All language subtitles for Mayday.S04E03.Fire.Fight.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DD+2.0.H.264-playWEB_track3_[eng]

Smoke fills
a passenger plane

ten kilometers in the sky.

We're on Mayday.
We're going down.

Electrical systems
shut down as the smoke spreads.

The crew tries desperately
to land their stricken plane.

We're going to make
an emergency landing.

Put your head on your lap.

We're
going to need fire trucks.

They're
standing by for you.

What seemed like
a small problem at first has

become a life or death
struggle for everyone on board

Air Canada flight 797.

Early evening, June 2nd, 1983.

Suppertime aboard
Air Canada Flight 797.

Captain Donald Cameron has been
working for Air Canada for

17 years and has flown almost
5-thousand hours on a DC-9.

But it doesn't mean
he gets to eat first.

How's your seafood?
Nice?

Before he can dig in,

his first officer Claude Ouimet
will have to finish.

Good.

The jet
is in the middle of a flight

from Dallas, Texas to Montreal
with a stopover in Toronto.

The heavy cloud cover
below hides some light showers

but at their cruising
altitude of 10-thousand meters

the view is clear and bright.

The DC-9 is only half
full today,

with 41 passengers scattered
throughout the plane.

Can I have
some tea please?

24-year-old
Dianne Fadley is an active

member of the
Juvenile Diabetes Foundation.

We have a number
of different

fundraising activities.

Once a year
they have a large conference um

and at this time it
happened to be in Toronto.

Raymond Chalifoux
is 23 and recently married.

An engineer,
he's returning home

from his first-ever
business trip.

It was
a little bit frightening

both for me and for my wife.

I was supposed to be gone
four or five days

so uh first time
we were separated for a long

period of time so uh it was
kind of insecure for me, yeah.

And a few rows
further up sits a growing

legend in the world
of folk music.

Stan Rogers is just 33
but his career is

beginning to take off
outside of his native Canada.

Stan's best known songs
celebrate ordinary people.

The songs are really
about ordinary people

rising to the occasion and
becoming heroes on their own.

Just before 7 o'clock,

the plane is a little
more than halfway to Toronto.

What was that?
It's right there.

I see it. Right there.
Yeah.

Three circuit
breakers have popped out.

Like fuses,
they protect delicate electrical

circuits on the plane
from becoming overloaded.

Like a machine gun.
Yeah. Zap, zap, zap.

The three
breakers are for the flushing

motor in the toilet
at the rear of the plane.

Cameron decides to give them

a few minutes before he tries
to reset them again.

You know sometimes it
overworks and uh overheats

and then the breaker pops
and then you uh it

cools off and then you push the
breaker and everything is fine.

So put the snag in the log book
and that's it.

Someone must have pushed
a rag down the toilet or

something, jammed it
and it overheated.

Cameron thinks that
something must be stopping

the motor from working properly,
but it's not an emergency.

Toilets get blocked
all the time.

Several minutes
pass as the plane

continues on its way to Toronto.

Flight attendants Laura Kayama

and Judi Davidson are busy
serving up dinner in the cabin.

In the cockpit, it's Captain
Cameron's turn for dinner.

But first he wants to reset
the three circuit breakers.

Without them,
the toilet won't work.

The rest of the flight could get

uncomfortable
for the passengers.

Pops as I push it.

He's given it more
than 8 minutes, but whatever

is wrong with the washroom,
it isn't fixing itself.

In the cabin,
one of the passengers

complains about
a disturbing odour.

Yeah that is a strange
smell. Let me take a look.

Connie Kirsch,
a Texan headed for a business

meeting in Toronto, is seated
at the back of the plane.

I had smelled a peculiar
smell where I was sitting

and I, it struck me as odd.

Actually it was a wiry smell,
it wasn't a smoke smell.

A wisp of smoke is
leaking out of the washroom.

The smoke, and the acrid
smell of burning plastic,

takes Davidson by surprise.

This is much more than just
a clogged toilet.

Other passengers are beginning
to notice the smoke

and the suffocating smell.

Sergio, there's
a problem in the washroom.

Judi says there's a fire.

Okay.
I'll be right there.

Chief flight
attendant Sergio Benetti

is in charge of the cabin crew.

As a precaution we're
moving everyone three rows up.

The smoke is noxious
and overpowering.

Benetti can't see any flames.

He sprays the fire extinguisher
into the tiny washroom,

trying to coat every surface.

As soon as I saw that
fire extinguisher something

went through my mind.

There is definitely
something wrong

but the guy seemed to have the
thing under control so he's

gonna do his job and things
will be business as usual.

It's 2 minutes past 7,
just 11 minutes

since the circuit breakers
first popped out.

Laura Kayama brings Captain
Cameron the disturbing news.

Excuse me captain

but there's a fire
in the washroom in the back.

They just went back
to go put it out.

You want me to go back?
Yeah, go.

A fire onboard
an aircraft is

one of the worst situations
any crew can face.

The plane is
some 10-kilometers high.

What starts as a spark can turn
deadly in a few short minutes.

But at the moment Cameron
doesn't know

how bad the situation is.

You gotta remember
in 1983

people were allowed
to smoke in the aircraft

and there had been a number
of incidents of this sort

in the industry so it really
didn't alarm me that much.

Ouimet finds
the situation is

worse than he expected.

I didn't see any flames
when I opened the door

before but I sprayed it really
good with the fire extinguisher.

You think it
was a cigarette in the garbage?

No, not really.
Okay.

Can't get back there.
Smoke's too heavy.

I think we better go down.

But flight attendant
Sergio Benetti has a very

different assessment
of the situation.

You don't have to worry.
I think the smoke's easing up.

It's a confusing
moment for Captain Cameron.

Some components do
fail from time to time that

are not severe or serious enough
to cause an emergency descent.

That's a pretty serious thing.

When Ouimet
and Benetti

were at the back of the plane,

the smoke seemed thick but now
it appears to be subsiding.

Okay.
It's starting to clear now

but I'll go back and check
if that's okay.

Yeah that's okay.
Take these goggles.

I'll leave my mask on.

Go back wherever you can

but don't get yourself
incapacitated.

No problem. No problem.

If it's just
a broken toilet motor,

Cameron can still
make it to Toronto.

But if it's more serious he'll
have to land immediately,

before the small inconvenience
becomes a deadly problem.

June 2nd, 1983.

Air Canada flight 797 cruises
through the early evening.

The flight has taken
an unsettling turn.

Wisps of smoke are gathering
at the back of the DC-9.

An acrid smell is
spreading through the cabin.

The crew is growing concerned.

They've already moved passengers
toward the front of the jet,

as far as possible
from the creeping smoke.

Captain Donald Cameron is
waiting for an update

from the back of the plane when
suddenly he's got a new problem.

The master warning light is on.

Electrical systems
throughout the plane,

including some in the cockpit,
begin to fail.

The airplane basically
lost all its sophisticated

navigation
and attitude information.

So I was left very suddenly
with I think three engine

instruments per engine
and uh four flight instruments,

which were very primitive.

They were what
you might have flown

a World War Two bomber with.

With his electrical
systems starting to shut down,

Cameron calls the nearest
ground control.

Memphis Center,
this is Air Canada 797.

Air Canada 797
Indianapolis Center. Go ahead.

Yeah we've got
an electrical problem here.

We may be off communication
shortly. Stand by.

Co-pilot Claude Ouimet
is at the back of the plane.

The washroom door handle has
become hot to the touch.

He doesn't even risk opening it.

Faced with a potential fire
onboard, the crew have no

choice but to land their plane
as soon as possible.

I don't like what's
happening.

I think we'd better go down.

We're going to be making
an emergency descent.

Brief the cabin crew.
Yes sir.

As soon
as the decision is made,

another warning light goes on.

They've just lost
most of their emergency power.

We're talking
about multiple failure here

and it's starting
to be complicated

so we're going down
and obviously we have to land.

Mayday, mayday, mayday.

A small problem
has snowballed

into an all-out emergency.

Mayday, mayday, mayday.

This is Louisville Control.
Over.

Air Canada 797.
We have a fire onboard.

We are going down.

Can you possibly
make Cincinnati?

Roger that.

Cincinnati
is 46-kilometers away.

They can make it.

Captain Cameron
begins an initial descent

to 15-hundred meters.

The crew has switched
to emergency battery power

but many of the plane's
instruments aren't functioning.

So all we had left
was DC emer power

and that's only
good for radios basically.

It's not only
instruments.

Cameron finds that a critical
piece of his plane

isn't working properly.

The horizontal stabilizer on
the tail of his DC-9 is frozen -

set for cruising at
10-thousand meters.

Cameron uses the part
that's still working -

the elevators -
to make the plane dive.

But like a car that's lost power
steering, the aircraft resists.

As Cameron
pushes on the controls,

they push back - with a pressure
equal to 20 kilograms.

The airplane
became very heavy and that

took my total concentration
to fly the airplane.

An acrid,
bitter smoke

is creeping forward
from the back of the plane

and seeping in from the seams
in the fuselage ceiling.

It hovers like a cloud
over the passengers' heads.

Incredibly harsh
smoke that was really

irritating your throat.

You had to take really,
really small small breaths.

Otherwise you would choke.
I could see it rise.

It was traveling along those
luggage racks,

you know, coming forward.

Seatbelts.

The smell of burning
plastic fills the air.

Dropping oxygen masks could
make the situation worse.

I could have
deployed the oxygen

masks to the passengers
but it's forbidden.

You're only allowed to use
the oxygen masks

in case of a massive,
a massive decompression or

a loss of cabin pressure,
not for fire.

I was crying and scared.
I wasn't hysterical.

The gentleman sitting next to me
explained to me that

if I would not cry
and if I could, you know,

conserve my, not breathe
so fast that it would conserve

the oxygen and help us and not
to worry, that the flight

attendants, they really know
how to handle these situations.

As the electrical
malfunctions

ripple through the plane,
the P.A. system shuts down.

Flight attendants
struggle to shout directions

but it's getting more
and more difficult to breathe.

In 1983, it is
not standard procedure to tell

passengers how to open
the emergency doors but in this

case the two flight attendants
are taking no chances.

As smoke begins entering
the cockpit,

the Captain's situation is
becoming critical.

For the first time Ouimet
talks to the Cincinnati airport.

Approach Air Canada 797.
We're on Mayday.

We're going down. GREGORY: Air
Canada 797. Cincinnati approach.

Plan runway three six ILS and
the equipment has been alerted.

Do you have time to give me
the nature of the emergency?

We have a fire
in the washroom.

We're filling up with smoke
right now.

Say type of aircraft,
number of people onboard

and the amount of fuel.

We'll copy that later.
We don't have time.

Gregory Karam is
the approach tower controller.

He's the lifeline
for the struggling jet.

He can't see
the plane on radar yet

but he knows it's in trouble.

There was really no
mayhem whatsoever,

no screaming, nothing at all.

In fact it was very quiet
and calm and, again,

I was terrified at that point.

Almost 13 minutes
after 7,

Karam catches sight of flight
797 on his radar.

The crew needs to be
guided in from the ground.

Struggling to see
through the dense smoke,

they could easily
veer off course.

Karam will talk them down,
watching them

every step of the way.

In the cabin, the smoke and heat
are becoming unbearable.

My thought was well
we're gonna crash.

They won't be
able to identify myself

because I didn't
have my papers with me

so I stood up, I took
my wallet in the compartment

and put my jacket on so that
they could identify my body.

Uh I knew at that point,
that's when I decided,

I felt that
I was not gonna make it

'cause I felt that I was never
gonna see my family again.

The situation just seemed
very impossible.

Stan certainly had
a sense of his own mortality.

He hated to fly but the demand
for Stan was growing

so he was flying more often
and he certainly had a sense

that with so much
traveling his risk is elevated.

Where's the airport?

Twelve o'clock
and eight miles Air Canada.

Okay.
We're trying to locate it.

We're going to need fire trucks.

They're
standing by for you.

Can you give me the number of
people and the amount of fuel?

We don't have time.
It's getting worse in here.

Understood sir.
Turn left now.

You're just half a mile
north of final approach.

Finally the crew
see the airport.

Okay.
We have the airport.

The tower
has you in sight.

You need not acknowledge further
transmission

from the Air Canada 797.

You are clear to land. You are
four miles from the airport.

Good luck.

In a thick
haze of smoke and soot,

flight attendants Laura Kayama
and Judi Davidson feel their

way along the aisle, trying
to reassure the passengers.

They can't
get past the twelfth row.

The smoke
and the heat are overwhelming.

I was praying
the whole time.

Dear god, please help us
land this plane.

Please get this plane
safely on the ground.

Can't see,
can't breathe.

Death absolutely crossed my mind
but hang in there.

Don't give up.

I've been
married for less than a year

and it's already over.

So I start breathing
as little as I could

and start thinking
seriously of my wife.

Fighting
the reluctant controls,

Captain Cameron's strength is
being pushed to the limit.

797 the tower
has you in sight.

Squinting
through the smoke,

the crew of flight 797
land hard.

At 20 minutes after 7, the Air
Canada plane is on the ground.

It's less than 30 minutes

since the first sign of any
trouble on board flight 797.

When we touched
the ground,

I assumed that we're safe now.

Now let's get out
of this airplane.

But inside the plane,
the smoke isn't letting up.

Passengers are undoing
their seatbelts

and trying
desperately to escape.

I got up out of my seat
and I remember

putting my hands up on someone's
back and it was like waiting in

a line and I knew that was one
line I didn't want to wait very

long and so I turned around and
went the other direction,

not knowing
I was actually heading

towards the front of the plane.

Sergio Benetti is
the first one to the door.

He helps gasping
passengers escape.

The cabin is pitch black
and burning hot. SERGIO: Go!

In the cockpit,

the crew quickly
shuts the plane down.

The first officer escapes
through the emergency window.

It's a 5-meter jump
to the ground.

Passengers have opened
three of the over-wing exits.

But even with the doors open,
the exits are all but invisible.

The smoke is too thick.

I saw a light and it
was the door that had opened,

someone had opened the door
and I realized what it was

and ran to the door and held my,
I just put my face out

so I could breathe.

Passengers who
have found the exits

slide off the wing
and stumble to safety.

On the ground, Laura Kayama
and Judi Davidson frantically

move passengers
away from the deadly plane.

Fire rescue vehicles
surround the plane.

They douse the plane's exterior

and the ground beneath
with foam,

fearing a fuel fire,
or worse an explosion.

Through the cockpit window,

Ouimet can see Captain Cameron
sitting in his seat looking

dazed and slumped
towards the wheel.

The first thing that
got my attention was to see

Don's face in the window

and uh realize that he was not
completely conscious.

I couldn't
get out of my seat.

I'd start and I'd get my arse
up in the air like that

and I'd be pushed back by the,
I have no idea,

it was an invisible force

but it was probably
smoke and fire.

Desperately trying
to save the captain's life,

Ouimet tells firefighters
to cover him with foam.

It was a soapy ice cold
mixture that drenched me.

It works.

Cameron stirs and climbs
out through the cockpit window.

Barely 90 seconds have passed
since the plane landed

when suddenly the whole
interior of flight 797 ignites.

The flames roll
through the cabin like a train.

Captain Donald Cameron
is the last person

to get out of the plane alive.

We knew there were
people on the airplane

unfortunately at that point.

That was uh that was finished.

The cabin fire breaks
through the top of the fuselage.

Black smoke can be
seen for kilometers.

Flight attendant Laura Kayama
begins to count.

I will remember
these words forever.

She told us to line up so that
she could count the survivors.

If there were survivors
obviously there were dead.

Including
the crew there had

been 46 people aboard the plane.

But there aren't 46
people on the runway.

I really thought that

if the pilot could land the
plane we would all get off but

I knew when I looked around I
didn't think we were all there.

The passengers
who escaped the plane

suffer from smoke inhalation
and minor injuries,

but most are not badly hurt.

It was almost like
if you got off the plane

nothing was wrong.

I mean there was maybe
a sprained ankle,

maybe someone had a broken
arm or something.

You made it
and you were completely fine

or you didn't make it.

The young man next to me

that helped me with my breathing
techniques didn't survive.

That was a real tough blow
because I know,

I believe he played a big
part in my survival.

I guess it
was around midnight

I decided to call Air Canada.

I said I'm trying to find out
if a friend of mine

was on this flight in Cincinnati

and she said are you
a member of the family?

I said no,
I'm just a close friend

and she said do you know
if his wife is alone?

And I said well yes

and she said well
she may need somebody with her.

Stan Rogers,
the rising musical star,

didn't make it off the plane.

Cincinnati ground.

This is Captain
of the Air Canada flight

that's on fire here.

Captain Cameron radios
Cincinnati Ground Control

from an emergency
vehicle near his plane.

He has a sobering message.

It seems
there are 23 people

left onboard the aircraft.

Is there a scheduled carrier
runs into here that could

maybe give aid and shelter
to our stranded passengers?

It's pretty cold out here.

What began
with a simple electrical problem

has taken the lives
of 23 people.

What caused the deadly fire?
What went so horribly wrong?

The investigation will uncover
the plane's troubling history.

This DC-9 had another
serious accident

just a few years before.

In June of 1983, a
strange smell in the back of an

Air Canada DC-9 quickly turned
into an all-out emergency.

For 15 minutes, passengers
and crew struggled to deal

with thick toxic smoke as it
rolled through the plane.

Flight 797 made
a remarkable landing,

only to burst into flames
90 seconds later.

23 people didn't
escape the plane.

Now the burnt shell of the DC-9
sits on the runway

at the
Greater Cincinnati Airport.

It is one of the most disturbing
airplane disasters in years.

Within the hour, investigators

from the National Transportation
Safety Board are on the scene.

The first grim task of the
investigators is to recover

the bodies of the dead
- 21 Canadians and 2 Americans.

Many are burned
beyond recognition.

Almost all of the victims
are found in the front

half of the plane between the
wings and the cockpit.

Some are still
strapped into their seats.

Others are found in the aisles.

And even though all
the passengers had been

moved up earlier in the flight,

two bodies are found
near the rear, beyond the wings.

Because of the dense
smoke in the cabin,

the passengers couldn't see well
enough to find the exits

and two passengers
went beyond the over-wing exits

and succumbed
to the environment.

Investigators take
blood samples from the bodies.

They find deadly levels
of certain chemicals that were

produced as the plane burned.

When we did
toxicological studies

we were able to determine
that there were some significant

high levels of cyanide

and fluoride in the blood
as well as carbon monoxide.

It's not known

if the toxic fumes killed
the passengers.

All that's certain
is that they were

unable to escape
before the flames tore through.

When I went onboard, I was
just struck by the acrid smell.

It was kinda eerie because there
was a lot of fire damage.

A lot of the fuselage
was burned.

The interior of the cabin
was burned

down to the tops of the seats.

With the bodies
removed,

investigators begin digging
through the wreckage to try

and find the cause of the fire.

Among them
are members of the FBI.

They were investigating
to determine whether terrorism

might have been a factor
so they were on scene right away

looking at the aircraft to make
that determination.

The FBI examine pieces
of the plane's floor, samples of

water from the washroom, even a
plastic vial found on the floor.

The FBI became
involved very early

because of a possibility
of a crime taking place.

Uh it takes
precedent over an accident.

They were looking for anything
that would

have to do with an incendiary
device or a small explosive

device or anything that could
be fused to start a fire.

They determined that there was
no evidence of any crime

being committed and it
was probably accidental ignition

and so they then left
and NTSB took over the accident.

Having discounted
the possibility

that the fire
was deliberately set,

investigators consider the next
obvious cause - a cigarette.

When smoking on planes was still
allowed, the most common

source of fires in a washroom
was the trash container.

Investigators examine
the trash container

and find that the top is burned
away, but the trash chute

and the container behind
and below the sink are intact.

Inside the container
are remnants of paper,

scorched but not burned.

The fire could not
have started here.

With the most obvious
potential causes discounted,

investigators begin to comb
through the wreckage

looking for what had
started the fire.

Studying the history
of the plane,

Hill uncovers some
startling facts.

In the year before the accident,
76 separate maintenance

issues had been written
up in the plane's logbook.

All were dealt with
but still

it's an unusually high
number of problems.

The plane's troubled history
didn't end there.

Four years earlier,
the rear bulkhead had failed,

causing an explosive
decompression.

The crew had to make
an emergency landing.

It knocked out
a lot of electrical cable

and hydraulics
and stuff like that

and the guy did a hell of a job
bringing it back to Boston.

The plane was repaired
and put back into service.

But Hill focuses on the wires
that had to be stitched

together after the accident.

A bad repair job could have
been the cause of the fire.

There were wires that
ran through there

that had been cut,
spliced back together.

Investigators study
all the wire splices

they can find on flight 797 that
weren't destroyed in the fire,

but they find no evidence
of arcing or short-circuiting.

It's another dead end.

Investigators turn
their attention to the cockpit

voice recorder and the popping
circuit breakers.

What was that?
It's right there.

I see it. Right there.
What was that?
It's right there.

I see it. Right there.

Yeah,
like a machine gun.

Yeah. Zap, zap, zap.

The circuit breakers
trip as a precaution.

When they begin to overheat,
the circuit breakers turn off,

cutting electrical
current to the motor.

It's a safety feature
so the motor won't cause a fire.

Pops as I push it.

Investigators
need to know

if the breakers were tripped
by a fire that had already

started, or was the motor
itself the problem?

The NTSB build
a mockup of the plane's washroom

and force the flush
motor to seize.

They want to see if it
could have started the fire.

The seized motor reaches
a temperature of 4-hundred

and 28 degrees Celsius.

It's hot
but it is not enough to ignite

parts of the washroom
around the motor.

As they listen to the cockpit
voice recorder,

investigators uncover
a puzzling clue.

Three minutes before the circuit
breakers popped,

the recorder
picked up another noise.

It was the sound of electrical
arcing, like static,

repeated eight times.

The noises weren't
audible to the crew.

Hidden from view on any
airplane is a river of wiring.

Investigators focus on a cable
coming from a generator

below the washroom floor.

Insulation had rubbed off two
wires making it possible

for sparks to be produced,
sparks that could start a fire.

There was evidence
that there was some electrical

arcing but it
could have occurred after

the insulation had
burned on those wires.

In spite of countless
hours of investigation

and numerous tests, in the end
the NTSB can't pinpoint

the exact cause of the fire.

There simply isn't
enough evidence.

Just because of the vast
amount of damage that was

done in that concentrated
area around the lavatory where

the fire burnt for a long
period of time and possibly

destroyed any of the evidence
where the fire actually ignited.

Even if
they'll never know

the exact cause of the fire,
investigators

try to understand how it
could cause so much damage.

There had been heat and smoke
but no one had seen any

flames until an explosion
ripped through the jet.

When you have a fire that
has incomplete combustion, when

it has a lack of oxygen they
will product combustible gases.

Those gases then can collect

especially in the crown
of an aircraft.

The fire had burned
out of sight

behind the washroom
walls and the smoke,

hot gases and fumes intensified
and spread inside the wall

space from the washroom
through to the cabin walls.

Those spaces acted as a sort
of chimney for the gases

and smoke that the fire
was creating.

Although the fire remained
concealed behind the walls

and ceiling panels,
the smoke and hot gases

entered the cabin
through every seam,

gathering in the upper space
in the cabin

and pressing down on passengers.

The inaccessible areas and
the cabin area are all linked

together through small cracks
and cervices and small openings.

Uh the plane is one big
pressure vessel with everything

being the same, equilibrated
to the same pressure so smoke

and gases in those areas
would fairly quickly

start to permeate
into the passenger cabin.

When the doors were
opened during the evacuation,

an unlimited supply of oxygen
was suddenly

available to feed the fire.

The more intense the heat,

the more oxygen-hungry
a fire becomes.

The gases ignited
with the force of an explosion.

Once you have a
flashover you produce heat,

toxic gases and you burn up all
the oxygen in the cabin

and it becomes non survivable.

The technical
part of the investigation is

complete but there are still
a lot of questions about how

the crew responded to the fire.

The first officer said
it's starting to clear now

and at that point I reckoned
that the fire was under control.

Could
they have done more to prevent

the tragedy on board flight 797?

In 1983, a washroom
fire on an Air Canada DC-9

filled the plane's
cabin with smoke.

The crew struggled to land
the plane but a flash fire

ripped through the jet moments
after it came to a stop.

23 people were killed.

There was a fireman
hollering at us,

I think the quote was
she could blow at any minute.

NTSB investigators
are unable to definitively

pinpoint the cause of the fire.

But after reviewing all
the information they have,

they're ready to release
their report.

The report on the lethal
fire aboard Air Canada

flight 797 is published
a year after the accident.

It's a landmark
in aircraft safety.

But it immediately makes
for controversial headlines.

The NTSB points out that the
source of the smoke was never

identified either by the flight
attendants or the first officer.

The captain was never told nor
did he inquire as to the precise

location and extent of the fire
which had been reported to him.

What type of fire did
you believe that you had?

The bin fire.
Mayday, mayday, mayday.

And the report asks
a hypothetical question.

Air Canada 797 we have a
fire onboard. We are going down.

Can you possibly
make Cincinnati?

Roger that.

If he'd
begun to descend sooner,

could the captain have landed
at Standiford Field Airport

in Louisville, Kentucky?

It was a few minutes closer.

The report and
the media attention it gets

are devastating
to Captain Cameron and his crew.

Soon after the report
is released,

there is an outcry
among pilots in the industry.

They resent its implied
criticism of flight 797's

crew and the suggestion
that they could have

begun their descent
five minutes sooner.

Several months later,
the Airline Pilots' Association

submits a petition that
defends Cameron and the crew.

It makes an impact.

The NTSB release a revised
report including

the petition by the
Airline Pilots' Association.

In the petition, first officer
Ouimet writes an impassioned

defense of landing the plane
where and when they did.

The issue wasn't only
the distance to the nearest

airport but the required
rate of descent.

As it was, the plane barely made

the descent to the
Greater Cincinnati Airport.

Still, the National
Transportation Safety Board's

revised summary doesn't
pull all its punches,

pointing a finger
at Captain Cameron.

The report states that the
time taken to evaluate

the nature of the fire
and to decide to initiate

an emergency descent contributed
to the severity of the accident.

Twenty years later,
the statement still stings.

I am glad they were all,
the people that got off got off.

I'm very sorry the people that
didn't get off didn't get off

because we spent a lot of time
and effort getting them there.

That really bothered me.

All I know is that
I did the best I could.

Along with the
comments on the performance

of the crew, the NTSB recommends
a host of safety improvements.

Perhaps
if the flight had been full,

someone would have noticed
the smell of smoke sooner.

But what the washroom of flight
797 could have used

was a smoke detector.

They weren't standard
throughout the industry

but after flight 797, attitudes
and regulations changed.

Even though flight attendants
did receive some training

in dealing with fires aboard a
plane, it didn't go far enough.

But what was more obvious,
the flight attendants weren't

properly equipped
to attack fires.

Without full face masks
and oxygen, they couldn't be

expected to fight fire
while holding their breath.

In the years after flight 797,

attendants received better
equipment and training.

The cabin crew had also made
split second decisions

that helped save lives.

Moving passengers further
up the plane and handing out wet

towels minimized
the effects of the toxic smoke.

Their decision to tell
passengers to open the emergency

exits over the wings was not
standard procedure but bit it.

But it let some passengers
escape more quickly

and was eventually
adopted as a routine practice.

Finally, it became obvious
from the location of some

of the bodies that passengers
died because of precious

seconds lost trying to find
the exits in the pitch dark.

What would have made
a difference?

Track lighting on the floors
and bumps along the overhead

bins that identified
the rows with emergency exits,

features that would
eventually become standard.

As a direct result of 797,

a number of rules were changed
including a more stringent

test for seats, a heat release
and smoke requirement

for cabin interior panels, a
requirement for smoke detectors

in lavatories and halon fire
extinguishers in the cabin.

We're going to make
an emergency landing.

Put your head on your lap.
Stay in that position.

But the changes were
too late for those who

died on flight 797, like the man
sitting beside Connie Kirsch.

Months after the crash,
his wife tracked Connie down.

She said
I just understand my husband was

the one that was next to you and
I just wanted to know what, how

was he, what was his spirits and
I said he was in great spirits.

He was very nice.

He let me sit next to him and
explained to me how to breathe.

That was really difficult

and the guilt that I've carried
for a long time was difficult

but I'm past the guilt but
I guess when you go back to it

you think about it like this in
detail, you're right back there.

Stan Rogers was
another victim of flight 797.

He would never be
able to fulfill

the promise of his life
and growing career.

I loved his generosity
and his loyalty as a friend.

As an artist he was perhaps
one of the best song writers

this country's ever produced
and it was really an incredible

pleasure and honour to be
working with him.

He still gets lots and lots
of airplay so his legend grows.

Sometime after
the accident, two Air Canada

employees show up at
Dianne Fadley's door in Dallas.

They brought my bible.

It's dark because it
was burned and singed

but it's a paperback bible and
it did not completely burn up.

This is just a reminder to me
that God was with me and I

believe he protected me and, you
know, he, he was there with me.

Captain Cameron
and his crew eventually

received six separate awards for
their heroic actions on flight

797, including recognition from
the Royal Canadian Air Force,

but they're all still
haunted by the nightmare.

You feel responsible.
There's no question.

You feel guilt. You're
willing to give your license.

You feel very uh very small
until you get all the facts

together and because it's
a puzzle for you.

You know,
you're as much a victim in this.

You're not supposed to fly
an airplane in that condition,

you know, so you're as much
a victim as the passenger

and it becomes, I think it
becomes all of our problem

and we're all
part of the solution.

It's just a shame
we didn't get everybody off.

It still bothers me.