a holding pattern, the more alarm the first officer and flight engineer are becoming about the fuel situation. at 5:50 p.m., 18 miles south of the airport, one of them speaks up but still, not forcefully. >> the flight engineer is staring at the fuel gages and said not enough. that's going to run us very close out here but in the precrm era, you didn't challenge these authority figures. >> the first officer and flight engineer both insinuated and made statements but they were not direct. they didn't say captain, we are running out of fuel. we have to go to the airport right now. >> the d.c. 8 left denver with nearly 47,000 pounds of fuel. by 5:55 p.m., only 4,000 pounds remain. but the captain still thinks they can make it to the airport. the passengers know nothing about the dire fuel situation.