The Plane that Faced an Invisible Force at New Orleans Airport - Pan Am Flight 759 

I was working at Eastern Air Lines in their flight simulator department at the time. Once the downburst velocity was estimated, we programmed it into one of our 727 simulators. Our simulation showed that our 727's could have flown out of the same conditions, but Eastern's 727's had more powerful engines than PanAm 727's used at the time!!!

I flew for 16 years. On a leg from Tulsa to Ok city we were descending through 10,000 feet, seat belt sign was on because there was storm activity in the area. When there was this incredibly loud bang and the aircraft went into a dive. I thought it was a midair collisio and in a minute or so it'll be over. The pilot was finally able to pull the aircraft out of the dive. For the next ten minutes (eternity) he fought to maintain the aircrafts stability though turbulence I didn't think was possible for the fuselage to survive. We finally landed back in Tulsa. What a mess the cabin was. Strangely enough no one screamed. Never before and never since have I experienced anything remotely close to that incident. And I mean remotely. This was 1984 and there weren't any reports of a shear situation and the towers did not detect it. It of course, didn't show on the aircrafts radar. Let me tell you there's no substitute for experience when it comes to piloting modern jet aircraft. The captain had that experience. Your videos are excellent. Keep them coming.

Absolutely horrific, I can't even begin to imagine the terror the pilots faced. Great video and thank you for creating, uploading and sharing!!

I was in NOLA that day and had no idea what was going on, except something really bad. The weather/conditions were much worse than the video depicts. I remember it well.

I remember this my dad worked for national airlines when I was young and then they became Pan Am I'll never forget the day my dad came home and told me about it it was a very sad day in the airline industry.

I found your website only a few hours ago and I can tell you I am very impressed by your contributions, which are also visually very well designed. You get to the point in about 10 minutes videos and I like that. Hopefully you make many other such good videos! All the best to you✌🏼 Bo 🇨🇭

Thanks for a fantastic video. Only Hollywood makes films as dramatic as this. I love the aerial shots as the plane rotates ❤❤ 😊😊

I know Pan Am had their share of accidents over the years but I was hired by pan Am in 1987 an I was a flight attendant for them until December 4 1991 when they closed down it was sad it really was a great airline

I was flying a Navajo from KBTR to a small airport near navy calendar field at that time of that crash. I picked that storm up on my radar as soon as I was airborne. It was massive. I had to fly about 20 out of my way to get around it and come in from the southeast of new orleans. after I landed my ground crew came and told me pan am had just crashed. I will never forget that day.

Minor points... 1. The wipers are ten times louder than these. So loud that they are almost never used while taxiing. Generally used only on short final and during the landing phase. Too damn loud for any other time unless you're in a monsoon type downpour. 2. The strobes on the wings are only used in flight. On for takeoff, off when clearing the runway. 3. "Packs off" takeoff takes bleed air from the APU to power the packs and pressurize the jet. By not using the engine bleeds you "save" more power for thrust and can set a slightly higher power setting for takeoff. Once safely airborne, the engine bleeds are switched back on and the APU is shut down. We knew very little about windshear back then. Now pilots are trained to a much higher degree and with much better info on how to mitigate the effects of windshear. But most importantly, they just don't take off or land when windshear conditions are present or likely on the runway they're using. The first rule is to avoid them. Wait the the storm to pass. Hold either on the ground or in the air until the conditions have improved. There has not been a major accident attributed to windshear in the US since USAir in 1994 (CLT).

Well done as with all of your videos. As an ex flight attendant for SWA, I was always cognizant of the fact that any flight I worked may be my last. Godspeed to all who were on board that day.

This crash was so horrific and heartbreaking but technology was just not as advanced back then as it is today. A video well worth watching in my opinion. Video well done, thanks.

Note: all on board and some in the homes passed, but there was a baby girl found alive in the rubble of one of the homes. Melissa "Missy" Trahan-Ferrara, also known as the "Miracle Baby", was the only survivor on the ground when Pan Am Flight 759 crashed into a Kenner, Louisiana neighborhood in 1982:

I have been remiss not to have added a supporting comment on each of these "MPC Flights" videos. Perhaps that is because the videos are so powerful and well done that it is easy to reflect and think about them so intensely that adding a comment slips to a back burner. In any event, all of the MPC videos are absolutely and remarkably outstanding. Thank you MPC for all of your marvelous work. The research, technology, editing and presentation of each video is extraordinarily unique and professional. Cannot thank you enough.

I wrote some of the first software for detection of bad wind shear. Mercifully this does not happen anymore. For reasons I won’t go into the 727 was very susceptible.

Years ago when we buried my grandfather in Larose, LA; my uncle pointed out to us the tomb of a young woman from there who died in this crash.

And here I was thinking commercial air travel got safe in the 1960's. Think B707. I traveled a lot with my job in the mid 80's. Always flew out of Atl-Hartsfield. Loved the L1011!! Didn't care for the MD's. B737s were blasé. The DC-10's never measured up to the L1011s IMHO.

My father and I watched this on the news at ATL while we were waiting to connect with our flight to FRA. We were visiting the Ionosphere Club when the news broke.

Flew through clear air wind shear on a landing approach to BDL years ago. I would have sworn we hit something on the field. The 737 jerked violently to port. Luckily this was an up-engined model and the pilot put the pedal to the metal. I had no idea that a 737 could climb out at better than 45 degree rate.

Those windshield wipers would have driven me crazy….. er. Gotta fix that!

So tragic and hard to watch this, considering all that we know these days. There is now pilot training and detection warnings are [mostly] in place. So very sorry to hear this story. Can’t help but to also note that there was what seems to be too ‘slow’ of an industry-reaction after this crash, spanning the about three years until another tragedy with Delta 191. Any many others similar too. Didn’t pilots know about wind shear affect ages ago, like back in ww2? Sigh. Blessings and prayers to all involved.

Just don't like the "dust" at the rear of the airplane. There was also black smoke behind a DC-8 on another video on cruise mode. Very good video, by the way.

In my experience flying when there is any doubt about wind shear, stay on the ground and build up speed. To hell with lifting off at take off speed, add another 20 to 30 knots before rotating. If that was done they would have survived. Also screw those stupid noise restrictions; always use full power. When I was in the military I flew on 727's when they first came out. The pilots put the pedal to the metal on every flight. We were pinned to the seat until reaching 10,000 feet. Noise restrictions to force pilots to only use partial power are incredibly dangerous and stupid.

I was flying for Royale Airlines out of New Orleans then. I saw the storm and commented to my wife that Ii was glad I was not flying thar day. A USAIR DC-9 taxied on the runway but decided to delay their takeoff, and taxied off the runway. There was around 8 nurses on that flight going to Vegas. The ticket agent told them there was only 2 seats available. The nurses said we all go or none of us go. Good decision.

Was a tragedy to all who was involved in plane, ground & ATC. I remember this. Unfortunately sometimes it takes this to happen to find ways to fix it for future. Captain, FO & engineer had lot of flight hours & B727 hours.

it's not "invisible" when there are SEVERE thunderstorms all around the airport and the tower is reporting crazy variable winds all over the place. Reckless!

I hate to think that windshield wipers on a airplane sound like those of a '69 Buick

I'm thinking the captain should have handled the takeoff, knowing that it would be difficult. He told the first officer to let the speed build up so he had some idea of what could happen and what needed to be done so he should have been flying.

RIP to all those NPCs at the back of the airplane too. In a near future... planes will moan and cry before taking off in these conditions... "please no !!, captain, let's just stay on the ground..." :-b

I hope people turn out in droves, for your well-made and informative videos! New subbie.

If there’s wind shear, don’t take off!!! Wait till the storm blows over.

National Airlines!!!!

PAN AM Airline went out of business. You this Airline in many old movies.

Felicitaciones Mauricio, ahora los haces en inglés también. Congratulations Mauricio, now you are doing your videos in English.

Microbursts & wind shear can happen to anybody at any time. Audience wishes grieving survivors all the best. Cheers!

The captain gave instructions on wind shear and said to let speed build on takeoff....when else would you let it build? Legit question. I am not certain what is meant. I remember this accident...it seems they should have waited for the overhead weather to lift? The control tower let them know it was there. So tragic.

All they had to do is wait 5 minutes. Unbelievable

C.a.t......shocking!

New Orleans. Wow An Eastern 727 left MSY to JFK and crashed there due to wind shear.

Oh my God

Yeah, but taking straight off into a mature thunderstorm covering departure route wasn't very wise

Damn, nearly did it. RIP

Could they have not waited for a imptovemrnt in weather snd thrn tskrn off they coukd ahave filed a bew flight plan while waiting

Do aircraft really have this very noticeable stream of exhaust coming from the back of the plane? Because it’s not something I’ve ever seen. Wingtip vortices I’m familiar with, but never such a visible exhaust like this plane.

So sad

Did they really not pull the gear up to reduce drag?

OMG 😮😢

Loud wipers sounds like a old wiper motor junk plane 138 passengers o boy

Very sad. Till deaths accured....

Plane is to old

Good joke

Pratt must have been out of town when Whitney made that Engine

Sad, the pilots were so professional, took all the precautions within their knowledge and still crashed and so many died. When you see so many pilot error accidents, its somehow more bitter when the crew does not make the mistake and still pays the ultimate price. Super high qual vid, the plane looked amazing.

I remember that day very well. It was a Friday and we happened to be headed to NYC - as it turns out we landed in EWR the same minute PA 759 went down (I realized this from the newspaper the next day). I always knew I’d have a career in aviation and this crash is particularly intriguing. So much learned from it - tho the fact that -27 weighed a hefty 105 tons and was powered by the least-powerful JT8D variant (the dog turd 7B) gave it zero performance margin. In fact the Captain requested they turn off the A/C pacs to allow for higher EPR on engines 1 and 3. He also said not to rotate promptly but let their speed build over Vr. They knew they were going to have a real fight to climb….. sadly they lost. RIP

Maybe flying during extreme weather conditions just isn't a good idea...

Taking risks with the weather has an unfortunate habit of ending badly.

Very nice video, thanks!

God bless ❤

Excellent digital recreation and content. Well done.

Ugh, the things we have had to learn through tragedy.

Is this xplane or p3d?