On January 1, 1985, Eastern Air Lines Flight 980 crashed into the 21,000 foot Mt. Illimani while on approach to La Paz, Bolivia. The Boeing 727 was carrying 29 passengers.
None survived. High altitude, rugged terrain, and avalanches thwarted multiple attempts to reach the wreckage. The plane was buried in a glacier, and the only evidence of the crash was the faint smell of jet fuel and a few pieces of the aircraft’s fuselage. No bodies were found.
By 1986, the Bolivian government and the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) had formally abandoned the search for Flight 980, citing pilot error and inclement weather as the likely causes of the accident. Many, however, have cast their doubts on this “offcial” account of the crash.
MAY–2016
In the history of aviation, only 21 airline black boxes remain unrecovered. Most lie at the bottom of an ocean, sea or lake. Several were destroyed by fre, including the two that crashed into the World Trade Center on September 11. The last three unrecovered black boxes belonged to a Boeing 727 that was stolen in 2003, a Nigerian domestic fight from 2005, and Eastern Air Liness Flight 980. That’s it.
Former Eastern Air Liness pilot George Jehn calls the crash of EA980 “the single greatest aviation mystery of the 20th century.”
In 2016, Dan Futrell and Isaac Stoner, two Bostonians with no climbing experience, mounted a small expedition to search for the remains of the missing Eastern jet. After a few days on Mt. Illimani, they discovered the plane’s wreckage in a vast debris feld, exposed by recent glacial melting. Along with obliterated plane parts, the victims’ personal belongings, and human remains, Dan and Isaac discovered the plane’s black box.
They returned to Boston ready to deliver the Cockpit Voice Recorder and Flight Data Recorder to the NTSB in hopes of providing answers to the mystery of how Eastern Air Lines Flight 980 went down, and to bring closure to the families of the victims. Dan and Isaac thought this would be the fnal chapter in the decades-long saga surrounding the crash.
What they couldn’t possibly know was that the story was just beginning.
Dan Futrell and Isaac Stoner thought they had uncovered the wreckage of a 30-year-old Boeing 727. In fact, they stumbled into a complex and potentially far-reaching conspiracy — a dark plot involving a major U.S. airline, corporate greed, South American drug traffcking, and the Iran-Contra Affair. Eastern Air Lines pilot George Jehn calls the crash of Former EA980 “the single greatest aviation mystery of the 20th century.”
In the vacuum created by a tragedy whose mysteries remain unsolved, dark theories run wild…
THIS DOCUMENTARY SERIES
BLACK BOX is a down-the-rabbit-hole documentary series like no other. Part Making a Murderer, part Serial, part high on cocaine, with guerrilla warfare, redactedThe documents, Jinx - but never-before-seen testimony, and an incredible cast of real characters leading the way. And the best part — still unfolding in real time… the story is
Flight 980’s black box is currently in the hands of the NTSB, which recently revealed that the damaged device is incomplete, leading investigators to believe that key portions of it are still lying on the side of Mt. Illimani. A new expedition is in the works, with former NTSB investigators, climbers, and forensic experts on board to help get to the bottom of this story.
This six-part documentary series combines elements of true crime storytelling and investigative journalism in an effort to both solve the mystery of Eastern Air Lines Flight 980 and to answer larger questions about journalism, conspiracies, and governmental corruption. In this remarkable story, the crash of Flight 980 serves as a portal to the scandals of the 1980s, a vehicle to explore and explain the Reagan-Era’s complex legacy in the larger context of American history. Through congressional testimony, newly declassifed documents, eyewitness accounts, and interviews with journalists and government investigators, BLACK BOX unravels not only the complicated narrative of Iran-Contra but the narcotraffc saga of the 1980’s - all connected to a singular plane crash and a major airline’s complicity.
BLACK BOX will inspire the audience to question, hypothesize, and devise their own theories based on the overwhelming evidence presented by our series.
• MISSION ACCOMPLISHED? • Decision is made to bring black box back to United States • Smuggle through customs, return to Boston. • Contact with FAA and NTSB. Dan and Isaac violated international law. CHAPTER ONE: ASCENT AND DESCENT • Frosty relations with Bolivian government. • LATE NIGHT PHONE CALL - Dan and Isaac receive a call from an This episode marks the initial entry into the mystery of Flight unknown man claiming to have information about the sabotage of 980, as well as the remarkable and dangerous ascent of Mt. Illimani Flight 980. by Dan, Isaac, and Peter. • Details of Alfredo Straussner, Paraguayan dictator. • Arthur Davis changed plans last minute on fight, wife is • BACKGROUND - An introduction to the crash of Flight 980 through killed. Dan, Isaac and Peter’s trip to Bolivia and climb up Mt. Illimani. • They return back to George Jehn, the former pilot who urged them to read his book. • OUR MAN IN PORTLAND - Meet Peter Frick-Wright, a journalist and the objective, outside perspective into this story. • TWO GUYS FROM BOSTON - The backstory and motivation for the journey. • What inspired Dan and Isaac to investigate a 30-year-old plane crash in Bolivia? • What attracted Peter to their story? • What happened on Mt. Illimani? • PREPARATION - The road to Bolivia. • Altitude tents, long runs, and learning the basics of mountain climbing. • They contact George Jehn, former Eastern pilot who simply tells them to “read his book”. They do not heed Jehn’s advice. • EXPEDITION - A chronicle of the trip to Bolivia. • Robert Rauch and Jose Lazo - Sherpas and guides introduced. • Altitude sickness and challenges in foreign terrain. • Through this new adventure, Dan and Isaac’s friendship grows deeper. • DISCOVERY - The expedition fnds the wreckage and a frantic search for the black boxes begins. • Human remains, mementos, clothes and contraband discovered. • Meet Stacey Greer, daughter of Flight 980 co-pilot Mike Bird, and Judith Kelly, wife of passenger William Kelly, who was President of the U.S. Peace Corps in Paraguay at the time. • Explore Stacey and Dan’s connection over military service and trauma. • Dan and Isaac fnd the black box. CHAPTER ONE: ASCENT AND DESCENT CLIFFHANGER
As the seeds of doubt and conspiracy are planted, we conclude the episode with uncovered footage of an unidentifed pilot giving explosive testimony before Senator John Kerry in 1988, testimony which describes the pilot witnessing the offoading of drugs and money on an Eastern fight in Panama City in 1984. The details are part of an unreleased FBI report obtained by Kerry’s investigation.
CUT TO: George Jehn, the pilot Dan and Isaac reached out to before the trip: “I told them to read my book.”
SMASH TO BLACK.
• THE CRASH: AN EXPLANATION - In the midst of the union negotiations and dismantling of Eastern Air Lines, Flight 980 crashes on January 1, 1985. • NTSB never able to reach crash site, recover black box and conclusively determine cause of plane crash. CHAPTER TWO: EASTERN PROMISES • Possible causes • Pilot error -- A perfect storm of antiquated technology, an The second installment is the frst step into the rabbit hole of this inexperienced crew, problematic fight conditions, a lack of series, which focuses on the state of Eastern Air Lines following the ground radar and inclement weather. deregulation of the airline industry in the 1970s. Through a combination of archival footage, interviews, and the detailed accounts of former • Sabotage -- The plane was brought down on purpose, but why? Eastern employees, we chronicle the rise and fall of Eastern Air Lines as And by whom? it relates to the timeline of the crash of Flight 980. • BUILDING THE CONNECTION - In the months following the crash, a paper trail reveals deliberate interference on the part of Eastern Air Lines upper management and the NTSB, and potential collusion by the • BOOTSTRAP BEGINNINGS 1938 - 1960s - A brief history of Eastern Air Reagan State Department. Lines starting with its founding by World War I ace and aviation legend, Eddie Rickenbacker. • Quickly becomes one of the largest carriers in the United States. • Glory days of aviation exemplifed by Eastern. • DEREGULATION - END OF THE JET SET - 1970s - A look at the deregulation of the airline industry in the 1970s. • MEET FRANK BORMAN - Former Apollo astronaut is made CEO in 1975. • Chain of events begin with Borman and Eastern’s acquisition of South American routes from competitor airline and deregulation casualty, Braniff Airways. • GREED IS GOOD - 1980s - George Jehn, the chief airline pilot’s union negotiator during Eastern’s labor disputes of the 1980s, provides a frst-hand account of deceit and deception on the part of Eastern management in an effort to bankrupt the airline and liquidate the company’s assets. • Eastern Air Lines was second largest airline in the United States in early 1980’s when contentious labor negotiations began. • In 1986, after a year of record profts, Eastern sold for cents on the dollar to Frank Lorenzo, the infamous corporate raider. • Eastern’s assets sold over the next six years until the airline ceased operations in 1991. • With the end of the airline came the end of the pensions and careers of over 50,000 Eastern Air Lines employees. CHAPTER TWO: EASTERN PROMISES CLIFFHANGER
George Jehn: “All of a sudden, I started looking at the timeline…”
1983-84 - The Boland Amendment cuts off Congressional funding to CIA- backed Contras in Nicaragua 1984 - EA pilot Jerry Loeb witnesses money palettes boarding fights in and out of Panama 1984-1985 - Eastern turns record profts JAN. 1, 1985 - PLANE CRASH IN BOLIVIA Late JAN. 1985 - Eastern management demands 20% paycut from Pilots, Mechanics, and Flight Attendant Unions
George Jehn: “And then something started to happen….”
As the possibilities unfold and as George investigates the crash into the summer of 1986, stories with a familiar theme begin appearing in newspapers across the country. Stories about drug traffcking, the CIA, and a small group of anti-communists called the Contras in Central America.
George Jehn: “And then…”
NOVEMBER 06, 1986…. TOM BROKAW ON THE NIGHTLY NEWS “Tonight, new evidence of an alleged hostage-for-arms deal with the Iranian government was released in a report by Lebanese journalists today, in what appears to be a clandestine effort to illegally fund the anti-communist Contras in Nicaragua.”
The Iran-Contra story breaks, and is front page news.
SMASH TO BLACK
• CONTRA - An examination of Nicaragua through the lens of Red Dread. • Contras - the nickname for the anti-Communist rebels trying to remove pro-Communist Sandinistas in Nicaragua. • U.S. afraid of Communism spreading in vital trade area in Central America, specifcally the Panama Canal. CHAPTER THREE: IRAN-CONTRA • U.S. also afraid of Communist revolt spreading to Mexico, and that the U.S.S.R. could have an “active airbase” on Southern Chapter Three takes us one step further into the rabbit hole by border. examining Frank Borman’s connections to the Reagan administration and • Communism threatens U.S. existence economically in Nicaragua. Eastern Air Lines’ role in the defning political scandal of the 1980’s: • CONNECTION the Iran-Contra Affair. Once Congress shut off funding to the Contras, • U.S.-backed Contras, it turns out, are actually drug dealing Eastern stepped in to help execute the administration’s operation. terrorists killing innocent civilians in Nicaragua. Popular support in the United States wanes. • IRAN-CONTRA FOR DUMMIES -- An easy-to-understand illustrated • 1982-1984 Congress passes the Boland Amendment barring funding of explanation of one of the most confusing, controversial, wide-ranging Contras and business dealings with terrorist states, i.e. Iran. and clandestine foreign relations operations in American history. • PROBLEM - Stopping spread of communism in Middle East and Central • Cartoon Animation a la Schoolhouse Rock explains, briefy, the key America cannot be achieved through traditional military operations or to understanding a ridiculously confusing scandal. diplomacy. • 1978-1979 - An examination of two events that point America in the • Arms embargo means U.S. can’t sell weapons to Iran. direction of what would become the Iran-Contra Affair. • Boland Amendment means no money to fund Contras. • Ousting of Somoza as U.S.-backed dictator in Nicaragua and the rise • SOLUTION - Reagan Administration says, “FUCK IT!” - Decides to kill of the communist-sympathizing Sandinistas. two birds with one stone - sell Iran arms to prevent Soviet infuence • Fall of Shah in Iran and rise of Radical Islamic State, Ayatollah in the Middle East and use the profts to fund Contras to prevent Khomeini’s rise to power. Soviet infuence Central America. • RED DREAD - Understanding the perceived existential threat that the spread of communism posed to the United States during the Cold War. • Southeast Asia/Vietnam: a case study. • Economic consequences of Communism in terms of U.S. trade. • Battlefeld of cold war in third-world countries, combatting the spread of Communism via these trade routes. • IRAN - Examination of Iran in relation to Red Dread. • Prior to 1979 rise of Ayatollah Khomeini, U.S. had been openly selling arms to Iran. • Iran takes U.S. hostages in 1979 Islamic Revolution and the U.S. places arms embargo on the country under President Carter, an embargo the Reagan upholds when he takes offce. • However, people in the Reagan administration are terrifed the Soviet Union will begin selling arms to Iran to create a sphere of infuence or possibly invade the Middle East through Iran, ultimately cut off trade, taking oil, etc… CHAPTER THREE: IRAN-CONTRA CLIFFHANGER
The real question: what the hell does this have to do with an Eastern Air Lines crash in Bolivia? Meet Jack Blum, legal counsel and chief investigator on John Kerry Subcommittee on Narcotics and Terrorism in the late 1980s.
JACK BLUM: “The real story about Iran-Contra has very little to do with Iran and very much to do with the Contras. The Reagan administration had been illegally funding the Contras for years before they sold arms to Iran.”
QUESTION: “How did the U.S. fund the contras prior to the sale of arms to Iran?”
JACK BLUM: “Through the sale and traffcking of cocaine from Central and South America into the United States.”
QUESTION: What about Eastern Air Lines?
JACK BLUM: “That’s a whole other story.”
• CIA + DRUGS - Jack Blum explains CIA covert operations are full of mission oriented people who use any and all means to accomplish task in front of them. • 1983 AP article detailing CIA “Guide to Guerrilla Warfare” discovered in Nicaragua, which details methods of torture and CHAPTER FOUR: COCAINE AND SOUTH AMERICA terror to be used on Nicaraguan civilians. • CIA knows funding will be cut off by Boland Amendment. In this episode, we look at the coca leaf in South America through the • Needs new funding. lens European colonization and the rise of American infuence in the late • Let drug trade to U.S. exist and thrive to fund Contras. 20th century. • PANAMA CONNECTION • Panama is bank of drug trade. • HISTORY - An in depth exploration of coca. • CIA-backed Noriega organizes funnelling of money to Contras. • Dan, Isaac, Peter chew coca leaf to combat altitude sickness on • CIA allows cocaine sales in U.S. their trip. • Ramon Milion Rodriguez, Panama bookkeeper details this in • Tribal perspectives - miracle plant. testimony before Kerry Committee. • Medical discovery. • THE EASTERN CONNECTION - Eastern Air Lines, with its hub in Miami • COCAINE SYNTHESIS + COCAINE BOOM and its ownership of South American routes, becomes a drug mule and • Explanation of the production of cocaine, transformation from coca money laundering mechanism. This is discovered when Jerry Loeb plant to power. corroborates, in detail, the testimony of Ramon Milion Rodriguez • Through the use of clips from TV shows/flms/popular culture, a before Kerry Subcommittee. “Meta-Montage” of the cocaine boom in the 1970s and 1980s. • THE PARAGUAY CONNECTION • TINDERBOX • A shipment of ether to the country was expected just before the • Corruption in Columbia, the Bahamas, Nicaragua, Panama, Cuba, crash of Eastern Air Lines Flight 980, and Ambassador Davis tried Haiti, Honduras, Columbia. to stop it. • Pablo Escobar just the tip of the iceberg. • Davis attempted to meet with Paraguayan dictator Alfredo • Lawless areas created by crooked dictators profting from the drug Straussner in December of 1984, but was denied audience. trade. • Plane crashes three weeks later. • KERRY SUBCOMMITTEE • After Iran-Contra breaks, Senator John Kerry launches the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Narcotics, and International Operations - a probe into the drug component of the Iran-Contra. • CIA involvement with Contras and encouraging narcotics traffcking in order to fund anti-communist army on border of Honduras and Nicaragua. • HISTORICAL EXAMPLE - Jack Blum looks at Laos and Air America in which CIA used drug profts to fund illegal war. CHAPTER FOUR: COCAINE AND SOUTH AMERICA CLIFFHANGER
THE PHONE CALL
After returning from Mt. Illimani, Dan Futrell and Isaac Stoner receive a series of strange phone calls, and a voicemail alleging knowledge of the plot:
“I really wish I could leave you a number to get back to me, but unfortunately, I don’t want to get involved in this. That was not an accident. That was a bomb on board that plane.”
• PRIMARY THEORIES • Sabotage - An assassination attempt of Ambassador Davis who was trying to prevent ether sale to Paraguay. • The idea that Flight 980 carried hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of fne snake skins and potential undeclared contraband CHAPTER FIVE: CONSPIRACY (cocaine and/or cash), which Eastern brass/U.S. government offcials did not was uncovered in an investigation. Conspiracy theories are born in a vacuum created by the absence of • Raoul Diaz and evidence of Eastern baggage handlers connection. evidence and raised by the wounds of trauma. Through interviews and • TIMELINE GRAPHIC - A detailed timeline of all the events leading up testimonies of several expert witnesses, our series goes deep to uncover to this as they support the theory put forth by Jehn and others. the truth about the crash of Flight 980 and what really brought down Eastern Air Lines.
• CONSPIRACY: A CASE STUDY - The nature of conspiracy examined and explained through historical perspectives. • JFK - The classic conspiracy. • PLANE CRASHES + CONSPIRACY • TWA FLIGHT 800 • 9/11 • Malaysia Airlines Crash • EASTERN AIR LINES CONSPIRACY - A looks at the theory. • Frank Borman, George Jehn, and Skip Copeland meeting and the sale of Eastern Air Lines. Borman wants Eastern to go bankrupt. • Eastern Air Lines and the cocaine connection. • NTSB and the failure to properly investigate the crash of Flight 980. • RAY VALDEZ - Former Eastern pilot Ray Valdez was supposed to be on Flight 980. He details his quest to fnd the truth and give peace to the families. • Valdez’s privately funded investigation. Wants to make a flm about a trip to wreckage to raise money for Eastern employees killed in the crash. • Secret offer from Borman to hide tape and increase victim compensation from $5,000 to $500,000. • INTERCONTINENTAL DETECTIVE AGENCY - After Ray makes his flm and searches the wreckage, he is threatened by a P.I. and warned to stop digging around Eastern 980. • Raoul Diaz, former dirty cop, hired by Eastern to threaten pilots. • Raoul Diaz and evidence of Eastern baggage handlers connection. CHAPTER FIVE: CONSPIRACY CLIFFHANGER
The highest positions within the U.S. government made certain that these criminal dealings - illicit arrangement that could have led to Reagan’s impeachment and the imprisonment of many of his closest aides - along with the involvement of top Eastern management, were covered up, not investigated, not exposed. A proper investigation of the crash of Eastern Air Lines Flight 980 may have exposed those activities. And the only way to ensure this crash would never be properly investigated was to destroy Eastern Air Lines.
In the cliffhanger, we look at the close ties between Frank Borman and Ronald Reagan, including personal correspondence and Borman’s curious relationship with James B. Burnett, the chairman of the NTSB who was appointed by Reagan in 1984. Through this, we fnd irrefutable proof that Eastern Air Lines was well aware of the cocaine traffcking on their aircraft. Did they destroy the airline to cover it up? And did they secretly send a group up to the crash in 1985 to destroy or hide evidence?
George Jehn: “Some one needs to go back there and look at that wreckage. It’s the only way we’ll ever know what happened.”
A new expedition to the crash site is underway.
• A PROPER INVESTIGATION • Frank Borman is still alive. • Frank Lorenzo is still alive. • We seek to get answers from two of the principal players in the Eastern scandal. CHAPTER SIX: TODAY • Trip planning is UNDERWAY. Dan, Isaac, and Peter gearing up for another expedition, and this time we plan on bringing an accident Our story is still unfolding. The mystery still deepening. There still investigator to the site to try to make a determination as to hasn’t been a proper investigation of crash site. It’s time to go back to what caused this crash. Bolivia.
• FACT AND FICTION • Journalist Peter Frick-Wright investigates the fne line between fact and fction, and where memory can give way to fantasy. • How does a journalist report what cannot be verifed? • A look at decimation of information in the digital age. • GARY WEBB + JACK BLUM - Jack Blum explains how Gary Webb reported his story incorrectly in regards to the CIA’s involvement with drug traffcking. Blum also explains that the CIA was involved in illegal operations, but in a more sinister way.
• REFLECTION - The players in this story look offer their own theories regarding Eastern Flight 980. • What is it about this crash that has captured the imagination? • Why airplanes? Why the fascination in the media? • What really happened up there based on what you know. • RELATION TO TODAY • Examination of Flight 980 and the demise of Eastern Air Lines as it relates to one of today’s most pressing issues: determining the validity of information. In Trump’s America, how likely is another conspiracy like that of Flight 980? • IRAN-CONTRA as a scandal as it pertains to today’s political climate. • America’s scandal fatigue. • VICTIMS • Connect with the families of the victims -- What is the take away from the crash 30 years later? • Dan and Isaac bring us back to this being the initial purpose of their trip. • Sensationalism in our culture.
STYLE AND TONE
BLACK BOX offers a glimpse into the analog video days of the 1980s, and this documentary intends to embrace the style of the times. While numerous political dramas unfolded in the 80s, a cultural revolution was also taking place in the decade of MTV. Music, video, vibe, and nostalgia will be the stylistic backbone of the piece, allowing viewers to travel and experience the scandals of the eighties in vivid detail, as a means of painting a picture of what life was like then, and how it is eerily similar to today. NARRATION
Through tightly written and no-nonsense voice-over narration, we fll in the gaps and illuminate the darkness. This sprawling saga is fueled by mystery, tragedy and political intrigue, and BLACK BOX’S narrator will serve as another fully formed human character, displaying evenhanded objectivity in the face of a true story that sometimes strains credulity.
Flight 980’s black box is currently in the hands of the NTSB, who recently revealed that the damaged device is incomplete, leaving investigators to believe that key portions of it are still lying there.
A new expedition is in the works, with former NTSB investigators, climbers, and forensic experts on board to help get to the bottom of this story. This six-part documentary series combines elements of true crime storytelling and journalism.
Black Box will inspire the audience to devise their own theories