Episode credited cast: | |||
Stephen Bogaert | ... | Narrator (voice) | |
Carlos Gonzalez-Vio | ... | Captain Garcez | |
Marco Grazzini | ... | First Officer Zille | |
Michael Reventar | ... | ATC Controller | |
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Emidio Michetti | ... | Ronaldo Jenkins |
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Paquito 'Paco' Hernaci | ... | Douglas Machado (as Paquito Hernaci) |
Manuel Rodriguez-Saenz | ... | Carlos Siqueira | |
Rest of cast listed alphabetically: | |||
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John Cox | ... | Himself |
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Ronaldo Jenkins | ... | Himself |
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Douglas Machado | ... | Himself |
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Kathleen Mosier | ... | Herself (as Dr. Kathleen Mosier) |
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Ivan Sant'Anna | ... | Himself |
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Carlos Siqueira | ... | Himself |
Varig Flight 254 was a 737 on its way to Belem, Brazil from Sao Paulo, Brazil. Due to pilot error, it ran out of fuel and crashed into the Amazon jungle.
This is a fine series. The episodes have little in common except the fact that a sizable airplane and its crew get into trouble and make contact with the earth. Here, as elsewhere, the story is presented in three parts: (1) disaster, (2) investigation, (3) solution. Agatha Christie couldn't do better.
In this instance a Varig flight over the Amazon basin takes off and must head northeast towards Belém. Instead the pilot and first officer, both experienced, fly directly west. After the 25-minute flight time has expired and they see nothing of the airport, the pilot concludes that they must have overshot the field and turns the airplane due south until fuel is exhausted and they crash in the jungle, killing five people.
I don't think I want to give too much away but I will say that there was nothing wrong with their navigation instruments. So why did the airplane come down? Because of a decimal point.