All language subtitles for Air.Disasters.S11E08.Terror.Over.Egypt.1080p.PMTP.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-maldini_track3_[eng]

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: Do
you read me, Metrojet 9268?

NARRATOR: Panic grips an
Egyptian air traffic controller.

OLIVER: The altitude
just dropped and disappeared.

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: Do
you read me, Metrojet 9268?

TOM: There's no way to survive.

NARRATOR: Charred
wreckage in the Sinai Desert

is all that's left of
Metrojet Flight 9268.

Investigators must
contend with political tensions

and wild rumors.

MOKHTAR: There was good
reason for people to speculate

this could have been a
surface to air missile.

RUSSIAN INVESTIGATOR:
What's that sound?

NARRATOR: An unusual clue points
to a chilling possibility.

DAVID: Modern aircraft
just don't fall out of the sky.

They just don't.

♪ ♪

NARRATOR: It's
just before 6:00 AM

at Sharm El
Sheikh Airport in Egypt.

Two-hundred and
seventeen passengers are headed

to St. Petersburg,
Russia, some four hours away.

They're flying on
Metrojet Flight 9268.

OLIVER: The kinds of
airlines that you have flying

into Sharm El Sheikh is budget
airlines, low cost carriers.

MOKHTAR: Very competitively
priced specifically for Russian,

Ukrainian, other
East European tourists

and also people from the UK.

NARRATOR:
The lure for tourists is a
budget beach vacation on the

Red Sea, a small oasis at the
edge of Egypt's Sinai Desert.

MOKHTAR: Sharm El Sheikh
is right at the southern tip

of the Sinai Peninsula.

Mostly it's actually good for
people who like to scuba dive.

Weather is fairly
nice throughout the year,

and all of that
put together makes it

a very popular
destination spot for people.

NARRATOR: The Metrojet
captain is Valery Nemov,

an experienced aviator with
12,000 hours of flight time.

FO. TRUKACHEV:
Exterior check complete.

CAPT. NEMOV:
Everything in order out there?

FO. TRUKACHEV:
All good, Captain.

DAVID: Standard procedure
for pilots everywhere,

one of the two of
them gets into the cockpit

and the other does what they
call the walk around check.

FO. TRUKACHEV: It's my
daughter. I gotta take this.

I'll make it fast.

NARRATOR: First
Officer Sergei Trukachev

is a former military pilot.

FO. TRUKACHEV: Hi,
honey. Ha. Good question.

NARRATOR: The
aircraft is an Airbus A321,

a longer version
of the Airbus A320.

FLIGHT ATTENDANT:
Down to your right.

NARRATOR: This morning's
flight is almost full.

Including the
seven crew members,

there are 224 people on board.

FLIGHT ATTENDANT:
That'll never fit.

Let me store it at the back.

NARRATOR: Getting everyone's
carry-on luggage safely stowed

on a near-capacity
flight is a challenge.

FLIGHT ATTENDANT:
You'll just need to put that

under the seat for now.

FO. TRUKACHEV: And I'll see
you tonight. Bye. All done.

CAPT. NEMOV:
Good. Let's get going.

FO. TRUKACHEV: Let's do it.
Sharm El Sheikh, Metrojet 9268.

Request permission to taxi.

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: Metrojet
9268, runway zero-four-right.

NARRATOR: Metrojet
began operations in 1993

under the name Kogalymavia.

In 2011, one of its
planes caught fire.

Three people died and
32 more were injured.

Shortly after, the
company changed its brand name.

DAVID: When
Metrojet rebranded itself,

Russia was emerging from the
aviation doldrums that it hit

with the demise
of the Soviet Union.

It's come back up again
and Metrojet, has been reborn

into the new,
much safer era now.

FO. TRUKACHEV: Sharm El
Sheikh, Metrojet 9268 requests

takeoff clearance
runway zero-four-right.

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: Metrojet
9268, cleared for takeoff

runway zero-four-right.

FO. TRUKACHEV: Eighty knots.
CAPT. NEMOV: Check.

FO. TRUKACHEV: V-1.
CAPT. NEMOV: V-1.

FO. TRUKACHEV: Rotate.

NARRATOR: At 5:51 am, Metrojet
Flight 9268 lifts into the air.

DAVID: The aircraft
took off in a standard way.

No problems with the takeoff.
No problems with the climb.

♪ ♪

NARRATOR: The flight path is
northeast from Sharm El Sheikh

along the Gulf of Aqaba.

It then heads due north over
Cyprus, Turkey, Ukraine and

finally into Russian airspace
ending in St. Petersburg.

Total flight time is expected to
be four hours and 40 minutes.

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: Metrojet
9268, prepare to contact

Nicosia control,
local frequency.

CAPT. NEMOV:
Affirmative, Sharm El Sheikh.

We'll let you know when
we've left Egypt airspace.

NARRATOR: Twenty
minutes after takeoff,

Egyptian air
traffic control is ready

to hand the Airbus over
to controllers in Cyprus.

DAVID: Around about that
time it was still climbing.

FO. TRUKACHEV: Look over my
schedule for the next few days.

NARRATOR: With the
seat belt sign off,

passengers are free to
move around the cabin.

♪ ♪

CAPT. NEMOV: Come in.

FLIGHT ATTENDANT: Two cups
of tea for two fine gentlemen.

CAPT. NEMOV:
Thank you very much.

FO. TRUKACHEV: You are the best.

FLIGHT ATTENDANT: Oh. Since you
say so, no charge for the tea.

NARRATOR: Flight 9268
reaches cruising altitude,

31,000 feet above
the Sinai Peninsula.

MOKHTAR: The Sinai Desert is
about a third of Egypt's size,

and Egypt's about a
million square kilometers.

So it's a huge,
vast expanse of desert.

NARRATOR: All is going
smoothly at air traffic control

until at 6:13 AM, when Flight
9268 does something unexpected.

DAVID: It had gone
through 30,000 feet,

and then all of a sudden
the radar return changed.

NARRATOR: The Airbus
seems to be dropping.

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER:
Metrojet 9268, are you
experiencing any difficulties?

DAVID: The initial
reaction of the controller is:

Am I seeing something? Am
I seeing things? Is this me?

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: Do
you read me Metrojet 9268?

OLIVER: Then all of sudden
everything just dropped off.

The altitude just
dropped and disappeared.

DAVID: That's when the
adrenaline starts kicking in.

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER:
Do you read me?

NEWS ANCHOR (Archive):
NBC News has learned

Russian air carrier
Metrojet Flight 9268

disappeared from
radar this morning.

Egyptian government
officials confirmed to NBC News

that the plane has crashed
in the northern Sinai peninsula

and that Egyptian Air Force jets

have reportedly located
the wreckage of this plane.

NARRATOR: As
rescuers arrive on the scene,

it soon becomes clear
that there are no survivors.

All 224 passengers
and crew are dead.

Almost all the
victims were Russian citizens

returning from vacation.

♪ ♪

In St. Petersburg, news
of the shocking disaster

spreads quickly.

ANNOUNCEMENT: Departure
of Kogalymavia Flight 9267

to Sharm El Sheikh
is delayed to six PM.

NARRATOR: The Metrojet crash
is the deadliest air accident

in the history of
Russian aviation.

A nation is demanding answers.
How could it have happened?

OLIVER:
Airbus aircraft just simply
do not fall out of the sky.

So that gets
everyone's ears perked up on,

what happened here?

WOLF (Archive):
I'm Wolf Blitzer. You're
in The Situation Room .

Thousands of foreign tourists,
they're stranded right now

in the Egyptian resort
town of Sharm El Sheikh,

their flights grounded.

Russian and Egyptian
officials are warning

against jumping to conclusions.

NARRATOR: In Egypt's Sinai
Desert, an international team

of investigators
gathers near the crash zone

of Metrojet Flight 9268.

Egyptian investigators
will work alongside their

Russian counterparts to try
to find out what went wrong.

For both nations,
the stakes are high.

DAVID: The Russians,
they lost a lot of people

on board that aircraft,
and they don't want the safety

of Russian
aviation to be impugned.

Egypt, it was in Egyptian
airspace that this happened,

and they do not wish
their professionalism

as an aviating nation
to be impugned as well.

RUSSIAN INVESTIGATOR:
Good to see you again.

EGYPTIAN INVESTIGATOR:
Yeah, you too.

RUSSIAN INVESTIGATOR:
So what have we got?

NARRATOR: The team
starts by mapping the wreckage,

something Stephen Moss has done
many times as a senior member

of Britain's Air
Accidents Investigation Branch.

STEPHEN: A wreckage map,
or debris trail, is part of

the fundamental procedures
of air crash investigation.

EGYPTIAN INVESTIGATOR:
This is what we're finding.

The tail section is here. Wings
and forward fuselage are here.

♪ ♪

Almost five kilometers apart.

RUSSIAN INVESTIGATOR: Good God.

DAVID: The wreckage of
the aircraft spread out

over a trail of
about 13 kilometers long.

NARRATOR: The
lengthy wreckage trail

provides an
important first clue.

EGYPTIAN INVESTIGATOR:
Midair breakup.

Well over 20,000 feet I'd say.

NARRATOR: The size of the debris
field tells investigators

that the plane broke
apart high in the air.

It's the only way
wreckage could be spread

over such a large area.

If the plane had stayed
intact until it hit the ground,

the debris field
would be much smaller.

What caused
Metrojet 9268 to break apart

is
investigators' first question.

They can see that both
of the plane's engines

were charred by fire.

The engines were also completely
detached from the wings,

which double as the
aircraft's fuel tanks.

EGYPTIAN INVESTIGATOR:
It could have been

a fuel tank
explosion like TWA 800.

NARRATOR: In July 1996,
a Boeing 747 blew apart

and fell into the sea
minutes after taking off

from New York's JFK Airport.

One of the longest air
crash investigations in history

found that a short
circuit sparked an explosion

in the plane's
center wing fuel tank.

Could something similar
have happened in Egypt?

DAVID: At the time, the Egyptian
authorities floated the idea

that it could have
been a fuel tank explosion.

They've got
electrically driven fuel pumps.

An electrical short
circuit sets the fuel alight,

the wing blows off.

RUSSIAN INVESTIGATOR:
Let's get the wreckage pieces

to the hangar so we
can take a closer look.

EGYPTIAN INVESTIGATOR: We've
already started in on that.

RUSSIAN INVESTIGATOR:
What about the black boxes?

EGYPTIAN INVESTIGATOR:
The black boxes are on
their way for analysis.

NARRATOR: The aircraft's
flight recorders could hold

the evidence investigators need.

But accessing and analyzing
the data will take time.

EGYPTIAN INVESTIGATOR: Hello.

NARRATOR:
Before getting any further on
the fuel tank explosion theory,

investigators are
confronted with news

that could change everything.

EGYPTIAN INVESTIGATOR: Really?

NARRATOR: There are rumors
this was a terrorist attack.

REPORTER (Archive): It's
obviously much too early

to pinpoint a
cause of this crash,

but the area where the plane
went down has been the scene

of terrorist clashes
with the Egyptian military

in recent years, including
a big one over the summer.

MOKHTAR: For the longest
time the Sinai Peninsula

it's been effectively outside
of the government's control.

So any group wishing to
find a base of operation

would easily be able to
melt in its mountains, caves

or just the vast
expanse of desert.

NARRATOR: Though global
tensions cannot be ignored,

what investigators
need are hard facts.

They don't draw conclusions
based on speculation.

STEPHEN: That doesn't
satisfy me as an investigator,

and I don't think that
would satisfy any country now.

They would want to see
photographs, prove it.

You need to
understand: Why did it happen?

EGYPTIAN INVESTIGATOR:
Take a look at this.

RUSSIAN INVESTIGATOR:
What is it?

EGYPTIAN INVESTIGATOR:
This terrorist group

is claiming
responsibility for the attack.

NARRATOR: A terrorist group
affiliated with Islamic State,

fighting to seize territory
across the Middle East,

claims responsibility for
bringing down Metrojet 9268.

They say it was
in retaliation for

Russian military
attacks in Syria.

♪ ♪

Though there is no
proof to back up the claim,

there's
speculation that attackers

used a surface to air missile.

OLIVER: When I
looked at the debris field,

I kept thinking right again,

another
catastrophic, shocking crash

as a result of an ignition
device hitting the aircraft.

MOKHTAR: There was good
reason for people to speculate

initially that this could have
been a surface to air missile.

That group has used a
surface to air missile before,

specifically in
early 2014 to shoot down

successfully an
Egyptian helicopter.

They've also posted
photographs of different

surface to air missiles that
they have in their arsenal.

NARRATOR:
After the fall of Libyan
leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011,

militants raided his weapons
depots, flooding the region

with Russian-made shoulder-
mounted missile launchers.

Investigators need to
know if those weapons are

powerful enough to hit an
airliner at cruising altitude.

EGYPTIAN INVESTIGATOR: These
are the missiles they're using.

The plane was
flying at 31,000 feet.

What's the range
on those missiles?

RUSSIAN INVESTIGATOR:
I was just looking at
the specs. Check it out.

NARRATOR: They
study military documents

and make some
quick calculations.

They soon have their answer.

EGYPTIAN INVESTIGATOR:
It's not possible. Not
with the weapons they have.

MOKHTAR: It was too
high of an altitude to be

surface to air missile, and the
initial talk of the possibility

of the Islamic State
being behind it was dismissed.

RUSSIAN INVESTIGATOR: Hello? On
TV, now? Thank you. Okay. Bye.

The first officer's
wife is being interviewed.

NARRATOR: Just when the missile
theory is off the table,

another public statement
raises a new possibility.

FIRST OFFICER'S WIFE:

EGYPTIAN INVESTIGATOR:
What's she saying? I
can't understand a word.

RUSSIAN INVESTIGATOR:
They spoke with the father

just before he flew
out of Sharm El Sheikh.

EGYPTIAN INVESTIGATOR:
And what did he say?

RUSSIAN INVESTIGATOR:
He said there were mechanical
issues with the plane.

FO. TRUKACHEV: It's my
daughter. I gotta take this.

I'll make it fast.

Hi, honey.

Ha. Good question.

Let's just say
I've flown on better.

OLIVER: I did see
reports of family members

quoting that safety was
dubious on this aircraft.

EGYPTIAN INVESTIGATOR: There's
only one way to find out.

STEPHEN: The fact that
the aircraft may have had

a lot of problems, you'd
have to firstly find out

what those problems
were and, secondly,

are they relevant to
what we know has happened?

♪ ♪

EGYPTIAN INVESTIGATOR:
Excuse me.

NARRATOR: Investigators speak
with the aircraft engineer

who last serviced the airplane
at Sharm El Sheikh Airport.

EGYPTIAN INVESTIGATOR:
What can you tell us
about Metrojet 9268?

AIRCRAFT ENGINEER:
We serviced it for 30
minutes before takeoff.

RUSSIAN INVESTIGATOR: That
doesn't sound like a long time.

AIRCRAFT ENGINEER:
That's all the time we
had to turn it around.

OLIVER:
That is a quick turnaround,
and low-cost carriers

sometimes have to do that.

DAVID: They work
their people hard

to turn the aircraft around
fast so that that aircraft

is in the air as many hours of
the day as it possibly can be

earning money for them.

EGYPTIAN INVESTIGATOR:
How would you describe
the plane's condition?

AIRCRAFT ENGINEER: No major
issues. It checked out fine.

NARRATOR: The
aircraft was 18 years old.

It had been through
several different owners.

But maintenance engineers insist

that the plane was
mechanically sound.

RUSSIAN INVESTIGATOR:
Significant incidents
maybe in the past?

Something like that?

AIRCRAFT ENGINEER: It
had a tail strike in 2001.

NARRATOR: A tail strike is when
the rear fuselage of a plane

hits the runway
during takeoff or landing.

Damage can be minor or severe

depending on the
force of the impact.

AIRCRAFT ENGINEER: It happened
during a landing in Cairo.

Pretty major damage.

STEPHEN: Now this
would need to be repaired,

and it would need to be
repaired very carefully,

and of course
that would be an area

that the investigators
would look at very closely.

NARRATOR: Maintenance records
show that the tail strike damage

was repaired. But investigators
have reason to be concerned.

DAVID: It's not the structural
damage itself at the time

which is the danger. It
is the repair afterwards.

NARRATOR: In
2002, 225 people died

when a China Airlines
jumbo jet came apart in midair.

STEPHEN: What happened was the
rear-pressure bulkhead failed

and it actually
blew the fin off.

NARRATOR: A repair of
tail strike damage carried out

22 years earlier ultimately
proved to be not strong enough.

♪ ♪

Modern airliners are
designed to withstand

huge changes in
atmospheric pressure.

As a plane climbs, air is
pumped into the cabin so that

passengers can survive the
change in exterior air pressure.

On descent, the
flow is reversed.

These pressure
changes flex the fuselage.

A poor repair, as in
the case of China Airlines,

could be an
accident waiting to happen.

EGYPTIAN INVESTIGATOR:
All right. Thank you
for the information.

NARRATOR: Investigators now
wonder if a tail strike repair

from 14 years ago may
have fatally weakened

the Metrojet Airbus.

DAVID: If these are not
checked on a regular basis,

that can end up in the
destruction of the aircraft.

So the tail strike was something
the investigators had to

look at extremely closely as a
possible cause of this accident.

NARRATOR: The shattered
remains of Metrojet 9268

have been moved
from the Sinai desert

to a massive warehouse in Cairo.

EGYPTIAN INVESTIGATOR:
Let me take a look at this.

NARRATOR: Investigators
hope the collected debris can

tell them if an improper tail
strike repair from years ago

doomed Metrojet Flight 9268.

It's a daunting task,
but they need to know:

Is this China Airlines
Flight 661 all over again?

EGYPTIAN INVESTIGATOR: The
tail strike could explain why

the tail section was the
first piece to break off.

RUSSIAN INVESTIGATOR:
Agreed. Let's check all
the tail pieces we can find.

EGYPTIAN INVESTIGATOR:
Good idea.

STEPHEN: But then you'd return
to the actual wreckage itself

and say, well, is there any
indication that there has been

or the event itself has
initiated from the region

of the rear pressure bulkhead?

NARRATOR: They sort through tail
pieces from the Metrojet Airbus.

They focus on the
ones that were repaired

because of the
tail strike incident.

DAVID:
If any mistakes or shortcuts
are made during the repair,

then that tends to put
abnormal or uneven stresses

on various parts of
the metal structure,

and that starts the
process of metal fatigue,

and you get cracks.

STEPHEN:
Fatigue has -- certainly
to a trained investigator

has quite
distinctive characteristics.

EGYPTIAN INVESTIGATOR: No signs
of damage around the repair.

NARRATOR: After an exhaustive
analysis, investigators agree

that the structure
of the Metrojet plane,

including its repaired
tail, was perfectly sound.

RUSSIAN INVESTIGATOR:
Something else caused it.

EGYPTIAN INVESTIGATOR:
What about the fuel tanks?

NARRATOR:
Still searching for the
cause of the midair breakup,

they return to an earlier
theory -- fuel tank explosion.

TOM: If there has been
a fuel tank explosion,

it should be discernible in the
outer walls of the fuel tank

of being bulged outward.

NARRATOR:
But the evidence doesn't
support a fuel tank failure.

It's another dead end.

Before long, they also
rule out engine failure

and all other
mechanical failures.

It seems there was nothing
wrong with the aircraft.

RUSSIAN INVESTIGATOR: It
just doesn't make sense.

STEPHEN:
It's frustrating, but that's
the way it sometimes goes.

NARRATOR: In Russia,
families of the victims

are still waiting for answers.

The pressure
mounts on both Russian

and Egyptian authorities.

DAVID: There's a natural
tension when an entire aircraft

is lost with everybody on
board being from one state.

The Russian government feels
it has to explain to its people

what has happened
because they're very shocked.

Meanwhile, Egypt on the
other hand is saying, oh God.

This is going to
damage our tourism industry.

AYMAN (Archive):
The committee is considering
with a great attention

all possible scenarios for
the cause of the accident,

and did not
reach till the moment

any conclusion in this regards.

NARRATOR: Investigators'
best hope of understanding

why 224 people died now lies

with the plane's
cockpit voice recorder.

EGYPTIAN INVESTIGATOR: Ready?

RUSSIAN INVESTIGATOR:
Let's play it.

FO. TRUKACHEV: Sharm
El Sheikh, Metrojet 9268.

Request takeoff clearance,
runway zero-four-right.

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: Metrojet
9268, cleared for takeoff

runway zero-four-right.

NARRATOR: They listen for
anything out of the ordinary --

a missed procedure by the crew,

or any background sound
that might hold a clue.

FO. TRUKACHEV: Eighty knots.
CAPT. NEMOV: Check.

FO. TRUKACHEV: V-1.
CAPT. NEMOV: V-1.

FO. TRUKACHEV: Rotate.

DAVID: You can hear everything
that the pilots can hear,

the sound of the engines, the
sound of the air rushing past,

and you can hear what the pilots
are saying to each other.

And if anybody else
comes into the cockpit

and talks to them,
you can hear that too.

CAPT. NEMOV: Come in.

FLIGHT ATTENDANT: Two cups
of tea for two fine gentlemen.

CAPT. NEMOV:
Thank you very much.

FO. TRUKACHEV: You are the best.

FLIGHT ATTENDANT:
Well, since you say
so, no charge for the tea.

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER:
Metrojet 9268,

prepare to contact Nicosia
control, local frequency.

CAPT. NEMOV: Okay. Might
as well get comfortable.

FO. TRUKACHEV:
I have to look over my
schedule for the next few days.

RUSSIAN INVESTIGATOR: That's it?

STEPHEN: Everything is going
normally, the normal sounds

in the cockpit, the
normal conversation,

and then suddenly it stops.

EGYPTIAN INVESTIGATOR: Play the
very end again, but this time

can we try to take out
some background noise?

CAPT. NEMOV: Might as
well get comfortable.

FO. TRUKACHEV:
I have to look over my
schedule for the next few days.

RUSSIAN INVESTIGATOR:
What's that sound?

EGYPTIAN INVESTIGATOR:
Can you isolate it any more?

FO. TRUKACHEV:
I have to look over my
schedule for the next few days.

RUSSIAN INVESTIGATOR:
There's definitely a
sound there. It's like a...

EGYPTIAN INVESTIGATOR:
Like a bang.

RUSSIAN INVESTIGATOR:
It sounds like the
beginning of an explosion.

NARRATOR:
It's a compelling clue,
suggesting an onboard blast.

The team now wants
to learn all they can

from the crucial recording.

EGYPTIAN INVESTIGATOR:
If we can find out
where that sound came from,

we might be able to figure
out what caused the explosion.

STEPHEN: There is an event
and then it stops working.

Well, that in its own on itself
is telling you something.

That is saying
that there has been

a very sudden and violent event.

NARRATOR: The cockpit
voice recorder has captured

what seems to be the
sound of an explosion.

To help figure out what
could have caused an explosion,

investigators
first must determine

where the sound came from.

OLIVER: The cockpit voice
recorders, they're leaving

one signature piece
of evidence so far,

and that is some
type of unknown noise

that requires a
frequency spectral analysis

of the time domain of the noise.

NARRATOR: The CVR
records sounds in the cockpit

from three microphones,
one on the captain's headset,

one on the first
officer's headset

and one main cockpit microphone
between the two pilots.

FO. TRUKACHEV:
Hydraulic demand pumps?

CAPT. NEMOV: All auto.

NARRATOR: Determining which
microphone the blast sound

hit first can reveal which
side of the plane it came from.

RUSSIAN INVESTIGATOR:
There. It hit the
captain's microphone first,

then the central microphone,
and after the first officer's.

EGYPTIAN INVESTIGATOR:
So that means it came from

the left side of the
plane. The question is where.

♪ ♪

NARRATOR: An explosion produces
two different types of waves.

A shock wave
vibrates through the fuselage

at speeds up to
16,000 feet per second.

A much slower sound
wave travels through the air

at 1,100 feet per second.

Both of these
waves are captured by

the sensitive
cockpit microphones.

EGYPTIAN INVESTIGATOR:
Can we see the close-up

of the captain's
microphone, please?

NARRATOR:
Comparing the timing of
the two different waves could

help investigators pinpoint
the origin of the blast.

EGYPTIAN INVESTIGATOR:
That's the sound wave,
and that's the shock wave.

So the sound wave hit
the microphone just over

100th of a second
after the shock wave.

RUSSIAN INVESTIGATOR:
Give me a second.

NARRATOR: The small gap in
time between the two waves

is a huge clue
for investigators.

They already know
the speed of each wave.

Now, with the time
gap, they can calculate

exactly how far they traveled.

RUSSIAN INVESTIGATOR:
I think it started at
the rear of the plane.

Right here. At the very
left rear of the plane.

EGYPTIAN INVESTIGATOR:
That makes sense.

NARRATOR: Clever
detective work has revealed

where the blast originated.

Now they want to
know what caused it.

They hope wreckage
from the rear of the plane

can provide a clue.

RUSSIAN INVESTIGATOR:
Look at this!

NARRATOR: As they
reexamine the wreckage,

they discover
some telltale debris.

EGYPTIAN INVESTIGATOR:
What is it?

RUSSIAN INVESTIGATOR:
Well, take a look.

NARRATOR: Several
pieces of fuselage peppered

with suspicious-looking holes.

RUSSIAN INVESTIGATOR: I think I
saw another one just like that.

Right here!

EGYPTIAN INVESTIGATOR:
I see what you're thinking.
Guys, clear a space here!

Give me a hand! Give
me a hand with this!

RUSSIAN INVESTIGATOR:
Right in the middle.

♪ ♪

Bring that in a bit.

STEPHEN: The obvious analogy
is with a jigsaw puzzle.

You have all the pieces
but they don't make sense

until you start putting
them back together again

to form a picture.

♪ ♪

RUSSIAN INVESTIGATOR: It looks
like we found our explosion.

TOM: When you put these
pieces logically back together,

then you can actually see
the confines of the hole.

NARRATOR: The finding
backs up the CVR analysis.

They now have even
more compelling evidence

of an explosion in the
left rear of the plane.

Still searching for the
cause of the explosion,

they order a
chemical analysis of debris

from near the blast area.

OLIVER:
Airplane crash investigations is
about looking deeply into the

minutiae, looking deeply into
every single possible detail.

TOM: What the laboratory
forensic chemist would do

is to extract that
residue off of these components

and run it through
the instrumentation

that would tell you
whether that you have presence

of actual,
unbelievably small quantities

of undetonated explosives.

NARRATOR: The lab
tests are conclusive.

There is bomb
residue on the wreckage.

Flight 9268 was
blown out of the sky

by an onboard explosive device.

NARRATOR: Egyptian
President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi

makes a public
statement blaming terrorists

for the deadly air disaster.

PRESIDENT SISI (Archive):

NARRATOR: His
statement echoes that

of Russia's
Federal Security Service.

It was a terrorist bombing.

A major piece of the
puzzle is now solved.

But important questions about
the Metrojet bombing remain.

DAVID: We know this aircraft was
brought down by an explosive.

How did the explosive get on
board, and in what form was it?

RUSSIAN INVESTIGATOR:
Was it someone on board?

I need a background check on

every single one of
these passengers, please.

NARRATOR:
US and British intelligence
agencies have revealed

that they picked up
chatter from English-speaking

militant Islamists in the
days leading up to the attack.

It suggested something big was
being planned for the Sinai.

RUSSIAN INVESTIGATOR:
Take a look at this.

MOKHTAR: There was
reportedly chatter in English

indicated that ISIS Central's
external operations units

may have played a
hand in this operation.

EGYPTIAN INVESTIGATOR:
Maybe this is ISIS.

♪ ♪

RUSSIAN INVESTIGATOR:
Have a look at this.

NARRATOR: Between 2014
and 2016, Islamic State

publishes an online propaganda
magazine called Dabiq .

EGYPTIAN INVESTIGATOR:
What is this? They
have their own magazine?

NARRATOR: One issue
contains a stunning claim.

RUSSIAN INVESTIGATOR:
They say they packed
explosives in a soda can.

EGYPTIAN INVESTIGATOR: That's
frightening. But it makes sense.

TOM: The quantity of
explosives that could logically

be secreted in the
12-ounce soda can,

depending upon where
it is in the aircraft,

it would certainly be
enough to cause it to crash.

NARRATOR:
Investigators now wonder
if a passenger somehow evaded

airport security and smuggled
the small device onboard.

EGYPTIAN INVESTIGATOR: This
is the passenger who was seated

in the area the bomb went off.

FLIGHT ATTENDANT:
You'll just need to put
that under the seat for now.

♪ ♪

RUSSIAN INVESTIGATOR:
I've already looked into her.

She was 15 years old
traveling with her mother.

Absolutely no link to terrorism.

NARRATOR: Investigators need to
narrow down the suspect list.

They go through the
entire passenger manifest,

searching for anyone
with any possible affiliation

to ISIS or any
other violent extremists.

The search comes up empty.

The investigative team
returns to the wreckage,

hoping to pinpoint the exact
spot in the rear of the plane

where the lethal
device went off.

Figuring out precisely
where the bomb was placed

could help unmask the
person who placed it there.

STEPHEN: When you have
evidence of shrapnel damage

on other parts of the
structure, it's maybe possible

to actually estimate where the
center of the explosion was.

NARRATOR: They reconstruct
the area of the plane

where the blast took place.

They even reconstruct
the explosion itself.

STEPHEN: You put thin
steel rods through the holes

caused by the shrapnel and just
see where they all coincide,

where they all point to.

TOM: What that does is
it gives you an indication

of how the plane was
ripped apart at that location.

You will be able to
see on pieces of the skin

of the aircraft,
how it has been torn.

RUSSIAN INVESTIGATOR:
That's good.

EGYPTIAN INVESTIGATOR:
That makes sense.

It's the oversized luggage
compartment in the hold.

RUSSIAN INVESTIGATOR:
So it wasn't a passenger.

EGYPTIAN INVESTIGATOR: No.

RUSSIAN INVESTIGATOR:
Ground crew perhaps.

NARRATOR: Hundreds of
people work as ground crew

at Sharm El Sheikh Airport.

They drive trucks, refuel
planes, and handle baggage.

Special security
clearance gives most of them

far greater access to
aircraft than any passenger.

Investigators
focus on the personnel

who were working on the
morning of the bombing.

EGYPTIAN INVESTIGATOR: I think
we may have found our man.

MOKHTAR:
According to an unconfirmed
report, the Islamic State

found that one of its
members had a relative

working in the
Sharm El Sheikh Airport.

This put in
motion the possibility

of executing an
attack at the airport.

There is now ample evidence
to support a compelling theory

about what happened
to Metrojet Flight 9268.

MOKHTAR: When the time
was right, the Islamic State

was able to
leverage this relationship

and compel this relative,
who was a baggage handler,

to put a bomb in the plane.

They may have bribed police
NCOs to look the other way.

They've done this
before in previous attacks

and were actually successful
in recruiting police officers

who were able to feed
them necessary information

or look the other way.

NARRATOR: Once past
security, the baggage handler

would have no trouble
loading the deadly device.

FO. TRUKACHEV: Sharm
El Sheikh, Metrojet 9268.

Request takeoff clearance
runway zero-four-right.

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: Metrojet
9268, cleared for takeoff

runway zero-four-right.

NARRATOR: As the Russian
crew is about to head for home,

they have no way of knowing that
below them in the cargo hold

is a bomb set to go
off at cruising altitude.

FO. TRUKACHEV: V-1. Rotate.

♪ ♪

NARRATOR: The airplane
approaches 31,000 feet.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

STEPHEN: Immediately
after the explosion,

within a matter of a second or
two, the rest of the structure

should start to break up.

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: Do
you read me, Metrojet 9268?

TOM: The plane decompresses
from the pressurization.

That is the part that
literally, and I can't say it

any more specifically,
it rips the plane apart.

There's no way to survive it.

♪ ♪

DAVID: The Metrojet
event was game-changing

for how seriously we
have to take security.

♪ ♪

NARRATOR: Even before an
official report is published

on the Metrojet disaster,
air safety authorities call

for tighter security screening
for airport staff, to reduce

the odds of such a catastrophe
ever happening again.

DAVID: Is there a
screening process to make sure

that the staff over a
period of time of employment

are not subverted
by outside sources?

Have their beliefs changed?

Has an organization, like
Islamic State for example,

managed to convert
somebody who's already in place

having been security cleared?

They should be throwing
greater security resources

in human terms
and equipment terms.

OLIVER: Is that gonna be
costly? Yes, it's going to be.

But do we want
to spend money now,

or do we want to
spend lives later?