On 1 February 1991, USAir Flight 1493 collides with SkyWest Airlines Flight 5569 on the runway at Los Angeles International Airport, killing 35 people.
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00:00U.S. Air flight 1493 erupts into flames upon landing in Los Angeles.
00:08Heads down, state down.
00:11And crashes into a building.
00:14It was so violent.
00:16Passengers struggle to reach the exits.
00:19My only thought was to get out of the plane.
00:21Of the 89 people on board, 21 don't get out alive.
00:27NTSB investigators must figure out why.
00:30There's no reason to believe that they all couldn't have evacuated.
00:34They soon make a horrifying discovery.
00:36Good God.
00:38We found 11 victims located within just a few feet of the emergency exit.
00:43How did they get trapped here?
00:44What they learn will improve the odds of survival in aviation disasters.
00:49Hey, Mom. Mom, we have to jump.
00:51In an emergency evacuation, every second counts.
00:54Leave your belongings. Come, this way.
00:58Brace your impact.
01:00Evacuate! Evacuate!
01:07It's just before 6 p.m.
01:23on the California coast.
01:25U.S. Air flight 1493 is preparing to land in Los Angeles.
01:29This was a nice flight.
01:33Everything went perfect.
01:36The service went perfect.
01:37The weather went great.
01:39There had been no problems.
01:40I was seated near the front of the plane in row 4.
01:46I was seated in the middle seat on the right-hand side of the plane.
01:50Elise Rosewater is looking forward to a vacation on the west coast.
01:56I had just graduated from college and was working my first job, and it was time for a break, and I wanted to go out to California and visit my brother and explore L.A.
02:05Flight 1493 is 25 miles from the runway.
02:11USA 1493, do you have the airport in sight?
02:15The pilots disengaged the autopilot on their Boeing 737.
02:22This version of the plane has 128 seats, but tonight's flight is not full.
02:32Only 83 seats are occupied.
02:35Together with two pilots and four flight attendants, there are 89 people on board.
02:42Seated near the middle of the plane in row 9 are Vicki Rosemeyer and her mother Judy.
02:49They're traveling to Los Angeles for a holiday.
02:59I was a novice flyer at the time.
03:02I had not flown much.
03:04Um, and was nervous about the flight.
03:07My mother had never flown before, so I was, you know, looking after her.
03:16Confirmed visual approach for USA 1493 is 2-4 left.
03:21That's correct, USA 1493.
03:24On this leg of the flight, First Officer David Kelly is the pilot flying, while Captain Colin Shaw communicates with the controller.
03:32They've already had a busy day.
03:33They began their flight on the other side of the country in Washington, D.C., before stopping in Columbus, Ohio, on their way to one of the busiest airports in the world.
03:46Situated not far from the center of Los Angeles, LAX handles 1,500 flights per day.
03:55Controllers are kept very busy.
03:572-4-6, are you still holding short of 47?
04:02Affirmative.
04:03You're next.
04:05Skywest 569, taxi up to and hold short.
04:08Flight 1493 is minutes from touchdown.
04:15Near the back of the plane is a seasoned traveler, Scott Vaughan.
04:19He's sat through this landing many times.
04:23It was a multi-city trip for work.
04:26It was a Friday night, and I just couldn't wait to get home.
04:29I was sitting in the back of the plane on row 19 on the aisle.
04:32A few rows behind Scott, the flight attendants take their seats in the galley.
04:41Once all the passengers were secured, I went to my jump seat and buckled in, and Van was beside of me.
04:50Van and I had gone through training together.
04:53US Air 1493 is for the left side.
04:562-4 left.
04:57The pilots wait for the final clearance to land.
05:02US Air 1493 cleared to land.
05:04Runway 2-4 left.
05:10Just as the plane touches down.
05:14What the?
05:21We were in the middle of a big fireball.
05:24The plane wasn't stopping.
05:33I didn't realize what was happening.
05:38I could hear metal scraping.
05:41It was so violent.
05:44Smoke was infiltrating the plane very rapidly, and the smell became overwhelming.
05:50Grab your ankles.
05:52Heads down.
05:53Stay down.
05:57It was a surreal movie.
06:01Things were actually slowing down.
06:03Felt like a lifetime.
06:07In the tower, controllers can only watch as the burning plane speeds towards a building.
06:17Oh, Jesus.
06:20The plane came to a halt, and another fireball.
06:25It was a pretty dramatic stop.
06:27Our bodies went flying forward.
06:29It was similar to being in a car crash.
06:3583 passengers and 6 crew members find themselves inside a burning airplane.
06:41Decisions made in the next few minutes will determine who will live and who will die.
06:46We've had a crash on runway 24L, a U.S. Air 737.
06:59The airport's fire and emergency crews are immediately dispatched to the scene.
07:03Crash was called in, and the goal is to mobilize quickly, arrive on scene, and start deploying resources within three minutes to create survival conditions for those on board.
07:15The passengers and crew on board the burning plane find themselves in a fight for survival.
07:23It was a very, very thick black smoke, very sooty, and difficult to see anything.
07:32It's now up to the cabin crew to evacuate the plane as quickly as possible.
07:42My training kicked in, and it all came right back to me.
07:46I didn't have to think, what do I do next?
07:49When I got the door open, and I saw that the slide was inflated, I had a sense of relief that we can get everybody out of this aircraft.
08:00There's fire outside the left side door.
08:04It's not safe to use.
08:06Our evacuation drills are ingrained in us.
08:08We know them by heart.
08:10We don't just make them up.
08:12Come this way.
08:12Leave your belongings.
08:13Come this way.
08:16Go.
08:17Go.
08:17Jump.
08:18Jump.
08:19Keep your hands up.
08:20It takes fire crews only one minute to get to the crash site and begin extinguishing the fire.
08:27The response time was amazing.
08:30They started firefighting and rescue operations simultaneously.
08:35They begin by covering the burning 737 with fire-retardant foam.
08:42The objective is to control 90% of that fire within the first minute of arrival to allow the best chance of survival for passengers and crew.
08:52Jump.
08:52Keep your hands up.
08:53I had in the back of my mind the plane could explode at any second, but seeing those passengers, I just thought, that's one more, that's another one, that's another one.
09:05And I believe that is why I stayed on the aircraft.
09:08At the front of the plane, passengers struggle to find their nearest exit.
09:12I don't think I was thinking.
09:14I followed the person in front of me.
09:17I do remember the smoke being so thick that I was trying to get down, remembering a PSA from my childhood, that smoke rises and you should try to get down in a fire.
09:27The line of people who's moving slower than you'd like in an emergency, it was mass chaos.
09:36Five rows back, Vicky Rosemeyer and her mother are just across from an overwing emergency exit.
09:46Come on, come on.
09:47Come on.
09:50I remember helping my mother up.
09:53I remember turning around, noticing the door open, and I seen light from that.
09:59Scott, Elise, and Vicky all have the same goal, to reach the overwing exit at the middle of the plane.
10:07Almost there.
10:09Mom?
10:10Mom!
10:12Mom!
10:13I was three or four feet from the emergency exit.
10:16My mother was with me.
10:17I had a hold of her.
10:19And just within an instant, she was gone.
10:22I was not going to leave without my mother.
10:25Mom!
10:29My only thought was to get out of the plane, and I was in go mode.
10:34After crashing into an inactive fire station at LAX, the passengers of US Air Flight 1493 are desperately trying to get off the burning plane.
10:45I knew there was an exit on the right side of the plane.
10:50The cabin's filled with smoke, so it's very hard to see.
10:53The aisle was jammed with people, and so instinct took over, or fight or flight took over.
11:02I took an alternative route.
11:04I just started climbing across the seats.
11:08There were no people in those seats, and I was crawling across them and moving as fast as I could.
11:17Vicki finally sees her mother.
11:24She got knocked down because she turned around to get her purse.
11:30And pretty much resigned at that point.
11:37But she found the strength to get up and made her way to the door.
11:51Vicki and her mother have made it out of the plane and onto the wing, but they're not safe yet.
12:07All we could hear were people yelling at us to jump.
12:11Jump! Jump!
12:12Firefighters would have been worried about passengers standing on the wing because they're actually standing on a fuel tank.
12:21That wing, or fuel tank, has the potential to explode.
12:27When I told my mother that we needed to jump, and she said no, she was not going to jump that far.
12:34She was afraid to jump.
12:37Hey, Mum. Mum, we have to jump!
12:39So, I grabbed her arm and threw her with me.
12:43Okay.
12:46While passengers struggle to escape, fire crews are still trying to extinguish the flames.
12:53They cannot send rescuers into the cabin until the fire is under control.
12:59I'm going to be wanting a significant reduction and control of the external fire before I send my firefighters in to do an internal attack.
13:08This is because the lives of the firefighters is also a top priority.
13:15Just two minutes have passed since the plane came to a stop, and there are many passengers still on board.
13:22When I got to the exit row, I climbed on to what I thought was luggage.
13:29I got out on the wing.
13:33I could feel fresh air on my face, and I could breathe again.
13:38Scott Vaughn also reaches the overwing exit of row 10.
13:42There was like a light or a gap that opened up that I could see that I must be close at that point.
13:47I went out to the wing, and we jumped down to the ground.
13:55And I stood back up, and I turned, and I looked at this massive plane on fire.
14:01It was a disaster scene.
14:04And then I turned around, and it was complete chaos all over the runway.
14:09There were emergency vehicles, triage centers set up everywhere.
14:15But not everyone has made it off.
14:17At the rear of the plane, the flight attendants can barely breathe.
14:21The smoke had gotten so thick that it burned the back of my throat.
14:29My nose was burning.
14:32My chest was burning.
14:34I had no idea smoke could be so painful.
14:39The passengers were not coming to our exit any longer, and the two of us were still inside the aircraft.
14:49You gotta go.
14:51Then he pushed me out, and then I went down the rear slide.
14:56Van Spurgeon enters the smoke-filled cabin to see if he can find any more passengers, but he doesn't get far.
15:03I was able to feel the seat back, so I know that I went up two rows, and I could not see or hear anybody.
15:15Van Spurgeon, get out! Come on!
15:17I heard my co-worker, Patricia, shouting for me to get off the aircraft, and that's when I decided to jump.
15:26I felt that there were no more people on the aircraft that were coming to that exit.
15:32After five minutes of battling the inferno, fire crews make an unexpected find.
15:41They found a propeller, and that gave them a clue that there was another aircraft involved.
15:47It's now clear that the unimaginable has happened.
15:53What the?
15:55U.S. Air Flight 1493 has collided with another aircraft on the runway.
16:01An aircraft crash is probably the worst type of incident a firefighter could face.
16:08And in this case, two aircraft were involved.
16:11The news sends air traffic controllers scrambling to determine the identity of the other plane.
16:20What about SkyWest 569?
16:23No, we're not hearing from them.
16:27SkyWest 5569, a Fairchild Metroliner with 12 people on board, is unaccounted for.
16:34We recognized through discovery of the wreckage that this 737 had collided with a Metroliner.
16:44The full toll of the accident can now be measured.
16:4768 people have made it off the burning 737, but 21 people from that plane do not survive,
16:54including a flight attendant and Captain Colin Shaw, seated right at the point of impact.
17:00Two other passengers are fatally injured.
17:03I had no idea that anybody had died, especially two of my co-workers.
17:08I was devastated.
17:10Just devastated.
17:12All 12 occupants of the Metroliner have also been killed.
17:17Investigators must now determine why a total of 35 people lost their lives at one of America's busiest airports.
17:25News of the horrific collision at LAX shocks people across the country.
17:29Just a short few hours after everything that had happened, I'm home, turn on the news to watch it, and it was like a movie that I was not part of.
17:40Two runways are immediately closed for the investigation, sending air travel into chaos across the country.
17:50Investigator Bob McIntosh leads the team of investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board, or NTSB.
17:57It's his job to determine what caused the deadly collision.
18:02This kind of a collision of a major air transport airplane and another aircraft on a runway is unusual.
18:11It was a challenge to find out why this terrible accident had taken place.
18:18While McIntosh leads the investigation into how the collision happened, survival factors investigator Hank Hughes has a different priority.
18:27737-300's cabin was configured for 128 passengers and four crew.
18:35Our primary mission is to look at the survivability or non-survivability of the action and how people were able to survive, how they were able to evacuate the airplane, and for that matter, how the evacuation was carried out.
18:50Okay, there were 89 passengers and crew on board.
18:53Most accidents are survivable.
18:57Our question was, how and why did these people perish?
19:02Hughes' team inspects the burnt-out plane to understand why 21 passengers and crew were unable to escape the Boeing 737.
19:12The cabin floor of the airplane was completely destroyed by fire.
19:16Therefore, we had to use plywood to reconstruct the floor and make a safe area to stand on so we could begin our work.
19:25We started at the back of the airplane and worked our way forward.
19:31Make sure you get a picture of that.
19:36We were very concerned about the fire and the consequences of such a rapidly spreading fire.
19:46We found 11 victims in the center of the passenger compartment, all of whom were located within just a few feet of the emergency exit.
19:57Good God.
19:59They had piled up on top of each other.
20:02How did they get trapped here?
20:03Look at this burn pattern.
20:18This is where the fire started.
20:20And it moved rearward from here.
20:24The area of the airplane that suffered the most intense fire damage was the front of the airplane, the front of the passenger cabin.
20:31And that's where it started.
20:36Hughes comes to a striking realization about the victims.
20:41They were all out of their seats.
20:46Everybody in the cabin survived the initial impact.
20:51It was quite apparent that all of them had been able to unbuckle from their seatbelts and make their way back to the overwing exit.
20:58But somehow, 20 of those passengers and one of the flight attendants never made it out.
21:05Investigators need to find out why.
21:09Okay.
21:10So it seems most of the fatalities were seated in this area here.
21:16After we realized that many of the fatalities were seated in the front of the airplane, it was important to understand why.
21:23The team interviews surviving crew members.
21:28In many instances, flight attendants have provided some insight that we wouldn't normally get.
21:34Right after that first bump, I could see flames.
21:37Before the final impact?
21:39That's right.
21:40As we were skating.
21:41During the course of our interviews, it became very apparent that almost upon initial contact with the Metroliner, within milliseconds, that airplane was on fire.
21:54That's how instantaneous it was.
21:56There was a lot of concern within our investigation about the intensity and the spread of the fire.
22:05Investigators soon discover a vital clue in the burnt-out wreckage, a damaged oxygen tank in the forward cargo compartment.
22:13It had damage to the regulator up on top of the bottle, and it had a broken feed tube coming out of the bottle.
22:24Take a look at this.
22:25It was a 76-cubic-foot capacity tank.
22:28That's a lot of oxygen.
22:37It was housed exactly where they impacted the Metroliner.
22:40A ruptured oxygen tank on the 737 would have fed the fire.
22:48I had the fuel from the burning Metroliner.
22:51There was a great deal of liquids from the collision that were flammable, and the gaseous oxygen was most probably the accelerant.
23:03Investigators build a mock-up of Flight 1493's cabin to test how quickly an oxygen-fed fire spreads.
23:13Previous tests showed that under normal circumstances, the fire would have accelerated in about five minutes.
23:20The results of the new test are astonishing.
23:26As a result of the introduction of the oxygen and the burn test, the fire accelerated out of control in two minutes.
23:33Very significant difference.
23:34The test explains why passengers reported seeing fire spread through the cabin as quickly as it did.
23:43Because of the oxygen-fed fire, the passengers were denied what would have been an extra three minutes to make their way out of the airplane safely.
23:51The oxygen didn't just prevent passengers from getting off the airplane.
23:57It may also have prevented firefighters from getting on.
24:01If compressed oxygen had not been introduced into that fire, in my opinion, the fire would have been much less severe inside the aircraft.
24:12But fire wasn't the only obstacle to the evacuation.
24:16Passengers also described seeing heavy black smoke filling the cabin.
24:20As the airplane was skidding down the runway, smoke began to come into the cabin.
24:28And it went from kind of a soft willy smoke to thick, dark, and had a horrible odor within five, ten seconds.
24:38So why all that smoke so darn fast?
24:52Since 1985, regulations mandate that cabins must be fitted with fire-retardant materials that slow the spread of flames and toxic smoke in the event of a fire.
25:04But the damage to Flight 4093's cabin indicates it did not meet that standard.
25:12This airplane was equipped with the older materials that were not fire-retardant.
25:17And that would include the carpeting, the seat fabric, as well as the sidewalls.
25:25A review of the plane's history explains why the cabin was fitted with out-of-date furnishings.
25:31It was made in 1985, before the regulations kicked in.
25:38This particular airplane was exempted from the fire-retardant cabin furnishings regulation primarily because it was manufactured before the effective date in 1985.
25:50But fire-retardant fabrics were to be installed on older planes when they received cabin upgrades.
26:00The FAA's philosophy was that when an aircraft would be brought in for major rehab of the interior,
26:08that all of the cabin furnishings would be retrofitted with the upgraded fire-retardant furnishings.
26:14Investigators learned that the 737's cabin was refurbished in 1989.
26:24Hardly anything met the new flammability standards.
26:30But because of a loophole in the regulations, it never got the fire-retardant upgrade.
26:36The FAA reg said, if you just want to do the rug, or you just want to do the seats, or you just want to do the walls,
26:43that's not considered a major upgrade.
26:45That's where the loophole was.
26:50None of the interior panels were touched.
26:53If the cabin had been retrofitted with fire-retardant furnishings,
26:57it would have given people more time to make their way to the emergency exits and safely evacuate the airplane.
27:04An oxygen-fed fire and out-of-date cabin furnishings explain the intensity of the smoke and fire.
27:13Yet 68 people did manage to get off the plane.
27:17What decisions did they make that enabled them to escape when so many others could not?
27:22As Hank Hughes looks into why 21 people were unable to make it out of the cabin of U.S. Air Flight 1493,
27:34Bob McIntosh investigates why two planes were allowed to be on the same runway at the same time.
27:41We had to wonder how it was possible that the tower controller responsible for that runway had not seen this issue taking place.
27:52Why was the Metroliner even on that runway?
27:56Did it lose its way?
27:59No, I positioned it there and asked it to hold.
28:03Skywest 569, taxi into position and hold short.
28:06Runway 24 left.
28:09So why did you give U.S. Air permission to land?
28:11It was a hectic night.
28:16I lost track of the Skywest flight.
28:21U.S. Air 1493 cleared to land.
28:24Runway 24 left.
28:26Our challenge was to try and figure out how the tower controller allowed this to happen
28:33when she had numerous years of experience and training.
28:37The collision happened here at 1807.
28:44Just before 1806, she gave U.S. Air clearance to land on runway 24 left.
28:51But that runway wasn't clear.
28:54Skywest has been holding on the runway for more than a minute.
28:59What were the human performance issues that caused her to not recognize this situation?
29:07As McIntosh pieces together events in the LAX tower...
29:12Doesn't make sense.
29:14...investigator Hughes wonders what prevented so many passengers from reaching the plane's exits.
29:21This airplane was designed with six functional emergency exits,
29:26all of which would have allowed the passengers, under normal circumstances,
29:30to have made a safe evacuation in 90 seconds.
29:33L-1 wouldn't have even opened.
29:37Hughes learns what he can about the exits used during the evacuation.
29:43As the airplane slid to a stop,
29:47the L-1 door collided with the side of a building,
29:50which wouldn't allow it to be opened.
29:53That leaves five others.
29:56What's the story with L-2?
29:58The rear left exit was operational,
30:04and it was not used during the evacuation.
30:07Patricia Hodges explains to investigators
30:10why no one exited from the left rear exit.
30:14The door has a little porthole,
30:17and that's where I saw the orange glow.
30:21With a fire burning outside the exit,
30:24Hodges keeps the door closed.
30:26That leaves four.
30:30But this would have been too dangerous.
30:33The left over wing exit was utilized by only two passengers.
30:38No other passengers made way out of the airplane through that exit,
30:42which was probably due to the intensity of the fire and fumes on that side of the airplane.
30:47Everything else opened.
30:49People made their way out of R-1,
30:52the right over wing,
30:53and R-2.
30:54You should be able to get 89 people at three doors in less than two minutes.
31:02Given the number of passengers on the airplane that wasn't full,
31:05there's no reason to believe that they all couldn't have evacuated within the 90 seconds.
31:10Investigators take a closer look at how the evacuation unfolded.
31:14Three people were able to make their exit through the R-1 door,
31:26and I believe it was attributable to the intensity of the fire and the toxic fumes that were generated in front of the cabinet.
31:35Other people weren't able to go forward and make their exit through that door.
31:41About 37 people went out here over the right wing.
31:45That's a lot.
31:46Only about 15 passengers made their way back to their best option, the R-2 exit.
31:54The rest went forward.
31:56The flight attendants tell investigators they were urging passengers to move to the rear.
32:03Come this way.
32:05Leave your belongings.
32:06Come this way.
32:08Yet passengers moved in the opposite direction.
32:12Initially, we wondered why the people were moving toward the front of the airplane
32:16rather than the back of the airplane as directed by the flight attendants.
32:21Hughes hopes survivor testimony will give him the answer he needs.
32:26Passenger in 19C actually crawled over seats to get to the overwing exit.
32:33Scott Vaughan is one of the passengers sitting at the rear of the plane who moved forward.
32:39There was a lot of confusion, and I'm quite sure there was a lot of quick assessment
32:45to which way should I go in this cabin.
32:49He starts here on the left side of the plane, and he moves to the right side,
32:54and he climbs over eight rows of seats to get to this exit here.
33:00There was an emergency exit just three rows behind him.
33:07Why did Vaughan move forward and take a longer path out of the plane?
33:12I never looked back.
33:13All I was focused on was reacting and getting out of the plane.
33:19And for whatever reason, at that moment, I saw it as the exit was go forward,
33:24not in back of me.
33:27It's just human nature.
33:28You know, if you know you're in a fight-or-flight situation,
33:31you've got to get out of the airplane.
33:32And if you see daylight near an overwing exit window,
33:35chances are that that might be what attracted the people to go in that direction.
33:39One after another, after another.
33:45If only they'd look behind them.
33:49Hughes understands why so many passengers went forward instead of to the nearer exit at the rear,
33:55but not why 11 people died within reach of an open door.
34:03As survivability investigators try to work out why so many died on board U.S. Air Flight 1493.
34:10She was having trouble reaching another plane.
34:13Transcripts of radio calls have given Bob McIntosh a better understanding of why the controller forgot there was another plane on the runway.
34:22Wings West 5006, tower.
34:32Wings West 5006, tower.
34:36Just before she cleared the Metroliner to hold on the runway,
34:40the controller lost radio contact with another taxiing airplane.
34:44The controller called the aircraft several times and there was a delay of, I think, more than 30 seconds where
34:53there was no communication from this aircraft.
34:57Then, one minute before the crash, she can't find a flight strip for a departing aircraft.
35:07Tower, Wings West 5072 is ready for takeoff.
35:11Tower, Wings West 5072.
35:17McIntosh has identified a series of distractions that caused the controller to lose track of the Metroliner holding on the runway.
35:28The local controller had numerous deviations from an aircraft she couldn't get a hold of,
35:34an aircraft without a departure strip.
35:36All these things were working on her efficiency to recognize that aircraft that was still out there in the middle of the runway
35:45when she issued a landing clearance for 1493.
35:49They all reported a log jam when they approached the exit at row 10.
35:59Survivability expert Hank Hughes now pieces together the events that led to the blockage of the row 10 exit.
36:06It's estimated the evacuation took approximately three to four minutes.
36:23Three to four minutes is a long time.
36:25According to passenger interviews, people were moving very slowly as they headed towards the right overwing exit.
36:35They were almost at a standstill.
36:41So what's the holdup?
36:47Investigators find their first clue in the burnt-out wreckage.
36:50We found that the overwing exit hatch was sitting in the actual emergency exit row.
37:07I was crawling on top of the exit door that was on top of the seats to get out of the exit.
37:17Everyone is just moving slowly.
37:18The placement of the hatch on the floor resting against the seat
37:23provided an obstruction that was the width of the hatch,
37:27which is probably close to a foot and a half or two feet,
37:31and it would have been a significant impediment to their getting out of the airplane quickly.
37:37After the 737's emergency exit door is opened,
37:41it's supposed to be pushed through the opening and tossed away from the plane.
37:45This clears the opening to allow passengers to escape quickly.
37:52Passengers are briefed on how to properly open the emergency exit door.
37:57So why didn't that happen?
38:00The passenger sitting next to the door wasn't the one who opened it.
38:03During the emergency, the passenger seated directly next to the right overwing exit hatch
38:10was unable to open the door where they either froze or were frightened.
38:21Fortunately, a passenger seated behind them was able to get up and open the overwing exit hatch.
38:27The passenger who opened the door didn't push it outside the exit.
38:34Passengers had to climb over and around the emergency exit hatch to get out of the airplane,
38:41which cost time.
38:43Investigators identify one further factor that would have slowed progress to the emergency exit.
38:49Investigators discover reports of an altercation between two passengers on board U.S. Air Flight 1493.
39:11A young man's mother was trying to get out and a male passenger pushed his way past the mother
39:17and her son, unfortunately, got into a fistfight with the gentleman that pushed his mother out of the way.
39:27It was very unfortunate and tragic because it cost valuable time.
39:31The delay opening the door, the crush of passengers moving forward instead of to the exit at the back,
39:39the placement of the door, and the altercation at the exit all added vital minutes to the evacuation,
39:47minutes that ended up costing passengers their lives.
39:50In an emergency evacuation, every second counts.
39:56The one thing you don't have is time in an emergency situation because a post-crash fire or other hazard
40:04as a result of an accident often kills as many people as an accident does.
40:10Hank Hughes' investigation has determined why nearly one quarter of the passengers on U.S. Air Flight 1493
40:31were unable to escape the burning airplane.
40:35In the view of the safety board, the toxic fume and fire was the major contributing factor to the loss of life.
40:44Hughes and his team make a number of recommendations to improve the chances of survival inside the cabin.
40:50They focus on preventing a bottleneck at an exit from occurring again.
40:56Basically, the recommendation provided that the F.A. provide a rule that requires that the passengers be screened
41:02for their suitability to serve as evacuators in overwing exit rows
41:08and also provide a specific briefing for those passengers
41:12and that the passengers acknowledge that they are responsible in the event of an emergency.
41:20Flight attendants are also required to make sure passengers know where the nearest emergency exit is
41:27during their briefing and to point out that it may be behind them.
41:32Take out that seat back card, find out where all of the exits are,
41:37and then count the rows, if you can, between the exits
41:41that could possibly save your life.
41:48Finally, to prevent the fast-spreading fire which quickly engulfed the cabin and released toxic smoke,
41:55the NTSB recommends that all older planes are fully updated with fire-retardant materials as soon as possible.
42:05Modern-day aircraft cabin furnishings don't burn so easily,
42:10allowing more time for passengers to evacuate the aircraft,
42:15increasing their chances of survival.
42:17Van Spurgeon goes on to join USAir's training program as an instructor.
42:26I wanted to pass along all of the information that I learned from my situation as a training instructor.
42:37The survivors of Flight 1493 have their own ideas about what allowed them to escape.
42:44I was feeling, get the hell out of there.
42:51That's what I was feeling.
42:52But it was all reactionary.
42:53It wasn't this logical moment that many people think about,
42:57well, first, then we're going to do this, and then we're going to do that.
42:59It doesn't work that way.
43:00I think it was luck.
43:08I think the fact that I went backwards instead of forwards saved my life.
43:13I think the fact that I remained calm probably helped.
43:19But at the end of the day, if something blew up, I would have been unlucky.
43:23I was in the right seat and did the right things.
43:37I don't think I panicked at all.
43:39I was listening to my instincts, I think, and I did what I had to do.
43:46I never felt like I was going to die.
43:55I wasn't ready to die.