains
of central Japan,

was virtually helpless,
swaying in the sky like
a drunken bird.

It really could be considered
a miracle

that the pilots were able
to keep the airplane flying

for 30 minutes or more
after having lost

all their hydraulics
and their flight controls.

But it kept circling
and eventually worked its way

into the mountains and it became
impossible for them to land.

There was no real alternative
at all

except to fly as long
as they could

and hope for some miracle
which never occurred.

When the 747 hit a mountain,

it was the worst single crash
in aviation history.

520 people died.

Can the DHL crew succeed where
the Japanese pilots failed?

The first task is to try
to calm the wild plunging
of the aircraft.

The airplane will tend to go
into what's called a phugoid,

in the vertical mode.

It will descend, speed up
therefore pick up more lift,

then it would climb, pitch up
and climb,

it would slow down,
lose lift...

So it would go into this
and so it was very difficult

for the pilots to control that.

They have to do it by using
engine power alone,

the only thing
they have left.

They find that if they reduce
engine power

the plane's nose drops
and they begin to gather speed.

If they then push the throttles
forward,

the nose comes up
and they start to climb.

But they have to learn
precisely when to increase

and decrease power.

And there's another
complication.

The damage to the left wing
is creating drag on that side,

and pulling them round
to the left in a wide circle.

One of the most difficult
things to master

to keep the pitch altitude
in a normal way

was already difficult enough.

And on top of this we had to use
asymmetrical thrust,

because the airplane was banking
to the left all the time.

There was a part of the left
wing which was gone.

Bank! Bank!

So they not only have to move
the throttles back and forth

to flatten out the plane's
rollercoaster motion,

but also try to apply more power
to the left engine

to compensate
for the damaged wing,

which is causing it
to lose lift.

After several minutes of violent
pitching up and down,

the crew manage to flatten out
the flight path.

Even after we have learned how
to fly it using the throttles,

we still went through,

I would say three to four times,

we went through almost
uncontrollable conditions,

we couldn't control
the airplane.

Very steep dives and banks.

By now the crew realize that
they've been hit by a missile

somewhere on the left wing.

Their Airbus has become
the first civilian aircraft
casualty of the war.

I knew we were on fire.
That I knew.

So my intention was to come back
and land the aircraft.

Also we were afraid,

I was afraid to be shot at,
a second time.

Their fears are justified.

The terrorist leader,
Abu Abdallah,

is waiting for a second chance
to finish them off.

Iraqi terrorists
have fired a missile

at a civilian plane near
Baghdad Airport.

The left wing is on fire
and the crew is in desperate
trouble.

Now the terrorists aim
to finish it off.

They launched a second missile
that missed the plane this time.

And then he told everyone,
"let's go"

and we all left quickly.

Madame Vernier-Palliez later
came under a storm of criticism

for not doing more to stop
the attack,

or at least leave the scene.

I think that any journalists
in the situation we were in

would have reacted exactly
as we did.

We have been criticized for not
having said to the group leader

when he told us he was going
to fire on an aircraft,

"No sir, we're leaving now."

On the one hand,
if we had said that to him

it would have meant a bullet in
the head, that's clear

and on the other hand,
right up to the last minute,

right up to the time
when they fired the missile,

I didn't think
they were going do it.

I thought they were
still bluffing.

While we were trying to find
our way back with our chauffeur,

we saw that the plane,

its left wing was on fire.

It was now turning like this.

It was like in a film,
it was unreal.

And it was only when we could
see the plane on fire,

that we thought
of the people on board.

And then, we were scared.

I realized that the plane
could crash,

that it would crash and
then I started to realize...

why had they done this?

It so happens we were there,
we were filming,

we were journalists and
we were French.

So it seems evident that
they had set us up.

By the time we realized this,
it was too late.

Everything had gone
too fast.

The crew knows nothing of
the second missile.

Did you guys
say that there's an aircraft
on fire?

This remarkable video,
seen here exclusively for
the first time,

was shot with the infrared,
heat-sensitive camera

of a US Apache attack
helicopter.

Apaches routinely patrol
the area around the airport,

watching out for terrorists.

...the aircraft in
bound under our siting system,

he's got... it appears to be
a fire on his far left engine.

The intense heat of the fire
on the Airbus

shows up as a blur on
the helicopter's
heat-sensitive camera.

Oscar Oscar Delta
Lima Lima.

Oscar Lima Lima.
What's that?

Yes, we have
a problem controlling
the aircraft.

There was a helicopter flying,

and he could see that the fire
was not from the engine

but that it was from
the left wing.

So it gave Mario
the opportunity to ask
the tower again

if they could still see
some flames or smoke

coming from the airplane.

Could you confirm
if there is smoke coming
from the aircraft

or fire or anything
like that?

You can still see smoke and
flames coming from the left tip

of the left wing.

Okay left-wing tip,
fire and smoke, huh?

- That's affirmative.
- Thank you.

We were on a...
heading towards the airport.

We could see the airport.

Lower the gear.

Can I take control?

No, I have control.

I have control. Lower the gear!

With no hydraulic power,

Mario has to crank open
the landing gear doors

and let the wheels drop down
by gravity alone.

The Captain said,
"In fact we have to land,"

and he called for the gear down

which is quite a normal thing
to do to land.

But it has an unintended
effect.

Lowering the landing gear
has altered the entire balance
of the aircraft

just when they thought
they'd figured out how to
control it.

It causes the nose to point
high in the air

and the speed to fall.

No, no... No, the speed!

It could easily stall,
and then crash.

I didn't expect that at all.

I saw the aircraft taking
a pitch up

and then the speed decreasing,
decreasing, decreasing...

and I was returning the throttle
and saying, "No, no!"

No, no! It--

The nose has gone up,

their speed is falling,
and they're about to stall.

They have no choice but
to pull back the throttles

to bring the nose
back down again.

They're nearly at stall speed.

That would have been
the end of it,

we would have fallen out
of the sky.

You got a visual
on this guy?

No I am looking right at him
and he's way out there.

Yeah.
That's gut-wrenching man...

They're up there doing
everything they can.

I was afraid that maybe
one wing will stall.

And this time it's finished.

...crash on the
runway or crash in the desert.

Yeah trying to land
on a runway whereas you can
just belly up

in the desert and the sand would
probably put out any fire.

Cautiously they
manage to coax a bit more speed

from the engines. Lowering
the gear brought them

to the brink of disaster,
but now the plane is easier
to control.

The airplane miraculously
became more stable afterwards.

That's one of the first
factors which proves how lucky
we were that day.

Let's land.

Oscar Oscar, Delta,
Lima Lima.

Oscar Oscar, Delta,
Lima Lima. Baghdad Tower,

can make your approach now,
runway is clear for landing.

The Apache
helicopter has been joined
by others,

who are powerless to do anything
but provide information

to the stricken DHL plane.

Looks like
he's going up too high again.

I'm still looking up
at the flare.

Come on, buddy.

We could hear other airplanes
talking at the same time.

And that was a bit
difficult...

Oscar Oscar Delta
Lima Lima.

Could you please
clear 3-3 Left for us as well,

because I think we may be going
there as well.

Oscar Oscar Delta Lima Lima,
runway 3-3 Left

is available as well
if you need to land there.

Okay keep both runways
open for us.

No more talking, bye.

Did you know tank 1 Alpha
is empty?

Fuel has been
steadily streaming out

of the tanks in the left wing.

Now, one of them is empty.

Bank back!

Got it...

Left wing coming up!

Against all the odds,
they've made it back to
the airport.

An incredible feat of flying.

They begin making
preparations to land.

Which runway?

We use 3 3 Right, I think.

Lima Lima!

Oscar Lima Lima,
go ahead.

Can you please declare
a full emergency?

Yes, you will need the fire
brigade because our running
gear might not work.

Oscar Lima Lima,
all available assistance

is available on the field.

Everyone is on full alert.

Okay thank you very much and
no more calls.

Man, that guy's
good. He's pretty stressed.

And rightfully so.

But on the brink
of success it begins to
unravel.

At that time, I realized
we were a little bit too high

to come in and land
in the situation we were.

That's what I thought
as well.

We were too high and too near.

We must land!

We are too close,
we need a long final!

I think Steeve brought
a very important point here

and I think it was really
a saver.

Steeve is giving his captain
news he doesn't want to hear.

He can't land.

They are too high and
too close.

If they attempt a steep descent,
they'll bury it in the runway.

Eric Genotte will have
to turn around,

fly away from the airport
for 37 kilometers, turn again,

and come back on a long final
approach, slowly descending.

If we hadn't done those
20 miles,

we would have been circling
there forever

until we dropped from the sky.

You can't make it.
It's impossible.

Keep the speed,
keep the speed up.

I try.
I will do the best I can.

And then I realized,
they were right.

We have to make a long final

But for the last 13 minutes,
the wing has been on fire.

Do they have enough time?

20 miles final.

Okay.

He's still
pretty high.

He's still got a long way
to go.

He's got an extremely
extended final

and I figure he can make it in.

Time is running out.

The fire is eating up
the left wing.

They're still heading away
from the airport.

Then they have to turn and make
a 37-kilometre approach.

Can they land
before the wing fails?

If we had stayed another
15 minutes in the air

with that fire still burning,

maybe that tip of the wing
would have broken off and again,

the results would have been
disastrous.

Two main structural spars give
the wing its strength.

The missile has made a 5-metre
long crack in the rear spar.

Too much stress and
it will snap like a twig.

There's another danger:

fuel is streaming out
of the punctured tanks in
the left wing.

If the tanks run dry,
an engine will stop,

and they'll crash.

We were controlling
the bank

and the pitch of the airplane
using the two engines,

so if we lost one engine,

then we couldn't do anything
with the other engine.

So, the end result would
have been disastrous.

Despite the fire, the crew's
confidence is growing.

Now they have some control
over the plane.

But the prospects for
a safe landing are not good.

This is the closest any
commercial jet has got

to a safe landing with
no hydraulics.

In 1989,
in the United States,

the crew of this United DC10
lost all their controls

after an engine blew up,

and turbine blades shredded
the hydraulic pipes.

The pilots managed to regain
some control,

moving the throttles backwards
and forwards like the DHL crew.

There were 296 people
on board.

But at the last minute,
as they approached

the small provincial airport
of Sioux City in Iowa,
disaster.

Of the 296 people on board,
111 died.

So, within four years,
two major airliners had crashed

because a loss of hydraulics
had crippled the planes,

killing 631 people.

In its investigation report
on the Sioux City disaster,

the National Transportation
Safety Board

asked for urgent research
to find ways of controlling
big jets

that had lost their hydraulics.

But over Baghdad,
14 years later,

the crew only have their wits
to help them

as they try to land.

I remembered the story
of the DC10 of Sioux City,

that it has been done before,

the only control we still had
in the aircraft, in the cockpit

was the engine,

nothing else.

The crew is now 28 kilometers
away from the airport,

getting close to where
they will turn in order to make

their long final approach
to the runway.

15.2.

16.

- Now we turn right.
- Not yet.

This is where experience
counts now,

and you have to rely
on what you know.

We were pretty sure
that we were going to be able

to make it to the airport,
but we were absolutely not sure

that we were going to be able
to make it to the runway.

16.5

- Now we turn.
- 17 miles.

Now we turn!

The only way they can turn
is by applying more power

to the left engine to make
them go right, and vice versa.

They're swinging round
to the right,

trying to keep the plane steady
and descend

all at the same time,
using nothing but the engines.

Airport's at 3-4
to come right.

Now 3-20.

- Speed?
- 10 knots and stable,

keep speed up.
- Yes, yes.

1000 feet.

3500 feet.

3200 feet.

Turn on ahead.

Against all their instincts,

they'll have to keep
the speed up on landing,

or the nose will drop and
they'll crash.

They should be landing at around
300 kilometers per hour.

But they are coming in
100 kilometers per hour faster.

No one knows if the landing gear
will take the strain.

As they reach
120 metres,

the hot air from the ground
and strong wind blowing

across their flight path,
upsets all their plans.

The winds coming from the left
and the turbulence,

we were drifting to the right,

that's where the airport
building was.

It's bumpy!

As the plane approaches
the runway,

the nose is pointing
dangerously low

and the left wing is dropping.

Come on, buddy!

They're carrying too much
speed.

They could over run the runway.

Keep the speed up!
We are going left.

Yes! I increase.

If we go into fast landing,
we may go off the runway.

They are landing 3-3 left.

Fire trucks on standby,
Medevac is on standby.

...looks like
he's too wide now.

Steady, steady!

You are approaching the end
of your life.

You realize it.

Come on, buddy!

- Back!
- Okay!

Oh...

Looks like one of his gear
collapsed.

Yeah, it did.

Off runway!

He's in the dirt?

He's just come off the runway.

That's what's left of him.

The DHL Airbus
has managed to land

through an incredible feat
of flying...

But their troubles are not over.

Nice landing, wow.

Confirm evacuate?

Evacuate.

Evacuation.

A final irony.

After getting safely to
the ground against all the
odds,

one more unforeseen danger.

She might blow.

Hey, guys! Don't move.

That area has
unexploded ordinance.

Do not move.

What's that?

He's saying there might
be bombs here.

I don't believe this.

We're coming to get you!

The area is still littered
with unexploded bombs and
shells

left over from the battle
to capture the airport from
Saddam's men.

Now when we get to you,
we're going to back up

and you gotta follow in
our tracks!

Now, we're gonna get you
outta here,

but you gotta walk right in
my wheel tracks, okay?

Keep coming.
It's not much further now.

Now, for the first time,

the crew can see the damage
for themselves.

They have survived
the unsurvivable.

No crew has ever
successfully landed

such a badly damaged airliner.

They had to learn and practice
a whole new flying technique.

But the remarkable thing is,
had they known it,

the technology had already been
invented to save any pilot

in this desperate situation.

The DHL pilots have
managed to fly and land

a plane without any flying
controls.

It's the first time
it's happened.

Two earlier occasions near Tokyo
and Sioux City, Iowa,

ended with the loss of over
600 lives.

In 1989, NASA began to
investigate ways

to land crippled aircraft
using only throttle controls.

Engineers and pilots came up
with software

that could cope with
total hydraulic failure.

It's called: PCA,

for Propulsion Controlled
Aircraft.

The PCA concept is simple.

Pilots tell the aircraft's
flight management computer

what they want to do:
turn, climb, descend.

But instead of sending those
commands down hydraulic lines
to the control surfaces,

the computer orders
the engines alone to do it.

To test this software,

this MD11 aircraft is landing
with no hydraulics,

and using engine thrust alone.

The pilot is not moving
the throttles.

The PCA software is doing it all
for him.

Though none of the plane's
normal controls were used,

the MD11's landing was not only
survivable

but very similar
to a normal landing.

I believe that the DHL
incident has revived interest

in propulsion controlled
aircraft systems

as an augment to...

perhaps the systems we have in
today's aircraft

that would certainly mitigate
the damage

that could have been done
to this aircraft

and certainly could mitigate
the damage

done to an aircraft carrying
500 to 600 people.

One of the enthusiasts
for the PCA system
is Captain Dennis Fitch,

one of the pilots who survived
the Sioux City DC10 crash.

This is just absolutely
an amazing piece of equipment.

What they have done,
and what they have achieved,

and the success ratio
that we now have to survive

and the ability we now have
with modern aircraft

completely controlled
on hydraulics...

to have this occur again and to
have this on board the aircraft,

is a very warm feeling
as a pilot.

Blue is gone.

We've lost all hydraulics.

America's Federal Aviation
Administration

conducted research into PCA
but soon abandoned it.

It says the risk of losing
all hydraulics is too low

to make systems
like the PCA worthwhile.

The FAA's conclusion after
their studies

was that these events
are so rare

as to not require the mandate
of an additional system.

And of course they did not
consider the event

or the possibility of a
surface-to-air weapons attack

on the aircraft.

The DHL is the first plane
in Iraq

to be hit by a surface-to-air
missile.

But in recent years the threat
of terrorist controlled

shoulder launched antiaircraft
missiles has been growing.

There have been roughly
30-odd incidents

of commercial aircraft being
attacked

by man-portable surface-to-air
missiles

leading up to the DHL one.

What makes the risk of missile
attack in Iraq so serious

is that for months nobody
was guarding

the abandoned depots of
the Iraqi army

leaving terrorists free to help
themselves

to millions of dollars
worth of arms.

I believe there are weapons
caches everywhere in Iraq.

In my opinion they also
have many missiles.

There is widespread fear
these terror weapons

could soon be targeting
passenger airliners

all over the world.

The US government's Department
of Homeland Security

is spending over 100 million
dollars on research

to adapt military
counter missile technology

for civilian airliners.

It is inevitable today
that commercial aircraft

will have to be fitted,
at some time

with laser and infrared
jamming systems.

The infrared jammer
will confuse

the seeker for the missile,

whereas the laser jammer
will direct a pulse

into the seeker and burn out
the seeker of the missile.

Singapore Airlines,
Quantus Airlines,

they're all looking to install
something into their aircraft.

If you look at things like
the queen's flight in the UK,

the president's aircraft
in the USA

and the King of Jordan's fleet,
they're all fitted.

Terrorism is with us today

and will always be with us for
the rest of our lives.

It's impossible to defeat
terrorism

but what is possible
is to control terrorism

at a commercially acceptable
level,

if we don't do that
then there's no future for us.

But miraculously,
without any of this equipment,

the crew had brought their plane
to a successful landing.

It is the only confirmed
occasion in history

when a missile has exploded on
a large civilian airliner

which has then landed
without crashing.

For Mario Rofail, it was
a good note on which to retire.

It was a good time
to say goodbye to aviation.

I had been flying for 30 years.

Clean record
even to the last minute.

We were lucky but also,

we fought to survive.

I learned some things
about life, maybe, but...

I don't think it makes me
a better pilot.

The three DHL crew
have received

some of the highest awards
that the civilian aviation
community

has to offer in recognition
of an unprecedented
achievement.

Teamwork was absolutely the
key factor

of bringing that plane back
to the ground

with all three people alive.

On December 30, 2003,

five weeks after the missile
struck the airliner,

General Mark Kimmitt gives his
daily press briefing in
Baghdad.

Of note on Saturday,
Sarhid ahb Sarhid,

a former directorate
of military intelligence officer

suspected of leading
a large anti-coalition group

in the region and suspected of
the downing of the DHL jetliner

died at a coalition medical
facility from wounds received

in a targeted raid on
his complex.

The Americans believed
they had killed the leader

of the group that fired
the missiles at the DHL.

Claudine Vernier-Palliez
is not so sure.

So I thought he was dead.
I tried to verify this later.

He wasn't dead
and it wasn't him they got.

And my photographer returned to
Iraq and saw this person again.

He was still alive.

In the fog of war,
no one can say for sure

whether the man who called
himself Abu Abdallah

is still alive.

But what is certain
is that the threat of further
missile attacks on planes,

both military and civilian,
is still there.

difuze