All language subtitles for Air.Disasters.S09E05.Fatal.Delivery.1080p.PMTP.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-maldini_track3_[eng]

All available assistance
required at Dubai.

Emergency descent underway.

NARRATOR: 22 minutes
after takeoff--

Get your oxygen mask on.

NARRATOR: --the pilots
of a UPS cargo jet

face a life-threatening
emergency.

JOHN COX: A cockpit
full of smoke

is an absolutely
terrifying condition.

Can you see anything?

No, I can't see anything.

It's about as
bad as you can get.

NARRATOR: The pilots
need information fast.

MATTHEW BELL: Tell me what
to do-- what altitude,

what speed, what heading.

NARRATOR: Controllers on the
ground may be their only hope.

I want you to
tell him exactly

what I say when I say it.

It's almost
impossible to grasp

the magnitude of the task.

300 feet, any
runway is available.

JOHN COX: If he
doesn't sort this out,

this is going to result in
a catastrophic accident.

STEWARDESS 1: Ladies
and gentlemen,

we are starting our approach.

We lost both engines.

WOMAN:
emergency detected.

MATTHEW BELL: Mayday!

Mayday!

STEWARDESS 2: Brace for impact!

MAN: I think I lost one.

NARRATOR: Evening settles
over the desert city of Dubai.

The world's tallest building
shimmers in the twilight.

In the sky above, a 747 cargo
jet climbs out from Dubai

International Airport.

Autopilot engaged.

NARRATOR: After a routine
takeoff, the crew of UPS 6

can now let the autopilot
take over most of the flying

and settle in for a long night.

You may never get
tired of that view.

NARRATOR: First Officer Matthew
Bell is piloting the plane.

He's a former US Marine who's
been with UPS for four years.

Nice flying, by the way.

Get a good touch
on the controls

NARRATOR: Captain Doug Lampe
is also a seasoned pro.

He's been with UPS for
15 years and logged more

than 4,000 hours on the 747.

Both of them were
said to be very skilled

aviators, very experienced.

NARRATOR: The massive
cargo hold of the 747

is filled with 228,000 pounds
of freight bound for Germany.

The 3,000-mile journey will
take the plane northwest from

the United Arab
Emirates past Bahrain

and the Middle East
before crossing

Europe to land in Cologne.

Dubai is one of the major
cargo hubs in the Middle East,

in fact, in the world.

JOHN COX: A lot of
cargo moves at night.

So oftentimes
when we're asleep,

we have over our heads
thousands upon thousands

of cargo flights
moving the freight

and being delivered
the next day.

NARRATOR: As the 747
climbs, it passes

into Bahrain's airspace.

And the captain tunes
his radio to contact

a new controller there.

Bahrain UPS 6 climbing
to flight level 320.

RICHARD PHILLIPS:
That'll be fine.

UPS 6, this is Bahrain.

And you are in radar contact.

DOUGLAS LAMPE: Radar
contact now for UPS 6.

Thank you.

NARRATOR: Richard Phillips is
now responsible for the plane.

JOHN COX: It's busy airspace.

There's a lot of
frequency changes.

There's a lot of different
air traffic controllers

you talk to while
traversing this airspace.

NARRATOR: 21 minutes
after takeoff, the plane

has climbed to 31,000 feet.

Fire, main deck forward.

NARRATOR: An alarm warns of
a fire in the cargo hold.

DOUGLAS LAMPE: I'll
fly the airplane.

You run the checklist.

OK.

Checklist for
deck forward.

Land at nearest
available airfield.

Just got a fire
indication on the main deck.

I need to land ASAP.

DARREN STRAKER: To have
a fire on the airplane

directs the crew to
immediately land the airplane.

There is no such
thing as a good fire.

Doha is at your
10:00 and 100 miles.

Is that close enough?

NARRATOR: Phillips asks
the crew if they'd like

to land at a nearby airport.

But the captain has
a different idea.

How about we turn around
and go back to Dubai?

I'd like to declare
an emergency.

NARRATOR: He wants to
return to the airport

they took off from.

BILL ENGLISH: They
knew the facility.

They had the charts,
giant runways,

plenty of firefighting
capability,

good air traffic control.

NARRATOR: Philips
quickly finds a route

to get Flight 6 back to Dubai.

UPS 6 make a right
turn, heading 090.

Turn right, 090.

NARRATOR: It will take 25
minutes to fly the 207 miles

back to Dubai International.

All available assistance
required at Dubai.

Emergency descent underway.

NARRATOR: In Bahrain, Phillips'
workload just skyrocketed.

Iraqi Airways Flight 10
descend flight level to 7,000.

NARRATOR: It's his job to
keep the airspace around UPS

6 clear of other planes.

Iraqi Airways Flight
1, turn right 10 degrees.

I've got an emergency descent.

JOHN COX: When you declare
an emergency in an airplane,

anywhere in the world, you
can fly at any altitude,

at any heading,
going any direction,

fly through any airspace.

Dubai 70, make
a left turn 190.

JOHN COX: It doesn't matter.

You own the sky.

Pack 2 and 3 off.

NARRATOR: The first
officer activates

the fire suppression system and
depressurizes the cargo hold.

The maneuver sucks the
oxygen from a hold which

should stifle the flames.

JOHN COX: Cargo airplanes have
a unique advantage in that

they can starve
a fire of oxygen,

which is one of the three
essential elements of a fire.

Get your oxygen mask on.

NARRATOR: The pilots
also don emergency masks

with up to two hours
of oxygen in case smoke

gets into the cockpit.

DARREN STRAKER: Part
of the checklist

is to put on your oxygen mask.

You don't have any choice.

And in a fire,
it's pretty obvious

that you need to be breathing.

NARRATOR: Captain Lampe
flicks off the autopilot

and begins flying
the plane manually.

BILL ENGLISH: For the pilot to
be hands on in the emergency,

he can immediately make
inputs to the airplane

without having to deal with
making entries to a computer

or anything like that.

He can just simply
point the airplane

where he wants it to go.

NARRATOR: Another
warning light goes off.

The fire is spreading.

It's a nightmare scenario.

The crew now has fire alarms
in several different areas

of the cargo hold.

The fire suppression
system isn't working.

And the flames are
spreading fast.

The fact that the
fire warnings were not

only not going away but they
were actually progressing,

they were increasing,
tells you that you

have a high likelihood of
a very, very serious fire

in the back of the airplane.

NARRATOR: With the
emergency escalating,

clear communication is key.

Bahrain, I need an
emergency descend.

This is UPS 6 file.

UPS 6, descend
flight level 270.

UPS 6 is going down
to what altitude, sir?

Flight level 270, sir.

JOHN COX: Establishing
effective communication

is one of the first steps
after the mask are in place.

NARRATOR: But the pilots
are having trouble hearing.

Can you hear me?

NARRATOR: The masks have
built-in microphones.

I can't hear a damn thing.

NARRATOR: In the midst
of the emergency,

the crew needs to adjust the
setting to make them work.

JOHN COX: It can take some time
because the correct selection

for the microphone and
the mask has to be made,

the overhead speakers
have to be turned on,

the volume has to be turned up.

The downside of that is
that no additional parts

of the checklist are
accomplished until the crew

communication is established.

Bahrain, do you read UPS 6?

RICHARD PHILLIPS:
UPS 6, go ahead, sir.

NARRATOR: Just as
the communication

problem is solved, a much
bigger one drifts in--

smoke.

JOHN COX: A cockpit
full of smoke

is an absolutely
terrifying condition.

You're doing everything
you can to vent

smoke out of the airplane.

Yet, it continues to get worse.

God, it's getting
hot in here.

BILL ENGLISH: The captain
starts to feel heat.

He knows the fires
right underneath them.

I need a descent down at
10,000 feet right away, sir.

UPS 6 descend and maintain
10,000, your discretion.

NARRATOR: A
terrifying situation

is about to get worse.

DARREN STRAKER: As
soon as he starts

to pitch the aeroplane
down, there's

no control of the elevators.

Find out what the
hell is going on.

I've barely got control
of the airplane.

JOHN COX: That's
very disconcerting

because losing
the normal actions

of a primary flight control
can have catastrophic effects.

NARRATOR: The crew of UPS 6
is still 22 minutes from Dubai

International Airport.

I've got no control
of the airplane.

What?

I have no pitch
control of the airplane!

BILL ENGLISH: Pitch
control, that's nose

up, nose down of the airplane.

It's critical to airspeed.

And as he gets
close to the runway,

critical to being able to land.

NARRATOR: The
captain knows if he

can re-engage the
autopilot, it might

be able to steady the plane.

Very quickly
and prudently, he

decides something's not right.

Let's go back to
the automation.

NARRATOR: But the
smoke is blinding.

Can you see anything?

No, I can't see anything.

JOHN COX: Terrifying would
be an understatement.

And it would require
a lot of discipline

to maintain the ability
to fly the airplane.

NARRATOR: The captain
gropes through the smoke

and finds the
autopilot control.

The strategy works.

For now, the plant is stable.

But navigating
back to the airport

with smoke obscuring
the controls

will still be an
enormous challenge.

UPS 6, proceed direct
to Dubai when you're able.

NARRATOR: With UPS 6 about
to fly out of his airspace,

Philips gets on the phone to
controllers in the United Arab

Emirates to make
sure Dubai Airport is

ready for the incoming plane.

UPS 6 is reporting
a cargo fire

and has declared an emergency.

Try and get Dubai
into the computer.

NARRATOR: The crew needs
to program their autopilot

for the return to Dubai.

Let's get straight
into 12 Left.

12 Left, OK.

BILL ENGLISH:
Unfortunately, the pilot

is going to need to see that
autopilot to configure it.

No, I can't see it!

DARREN STRAKER: It's
almost impossible

to grasp the magnitude of
the problem-solving task.

NARRATOR: If they can get
close enough to the runway

and maintain the correct
speed, a high-tech guidance

system at the
airport might help

get the plane to the ground.

The Instrument Landing System
or ILS sends out radio signals

from the end of the runway.

It can guide the plane
down both vertically

and horizontally from
about 12 miles out.

The autopilot in the 747
is pretty sophisticated.

It could pick up that
instrument landing system

signal and automatically fly
the airplane and bring it

all the way basically to
the threshold of the runway.

NARRATOR: But first,
Bell has to dial

in the right frequency
for the ILS signal

from Runway 12 Left.

Somehow through the
smoke, he doesn't.

UPS 6 is now less than 20
minutes from the runway.

OK, UPS 6 is straight
into 12 Left, sirs.

Straight into 12 Left.

All planes stand by.

NARRATOR: Other
flights are rerouted

to clear the way for UPS 6.

Everyone is waiting for
the mammoth 747 to land.

DOUGLAS LAMPE: Give me
a heading if you can.

I can't see.

OK, stand by.

NARRATOR: The crew
needs Philips to finish

guiding them to the runway.

Abu Dhabi, stand by.

NARRATOR: He has to work fast.

They're almost off
his radar screen.

BILL ENGLISH: Most
of the time, pilots

can at least see
their instruments.

In this case, the
controller needed

to be helping them in
something very, very basic--

airspeed, altitude,
and heading.

I need that heading.

It's getting
really hot in here.

NARRATOR: Just when the
crew needs him most--

RICHARD PHILLIPS: We'll
get right back to you

with that, sir.

Right, clipboard, please.

NARRATOR: --Phillips
loses radar contact.

Thank you.

NARRATOR: UPS 6 has
flown beyond the range

of Bahrain's radar.

Emirates, this is
Bahrain Area Control.

I need your readouts for UPS 6.

They're off my radar.

NARRATOR: Since he can
no longer see UPS 6,

Philips asks
controllers in Abu Dhabi

to track the plane on their
radar and send him updates.

Heading 106.

UPS 6, heading is 106.

UPS 6, heading 106,
if you're able.

NARRATOR: Moments
later, the pilots

face their worst crisis yet.

I got no

oxygen.

OK, hold on.

Are you OK?

NARRATOR: The captain
isn't getting any air.

I got no oxygen.
I can't breathe.

NARRATOR: There's emergency
oxygen beside the jump seat

at the rear of the cockpit.

But the captain can't reach it.

-

Oxygen.

NARRATOR: The captain
now has just one option.

But it's risky.

JOHN COX: The best
thing he can do

now is to get up
out of the seat,

go back, and get that
supplemental

oxygen.

You fly.

OK, I got control.

NARRATOR: No pilot
wants to leave

the controls in an emergency.

It goes against every instinct.

That would be a
hard decision to make

and one made almost
out of desperation

or, put another way, made
with no other choice.

NARRATOR: As the seconds
pass with no sign

of the captain's return,
First Officer Bell

faces a terrifying reality.

He is now on his own.

BILL ENGLISH: The
situation now is doubly

worse for the first officer.

The captain is most
likely incapacitated.

He's no longer communicating.

And now, the first officer
has got to do it all himself.

Mayday!
Mayday!

Mayday!

Can anyone hear me?

JOHN COX: As the slow
realization happened--

the captain's not coming back--

all it does is
intensify the focus of,

what do I need to do to
get on the runway in Dubai?

NARRATOR: Bell is also
facing another problem.

After flying beyond
Bahrain's radar range,

he is now about to fly out
of its radio range as well.

BILL ENGLISH: Just like a cell
tower or a AM/FM radio, as you

get farther away, the signal
gets weaker and weaker

and eventually
doesn't work anymore.

UPS 6, contact
Dubai 132 decimal--

NARRATOR: Controllers
give him a new frequency

to tune in to Dubai control.

But it's no use.

The smoke in the
cockpit is too thick.

Sir, we're going to
have to stay with you.

We can't see our radios.

Can you give me an altitude?

He couldn't change back
to the Dubai frequency.

So the problem
now is, how do you

talk to someone out of radio
range on your frequency?

NARRATOR: His only choice
is to stay with Richard

Phillips in Bahrain.

Phillips has to think fast.

Sky Dubai 751,
you're my intermediary.

SKY DUBAI PILOT (ON RADIO):
Sky Dubai 751, roger.

DARREN STRAKER: And a
quick piece of thinking,

the controller said,
I'm going to use relays

to communicate with
the airplane, which is

flying out of my radio range.

NARRATOR: He recruits
a plane that's

flying within radio range of
both Bahrain control and

UPS 6.

This plane will act as a
relay, forwarding messages

to and from the stricken plane.

At the same time,
controllers in Abu Dhabi

are tracking UPS 6 on radar and
feeding that data to Philips

by phone.

UPS 6, your
altitude is 15,000.

This is Sky Dubai 751 relay.

NARRATOR: It's a makeshift
system that could

save the first officer's life.

UPS 6 is now just 12 minutes
from the runway in Dubai,

hurtling toward it at more
than 400 miles an hour.

Dubai is how far?

NARRATOR: It is possible for
a single pilot to land a 747.

But in an emergency,
the workload is immense.

BILL ENGLISH: He can't
see his instruments,

doesn't know where
he is relation

to the ground or the airport,
and has basic troubles

in controlling the airplane.

That's about as
bad as you can get.

Sir, you're going to
have to work faster.

Give me a heading direct
to the airport of Dubai

and give me immediate vectors.

SKY DUBAI PILOT (ON
RADIO): UPS 6 requests

radar vectors to the runway.

OK, tell them to stand by.

UPS 6 requests
vectors to runway.

NARRATOR: In Bahrain, Phillips
draws on all his experience

to manage the communications.

BILL ENGLISH: The air traffic
controllers were faced

with this unique situation--

pilots who couldn't
see their instruments.

Never mind just
couldn't see outside.

And were trying
the best they could

to give this pilot the
information that he needed.

Current airspeed immediately.

Immediately!

NARRATOR: As he
fights for his life,

all Matthew Bell knows is
that the information he needs

can't come soon enough.

JOHN COX: There's
a lot of people

in this communication loop.

And information has to pass
from one person to the next

to the next to the next.

And this takes time.

And that's something the
first officer doesn't have

very much up.

NARRATOR: As UPS 6 speeds
ever closer to Dubai,

Phillips struggles to keep the
lines of communication open.

As each relay plane
flies out of range,

he must scramble
to find another.

Dubai 1, you up?

DUBAI 1 PILOT (ON RADIO):
Dubai 1, go ahead.

NARRATOR: Dubai 1 is a
government aircraft, a 747.

Captain Patty Hearst
will be the voice bell

here is during
the final descent.

Dubai 1, your
radar contact, sir.

I need you to do
relays for UPS 6.

All right, what do you
want me to tell UPS 6?

I want you to
tell him exactly

what I say when I say it.

NARRATOR: The next five minutes
will decide the fate of UPS 6

and its lone pilot,
Matthew Bell.

JOHN COX: He's now dependent
on his thousands of hours

of experience and training to
basically rewrite an emergency

procedure for this
airplane because

these compound failures
are far and above anything

that you-- we train for.

Tower clears you to
land Runway 12 Left.

UPS 6, you are
cleared to land 12 Left.

Tell me what to
do-- what altitude,

what speed, what heading.

DUBAI 1 PILOT (ON RADIO): OK.

NARRATOR: Bill desperately
needs to know how

to line up with the runway.

They want to
know what altitude,

what speed, what heading.

I need current altitude,
speed, and heading.

20 miles out, heading 115.

UPS, 620 miles.

Heading is 115.

UPS 6, you are 20 zero
miles from the field.

NARRATOR: The information
is frustratingly incomplete.

Just like the
game of telephone,

a little bit gets lost
in the translation.

JOHN COX: With so many people
in the communication loop,

every bit of data he's
getting is outdated.

It's not what's
going on right now.

It's what was going on some
period of time-- seconds ago.

And he's trying to fly
the airplane in real time.

NARRATOR: As he
nears the airport,

Bill takes the final step
in his attempt to lock

on to the runway signal.

He pushes the ILS
approach button.

Come on!

NARRATOR: He knows it
may be his last chance

to get his plane on
the ground safely.

If the autopilot
system captures

the both lateral and
vertical parts of the ILS,

it says that you have a
high likelihood of getting

the airplane to the airport.

You may bend it.

It may end up in some pieces.

But it's the highest
likelihood of survival.

No traffic between the
field and the aircraft.

No traffic between the
field and the aircraft.

NARRATOR: Bill is
doing the impossible.

He manages to line the
plane up with the runway.

He's too high.

And he's too fast.

NARRATOR: But it's not enough.

The plane is moving too fast
to capture the ILS signal.

In an instant, his best chance
for a safe landing is gone.

They said he's too
fast and too high.

Is he able to make a 360?

NARRATOR: Circling
would give Bell

more time to slow
his plane and try

again to capture the signal.

You're high and fast.

Can you do a 360?
- Negative.

Negative.

Negative.

JOHN COX: He's what's
known as behind it.

He's not on the proper
vertical profile.

It's not getting better.

If he doesn't sort this
out, this is going to result

in a catastrophic accident.

NARRATOR: Bell doesn't give up.

He sets the autopilot
to speed up his descent.

Here we go.

NARRATOR: He hopes he can bring
the plane in steep and fast

and somehow make
the landing work.

Bell is blinded by the smoke.

He's operating
the play by feel.

He extends the flaps and
drops the landing gear.

An alarm warns Bell
the gear did not drop.

Oh, I have no gear!

JOHN COX: He was
doing everything

he could to maintain control of
a severely crippled airplane.

Sir, where are we?

Where are we located?

NARRATOR: Bell is
overshooting the runway.

He was pretty much lined up
along the left right course

to the runway.

Unfortunately, it was too high
for him to make a landing.

Is he able to make a
left turn for a 10-mile

final for Sharjah?

BILL ENGLISH: Air
traffic thought quick.

They knew there was another
runway nearby at Sharjah

and tried to give him
guidance to make that runway.

Are you able to make a
left turn now to Sharjah?

It's 10 miles away.

Do your left turn.

What heading?

NARRATOR: A small
left turn could take

him to the alternate airport.

What sort of
heading, Bahrain?

Hurry up!

What heading?

Heading 095.

You're on final for Sharjah.

NARRATOR: Bell tries
to enter the heading

into the autopilot.

He's made a right
turn-- a right turn!

NARRATOR: But instead
of turning left,

the plane turns the wrong
way, 90 degrees to the right.

Unfortunately, one
digit was wrong--

195.

And instead of turning
left towards Sharjah,

the airplane turned right,
away from Dubai and Sharjah.

NARRATOR: Bell feels the
plane banked the wrong way.

He disconnects the autopilot
to try to correct his course.

But he still has no
manual pitch control.

The nose of the plane drops.

DARREN STRAKER: He has no
manual flight controls.

So the audio flight
system is off.

And he has to control pitch.

But he has no elevator control.

My airspeed!

What's his airspeed?

Ground speed 266.

JOHN COX: The
first officer never

gave up trying to fly the
airplane or land the airplane.

OK, your ground speed is 266.

It sounds like you're too fast.

800 feet.

You're 800 feet.

300 feet.

Any runway is available.

Any runway available, UPS 6.

If able, climb immediately.

Climb immediately!

UPS 6, climb immediately!

What's the word?

Radar contact lost.

NARRATOR: UPS 6 has crashed
into a military base

10 miles from Dubai
International Airport.

Neither pilot has survived.

First officer Matthew Bell, who
fought to the final seconds,

leaves behind a wife and
a four-year-old daughter.

Captain Douglas Lampe was also
married with four children.

It's one of Dubai's worst
ever aviation disasters.

And for the first time, the man
in charge of the investigation

is a UAE national.

I remember it was
a Friday evening

on the month of Ramadan.

And shortly after,
we got the call.

NARRATOR: He knows he's facing
one of the most important

challenges of his career.

KHALID AL RAISI:
This is the busiest

airport in this region.

And UPS is a major
career as well.

It was so important to
know what the reason

that the aircraft crashed.

NARRATOR: Al Raisi already
has an important lead.

The pilots told controllers
the plane was on fire.

But he doesn't know
what caused the fire

or how it could have crippled
a jumbo jet so completely.

The $220-million plane
is now charred rubble.

The unrecognizable remains
spread over a wreckage site

the size of six
football fields.

JOHN COX: The airplane had
hit at very high speeds.

There were a lot
of small pieces.

And when that happens, from
an investigative standpoint,

it's going to be
really challenging.

NARRATOR: Al Raisi
quickly appoints

New Zealander Darren Straker
to lead the investigation.

Straker is an experienced
air crash investigator,

recently recruited to the UAE.

OK, let's get moving.

We need to see every piece.

First question is,
what was on fire?

How did it get on board?

Why didn't the aircraft fire
suppression system handle it?

And how did this 747
drop out of the sky

in the middle of a large city?

NARRATOR: Since the
747 is American built--

Well, what do you need?

NARRATOR: --Al
Raisi he also calls

in investigators
from the US National

Transportation Safety Board.

BILL ENGLISH: We knew right
away from the air traffic

communications, they had
this catastrophic fire

and all these other side
effects in the airplane.

We needed to find out
how could this happen.

NARRATOR: The 747
is one of the most

popular planes in the sky.

A newly formed team
needs answers fast.

I want you to search this
entire grid inch by inch.

NARRATOR: The first
step is to recover

as much debris as possible.

BILL ENGLISH: We call
it eating the elephant,

where do you start,
one bite at a time.

First things to look
for were the flight

recorders-- the CVR and FDR.

NARRATOR: The cockpit
voice recorder

is found almost immediately.

It should have captured
everything that pilots

said in the cockpit.

But there's no sign of
a flight data recorder.

And the heat of the desert
is making a difficult search

even more challenging.

We needed to find
the data recorder.

So we just resorted to
searching square by square.

We made 10 meter
squared sections.

And we just progressed
in a linear fashion

from the beginning
of the debris field.

NARRATOR: Meanwhile,
investigators

hope the cockpit voice recorder
will provide some leads.

DOUGLAS LAMPE (ON RECORD):
Fire, main deck forward.

NARRATOR: But it only
raises more questions.

DOUGLAS LAMPE (ON RECORD):
I'll fly the airplane.

You run the checklist.

MATTHEW BELL (ON RECORD): OK.

Pack 2 and 3 off.

NARRATOR: The recording shows
the crew reacted quickly,

immediately engaging
the onboard systems

designed to contain a fire.

Why couldn't they make
it back to the airport?

Those systems should
prevent this from happening.

But they didn't.

DOUGLAS LAMPE (ON
RECORD): I got no oxygen.

I can't breathe.

DARREN STRAKER: The
thing that stood out

for me was the speed of
the onset of the problems

they faced.

How does a fire get so out
of control, uncontained,

that the airplane is
rendered almost unflyable

and the crew is put at risk?

NARRATOR: Three days in, the
search for the second recorder

pays off.

The flight data recorder
should contain information

about exactly where the fire
started and how it progressed.

Let's see what the lab can do
with this back in Washington.

NARRATOR: Investigators
won't know what they have

until they can get the
recorder to an NTSB

laboratory for analysis.

BILL ENGLISH: Recorders
are designed to withstand

some fire and some heat.

But they're not
completely immune.

They can be burned.

They can be damaged
by heat and by impact.

NARRATOR: Beyond the outer
edge of the wreckage field,

investigators make
an unexpected find.

BILL ENGLISH: We looked
outside the burned area

and saw this little
shrub, maybe 3 feet high,

just sitting out by
itself in the dirt, burned

far away from the main area.

Inside that bush was one
small lithium battery

that had burns,
blown itself up,

and shot out of the wreckage
into the little bush.

NARRATOR: The small
piece of evidence

suggests a terrifying
new theory.

The cargo manifest reveals
UPS 6 had dozens of shipments

of lithium batteries
or consumer electronics

that contain them.

81,000 batteries, that's
a lot of hazardous cargo.

DARREN STRAKER: Once we
had got the cargo manifest

and seen the total
volume of these batteries

that were on board,
we were heading

in the right direction.

NARRATOR: Lithium batteries
are extremely flammable.

They can provide up
to 10 times the energy

of regular alkaline
batteries, which is why they

last longer in electronics.

But their volatile
chemical composition

means they can burst into
flames if they're damaged.

Is that what happened in the
cargo hold of UPS Flight 6?

Joseph Panagiotu is a fire and
explosive expert for the NTSB.

JOSEPH PANAGIOTU: There's
been instances where they're

trying to load a
pallet of cargo which

contains a lot of batteries.

And it catches on
fire at the airport

before getting
onto the airplane.

So we're aware that
that is a possibility.

You can't
automatically conclude

that that's what it is.

But it's one of
the prime suspects.

NARRATOR: Demand for
lithium batteries

has never been higher.

Several billion are
manufactured and shipped

around the world every year.

Lithium batteries are
on everything that we do.

They're in our cars.

They're in our homes.

They're in every
airplane we get on.

They are everywhere.

NARRATOR: At a testing
facility in the United States,

Straker runs lab
tests to explore just

how flammable lithium
batteries can be.

The results are astonishing.

When they heat a single box
containing 100 batteries,

it quickly ignites, sending up
flames that reach temperatures

of 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit.

DARREN STRAKER: We are
completely surprised at how

a small AA size lithium battery
would overheat and then vent

and practically just
explode into a problem

which you couldn't contain.

NARRATOR: The black box flight
data has been downloaded.

Investigators study
each parameter,

trying to reconstruct how the
plane broke down over time.

BILL ENGLISH: We could see
numerous systems failing,

things dropping offline.

We could start tracing back
as things were failing,

lining them up physically
with the airplane.

NARRATOR: The next step
is to map the failures

and use them to trace
the path of the fire.

The data paints a vivid
picture of an intense fire

that burned through the cargo
hold at a critical location.

All the failures are right
here behind the cockpit.

BILL ENGLISH: If you are
familiar with the 747,

you know it has that
very distinctive

hump up in the front.

The cockpit is
part of that hump.

And the cargo deck
is underneath there.

A lot of the cabling,
the control cables,

electrical cabling
and everything

ran through this
one common area

just at the aft
part of that hump,

right above the part of
that cargo compartment where

we saw the first fire alarms.

NARRATOR: So what
was in the containers

beneath those systems?

Bingo.

Lithium batteries.

BILL ENGLISH: Right underneath
the critical failure points

in the airplane, we
found some shipments

in there of some
pretty large batteries,

a lot of energy packed
in a very dense place.

DARREN STRAKER: That was a
big moment to figure that out.

We had the solution
to the issue

of where the
failures originated

and how they originated.

NARRATOR: In the
crowded cargo deck,

the flames soon spread to
other containers, many of which

also contained batteries.

JOSEPH PANAGIOTU: We've
seen in fire tests

that sometimes, they
become projectiles,

flaming projectiles.

And they can spread a fire that
way and make it even worse.

Fire, main deck forward.

NARRATOR: By the time
the crew gets a warning,

the fire is already burning too
intensely for the suppression

system to put it out.

The menu of flight
control system

is in the direct
path of the fire.

Luckily, the autopilot
system is not.

It can still send
electrical signals

directly to the servos that
operate the plane's controls.

But when the pilot
switches off the autopilot,

the plane becomes nearly
impossible to fly.

I have no pitch
control of the airplane.

NARRATOR: Fire quickly
destroys more systems,

including the
captain's oxygen supply

and the landing gear controls.

I have no gear.

NARRATOR: But Straker believes
that tragedy would have

been even worse if not
for the final actions

of the first officer.

300 feet, any
runway is available.

NARRATOR: At the last
moment, in a plane

he could barely control--

If able, climb immediately.

Climb immediately!

NARRATOR: --he
manages to narrowly

avoid a suburb of Dubai.

At the very end, there are
some controlled movements

that go in, which if
he hadn't made them

two seconds beforehand,
they would have collided

with that residential area.

He knew what was
in front of him.

And he also knew from the
grand proximity warning system

that the time was running out.

NARRATOR: Investigators
have one final question.

The 747's cargo
area is equipped

with a flame resistant liner.

It wraps the entire cargo
hold in a protective shield.

It should have protected
the critical systems.

We had to get on top of
the reason of this failure

to save other people lives.

NARRATOR: Investigators
need to know

why the cargo liner failed.

It's now certain
that an intense fire

fueled by a large
cargo of batteries

crippled UPS Flight 6.

To find out how fire could
have burned through the plane's

protective cargo
liner, investigators

conduct another dramatic test.

We did our tests with
a representative load.

The fire was-- on the
palette was enormous.

JOSEPH PANAGIOTU: We were
standing behind glass

about 50 feet away from this.

And I could feel the heat.

BILL ENGLISH: What
the test showed

us is not just the energy
but the time factor as well.

All this pent-up energy
released so quickly

that it could create
this catastrophic event

without the time
needed for the pilots

to get safely back
down on the ground.

NARRATOR: The
cargo liner failed.

The flames spread
quickly, eating

through vital control systems.

DARREN STRAKER: Once the
single point of failure, which

is the cargo liner,
has disintegrated,

you don't have protections
for your oxygen system.

You don't have protections
for your flight control.

You don't have protections for
your environmental control.

It's all gone.

It all came down to a
single point of failure.

KHALID AL RAISI: We never
thought that a new aircraft

could have such failure.

Nobody thought of these
failures would happen.

NARRATOR: The final
report highlights the need

for better smoke detectors and
fire extinguishers in

cargo holds.

It also calls for new
fire-resistant

cargo containers.

The final report
for UPS 6 came up

with 36 safety recommendation.

This number talks by
itself on the depth

of the safety lessons, which
we learned from this accident.

BILL ENGLISH: One
of the big changes

that's already occurring
in the cargo industry

is the concept of container
level fire detection.

Rather than relying on the
smoke detection or fire

detection in the cargo,
compartments themselves,

these very large
compartments, we're

moving towards the ability to
detect fires inside the cargo

pallets themselves
inside the containers

rather than waiting before
it's too late and too big.

NARRATOR: At UPS, the
entire company mourned

the loss of their colleagues.

Even before the
report came out,

they took steps to keep
their pilots safer.

The company is
testing a new cargo

container that can
withstand a 1,200-degree

fire for up to four hours.

HOUSTON MILLS: That-- you
know, that type of containment

capability will allow our
people as well as anyone

in the world to safely get
an aircraft on the ground

no matter where they're flying.

NARRATOR: UPS has also
improved safety in the cockpit.

HOUSTON MILLS: We've
implemented full-face action

masks, which can be
placed on our pilots

with one hand three
seconds, gives

them more time to
respond to perhaps

a smoke-filled cockpit.

We also will be the first
international carrier

to install EVAS,
which is the Enhanced

Vision Assurance System.

NARRATOR: The new system
creates a sealed air bubble

for the pilots that allows them
to see both their instruments

and the view ahead if the
cockpit ever fills with smoke.

DARREN STRAKER: The
industry has taken

on board what's in the report.

They're addressing
the risk clearly.

There's a general public
awareness that the batteries

now can pose a serious risk.

So if all of the safety
recommendations which

the Civil Aviation Authority
have put in the report

are implemented, any
other similar accident

would be avoided.