1 00:00:01,725 --> 00:00:04,073 You wouldn't think it was a dangerous job 2 00:00:04,176 --> 00:00:05,522 delivering the mail. 3 00:00:10,596 --> 00:00:12,357 They have to try to land an airliner 4 00:00:12,460 --> 00:00:15,153 in a way no pilot has ever done before. 5 00:00:15,256 --> 00:00:16,706 We've lost all hydraulics. 6 00:00:16,809 --> 00:00:18,363 All the controls are dead. 7 00:00:18,466 --> 00:00:20,744 They've become passengers on their own plane. 8 00:00:20,848 --> 00:00:23,092 And somehow, they have to land it. 9 00:00:23,195 --> 00:00:24,472 Left runway! 10 00:00:25,335 --> 00:00:28,373 Even at journey's end, the ordeal isn't over... 11 00:00:29,822 --> 00:00:31,445 Do not move! 12 00:00:34,827 --> 00:00:36,243 3000. 13 00:00:37,451 --> 00:00:38,659 We're not getting any oxygen. 14 00:00:38,762 --> 00:00:41,144 We have the terrain alarm. 15 00:00:41,248 --> 00:00:43,077 We are in an emergency. 16 00:00:59,680 --> 00:01:02,959 Baghdad, November 22, 2003. 17 00:01:03,166 --> 00:01:05,548 Officially, the war in Iraq has been over for months. 18 00:01:05,651 --> 00:01:08,033 But the country is violent and unstable. 19 00:01:08,137 --> 00:01:09,414 No one feels safe... 20 00:01:19,217 --> 00:01:21,322 A civilian cargo plane has just taken off 21 00:01:21,426 --> 00:01:23,186 from the city's airport. 22 00:01:23,290 --> 00:01:26,086 What's that? 23 00:01:27,225 --> 00:01:30,090 Within seconds the crew lose control, 24 00:01:30,193 --> 00:01:32,713 unable to figure out what has happened to their aircraft. 25 00:01:32,816 --> 00:01:33,679 We've lost hydraulics. 26 00:01:35,750 --> 00:01:39,927 T- hey struggle to master 100 tons of wide-bodied jet. 27 00:01:40,169 --> 00:01:42,171 Their plane is on fire. 28 00:01:42,274 --> 00:01:43,965 Unless they can land soon, the wing will burn up. 29 00:01:44,173 --> 00:01:45,174 They'll crash and die. 30 00:01:45,277 --> 00:01:46,727 Steady! 31 00:01:50,869 --> 00:01:52,491 They're carrying too much speed. 32 00:01:52,595 --> 00:01:55,425 They're going so fast, they may not make the Runway. 33 00:01:55,529 --> 00:01:58,290 No one has ever successfully done this before. 34 00:02:13,788 --> 00:02:15,652 By November 2003, 35 00:02:15,756 --> 00:02:19,242 the American-led coalition has been in charge of Iraq for six months. 36 00:02:19,346 --> 00:02:21,244 The Iraqi army is defeated. 37 00:02:21,348 --> 00:02:23,488 Saddam Hussein, the deposed President, 38 00:02:23,591 --> 00:02:25,283 remains in hiding. 39 00:02:27,457 --> 00:02:30,460 Ominously, the main threat is now from secret armed groups. 40 00:02:30,564 --> 00:02:33,532 They are targeting civilians, both Iraqi and foreign, 41 00:02:33,636 --> 00:02:35,810 in order to make the country unstable, 42 00:02:35,914 --> 00:02:38,019 perhaps even provoke a civil war. 43 00:02:38,261 --> 00:02:40,367 They have plundered Iraqi army stores 44 00:02:40,470 --> 00:02:42,127 for every infantry weapon there is, 45 00:02:42,231 --> 00:02:44,233 even surface-to-air missiles. 46 00:02:44,336 --> 00:02:46,545 Baghdad is a very dangerous place. 47 00:02:53,311 --> 00:02:55,865 Dawn, on the outskirts of the city, 48 00:02:55,968 --> 00:02:59,627 Claudine Vernier-Palliez, from the French weekly magazine Paris Match, 49 00:02:59,731 --> 00:03:01,319 with her photographer Jerome, 50 00:03:01,422 --> 00:03:03,493 is going to a secret meeting with Iraqi terrorists. 51 00:03:03,597 --> 00:03:06,703 She's after the story that everyone wants. 52 00:03:06,807 --> 00:03:08,912 Who are they? What do they want? 53 00:03:11,398 --> 00:03:14,642 The previous day she had met the leader in a hotel room. 54 00:03:14,746 --> 00:03:18,474 He called himself Abu Abdallah, but no one knew his real name. 55 00:03:21,787 --> 00:03:24,445 Evidently this man was very, very determined 56 00:03:24,549 --> 00:03:27,172 to stop at nothing to show the Americans 57 00:03:27,276 --> 00:03:29,416 that he wanted no more of them at least, 58 00:03:29,519 --> 00:03:31,521 not their military tactics. 59 00:03:37,907 --> 00:03:41,324 Baghdad Airport, key to the US presence in Iraq. 60 00:03:41,428 --> 00:03:44,362 Military planes fly in daily to supply the troops, 61 00:03:44,465 --> 00:03:46,812 and to help rebuild the shattered country. 62 00:03:46,916 --> 00:03:49,815 Because of the threat from Iraqi Terrorists, 63 00:03:49,919 --> 00:03:52,439 the US has established a security zone around the airport 64 00:03:52,542 --> 00:03:54,855 patrolled by Apache helicopters. 65 00:03:54,958 --> 00:03:59,411 On the tarmac today is one of the few civilian aircraft to use the airport, 66 00:03:59,515 --> 00:04:04,485 an Airbus A300 belonging to the courier firm DHL, 67 00:04:04,589 --> 00:04:07,557 they have won the contract to carry the soldier's mail. 68 00:04:10,733 --> 00:04:13,667 They led us down little roads for a long time 69 00:04:13,770 --> 00:04:15,807 to be sure we would lose our bearings. 70 00:04:18,913 --> 00:04:20,432 At the hotel meeting, 71 00:04:20,536 --> 00:04:23,332 Claudine and her photographer had arranged to meet the rebels 72 00:04:23,435 --> 00:04:24,816 at dawn the next morning 73 00:04:24,919 --> 00:04:27,059 to take pictures of the fighters with their weapons. 74 00:04:27,819 --> 00:04:31,305 We arrived in the field where we met other vehicles, 75 00:04:31,409 --> 00:04:34,101 among them a pick-up truck. 76 00:04:35,861 --> 00:04:37,725 The men got out of their cars... 77 00:04:41,488 --> 00:04:45,526 and just off the road hidden under some branches, 78 00:04:45,630 --> 00:04:49,323 the men recovered some weapons and some missiles. 79 00:04:51,152 --> 00:04:54,155 They loaded their weapons in their vehicles 80 00:04:54,363 --> 00:04:57,089 and Jerome took the pictures we wanted. 81 00:05:02,785 --> 00:05:05,443 The journalists have got the story they came for. 82 00:05:05,546 --> 00:05:07,755 But Abu Abdallah is not finished with them yet. 83 00:05:07,859 --> 00:05:09,412 He tells them to follow. 84 00:05:09,516 --> 00:05:11,069 They don't know where. 85 00:05:19,526 --> 00:05:23,530 And he told me that a new phase in his resistance actions 86 00:05:23,633 --> 00:05:27,085 would be to shoot missiles at planes. 87 00:05:28,673 --> 00:05:29,984 A few kilometers away, 88 00:05:30,088 --> 00:05:32,539 the DHL lane is getting ready to depart. 89 00:05:32,642 --> 00:05:34,920 Two flights a day shuttle post and packages 90 00:05:35,024 --> 00:05:36,715 in and out of the war zone. 91 00:05:36,819 --> 00:05:39,028 Baghdad Tower, Oscar Oscar, Delta, Lima Lima, 92 00:05:39,131 --> 00:05:40,995 the Airbus 1800 cargo... 93 00:05:44,447 --> 00:05:46,932 The Australian Air Force is providing 94 00:05:47,036 --> 00:05:48,934 the air traffic control in Baghdad. 95 00:05:49,038 --> 00:05:51,903 Oscar Oscar Delta Lima Lima, clear to start. 96 00:05:52,006 --> 00:05:53,870 Before start check list. 97 00:05:56,079 --> 00:05:57,529 Start turn... 98 00:05:57,633 --> 00:06:00,739 Captain Eric Gennotte is Belgian, 38 years old, 99 00:06:00,843 --> 00:06:03,570 and single. He realized his dearest ambition a year ago 100 00:06:03,673 --> 00:06:07,194 when he qualified to captain the Airbus A300. 101 00:06:07,297 --> 00:06:09,265 In 2.45. 102 00:06:09,369 --> 00:06:10,611 Rough close to... 103 00:06:12,233 --> 00:06:14,650 Flight engineer Mario Rofail lives in Scotland 104 00:06:14,753 --> 00:06:16,099 with his wife and children. 105 00:06:16,203 --> 00:06:19,586 At 54, he's the oldest and most experienced member of the crew, 106 00:06:19,689 --> 00:06:21,864 a veteran of many danger zones. 107 00:06:22,830 --> 00:06:24,107 Start one... 108 00:06:24,211 --> 00:06:25,419 Valve open. 109 00:06:25,523 --> 00:06:28,629 The 29-year-old co-pilot, Steeve Michielsen, 110 00:06:28,733 --> 00:06:29,768 is also Belgian. 111 00:06:29,872 --> 00:06:32,599 He's been married just three months. 112 00:06:32,702 --> 00:06:34,601 Cargo airliners are great places for young pilots 113 00:06:34,704 --> 00:06:36,499 to get the hours and experience they need 114 00:06:36,603 --> 00:06:38,467 to pilot commercial aircraft. 115 00:06:38,570 --> 00:06:39,537 0, 16. 116 00:06:41,262 --> 00:06:44,300 DHL has been flying into Baghdad for 6 months, 117 00:06:44,404 --> 00:06:46,647 but there is no danger money for crew. 118 00:06:46,751 --> 00:06:50,548 The airport is an oasis of calm in the middle of a chaotic war zone. 119 00:06:50,651 --> 00:06:54,241 Nevertheless, they're aware of what's going on around them. 120 00:06:54,344 --> 00:06:58,763 When we were crossing the border from Kuwait to Iraq, 121 00:06:58,866 --> 00:07:02,732 the ambience in the cockpit really changed. 122 00:07:02,836 --> 00:07:07,461 You had a kind of stress, at least, for me. 123 00:07:10,809 --> 00:07:12,570 The journalists have been taken 124 00:07:12,673 --> 00:07:14,675 to another location by the terrorists. 125 00:07:14,779 --> 00:07:16,988 By now they're beginning to get uneasy. 126 00:07:17,195 --> 00:07:20,405 They'd like to leave, but they have no idea where they are 127 00:07:20,509 --> 00:07:23,201 and they feel that a dangerous situation will develop 128 00:07:23,304 --> 00:07:24,892 if they attempt to go. 129 00:07:26,929 --> 00:07:29,241 So, what's going on here? 130 00:07:33,832 --> 00:07:36,283 We're going to do special operations today... 131 00:07:36,386 --> 00:07:39,389 You'll see, I'll show you. 132 00:07:46,949 --> 00:07:48,364 This is Sam 7. 133 00:07:48,468 --> 00:07:50,435 We have them from the old Iraqui army. 134 00:07:50,539 --> 00:07:52,679 We have approximately... 135 00:07:53,438 --> 00:07:57,131 28. We got them from two different Iraqui army depots. 136 00:07:57,235 --> 00:08:00,721 We have already fired about 25 and we only have three left. 137 00:08:02,274 --> 00:08:04,276 They are heat-seeking missiles, 138 00:08:04,380 --> 00:08:07,176 equipped with homing devices which detect infrared emissions 139 00:08:07,279 --> 00:08:08,833 from a plane's engines. 140 00:08:08,936 --> 00:08:11,352 This is Sam 14 better than Sam 7. 141 00:08:11,456 --> 00:08:13,216 We don't have so many. 142 00:08:13,320 --> 00:08:15,495 I think we should use this one today. 143 00:08:15,598 --> 00:08:17,255 It was very good before. 144 00:08:17,358 --> 00:08:18,705 Before...? 145 00:08:20,534 --> 00:08:22,847 We shot down a plane in Lasaria 146 00:08:22,950 --> 00:08:26,229 and my fighters recorded 177 dead. 147 00:08:26,333 --> 00:08:29,819 And we shot down another plane with Americans on 148 00:08:29,923 --> 00:08:32,304 and we killed 70 men. 149 00:08:32,408 --> 00:08:35,031 But no one had ever heard about this. 150 00:08:35,273 --> 00:08:37,033 I didn't believe a word of it. 151 00:08:37,275 --> 00:08:39,553 From all over Bagdad you could have seen it. 152 00:08:39,657 --> 00:08:43,523 So, I thought the guy was making it up. 153 00:08:44,903 --> 00:08:47,906 Sir what are you going to do with this one today. 154 00:08:52,704 --> 00:08:55,362 What do you think, we're going to shoot down a plane? 155 00:09:00,781 --> 00:09:02,438 I'll show you. 156 00:09:03,715 --> 00:09:05,199 The journalists are getting worried. 157 00:09:05,303 --> 00:09:07,754 What if he's not bluffing after all? 158 00:09:07,857 --> 00:09:10,480 This is not the story they came for. 159 00:09:22,389 --> 00:09:24,667 It's early in the day at Baghdad Airport. 160 00:09:24,771 --> 00:09:27,463 A DHL Airbus A300 carrying letters home 161 00:09:27,567 --> 00:09:30,466 from US soldiers, is just departing. 162 00:09:30,984 --> 00:09:33,952 The crew is unaware that just a few kilometres away 163 00:09:34,056 --> 00:09:36,714 a terrorist group has its own plans for the aircraft. 164 00:09:38,888 --> 00:09:41,511 Oscar Oscar Delta Lima Lima, clear for take off. 165 00:09:41,615 --> 00:09:43,306 Takeoff. 166 00:09:43,893 --> 00:09:46,551 The plane is a 24-year-old airliner 167 00:09:46,655 --> 00:09:48,311 converted to carry cargo. 168 00:09:48,415 --> 00:09:51,591 Its first stop will be the Persian Gulf state of Bahrain. 169 00:09:51,694 --> 00:09:53,765 It's a journey they make twice a day. 170 00:09:53,869 --> 00:09:55,042 100 knots. 171 00:09:56,354 --> 00:09:57,873 V1. 172 00:09:58,667 --> 00:09:59,909 Rotate... 173 00:10:00,979 --> 00:10:02,463 V2. 174 00:10:05,535 --> 00:10:07,537 Positive climb. 175 00:10:07,641 --> 00:10:09,539 Despite the calm in the cockpit, 176 00:10:09,643 --> 00:10:11,714 the crew knows that below 3000 metres, 177 00:10:11,818 --> 00:10:14,165 they're vulnerable to attack from the ground. 178 00:10:14,406 --> 00:10:18,134 So far, no plane in Iraq has been hit with a surface-to-air missile. 179 00:10:18,376 --> 00:10:21,517 But it's known that the terrorists now have such weapons. 180 00:10:21,966 --> 00:10:24,451 It's a strange ambience, it's a strange feeling 181 00:10:24,554 --> 00:10:28,766 between the time you take off and you reach 10,000 feet 182 00:10:29,629 --> 00:10:33,322 you know that you are in danger. 183 00:10:33,978 --> 00:10:35,393 Gear up 184 00:10:37,015 --> 00:10:37,947 Gear up. 185 00:10:38,051 --> 00:10:40,018 No lights. 186 00:10:49,614 --> 00:10:52,410 Meanwhile, the terrorist leader, Abu Abdallah, 187 00:10:52,513 --> 00:10:54,136 appears to have chosen his spot. 188 00:10:55,102 --> 00:10:58,002 He asked us to park our cars pointing outwards 189 00:10:58,105 --> 00:11:01,384 so that everybody could leave in a different direction. 190 00:11:01,488 --> 00:11:05,803 That's when I should have realized that the bluffing was over. 191 00:11:11,878 --> 00:11:14,397 The journalists are now very alarmed. 192 00:11:14,501 --> 00:11:17,055 They cannot leave they're trapped. 193 00:11:40,941 --> 00:11:43,944 This is video shot by the terrorists themselves. 194 00:11:44,048 --> 00:11:46,844 They'll deliver it to the media in Baghdad the next day. 195 00:12:14,734 --> 00:12:16,805 What's that? 196 00:12:23,190 --> 00:12:25,848 We've lost green and yellow. 197 00:12:27,643 --> 00:12:29,231 Green and yellow? 198 00:12:29,334 --> 00:12:31,233 We have three hydraulic systems 199 00:12:31,336 --> 00:12:33,476 and they are identified by colour. 200 00:12:33,580 --> 00:12:37,860 One is green, yellow and blue. 201 00:12:38,585 --> 00:12:40,829 Big jets depend on hydraulic power. 202 00:12:40,932 --> 00:12:44,729 Hydraulic fluid runs inside pipes throughout the aircraft. 203 00:12:44,833 --> 00:12:46,938 When the pilots move the control column, 204 00:12:47,180 --> 00:12:50,045 pistons push the fluid in the pipes to climb, descend, 205 00:12:50,148 --> 00:12:51,840 or turn the plane. 206 00:12:51,943 --> 00:12:55,602 With no hydraulics, pilots have no way to control their flight. 207 00:12:55,705 --> 00:12:58,087 The missile has exploded in the wing, 208 00:12:58,191 --> 00:13:00,089 where the pipes filled with hydraulic fluid 209 00:13:00,193 --> 00:13:01,504 are now draining. 210 00:13:01,608 --> 00:13:03,299 It's like driving a car at speed 211 00:13:03,403 --> 00:13:05,370 and suddenly losing the steering wheel. 212 00:13:06,337 --> 00:13:08,132 What do we do? What do we do? 213 00:13:08,235 --> 00:13:09,512 What do we do? 214 00:13:09,616 --> 00:13:11,514 What could I answer? 215 00:13:11,618 --> 00:13:13,758 What could I answer to him? 216 00:13:13,862 --> 00:13:18,383 It was a very difficult question, yes. 217 00:13:18,936 --> 00:13:20,592 My initial reaction was... 218 00:13:20,696 --> 00:13:23,975 we have to do something and I asked the Captain, 219 00:13:24,217 --> 00:13:27,254 "What shall we do?" Or any ideas or something. 220 00:13:27,807 --> 00:13:30,188 His initial reaction was, "We have to go back." 221 00:13:32,432 --> 00:13:35,262 A big jet can survive with one of the three 222 00:13:35,366 --> 00:13:36,850 hydraulic systems knocked out. 223 00:13:36,954 --> 00:13:38,438 Maybe even two. 224 00:13:38,541 --> 00:13:42,614 But all three? None of the controls will work, period. 225 00:13:44,996 --> 00:13:46,618 Blue is gone. 226 00:13:47,447 --> 00:13:49,898 I think we hit something. 227 00:13:54,350 --> 00:13:55,835 Blue is gone... 228 00:13:59,528 --> 00:14:01,461 We've lost all hydraulics. 229 00:14:01,564 --> 00:14:03,877 All three hydraulic systems gone. 230 00:14:03,981 --> 00:14:05,327 There's nothing left. 231 00:14:05,430 --> 00:14:07,881 The life of the aircraft is now measured in minutes. 232 00:14:07,985 --> 00:14:10,815 That was the end of everything procedures, 233 00:14:10,919 --> 00:14:14,198 what you've been trained all these years. 234 00:14:15,440 --> 00:14:20,652 So all you needed then is to keep calm, 235 00:14:21,412 --> 00:14:23,483 common sense, and of course, 236 00:14:23,586 --> 00:14:25,623 here's where your experience comes. 237 00:14:26,072 --> 00:14:28,971 To see whatever is left there. 238 00:14:29,869 --> 00:14:33,838 But we had nothing to come back to, 239 00:14:33,942 --> 00:14:36,461 to read, or to do or to follow. 240 00:15:06,595 --> 00:15:08,631 That DHL is in trouble. 241 00:15:13,671 --> 00:15:16,225 He's on fire and he's turning back. 242 00:15:16,329 --> 00:15:19,884 Grab all the fire engines, have medevac on standby 243 00:15:23,646 --> 00:15:26,097 The control columns have become useless. 244 00:15:26,339 --> 00:15:27,685 Without the crucial hydraulic system, 245 00:15:27,788 --> 00:15:30,446 there is no way of moving the controls. 246 00:15:30,550 --> 00:15:34,588 When you have this kind of emergency, 247 00:15:34,692 --> 00:15:37,281 the three needles showing zero... 248 00:15:37,384 --> 00:15:39,593 and the flight engineer saying to you 249 00:15:39,697 --> 00:15:41,457 all hydraulics gone, 250 00:15:41,561 --> 00:15:43,563 you are terrified as well. 251 00:15:46,393 --> 00:15:48,706 It was fear, 252 00:15:48,809 --> 00:15:52,399 we had no control of the aircraft actually. 253 00:15:52,503 --> 00:15:55,575 The aircraft continued to climb at that time 254 00:15:55,678 --> 00:15:57,818 to about 12,000 feet. 255 00:15:59,682 --> 00:16:01,788 The plane has started to behave strangely. 256 00:16:01,891 --> 00:16:04,515 It climbs to 3800 metres, 257 00:16:04,618 --> 00:16:07,483 then suddenly starts to dive of its own accord. 258 00:16:08,381 --> 00:16:10,417 Then it climbs again. 259 00:16:14,594 --> 00:16:15,733 We're not flying! 260 00:16:15,836 --> 00:16:17,873 Back! Back! 261 00:16:19,116 --> 00:16:21,808 This cycle repeats itself over and over again, 262 00:16:21,911 --> 00:16:23,913 like a mad rollercoaster ride. 263 00:16:28,815 --> 00:16:31,507 The crew can't stop the plane's wild gyrations. 264 00:16:31,611 --> 00:16:32,888 They're still airborne 265 00:16:32,992 --> 00:16:35,408 but somehow they must regain control. 266 00:16:35,511 --> 00:16:38,445 And now Eric are you proud of yourself? 267 00:16:38,549 --> 00:16:40,896 Look in which mess you are. 268 00:16:41,000 --> 00:16:43,416 You know it was dangerous to come here 269 00:16:43,519 --> 00:16:46,902 and now what will you do to get out of here? 270 00:16:49,422 --> 00:16:50,526 I play with controls! 271 00:16:50,630 --> 00:16:51,976 Reduce thrust? 272 00:16:53,426 --> 00:16:55,566 By moving the throttles to and fro, 273 00:16:55,669 --> 00:16:58,741 perhaps they can flatten out the huge dives and climbs. 274 00:16:58,845 --> 00:17:00,881 It's all they can think of. 275 00:17:02,849 --> 00:17:04,920 And then I decide to take the challenge. 276 00:17:05,024 --> 00:17:06,784 We have to come back 277 00:17:08,717 --> 00:17:11,582 There is no training to fly a plane in this condition. 278 00:17:16,621 --> 00:17:18,658 So from that time on, 279 00:17:18,761 --> 00:17:21,695 all the books and procedures are right out the window. 280 00:17:21,799 --> 00:17:23,697 We have engines? 281 00:17:23,801 --> 00:17:25,768 We can use the thrust. 282 00:17:27,115 --> 00:17:29,945 All they have left are the two engines, 283 00:17:30,049 --> 00:17:31,533 which are undamaged. 284 00:17:31,636 --> 00:17:34,777 But how do you fly and land a plane with engines alone? 285 00:17:34,881 --> 00:17:36,917 No airliner has ever done it. 286 00:17:45,754 --> 00:17:47,238 Certainly not this one. 287 00:17:47,480 --> 00:17:48,964 In August 1985, 288 00:17:49,068 --> 00:17:52,657 a Japan Airlines Boeing 747 had suffered a catastrophe 289 00:17:52,761 --> 00:17:54,590 minutes after leaving Tokyo. 290 00:17:59,285 --> 00:18:02,184 The bulkhead at the back of the cabin burst open. 291 00:18:02,288 --> 00:18:05,222 The force of the rushing air blew off most of the tail fin 292 00:18:05,325 --> 00:18:07,258 and cut all the hydraulic lines. 293 00:18:07,362 --> 00:18:10,710 Without hydraulic power, the pilots of the 747 294 00:18:10,813 --> 00:18:13,126 were little more than passengers themselves. 295 00:18:13,230 --> 00:18:16,198 A jet with 524 people on board, 296 00:18:16,302 --> 00:18:18,649 flying over the mountains of central Japan, 297 00:18:18,752 --> 00:18:23,102 was virtually helpless, swaying in the sky like a drunken bird. 298 00:18:24,655 --> 00:18:26,381 It really could be considered a miracle 299 00:18:26,484 --> 00:18:28,762 that the pilots were able to keep the airplane flying 300 00:18:28,866 --> 00:18:31,627 for 30 minutes or more after having lost 301 00:18:31,731 --> 00:18:33,664 all their hydraulics and their flight controls. 302 00:18:33,767 --> 00:18:36,598 But it kept circling and eventually worked its way 303 00:18:36,701 --> 00:18:41,085 into the mountains and it became impossible for them to land. 304 00:18:41,189 --> 00:18:44,192 There was no real alternative at all 305 00:18:44,295 --> 00:18:46,263 except to fly as long as they could 306 00:18:46,366 --> 00:18:48,644 and hope for some miracle which never occurred. 307 00:18:57,860 --> 00:19:00,242 When the 747 hit a mountain, 308 00:19:00,346 --> 00:19:02,796 it was the worst single crash in aviation history. 309 00:19:02,900 --> 00:19:05,627 520 people died. 310 00:19:08,630 --> 00:19:12,772 Can the DHL crew succeed where the Japanese pilots failed? 311 00:19:13,945 --> 00:19:17,673 The first task is to try to calm the wild plunging of the aircraft. 312 00:19:17,777 --> 00:19:20,849 The airplane will tend to go into what's called a phugoid, 313 00:19:20,952 --> 00:19:23,610 in the vertical mode. 314 00:19:23,714 --> 00:19:27,752 It will descend, speed up therefore pick up more lift, 315 00:19:27,856 --> 00:19:30,755 then it would climb, pitch up and climb, 316 00:19:30,859 --> 00:19:33,517 it would slow down, lose lift... 317 00:19:33,620 --> 00:19:36,347 So it would go into this and so it was very difficult 318 00:19:36,451 --> 00:19:38,832 for the pilots to control that. 319 00:19:39,557 --> 00:19:41,766 They have to do it by using engine power alone, 320 00:19:41,870 --> 00:19:43,699 the only thing they have left. 321 00:19:43,803 --> 00:19:46,530 They find that if they reduce engine power 322 00:19:46,633 --> 00:19:49,188 the plane's nose drops and they begin to gather speed. 323 00:19:49,291 --> 00:19:51,535 If they then push the throttles forward, 324 00:19:51,638 --> 00:19:53,709 the nose comes up and they start to climb. 325 00:19:54,400 --> 00:19:56,678 But they have to learn precisely when to increase 326 00:19:56,781 --> 00:19:58,542 and decrease power. 327 00:20:07,447 --> 00:20:09,484 And there's another complication. 328 00:20:09,587 --> 00:20:12,314 The damage to the left wing is creating drag on that side, 329 00:20:12,418 --> 00:20:15,317 and pulling them round to the left in a wide circle. 330 00:20:15,421 --> 00:20:17,595 One of the most difficult things to master 331 00:20:17,699 --> 00:20:20,633 to keep the pitch altitude in a normal way 332 00:20:20,736 --> 00:20:22,393 was already difficult enough. 333 00:20:22,497 --> 00:20:26,294 And on top of this we had to use asymmetrical thrust, 334 00:20:26,397 --> 00:20:28,813 because the airplane was banking to the left all the time. 335 00:20:28,917 --> 00:20:31,920 There was a part of the left wing which was gone. 336 00:20:32,023 --> 00:20:34,267 Bank! Bank! 337 00:20:35,786 --> 00:20:38,478 So they not only have to move the throttles back and forth 338 00:20:38,582 --> 00:20:40,860 to flatten out the plane's rollercoaster motion, 339 00:20:40,963 --> 00:20:43,587 but also try to apply more power to the left engine 340 00:20:43,690 --> 00:20:45,727 to compensate for the damaged wing, 341 00:20:45,830 --> 00:20:47,453 which is causing it to lose lift. 342 00:20:51,526 --> 00:20:53,873 After several minutes of violent pitching up and down, 343 00:20:53,976 --> 00:20:56,703 the crew manage to flatten out the flight path. 344 00:20:57,911 --> 00:21:03,123 Even after we have learned how to fly it using the throttles, 345 00:21:03,365 --> 00:21:06,126 we still went through, 346 00:21:06,334 --> 00:21:08,750 I would say three to four times, 347 00:21:08,853 --> 00:21:13,272 we went through almost uncontrollable conditions, 348 00:21:13,375 --> 00:21:15,722 we couldn't control the airplane. 349 00:21:15,826 --> 00:21:19,899 Very steep dives and banks. 350 00:21:20,002 --> 00:21:23,523 By now the crew realize that they've been hit by a missile 351 00:21:23,627 --> 00:21:25,318 somewhere on the left wing. 352 00:21:25,422 --> 00:21:28,839 Their Airbus has become the first civilian aircraft casualty of the war. 353 00:21:28,942 --> 00:21:31,359 I knew we were on fire. That I knew. 354 00:21:31,462 --> 00:21:35,949 So my intention was to come back and land the aircraft. 355 00:21:37,019 --> 00:21:40,506 Also we were afraid, 356 00:21:40,609 --> 00:21:43,232 I was afraid to be shot at, a second time. 357 00:21:48,065 --> 00:21:49,722 Their fears are justified. 358 00:21:49,825 --> 00:21:51,551 The terrorist leader, Abu Abdallah, 359 00:21:51,655 --> 00:21:55,314 is waiting for a second chance to finish them off. 360 00:22:19,959 --> 00:22:22,341 Iraqi terrorists have fired a missile 361 00:22:22,444 --> 00:22:24,653 at a civilian plane near Baghdad Airport. 362 00:22:24,757 --> 00:22:27,553 The left wing is on fire and the crew is in desperate trouble. 363 00:22:27,656 --> 00:22:30,832 Now the terrorists aim to finish it off. 364 00:22:31,522 --> 00:22:34,939 They launched a second missile that missed the plane this time. 365 00:22:35,043 --> 00:22:37,597 And then he told everyone, "let's go" 366 00:22:37,701 --> 00:22:39,496 and we all left quickly. 367 00:22:47,814 --> 00:22:51,024 Madame Vernier-Palliez later came under a storm of criticism 368 00:22:51,128 --> 00:22:52,957 for not doing more to stop the attack, 369 00:22:53,061 --> 00:22:54,890 or at least leave the scene. 370 00:22:56,582 --> 00:22:59,654 I think that any journalists in the situation we were in 371 00:22:59,757 --> 00:23:01,794 would have reacted exactly as we did. 372 00:23:01,897 --> 00:23:05,073 We have been criticized for not having said to the group leader 373 00:23:05,176 --> 00:23:07,558 when he told us he was going to fire on an aircraft, 374 00:23:07,662 --> 00:23:09,249 "No sir, we're leaving now." 375 00:23:09,491 --> 00:23:11,562 On the one hand, if we had said that to him 376 00:23:11,666 --> 00:23:14,600 it would have meant a bullet in the head, that's clear 377 00:23:14,703 --> 00:23:17,603 and on the other hand, right up to the last minute, 378 00:23:17,706 --> 00:23:19,915 right up to the time when they fired the missile, 379 00:23:20,019 --> 00:23:21,641 I didn't think they were going do it. 380 00:23:21,745 --> 00:23:23,609 I thought they were still bluffing. 381 00:23:29,925 --> 00:23:33,791 While we were trying to find our way back with our chauffeur, 382 00:23:33,895 --> 00:23:35,379 we saw that the plane, 383 00:23:35,483 --> 00:23:38,002 its left wing was on fire. 384 00:23:38,106 --> 00:23:40,764 It was now turning like this. 385 00:23:46,459 --> 00:23:49,220 It was like in a film, it was unreal. 386 00:23:49,876 --> 00:23:52,776 And it was only when we could see the plane on fire, 387 00:23:52,879 --> 00:23:55,434 that we thought of the people on board. 388 00:23:56,296 --> 00:23:57,436 And then, we were scared. 389 00:23:57,539 --> 00:24:00,093 I realized that the plane could crash, 390 00:24:00,197 --> 00:24:02,717 that it would crash and then I started to realize... 391 00:24:02,820 --> 00:24:04,615 why had they done this? 392 00:24:04,719 --> 00:24:06,583 It so happens we were there, we were filming, 393 00:24:06,686 --> 00:24:09,344 we were journalists and we were French. 394 00:24:09,448 --> 00:24:12,243 So it seems evident that they had set us up. 395 00:24:12,347 --> 00:24:15,626 By the time we realized this, it was too late. 396 00:24:15,730 --> 00:24:17,870 Everything had gone too fast. 397 00:24:23,496 --> 00:24:25,809 The crew knows nothing of the second missile. 398 00:24:25,912 --> 00:24:29,364 Did you guys say that there's an aircraft on fire? 399 00:24:30,261 --> 00:24:33,644 This remarkable video, seen here exclusively for the first time, 400 00:24:33,748 --> 00:24:36,475 was shot with the infrared, heat-sensitive camera 401 00:24:36,578 --> 00:24:38,994 of a US Apache attack helicopter. 402 00:24:39,236 --> 00:24:42,308 Apaches routinely patrol the area around the airport, 403 00:24:42,411 --> 00:24:44,862 watching out for terrorists. 404 00:24:48,832 --> 00:24:51,800 ...the aircraft in bound under our siting system, 405 00:24:51,904 --> 00:24:56,287 he's got... it appears to be a fire on his far left engine. 406 00:24:56,978 --> 00:24:59,256 The intense heat of the fire on the Airbus 407 00:24:59,359 --> 00:25:01,776 shows up as a blur on the helicopter's heat-sensitive camera. 408 00:25:01,879 --> 00:25:03,916 Oscar Oscar Delta Lima Lima. 409 00:25:04,951 --> 00:25:06,366 Oscar Lima Lima. What's that? 410 00:25:06,470 --> 00:25:09,438 Yes, we have a problem controlling the aircraft. 411 00:25:09,542 --> 00:25:11,268 There was a helicopter flying, 412 00:25:11,371 --> 00:25:15,168 and he could see that the fire was not from the engine 413 00:25:15,272 --> 00:25:16,480 but that it was from the left wing. 414 00:25:16,584 --> 00:25:19,448 So it gave Mario the opportunity to ask the tower again 415 00:25:19,552 --> 00:25:22,693 if they could still see some flames or smoke 416 00:25:22,797 --> 00:25:23,936 coming from the airplane. 417 00:25:27,974 --> 00:25:30,563 Could you confirm if there is smoke coming from the aircraft 418 00:25:30,667 --> 00:25:32,185 or fire or anything like that? 419 00:25:33,842 --> 00:25:36,465 You can still see smoke and flames coming from the left tip 420 00:25:36,569 --> 00:25:38,053 of the left wing. 421 00:25:38,295 --> 00:25:41,643 Okay left-wing tip, fire and smoke, huh? 422 00:25:42,057 --> 00:25:44,335 - That's affirmative. - Thank you. 423 00:25:47,753 --> 00:25:51,757 We were on a... heading towards the airport. 424 00:25:51,860 --> 00:25:53,241 We could see the airport. 425 00:25:53,344 --> 00:25:54,967 Lower the gear. 426 00:25:56,313 --> 00:25:57,625 Can I take control? 427 00:25:58,522 --> 00:26:00,110 No, I have control. 428 00:26:00,317 --> 00:26:02,561 I have control. Lower the gear! 429 00:26:03,458 --> 00:26:04,666 With no hydraulic power, 430 00:26:04,770 --> 00:26:07,393 Mario has to crank open the landing gear doors 431 00:26:07,496 --> 00:26:09,947 and let the wheels drop down by gravity alone. 432 00:26:10,051 --> 00:26:13,364 The Captain said, "In fact we have to land," 433 00:26:13,468 --> 00:26:15,712 and he called for the gear down 434 00:26:15,815 --> 00:26:18,646 which is quite a normal thing to do to land. 435 00:26:25,860 --> 00:26:28,587 But it has an unintended effect. 436 00:26:30,105 --> 00:26:33,488 Lowering the landing gear has altered the entire balance of the aircraft 437 00:26:33,592 --> 00:26:35,904 just when they thought they'd figured out how to control it. 438 00:26:36,008 --> 00:26:37,906 It causes the nose to point high in the air 439 00:26:38,010 --> 00:26:39,874 and the speed to fall. 440 00:26:39,977 --> 00:26:42,739 No, no... No, the speed! 441 00:26:43,774 --> 00:26:46,535 It could easily stall, and then crash. 442 00:26:46,639 --> 00:26:48,676 I didn't expect that at all. 443 00:26:49,021 --> 00:26:53,853 I saw the aircraft taking a pitch up 444 00:26:53,957 --> 00:26:56,960 and then the speed decreasing, decreasing, decreasing... 445 00:26:57,063 --> 00:26:59,548 and I was returning the throttle and saying, "No, no!" 446 00:27:00,101 --> 00:27:01,067 No, no! It-- 447 00:27:02,655 --> 00:27:04,484 The nose has gone up, 448 00:27:04,588 --> 00:27:06,832 their speed is falling, and they're about to stall. 449 00:27:06,935 --> 00:27:09,386 They have no choice but to pull back the throttles 450 00:27:09,489 --> 00:27:11,319 to bring the nose back down again. 451 00:27:11,422 --> 00:27:12,941 They're nearly at stall speed. 452 00:27:14,149 --> 00:27:15,564 That would have been the end of it, 453 00:27:15,668 --> 00:27:16,980 we would have fallen out of the sky. 454 00:27:18,602 --> 00:27:20,604 You got a visual on this guy? 455 00:27:20,708 --> 00:27:22,744 No I am looking right at him and he's way out there. 456 00:27:22,848 --> 00:27:25,436 Yeah. That's gut-wrenching man... 457 00:27:25,540 --> 00:27:28,888 They're up there doing everything they can. 458 00:27:36,689 --> 00:27:39,588 I was afraid that maybe one wing will stall. 459 00:27:39,692 --> 00:27:42,522 And this time it's finished. 460 00:27:42,626 --> 00:27:46,423 ...crash on the runway or crash in the desert. 461 00:27:46,803 --> 00:27:49,219 Yeah trying to land on a runway whereas you can just belly up 462 00:27:49,426 --> 00:27:53,672 in the desert and the sand would probably put out any fire. 463 00:27:57,917 --> 00:28:00,230 Cautiously they manage to coax a bit more speed 464 00:28:00,471 --> 00:28:02,888 from the engines. Lowering the gear brought them 465 00:28:02,991 --> 00:28:06,408 to the brink of disaster, but now the plane is easier to control. 466 00:28:06,512 --> 00:28:10,550 The airplane miraculously became more stable afterwards. 467 00:28:10,654 --> 00:28:14,900 That's one of the first factors which proves how lucky we were that day. 468 00:28:23,840 --> 00:28:24,979 Let's land. 469 00:28:25,773 --> 00:28:27,947 Oscar Oscar, Delta, Lima Lima. 470 00:28:28,051 --> 00:28:30,501 Oscar Oscar, Delta, Lima Lima. Baghdad Tower, 471 00:28:30,605 --> 00:28:33,642 can make your approach now, runway is clear for landing. 472 00:28:34,885 --> 00:28:37,923 The Apache helicopter has been joined by others, 473 00:28:38,026 --> 00:28:40,891 who are powerless to do anything but provide information 474 00:28:40,995 --> 00:28:42,582 to the stricken DHL plane. 475 00:28:42,859 --> 00:28:44,550 Looks like he's going up too high again. 476 00:28:44,653 --> 00:28:46,414 I'm still looking up at the flare. 477 00:28:46,517 --> 00:28:48,278 Come on, buddy. 478 00:28:48,519 --> 00:28:51,246 We could hear other airplanes talking at the same time. 479 00:28:53,455 --> 00:28:59,082 And that was a bit difficult... 480 00:29:00,014 --> 00:29:01,774 Oscar Oscar Delta Lima Lima. 481 00:29:01,878 --> 00:29:04,535 Could you please clear 3-3 Left for us as well, 482 00:29:04,639 --> 00:29:07,021 because I think we may be going there as well. 483 00:29:07,124 --> 00:29:09,540 Oscar Oscar Delta Lima Lima, runway 3-3 Left 484 00:29:09,644 --> 00:29:11,888 is available as well if you need to land there. 485 00:29:11,991 --> 00:29:14,407 Okay keep both runways open for us. 486 00:29:14,511 --> 00:29:16,616 No more talking, bye. 487 00:29:31,735 --> 00:29:33,426 Did you know tank 1 Alpha is empty? 488 00:29:33,530 --> 00:29:35,808 Fuel has been steadily streaming out 489 00:29:35,912 --> 00:29:37,534 of the tanks in the left wing. 490 00:29:37,637 --> 00:29:39,053 Now, one of them is empty. 491 00:29:39,156 --> 00:29:40,986 Bank back! 492 00:29:41,089 --> 00:29:42,850 Got it... 493 00:29:45,749 --> 00:29:48,165 Left wing coming up! 494 00:29:51,065 --> 00:29:53,584 Against all the odds, they've made it back to the airport. 495 00:29:53,688 --> 00:29:55,655 An incredible feat of flying. 496 00:29:55,759 --> 00:29:57,519 They begin making preparations to land. 497 00:29:57,623 --> 00:29:58,935 Which runway? 498 00:29:59,038 --> 00:30:01,213 We use 3 3 Right, I think. 499 00:30:01,420 --> 00:30:02,593 Lima Lima! 500 00:30:02,697 --> 00:30:04,492 Oscar Lima Lima, go ahead. 501 00:30:04,595 --> 00:30:06,252 Can you please declare a full emergency? 502 00:30:06,356 --> 00:30:10,601 Yes, you will need the fire brigade because our running gear might not work. 503 00:30:10,705 --> 00:30:12,500 Oscar Lima Lima, all available assistance 504 00:30:12,603 --> 00:30:13,673 is available on the field. 505 00:30:13,777 --> 00:30:15,710 Everyone is on full alert. 506 00:30:15,814 --> 00:30:17,850 Okay thank you very much and no more calls. 507 00:30:18,817 --> 00:30:21,750 Man, that guy's good. He's pretty stressed. 508 00:30:21,854 --> 00:30:23,718 And rightfully so. 509 00:30:23,822 --> 00:30:26,341 But on the brink of success it begins to unravel. 510 00:30:27,480 --> 00:30:30,311 At that time, I realized we were a little bit too high 511 00:30:30,414 --> 00:30:35,109 to come in and land in the situation we were. 512 00:30:35,212 --> 00:30:36,869 That's what I thought as well. 513 00:30:36,973 --> 00:30:38,319 We were too high and too near. 514 00:30:38,422 --> 00:30:39,458 We must land! 515 00:30:39,561 --> 00:30:41,115 We are too close, we need a long final! 516 00:30:41,218 --> 00:30:43,462 I think Steeve brought a very important point here 517 00:30:43,565 --> 00:30:46,879 and I think it was really a saver. 518 00:30:46,983 --> 00:30:50,745 Steeve is giving his captain news he doesn't want to hear. 519 00:30:50,849 --> 00:30:51,850 He can't land. 520 00:30:51,953 --> 00:30:54,300 They are too high and too close. 521 00:30:54,404 --> 00:30:57,994 If they attempt a steep descent, they'll bury it in the runway. 522 00:30:58,822 --> 00:31:00,859 Eric Genotte will have to turn around, 523 00:31:00,962 --> 00:31:04,276 fly away from the airport for 37 kilometers, turn again, 524 00:31:04,379 --> 00:31:08,245 and come back on a long final approach, slowly descending. 525 00:31:08,349 --> 00:31:10,489 If we hadn't done those 20 miles, 526 00:31:10,592 --> 00:31:12,698 we would have been circling there forever 527 00:31:12,801 --> 00:31:15,563 until we dropped from the sky. 528 00:31:15,666 --> 00:31:18,083 You can't make it. It's impossible. 529 00:31:18,324 --> 00:31:20,499 Keep the speed, keep the speed up. 530 00:31:20,602 --> 00:31:23,260 I try. I will do the best I can. 531 00:31:23,364 --> 00:31:25,884 And then I realized, they were right. 532 00:31:25,987 --> 00:31:27,955 We have to make a long final 533 00:31:32,097 --> 00:31:35,203 But for the last 13 minutes, the wing has been on fire. 534 00:31:35,307 --> 00:31:36,929 Do they have enough time? 535 00:31:41,347 --> 00:31:42,624 20 miles final. 536 00:31:42,728 --> 00:31:43,902 Okay. 537 00:31:46,766 --> 00:31:49,217 He's still pretty high. 538 00:31:49,321 --> 00:31:51,495 He's still got a long way to go. 539 00:31:51,599 --> 00:31:54,257 He's got an extremely extended final 540 00:31:54,360 --> 00:31:56,776 and I figure he can make it in. 541 00:31:58,537 --> 00:32:00,263 Time is running out. 542 00:32:00,366 --> 00:32:02,230 The fire is eating up the left wing. 543 00:32:02,334 --> 00:32:04,336 They're still heading away from the airport. 544 00:32:04,439 --> 00:32:07,373 Then they have to turn and make a 37-kilometre approach. 545 00:32:07,477 --> 00:32:10,273 Can they land before the wing fails? 546 00:32:15,864 --> 00:32:19,661 If we had stayed another 15 minutes in the air 547 00:32:19,765 --> 00:32:22,112 with that fire still burning, 548 00:32:22,354 --> 00:32:26,496 maybe that tip of the wing would have broken off and again, 549 00:32:26,599 --> 00:32:28,705 the results would have been disastrous. 550 00:32:28,808 --> 00:32:32,467 Two main structural spars give the wing its strength. 551 00:32:32,571 --> 00:32:35,988 The missile has made a 5-metre long crack in the rear spar. 552 00:32:36,092 --> 00:32:38,680 Too much stress and it will snap like a twig. 553 00:32:40,441 --> 00:32:41,821 There's another danger: 554 00:32:41,925 --> 00:32:44,963 fuel is streaming out of the punctured tanks in the left wing. 555 00:32:45,825 --> 00:32:48,414 If the tanks run dry, an engine will stop, 556 00:32:48,518 --> 00:32:49,588 and they'll crash. 557 00:32:49,691 --> 00:32:51,279 We were controlling the bank 558 00:32:51,383 --> 00:32:53,730 and the pitch of the airplane using the two engines, 559 00:32:53,833 --> 00:32:55,974 so if we lost one engine, 560 00:32:56,077 --> 00:32:58,597 then we couldn't do anything with the other engine. 561 00:32:58,700 --> 00:33:01,013 So, the end result would have been disastrous. 562 00:33:01,634 --> 00:33:04,603 Despite the fire, the crew's confidence is growing. 563 00:33:04,706 --> 00:33:07,019 Now they have some control over the plane. 564 00:33:07,123 --> 00:33:10,126 But the prospects for a safe landing are not good. 565 00:33:10,747 --> 00:33:13,715 This is the closest any commercial jet has got 566 00:33:13,819 --> 00:33:16,201 to a safe landing with no hydraulics. 567 00:33:16,408 --> 00:33:18,203 In 1989, in the United States, 568 00:33:18,410 --> 00:33:21,344 the crew of this United DC10 lost all their controls 569 00:33:21,447 --> 00:33:22,862 after an engine blew up, 570 00:33:22,966 --> 00:33:25,486 and turbine blades shredded the hydraulic pipes. 571 00:33:26,763 --> 00:33:29,559 The pilots managed to regain some control, 572 00:33:29,662 --> 00:33:32,596 moving the throttles backwards and forwards like the DHL crew. 573 00:33:32,700 --> 00:33:35,634 There were 296 people on board. 574 00:33:36,152 --> 00:33:38,499 But at the last minute, as they approached 575 00:33:38,602 --> 00:33:42,434 the small provincial airport of Sioux City in Iowa, disaster. 576 00:34:08,701 --> 00:34:12,774 Of the 296 people on board, 111 died. 577 00:34:13,706 --> 00:34:16,226 So, within four years, two major airliners had crashed 578 00:34:16,468 --> 00:34:18,849 because a loss of hydraulics had crippled the planes, 579 00:34:18,953 --> 00:34:21,542 killing 631 people. 580 00:34:24,027 --> 00:34:26,650 In its investigation report on the Sioux City disaster, 581 00:34:26,754 --> 00:34:29,515 the National Transportation Safety Board 582 00:34:29,619 --> 00:34:32,484 asked for urgent research to find ways of controlling big jets 583 00:34:32,587 --> 00:34:34,486 that had lost their hydraulics. 584 00:34:35,625 --> 00:34:37,799 But over Baghdad, 14 years later, 585 00:34:37,903 --> 00:34:40,561 the crew only have their wits to help them 586 00:34:40,664 --> 00:34:41,976 as they try to land. 587 00:34:42,080 --> 00:34:45,531 I remembered the story of the DC10 of Sioux City, 588 00:34:45,635 --> 00:34:47,602 that it has been done before, 589 00:34:47,706 --> 00:34:51,641 the only control we still had in the aircraft, in the cockpit 590 00:34:51,744 --> 00:34:53,953 was the engine, 591 00:34:54,057 --> 00:34:55,438 nothing else. 592 00:35:01,478 --> 00:35:03,998 The crew is now 28 kilometers away from the airport, 593 00:35:04,102 --> 00:35:06,034 getting close to where they will turn in order to make 594 00:35:06,138 --> 00:35:08,865 their long final approach to the runway. 595 00:35:08,968 --> 00:35:10,660 15.2. 596 00:35:16,907 --> 00:35:18,046 16. 597 00:35:18,150 --> 00:35:20,152 - Now we turn right. - Not yet. 598 00:35:20,256 --> 00:35:23,742 This is where experience counts now, 599 00:35:23,845 --> 00:35:27,194 and you have to rely on what you know. 600 00:35:27,297 --> 00:35:29,955 We were pretty sure that we were going to be able 601 00:35:30,058 --> 00:35:33,510 to make it to the airport, but we were absolutely not sure 602 00:35:33,614 --> 00:35:35,650 that we were going to be able to make it to the runway. 603 00:35:36,824 --> 00:35:38,791 16.5 604 00:35:41,967 --> 00:35:44,832 - Now we turn. - 17 miles. 605 00:35:45,798 --> 00:35:46,937 Now we turn! 606 00:35:47,800 --> 00:35:50,665 The only way they can turn is by applying more power 607 00:35:50,769 --> 00:35:53,910 to the left engine to make them go right, and vice versa. 608 00:35:57,465 --> 00:35:58,673 They're swinging round to the right, 609 00:35:58,777 --> 00:36:01,228 trying to keep the plane steady and descend 610 00:36:01,331 --> 00:36:03,782 all at the same time, using nothing but the engines. 611 00:36:04,921 --> 00:36:06,750 Airport's at 3-4 to come right. 612 00:36:06,854 --> 00:36:08,442 Now 3-20. 613 00:36:20,902 --> 00:36:22,801 - Speed? - 10 knots and stable, 614 00:36:22,904 --> 00:36:25,355 keep speed up. - Yes, yes. 615 00:36:26,736 --> 00:36:27,978 1000 feet. 616 00:36:31,741 --> 00:36:33,605 3500 feet. 617 00:36:35,883 --> 00:36:37,505 3200 feet. 618 00:36:39,438 --> 00:36:41,647 Turn on ahead. 619 00:36:42,717 --> 00:36:43,718 Against all their instincts, 620 00:36:43,822 --> 00:36:45,858 they'll have to keep the speed up on landing, 621 00:36:45,962 --> 00:36:48,758 or the nose will drop and they'll crash. 622 00:36:48,861 --> 00:36:51,899 They should be landing at around 300 kilometers per hour. 623 00:36:52,002 --> 00:36:54,798 But they are coming in 100 kilometers per hour faster. 624 00:36:54,902 --> 00:36:58,008 No one knows if the landing gear will take the strain. 625 00:37:06,569 --> 00:37:08,467 As they reach 120 metres, 626 00:37:08,571 --> 00:37:11,332 the hot air from the ground and strong wind blowing 627 00:37:11,436 --> 00:37:14,439 across their flight path, upsets all their plans. 628 00:37:15,405 --> 00:37:17,269 The winds coming from the left and the turbulence, 629 00:37:17,373 --> 00:37:18,684 we were drifting to the right, 630 00:37:18,788 --> 00:37:20,341 that's where the airport building was. 631 00:37:27,590 --> 00:37:28,867 It's bumpy! 632 00:37:30,524 --> 00:37:32,284 As the plane approaches the runway, 633 00:37:32,388 --> 00:37:34,459 the nose is pointing dangerously low 634 00:37:34,562 --> 00:37:36,357 and the left wing is dropping. 635 00:37:40,603 --> 00:37:42,087 Come on, buddy! 636 00:37:44,710 --> 00:37:46,678 They're carrying too much speed. 637 00:37:46,781 --> 00:37:48,818 They could over run the runway. 638 00:37:56,515 --> 00:37:57,758 Keep the speed up! We are going left. 639 00:37:57,861 --> 00:37:59,380 Yes! I increase. 640 00:38:00,554 --> 00:38:03,729 If we go into fast landing, we may go off the runway. 641 00:38:05,662 --> 00:38:07,871 They are landing 3-3 left. 642 00:38:07,975 --> 00:38:11,461 Fire trucks on standby, Medevac is on standby. 643 00:38:18,917 --> 00:38:20,919 ...looks like he's too wide now. 644 00:38:21,022 --> 00:38:25,406 Steady, steady! 645 00:38:25,510 --> 00:38:27,650 You are approaching the end of your life. 646 00:38:27,753 --> 00:38:29,548 You realize it. 647 00:38:31,723 --> 00:38:32,931 Come on, buddy! 648 00:38:33,034 --> 00:38:35,071 - Back! - Okay! 649 00:38:46,979 --> 00:38:48,740 Oh... 650 00:38:53,503 --> 00:38:55,505 Looks like one of his gear collapsed. 651 00:38:55,609 --> 00:38:57,093 Yeah, it did. 652 00:38:58,543 --> 00:38:59,682 Off runway! 653 00:39:21,945 --> 00:39:23,222 He's in the dirt? 654 00:39:23,430 --> 00:39:24,845 He's just come off the runway. 655 00:39:24,948 --> 00:39:26,778 That's what's left of him. 656 00:39:33,923 --> 00:39:36,477 The DHL Airbus has managed to land 657 00:39:36,581 --> 00:39:38,755 through an incredible feat of flying... 658 00:39:42,587 --> 00:39:44,174 But their troubles are not over. 659 00:39:47,523 --> 00:39:48,731 Nice landing, wow. 660 00:39:48,834 --> 00:39:51,216 Confirm evacuate? 661 00:39:51,458 --> 00:39:52,942 Evacuate. 662 00:39:53,701 --> 00:39:55,531 Evacuation. 663 00:40:19,624 --> 00:40:21,142 A final irony. 664 00:40:21,246 --> 00:40:23,938 After getting safely to the ground against all the odds, 665 00:40:24,042 --> 00:40:26,424 one more unforeseen danger. 666 00:40:27,183 --> 00:40:29,254 She might blow. 667 00:40:29,944 --> 00:40:32,499 Hey, guys! Don't move. 668 00:40:33,189 --> 00:40:35,847 That area has unexploded ordinance. 669 00:40:35,950 --> 00:40:37,504 Do not move. 670 00:40:37,607 --> 00:40:38,815 What's that? 671 00:40:38,919 --> 00:40:40,783 He's saying there might be bombs here. 672 00:40:40,886 --> 00:40:41,991 I don't believe this. 673 00:40:43,095 --> 00:40:45,063 We're coming to get you! 674 00:40:45,684 --> 00:40:49,101 The area is still littered with unexploded bombs and shells 675 00:40:49,205 --> 00:40:52,001 left over from the battle to capture the airport from Saddam's men. 676 00:40:53,209 --> 00:40:56,143 Now when we get to you, we're going to back up 677 00:40:56,246 --> 00:40:58,628 and you gotta follow in our tracks! 678 00:40:59,215 --> 00:41:01,493 Now, we're gonna get you outta here, 679 00:41:01,597 --> 00:41:04,772 but you gotta walk right in my wheel tracks, okay? 680 00:41:11,848 --> 00:41:15,887 Keep coming. It's not much further now. 681 00:41:30,971 --> 00:41:32,455 Now, for the first time, 682 00:41:32,559 --> 00:41:35,044 the crew can see the damage for themselves. 683 00:41:38,565 --> 00:41:40,601 They have survived the unsurvivable. 684 00:41:40,705 --> 00:41:42,638 No crew has ever successfully landed 685 00:41:42,741 --> 00:41:44,778 such a badly damaged airliner. 686 00:41:44,881 --> 00:41:47,608 They had to learn and practice a whole new flying technique. 687 00:41:47,712 --> 00:41:50,611 But the remarkable thing is, had they known it, 688 00:41:50,715 --> 00:41:53,718 the technology had already been invented to save any pilot 689 00:41:53,821 --> 00:41:55,858 in this desperate situation. 690 00:42:05,350 --> 00:42:07,766 The DHL pilots have managed to fly and land 691 00:42:07,870 --> 00:42:09,906 a plane without any flying controls. 692 00:42:10,010 --> 00:42:11,667 It's the first time it's happened. 693 00:42:11,770 --> 00:42:15,463 Two earlier occasions near Tokyo and Sioux City, Iowa, 694 00:42:15,567 --> 00:42:18,190 ended with the loss of over 600 lives. 695 00:42:18,294 --> 00:42:22,022 In 1989, NASA began to investigate ways 696 00:42:22,125 --> 00:42:25,404 to land crippled aircraft using only throttle controls. 697 00:42:25,646 --> 00:42:28,028 Engineers and pilots came up with software 698 00:42:28,131 --> 00:42:30,962 that could cope with total hydraulic failure. 699 00:42:31,065 --> 00:42:32,860 It's called: PCA, 700 00:42:32,964 --> 00:42:34,897 for Propulsion Controlled Aircraft. 701 00:42:38,038 --> 00:42:40,040 The PCA concept is simple. 702 00:42:40,143 --> 00:42:42,801 Pilots tell the aircraft's flight management computer 703 00:42:42,905 --> 00:42:45,873 what they want to do: turn, climb, descend. 704 00:42:45,977 --> 00:42:50,119 But instead of sending those commands down hydraulic lines to the control surfaces, 705 00:42:50,222 --> 00:42:52,984 the computer orders the engines alone to do it. 706 00:42:56,021 --> 00:42:57,678 To test this software, 707 00:42:57,782 --> 00:43:00,681 this MD11 aircraft is landing with no hydraulics, 708 00:43:00,785 --> 00:43:03,028 and using engine thrust alone. 709 00:43:03,132 --> 00:43:05,272 The pilot is not moving the throttles. 710 00:43:05,375 --> 00:43:07,999 The PCA software is doing it all for him. 711 00:43:11,727 --> 00:43:14,315 Though none of the plane's normal controls were used, 712 00:43:14,419 --> 00:43:16,973 the MD11's landing was not only survivable 713 00:43:17,077 --> 00:43:19,182 but very similar to a normal landing. 714 00:43:20,183 --> 00:43:24,671 I believe that the DHL incident has revived interest 715 00:43:24,774 --> 00:43:27,018 in propulsion controlled aircraft systems 716 00:43:27,121 --> 00:43:31,263 as an augment to... 717 00:43:31,367 --> 00:43:34,128 perhaps the systems we have in today's aircraft 718 00:43:34,232 --> 00:43:37,580 that would certainly mitigate the damage 719 00:43:37,684 --> 00:43:41,101 that could have been done to this aircraft 720 00:43:41,204 --> 00:43:43,862 and certainly could mitigate the damage 721 00:43:43,966 --> 00:43:48,004 done to an aircraft carrying 500 to 600 people. 722 00:43:48,867 --> 00:43:52,837 One of the enthusiasts for the PCA system is Captain Dennis Fitch, 723 00:43:52,940 --> 00:43:56,047 one of the pilots who survived the Sioux City DC10 crash. 724 00:43:56,737 --> 00:44:00,499 This is just absolutely an amazing piece of equipment. 725 00:44:00,741 --> 00:44:02,812 What they have done, and what they have achieved, 726 00:44:02,916 --> 00:44:05,263 and the success ratio that we now have to survive 727 00:44:05,366 --> 00:44:07,714 and the ability we now have with modern aircraft 728 00:44:07,817 --> 00:44:09,785 completely controlled on hydraulics... 729 00:44:09,888 --> 00:44:12,304 to have this occur again and to have this on board the aircraft, 730 00:44:12,408 --> 00:44:14,030 is a very warm feeling as a pilot. 731 00:44:15,342 --> 00:44:17,102 Blue is gone. 732 00:44:18,103 --> 00:44:19,795 We've lost all hydraulics. 733 00:44:19,898 --> 00:44:21,935 America's Federal Aviation Administration 734 00:44:22,038 --> 00:44:25,801 conducted research into PCA but soon abandoned it. 735 00:44:25,904 --> 00:44:28,666 It says the risk of losing all hydraulics is too low 736 00:44:28,769 --> 00:44:32,152 to make systems like the PCA worthwhile. 737 00:44:32,255 --> 00:44:35,086 The FAA's conclusion after their studies 738 00:44:35,189 --> 00:44:39,297 was that these events are so rare 739 00:44:39,400 --> 00:44:44,026 as to not require the mandate of an additional system. 740 00:44:45,786 --> 00:44:48,271 And of course they did not consider the event 741 00:44:48,375 --> 00:44:51,792 or the possibility of a surface-to-air weapons attack 742 00:44:51,896 --> 00:44:53,242 on the aircraft. 743 00:44:56,348 --> 00:44:58,316 The DHL is the first plane in Iraq 744 00:44:58,419 --> 00:45:01,077 to be hit by a surface-to-air missile. 745 00:45:01,181 --> 00:45:03,252 But in recent years the threat of terrorist controlled 746 00:45:03,355 --> 00:45:07,325 shoulder launched antiaircraft missiles has been growing. 747 00:45:07,428 --> 00:45:12,537 There have been roughly 30-odd incidents 748 00:45:12,779 --> 00:45:16,196 of commercial aircraft being attacked 749 00:45:16,299 --> 00:45:19,751 by man-portable surface-to-air missiles 750 00:45:19,855 --> 00:45:21,960 leading up to the DHL one. 751 00:45:24,066 --> 00:45:27,034 What makes the risk of missile attack in Iraq so serious 752 00:45:27,138 --> 00:45:28,967 is that for months nobody was guarding 753 00:45:29,071 --> 00:45:30,831 the abandoned depots of the Iraqi army 754 00:45:30,935 --> 00:45:32,868 leaving terrorists free to help themselves 755 00:45:32,971 --> 00:45:35,353 to millions of dollars worth of arms. 756 00:45:39,253 --> 00:45:42,256 I believe there are weapons caches everywhere in Iraq. 757 00:45:42,360 --> 00:45:44,949 In my opinion they also have many missiles. 758 00:45:45,052 --> 00:45:47,848 There is widespread fear these terror weapons 759 00:45:47,952 --> 00:45:50,057 could soon be targeting passenger airliners 760 00:45:50,161 --> 00:45:51,541 all over the world. 761 00:45:53,992 --> 00:45:56,305 The US government's Department of Homeland Security 762 00:45:56,408 --> 00:45:59,101 is spending over 100 million dollars on research 763 00:45:59,204 --> 00:46:01,759 to adapt military counter missile technology 764 00:46:01,862 --> 00:46:03,795 for civilian airliners. 765 00:46:03,899 --> 00:46:07,972 It is inevitable today that commercial aircraft 766 00:46:08,075 --> 00:46:11,251 will have to be fitted, at some time 767 00:46:11,354 --> 00:46:14,599 with laser and infrared jamming systems. 768 00:46:14,841 --> 00:46:19,604 The infrared jammer will confuse 769 00:46:19,846 --> 00:46:22,883 the seeker for the missile, 770 00:46:22,987 --> 00:46:27,094 whereas the laser jammer will direct a pulse 771 00:46:27,198 --> 00:46:31,029 into the seeker and burn out the seeker of the missile. 772 00:46:31,133 --> 00:46:34,999 Singapore Airlines, Quantus Airlines, 773 00:46:35,102 --> 00:46:40,038 they're all looking to install something into their aircraft. 774 00:46:40,659 --> 00:46:44,042 If you look at things like the queen's flight in the UK, 775 00:46:44,146 --> 00:46:47,908 the president's aircraft in the USA 776 00:46:48,012 --> 00:46:51,947 and the King of Jordan's fleet, they're all fitted. 777 00:46:52,050 --> 00:46:54,363 Terrorism is with us today 778 00:46:54,466 --> 00:46:57,642 and will always be with us for the rest of our lives. 779 00:46:57,884 --> 00:47:00,921 It's impossible to defeat terrorism 780 00:47:01,025 --> 00:47:05,374 but what is possible is to control terrorism 781 00:47:05,477 --> 00:47:09,378 at a commercially acceptable level, 782 00:47:09,481 --> 00:47:15,177 if we don't do that then there's no future for us. 783 00:47:20,423 --> 00:47:23,219 But miraculously, without any of this equipment, 784 00:47:23,323 --> 00:47:26,671 the crew had brought their plane to a successful landing. 785 00:47:27,948 --> 00:47:29,985 It is the only confirmed occasion in history 786 00:47:30,088 --> 00:47:32,573 when a missile has exploded on a large civilian airliner 787 00:47:32,677 --> 00:47:34,472 which has then landed without crashing. 788 00:47:41,341 --> 00:47:45,241 For Mario Rofail, it was a good note on which to retire. 789 00:47:45,345 --> 00:47:48,486 It was a good time to say goodbye to aviation. 790 00:47:48,589 --> 00:47:50,488 I had been flying for 30 years. 791 00:47:51,454 --> 00:47:57,046 Clean record even to the last minute. 792 00:47:57,150 --> 00:47:59,704 We were lucky but also, 793 00:47:59,946 --> 00:48:03,294 we fought to survive. 794 00:48:03,397 --> 00:48:08,057 I learned some things about life, maybe, but... 795 00:48:08,161 --> 00:48:10,197 I don't think it makes me a better pilot. 796 00:48:12,613 --> 00:48:14,408 The three DHL crew have received 797 00:48:14,512 --> 00:48:17,377 some of the highest awards that the civilian aviation community 798 00:48:17,480 --> 00:48:21,070 has to offer in recognition of an unprecedented achievement. 799 00:48:22,278 --> 00:48:24,902 Teamwork was absolutely the key factor 800 00:48:25,005 --> 00:48:27,283 of bringing that plane back to the ground 801 00:48:27,387 --> 00:48:29,458 with all three people alive. 802 00:48:31,080 --> 00:48:33,013 On December 30, 2003, 803 00:48:33,117 --> 00:48:36,085 five weeks after the missile struck the airliner, 804 00:48:36,189 --> 00:48:40,158 General Mark Kimmitt gives his daily press briefing in Baghdad. 805 00:48:41,504 --> 00:48:45,129 Of note on Saturday, Sarhid ahb Sarhid, 806 00:48:45,232 --> 00:48:48,926 a former directorate of military intelligence officer 807 00:48:49,029 --> 00:48:51,549 suspected of leading a large anti-coalition group 808 00:48:51,652 --> 00:48:56,036 in the region and suspected of the downing of the DHL jetliner 809 00:48:56,140 --> 00:48:58,970 died at a coalition medical facility from wounds received 810 00:48:59,074 --> 00:49:01,662 in a targeted raid on his complex. 811 00:49:03,595 --> 00:49:06,115 The Americans believed they had killed the leader 812 00:49:06,219 --> 00:49:08,669 of the group that fired the missiles at the DHL. 813 00:49:08,773 --> 00:49:12,294 Claudine Vernier-Palliez is not so sure. 814 00:49:12,397 --> 00:49:16,125 So I thought he was dead. I tried to verify this later. 815 00:49:16,229 --> 00:49:19,404 He wasn't dead and it wasn't him they got. 816 00:49:19,508 --> 00:49:24,582 And my photographer returned to Iraq and saw this person again. 817 00:49:24,685 --> 00:49:26,377 He was still alive. 818 00:49:33,073 --> 00:49:35,420 In the fog of war, no one can say for sure 819 00:49:35,524 --> 00:49:37,560 whether the man who called himself Abu Abdallah 820 00:49:37,664 --> 00:49:39,424 is still alive. 821 00:49:39,528 --> 00:49:42,496 But what is certain is that the threat of further missile attacks on planes, 822 00:49:42,600 --> 00:49:45,672 both military and civilian, is still there. 823 00:50:12,837 --> 00:50:14,183 difuze