All language subtitles for Mayday.S05E10.Phantom.Strike.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DD+2.0.H.264-playWEB_track3_[eng]

A luxury jet
on its maiden voyage
is jolted in midair.

Declare an emergency.

We have a wing tip.

The plane has lost
a part of its wing.

It became clear that we were
in very, very big trouble.

The crew
struggles to land
the badly damaged plane.

November-six-zero-
zero-X-ray-Lima
declaring an emergency.

But the trouble isn't over
when they hit the ground.

The crew is detained,
and questioned by police.

Somehow, this small plane

has triggered the worst crisis
in Brazilian Aviation history.

September 29th, 2006,
in Sao Jose Dos Campos, Brazil.

Three, two, one! Whoo-hoo!

It's a big day
at Embraer headquarters.

The Brazilian aviation firm
has just sold
a brand new private jet

to ExcelAire,
a US charter company.

The price tag,
25 million dollars.

It's a beautiful airplane
And it was a beautiful
little ceremony

that Embraer had in the hanger
just before we got on the plane.

And the guys from ExcelAire
we particularly proud.

The Legacy
is a modified regional jet.

The cabin,
redesigned for comfort,

it can seat up to 13 people

and in its first four years
of service,

Embraer has delivered
almost 100 of these
sleek business jets.

ExcelAire will use the jet to
fly customers around the world,

but first, the company
has to get the plane
up to the United States.

Joseph Lepore and Jan Paladino
will be at the controls for
the jets maiden voyage.

They've been down in Brazil
for a couple of weeks

getting familiar with
the new plane.

Joe Sharkey is a reporter
for The New York Times.

He's been offered
a free ride home.

We were delivering
an airplane basically

and my role was hitchhiker,
and they kindly
invited me along.

The Legacy jet
is heading to Manaus
in northern Brazil.

A stopover on its way
to New York.

Half an hour after takeoff,

the Legacy is flying
over the heart of Brazil.

The countryside
stretches out below.

The view out of the window
is spectacular.

I glanced out
and I was amazed...

Just to the horizon.
Nothing but treetops.

And I just remember
how pretty it seemed.

At ten minutes
to 4:00 in the afternoon,

the Legacy jet makes contact
with controllers at the
Brasilia Area Control center

still nearly 100
kilometers away.

Brasilia-November-
600-X-ray-Lima,

flight level 3-7-0,
good afternoon.

75% percent
of the country's air traffic

is handled by the controllers
in this room.

The traffic volume
larger than any other Control
Center in the country.

One of the many
planes they will be dealing
with today is the Legacy jet.

Every flight that's handled
by Brasilia ACC

appears on computer screens
as a small circle

moving in the direction
of the plane.

The computer also displays
the plane's actual
and planned altitudes.

November-six-
zero-zero-X-ray-Lima.

- Squawk ident.
- Roger.

Paladino sends out a signal.
Controllers use it to confirm

that the data on their screen
is coming from the plane
they think it is.

Radar surveillance.

An hour later,
the flight has settled
into a familiar routine.

The mood
sort of settled down.

Everybody was working
and it was just a very,
very calm and peaceful time.

I was transcribing notes
from one of the interviews
from the Embraer tour.

Brasilia-November-
six-zero-zero-X-ray-Lima.

But in the cockpit,
Paladino is having trouble

getting back in touch
with air traffic controllers
in Brasilia.

Brasilia-November-
six-zero-zero-X-ray-Lima.

He can't raise
controllers on the frequency
he used almost an hour ago.

He tries other channels.

Brasilia-November-
six-zero-zero-X-ray-Lima.

Brasilia-November-
six-zero-zero-X-ray-Lima.

Brasilia-November-
six-zero-zero-X-ray-Lima.

After 12 attempts,
Paladino finally gets in touch
with Brasilia ACC.

This time with
a different controller

who provides radio frequencies
for future contacts.

Contact one, two, three,
decimal three, two.

...two, six...

I'm sorry I did not
get the last two.

Sorry, say frequency
one more time for November-
six-zero-zero-X-ray-Lima.

The Legacy loses
radio contact again.

Brasilia-November-
six-zero-zero-X-ray-Lima.

As the pilots
try to restore communication
with Brasilia,

the plane continues
to power through the sky.

It's just minutes before
five o'clock.

Suddenly,
there was the loudest bang
I've ever heard in my life.

The concussion itself
seemed to affect every
atom in my body.

What the hell is that?

Just fly
the airplane, dude.

Declare an emergency.
Sit down back there.

No one is sure
what's happened to the jet,

but when Joe Sharkey
looks out the window,
he's stunned by what he sees.

The end of the wing
was chopped off
and it was serrated.

It looked like
it had been chewed off.

It became clear that
we were in very,
very big trouble.

ExcelAire vice-president Ralph Michelli

rushes to the window
for a look at the damage.

And I said to Ralph,
"How bad is it?"

And he looked at me
and he said, "It's bad."

With more experience
flying this type of plane,

co-pilot Paladino takes over
control of the limping jet.

Let me fly the thing,
dude, all right?

We are descending,
I want to get down.

Okay, it's yours,
it's yours.

The crew still can't
make contact with controllers.

Brasilia-November-
six-zero-zero-X-ray-Lima,
declaring an emergency.

Do we have a wing tip?

- No.
- Damn it.

The entire
tip of the Legacy's
wing is breaking up.

That affects airflow
and is making the plane
hard to control.

How you doing? Okay?

As the plane
begins to descend,

passengers in the back
are worried that the damaged
wing is getting worse.

Our main concern
was that wing,

but it had taken such a hit

that the structural
integrity of the wing
was obviously in question.

The leading edge
was separated.

With so much
damage to the wing,
the pilots can't turn sharply.

Too much stress
could rip the wing right off.

We were in a position where
we realized we were
going to die,

I thought of my wife
and I thought, "Well, okay,
one thing I can do,

"is I can write
a note to my wife,"

which I did, I took out
my reporter's notebook
and I wrote,

you know, a short note
saying that I loved her.

Well, you know,
just saying what I could.

The Amazon
is a bad place
to have to land a plane.

It's a dense jungle
for as far as the eye can see.

There's nothing down
there but trees and I thought,

"Where are they going to put
this airplane down?"

Just hours into
its maiden voyage, the badly
damaged jet is going down.

Paladino and Lepore's flying
will soon be analyzed
and debated throughout Brazil.

Chart.

The verdict against
them will be harsh.

Please answer.
November-six-
zero-zero-X-ray-Lima.

The crew of the Legacy
jet searches desperately

for a place to land
their crippled plane.

Captain Joseph Lepore
finds a small military
base on his chart.

November-six-
zero-zero-X-ray-Lima,
we have an emergency.

State your emergency.

November-six-
zero-zero-X-ray-Lima,
declaring an emergency.

We need to land at
Sierra-Bravo-Charlie-Charlie.
Is that your airport?

Affirmative.

Do you know
how long the runway is?

- Two-six-zero-zero meters.
- Standby.

Two-six-zero-zero,
that's good, right?
Eight thousand feet.

Okay, we're coming in.
We're declaring an emergency.

This is November-six-
zero-zero-X-ray-Lima.

- Did you see something?
- Something hit us.

Twenty-six hundred
meters is more than long
enough to land the Legacy,

but the crew doesn't know
how the plane will respond
when it touches down.

The canopy of green.

There was a slash
of brown about two miles away.

I heard Joe say
there is an airport.

Sierra-Bravo, we see you.
We're coming in.

Finding an airport
was a stroke of luck

but the crews troubles
are far from over.

Now they have to get
the damaged jet
safely on the ground.

Paladino and Lepore can't
configure their plane
for routine landing.

Here we go. Hold it.
Let's dump the flaps
at the top of the flare, right?

- So give me nine on the flare.
- Nine.

Extending flaps
increases the size of the wing.

Since a bigger wing
can generate more lift,
pilots can slow down to land.

- You good?
- Yeah, I'm good.

With all the damage
they have sustained,

the crew doesn't want to put
too much pressure on their wing.

They won't be able
to extend their flaps
until the last moment.

They'll have to land
faster than usual.

Everyone sit down back there.

When you land under
those sort of circumstances,

you're landing faster
than you normally would.

And you get a real appreciation
of just how fast an airplane
is actually moving.

Because, you know,
you're coming down
like gangbusters.

I see these trees now,
you know, at ground level.

Just sort of looked almost like
a movie with one of those
moving backgrounds.

And I'm thinking,
"I hope this runway
doesn't run out."

Got it.

Paladino hits
the brakes hard.

Good, good.

You got it.

Hold it.

Then finally,
the plane begins to slow.

Whoo!

Good job. Oh, man.

And then finally,
we just did come to a halt.

There's that beautiful
silence that occurs when
the engines are shut down.

Everything was just
quiet again.

For more
than 25 minutes,

the business jet had flown
with part of its wing torn off.

There's also damage
to the plane's tail.

Somehow, high over
the rainforest,

something tore into the plane.

The bizarre day takes
another strange twist.

Because they have landed
at a military base,

soldiers confiscate
the passports
of everyone on board.

And that's the point
at which I realized that
we were in custody.

But I don't think
the others on the airplane

had the immediate sense that
this was a custodial situation.

Along with
the two pilots,

the jet's passengers are taken
to the nearby airbase.

N-six-zero-zero-XL
raise your altitude
to eight-point-zero-zero.

The emergency onboard
the Legacy jet has thrown
Brasilia ACC into turmoil

but it's not the only problem
controllers there are facing.

Another plane they're expecting
to see hasn't shown up.

GOL Flight 1907
should be on radar in Brasilia.

The missing flight
is a Boeing 737
with 154 people on board.

It's been in the air for
two hours and should be
nearing Brasilia

but controllers there can't find
any trace of that plane.

Manaus. There isn't any GOL.

- There isn't any GOL
with us here.
- It's on its way.

They check its status
with controllers in Manaus

who were last in contact
with the plane.

Anxiety was high
and controllers were confused
about what to say.

They did not know
what was happening.

Deep in the Amazon,

those who were on the ExcelAire
jet are also struggling
to figure out what happened.

We hit something, man.
That's all I know.

Maybe it was a condor.

Are you kidding?
It was 37,000 feet.

Well, maybe it
was a military jet.

No, I think a plane
must have exploded.

And we flew through
the debris field.

No, there would
have been more impact.

As they're trying
to piece together
the day's strange events,

the group gets
some shocking news.

A GOL flight has crashed.

It's the plane
that's been missing.

I just heard

737 went down in the Amazon
right where we were.

What?

It was like
a thunderclap.

The world changed immediately.

Joe and Jan
were just stricken.

I don't think I've ever
seen two more
anguished men in my life.

The GOL flight
crashed right where the Legacy
lost a piece of its wing.

It can't be a coincidence.

Approximately 100 kilometers
from the military base,

the wreckage of GOL Flight 1907
has been found.

The greatest
difficulty involved the fact

that the plane fell
straight down.

When it hit the ground
the trees covered it up,
making it hard to get to.

The shattered
remains of the plane litter
the jungle floor.

The news hits controllers
in Brasilia extremely hard.

They had just realized
that the worst thing

that could happen
in their control happened.

People were crying.
A lot of people had to be
dragged out of the room.

Things were not
under control in the room.

Over the next
several days,

troops pour over the scene
of the GOL crash.

The dense jungle
slows their progress.

To walk about
one kilometer in the forest
took us about an hour.

A makeshift helicopter
landing pad is carved
out of the jungle.

It's becoming increasingly clear
that no one has survived.

One hundred and fifty-four
people are killed.

At the time, it's the worst
crash in the history
of Brazilian aviation.

What had happened
in the skies above the Amazon?

Investigators face
a mammoth job.

Colonel Rufino Ferreira is
in charge of the investigation
into the GOL crash.

An investigator
always has to keep an open mind.

You can't start with any
pre-conceived ideas.

When we arrived at
the location of the accident,

the only thing we knew
for sure was that we had found
plane that was missing.

The wreckage
of the GOL jet is spread over
more than two kilometers.

The widespread debris
tells investigators

that the plane ripped apart
before crashing to the ground.

The aircraft
disintegrated during the fall.
It hit the ground in pieces.

There was practically no damage
caused by the impact
with the ground.

The plane
had already fallen apart.

On October 2nd,
just three days after the crash,

the plane's flight
data recorder is found.

Most of the cockpit voice
recorder is also recovered,
except for one critical part.

In this accident,
the impact was so strong
that the modules separated

from the recorder.

Modern voice
recorders don't use tape.

Conversations are recorded
digitally onto a memory module.

But that part of the GOL CVR
has broken free.

Without it, the rest
of the cockpit voice
recorder is useless.

While the search for
the module continues,

Ferreira looks
at the information

from the 737's
flight data recorder.

He learns that
the plane was flying
at 37,00 thousand feet.

It was on course
and flying level
at its assigned altitude.

Then, without warning,
the plane pitched over and
plummeted toward the ground.

Whatever happened,
it was sudden and catastrophic.

The data recorder tells Ferreira
that the plane spun 11 times
before it hit the ground.

Manaus,
I can't see GOL.

There isn't any GOL
with us here.

It's on its way.

- So it's already in my area?
- For over half an hour.

Police investigators
want to know what
Air Traffic Controllers

can tell them about GOL
Flight 1907's final minutes.

There was no Mayday.

In fact, we never had contact
with the GOL jet.

Controllers say
there was no warning that
the jet was in trouble.

It simply vanished.

Colonel Ferreira studies
Air Traffic Control data
from the day of the accident.

There is no sign
of the GOL flight.

But the readings from
the smaller Legacy jet
capture his attention.

It seems to be
flying erratically.

Instead of keeping
to a single altitude,

the radar shows it flying up
and down dangerously.

Perhaps the private
jet pilots were testing out
their new plane

by climbing
and descending quickly.

They may have collided
with the GOL jet as a result
of their reckless flying.

When that information leaks out
to the country's newspapers,

it makes front page news.

Population thought it was
unjust that a smaller aircraft

was able to make
an emergency landing

while the larger aircraft

with 154 people just fell
into the Amazon
and everyone died.

Neither Lepore nor Paladino
are officially charged

but they are confined to
a hotel room in Brazil while
the investigation continues.

Ferreira interviews the two
pilots about what they did
and what they saw.

Look we are proceeding
northwest on course
to Manaus at 37,00 feet.

- Okay? We attempting
to contact Brasilia Control...
- Were you changing altitude?

No.

I was on the plane.

Had the plane been
flying erratically

or doing loop-de-loops
or whatever it was,

I think I would have
had a pretty good story for
The New York Times.

Did you say
you were flying at 37,00 feet?

Yes, that's right.

Flight level three-seven-zero.
We never moved from that.

When he reviews
the information

from the Legacy's
flight data recorder,

Ferreira confirms
the pilot's story.

Although the ground radar
shows the Legacy flying wildly,

the data from the plane
shows that it didn't
change altitude at all.

But there is something shocking
about the Legacy's path.

The business jet was
flying north to Manaus,

the GOL flight
south from Manaus.

Ferreira can see that
both planes were flying
at the same altitude.

Thirty-seven thousand feet.
He makes a horrifying discovery.

For some reason, the two planes
were on a collision course.

Air traffic is typically routed
along specific corridors

through the sky.

Essentially,
highways in the air.

But planes traveling
in opposite directions

are supposed to be separated
by at least 1,000 feet.

HANS-PETER GRAF:
The airway system,

for instance, between
Brasilia and Manaus
is very simple.

It makes airplanes
fly northbound,
maintaining even levels

and airplanes flying southbound
maintaining odd levels.

But somehow
the Legacy Jet
and the GOL 737

were traveling down
the same ariel highway
in opposite directions.

For long minutes,
they were heading
straight for each other.

It seems more and more likely
that the two planes collided.

At the crash site,
workers find support
for this incredible theory.

The left wing of the GOL
flight is recovered.

Investigators discover that
about halfway along the wing,
it's sliced clean through.

None of the other wreckage
is sliced this way.

The precise nature of
the cut tells Ferreira that
this is not damage

that was caused by impact
with the ground.

The damage
on the left wing clearly shows

that it was caused
by a collision
with another plane.

The badly damaged
wing would have sent
the 737 into a spiral dive.

The pilots would have had
no way of controlling it.

The sudden spiral motion would
have pulled the plane apart.

It's the reason the wreckage
is spread over
such a wide area.

Ferreira finds the most
conclusive evidence

of a collision on the Legacy's
damaged wing.

On the Legacy,
we found very small
pieces of paint

that came from the GOL wing.

Together the planes
had a combined speed
of 1,600 kilometers an hour.

At that speed, the wing tip
of the small jet easily
sliced through the 737.

Colonel Ferreira now
understands what caused
the GOL jet to crash.

But he doesn't know why.

How had the two jets ended up
in the exact same airspace
without anybody noticing.

Investigators in Brazil now
realize that they are dealing
with something very unusual.

A mid-air collision is a very
rare event in aviation.

And it should not
have happened with two
very modern new aircrafts.

The situation
becomes more complicated

when investigators study
a critical document.

The Legacy's flight plan.

Flight plans are filed
by using a standard form

which is the same
all over the world.

The form will contain
the flight number

as well as requested
flight level or altitude.

According to this document,

when it collided
with the GOL flight,

the executive jet wasn't
expected to be at 37,000 feet.

The Legacy's flight plan
called for the jet

to fly at 37,000 feet only
until it reached Brasilia.

Then descend to 36,000.

But the collision took place
850 kilometers
northwest of Brasilia.

Well past point
where the Legacy

was supposed to descend.

So why hadn't the Legacy
followed its flight plan?

The flight plan calls
for you to descend to
three-six-zero at Brasilia.

Why didn't you?

We weren't told to.

Before we took off,
we were cleared
for three-seven-zero

all the way to Manaus.

That's what we did, sir.

I don't know where you are
getting the information from.

We followed the rules.

We were not told to descend,
and we did not descend.

Colonel Ferreira
needs to check the story
that the crew is telling.

He wants to know exactly what
they were told by controllers

when they took off from
Sao Jose Dos Campos.

November-six-
zero-zero-X-ray-Lima.

ATC permission for Manaus
flight level three-seven-zero.

The Legacy's
last instruction was to fly
all the way to Manaus

at 37,000 feet.

The pilots obeyed that
instruction even though it
differed from their flight plan.

Air Traffic Control always can
deviate from the flight plan

because they have best
knowledge of the actual
traffic situation.

Leaving Manaus,
the GOL jet was also cleared
to fly at 37,00 feet.

Both planes were assigned
the same altitude by controllers

at opposite ends
of the country.

...decimal two.

Once we were
certain that both planes were
flying at the same altitude,

we knew for sure there
would be a lot to investigate

on the side of
Air Traffic Control.

Ferreira turns
his attention to conversations

between controllers
in Brasilia and the Legacy jet.

The cockpit voice recorder
from the Legacy

gives investigators
a remarkably detailed look

into what happened
on the private jet.

The brand new Legacy jet
has a state of the art recorder

that captures two hours
of conversation.

The CVR
was probably the most
important component

in the investigation.

At ten minutes
to 4:00,

the crew is told
to change radio frequencies
and get in touch

with the controller monitoring
their flight.

Change frequency to
one-two-five-zero-five.

Decimal one, I'm sorry,
one-two-five-zero-five,
good day.

Good day.

At this point,
the Legacy jet

is approaching Brasilia,
but the crew never receives

any instructions
regarding their altitude.

Brasilia-November-six-hundred-
X-ray-Lima level
three-seven-zero,

good afternoon.

November-six-hundred-
X-ray-Lima.

When the Legacy
overflew Brasilia at flight
level three-seven-zero,

according to the flight plan
it should have been

descending to three-six-zero.

But Air Traffic Controllers
simply forgot

to give the order to the Legacy
to descend to three-six-zero.

The pilots would
have assumed they were meant
to stay at three-seven-zero,

37,000 feet.

No airplane should
ever change altitude

without receiving instructions
from Air Traffic Control.

To discover why
controllers didn't give
that crucial instruction,

Colonel Ferreira takes a closer
look at the technology

used to monitor
the traffic over Brazil.

So can you call up the Legacy
jet screen for me?

On the radar's screen
we see the altitude,

speed and the transponder
information of each plane.

Each flight
has an individual code

assigned to it that helps
controllers track it.

Underneath that,
there are two separate numbers.

On the left,
the plane's actual altitude.

On the right, the altitude
the plane is supposed to be
at according to its flight plan.

So here the number changes
to three-six-zero.

As the Legacy jet
passed over Brasilia,

the number on the right,
the planned altitude, changed.

The computerized system
automatically updated it.

According to the flight plan,
at this point

the plane was supposed
to descend to 36,000 feet,
three-six-zero.

To my knowledge,

only Brazilian Air Traffic
Control system is using
this kind of design.

In other parts of the world,

this update
has to be done manually.

The computer changed
a single number

which led to a critical error.

Without much experience
with the computerized system,

the controller mistook
the new planned altitude

for the plane's
actual altitude.

The system
changed it automatically

from authorized altitude
to the planned altitude

which made the controller
believe the Legacy was flying
at three-six-zero.

Police investigators
talk with the controller
who was on duty

when the number changed
on the screen.

It was shortly after that
I went on break.
Lucivando relieved me.

He tells police about
a critical mistake on his part.

You have five aircraft.

The Legacy
is at three-six-zero.

Before leaving,
he handed his flights off
to another controller,

telling him where he thought
the Legacy was flying.

I believed it was at
three-six-zero,
and that is what I told him.

When the new
controller took over,

the one being relieved
gave him the Legacy's
altitude information

according to the flight plan.
Three-six-zero.

But the jet
was actually flying
1,000 feet higher

right in the path
of the GOL flight.

Colonel Ferreira studies
transcripts of conversations
on board the Legacy,

and finds that the crew
was having their own
difficulties during the flight.

How much longer, guys?

That is a good question, Ralph.

The crew seems
unfamiliar with some of
the jet's advanced systems.

Still working out the kinks
on how to work this
flight management system.

Where's the one
that gives us total time?

My impression is that
the pilots were trying to learn

their aircraft systems
during the flight.

Investigators also uncover a breakdown
in communications.

Brasilia-November-six-hundred-
X-ray-Lima,

flight level three-seven-zero,
good afternoon.

November-six-zero-zero-
X-ray-Lima.

- Squawk ident.
- Roger.

After a brief
conversation between

the Legacy jet
and Brasilia ACC,

Colonel Ferreira notices
something extremely unusual.

Radar surveillance.
Radar surveillance.

For almost an hour,
the Legacy pilots don't talk
to anyone on the ground.

They stayed
57 minutes without attempting

any contact
with Air Traffic Control,

which seems like a lot of time.

After 57minutes,
they tried to call 12 times
without success.

Brasilia-November-six-zero-
zero-X-ray-Lima.

Paladino did try
to get hold of ground control,

but he couldn't get through.

Brasilia-November-six-zero-
zero-X-ray-Lima.

He then tried
the backup frequencies listed
on his navigation charts.

Brasilia-November-six-zero-
zero-X-ray-Lima.

Brasilia-November-
six-zero-zero-X-ray-Lima.

His only contact,
a single garbled message.

Sorry, say frequency
one more time

for November-six-zero-
zero-X-ray-Lima.

Both pilots
and Air Traffic Controller

should have been more concerned
of maintaining two way contact

all the time.

This is their duty.

Brasilia-November-six-zero-
zero-X-ray-Lima.

Had pilots
and controllers spoken,

they might have discovered that
the Legacy was flying north

in a corridor reserved
for southbound traffic.

As the public learns
about the mistakes in
the Air Traffic Control center,

there is growing pressure
to make some changes.

We wanted to understand
what had happened
to these people.

Inside the control room,
the controller should
have been able

to see on their radar screens

that these two airplanes were
flying in a collision course.

Brazilian Air Traffic Control is one
of the last in the world

to be run largely
by the country's military.

Since they're run
by the military,

they're run by
the Brazilian Air Force.

We did not have complete access
to information except
for what was released.

As fingers
are pointed at controllers,

many of them come forward
with stories of overwork
and poor training.

They complained
that they weren't well trained
in English language

which is the international
aviation language.

Also, they had complaints
about their equipment.

In fact,
the controller who incorrectly
reported the Legacy's altitude

had been on the job
for only a year.

A valuable piece of the puzzle
is still missing.

Investigators still don't know
what happened

during the final minutes
of the GOL flight.

Soldiers have been scouring
the Amazon jungle
with metal detectors

looking for the plane's
missing memory module.

Almost a month after the crash,
they find it.

Colonel Ferreira hopes
to hear some reason

why the GOL crew wasn't
able to avoid colliding
with an oncoming jet.

GOL one-niner-zero-seven,
contact Brasilia ACC

on one-two-five-decimal-two.
A good flight.

Thanks very much,
Brasilia one-two-decimal-two,

GOL one-niner-seven.

There are no alarms
before the collision,

no warning that
they were flying
straight for another jet.

Pilots rely on Air Traffic
Controllers to keep other
planes out of their path.

They spend much of their time
monitoring their instruments,

not the skies ahead.

At the speed they're traveling,

they'd only have to look away
for a few seconds to miss
an approaching plane.

There were no issues
of communication

and no misunderstanding
between the pilots
and the Air Traffic Control.

Keep calm.

They had no idea
what had just happened
to their plane

and fought until the end
to regain control.

For less than a minute,

the pilots struggle for control

- but there's nothing
they can do.
- Keep calm!

But why were
there no warnings?

Both planes were equipped
with a safety feature

designed to prevent exactly
this type of accident.

Ferreira now needs to know
why that system failed.

Earlier in the investigation,
strange radar images

suggested that the Legacy
pilots were flying wildly
over the Amazon.

Now those suspicions
have vanished

but Ferreira revisits
the fluctuating radar data

to understand why neither plane
knew the other was coming.

You see, the altitude
is very insignificant.

To try to understand
this last piece of the puzzle,

Colonel Ferreira returns
to the radar display

that Air Traffic Controllers
saw the day of the crash.

Instead of displaying
just the expected altitude
and the actual altitude,

the letter "Z"
appears between them.

The "Z" on the Air
Traffic Controller's screen

Indicates that the airplane
he's looking at has lost
its transponder.

Modern commercial
aircraft are equipped
with transponders.

Like small radio stations,

they broadcast information
on the plane's altitude
and flight number.

This information is received
by computers on the ground

and instantly displayed
on the screens of
Air Traffic Controllers.

In Brasilia,
if the transponder fails,

so-called primary radar
takes over automatically.

Signals are sent out
from the ground but
hit the target and return.

Those readings
are wildly inaccurate.

Primary radar only
is passive indication

of anything that is flying
through the air space.

The difference
of the actual altitude

in the primary radar
system might differ.

Several thousand feet.

The inaccuracy
of the radar tracking
the Legacy jet

explains why
its altitude appeared
to be rising and falling.

Investigators discover
that the transponder

wasn't sending out signals
for more than 50 minutes
before the crash.

But controllers
didn't notify the pilots.

That may be because they didn't
notice the subtle change.

The way in which
the information is displayed

to the controller does not
visually alert him
to the change.

There are no flashing lights

that would tell
the controller that the plane
has lost its transponder.

There's an even
more critical role played
by the transponder.

It doesn't just beam
information to controllers
on the ground

but to other planes as well.

All commercial aircraft
are equipped with a warning
system called TCAS,

the Traffic Collision
Avoidance System.

TCAS gives a relative position
of other airplanes

within range
of your own airplane.

TCAS picks up
a signal from an oncoming

plane's transponder
and issues a warning
if it's too close.

If either plane's
transponder is off,
the system won't work.

What the hell is that?

Ferreira discovers
that the Legacy's transponder
was working early in the flight

and after the collision.

But for more than
50 critical minutes,
it was silent.

How had a state of the art jet
just off the factory floor

developed problems
with its transponder.

The failure of
the transponder certainly
contributed to this accident.

And we had to find out
what caused it to fail.

Investigators examine the Legacy jet's
transponder unit.

They discover that the system
which controls it
had a troubled history.

It had been installed on
a different plane but removed
because it wasn't working.

It was repaired and then
placed on the jet that
was sold to ExcelAire.

Investigators have
the system tested

but even with
its suspicious past,

after the crash, they can find
no obvious problems with
the plane's transponder.

Now this is the layout now
of the standard one
on the Legacy jet.

Colonel Ferreira does notice

something potentially
dangerous about the design
of the Legacy's cockpit.

If a pilot uses the built-in
footrest during flight,

his toes can come
in contact with the buttons

on the transponder.

Show me what it looks like
in standby mode.

And when
the transponder
does go into standby,

it would be difficult
for a pilot to notice.

There's no alarm.

A small
yellow warning light
is the only indication

that the transponder isn't on.

It was not easy for
the pilots to detect that

because it's not hooked up
with the central warning
and alert system.

But the pilots
of the Legacy jet

do not remember
using the plane's footrest.

Still working out the kinks
on how to work this
flight management system.

Time...

Investigators suspect
that one of the pilots

may have turned the transponder
off by mistake.

The most
probable scenario
is that by accident,

one of the pilots temporarily
turned off the equipment

as he tried to familiarize
himself with the technology
on board.

However,
the transponder went off.
At a critical moment,

the crew had no
last-ditch safety system

to warn them that they were
flying right at a 737.

Even though TCAS system
on the GOL plane was working,

there was no signal
from the approaching jet
for it to receive.

Closing in on each other
at 1,600 kilometers an hour,

the pilots never saw
each other coming.

Brazil's Air Traffic
Control system

would undergo some
radical changes
as a result of the collision.

But those changes would
not come without a fight.

The investigation
into the crash
of GOL Flight 1907

has uncovered dangerous
problems with Brazil's Air
Traffic Control system.

Brasilia-November-
six-hundred-X-ray-Lima,

level three-seven-zero.
Good afternoon.

Two planes
were assigned to fly

at the same altitude
in the same airspace.

Radar surveillance.

Overworked and inexperienced
controllers in Brasilia

neglected to instruct
the Legacy jet to descend
to 36,000 feet.

You have five aircraft.

The Legacy
is at three-six-zero.

Then they mistook
the Legacy's planned altitude
for its actual altitude.

To make matters worse,

the Legacy pilots,
unfamiliar with
Brazilian airspace,

were unable to make contact
with controllers on the ground.

And somehow the transponder

which broadcasts
their location in the sky,
went silent...

...which controllers in
Brasilia failed to notice.

Keep calm.

Keep calm.

A multi-billion
dollar ATC system designed
to keep planes apart

had failed to detect two planes
on a collision course.

One by one,
a series of human
errors occurred

and all of the defense systems
that exist to avoid these
errors were defeated.

A month after
the crash of the GOL
passenger plane,

controllers begin
a work to rule campaign.

They want to draw attention
to problems with the system.

Once they did
start working to the rules

and not stretching
them anymore,

this triggered what we called
the aviation crisis in Brazil.

At a certain point,
maybe 40% of flights
in all of Brazil

had over an hour delays.

Following the crash
and the work slowdown,

changes start being made.

There has been
a lot of changes in Brazilian
aviation after the accident.

Specifically with regards
to Air Traffic Control.

Because the Air Force
had to admit that they had
a shortage of controllers,

and also there's a higher
degree of accountability.

In the United States,

the Federal
Aviation Administration

issues two recommendations
as a result of the tragedy.

Pilots flying Legacy jets
are warned of the possibility

that putting their feet up
in the cockpit

could accidentally turn off
the transponder.

And manufacturers are told
that an alarm should sound

if the TCAS system shuts off.

The controllers who
are involved in the crash

are charged with varying
degrees of manslaughter.

But those criminal charges
worry people who were closely
involved with the disaster.

An investigation like ours
which focuses on prevention

suffers huge setbacks
when there is pressure
to lay charges.

By blaming people,
we might be creating a culture

where people will not
come forth and be honest
about failures and mistakes.

And when we try to hide that,
things get swept under
the carpet.

And soon enough,
they'll come out again.

No controller
leaves his home in the morning

thinking he's going
to crash a plane.

And so the criminalization
only interferes
with investigations

that can prevent
further accidents.

More than two months
after the crash,

the crew of the Legacy jet
is finally allowed to return
to the United States.

Joe and Jan barely
got out of the country.

There was an attempt
to hold them

under what I thought was
a cobbled together

initial criminal charge of
"failing to ensure the safety
of Brazilian skies".

While we are grateful for
the safe return of Joe and Jan

and everyone aboard
the Legacy,

we are all saddened
by this tragedy

which took many innocent lives.

More than a year
after the accident,

the Legacy jet that survived
a mid-air collision was still
at the airfield in the Amazon.

Its maiden voyage cut
short by a tragic series of
technological and human errors.