My ex husband was an aircraft engineer for Boeing and airbus. He is exactly the kind of person you want checking your plane. Absolutely meticulous and over analyses everything. His constant complaint was not about other engineers, but about the managers. His job was to check any tiny fault, like a scratch or a minutely misaligned rivet and to work out how/if that fault might go on to become a larger fault and whether it could be repaired or not. The pressure was always on to speed his calculations up, to maybe not see the worst possible outcome, and to be ok with things being just good enough- great advice in many walks of life, (like marriage) but not what you want when you’re 32,000’ in the air
By miracle Mr. Campbell was an engineer and could understand the intricacies of the door latching mechanism. He and his wife are true heroes for steadfastly investigating the reason for the failure that caused their son's death. They pursued the truth even facing the incompetency of the NTSB and intransigence of the airline, all out of love for their lost son.
The scariest part is that it wasn't NTSB incompetency, it was a deliberate attempt to suppress the truth. What else are they hiding? Let's remember that they were the ones who gave us the official story of how WTC Building 7 collapsed.
@SuperLordHawHaw Fine then. The NTSB is was incompetent - they were corrupt enough to be bought by corporations who consider hundreds of innocent dead a 'business expense'. Soooo much better. 😒
@@SuperLordHawHaw - The NTSB were incompetent in this instance! Without the Campbell's investigation, this problem is most likely undiagnosed....at least until, perhaps, another incident (with more lives being lost) were to happen....
@@MaachoMaan It would have been interesting to hear from the ramp workers, union, and United. I'm surprised that they willingly (?) accepted the responsibility for killing nine passengers.
One of the victims, John Swan, was a good friend of mine. I saw him in Japan, just before he flew on to Hawaii to try and recover from a bad cold before heading back to Australia. Feeling better, he caught an earlier flight back home, flight 811. The tragic irony was that John had once worked for Qantas, and I recall him telling me that his job was to promote the safety of 747s when they first arrived. Working in Tokyo, I heard the news of the disastrous flight out of Hawaii and I remember thinking "I hope John wasn't on that flight". It was a great shock when I read his name in the paper the following day.
Fancy being an aviation lawyer for years and then suddenly you’re in your own “situation”. He describes the flight so well you can feel the tension, the fear and the horror of the whole experience.. well done to the crew. Marvellous job all round.
I have very little sympathy for aviation lawyers. They utterly destroyed a very enjoyable, safe pastime out of pure greed as far as I'm concerned. When I was very small, in the 70's I dreamed of learning to fly then as I came of age in the 1980's I watched as general aviation just got more and more expensive, to the point where, by the time I was 18, it was no longer affordable. My dad was a CFI in the 70's and 80's and I took some lessons from him, but by the time I could finally get really serious about learning to fly, I could not afford to do it. That lawyer and his kind should be stabbed to death with a 3" pen knife as far as I'm concerned. I have no sympathy for them at all.
Maybe so but have you considered these parents STOLE original documents, cases of them!!! This impeded the investigation, what they did was criminal. We will never know if the airline would have released this information HAD these parents not stolen the evidence....its kind of difficult to get the full truth when 9 cases of original documents were missing from the beginning of the investigation- to assume the airline investor knew what was within those 9 cases before ever seeing them is wrong on so many levels. 😉
Are you gurgling with jam? You blame the parents for getting the information that was necessary? Did you expect the FAA or the Airline company to release the truth even with the cases of documents? What’s the planet you are from called? If any of my loved ones were killed in a accident like that you better believe that I would do ANYTHING possible to find out what happened! Do you expect the parents to sit back and wait for others to give them answers? Yeah, the industries responsible have such a good track record for being honest and utterly dutifully in their investigations. Maybe you really are that gullible and would have accepted their BS. Some people are just more commuted to the truth than others are. If the Airline wouldn’t have had anything to hide the parents wouldn’t have had the need to acquire evidence by stealing it. The information would have been made public. Makes sense? Kudos to the parents.
@@leylag1466 what they did was steal original documents ( that means they took the one znd only copy ) which means to expect the airline investigator to do right by the families the investigator would need ESP or a crystal ball! How can anyone be expected to give an accurate account of the facts when 9 LARGE filing boxes of original documents were STOLEN? Until these theives made it known they had these original documents the inspector had no idea they existed. Its easy to assume they were false in their investigation but as humans and not gods they can only use what information they had and without FACTS provided by those stolen documents they were missing 1/3rd of all the information from the inception of the investigation.
This was the episode that affected me the most. Imagine literally falling out of a plane to your death...it just overwhelms me just thinking about how afraid those precious people must have been. I feel for every one of their loved ones.
At that height they weren't concious for long. Think about how long it took the plane to descend from 23,000 to 15,000 feet and a human in a chair is much lighter. I'm not going to lie and say they didn't know what happened just that they were not around the entire trip down. There is also a strong possibility they were killed instantly as they were going forward several hundred miles per hour and then suddenly changing directions. That is a tremendous amount of g-force to endure. Single to low double digit Gs causes black and red outs in fighter aircraft pilots.
@@tammyramey There is only one true instant black death in this world and that is a bullet right between the eyes that destroys the cerebral cortex. Any other death even an explosion can be measured in seconds with complete atomization being the exception. That said, they weren't conscious the whole way down even if they weren't dead before they cleared the plane from g-forces. I hope I don't seem like I'm nitpicking but like you I am empathic and fascinated in what people experience in their final moments. I prefer the truth even if its terrifying.
I don't think those people ever understood what happened. Most of them would've died instantly. The impact on that air at that speed on the body is devastating. When fighter pilots eject they can get broken legs and even killed by that huge impact with that air speed and they have special suits on. Without a suit you'd probably die instantly. They were probably broken into pieces as soon as they hit the air at 800 km per hour. Probably decapitated. I highly doubt that they were alive and seeing themselves falling towards the ocean. If his parents read this I am here to tell them that the changes of them hitting that air at that speed and still be conscious are very slim. There was an interview with a pilot who ejected himself from a fighter jet and he had his legs cut in half and his helmet flew off instantly and his head was the size of a melon he lost his eye sight and hearing on the spot, survived stayed in the hospital for weeks before he started to recover. Without the suit he said he would've died instantly
I felt awful for the captain. You can see the loss of those passengers still weighs very heavily on him, even though it wasn’t his fault and he at least saved many many lives. Pilots are truly amazing. How they can remain calm in these insane situations. It’s just testimony to their skills
One of the reasons of their success is that they are too busy to really think about it. When they are back on the ground and the pressure was off, then the knees start to shake and the reality starts to set in. PTSD is probably not uncommon.
I can tell you how they are able to do this, just like ship captains who maneuver cargo ships or oil tankers over our oceans…their instructors (ship/plane captains) who are experienced never stop expressing the need to be literally anal about details that they have to see to in order to be safe. My husband has colleagues who are captains on giant cargo ships.
I have nothing but admiration for Mr and Mrs Campbell for their perseverance. What sickens me to the core is that I watch a lot of these (the first 18 seasons....so far) and am always interested in how thorough the investigators go in to with these things. Now though, it makes me sick that they deliberately covered this up and what's more, even refused to amend the report to save face/backlash from the airliners for the cost, even when they admitted that they were wrong. How many more of their reports are (knowingly) wrong? It was only for the fact that the Campbells persisted coupled with the sheer chance that it happened again afterwards that they came clean and updated the report. It's the same old question isn't it of who audits the auditors (stolen from who monitors the monitor :-)) We know that the result can never bring people back, but the whole point the investigation boards exist is to make sure these things don't happen again. That first report completely failed on that score!
@@leximojito1218 I have been in the middle of problems like this,,, it is called "the blame game." That ground crew person was probably fired. Today he probably does not know the actual true cause and facts. Here, the Civil Aeronautics Board in this case were on their way to hide the truth to cover their ass. Many thanks to the Campbells they did not allow it to happen..,,,, The Campbells could have and should have taken all their evidence together with the aviation lawyer also on this flight and cleaned house,,, CAB+ the FAA + United Airlines. $$$$ is the only language they understand. The Campbells settled for so little, only a scholarship.
let's not forget the heroic efforts the pilots went through, to bring the damage bird down , saving everyone that was left on board. Congrats to them !
That beautiful young guy's parents showed tremendous love for their son. Even though he lived a very short life, he must have known how special the love of his parents was. In this way, he was a very lucky guy.
@@raven4k998 His fate has nothing to do with the love his parents had for him. 🙄A pick-me in it's natural habitat, funny thing is his demise made history... Can't say the same for you.
My daughter used to fly back and forth from Ft.Mead Maryland to Charlotte Douglas as an unaccompanied minor.I was always clashing with the courts because I didn't like that but I had primary custody and had to accept it.The Oceanic Pilots befriended our daughter and I think that eased her burden bout being with good military pilots.United Airlines also dealt with her and their care was always well appreciated.Pilots will do everything possible to get to their destination safe.God bless.
My first airplane trip solo was at age 9 to visit my dad.Broke my moms heart each time she I was put on an airplane solo.She literally worried her self sick each time and cried every time.She often said that’s my baby getting on that plane alone so you damn right I am going to cry
I've watched a bunch of crash reenactments and the flight crew in this one were by far the best actors I have seen in one. I've seen some really bad ones too.
Unless you solve all parts of the problem, you haven’t solved the problem. Thanks to the determination of two people, we have at least one problem solved.
This event was still fresh in my mind just over a year later as I sat in the same position on a QANTAS 747-400 at Sydney airport. We had a two hour delay because ground crew could not get the cargo door closed. I watched all of this right outside my window. I had actually returned from the United States via Hawaii but this particular airplane was destined for Harere Zimbabwe via Perth. My final destination was Perth and we were half empty of passengers until then so there were plenty of spare seats. When we finally took off and the seat belt sign went out I quickly found another seat as far away from that hatch as possible. But I don't think I've ever drank so much alcohol inside 4 hours before...
The Campbells are heroes. Their determination and ability to fight the system saved countless lives. Thanks to them the skies are safer, and hopefully people will think twice about postponing repairs to faulty systems and covering up mistakes. Failures happen in engineering, but coverups are unforgivable to the families who lost loved ones.
I’m grateful that you were able as civilians and concerned parents, to do the research. There are far too many corporations that care about the profits and not the consumers! Thank you!
This is a great example of when "experts" say they know more than the public about anything. They are just trying to keep the public from knowing, period.
My deepest condolences to the relatives of those lost during this negligent and preventable tragic occurrence. My deepest RESPECT to the parents who never let up to find the true cause so it would save future lives. They did not do it for them. They had already lost their son. They did it so it would not happen so unnecessarily to any one of us. Thank you, and god rest his soul.
Their efforts on behalf of their deceased son were Useless and Futile because as long as Capitalism values financial profit over human life people will continue to die needlessly just so that the Rich can get even Richer. What these parents did was simply to address a symptom of the disease, and not the disease itself, that disease being that Big Business runs America and tells its Stooges in Washington what to say and do. Yet, some still call America a "democracy".
Useless and Futile? Boeing fixed the doors and this is no longer a problem on their planes. Did you expect these parents to solve all the problems with capitalism and big business. What an unnecessary comment.
@@JosephKulik2016 Starlin executed & or sent all returning WW2 veterans too gulag, because he was scared that they "might" over throw him... Just one little example of many with communism/human's.
"The cost of doing business" That is how this one guy described how airlines and regulators handle fatal accidents. We really need more people to understand that it's just not worth it to cut corners for the sake of profit.
@@geoh7777 Well personally, if I owned an airline with a low profit margin, I'd rather start taking planes out of service instead of making all of them more dangerous. I'd rather have less planes than risk a disaster. You can probably recover those unused planes if you restructure your business, but it's harder to regain your reputation after fatal accidents such as this.
If you have a 'Business" which involves the public in anyway , You are duty bound to put them first all the way ...If you cannot understand this fact, get out of that line of business.
We cannot say enough about the actions of the flight crew that night. The entire aircraft could have been easily lost and no one would have ever figured out how that aircraft was lost. Remain calm and work the problem. Former USAF flight crew member.
Never thought about it like that 🤔 but the man makes a great point when he says when the FAA sets these long deadlines, they're literally gambling with passengers lives in the time the aircrafts are in service without the proper fixes being implemented💯 R.I.P To All Who Perrished In This Aviation Tragedy 🙏🙏🙏
More people die every year in Chicago from Lori Lightfoot supporting black gangs than in all airplane crashes worldwide. Select your priorities, calculate your odds.
I was in Honolulu the very night this happened. After landing, the plane was taken ver to the Hickham Air Force Side, probably because there would be a federal investigation. The next day, my family and I, drove over to the air force side, and saw the airplane, sitting a few feet away from the base fence. We saw the huge hole in the side of the airplane. Those pilots were here’s for sure. This is also a true statement.
Thank you for Mr and Mrs Campbell! For the ntsb, those who are not transparent and hiding the dirty truth, reporting false information, you need to know that you or your family are also a flight passenger. Things do come around. Flight safety is crucial for so many people.
That’s exactly what I was thinking. That sudden shock of being ejected. Poor souls, including the young man going home to visit his parents in New Zealand. RIP.
Yeah, his parents were actually hoping, he was the passenger sucked into the engine, so he didnt suffer the 4 min or so fall to the ocean. The thought of those poor passenger falling for so long, very likely conscious all the way..... its just horrifying.
I don't buy the ole "they were knocked unconscious instantly" line that is fed to loved one's who die in these situations. I think it's something said to comfort us (the living) because the truth is so barbaric and violent. We try and imagine ourselves in that exact situation and the thought is absolutely tramatic. This type of death would be one of the worst, or the worst.
If you ever seen JFK with Kevin Costner, 2 min into the vsh tape, you see a very young sailor sitting on a couch holding a book.....STOP THE TAPE....at one frame per click with the re molt..... frame after frame (I think it's frame 26?) You'll see how fast this happen on this plane. I believe the human body can not survive a instantaneous decompression at 33,000' in a half of a sec.
I was a flight attendant when the first 747 came out. It was flown to different cities and parked so people could walk through and see it. After our crew walked through and we were out, my captain made the remark, Just wait till the first one goes down and 400 people will die. I was shocked that he said that, but he, as a pilot, was right. That was his first thought. So sad. I never flew on a 747.
Campbells family are really intelligent and truth seeker and they did a very good job, although they lost their son in a horrible way , we need people more like them!
Huge admiration for the parents of the young man who died. They were determined to get to the truth, purely and simply for their son who they loved so much.
@@dittohead7044 I can imagine though I’m not a parent. There they were in New Zealand awaiting their son. Who could have imagined that the poor lad would get sucked out from his seat and plunge to his death. It’s unimaginable. I’m so glad the parents fought for answers.
I can't think of a many more terrifying ways to go. Just to be sitting comfortably in an airplane about to go to sleep, only to be suddenly sucked out 1,000s of feet over the dark ocean with no air to breath, possibly hitting the wing before descent....Why do I feel the need to watch these types of vids before every time I've got to catch a flight?
And I bet most of the executives who made those decisions (and those on the MD-80 with a similar problem) and the MCAS system don't think about these accidents or those deaths during the course of their day to day lives all that often, while the families of the dead and the survivors with PTSD from going through that ordeal are still living with that day every day.
@@Reddbeaver reading comprehension. She was willing to make a bet. she didn't say it as a fact. I wouldn't take her bet because the odds are in her favor.
My favorite part is the 'just take anything you want off the press table' and the Campbells just went for it, leaving as the NTSB guys were arriving to get it. Seriously a film needs to be made about this. 747 was my favorite plane and I flew on them many times. Just lucky I guess...
Mr. And Mrs. Cambell are truly amazing folks. Their strength and courage and determination to find the truth and get to the bottom of it is admirable. Their son would’ve be so proud of them. May God watch over their son in the other side and may they find peace and comfort in the rest of their lives.
That was certainly fortunate they had the financial independence to do this. It pains me to think how many other lives could have been saved if all families were in that position to mount personal campaigns to ensure the NTSB and airlines did what they were supposed to in the first place.
Boeing, an American airline, the FAA, and the NTSB in league together in 1989 at the expense of passenger safety - 30 years later nothing much has changed (sadly).
The Campbell's grief is what drove them on in continuing to find the truth. It's without doubt that they saved many more lives by doing so, and probably hundreds.
Saw the 747 in the hanger at SFO after the accident, we got the two engines in the jet shop, that they thought some of the passenger went into. A lot of back shop people went to take a look at the damage to the 747.i was not aware that there were issues with the cargo doors on that type of aircraft, I new about the issue with cargos doors on the DC10.
I wonder how many more people would have died due to this problem if Lee’s parents hadn’t been so determined and Lee’s father hadn’t been an engineer to understand things as he could understand them. It makes me shudder to think.
The loss of a child is the worst, parents fear. When that happens no one can stop the parents from digging up the truth. This couple just proved it. My sincere condolences for their loss. The aviation industry is just waiting for deaths to correct known weaknesses, this is the world we are living in where nothing is above money.
Mr Campbell's engineering experience really paid off in this investigation. What I've never understood is why the doors open to the outside when they could design a sliding door (like on a van) that slides into the cargo hold when open then when closed the entire framework around the door will keep the door from blowing off. Imagine trying to kick the door to your house open from the inside. It would be the same principle. And it would take up minimal cargo space.
@@orscrub3161 I think there are some planes that have this for passenger doors that slide up, I think I’ve seen it in a movie and it was a small business jet. So if they’ve been used for passenger doors I figure either they’re used for cargo doors already on some planes, otherwise there’s gotta be a good reason why they aren’t. One I can think of is that it means cargo can’t be stacked right up against the side of the fuselage or it’ll block the door, and if the cargo shifts accidentally that could also block the door.
It seems in every industry it's smoke and mirrors to cover things up. That's the dishonest world we live in that is about money before people. Full credit to Mr Campbell for pushing so hard to get the answers he needed to get closer, full respect!
What a handsome young man. Such a terrible loss for Lee and the others who lost their lives that flight. Eternal rest grant unto them O Lord, let their souls and all the souls of the faithful departed through the mercy of God . Rest In Peace🙏
Focused energy from the loss of a loved one knows no bounds, bravo to these parents. This is the way to do it! Continued prayers to the missing all family members of this tragic event. I’m pretty sure the NTSB has changed many rules and regs about findings since the 80s. Most issues involving safety are handled immediately.
The Campbell's have probably saved lives with their constant push to find answers and to not back down until things are changed. True heroes. As a child I flew across the country coast to coast on United through the late 80s and early 90s on this particular model aircraft. It was part of my childhood so to see one of the planes that had become like a family member on the tarmac with a massive hole is heart-wrenching. Even more is how those people died. My heart goes to all who lost loved ones.💔
This father and family are heroes to the flying public. Their determination to get answers and not giving up on the standard BS given to people when there is an accident.
My sister and her husband were sitting just in front of the section of Flight 811 that blew out. My brother-in-law said he could look over his shoulder and see the ocean below.
Wow. God bless the Campbell family. Over 300 people survived that tragedy but their son didn’t make it. It’s incredible what they did to find out why their boy died. ❤️ I couldn’t imagine the pain they’ve been through. Not just losing their son that way but no body even. Omg. I’d lose my mind. I hope they’ve found peace ❤️
This story still amazes me after all these years. The determination of the Cambells to pursue and disclose the truth is inspiring and courageous. Their son would be proud. And the captain and crew who remained calm and did their jobs under intense circumstances are heroes. Sadly, as we’ve seen with the Boeing 737-MAX, economic choices still trump safety.
Holy shit! I can barely watch this. I am a former commercial pilot. What that crew did is beyond heroism. They saved all those people's lives. They can carry that proudly for the rest of their own lives. Even though nine were lost, that wasn't their fault (it was someone's fault, but not the crew's). This is the most horrifying video I have ever watched. I have nothing but sadness for the people and the families of those that perished.....and the poor ramp attendant was left to live with the thought that he had cause the deaths of those nine people, had the Campbells not did their own investigation. Thank God their are people like the Campbells.
I know God love the poor man going around with that on his shoulders... someone always gets blamed...air traffic controllers...pilots..etc never the airline...absolutely terrifying for those poor people on the plane and the nine who died...I hope they died quickly ,omg it's to too horrifying to imagine what was going through there minds 🥲🥲😭😭
When I was watching at 27:00 when the NTSB was issuing the revised report, I cut through the "relieving music" saying, "You pieces of shit." Do your jobs right the first time, people died over this!
It has never stated before but I will state it, any human being who have perished for the improvement of any product that serves as a means to an end such as this Boeing 747-100, are the real unsung heroes we ought to thank. Because if it wasn't for their sacrifice, we would be the ones who'd perish using a faulty product. Their sacrifice will never be forgotten!
37:15 As a automotive technician in training, electrical issues such as short circuiting, often caused by bad wiring, are the number one cause of most unprovoked failures.
The parents are lucky to be alive . You don’t go against big business . Strange things happens when you do . I am just as persistent as them and would’ve done the same if I had their resources . They are wonderful sleuths . Great work . Shame on the Ntsb
With today’s tech, it’s possible to accommodate flight crews with views of the entire exterior of their airccraft. Powerful LED lights next to cameras allow views at night. Think of it: 1-Cameras on the fuselage trained on the wing and empennage (leading edge, bottom, top, trailing edge) 2-Cameras on the winglets directed back towards the fuselage (nose to empennage) 3- Cameras on the belly observing from every available direction. 4- Larger airliners already employ a camera at the top of the leading edge of the vertical stabilizer, but the ones I’ve seen are mainly used for obstacle avoidance while taxiing. ***Live satellite transmission when a pan-pan is declared could connect pilots with a selected pool of volunteer, on-call systems experts. Stored data can be used to aid everything from incident investigations to training, R&D, etc.. THIS crew dealt with this emergency when that tech wasn’t compact enough, but now it IS. Hope it gets utilized.
Obviously, when accepting that a certain design of anything so critical is "foolproof," the most important thing to consider is to not put that responsibility into the hands of fools. God bless the Campbells and family and friends of the other victims, as well as everyone onboard that flight...esp. the Captain and his crew.
The investigators need to be investigated. Blaming these deaths on ground crew to protect Boeing is vile and criminal.
Corruption. They should be criminally prosecuted.
Wonder how much United paid them for that report!?
@@brianbrachel4871 Although non-experirencedd
@@brianbrachel4871 Although non-experienced in such plights, it would be believed that such settlements are confidencially settled, kept secret ! 😷
The perseverance of the Campbells is stunning. It’s impossible to say how many lives their actions saved.
My ex husband was an aircraft engineer for Boeing and airbus. He is exactly the kind of person you want checking your plane. Absolutely meticulous and over analyses everything. His constant complaint was not about other engineers, but about the managers. His job was to check any tiny fault, like a scratch or a minutely misaligned rivet and to work out how/if that fault might go on to become a larger fault and whether it could be repaired or not. The pressure was always on to speed his calculations up, to maybe not see the worst possible outcome, and to be ok with things being just good enough- great advice in many walks of life, (like marriage) but not what you want when you’re 32,000’ in the air
Man crush ☺️
I’m glad there are are people like you’re ex out there though.
Did he see the divorce coming?
Smelling hypocrisy here
@@thereisnosanctuary6184 ha! I told him often enough!!!
Lee’s parents are unrelenting and awesome. My heart goes out to them.
Mr. and Mrs. Campbell are true heroes! We'll never know how many lives their diligence possibly saved!
By miracle Mr. Campbell was an engineer and could understand the intricacies of the door latching mechanism. He and his wife are true heroes for steadfastly investigating the reason for the failure that caused their son's death. They pursued the truth even facing the incompetency of the NTSB and intransigence of the airline, all out of love for their lost son.
The scariest part is that it wasn't NTSB incompetency, it was a deliberate attempt to suppress the truth. What else are they hiding? Let's remember that they were the ones who gave us the official story of how WTC Building 7 collapsed.
The NTSB is not incompetent, they just don't rush to conclusions. They are experts in their fields and many ex-pilots and engineers themselves.
@SuperLordHawHaw
Fine then. The NTSB is was incompetent - they were corrupt enough to be bought by corporations who consider hundreds of innocent dead a 'business expense'.
Soooo much better. 😒
@@SuperLordHawHaw - The NTSB were incompetent in this instance! Without the Campbell's investigation, this problem is most likely undiagnosed....at least until, perhaps, another incident (with more lives being lost) were to happen....
@@MaachoMaan It would have been interesting to hear from the ramp workers, union, and United. I'm surprised that they willingly (?) accepted the responsibility for killing nine passengers.
Pilots have nerves of steel.
One of the victims, John Swan, was a good friend of mine. I saw him in Japan, just before he flew on to Hawaii to try and recover from a bad cold before heading back to Australia. Feeling better, he caught an earlier flight back home, flight 811. The tragic irony was that John had once worked for Qantas, and I recall him telling me that his job was to promote the safety of 747s when they first arrived. Working in Tokyo, I heard the news of the disastrous flight out of Hawaii and I remember thinking "I hope John wasn't on that flight". It was a great shock when I read his name in the paper the following day.
so sorry for your loss😭💔
RIP :(
I am sorry to hear about your friend John Swan. Tragic.
I'm so sorry you lost your friend in such a horrible way. Life is so unfair
Condolences on the death of your friend. I hope the Cambells’ tenacity in chasing down the truth provided you and his family with some solace.
Fancy being an aviation lawyer for years and then suddenly you’re in your own “situation”. He describes the flight so well you can feel the tension, the fear and the horror of the whole experience.. well done to the crew. Marvellous job all round.
That Pilot was amazing. .. the flight crew were too... but the guy you'd want in a crisis.
I have very little sympathy for aviation lawyers. They utterly destroyed a very enjoyable, safe pastime out of pure greed as far as I'm concerned.
When I was very small, in the 70's I dreamed of learning to fly then as I came of age in the 1980's I watched as general aviation just got more and more expensive, to the point where, by the time I was 18, it was no longer affordable.
My dad was a CFI in the 70's and 80's and I took some lessons from him, but by the time I could finally get really serious about learning to fly, I could not afford to do it.
That lawyer and his kind should be stabbed to death with a 3" pen knife as far as I'm concerned. I have no sympathy for them at all.
@@erictaylor5462 3 inches isn’t very long!😉
This has always been my favorite episode. The lengths those two went to were admirable.
Agreed
Im watching it again. Lol
Maybe so but have you considered these parents STOLE original documents, cases of them!!!
This impeded the investigation, what they did was criminal.
We will never know if the airline would have released this information HAD these parents not stolen the evidence....its kind of difficult to get the full truth when 9 cases of original documents were missing from the beginning of the investigation- to assume the airline investor knew what was within those 9 cases before ever seeing them is wrong on so many levels. 😉
@@c.a.greene8395 nah fuck that. If they hadn't done what they did nothing would have likely been done. They did good work. 👍
Are you gurgling with jam? You blame the parents for getting the information that was necessary? Did you expect the FAA or the Airline company to release the truth even with the cases of documents? What’s the planet you are from called? If any of my loved ones were killed in a accident like that you better believe that I would do ANYTHING possible to find out what happened! Do you expect the parents to sit back and wait for others to give them answers? Yeah, the industries responsible have such a good track record for being honest and utterly dutifully in their investigations. Maybe you really are that gullible and would have accepted their BS. Some people are just more commuted to the truth than others are. If the Airline wouldn’t have had anything to hide the parents wouldn’t have had the need to acquire evidence by stealing it. The information would have been made public. Makes sense? Kudos to the parents.
@@leylag1466 what they did was steal original documents ( that means they took the one znd only copy ) which means to expect the airline investigator to do right by the families the investigator would need ESP or a crystal ball! How can anyone be expected to give an accurate account of the facts when 9 LARGE filing boxes of original documents were STOLEN?
Until these theives made it known they had these original documents the inspector had no idea they existed.
Its easy to assume they were false in their investigation but as humans and not gods they can only use what information they had and without FACTS provided by those stolen documents they were missing 1/3rd of all the information from the inception of the investigation.
This was the episode that affected me the most. Imagine literally falling out of a plane to your death...it just overwhelms me just thinking about how afraid those precious people must have been. I feel for every one of their loved ones.
At that height they weren't concious for long. Think about how long it took the plane to descend from 23,000 to 15,000 feet and a human in a chair is much lighter. I'm not going to lie and say they didn't know what happened just that they were not around the entire trip down. There is also a strong possibility they were killed instantly as they were going forward several hundred miles per hour and then suddenly changing directions. That is a tremendous amount of g-force to endure. Single to low double digit Gs causes black and red outs in fighter aircraft pilots.
@@ChameleonMD123 That's an encouraging thought. I would hope they died instantly.
@@tammyramey There is only one true instant black death in this world and that is a bullet right between the eyes that destroys the cerebral cortex. Any other death even an explosion can be measured in seconds with complete atomization being the exception. That said, they weren't conscious the whole way down even if they weren't dead before they cleared the plane from g-forces. I hope I don't seem like I'm nitpicking but like you I am empathic and fascinated in what people experience in their final moments. I prefer the truth even if its terrifying.
@@ChameleonMD123 :)
I don't think those people ever understood what happened. Most of them would've died instantly. The impact on that air at that speed on the body is devastating. When fighter pilots eject they can get broken legs and even killed by that huge impact with that air speed and they have special suits on. Without a suit you'd probably die instantly. They were probably broken into pieces as soon as they hit the air at 800 km per hour. Probably decapitated. I highly doubt that they were alive and seeing themselves falling towards the ocean. If his parents read this I am here to tell them that the changes of them hitting that air at that speed and still be conscious are very slim. There was an interview with a pilot who ejected himself from a fighter jet and he had his legs cut in half and his helmet flew off instantly and his head was the size of a melon he lost his eye sight and hearing on the spot, survived stayed in the hospital for weeks before he started to recover. Without the suit he said he would've died instantly
I felt awful for the captain. You can see the loss of those passengers still weighs very heavily on him, even though it wasn’t his fault and he at least saved many many lives. Pilots are truly amazing. How they can remain calm in these insane situations. It’s just testimony to their skills
One of the reasons of their success is that they are too busy to really think about it. When they are back on the ground and the pressure was off, then the knees start to shake and the reality starts to set in. PTSD is probably not uncommon.
@@johnemerson1363Jj,m
They train, they’re smart and confident.
The Captain died in 2010.
I can tell you how they are able to do this, just like ship captains who maneuver cargo ships or oil tankers over our oceans…their instructors (ship/plane captains) who are experienced never stop expressing the need to be literally anal about details that they have to see to in order to be safe. My husband has colleagues who are captains on giant cargo ships.
The passenger that took those photos is a f*cking legend!
Aviation lawyer on the flight. He can really say he's experienced.
I have nothing but admiration for Mr and Mrs Campbell for their perseverance. What sickens me to the core is that I watch a lot of these (the first 18 seasons....so far) and am always interested in how thorough the investigators go in to with these things. Now though, it makes me sick that they deliberately covered this up and what's more, even refused to amend the report to save face/backlash from the airliners for the cost, even when they admitted that they were wrong.
How many more of their reports are (knowingly) wrong? It was only for the fact that the Campbells persisted coupled with the sheer chance that it happened again afterwards that they came clean and updated the report.
It's the same old question isn't it of who audits the auditors (stolen from who monitors the monitor :-))
We know that the result can never bring people back, but the whole point the investigation boards exist is to make sure these things don't happen again. That first report completely failed on that score!
imagine the guilt the ground crew person who was blamed for this incorrectly,must have felt also
@@leximojito1218 I have been in the middle of problems like this,,,
it is called "the blame game."
That ground crew person was probably fired.
Today he probably does not know the actual true cause and facts.
Here, the Civil Aeronautics Board in this case were on their way to hide the truth to cover their ass.
Many thanks to the Campbells they did not allow it to happen..,,,,
The Campbells could have and should have taken all their evidence together with the aviation lawyer also on this flight and cleaned house,,,
CAB+ the FAA + United Airlines.
$$$$ is the only language they understand.
The Campbells settled for so little, only a scholarship.
It's criminal!
I'm in the Us, and have seen only like...8 seasons, the rest seem to be unavailable to us...which saddens me
That is why I do not fly , unless there is no other way to get to the destination .
let's not forget the heroic efforts the pilots went through, to bring the damage bird down , saving everyone that was left on board. Congrats to them !
Mr. Campbell is a great engineer. Excellent job of damage analysis and critical reasoning.
These re-enactments are so lifelike. They actors are superb I feel like I'm actually there
I am an ex flight attendant. Kudos to the Campbell’s not to give up on what happened. Such a tragedy.
Good thing they had the financial standing to do what they did. Average Joe would never have been able to do the same.
That beautiful young guy's parents showed tremendous love for their son. Even though he lived a very short life, he must have known how special the love of his parents was. In this way, he was a very lucky guy.
till he got turned into dog food lol all it takes is a jet engine it's the ultimate meat grinder🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
@@raven4k998 lol funny, but why are you so heartless?
@@raven4k998 His fate has nothing to do with the love his parents had for him. 🙄A pick-me in it's natural habitat, funny thing is his demise made history... Can't say the same for you.
@@sc1338 some people have very low emotional intelligence
@@raven4k998 What do you think about the holocaust
My daughter used to fly back and forth from Ft.Mead Maryland to Charlotte Douglas as an unaccompanied minor.I was always clashing with the courts because I didn't like that but I had primary custody and had to accept it.The Oceanic Pilots befriended our daughter and I think that eased her burden bout being with good military pilots.United Airlines also dealt with her and their care was always well appreciated.Pilots will do everything possible to get to their destination safe.God bless.
My first airplane trip solo was at age 9 to visit my dad.Broke my moms heart each time she I was put on an airplane solo.She literally worried her self sick each time and cried every time.She often said that’s my baby getting on that plane alone so you damn right I am going to cry
I've watched a bunch of crash reenactments and the flight crew in this one were by far the best actors I have seen in one. I've seen some really bad ones too.
Those two parents are incredible examples of what a woman and man should be
RIP ALL THOSE WHO PASSED
To the Cambell's I take off my Hat. Terrible that you lost a Son but your determined efforts have saved others.
Well said Paul.
Outstanding documentary on this horrible tragedy.
Unless you solve all parts of the problem, you haven’t solved the problem. Thanks to the determination of two people, we have at least one problem solved.
dad's a pitbull whose jaws never let go. Good for him!
Who knows how many lives may have been saved because of these parents? Thank goodness for their diligence.
How could the experts miss so completely what a simple engineer not only found out just by himself but could prove beyond doubt?!
*prove
@@Moon_Presence thanks.
This event was still fresh in my mind just over a year later as I sat in the same position on a QANTAS 747-400 at Sydney airport. We had a two hour delay because ground crew could not get the cargo door closed. I watched all of this right outside my window. I had actually returned from the United States via Hawaii but this particular airplane was destined for Harere Zimbabwe via Perth. My final destination was Perth and we were half empty of passengers until then so there were plenty of spare seats. When we finally took off and the seat belt sign went out I quickly found another seat as far away from that hatch as possible. But I don't think I've ever drank so much alcohol inside 4 hours before...
The Campbells are heroes. Their determination and ability to fight the system saved countless lives. Thanks to them the skies are safer, and hopefully people will think twice about postponing repairs to faulty systems and covering up mistakes. Failures happen in engineering, but coverups are unforgivable to the families who lost loved ones.
I’m grateful that you were able as civilians and concerned parents, to do the research. There are far too many corporations that care about the profits and not the consumers! Thank you!
This is a great example of when "experts" say they know more than the public about anything. They are just trying to keep the public from knowing, period.
My deepest condolences to the relatives of those lost during this negligent and preventable tragic occurrence.
My deepest RESPECT to the parents who never let up to find the true cause so it would save future lives. They did not do it for them. They had already lost their son. They did it so it would not happen so unnecessarily to any one of us. Thank you, and god rest his soul.
Their efforts on behalf of their deceased son were Useless and Futile because as long as Capitalism values financial profit over human life people will continue to die needlessly just so that the Rich can get even Richer. What these parents did was simply to address a symptom of the disease, and not the disease itself, that disease being that Big Business runs America and tells its Stooges in Washington what to say and do. Yet, some still call America a "democracy".
Useless and Futile? Boeing fixed the doors and this is no longer a problem on their planes. Did you expect these parents to solve all the problems with capitalism and big business. What an unnecessary comment.
@@JosephKulik2016 Starlin executed & or sent all returning WW2 veterans too gulag, because he was scared that they "might" over throw him...
Just one little example of many with communism/human's.
@@kglw9575 Boeing also eventually fixed MCAS on the 737. after blaming the pilots of course and killing hundreds of people first though!
"The cost of doing business"
That is how this one guy described how airlines and regulators handle fatal accidents.
We really need more people to understand that it's just not worth it to cut corners for the sake of profit.
Corners have to be cut somewhere.
Sometimes decisions of corporate managers look to be wrong, depending on what seems to flow out of their decisions.
@@geoh7777 Well personally, if I owned an airline with a low profit margin, I'd rather start taking planes out of service instead of making all of them more dangerous. I'd rather have less planes than risk a disaster. You can probably recover those unused planes if you restructure your business, but it's harder to regain your reputation after fatal accidents such as this.
If you have no moral grounds, any business could handle accidents like this.
Unfortunately that's just the way Capitalism functions.
If you have a 'Business" which involves the public in anyway , You are duty bound to put them first all the way ...If you cannot understand this fact, get out of that line of business.
This Captain and the entire flight crew are heroes in my book. As a pilot, I hope I could deliver like this if ever called upon. But who knows?
We cannot say enough about the actions of the flight crew that night. The entire aircraft could have been easily lost and no one would have ever figured out how that aircraft was lost. Remain calm and work the problem. Former USAF flight crew member.
This
Nineteen year old show - still relevant, interesting, and tragic. Thanks for sharing this.
The pilot says: "That's the best landing I ever made."
Now, THAT is THE GREATEST UNDERSTATEMENT OF THE MILLENNIUM. 👍
God Bless to each and everyone involved in this! And RIP to all who died!!
Never thought about it like that 🤔 but the man makes a great point when he says when the FAA sets these long deadlines, they're literally gambling with passengers lives in the time the aircrafts are in service without the proper fixes being implemented💯
R.I.P To All Who Perrished In This Aviation Tragedy 🙏🙏🙏
More people die every year in Chicago from Lori Lightfoot supporting black gangs than in all airplane crashes worldwide. Select your priorities, calculate your odds.
The Campbells are modern day knights of the round table.. they did a stellar job. Their son Lee would have been very proud of them.
I’ve always wondered what it would be like to have family who loved me that much
😢❤️🩹
I was in Honolulu the very night this happened. After landing, the plane was taken ver to the Hickham Air Force Side, probably because there would be a federal investigation. The next day, my family and I, drove over to the air force side, and saw the airplane, sitting a few feet away from the base fence. We saw the huge hole in the side of the airplane. Those pilots were here’s for sure. This is also a true statement.
Sad. I cannot imagine the horror those ejected passengers felt. I can only hope they passed out. It’s just so sad, what a horrifying way to go.
at that altitude they wouldnt have been conscience long but those 20-30 seconds or so, horrifying :(
@mukwa25 yikes
The G force of the ejection probably killed them instantly as others have explained in the comments.
agree.They hopefully didn’t suffer long.
Thank you for Mr and Mrs Campbell! For the ntsb, those who are not transparent and hiding the dirty truth, reporting false information, you need to know that you or your family are also a flight passenger. Things do come around. Flight safety is crucial for so many people.
That’s extremely scary for those people who were ejected! I really hope they didn’t suffer long. Just imagine how terrified they were. 🙏🏽🥺
That’s exactly what I was thinking. That sudden shock of being ejected. Poor souls, including the young man going home to visit his parents in New Zealand. RIP.
Yeah, his parents were actually hoping, he was the passenger sucked into the engine, so he didnt suffer the 4 min or so fall to the ocean. The thought of those poor passenger falling for so long, very likely conscious all the way..... its just horrifying.
Hopefully at that height they couldn't breathe and were unconscious and weren't aware. What a sad thing to hope.
I don't buy the ole "they were knocked unconscious instantly" line that is fed to loved one's who die in these situations. I think it's something said to comfort us (the living) because the truth is so barbaric and violent. We try and imagine ourselves in that exact situation and the thought is absolutely tramatic. This type of death would be one of the worst, or the worst.
If you ever seen JFK with Kevin Costner,
2 min into the vsh tape, you see a very young sailor sitting on a couch holding a book.....STOP THE TAPE....at one frame per click with the re molt..... frame after frame
(I think it's frame 26?)
You'll see how fast this happen on this plane. I believe the human body can not survive a instantaneous decompression at 33,000' in a half of a sec.
I’m amazed they found the door on the ocean floor.
How terrifying for everyone, espectially the amazing pilots who saved everyone still onboard.
I was a flight attendant when the first 747 came out. It was flown to different cities and parked so people could walk through and see it. After our crew walked through and we were out, my captain made the remark, Just wait till the first one goes down and 400 people will die. I was shocked that he said that, but he, as a pilot, was right. That was his first thought. So sad. I never flew on a 747.
Amazing what those parents managed to do. RIP to all the lost souls
Kudos to the Kiwi couple. They are made of some strong stuff.
Campbells family are really intelligent and truth seeker and they did a very good job, although they lost their son in a horrible way , we need people more like them!
What would've been suspicious looking luggage? The one with all the wires sticking out making that incessant ticking noise?
Huge admiration for the parents of the young man who died. They were determined to get to the truth, purely and simply for their son who they loved so much.
Devastating to lose a child.
@@dittohead7044 I can imagine though I’m not a parent. There they were in New Zealand awaiting their son. Who could have imagined that the poor lad would get sucked out from his seat and plunge to his death. It’s unimaginable. I’m so glad the parents fought for answers.
I can't think of a many more terrifying ways to go. Just to be sitting comfortably in an airplane about to go to sleep, only to be suddenly sucked out 1,000s of feet over the dark ocean with no air to breath, possibly hitting the wing before descent....Why do I feel the need to watch these types of vids before every time I've got to catch a flight?
And I bet most of the executives who made those decisions (and those on the MD-80 with a similar problem) and the MCAS system don't think about these accidents or those deaths during the course of their day to day lives all that often, while the families of the dead and the survivors with PTSD from going through that ordeal are still living with that day every day.
You don't know that. Maybe it ruined them
@@Reddbeaver reading comprehension. She was willing to make a bet. she didn't say it as a fact.
I wouldn't take her bet because the odds are in her favor.
how about the NTSB whitewash report, blaming the ground crew for the failure?
My favorite part is the 'just take anything you want off the press table' and the Campbells just went for it, leaving as the NTSB guys were arriving to get it. Seriously a film needs to be made about this. 747 was my favorite plane and I flew on them many times. Just lucky I guess...
How terrifying to fall out of a plane and free fall to your death.
"How many souls on board?" ... the Cambell's are heroes. Bless them. I hope they found some degree of peace.
Mr. And Mrs. Cambell are truly amazing folks. Their strength and courage and determination to find the truth and get to the bottom of it is admirable. Their son would’ve be so proud of them. May God watch over their son in the other side and may they find peace and comfort in the rest of their lives.
That was certainly fortunate they had the financial independence to do this. It pains me to think how many other lives could have been saved if all families were in that position to mount personal campaigns to ensure the NTSB and airlines did what they were supposed to in the first place.
My lord, those poor nine people that were blown out the plane! God bless there souls.
Good on you Campbell's! Took a Kiwi to sort it out. Its so sad that people coming home or to visit our beautiful New Zealand lost their lives 💔
Amazing how calm these people now discuss what must have been the most traumatic event of their lives. These are rare , true professionals.
Boeing, an American airline, the FAA, and the NTSB in league together in 1989 at the expense of passenger safety - 30 years later nothing much has changed (sadly).
Imagine sitting there chilling and then several rows of people in front of you get sucked out the plane. Idk how well I’d sleep after that
😢That makes my heart cry . God bless the family’s 😢😢
The amazing thing was that this aircraft returned to service and flew for another 10 years or so.
The Campbell's grief is what drove them on in continuing to find the truth.
It's without doubt that they saved many more lives by doing so, and probably hundreds.
Saw the 747 in the hanger at SFO after the accident, we got the two engines in the jet shop, that they thought some of the passenger went into. A lot of back shop people went to take a look at the damage to the 747.i was not aware that there were issues with the cargo doors on that type of aircraft, I new about the issue with cargos doors on the DC10.
The flight crew were absolute heroes.
Bravo to the flight & cabin crew. 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 Reason 13 why I won't fly.
Thanks for this amazing airmanship! ✈️.. I knew Susan Campbell at uni and it is sad with what happened.😔.. thanks from NZ 🇳🇿
I wonder how many more people would have died due to this problem if Lee’s parents hadn’t been so determined and Lee’s father hadn’t been an engineer to understand things as he could understand them. It makes me shudder to think.
The loss of a child is the worst, parents fear. When that happens no one can stop the parents from digging up the truth. This couple just proved it. My sincere condolences for their loss.
The aviation industry is just waiting for deaths to correct known weaknesses, this is the world we are living in where nothing is above money.
Mr Campbell's engineering experience really paid off in this investigation. What I've never understood is why the doors open to the outside when they could design a sliding door (like on a van) that slides into the cargo hold when open then when closed the entire framework around the door will keep the door from blowing off. Imagine trying to kick the door to your house open from the inside. It would be the same principle. And it would take up minimal cargo space.
That’s a very good idea! Make it slide inside so it doesn’t take up space but also is held shut by air pressure.
I’m glad i thought of that! 😊
@@orscrub3161 I think there are some planes that have this for passenger doors that slide up, I think I’ve seen it in a movie and it was a small business jet. So if they’ve been used for passenger doors I figure either they’re used for cargo doors already on some planes, otherwise there’s gotta be a good reason why they aren’t. One I can think of is that it means cargo can’t be stacked right up against the side of the fuselage or it’ll block the door, and if the cargo shifts accidentally that could also block the door.
@@Sashazur ……….what a frightening thought! no way out?! 😳
It seems in every industry it's smoke and mirrors to cover things up. That's the dishonest world we live in that is about money before people.
Full credit to Mr Campbell for pushing so hard to get the answers he needed to get closer, full respect!
What a handsome young man. Such a terrible loss for Lee and the others who lost their lives that flight. Eternal rest grant unto them O Lord, let their souls and all the souls of the faithful departed through the mercy of God . Rest In Peace🙏
Focused energy from the loss of a loved one knows no bounds, bravo to these parents. This is the way to do it!
Continued prayers to the missing all family members of this tragic event. I’m pretty sure the NTSB has changed many rules and regs about findings since the 80s. Most issues involving safety are handled immediately.
The Campbell's have probably saved lives with their constant push to find answers and to not back down until things are changed. True heroes. As a child I flew across the country coast to coast on United through the late 80s and early 90s on this particular model aircraft. It was part of my childhood so to see one of the planes that had become like a family member on the tarmac with a massive hole is heart-wrenching. Even more is how those people died. My heart goes to all who lost loved ones.💔
This father and family are heroes to the flying public. Their determination to get answers and not giving up on the standard BS given to people when there is an accident.
Excellent sleuthing by the parents. Safety is always #1. We humans are not expendable!
My sister and her husband were sitting just in front of the section of Flight 811 that blew out. My brother-in-law said he could look over his shoulder and see the ocean below.
Wow. God bless the Campbell family.
Over 300 people survived that tragedy but their son didn’t make it.
It’s incredible what they did to find out why their boy died. ❤️
I couldn’t imagine the pain they’ve been through. Not just losing their son that way but no body even. Omg. I’d lose my mind.
I hope they’ve found peace ❤️
How he died?
This story still amazes me after all these years. The determination of the Cambells to pursue and disclose the truth is inspiring and courageous. Their son would be proud. And the captain and crew who remained calm and did their jobs under intense circumstances are heroes. Sadly, as we’ve seen with the Boeing 737-MAX, economic choices still trump safety.
8
RIP those 9 people glad everyone else was fine
Holy shit! I can barely watch this. I am a former commercial pilot. What that crew did is beyond heroism. They saved all those people's lives. They can carry that proudly for the rest of their own lives. Even though nine were lost, that wasn't their fault (it was someone's fault, but not the crew's). This is the most horrifying video I have ever watched. I have nothing but sadness for the people and the families of those that perished.....and the poor ramp attendant was left to live with the thought that he had cause the deaths of those nine people, had the Campbells not did their own investigation. Thank God their are people like the Campbells.
I know God love the poor man going around with that on his shoulders... someone always gets blamed...air traffic controllers...pilots..etc never the airline...absolutely terrifying for those poor people on the plane and the nine who died...I hope they died quickly ,omg it's to too horrifying to imagine what was going through there minds 🥲🥲😭😭
yeah the attendant when it was actually the plane AND the FAA
When I was watching at 27:00 when the NTSB was issuing the revised report, I cut through the "relieving music" saying, "You pieces of shit." Do your jobs right the first time, people died over this!
It has never stated before but I will state it, any human being who have perished for the improvement of any product that serves as a means to an end such as this Boeing 747-100, are the real unsung heroes we ought to thank. Because if it wasn't for their sacrifice, we would be the ones who'd perish using a faulty product. Their sacrifice will never be forgotten!
37:15 As a automotive technician in training, electrical issues such as short circuiting, often caused by bad wiring, are the number one cause of most unprovoked failures.
True courage, a great story of parents love for their son.
Thanks for your efforts to prove the real cause of this disaster Campbell family of Australia!
The parents are lucky to be alive . You don’t go against big business . Strange things happens when you do . I am just as persistent as them and would’ve done the same if I had their resources . They are wonderful sleuths . Great work . Shame on the Ntsb
It's the worst thing in this life to lose one of your kids, but it's worse when it didn't have to happen.
Courageous determined Kiwi parents. I'm proud to be a Kiwi.
These folks would not let up! God Bless the Campbells! They are the very definition of perseverance! They have probably saved thousands of lives.
With today’s tech, it’s possible to accommodate flight crews with views of the entire exterior of their airccraft. Powerful LED lights next to cameras allow views at night. Think of it:
1-Cameras on the fuselage trained on the wing and empennage (leading edge, bottom, top, trailing edge)
2-Cameras on the winglets directed back towards the fuselage (nose to empennage)
3- Cameras on the belly observing from every available direction.
4- Larger airliners already employ a camera at the top of the leading edge of the vertical stabilizer, but the ones I’ve seen are mainly used for obstacle avoidance while taxiing.
***Live satellite transmission when a pan-pan is declared could connect pilots with a selected pool of volunteer, on-call systems experts. Stored data can be used to aid everything from incident investigations to training, R&D, etc..
THIS crew dealt with this emergency when that tech wasn’t compact enough, but now it IS. Hope it gets utilized.
Obviously, when accepting that a certain design of anything so critical is "foolproof," the most important thing to consider is to not put that responsibility into the hands of fools. God bless the Campbells and family and friends of the other victims, as well as everyone onboard that flight...esp. the Captain and his crew.