Crashing Inverted Into the Ocean Just After Takeoff - Flying Blind (With Real Audio) 

It's amazing what a wasp nest and a piece of tape can do, RIP all 259 who were taken from us in those two disasters

Me, seeing the date: it's Birgenair. Oh god, no. This flight is the reason I found the Flight Channel in the first place. When I was a toddler we were in Puerto Plata at this exact date. This was the flight we would take home, but exactly a week earlier. A lot of people from our hotel were on that flight, my parents talked to a few of them the evening before. When we went to the city days later they were in the process of bringing the body bags in, we could see the ships. One guy actually partied too hard the night before and missed his flight. He drank himself to oblivion the next day. As you can imagine, the flight home to Germany was hell. This flight will forever be engraved in our memory. Thank you for doing it justice, dear Flight Channel!!

One thing not mentioned in the Aeroperu crash is that the pilots asked if another plane could guide them back to the runway. The ATC requested such a rescue plane and a Boeing 707 was on taxi to come and assist them but it was too late.

It's so frustrating when something isn't working right and the captain still has time to abort but goes ahead with the take off, as in the first case. Felt so bad for the second plane, the crew did try hard to figure out what was going on and knew they needed to land the plane as quickly as possible. 259 souls lost. So very sad. Thank you for another great presentation!

I once had an incidence in which a spider had built a nest in the pitot tube of the aircraft I was flying. It was a friend's small aircraft which he had kept it in a hangar for several months and asked me to fly it to another city for him. In the middle of the takeoff I noticed that the airspeed read about 10kts, half way down the short runway. I decided to keep going because the acceleration felt normal, and there wasn't much runway left. It was extremely uncomfortable to fly around and land without an airspeed indicator and that was in daylight, clear air, and calm winds. The mechanic and I opened the pitot tube and cleaned out the nest and the flight proceeded without further incident. It must have been terrifying for these pilots flying a complex aircraft without visual references and no air data.

If you knew your speed gauge was fucked, why would you trust it after takeoff???

Lima one always struck me as savable, if they had turned back as soon as they realised there was a problem shortly after take off while they still had eyes on Lima nobody would have died.

I cannot imagine the amount of absolute terror that was going through each and everyone of those souls on that plane as it careened out of control! I was on a flight just yesterday and I could not imagine having to go out like that. It’d be a quick way to go, but my God the terror on the way down… poor people

"I have no airspeed indication. I shall continue the takeoff." Says no pilot worth his salt, ever.

I'm not a pilot but what amazes me about both of these is that they were more worried about the potential overspeed even when gauges were faulty and I would think that is very uncommon within normal thrust settings etc and so I would think they would have assumed that was likely a false warning and possibility of a stall is a much bigger issue than a potential overspeed

the terror when an aircraft inverts and you're flying straight towards the ground must be unimaginable. the notion of knowing, seeing and hearing you're about to die and all you can do is watch is horrible. RIP.

I wrote about the Birgenair crash as a journalist in Germany in 1996. What stays with me to this day is the slogan on the T-shirt of one of the passengers whose body was later recovered: The Future Goes On. Well it didn't in this case. So tragic, RIP all lost souls on both flights!

Basic rule of thumb: Check that all maintenance operations are completed correctly. First rule of thumb for pilots; When instruments aren't working correctly, abort take off. Both of the flights were lost due to maintenance and pilot error.

All this computerized sophistication designed to reduce human error, yet, you can't stop Mother Nature, or a guy with a roll of tape. Those visuals of the rolls made me airsick from my seat. I just can't fathom how a human being would actually feel going through this. The terror felt must be horrendous! RIP, to all the flight crews and passengers

I'm currently studying to get an Aircraft Maintenance Licence for commercial aircrafts. Just today I studied Pitot Tubes, how static and dynamic sensors work and the different implications when they don't work properly, not casually analizing these exact accidents as "Case Studies" on EASA and FAA authorized manuals. This video is a good reminder of how much small mistakes can bring to a chain of events that if it's not broken can lead to disaster.

As soon as you detect an error or defect, no matter how minor it is, even if it's a light not working, just reject the takeoff asap. I'd rather figure out what's going on while on the ground than in the air.

Imagine Flying upside down and suddenly crashing in the ocean. RIP those 259 people

The closeness of these 2 accidents and the similarities between them are incredibly unnerving. RIP to all those involved.

If I listened to "overspeed" and "too low terrain", I'd definitely go with the 2nd.

This is one of the first flight channel videos I watched and it’s great how it’s being payed tribute again

I'm an English guy living here in Thailand, and we have similar small wasps. I must check every bit of plastic tubing before using for anything. Their nests are like concrete and they have to be smashed apart. I've found their nests in spare fuel lines for my motorbike... thin metal tubing etc... down to 5-6 mm pipes/tubes... little gits! So sad that such a small insect can have such tragic outcomes :(((

That first accident has to be one of the most avoidable crashes I've ever seen.

I'm curious, shouldn't it be mandatory to reject take off when speeds don't match? I mean how could you be certain that the FO display was correct? And if he knew his display wasn't correct, why did the captain react to his readings instead of the FO's?

Should have immediately gone back over the city into a holding pattern while diagnosing the issue.

As a pilot, both of these are BEYOND MY COMPREHENSION. I'm an instrument-rated private pilot with 986 total hours and Single Engine Land and Glider ratings. The day before the flight test for the instrument rating, my CFII and I went for a dress rehearsal. It was one of 3-4 days out of the year where there was a low, solid cloud deck over Santa Monica (I had done all my training with the hood on to ensure I couldn't see outside.) So on the initial climb out, the departure procedure called for a right turn, climb and maintain 4000 feet, which I initiated. However, the Attitude Indicator (often called the artificial horizon) showed a slightly descending turn to the left. For just a second or two that made my feel physically sick. Altimeter showed a climb and the airspeed indications were good, so I did the one thing any student pilot getting dual instruction would do, namely start crying loudly and offer the instructor any price he could name to save our lives. Okay, slight exaggeration: what I did was point to the instruments and say, "Craig, I put us in a climbing right turn but the AI is showing a left turn and descending." He replied -- and this is 1000% true and I will never forget it -- "Okay. Now kick its ass!" Second best lesson I ever got from an instructor. So I proceeded to kick its ass: The big fat main instrument, the Attitude Indicator, showed a turn to the left BUT the compass and turn coordinator showed a turn to the right. Airspeed and Altitude were constant so I wasn't in a dive. That meant the Attitude Indicator was OUTVOTED. All of that to say this: When I started my instrument training, Craig had insisted I go to a pilot store and get a big, black, rubber suction cup, and keep it handy, AND THE REASON I DID THAT was because the second the AI was outvoted I give the suction cup a lick and COVERED THE FAULTY ATTITUDE INDICATOR. We do this so that we do not inadvertently get visual cues from a dead instrument. The single most important thing in instrument flying is to TRUST YOUR INSTRUMENTS. But in both of these cases, the moment that the airspeed indicators were clearly malfunctioning those presumably trustworthy bastards are LYING TO YOU and from that moment on they should not have existed. ANY airspeed indication -- overspeed, rudder, etc. -- is being told to you by a miserable, low-down, lying son of a bitch. How do you get an Airline Transport Pilot rating without knowing that ground based radar is reading your mode c transponder, which is reading your airspeed indicator, which is LYING TO YOU? And in both cases they were over urban terrain that provides a perfectly good visual reference. Watching this, both times I wanted to shout "look out the goddam window! That's why they put windows in airplanes!" Which leads me to the BEST single lesson I ever learned from a flight instructor. I started in gliders. It was my very first lesson. As we were walking out to the aircraft to begin a thorough PRE-FLIGHT INSPECTION (paying extra special attention to the pitot tube and static ports that provide the airspeed and altitude data) my instructor, whose name is Geoff Larkin and is now an airline captain, said to me the best thing I ever heard about flying. He said, "Bill, if things go south up there you will become so scared and disoriented that you reptile brain will take over. My job is to make sure that THE REPTILE KNOWS WHAT TO DO."

Excellent representation of two tragic accidents. Thank you FlightChannel. Those who live MUST learn. RIP to all the souls who perished.

i had a situation like that once, instead of allowing the problem to segue into crisis, i wasted no time in return decision back to the airport without a second wasted, before i lost ground reference that night. it dawned that the pitot tube was blocked. Mistakes are made everyday, almost entirely they begin on the ground many many days before they get the chance to become news. its best and the only right thing to do to provide these mistakes no quarter to pan up.

I. agree with many of the comments. I think BOTH situations could have been prevented by proactive pilots making a better decision right at the point they notice something wrong. Especially if it’s right after taking off.

Amazing how an entire flight deck of "professionals" could so casually disregard such an obviously dangerous instrument malfunction. I've been watching this channels content for a few weeks and I am stunned to see the amount of F**K IT! YOLO! attitudes appear equal to the amount of actual competent crew reactions. The more I see, the less I want to fly.

If I'm that pilot, I am immediately turning around to use the city lights as a guide. At least you can have some visual references to heading, altitude and attitude.

Scary fact that both accidents happened within less than 8 months apart from each other 🥶

It makes no sense that these pilots don't decide to turn around and land the aircraft asap.

This will probably sound crazy. But I never book night time flights because of this accident. My reasoning (not a pilot) is that If anything goes bad, atleast the pilots can see out the window 😅

That first crash was the one from which I received the navigational messages sent to ships about a 757 ditching in the ocean off the Dominican Republic and to keep a lookout for possible survivors.

I don't know anything about aviation, but from the number of pitot tube related incidents I've heard about, I wonder if a compressed air injection test can be routinely conducted, perhaps from a compressor carried on the tug, to check the ports just prior to pushback. Probably this is impractical though for reasons I'm not aware of, otherwise I imagine it would have been implemented long ago.

Pitch Dark...Wing Hits Water...Plane Inverts...Slams into Ocean...Passengers Must Have Been So Scared in These Brief Moments...Cant Even Imagine Being in This Situation

I flew in the USAF many years ago. Back then, we had autopilots etc, but we always hand flew the aircraft, in my case a K/EC-135 (Boeing 707 variant) as much as possible. I always remember the Instructor pilot telling us, new pilots, while in the traffic pattern, to learn the throttle positions by feel which provided you safe pattern airspeed, in our case 200 knots--"straight up and down around 80%" if I remember right. You could set the throttles by feel and not worry about airspeed because you would be in the ballpark. One thing less to think about in the busy traffic pattern with checklists to run! I was also an instructor pilot in USAF pilot training, I recall teaching to ALWAYS check the attitude indicator with the turn&slip, magentic compass, outside references, etc. In some cases, I would pull the cirucit breakers in simulators for the attitude indicator and RMI (heading and nav) and made the student fly using known power settings, mag compass and timing using windup clock. Not easy but a great way to increase cross check speed and situational awarness. While modern aircraft have great technology, this technology seems to have erroded hands on pilot skill(s). As long as I remember flying in th USAF, I never recall using autopilot in the takeoff or landing phases of flight, only once at altitude and flying straight and level. Just my opinion.

Pitot tubes and static port vents are included in the walk-around that was supposed to have been done by F/O. The ground crew is also responsible for noting anything that is 'abnormal', such as blocked static port vents. These are CRITICAL to the accurate determination of airspeed. Further, the decision to take off with only one (or perhaps both) invalid airspeed indications was a serious mistake and the flights should have aborted on the runway; it amazes me that these high-time pilots didn't immediately recognize the immensity of the danger posed by these failures.

Shocking the Captain relied on his instruments until the bitter end. Experienced Captain's with 15,000 flight hours.

RIP to everyone who died ❤ and i can't believe a wasp nest could cause the deaths of that many people, I am shocked

Amazing how a wasp’s nest took down the Birgenair Flight. AeroPeru’s CVR was used in the play, Charlie Victor Romeo.

Neither of these crews displayed what could be called good cockpit sense or cooperation, to their own and all those people's loss.

I never understand these "speed confusion" cases. Even if all speed indicators stop working. If you then fly the plane straight ahead wings level with, say, 70% thrust are you not pretty freaking sure you are not over speeding nor stalling

Those senior pilots knew (at least I would hope they did), that the readings on the panel were wrong from the onset, so the only way they could know was by visual. When visual is not a choice then don't take off, and if you do take off, turn around and land and save as many souls as possible, including their own. God bless those souls lost and God bless those pilots for trying and doing what they thought at the time was their only options. Thank you TheFlightChannel for these stories (both the happy and the sad ones). It is nice to know the whole stories of these flights that were compromised for whatever reasons. Your channel is very informative and enlightening. Thank you.

Just imagine the world we are quickly approaching where computers control everything we use for transportation, from our vehicles to get to the airport,to the planes we board, to the taxis to our destination, lucky if we survive it all.

"Always trust your instruments" except for 0.001% of the time you can't. I can't even imagine the confusion they went through.

This has been one of my fav channels on RU-vid since it started...

Your channel is one of my favourites, you're doing a fantastic job.Greetings from Germany

It’s interesting that compressed air is not available on board to reverse blow out pitot tubes. Ram air and a diverted valve might work fine.

Sad to see the intro music scenes no longer included in your productions. They had always set the tone quite well for the rest of the video segments.

Excellent, I'm pleased, you just get, right into it. Thanks M.

There are a few things that could have been done differently on the aero puru. Was there no rad alt on a 757? Once below 2500 they could have used that. Could have used a known power setting and pitch to constantly climb the plane and head back to Lima to re obtain visual references. Then attempt decent. Always easier to look with hindsight though.

Captain: "My airspeed indicator isn't working. Tell me your airspeed and when to rotate." Also Captain: "Your airspeed indicator is showing we're too slow, but mine is showing too fast. Let's reduce the throttle and slow this baby way down." 🤦‍♂🤦🤦‍♀

With two contradictory readings, why did it never occur to the Birgenair captain that *his* ASI might be the faulty one?...

That Aeroperú 603 flight was CRAZY! Seriously like everything that could have possibly gone wrong did.

With all of those malfunctions that close to the airport, its amazing the choice isn't "how about a left turn back to the downwind?"

On the second flight, the autopilot disengages because the readings from FO and CPT didn't match. Why did it not disengage on the first flight and made the plane stall instead? Question two: Where does the stall prevention system get the speed/altitude data from?

I've flown in and of Lima maybe 100 times. February is in the middle of summer and usually only one of 3 or 4 months a year when visibility after take off is completely clear. They should have imediatly turned around while still having Lima in sight and headed right back to the airport using their experience with throttle control and positioning to ballpark them at a safe speed back to Jorge Chavez airport. So what if they came in too fast , anything is better than crashing into a dark ocean. This accident was so tragic. Rest their souls.

Love your videos💕

The pilot's ASI was clearly having an issue; why didn't they hand fly it via the attitude indicator and the FO's ASI, and/or abort the TO? Ridiculous that 20+K hour pilots failed like this; button pushers. Looks like in both cases the AI was working fine, PLUS they had a standby Attitude Indicator AND a steam gauge ASI. Pro Tip: "Terrain"; might want to add power and pull up.

My air speed indicator doesn't seem to be working properly, would you kindly tell me when we arrive at takeoff speed. Now that we're airborne, I will completely ignore the fact that my air speed indicator wasn't working two minutes ago and base all my decisions on it. Am I missing something here?

One solution to help eliminate this kind of tragedy is for the pilot to do a comprehensive pre-flight walk around the aircraft, with a checklist and a flashlight. Another solution is to ensure that pitot covers are installed whenever the aircraft is expected to be parked for extended periods of time. These pilots were very experienced and should have no excuse for not aborting a takeoff whenever instruments are not syncing. That should be a huge red flag. Especially primary flight instruments. And Cockpit Resource Management should have been in full effect, meaning that one pilot should perform a pilots basic duty, which is to fly the airplane, while the second pilot works to zero in on the problem. I know it’s easy to play armchair quarterback, but when all else fails it’s always crucial to go back to the basics.

Nobody should have to go through this absolute panic - nobody! RIP!

Got Damm visuals of the plane accident in this video are good But makes me imagine what the people on the planet are going through Bless there Souls!

In the case of the AeroPeru crash, whilst the maintenance staff did not remove the protective tape from the static ports, the first thing that crossed my mind was why the flight crew did not spot the tape covering them as part of the pre-flight external aircraft walk round check.

Despite constant advances in technology and safety, the one variable is pilot error. When the plane was rolling out and the airspeed indicator failed they should have aborted the takeoff and return for it to e repaired. Instead the captain proceeded - he is personally responsible. Also the pilot is trained to know the autopilot runs off his instruments, another fail. Arrogance and negligence seems to be the factors, over and over. Unreal.

That stick shaker is undefeated for real , never ignore that !

The first accident is another example of some pilot's inability to adecuate react after his job(takeoff) 'is done', since the autopilot button is on.

I'm puzzled by why they didn't just continue to rely on the FO's pitot and override the Captain's ap? Why would they opt for the as indicator they'd already identified as faulty during takeoff?

I would say great work by TheFlightChannel, absolutely amazing graphics, and animation. I have already watched the detailed film of Peruvian aircraft in NatGeo's Aircraft Investigation Program. One can easily imagine the terror those in the cockpit had to face that fateful night. Very gruesome episodes of mindboggling horror those poor pilots had to go through over the dark sea.

The second one: Gawdamn, fellas. Turn around while you still have some city lights. RIP.

Thanks to this channel, I'm not to keen on flying, and I limit how often I need to ride in an airplane. Too many things can go wrong. I understand statistically, flying is safe, that's why I still do it. But my odds of finding myself in the cabin of one of these ill-fated flights increases the less I fly.

I'm getting on a plane in a few months. God help me LOL. Great video. I can't even imagine of frightening that was for everyone. May they all RIP

In both cases, with the plane displaying incorrect fast airspeed, how did the stick shakers know to activate?

Biggest goosebumps is this slow B major music piece of the incident summary

"Tower, we're in trouble, none of our instruments are working so we don't know how high or how fast we're flying! This is an emergency" Tower: "aLtiTuDe?"

2nd plane could've just turned around and emergency land back in Lima🤦🏾‍♀️

When you hear that voice, "Too low -- terrain," you push the throttles to the firewall and haul back on the stick and pray. There's no time to sit and argue about the instruments.

Love you channel- I also hate flying😂

I wonder if there was a chance for Aeroperu to restore control, after first touch on the water? It sounded like just light splash without severe damage. If they would went in TOGA immediately ?

The same situation happened at 2018 (MH134) was saved though (the previous video)🙂

Was happy on your shorts decision 😀👍🏻

This is tragic mane… rip to everyone involved 😢

First of all condolences to the families that suffered so much through this disaster. As a no expert in flying i have one dumb question. Since the pilots realised the problem with the instruments regarding the speed and the altitude of the aircraft why didn't they follow the coast of Lima so that they could have visual reference and safely return to the airport? I apologise again if my question is stupid enough to those who have flown or have some kind of experience but in my opinion, it is the most obvious thing to do in a situation like that.

This is one of several accidents in which both the pilots, and ATC were unaware that speed and altitude amongst other parameers, is read from the aircraft's transponder. Shouldn't aircraft crew and ATC be very familiar with this fact?

It is the clear responsibility of the pilot flying to make a detailed external inspection of the aircraft. If he had done these checks with due diligence then the chances are that this accident might have been avoided . . . . 😎

The incompetence of maintenance and flight crews is truly stunning.

This is a true story: My uncle and his family were about to board this very flight, when my uncle suddenly had a gut feeling and said "there is no way I am getting on this plane." My aunt argued with him, my cousins argued with him, but he stayed adament and firm, and so they decided not to get on the plane. My aunt was furious at first, knowing they would have to wait for their next flight. You can imagine how incredibly shocked our entire family was, after what transpired so tragically shortly after. But it does not stop there: only 2 weeks prior, me, my father and my mother flew on this very plane. I kid you not, I swear on my grandmother, may she rest in peace. You can imagine how incredibly shocked we all were when we found out, and to this day it drives chills down my bones and I think often of this tragic flight, and the luck my family had in connection with it at the same time, and I feel very strongly and deeply for the unlucky souls who died in this tragedy. Needless to say: my aunt never, ever, questioned my uncle's gut feelings after this again, and we all are extremely grateful for my uncle to have had this hunch.

So, curiously, I wonder if they even run flight simulations with Pilots with these exact or similar circumstances and how many pilots are able to safely land the aircraft........and do they even run a simulation like this...and if they don't...well, based on these two examples....THEY SHOULD!

Shoutout to Gander, Newfoundland. Wonderful spot couple hours away from my hometown.

"My instruments are crazy... Let's continue the take off!... And let's fly over the Ocean at night! Everything will be fine!!". I speak Spanish and I just wondered WTF.... It was kind of frustrating watching both avoidable tragedies develop.

Watching these videos makes me rethink taking a trip to Japan in December. In fact, I'm not sure I want to fly again, ever, and I used to enjoy it so much. RIP to all those who perished. I cannot even begin to fathom the fear they must have felt.

I always thought that all communications had to be in English, from all the air crash videos I've watched, they've stated that English is the communications language, to prevent any misinterpretation of instructions given by pilots and ATC.

7:14-8:07 I love this song. I have recorded it and am using it as the alarm sound for my mobile phone. It is very interesting that these similar cases are put together in the same video. The Aeroperu case is one that has most impressed me. It is difficult to accept that so many people died because someone made such a stupid mistake.

May be pilots should be provided with night vision goggles for flying at night to use in emergency like the oxygen mask or some sort of infrared camera fit on all planes. Pointed front and down. This way they can atleast see the reference points and terrain and a sense of spatial orientation

Its unreal how many of these crashes are caused by leaving tape over a sensor, wasp nests blocking a sensor, maintenance leaving covers on those pitot things...hundreds of people dying because of blocked sensors. Unreal.

It's amazing how the speed was checked on roll out but ignored. Why bother checking or following procedure if you don't care about it?

Ground proximity and stall warnings are the 2 warnings that are never wrong,

Another great video. RIP all on board.

Oh metal coffin in the sky You’re the reason I refuse to fly 😢 The horror for the souls on board Brings me terror and strikes a chord .. I know it’s safer than in a car but I’d rather die that way by far ! Rest in peace innocents x