Mayday (2013) s04e07 Episode Script
Out of Sight
VOICEOVER: East of Los Angeles, a calm holiday weekend is shattered by a devastating explosion.
MUFFLED VOICE OVER TWO-WAY RADIO A neighbourhood is destroyed.
SIRENS WAIL Frank? Anjelica? I turned and saw my house totally on fire.
All the houses behind me were all on fire.
Where are they?! Where are they? Firey wreckage is strewn for blocks.
Investigators must discover why this airliner crashed and find a way to stop it from ever happening again.
Los Angeles International Airport - LAX - is one of the busiest in the world.
It's used by 40 million passengers each year.
More than 1,500 planes take off and land every day.
It's August 31, 1986 - Labor Day weekend.
Today a junior air traffic controller, Walter White, will be handling some of that traffic.
How's it going? White isn't yet a fully-fledged controller.
He has to put in more time before he gets his final certification.
- Hey, Karl.
How's it going? - Hey.
Slow, slow, slow.
It was a long weekend and it was a beautiful day in Los Angeles.
It was absolutely clear outside, which we call a Chamber of Commerce type day.
Do you want to take a break? Have a cigarette? I could sit in for you.
That was my normal assigned shift and Walter came and asked if I wanted a break to go smoke a cigarette and I said, "Sure.
" Traffic was light.
It wasn't very busy.
It was Sunday morning.
Well, certainly, any controller is looking to get seasoning, if you will.
Three months, four months - that's a pretty new controller.
Los Angeles Approach.
Good morning.
I mean, it wasn't my turn for a break.
Walter wanted to work the sector.
From memory, he wanted to work it for some proficiency time.
He hadn't worked it in a while.
ACL 60, can you see the runway 25 Left? MAN OVER RADIO: Roger, L.
A.
Approach.
Thank you.
Reduce speed to 200 then descend and maintain 6,000.
200.
Descend and maintain 6,000.
Thank you.
Have a nice day.
Several hundred kilometres to the south, passengers are boarding an Aeromexico DC9.
Dr Donald Wong and his sons are returning from a highly successful fishing trip.
Jason, Jason.
I think we should put it up in the kitchen.
They caught an enormous sailfish Your mum will love it.
.
.
which they planned to display at home.
Labor Day weekend was the last weekend before school started.
Um, Donald decided that it would be fun to take the boys fishing down in Mexico, to go deep-sea fishing, which he'd only done one other time in his life.
This would be like a father-son bonding weekend.
And it was also the first time that they had travelled without me.
Just east of L.
A.
, the suburban city of Cerritos wakes up slowly.
In the 1970s, this bustling community had been one of the fastest growing in Los Angeles county.
THERESA: My husband had been working out of town all week and he was coming home for the weekend and that Sunday morning I decided, "Let's just stay home "and not go to church.
" I'm going to go out and get your favourite things for a good breakfast.
Javier, go and take a shower.
And I left to go to the grocery store.
In the home was Alex, he was 14, his twin sister Anjelica.
Er, she was asleep, he was asleep - still.
And Javier - that was my 16-year-old.
And my husband.
As Estrada leaves on her errand, Aeromexico Flight 498 is just 20 minutes from L.
A.
Captain Arturo Valdes Prom is acting as co-pilot as they approach the city.
First officer Jose Valencia is piloting this leg of their journey.
Ready when you are, Captain.
About 22km south of LAX sits the Torrance airport.
Operating in the mammoth shadow of LAX, Torrance serves private planes and amateur pilots.
It's one of several small airports that operate near L.
A.
- a region that has over 6,000 weekend flyers.
Fuel set.
At the end of a busy summer, William Kramer, his daughter Caroline and wife Kathleen are finally taking to the skies.
Piper 4891.
MAN OVER RADIO: All clear for take-off.
Good morning, Piper 4891.
This is Torrance Tower.
You're clear for take-off from Runway 5 They're heading to Big Bear Lake Rolling, Tower.
.
.
about 200km north-east.
A meticulous man, William Kramer is an executive for an engineering company.
Walter White's job as arrivals controller is to make sure incoming planes keep well clear of each other.
He's directing them to land on one of two runways.
You're going to approach Runway 25 Left.
Thank you.
South-east of LAX, the crew of Aeromexico Flight 498 is still a few minutes from their first contact with Walter White.
But in the skies above Los Angeles, a deadly series of events is about to unfold.
Dozens of people who have never met will be bound together forever in a tragedy that will affect everyone who flies.
Air speed.
Los Angeles Approach, good morning.
This is Aeromexico 498.
Aeromexico 498, this is Los Angeles Approach.
25 Left - final approach course.
Aeromexico Flight 498 is now officially inside what's known as the 'terminal control area' or TCA.
Sometimes referred to as the 'birdcage', the TCA is a complex piece of 3-dimensional airspace around the airport.
KARL: It's restricted airspace that's normally found around heavily congested airports or hub airports where the traffic density's extremely high and you need to control the access into and out of that airspace.
Aeromexico 498, traffic 10 o'clock.
One mile northbound.
Altitude unknown.
Roger, 498.
Aeromexico 498, reduce speed to 190 then descend and maintain 6,000.
As the Aeromexico plane descends .
.
William Kramer and his family continue climbing.
I hope it's like this when we get to Big Bear.
WILLIAM: We should be able to see the ocean by now.
Hon, take a look at the map and look around the 45 and see if you can see any kind of landmarks that we can use.
Oh, what am I looking for? Walter White is keeping his eye on the Aeromexico jet when his attention is abruptly drawn to another plane that's just appeared on his radar.
It's not one he's expecting.
MAN: Er, 1 Approach.
66 Romeo's on a flight from Thornton.
Cruising altitude is 4,500.
We'd like following.
The pilot of a small Grumman Tiger asks White to help guide him through the crowded Terminal Control Area.
Pilots are supposed to contact LAX Approach before they enter the controlled airspace.
This pilot could be in the path of incoming traffic.
But before White can deal with the private plane .
.
he gets a call from the Aeromexico DC9.
Er, what speed do you want? We're reducing to 290.
No, no.
To 190.
Er, OK, you can hold what you have, sir.
White decides to give the Aeromexico jet the runway closest to their gate.
Er, change in plan, sir.
Stand by.
Roger, 498.
With the DC9 on hold, White turns to the intruder.
Grumman 66 Romeo.
Squawk 4524.
Remain clear of the TCA.
White tells the pilot of the Grumman to use a unique radio channel.
But he seems confused.
45 What were the other two numbers? Grumman 66 Romeo, are you at 4,500 now? Negative.
We're at 3,400 and climbing.
OK, you are right in the middle of the TCA, sir.
Grumman 66 Romeo, I suggest in future you look at your TCA chart.
You just had an aircraft pass right off your left above you at 5,000.
And we run a lot of jets right through there at 3,500.
Well.
What do you suggest I do now? As the crew of Aeromexico Flight 498 continue to close in on the airport Landing lights.
.
.
their DC9 is rocked by a violent shudder.
- SCREAMS - What was that?! Aeromexico 498, Los Angeles Approach.
First officer Valencia tries desperately to control their dive.
Aeromexico 498, Los Angeles Approach.
This can't be! SCREAMS I saw a huge explosion.
Just the red, vibrant colours of a fire - just a huge explosion like the way a bomb might hit the ground.
White is getting no response from the Aeromexico jet.
Aeromexico 498, Los Angeles Approach.
And now he can't find it on his radar screen.
I'm sitting there talking with the two departure controllers and, er, not really thinking and I hear Walter say something like I think I lost one.
Aeromexico 498, Los Angeles Approach.
That immediately got everybody's attention.
So, I looked at the radars and could hear him calling, "Aeromexico 498.
" Calling them several times on the radio.
Where was Aeromexico? At this point, we weren't absolutely sure what had happened.
White calls to an incoming jet for help.
American 333 Heavy, I want you to take a look around 11 o'clock.
I just lost contact with a DC9.
Let me know if you see anything, please.
MAN OVER RADIO: 11 o'clock, 5 miles.
What altitude? Er, he was last assigned 6.
He's no longer on my radar scope, American 333 Heavy.
OK, er, I see a very large smoke screen off on the left side of the aircraft about 11 o'clock.
I went down the street to go to my house and I saw a woman's head - her body had been cut in a diagonal and she was just laying there.
There was nothing but debris and fires sporadically all over the place.
I could see fire in the whole neighbourhood.
SIRENS WAIL Nearby an engine from a local fire station had been on a training exercise led by fire Captain Larry Hambleton.
All of a sudden one of the firemen tapped me on the shoulder and said, "There's a big column of smoke off to our left.
" So I picked up the mike and made a guess at the address.
Responding to a large fire north of 91, north of Carmenita.
They came back and I said, "Well, we've got a report of an airliner down.
" So I upgraded the response to basically triple what I initially asked for.
I am calling for a third alarm and two air squads east of Carmenita.
SIRENS WAIL As we approached, I realised that in addition to the aircraft parts in the street there were people, body parts, which changed the complexion of the whole thing.
At Los Angeles Approach, Walter White, deeply shaken by the crash, is relieved of duty.
MAN: I remember watching Walter get up and walk out of the room by himself.
And, you know, something inside of me was saying, "This is not right.
This is not right.
"Somebody's gotta go with him.
" Tony, you can't go out alone.
I could've been sitting there just as easy as him and I don't know if I'd have done anything different than he did.
(Sobs) MAN ON RADIO: If you're out in this area, you'll see a large plume of white and black smoke and that's the air crash site.
About three miles west of Helicopter news crews are quickly on the scene.
There was a lot of fire in front of me and my house was just totally on fire.
(Calls) Frank! Anjelica! Javier.
Anjelica And I saw my neighbour.
(Screams) Where are they? I said to her, "Rose, where is my family? What happened?" And she goes, "Oh, honey, your family's in here.
They're over here.
"We're looking for you.
" And within myself, all I could do was thank God that they were safe and sound.
She took me into her home and I saw Alex.
- Alex! - Mum! Alex! Oh, what happened? Where's Anjelica? - I don't know.
- Where's Anjelica? - I don't know.
- Where's Javier? - Where's Papa? - I don't know, Mum.
I'm sorry.
I don't know, Mum.
(Cries) And he started crying right away and said, "Mum, I'm sorry.
I'm the only one that came out alive.
" And all I could do was hug him.
Pieces of fuselage have torn through nearby homes, setting them on fire.
MAN ON RADIO: I'm at the scene of the incident.
We have three homes on fire.
The tail section of the jet has been catapulted more than a block from the crash site.
Let's go to work, guys.
MAN 1: Five homes on fire.
Do you copy? MAN 2: 747 to 30.
Can you confirm that we have a plane down? MAN 1: We've got wreckage all over the place I don't think I ever saw a whole human being.
I gave them the job of finding body parts and wrapping them or covering them with yellow rescue blankets.
No matter where it was, ever so small or whatever, you know, a hand or a torso or a leg or whatever, that became life to us and was treated with respect.
At Los Angeles International Airport, Mary Wong is waiting for her husband and two young sons.
I went to the airport to pick them up around noon and waited in that area outside of Customs and waited and waited and probably, you know, you're thinking, "Customs might take a little while.
" But about maybe 12:20 or 12:30, I started seeing a man a walk around with a pack on his back with a green cross.
We were taken up to a lounge upstairs and on the elevator up I looked at the man and said, "They're dead.
" I said, "I just know they're gone.
" In Cerritos, emergency workers are shocked by another grizzly discovery.
In the playground of a local school, they find the wreckage of a Piper Cherokee Archer.
Remarkably intact, the play's canopy is sliced off.
Its three occupants are found still belted into their seats.
William Kramer and his family are dead.
All the passengers and crew on Aeromexico Flight 498 are also dead.
In addition, 15 people on the ground have been killed.
It's a horrifying situation.
Two planes have crashed into a California neighbourhood.
Something's gone terribly wrong in the skies above one of the busiest airports in the world.
Now investigators have to find out exactly what happened.
From the beginning, investigators are focussed on the fact that there are two planes on the ground.
It suggests a disturbing conclusion - that this was a midair collision.
The idea that this had been a midair collision was already conveyed to us before we even launched out of hangar six back when we got the word.
They saw two wreckages coming down, um .
.
and that's the way it got conveyed to us.
With that idea in mind, John White and his team must painstakingly examine the wreckage.
It's more now documenting where the major pieces were and then looking at the pieces to see if you can determine how the aircraft .
.
at what angle the aircraft may have come together at.
Propeller marks on the tail of the DC-9 and paint from the Piper Cherokee reveal how the planes crashed.
It looked like the Piper collided at the tail section of the DC-9 and the horizontal stabiliser came off, and once that happened, you could no longer control the pitch of the DC-9.
The descending DC-9 and the climbing Cherokee met at a 90-degree angle.
Their combined speed was 450km/h.
The impact tore off the airliner's tail section.
Discovering how the planes collided is the first step.
The more important question to be answered is why.
To piece together the tragedy, investigators examine the DC-9's flight data recorder.
It helps them pinpoint the exact location and altitude of Aeromexico Flight 498.
The DC-9 was inside the Terminal Control Area, the controlled airspace of the Los Angeles Airport.
It was right where it was supposed to be but the Kramers' Cherokee was also inside the TCA.
With all of the jets taking off and landing at LAX, private planes must first get permission to enter this area.
Piper 4891.
MAN ON RADIO: All clear for takeoff, Torrance.
William Kramer was a newcomer to Los Angeles but investigators learn that he was well aware of the limits imposed by the TCA.
He knew that it was restricted airspace.
And in the cockpit of Kramer's Cherokee, the confirmation.
Investigators find a map of the Los Angeles Terminal Control Area.
Investigators make another puzzling discovery.
They learn that the Kramers' proposed flight plan took them from Torrance to Long Beach then up to Ontario and finally to Big Bear Lake at a cruising altitude of 3,000m.
That plan keeps him well out of the TCA.
The fact of the matter is that the Cherokee flew into the TCA and hit the DC-9 in restricted airspace without a clearance.
So how had Kramer flown into danger and why hadn't he let anyone know? On the ground in Cerritos, one possible answer emerges.
Heart disease runs in Kramer's family and the initial autopsy results show a major blockage.
Are you alright, Bill? Yeah, yeah.
I'm fine.
Kramer may have suffered a heart attack on the flight leaving the plane without a pilot.
Samples of William Kramer's heart tissue are sent to the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology for testing.
If he suffered a heart attack, it might explain why he didn't call in to L.
A.
Approach.
It's totally possible that he could have had the heart attack, fell back, pulled the airplane up and that's why he didn't try and avoid the DC-9.
But no matter why Kramer was flying in restricted airspace, Air Traffic Controller Walter White should have been able to see him.
Kramer's plane should have appeared on White's radar.
Before being questioned by investigators, White reviews the radio calls from that morning.
He needs to be sure of what he said and what he saw.
Richard Wentworth was one of the investigators who talked to White.
At any time, did you see the Piper Cherokee on your scope? No.
No, sir.
The Piper's target was not displayed.
It is my belief that it was not on my radarscope.
He was positive that the aircraft was not there for him to see.
NTSB investigators aren't satisfied with White's memory.
While the radar data is being analysed, news arrives from the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology about William Kramer's heart.
Are you alright, Bill? Results from a detailed study of his body show that while he had advanced heart disease, William Kramer was not fighting a heart attack before the collision.
Investigators must find another explanation for why the Kramers' flight went into the Los Angeles Terminal Control Area.
While he had submitted a flight plan, small planes like Kramer's Cherokee don't have sophisticated instruments.
Like most private pilots, Kramer was navigating by landmarks like freeways.
That meant keeping an eye both on the landscape below and the airspace around him.
We were able to determine that the aircraft that collided with Aeromexico was there to be seen.
So why hadn't White reacted to the Kramers' plane if it was on his radar? When Walter White came to work that day, the arrival station was being controlled by Karl Grundmann.
Hey, Karl.
How's it going? Hey.
Slow Grundmann believes that longstanding radar problems were the reason White didn't see the Kramers' plane.
I can sit in for you.
Controllers had been complaining about the radars for a long time.
- All yours, buddy.
- Alright.
Thanks a lot.
We had reported problems with the radar not picking up targets.
Several times.
When radar signals strike a target, they bounce back to the receiver but if buildings or mountains interrupt the radar, the return signal can disappear.
You may lose one target.
You may lose two targets.
It may not be presented for one sweep.
Did you see the Piper Cherokee on your scope? No, sir.
But that doesn't mean that the target isn't there.
A blind spot is only an instantaneous thing.
It's not a continuous thing.
I think I lost one.
There are also holes that were just because the radar was old.
It was just not as accurate as it might have been.
It was not state-of-the-art equipment, that's for darn sure.
There's an effect called 'flicker'.
When a computer becomes overloaded, the scope will flicker.
Every now and then, targets will drop out or can drop out.
We reviewed that data.
We had no evidence that there were any malfunctions of any systems in Los Angeles.
There is another possible explanation.
If the Cherokee had appeared on the radar, White still could've missed it.
PILOT: One Approach, 66 Romeo's on a flight from Fullerton.
Cruising altitude is 4,500.
We'd like following.
Grumman 66 Romeo, are you at 4,500 now? Negative, we're at 3,400 and climbing.
OK, you are right in the middle of a TCA, sir.
There was an aircraft that was east of the airport which he became involved in.
That was what they called a violator.
Grumman 66 Romeo, I suggest in future you look at your TCA chart.
You just had an aircraft pass The problem with the conversation between the controller and the pilot of the Grumman is that it went on too long.
Why were you so mesmerised by the Grumman? I thought he posed a risk.
This occurred during a critical time at which the two aircraft to the south-west of his display - which was the Aeromexico and the Cherokee - were merging.
But even if the Cherokee signal did appear on White's radar, and even if he had seen it, investigators discover that White still would not have had all the information he needed.
Radar signals only show controllers that a plane is in range.
Transponders on planes can broadcast other information, including height and speed.
But at the site of the Cherokee wreckage, investigators discover the plane's transponder is a basic model.
It only sends out information on the plane's direction.
It provides no information about the plane's altitude.
These controllers were pretty much used to seeing a little triangle which represented a BFR aircraft with no altitude readout traversing all over the place.
And unless they learned first-hand from the pilot, they had an expectation that the aircraft would not intrude into that airspace.
Grumman 66 Romeo 4524 Investigator's believe that White's divided attention, perhaps made worse by an older radar system, explains why air traffic control never warned the DC-9 of the danger posed by Kramer's Cherokee.
Find any landmarks that we might be able to use as a visual.
But there's another mystery that hasn't been solved.
Studying the radar records from the day, NTSB investigators are startled by what they find.
Neither the crew of the DC-9, nor the pilot of the smaller Cherokee took any evasive action before the crash.
Both pilots appear completely unaware of each other.
CHEROKEE PILOT: Definitely the 405.
Why hadn't the pilots of either airplane reacted? Visibility was over 20 kilometres.
How could two planes collide in the clear blue sky? To try to get a better sense of what was happening inside the Aeromexico cockpit, investigators listened to the airplane's cockpit voice recorder.
GARBLED SPEECH Los Angeles approach, this is Aeromexico 498 The flight crew had put Walter White on their overhead speakers.
The microphone for the cockpit voice recorder was right beside the speakers.
WHITE: .
.
depart Sealed Beach, heading 320 Much of what the pilot said was drowned out by White's voice.
Reduce speed to 200 then descend and maintain 6,000.
Investigators believe that if William Kramer was indeed lost and using the freeways as a guide, he might never have seen the approaching DC-9.
The window he would have been looking out of was the pilot's window.
But the DC-9 was coming from the other direction.
I just want a visual landmark This would've been a very unfortunate situation, because DC-9 was approaching from the far right side, and, in fact, can only be seen out the passenger's window, which was on the right side of the aircraft.
For the crew of the DC-9, the very size of the much smaller Cherokee could have prevented them from seeing the plane before it was too late.
In some cases, when the small aircraft is closing very rapidly, by the time the aircraft becomes large enough for you to easily see it, it's almost too late to avoid the collision.
Uh, the FAA generally has taken, sort of as a rule of thumb, that you need about 12 seconds in order to see an aircraft, decide that it's a threat, then execute an avoidance manoeuvre.
In the case of the collision at Cerritos, by the time the aircraft became large enough to see, you were down very close to that 12-second limit.
In case after case of mid-air collisions, we find out that the aircraft gave no indication they saw each other until the time they actually collided.
The design of the cockpit windshield may also have contributed to the disaster.
Hey, Maria.
Everything OK back there? It's possible that during part of the approach, at least for one of the pilots, the aircraft was actually behind the centre post, and unless the pilot moved his head back and forth to clear that airspace, unless he had a reason to do that, it's possible the aircraft was obscured during part of the time in which he might have had a chance of seeing the other aircraft.
Ignition The disaster over Cerritos has revealed several tragic weaknesses in the air traffic control system.
One of the most glaring was that pilots could not be relied on to see and avoid each other.
They'd need new technology to keep a mid-air collision from happening again.
The NTSB report makes it clear that there are glaring problems across the air traffic system.
And these concerns must be addressed before, inevitably, there is another mid-air disaster.
The FAA, which regulates the airline industry in the United States, acted swiftly to improve safety.
A new kind of transponder was required for smaller planes, the kind that might have helped air traffic controllers recognise that the private aircraft posed a danger.
A new system called 'Mode C Intruder' was also developed to warn air traffic controllers.
Mode C Intruder is an automated program that is now incorporated in all our major radar facilities.
That if an aircraft should inadvertently intrude, the controller will now be given a visual and an aural alert, thus giving him time to provide a timely warning to the pilot.
Everything's checked? Seatbelts, engine ignition Even for the most diligent pilot, the old strategy of see and avoid had serious limitations.
Those limitations would be addressed with the most important innovation of all.
The major technological innovation that came out of the Cerritos mid-air was the congressional mandate that all carrier aircraft operating within the United States would be outfitted with TCAS - Traffic, Collision and Avoidance System.
John Andrews worked on the team that developed TCAS.
The TCAS Collision Avoidance System which was under development quite possibly could have prevented this accident.
TCAS gives the pilot a traffic advisory at 45 seconds before the potential collision.
Hey, Maria.
Everything OK back there? Then, at approximately 25 seconds or so before the potential collision, a resolution advisory is given to actually tell the pilots to climb or descend to avoid the altitude of the other aircraft.
Today, commercial airlines around the world use TCAS.
The pilot of the Grumman Tiger, the so-called 'third pilot' whose actions may have played a part in the crash, was eventually charged for flying into controlled airspace in a careless and reckless manner.
For Walter White, the effect of the disaster over Cerritos could not be overcome.
Walter came back, um, to the traffic control, and I think it was probably a month or so later.
And I can't give you exactly how long he stayed there, but it wasn't very long.
And he just got up and said, "No.
No, thank you.
" Uh, and as far as I know, he didn't talk to airplanes again.
Within a year of the incident, the old radars at LAX were replaced.
In Cerritos, a memorial garden now marks the day of the disaster.
Mary Wong has since remarried, but the pain of returning home that day will never go away.
There's nobody here.
The house is empty.
Derek was already living in an apartment in San Diego, and here I was.
I was no longer a mother, except to Derek, and I was no longer a wife.
And so it shattered my whole world.
Days after the disaster, Mary Wong met one of the few people who could fully understand her loss.
I went to the memorial service, and it was very important to me to try to meet somebody else who had gone through this.
And I knew from reading stories that Theresa had lost her husband and two children.
And so I saw someone there who I thought was Theresa.
She says, "Are you Theresa Estrada?" I said, "Yes, I am.
" She says, "Well, my name is Mary Wong.
" And, uh, she says I said, "I lost my husband and children also.
" II just wanted to grab her and hug her.
Becauseshe was feeling what I was feeling.
So, we had an immediate connection, and we've maintained our friendship over these 20 years.
Everyone who flies today has been affected by the mid-air collision over Cerritos.
The disaster led to historic improvements in aviation safety.
Since the full adoption of the TCAS system, there has not been another mid-air collision in the United States.
MUFFLED VOICE OVER TWO-WAY RADIO A neighbourhood is destroyed.
SIRENS WAIL Frank? Anjelica? I turned and saw my house totally on fire.
All the houses behind me were all on fire.
Where are they?! Where are they? Firey wreckage is strewn for blocks.
Investigators must discover why this airliner crashed and find a way to stop it from ever happening again.
Los Angeles International Airport - LAX - is one of the busiest in the world.
It's used by 40 million passengers each year.
More than 1,500 planes take off and land every day.
It's August 31, 1986 - Labor Day weekend.
Today a junior air traffic controller, Walter White, will be handling some of that traffic.
How's it going? White isn't yet a fully-fledged controller.
He has to put in more time before he gets his final certification.
- Hey, Karl.
How's it going? - Hey.
Slow, slow, slow.
It was a long weekend and it was a beautiful day in Los Angeles.
It was absolutely clear outside, which we call a Chamber of Commerce type day.
Do you want to take a break? Have a cigarette? I could sit in for you.
That was my normal assigned shift and Walter came and asked if I wanted a break to go smoke a cigarette and I said, "Sure.
" Traffic was light.
It wasn't very busy.
It was Sunday morning.
Well, certainly, any controller is looking to get seasoning, if you will.
Three months, four months - that's a pretty new controller.
Los Angeles Approach.
Good morning.
I mean, it wasn't my turn for a break.
Walter wanted to work the sector.
From memory, he wanted to work it for some proficiency time.
He hadn't worked it in a while.
ACL 60, can you see the runway 25 Left? MAN OVER RADIO: Roger, L.
A.
Approach.
Thank you.
Reduce speed to 200 then descend and maintain 6,000.
200.
Descend and maintain 6,000.
Thank you.
Have a nice day.
Several hundred kilometres to the south, passengers are boarding an Aeromexico DC9.
Dr Donald Wong and his sons are returning from a highly successful fishing trip.
Jason, Jason.
I think we should put it up in the kitchen.
They caught an enormous sailfish Your mum will love it.
.
.
which they planned to display at home.
Labor Day weekend was the last weekend before school started.
Um, Donald decided that it would be fun to take the boys fishing down in Mexico, to go deep-sea fishing, which he'd only done one other time in his life.
This would be like a father-son bonding weekend.
And it was also the first time that they had travelled without me.
Just east of L.
A.
, the suburban city of Cerritos wakes up slowly.
In the 1970s, this bustling community had been one of the fastest growing in Los Angeles county.
THERESA: My husband had been working out of town all week and he was coming home for the weekend and that Sunday morning I decided, "Let's just stay home "and not go to church.
" I'm going to go out and get your favourite things for a good breakfast.
Javier, go and take a shower.
And I left to go to the grocery store.
In the home was Alex, he was 14, his twin sister Anjelica.
Er, she was asleep, he was asleep - still.
And Javier - that was my 16-year-old.
And my husband.
As Estrada leaves on her errand, Aeromexico Flight 498 is just 20 minutes from L.
A.
Captain Arturo Valdes Prom is acting as co-pilot as they approach the city.
First officer Jose Valencia is piloting this leg of their journey.
Ready when you are, Captain.
About 22km south of LAX sits the Torrance airport.
Operating in the mammoth shadow of LAX, Torrance serves private planes and amateur pilots.
It's one of several small airports that operate near L.
A.
- a region that has over 6,000 weekend flyers.
Fuel set.
At the end of a busy summer, William Kramer, his daughter Caroline and wife Kathleen are finally taking to the skies.
Piper 4891.
MAN OVER RADIO: All clear for take-off.
Good morning, Piper 4891.
This is Torrance Tower.
You're clear for take-off from Runway 5 They're heading to Big Bear Lake Rolling, Tower.
.
.
about 200km north-east.
A meticulous man, William Kramer is an executive for an engineering company.
Walter White's job as arrivals controller is to make sure incoming planes keep well clear of each other.
He's directing them to land on one of two runways.
You're going to approach Runway 25 Left.
Thank you.
South-east of LAX, the crew of Aeromexico Flight 498 is still a few minutes from their first contact with Walter White.
But in the skies above Los Angeles, a deadly series of events is about to unfold.
Dozens of people who have never met will be bound together forever in a tragedy that will affect everyone who flies.
Air speed.
Los Angeles Approach, good morning.
This is Aeromexico 498.
Aeromexico 498, this is Los Angeles Approach.
25 Left - final approach course.
Aeromexico Flight 498 is now officially inside what's known as the 'terminal control area' or TCA.
Sometimes referred to as the 'birdcage', the TCA is a complex piece of 3-dimensional airspace around the airport.
KARL: It's restricted airspace that's normally found around heavily congested airports or hub airports where the traffic density's extremely high and you need to control the access into and out of that airspace.
Aeromexico 498, traffic 10 o'clock.
One mile northbound.
Altitude unknown.
Roger, 498.
Aeromexico 498, reduce speed to 190 then descend and maintain 6,000.
As the Aeromexico plane descends .
.
William Kramer and his family continue climbing.
I hope it's like this when we get to Big Bear.
WILLIAM: We should be able to see the ocean by now.
Hon, take a look at the map and look around the 45 and see if you can see any kind of landmarks that we can use.
Oh, what am I looking for? Walter White is keeping his eye on the Aeromexico jet when his attention is abruptly drawn to another plane that's just appeared on his radar.
It's not one he's expecting.
MAN: Er, 1 Approach.
66 Romeo's on a flight from Thornton.
Cruising altitude is 4,500.
We'd like following.
The pilot of a small Grumman Tiger asks White to help guide him through the crowded Terminal Control Area.
Pilots are supposed to contact LAX Approach before they enter the controlled airspace.
This pilot could be in the path of incoming traffic.
But before White can deal with the private plane .
.
he gets a call from the Aeromexico DC9.
Er, what speed do you want? We're reducing to 290.
No, no.
To 190.
Er, OK, you can hold what you have, sir.
White decides to give the Aeromexico jet the runway closest to their gate.
Er, change in plan, sir.
Stand by.
Roger, 498.
With the DC9 on hold, White turns to the intruder.
Grumman 66 Romeo.
Squawk 4524.
Remain clear of the TCA.
White tells the pilot of the Grumman to use a unique radio channel.
But he seems confused.
45 What were the other two numbers? Grumman 66 Romeo, are you at 4,500 now? Negative.
We're at 3,400 and climbing.
OK, you are right in the middle of the TCA, sir.
Grumman 66 Romeo, I suggest in future you look at your TCA chart.
You just had an aircraft pass right off your left above you at 5,000.
And we run a lot of jets right through there at 3,500.
Well.
What do you suggest I do now? As the crew of Aeromexico Flight 498 continue to close in on the airport Landing lights.
.
.
their DC9 is rocked by a violent shudder.
- SCREAMS - What was that?! Aeromexico 498, Los Angeles Approach.
First officer Valencia tries desperately to control their dive.
Aeromexico 498, Los Angeles Approach.
This can't be! SCREAMS I saw a huge explosion.
Just the red, vibrant colours of a fire - just a huge explosion like the way a bomb might hit the ground.
White is getting no response from the Aeromexico jet.
Aeromexico 498, Los Angeles Approach.
And now he can't find it on his radar screen.
I'm sitting there talking with the two departure controllers and, er, not really thinking and I hear Walter say something like I think I lost one.
Aeromexico 498, Los Angeles Approach.
That immediately got everybody's attention.
So, I looked at the radars and could hear him calling, "Aeromexico 498.
" Calling them several times on the radio.
Where was Aeromexico? At this point, we weren't absolutely sure what had happened.
White calls to an incoming jet for help.
American 333 Heavy, I want you to take a look around 11 o'clock.
I just lost contact with a DC9.
Let me know if you see anything, please.
MAN OVER RADIO: 11 o'clock, 5 miles.
What altitude? Er, he was last assigned 6.
He's no longer on my radar scope, American 333 Heavy.
OK, er, I see a very large smoke screen off on the left side of the aircraft about 11 o'clock.
I went down the street to go to my house and I saw a woman's head - her body had been cut in a diagonal and she was just laying there.
There was nothing but debris and fires sporadically all over the place.
I could see fire in the whole neighbourhood.
SIRENS WAIL Nearby an engine from a local fire station had been on a training exercise led by fire Captain Larry Hambleton.
All of a sudden one of the firemen tapped me on the shoulder and said, "There's a big column of smoke off to our left.
" So I picked up the mike and made a guess at the address.
Responding to a large fire north of 91, north of Carmenita.
They came back and I said, "Well, we've got a report of an airliner down.
" So I upgraded the response to basically triple what I initially asked for.
I am calling for a third alarm and two air squads east of Carmenita.
SIRENS WAIL As we approached, I realised that in addition to the aircraft parts in the street there were people, body parts, which changed the complexion of the whole thing.
At Los Angeles Approach, Walter White, deeply shaken by the crash, is relieved of duty.
MAN: I remember watching Walter get up and walk out of the room by himself.
And, you know, something inside of me was saying, "This is not right.
This is not right.
"Somebody's gotta go with him.
" Tony, you can't go out alone.
I could've been sitting there just as easy as him and I don't know if I'd have done anything different than he did.
(Sobs) MAN ON RADIO: If you're out in this area, you'll see a large plume of white and black smoke and that's the air crash site.
About three miles west of Helicopter news crews are quickly on the scene.
There was a lot of fire in front of me and my house was just totally on fire.
(Calls) Frank! Anjelica! Javier.
Anjelica And I saw my neighbour.
(Screams) Where are they? I said to her, "Rose, where is my family? What happened?" And she goes, "Oh, honey, your family's in here.
They're over here.
"We're looking for you.
" And within myself, all I could do was thank God that they were safe and sound.
She took me into her home and I saw Alex.
- Alex! - Mum! Alex! Oh, what happened? Where's Anjelica? - I don't know.
- Where's Anjelica? - I don't know.
- Where's Javier? - Where's Papa? - I don't know, Mum.
I'm sorry.
I don't know, Mum.
(Cries) And he started crying right away and said, "Mum, I'm sorry.
I'm the only one that came out alive.
" And all I could do was hug him.
Pieces of fuselage have torn through nearby homes, setting them on fire.
MAN ON RADIO: I'm at the scene of the incident.
We have three homes on fire.
The tail section of the jet has been catapulted more than a block from the crash site.
Let's go to work, guys.
MAN 1: Five homes on fire.
Do you copy? MAN 2: 747 to 30.
Can you confirm that we have a plane down? MAN 1: We've got wreckage all over the place I don't think I ever saw a whole human being.
I gave them the job of finding body parts and wrapping them or covering them with yellow rescue blankets.
No matter where it was, ever so small or whatever, you know, a hand or a torso or a leg or whatever, that became life to us and was treated with respect.
At Los Angeles International Airport, Mary Wong is waiting for her husband and two young sons.
I went to the airport to pick them up around noon and waited in that area outside of Customs and waited and waited and probably, you know, you're thinking, "Customs might take a little while.
" But about maybe 12:20 or 12:30, I started seeing a man a walk around with a pack on his back with a green cross.
We were taken up to a lounge upstairs and on the elevator up I looked at the man and said, "They're dead.
" I said, "I just know they're gone.
" In Cerritos, emergency workers are shocked by another grizzly discovery.
In the playground of a local school, they find the wreckage of a Piper Cherokee Archer.
Remarkably intact, the play's canopy is sliced off.
Its three occupants are found still belted into their seats.
William Kramer and his family are dead.
All the passengers and crew on Aeromexico Flight 498 are also dead.
In addition, 15 people on the ground have been killed.
It's a horrifying situation.
Two planes have crashed into a California neighbourhood.
Something's gone terribly wrong in the skies above one of the busiest airports in the world.
Now investigators have to find out exactly what happened.
From the beginning, investigators are focussed on the fact that there are two planes on the ground.
It suggests a disturbing conclusion - that this was a midair collision.
The idea that this had been a midair collision was already conveyed to us before we even launched out of hangar six back when we got the word.
They saw two wreckages coming down, um .
.
and that's the way it got conveyed to us.
With that idea in mind, John White and his team must painstakingly examine the wreckage.
It's more now documenting where the major pieces were and then looking at the pieces to see if you can determine how the aircraft .
.
at what angle the aircraft may have come together at.
Propeller marks on the tail of the DC-9 and paint from the Piper Cherokee reveal how the planes crashed.
It looked like the Piper collided at the tail section of the DC-9 and the horizontal stabiliser came off, and once that happened, you could no longer control the pitch of the DC-9.
The descending DC-9 and the climbing Cherokee met at a 90-degree angle.
Their combined speed was 450km/h.
The impact tore off the airliner's tail section.
Discovering how the planes collided is the first step.
The more important question to be answered is why.
To piece together the tragedy, investigators examine the DC-9's flight data recorder.
It helps them pinpoint the exact location and altitude of Aeromexico Flight 498.
The DC-9 was inside the Terminal Control Area, the controlled airspace of the Los Angeles Airport.
It was right where it was supposed to be but the Kramers' Cherokee was also inside the TCA.
With all of the jets taking off and landing at LAX, private planes must first get permission to enter this area.
Piper 4891.
MAN ON RADIO: All clear for takeoff, Torrance.
William Kramer was a newcomer to Los Angeles but investigators learn that he was well aware of the limits imposed by the TCA.
He knew that it was restricted airspace.
And in the cockpit of Kramer's Cherokee, the confirmation.
Investigators find a map of the Los Angeles Terminal Control Area.
Investigators make another puzzling discovery.
They learn that the Kramers' proposed flight plan took them from Torrance to Long Beach then up to Ontario and finally to Big Bear Lake at a cruising altitude of 3,000m.
That plan keeps him well out of the TCA.
The fact of the matter is that the Cherokee flew into the TCA and hit the DC-9 in restricted airspace without a clearance.
So how had Kramer flown into danger and why hadn't he let anyone know? On the ground in Cerritos, one possible answer emerges.
Heart disease runs in Kramer's family and the initial autopsy results show a major blockage.
Are you alright, Bill? Yeah, yeah.
I'm fine.
Kramer may have suffered a heart attack on the flight leaving the plane without a pilot.
Samples of William Kramer's heart tissue are sent to the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology for testing.
If he suffered a heart attack, it might explain why he didn't call in to L.
A.
Approach.
It's totally possible that he could have had the heart attack, fell back, pulled the airplane up and that's why he didn't try and avoid the DC-9.
But no matter why Kramer was flying in restricted airspace, Air Traffic Controller Walter White should have been able to see him.
Kramer's plane should have appeared on White's radar.
Before being questioned by investigators, White reviews the radio calls from that morning.
He needs to be sure of what he said and what he saw.
Richard Wentworth was one of the investigators who talked to White.
At any time, did you see the Piper Cherokee on your scope? No.
No, sir.
The Piper's target was not displayed.
It is my belief that it was not on my radarscope.
He was positive that the aircraft was not there for him to see.
NTSB investigators aren't satisfied with White's memory.
While the radar data is being analysed, news arrives from the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology about William Kramer's heart.
Are you alright, Bill? Results from a detailed study of his body show that while he had advanced heart disease, William Kramer was not fighting a heart attack before the collision.
Investigators must find another explanation for why the Kramers' flight went into the Los Angeles Terminal Control Area.
While he had submitted a flight plan, small planes like Kramer's Cherokee don't have sophisticated instruments.
Like most private pilots, Kramer was navigating by landmarks like freeways.
That meant keeping an eye both on the landscape below and the airspace around him.
We were able to determine that the aircraft that collided with Aeromexico was there to be seen.
So why hadn't White reacted to the Kramers' plane if it was on his radar? When Walter White came to work that day, the arrival station was being controlled by Karl Grundmann.
Hey, Karl.
How's it going? Hey.
Slow Grundmann believes that longstanding radar problems were the reason White didn't see the Kramers' plane.
I can sit in for you.
Controllers had been complaining about the radars for a long time.
- All yours, buddy.
- Alright.
Thanks a lot.
We had reported problems with the radar not picking up targets.
Several times.
When radar signals strike a target, they bounce back to the receiver but if buildings or mountains interrupt the radar, the return signal can disappear.
You may lose one target.
You may lose two targets.
It may not be presented for one sweep.
Did you see the Piper Cherokee on your scope? No, sir.
But that doesn't mean that the target isn't there.
A blind spot is only an instantaneous thing.
It's not a continuous thing.
I think I lost one.
There are also holes that were just because the radar was old.
It was just not as accurate as it might have been.
It was not state-of-the-art equipment, that's for darn sure.
There's an effect called 'flicker'.
When a computer becomes overloaded, the scope will flicker.
Every now and then, targets will drop out or can drop out.
We reviewed that data.
We had no evidence that there were any malfunctions of any systems in Los Angeles.
There is another possible explanation.
If the Cherokee had appeared on the radar, White still could've missed it.
PILOT: One Approach, 66 Romeo's on a flight from Fullerton.
Cruising altitude is 4,500.
We'd like following.
Grumman 66 Romeo, are you at 4,500 now? Negative, we're at 3,400 and climbing.
OK, you are right in the middle of a TCA, sir.
There was an aircraft that was east of the airport which he became involved in.
That was what they called a violator.
Grumman 66 Romeo, I suggest in future you look at your TCA chart.
You just had an aircraft pass The problem with the conversation between the controller and the pilot of the Grumman is that it went on too long.
Why were you so mesmerised by the Grumman? I thought he posed a risk.
This occurred during a critical time at which the two aircraft to the south-west of his display - which was the Aeromexico and the Cherokee - were merging.
But even if the Cherokee signal did appear on White's radar, and even if he had seen it, investigators discover that White still would not have had all the information he needed.
Radar signals only show controllers that a plane is in range.
Transponders on planes can broadcast other information, including height and speed.
But at the site of the Cherokee wreckage, investigators discover the plane's transponder is a basic model.
It only sends out information on the plane's direction.
It provides no information about the plane's altitude.
These controllers were pretty much used to seeing a little triangle which represented a BFR aircraft with no altitude readout traversing all over the place.
And unless they learned first-hand from the pilot, they had an expectation that the aircraft would not intrude into that airspace.
Grumman 66 Romeo 4524 Investigator's believe that White's divided attention, perhaps made worse by an older radar system, explains why air traffic control never warned the DC-9 of the danger posed by Kramer's Cherokee.
Find any landmarks that we might be able to use as a visual.
But there's another mystery that hasn't been solved.
Studying the radar records from the day, NTSB investigators are startled by what they find.
Neither the crew of the DC-9, nor the pilot of the smaller Cherokee took any evasive action before the crash.
Both pilots appear completely unaware of each other.
CHEROKEE PILOT: Definitely the 405.
Why hadn't the pilots of either airplane reacted? Visibility was over 20 kilometres.
How could two planes collide in the clear blue sky? To try to get a better sense of what was happening inside the Aeromexico cockpit, investigators listened to the airplane's cockpit voice recorder.
GARBLED SPEECH Los Angeles approach, this is Aeromexico 498 The flight crew had put Walter White on their overhead speakers.
The microphone for the cockpit voice recorder was right beside the speakers.
WHITE: .
.
depart Sealed Beach, heading 320 Much of what the pilot said was drowned out by White's voice.
Reduce speed to 200 then descend and maintain 6,000.
Investigators believe that if William Kramer was indeed lost and using the freeways as a guide, he might never have seen the approaching DC-9.
The window he would have been looking out of was the pilot's window.
But the DC-9 was coming from the other direction.
I just want a visual landmark This would've been a very unfortunate situation, because DC-9 was approaching from the far right side, and, in fact, can only be seen out the passenger's window, which was on the right side of the aircraft.
For the crew of the DC-9, the very size of the much smaller Cherokee could have prevented them from seeing the plane before it was too late.
In some cases, when the small aircraft is closing very rapidly, by the time the aircraft becomes large enough for you to easily see it, it's almost too late to avoid the collision.
Uh, the FAA generally has taken, sort of as a rule of thumb, that you need about 12 seconds in order to see an aircraft, decide that it's a threat, then execute an avoidance manoeuvre.
In the case of the collision at Cerritos, by the time the aircraft became large enough to see, you were down very close to that 12-second limit.
In case after case of mid-air collisions, we find out that the aircraft gave no indication they saw each other until the time they actually collided.
The design of the cockpit windshield may also have contributed to the disaster.
Hey, Maria.
Everything OK back there? It's possible that during part of the approach, at least for one of the pilots, the aircraft was actually behind the centre post, and unless the pilot moved his head back and forth to clear that airspace, unless he had a reason to do that, it's possible the aircraft was obscured during part of the time in which he might have had a chance of seeing the other aircraft.
Ignition The disaster over Cerritos has revealed several tragic weaknesses in the air traffic control system.
One of the most glaring was that pilots could not be relied on to see and avoid each other.
They'd need new technology to keep a mid-air collision from happening again.
The NTSB report makes it clear that there are glaring problems across the air traffic system.
And these concerns must be addressed before, inevitably, there is another mid-air disaster.
The FAA, which regulates the airline industry in the United States, acted swiftly to improve safety.
A new kind of transponder was required for smaller planes, the kind that might have helped air traffic controllers recognise that the private aircraft posed a danger.
A new system called 'Mode C Intruder' was also developed to warn air traffic controllers.
Mode C Intruder is an automated program that is now incorporated in all our major radar facilities.
That if an aircraft should inadvertently intrude, the controller will now be given a visual and an aural alert, thus giving him time to provide a timely warning to the pilot.
Everything's checked? Seatbelts, engine ignition Even for the most diligent pilot, the old strategy of see and avoid had serious limitations.
Those limitations would be addressed with the most important innovation of all.
The major technological innovation that came out of the Cerritos mid-air was the congressional mandate that all carrier aircraft operating within the United States would be outfitted with TCAS - Traffic, Collision and Avoidance System.
John Andrews worked on the team that developed TCAS.
The TCAS Collision Avoidance System which was under development quite possibly could have prevented this accident.
TCAS gives the pilot a traffic advisory at 45 seconds before the potential collision.
Hey, Maria.
Everything OK back there? Then, at approximately 25 seconds or so before the potential collision, a resolution advisory is given to actually tell the pilots to climb or descend to avoid the altitude of the other aircraft.
Today, commercial airlines around the world use TCAS.
The pilot of the Grumman Tiger, the so-called 'third pilot' whose actions may have played a part in the crash, was eventually charged for flying into controlled airspace in a careless and reckless manner.
For Walter White, the effect of the disaster over Cerritos could not be overcome.
Walter came back, um, to the traffic control, and I think it was probably a month or so later.
And I can't give you exactly how long he stayed there, but it wasn't very long.
And he just got up and said, "No.
No, thank you.
" Uh, and as far as I know, he didn't talk to airplanes again.
Within a year of the incident, the old radars at LAX were replaced.
In Cerritos, a memorial garden now marks the day of the disaster.
Mary Wong has since remarried, but the pain of returning home that day will never go away.
There's nobody here.
The house is empty.
Derek was already living in an apartment in San Diego, and here I was.
I was no longer a mother, except to Derek, and I was no longer a wife.
And so it shattered my whole world.
Days after the disaster, Mary Wong met one of the few people who could fully understand her loss.
I went to the memorial service, and it was very important to me to try to meet somebody else who had gone through this.
And I knew from reading stories that Theresa had lost her husband and two children.
And so I saw someone there who I thought was Theresa.
She says, "Are you Theresa Estrada?" I said, "Yes, I am.
" She says, "Well, my name is Mary Wong.
" And, uh, she says I said, "I lost my husband and children also.
" II just wanted to grab her and hug her.
Becauseshe was feeling what I was feeling.
So, we had an immediate connection, and we've maintained our friendship over these 20 years.
Everyone who flies today has been affected by the mid-air collision over Cerritos.
The disaster led to historic improvements in aviation safety.
Since the full adoption of the TCAS system, there has not been another mid-air collision in the United States.