![]() But why hadn’t the problem with the DC-10’s cargo door been fixed in the two years leading up to the crash?The answer was simple but horrifying. The accident could have - and should have - been prevented. In a repeat of the Detroit incident, the cargo door of the Turkish Airlines flight had not been properly secured. At the time, it’s the worst crash in aviation history.As investigators comb through the wreckage, they reach a startling conclusion. Just nine minutes after takeoff, the plane hits the ground at almost 800kilometres an hour, virtually disintegrating on impact. The plane plummets, nose first towards the ground. The cabin floor collapses, damaging many of the hydraulic cables that allow pilots to control the plane. But when the aircraft reaches 11,000 feet, a huge explosion blows out the plane’s cargo door. Just after 12:30pm, the plane lifts off and begins climbing. Turkish Airlines flight 981 is filled to capacity and ready to fly to London. It has been two years since the earlier incident, and more than 50 DC-10s are in the skies around the world. Investigators recommend several changes that would make the door safe.Paris, France. It’s possible for baggage handlers to believe the door is properly locked, when it isn’t. After a harrowing touchdown, the jet comes to a stop just 300 meters from the end of the runway.As investigators search the damaged plane for clues, they quickly conclude that the design of the DC-10’s rear cargo door is to blame. The badly damaged plane roars back to the Detroit airport. The plane begins falling out of the sky and the pilots struggle to safely land the crippled aircraft. It’s so new that neither the pilot nor co-pilot has more than 75 hours experience flying the aircraft.Within minutes of take-off, an explosion rips a gaping hole in the cabin. A billion dollar investment by manufacturer McDonnell Douglas, this plane is the latest advance in passenger jets. "J– The crew of American Airlines flight 96 is preparing their brand new DC-10 for the short flight from Detroit, Michigan, to Buffalo, New York. Pearson’s plane was repaired and put back in service keeping the nicknamed it earned that day, The Gimli Glider." A subsequent inquiry recommended better training for all airline personnel making fuel calculations. The plane needed 22,300 kilograms of fuel for the trip, but was only given half that: 22,300 pounds. In 1983 most planes in Canada used imperial measurements to calculate the amount of fuel required for a flight but the new 767 was outfitted with metric gauges. Interviews with the flight crew and ground crews discover that the error which led to the fuel shortage involved basic math. There was no way for the crew to notice that they took off with only half the fuel they needed for the trip. Investigators quickly discover that a faulty computer processor disabled the plane’s fuel gauges. The first-ever 767 to land without engines does so without so much as a single serious injury. He manages to avoid the people on the runway and bring his plane to a safe stop. Racers and their families are camping out at the strip for the weekend.As Pearson touches down, his front landing gear collapse, his rear tires blow. The runway Pearson is headed for is anything but abandoned. ![]() The Gimli air base is now a drag racing track. It’s called a sideslip, and Pearson is so pre-occupied executing it that he doesn’t notice what’s ahead. He twists the rudder one way, and dips the wings in the opposite direction, forcing the plane into a sideways freefall. Bob Pearson flies gliders in his spare time. The only way for Pearson to get his plane safely down is to try a maneuver that only glider pilots would know about. But the massive plane is now too high, and too close to the runway. Pearson and Quintal need to find a closer place to land.Gimli, a decommissioned air base nearby, is the best bet. The huge Boeing is powerless and falling from the sky – it won’t make it to Winnipeg. As he descends he loses one engine, then another. Pearson decides to land as soon as possible. The plane is in danger of running out of fuel. A warning goes off indicating low pressure in one of the plane’s fuel pumps, then minutes later another one goes off for another fuel pump. Mid-way through the flight, things begin to go horribly wrong. They’re still getting to know the new state-of-the-art plane. There are 61 passengers and 8 crew members on board.Captain Bob Pearson and First Officer Maurice Quintal are both veteran pilots, but they’re flying a new automated Boeing 767. Air Canada flight 143 is on its way to Edmonton from Montreal.
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