>> narrator: chaos in the skies. brutal weather conditions causing aviation disasters. >> it looked like a bomb went off. >> a violent hail storm shatters cockpit windshields and destroys a jet's engines. >> it looked like it had been hit with a hammer. >> a powerful downdraft slides a jet into rush hour traffic. >> the plane is coming over just like that and i know it can't be real. and an airbus tossed down a rain-slicked runway.

>> you could feel yourself leaving the seat of the airplane. >> ferocious storms can mean catastrophe in the skies. >> i thought, lord, i've never seen anything like this. >> i had seen us knocked out of the sky. >> eyewitnesses and survivors tell their gripping stories. dramatic animations put you up close and inside troubled planes as they battle the elements. everyone knows the frustration the flight delays and cancellations caused by bad weather. but no one wants to be on the other side of the weather equation. on board planes doomed to crash

because of the elements. >> mother nature has a lot of fury. and she tries to warn us by giving us cues. in some cases it's a rain shaft. in some cases, it's lightning. but mother nature is telling us, you don't want to mess with me, because nine times out of ten, i'm going to win. >> spring weather in the southeast can change in a heartbeat. on april 4th, 1977, it's just that kind of day. the 4:00 report from the national weather service shows warm and cold fronts stretching all the way from lake michigan to the gulf. a volatile mix that could mean thunderstorms, tornadoes, and severe icing above 12,000 feet.

at huntsville, alabama's madison county airport, southern airways flight 242 takes off four minutes late, at 3:54 p.m., with 85 people on board. >> it was a bad day. the squall line was hundreds of miles long. it was very intense. >> passenger don foster settles into seat 18-a in the back of the jet. he has a pilot's license and usually flies his company's corporate plane. but the weather is so nasty, he decides to leave the flying to the pros. >> we took off and turned toward atlanta. and within just a very few minutes, we went into a pretty bad thunderstorms. >> flight attendant cathy cooper is about to unstrap herself from the double jump seat at the front of the plane when the ride starts to get bumpy.

>> when the pilot told us to stay seated, we were like, okay, yay. >> pilots here on the radio, "attention all aircraft," a routine advisory for planes in the area. >> the rain was so heavy at times that i couldn't even see the wingtip. >> the pilot is checking the radar to guide the co-pilot who is trying to find his way around the storm. he sees what looks like a patch of weather on the radar screen. >> we did not have doppler radar in those days. you had to use maximum tuning to get the information out of it. >> the weather turns violent. what foster sees next makes his blood run cold. >> there was a big flash. >> a blinding bolt of lightning,

and the worst hail storm he's ever seen. >> it started out as golf ball size. then it got larger. i'm guessing maybe the size of oranges. >> the hail that day was unusual. it was very loud, very frightening. and i was scared to death. >> cooper starts to prepare passengers for the possibility of an emergency landing. >> i know one thing. i had their undecide attentiivi. yes, they were afraid. they paid exact attention to anything i told them. >> it's not just the deafening sound of the hail against the fuselage that has foster worried, but the damage it might do to the engines. he has a dead-on view outside his window. >> there's cone in the center of the engine. it looked like it had been hit with a hammer. at that point i knew we were in really serious trouble. >> 15 minutes into the flight, all hell has broken loose in the

cockpit. the hail isn't just damaging the engines. it's cracking the windscreen, making it difficult to see. >> hail can do a tremendous amount of damage to the airplane in just seconds. the one thing as a pilot you cannot do is panic. so you have to come up with a plan of action and execute that plan. >> then another terrifying sound. >> the left engine started to make almost a backfire soun and then it went, just died. 30 to 40 seconds after that, i heard the right engine make a backfire sound and then it sounded like it quit. so we had no engines left at that point. >> we lost an engine and a windshield. >> yes, sir. >> 3 miles up in the sky, captain mackenzie is trying to frantically restart the engines. without power, southern airways flight 242 has become a glider,

losing altitude at a rate of 56 feet a second. with all systems down, captain mackenzie switches to auxiliary power. with co-pilot keel hand flying the jet, it all comes down to stick and rudder skills. >> they go to hand-flying. that is, they actually physicalically, tactily fly the airplane. is it too slow, too fast? is it banking left or right? >> after losing radio contact for two minutes, first officer keel asks air traffic control to find an airport for emergency landing. the closest runway is 30 miles away at dobbins air force base. but can they make it with no engines? >> i'm surprised i wasn't screaming. it was -- it was kind of a mind-boggling time. you just -- i can't explain how bad it was. >> after two nightmarish

minutes, the hail finally relet's not. flight attendant cooper opens the cockpit door. but nothing can prepare her for the look she sees in first officer keel's eyes when he turns to look at her. >> i didn't know the co-pilot that well. but he seemed extremely confident and level headed. and he screamed. he was obviously terrified. i could not see through the windows when i went into the cockpit, they were so cracked. i didn't see how we weren't knocked right out of the sky. i really didn't. >> had they break through the crowds below 3,000 feet, don foster doesn't see any place to land. for the first time he gives up all hope. >> i saw the rolling countryside, the hills, the woods. i really thought, i'm going to die. we're not going to survive this.

>> captain mackenzie knows they're not going to make dobbins. and they're losing altitude fast. foster uses his training as a pilot to prepare for the worst, making a cocoon to survive the crash. >> i covered my head with my leather coat because i knew it would tend to ward off the fire. i fixed the blankets between my head and the seat in front of me. i reached over and grabbed my ankles. >> flight attendant cooper starts to pray. >> i'll tell you something. there are no atheists in a foxhole, and you become religious very quickly. coming up, southern airways 242's only hope for survival is to land in the middle of a highway. >> we were dragging power lines and tree tops. incredible bladder protection in a pad this thin, i didn't...

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southern airways flight 242 is caught in a horrendous hail storm. baseball size chunks of ice batter both of the dc-9's engines, causing them to flame out. >> i knew we were in serious trouble when we lost both engines. >> passenger don foster was looking at the window and all he can think is, they're not going to make it. >> one of the thoughts that went through my head at the time was i was an only child and my mother lived alone and i kind of took care of her, and i was, "what's going to happen to my mother?" >> flight attendant cathy cooper is praying for her life. >> it was very, very terrifying. i still don't like the sound of hail. >> after seven horrifying minutes, the pilots are out of options. first officer keel can barely keep the crippled jet airborne.

he makes the decision to attempt to land on a two-lane road in new hope, georgia, a rural town an hour's drive from atlanta. 20 feet from the ground, he can't see what's just ahead. keel manages to maneuver around the curve. but the road is barely wide enough for the troubled jet. slicing the tops off pine trees and utility poles, the jet slams to earth. >> touchdown was pretty hard, but looked like it was okay. we bounced up in the air, and about that time the lights went out. i don't remember anything from that point on. >> the jet veers left toward a convenience store, and its left wing smashes into a gas pump, triggering a huge explosion that engulfs the store. the wing crushes a car, killing all seven passengers inside. >> then i felt a huge jolt from

the left side, and at that point a fire started coming down through the cabin, like a bl blowtor blowtorch. then it would retract. >> the jet slams into four more cars, and a truck, and comes crashing through the trees. >> it was the utmost roaring and cracking of the trees falling and everything. it was devastating. >> new hope resident marie wigaly watches from the front yard as the plane falls apart. >> the tail part of the section right there, then the middle part in the cedar tree, then the cockpit landed in that yard. >> don foster is holding on to what's left of the jet for dear life. >> the smoke was so intense, i

couldn't even see my seatbelt. >> flight attendant cooper is wedged into a tiny space in front of the passenger door. >> i was sitting in a jump seat backed into this wall. i came to, i was hanging upside down in a cocoon, hanging by my seatbelt. i could see a crack of light above my head. i thought, i'm going through that crack of light come hell or high water. and i did. and i was apparently the last person out alive. >> people on fire, people burning. and people was running and screaming. and we was running towards them to help 'em. >> local newspaper reporter joe parker arrives at the fiery crash scene within minutes. >> and i thought, lord, i've never seen anything like this. >> marie wigaly learns she has a far more personal connection with the crash than she ever

imagined. the seven people killed in the car at the convenience store are her cousins. >> we was told by cathy and debbie and her children was in her car that the plane set down on. and they was all burnt to death. >> in all, 72 people die from the crash. nine on the ground. and 63 on the plane, including both pilots. >> and i was sitting by the left engine. >> don foster, though injured, counts himself lucky to be among the 22 survivors. >> i had crushed vertebrae, a broken left foot, a cut artery in my left foot. i had four broken ribs. and i had burns on my face, head, and hands. >> the national transportation safety board has begun a public hearing in an effort to determine the cause of the crash. >> in the months following the

crash, investigators zero in on the total loss of thrust from both engines and southern airways dispatchers' failure to provide the flight crew with up to date severe weather information. another disturbing finding, the captain's reliance on weather radar for penetration rather than avoidance of a thunderstorm. investigators determine the captain of flight 242 misread the black and white weather radar screen. it gave him the false impression an area was clear of bad weather. >> the storm was so intense that it was absorbing the radar beam, the energy emitted by the radar

transmitter. instead of reflecting back which then portrays an image on the screen, it only goes out. >> and that's what creates a situation for a pilot as far as misinterpreting weather, thinking they're going through a hole and in fact they're going through a very intense part of the thunderstorm. >> since the crash of southern airways flight 242, cockpit radar screens are full color and easier to read. >> southern 242 brought home very clearly the need for more standardized weather radar training. >> another improvement making aviation safer, 84 national weather service meteorologists have been added to air traffic control centers throughout the country for more accurate weather reports. one fact remains -- the flight crew's courageous efforts to

land the first jet in history to land in hail. >> they did as good a job as they could. that performance was the glide distance. >> for marie wigaly, the ground around her home will always be a memorial to the 72 people who lost their lives here that day. >> it's just something that stays with you. coming up, it's delta flight 191 versus an explosive storm. looking for balance in your digestive system?

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texas weather can be tricky and temperamental. at the south end of dfw, dallas-ft. worth's sprawling airport, it's a sunny summer day. >> it was a hot day. but that's normal for us. and perfectly clear skies. >> but at the north end of the airport, it's a completely

different story. an ominous thunderstorm above runway 1-7 left is about to wreak havoc on delta airlines flight 191 on its final approach. >> and i look to my right, and a plane was coming over just like that, but at ground level. and i know this can't be real. >> august 2nd, 1985. texas native christopher meyer is one of 163 people aboard a lockheed l-1011 on route from ft. lauderdale to dallas. >> when i got to the flight, they told me i was in nonsmoking. back then you could smoke on planes. i said, no, that won't do, can you put me in the back of the plane? >> meyer is happy he moved to

seat 41-j in the back of the plane. so far the flight has been routine. >> the servers come back to talk to you, serve you lunch, movies on the movie theater you can watch. it's like always. >> in the cockpit, captain ed conn connors, second officer nick nasick, and first officer rudolph price at the controls as the plane is about to land. >> the pilot said, flight attendants, take your seat, we'll be on the ground in 15 minutes. >> on final descent, as the plane is coming down to 5,000 feet, air traffic control transmits a message about a little rain shower just north of dfw. first officer price says, we're going to get our airplane washed. >> i always sit at the window seat so i can look out. i saw a storm brewing to the west of us. i said, i hope we don't fly into that. >> delta 191 is cleared for an instrument landing because of poor visibility.

a minute later, the cockpit voice recorder picks up four words that passengers never hear but feel. "stuff is moving in." >> as we flew towards the airport and got into the storm, the plane started rocking. i mean, you could hear a pin drop, it got so quiet. i never heard a plane that quiet, that fast. i said, buckle your seatbelt tight as you can, because i think it might be a rough landing. >> two minutes later, first officer price spots trouble ahead. he says, "lightning coming out of that one." the captain asks, "where?" price says, "right ahead of us." >> that means there's a fully developed thunderstorm and it needs to be dealt with very, very carefully. >> they're dangerous because you have this big air flow that is happening. >> i looked out the window and

it was dark, like night. and it was only 6:00. >> less than a minute before landing and just 800 feet from the ground, powerful winds hit flight 191. in just 14 seconds, the jet accelerates with first officer price never touching the throttle. the crew knows it's a warning sign for wind shear. that means the wind is about to change direction. he warns first officer price to watch his airspeed. suddenly, the jet is blasted by a very strong downdraft and tailwind and goes from flying too fast to too slow. connors tells price to push the throttle forward. >> push it up. push it way up. way up, way up. way up. that's it. >> instead of accelerating, the jet slows down, all the way to 119 knots.

connors knows they're in a battle with the weather. price goes full throttle, desperately trying to get the jet to climb. but the wind is too strong. coming up, deadly winds hammer delta flight 191 into the ground. >> what i got to do that day was, god, don't let me die. been trying to prepare for this day... and i'm still not ready. the reason i'm telling you this is that there will be moments in your life that... you'll never be ready for. your little girl getting married being one of them. ♪ ♪

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official say more than 150 homes have been destroyed by a california wildfire. the fire went from 5 to zero percent contained as governor jerry brown declared a state of emergency. two people have died in the blaze these now claimed 235 acres. darryl burt's funeral was

held. he was one of the victims at the orlando shooting. now back to our program. august 2nd, 1985. 6:05 p.m. just a mile short of runway 17 left at dallas-ft. worth airport, delta flight 191 is caught in an extreme downdraft from a thunderstorm. the jet is flying dangerously slow and losing altitude fast. in the cockpit, first officer rudolph price goes full throttle, trying to climb out of trouble. but it's too late. delta 191 slams into the ground in a field and bounces up. >> the plane sounded like it was gearing up, trying to take off with the flaps fully down. >> instead, it heads straight for highway 114, and straight

for mike van noy, who was driving his mother home from work. >> the plane was coming over just like that, but at ground level. i knew if i didn't pull over, i was going to get hit. >> delta 191's left engine smashes into a toyota directly in front of mike's car, killing the driver instantly. >> my mother was screaming, unbelievably crying, "do you realize what just happened?" >> the nose gear breaks off as the crippled jet, now on fire, veers sharply. the left wing smashes into two huge water tanks. then 28,000 pounds of jet fuel mixed with a flood of water explodes, sending flames racing through the cabin. >> when i saw the fire coming back, i ducked my head and asked god to save me. >> careening on the ground at just under 200 miles an hour,

delta 191 disintegrates, except for one section. >> it seemed like it was forever until we stopped. >> only one part of the plane remains and is tilted on its side. the tail section where christopher meyer went so he could smoke. now he's suspended in midair. >> i undid my seatbelt, crawled over one seat, and kind of hung down, and jumped. >> the next thing that came over the intercom system was, we have a heavy aircraft down on the north end of the airport. >> firefighter paul reese rushes to the crash scene but first has to brave the same treacherous weather that overpowered delta 191. >> it was 100-mile-per-hour winds, monsoonal rain,

lightning. everything you could think of was hitting you. i was the first unit to arrive at that scene. and it was just total destruction. >> it looked like a bomb went off. >> survivors are confronted with a grisly scene of lifeless bodies. >> i can't tell you exactly how many there are, because we may be looking at enough body parts to make up a body or two. i just can't tell you that at this point. >> you could smell the skin and the hair. and the air was all filled with jet fuel. when you breathed, it burned your lungs. >> this is the only section of the plane that wasn't completely destroyed and where all the survivors were seated, the tail section, about the last 20 rows. meyer tries to help as many survivors as he can. of 163 on board, 126 passengers

and eight of 11 crew members die in the fiery crash. there are 29 survivors. >> this is what was left of a car that the plane hit as it bounced at least once short of the airport. brock minton saw it happen. >> he was at a 45-degree angle. >> planes successfully navigate weather every day. but this storm was sudden, and powerful enough to bring down a jet in seconds. investigators focus on a weather phenomenon called a microburst. john mccarthy is one of the first meteorologists to discover how quickly a microburst can strike. >> you have a time period that could be five seconds, it could be seven seconds, it could be 12 seconds, where you can say, i don't want to be here, and then take steps to get out. >> microbursts occur when strong

updrafts carry wet, warm air upwards. as some of the rain evaporates and hail melts, a powerful column of cold air races thousands of feet back to earth. swirling vortexes of air radiate outward along the ground. >> it's much like water coming out of a faucet in the sink. it comes down, and when it hits the sink, it spreads out in all directions. >> as delta 191 flies into the microburst, a powerful blast of wind passes under its wings and increases its lift and airspeed. then a vertical shaft of air forces the jet closer to the ground and slows its speed. tail winds decrease its lift and deliver the final crushing blow. >> once you fly into the increasing tailwind and you're into that column of air that's descending very rapidly, you need to get every bit of lift out of the wing that is possible. if you can keep the airplane flying for those few seconds,

you come out the other side and the airplane climbs away. >> microbursts are surprisingly common. it's estimated they occur in one of out of every five thunderstorms. and they are surprisingly powerful. >> the judgment of where a thunderstorm is or what it is will always lie in the cockpit. >> investigators determine the probable causes of the accident include the flight crew's decision to continue their approach into a cloud where they saw visible lightning. and the lack of pilot training for avoiding low-altitude wind shear. delta disputes the ntsb's findings. another determined cause, the lack of definitive realtime wind shear hazard information. delta 191 is a turning point that three days major safety improvements in severe weather detection. doppler weather radar on board.

>> and the enhanced ground proximity warning systems are two of the great advances in aviation safety in modern times. until we got doppler weather radar on board, there was no way for pilots to assess the potential severity of a microburst. >> doppler radar on board jets and at most major airports has led to greatly improved safety statistics. there has been only one commercial wind shear related crash in the u.s. since delta 191 smashed into the ground in dallas. >> wind shear. wind shear. >> and today it's mandatory training for all pilots to, quote, fly delta 191 on simulators, which teach them how to escape a weather disaster. >> we have better training for pilots, better recognition skills, better tactile skills as far as how to handle the aircraft performance, and then better onboard systems, to give the information to the pilot

that, hey, look, there's potential of a wind shear, be prepared. >> i'm still quite amazed that there are as many survivors as there were. if there's anything fortunate about this accident, it's the number of people who got away. >> christopher meyer is grateful to have survived with only a few broken ribs. >> this was the shirt i was wearing, that the nice doctors cut off of me. >> but the emotional pain meyer feels is profound. >> you still think, how come we made it and somebody else didn't make it? because the guy sitting next to me and the guy next to him, they didn't make it. coming up, in the throes of a deadly storm, a jet hurtles off the end of a runway, and a raging fire breaks out. >> i saw this massive explosion.

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a pilot battling an intense thunderstorm tries to land. >> i guess some people thought, oh, we've made it, and it very quickly turned into screaming and yelling. >> but touchdown is just the beginning of a terrifying ordeal. >> i really thought that at that point in time, we were the only ones that got out of that plane. august 2nd, 2005. air france flight 358, an airbus

a-340, is creis cruising over t atlantic on a flight to toronto. the flight is sold out. joanne bundock, a business executive, is in first class. >> my job required me to go around the world to the 68 countries we did business in. i was a frequent flyer, on planes more than i was at home. >> 15-year-old lisa popo is headed home from a study abroad program and bringing a french exchange program with her to canada. >> i was having fun with my exchange student beside me. i was trying to tell her more about toronto. >> as the plane closes in on toronto airspace, the radar shows a line of violent storms headed straight for pierson international airport. >> fierce thunderstorms moving

through the airport area. >> a weather alert sends ground crews scramling for cover. >> everything was fine until we got to toronto and approached the city. the pilot came on and said there was a major thunderstorm in toronto and we were going to circling a while before we could be cleared to land. >> after circling for 20 minutes, the alert is lifted and air france 358 is cleared to land on runway 2-4 left. but as the plane begins its final descent, the intense st m storm, the captain and first officer had been trying to avoid is straight ahead. >> the descent was very dark. you could see the rain hitting the windows outside of the plane. >> i kind of thought, oh, maybe we're diverting, maybe i'm not going to be landing at pierson.

>> with visibility deteriorating by the second, the pilots are unable to spot the runway ahead. finally at 2 miles out, they see it. >> i cinched my seatbelt a little tighter, because we were probably going to do either a very hard landing or stop very quickly, or we were going to do a missed approach. >> the first officer increases the jet's power to overcome fierce winds. in the heavy rain, visibility drops to near zero. the jet's out of position, higher than it should be. suddenly, the wind shifts from a headwind to a tailwind, speeding up the aircraft even more. the shift pushes the jet further down the runway. >> everyone was kind of bracing down for impact. >> runway 2-4 left, the shortest runway at pierson, has little room for error. even in the best of conditions.

today, it's slick with rain. >> 2-4 left at toronto is not a grooved runway. so that in heavy rain conditions, hydroplaning would be a significant issue. >> the first officer fights to keep the big jet aligned and touches down nearly halfway down the short runway. >> that's when it all kind of broke loose. >> the jet is racing down the asphalt at more than 100 miles per hour with little left of the precious tarmac. >> i was thinking, we should be slowing down. but there wasn't a lot of slowing down at that point. >> 12 seconds go by before pilots reverse the thrust of their engines to help slow down the jet. but it's too little, too late. flight 358 runs off the end of the runway at 90 miles per hour and careens out of control. >> i saw luggage falling from the overhead.

and then it very quickly turned into screaming and yelling. >> the plane tears through a metal barrier, bouncing so violently its engines gouge the pavement. >> you could feel yourself almost leaving the seat of the airplane. >> the runaway jet has run out of real estate and goes nose first down a ravine. coming up, jet fuel ignites and turns flight 358 into an inferno. >> of course other people knew what was going on. so that flight attendant said, evacuate now. with booking.com's range of properties, rebel and key can wing it all the way to jordan and chelsea's wedding. rumble! road trip. there she is. uh oh, oh, oh, oh, what? so here is our road trip itinerary. what's this? a bunch of different places... nah, bro. we gotta go off-script. rip to shreds every motel, cabin and teepee,

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air france 358 is fighting a torrential rainstorm and has landed halfway down the shortest

runway at toronto's pierson international airport. at 90 miles per hour, the airbus a-340 can't slow down and barrels off the end of runway 2-4 left. >> the only kind of way to really describe it is like being on a roller coaster. it was constant bumping. >> the jet tears across grass and barriers and plunges down a ravine. it finally comes to a stop in a nearby creek. >> we stopped like we were hitting a tree. >> tension turns to relief as passengers realize the plane appears to be intact. >> there is an announcement on the p.a. system saying everything's fine, don't panic. >> but just as they let down their guard, disaster strikes. leaking jet fuel ignites and begins burning through the plane's hull.

>> everything smelt like this burning electrical equipment and burning fuel. >> of course other people knew what was going on. and so that flight attendant said, evacuate now, get out of here now. >> within minutes, fire chief mike figliola and his crew reach the crash. they're confronted by a horrific accident. >> the tail section up in the air. and the rest of the fuselage was down into this ravine. the fuel had run out and was feeding the fire and ignited all the luggage and cargo in the belly of the aircraft. >> first class business traveler joanne bundock rushes toward the front exit because she knows every second counts. >> when that door did open and it was nothing but black smoke outside, oh, my gosh, it was a lot more serious. >> you have the jet fuel which burns like kerosene, very fast,

very hot, it spreads rapidly. >> the passengers were frozen with fear. >> she froze, saying, i'm not going to get out of here. >> joanne and lisa know if they're going to get off the plane alive, they need to escape now. >> it was a clear run to the back of the aircraft. i just said, keep going, we've got to get out. >> broken evacuation slides and burning fuel blocked four of the emergency exits. the crew directs passengers to the remaining exits. >> the crazy thing about this is this slide deployed but it didn't deploy fully. >> there was maybe ten, 15 feet to the ground. i know i've got to get away from this plane as far as i can, as quick as i can, not knowing what's going to happen. >> joanne jumps out. meanwhile a team of firefighters is on the scene, trying to extinguish flames on the jet's hull.

>> we fight aircraft fires, because of that jet fuel, with a special firefighting foam. because of this constantly downpour, every time we got a blanket, the plarain would rasw away. >> with thick, black smoke filling the cabin, firefighters have to abandon making a sweep of the aircraft. suddenly an explosion rips through the plane's hull, shooting a fireball into the main cabin. >> there was an explosion on the forward starboard side caused by some oxygen bottles which had obviously been heated up by the fire and exploded. >> joanne climbs a rocky hill away from the flames. all hope for the remaining passengers seems lost. >> we had a birds eye view of the airplane. and i really thought that at that point in time, we were the only ones that got out of that

plane. >> it takes mike figliola and his team five grueling hours to finally put out the blaze. they believe all that's left is the grim task of identifying remains of passengers trapped inside the jet. >> i thought for sure that once we had confined the fire, started putting it back, that on a final check, we would find somebody. >> miraculously, all 297 passengers and crew, including lisa and her fellow exchange student, are able to evacuate the plane in under two minutes. >> at this hour we seem to have an incredible story of survival. >> after two years, the transportation safety board of canada issues its final report. it cites several primary factors that caused the accident, including the decision by the crew to land in the midst of a rapidly changing thunderstorm, and the excessive distance that

the plane landed down the runway due to the shifting winds and low visibility. >> as the crew got closer to the airport, the wind shifted from a cross wind to a tailwind, and it pushes them further down the runway, and increases their landing distance. >> they're not going to have the visual cues to recognize how far down the runway they are. >> also according to the safety board, after touching down, the pilots became overloaded with the task of properly aligning the jet in severe cross winds, and this caused a delay in the selection of reverse thrust. >> 12 seconds on the runway, especially under those conditions, that's abnormal amount of time. given the adverse weather, given the standing water and the performance of the airplane once he got the airplane on the ground, that may have led him to this period of indecision, whether he's going to stay on the runway or try and work the landing and take off again. >> finally, investigators

determine that the pilots didn't act on important cues that could have led them to abort the landing. >> they should have executed a missed approach, abandoned the landing and gone around. >> air france disputes the findings and sues the canadian government as well as the airport authority and canada's air traffic control for failing to have adequate safety precautions, which it says contributed to the crash. the government denies the allegations. the case is settled out of court in 2011. >> you have to be grateful for every minute you have. >> i think that's incredible, that 297 people got off a plane in 90 seconds. i think that's a miracle.

the next thing i remember is looking up and seeing nothing but fire. >> helicopters in serious trouble. a rescue mission turns catastrophic when unpredictable winds push a chopper to its limits. >> i thought we were watching these guys roll to their deaths. >> a gorgeous summer day in new york city turns ugly when a sightseeing helicopter collides with a small plane. >> nobody could survive that. it was too quick, too fast, too devastating. >> firefighters flee a mountain top to avoid lightning only to