fire breaks out in the cabin of a dc-9 minutes after take off. the pilots lose control and the plane plunges nose first into the everglades. >> when that nose drop occurred, i realized it was going to crash. >> an md-1 1 crashes after smoke mysteriously fills the cockpit. >> the airplane was burning up around them. >> about two hours into a flight, a dc-9 fills with smoke and loses all of its electrical systems. >> a mayday, we're going down. >> we thought everybody could get off because there wasn't any

screams. >> moments after take off, flames erupt from the world's most iconic aircraft. >> it was a time bomb. they were going to die. >> people watch in horror as it crashed into a nearby hotel. there are many ways for fires to start on a plane and not many ways to put them out. >> in flight fires can be one of the most catastrophic events flight crew can face. ♪ ♪ the faa found three flights a day are diverted to smoke and fire in flight. while it can be common, it can be one of most dangerous situations facing any flight

crew. >> the faa did extensive testing on in flight fires and you may have as little as 20 minutes to get the fire under control or you may lose control of the airplane. >> aircraft has become heavily protected against fire. materials tested and smoke detectors installed but these procautions are the product of hard lessons. fires often start in areas of the plane that are not visible to the crew. in this hour, dramatic animations will show you where these hidden infernos can start, making you an eyewitness to the disaster unfolding. and it can unfold very quickly as in the case of an md-11 that crashed into the atlantic ocean minutes after smoke entered the cockpit. september 2nd, 1998 passengers

on board swiss flight 11 1 goin from m new york to geneva. the pilot smells smoke in the cockpit. bill is the air traffic controller that day and the last person to have contact with flight 111. >> we were at the end of the shift. at approximately 10:15 p.m. local time we were advised by a sector that a swiss air flight had declared a pan because of the smoke in the cockpit. >> a pan call indicates urgency that is not immediately life threatening. as a precaution, swiss air 111 is cleared for an emergency landing. >> it appears to be a straightforward operation. the radio transmission was very professional, very calm. there was no indication of a sense of urgency. >> as they prepare for descent, the smoke in the cockpit becomes heavier amid the growing danger, the pilots have faced with a difficult decision. >> the pilot advised they needed

to dump fuel. at that point, they were approximately 16,000 feet. the fuel dump complicated the situation greatly. >> it's a good decision to get the airplane as light as you can. it's easier on the airplane. >> but delaying the landing could put the flight in even more danger. the passengers have been told that they are being diverted but there is no smoke in the cabin and they have no idea that inside the cockpit, something is going horribly wrong. following the smoke checklist, the pilot shut off power to the cabin. if there is an electrical fire, this could cut power to the source. but the smoke only gets thicker. then the auto pilot fails flying the plane by hand in the dark the pilots put on their oxygen masks. >> by this point, they knew they had a very serious situations and they needed on the ground as rapidly as possible. >> as soon as they were over the water is when i suggested they

could commence the fuel dump and that was also the time unknown to me, that the aircraft began experiencing a series of critical systems failures. >> the plane begins to lose altitude. >>ithin a minute, they had lost several critical systems. they lost the radio contact, and very soon after that we lost the transponder. >> inside the cockpit, a nightmare scenario is unfolding. fire has breached the ceiling, dripping aluminum onto the flight deck. they lose control of the plane and plunge into the ocean at 345 miles an hour. the impact is enormous. there are no survivors. the plane shatters and only small traces remain floating on the surface. the rest disappears into the atlantic. it is clearly now not a rescue mission, but a recovery mission.

puzzled by the tragedy, investigators are eager to retrieve the wreckage. >> we knew if we found the source of that in flight fire, the fuel that was feeding the in flight fire, that we would get to the safety issues that we needed to identify. >> but the answers to questions about how it started and what burned are scattered on the ocean floor. >> the wreckage was some 185 or 90 feet below the surface of the ocean and spread out and we didn't know exactly where it was, we didn't know exactly what we were faced with in trying to recover it. >> the first challenge is to find the black boxes. >> we managed to go in and locate the two black boxes. it was a setback because the fire, in fact, had burned both of those flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder about six minutes before the aircraft actually hit the water. it was pretty disappointing. >> with no information about the final six minutes, investigators

are forced to rely on the wreckage for answers. >> it's not necessarily standard practice to rebuild an airplane to be able to solve the riddle of what happened. in our particular case, that was the only way we would be able to do it is take the pieces we were able to recover and identify and place them back into a structure that resembled the original airplane so we could basically look for fire patterns on the burn pieces that we had and try and trace the fire to its origin. >> but how could fire breach the cockpit? the most protected area of the aircraft? the answers shock the aviation industry. >> we had indications that there was insulation cover material in the airplane that had burned. it didn't look like this stuffer should burn at all, but we said very quickly after that, that this material is what spread the fire, what made it so hot and in fact, what made that airplane

crash into the ocean. >> in 1998, thousands of planes were taking to the skies full of the same insulation. >> there was fire damage in the area over the flight deck and this surprised them because there is testing done to ensure that these thermal blankets do not burn easily and yet, there were fire damage. >> we took some of this material and touched a match to it and low and behold it burned, completely and hot and most ki. >> investigators race to find out what ignited the insulation before another aircraft is affected. coming up, will l mamillion pieces of wreckage yield answers before it's too late?

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from the sky into the atlantic ocean minutes after the screw reports smoke in the cockpit in the search to find out what went wrong a material is a fire hazard. thousand it is of planes are refitted with new insulation and flammability testing is reevaluated but they still don't know how the fire started and if other aircraft are at risk. >> when we started to look for potential ignition sources, the very first thing that comes to mind is aircraft wiring. >> the investigators scouring more than 150 miles of wiring for signs of an electrical malfunction called arching. >> arching events are when electricity jumps from a wire to another piece of metal. it can be another wire or it can be part of the airplane or something else. when it does that, it has -- it can create tremendous amount of heat. finding an arching event is difficult and determining if one

proceeded another is nearly impossible but six months into writing the report the impossible happens. >> we managed to come up with a wire bundle in fact involved in the lead event. >> they identify microscope pick points on two wires and determine they were the first to experience a fault. but it's still unclear why they malfunction and how they caused the crash. >> the md-11 is one of the earlier planes to have personal inflight entertainment and so in the first class cabin area, this system drew a lot of power on this type of airplane it has individual power supplies for the cabin as well as the different parts of the flight deck. >> when the system was installed into the aircraft, there was not enough power to wire it into the cabin system. so it was wired into the cockpit, drawing power from the same source as the flight

contro control. >> under normal conditions they would be controllable because they could shut off electricity to it. in the case of swiss air 111 they were unable to do that. >> wear and tear on the entertainment system wiring created an opening that allowed eletrctricity to jump out, an arching event. the arc occurred next to the flight deck's most crucial equipment setting off a fire that spread burning through the ceiling. >> the situation as in the final few minutes of flight was catastrophic. the airplane is full of smoke. there is evidence of molten aluminum rained down from the fire overhead. the electrical systems are failing. one by one everything that they need to keep the airplane in flight is failing and they finally lose control of the airplane and it rolls towards

the ocean and accelerates and impacts the ocean at a very high speed. the airline industry is formsed to evaluate the procedures. flammability testing is rigorous and insulation blankets are manufactured for flame resistant materials and certification of wiring becomes more stringent. >> it was a watershed event how pilots deal with smoke and fire conditions. after that, pilots recognized how quickly things could go wrong. >> what makes fire such a lethal threat to aircraft is the ability to start and grow undetect undetected. the interiors of the plane are at risk but a fire that starts outside can be just as catastrophic.

charles degal airport paris. the world's only super sonic passenger jet speeds down the runway at 175 miles per hour. just before the nose wheel lifts, flames erupt from under the left wing. eyewitnesss see the low flying plane move insteadly through the sky with an inferno trailing behind it. just two minutes after take off. the most famous passenger aircraft in the world crashes into a hotel. they were doomed. they could do nothing. >> july 25th, 2000 air france flight 4590 is preparing for take off from paris' charles degal airport. people stop to watch as the concourt prepares for take off. no one realizes they are about

to witness a disaster. >> as they start the takeoff roll, the airplane is going down the runway and the tower tells the cockpit, you have a fire. they get indication there is a fire, believed to be a fire in the number two engine. >> but once the plane reaches a critical speed, it cannot stop. the pilot's best hope to get airborne to deal with the problem. >> typically when you're a pilot and you have a problem committed to flight, which this crew is, they want to climb to a safe altitude before they really take corrective action. >> but the ability to fly is compromised by the fire. >> he started to lose directional control when he got the airplane flying, he's heavy low and slow. that's a very critical point for a pilot. >> a minute after take off, the number two engine fails. the pilots begin to go through the engine fire procedure. >> in the cockpit they are getting warnings.

they were told by the control tower they have fire. for a pilot, they say huh, i have a fire in the number two enagain. >> the situation is not what they expect trying to get enough speed to stay airborne, they attempt to pulling the landing gear. >> it wouldn't come up because the left hand side was damaged. >> they were not in a position to continue level flight and at that point realized they needed on the ground at the closest airport. it wasn't a good choice but the best choice they had. >> you have a fire and it's not just contained to the engine, it's encompassed the full bottom of the left wing. >> it was a plane trying to survive. >> seconds later, engine number one fails. the chances of making the infield rapidly diminish. >> you have two engines trying to do the work of four and an airplane wallowing in the air because it hasn't built up sufficient flying speed and now you have a controllability issue and an airplane on fire.

>> the plane became totally inflyable. the crew tried to recover it by reducing the power on the two living engines but it was no use. >> as bystanders watch in horror, the plane banks to the left and crashes into a small hote hotel. >> it was such a huge fire, i couldn't see anything, no hotel, no plane. >> 114 people die, including four on the ground. the tragedy sends a shock wave through the aviation world. coming up, how could the most capable aircraft in the fleet without a fatal accident in its history ignite during take off? >> it was a time bomb. they were going to die.

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after take off slamming into a hotel. >> it was a scene from hell it was crazy. >> after the crash outside of paris, aviation experts and investigators arrive to unearth clues from the wreckage. >> it was really a nightmare. once i was on the scene, i knew that the bodies were not there anymore but death was everywhere. >> when the flight data and voice recorders are located, investigators take them in for analysis. >> the two recorders were not in excellent shape and especially the data recorder. initially, we learned not much. slowly we began to make a scenario. >> the crash site is not the only place where investigators look for clues. the runway where the aircraft departed also becomes a focus. the streaks of soot and fuel

indicate a fuel leak could have fueled the blaze. >> we found small parts of the plane and also something which was not from the plane. it was a strip of metal. it was not part of the plane and had nothing to do with the runway. >> how this piece of metal could have contributed to the crash is unclear until another crucial clue is discovered. >> it's a jigsaw puzzle. they reassembled the tire parts on the runway, the pattern matched the piece of metal so it was consistent with the tire having rolled over this piece of metal. >> the shape of the damage to the tire clearly matches the shape of the piece of metal found on the runway. investigatiors examine aircraft trying to find where the foreign

piece of debris could have came from. >> they found not only the plane but the place where the part had been. >> a continental dc ten is found with a wear strip missing. it was a reinforcement that came loose when the plane took off shortly before the concord. investigatiors are confident thy identified a part of the accident sequence but the question remains how could a damaged tire lead to a fatal crash? greg is a crash investigator and former consultant to continental airlines on an unrelated case. >> when that tire blew out after striking the metal, it turned to shrapnel. >> the rubber strikes the under side of the wing and behind the skin of that wing is a huge fuel tank. >> these chunks of rubber hit the bottom of the fuel tank, even though it didn't breach, it sent shock waves that over

pressured the tank in this case the shock wave created an over pressure system. it's basically expanding in the tank. it blows it from inside out creating a hole. >> captured on camera by a passing truck, jet fuel begins spewing out of the wing into the air where it vaporizes and ignites. once the fire gets going, there is no way to stop it. >> as the roll picked up in magnitude, the ability to maintain level flight was decreased. >> two years after the flight two go on trial for involuntary manslaughter. under french law it's standard for a criminal investigation to be opened after a plane crash but it's highly unusual for an airline to face criminal charges. during the trial, continental says air france knew of deficiencies in concord's fuel

tanks and wheels. air france denies the allegations and maintains the accident would not have happened if the wear strip hadn't been on the runway. in the same trial, the former head of the testing for concord, former head engineer for concord and a retired civil aviation chief are also tried for involuntary manslaughter. the trial debated the role of many factors including debris on the runway, fuel load, baggage weight, scheduling pressure, and a missing tire spacer. >> an accident is a series of events, all accidents are. this one was many events coming together tragically. >> the trial brings together factors that could have contributed to the crash. in late 2010 a french court finds continental airlines and one of its welders guilty of involuntarily manslaughter. all other defendants are

acquitted. continental is fined 200,000 euros and ordered to pay air france 1 million more. john taylor the welder is given a 15-month suspended prison sentence for going against industry norms to forge the piece of metal that fell to the ground. >> i don't think that piece of metal brought the airplane down i think it played a factor in the cause of the accident but i doesn't think it was the sole responsible cause of the accident. >> even before the verdict, the aviation industry agrees on drastic safety changes. debris on the runway is now seen as a greater threat to aircraft. manufacturers begin producing burst resistant tires and fuel tanks are reinforced. but for the concord, it was the beginning of the end. three years after the crash, the aircraft is retired. >> many people explained was something simple and they lost

something with the end of the concord story. coming up, moments after take off, fire erupts inside the cabin of a d.c. 9. sending it nose first into the florida everglades. evening, film noir, smoke, atmosphere... bob... you're a young farmhand and e*trade is your cow. milk it. e*trade is all about seizing opportunity. sign up at etrade.com and get up to sihundred dollars. quite like the human foot. introducing the 241 horsepower lexus is 200 turbo. with almost twenty percent more base horsepower. once driven, there's no going back. are not equal especially when it comes to reducing lead in your water.

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richard. the bus crashed a vicing the number of those killed back to eight. the county medical examiner misspoke saying a ninth person had died. donald trump and joe biden attending a graduation ceremony at the university of pennsylvania but not as politicians, as proud parents and grandparents respectively. trump's daughter and biden's granddaughter were among the 1500 proud graduates. now back to "why planes crash." a d.c. nine takes off from

miami international airport. fire breaks out in the cargo hold. moments later, the pilots lose control of the plane and plunge into the everglades. >> they discovered that it had already burnt up pretty much in the sky. >> may 11th, 1996, value jet flight 592 has just taken off from miami bound for atlanta, georgia. six minutes after take off, the pilots hear a loud noise from inside the body of the plane. seconds later, the electrical systems failed. the first officer radios air traffic control. >> return to miami. >> jessie fisher was on duty. >> his voice was very calm, very in control. he didn't sounder get. >> while the pilots are assessing the failure, smoke is coming up through the floors of the cabin. >> what kind of problem are you

having? >> smoke in the cabin. >> the smoke moves into the flight deck. >> the airplane finally levels off and begins a turn and the pilot is now a little bit more intense and his dial up. >> with no electrical systems, the pilots struggle to main tan control of the system. as they try to make their way back towards miami, fire comes out through the cabin floor. >> he is more intent, so now my heart rates up. i said proceed to the airport. he said i need vectors and now in my mind i'm thinking that's not good. he's got so much smoke, he can't see his instrumentation. so i started issuing the vectors, the turn was shortcoming back to the airport but still a lot of air speed. at about 9500 feet is when he

says i need the nearest airport. he's maybe two or three miles closer to dade but at his rate of speed and altitude, he can easily make miami and miami has services. we have the fire equipment, there is medical. out in the everglades, there is nothing there. >> walton little is fishing in the everglades and can see that something is going very wrong for flight 592. >> when i hear the loud jet noise, i look to my left shoulder. i see a large aircraft unusually low to the ground. >> we're like okay, this is probably going to be a crash on the airport now. >> i realize the bank angle is getting steeper and steeper, and actually approaches and exceeds 90 degrees such that it's rolling over on its back. >> when the plane banks at that angle, the wings can't provide

enough lift causing the plane to lose altitude. >> if the wings are level, then 100% of the lift is counter acting gravity. when you have it at a 45 degree angle of bank, then only half of it can be counter acting a lift. so that the greater the bank angle, the less available lift there is to counter act gravity, which makes it harder to maintain altitude. >> something was changing too rapidly for the radar data to keep up with it from 9,000 feet i saw one more hit at 11,000 feet. now that's bad. that's real bad. that's a rate of descent like a fighter jet. that's 8,000 feet a minute, which is screaming down. >> when that nose drop occurred, i realized it was going to crash. >> there is no further communication from the flight.

>> i knew they were down and accept it's a helpless feeling. >> as the aircraft disappeared below the horizon, what appeared immediately afterward was a very large wave of water that rose up like a wave hit a beach. >> all 110 people on board are killed. >> all right. we will show you a live picture of the crash scene. that area of scorched earth surrounded by water in the green everglades around it, very, very little left in terms of wreckage. >> investigators spend weeks combing through the swamp looking for clues. >> as they found more and more of the wreckage, they realize there was a lot of fire damage in the floor of the fuselage. >> the fire started in the cargo

hold. >> these types of cargo compartments are designed to contain a fire so why didn't the liner contain the fire? >> the investigators check records to see what was being transported in the hold. they find mail, three tires on their way to another value jet plane and then something suspicious. >> they found that there were oxygen generators in there and found evidence that some of the generators had been discharged. that suddenly would explain why the containment liner had not worked. >> inside the cargo hold, the charred remains of nine activated canisters are activated. >> oxygen generators use a process to produce oxygen in the event passengers need it during decompression. >> according to the ntsb they were i'm properly secured for shipping. >> it turned out it was just very apparently shotty workmen ship. >> what causes the fire, according to the ntsb, a

disturbance like a bump on the runway makes the canisters hit the charge on the cap. this impact creates a small explosion and starts a reaction inside the canisters. oxygen is generated and released into the hold. the reaction also produces heat with temperatures of up to 500 degrees fahrenheit. the combination of heat and pure oxygen creates a fire. inside the hold, the pure oxygen allows the fire to burn through the liner melting the floor beams under the passenger's feet. >> they discovered it had already burned in the sky. >> there was a break down and series of communications break down. a lot of safety changes came as a result. there is absolute prohibition. class d cargo compartments have the ability to detect a fire.

>> state and federal charges are brought against value jet's maintenance contractor. sabretech ultimately pleads no contest to one state charge of mishandling state waste and faces 24 federal charges but convicted of one, failing to train employees in hazardous materials handling. before the cases are finished, they go out of business. value jet is temporarily grounded by the faa but goes on to merge with airtran airways and later acquired by southwest. >> when you fly, there are so many people that affect your airplane, your safety. coming up, a passenger smells smoke coming from a la h laboratory. within minutes the pilot has to fight to control the airplane on the way to the ground.

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a d.c 9 is heading from dallas to toronto when the cockpit is filled with smoke. the electrical systems shut down making it near lily impossible control the plane. >> the captain was faced with a difficult task. >> the pilot tries to get the plane back on the ground, but passengers are already sure coming to smoke inhalation. june 2nd, 1983, air canada flight 797 has a normal take off and climb to cruising altitude. but about 2.5 hours into the journey, the plane experiences an electrical malfunction. >> i looked at the breaker. we're allowed one reset so i

pushed it but it didn't move. >> captain don cameron was at the controls that day. for the first time in decades he's back in the cockpit of a d.c. 9 at the canada aviation and space museum in ottawa. the breakers are connected to the laboratory in the back of the plane. once they pop out, they cut the flow of electricity to the laboratory motor. >> the crew responded to that appropriately. there was a problem there and they left the circuit breakers then extended or popped. so that it would deprive power to that component eliminating any potential future problem. >> unfortunately, flight 797's problems are just beginning. >> i think it was about an hour and a half into the flight that there was some commotion in the back of the plane. i remember seeing one of the flight attendants take a fire extinguisher to the back. rumors began going around in the

plane that there might be a fire in the trash can that somebody might have put a cigarette out in the trash. >> the captain sends his first officer claude to assess the situation. >> so i look back and you couldn't see the back of the airplane for the blue hazy smoke and claude came back and said i don't like what is going on back there. i think we ought to go down. >> the pilots put on oxygen masks and prepare for an emergency landing into the closest airport, cincinnati. the crew moves passengers closer in the cabin to get away prom the smoke but there is little else they can do. >> dropping oxygen masks to the passengers in a situation like this would do absolutely no good. the masks are designed so they will take air in and supplement with oxygen. if the oxygen mask had been deployed, when you took a breathe in you get ambient air

in. >> a flight attendant empty as fire extinguisher but can't find the source of the fire. >> when they open the laboratory door, they could see smoke but not point of origin. there wasn't open flames. it was behind the walls. >> a fire behind the walls is the worst-case scenario. it's almost impossible to put out or contain. a disaster is in progress. >> the smoke was clearing and then all of a sudden, i saw my electric. >> that's when the crew realized they had a life-threatening event on their hands and needed on the ground as soon as they could possibly get there. >> we're on a mayday. we're going down. >> moments later, dense smoke begins to come through the cabin walls. >> roger, do you have time to give me the nature of the emergency? >> we have a fire in the back washroom and we're filling up with smoke right now. >> filled the cabin very quickly. i would say ten to 15 minutes. it was horrible. it was so thick that you

couldn't see your hand in front of you. >> you could feel your lungs and your throat burning from the sensation of breathing in. i suggested that we put our heads lower. in firefighter school we learned that the lower you got, the more you could be below the smoke. >> with low visibility and few remaining control of navigation systems, captain cameron is flying almost blind. >> we have no heading. we have no instrument. >> i would have been right up close like this with my eyeball, maybe three, four inches away from the window on the side. at this point, you know, you got something serious when you got thing lit like a christmas tree. i didn't think about what was burning or what was happening, i just knew something serious had happened. >> you can advice people on the ground we are going to need fire trucks. >> the trucks are standing by for you. can you give me a number of

people. >> we don't have time. it's getting worse. >> you can definitely feel when we started to descend because it was a real dramatic quick decline. i definitely questioned whether or not we would make it safely to the ground. that's what my fear was probably peaked. >> the captain is completely relying on air traffic control to guide him down to the airport. >> roger, you're 14 miles south of the airport. continue the left turn. >> okay. >> he would tell me to turn right until he told me to stop. >> he was faced with not being able to see air speed to not being able to see what few instruments he had. it was a very difficult situation to fly. >> wheres the airport? >> 12:00 and eight miles. >> as we came in, the airplane wanted to go faster so pitching over and had to stop it with the pull force. >> air canada 797 you are clear to land on runway. >> we're clear to land and don't see the runway. >> after a strenuous descend, the captain finally gets the

airport into view. >> okay, we have the airport. >> four miles i think i saw the airport in front of me. the runway was almost perfectly. >> the landing is rough as the plane slams into the ground, all fire tires explode from the pressure. >> although it was a very hard landing, it wasn't rocky. we came to a firm stop. >> but the passengers and crew are not out of danger. coming up, as passengers try to escape the smoke, the plane bursts into flames. >> it looked like an inferno. ♪ the intelligent, all-new audi a4 is here. ♪

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air canada flight 797 fills with smoke and loses power before making an emergency landing at cincinnati airport. passengers are desperate to

escape the deadly fumes. >> as soon as it came to a stop, that's when i removed the door and lisa and i both went out onto the wing. >> moments after the exit doors are opened, the plane explodes into flames. >> when this additional oxygen entered the cabin, with the fire burning, it ignited that smoke. >> there were flames leaping out of the door and into the air probably six to ten feet in the air. >> it looked like an inferno. there was smoke all around it. >> that's when we knew we needed to get off the wing because, and i knew that fuel was in those wing tanks, so i knew that we needed to get off. >> as the passengers evacuate, captain cameron stays in the cockpit relying on the tank of come pressed air that supplies his oxygen mask, he begins shutting down the aircraft but before he can finish, the air

runs out. >> i couldn't breathe. so i told them open the window and i saw somebody on the wing so i thought good, the evacuation is going well and i tried to get out myself and i couldn't move. >> captain cameron loses consciousness, firefighter haves to spray him with foam to revive him. >> ice cold and tasted like soap and the next thing i remember, i was hanging from the window seal with my right hand and let myself go and fell down. >> for some passengers, it's too late. >> there were 46 people on board the plane. half of them were killed. of those who survived, only five were not injured. >> when we came out on that side of the plane. >> on the ground. >> we started talking to each other about the people let us know that people sitting next to them had not gotten off the plane. >> i saw the evidence the next day in the hanger but as far as the enormity of the deaths of that, that's still with me.

i feel badly about that still. we couldn't get them all off. >> we thought everybody was off. we thought everybody could get off because like i say, there wasn't any screams, there wasn't any noise coming from the plane so you felt that everybody was under control. >> and getting off. >> and was getting off. >> it was a real mixed bag of emotions. of course, we were thrilled to have survived such an incredible ordeal, and to realize that some people had not survived was upsetting. >> immediately after the accident, investigators focus on finding the source of the fire. >> the investigators newerly on they had had a fire of likely electrical origin because of the amount of damage done in the laboratory area. >> the circuit breakers that popped were connected to the flush motor on the aft

laboratory, the center of the fire damage. investigators suspect an arching event. >> the electricity that is flowing through a wire as over time insultlation can chafe, crack and these cracks allow the electricity to not flow down the wire path as supposed to but to jump to a part of the frame of the airplane or to another wire that might be exposed. >> the laboratory motor is small but carries a lot of power. >> weight on an airplane is something you try to keep to a minimum and one of the ways we do that in aircraft is to utilize very small but very powerful electric motors so that a very small motor can get three boosts of electricity as it winds around. >> the motor inside the laboratory is supplied with three phase power, much stronger than a typical household current. electricity jumping from one of these wires would release an

enormous amount of energy and could ignite a fire. investigators do, in fact, find evidence of arching on the left and right laboratory feeder wires, which come up through holes in the floorboards. the arc start as fire. the fire then spreads consuming vital electrical systems. making it almost impossible for captain cameron to control the aircraft. >> but came suddenly very hard to fly. it was nose heavy because the stabilizer trim failed. >> his arms would have been very, very tired by the time that he got on the ground. he had ex pended a lot of physical energy just to keep control of the airplane. >> he did a really good job. he's a seriously good aviator. >> air canada said the plane met all existing safety standards. the question now is whether the standards should be made tougher. >> with extensive evidence from the aircraft and detailed

accounts from the crew and passengers, the aviation industry learns hard lessons. >> we changed dramatically the composition of aircraft inter r interiors and seats to be more tolerant. one additional lesson learned was how important floor lighting is to aid passengers in locating ways out of the airplane, where the exits are and the path to get there. >> whould i get back on an airplane? i sure would. >> all a fire needs to start is oxygen, fuel and ignition and all three are in plentiful supply. the airline industry has learned hard lessons about in flight fires. the technology and protocols developed in the wake of these tragedies have made it harder for fires to get out of control. and while smoke and fire may continue to ground flights daily, they are less likely to result in a catastrophic

failures of the past. >> announcer: due to mature subject matter, viewer discretion is advised. ♪ a recent law brings a wave of prison felons to the county jail. >> we're seeing greater propensity for smuggling, we're seeing greater propensity for assault on officers and staff. which we didn't see before. >> a family man gets a decade in jail for manufacturing weapons. >> it's all home grown guns. you can legally make one for