All language subtitles for Air.Disasters.S07E02.Falling.From.The.Sky.1080p.PMTP.WEB-DL.DDP5.1.H.264-maldini_track3_[eng]

High above the
Indian Ocean, disaster strikes.

The engine's on fire.

More than
six miles in the air,

all four engines of a British
Airways 747 stop working.

Roger, declare emergency.

Mayday, mayday, mayday.

Speed Bird--

With no
engines and little power,

British Airways Flight 9
falls towards the ocean.

Standby ignition on.

The crew fights
to keep their plane

from crashing into the sea.

What has crippled
their massive jet,

threatening the lives
of everyone on board?

Ladies and gentlemen,
we are starting our approach.

We lost both engines.

Put the mask
over your nose.

Emergency descent.

Brace for impact!

I think I lost one.

Investigation started.

Is there a crash?

June 24, 1982.

British Airways Flight 9
cruises through the sky

over Indonesia.

In a few hours, the plane
and all 263 people on board

are scheduled to land
in Perth, Australia.

Phyllis Welch and
her daughter are

seated in Cabin E at the very
back of the enormous jet.

How's that heroine of yours,
Fanny Price, faring?

She's having a tough
old time at Mansfield Park.

It's a good place for
me to spend a few hours.

I don't mind
being there myself.

That's all right, Mum.
We'll get there.

We had already traversed
at least two time zones.

We were very tired.

We had flown through Bombay,
through Kuala Lumpur.

Hadn't been able to
get much sleep, if any,

and it was a dark dark,
pitch black night.

Ahead of Betty
and Phyllis, Charles Capewell

was returning home
to Perth, Australia

with his two boys,
Chas and Stephen.

Settle down, lads.

Come on.

It's time for a nap.

Get back to your seat.

No.

What?

Do you want to sleep here?

All right.

It was a good flight.
It was going well.

Leaving London, it was great.

And we was all
eager to go home,

and the two boys were
eager to get back to mom.

I thought we'd be home
in three hours, Perth.

They'll be pat.

We'll get in a taxi,
and we'll be home.

While
many of the passengers

have been traveling
for almost a day,

the crew is fresh.

They took control at the
last stopover in Kuala Lumpur.

Captain Eric Moody
got his first taste

of flying at the age of 16,
when he took a gliding lesson.

He was one of the first
ever trained on the 747.

Roger, check with Jakarta.

She got to control--

Speed Bird 9 over
Helene at level 3709.

Speed Bird 9, Roger.

First
officer, Roger Greaves,

has been a co-pilot for
more than six years.

Barry Townley Freeman
has been a flight engineer

on these aircraft
for just a little longer.

I'd not flown with
Eric before or Barry.

That was the first time we'd
actually met, on that flight.

As the jet flies
over the city of Jakarta,

it's cruising at
more than 36,000 feet

and has been in the air
for an hour and a half.

Captain Moody checks
his weather radar.

It shows smooth sailing
for the next 300 miles.

All right, Roger.
It's all clear.

Just keep your eyes open.
I'll be back in a moment.

Just got to use the loo.

Back in the cabin,
many of the passengers

have fallen asleep.

While Charles Capewell
and his sons doze,

an ominous haze appears
above their heads.

It's still legal to smoke
on passenger jets in 1982.

For the cabin crew
though, the smoke

seems thicker than normal.

Seems to be a lot
of smoke out there.

They begin to
worry that a small fire may

be smoldering
somewhere on the plane.

Maybe someone lit
up in the toilet.

Let's go see if we can find it.

A fire at 36,000
feet is a terrifying prospect.

If there is a blaze
somewhere, the crew

must find it immediately.

In the cockpit, the flight
takes an unsettling turn.

Barry
and I were just sitting

there, minding the shop.

Pitch dark night,
of course, and then

we started to get these
pinpricks of light

on the windscreen.

St. Elmo's Fire?

I don't think so.

It's not moving
the way it should.

St. Elmo's Fire is
a natural phenomenon that's

sometimes seen when planes fly
through highly charged thunder

clouds, but there
aren't supposed to be

any thunder clouds tonight.

Anything on the radar?

No.

No, it's clear.

I don't like the look of this.

Let's get a better
look out there.

With the help
of their landing lights,

the two men are disturbed
to see a thin layer of cloud

surrounding their plane,
even though nothing

is showing up on their radar.

But at 37,000 feet,

the normal thing
you would anticipate

would be high cirrus, which
is just a thin layer of cloud.

I think we better get
the captain back up here.

I was reading
my book, and there

was a slight flick
of turbulence--

just a slight flick.

And I glanced over to
the left, where I had

a clear view of the port wing.

And to my surprise,
it was covered

in a brilliant white,
shimmering light,

which seemed to be clinging
to the wing of the aircraft.

I carried on
reading, but I found

that I kept reading
the same paragraph

over and over again and
not taking in a word of it.

I just didn't know
what was happening.

In the cabin,
the smoke begins to thicken.

Stewards have been
unable to figure out

where it's coming from.

If there's a fire,
they can't find it.

All right, well, go
see that the passengers

are comfortable.

You smell anything odd, Mum?

Seems rather smoky in here.

I noticed that thick
smoke was pouring into the cabin

through the vents
above the windows,

and that was a very
sobering sight.

Turkish cigarettes?

It smelled like sort of
the sulfuric electrical smell,

and I went on that flight deck
expecting to hear that we had

some electrical smoke
somewhere on the aircraft,

but nothing was
further from the truth.

When did it start?

Well, just after
you stepped out.

Anything on radar?

No, it's clear.
Not a cloud.

Oh, my Lord!

Look at engine four!

It's lit up somehow.

Captain, Captain,
have a look at number one.

It's the same on my side.

None of the crew have
ever seen anything like this

before, but the light show
is just the beginning.

Their bizarre flight is about
to take a terrifying turn

for the worse.

This light show, if you
like it, became more intense.

In fact, we ended
up sitting there

with two sheets of brilliant
white light in front of us

in place of the windscreens.

Inside
the cabin, smoke

has been growing thicker.

Chief Steward
Graham Skinner has

been organizing an intense,
but quiet search for fire.

What's with all the smoke?

There was
smoke in the cabin.

It got really, really hot.

You were perspiring.

Literally drenched
in perspiration.

The acrid smoke was at the back
of your throat, up your nose,

in your eyes, and
you're rubbing this,

and your eyes were running.

And it was not a very
nice situation at all.

Flight Engineer
Barry Townley-Freeman

has been checking his
instruments carefully.

He smelled the smoke,
but so far has

no indication that
there's a fire

in any of the plane's systems.

We can't find anything.

With one mystery
confronting them,

they are suddenly faced with
a frightening new situation.

Dad, the engine's on fire!

The hole of the wing
was a sheet of light,

and I said, oh, we better
close that, because we

don't know what's that.

Then I
realized that, you know,

something was
dramatically wrong.

There were huge
flames coming out

of the back of the engines.

20-- some people
said 40 feet long.

These huge jets of sheer
flame shooting out of the back

of all the engines.

Is it going to penetrate from
the outside of the aircraft?

Is it going to come
into the cabin?

Are we going to burn to death?

Are we going to choke
to death on the smoke?

What's going to happen?

What's causing it?

What are they going
to do about it?

As the fire engulfs
the engines, one of them

revs loudly and flames out.

Engine failure-- number four.

Fire action, number four.

Checklist, power and gear.

Set.

Thrust lever.

Closed.

Start lever.

Off.

Once one engine fails,

you call for the drill
to shut that one down.

You have drills
for certain things

so that you don't fly
together as a crew forever.

You can fly with
different people then,

and you can standardize
the operations.

The instruments
do not indicate a fire

on the plane, but the
passengers can see flames

erupting from the
engines and stretching

down the length of the 747.

I could not see the engines
from where I was sitting.

I could only see the
space behind them,

but there was enough glow
in that space to convince me

that the aircraft was
really seriously on fire.

We were in trouble.

They knew that-- as
long as they were--

they knew we were
in bad, bad trouble,

and they just looked
at me as if to say,

well, what do we do now, Dad?

The 747 is more than
six miles above the ocean.

Its engines appear
to be burning,

and the peculiar smoke
continues to fill the cabin.

And then the
unthinkable happens.

Number two engine's gone.

All right, then begin
the engine shutdown.

No, wait!

They've all gone.

All four engines have failed!

The other
three just went out

almost immediately,
and that's when it begins

to be a serious emergency.

Those engines made a
grating rumbling sound almost

like a cement mixer,
and then gradually

the noise just disappeared,
and they became silent.

A minute and a half, we've
gone from four engines running

normally to having none.

The 747
has plenty of fuel.

Yet somehow, all four
of the jet's engines

have completely
stopped working.

Roger, declare an emergency.

Mayday, mayday, mayday,
Speed Bird 9, we have lost

all four engines out of 3-7-0.

Mayday, mayday,
mayday, Speed Bird 9,

we have lost all four
engines out of 3-7-0.

With no engine power
and no idea what has crippled

their plane, British
Airways Flight 9

begins falling from the sky.

Jakarta control,
Speed Bird 9, we have lost all

four engines now out of 3-6-0.

First officer Roger
Greaves issues a mayday,

but he has trouble getting
his message across.

Speed Bird 9,
have you got a problem?

Jakarta Control,
Speed Bird 9,

we have lost all four engines--
repeat, all four engines.

Now descending through
flight level 3-5-0.

Speed Bird 9, you have

lost number four engine?

This idiot
doesn't understand.

Jakarta Control,
Speed Bird 9,

we have lost all four engines--
repeat, all four engines.

Now descending through
flight level 3-5-0.

The air traffic
control at Jakarta,

unfortunately, seemed
to have a slight problem

in understanding what
we actually were saying.

--all four engines.

Only when
another plane nearby

relays the mayday call
do controllers in

Jakarta understand.

Now descending through
flight level 3-5-0.

Speed Bird 9,
all four engines out.

Understood.

Standing by.

As far
as the crew knows,

no 747 had ever lost power
to all of its engines before.

The crew has to find out
why it's happening now.

I think we've
corked something up.

We were concerned
and worried that we'd

done something wrong, you
know, to cause the whole thing.

All three of us
felt exactly the same,

and it was a personal
guilt in the sense

of what have I missed?

What have I done wrong?

You know, because this kind
of thing doesn't happen.

While not
built for gliding,

even without its engines,

a 747 can travel forward
nine miles

for every half mile it drops.

With no power, Flight 9
has started a long, slow fall.

Some six miles above the ocean,
the crew has less than half

an hour before they
smash into the sea.

When they all stop,
you go into automatic

mode, obviously.

We had practiced this
drill on the simulator

many, many times,

and that's very good
and all very well,

as long as when it happens
to you for real, what happens

on the airplane
is mirrored by what

happens to you
in the simulator,

and I'm afraid that wasn't so.

In the simulator,
when all four engines stop,

the autopilot turns off, but
high above the Indian Ocean,

Captain Moody sees that
his autopilot is still on.

We were all three
confused and concerned

that what was happening to
us wasn't what we'd been told

would happen to us.

All right.
Begin restart drill.

In the heat
of the situation,

they have no time to figure out
why the autopilot is still on.

On.

Anything?

-Anything?
-No.

Again.

All right, then.

-From the top, battery?
-Check. On.

Crossfeed valves?

Open.

Fire switch?

In.

The standard restart
drill takes up to 3 minutes

-to complete.
-Fuel pressure--

Plunging
from the sky,

the crew has fewer
than 10 chances

to get their engines going
before they run out of time.

Stop lever, on.

Come on.

Again, gentlemen.

All right, from the top--
battery?

Check. On.

Crossfeed valves?

Open.

Fire switch?

In.

At 32,000
feet, Captain Eric Moody

decides to turn the plane back
toward the closest airport,

Halim, just outside Jakarta,
but even that is too far away

if he can't
get at least some

of the engines going again.

Jakarta, Speed Bird 9
turning left

back to Halim out of 3-0-0.

Speed Bird 9,
radar cannot see you.

Squawk Alpha 7700.

Air traffic
control asks

them to transmit the
emergency transponder signal.

Jakarta, Speed Bird 9, we
are already squawking 7-7-0-0.

Now, the crew is
flying back to an airport that

can't find them on the radar.

Without the constant
rumble of the engines,

the cabin is quiet.

Some of the passengers feel
the plane beginning to descend,

but without communication
from the cockpit,

they can only guess.

The quietness
was unbelievable,

because it was sort
of the airplane

was no engines, nothing,
and it seemed to be eerie.

A bit surreal really, because
looked as if it was suspended

in space or something,
and all you could feel

was this quietness
and the whimpering

from a few people
that were really upset.

Some people were
sitting quite rigidly,

almost as if they
hadn't noticed anything.

At first, it was sheer fear,
and then after a while,

it turns to acceptance.

You know you're going to die.

We knew we were going to die.

Captain Moody can't
restart the engines, unless he

can keep the plane
flying between 290

and 310 miles per hour,
but the airspeed indicators

aren't working.

Captain, I've got
320 knots on my side.

Well, I've got 270.

Bloody hell!
That's a 50-knot difference.

I'll change the speed.

Falling from
the sky with no engine power,

the 747 crew now has
no idea how fast they're going,

but to have the best chance
to restart the engines,

Captain Moody has
to have the plane

flying at the right speed.

So from that point onwards,
Eric then varied the speed

through just about
100-knot range,

hoping that at some point
or rather, coincidentally

thus putting the fuel into the
engines, that we would actually

be at the right speed.

To change
speeds, Captain Moody

turns the autopilot off.

Then he slowly pulls the
nose of the jet up to slow it,

and then pushes it down
to increase its speed.

The upsetting roller coaster
movement adds to the panic

felt in the cabin.

Pressure warning, Captain!

We're at 10,000.

Pressure warning?

That's not supposed to do that.

And a warning horn went off.

Now, this didn't ever
happen on the simulator

in this exercise, so it was
a bit of a surprise to us.

As well as
providing electrical power,

the engines on a jumbo jet
help keep the cabin pressurized.

With the engines not
working, of course,

the air wasn't being pumped in.

So gradually, the
pressure was leaking away.

With all
four engines gone,

the pressurized air
is rapidly seeping out.

The thinning level of oxygen
makes passengers gasp.

The crew reach for
their oxygen masks,

but First Officer Greaves
can't get his mask to work.

My oxygen mask--
yeah, that was a problem

I could have done without.

It was stowed
above my head, and when

I pulled the oxygen mask
down, the mask and the tube

became separated.

The captain must
make a difficult choice.

If he continues
to descend slowly,

it will get increasingly
difficult

for First Officer Greaves
to breathe.

Said, look, if we get
down to 20,000 feet quickly,

we can all take our oxygen
masks off, and we can talk,

and we're back as a crew again.

We had to actually
increase the rate of descent

to descend to a lower
altitude quicker, which

in the circumstances was
something that we wouldn't

really have chosen to do.

So then I dived the
airplane and got rid of about

6,000 feet in a minute.

The loss of cabin
pressure and the steep dive

have another
terrifying consequence.

The things shot down.

They sort of dangled
down in front of you,

and I look to see
Stephen had got his,

and Chas had pulled
his out of the socket.

So I made sure that
Chas got his oxygen.

I've seen a few movies on
planes, and once that happens,

you know you're in
serious trouble.

Help me.

Here we go.

Breathe normally,
Mum, not deeply.

Breath calmly.

The oxygen masks came down.

The cabin
crew tries to use

the public address system
to explain what's going on,

but it's not working.

Chief Steward
Graham Skinner makes

do with a low-tech backup.

Can you hear me?

We're having a small problem
with the public address system.

So if you would place your
masks over your mouth and nose

and breathe normally.

In the cockpit,
First Officer Roger Greaves

manages to fix his
broken oxygen mask,

but he's still frustrated
by engines that won't start.

All right, guys.

Let's start the restart drill.
Ready?

Set.

Battery

Check, off.

Standby power.

On.

Anything?

-Come on anything?
-No.

All right, then.

Let's do it from the top.

Battery.

Check, off.

First Officer
Greaves

and Engineer
Barry Townley-Freeman

have actually shortened
the standard restart drill.

It's giving them more chances
to get the engines going,

but so far, nothing's working.

Come on, you old sod.

The process that we were
going through the whole time

was just continuous.

We hadn't had any success with
the drill at all despite all

the efforts we
were putting in, but it

was the only thing
we had left to cling on to,

so that's what we did.

From the top again.
Battery.

Check, on.

I have no idea.
I don't think any of us have,

how many times we tried
to restart those engines.

If I say 20, I would
think that's too low.

If I said 50, I would think
that's probably about right.

As the plane
falls lower and lower,

Captain Moody faces
a brutal choice.

A mountain range cuts
across the island

of Java between his
plane and the airport.

He knows he has to be at least
11,000 feet high to clear it,

but if his engines
don't restart soon,

they won't make it.

At this rate, it will crash
in a matter of minutes.

It's just a question of where.

Captain Moody decides if
the engines don't restart soon,

he'll turn back
toward the ocean

and try landing on the water.

All right.
Are we getting something?

It's not starting.

I knew it was so
difficult

to land airplanes on the sea,

even when you had
everything going for you.

And I thought that, well,
we haven't got much going

for us here.
I'd never done it before.

Hiding his concern,
Captain Moody addresses

the passengers and crew.

Ladies and gentlemen,
this is your captain speaking.

We have a small problem.

All four engines have stopped.

We're doing our damnedest
to get in under control.

I trust you are not
in too much distress.

Most of the
passengers expect the worst.

"Ma, in trouble.

"Plane going down.

"Will do best for the boys.

"We love you.

Sorry, Pal."

I thought we were going down--

heading for the ocean to crash.

And I thought if
she got the note

and, you know, she knew we
were still thinking about her,

and we did whatever we could.

Will we be burnt alive?
Will we be choked by the smoke?

Will the aircraft
break up in the air

and hurtle us out into space--

which was my biggest fear--

or we come down in the sea
and be eaten by sharks alive?

Or will we crash
into a mountain?

Let's crash into a mountain
quickly and get all this over.

Well?

Nothing.

It's not starting.

The
captain must decide

to keep flying and likely
crash into the mountains

or turn around and
ditch into the sea.

Start lever.

I don't know how to swim!

I couldn't swim anyway, so
I thought, well, you know,

I'm doomed anyway,
and I just hope

that maybe one
of the passengers

might help the two
boys to make sure

that they could stay afloat.

Well, anything?

-No.
-All right, then.

From the top again.

Battery--

We had very few chances
left of starting the engines

before having to turn out to
sea again, because we wouldn't

have been able to
clear the mountains

on the south coast of Java.

-Start lever.
-Cut off.

Fuel pressure.

Unavailable.

Standby ignition on.

And then, as suddenly
as it stopped working,

the fourth engine
roars back to life.

Engine four back online.

All of a sudden there
was this sort of like somebody

giving the airplane
a punch from underneath,

and then I realized that
there might have been an engine.

It was a pum!

Oh, my God.

Look.

The noise that a Rolls-Royce
engine makes when it starts up

is low rumbling noise,
and then it was just-- well,

it was wonderful to hear it.

A 747 can
fly with one engine,

but Captain Moody
knows that just one engine

still won't
give him enough power

to clear the mountains.

The glass now is half full.
It's not half empty.

We're now in
with a real chance,

and I'll tell you
what the three of us

would have dragged
that airplane

around the whole
island of Java.

As the plane
falls past 13,000 feet,

another engine sputters
and comes back to life.

Engine three, back online!

It's followed
quickly by the final two.

Do you believe it?

Engines one and two--
both back online.

From almost
certain disaster,

the crippled jet is
now under full power.

I realized then that we
could make it back to--

not to Perth,
but to an airport.

That's all we wanted,
was to land on the Earth

and be part of the living
again because while we were

up there, we were dead.

Jakarta Speed Bird 9,
we are back in business.

All four running.

All four running.

This time, local
controllers have no trouble

understanding the message.

Speed Bird 9, all four

engines serviceable again.

Confirm continuing to Halim.

Affirmative.

Affirmative.

We say, right.

Let's get this thing on the
ground as quickly as we can.

Ladies and gentlemen,
this is your captain speaking.

We seem to have
overcome that problem

and have managed to
start all the engines.

We are diverting
to Jakarta and expect

to land in about 15 minutes.

Captain Moody
begins climbing, putting

plenty of room between his
plane and the mountains below,

but as he does,
the strange lights

that he saw when
the crisis began

reappear in front of the jet.

Now, as soon as we
got to 15,000 feet,

the St. Elmo's Fire
started again.

Now, I'm not slow, so I said,
let's get out of here quickly.

But before
he can descend very far,

the plane is stricken again.

Engine two is surging.

-
-Oh no! Not again.

The whole airplane
was shaking.

It was just going
bang, bang, bang.

The atmosphere in the cabin
was very tense and very quiet.

By then, I think very
few people were talking.

I think there were quite
a lot of prayers going up.

The engines
backfire violently.

The captain must make
another fateful decision.

Begin shutdown drill.

Checklist, powering gear.

Off.

Thrust lever.

Closed.

We were reluctant to do it
as you can probably understand,

but that was it.

So we were back
on three engines.

As the plane
closes in on the airport,

First Officer Greaves
thinks the windshield

is covered in moisture,
making it hard to see through.

And I said to Eric--

I said, yeah, it's a
bit misty out there.

So we turn the
blowers on to kind--

like de-misters on your car--
to try and clear that.

That didn't work.

I used the windscreen wipers,
and that didn't work.

Somehow the glass
itself has been badly damaged.

For some other reason,
I looked out the edge

of my windscreen, and about
a two-inch strip down the edge

on the left-hand side,
I could see

much more clearly,
but I couldn't see

anything much at the front.

It was getting more
and more opaque the nearer

and nearer we got
to the lights.

The crew gets a
final unwelcome surprise.

Equipment on the
ground that helps

them descend at the
proper angle isn't working.

Jakarta ATC,
be advised our glide path

is unserviceable.

The localizer,
which gives you

the left and right of
the runway center line,

that was working,
but the glide slope, which

gives you the actual
profile for the descent

was not working.

After all the
troubles they've been through,

now the crew has to land
their plane manually.

We then continued with
Eric flying the localizer

and me calling out the
distance and the altitude

that he should be at.

300 feet, Captain.

So he was then able to
adjust his rate of descent

to what I was
telling him as far

as the glide set was concerned.

200.

150 feet, Captain.

100.

50 feet.

30 feet.

Oh, my God.

We're down.

We're on the runway!

Reverse!

90 knots, 80 knots.

We're down.

Could really go
for a cold soda.

And the airplane
just landed itself.

It seemed to, anyway.
It kissed the Earth.

It was beautiful.

Wow, that's amazing.

Safely on the ground
at Halim airport in Jakarta,

passengers celebrate the
end of a harrowing ordeal.

They also want to
know what happened.

No fire had been found, so why
had smoke filled the cabin?

How could all four engines
have stopped at nearly

the same time, and what
were the strange lights

that surrounded the plane?

In the cockpit,
the flight crew was

relieved, but also concerned
that they might be at fault.

The first thing that we did,
having parked the airplane

and shut it all down,
was to then go through all

the paperwork to see if there
was possibly anything anywhere

in it that might
have given us any

pre-warning of some
sort of phenomenon that

caused what happened to us.

--every time, because it's
going to come back to us.

The damage to
the 747 is extensive.

From the outside, the crew
realizes that their windshield

has been deeply scratched.

They see bare metal showing
through where the paint has

somehow been stripped away,
and they still have no idea

why any of this happened.

We went back the next day
to look at it in daylight.

The airplane had lost its
sheen, and in some places,

it had been
sandblasted quite well

and all the decals and
the paint had come off.

Really, it was
very little to see,

until they strip
the engines down.

The engines were
manufactured by Rolls-Royce.

Their investigation is led
by a former Rolls-Royce

engineer, Malcolm Grayburn.

We did do a forensic
analysis of the engines,

and we did record
it all in terms

of photographic
analysis, and also we did

a lot of laboratory analysis.

Grayburn
discovers the engines

were choked with fine dust,
pieces of rock, and sand.

When it was closely studied,
they learned that the debris

was clearly volcanic ash.

Days after their harrowing
flight, the passengers

and crew learned that
the night they were flying,

there had been a major eruption
at the Mount Galunggung volcano,

located just 100 miles
southeast of Jakarta.

Tom Casadevall is director
of the US Geological Survey

and has studied the
Galunggung volcano.

Indonesia is the world's most
volcanically active country.

It has more than
130 historically active

volcanoes-- meaning
volcanoes which

have erupted in the last
several thousand years.

Galunggung erupted explosively
early in the 1980s.

In April, May, June of
1982, the eruptions became

increasingly more powerful.

The eruptions were large,

and the damage on the
ground was extensive.

More than 60,000 people
were evacuated from the area

around the mountain.

The night Flight 9 flew nearby,
the volcano erupted again.

As the ash cloud rose more than
49,000 feet into the night,

winds pushed it
to the southwest,

right into the path of
British Airways Flight 9.

Never before had a
volcanic cloud seriously

affected an airplane.

Could the ash have
crippled this flight?

Roger, declare an emergency.

Mayday, mayday, mayday.

Speed Bird 9, we have
lost all four engines.

Unlike ash that
you might see in a chimney

or after a fire
in a forest, this

is not soft material at all.

This is very fine,
ground-up particles

of solid rock and minerals.

This material is
very, very abrasive.

It's very angular in shape.

If you were to see it
under a microscope,

you would see
very sharp angles,

and so that's what
caused the abrasion.

In addition to
sandblasting the windshield

and all the leading
edges of the plane,

could the ash cloud explain
all the other strange phenomena

the passengers and
crew had experienced?

Remember, the
aircraft is moving

in close to 500 miles
per hour as it's

flying into that cloud.

Even though it's a
very fine material,

it can still cause
abrasion and friction

on the skin of the aircraft.

Because it's such a
dry environment up there,

that frictional electrification
produces the glow that we

refer to as St. Elmo's Fire.

The
electrification also

caused the interference
in communication

experienced by the crew.

Speed Bird 9, you have

lost number four engine?

Some of the volcanic
ash that was sucked in

and ground up by the engines
was also blown into the plane,

and when passengers
and crew saw it

swirling through the cabin,
they feared the worst.

You're a passenger.
You're looking out the window.

Suddenly, you start
breathing this sulfurous,

sulfur-laden air in the cabin,
and it probably is a choking--

probably a shocking sensation.

It's essentially a house
of horrors-type situation.

While
the volcanic ash

caused the visible scarring,
filled the plane with smoke,

and fouled communications,
did it also cause the engines

to flame out as well?

An x-ray from front
to back of the engine--

A turbofan
jet engine works by sucking in

enormous amounts of air.

The air is then highly
pressurized by

the engine's compressor.

This tightly packed air is
mixed with fuel and ignited.

The force of this
reaction propels

the jet through the sky.

The temperatures in the
combustion chamber where

this ash is flowing through
are around 2,000 degrees

centigrade, and so the
volcanic ash we know

melts at about
1,300, 1,400 degrees.

But when
the liquid ash

reached deeper into the engine,

it cooled slightly, turning
it into a sticky molten goo.

It attached itself to the
engine and began choking it.

We've got a fundamental
disturbance of the airflow

in the main core of the
engine, which caused the engine

to backfire, and the
engines flamed out,

and that was the
cause of the problem.

Backfires
occur when the engine

isn't burning cleanly.

The engine's on fire!

There's too much
fuel and not enough oxygen.

Engine failure, number four.

Fire action, number four.

Checklist, powering gear.

Set.

On Flight 9,
the backfires were the cause

of the enormous jets
of flame many passengers

saw behind the engines.

After struggling against
the choking effects

of the ash cloud, the engines
on board the 747 flamed out.

What Grayburn found next
was that a remarkable piece

of chemistry saved the plane.

As soon as you came
out of the volcanic ash

and the engines
were not running,

remember, so
everything cooled down,

it was enough of this
stuff to break off and allow

the engines to restart.

When enough of
the molten ash was gone,

the engines were
clear again, and

Townley-Freeman's frantic
efforts to restart them

paid off.

Engine four, back online.

We have learned
quite a bit, and we've

incorporated this learning
into pilot training.

Pilots now, for
example, know what

signs to look for when
they might be in an ash cloud,

and those signs include
the odor of sulfur

in the cabin, dust
accumulating in the cabin.

And if you're at night,
you might look out and see

the frictional electrification
or the St. Elmo's Fire

on the leading edges
of the aircraft.

Another important
lesson learned from Flight 9

is that volcanic ash clouds
do not appear

on normal weather radar,
which reflects water.

Since the clouds
are dry, they're

all but invisible to radar.

That knowledge has led
to better communications

between the geologists
that study volcanoes

and the international
airlines that fly over them.

The crew of Flight 9

was showered with
awards and commendations

in the months after
their incredible night.

I thought the airmanship
displayed by this crew

during this event was
absolutely fantastic.

The way that they managed to
guide this aircraft back down

to a safe landing
after having been

through such extreme
circumstances--

it was fantastic the way
they recovered this aircraft.

Absolutely brilliant.

For everyone
on board Flight 9,

the terrifying plunge
through the skies

had a lasting impact.

Betty Tootell was so struck
by the events of that night

that she wrote a book
about the ordeal.

Charles Capewell
and his two sons

made it home two days after
they touched down in Jakarta.

25 years later, both Chas
and Stephen still live in Perth.

Our time hadn't
come, and that was it.

From then on, I took a
different view of life.

When your time comes,
there's nothing you can do,

but you can still hope.

And we hoped, and
we got out of it.

Not long
after the fateful flight,

Captain Eric Moody created
the Galunggung Gliding Club.

Every member of the
crew and all passengers

were automatically admitted
to this exclusive group.

The survivors of
British Airways Flight 9

happily stay in
touch to this day.