A Birgen Airlines flight, a Boeing 757, takes off from the Dominican Republic for Santo Domingo Airport. Everything looks normal until the pilot notices that the first officer's air speed doesn't match his own. The pilot's air speed indicator shows that the airplane is traveling much too fast, beyond the recommended top speed. The co-pilot's indicator shows that the airplane is too slow.
Five minutes into the flight, over the Caribbean Sea, the stall warning begins shaking the controls and the flight disappears from radar. The Dominican Navy arrives to find a large patch of jet fuel, scattered wreckage, and floating bodies. One hundred and fifty-nine people died in the crash. The next morning they're joined by ships of the U. S. Coast Guard from San Juan. The American National Transportation Safety Board agrees to assist the Dominican investigators.
The determinants behind the accident are complicated, as is usual. Air speed is measured by pitot tubes on the outside of the fuselage. The one leading to the pilots instrument was blocked and giving false signals. At the same time multiple warning lights ad alarms were going off. It was all very confusing and the pilot chose to accept the readings of his own airspeed indicator while ignoring the other instruments. It was a lethal mistake.
I'm still impressed by the clarity of the presentation, the graphics and the lucid testimony of the experts. It's not just dramatic, it's informative.