Most Expensive Mistakes In All History - Part 4 

Really needed this video to show to my parents that I'm not the most expensive mistake in history😣

Let's see. To accidentally fire the gun of an F-16 on the ground you will need to connect a -60 ground power unit, a hydraulic 'mule' for hydraulic power, pull gun safety pins, pull weight on wheels circuit breakers, power up the gun and select it on the weapons management system and then 'accidentally' fire it.

I was in math class when the Challenger disaster happened. We had been somewhat unruly, given that it was unusual to take a break to watch a shuttle launch, so it took a lot for our teacher to get us to shut up and actually watch the event. We were stunned into absolute silence when the explosion happened, and someone in the room began to cry as it became obvious that the shuttle had broken apart. The principal's voice came on the PA to tell us what we had obviously just witnessed. It isn't as if any teachers had boycotted the event to keep teaching that day. Unlike most classes, our teacher did not turn off the TV. She realized that we had all witnessed a very dark moment in history. She didn't want to leave us with the event followed by complete shut down followed by stress and feelings of helplessness. The principal called an assembly. Our teacher told us we could go or stay. We stayed. She encouraged us to talk, to let our feelings of anger or sadness out. It was cathartic. She got in trouble because we didn't go to the assembly. Years later, I saw 9/11 unfold. I realized that I was helpless; I was a bystander to another very dark moment in history. Looking back, she had helped us understand that we could experience horrific events without being paralyzed by them.

After Allan McDonald died, I read a newspaper page dedicated to his story about that day. When he refused to sign that statement that said it was ok to launch, he was hard-pressed over and over again to sign it. After the explosion, he was told to keep his mouth shut, plus he was demoted and placed somewhere less visible. It took some investigators a long time to find out Mr, Mc Donald’s truth. It Is my understanding that the VIPs who did give the ok, nothing really much happened to them. Edit: I wonder if their consciences bother them??

You should do a follow up video on what happen to the people that caused these accidents.

I remember Challenger. My 5th grade teacher was so excited that a fellow teacher was on board - also schools were given special LIVE monitors for the event. The confusion, and following horror is what I remember most (not of the kids, but of the teachers) - kids know things. Pretending we didn't understand - after watching our teachers faint, throw up, scream, and cry in the hallways (doors weren't so sounds proof back then) - didn't help much. We were sent home for the day.

That first story brings to mind a friend of mine. This friend has made a pretty decent living off scouring eBay (and other similar sites) for the listings which are either misspelled, mislabeled, or listed in the wrong category. He finds these listings, buys them at pennies on the dollar, and either turns around and resells them or, in most cases (since computer parts are (according to him) the most commonly mis-listed items) builds a computer then sells it for multiples of his cost. When he first told me about this plan, I thought he was out of his friggin mind. That was 7 years ago. The man hasn't "worked" a day since and, somehow, keeps up with his child support (this is a REAL man who actually takes care of his obligations), pays his bills, and has a little left over for play (which he usually dumps back into buying more stuff). I do admit, saying he hasn't "worked" is a bit misleading since he spends anywhere between 10 and 15 hours a day on the various consumer to consumer sites. He's also always looking out for items his friends would like. I am a watch collector and recently he sent me a link for an Omega Speedmaster which was listed as "Omaga Speedster Chrono". It was listed at a starting price of $700 and, I'm sure, the seller fully expected the listed price to be quickly out-bid. I bit $1000 and won it for the opening bid of $700. I had it appraised within days of receiving it and the appraiser gave it a value of just shy of $10k. Anyone can do this...assuming they have unlimited time to invest and don't mind looking at thousands of listings to find the single gem. Personally, I do not have the patience but, hey, it works for him so, more power to him!

The fact that we get free documentaries on RU-vid by BE AMAZED is truly a gift. 👍

That guy was smart to get in the water by that HUGE explosion. Saved his eardrums and possibility his life.

Can we all aprecciate his guy he works so hard for our entertainment Edit:Thank you so much be amazed for liking it your are in my top 2 favourite youtubers!

To fire the F-16's cannon as a maintenance worker, first you need electrical power on the aircraft, you need hydraulic power to the aircraft, you'll need to remove the safety pin for the gun, select the cannon armament, then the Master Arm switch, finally someone needs to disable the weight on wheels (WOW) switch on the landing gear, then, pull the trigger. On the other hand, if you can run the engine, that gets you electrical and hydraulics. But you still need the pins pulled, correct cockpit switchology, and then the WoW switch.

19:06 The full cost of the Challenger disaster was higher than the dollar value you quoted. That was the mission where they were taking a civilian teacher into space. The whole mission was an immense PR and educational project. And so many (most?) of the people watching were children. I still remember that day. It still draws tears to my eyes. I remember exactly where I was. I remember the gasps and cries of my classmates. Who knows what the psychological cost of that disaster actually was?

It's amazing how so many things engineered and built by humans have the potential to be practically perfect. But when money or extra work gets involved, people often do the absolute wrong thing.

This guy's work rate is insane, new contents practically every week. Well done

Beirut happened due to an initial fireworks explosion after tyres caught fire. That explosion caused ammonium perchlorate to ignite then explode. It ALL exploded at once resulting in the main explosion that decimated the port. (There's a really good video explaining everything that led up to this and a supercut of EVERY angle caught of it.)

I knew about the Challenger accident. My old english teacher at Shanghai had even been witness of the whole thing when she was a child. Her school was near Cap Canaveral and if they went in the field nearby, they had direct view over launches. I myself can't possibly imagine what she must've felt like, nor how anybody felt like for that matter.

The Captain of the Evergreen wasn't to blame. Two pilots employed by the Canal company to pilot it through the canal weren't paying attention. Having company pilots is actually safer than not using them as they 'should' know the passage better. In the Puget Sound around Seattle, a ship can't move a single foot unless a Port of Seattle Pilot is on board.

Any time there is a structural disaster, know that managers approve budgets. My aerospace engineer sister and a couple colleagues were removed from a shuttle project because management opted for a cheaper ceramic for the exterior (not the '86 Shuttle). You all may remember a few years back where a shuttle nearly burned up on reentry because of ceramic plates failing and coming off? The managers probably got promoted.

I remember pulling a school fire alarm by accident

There was a luxury high rise building in south padre island in Texas called ocean tower that cost billions to build and there was a foundation problem discovered just after the building was completed. The entire tower had to be imploded. That mistake probably could have made this list

“Not a mistake, a happy little accident.” -Bob Ross

Honestly I didn’t expect a part 4 but I’m here for it

There was a very good documentary on the Ever Given, the Suez Canal, and worldwide shipping via container ships and what they have to go through with regard to wind and currents and such. I think it was one of PBS's Nova episodes but I'm not sure. In any case, it went into detail as to why and how a ship that size could get stuck in the canal and the natural forces (not to mention the human error) at play that could exacerbate what happened. It's a real interesting show.

I was watching the Challenger launch live when it blew up. A few years ago, I read that the autopsies of the bodies showed most of them died from heart attack and suffocation (no breathable air at the altitude it exploded)... this means the crew survived the explosion and for a brief moment, knew what happened and obviously saw the plunge downward toward the ocean.

17:13 the Beirut blast shocked me the most. Seeing this literal explosive force and what impact it had, is horrible.

I hope you guys are aware, if you have the gear or team of people to dive and find some of those containers could be very beneficial.

15:57 The explosion also happened because one of them chemicals (forgot which one) was known for reacting violently to water (it would cause a spark or something), so when the water that was being used to put out the initial fire touched the specific chemicals-boom. Hence why the explosion itself was so massive.

Ironic that a video about mistakes lists the date of the Challenger explosion as January 18th, instead of its actual date, ten days later.

That container catastrophe is probably the reason we couldn’t get toilet paper in 2020! $200 million disaster…that’s a lot of TP!!

17:34 man that's incredible to see, it almost looks like CGI. Look at the way the initial clouds expand in a perfect sphere, if you pause the video and use . and , to go frame by frame you can see how fast that shockwave actually moved, the clouds look completely stationary compared to the disruption and then explosion and that thing is like hundreds of meters wide

Mizuho and J-Com... I was working in that world then. THAT had massive consequences. The CEO and CTO and COO of TSE resigned. TSE redesigned it's entire trading system as well. And the company I worked for at the time made quite a lot of money from that whole fallout. Those were really good times.

I'm just barely old enough to remember Challenger happening - I was young but obsessed with space from a very young age. The really sad thing about the Challenger disaster is that they were warned what could happen by engineers and ignored advice against launching, dooming all on board. Even sadder is that the workplace safety culture at NASA did not improve in light of the disaster or subsequent investigations, which is what ultimately led to the destruction of Columbia in 2003.

My most expensive mistake was back in 2008 I was working at a Cadillac dealership. One day I finished working on a $80k Escalade and started lowering it from the lift. As I was doing that, another tech parked behind me in a $120k XLR-V and opened and left the door opened to go return a work order. Then I and everyone heard a crunch. We both got written up. Good times.

I am Train Driver in Germany, and every Train Driver in German is automatically insured for over 2 Million Euros. ... so, if you F* up... make sure it's not over 2 Million

My most expensive mistake was taking an interest in cars at an early age. We have an amazing house & garden, but we probably could have had holidays in space, a mansion, a helicopter, private jet, several holiday homes, a private yacht and a butler....

1:19 Rick Harrison "that's nice but I can given you 15 bucks"

Goes to show that paying your due diligence and having knowledge of your job can really save lives even down to the machine operators at some little shop in a small town. It's amazing to learn how the manufacturing sector spreads like a vine.

As A Lebanese I Feel Bad For The Thousands Of People Who Died During That Massive Explosion…very sad :(

I asked my mother if I could stay at home and watch the Challenger lift off. She said "no" and I went on to have a totally ordinary day at school. When I got back, my mother asked me if I heard the news. Flippantly, I said, _"What? Did it explode or something?"_ She then told me, yes, that's exactly what happened. I was *STUNNED.*

As a born and raised Floridian I remember the Challenger like it was yesterday. I was in 6th or 7th grade at the time and because there was a school teacher on board this mission...every school in the US was watching the launch live. I had seen shuttle launches before and I knew what I just saw was bad. Some kids in my class were cheering when the explosion happened because they thought it was just the point where the solid rocket boosters separate. The cheering quickly stopped.

At the end of the day... listen to the experts. If an expert tells you something bad is going to happen, hire another expert to verify, and then if they still agree, fix what needs to be fixed. Don't just ignore the problem.

"Unless you live under a rock in 2021, you've heard of the Ever Given" Well... my home is an underground house... sooooo explains why i didn't hear of it.

Roger Boisjoly was also an engineer who tried to stop the Challenger explosion

I was 7 when the Challenger shuttle went BOOM! When they said it was the 'O' rings, I've always felt like it was the shuttle failing it 'MOT' so to speak! 😊

17:37 when he went underwater it reminded me of that scene in Dunkirk, where he stuck his head under water to prevent getting deaf by the loud noise.

Two examples (at least) of people "in the trenches" telling out of touch management about a problem, only to be ignored and watching the problem unfold. Standard procedure for companies, it seems. I have encountered dozens of such scenarios in my work life. Fortunately, those were all relatively small mistakes, certainly trivial compared to these. Managers think they know everything. They don't.

I can't belived I miss this part 4 for 10 months!

Boeing 747 Flight 102 crashed in Bagram AFB due to a cargo shift caused by human error from a cargo master not double checking the work of the cargo loaders. The plane was carrying Five MRAP vehicles and one shifted to the tail and caused the crash. The plane cost over 386.8 million dollars and each MRAP cost between 500,000 and 1,million dollars. This doesn't include the loss to all 7 US personnel and the investigation launched to see if terror was to blame.

no matter how many billions you have, one mistake cost you everything

In some places it is impossible to set a foundation on bedrock. In SE Texas bedrock is more than a mile under the dirt. The skyscrapers need very very deep foundations, but they are not going to get down to bedrock. I think the age of the skyscraper is nearly at an end. Offices needed to be located near each other to move paper from one office to another. Now that it's mostly electronic, an office can be anywhere.

I've heard that it's possible that the crew of Challenger could have survived the initial explosion.

if you do a part 5 anytime soon, I will get you started. The S.S. Moro Castel had been a real luxury ship ack in the thirties. But on the night September 5th, 1934, at 2:50 AM, a fire started in the engine room. It is still unknown how the fire started. But the craziest part was, the day before the disaster, the captain unexpectedly died and if you thought it was old age, well guess what the captain was 45 years old. soon the coast guard came and saved most of the people on board. but sadly 137 people died. mainly by flames or smoke or not able to swim. In total the cost was from the rescue, the towing the ship and scraping it, cost 4 million dollars back in 1934, which is $400,000,000 today.

Yeah that Evergreen canal fiasco was definitely costly and we had to pay for it at the stores.

2:44 And that is why the first rule of gun safety is to make sure the load status of a gun when you first pick it up, even for aircraft guns. Make sure it is loaded or unloaded, and treat it accordingly.

I'd think denying a certain Austrian bloke access to the Vienna Art Academy back in 1908 should've been at least in the top 10...

The One Apus is a rich man's worst nightmare

18:32 ok but can we appreciate how beautiful that explosion is?

The Challenger was the worst. NASA launched at a temperature lower than their own rules allowed for. Each time they violated their own rules, that became the new norm until they just went too far.

The Costa Concordia sinking belongs on this list... Salvage cost plus damages were over two billion dollars, plus the six hundred million dollar original cost of the ship. A loss of over 2.6 billion dollars because the captain wanted to make a close approach to shore so he could show off his ship to his mistress.

The Challenger Tragedy was jaw droping when I first head about it. However, it was the same reason that gave my elementary school its name; Christa McAuliffe, who was one of the pilots who died that day. She was moralized thorugh this school and will be forever praised as one of the first real "Challengers."

Damn, the most expensive mistake I've ever made was when I backed up a 2014 Toyota Corolla into a..... A GTR🤦‍♂️. At least the owner was nice and said it was fine and that it'll buff out but I don't think that a GTR front bumper with huge cracks was gonna buff out any time soon. Worst part was my dad got really pissed bcuz the car wasn't even ours. It was my dad's friend's car. And we were also on a trip and this happened in the UK. Soooo watching this video was a real kicker for me. Respect to the deceased And my god I am Amazed with the almost regular uploads of pure content.👍

@BeAmazed I await another installment of this series...Thank you for all of your hard work in these series...I really enjoyed.

There is a common theme in all these disasters that resulted in mass destruction and human death: In almost every instance, the institution was told the disaster was a possibility, but chose to ignore these warnings to save money.

I’ve waited so long for this thanks!

magnitude 9 was the strongest for Japan, yes, but to clarify, there have been even bigger ones in the last 300yrs in Alaska and Chile.

IMO, the Challenger disaster was not, nor will ever be a cause for laughing. Eve now, with so many years passing, I feel incredibly saddened when thinking about the astronauts who died on that flight.

@2:21 On left that's actually a 30mm round from the GAU-8 "Avenger" for the A-10C Thunderbolt that fine airman is showcasing, standing in front of the aircraft itself. The weapon on the right is the 20mm M61 six barreled rotary cannon what looks to be mounted on a F-15C/D Eagle -- just to clarify to the layman out there.....

I love watching these!

To be fair, few of us have not been given responsibilities necessary to have an opportunity to make these mistakes.

If an item doesn't sell past it's reserve on eBay, just cancel it and sell it again. Especially with the right spelling. For 500,000 pounds it's worth one and review

You need to check the date for the Challenger disaster. I was January 28 1986, I remember this as it was a snow day. They canceled schools.

19:09 The Challenger explosion took place on January 28, 1986, not January 18. How could you mess THAT up?

Yeesh. I really feel bad for those people who lost millions of dollars because of one small typo...

Actually in most large shipping canals ships are taken over by officials from the country the canal is in, or owners of the canal. They then command/pilot the ship through for insurance purposes. So it's more than likely the captain of the Ever Given wasn't in command when the cargo ship ran aground. He was possibly just made the scapegoat for the screw up of the official who took over. This was something I heard when the BBC were interviewing a cargo ship captain, about that story, to ask what happens during this operation.

I served in the Navy. I have seen these Merchant vessels going to see with less than skeleton Crews with mixed training and ships Masters who could not to save their souls navigate or handle a ship. All they were were managers everything else was done by a computer and automatic pilot and a great deal of faith. These ships weighing thousands of tons take miles to stop miles to turn. Most of them have Crews of no more than 20 individuals. All they have is a watch crew they have no one to handle emergencies anymore. The crew is woefully lacking in numbers to handle whole breaches or even fires. This is all due to Greed. Couple that grade with a great deal of ignorance when it comes to the the realities that exist on the high seas. If you don't know what you're doing the ocean will kill you without hesitation she doesn't care if you're stupid you deserve to die it's that simple. If you neglect or overlook deliberately of the factors and reality that exists when moving vessels that weigh thousands of tons in a liquid environment. When it comes to the ocean you don't cut corners you don't take anything for granted you have to be aware of where you are and everything that is going on above below and on the ocean for at least 15 miles in any direction.. in the military I have seen companies get away with unbelievable neglect and contempt for life at sea and the value of human life and the environment. All you have to do is study what happened to the Titanic and you will definitely see it was no accident it was greed ignorance and and willful disregard for anything except the pursuit of corporate profit and advancements. This mindset of get a lot for next to nothing has to he sent to the scrap Heap.

Taking the short route to build a luxury building in a populated area to save $4 million, only for it to sink/tip and put residents and the public at risk. Those responsible for the initial design/build of the Millennium Tower should go to prison for what they have done. I see no upside in this engineering mess.

Challenger disaster was on January 28th, 1986, not on the 18th.

In the 70s in Colorado, people attending a large event were instructed to park in a vacant field of tall grass that no one had thought to mow before hand. The catalytic converters on the cars caught the dry grass on fire resulting in the loss of all vehicles parked there.

Very interesting -- One thing I really enjoyed about this documentary was the serious attempt to look into the causes of these disasters. For me this is the most interesting aspect of these unfortunate events. It is an important public service to make as many people as possible aware of the responsibility of firms operating heavy equipment to take reasonable precautions -- Have these firms put pressure on ship's masters to flout proper safety precautions -- This documentary makes the public aware of the need for government regulation. Why did the experienced master of the 'Ever Given' engage in risky manoeuvring in the Suez Canal? Surely the master of the 'Ever Given' had passed through the Canal many times and knew the danger. I received great feeling of amusement and moral satisfaction upon hearing of the appropriately large fine imposed upon the firm -- Such a fine must act as an effective deterrent to firms which may otherwise be inclined to put undue pressure upon ship's masters!

There is something most people fail to remember about the Challenger disaster in 1986. There had been a nation-wide contest among school teachers to send the winner up in the shuttle, so one of the seven "astronauts" was actually the school teacher who "won" the contest.

On a convoy in the oilfields my brother fell asleep and rammed a 2.4 million dollar truck into ANOTHER 2.4 million dollar truck. I was there when the boss had his few words with him. Coolest boss ever, he kept his job - but not without some roughneck rampage rhetoric. Whew!

When is a "mistake" that cost lives paid for, i.e. when the "mistake" costs lives?

Nice to see a clip from the disaster classic - Earthquake (1974) - I recognised the woman coming out of the cinema as the female lead - Genevieve Bujold (I think !) i absolutely love this movie !

Let’s give this guy a like so he can make great content like this all the time

3:35 He said - the ever given - but a little bit later it shows us a boat that says evergreen??

What went wrong with Challenger was the artifical requirement for the boosters to be segmented in the first place.

7:52 that blue container holding on for dear life

To be fair, a 20mm is an actual CANNON, with exploding cannon shells.

I was a shop steward at a high end mechanic shop and part of my job was to detail and deliver customer cars. I crashed a rare spec Dodge Viper through the front of someone’s house. In my defense, I was 18 at the time.

You got the date on the challenger disaster wrong. It was January 28, 1986. Happened the day before I was born

One if the most expensive mistakes in history: The White Star Line's Olympic class ocean liners.

This makes me ding in Minecraft and losing my diamond chest plate a lot more manageable

Is it me, or does the Japanese Fukushima nuclear disaster sound like a modern time Chernobyl? Also, I'm a bit confused about something, is the guy saying the blast in Chernobyl was more powerful than Japan, or vice versa?

3:30 it is possible for an accidental negligent discharge with an automated weapon like that, very unlikely but possible. I know from experience if a .50 cal machine gun overheats, it will keep firing until the ammo is used up. The rounds will "cook off" from the heat and discharge.

Mechanic didnt mistakenly fire the cannon. That is not possible if the jets safety systems are functioning properly. They have something called a weight on wheels switch that prevents things like pitot heating. weapons, countermeasure, ejection seat, and the radar from working.

I broke a very expensive piece of machinery that stopped an entire production line until an engineer from the company, who were the only people in the world who could fix it, could be flown from Holland to the UK to repair it. Then a new part had to be custom engineered to replacel

finally ive been waiting for u to post now youve brighten up my mood

4:50, Evergiven. This scene gave a popular meme as this excavator seemed to push the ship. "This excavator operator has seen too many videos on self motivation"

3:21 Probably the latter. If it were so easy to accidentally fire the gun of an F-16, it would happen a lot more.

Great video, but surprised you rank The Challenger as number 2 ..... despite the loss in value of the MV Tricolor & it's cargo surely it doesn't come close to the value of the loss of life during that fateful day in 1986 ? I remember watching it live on TV ..... heartbreaking even today, just goes to show that "Time heals nothing, it merely rearranges our memories".