All language subtitles for Air.Disasters.S03E06.Break.Up.Over.Texas.1080p.PMTP.WEB-DL.DDP2.0.H.264-maldini_track3_[eng]

Laredo International
Airport, Texas.

Continental Express
is such a watershed moment

for accident investigation.

Outside looks good.

Okay.
I've done the cockpit scans.

We're set for
the before-start checklist.

Continental Express
flight 2574.

It happened extremely fast.

The force was so violent.

The plane was unflyable.

Oh, my god. Look.

I was a little bit scared
when I first saw the wreckage.

I told them that
I thought it was bomb went off.

Kaboom!

The wreckage will
tell a chilling story...

If they had strictly
followed those procedures,

this accident should not
have happened.

...of good intentions
gone terribly wrong.

Ladies and gentlemen,

we are starting our approach.

We lost both engines!

Put the mask over your nose.

Emergency descent.

Mayday, mayday.

Brace for impact!

I think I lost one.

Investigation starting.

He's gonna crash!

Jetlink 2574.

They're going to bring
everybody in on 26 or 27.

Okie-dokie.

Autopilot off.

Continental Express
flight 2574

and its 11 passengers nears
the end of its one-hour flight

from Laredo to Houston, Texas.

It's the second flight of
the day for this crew.

They have already flown
from Houston to Laredo.

Now they're on their way back.

15,000 feet below,
it's a warm late summer morning

on the farms and cattle ranches
of southern Texas.

Captured on the right.

The pilots prepare
the Embraer 120 Brasilia

for another routine landing.

Captain Brad Patridge
is just 29 years old.

43-year-old first officer
Clint Rodosovich is very close

to becoming a captain himself.

They are less than
70 miles from Houston,

home for both pilots.

Pushing this descent.

Making like the space shuttle.

High speed. High speed.

In the blink of an eye,

the plane is plummeting
towards the ground.

It drops 2,000 feet
in just a few seconds.

Stall.

Far below, Cary Labay
and his brother Clifton

are working on their farm.

My brother and I
heard an explosion.

We both looked up in the air
and it was, "oh, my god. Look."

Seen the plane
coming out of the air.

The plane was spiraling.

Flight 2574
plummets to the ground

at more than 300 miles an hour.

Engine.

Autopilot.

autopilot, autopilot.

Unit one channel.
Unit one channel.

When it hit the ground,
there was a massive explosion.

My brother said, "let's go."

and I said, "man, I really don't
think there's anything

I want to see there."

When I made the 911 call,
they were asking for directions,

and I told them, I said,

"all you have to do
is follow the smoke."

What we see on
the ground is not recognizable

in any shape, form or fashion
as having been an airplane.

Firefighters find the smoldering

wreckage of the aircraft

in the middle of
a farmer's field

near Eagle Lake, Texas,
just 68 miles west of Houston.

As we went there you--

if you wouldn't have knew
it was an airplane,

you would have just thought
it was a pile of trash,

it was burnt so far.

10 bodies were found
inside the wreckage,

four outside.

All 14 people on board,

including Patridge and
Rodosovich, are dead.

Accident investigators
must now figure out

why lives were lost on
a popular commuter flight.

Whenever one passenger dies

in a scheduled flight,

we launch an entire team,
that's understood.

We have about 12 specialties
that form the go-team.

And we have to be
prepared to launch

on three to four hours notice.

Jim Ritter
is an engineer

who specializes in
airplane mechanics.

One of the key
things that we do

in every accident investigation
is we try to figure out

why did the airplane
behave the way it did?

Was it normal performance,
or was there a malfunction

that can explain
what caused the accident?

I was a little bit scared
when I first saw the wreckage.

The airplane was destroyed,
and there wasn't a lot to go on.

Deepak Joshi is an expert

on the structure of
the aircraft itself.

I went straight
to the main wreckage,

where I found most
of the airplane.

My first order of business

was to locate the four corners
of the airplane.

The small plane was
a Brazilian-made twin turboprop,

the Embraer 120.

Its size and speed
have made it popular

with regional airlines
in the U.S.

The Continental Express fleet
includes 34 of the aircraft.

The first day
when we got down there,

I led the group in terms of
interviewing six witnesses.

And one of them reported that
the airplane appeared to be

in a routine descent
to the airport,

and as he watched it, he saw
that there was an explosion.

There was an explosion.

I told him that I thought
it was a bomb went off.

And it was spiraling
as it went down.

When it hit the ground,
there was a secondary explosion.

And kaboom!

The primary explosion's what
caused us to go, "oh, my god."

I could see a hole in it.

It looked like
it had a hole in it

about the size of a Volkswagen.

The eyewitnesses
were unanimous

that the airplane was on fire
before it reached the ground.

I seen this plane.

Saw the fire, just the outside
wings, and going straight down.

The wing was blown
completely off.

And it was just dangling there.

The eyewitness
testimony is compelling.

An onboard explosion
caused by a bomb

seems like a very real
possibility.

Agents from the Federal Bureau
of Investigation

are quickly on the scene looking
for evidence of foul play.

The FAA said that they believe

that there had been
a midair explosion,

and it went off, it went off
the screen very rapidly.

The FBI had gotten a report

that someone had placed
a bomb on the aircraft,

and they were being very careful

and making sure that there was
no evidence of any kind of bomb

or criminal activity.

The NTSB
has heard reports

of a federally protected witness

testifying in
a Laredo drug trial

who was reportedly booked
on the continental flight.

The suspect missed the flight
after the trial ran late.

What I'm telling you
is our investigators

have nothing on that.

I don't know how much more clear
I can be on that.

The wreckage itself
gives the investigators

an immediate clue
about the crash.

I saw the cockpit
was there.

The fuselage was there.

The left wing had folded
under the right wing.

And a portion of the vertical
stabilizer was there.

But the horizontal stabilizer
was missing.

The Embraer 120 is
what's called a T-tail airplane.

The horizontal stabilizer sits

on top of
the vertical stabilizer.

And then I wondered,
where could it be?

218 yards away, well
back from the main wreckage,

Joshi finds
the missing tail section.

Can someone help me
get a bearing on this?

That made me believe that

there is definitely an in-flight
breakup of an airplane.

All right.

A lot of the various pieces
were scattered around,

so one of the key questions that
we kept asking ourselves

was what happened first?

What initiated this event?

I'm guessing that tail came off
at about 9,000 feet.

There's something there that,

something speaking to us
in that evidence.

Deciphering
the message won't be easy.

But as the story of
flight 2574 unfolds,

investigators will uncover
a shocking accident scenario

unlike anything seen before.

All 14 people aboard
were killed,

among them the pilot, captain
Brad Patridge of Kingwood.

NTSB investigators
recover the black boxes

from the rear fuselage of
Continental Express flight 2574.

The recorders are
pivotal in our work.

It's really what gives us
a window into what happened.

If we didn't have
the flight data recorder,

or we don't have
the cockpit voice recorder,

we don't have a lot of
information to go on.

The black boxes will
be rushed to Washington

for analysis.

Investigators focus next on
the plane's severed tail.

There is a missing
piece of the puzzle,

and it does not reach
the main wreckage.

That's where the focus
tends to go.

From its position
218 yards back

from the rest of the wreckage,

investigators can tell
it was one of the first parts

to come off the plane.

They wonder if corrosion
or metal fatigue

may have weakened the tail
to the point of failure.

When a piece of metal bends
back and forth over time,

it eventually snaps.

Called fatigue,
that failure is identified

by a smooth, clean break.

We started to look at
the fracture surfaces

of the vertical stabilizer.

But the edges of
the tail section aren't smooth.

They're jagged.

In this particular accident,

we did not see
any brown color, rust.

No corrosion.
No fatigue.

The fracture surfaces
clearly indicate

that the tail was
ripped off suddenly.

In Washington,

NTSB technicians
open the black boxes.

The cockpit voice recorder is

our single most important
piece of evidence.

It records everything that's
said, all sounds in the cockpit

for the last half hour
before impact.

You can hear cockpit sounds
that can be very helpful.

So you can hear
what the engines are doing.

You can hear
a whole bunch of things.

We do analysis on that.

But no voice recorder
comes with a guarantee.

It's a complicated
piece of electronics

hooked up to several
microphones.

After slamming into the ground
at more than 300 miles an hour,

there's a chance the recording
may be damaged or lost.

In Texas, the FBI field unit
finishes testing

remnants of the plane
for any residue from explosives.

I think
it was a bomb went off.

The results are conclusive.

There was no bomb
on board flight 2574.

It became pretty obvious

that we had a structural reason
for the accident

and not really a bomb
or any kind of criminal event.

The fire and a midair
explosion reported by witnesses

were likely caused
when the wing broke off,

igniting the fuel inside.

Investigators discover
that the tail section

did not fall off in one piece.

I noticed that
the leading edge

on the left side horizontal
stabilizer was missing.

This is very unusual.

Maybe a small section of the
leading edge would be missing,

but not the whole, complete
10-foot section.

The leading edge
on the right side

is still attached
to the stabilizer,

but the one on the left
is missing entirely.

So when did
this piece break off?

A key question there is,

what was the first part that
came off of the airplane?

Because, a lot of times,

the initiating event is going to
be found in those early parts

that break from the airplane
in an in-flight breakup.

It's now
vitally important

for investigators to find
the missing leading edge.

It's a piece of molded composite
material three yards long.

Its rounded shape
allows air to pass

smoothly over the stabilizer.

But the missing piece
can't be found anywhere

near the crash site.

We really needed it,

and there was
a growing frustration,

because we thought
this part was critical.

Without it,

they don't have all the pieces
of the aircraft.

More importantly,
they're missing the piece

that most likely
came off first.

That piece of evidence
was very, very important

for this investigation.

And we made our best effort
to find this leading edge.

The FAA asked us
to assist in the search.

We walked our property.

I knew every bit
of that property.

As searchers
comb the area,

Jim Ritter receives
a copy of the CVR data

from the lab in Washington.

The good news is
the recording is intact.

The pilots' final moments
have been clearly captured.

Radio check.

Ritter wants to see if

they discussed
a developing crisis,

or perhaps were forced
to make a sudden maneuver

to avoid an oncoming obstacle.

That the airplanes
are flying within

6,000 to 8,000 feet,

you know, you might have some
involvement of birds.

But the twin turboprop

was flying much higher,

well above any threat
of a bird strike.

Radio check.

I can hear you
loud and clear.

As you, also.

But the CVR
is mostly filled

with the sound of controllers

giving the pilots
routine instructions...

Jetlink 2574,
say your heading.

050.

Jetlink 2574, roger.

Fly heading 030.

...and normal
conversation between the pilots.

I've got
a few days off coming up.

I'm gonna head
down to the coast,

a little r-and-r,
a little golf.

There are no hints
of trouble on this flight

until the first officer pushes
his plane into a rapid descent

towards Houston.

Pushing this descent.

Making like the space shuttle.

Well, the CVR showed us
that the flight crew

was totally professional.

I mean, they were not
doing anything

that they shouldn't
have been doing.

Investigators listen
for any other clues--

the sounds of objects being
upset in the cockpit.

The engines suddenly screaming.

The blare of flight
warning alarms.

Stall.

Stall, stall.

But there's no more
conversation at all.

The recording tells
investigators

that Patridge and Rodosovich had
absolutely no advance warning

of their plane's sudden plunge.

The event happened
extremely fast.

I don't think there was anything
that the crew could have done.

An analysis of
the flight data recorder

comes to the same conclusion.

We didn't see
anything unusual

about the accident flight

until the very instant
that we had the pitch down.

Until the plane went
into a dive near top speed

and broke up, there was nothing
abnormal about this flight.

The cause of the crash
remains a mystery.

Finding the one missing piece
of the tail

is now more important than ever.

We were doing marches
through the area,

and after several days went by,
it was difficult.

We had flights by
the local volunteer groups

were flying over the site.

They're searching
a four-square-mile area

for a three-yard-long
composite piece.

Finding it is a long shot.

There was
this growing theme

that we have to find that part.

And there was a frustration

that it was way more difficult
than we thought.

We had engineers from
the aircraft manufacturer

helping to tell us
how heavy the parts were...

Do you have the weight
of the piece?

...the dimensions of the parts,
so that we could figure out

what drag levels we might see.

Ritter logs the
coordinates of the crash site.

He studies the weather patterns
from the day of the accident.

So I took that
information, put it together,

and calculated where the
leading edge radius should be.

Finally, he comes up
with a possible location

for the missing piece.

I think
it's somewhere in here.

Over the next couple of days,
we went to that area,

and we laid out a grid
to search for it.

We searched for it on,
in the four-wheelers,

and in the helicopter.

On the third day
of the search,

some good news.

We were flying over
the Texas countryside,

Big Cattle Country, suddenly the
pilot sitting next to me said,

"I think I see it."

The piece is
in the area predicted,

but it's so well camouflaged,

it was nearly impossible
to spot.

People had walked by it
hundreds of times,

but it just happened to
blend in with the cattle fence.

Hey, Jim, we found it, and
it's just where you said it was.

Of course it is,

you just weren't looking
hard enough.

We had spent several days
all day long,

long days and nights
calculating where to look,

and so I was elated
when we finally found the part.

Now that
the leading edge has been found,

investigators believe
they finally have

all the pieces of the plane.

We were really excited,
because it's important.

You want to do your best

to understand what happened
in an accident.

And if you didn't have
the key part,

there would always
be questions.

Right away,
they notice something unusual.

The evidence indicated that

the leading edge upper surface
holes were absolutely clean.

No elongation.
No damage.

But the holes
that hold the piece

to the bottom of the stabilizer
look quite different.

The lower surface holes
onto the leading edge

were elongated.

They were cracked,

as if you have pulled it
through the fasteners.

The missing piece was found

over 1,000 yards southwest
of the tail section.

There is no question
it was the first piece

to fall off the plane.

Look here, look here--
absolutely perfect on top,

but destroyed at the bottom.

The fact that
the screw holes

on the top of the leading edge
aren't damaged

presents a frightening prospect.

It looked like
there was no screws

attached onto the top surface

of the horizontal stabilizer
leading edge.

The discovery
presents the team

with two important questions.

Why were the screws missing?
And...

Could losing this

actually cause
the plane to crash?

The leading edge
improves the aerodynamics

of the plane.

But it's not a moving part
that controls direction.

It's hard to see how losing it

would cause the plane
to plummet from the sky.

At that time,
I was kind of surprised

that losing
a composite leading edge

would actually cause
such a severe impact.

Now that all
the pieces of the plane

have been found,

the investigation moves to NTSB
headquarters in Washington, D.C.

Well, we were
just trying to put

all the pieces of the puzzle
together

and try to make sure
that we understood

what the motion of
the airplane was

after the leading edge radius
broke off.

The horizontal
stabilizer is

like an upside down wing.

It pushes the tail down
while the wings lift it up.

Reducing the force
on the stabilizer

lifts the tail and makes
the flight unstable.

There were still
questions about

maybe it would still be
controllable.

And so we did
an engineering simulation

to try to see if
maybe there was a way

that the airplane
could still fly

after it lost the leading edge.

But we found that it really was
not a controllable situation.

After the leading edge radius
broke off of the airplane,

it was a negative
five-G pitch over.

Once the angle of attack
exceeded the negative limits,

it actually broke
the wing apart.

So it was not
a survivable event.

The simulations
are conclusive.

Losing just one leading edge
along the horizontal stabilizer

will send the plane into
a catastrophic nosedive...

...precisely what witnesses say
happened to flight 2574.

If there is any
component of the wing

that you don't want to lose,
it's the leading edge.

The team now knows
what triggered the crash--

the loss of the stabilizer's
leading edge.

But what they still don't know

is why the part seems not to
have been properly attached.

Examining the maintenance
records for the aircraft,

Brenner makes a disturbing find.

A maintenance crew worked on
the horizontal stabilizer

the night before the accident.

The evidence was mounting

that we really needed
to look in-depth

at the maintenance procedures
done the night before

and the maintenance area.

Continental Express is

one of the most popular carriers

in the United States.

The lives of thousands of
passengers depend on

the entire fleet of aircraft
being properly maintained.

Investigators urgently need
to find out what went wrong

in the hours leading up
to the crash.

NTSB investigator
Malcolm Brenner

travels to Houston
Intercontinental Airport

to talk with
the maintenance crew

that worked on the plane
the night before it crashed.

In general, we wanted
to visit the facility,

to see what the facility
looked like,

and then to go through
specifically what had been done

the evening before.

Now, many times,

a lot of work happens
on these overnight shifts,

and they have to get an airplane
back out to fly the next day.

Terry von Thaden
teaches aviation safety.

She uses flight 2574
as a case study.

So there's a push

to turn this aircraft
around quickly.

Sometimes you can get the work
done, sometimes you can't.

In preparation for winter,

Continental Express had been
inspecting and repairing

the deice boots on
its fleet of Embraer 120's.

The deice boot is
a rubber bladder

that can be inflated
by the pilots

to break up ice
on the wings and tail.

We wanted to interview
every mechanic, supervisor,

and inspection person
who took part in that activity.

Brenner is particularly

interested in three employees.

Shift supervisor
Adam Dillon...

Troy Anderson, an inspector
responsible for checking

the work of the mechanics,

and the evening shift supervisor
who started the job,

John Lepage.

Thanks for
taking the time.

So what was the plan
for the night?

We had about
10 hours to change both boots.

Replacing the boot involves

removing the leading edge,
stripping the old boot off it,

and putting on a new one.

The entire piece
gets screwed back

onto the horizontal stabilizer.

This is a big job
to do all in one night.

It was scheduled
to have these replaced

during the midnight shift.

Somehow the evening shift
had some extra time

and decided they can help out
get this airplane out,

so we'll get it started.

Grab what you need.
I'll get the boots.

Watching over the
work being done by the mechanics

is inspector Troy Anderson.

I had some time
to lend a hand.

We went up to the stabilizer
to start the job.

The mechanic started
working on the bottom.

The inspector volunteered to
climb up on top of the thing

and get the top ones.

The evening shift,
the second shift of the day,

was going to remove the screws

holding the leading edge
in place.

The rest of the work would be
done by the midnight shift.

At 10:00 pm,
Adam Dillon takes over

as supervisor for
the midnight shift.

Hey-hey,
finishing a AC-check,

engine maintenance,
and a boot swap.

-Both sides?
- Yup.

A shift change is
such a crucial time,

because we're taking work
that's halfway done,

and we have to be
very, very specific

about what's been done

and what the other people
are taking over.

When I came on
to my shift,

I asked how far they got
on the deice boots.

The mechanics find

that many of the screws
are stripped.

Getting them out takes longer
than expected.

I found out they were
still trying to remove

the leading edge
on the right side.

And it was looking like

they weren't going to get
both sides done.

Then a crucial decision is made.

Have you started
on the left side yet?

No.

The crew that started
work on the deice boots

went home at 10:30.

There was no way we were
going to get both sides done,

so I decided to just do
the right side that night.

Investigators learn

that the supervisor of
the midnight shift decided

there wasn't enough time
to do both sides.

Guys, forget
the left side for tonight,

and let's get this plane
out of here.

So the guys, they spent
most of their shift

replacing the right side boot.

A few hours later,

mechanics finished changing
the deice boot

and reinstalled the right side
leading edge.

So your mechanics
didn't do any work at all

on the left side?

No. We didn't touch it.

After having changed
just the right deice boot,

airplane 701 is
rolled out to the gate

for the first flight of the day.

Three hours later, the left
leading edge rips off the tail,

causing the aircraft to plummet

almost 12,000 feet
to the ground.

Back in Washington,

NTSB investigators try
to piece together

the information
they've gathered so far.

...and Lepage.

The individual mechanics,
the supervisors,

in general, I thought
we had good cooperation.

They did describe
what they were doing.

I think they,
they were credible.

I believe they were
trying to help.

Where was Anderson
if he was helping?

We had about 10 hours...

No way we're going to
get both sides done.

I had some time
to lend a hand.

The second shift...

Investigators are
almost certain

that the screws were removed

from the top of the left side
leading edge and never replaced.

But maintenance workers insist

they only worked
on the right side.

Investigators are puzzled.

So the second shift
started the job.

These guys, they started
on the right side.

Their inspector, he helped them.

It's always dangerous

when you change from one shift
to another shift.

And that's why there are very
strict procedures about that.

They were bypassing them.

The inspector jumped in
to get this airplane moving.

That was all disturbing.

Did he ever say
what he did up there?

Yeah, that's great,
let me see that.

"Helped the mechanics
remove the deice boots."

What does that mean?

Malcolm Brenner
returns to Houston

to try to determine precisely
what work inspector Anderson

performed on the doomed plane.

"Helped mechanics
remove deice boots."

it's a very simple statement.

It's not specific as to what
was taken off the aircraft,

what was done,
where the maintenance stood

at that time of
the shift turnover.

"Helped the mechanics
remove the deice boots."

What did you do?

Well, it wasn't that busy,

so I offered to help the guys.

The inspector went up
on the man lift

and started helping
the mechanics.

That's not his job.

He said he wasn't too busy
and they needed help.

They're going to
turn this around.

It wasn't his role.

It wasn't a good idea.

So which side
did you work on, Troy?

Just the right?

Both.

Look.

When I left,
the plan was to do both sides.

For me, the most
disturbing was the inspector.

He was up there,

and he was the one who actually
took the screws off.

Part of the philosophy
of maintenance

is that you have one group
that does the work.

And then you have another group,

the best of the best,
the cream of the cream,

who are then
inspecting the work.

And their function
is to sign off

and make sure that this work
is being done properly.

He had a bag of 40 screws.

And he left the bag of 40 screws
that he took out

on the man lift
for the oncoming shift.

Have you started
the left side yet?

No.

I spoke with
the second shift supervisor.

We decided to skip
the left side.

So he asked
the supervisor,

"have you done any work
on the left side?"

the supervisor looked up
and said, "no.

No, not that I know of."

Guys, forget
the left side for tonight,

and let's get this plane
out of here.

No one on the midnight shift

knew that Anderson had
started pulling screws

from the left side.

The work records
weren't done.

And the procedures,
even though they're in place

and should have worked,
they weren't followed.

Did you give your mechanics
the paperwork

to fill out on the job?

No.

Sometimes the paperwork takes
longer than the job itself.

On a shift turnover,

that's one of the critical
things that you have.

You have a written record
that anyone can go back to.

It wasn't done.

None of the mechanics
from the evening shift

filled in the cards that
detailed the work they'd done

for the next shift.

Paperwork is never fun.

And then when you're describing
something you've already done,

people don't necessarily
want to do that.

I've already done it.
I did it.

I don't necessarily
want to go back

and write it down that I did it.

And we asked the
supervisor why wasn't it done,

and he said, "well,
it's a simple procedure,

and sometimes
it's not worth doing.

If you take out
a bunch of screws,

you wouldn't issue
the work cards.

It's more trouble
than to do it."

that was disturbing.

And inspector
Troy Anderson was vague

about the work he did.

His write up
didn't really describe

the fact that he took
the screws out on the left.

He did not see
his role as a mechanic

on that aircraft.

So I think perhaps he didn't
take writing on those cards

as seriously as he should have,

because that was
the mechanic's job to do that.

A failure in
routine maintenance

caused the crash of flight 2574.

But there is still
one lingering question.

Captured on the right.

The plane flew
nearly 500 miles

before the leading edge
tore off.

It is pretty amazing
that the horizontal tail

stayed intact
for that first flight.

The deadly failure came

near the end of the crew's
second flight that day.

Pushing this descent.

Making like the space shuttle.

Why didn't it happen sooner?

Investigators pore over the
recorded data from both flights.

They compare flight parameters
like speed, heading, altitude,

in search of anything that might
provide an answer.

It was a question of, you know,

how much the forces
would have changed.

They zero in on the
plane's airspeed during descent.

Just before its fatal dive,

flight 2574 hit
a speed of 260 knots.

Though safe under
normal conditions,

that's close to top speed

and 44 knots faster than
the previous descent.

They conduct a study
to confirm suspicions

that those 44 extra knots were
enough to trigger disaster.

The leading edge stays on
at 216 knots--

the plane's maximum speed
during the first flight.

The aerodynamic forces
never quite rose

to the level that they did
on the accident flight.

But an increase of
44 knots drastically increases

the amount of drag
on the leading edge.

Once the plane got up
near its maximum speed,

it had this failure
waiting to happen.

The tragic significance

of first officer Rodosovich's
last words

is now clear to investigators.

Pushing this descent.

Making like the space shuttle.

His high-speed descent

sealed the fate of flight 2574.

The airplane broke apart

at the highest speed
that it reached

since the maintenance was done
the night before.

The aerodynamic forces
were very high,

and so eventually
they were enough

to bend the leading edge radius
downward,

because it wasn't
attached anymore

on the top of
the horizontal tail.

And they bent it downward
to the point where finally,

the oncoming air was powerful
enough to break it off.

At 260 knots,
the leading edge rips off.

When that part failed,
the plane was unflyable.

High speed.

High speed.

I mean,
the force was so violent.

Engine.

Engine.

On the cockpit
voice recording,

the pilots don't say anything
after it happens.

They were probably
incapacitated.

It's that violent.

The massive
negative G-force

would have instantly sent blood
rushing to the brains

of the passengers and crew,
rendering them unconscious.

One channel.

Unit one channel.

Unit one channel.

Unit one channel.

Unit one channel.

The NTSB blames
the accident

on the failure to reinsert
all the screws

holding the left leading edge
to the tail.

My heart reached out
to the people

that had worked on the airplane,

because I knew that
this was a human error.

And whoever had been involved
in that maintenance,

I'm sure was going to feel
very badly about the situation.

The safety board also
takes the unprecedented step

of faulting Continental Express
for not making sure

all maintenance procedures
were followed.

In particular,
the failure to ensure

the mechanics and inspectors
completed the proper paperwork.

Sometimes the paperwork
takes longer

than the job itself.

This was
a preventable accident.

If they had strictly followed
those procedures,

this accident should not
have happened.

The Continental
Express accident

is such a watershed moment
for accidents

and accident investigation
in particular,

because it's one of
the first times

that the culture of
the organization was mentioned

in an accident investigation.

Never before
has the NTSB cited

an airline's senior management

for allowing a climate
where rules get bent.

Leadership needs to understand

their accountability
in these accidents

and have more commitment towards
the people on the line,

so that they can do their jobs
properly and effectively.

As a result
of the crash,

airlines now put
much greater emphasis

on making sure all
safety procedures are followed.

They use computerized systems

to more precisely track
mechanics' work.

But better technology is
only part of the solution.

One of the things we try

and get people on the front line
to do is talk.

We try and encourage them
to speak up,

that there are
no stupid questions.

Every question is important.

This is a case where
small deviations...

By many people...

Where cutting corners
in small ways

that appear small
to each person,

can accumulate to cause
this horrible accident,

a horrible and preventable
accident.