All language subtitles for Mayday.S04E04.Final.Approach.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DD+2.0.H.264-playWEB_track3_[eng]

The crew
of a passenger jet

search in vain
for their airport.

Look carefully.

Rain is making it
impossible to see.

Not in sight.
Missed approach.

Go around!

More than 2-hundred
passengers are onboard.

As I turned around,
a huge fireball came out.

Investigators
search for clues.

Could a vital missing
piece of equipment be

responsible for the crash?

I think the best
way to describe that

would have been irresponsible.

I know a lot of people

could have walked off
that plane that night.

Nothing will
change my views on that.

Nimitz Hill, Guam.

Once the site of fierce
American offensives during

World War Two, for over fifty
years there has been peace here.

Now the hill is peaceful,
invaded by hunters

and the normal quiet is
broken by the roar of jumbo

jets as they fly overhead.

Every night commercial pilots
must fly over this tall

rocky outcrop and land at Guam's
Agana International Airport.

Flights come from airports
all across Asia.

Just past midnight, on August
6th, 1997, Korean Airlines

flight 801 is on its way to Guam
from Seoul, South Korea.

42-year-old Captain Park
Yong-Chol is at the controls.

A former Korea air force pilot,

Park has been flying
747s for more than 6 years.

Just a few months ago,
he received a flight safety

award from the president
of Korean Air for successfully

handling a 747 engine
failure at low altitude.

Park is supposed to be flying
to the United Arab Emirates

tonight but a scheduling
change has put him

in command of this shorter
flight to Guam.

In the cabin, Korean, Japanese
and Western tourists

are heading for Guam's
pristine beaches.

Guam is a US territory
run under US law.

The island is tiny, fewer
than 6-hundred square kilometers

but there's enough
sand to keep people coming.

24-year-old Sean Burke
and his girlfriend

Wendy Bunten are planning to
make the most of Guam's beaches.

They're flying in from San Diego
for a vacation.

Sean and Wendy were
going to Guam to do some

scuba diving, reef driving
and at the same time they were

gonna visit her brother who
was in the navy over there.

He was a navy doctor.

Flight 801 is taking
Barry Small back to work.

He is returning to Guam from
New Zealand for another 6-month

contract as a helicopter pilot.

But he does it
with a heavy heart.

The night before I left
my father had a heart attack

and I had to CPR him
until the ambulance arrived

and decided to cancel
the contract so I could help him

but he was insistent that you
must carry on with your job.

The flight is still
a couple of hours from Guam

when the calm evening is
brutally interrupted.

Watch the speed.
It could be severe turbulence.

Make an announcement
to have everyone

in their seats
with seatbelts on.

Ladies and gentlemen,

this is your first
office speaking.

Even an
experienced flyer

like Barry Small is surprised.

There was no lead up to
this turbulence and anybody that

wasn't strapped down was going
to be airborne, that's for sure.

The lockers were rattling

and anything in those lockers
was bound to break.

It was a horrendous shudder.

It's heavy turbulence
but the crew ride it out.

Eventually the flight
returns to normal.

We're through it.
Let the passengers know.

Ladies and gentlemen,

this is your first
officer speaking.

We have cleared
the turbulent area.

But it's left
some of the passengers shaken.

Shhh. It's okay Rika.
We'll be there soon.

Ma'am,
if you don't mind

I'm gonna move this duty free
up here for you.

The cabin
crew cleans up

and the passengers settle
in for the rest of the trip.

Because of the twelve
hour stopover in Seoul

and no change of clothes,
it was getting rather

uncomfortable in a tropical
environment and I took my

shoes off just to relax a little
bit and feel more comfortable.

Captain Park and his
crew begin looking ahead.

They know there's more
unsettled weather coming.

Rain has been hitting Guam on
and off all day.

In fact, August is the heart
of the island's rainy season.

Small showers can pop up,
making visibility unpredictable.

In that particular
part of the world

they have what's called
a top hat thunderstorm.

That is
a very small thunderstorm that

builds up all times of the day
and it's very short lived.

So it wouldn't hamper
the pilot's ability to actually

conduct the approach.

It's gonna just obscure his view
for some period of time

while they're
transiting through it.

Just past one
in the morning,

Korean Air flight 801 makes
initial radio contact

with Kurt Mayo, the radar
controller at Guam's airport.

Guam Center,
Korea 801 leaving

level four one zero for
two thousand, six hundred.

Korean Air 801, roger.

The crew aren't
the only ones preparing to land.

After more than three hours
of flying through the night,

the passengers get
ready for the airport.

I saw the lights of Guam
and I knew exactly where

the aircraft was because I'd
been there many times before.

Captain Park has
navigated Nimitz Hill 9

times before, but this time
there's a major difference.

At airports around the world,

pilots land with the help
of a glide slope,

an electronic system that helps
planes safely touch down.

If pilots follow the directions
given by the glide slope,

it guides them
to the foot of the runway.

The glide slope
beacon at Guam Airport has been

removed for extensive
maintenance.

Without the airport transmitter,

Park's glide slope indicator
in the cockpit is useless.

Landing without a glide slope is
rare, but it does happen.

In Guam, the transmitter
is scheduled to be

out of service for more
than two months.

But impaired navigation is
only part of the problem.

Captain Park is fighting
exhaustion.

They make us classic
guys work to the maximum.

Probably this way hotel expenses
are saved on cabin crews

and they maximize flight hours.
Really sleepy.

Now,
as the plane approaches Guam,

clouds and rain block their way.

Captain, Guam
condition is no good.

It's raining a lot.

It's been several
hours since Captain Park

and his crew left Seoul.

Now the rain is making the late
flight more difficult.

Tired and fighting the weather,

the captain begins the final
approach to the airport.

August 6th 1997. It's close
to one thirty in the morning.

On Korean Airlines flight 801,
a tired captain is

preparing to land at Agana
Airport on the island of Guam.

In the cabin, 2-hundred
and 37 passengers are getting

ready to begin their holidays,
or get back to work.

The flight,
other than the turbulence,

was totally normal.

We had our meals and it was just

a totally normal flight
in every way.

As the jet approaches
Guam, an erratic storm

pushes rain and clouds between
the plane and the airport.

It's hard to see.

The captain wants to make
a small change

in course to avoid
the worst of the weather.

Request 20 mile
deviation to the left

as we are descending.

Guam Center, Korea 801
request deviation

one zero miles left of track.

Korean Air 801, roger.

Veering around cloud
cover, Captain Park Yong-Chol

struggles to get a clear
view of his approach.

And finally he sees what
he's been looking for.

It's Guam. Guam.
Good.

Today the weather
radar helped us a lot.

Korean Air 801 cleared for
ILS runway six left approach.

Glide slope unusable.

Air traffic controller
Kurt Mayo reminds the crew

that the airport's glide slope
equipment is out of service.

It would normally help them
find the runway,

but since it's under repair it
isn't sending out any signals.

Then, with the crew
in the middle

of their landing sequence,
something unexpected happens.

The glide slope
appears to come to life.

Is the glide slope
working? The glide slope?

Yes. Yes it's working.
Why is it working?

It's a
confusing moment.

Unsure what's happening,

the crew continue to prepare
for their landing.

Six D check.
Gear down.

Check.
Approaching 1400.

Since today's glide
slope condition is not good,

we need to maintain one
thousand four hundred forty.

Please set it.
Set.

At 40 minutes after
one in the morning,

Guam controller Kurt Mayo
once again

makes contact with the crew.

Korean Air 801,

contact the Agana tower one
one eight point one.

He passes the plane
on to the airport tower

and says goodbye in Korean.

Ahn nyung hee ga sea yo.
Soo ga ha sip is yo.

One eighteen one.

It's the last
time he'll ever

talk to the crew
of the jetliner.

The guy working
here probably was

a GI in Korea before.

Agana Tower, Korean Air
801 to intercept

the localizer six left.

Korean Air 801 heavy

Agana Tower runway six,
cleared to land.

Korean 801 roger,
cleared to land six left.

Flaps thirty.
Flaps thirty.

As the plane descends,
clouds and rain close in again.

They've lost sight
of the airport.

Look carefully.

Ladies and gentlemen,
we're preparing for landing

at Agana International
Airport in Guam.

Please return your seats
to the upright position,

fasten your seatbelts
and prepare for landing.

Set 560 feet.
Set.

As the plane flies
closer to the ground,

the crew expects they'll see
the airport any second.

But the rain makes it
hard to see anything.

Isn't the glide slope
working? Wiper on!

Then a computerized
voice fills the cockpit.

Five hundred.

It's the
Ground Proximity Warning System,

which tells the crew they're
just 5-hundred feet

in the air, but they still
can't see the runway.

I'd done this
flight many,

many times before and
when I estimated we were about

thirty seconds from landing,
I bent down to put my shoes on.

Two hundred.

The plane is now
just 2-hundred feet

above the ground but still
the crew can't see the runway.

They're quickly
running out of time.

Let's make
a missed approach.

Not in sight.

Not in sight.
Missed approach. Go around.

Go around!
Flaps.

One hundred. Fifty.
Forty. Thirty. Twenty.

I had no idea, thought
it was still just a normal

landing and the aircraft went on
and was decelerating

quicker than normal,
but nothing to really alarm me.

Things were getting
pretty serious then.

The aircraft was
starting to break apart.

I forced myself up to look
and there was just bottles,

bags, everything you can
imagine was coming out.

The only way I can really
describe it is

like about a thousand 737s
landing all at once.

On a wooded
hillside in Guam,

the shattered plane finally
grinds to a halt.

I was too scared to undo
my seatbelt at that stage

'cause I was waiting
for the next bounce to go

over another ravine or whatever
was going to happen next.

Miraculously,

11-year-old Rika Matsuda
has survived

and is virtually unhurt, but her
mother is trapped and injured.

Momma, momma.
Hello - Help!

Barry Small
is also injured

and terrified that fire is
sweeping through the plane.

The fire
started in the front

and proceeded from the front
to the back towards me.

There was no floor light or
anything like that

but the fire was so intense

there was no problems
to see where I was going.

Momma, momma.

If help doesn't arrive
soon, those who survived

the initial crash may be
trapped inside the cabin.

Korean Air 801 heavy
tower, how do you hear?

Everyone
in the cockpit has been killed.

But airport authorities still
have no idea what's

happened aboard flight 801.

Hurt by the crash and desperate
to escape the ruined plane,

Barry Small stumbles
towards an opening in the cabin.

I got back
these six seats

and then there was about a six
foot drop down to the ground.

The undercarriage had
gone completely.

I came across an obstacle that
I had to cross because it

was the only path that
wasn't burning.

Go! Get over it!

Momma!
Rika.

Rika's
mother tells her daughter

to get out of the burning plane.

Go. Go, go now.
Get out of here! Go! Now go, go!

You must go. Go!
You must go. Go now! Go!

The fire is
spreading quickly.

As passengers struggle
to deal with the disaster,

rescue workers don't even know
the plane's gone down.

The fire engulfed both
the Asian gentleman

and myself to the extent that it
burnt my arms, and my watch got

that hot it was melting into my
flesh and I had to flick it off.

Minutes earlier,
Kurt Mayo had passed

the passenger jet on to the
local tower controllers.

Now he learns that it
hasn't landed yet.

Approach Agana,
did Korean Air

come back to you?
No.

I cleared him to land
and I don't know where he's at.

He didn't land?

Negative.
Oh my god!

Within minutes,

Guam Fire Chief Chuck Sanchez
is en route.

I was thinking my god,
the 747, where is it at?

Is it on the island? Is it
on sea? What is the plan here?

We both fell
off the side of the container

and the Asian gentleman
disappeared into the jungle.

So I rolled over onto my back

and I managed to crawl
with my elbows.

There was still a little
bit of skin on my elbows left.

Small has a badly
broken right leg.

He crawls
away from the wreckage.

Many more people remain
trapped inside.

Lying there, it just
sounded like a battlefield.

It was just like a movie.

Things were exploding short
of me, going over top of me.

Things were landing beside us on
fire. It was just indescribable.

There is only
one way for emergency

crews to get down to the wreck
site - along a single

access road that
runs beside Nimitz Hill.

As they race to the accident
scene,

rescue workers discover
a major obstacle.

A pipeline has been ripped
out of the ground by the crash

and thrown across the road.

There's no way around it.

Having heard about the crash,
the island's

Governor, Carl Gutierrez,
has joined the rescue team.

Engine company 7,
get this thing out of the way.

You guys, get the medic kits
and come with me.

We reached the closest
point of approach to the

crash site which was up the hill
and probably about another

hundred and fifty yards downhill
I go gentlemen, turn on whatever

lights you got to guide us
down this path and let's do it.

We started running and
just listening to the screams

so that we could guide ourselves
because there was just

nothing but overgrowth
on the side of the road.

At one point
I stopped him.

I go governor sir,

I need you to make some serious
decisions in this operation.

I don't think
I want you to move further.

I'd like for you to stay on this
side and, you know,

I don't want you to get hurt.

Let us do this job and he goes
no, I want to help you guys.

At the site
of the crash,

flames are devouring
the wreckage.

Hampered by his broken leg,

Small can only look on as people
cry out for help.

I lay on that
bank for the whole night.

During that time hearing
people call out in a foreign

language which initially
sounded like good healthy

calls for help, then turned
to screams as the fire got

more intense and after a period
of time the fire even grew

worse and the screams
faded away.

Finally, almost
an hour after the accident,

Sanchez's crew reaches the site.

I split them up into two
rescue and search units.

I need half of you
guys to start from the tail end

and I need the other
half to start from the front

end of this plane and let's
meet in the middle and,

you know, let's do what
we can to help the survivors.

Momma!

Guam's Governor Carl
Gutierrez sees Rika Matsuda

all alone
and crying out for her mother.

Don't cry little angel.
Everything will be okay.

I did not dare let her go.

It's something that I almost,
like there was a bond

between me and that young little
girl and I found out later she

was eleven but she looked really
smaller than eleven years old.

Fire Chief
Chuck Sanchez finds

Barry Small in the sword grass.

Take my jacket.

He gave me
his fire jacket and put it

under my head to comfort me.

Yeah go. I'm all right.
Let's go.

Later on he was very
distressed that he

had to come back and get it
back 'cause he was getting burnt

dragging people
and bodies out of the aircraft.

We were cutting
trees to use for splints.

We were taking
off our protective gear

to cover the survivors.

It's clear to rescue
personnel that for many

they have arrived too late.

But Sanchez isn't giving up.

He sends a team to search
further into the wreckage.

Group two start at the
tail and work forward. Go.

What I heard was this
large explosion right where

they were at,
and I go did we lose our people?

A Boeing 747 has
crashed on a rugged

hillside in Guam just a few
miles short of the airport.

There were 2-hundred
and 54 people on board.

Rescue workers
comb through the wreckage

when an explosion rips through
the remains of the plane.

There was no radio
transmission at all.

We lost all transmission.
Then finally somebody came out.

Sir, we're okay.
We survived the explosion.

Everybody's accounted for.

It's not until
the dawn finally comes that

rescue workers can see
the extent of the damage.

The plane has
spilled down the mountain

and broken into several
large pieces.

Only 26 people survive
the disaster.

Friends and family
are desperate for any news.

Many bodies are badly burned.

Although most of the passengers
are Korean, Sean Burke

and his girlfriend
Wendy Bunten are among a few

Americans on the flight.

Thousands of kilometers away,

news of the crash
reaches Sean's parents.

When she hears about the crash,

Sean Burke's stepmother doesn't
know if Sean is alive or dead.

He could have been
burned in the crash.

He could be unconscious
in a local hospital there

and we just wanted to go over
and bring him back.

So I mean 'cause that kept
going through our minds, that he

possibly could be
laying on the hillside.

Since Guam is
an American territory,

the responsibility
for investigating the crash

falls to the National
Transportation Safety Board.

Greg Feith is the lead
investigator.

When he arrives on the site,
he has to contend with more

than just the carnage
of the plane crash.

Grieving family members
surround the scene, making it

especially difficult
for investigators to work.

As an accident
investigator you

have to keep your emotions
in check.

It's like being
a doctor in an ER room.

You have,
you see this devastation,

you see this tragedy
unfolding in front of you.

You hear about all of the sad
stories, especially

when there are kids
and innocent people involved

and as an accident investigator
you have to keep those

emotions in check because you
have to remain objective.

You have to remain emotionless

to be able to do
your job effectively.

And we had
a whole building

full of people just like us.

They were all grieving
and crying out.

It was just horrible.

One of the first things
we did was we went out on site

and we did what
we call a site survey.

We had to really get
an understanding of what

we were dealing with as far
as the wreckage

and how we were going to conduct
the on-scene investigation.

During the preliminary
investigation, Feith finds

that large sections of the plane
are almost completely intact.

The airplane landed
relatively under control.

That is that the
pilot basically landed

the airplane into the trees
and into that terrain.

Unfortunately, it was three
miles from the airport.

Investigators find
a number of items that

survived the crash
and the fire that followed.

Including the landing chart
the crew was using as it

approached Guam airport.

Investigators also find
Captain Park's travel bag,

and in it discover a small
plastic pill container.

Captain Park had been
prescribed a variety of drugs

including pills containing
Benzodiazepine,

a class of drugs often
used as a sedative.

The pills and tissue
samples from Captain Park's

remains are sent for analysis.

The landing chart becomes part
of a growing pile of evidence.

Using information from the jet's
flight data recorder,

investigators recreate
the plane's flight path.

The relatively gentle
slope of its descent supports

Feith's belief that the jet all
but landed on the hillside.

But the flight path
shouldn't look like this.

Korean Air 801 cleared for
ILS runway six left approach.

Glide slope unusable.
Korean 801 roger.

Cleared for ILS runway six left.

The crew had
been told that the glide

slope at the airport
wasn't working.

It meant that the captain
had to take more manual

control of his plane.

It's now up to the pilot
to fly an established

procedure called
a step-down where

he starts at an altitude of say
two thousand feet.

When he gets to a particular
point located by what

they call DME or
Distance Measuring Equipment,

he then starts a descent
to another prescribed altitude.

If the crew
was following the step-down

procedure, its flight path would
resemble a set of stairs.

But after the first step,

the plane enters a long
slow descent.

If you don't hit those
step-downs, and those

altitudes are prescribed to give
you terrain clearance,

if you don't fly that as
depicted on the approach chart,

you run the risk of flying into
an obstruction or high terrain.

The plane's cockpit
voice recorder has also

been recovered from the debris.

Feith and his team
begin to analyze it,

hoping to better understand what
happened in the cockpit.

Set five hundred
sixty feet.

On two separate
occasions, Captain Park

gave orders to descend
long before he was supposed to.

But there are other
clues on the tape as well.

The cockpit voice
recorder provided us,

the investigators,
quite a bit of information.

One of the key elements that we
found was that the flight

crew appeared to be tired.

Very sleepy.

This was a chartered
flight so it would have

put them on what we call back
side of the clock flying.

That is, they would be normally
flying during the day.

They are now flying at night
and typically your body says

you should be asleep
when it's dark outside.

The sedatives
could have made

a difficult situation
even worse,

but when the lab results come
back they're conclusive.

While he had the pills with him,

there are no traces of them
in Captain Park's system.

When lead investigator
Greg Feith

returns to the cockpit
voice recorder,

he focuses on the captain's
discussion of the glide slope.

Is the glide slope
working? The glide slope?

Yes. Yes it's working.
Why is it working?

He started to see the
glide slope needle move a little

bit and started to question
the other crew members as to

whether or not the glide slope
was actually working or not.

It's
early in the morning.

After a long flight
Captain Park is tired.

Perhaps confused
and distracted

by the unexpected readings
on his glide slope.

It became very apparent
listening to the cockpit

voice recorder that in fact
he got fixated.

But Feith still
doesn't understand why

Park's glide slope
appeared to be working.

Was there a problem on this
plane, or is the equipment

susceptible to problems that
could affect other jets as well?

To find out, he brings in

navigation expert
Nelson Spohnheimer.

I spent some time
looking at the transcript

trying to determine what
the navigation issues were,

why a good airplane was in the
wrong place and to investigate

the apparent confusion on the
part of the crew who thought

that the glide slope was working
at least part of the time.

Spohnheimer sends
a team of investigators to Guam.

They fly over the island trying
to determine whether radio

signals from a nearby military
base could have acted on

the plane, making it seem like
the glide slope was working.

Glide slope receivers
can respond to non glide

slope signals, particularly

when the intended glide
slope signal is absent.

If there are spurious
signals on the channel

and they contain the right
information, they can cause

intermittent movements
of the glide slope needle.

Set five hundred
sixty feet.

But the signals
wouldn't be sustained.

Like a light switch turning
quickly on and off,

the glide slope indicator
would give periodic

indications that it was working,
but not for long.

My conclusion was
that spurious signals,

whether they be from other
transmitters or failed

ground equipment
such as personal walkie-talkies

could not cause a sustained
warning flag movement.

If the glide slope
was not fully operating,

why did Park believe it was?

And even if he did believe it
was working,

why did
he crash into Nimitz Hill?

Isn't the glide slope
working? Wiper on.

As investigators
continue to try to piece

together the causes
of the crash, Barry Small is

trying to understand why he
and 25 others survived.

I went to touch my shoes,
we hit the ground

and I was accidentally
in the perfect crash

position by some
sort of miracle.

An airline
engineering apprentice

and helicopter pilot,
Small understands airplanes.

I do firmly believe there
are some changes that could

be made to the aircraft.

Small believes
that the way crossbars are built

into aircraft seats caused
one of his legs to break.

But luck saved his other leg.

My right leg went forward
and crashed into the bar

in front of the seat and broke
and my left leg was saved

by my carry-on bag stopping my
leg going forward into that bar.

Still able to walk
on his one good leg,

Small escapes while others
remain trapped inside.

Since she's young,

Rika Matsuda's legs are shorter
than a normal adult.

Sitting normally, her legs

wouldn't have been
pressed against the crossbar

on impact, so she was
able to escape the plane.

Go, go now.
Get out of here!

While her mother died.

Small is also convinced that the
flames that first spread

through the cabin of Korean Air
Flight 801 were preventable.

They estimate that those
top lockers had over four

hundred and sixty-two litres
of burnable alcohol on board.

Had the plane been full,

it could be at least
twice that amount.

During the crash,
Small believes that the

duty-free alcohol mixed with
oxygen in the plane's ceiling.

The combination
ignited with deadly results.

It's a fire he thinks
could have been prevented.

Why have this risk,
alcohol and oxygen?

I thought, you know,
for aircraft is about safety

and this is just a blatant
breaking of the rules

of safety
as far as I'm concerned.

As he continues
to recover from the accident,

Small is determined to prevent
what had happened to him

from happening to others.

He decides to push for changes
on how seats are made,

and how duty-free
alcohol is stored.

For NTSB investigator
Greg Feith,

the biggest question
still remains.

How did an experienced pilot,

one recently honoured by his
company for his safety record,

crash his plane 5-kilometers
short of the airport?

As the investigation continues,

he discovers that the landing
chart the crew was using

was more than six months old
and out of date.

It's an indication that the
crew could have been better

prepared for the landing.

When he reviews the training

practices for Korean Airlines,
Feith uncovers more

gaps in the information that the
crew received.

We found that the
Korean Airlines flight crew had

all of their training based
on airports with approaches

where the DME was always
co-located at the airport.

DME is distance
measuring equipment,

electronic beacons that
tell pilots where

they are in relation
to the airport.

Often the final beacon is
found at the foot of the runway.

That was not the case in Guam.

The airport was in fact
5-kilometers further on.

Two hundred.

Struggling to see
through the rain Park was

unable to find the airport.

Distracted by the unexpected
glide slope reading Park

used the final beacon as a guide
expecting it to take him

right to the runway.

Let's make
a missed approach.

Not in sight.

Not in sight.
Missed approach.

Go around.

Go around. Flaps!
Flaps.

It's clear
that flight 801 flew

an approach about three
miles premature.

In other words, the descent
was about three miles early.

It was a normal
approach otherwise,

just to the wrong location.

We think that
based on fatigue

and some of their training,
that in fact

when the flight crew crashed
the airplane, when the counter

got to zero they thought
the airport should be there.

A fully
loaded 747 weighs

more than 200-thousand
kilograms.

Like an enormous ocean liner, it
can't change course quickly.

One hundred. Fifty. Forty.

Blinded by rain
and relying on their equipment,

the crew of Korean Air
flight 801 thought

they were heading
straight at the runway.

When they realized something
was wrong, it was too late.

As the investigation continues,

Feith and his team make
a startling discovery.

Equipment that would have given
the crew more time to react

had been disabled... on purpose.

In August of 1997, the crash
of Korean Air flight 801 took

the lives of more
than 200 people.

The final accident investigation
report is published

more than two years
after the crash.

It lays blame on the Korean
Airlines' training methods,

and the crew's over-reliance
on the jet's automation.

But it also has sharp words
reserved for the FAA,

the body that regulates air
travel in the United States.

Because of an FAA decision,
a critical piece of technology

that could have saved flight 801
was intentionally disabled.

The Minimum Safe Altitude
Warning System, or M-SAW,

is a standard piece of equipment
at major American airports.

But in Guam,
the FAA had made a critical

alteration to the way it
was used.

M-SAW uses radar to watch
the planes

as they come into the airport.

If they're too low, a warning
is given to air traffic

controllers, who can then
relay it to the crew.

But in Guam,
the system kept giving

nuisance readings
to controllers.

The controllers kept
getting these nuisance warnings.

They redesigned the software

and moved the limitations of the
MSAW further away from the

airport where it afforded no
one a level of protection.

Instead of watching
the planes as they neared

the airport, the system in Guam
now tracked them when they

were more than 80-kilometers
away, over the ocean.

I think the best
way to describe that would have

been and should be irresponsible

because you've taken this
system that was designed

as a level of protection not
only for the controller

but you've taken the protection
away from the flying public.

For the passengers
and crew of flight 801,

the lack of the MSAW system
sealed their fate.

If the system had been working,

the crash could have
been avoided.

Without it,
the crew had no warning at all.

The two pilots didn't
want to die. They had families.

No one wanted to die.
We still do not blame them.

I guess the bottom line is

nobody wanted to be
in that situation.

It was just something
that happened.

For Barry Small,
the years since the crash

of flight 801 have been
emotional and frustrating.

The Civil Aviation Authority
in his homeland of New Zealand

has acknowledged
the potential danger

posed by duty free liquor
on board.

But so far,
no policies have been changed.

His desire to modify airplane
seat design

has also been ignored.

I have taken several
steps to put this idea

forward and in a lot of cases
it's initially

met with enthusiasm
but it eventually

ends up in the too hard basket
and when I try to approach

seat design people there's no
one wants to hear about it.

Sean Burke was
never officially

identified as a victim
of flight 801.

Wendy Bunten was positively
identified but DNA samples

only proved that a white male
was on the plane near her.

Bill and I
never gave up hope

that Sean had survived
the crash.

Even after we came home for
I would say a year or two,

every time the phone rang,

every time somebody
knocked on the door

we expected a phone
message saying hi dad,

this is your son Sean.

Eventually,
several years after the crash,

Barry Small was able to give
Kathy Burke and her husband

some sense of finality and an
enduring image of their son.

When we met him

and he wanted to tell us
that in the twelve hour layover

in Seoul he was wandering around
and finally heard two people

speaking English and he said
they were so much

in love that he did not want
to interrupt their conversation.

For Sean's father,

the deep sorrow of the crash
will never completely leave.

For me, the grief
of Sean's loss never ends.

Hasn't gotten better. Hasn't
gotten worse. Just another day.

Ah for everybody else it's gone.

I expect people to move on
but I'll be this way till

the day I'm with him again.

For Barry Small
there is anger too,

but also incredible
gratitude for surviving.

So many people have told
me that I survived for a reason.

I've been searching for that
reason for nine years now

and I truly believe

if someone would listen
to my story about the oxygen and

alcohol and the improvement of
the seats that I could justify

in my own mind that I don't need
to feel guilty about surviving.