Pilots Try To Reach An Airport With No Fuel | FULL EPISODE | Mayday: Air Disaster

The pilot notices a low oil temperature and high oil pressure on one engine, but does not realise that a fuel leak is the cause. Finally, after an hour of flight, he understands - the race against time to reach an airport has just begun.

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Do you think the pilot is a hero or part of the problem?

Mayday: Air Disaster - From Season 1 Episode 6 "Flying on Empty": On January 21, 2000, Alaska Airlines Captain Ted Thompson and First Officer Bill Tansky prepare for a routine flight to San Francisco, unaware of a crucial weakness in the plane’s structure.

Thompson, 53, and Tansky, 57, are among Alaska’s most experienced pilots. Shortly after takeoff they discover a serious problem on the aircraft’s tail. The stabiliser, the horizontal surface on the tailplane, won’t move.

The stabiliser plays a vital part in controlling the angle of the plane in flight. The pilots struggle to keep the plane level. The stabiliser in the tail is jammed, pushing the aircraft toward the ground. To compensate, they have to pull back on the control column. The plane is unstable. The pilots request to divert from San Francisco to the nearer airport in Los Angeles. They try again to free up the jammed stabiliser. The plane shudders violently and dives 7000 feet in one minute at a 90-degree angle as the pilots fight hard at the controls.

After the terrifying plunge downward, Alaska 261 has a reprieve. But aware that they have a full emergency, the pilots request to be routed out over the ocean. If the worst happens, they don’t want to kill people on the ground as well as the plane. The plane plunges out of control again, upside-down and tumbling, the pilots continue to try to control the plane as it crashes into the ocean.

The wreckage is recovered. For the NTSB investigators, the stabiliser assembly holds the key. The jackscrew that moves the stabiliser up and down is found separated from its housing and without any grease on it. The investigators discover that the lack of grease on the jackscrew caused it to jam, leading to the plane crash.

Whistleblower John Liotine, an Alaska Airilnes lead mechanic, had criticised declining safety standards. When the NTSB investigators compare Liotine’s notes to the records kept by Air Alaska, they uncover the full extent of the maintenance errors. It turns out that Liotine had worked on this plane and had recommended that the jackscrew be replaced 15 months earlier. It never was.

The investigation exposes deeply worrying shortcomings in maintenance and regulation that afflict the airline industry. It shows how a series of devastating errors combined to produce a tragic accident – one that could happen again.

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