Mayday (2013) s04e03 Episode Script

NARRATOR: This is a true story based on air traffic control recordings, official reports and interviews with those involved.
(THEME MUSIC) Early evening, June 2, 1983.
Suppertime aboard Air Canada Flight 797.
Captain Donald Cameron has been working for Air Canada for 17 years and has flown almost 5,000 hours on a DC-9.
But it doesn't mean he gets to eat first.
How's your seafood? Nice? Before he can dig in, his first officer, Claude Ouimet, will have to finish.
Good.
The jet is in the middle of a flight from Dallas, Texas, to Montreal, with a stopover in Toronto.
The heavy cloud cover below hides some light showers.
But at their cruising altitude of 10,000m the view is clear and bright.
The DC-9 is only half-full today, with 41 passengers scattered throughout the plane.
Can I have some tea, please? 24-year-old Dianne Fadley is an active member of the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation.
FADLEY: We have a number of different fundraising activities and once a year they have a large conference, and at this time it happened to be in Toronto.
Raymond Chalfoux is 23 and recently married.
An engineer, he's returning home from his first-ever business trip.
CHALFOUX: It was a little bit frightening, both for me and for my wife.
I was supposed to be gone four or five days.
So first time we were separated for a long period of time.
So it was kind of, er insecuring for me, yeah.
Just before 7:00, the plane is a little more than halfway to Toronto.
- (CLICKING) - What was that? It's right there.
I see it.
Right there.
Yeah.
Three circuit-breakers have popped out.
Like fuses, they protect delicate electrical circuits on the plane from becoming overloaded.
Like a machine gun.
Yeah.
Zap, zap, zap.
The three breakers are for the flushing motor in the toilet at the rear of the plane.
Cameron decides to give them a few minutes before he tries to reset them again.
You know, sometimes it overworks and overheats - and then the breaker popped - and then, uh, it cools off and then you push the breaker and everything is fine.
So I put the snag in the logbook andthat's it.
Someone must have pushed a rag down a toilet or something.
Jammed it and it overheated.
Cameron thinks that something must be stopping the motor from working properly.
But it's not an emergency.
Toilets get blocked all the time.
Several minutes pass as the plane continues on its way to Toronto.
Flight attendants Laura Kayama and Judi Davidson are busy serving up dinner in the cabin.
In the cockpit it's Captain Cameron's turn for dinner.
But first, he wants to reset the three circuit-breakers.
Without them, the toilet won't work.
The rest of the flight could get uncomfortable for the passengers.
It pops as I push it.
He's given it more than eight minutes.
But whatever is wrong with the washroom, it isn't fixing itself.
In the cabin, one of the passengers complains about a disturbing odour.
Yeah, that is a strange smell.
Let me take a look.
Connie Kirsch, a Texan headed for a business meeting in Toronto, is seated at the back of the plane.
KIRSCH: I had smelled a peculiar smell where I was sitting.
And I It struck me as odd.
Actually, it was a wiry smell.
It wasn't a smoke smell.
A wisp of smoke is leaking out of the washroom.
The smoke and the acrid smell of burning plastic takes Davidson by surprise.
This is much more than just a clogged toilet.
Other passengers are beginning to notice the smoke and the suffocating smell.
(COUGHING) Sergio, there's a problem in the washroom.
Judi says there's a fire.
OK.
I'll be right there.
Chief Flight Attendant Sergio Benetti is in charge of the cabin crew.
As a precaution, we're moving everyone three rows up.
(COUGHING) The smoke is noxious and overpowering.
Benetti can't see any flames.
He sprays the fire extinguisher into the tiny washroom, trying to coat every surface.
CHALFOUX: As soon as I saw that fire extinguisher, something went through my mind.
There is definitely something wrong.
The guy seemed to have the thing under control.
So, he's gonna do his job and things will be business as usual.
It's 7:02, just 11 minutes since the circuit-breakers first popped out.
Laura Kayama brings Captain Cameron the disturbing news.
Excuse me, Captain.
There's a fire in the washroom in the back.
They just went back to go put it out.
Do you want me to go back? Yeah, go.
A fire on board an aircraft is one of the worst situations any crew can face.
The plane is some 10km high.
What starts as a spark can turn deadly in a few short minutes.
But at the moment, Cameron doesn't know how bad the situation is.
CAMERON: You've got to remember, in 1983, people were allowed to smoke in the aircraft.
And there had been a number of incidents of this sort in the industry.
So it really didn't alarm me that much.
Ouimet finds the situation is worse than he expected.
I didn't see any flames when I opened the door before.
But I sprayed it really good with the fire extinguisher.
Do you think it was a cigarette in the garbage? No, not really.
OK.
Can't get back there.
Smoke's too heavy.
I think we'd better go down.
But Flight Attendant Sergio Benetti has a very different assessment of the situation.
We don't have to worry.
I think the smoke's easing up.
It's a confusing moment for Captain Cameron.
CAMERON: Some components do fail from time to time that are not severe or serious enough to cause an emergency descent.
That's a pretty serious thing.
When Ouimet and Benetti were at the back of the plane, the smoke seemed thick.
But now it appears to be subsiding.
OK, it's starting to clear now.
But I'll go back and check, if that's OK.
Yeah, that's OK.
Take these goggles.
I'll leave my mask on.
Go back wherever you can but don't get yourself incapacitated.
No problem.
No problem.
If it's just a broken toilet motor, Cameron can still make it to Toronto.
But if it's more serious, he'll have to land immediately, before the small inconvenience becomes a deadly problem.
(DING!) Captain Donald Cameron is waiting for an update from the back of the plane, when suddenly he's got a new problem.
(BEEPING) The master warning light is on.
Electrical systems throughout the plane - including some in the cockpit - begin to fail.
(INSTRUMENTS BEEP) CAMERON: The airplane basically lost all its sophisticated navigation and latitude information.
So I was left, very suddenly, with, I think, uh, three engine instruments per engine and four flight instruments which were very primitive.
They were, uh .
.
what you might have flown a World War II bomber with.
With his electrical systems starting to shut down, Cameron calls the nearest ground control.
This is Air Canada 797.
MAN: (OVER RADIO) Air Canada 797, Indianapolis Center.
Go ahead.
Yeah, we've got an electrical problem here.
We may be off communication shortly.
Stand by.
Copilot Claude Ouimet is at the back of the plane.
The washroom doorhandle has become hot to the touch.
He doesn't even risk opening it.
Faced with a potential fire on board, the crew have no choice but to land their plane as soon as possible.
I don't like what's happening.
I think we'd better go down.
We're going to be making an emergency descent.
- Brief the cabin.
- Yes, sir.
As soon as the decision is made, another warning light goes on.
They've just lost most of their emergency power.
We're talking about multiple failure here and it's starting to be complicated.
So, we're going down and obviously we have to land.
Mayday, mayday, mayday.
A small problem has snowballed into an all-out emergency.
Mayday, mayday, mayday.
MAN: (OVER RADIO) This is Louisville Control.
Over.
Air Canada 797.
We have a fire on board.
We are going down.
Can you possibly make Cincinnati? Roger that.
Cincinnati is 46km away.
They can make it.
Captain Cameron begins an initial descent to 1,500m.
The crew has switched to emergency battery power, but many of the plane's instruments aren't functioning.
So all we had left was DC emer power and that's only good for radios, basically.
It's not only instruments.
Cameron finds that a critical piece of his plane isn't working properly.
The horizontal stabiliser on the tail of his DC-9 is frozen.
Cameron uses the part that is still working - the elevators - to make the plane dive.
But like a car that's lost power steering, the aircraft resists.
As Cameron pushes on the controls, they push back with a pressure equal to 20kg.
CAMERON: The airplane became very heavy.
And it took my total concentration to fly the airplane.
(PASSENGERS COUGH) An acrid bitter smoke is creeping forward from the back of the plane and seeping in from the seams in the fuselage ceiling.
It hovers like a cloud over the passengers' heads.
CHALFOUX: Incredibly harsh smoke that was really irritating your throat.
You had to take really, really, small, small breaths, otherwise you would choke.
FADLEY: I could see it rise.
It was travelling along those luggage racks.
You know, coming forward.
Seatbelts? (PASSENGERS COUGH) The smell of burning plastic fills the air.
Dropping oxygen masks could make the situation worse.
CAMERON: I could have deployed the oxygen masks for the passengers, but it's forbidden.
You're only allowed to use the oxygen masks in a case of a massive decompression or a loss of cabin pressure.
Not for fire.
KIRSCH: I was crying and scared.
I wasn't hysterical.
The gentleman sitting next to me explained to me that if I would not cry and if I could, you know, conserve mynot breathe so fast, that it would conserve the oxygen and help us.
And not to worry - that the flight attendants, they really know how to handle these sort of situations.
As the electrical malfunctions ripple through the plane, the P.
A.
system shuts down.
Flight attendants struggle to shout directions, but it's getting more and more difficult to breathe.
In 1983 it's not standard procedure to tell passengers how to open the emergency doors.
But in this case, the two flight attendants are taking no chances.
.
.
as far away from the plane as possible.
As smoke begins entering the cockpit, the captain's situation is becoming critical.
For the first time, Ouimet talks to the Cincinnati Airport.
Approach.
Air Canada 797.
We're on mayday.
We are going down.
MAN: (OVER RADIO) Air Canada 797.
Cincinnati approach.
Plan to runway 36ILS.
And the equipment has been alerted.
Do you have time to give me the nature of the emergency? We have a fire in the washroom.
We're filling up with smoke right now.
Say type of aircraft, number of people on board and amount of fuel.
We'll copy that later.
We don't have time.
Gregory Karam is the approach tower controller.
He's the lifeline for the struggling jet.
He can't see the plane on radar yet but he knows it's in trouble.
(COUGHING) KIRSCH: There was really no mayhem whatsoever.
No screaming.
Nothing at all.
In fact, it was very quiet and calm.
And again, I was terrified at that point.
Almost 13 minutes after 7:00, Karam catches sight of Flight 797 on his radar.
Air Canada 797.
You are now fully identified.
This will be a no gyro, radar approach for Runway 27 Left.
Descend now to 3,500ft.
Your position is now 12 miles south-east of the airport.
The crew needs to be guided in from the ground.
Struggling to see through the dense smoke, they could easily veer off course.
Karam will talk them down, watching them every step of the way.
(PASSENGERS COUGH) In the cabin, the smoke and heat are becoming unbearable.
(ALL COUGH, GASP) CHALFOUX: My thought was, "Well, we're gonna crash.
" They won't be able to identify myself because I didn't have my papers with me.
So I stood up, I took my wallet in the compartment and put my jacket on so that they could identify my body.
I knew at that point, that's when I decided - or felt - that I was not gonna make it 'cause I felt I would never see my family again.
And the situation just seemed very impossible.
Where's the airport? 12:00 and eight miles, Air Canada.
OK.
We're trying to locate it.
- We're going to need fire trucks.
- They're standing by for you.
Can you give me the number of people and amount of fuel? We don't have time.
Getting worse in here.
Understood, sir.
Turn left now.
You are 1.
5 miles north of final approach.
(SIRENS WAIL) Finally the crew see the airport.
OK.
We have the airport.
The tower has you in sight.
You need not acknowledge further transmission from me, Air Canada 797.
- You are clear to land.
- (COUGHS) You are four miles from the airport.
Good luck.
In a thick haze of smoke and soot, flight attendants Laura Kayama and Judi Davidson feel their way along the aisle, trying to reassure the passengers.
Can't see, can't breathe.
Death absolutely crossed my mind.
But hang in there, don't give up.
(PASSENGERS COUGH) CHALFOUX: I'd been married for less than a year and it's already over.
So I started breathing as little as I could and start thinking seriously of my wife.
Fighting the reluctant controls, Captain Cameron's strength is being pushed to the limit.
KARAM: (OVER RADIO) 797, the tower has you in sight.
At 20 minutes after 7:00, the Air Canada plane is on the ground.
It's less than 30 minutes since the first sign of any trouble on board Flight 797.
(COUGHS) But inside the plane, the smoke isn't letting up.
Passengers are undoing their seatbelts and trying desperately to escape.
KIRSCH: I got up out of my seat and I remember putting my hands up on someone's back.
And it was like waiting in a line.
And I knew that was one line I didn't wanna wait very long.
So I turned around and went the other direction, not knowing I was actually heading towards the front of the plane.
(SIRENS WAIL) Sergio Benetti is the first one to the door.
(COUGHS) Alright! He helps gasping passengers escape.
Go, go, go! MAN: I got 'em.
I got 'em.
(COUGHS) The cabin is pitch-black and burning hot.
Go! In the cockpit, the crew quickly shuts the plane down.
The first officer escapes through the emergency window.
It's a 5m jump to the ground.
(PASSENGERS COUGH, SPLUTTER) Passengers have opened three of the over-wing exits.
But even with the doors open, the exits are all but invisible.
The smoke is too thick.
(PASSENGERS COUGH, SPLUTTER) KIRSCH: I saw a light and it was the door that had opened.
Someone had opened the door.
And I realised what it was.
I ran to the door.
And held my I just put my face out so I could breathe.
Passengers who have found the exits slide off the wing and stumble to safety.
On the ground, Laura Kayama and Judi Davidson frantically move passengers away from the deadly plane.
Fire rescue vehicles surround the plane.
They douse the plane's exterior and the ground beneath with foam, fearing a fuel fire or worse - an explosion.
Don! Through the cockpit window, Ouimet can see Captain Cameron sitting in his seat looking dazed and slumped towards the wheel.
(COUGHS) First thing that got my attention was to see Don's face in the window and realised that he was not completely conscious.
(COUGHS) I couldn't get out of my seat.
I'd start and I'd get my arse up in the air, like that, and I'd be pushed back by the .
.
I have no idea, it was an invisible force.
But it was probably smoke and fire.
Desperately trying to save the captain's life, Ouimet tells firefighters to cover him with foam.
It was this soapy, ice-cold mixture that drenched me.
It works.
Cameron stirs and climbs out through the cockpit window.
Stop! There he is.
Don! Barely 90 seconds have passed since the plane landed when suddenly the whole interior of Flight 797 ignites.
- (BOOM!) - (ALL SCREAM) The flames roll through the cabin like a train.
Captain Donald Cameron is the last person to get out of the plane alive.
We knew there were people in the airplane unfortunately at that point.
That wasthat was finished.
The cabin fire breaks through the top of the fuselage.
(SIRENS WAIL) Black smoke can be seen for kilometres.
Flight attendant Laura Kayama begins to count.
CHALFOUX: I will remember these words forever.
She told us to line up so that she could count the survivors.
If there were survivors, obviously they were that.
18, 19, 21, 22 (SOBS) Including the crew, there had been 46 people aboard the plane.
But there aren't 46 people on the runway.
(SCREAMS, SOBS) I really thought that if the pilot could land the plane, we would all get off.
But I knew when I looked around, I didn't think we were all there.
The passengers who escaped the plane suffer from smoke inhalation and minor injuries but most are not badly hurt.
It was almost like .
.
if you got off the plane, nothing was wrong.
I mean, there was maybe a sprained ankle.
Maybe someone had a broken arm or something.
You made it and you were completely fine or you didn't make it.
KIRSCH: The young man next to me that helped me with my breathing techniques didn't survive.
That was a real tough blow, because I know, for one, I believe he played a big part in my survival.
CAMERON: Cincinnati Ground, this is captain of the Air Canada flight that's on fire here.
Captain Cameron radios Cincinnati Ground Control from an emergency vehicle near his plane.
He has a sobering message.
It seems there were 23 people left on board the aircraft.
Is there a scheduled carrier that runs into here that could maybe give aid and shelter to our stranded passengers? It's pretty cold out here.
What began with a simple electrical problem has taken the lives of 23 people.
What caused the deadly fire? What went so horribly wrong? The investigation will uncover the plane's troubling history.
This DC-9 had another serious accident just a few years before.
The first grim task of the investigators is to recover the bodies of the dead.
21 Canadians and 2 Americans.
Many are burned beyond recognition.
Almost all of the victims are found in the front half of the plane between the wings and the cockpit.
Some are still strapped into their seats.
Others are found in the aisles.
Even though all the passengers had been moved up earlier in the flight, two bodies are found near the rear beyond the wings.
MAN: 'Cause of the dense smoke in the cabin, the passengers couldn't see well enough to find the exits, and two passengers went beyond the over-wing exits and succumbed to the environment.
Investigators take blood samples from the bodies.
They find deadly levels of certain chemicals that were produced as the plane burned.
When we did toxicological studies, we were able to determine that there were some significant high levels of cyanide and fluoride in the blood, as well as carbon monoxide.
It's not known if the toxic fumes killed the passengers.
All that's certain is that they were unable to escape before the flames tore through.
When I went on board, I was just struck by the acrid smell.
It was kind of eerie because there was a lot of fire damage.
A lot of the fuselage was burned.
The interior of the cabin was burned down to the tops of the seats.
With the bodies removed, investigators begin digging through the wreckage to try and find the cause of the fire.
Among them are members of the FBI.
They were investigating to determine whether terrorism might have been a factor.
So they were on scene right away, looking at the aircraft to make that determination.
The FBI examines pieces of the plane's floor, samples of water from the washroom, even a plastic vial found on the floor.
The FBI became involved very early because of a The possibility of a crime taking place takes precedent over a accident.
They determined that there was no evidence of any crime being committed.
It was probably accidental ignition.
And so they then left, and NTSB took over the accident.
Having discounted the possibility that the fire was deliberately set, investigators consider the next obvious cause - a cigarette.
When smoking on planes was still allowed, the most common source of fires in a washroom was the trash container.
Investigators examine the trash container, and find that the top is burnt away but the trash chute and the container behind and below the sink are intact.
Inside the container are remnants of paper, scorched but not burnt.
The fire could not have started here.
With the most obvious potential causes discounted, investigators begin to comb through the wreckage looking for what had started the fire.
Studying the history of the plane, Hill uncovers some startling facts.
In the year before the accident, 76 separate maintenance issues had been written up in the plane's logbook.
All were dealt with, but still, it's an unusually high number of problems.
The plane's troubled history didn't end there.
Four years earlier, the rear bulkhead had failed, causing an explosive decompression.
The crew had to make an emergency landing.
CAMERON: It knocked out a lot of electrical cable and hydraulics and stuff like that, and the guy did a helluva job bringing it back to Boston.
The plane was repaired and put back into service, but Hill focuses on the wires that had to be stitched together after the accident.
A bad repair job could have been the cause of the fire.
There were wires that ran through there that had been cut, spliced back together.
Investigator study all the wire splices they can find on Flight 797 that weren't destroyed in the fire.
But they find no evidence of arcing or short-circuiting.
It's another dead end.
Investigators turn their attention to the cockpit voice recorder and the popping circuit-breakers.
CAMERON: (ON TAPE) What was that? OIUMET: It's right there.
I see it.
Right there.
Yeah.
- Like a machine gun.
- Yeah.
Zap, zap, zap.
The circuit-breakers trip as a precaution.
When they begin to overheat, the circuit-breakers turn off, cutting electrical current to the motor.
It's a safety feature so the motor won't cause a fire.
Investigators need to know if the breakers were tripped by a fire that had already started.
Or was the motor itself the problem? The NTSB build a mock-up of the plane's washroom and force the flush motor to seize.
They want to see if it could have started the fire.
The seized motor reaches a temperature of 428 degrees Celsius.
It's hot, but it's not hot enough to ignite parts of the washroom around the motor.
As they listen to the cockpit voice recorder, investigators uncover a puzzling clue.
Three minutes before the circuit-breakers popped, the recorder picked up another noise.
It was the sound of electrical arcing, like static, repeated eight times.
The noises weren't audible to the crew.
Hidden from view on any airplane is a river of wiring.
Investigators focus on a cable coming from a generator below the washroom floor.
Insulation had rubbed off two wires, making it possible for sparks to be produced - sparks that could start a fire.
There was evidence that there was some electrical arcing but it could've occurred after the insulation had burned on those wires.
In spite of countless hours of investigation and numerous tests, in the end, the NTSB can't pinpoint the exact cause of the fire.
There simply isn't enough evidence.
Just because of the vast amount of damage that was done in that concentrated area around the lavatory where the fire burnt for a long period of time, and possibly destroyed any of the evidence of where the fire actually ignited.
Even if they'll never know the exact cause of the fire, investigators try to understand how it could cause so much damage.
There had been heat and smoke but no-one had seen any flames until an explosion ripped through the jet.
When you have a fire that has incomplete combustion, when it has a lack of oxygen, they will produce combustible gases.
Those gases then can collect, especially in the crown of an aircraft.
The fire had burned out of sight, behind the washroom walls and the smoke, hot gases and fumes intensified and spread inside the wall space from the washroom through to the cabin walls.
Those spaces acted as a sort of chimney for the gases and smoke that the fire was creating.
Although the fire remained concealed behind the walls and ceiling panels, the smoke and hot gases entered the cabin through every seam, gathering in the upper space in the cabin and pressing down on the passengers.
The inaccessible areas in the cabin area are all linked together through small cracks and crevices and small openings.
The plane is one big pressure vessel with everything being the same equilibrated at the same pressure.
So smoking gases in those areas would fairly quickly start to permeate into the passenger cabin.
When the doors were opened during the evacuation an unlimited supply of oxygen was suddenly available to feed the fire.
The more intense the heat, the more oxygen-hungry a fire becomes.
The gases ignited with the force of an explosion.
And once you have a flashover, you produce heat, toxic gases, and you burn up all the oxygen in the cabin and it becomes non-survivable.
The technical part of the investigation is complete.
But there are still a lot of questions about how the crew responded to the fire.
First Officer says, "It's starting to clear now.
" And at that point they reckoned that the fire was under control.
Could they have done more to prevent the tragedy onboard Flight 797? The report on the lethal fire aboard Air Canada Flight 797 is published a year after the accident.
It's a landmark in aircraft safety but it immediately makes for controversial headlines.
The NTSB points out that the source of the smoke was never identified, either by the flight attendants or the First Officer.
The captain was never told, nor did he inquire as to the precise location and extent of the fire which had been reported to him.
MAN: And, with that in mind, what type of fire did you believe that you had? A bin fire.
Mayday.
Mayday.
Mayday.
And the report asks a hypothetical question.
Air Canada 797.
We have a fire onboard.
We are going down.
MAN: Can you possibly make Cincinnati? Roger that.
If he'd begun to descend sooner, could the captain have landed at Standiford Field Airport in Louisville, Kentucky? It was a few minutes closer.
The report and the media attention it gets are devastating to Captain Cameron and his crew.
Soon after the report is released, there's an outcry among pilots in the industry.
They resent its implied criticism of Flight 797's crew and the suggestion that they could have begun their descent five minutes sooner.
Several months later, the Airline Pilots Association submits a petition that defends Cameron and the crew.
It makes an impact.
The NTSB release a revised report, including the petition by the Airline Pilots Association.
In the petition, First Officer Ouimet writes an impassioned defence of landing the plane where and when they did.
The issue wasn't only the distance to the nearest airport, but the required rate of descent.
As it was, the plane barely made the descent to the Greater Cincinnati Airport.
Still, the National Transportation Safety Board's revised summary doesn't pull all its punches, pointing a finger at Captain Cameron.
The report states that the time taken to evaluate the nature of the fire and to decide to initiate an emergency descent contributed to the severity of the accident.
20 years later, the statement still stings.
I am glad they were all the people that got off, got off.
I'm very sorry the people that didn't get off DIDN'T get off, because we spent a lot of time and effort getting them there.
And that really bothered me.
All I know is that I did the best I could.
Along with the comments on the performance of the crew, the NTSB recommends a host of safety improvements.
Perhaps if the flight had been full someone would have noticed the smell of smoke sooner.
But what the washroom of Flight 797 could've used was a smoke detector.
They weren't standard throughout the industry.
But after Flight 797, attitudes and regulations changed.
Even though flight attendants did receive some training in dealing with fires aboard a plane, it didn't go far enough.
But what was more obvious, the flight attendants weren't properly equipped to attack fires.
Without full-face masks and oxygen, they couldn't be expected to fight fire while holding their breath.
In the years after Flight 797, attendants received better equipment and training.
The cabin crew had also made split-second decisions that helped save lives.
Moving passengers further up the plane and handing out wet towels minimised the effects of the toxic smoke.
Their decision to tell passengers to open the emergency exits over the wings was not standard procedure but it let some passengers escape more quickly and was eventually adopted as a routine practice.
Finally, it became obvious from the location of some of the bodies that passengers died because of precious seconds lost trying to find the exits in the pitch dark.
What would have made a difference? Track lighting on the floors and bumps along the overhead bins that identified the rows with emergency exits - features that would eventually become standard.
As a direct result of 797, a number of rules were changed, including a more stringent test for seats a heat-release and smoke requirement for cabin interior panels, requirement for smoke detectors in lavatories, and halon fire extinguishers in the cabin.
Getting ready for an emergency landing.
Put your head on your lap.
But the changes were too late for those who died on Flight 797, like the man sitting beside Connie Kirsch.
Months after the crash, his wife tracked Connie down.
She said, "I understand my husband was the one that was next to you.
"And I just wanted to know what How was he? "What was his spirits? And I said, "He was in great spirits.
He was very nice.
"He let me sit next to him and explained to me how to breathe.
" That was really difficult, you know? And the guilt that I carried for a long time Oh, it was difficult.
But I'm past the guilt.
But, I guess, when you go back to it and you think about it like this in detail, you're right back there.
Captain Cameron and his crew eventually received six separate awards for their heroic actions on Flight 797, including recognition from the Royal Canadian Air Force.
But they're all still haunted by the nightmare.
You feel responsible.
There's no question.
You feel guilt.
You're willing to give your licence.
Eryouyou feel very, er .
.
very small, until you get all the facts together because it's a puzzle for you, you know? You're as much of a victim in this.
You're not supposed to fly an airplane in that condition, you know? So you're as much as a victim as the passenger and it becomesI think it becomes all of our problem and we're all part of the solution.
It's just a shame we didn't get everybody off.
Still bothers me.
Supertext Captions by Red Bee Media Australia