America’s Worst Accident | Boeing 727 Collides With a Cessna and Crashes Just Before Landing 

"I guess" "I hope" Two phrases you NEVER want to hear in the cockpit of a commercial airliner.

“This is it baby”. Very, very sad.

The PSA "Catch My Smile" livery back then was cute. It's a big, happy, grinning plane. Which kind of makes this crash all the more eerie.

I remeber the cvr. The last recorded voice on the psa cockpit was: "Ma, I love you."

I was in flight training at NAS Lemore, CA when this collision occurred. It was heart breaking. And my instructor spent many hours of lecture time discussing this accident and the probable causes. Then he talked about variations of how this happened and how to avoid them. It was a great teaching/learning lesson(s) that all his students took to heart and memorized. 3 years later, this accident and the focus my instructor had on this very accident saved my life when I was able to avoid a mid-air with a CHP twin Piper who never saw me. Long story, but we avoided crashing. Thanks for a great video!! Very well done! Rest In Peace all the victims of this terrible crash. 🙏

I have seen a few other renditions of this collision and it puts a knot in my stomach every single time. This was an excellent presentation. Terrific graphics. Much appreciate what you are putting out.

My brother was the first San Diego City employee on scene. My brother in law, a PSA employee scheduled all the Deadheads. Both were affected greatly by the incident. The stress may have set up my brother in laws death 5 years later. The ramifications of tragedies like these goes beyond the accident itself.

9:05 First Officer says: "Are we clear of that Cessna?" Flight Engineer answers: " *Supposed* to be " The Captain says: " I *guess* " Jumpseat Occupant says: " I *hope* " Captain states: "............ *probably* behind us now" None of them bothering to positively answer the the First Officer's question, killed 144 people that day.

"This is it baby" that man had ice in his veins. That's a stone cold mfkr. Stared death in the face and was ready

Just 4 words communicated to the ATC needed - "Don't see the Cessna"

The moment when the cap said "This is it baby", and right at that moment that music kicks in, sent a chill through my spine! Excellent choice of music sir

There is a recording of ATC calling 182 over and over again and you can tell he's crying. Just horrible, all crashes are.

The CVR was straight up sad though... “mom I love you” just breaks my heart

The helpless feeling of passengers and crew knowing that there's nothing that can be done to save the situation. How absolutely horrible

Was on the flight deck on board USS CONSTELLATION CV-64 when this occurred, I yelled out to whom ever could hear me and we all seen both aircraft crashing, before they hit the ground I quickly said a prayer for all. The next day we departed for West Pac 78-79... Air Dept. V-1 div. Fly-3.

A San Diego student at the time, I lived just a few miles from the crash site and I remember the sound and vibration of an explosion and when I walked outside I could see the smoke. It wasn't until a little while later I saw a news alert reporting on the accident. It definitely shook myself and our friends. RIP

I was working the PSA arrival ramp when this happened I was a ramper with a commercial multi engine and flight Instructor rating. I was working the gate that 182 was suppose to park at. It was a hot clear day with unlimited visibility. We on the ramp got busy at about 9am as that was rush hour for us. being a commuter airline we had mostly a 30 minute turn around so we were all outside waiting. I remember that there was a C172 making practice instrument approaches coming in over the city on a back course approach then being vectored around out over ocean to make a front course ILS approach it was bad that Lindberg had the only instrument landing systems in the greater SanDiego Area (this changed after this crash) But at 9 am it seemed the C172 had departed the area. Lindbergh field had a custom approach for jet airliners when the weather was clear it involved keeping the jets at above 4000 ft on their downwind so that small aircraft could cross the Lindbergh area between 3000 and 4000 ft It was loosely called "keep them High" An airliner at that altitude has to lose a lot of altitude on turn to base and final and that kinda gave them (the jets) a slight nose high attitude so seeing ahead became harder. Coupling that with the fact that an airplane that is on a collision path with you will not appear to move on your windshield makes it much harder to see + their closure rate was almost 100 miles an hour. The small airplane should not have been where it was but was directed there by ATC. The jet needed to have room to descend after being kept abnormally high on its downwind approach and the crew had a reasonable expectation that ATC would keep that area clear. I remember that PSA 766 was in that pattern as was a western airline jet and also a United jet.All this traffic was in the pattern and landed within 5 minutes of each other except for 182 it was Busy inside the airport traffic area an area that extended out 5miles horizontally and included airspace up to 2999feet AGL this area was controlled by the tower. The Small plane should not have been put there by ATC. There should not have been a Keep them high approach for the airliner. I could go on and on but all the rest of the stuff on that day and the few days that followed are still hard to talk about. I have big gaps in my memory regarding the 3 plus days that we were up at the crash site they say shock causes that I dont know but plenty of the people I worked with up there had the same problem. I really have not talked much about this after all these years but to lay the blame on these Dead crew members was wrong. RIP all involved

I remember this very well. I was 20, and working in a restaurant. A co-worker was well known for obsessing on bad things -- crimes, disasters etc. You bet he talked about this collision endlessly in the days following it.

The only channel where notifications are bittersweet.

I remember seeing the smoke from the crash at Grossmont College, the school I was attending. A photographer I knew was there soon after the crash, and took a lot of pictures. He developed the rolls of film, printed a few pictures, and then put them away in a file. He would never show us any of them.

I swear it is so frustrating when these pilots take nearby traffic so lightly. So many lives could've been saved this was unavoidable!

Man, I started following your channel in late January of 2020, I've been hooked ever since. Love the work you put into making these. Keep up the good work. 👍🏿

“THIS IS IT BABY!” That flight crew had some massive balls!

The aftermath of this crash was featured in one of the Faces of Death movies. It was one of the most gruesome scenes ever witnessed by first responders with bodies and parts hanging on tree branches, cars and apartment buildings.

You done did it again, TFC! 👏 This was and still is one of the most tragic plane crashes in history.

I was living in North Park, the San Diego Neighborhood where the plane crashed - I was at home, maybe a mile or two at most from the site. We felt the crash....we of course immediately tuned in to the TV to see if there was a need for blood donors.. it was soon apparent that sadly, there was no need....As you know, several people were killed in houses on the ground - we knew a single mom with a child who lived in the impact zone. She had just walked from the front room of the small house to the back, to put her child down for a nap, when the plane impacted the ground - the blast set the front of the house on fire and smashed into the living room - she missed serious or fatal injuries to her and her child by mere minutes.

I still remember that day. It was hot, I was in 8th grade, our class was using the band room because the a.c. Was not working in our regular classroom. We could see the smoke rising from the crash site. I grew up in North Park, but we moved over the bay to Coronado in 76. The I walked through the school that was a temporary morgue on my way home from elementary school. My brother was heading back to his home on his new Honda motorcycle after stopping by Ceola's apartment where my Mother was working to show her his new bike. He seen the crash as he was very close to the impact site. He said he has seen A body fly into A cars windshield and the body just exploded into pieces. A few minutes different and he would have been in the crash, as he was taking the back streets home that morning.

I saw this for real. it was my first Day on the job installing TV antennas I was about 19. We we're in Lemon Grove just a few miles East of North Park.

That plane was seconds from crashing into my house. Rather scary when you are asleep at the time. I worked that disaster for 3 days as part of the Red Cross disaster team and will never forget. The flight path was changed after that and planes almost never flew over my house again from that time on.

Rest in Peace to all the passengers and crews on PSA Flight 182 and Cessna 172 crew who they perished on September 25, 1978.

I flew PSA 727's into Lindberg many times. This hits close to home.

This is the most heartbreaking video I’ve watched so far. “Tower, we’re going down, this is psa”

This is very near and dear to my family. Born and raised in San Diego. My father was supposed to be the first officer and my mother was supposed to work as a flight attendant. They switched schedules a couple weeks before the flight to go on vacation. 32 of their friends died that day. My mom is always sad on that Sept date.

Im glad there are mandatory transponders. On a CAVU day in 1968 I had Tulsa Approach run an AA707 right into me at 2,500 msl from my 2 oclock position. I told ATC 3 times I saw him coming and they ordered me to "maintain heading and altitude". When i finally dived abruptly I could see the captain had on sunglasses. 500 ft horizontal and 200 vertical. I never trusted ATC again, and 2 more times over the 52 years they goofed up badly. BTW I raised hell on the radio, and on the phone after I landed, and ATC denied that anything happened. First responsibility of the pilot is to fly your plane.

For some reason of all crashes this is the one that gives me chills to the bone.

I found this crash heartbreaking. Even more than others cause on the CVR: mom I love you....................... So sad :( 😭😭😭😢😢😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

"This is it baby" this teared up my heart completely

Imagine hearing this crash, walking outside to see what happened, and then you just see body parts mixed with metal everywhere. *I would honestly just die and melt right there and try to forever erase that*

this particular crash always intrigues me a little more because of the fact that it crashed, on a nice sunny day(contrast to the death and destruction), into a neighborhood which hits close to home for anyone and then all the stories of the carnage on the ground/cars/houses

Chilling. I was once in this situation during my pilot training. I was doing "touch and goes" at Piarco airport, Port of Spain, Trinidad. And in a long final to land i heard an Eastern airline communicating to the tower that they where at the Outer marker inbound to the same runway i was heading. I called the tower and told them that i was still on a long final. They responded with go ahead 9YTEL. So i continued my descent. Soon i heard Eastern airlines report "Middle Marker" and i was still a long way from the runway. I called the tower and told them i know i have a jet coming in from behind me and asked for advise. They just told me to go ahead and cleared to land and expedite leaving the runway. I sort of panicked and banked the plane to my right canceling my approach and 30 seconds later i saw this huge Jet passing just behind me. This was in clear visibility so the tower would have seen me and the Jet liner. Hopefully my decision saved a lot of lives that day. .

I saw this from beginning to end, I had been out working on the underground cable TV plant early that morning and had finished puting tools away on truck and happened to look up and see what I thought was an engine falling end over end off of plane( found out later was the cessna). The 727 immediately rolled to the right and went straight down. I felt the concussion of the plane hitting the ground like a bomb going off. I was east of the crash site on a hill overlooking the San Diego area but several miles away. As I remember it days later they blamed the cessna pilots as they were wearing instrument hood and couldn't see where they were going. I also thought the cessna flew into the 727 so these videos have corrected how I thought it happened

This one gets me every time! Your presentation perfect as usual! The closing music just adds to the whole tragedy! RIP

I lived about 35 miles north of San Diego when this happened...I was 12 at the time and I'll never forget the horrifying photo on the front page of the newspaper of PSA 182 plummeting to earth. May they all rest in peace.

A list of errors, each seeming trivial, but they conspired to cause this tragedy. When flying, there are no trivial errors. The rules and procedures are written for good reasons.

What was truly eerie was the front page of the newspaper of the 1st photograph of the wing burning where you can see the reflection off the windows. I was just a kid at the time and I remember seeing the black smoke, but it was the photography that ultimately had left a lingering effect upon me.

After the captain said:"This is it baby" He also said:"I love you Ma" 😔 Heartbreaking💔

"I guess." Two words you never want to hear in a cockpit.

This is just heart-rending. Your visuals and stunning recreations, which just keep getting better really make it feel very immediate and real.

It's tragic to see all of the people, literally trapped in the falling plane out of control. Peace to them.

Could you imagine waking up one morning and everything is perfect. It's a beautiful day, the kids are at school, your spouse at work, it's your day off and you're sitting in your lazy boy relaxing watching some TV and then BOOM, it's all over. That's it. An airplane just impacted your house at 300mph. Life is so random, treat every day like it's a gift, like it could be your last. Many peoples lives have been impacted over the last 90 yrs to make airtravel as safe as it is today.

My house is 1 block from the intersection where PSA 180 crashed, and the road is still wavy there. Also, when we bought the house we found a toe bone in the backyard. Someone told us it was probably horse, and I hope they’re right.

Imagine sitting at home and getting hit by an airliner.

I was in 5th grade at recess when this happened. Palomar elementary school in Chula Vista, Ca. All I remember was the towering black smoke from my school which was like 10 miles away..I had no idea what had happened, until our teacher told us.,such a sad day.

Almost died in one at an uncontrolled airport in a Cessna twin engine. 8 souls on board The pilot made his radio call. Made our 180. On approach I saw a small Cessna fly over us at less 50 feet. On the tarmac I said to the pilot interesting approach as we watched the same guy do touch and goes. Not paying attentoin to the wind sock or his radio.. You can get a licence and still be a moron.

I was living in San Diego at the time. I remember this all to well. Fortunately something good came out of this. The Sterile Cockpit rule. FAR 121.542 and FAR 135.100 You absolutely don't want to hear the crew say, "I guess" and "I hope". Really a shame.

I’ve been hearing about this crash a lot lately

No way I would’ve let my life be determined by someone having eyes on me if can do something to remove myself from the equation. It’d be like crossing RR tracks and being told to just stay there, that the engineer of the oncoming train sees me and is going to switch tracks and go around. No thanks, I’ll back up - way back.

It's incredibly eerie to hear their final words broadcast. So, so sad. Thank you for all the videos.

That captain was prolly one of the best to be the cool and calm in his last moment. RIP to all those who passed what a tragic accident. His last words were apparently ma, I love you.

i remember my dad telling me this story, when he was young he said he looked up and saw the plane coming in from the east and then the black smoke and then flames and black dots the dots were burnt bodies falling from the sky one landed in someone's bathroom such a shame a tragedy can happen at any moment

The chilling photo of the stricken airliner on fire and careening to the ground is something you never forget...they say if you look close enough you can see the ghostly faces of some of the doomed passengers.

My ex wife was a LA CO Deputy Coroner at the time of this accident and called out to respond to San Diego to assist them in this disaster. What a sad disaster which could have been avoided. It seems it always takes a major tragedy to upgrade and update equipment in the aviation and railroad areas as well as changing rules. I remember this and was hard to believe because I have flown on PSA many times from LA to SF and without any incidents.

Wow. This one got me harder than some of the others. Listening to the final few words is tough. Much of it is never released, rightfully so, but it must be hard on the investigators who analyze the recordings. Pretty traumatic.

Oh! When he said: "this is it, baby!" It killed me!

This channel just keeps getting better and better. One of my favorite channels on RU-vid!

What a horrible accident... I can't imagine what the passengers (and crew) could have felt on the way down... May all the lost lives rest in peace. I still don't understand why the pilots of 182 were blamed... they did everything in their power. Great job TFC!

Is seems wrong to do IFR training where commercial airliners are flying in and out.

I remember when this happened. A neighbor was a PSA pilot and his wife was a stewardess. We initially were concerned it was them. Part of the PSA plane’s debris also landed in the yard of our friend from church but thank God they were not injured. The accident took place on the same exact day that the San Diego Chargers hired then head coach, Don Coryell. I was just a little kid but can still remember it like it was yesterday. It was a very sad day and very tragic what happened.

Seems like a good 80-90% of accidents are from people seeing things and not SPEAKING UP. What the HELL. Rest in Peace to all that died that day. I'm so sorry.

Been binge watching your videos. Thank you for the amazing content during this quarantine!

Hey Just know that we really appreciate your work 👍👍👍

I was 11 years old when this happened in my city , my dad was two blocks away at a 7-11 on Texas street !!! The images and eyewitness stories were horrific .!!

I was at MCRD San Diego as a Drill Instructor. My platoon was finishing up a physical fitness training and the field is right next to Lindburg airport. We actually looked up and saw the collision and the planes falling into North Park (an area close to the airport).I will never forget that day.

A few second before it was just another routine visual landing. The next second bang "this is it baby!". Such is life, we just never know. RIP so sad.

Sometime late 80's/early 90's I was on a "Midwest Express" flight (for those that remember) from DC to Milwaukee. I remember looking out the window and seeing another jet at 30,000+ft go right past us clear as day. Remember seeing on the local news a day later that a local flight almost had a mid air collision.

Idk how you're not at a million subscribers yet. You work so hard and deserve it more than a lot of these other RU-vidrs!

I just retired after a 40 year military/commercial aviator career. You wouldn't think they'd be so difficult to spot, but even when you know exactly where a light GA airplane is they're incredibly difficult to pick up visually. GA traffic advisories always made the hair stand up on the back of my neck. The closer I got to the end of my flying career I got to the point that I would usually refuse a visual approach and just get the vectors and separation for an instrument procedure. When asked to call out traffic I'd usually say "looking" even if I was pretty sure I had the correct traffic in sight. It' so easy to acquire traffic, look away for a moment, and then not reacquire it. In 40 years the greatest advancement I saw in aviation safety was the development of TCAS (although a Cessna 172 would probably not have a reciprocal transponder for positive separation guidance). Even so, the 727 would have at least had a target return to reference with TCAS installed.

On that day I saw the massive plume of smoke rising from San Diego 20m to our west. I cajoled my 9th grade History period teacher to switch on the TV for 'just a minute' to investigate what was up. We learned this crash had occurred just 15 minutes prior - needless to say, our class period of 45 min was spent absorbed by footage of the aftermath of PSA 182. Our teacher led us as we prayed for the victims & families impacted. Little did I know it had wiped out a small block of homes only a mile from our place. With a large % of the victims being from San Diego, the reverberations were felt for many years to come. The San Diego Union Tribune Newspaper (!) featured many stories about all those affected. Thank you TFC for covering this tragic incident. This, along with the 2 similar LA area mid-air crashes (Cerritos & Aero-Mexico) 'helped' create the push for TCAS which has since saved many lives. Good does come out of apparent evil happenings. May the LORD rest all the victims in peace ! David B, from El Cajon

I lived in San Diego when this happened. It was and still is extremely sad and shocking! At the time everyone was blaming the Cessna pilot. Very informative to know that there were so many variables to this accident. Excellent video.

So glad you did this one. What an terrible catastrophe. Well done making it feel real.

I enjoy the fact you read a story and watch it unfold brings a type of emotional engagement with it. I often find myself imagining myself as the pilot, co-pilot, flight attendance staff, or a passenger aboard. Which is so easily done by the way you clip everything together showing the actual activity from within the cabin! Thank you for all of your videos I appreciate the amount of work and talent needed to bring these stories to life and thank you again!

I'd just like to say that I appreciate you still putting out quality videos during a global emergency. Keep safe and thank you for your work :)

Hello! I was actually investigating this incident before this video and this video gave me more info, thanks flight channel! And also I would like to clarify this isn’t the Cessnas or 727s Fault, the 727 saw the Cessna in front and should made some kind of evasive maneauvers as he was close and the Cessna pilot, was fine and sticking to the training plan and ATC Instructions, anyway even though they had “visual separation” they should of atleast, keep on getting position checks by ATC so that ATC knew if they really had visual separation, anyway good video, This is from a 10 year old, not a clever aviation investigator.

Oh wow! This is the one that I asked for months ago. Thanks! My aunt actually witnessed this while she was pregnant with one of my cousins. According to my mom it was a pretty horrible thing to see. May they rest in peace.

Good thing that TCAS is now mandatory in each plane. Such a horrific accident.

That was a sad day. I remember it. I was 11. My mom was signing papers to close on a house justc2 blocks from the crash. I never realized that the Cessna came from Montgomery Field. I should have known. I live right down the street. Preventable.

My husband and I had moved to San Diego just the year before. I remember when this happened. It was unbelievable. After the initial crash and investigation by the FAA when people were allowed into the area again, we visited the neighborhood where the crash occurred. It was a horrific scene. Just seeing the devastation really affected me. It was what I imagine a war zone looks like. I've never forgotten it.

What can possibly go wrong, let's have hooded instrument training at major airports with intersecting paths of commercial airliners. Seriously? Not surprised, just shocked this is even a thing, scary.

I will never forget this incident. I was in the 7th grade at Bell Junior High School when a classmate asked our teacher "what is that black smoke" outside. I remember looking at the clock and the time was 9:05 am. Soon as the bell rang to leave, I remember hearing a kid say that a plane had crash and many kids ran across the field to look at the black smoke. My father at the time was working for American Airlines loading luggage and he even said how that crash affect everyone at that airport. The plane crashed in a huge residential area not too far from my uncle's apartment. My uncle said he was asleep at the time. When the plane crashed it sounded like a sonic boom when it impacted. It was so sad that I still remember how the community was shook to its core from this tragedy not to mention the lives that were loss. RIP to the loss souls.

I was 16 when this happened. I remember watching it on the evening news with my dad

RIP Martin Kazy Jr. (1946-1978) David L. Bozwell (1943-1978) and To the passengers and crew of Pacific Southwest Airlines Flight 182 and the seven people on the ground

I nearly cried when he said “This is it baby”

My father had a reservation on this flight. He decided to drive from LA to SD instead right at the last minute. My mom didn’t know this and was freaking out about what she was going to tell us kids (I was 11). She called my stepmom to find out more and that’s when my stepmom told her he had decided to drive. Intuition? A sixth sense? Incredible twist of fate? I can only imagine what went through his mind when he learned of the crash. He would get to live another 7 years….almost to the day.

Hearing the captain's last words broke my heart

I was on duty as a Firefighter in another city about 15 miles away when this tragic accident occurred. I was assigned to our FD EMT ambulance, and I listened to the call for assistance (mutual aid) from San Diego Fire dispatch. Our department sent rescue personnel and apparatus, but sadly, it was body recovery. No survivors. The crew that we sent out to the scene said it was horrible, as body parts and debris was scattered everywhere. I grew up in San Diego, and we lived a few blocks away from Montgomery Field. As a kid, I use to hang out at Gibbs Flying Service, but I didn’t know the flight instructor in the Cessna. This is a day that I’ll never forget. RIP to all of those that lost their lives.

I remember seeing this on the news in middle school, it was just so sad and depressing. I was a huge plane lover and enthusiast as a kid, had lots of plane books and posters and my mom would drive me down to Honolulu International to sit near the runway watching all the arrivals and departures. I remember when I got older even flying PSA in Southern Cali. Plane crashes always bummed me out. Ive seen this reconstruction several times with different companies. Another heartwrenching crash was Alaska 261 that went into the ocean inverted and the last thing the captain says on the black box is, "well......here we go".

I live in San Diego and remember that day like it was yesterday. It the time I was playing football for Mesa Junior College which is 6 miles north of the crash. Walking out to the practice field we all heard the crash and of course, saw the smoke instantly. My wife's father was a caption for PSA at the time of the crash. He was very good friends with all three pilots lost in the crash.

The doppler audio effect @ 9:49 with the Cessna pulling fast ahead (tail view) was fantastic; superb attention to detail, A+.

It's surprising that, given how vast the skies are, planes can still collide so frequently.

Ever since YOUR channel popped up in my recommendations I have subscribed and I can't stop watching all these videos I'm obsessed thank you for posting ☺️