Air Emergency (2003–…): Season 2, Episode 2 - A Wounded Bird - full transcript

This is a true story

The reconstruction is based
on actual cockpit recordings

It was just a small commuter-plane

buzzing back and forth from one town to another

A journey of 86 minutes,
one of many that day.

No one could ever have imagined
that it would end like this:

In drama and in death

Yet, in 1995, two pilots
with 26 passengers aboard,

managed to defy the laws of gravity
for 9 minutes and 20 seconds

when their aircraft in effect
lost the use of a wing

struggling home like a wounded bird



A wounded bird

Flying isn't always glamorous

Regional airlines are like the buses of the air

Trundling back and forth
from one small city to another

Crews operate several flight a day,
working for up to 15 hours

They face interminable ground delays
and often passengers

If a flight get cancelled,
they don't get paid

But they enjoy their work.

Atlanta Airport in Georgia
has become one of the busiest in the world

It is the home
of the very successful regional airline:

Atlantic South East

ASA serves every town and city
of the South Eastern United States

with the fleet of 83 turbo-props

In 1995, most of them were Brasilia's,
built by the Brazilian firm EMBRAER



The Brasilia is a high performance aircraft
with state of the art avionics

and a top speed of 378 mph

Today, after 18,000 successful flight,
this Brasilia will take of the last time

Captain Ed Gannaway and F O Matt Warmerdam
have just flown in from Macon, Georgia

Going through the departure checklist,
they are now ready for their 2nd flight of the day

Flight ASA 529 to Gulfport, Mississippi

Flight Attendant Robin Fech
has been with ASA for just over 2 years

A cabin is a cramped space and only 31 ft long

Most of her 26 passengers
are seasoned business travellers

ranging an age from 18 to 69

Among them are 6 engineers, 2 deputy-sheriffs,
a minister, 2 air-force personnel

and even an aspiring flight attendant

For them, the short trip to Gulfport Mississippi
is a routine journey

but they are 1/2 hr late on their schedule already

Power set

Feathers armed

Captain Gannaway who's been with ASA for 7 years,
comes from a family of pilots

He is a skilled and accomplished captain

The two man have only been flying together
for 4 Months, but get along well

At 6'3" and 200 pounds,

Matt Warmerdam is a tight fit
in the Brasilia's crammed cockpit

I think all pilots would agree that the Brasilia
was a constant love-hate-relationship

It was at the time
the fastest, sleekest turbo prop around

It was also very tricky to master

The thing was built like a Sherman tank

Robin?

It will just be a couple of minutes like this
It is going to smooth out

Al-right, thank you

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen

Welcome aboard, at Atlantic South East Airlines
Flight 529, to Gulfport Mississippi

Chuck Pfisterer, a nervous fligher
works for a paper company

and is on its way to visit a new mill

ASA 529, climb and maintain flight-level 20,000 ft

The Brasilia, on auto pilot, is climbing
towards its cruising altitude of 24,000 ft

24, 24

but the plane will never make it to this altitude

AUTOPILOT

The sound of that was tremendous

It was as if someone has taken a baseball bat

and hit an aluminium garbage-can
as hard as they could

It was just a gigantic crashing sound

and the airplane immediately turned to the left

Not knowing really what happened,
I looked over and noticed everyone looking left

out the window

What I saw was very alarming

The outer skin and the
engine had been ripped off

or as I determined later had peeled back
because of some force

I could see the components of the engine itself

And I could see fluid, leaving the engine,
exiting the back of the wing.

Warning lights and chimes go of,
signalling trouble in the left engine

The AUTO-pilot trips off as a result,
and Gannaway takes control of the plane

The plane is falling 5500 ft a minute

an equivalent of over 90 ft /sec

The oil from the destroyed engine
is seeping into the air-conditioning

bringing smoke into the cabin.

Unaware that the left engine is destroyed,

the pilot tries to adjust its propeller
to improve the plane's lift

Warmerdam attempts to feather the propeller
which means changing the angle of the blades

in order to minimize air-resistance

The warning light indicates
fire in the left engine

No matter what Gannaway does,
the plane is still pulling violently to the left

He struggles to counteract it
by pushing hard to the right

using both rudder and control column

The force of the crippled wing,
pulling to the left is relentless

Without the efforts of the pilot
to keep the plane stable

it will roll into a spin and
spiral down into the ground,

killing everyone on board.

The engine has turned into a
massive mis-shapen twisted metal,

fatally weakening the wing's
aerodynamic capabilities and dragging it down

The plane wants to keep turning left

The pilots must push hard right on the rudder
to the limit, to keep them flying straight

Captain Gannaway is confused:

Feathering the propeller
is not what caused the drag

He is so preoccupied with handling the emergency

he hasn't looked over his shoulder
at the damaged engine yet

For now, the pilots are focussed
on the plane's vital statistics:

Heading, altitude, speed
and the power setting of its one good engine

These planes are designed to fly with one engine

The airplane is capable of flying on one engine

However, in the case of Flight 529,

not only do you have an engine that is
malfunctioned and stopped running

but now it is broken
from its normal mounted position and canted

which creates a very increased or dramatic
aerodynamic effect on the airplane

The pilots have managed to slow
the plane's catastrophic rate of descend

but not hold it

In fact, the airspeed is actually increased
to 224 mph

Captain Gannaway is puzzled:
He has flown a Brasilia with one engine before

and landed it with difficulty

This plane has something very wrong

ASA 529: we are declaring an emergency

We have had an engine failure

ASA 529
Left turn direct Atlanta

Flight 529, now flying over Alabama
makes a left turn back towards Atlanta

But the airport is almost 58 miles away

Will they make it?

The plane has begun to descent again
and it speed

Warmerdam cancels the master caution-warning,
finally silencing the plane's alarms

Captain Gannaway experiments with his controls,
trying everything

Suddenly, the nose of the Brasilia lifts up
and the plane's speed slows to 186 mph

ASA 529, say altitude descending to

We are at 11,600 ft at this time

Al-right, it is getting more controllable here

For the first time since
the crisis began,

the pilots can now turn their
attention to the passengers

OKAY, Robin,
We declare an emergency

back to Atlanta
go ahead and brief the passengers

This will be an emergency landing back in

Al-right
thank you

Fech hasn't told the pilots what she had seen
of the destroyed engine

She assumes they already know

ASA 529,
can you level off for the need to keep descending

The plane is descending again at about 3000 ft/Min

Gannaway suddenly realizes
they won't make it to Atlanta

We are going to keep descending

We need an airport quick

We need an airport quick

Roll the trucks and everything out for us

ASA 529 West Georgia,

the regional airport is
at your 10 o'clock position about 10 miles away

But the Air Traffic Controller, too preoccupied
with handling the crisis aboard Flight 529

fails to notify emergency services

Flight 529 makes
another wide left turn

that brings it on course to land
at West Georgia regional Airport

Let us get up the failure checklist please

But they don't get a chance
to diagnose their problem

ASA 529, say heading

We turn about 310 right now

ASA 529, you need to be on 030 for West Georgia,
regional, sir

We have difficulty with the controls right now

Brace positions

APU if available, start

Put that off, bring the ice off

ASA 259, say your altitude now, sir

7000 ASA 529

Trim fail

ASA 529, I missed that, I'm sorry

We are at 6,900 ft right now

ASA 529 West Georgia,
regional is your closest airport

What kind of runway they got?

Hey, what kind of runway regional got?

West Georgia regional is 5000 ft

and it is asphalt, sir

OKAY now, I want you to remove
any pens or sharp objects from your pockets

I want you to take off your glasses and
drinks into the pocket of the seat in front of you

Most folks on that flight were business folks
that flew real frequent

So, there is no screaming or panicking of any sort

Based on the fact that I was going to die,
I dealt with it in the best way that I could

which was just to try to absorb it

accept it, and deal with it

come on, practice,
take your seatbelt off and on, okay?

There is smoke
and the door in front of us is locked

You are going to get down your hands
and using crawl the back, OKAY?

It is kept in rows,
we've got to go down the fifth row

The plane is still losing altitude far too quickly

Can it make it to the airport in time?

Atlanta CENTER normally only controls flights
at altitudes over 11,000 ft

For the last 7 minutes,
Flight 529 had been under this altitude

and now the controller
is having trouble locating them

ASA 529, you have lost your transponder,
say altitude

We are at 4,550 ft at this time

ASA 529, we've got you now
and the airport is at your...

say your heading now, sir

We are heading 080

Roger, you will need about 10 degrees left

West Georgia Regional Airport
is only 8 miles away beneath the clouds

2 minutes flying time

But they are not sure
they can keep airborne that long

I'll tell you what: put you on
approach he works that airport

we are able to give
you more information

Contact Atlanta approach at 12.0

Atlanta approach air Traffic Control

It monitors planes within a much smaller air-space
including West Georgia Regional Airport

The Brasilia, now at 3400 ft,
has slowed its descend to 1800 ft/Min

but that is still too fast

They won't make it to the airport

7 minutes have past

For the first time, Captain Gannaway
manages to catch a glimpse of the left engine.

The engine has exploded,
it is just hanging out there

This was something
his instruments haven't told him

It is no simple engine failure

The engine is just dangling off the wing

He knows he could land a Brasilia
with a failed engine,

but not when it is torn apart

This is something
his training has not prepare him for

He wishes he could see through the clouds

Yes, sir,
We declare an emergency

ASA 529, Roger,
expect localizer runway 3 for approach

and could you fly heading 180

No, sorry, 160

The controller's flightpath will take
the Brasilia several miles South before landing

Gannaway knows he doesn't have the extra minutes
that this will take

Just give us the vectors,
we will go to visual

He asks for directions
to take the plane straight in

using the shortest possible route

Suddenly, they are out of the clouds

but the sight that greets them could not be worse

In front of them:
No Airport

Only forest and villages

Captain Gannaway who never stutters,
does now

S-single engine checklist please

Robin Fech is puzzled:

6 minutes earlier, Warmerdam had told her
the plane was turning back to Atlanta

but all she can see now is Georgia countryside

We are below the clouds
Tell them

We are this far at this time,
Can you give us a vector to the airport

Turn left and fly heading 040

There, the airport is about 10 o'clock
in 6 miles, sir

Radar contact lost at this time

The plane's low altitude shocks the controller:
1900 ft

Only a minute earlier, it had been at 3,400 ft

The descend is far too fast

Remember:
Brace yourselves

Sir, heads down
Heads down,please

Robin Fech,
too preoccupied by the safety of her passengers,

looks out of the window
and suddenly sees the tops of the trees

She has but a few seconds left
to strap herself in her jump-seat before impact

The fall down is going to be rough

The airport is only 4 miles away,
but too far for the crippled plane

The pilots have to attempt
to crash landing in a field

The plane's altitude voice alarm sounds,

warning the pilots that they are flying too close
to the ground without their landing gear lowered

The pilots were attempt to land
on the plane's belly

These were the last words
on the cockpit voice recorder

The plane is flying at a 138 mph
and only seconds away from impact.

The plane had landed in
a small field in Burwell

a sleepy farming community near Carrollton, Georgia
where nothing major ever happens

Many neighbours witness the plane coming down

Bill Jeters and his wife lived in
this house at the end of this field

angled directly in
the plane's path

My wife was sitting at the kitchen table, reading

And she said: Bill, we better get out-ta here,

because the plane is
going to hit the house

So, by that time
it started to stop

I said: Will you call 911 and
I am going ahead of the plane

We have a plane crashed in our backyard

Eight minutes have passed since
first officer Warmerdam has declared an emergency

and asked Atlanta CENTER
for rescue vehicles to be alerted

But the Controller hasn't passed on the message

Minutes will make the difference now
between life and death

The local emergency-services responded quickly
but are still many miles away

For almost a minute after impact,
there is an eerie silence

The plane's fuselage is broken in two

Could anyone survive?

As the dust settles,
all 29 people on board are miraculously alive

with only a handful seriously injured
by the impact

But a new disaster is gathering

Fuel from the shattered wing-tanks
is pouring onto the ground

The last thing that I remember
is the sound of hitting the trees

and then I honestly don't recall impact

Captain Ed Gannaway has been knocked unconscious
by a blow to the head during the impact.

When First Officer Warmerdam regains consciousness
he realizes they are stuck:

The cockpit-door is jammed
and smoke is slowly seeping in

He reaches for the emergency crash axe:

The cockpit window is the only way out

The next immediate thought I had

What is now is going to blow up

So, get out of here

He was burning right in the open

As I just jumped over

And I headed towards the opening

and I walked out of the aircraft

and I walked away from it

The sparks ignite the fuel vapours
creating a blazing fire

Within seconds, the fire spreads to the fuselage

In the rear-section of the plane,
the passengers are now trapped by flames,

burning at 1800 °C

They can hear screams
from the field outside

where some passengers are already
suffering from terrible burns

To escape, they too have to run through the fire

not fall in it,
hoping for the best.

They turned back and they looked at the aircraft

and what I saw was
that the opening that I had come through

was basically fully involved in flames.

And that the people they were exiting the aircraft
were all on fire

Some of them were rolling in the grass
try and put the fire out

and sometimes they made it worse
because there was spilled fuel

and then they got even more ignited

The whole situation got uglier and uglier
in the sense that

you would all of a sudden see
people with their clothing burned of

You would people see with red skin

You could actually see some people who's
flesh was dropping off of their bodies

or their faces

It was just a horrible situation
that was taking place

and it was getting worse and worse

Matt Warmerdam his right
shoulder dislocated

is banging the axe against the
window with his left hand

One gentleman I saw was crawling,
completely engulfed in flames

and another one did was
most of his clothes was torn off

Now, whether they get torn off in the crash

or he torn them off himself,
I don't know

I helped him away from the airplane

and brought him up
towards my brother in law's house

All he had on was his shorts

And his skin was ...

Aircraft glass is much thicker than
what you would see on an auto-mobile wind-shield

It is several different
composite layers

that have been temper-treated together
to make it a very, very tough surface

And with each swing
with the crash axe

I was only able to chip
away a small piece of glass

I need some help

I looked around left and right and
there is no other fools that close at that second

but even though passenger David McCorkell believes
that the plane might blow up at any second

he goes to Matt Warmerdam's rescue

I want to get some air

The oxygen cylinder in the closet
behind the co-pilot's seat punctures

It will make the cockpit-fire much worse

OKAY, go ahead, go ahead.

Stop pulling me,
it is too small

Go ahead.

By now the rescue crews of the area
have been notified.

Firemen, police-officers, paramedics,
all are hurriedly on their way to the crash site

Will the fire-trucks arrive
in time to save Matt Warmerdam

before the cockpit gets
engulfed in flames?

David McCorkell is exhausted
trying to break the strong glass

Suddenly,
a heat flame pops at him from below the cockpit

He backs off, scared for his life

You don't let me die, are you?

Now, more determined than ever,
he bangs even harder and faster

Then, suddenly
the weakened axe-head flies of

It is getting hot in here, get me out

Guy Pope, a police officer is the first
rescue-worker to reach the burning plane

I was about three miles from here
when I received the call

And about halfway here I could see the smoke

Pretty heave smoke
And I got out of the car and I ran up to the plane

When I ran around the nose of the plane,
one of the passengers handed me a hatchet

and said that the pilot was inside

I took the hatchet
and started to cut a bigger hole

I cut and get around behind

The cockpit caught at fire
it was still burning pretty heavy

there was an oxygen bottle
that were blowing the fire

That was just one of the things,
You see a man burn

You don't forget it

This is life footage taken with a video from the
wind-shield of a Georgia State Patrol Police car

as rescue-workers are arriving at the site

At this moment, all passengers are out
of the two sections of the broken plane,

except pilots Ed Gannaway and Matt Warmerdam
who remain prisoners of their cockpit

The first of,
I had to tear the back of the cockpit out

It burnt and there was no door visible
or anything like that

I actually took my hands and tore it out

When I started to pull him out,
he looked up and said

Tell my wife Amy that I love her

I said: 'No, sir, you tell her,
because I'm getting you out of here'

Inside the ambulance I worked with him and
he I thought that he probably would not make it

I took his name-batch
and pinned it on his underwear

which was the only thing I left on him,
trying to cool him down

because I thought that if he died
at least someone will know who he was

Surprising of that was
that he was aware of everything around him

He was comforting me
because at that particular time i was crying

Matt, he actually took his burnt hand
and wanted to tear away

They found Captain Gannaway dead in the cockpit

He had struck his head on impact
and never regained consciousness

He died of burns and smoke inhalation

The crash-survivors, some with broken bones
and others with burns, ranging from minor to 92%

are rushed to various hospitals in Georgia.

Thirteen passengers were brought
to Tanner hospital in Carrolton 15 minutes away,

where code 'BLACK' was immediately applied,
meaning: Everybody helps

Dr Bobby Mitchell, after working a night shift,
was awakened

When I got to the hospital,

some of the people that have survived
the plane-crash were already here

It smells initially just a way of a jet-fuel

It just hit you as
the door opened

It was mixed with just a pungent
horrible odour of burnt flesh

When a patient suffers a severe
burned skin is violated,

The skin really is the major
part of your immune system

When they are able to survive
for a period of weeks

it is not uncommon for them to
die from other organ failures

which is what happen to a lot of the people
that were on the Flight 529

I have never before since dealt with
so much physical devastation in most of all people

and so much sorrow and horror

and sadness in one place

at one time then we did on that day
in this little small town hospital.

After a long day treating
the horribly burnt passengers

and witnessing the courage of some of them,

Dr Mitchell was asked
to assist the autopsy on captain Ed Gannaway

I looked down and put my hand over of them

I told everybody

I hope where his spirit is
that he knows what a good job he did

and I just said:
'You are the hero'

I hope you know it, captain Gannaway

Regional airlines are a North American phenomenon

In the early 1960's,

a small band of independent airlines
first became known as air-taxies

which in time became commuter airlines,
then finally regional airlines

In 1978, the US deregulated the airlines

and as the small and mid-size cities
became the economic engine of the country

regional airlines prospered as never before

The National Transportation Safety Board
is responsible for investigating air-disasters

Its GO-team is on duty 24 hrs./day
to fly to the scene of any major crash

The NTSB will have several sub-groups,
working at the same time,

each examining a particular part of the plane

Gordon Jim Hookey, an aerospace engineer
was in charge of the propeller maintenance group

We went out to the crash site

And in the usual fashion you just look around

and get a feel of where all the pieces are

We came along the propeller assembly
that was missing

looking down to the dirt,

we could see the tell tale marks,
the beach-marks around

along the fractured surface that indicated
that it might have been a fatigue fracture

During the last 10 minutes of Flight 529,
no one on board the plane suspected

that the engine failure had been
caused by a propeller blade fracture

Hookey had a good reason to be concerned
by the broken propeller-blade

He had seen this all before

Four years earlier another ASA Brasilia
had nose-dived and crashed in woods in Georgia

killing all 23 people on board
including former US senator John Tower of Texas

and space shuttle astronaut Manley Sonny Carter

The NTSB's investigation
of that incident had found

that the crash had been caused
by a badly designed propeller control unit

and they blamed that the manufacturer:
Hamilton Standard, (See S15E09 of Mayday)

Then in March, 1994,
just 17 months before ASA 529

on two separate commercial flights
identical propeller blades broke from metal-fatigue

Over Canada and over Brazil

In both cases, the aircraft involved
managed to land safely

These accidents pointed to serious problems
in Hamilton-Standard propellers

and became a major crisis for the company

Airlines were ordered by the
government to carry out an inspection

of all the 15,000 propeller-blades in service.

Investigators found that the broken
propeller had been declared suspect

and sent back to Hamilton Standard for inspection

One of the ASA mechanics
took the blade off the hub

As soon as they turned it over
we marked down the serial number

So, when we went back to do the records,
we immediately go to that particular blade

Investigator Jim Hookey took the broken blade stop
to Atlanta Airport

From there,
it was sent to Te NTSB laboratory in Washington

By next morning, blade number 861398
was being examined under a scanning microscope

Investigators found tell tale deposits
of chlorine,

a corrosive substance known to eat into
the inner walls of the propeller blade

So, then the question becomes:
'Where did the chlorine come from?

In two of the previous propeller failures
the problem had also been traced to corrosion,

caused by chlorine in the inner wall of the blade.

Flight 529's blade had also snapped off
13.2 inches from the hub

very similar to the two previous blade failures

Under the microscope, NTSB's scientists saw
the two crack along the inner wall of the blade

had joined to a form a single fisher

This had grown and grown
until it circled the blade

at which point it snapped
under the stress of normal operation.

But the NTSB scientists noticed something else

On the inner surface extending about
1,5 inches from the fracture,

there was a series of sanding marks

Hookey set of to Hamilton Standard,

intend on getting the maintenance
records for the propellers.

What had been done to the blade?
When has it been recalled?

But the factory Hookey examined
the blades repair records.

He noted the initials of the technician
who did the work

CSB = Christoffer Scott Bender

He was a young technician who worked
at the Hamilton Standard propeller repair facility

Christoffer Bender has watched
the news of the accident on television,

little realizing
how he was involved in the accident.

I saw the Hamilton Standard prop and it was like
I hoped it was not a prop failure

You know the NTSB is down there,
The FAA is investigating

And they've called in several engineers
to go also down there

It might be a prop failure

as soon as I heard that...

...my heart
it was like

I think I might have cried a little bit
because emotionally you are overwhelmed

Something that I had in my hands
and somebody trusted me that failed

because that somebody had died

After discovering the technician who
had last worked on the propeller blade

that caused the crash of ASA 529

the NTSB now had to find out
how the blade had passed inspection

Propeller blades are hollow

Inside, weights are inserted to balance the prop

They are kept in place by a cork,
soaked in chlorine

It was the chlorine that had caused
the corrosion in the previous accidents

However on this blade, Bender had been unable
to detect any evidence of corrosion

He then did what he had been told to do

'Polish the inside of the blade'

The draft accident report we present to you today
involves Atlantic South East Airlines Flight 529

The NTSB found that by
polishing the blade,

Hamilton Standard had unwittingly
removed all traces of the crack

and a later more thorough ultrasound examination
couldn't detect it

The NTSB asked for more accountability
for management at Hamilton Standard

And so the final report read:

The fracture was caused by a fatigue crack
from multiple corrosion pits

that were not discovered by Hamilton Standards

because of inadequate and ineffective corporate
inspection and repair techniques

training, documentation and communications

Some final question still needed to be answered

Why had the broken propeller blade
destroyed the engine?

In previous incidents,
the entire propeller had fallen away harmlessly

But on flight 529,
weight loss unbalanced the propeller

and led to uncontrollable high speed shaking
as the engine shuddered in its mountings

This was the ominous hammering sound,
heard by the passengers

It literally ripped the engine open and
left the useless propeller jammed against the wing

The crew weren't handling the engine failure
as a true engine failure

in that some mechanical malfunction occurred
and the engine stopped running.

They didn't know that the engine actually had
vibrated significantly and broken from its mount

and actually canted or twisted on the wing

The NTSB found that the rescue services
might have arrived more quickly

if controllers had heeded Matt Warmerdam's request
for help on the ground

given by radio 6.5 minutes before the crash

Another key NTSB-recommendation
was to replace the flimsy crash axe

that had failed in Warmerdam's rescue
with a sturdier model

Investigators praise the crew of Flight 529
for the way they dealt with the crisis

falling their reactions reasonable and appropriate

But the NTSB could offer a little advise
on the one thing that have caused all these deaths

Fire

The conundrum is :

How do you make a fuel burn in an engine
but not ignite when it is spilled?

One way to reduce the severity of post crash
fires is by utilizing less flammable fuel

In 1984, the FAA and NASA
decided to test a new safer fuel

by stating an accident,
using a remote controlled plane

Unfortunately, it was not a conspicuous success

But the US NAVY has been using a safer form
of jet fuel, called JP-5 since the 1950's

Yet it is not used in commercial aviation

The primary reason that civilian sector commercial
aviation has not gone to a lower flammable fuel

is a question of availability and distribution...

...and the cost:

It cost more to produce JP-5.

Everything comes down to money

What it is going to cost to develop a system?

What it is going to cost to implement the system?

What is it going to do
for the overall safety of the airplane?

and who is going to pay for it

Personally, from a safety standpoint,
I'll pay $2 extra in my ticket

to know and have that security

Until a solution is found,
there will continue to be stories like ASA 529

On impact, every one on this flight had survived

but the subsequent fire became the killer.

For the victims of the fire, recovery has been
a slow, painful and excruciating process

First Officer Matt Warmerdam was burnt
on 42% of his body

Some other survivors suffered up to 90% burns.

Treatment included daily baths,
removal of dead skin from burn wounds

There would be years of
skin graft operations

The 24 hr a day wearing of pressure garments
to minimize scarring

chronic itching and soreness

and daily physical therapy

Your ability to sense and fail to those areas
is permanently changed for the worse

Temperature control is lost:

When you walk from an air-conditioned building
into the outside,

you take for granted that your
body starts accommodating,

even by sweating or by blood-flow

People with burns
especially horrible large surface area burns

That is lost for ever;
They have to plan everything they do

They have to plan where they are going to be
and the clothing much more carefully

There are emotional and physical things both
that are lost forever

My medical treatments were quite extensive

There was a lot of long nights talking with Amy

trying to get over the pain and despair
of all that

The plane crash, it took the last byte

And I stayed
in the fire service for a while after that

but my heart was never in it again

I quitted my job as a vice president

a software company, travelling alike

making very good money

and I went to work as a buyer in Alaska

I also reconnected with my ex-wife

and we got re-married

moved down to South Carolina

and have all our kids moving with us

So, I did change my life

One year after the crash,

the military fraternal organization of pilots
bestowed its prestigious medallion on Matt Warmerdam

for his part in saving the lives of his passengers

He accepted it in honour of the crew

Seeking closure on the trauma of the crash,
residents build a memorial to the victims of 529

behind Shiloh United Methodist Church,
a short distance from the accident site in Burwell

Much is changed for the company
that manufactured Flight 529's propeller

Now renamed Hamilton Sunstrand,

it is part of the giant United Technologies
aerospace and defence group

Flight 529 was the last time
that one of its propellers failed in flight

Its inspection and repair process
was made more stringent

in some cases exceeding FAA requirements.

Since the three blades failures,
there have been none whatsoever

Of the 29 people aboard Flight ASA 529,
only 8 escaped with minor injuries.

Of the 21 others who received
major injuries and burns, 10 subsequently died

Flight attendant Robin Fech declined
to be interviewed for this film,

still suffering from the pain and anguish
of that terrible day

She has never worked as a flight attendant again

The best thing I ever could have done for myself
was that day, two years ago

when I had finished training
and took the controls of ASA plane...

...and flew again.

I stubbornly recaptured my dream

And now that I am doing again
This has been a joy

It is what I do,
It is what I love

That is what I always wanted to do with my life
and I am doing it again

Subtitles:
Rein Croonen