@@mycolebrown4719 The main source is the book "Maxim Gorky - The Story of the Giant Aircraft" by Maximilian Saukke (the son of the engineer Boris Saukke mentioned in the video). The last third of the book, starting from page 122, covers the story of the PS-124. I'm not sure if you can find the book in English, though. search for Максимилиан Саукке: "Максим Горький". История самолета-гигантa
@@PaperSkiesAviation Have you heard about the airshow or aircraft contest in Russia in 1913 when a plane lost it's engine and it has fallen through a 4 engine Sikorsky flying below it causing the Sikorsky to crash killing everyone aboard ?
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@@johndododoe1411MCAS had a differnet story. The problem was that it had only a single sensor, that when faultily detecting a stall, would signal to pitch the aircraft down to gain speed. The problem wasnt the design of how it handled the situation, but how it relied on a single component not breaking. Of course it should had been told to the crews that this system was instaled though
@@alternativewalls4988A single sensor, despite two being on the plane, with no software to sanity check the inputs, and no pilot training for the new system. It was more than just one bad decision.
@@alternativewalls4988 The faulty sensor was just the common trigger in 2 crashes . The fundamental problem was that MCAS could not and would not stop overcorrecting until everybody was dead . Every means of stopping it by pilot action was removed or made too difficult for typical human pilots: The dedicated switch to disconnect all automatic trim sources was combined with the switch disconnecting pilot control of trim . The mechanical override was geared to maximize difficulty and given an ambiguous name resulting in at least one pilot dying while pushing the disconnected button with the same name .
I remember reading about an accident with a Tu-134 in the 1980's where the crew, out of sheer boredom, attempted to land the jet blindfolded, with obviously catastrophic consequences. It would be great to hear you tell us more about this event. No one tells stories about Soviet antics like you do. You definitely found an unexplored niche.
To be honest, I seriously considered making a Nebula Plus video about the Aeroflot Flight 6502 accident to accompany this video about the PS-124 crash. I believe that this type of video may not be tolerated on RU-vid, which is why I wanted to make it on Nebula. Unfortunately, I was short on time to create both videos. However, I have gathered all the necessary material, so there is a high possibility that I will make that video in the near future.
there was a bit betting the commander of the ship and the co-pilot. The commander claimed that he could land the plane only according to the reading of the instruments, without looking outside
@@neshirst-ashuach1881 But if you've seen some of his other videos, you would know that the navigator *can* turn the plane around. All he has to do is send a bad course to the pilot. :) Or at least not correct the pilot's erroneous course.
@@xxxuselesspricksxxx1481 I noticed the wording quoted didn't say "naked", just without his (official) clothes, which the other pilot was clearly wearing .
A Russian captain let a passenger who have no idea how the plane control mechanism work into the cockpit AND play with the control mechanism. I have heard this story from another case and totally did not expect to hear from this case at all.
Love the detailed history from the Soviet perspective that this channel provides, quite unique on youtube and always fascinating. Thanks for your work Paper Skies!
Same here, the Soviets made several historic planes and rockets. That and the narrator's understanding the Soviet union. "The Soviet Union would not be the Soviet Union if they stopped here" or " the Soviet Union would not be the Soviet Union if they let it not working stop them, so they went to fill production"
@@cedric3973 It's not exactly "soviet" really. Russian's have some sort of "stupid" field that emits from them, making them build really cool but ultimately "stupid" things, like the giant round boats that they forgot to... you know... make special drydocks for. Because they wanted round yachts, who cares if it has problems pulling in to dock and can NEVER be maintained.
that's completely different because competent pilots didn't understand their own auto pilot, if they knew then there wouldnt have been issues even with the boy ruining everything
That’s not true, he was just bringing his kid into the cockpit and let him sit in his lap and turn the TRK HDG knob (which in EVERY aircraft I know of just turns the plane very slightly to the degree chosen) the issue was switching between radial and inertial navigation which the pilots weren’t trained properly on the then new FBW airbus design. It’s more nuanced then “the soviets are all dumb”
Not a problem in USSR, especially in Stalin era. You either volunteered to pay some sum for next megalomaniacal propaganda project. Or went into free trip to Altai, but more often to Norilsk or Magadan to do open air physical activities in places behind barbed wire.
@@dclark142002 What does this have to do with communism? You could have converted yourself to Buddhism and gone to Shamballa, than having suffered the torturous (and wrong path of having gone to communism), in order to discover that the final destination was Tengri-La.
I am sure the donations to fund these aircraft were completely voluntary and not all the result of party pressure.Thank you for doing these vids, PS. The stories are always fascinating, and a window into not just aircraft, but to a lost age.
@@cdjxwubcyex Like, a ski vacation surrounded by nubile college students, or a vacation to count trees and dig gold I don't come back from for 20 years? If it's the first one, Communism is way better than Capitalism!
I’ve literally unsubscribed from ‘dark skies’ and the other dark blah blah channels and replaced it with paper skies because the B roll and historic footage actually supports the story and history. That and it’s not a content machine pumping out terrible quality and writing. Always impressed with paper skies and it’s quality over quantity approach ❤
That navigator position makes total sense. As we've seen on this very channel, it's not really very important at all for that crew member to be able to concentrate.
It was non-convertible, ie, not on the foreign exchange. No one wanted it, you couldn't buy it, or sell it, it's the divide by zero of money, the price is undefined. Between modern monetary theory and the Soviet economics being ????! barter was the only option. However, the economics is secondary to damn good jokes, I freaking died.
@@alexturnbackthearmy1907 Even dollar to dollar is difficult with the move from gold standard to MMT and World reserve currency, different measures for inflation and technological progress vastly changing the costs and value/utility. Even the bucket is unconvertible, as not one would import a Soviet bucket. hmm, it just dawned on me that Russia has been a gas station since forever as no one buys finished goods other than weapons. The other joke would measuring by the bill sent to your family for the bullet they shot you with.
1. I find evidence of paid (and free) vacations to Siberia is hilarious 2. The conversion of rubles to buckets and shovels should be carried over to your other videos whenever possible. It is very helpful. 😂
there's an old soviet joke, which is a bit meta in its way, as you will see. the joke goes that the NKVD organizes a stand up comedy contest in the name of Lenin's 75th birthday or some such. the second-runner-up gets a 6 month all-expenses-paid trip to, ah, 'Leninist Locations', I think is the best translation, in Altai. Po Leninskim mestam, koroche. the runner-up gets a 12 month all-expenses-paid trip to the Altai. The winner gets the opportunity to meet the man himself in person.
Your steadfast determination to continue converting the ruble to buckets and Siberian "vacations" throughout the video is both very helpful and absolutely hilarious. Thank you for making me smile, Paper Skies
1:16 Calling it the most ridiculous is invidious. Russian civil aviation history is full of common sense defying accidents: - The managing director of the Magadan (Russian Far East) civil airport got drunk one day, commandeered the ATC, and tried to direct a civil flight to a landing with horrific yet unsurprising results. -An anti-aircraft missile regiment conducting training drills accidentally shot down a Tu-114 with a SAM in 1961. It had never occurred to anyone that civil aircraft should be barred from the airspace over a military live fire exercise - Countless entries in the late 1940s/early 1950s involving Aeroflot planes flying in Central Asia SSR's over high mountains that begin with "the crew took an unauthorized detour" and ends with "wreckage found X weeks or months later. - The crew of Il-14 in 1967 ignored a warning from one regional ATC that their navigation system was malfunctioning, failed to share this with another ATC, and then proceeded to land in a dense forest 20 km away from their intended destination.
it is a well-known fact that Western aircraft never ever had accidents. Zero. And no space shuttles crashed either. Everything worked swimmingly. Especially Challenger and Columbia. It was just perfect
@@sonomacalendar9949 well if the soviets would've been more efficient and less delusional then the cold war could have ended very differently, so it's better to joke about it.
@@mattjohnson5585 i can imagine a russian pilot with a huge belly wanting to impress the air hostess saying "Tell kids come inside, uncle Ivan give gift" and then they proceed to press the weirdest buttons and pull random levers. LOL RIP to all that died...
I always love going back into your videos due to my weird fascination of Soviet/Russian, let's say "eccentricities", whether of old or more...recent developments. I wonder how much of "Smekalka" and "Imitation of restless activity" was present during the whole saga of the Maxim Gorky and its derivatives. (Also seriously, would the Russians not learn from this accident with Aeroflot 593?) Really also love the humor in your presentation of the "silly nuances" as only true communists can experience, such as that thing with the building of the ANTs in the unfinished Kazan factory, as well as the "Twitter posts" of the ANT-20's exhibitions. And how questioning said nuances had a pretty decent chance of an all-expense-paid trip to Altai, paid for by the State (I mean, hey, it's 590 rubles saved, that's a good thing, right?). I guess that's the charm of videos like yours; I clicked to learn about some obscure aircraft accident from the mid-20th century in the middle of nowhere, and stayed for all the above-mentioned "eccentricities" that made the event possible. As always, can't wait for the next one!
There's a strong perception in Russia today that, yeah, maybe the USSR was not the best during certain time periods, but it was perfect during Stalin's time. However, the nepotism, corruption, and inefficiency during that period were among the worst.
Great video. Yet, a naked captain in the pasanger compartment? Were their other naked pasangers? An not Gorky but the Tupolev Orgy most likely I guess.😅
@@PaperSkiesAviation Well, its one of those things that are always present in russia. But stalin times are sure not best, schools were not free, repression were on their rise and communist party always knew what was the best, despite warnings from their own people. Maybe they think about 50`s, when stalin was mostly chilling on background before dying to heart attack?
I think the thing is that almost no-one who was an adult during Stalin's life is left, and Stalin himself is bound up very tightly with the victory against Germany. In the period following the war was the only time when the USSR could credibly claim to be the preeminent global power, and that counts for a lot. Yes, Stalin was awful but the USSR had beaten the Germans and was in the ascendancy. Compare to anyone else who followed - They were less terrible but they didn't have victories. Their reigns are remembered for economic policies, nothing else. There were still shortages all the time, but no existential war against the fascists.
@@lostalone9320 I guess it's not for nothing that Russia keeps trying to ride that high of winning the Great Patriotic War and centres its national fictions and propaganda around that one moment.
I love how I was watching an aviation video YESTERDAY and, as a joke, I said, “I need Paper Skies to make a video on the Maxim Gorky right now. I need it now.” And well, I didn’t think you were listening! (Sure, it’s not technically about the original ANT-20 but who’s counting :3)
I'll never get over the similarities between the Maxim Gorky crash and what happened with the XB-70. Its almost like grandkids killing themselves while reenacting how their grandparents accidently killed themselves back in the day.
And mind-boggling incompetence. Not to say that nobody else is saddled with their own pile of incompetents, but Russia seems to take to the level of art...
I mean they were just much fucking worse at covering it up in the long run and their propaganda doesn't rlly work on us or these days all that well anymore.
Passenger: "Comrade Captain! The plane is nose diving out of the sky and why aren't you in the cockpit!? Do something!" Captain: "Let's get naked!" (Jackass Party Boy music intensfies)
Love the style and atmosphere of your videos, the interesting stories, forgotten by the few people that knew them. The POV of someone born and raised in the USSR is something you don't see every day and its interesting to see the world from russian eyes. Continue with your great work!
I just want to say that you're easily my favorite content creator on RU-vid. The subjects and unique artstyle combined with your knowledge of Soviet inner workings gives us some awesome content.
"Captain was in the passenger cabin" KX-3: oookay, what can't a pilot in the passenger cabin can possibly negatively affect the- 1:25 "Completely naked" KX-3: 😳
according to my very terrible calculations, today, the fundraising campaign for the 16 bombers would have collected 2.3 *billion* dollars (according to the average price of a shovel today, 40-50 dollars, assuming soviet shovels were of average quality).
I'm more perplexed on why they designed a trim-able stabilizer that can be trimmed so far, while in flight, the aircraft dives straight into the ground.
I don't know how you can mantain a high level of sarcasm while conveying information in such an entertaining way. I wish I had found your channel sooner.
Amazing video! Loved the animation as always. I have to say though this incident really encapsulates the phrase “The Soviet Union would not be the Soviet Union-“ Hope you are doing well! :)
Great video, as always. I would like to suggest that you investigate the "vintage" crash of the airplane carrying the Torino soccer team, known as the Great Torino, which occurred when they were at the height of their success. Additionally, a majority of the Italian national soccer team at the time was comprised of players from the Turin team. This event was a national shock and is still commemorated to this day. Reports indicate that the plane crashed into a steep hillside, and the length of the wreckage was approximately 2 meters... Briefly, the Fiat G.212 trimotor aircraft, registered as I-ELCE and operated by Avio Linee Italiane (ALI), took off from Lisbon Airport at 9:40 AM on Wednesday, May 4, 1949. At 5:03 PM, while the plane was executing a left turn, transitioning into horizontal flight and aligning for landing, it instead crashed into the rear embankment of the Superga Basilica. The pilot, who believed he had the Superga hill to his right, suddenly saw it emerge in front of him (at a speed of 180 km/h and with visibility of 40 meters) and didn't have time to react. The wreckage indicates no signs of attempts to go around or turn. The only part of the aircraft partially remaining intact was the tail section. 31 people killed.
5:11 - 1936 ruble was worth less then USA ‘36 dollar. If using shovel prices as a sample. Sears mail order catalogue shovel was $1.25. Shipping extra. R1.45. One ruble was $1.16 or $0.86… 68million rubles is $58,480,000.00. PS-124 = Prisoner of State 124
Pretty much like that. If we put the fact that Soviet Rouble was unconvertible aside and compare only purchasing power per money unit in bare numbers, this trend remained till eighties.
16:28 Is that animation of the stabiliser correct - with the leading edge lowering like a slat, rather than the trailing edge? Also looks like that would actually cause a pitch up instead...
I think in the animation the vertical stabilizer goes the wrong way. By doing what it did in the animation, it would have induced quick climb and eventual stall.
"Extended trip to Alkai" had me rolling. Your stuff is the best. There should be a Capitalist Pig version of your channel, because God knows we've made our share of horrible boondoggles, as well.
I have worked on multiple companies through my life, under different bosses. Some of them were completely inept, barking orders without any education or experience regarding the work being done. I guess the URSS was like one of these companies, but country-sized
Another great, crazy story of USSR aviation, I just love the acerbic sarcasm. Using a bucket as an indicator of cost is very fitting; if back in the days of bartered bilateral trade between the USSR and [probably any country, but in this case Finland] the Russian quota didn't meet the offer, the shortfall was balanced by bulking up with galvanized buckets.
Strange things happen to clothing in violent crashes. The captain might have been engaged in a spot of nooky, or he might have been undressed by the impact. Of course, I'm speculating in the absence of (almost all) data, "a capital mistake". We can also speculate about the engineer who designed the workshop that collapsed under the weight of snow, a totally unexpected phenomenon in the Soviet Union.
Liked your note about converting civilian planes for military use. In fact many automotive and aviation products made in USSR, had dual purpose. They shared components and sometimes was made in same factories on same or nearby conveyor belts. This particular fact was one of noticeable factors why Soviet consumer products was often pretty crappy and uncomfortable for civilian use. Money collecting from people for huge propaganda projects in USSR was simple. It was voluntary mass action without a possibility to refuse. Or else.
Excellent video, thank you for telling the story with so much detail. To make it better, I would suggest to change at 16:23 "...electronic..." to "electric". Also, the graphic animation of the dive starting at 16:29 shows the THS (trimmable horizontal stabilizer) changing the position to "nose-up", not "nose-down" angle.
You're mistaken about the stab. The artist reversed the fixed surface forward with the "trimmable" sic, elevator surface aft. Only the most rearward section of the horizontal stabilizer is moveable. The motion was in the right direction(downward) but it should have been the rearmost section.
@@UguysRnuts @tria380 is correct. The forward section of the horizontal stabilizer is trimmed by an electrically operated jack-screw which moves the leading edge, and tilting it downwards would cause the plane to climb, so the action shown in the animation is incorrect. I think you're referring to the elevators which make up the rear section of stabilizer, and indeed tilting those down would cause the plane to dive. I suggest you watch the recent Mentour Pilot video on the fate of Alaskan Airlines flight 261 for a detailed understanding of how this works.
@@davidjb3671 Yeah...nah. Trimming is done by a moveable tab on the trailing edge of the elevator. The horizontal stabilizer on the PS-124 was fixed. I suggest you pick up a copy of 'Stick & Rudder'.
@@davidjb3671 I guarantee you this plane wasn't equipped with an "electrically operated jack screw" moving the "leading edge". Nor were ANY aircraft yet so configured at this point in history.
@@UguysRnuts No, you're still wrong, and FYI I learned to fly over 50 years ago. On a light aircraft the trimming is indeed accomplished by trim tabs on the rear of the elevators, but in larger military or civil transport aircraft with widely varying load distribution those tabs would be insufficient, and instead the entire stabilizer can be tilted by the use of an electrically operated jack-screw which raises or lowers the front section of the stabilizer, which is hinged in the middle. Again I recommend you to watch the Mentour Pilot video on exactly how this works and how a mechanical failure which RAISED this caused an uncontrollable dive.
Good God! Look at that wingspan!!! It really was a product of its time eh? Soviet ambitious size, 1930’s-1940’s technology. Hope you’re doing well PS, as well as your family. I finally subbed to Nebula btw! So I’m looking forward to more stuff! Slava Ukraini.
funny how you could buy a trip to Siberia, when simply walking without a passport in soviet cities of 1930's could buy you that same trip... for free...
Such fascinating stories that the fact they are true only increases there fascination, I guess the old saying " truth is more stranger the fiction" is highlighted here.
You should see their nuclear submarines programs and conducts at least in the 50's! :D Subbrief has some very good videos on them! Only one spoiler, some random cleaning rag ended up in THE PRIMARY LOOP of a nuclear reactor in a soviet submarine, for god's sake!
I absolutely love this channel! As well as covering aircraft and incidents I hadn't heard of before, I also often get insights into Soviet culture, for which, thank you! I soooo hope that Russia's next government is a decent one that actually cares abut the population it governs!
Ironic the mid-air collision between the Soviet ANT-20 and a smaller aircraft is exactly replicated by the crash that destroyed the XB-70A in close formation with four other aircraft (an F-4, F-5, T-38, and F-104) for a photoshoot. The F-104 drifted into contact with the XB-70 flipped over, and rolling inverted, passed over the top of the Valkyrie, and struck the vertical stabilizers. Both aircraft were destroyed.
I'm guessing he was sweaty so decided to wash-up in the restroom and perhaps then change into a fresh uniform. The only other thing I can think of was that he found one of the passengers to be sexually desirable and persuaded that person to engage in some form of sexual intercourse with him. Well, either those, or perhaps the captain was drunk, on-drugs, or experiencing an acute psychotic break. But I think the "washing-up and changing clothes" would be the more-likely reason.
Your videos are fantastic, you blend the facts and humor so well, I sometimes wonder if the greatest contribution the USSR gave to the world were these funny stories. Job well done!
1934: "Communism is so great! We have created the world's largest aircraft." 1969: "Communism is so great! We have created the world's first toilet paper factory."
1:31 That even applies, when someone like Prigoschin crashes. It's always sad and tragic. The crew members didn't deserve that, and their loved ones even less.
What I want to know is why there is a button on the armrest in the first place. Someone asked a similar question down here but the discussion ended up talking about MCAS
Now, there have been air crashes where passengers and crew have been found naked, but that was because an inflight breakup or explosion exposed them to high winds that stripped off their clothes. No clue why just the pilot should be naked.
Your videos are amazing. Great detail and an amazing perspective. I love this aircraft. such a feat of engineering but a tragic end. Excellent video, thanks!
