Mayday (2013) s07e06 Episode Script
Falling Fast
Lost engine number two.
NARRATOR: High above the Mediterranean, two pilots struggle with a stalled engine.
Engine relight - negative.
- (MACHINE BEEPS) - Stop! Stop! Engine one is flamed out.
45 miles from land, the pilots make a difficult decision.
Prepare to ditch.
Oh, my God, be merciful.
Passengers are forced to make life or death decisions on their own.
Do not inflate your vest! The accident will tear families apart, set in motion a massive rescue effort at sea, and trigger a multinational investigation .
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to discover why both engines on one of the world's most popular planes stopped in mid-flight.
August 6, 2005 - Bari, Italy, an ancient port town on the Adriatic Sea where the past meets the present.
Just north of this historic city, Bari International Airport serves 10 major airlines and more than 1.
5 million passengers each year.
One of those carriers is Tunisia's Tuninter Airlines.
Captain Chafik Gharbi is a pilot with Tuninter.
Today he's in command of Flight 1153.
The 45-year-old Tunisian is a military-trained pilot with a flawless flight record.
Gharbi's copilot is 28-year-old Ali Kebaier.
- How much fuel are you adding? - 400kg.
- 2,700 total? - Yes.
Captain Gharbi and his copilot flew from Tunis to Bari this morning to collect 34 Italian passengers.
Now they're going to fly them to Djerba, a Tunisian resort island.
Among the passengers is 31-year-old police officer Luca Squicciarini.
His girlfriend, Paola, is travelling with him.
(LUCA SPEAKS ITALIAN) TRANSLATION: It was my first trip with Paola.
We met the previous winter.
We had plans to marry the following year.
MAN: (OVER PA) To tighten belts, pull the loose end of the strap.
To release your seatbelt, lift the upper portion of the button.
Ladies and gentlemen, life vests are located beneath your seats.
To inflate the vest, pull firmly on the red cord, only when you're leaving the aircraft.
If you need to refill the vest, blow into the mouthpiece.
MAN: (OVER RADIO) TS-LBB.
Flight 1153.
Permission for take-off granted.
Roger that.
Clear for take-off.
Final prep for departure.
The crew is flying a French-made ATR 72.
The small turboprop is perfect for short flights.
It doesn't need a lot of maintenance or guzzle a lot of fuel.
Just after 2:30 in the afternoon, the plane takes off.
49 minutes after take-off, Flight 1153 is 400 miles away from its destination, Djerba.
TRANSLATION: So we started chatting with other passengers.
We were all excited.
We talked about the vacation.
Then, 75 miles from the nearest land, and 23,000ft above the sea .
.
the plane's right engine stops working.
We've lost engine number two.
Let's get to 17,000ft.
TUI 1153 request 170.
MAN: (OVER RADIO) TUI 1153.
Captain Gharbi begins an emergency descent.
Sending 170.
When you have a single engine flame out, you descend down to a lower altitude.
The air is thicker.
The propeller is more efficient.
Under current conditions, the ATR 72 can best fly on one engine at an altitude of 17,000ft.
Power lever.
Flight idle.
Start button.
The crew struggles to restart the right engine.
Negative.
Fuel supply.
Check.
But then, less than two minutes after the first engine quits Stop! Stop.
Engine number one has flamed out.
Both of the plane's engines have stopped.
The plane is now falling to the sea at 800ft per minute.
Mayday, mayday, mayday.
TUI 1153.
We have lost both engines.
Request immediate landing at Palermo.
The crew still hopes to reach an airport but they have 70 miles of ocean to cross before they're over land.
Crews are trained for almost anything.
There's a checklist for them to follow to solve most problems, including what to do when both engines die.
Both engines flame out checklist.
Fuel supply - check.
The pilots don't know why their engines have stopped.
The only clue they're getting is a low fuel feed warning.
SVENTZOURIS: A low pressure warning light tells a pilot that there's low fuel pressure going to the engine.
That could be a mechanical problem or that could be a contamination problem.
The crew follows the steps laid out by the manufacturer to relight their dead engines.
Fuel supply - check.
Power lever.
Flight idle.
Start button.
Engine relight.
Negative.
Get Chokri.
The captain asks the cabin crew to bring the onboard engineer, Chokri Harbaoui, to the cockpit.
Palermo Approach, this is TUI 1153.
We have lost both engines.
Request immediate landing.
The closest airport is in Palermo on the Italian island of Sicily.
TUI 1153.
Palermo.
Affirmative.
You are clear for landing.
Palermo Approach, what is our distance to the airport? Your distance to Palermo is now 48 nautical miles.
An ATR 72 will fall from the sky at a predictable rate - one foot down for every 16 feet forward.
48 nautical miles is further than the plane can glide.
I don't think we're gonna make it.
If they can't restart their engines soon, they'll be forced to ditch in the sea.
SVENTZOURIS: Ditching at sea is a very difficult decision to make because it's the hardest thing to do.
You have swells, waves, wind.
Is anybody going to see you? How long can the plane float for? Landing a passenger plane on water is extremely dangerous.
In 1996, an Ethiopian airline's pilot was forced to bring his 767 down on the Indian Ocean.
The ditching was recorded by a tourist on a nearby beach.
50 people survived but 125 people died.
The crew of Flight 1153 has tried all it can.
They're running out of time and options.
Flight engineer Chokri Harbaoui has joined in the struggle to get Flight 1153's engines started.
- You've run the checklist? - Yes.
The captain hopes the engineer will know something that isn't covered by the checklist.
Attempt to restart the engines.
Right engine first.
Fuel supply - check.
Engine two start power button - on.
Engine relight - negative.
Palermo Approach, TUI 1153.
Any closer airport where we can land? Negative, 1153.
Palermo Airport is the closest airport to your position.
We're not going to make it.
Prepare to ditch.
Oh, my God, be merciful.
The captain has decided to land the plane at sea.
(GASPING, SCREAMING) TRANSLATION: I'll let you imagine the panic on board.
People were screaming and crying.
Please stay calm and follow your crew's instructions.
There were people in the front seats that had a baby girl.
She had been playing and was so excited.
To now see the panic in her mother's face made me feel so sad.
TUI 1153.
What is your fuel load? Cockpit's fuel quantity - 1,800kg.
Captain Gharbi's fuel gauge shows that he has plenty of fuel, but for some reason, neither engine will restart.
Just 10 minutes after the trouble began, the plane is 7,000ft above the ocean and falling.
Outside it's completely silent but in the cabin, there's panic.
Please remain in your seats with your seatbelts fastened! TRANSLATION: My first instinct was to undo my seatbelt to prevent getting trapped when we hit the water.
I didn't want to be trapped in my seat and go down in a horrible way.
But, secondly, I put on my life jacket and quickly blew it up.
I did this to soften the blow of the impact.
(SCREAMING) Do not inflate your vests until you've left the plane! A plane ditching at sea will more than likely fill with water.
That's why safety procedures call for passengers to only inflate their life vests once they've cleared the plane.
Otherwise they could become trapped inside the flooded fuselage and drown.
In the Ethiopian Airlines crash, many passengers ignored this advice and drowned after surviving the initial impact.
Negative.
The dead engines aren't the only problem confronting the crew.
Engine two - start power.
Many of their instruments get their power from the engines.
Without the engines, some vital gauges are dead.
On a two-engine flame-out, you go on your stand-by instruments, which is you have an altitude indicator, you have an altimeter.
Fuel supply - check.
The crew continues to try to restart their engines, but it's become clear that they've run out of time.
They're not doing anything.
Confirm distance, please.
Your distance is now 20 miles.
Boats.
I see boats.
SVENTZOURIS: Choosing to ditch near a ship or vessel is not written in any checklist.
It's just good airmanship because rescue can start immediately and it increases your chances of survival.
Palermo Approach, it's TUI 1153.
We can't make it to the airport.
We see two boats on the left side.
We're going there.
If you can, please call.
Captain Gharbi turns his plane towards the boats.
Can you send helicopters or something similar? Fast, fast, fast! Emergency.
All marine units.
An aircraft in distress.
20 nautical miles off Palermo.
Even before the plane hits the water, rescuers are on their way.
(MAN SPEAKS ITALIAN) TRANSLATION: I had very little information.
We didn't know the nature of the crash or anything about the plane.
Auto press - dump.
Although it's a rare manoeuvre, there is also a checklist for ditching a plane in the water.
Before ditching, the crew ensures all landing gear is retracted to help the plane land more smoothly.
Landing gear lever - up.
When pilots ditch, they want their airplane as streamlined as possible so that it glides across the water when it hits.
Pilots must not only monitor the systems on the plane, they also have to assess conditions at sea.
They don't want to hit a wave head-on.
If you hit perpendicular to the waves or swells with the aircraft, it's like hitting concrete.
The plane will break up.
The crew is 700ft above the sea.
Bear with me, Ali, huh? Careful.
- Chokri, ready? - Ready.
Here we go.
There is no other god but Allah.
Mohammed is his messenger.
In the name of God, the merciful.
Merciful.
At a speed of 145 miles an hour, the plane collides with the sea.
TRANSLATION: I lost consciousness.
I woke up in the water.
I was two or three metres under water.
I came up to the surface wearing only my pants.
I had lost my life jacket and clothes on impact.
I got to the surface and grabbed onto a bag.
Paola! I was in shock.
I was surrounded by everything.
My thoughts were constantly with Paola.
I thought I was going to die because I was spitting blood.
I felt my lungs filling with blood.
Paola! Captain Gharbi survives but has been seriously injured.
Copilot Ali Kebaier has also survived.
But flight engineer Chokri Harbaoui is killed.
No-one aboard the nearby boat saw Flight 1153 crash into the sea.
The plane has broken into three pieces.
The tail section and much of the fuselage sink to the bottom of the sea.
But the largest section, containing the two wings, stays afloat.
It becomes a makeshift life raft for survivors.
But not all of the passengers have survived.
Many haven't made it out of the plane and to the surface.
A fleet of rescue personnel are en route, including Admiral Vincenzo Pace of the Italian coastguard.
Rescuers must travel 26 miles through heavy seas to get to the crash site.
(SPEAKS ITALIAN) TRANSLATION: The sky was very visible but the water was agitated.
This caused some problems to the recovery mission.
Helicopter pilot Stefano Burigana is one of the first to arrive at the scene.
The first controller asked us if we were aware of a ditched aircraft out over the coast over Palermo and if we were able to help them to locate their airplane.
When we approached the airplane, we could see the wings floating.
There were several people in the water around the aircraft and all floating, and everybody with their jacket inflated.
(HELICOPTER WHIRRS) Burigana spots Luca Squicciarini floating away from the main wreckage.
There was one man without his jacket and he was the farthest from the airplane.
I decided to go over him and throw one of our life jackets to him.
The coastguard arrives and begins pulling survivors from the sea.
Within the hour, the crash site is teeming with rescuers.
They search for survivors from the water and from the air.
23 people are pulled from the Mediterranean Sea.
But 16 have died in the crash, including Paola Di Ciaula.
TRANSLATION: My relatives told me a couple of days later while I was still at the hospital.
I had no reaction.
Paola was gone.
I reacted when I got home.
When I got home and went to the cemetery, I realised what was happening.
That's where I got really down.
It's quite likely that none of those who died ever had a chance to swim to safety.
Their serious injuries would have prevented them from escaping after the plane hit the water.
In this accident, most of the survivors were seated in the rear of the plane.
Most of those who died, up front.
Those sections, along with some valuable clues, are now at the bottom of the sea.
The one section that didn't sink is towed to the port in Palermo and taken to a nearby hangar.
A team of agents from Italy's national flight safety agency, the ANSV, begin looking for leads.
Their job - find out why Flight 1153's engines stopped in mid-flight.
MAN: We needed to collect as much evidence as possible in order to fulfil two main answers - what happened and why had it happened? They are led by chief ANSV investigator Vincenzo Pennetta.
I arrived in Palermo the day after the accident, on the 7th, very early in the morning.
(SPEAKS ITALIAN) A flight-test engineer by training, Pennetta has led several air crash investigations.
The engines and central fuselage of Tuninter Flight 1153 have been recovered.
The rest of the plane lies somewhere off the Sicilian coast.
The main challenge for the investigation was the fact that the flight recorder and the cockpit voice recorder and also the front fuselage were 1,500m under the sea.
While the Italian navy conducts a deep-water search for the rest of the wreck and the crucial black boxes .
.
Italian investigators are given some assistance by the plane's European manufacturer.
ATR's Guiseppe Caldarelli is here to find out if there's a flaw with the company's plane.
Anytime it is an accident and also one people die, for me, it is a big accident.
Worldwide, hundreds of ATR 72s cross the skies each day.
Together, Pennetta and Caldarelli set out to find why both engines on such an advanced airplane died in mid-flight TUI 1153.
We have lost both engines.
.
.
before it happens again.
Captain Gharbi, how are you? I'm getting better, thank you.
Investigators want to know what happened in the cockpit of Tuninter Flight 1153 when the engines died.
Without the cockpit voice recorder, they must rely on the recollections of surviving passengers and crew members.
The main cause of double engine flame-out could be a lack of fuel.
But according to captain Chafik Gharbi, lack of fuel was not the problem.
What were your fuel readings? The fuel quantity indicator said 1,800kg of fuel.
What is your fuel load? Cockpit's fuel quantity - 1,800kg.
Fuel supply - check.
Was there any warning that you were low on fuel? There was definitely no low-fuel warning.
Just a .
.
low-feed pressure light.
The absence of a low-fuel warning and the presence of a low-feed pressure warning is a major clue.
These set of alarms usually indicates that there is a problem in feeding the engine with fuel.
Since the plane's gauges indicated that there was fuel on board that did not get to the engines, ATR's Guiseppe Caldarelli looks for flaws in the fallen plane's fuel delivery system.
Four years earlier, an airbus operated by Air Transat developed a leak in the fuel line that feeds the plane's right engine.
Over time, the plane leaked all of its fuel and both engines failed.
The pilots were forced to glide their plane to an emergency landing.
That incident has a lot of similarities to the Tuninter crash.
Guiseppe Caldarelli's team looks for breaks or blockages in the fuel lines and evidence that the fuel pumps malfunctioned and stopped fuel flow to the engines.
While Caldarelli waits for technicians to complete tests on pumps and lines, Pennetta decides to start a new line of inquiry.
He explores the possibility that the fuel that was on board was somehow contaminated.
Fuel contamination can derive from four or five different sources.
Technicians remove the truck's fuel filters to look for evidence of contamination.
Hoses and couplings are swabbed for sticky residue or colonies of micro-organisms and submitted for testing at an Italian air force laboratory.
The fuel is filtered for minute particles suspended in the fluid .
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and carefully examined for impurities.
The truck's filters are also inspected for residue or sediment from the tanks.
Meanwhile, in Palermo, Caldarelli and his technicians have completed tests on Flight 1153's fuel lines and pumps.
The tests are thorough, the results conclusive.
The fuel feed line were OK, were no No leak.
If the fuel delivery system was working and the two pilots remember having ample fuel The fuel quantity indicator said 1,800kg of fuel.
.
.
then why had the engines failed? When test results from the Bari fuel tanker come in, they too are conclusive.
The fuel filters, hose couplings and tanker fuel at Bari Airport are clean.
At this point, the investigators still don't know what caused the downing of Tuninter Flight 1153.
But something has been eating at Pennetta.
If the plane was filled with fuel and since the fuel is stored in the plane's wings, why did the wing section float? Pennetta suspects the plane didn't have as much fuel as the pilots thought.
But he doesn't know how that could be.
Two weeks into the investigation, Pennetta gets an important lead in the case.
According to the logs, Captain Gharbi flew the same aircraft the day before the accident.
After that flight, he reported a problem with his fuel gauge.
When he left Djerba the day before, he reported that the right display fuel indicator was out of service so it need to be replaced.
The fuel quantity indicator, or FQI, is a gas gauge that tells pilots how much fuel is left on board.
The lights on the FQI were malfunctioning and Captain Gharbi made a note of this in the maintenance log.
The maintenance log raises the possibility that the FQI that the mechanic installed was not the right one for the plane.
It doesn't seem to have the right model number.
Tuninter flies two models of ATR aircraft - the ATR 42 and the larger ATR 72.
The fuel quantity indicators for each plane look identical except for a different model number at the top of each unit.
The ATR 72 should have a model number 2500.
But according to the logs, mechanics installed a unit with the model number 2250 instead.
Tuninter's maintenance logs offer a valuable clue.
But for Pennetta, there's no definitive proof that the wrong fuel quantity indicator was installed on the plane.
There is only one way to know for certain whether Flight 1153 had the right fuel quantity indicator.
Go find it at the bottom of the sea.
We needed of course to recover the wreckage from the aircraft to see, physically see, what was the fuel quantity indicator installed on the aircraft.
Not until three weeks after the crash do investigators recover wreckage from the sea.
The data from the plane's black boxes confirms what the pilots have been saying.
There was no warning of low fuel, so there appeared to be enough fuel to make the flight.
The black boxes can't solve this mystery.
Investigators hope that the tail and front section can.
They are hauled aboard a naval vessel from the sea.
The moment the cockpit is hauled in, Pennetta is there.
There's only one thing he wants to see inside.
PENNETTA: So when the wreckage was recovered from under the sea and put on the ship deck, I realised that, as a matter of fact, the fuel quantity indicator for the ATR 42 was installed.
It was like we found the smoking gun.
The ATR's fuel quantity indicator collects data from sensors in the fuel tanks and calculates how much fuel is in the tanks.
But since the fuel tanks on the 42 and the 72 are a different size, fuel quantity indicators can't be swapped between them.
Technicians conduct refuelling tests with the wrong FQI installed on an ATR 72.
And the results are chilling.
The results show that if you install an FQI type, say, 42 on an ATR 72 aircraft, if I have no fuel in the fuel tanks, with zero fuel, the fuel quantity indicator shows me 1,800kg.
Precisely the amount of fuel that the captain reported having when his engines flamed out.
Cockpit fuel quantity, 1,800kg.
Investigators conclude, at 23,000 feet above the Mediterranean, the wrong fuel indicator led the crew to believe that they had ample fuel when their tanks were actually empty.
Engine relight.
Negative.
They're not doing anything.
The engines could not possibly have been restarted.
With hundreds of ATR 42s and ATR 72s still flying, the implications are stark.
Could there be other planes flying with the wrong gauge? PENNETTA: The first safety recommendation was to mandate all operators that use ATR 42 and 72 aircraft in their fleet to check whether the right fuel quantity indicator was installed on the aircraft.
Pennetta and Caldarelli have uncovered the error that caused both of Flight 1153's engines to quit in midair.
But the case isn't closed.
Standard flight procedures should've uncovered the error before take-off and prevented the disaster.
Captain Gharbi's aircraft went in for repairs in Tunisia the night before the crash.
The plane's FQI indicated 790kg of fuel in the tank.
After the new fuel quantity indicator was installed, it showed that there was almost four times as much fuel on board - 3,100kg.
The following morning, Captain Gharbi noticed that the fuel levels had gone up.
He assumed the fuel had been added.
But when fuel is added to an aircraft, a refuelling slip must be left in the cockpit.
Where is the refuelling slip? The pilot asked to the flight dispatcher where was the refuelling slip.
But the flight dispatcher was not able to find this refuelling slip.
MAN: (OVER RADIO) I'll get it to you when you get back from Djerba.
Roger that.
There was no refuelling slip because the plane hadn't been refuelled.
In spite of regulations, the captain left without that vital piece of paper.
There are some standard regulations requiring the pilot to take off only when he is sure about the quantity of fuel.
With the wrong fuel indicator on board, and less fuel than he believed, Captain Gharbi makes it to Bari, Italy .
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and tops up his plane for the next leg of the trip to Djerba.
How much fuel are you adding? 400kg.
- 2,700 total? - Yes.
Believing he has 2,700kg of fuel on board, Captain Gharbi begins his flight to Djerba.
If the correct fuel quantity indicator had been installed, the captain would've known that he had only 540kg .
.
not nearly enough to make the crossing.
Mayday! Mayday! Mayday! TUI 1153 request immediate landing in Palermo.
We've lost both engines.
Pennetta's investigation comes to a close.
He draws up his final report.
His colleague Giuseppe Caldarelli voices a bold view.
Even with no fuel and dead engines, Flight 1153 could have made it to land.
The aircraft was in a position that allowed to reach Palermo.
TUI 1153 Caldarelli wonders if the pilots did everything they could have to get the plane safely to Palermo.
TUI 1153 Investigators get some unexpected answers by having seasoned pilots fly the exact same flight with the exact same problems.
We are now in big trouble because the second engine has gone off.
Vincenzo Pennetta's investigation into the crash of Tuninter Flight 1153 has uncovered the events that led up to the accident.
Now he and Giuseppe Caldarelli need to resolve one question.
Did mistakes made by the pilots cost people their lives? We're not going to make it.
Prepare to ditch.
Caldarelli and his team study the plane's specifications and draw a surprising conclusion.
Flight 1153 could have been able to glide to Palermo.
According to manufacturer data, an ATR is able to glide three miles for every 1,000 feet of descent.
With the help of a tailwind that day, Flight 1153 could have been able to glide 70 miles to Palermo.
The crew might have been able to make it.
Landing gear lever up.
So what had the pilots done wrong? To answer that question, Pennetta and Caldarelli recreate Flight 1153 in the flight simulator at the ATR facility in France.
Test pilots try to glide an ATR 72 for 70 miles from the altitude at which Flight 1153 lost its second engine.
Stop! Stop.
Engine number one is flamed out.
With both engines out, the priority is to keep the plane gliding as far as necessary.
To do that, pilots can change the angle of their windmilling propellers.
MAN: You have the maximum glide performance when you minimise drag, and it's very important to think, to feather the propeller in order to reduce the drag.
Feathering the props involves changing their angle against the wind.
The manoeuvre reduces drag.
The crew did not feather their props when their engines quit.
The windmilling propellers created enormous drag.
If the crew of Flight 1153 had feathered their props, they may have been able to glide further than they did.
Let's get to 17,000 feet.
By the time Captain Gharbi's second engine flamed out, he was just below 22,000 feet.
To further reduce drag at that altitude, the plane should be slowed to 158 miles per hour - the ATR 72's ideal gliding speed.
Surprisingly, to glide as far as possible, a pilot doesn't want to fly as fast as possible.
The faster a plane flies, the more the airflow pushes against it, creating resistance.
Every plane has an optimal speed to achieve the furthest glide.
The crew continued flying up to 55 miles an hour faster than their optimal gliding speed.
That added to the drag on the plane, and reduced the distance they could glide.
By feathering his props and reducing his speed a simulator pilot in France was able to get the plane as far as Palermo.
Bear with me, Ali, huh? Careful.
Flight 1153 hit the water 26 miles from shore, well short of what the plane was capable of achieving.
The simulation confirmed that the crew might have been able to make it to land.
Simulator pilots had one big advantage over the crew of Flight 1153.
They weren't in a life-or-death situation, and they knew they had to glide instead.
Fuel supply.
Check.
But Captain Gharbi didn't know he was out of fuel.
He didn't think he'd need to glide to Palermo.
Gharbi focused on restarting the engines instead.
Feathering the props isn't part of that procedure.
If the captain had known he was out of fuel, he might have acted to maximise glide instead.
Once he realised that his engines wouldn't start, his focus was on trying to find a place to ditch the plane.
Captain Gharbi also had to contend with a lack of instruments as well as radio interruptions.
MAN: (OVER RADIO) Palermo.
TUI 1153.
What is your fuel load? Cockpit fuel quantity 1,800kg.
Most importantly, Captain Gharbi had the lives of his 34 passengers to consider.
Of course it's much easier to cope with that kind of situation on the simulator, because if you do wrong, if you crash the aircraft, you have the magic button - 'Reset'.
Everything is OK again.
And that's very different in the real life with passengers behind them.
When it's YOUR life.
Your distance is now 20 miles.
We're not going to make it.
The simulation highlights the importance of proper training to deal with unlikely situations such as a twin-engine flame-out.
In aviation, it's a very rare event.
Vincenzo Pennetta's report urges airlines to train their pilots how to ditch without engine power.
Better pilot training is just one of 17 safety recommendations in the accident report.
Perhaps the most important, that ATR redesign the fuel quantity indicator.
PENNETTA: In order to prevent a fuel quantity indicator type 42 on a 72 aircraft, and vice versa.
To prevent mechanics from installing the incorrect part, Pennetta believes that the only answer is to design the FQIs so that they only fit on the plane they're meant for.
Nine men faced charges of criminal negligence for the downing of Flight 1153, including the Tuninter mechanic who installed the wrong FQI, and Captain Gharbi.
MAN: (OVER RADIO) I'll get it to you when you get back from Djerba.
Roger that.
PENNETTA: There is no single cause of the accident.
This accident, like many other aircraft accidents, was determined by a series of action, a series of events linked one to each other.
TRANSLATION: This is unheard of.
I would have accepted the engine breaking or a window shattering, but to have people die because of a lack of fuel? The crash of Flight 1153 was caused by a series of grave errors on the ground and in the air.
But the flight data recorder does show that the crew's last move before hitting the water was absolutely perfect.
Here we go.
According to available evidences, the flight data recorder and also some statements released by the crew that survived, the aircraft touched the sea first with the rear part of the aircraft at an attitude which is compatible with the optimum pitch attitude of the aircraft, which is nine degrees.
Captain Gharbi raised the plane's nose up to nine degrees at the last possible moment.
So instead of ploughing into the sea, his plane glided along the surface of the water.
The manoeuvre likely saved lives by allowing more passengers to escape the ruined aircraft.
His flying may have prevented this accident from becoming an even greater tragedy.
Captions by Ericsson Access Services
NARRATOR: High above the Mediterranean, two pilots struggle with a stalled engine.
Engine relight - negative.
- (MACHINE BEEPS) - Stop! Stop! Engine one is flamed out.
45 miles from land, the pilots make a difficult decision.
Prepare to ditch.
Oh, my God, be merciful.
Passengers are forced to make life or death decisions on their own.
Do not inflate your vest! The accident will tear families apart, set in motion a massive rescue effort at sea, and trigger a multinational investigation .
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to discover why both engines on one of the world's most popular planes stopped in mid-flight.
August 6, 2005 - Bari, Italy, an ancient port town on the Adriatic Sea where the past meets the present.
Just north of this historic city, Bari International Airport serves 10 major airlines and more than 1.
5 million passengers each year.
One of those carriers is Tunisia's Tuninter Airlines.
Captain Chafik Gharbi is a pilot with Tuninter.
Today he's in command of Flight 1153.
The 45-year-old Tunisian is a military-trained pilot with a flawless flight record.
Gharbi's copilot is 28-year-old Ali Kebaier.
- How much fuel are you adding? - 400kg.
- 2,700 total? - Yes.
Captain Gharbi and his copilot flew from Tunis to Bari this morning to collect 34 Italian passengers.
Now they're going to fly them to Djerba, a Tunisian resort island.
Among the passengers is 31-year-old police officer Luca Squicciarini.
His girlfriend, Paola, is travelling with him.
(LUCA SPEAKS ITALIAN) TRANSLATION: It was my first trip with Paola.
We met the previous winter.
We had plans to marry the following year.
MAN: (OVER PA) To tighten belts, pull the loose end of the strap.
To release your seatbelt, lift the upper portion of the button.
Ladies and gentlemen, life vests are located beneath your seats.
To inflate the vest, pull firmly on the red cord, only when you're leaving the aircraft.
If you need to refill the vest, blow into the mouthpiece.
MAN: (OVER RADIO) TS-LBB.
Flight 1153.
Permission for take-off granted.
Roger that.
Clear for take-off.
Final prep for departure.
The crew is flying a French-made ATR 72.
The small turboprop is perfect for short flights.
It doesn't need a lot of maintenance or guzzle a lot of fuel.
Just after 2:30 in the afternoon, the plane takes off.
49 minutes after take-off, Flight 1153 is 400 miles away from its destination, Djerba.
TRANSLATION: So we started chatting with other passengers.
We were all excited.
We talked about the vacation.
Then, 75 miles from the nearest land, and 23,000ft above the sea .
.
the plane's right engine stops working.
We've lost engine number two.
Let's get to 17,000ft.
TUI 1153 request 170.
MAN: (OVER RADIO) TUI 1153.
Captain Gharbi begins an emergency descent.
Sending 170.
When you have a single engine flame out, you descend down to a lower altitude.
The air is thicker.
The propeller is more efficient.
Under current conditions, the ATR 72 can best fly on one engine at an altitude of 17,000ft.
Power lever.
Flight idle.
Start button.
The crew struggles to restart the right engine.
Negative.
Fuel supply.
Check.
But then, less than two minutes after the first engine quits Stop! Stop.
Engine number one has flamed out.
Both of the plane's engines have stopped.
The plane is now falling to the sea at 800ft per minute.
Mayday, mayday, mayday.
TUI 1153.
We have lost both engines.
Request immediate landing at Palermo.
The crew still hopes to reach an airport but they have 70 miles of ocean to cross before they're over land.
Crews are trained for almost anything.
There's a checklist for them to follow to solve most problems, including what to do when both engines die.
Both engines flame out checklist.
Fuel supply - check.
The pilots don't know why their engines have stopped.
The only clue they're getting is a low fuel feed warning.
SVENTZOURIS: A low pressure warning light tells a pilot that there's low fuel pressure going to the engine.
That could be a mechanical problem or that could be a contamination problem.
The crew follows the steps laid out by the manufacturer to relight their dead engines.
Fuel supply - check.
Power lever.
Flight idle.
Start button.
Engine relight.
Negative.
Get Chokri.
The captain asks the cabin crew to bring the onboard engineer, Chokri Harbaoui, to the cockpit.
Palermo Approach, this is TUI 1153.
We have lost both engines.
Request immediate landing.
The closest airport is in Palermo on the Italian island of Sicily.
TUI 1153.
Palermo.
Affirmative.
You are clear for landing.
Palermo Approach, what is our distance to the airport? Your distance to Palermo is now 48 nautical miles.
An ATR 72 will fall from the sky at a predictable rate - one foot down for every 16 feet forward.
48 nautical miles is further than the plane can glide.
I don't think we're gonna make it.
If they can't restart their engines soon, they'll be forced to ditch in the sea.
SVENTZOURIS: Ditching at sea is a very difficult decision to make because it's the hardest thing to do.
You have swells, waves, wind.
Is anybody going to see you? How long can the plane float for? Landing a passenger plane on water is extremely dangerous.
In 1996, an Ethiopian airline's pilot was forced to bring his 767 down on the Indian Ocean.
The ditching was recorded by a tourist on a nearby beach.
50 people survived but 125 people died.
The crew of Flight 1153 has tried all it can.
They're running out of time and options.
Flight engineer Chokri Harbaoui has joined in the struggle to get Flight 1153's engines started.
- You've run the checklist? - Yes.
The captain hopes the engineer will know something that isn't covered by the checklist.
Attempt to restart the engines.
Right engine first.
Fuel supply - check.
Engine two start power button - on.
Engine relight - negative.
Palermo Approach, TUI 1153.
Any closer airport where we can land? Negative, 1153.
Palermo Airport is the closest airport to your position.
We're not going to make it.
Prepare to ditch.
Oh, my God, be merciful.
The captain has decided to land the plane at sea.
(GASPING, SCREAMING) TRANSLATION: I'll let you imagine the panic on board.
People were screaming and crying.
Please stay calm and follow your crew's instructions.
There were people in the front seats that had a baby girl.
She had been playing and was so excited.
To now see the panic in her mother's face made me feel so sad.
TUI 1153.
What is your fuel load? Cockpit's fuel quantity - 1,800kg.
Captain Gharbi's fuel gauge shows that he has plenty of fuel, but for some reason, neither engine will restart.
Just 10 minutes after the trouble began, the plane is 7,000ft above the ocean and falling.
Outside it's completely silent but in the cabin, there's panic.
Please remain in your seats with your seatbelts fastened! TRANSLATION: My first instinct was to undo my seatbelt to prevent getting trapped when we hit the water.
I didn't want to be trapped in my seat and go down in a horrible way.
But, secondly, I put on my life jacket and quickly blew it up.
I did this to soften the blow of the impact.
(SCREAMING) Do not inflate your vests until you've left the plane! A plane ditching at sea will more than likely fill with water.
That's why safety procedures call for passengers to only inflate their life vests once they've cleared the plane.
Otherwise they could become trapped inside the flooded fuselage and drown.
In the Ethiopian Airlines crash, many passengers ignored this advice and drowned after surviving the initial impact.
Negative.
The dead engines aren't the only problem confronting the crew.
Engine two - start power.
Many of their instruments get their power from the engines.
Without the engines, some vital gauges are dead.
On a two-engine flame-out, you go on your stand-by instruments, which is you have an altitude indicator, you have an altimeter.
Fuel supply - check.
The crew continues to try to restart their engines, but it's become clear that they've run out of time.
They're not doing anything.
Confirm distance, please.
Your distance is now 20 miles.
Boats.
I see boats.
SVENTZOURIS: Choosing to ditch near a ship or vessel is not written in any checklist.
It's just good airmanship because rescue can start immediately and it increases your chances of survival.
Palermo Approach, it's TUI 1153.
We can't make it to the airport.
We see two boats on the left side.
We're going there.
If you can, please call.
Captain Gharbi turns his plane towards the boats.
Can you send helicopters or something similar? Fast, fast, fast! Emergency.
All marine units.
An aircraft in distress.
20 nautical miles off Palermo.
Even before the plane hits the water, rescuers are on their way.
(MAN SPEAKS ITALIAN) TRANSLATION: I had very little information.
We didn't know the nature of the crash or anything about the plane.
Auto press - dump.
Although it's a rare manoeuvre, there is also a checklist for ditching a plane in the water.
Before ditching, the crew ensures all landing gear is retracted to help the plane land more smoothly.
Landing gear lever - up.
When pilots ditch, they want their airplane as streamlined as possible so that it glides across the water when it hits.
Pilots must not only monitor the systems on the plane, they also have to assess conditions at sea.
They don't want to hit a wave head-on.
If you hit perpendicular to the waves or swells with the aircraft, it's like hitting concrete.
The plane will break up.
The crew is 700ft above the sea.
Bear with me, Ali, huh? Careful.
- Chokri, ready? - Ready.
Here we go.
There is no other god but Allah.
Mohammed is his messenger.
In the name of God, the merciful.
Merciful.
At a speed of 145 miles an hour, the plane collides with the sea.
TRANSLATION: I lost consciousness.
I woke up in the water.
I was two or three metres under water.
I came up to the surface wearing only my pants.
I had lost my life jacket and clothes on impact.
I got to the surface and grabbed onto a bag.
Paola! I was in shock.
I was surrounded by everything.
My thoughts were constantly with Paola.
I thought I was going to die because I was spitting blood.
I felt my lungs filling with blood.
Paola! Captain Gharbi survives but has been seriously injured.
Copilot Ali Kebaier has also survived.
But flight engineer Chokri Harbaoui is killed.
No-one aboard the nearby boat saw Flight 1153 crash into the sea.
The plane has broken into three pieces.
The tail section and much of the fuselage sink to the bottom of the sea.
But the largest section, containing the two wings, stays afloat.
It becomes a makeshift life raft for survivors.
But not all of the passengers have survived.
Many haven't made it out of the plane and to the surface.
A fleet of rescue personnel are en route, including Admiral Vincenzo Pace of the Italian coastguard.
Rescuers must travel 26 miles through heavy seas to get to the crash site.
(SPEAKS ITALIAN) TRANSLATION: The sky was very visible but the water was agitated.
This caused some problems to the recovery mission.
Helicopter pilot Stefano Burigana is one of the first to arrive at the scene.
The first controller asked us if we were aware of a ditched aircraft out over the coast over Palermo and if we were able to help them to locate their airplane.
When we approached the airplane, we could see the wings floating.
There were several people in the water around the aircraft and all floating, and everybody with their jacket inflated.
(HELICOPTER WHIRRS) Burigana spots Luca Squicciarini floating away from the main wreckage.
There was one man without his jacket and he was the farthest from the airplane.
I decided to go over him and throw one of our life jackets to him.
The coastguard arrives and begins pulling survivors from the sea.
Within the hour, the crash site is teeming with rescuers.
They search for survivors from the water and from the air.
23 people are pulled from the Mediterranean Sea.
But 16 have died in the crash, including Paola Di Ciaula.
TRANSLATION: My relatives told me a couple of days later while I was still at the hospital.
I had no reaction.
Paola was gone.
I reacted when I got home.
When I got home and went to the cemetery, I realised what was happening.
That's where I got really down.
It's quite likely that none of those who died ever had a chance to swim to safety.
Their serious injuries would have prevented them from escaping after the plane hit the water.
In this accident, most of the survivors were seated in the rear of the plane.
Most of those who died, up front.
Those sections, along with some valuable clues, are now at the bottom of the sea.
The one section that didn't sink is towed to the port in Palermo and taken to a nearby hangar.
A team of agents from Italy's national flight safety agency, the ANSV, begin looking for leads.
Their job - find out why Flight 1153's engines stopped in mid-flight.
MAN: We needed to collect as much evidence as possible in order to fulfil two main answers - what happened and why had it happened? They are led by chief ANSV investigator Vincenzo Pennetta.
I arrived in Palermo the day after the accident, on the 7th, very early in the morning.
(SPEAKS ITALIAN) A flight-test engineer by training, Pennetta has led several air crash investigations.
The engines and central fuselage of Tuninter Flight 1153 have been recovered.
The rest of the plane lies somewhere off the Sicilian coast.
The main challenge for the investigation was the fact that the flight recorder and the cockpit voice recorder and also the front fuselage were 1,500m under the sea.
While the Italian navy conducts a deep-water search for the rest of the wreck and the crucial black boxes .
.
Italian investigators are given some assistance by the plane's European manufacturer.
ATR's Guiseppe Caldarelli is here to find out if there's a flaw with the company's plane.
Anytime it is an accident and also one people die, for me, it is a big accident.
Worldwide, hundreds of ATR 72s cross the skies each day.
Together, Pennetta and Caldarelli set out to find why both engines on such an advanced airplane died in mid-flight TUI 1153.
We have lost both engines.
.
.
before it happens again.
Captain Gharbi, how are you? I'm getting better, thank you.
Investigators want to know what happened in the cockpit of Tuninter Flight 1153 when the engines died.
Without the cockpit voice recorder, they must rely on the recollections of surviving passengers and crew members.
The main cause of double engine flame-out could be a lack of fuel.
But according to captain Chafik Gharbi, lack of fuel was not the problem.
What were your fuel readings? The fuel quantity indicator said 1,800kg of fuel.
What is your fuel load? Cockpit's fuel quantity - 1,800kg.
Fuel supply - check.
Was there any warning that you were low on fuel? There was definitely no low-fuel warning.
Just a .
.
low-feed pressure light.
The absence of a low-fuel warning and the presence of a low-feed pressure warning is a major clue.
These set of alarms usually indicates that there is a problem in feeding the engine with fuel.
Since the plane's gauges indicated that there was fuel on board that did not get to the engines, ATR's Guiseppe Caldarelli looks for flaws in the fallen plane's fuel delivery system.
Four years earlier, an airbus operated by Air Transat developed a leak in the fuel line that feeds the plane's right engine.
Over time, the plane leaked all of its fuel and both engines failed.
The pilots were forced to glide their plane to an emergency landing.
That incident has a lot of similarities to the Tuninter crash.
Guiseppe Caldarelli's team looks for breaks or blockages in the fuel lines and evidence that the fuel pumps malfunctioned and stopped fuel flow to the engines.
While Caldarelli waits for technicians to complete tests on pumps and lines, Pennetta decides to start a new line of inquiry.
He explores the possibility that the fuel that was on board was somehow contaminated.
Fuel contamination can derive from four or five different sources.
Technicians remove the truck's fuel filters to look for evidence of contamination.
Hoses and couplings are swabbed for sticky residue or colonies of micro-organisms and submitted for testing at an Italian air force laboratory.
The fuel is filtered for minute particles suspended in the fluid .
.
and carefully examined for impurities.
The truck's filters are also inspected for residue or sediment from the tanks.
Meanwhile, in Palermo, Caldarelli and his technicians have completed tests on Flight 1153's fuel lines and pumps.
The tests are thorough, the results conclusive.
The fuel feed line were OK, were no No leak.
If the fuel delivery system was working and the two pilots remember having ample fuel The fuel quantity indicator said 1,800kg of fuel.
.
.
then why had the engines failed? When test results from the Bari fuel tanker come in, they too are conclusive.
The fuel filters, hose couplings and tanker fuel at Bari Airport are clean.
At this point, the investigators still don't know what caused the downing of Tuninter Flight 1153.
But something has been eating at Pennetta.
If the plane was filled with fuel and since the fuel is stored in the plane's wings, why did the wing section float? Pennetta suspects the plane didn't have as much fuel as the pilots thought.
But he doesn't know how that could be.
Two weeks into the investigation, Pennetta gets an important lead in the case.
According to the logs, Captain Gharbi flew the same aircraft the day before the accident.
After that flight, he reported a problem with his fuel gauge.
When he left Djerba the day before, he reported that the right display fuel indicator was out of service so it need to be replaced.
The fuel quantity indicator, or FQI, is a gas gauge that tells pilots how much fuel is left on board.
The lights on the FQI were malfunctioning and Captain Gharbi made a note of this in the maintenance log.
The maintenance log raises the possibility that the FQI that the mechanic installed was not the right one for the plane.
It doesn't seem to have the right model number.
Tuninter flies two models of ATR aircraft - the ATR 42 and the larger ATR 72.
The fuel quantity indicators for each plane look identical except for a different model number at the top of each unit.
The ATR 72 should have a model number 2500.
But according to the logs, mechanics installed a unit with the model number 2250 instead.
Tuninter's maintenance logs offer a valuable clue.
But for Pennetta, there's no definitive proof that the wrong fuel quantity indicator was installed on the plane.
There is only one way to know for certain whether Flight 1153 had the right fuel quantity indicator.
Go find it at the bottom of the sea.
We needed of course to recover the wreckage from the aircraft to see, physically see, what was the fuel quantity indicator installed on the aircraft.
Not until three weeks after the crash do investigators recover wreckage from the sea.
The data from the plane's black boxes confirms what the pilots have been saying.
There was no warning of low fuel, so there appeared to be enough fuel to make the flight.
The black boxes can't solve this mystery.
Investigators hope that the tail and front section can.
They are hauled aboard a naval vessel from the sea.
The moment the cockpit is hauled in, Pennetta is there.
There's only one thing he wants to see inside.
PENNETTA: So when the wreckage was recovered from under the sea and put on the ship deck, I realised that, as a matter of fact, the fuel quantity indicator for the ATR 42 was installed.
It was like we found the smoking gun.
The ATR's fuel quantity indicator collects data from sensors in the fuel tanks and calculates how much fuel is in the tanks.
But since the fuel tanks on the 42 and the 72 are a different size, fuel quantity indicators can't be swapped between them.
Technicians conduct refuelling tests with the wrong FQI installed on an ATR 72.
And the results are chilling.
The results show that if you install an FQI type, say, 42 on an ATR 72 aircraft, if I have no fuel in the fuel tanks, with zero fuel, the fuel quantity indicator shows me 1,800kg.
Precisely the amount of fuel that the captain reported having when his engines flamed out.
Cockpit fuel quantity, 1,800kg.
Investigators conclude, at 23,000 feet above the Mediterranean, the wrong fuel indicator led the crew to believe that they had ample fuel when their tanks were actually empty.
Engine relight.
Negative.
They're not doing anything.
The engines could not possibly have been restarted.
With hundreds of ATR 42s and ATR 72s still flying, the implications are stark.
Could there be other planes flying with the wrong gauge? PENNETTA: The first safety recommendation was to mandate all operators that use ATR 42 and 72 aircraft in their fleet to check whether the right fuel quantity indicator was installed on the aircraft.
Pennetta and Caldarelli have uncovered the error that caused both of Flight 1153's engines to quit in midair.
But the case isn't closed.
Standard flight procedures should've uncovered the error before take-off and prevented the disaster.
Captain Gharbi's aircraft went in for repairs in Tunisia the night before the crash.
The plane's FQI indicated 790kg of fuel in the tank.
After the new fuel quantity indicator was installed, it showed that there was almost four times as much fuel on board - 3,100kg.
The following morning, Captain Gharbi noticed that the fuel levels had gone up.
He assumed the fuel had been added.
But when fuel is added to an aircraft, a refuelling slip must be left in the cockpit.
Where is the refuelling slip? The pilot asked to the flight dispatcher where was the refuelling slip.
But the flight dispatcher was not able to find this refuelling slip.
MAN: (OVER RADIO) I'll get it to you when you get back from Djerba.
Roger that.
There was no refuelling slip because the plane hadn't been refuelled.
In spite of regulations, the captain left without that vital piece of paper.
There are some standard regulations requiring the pilot to take off only when he is sure about the quantity of fuel.
With the wrong fuel indicator on board, and less fuel than he believed, Captain Gharbi makes it to Bari, Italy .
.
and tops up his plane for the next leg of the trip to Djerba.
How much fuel are you adding? 400kg.
- 2,700 total? - Yes.
Believing he has 2,700kg of fuel on board, Captain Gharbi begins his flight to Djerba.
If the correct fuel quantity indicator had been installed, the captain would've known that he had only 540kg .
.
not nearly enough to make the crossing.
Mayday! Mayday! Mayday! TUI 1153 request immediate landing in Palermo.
We've lost both engines.
Pennetta's investigation comes to a close.
He draws up his final report.
His colleague Giuseppe Caldarelli voices a bold view.
Even with no fuel and dead engines, Flight 1153 could have made it to land.
The aircraft was in a position that allowed to reach Palermo.
TUI 1153 Caldarelli wonders if the pilots did everything they could have to get the plane safely to Palermo.
TUI 1153 Investigators get some unexpected answers by having seasoned pilots fly the exact same flight with the exact same problems.
We are now in big trouble because the second engine has gone off.
Vincenzo Pennetta's investigation into the crash of Tuninter Flight 1153 has uncovered the events that led up to the accident.
Now he and Giuseppe Caldarelli need to resolve one question.
Did mistakes made by the pilots cost people their lives? We're not going to make it.
Prepare to ditch.
Caldarelli and his team study the plane's specifications and draw a surprising conclusion.
Flight 1153 could have been able to glide to Palermo.
According to manufacturer data, an ATR is able to glide three miles for every 1,000 feet of descent.
With the help of a tailwind that day, Flight 1153 could have been able to glide 70 miles to Palermo.
The crew might have been able to make it.
Landing gear lever up.
So what had the pilots done wrong? To answer that question, Pennetta and Caldarelli recreate Flight 1153 in the flight simulator at the ATR facility in France.
Test pilots try to glide an ATR 72 for 70 miles from the altitude at which Flight 1153 lost its second engine.
Stop! Stop.
Engine number one is flamed out.
With both engines out, the priority is to keep the plane gliding as far as necessary.
To do that, pilots can change the angle of their windmilling propellers.
MAN: You have the maximum glide performance when you minimise drag, and it's very important to think, to feather the propeller in order to reduce the drag.
Feathering the props involves changing their angle against the wind.
The manoeuvre reduces drag.
The crew did not feather their props when their engines quit.
The windmilling propellers created enormous drag.
If the crew of Flight 1153 had feathered their props, they may have been able to glide further than they did.
Let's get to 17,000 feet.
By the time Captain Gharbi's second engine flamed out, he was just below 22,000 feet.
To further reduce drag at that altitude, the plane should be slowed to 158 miles per hour - the ATR 72's ideal gliding speed.
Surprisingly, to glide as far as possible, a pilot doesn't want to fly as fast as possible.
The faster a plane flies, the more the airflow pushes against it, creating resistance.
Every plane has an optimal speed to achieve the furthest glide.
The crew continued flying up to 55 miles an hour faster than their optimal gliding speed.
That added to the drag on the plane, and reduced the distance they could glide.
By feathering his props and reducing his speed a simulator pilot in France was able to get the plane as far as Palermo.
Bear with me, Ali, huh? Careful.
Flight 1153 hit the water 26 miles from shore, well short of what the plane was capable of achieving.
The simulation confirmed that the crew might have been able to make it to land.
Simulator pilots had one big advantage over the crew of Flight 1153.
They weren't in a life-or-death situation, and they knew they had to glide instead.
Fuel supply.
Check.
But Captain Gharbi didn't know he was out of fuel.
He didn't think he'd need to glide to Palermo.
Gharbi focused on restarting the engines instead.
Feathering the props isn't part of that procedure.
If the captain had known he was out of fuel, he might have acted to maximise glide instead.
Once he realised that his engines wouldn't start, his focus was on trying to find a place to ditch the plane.
Captain Gharbi also had to contend with a lack of instruments as well as radio interruptions.
MAN: (OVER RADIO) Palermo.
TUI 1153.
What is your fuel load? Cockpit fuel quantity 1,800kg.
Most importantly, Captain Gharbi had the lives of his 34 passengers to consider.
Of course it's much easier to cope with that kind of situation on the simulator, because if you do wrong, if you crash the aircraft, you have the magic button - 'Reset'.
Everything is OK again.
And that's very different in the real life with passengers behind them.
When it's YOUR life.
Your distance is now 20 miles.
We're not going to make it.
The simulation highlights the importance of proper training to deal with unlikely situations such as a twin-engine flame-out.
In aviation, it's a very rare event.
Vincenzo Pennetta's report urges airlines to train their pilots how to ditch without engine power.
Better pilot training is just one of 17 safety recommendations in the accident report.
Perhaps the most important, that ATR redesign the fuel quantity indicator.
PENNETTA: In order to prevent a fuel quantity indicator type 42 on a 72 aircraft, and vice versa.
To prevent mechanics from installing the incorrect part, Pennetta believes that the only answer is to design the FQIs so that they only fit on the plane they're meant for.
Nine men faced charges of criminal negligence for the downing of Flight 1153, including the Tuninter mechanic who installed the wrong FQI, and Captain Gharbi.
MAN: (OVER RADIO) I'll get it to you when you get back from Djerba.
Roger that.
PENNETTA: There is no single cause of the accident.
This accident, like many other aircraft accidents, was determined by a series of action, a series of events linked one to each other.
TRANSLATION: This is unheard of.
I would have accepted the engine breaking or a window shattering, but to have people die because of a lack of fuel? The crash of Flight 1153 was caused by a series of grave errors on the ground and in the air.
But the flight data recorder does show that the crew's last move before hitting the water was absolutely perfect.
Here we go.
According to available evidences, the flight data recorder and also some statements released by the crew that survived, the aircraft touched the sea first with the rear part of the aircraft at an attitude which is compatible with the optimum pitch attitude of the aircraft, which is nine degrees.
Captain Gharbi raised the plane's nose up to nine degrees at the last possible moment.
So instead of ploughing into the sea, his plane glided along the surface of the water.
The manoeuvre likely saved lives by allowing more passengers to escape the ruined aircraft.
His flying may have prevented this accident from becoming an even greater tragedy.
Captions by Ericsson Access Services