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Thank you for covering this. I always remember this one, apart from Lockerbie, it was one of the first crash that I remember ever seeing on the news when I was young. It has been very enlightening hearing you go through everything that happened to the jet. I have to agree that the official death toll is far too low, more than that were definitely killed, especially Ghanaians. So many were left ill on the ground afterwards too.
@@harveytyler4869 The local authorities rushed the clean up of the site, for reasons best known to themselves, and it ended up in a landfill somewhere (along with a lot of human remains). Having said that, it was probably heavily damaged by the force of this crash and may not have had much recoverable data on it anyway. The flight data recorder was recovered, and it was heavily damaged by the impact and needed forensic reconstruction before they could get the data off it. But given that virtually every surivor in the apartments and nearby apartment blocks came down with something suspiciously similar to either Gulf War Syndrome, or nerve poisoning, there likely was something on the plane that wasn't meant to be there, or so the theory goes anyway. Certainly the lack of recovery of the CVR did nothing to allay those suspicions.
@@crypticmirror I read your comment before the video got to the crash section, and I thought that maybe there might be an additive in the fuel used by the aircraft. Now I'm not so sure.
Every accident is sad but to me, the calmness and professionalism of the crew was so inspiring; considering the circumstance. Hearing them calmly say, 'Going down' and them seeing and knowing their fate is truly heartbreaking. Rest in peace, heroes! ❤️
Yes, this is the video that had affected me the most so far. It shouldn't be, but seeing both crew and ATC do everything right, and ending in tragedy anyway... It touched something in me.
The most chilling part of this particular story to me is that they went through simulations afterwards. Basically, the engine separation and hit to the other engine and wing had such a devastating effect on the wing that, even in simulations, even when they knew exactly what was going to happen, they weren't able to land the plane after it happened. The damage on the wing was so bad that it would've fallen out of the sky, one way or the other.
@@musichigh7436 They obviously did not know that the engines were physically gone and thought they could make it back to the airport. A 747 should be able to make it home on 2 engines, even if on same wing.
@@musichigh7436 if the airplane was controllable it wouldn't have crashed anywhere 🤦 The pilots also had no way of knowing the extent of the damage; it was a cargo plane that didn't even have windows.
My family and I went to Holland, specifically Amsterdam, about 10 years ago. Not far from our hotel was a park, and we went for a walk there 1 afternoon. It wasnt, until we reached the memorial, that we realised, this was, where this crash happened. This was very somber, especially for me, as this crash made a huge impression on me, when it happened. I was a teenager at the time, and the horror of a 747 crashing into a huge appartment building, well, it was incomprehensible to me at time. And the human story, that hit me the most, was of the 2 teenagers, who were killed in their apartment. Their parents had just left a few minutes earlier with a casual see-u-later to take their bikes to go see a couple of friends. They got about a kilometer or so, then the plane crashed, and they rushed back to see only rubble, where their appartment had been. It made a lasting impression on me, both coz I was just a year or 2 older than them, and coz of the horrific sorrow of losing both their children so suddenly and horrifically. And coz the mother later has been in almost every documentary, I have seen about the crash. It seems to me to be her way to keep her childrens' memory alive, as they lost not only their children, but everything else as well including all their photos and mementoes of their children. All, she had left, were a few photos, family and friends had managed to find. I admire the mother for her strength in going on and for her resiliency in making sure, that her children arent just an anonymous statistic ("official count: 43"), as so often happens in mass casualty situations. It has worked, coz I for 1 will never forget this crash - or those 2 children.
@@sleepful1917 rules for commas are very different depending on the language and this person might not even be a native speaker. As a russian, I understand how difficult it sometimes is to get how English commas work. So maybe, just maybe, you should be a bit less of a jerk and divert your attention to the story and tragedy itself instead of being the bloody grammar police no one asked for
Am I the only one when watching videos about this particular incident, even though you know they aren't going to make it, you keep hoping that "this time" they will?
I’m not sure why, but this has always been one of the most harrowing crashes for me. I can only imagine how hard they struggled to keep that plane in the air. Hearing the distraught voices of ATC makes it even worse.
Probably because there was a truly horrifying first season episode of Seconds From Disaster about this crash, that went heavily in depth about the people and the losses on the ground. Once you see it, it really sticks with you.
If you found this harrowing, check out Japan Airlines Flight 123. They fought a crippled plane for 30 minutes, going through a literal roller coaster of death for what must have felt like eternity before crashing into a mountain, killing almost everyone aboard.
Very true but I still wonder: Should a mayday call not be a severe warning to all other stations to shut up unless they experience a mayday themselves?
@@keesdenheijer7283 its what they do. But, you still need to be given a freq to change to. That's why you hear ATC telling other flights to switch to different freqs. No one is checking in, no one asking for meteorological info, silence. Compared to the way that airspace would normally sound, you can tell everyone shut up
What's alarming is the relative frequency with which things did fall off of airplanes up until fairly recently. It's not (nor has it ever been) something of a daily common occurrence, just that things like spare fuel cells to extend range weren't always intended to be jettisoned, but still regularly were... AND you can STILL occasionally run across random aircraft parts in the wilderness and mountains particularly... if you go and look. ;o)
This remains one of the all time most horrifying accidents, for the massive death toll on the ground. The reason the CVR was never found is because as soon as the Coroner released the scene the mayor had the entire site bulldozed and sent to the landfill. So the crash investigators had to try to search the entirety of the city landfill for the recorders.
@@K5t433dy6 There was some understandable reasoning behind the decision. It wasn’t simply an air crash. It had carved a hole in the city and wiped out a large apartment building. With remaining structures unstable, and a great deal of public outcry. The circumstances were somewhat similar to the decision to bring down the remaining portion of Champlain Towers in Florida, on top of where they were still looking for survivors or remains. The aircraft parts were mixed with and buried under tons of building debris. I think the mayor should have given the investigators a bit more time. But time measured in 2-3 days tops. Not the weeks it would have taken them.
The disasters where there was no chance to save the plane are always the saddest ones. But I'm glad you make these documentaries. You tell the stories without the added fanfare and drama. Makes you appreciate the reality of the disasters.
I agree. Its always the cold hard facts. Not dramatized with music to make it "entertaining". Id rather watch this than some badly acted often times faulty representation of what happened.
Actually, I disagree. I think it's more sad if there WAS a chance to save the plane, but they didn't take it and it crashed anyway. When lives could've been saved, but they weren't. Don't get me wrong, this video was so sad and I send my condolences to all the victims families.
I agree, the worst are always the ones which could have been avoided. Even Titanic, all the things that could have saved it, or the passengers, and not happening, thats the saddest part.
Props to the air traffic controllers. A plane with 2 engines out trying to make it back to the airport plus managing all the other planes on frequency and doing it like it's just any other day. I have nothing but respect to them
Thank you for covering this. I live in Amsterdam (not in the crash area) and I remember, apart from the shock and deep grief, the paranoia that ensued right after the crash. I know about the human impact side of this disaster, and how it remained a scar in the many years after the event, but had not heard of the actual technical circumstances on this level of detail before. So thank you for making this video. Also kudos for the pronunciation of the Dutch geographical names. I know it’s not easy for non-Dutch speakers. I have noticed you put a lot of effort in the right pronunciation of any non-English names, which shows the respect and meticulousness with which these videos are made.
Since this accident, Elal never registered aircraft with G in its registration, for example, there's no 787 with the registration of 4X-EDG. Only 4X-EDF and then 4X-EDH. The same true for all the previous and current aircraft in the fleet.
@@chrisakaschulbus4903 I would guess it's just to remember. Certain numbers or Letters not being used anymore after tragedies is pretty common from my knowledge.. For example, after a child died in a school, the teacher never used his desk nummber every again. So I would guess something similar is happening here
@@lucariolps277 And if we did that with every tragedy, we would probably run out of letters and numbers for identifying things and it would help nobody remember anything. Imagine if people did that with first names...
@@chrisakaschulbus4903 That's why we stop using certain designators like letters or flight numbers sometimes for aircraft... because it's very very rare that an incident happens to an airplane in the first place.
The reason Engine 3 took out Engine 4 is because it was still producing thrust. When Engine 3 broke off the wing, it launched forward and then struck Engine 4 as the plane overtook it.
No, the reason engine 3 took out engine 4 was exactly what was stated in the video: the fuse pins did not fail properly. Perhaps if the video had gone into a more detailed explanation, this would be more clear. The fuse pins aren't just made to fail in a particular manner, they are designed to fail in a particular _order_ so that there is a "controlled" separation. The fuse pins at the front of the upper link and at the back of the brace are designed to be weaker than the mid spar fuse pins so that they fail first, but in this case, one of the "stronger" midspar fuse pins failed due to fatigue, causing the engine to separate improperly. You don't have to take my word for it, it's explained in great detail in the accident report published by the Netherlands Aviation Safety Board
@@valerierodger7700 Sorry Val but, he was still correct. The engine didn't fail as expected. It detached at take off thrust, so it did shoot forward, then came backwards striking #4. The fuse pins are designed with an engine failure in mind. (A dead engine) This engine didn't fail, it was running at full thrust. You're correct it stating the initial cause, but he was right in explaining why it came back and struck #4, and tore out the leading edge of the wing.
@@alhanes5803 I was under the impression if the engine pylon fails under power, it's expected to go up and over the wing, and that this one flew off in a weird direction because the pin failed asymmetrically.
I wonder if it's possible to have parts built in to compensate this? Maybe an extra rudder or something in case the controls break? Then again it was said that this was airplane was simulated to be unrecoverable to so maybe not :(
Actually, it did need to be clarified, at least for the people at Boeing after another 747 had crashed, for the exact same reason, a year before El Al 1862. And @@bluejay7058, redundancy was already present in the 747 design, specially regarding the hydraulic systems (it has four, each powered by a different engine). And if I recall correctly, the 747's rudder is actually divided in two, not so much for redundancy but because of the sheer size. But there are some things that redundancy cannot solve. One just can't have brand new slats magically appear to compensate for the lift imbalance àfte he leading edge was damaged, nor engines come out of nowhere to counter the asymmetric thrust after engines 4 and 3 fell down.
TheRoseAndTheCross - if you _actually_ think something like, i dunno, perhaps... maintenance hours were increased or someone decided *not* to take a shortcut when making a particular repair or a choice was made to undergo more thorough inspections, etc. all for the *sole* reason that they heard someone clarify to them that _parts aren't meant to fall off aircraft,_ i'm sorry, but you're an idiot. that *never* needs to be clarified. saying anything _that_ mind-numbingly obvious is borderline mockery and the best effect anyone could hope for is that the people involved lose every bit of confidence, feel hopelessly stupid, utterly useless and/or completely hate themselves. none of which do anything to strengthen any party's work ethic. mistakes happen. everyone can't see everything and money will maintain its rule on every human's life. to be reminded that planes aren't supposed to disassemble on their own in the sky is _actually_ not helpful to anyone... well, except maybe you. what a perfect opportunity this was for ya to act all smug and play mr. know-it-all smartypants. grats.
I've watched a bunch of videos on this channel but this is the first one I've cried at for some reason. It is so frustrating to see the flight crew and ATC do everything right and as much as they can and yet still end up crashing.
This was on Dutch tv last week because of 70 years of Dutch tv, and I was thinking about what a Disaster Breakdown video about this crash would be like. Great video as always, rip the ones lost in the accident.🙏🏻
I can remember my dad walking into my room saying a plane crashed into the city that Sunday evening right before Studio Sport was supposed to start. I worked the next day in the Bijlmer for a camera distribution center, Konica I think, I went to the site during lunch with a few co-workers. I remember seeing flames going up again.
"Well, since Mom left me here, might as well catch up on some well-produced airplane crash videos. Heck, I got her wallet, I'll give the guy who makes them some money while I'm at it"
"Airplane parts are not supposed to fall off" ...I live under the glidepath for a major airport. I really would not appreciate large items flopping through the roof...🎁🎁🎁
I'm about 10 miles from the next major airport, but one approach route goes perfectly overhead due to another VOR (small domestic airport). I overlayed the charts with a map and it's scary how well it lines up.
Eh, so far, no prob. We moved, though, so we're right where they put down the landing gears? Which sounds a tad alarming at times. After 9/11, I find the sight/sound of planes overhead reassuring. It's the sound of the world being okay.
I was in Amsterdam at the time of the accident There is nothing more terrifying than seeing a huge plane flying right towards you At high speed. Needless to say The aftermath was disturbing to everyone that was there that day
I'm under the weather so I'm greatful that I discovered your channel to watch in bed. You really do an amazing job at presenting these events respectfully, clearly, and factually. It's apparent from my binge watching marathon that you took great care in putting each one together. Your narration and the visuals are well done and it feels like I'm watching a professional documentary. Thank you! 🥳
I hope you get better soon. I've never watched this channel before and you've described the presenter and his videos in the same way I would. He puts a great deal of effort into their presentation. I wish you well!🌺💓
John at the channel "Plainly difficult" just did a cover of this and mentioned this video in his, so I just watched it again. It's fun seeing some of your old work and how it compares to your new work. As always, very well done. I also liked how your cat made the top comment lol!
I’m pissed off at the guy who thought that it was more important to destroy evidence (A.K.A. Clean the scene up) than the investigation, which is part of the reason why the CVR was never found
It's not. Even if it was in a landfill they would've found it. It probably got turned into a million in the explosion (CVR was confirmed to have been on board)
Sometimes there are more important things than an investigation. A lot of lives on the ground were affected. They cleared the rubble to recover the bodies and look for survivors.
Terrible devastation, those pilots tried so hard to land that plane, i hope they received a posthumous commendation. I also thought that ATC were very professional in the handling of that incident.
Crash into building? Get awarded? Nah. My father was a pilot himself, and taking it down without killing people on the ground was a priority, even if it meant certain death to the pilot. So they were either terrorists or terrible pilots.
I remember this. I was living in Amsterdam (West) then and this plane crashed very very close to where a friend of mine was living. There were radiation fears for a while, if I recall correctly. I was feeling really shitty that evening and I did something really strange, namely open a very small window in my kitchen and stare outside, toward the east, almost as if trying to reach someone. I had no idea that the plane had been going overhead, already in trouble at around that time (let alone that a plane had crashed). They did almost two circuits, off the top of my head, and crashed during the second circuit. (I typed this before watching the video. Will watch it now.)
The fact that these pilots were able to keep this severely damaged airplane in the air for so long shows their skill, the pilots last words are very chilling...
They did everything they could. They did everything right. They couldn’t have done anything Any better- or different. I hope everyone affected has peace of mind, and rests easy. What a tragedy.
I had cousins that lived in the building where it happened, my dad was visiting them just before going back to the UK. If my dad & cousins didn't leave 2-3 minutes early they could've been hurt or worse. I remember BBC broadcasting what happened my mum & I were shocked & crying. The phone had rung which I answered I was so relieved when my dad said him & my cousin are ok, when he came back I hugged him so tight. I'll show him this video see if he remembers anything from that day.
@@LuckyNala My cousins insisted on driving my dad to Breda coach terminal instead of him getting a taxi, my dad's last minute change of mind saved not only himself but my cousins too.
Today it is 30 years ago. The engines came down in the water North-East of Amsterdam. El Al was known by mechanics, to very poorly fix issues (cheap/fast/temperarly). It landed from New York in Amsterdam already with 3 issues.
I remember watching another video on this crash. There there was this one guy in the apartment complex who crated up his cats before evacuating the building with them. And there were these parents who had just left on a date, leaving their teenage children in the building. Both teens were killed. Absolute tragedy
I remember that there was much debate in the news back then over what the actual cargo of the plane was. Also mysterious men in white suits were sighted at the crash site fueling the debate even further.
@@badlands555 I'm guessing that they were checking for dangerous materials (poison, nuclear, etc), in case El Al was carrying bombs or whatever. Doesn't necessarily mean there were any, just that there might've been and they needed to check for that. I don't think it would've made much of a difference either way.
@@flopsinator5817 Important radioactive or nuclear sensitive equipment cannot be transported by airplane because when you fly you are exposing the equipment to higher solar radiation which can damage it. If you ever want to scare people, show them gigger counter when on an airplane, more radiation then nuclear workers! It is amazing how much radiation exposure you get when flying but I fly all the time and very healthy person.
I've come to really look forward to waking up on Saturday mornings and thinking over coffee, "Is it Saturday? There's a new Disaster Breakdown release today!" The work you do is amazing and your commitment to providing new content as frequently as you do truly spoils us all. Thank you for the hard work you put into these--it really shows. Cheers.
This situation is just insane and so sad. They did all they could in an impossible scenario. What remarkable people. I'm sure they are all dearly missed.
Hi being Dutch, I really liked your prenouciation of Amsterdam, even for me thinking you Dutch speaking English really good, at gooimeer i was back to my other theory, but still good go. And a thing I think you cut out (i think, it felt like a setup for it at one point), one of the other results of this was the creation of Schiphol Discrete, a frequency for emergency aircraft so both the frequency and controller have only the emergency aircraft. I am pretty sure this alone might save another plane at some point. Having a clear channel of communication offloads the flight crew and might give that extra second of thought. Then again not having other pilots on frequency (beside those on the ground being curious), might mean a pilot with that one vital tip is cut out. But IMHO the gains far outweigh this.
Excellent presentation of this incident! I see you are nearing 50K subs, and am quite confident that you will continue on to the 100K mark if you keep up the good work. 😉
I think I saw a TV documentary about this crash when I was about 11 or 12. I remember the building struck in its middle, and how the documentary was also talking about one or two teenagers that lived in the building, and were in their apartment when the crash occured. I saw Plainly Difficult's video about this and gasped when I saw the picture of the building. As every crash it is very tragic, but this one struck me even more - it was the feeling of not being safe even in your own home, of teenagers diying and their parents surviving them.
I had just turned 10 when this happened. It was one of the first disasters I remember seeing on the news when it happened. The others were Chernobyl in 1986, the Kings Cross fire in 1987, and Pan Am 103 in 1988. Somehow this was the most shocking of all. I remember seeing on the news the glowing wreckage in the dark which had split the apartment complex in two. I remember thinking how many people must have been in there. Thank you for making such a sensitive and informative video, as always.
I'm an avid watcher of National Geographic's "Air crash investigation" which of course had an episode on this very crash too, they talked about the same things you did but in a much more in depth degree and had interviews with the NTSB, the people at Schiphol airport and survivors of the apartment complex. I have to say, you did a very good job at making this clip more understandable for people who don't really know all that much about aviation.
My father nearly lived in that appartment,specifically the part that got destroyed,in the late 70's,he still feels blessed that he never decided to accept that house !
I never knew that the pilots flew the airplane for over 8 minutes! Amazing that they were able to fly the plane that long. I wonder why the cockpit voice recorder was never found? They usually find something? Perhaps, the post crash fire mixed with all the debris from the apartment complex and 240 lives. Very sad.
My grandpa Used to fly the same plane, and from what he tells me those flight crew were his friends. thats a real sad thing, to loose your friend in a aircraft incident where you know it could of been you....
Thanks for this awesome video! There weren't really any good ones out there on this. I was six years old, we had just come back from my grandmothers place, we usually visited her on a Sunday. I remember looking out of the window and seeing smoke in the sky and as we kept on driving the sound barriers disappeared showing de BIjlmer. We thought it was a big fire until a few minutes later the reports came over the radio. Yep, that's all there really is to my story, nothing crazy. I never realized until I got older that it did have an impact on me, but in the sense that I got really interested in air crashes. I still am to this day, obviously. I'm just glad to see there's finally a quality breakdown of this crash!
Was 11 when this happened. Remember seeing the news footage. Must've made an impression. Nice pronunciation on Amsterdam, much closer to Dutch than the usual English pronunciation. One thing I never understood is why they didn't try to route it over all the countryside to line it up with runway in normal use that day. Perhaps the slightly longer flight time would have decreased the odds for the crew, but, to be blunt, with all the dense urban area around and this crippled. Hindsight of course but the crash at least would have been in a field more likely than an apartment building. But who knows, going by limited info, probably wasn't an option. Cheers from NL
My honeymoon was in Amsterdam, and one of the museums had an exhibit about the impact of this accident. A there was a lot of artwork from children. Absolutely horrifying.
In addition to the in-video warning for the voice recording, would it be an idea to insert a chapters so it's indicated on the time bar? Just QoL things
You have the best, most beautiful graphics of any YT channel devoted to historical incidents I have watched and I watch a lot! I only know about this crash from the Smithsonian series, so thank you for all the information you gave that they left out like the passenger going home for her birthday and wedding, how heartbreaking, and the undocumented workers who were killed but not included in the official count. I always believed 42 was way too low for such a disaster. Thank you.
This event i will never forget..i lived very close to where the plane crashed...i remember on sunday night we were going to watch Italian football on tv ..my brother and mother were in the kitchen making coffee, when i heard the screaming engines of the plane i was nailed to my chair...the kitchen was faced to the flats where the plane went down so my bro and mother actually saw it happen...back then i was attending night school and after the crash we missed one of our class members i knew she lived in that exact corner of these two flats eventually we heard that she survived..
My mother remembers keeping up with the investigation that happened-- there's a lot of unanswered questions regarding it still, apparently. (Not about the crash itself, but about the aftermath)
@@ronaldderooij1774 nah, that's not it. They still aren't 100% sure about the death count even though it was given conclusively because there were some people living there illegally at the time, among other things. I'm not talking about conspiracies, there were just some peculiar aspects about this whole thing.
This pilot was thanking God that he was a non-passenger jet as he went down. 😓 I had a boyfriend who worked for the company that makes these pins. They are worth millions a piece today because of how they are made. Incredible process to make such a small part. Got to handle one. So today, plane production technology is mind-blowing. SO far superior than this one.
yes i too remember this one , seeing this on TV , and the conversations from families living in the flats which the plane hit , my gosh it was heartbreaking, the young dying i found it really distressing as i was a very young nurse as the time just starting my extended training in intensive care and we had some critical patients admitted that day so i was quite upset, that day i grew up , i had spent six months in amsterdam after i had qualified with some friends , so it hit hard, RIP to all whom passed that day , condolences to families friends , my regards liz .
The crew did a valiant and brave job and kept the 'plane flying as long as possible. They nearly made it. R.I.P To all who lost their lives on that sad day. I remember turning on the news and my wife saying simply, "Oh no!"
This haunts me, I’ve been thinking about it again recently, and here it is. I don’t know how these things work, but I heard it, I’ll never forget the noise, it woke me up..I knew what it was, it was a big plane, and I was thinking that it must have gone down in the swamp. I waited for the sirens, but there was just silence, and nothing. I live in Australia, it was when I saw the news, I learned of the tragedy in Amsterdam, and I knew what I’d heard, what woke me up. I really cannot explain how stuff like that works, but somehow from the other side of the world I heard that plane hit the apartment building. Still gives me anxiety.
You say it woke you up, so your brain wasn't in active mode when you heard the noise you claim to have heard. We remember the noise that wakes us up, when it's a noise that doesn't occur just ones. If it occurs once, you don't remember what woke you up. So, your little story doesn't exactly add up. It's likely just something you've told yourself and over the years you've come to believe it. You heard a plane crash in your dreams, and you equate it to the crash in de Bijlmer. There's people believing in crazy shit all over the world I guess. ;-)
@@nightfly4664 no, what I told you is quite true, not a story I’ve told myself. It woke me up, the noise continued for a moment while I was awake. As I said, I thought that a huge plane must have come down in the swamp, and was expecting to hear the emergency services arriving, but never did. And I thought that my mind had to have been playing tricks on me, until later in the day when I saw the news. I have not forgotten that day. I’ve no reason to have created some bonkers story in the interim, because it is bonkers, even by my reckoning, but it happened. I cannot explain it, it is what it is.
Came across your channel by chance and have been binge watching all your videos for the past 2 days 😊 I like how your respectful to the dead, even if its pilot error you still show respect to the situation and how stressful something like that would be 👍 keep up the good work and content you gotta sub from me 😊
around 1 year before the crash of flight 1862 a boeing 747-200 of china airlines also crashed because of the same problems, engine 3 separates from the wing severely damaging the wing and also breaking engine 4 off, the china airlines 747 crashed into a mountain so there were no fatalities on the ground
I have always been bothered by this crash, Im dutch and was recently in Amsterdam. And everytime im there im thinking of that crash and always thinking of all the people that perished, The professionalism of the pilots is extraordinairy. This all could have been way way worse it could have crashed into the heart of Amsterdam and the damage could have been way worse.
Officials were under pressure to clear up the debris as fast as they could, there were fears that there were classified defense materials on board. The voice recorder was probably dumped into landfill with all the other debris and some bodies too it is feared. The flight data recorder was recovered, albeit badly damaged and requiring a lot of careful repair to retrieve data from it.