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Flight 965 takes off an hour after sunset and is cleared to climb to a flight altitude of 37,000 feet. it's december 20th, 1995. in a little over three hours, the twin engine boeing 757 is scheduled to land in cali, colombia just in time for the holidays. >> it was my birthday, my 21st birthday. so the trip to go back home to columbia was a gift for my birthday and to celebrate christmas and new year's. mercedes ramirez's family was on standby because of a two-hour delay. because of a snowstorm in the northeast. they end up getting the last three seats. miami based crew captain spots lights do...

Landing. and then they accept a runway change that will speed up their arrival time. but first officer don williams says he'll have to scramble to get down in time for the shorter approach. >> modern jets are so aerodynamically efficient, one of the greatest challenges in flying them is getting them down and getting them to slow down. speed breaks or flight spoilers are devices used to help increase the descent rate to help it slow down. >> the captain deploys 965 speed brakes and types in the letter r for rozo, the code for the radio beacon a few miles short of the runway. but instead of flyi...

The effectiveness of the ground proximity warning equipment to provide pilots with an earlier warning than the 12 seconds they had on flight 965. >> the cali accident was one of the true industry game changers. after this accident the recognition of the critical need for predictive technology revolutionized aviation safety and the control flight into terrain accident type went down dramatically. >> out of all of the planes that were in the sky that day, why, why our plane? why us? >> mercedes ramirez still struggles to make sense of the world without the two cherished people she lost that nigh...

>> pull up. >> the 757's engines accelerate as the captain tells his first officer to pull up. >> all of the sudden you're going straight into the air like you're on a rocket or something. so it was just sheer panic. [siren sound] >> pull up! pull up! coming up -- chaos breaks out onboard american airlines flight 965. >> i kept on saying, just straighten it out, just straighten it out. ooñóokñ.??????ó

Goforth asag he pumped gas. now back it our msnbc special. december 20th, 1995, american airlines flight 965 is about to begin its descent to cali, colombia. the boeing 757's approach is through a narrow corridor, in between one of the tallest mountain ranges, the andes. 155 passengers are on board, including mercedes ramirez and both of their parents. they're eager to be reunited with relatives waiting for them at the airport. >> you can tell everybody was excited because this was a christmas back home flight. >> air traffic control clears flight 965 to descend to 15,000 feet and proceed to...