Nit pick: Lindbergh was the first person to cross the Atlantic solo by plane. John Alcock and Arthur Brown made the first non-stop transatlantic flight in 1919.
One small note the pressure at field elevation is far from made up in fact that is the value that was actually measured originally. If anything the mean sea level pressure (QNH) is the artificial one as it is calculating the pressure for an essentially made up datum point assuming an idealised model of the atmosphere that ignores key variables like temperature. In fact if you were to actually drill an open well into the Earth down to 0m elevation and put a barometer at the bottom it would almost always give a different value from the one aircraft use. The QNH we use is the pressure that will cause an altimeter calibrated to the ISA (International Standard Atmosphere) to read the field elevation when our wheels hit the runway. But QFE (The pressure at the field elevation) is the only one we can realistically measure and honestly it is the only one that would be useful to use from a direct measurement anyway. Inputting the actual sea level pressure would produce a significant temperature dependent error as the ISA and thus our altimeters assume the density (and thus weight) of air depends only on altitude in reality this is not the case, the T in the noble gas equation (PV=nRT) exists for a reason. Since it is the weight of air that creates the pressure in a gravitationally bound gas like a planets atmosphere this is what we need to do in order to boil this variation down to a single variable we can use for calibration.
After the plane hit trees I can imagine how relieving first officer saying repeatedly "You're gonna make it. You got it dude, you're gonna make it." The first officer took the heavy stress off the Captain and was a major factor in completing the flight on the runway.
That captain was way too nervous. Look up that Garcez lunatic from Varig 254, he was about to crash land the plane in the middle of the amazon rainforest and behaved like it was just another Tuesday to him.
@@darth3261Later It was revealed that Garcez got paralysed of panic and the co-pilot Zelli had to make the landing, Zelli's version is the most accepted in Brasil and his reputation was somewhat re-established sometime after...
@@predragpopovic992 yeah, altitude and attitude... weird, because I heard in many respectable channels the usage of the word attitude instead of altitude, but in aviation attitude, I think, also refers to the angle of the plane's nose relative to the ground, but I could be wrong.
The positive attitude and uplifting words from the F/O after clipping the trees was amazing to watch and listen too. Amazing the plane was able to be fixed.
My dad flew jetliners for years and was often mocked when he stated that there's not a wreck in the world that can't be salvaged with some well placed words. I consider this his redemption. And that of the 196 pax. RIP ye bastards.
Yeah, my god: that guys support and steel in such a terrifying situation - he's the kind of guy you want next to you should anything go wrong. The pride I feel for these men is enormous. @@cardwitch91
First I want to say excellent job! As someone who was there that night, I couldn't find a single error in your video. With that said, I was the "late guy" controller on duty in the radar room that night. The late guy took all of the positions and worked them until the mid-shift controller arrived. It was a terrible night with high winds, rain and crappy visibility -- aircraft had been going around and diverting all night. I gave the mid-shift controller the briefing, I signed out and went home. On the way, I thought to myself this is the type of night crashes happen -- and 20 minutes later American hit the trees. I went to see the aircraft the next day and it had tree limbs in the engines and landing gear and not one foot of the wing leading edge was undamaged. Parts of ILS antenna that they hit was still in the landing gear. How close they came...
Glad you enjoyed the vid, especially given that you were there! It’s incredible that they still made it despite the damage you described. What a sight that must have been…
@@yuglesstube They will usually try the approach at least once before diverting unless it's a minima issue. RW15 at BDL is a terrible runway to land on during a clear and calm day. As a pilot, I used that runway many times and I really disliked the approach to it because of the mountain range and the squirrely winds down low on the approach. There's more to this story than meets the eye but it was a long time ago.
Do you know of what happened to the pilots afterwards? They messed up the alt settings (but so did the ATC supe by not mentioning it) are they still flying?
It is rather refreshing to hear a captain say “watch me” and “sing out if you see anything.” That exactly what I would tell a first officer, no matter how new they are or experienced I might be. If nothing else, it’ll instil some confidence that they can speak up if they need to.
Which is precisely why I would tell a new operating room tech to tell me if he or she saw a bleeding vessel or another problem I had missed. They have eyes too. Ego is something you should leave at the door.
This was a miracle. Bless those pilots, as they prevented the loss of lives. I could have sworn when the plane hit the top of the hill, that the flight would be done for, and lives would have been lost, or at least 40% casualty rate. But no, everyone made it. 10/10 piloting skills. :)
I like that when you read the transcript, you add in other cockpit sounds, e.g. 'dont sink' or 'terrain', etc. It helps get into the mindset of the flight crew a bit, especially when there's a lot of warnings going off at once. Sometimes you wonder 'why were they so confused/overwhelmed?', but when you hear everything else thats going on in the background it makes sense. Also, the way you do the subtitles makes it much clearer; putting the captain's on one side of the screen, the FO's on the other, and ATC at the top. It makes it easier to make sense of who's saying what.
I'm amazed they managed to bring that plane down on the runway, sure they messed up with the altimeters and the MDA but they did an amazing job. Even more amazing that the plane was repairable, it must have been a very strong aircraft!
It's a matter of both the strength of the airframe (which is indeed admirable), and just the high value of any aircraft. It's astounding sometimes how heavily damaged an aircraft can be and still be monetarily worth repairing.
Ironic considering dc 10s literally couldn’t hold themselves together even if their life depended on it, yet a md 80 can knock down a jungle and still be airworthy
Awesome video, it had me on the edge of my seat! Good to see videos that cover non-fatal accidents rather than the usual high profile accidents. Keep up the good work!
Yes.. I thought the samething.. by the way he was narrating I thought surely this was going to be death and destruction what a very happy and surprising ending well done
well done my ass. should have never been in that situation in the first place. flying into sever turbulence, landing with a wind shear warning and not managing altimeter with poor visibility during non precision approach. more like - well done putting lives in danger.
@@iclicklike3397 Knew there would be one of these comments, yeah mate they shouldn't have been in that situation but they were. So lets praise them for not killing anyone after their mistake as the investigation even points out. Get off the high horse mate.
@@brotakig1531 again, nothing to be praised for. If a driver breaks multiple trafic rules, ignores warning signs put up gets into an accident, will you praise him for not killing anyone?
@@iclicklike3397 Whatever. I think you will find your view is in a minority. You obviously do not understand the complexities of flying and the stresses that can accumulate in the cockpit, typical Monday morning quarterback.
Wow. I have thousands of hours in the MD-80 and can feel exactly what was going on. I have to check my heart rate after hitting the trees. Awesome airmanship saving the plane and passengers.
Would you have cancelled that flight due to Bradley's conditions? Do you think American Airlines played a big part in not granting the crew a requested cancellation?
@@hualani6785 Greetings Hualani. I would not have cancelled the flight. Weather can change rapidly. I would make the decisions to continue or divert as I approached the airport. Also with the strong winds I may have delayed the approach for 15 minutes. Strong winds or storms at the field can change a lot in 15 minutes. Having said all that I should also add that the decisions I made when I was 40 years old were not always the same decisions I would make at 60+ years. Non precision approaches with step downs based on altimeters have been the cause of several accidents. They have more risks and more things that can go wrong. This crew was given a difficult but legal approach. I think a lot of crews would have ended up in the same situation that they found themselves.
these two's CRM is something else. they work so well together you'd think they were best friends "you got this dude." how many other crashes could have been avoided if every flight crew got along that well?
The way the FO talked to the captain while the CA was trying to land was incredible teamwork (and likely a bit of friendship). Almost guaranteed that those words helped to calm him and concentrate instead of panicking and rolling the plane.
I’ve flown all over for decades and candidly, never considered how sketchy flight is. The air pressure thing was a YIKES moment for me. This is a great yet scary channel.
I've heard it said that the most shaky times are take-offs and landings. I can see why. Also, to have such good CRM at that time is inspiring to me. The pilots would have been the first ones at the crash had that happened and they don't want to die, either. Thankfully, no one died in this one.
Much like the report states that was some excellent CRM there at the end that definitely saved lives. Compared to some other disastrous accident sequences this crew did not panic in the moment.
@@Capecodham But that's true of pretty much every hobby or subject on the internet. From what I've seen the flying community on the internet is pretty relaxed but when going over accident reports you are going to run into jargon. My favorite is 'controlled descent into terrain' which is a pretty fancy way of saying 'fly into the ground'. I personally appreciate when these videos really explain what this stuff means because while these stories are fascinating; I've never been into a plane's cockpit in my life and I would have no idea what they are talking about otherwise.
Another exceptional video dude. Looking forward to whatever is next! Refreshing to hear the captain actually encouraging his FO to call out any mishaps he sees. Even if its ALWAYS encouraged, im sure it gives the FO even more confidence with the captain verbally telling him.
I clearly remember this miraculous landing after hitting trees. Most planes are lost when that happens, so the pilots really held it together until they were down on the runway.
Since you spoke of Charles Lindbergh. My Great Grandfather used to fly with Charles Lindbergh on his US mail delivery mail route. My grandmother was born at the end of one of the runways at the St Louis International airport where our family house used to be. The airport was much smaller way back then but they bought their farm house and land to expand. Mr Lindbergh used to stay with my family when the weather was to bad to fly or just to visit as good friends. I met my great Grandfather afew times but was to young to talk to him about Charlie. My grandmother had some good stories though. I'm a new subscriber so you might see several comments as I'm binging on your other videos. Thanks
Got to admire the F/O's faith in the Captain with his "You're gonna make it!". I wonder if they eeked out a few extra feet of flying as a glider because the wings are cleaner without engines slung beneath them? They screwed up handsomely, but showed their mettle in getting their aircraft down safely.
i just found your page, absolutely gripping storytelling. i really can’t believe there’s not a movie for every single one of these stories - pilots, crew, and air traffic control/engineers are truly heroes.
Kudos for your outstanding narration and clear explanation of the factors affecting the outcome of this flight, that even a know-nothing like myself could understand. So very glad the ending was happier than the one I was expecting right up to the last minute. I've bitten my thumbnail clean off!
This is great endorsement of the invaluable services that commercial pilots provide. They are called upon infrequently but earn their pay when they need to.
Man pilots dont get enough money for all this knowledge and awareness. The pilots in this case did an excellent job with what they had and saved many lives👍👍
Absolutely excellent video in every way. Just one suggestion. It is my understanding that runways are always identified by calling out the two numbers separately, so runway 15 would not be runway "fifteen," but runway "one five." Runway 08L, would be "zero eight left." Thanks for doing such a great job on such an interesting aviation mishap.
Appreciate the suggestion - I tend to switch between the two because I'm aware that many viewers may not be that familiar with aviation (hence the km/h as well). Might switch to the aviation 1-5 as you say, to keep it consistent.
In practice, pilots and controllers often utilize both expressions. Admittedly, the "fifteen" is not technically correct, but humans still tend to be humans and revert to more familiar terminologies. So - not an issue for me in this video, fwiw. ;-)...
Your ability to explain aviation concepts in layman's terms and to only explain things that need explaining makes these videos great. I never find myself confused or asking any questions, i am always 100% invested.
I've flown in and out of Bradley many times. In fact, my house is in the landing pattern for one of Bradley's runways although it's the northeast facing runway 24, not the northwest facing runway 15 where this incident took place. I often see the bottom of aircraft as they fly directly over my house at altitudes between 2,500 and 3,000 feet. The hill this plane clipped is called Metacomet Ridge and runs from Long Island Sound to northern Massachusetts. It sits only some 750 feet from the end of runway 15, jutting up out of nowhere to around 650 feet at its nearest point to the runway. You can plainly see it from the airport and it's rather a scary sight when you're taking off in a westerly direction which is common since that's the usual wind direction. It's fairly rare to land on 15 because that would usually mean a tailwind.
Once they struck the trees the pilots did an amazing job of insuring each and every 'soul on board' had the best chance for survival. I always dreaded flying (and driving), during 'frog-washer' storms, visibility is almost nil and it can be disorienting. I trust the pilots were able to keep their jobs. The lessons learned will never be forgotten.
I am somebody who is scared of airliners at the best of times and hights in general so these videos give me a nervous injection whenever I follow the plot but when the crew and souls on board are this lucky I feel like jumping for joy literally, absolutely amazing that aircraft got away with that landing.
I gotta say one thing that pisses me off about almost all aircrash videos is the willingness to take chances with people’s lives to save a relatively small amount of time, effort, or convenience. All these employees should have the mindset that ANY risk of human life is too great. If it’s risky to land the plane at Bradley LAND THE DAMN PLANE AT BOSTON. People will miss meetings and be pissed off, but at least they will live long enough to be pissed off and complain about their missed meetings. I guarantee you they would much rather that than risk being smashed into the side of a mountain.
IKR? The pilots incompetence is what put them in this very situation. People forget that just because by a stroke of luck that they barely missed hitting the terrain and killing everyone aboard is not a reason to celebrate this deadly incompetence. Yet the mindless pilot simping comments in these air crash type videos is overwhelming. THoSe pILotS aRe HerOeS!
Well said. Stubbornness was the major factor in most of these crashes. Yes it's inconvenient for everyone to divert. Passengers may even curse you for doing so, but its best compared to TAKING CHANCES.
I think this is the 20th? Video of yours I have watched and it’s the first one where I 100% was convinced that it was a game over and was very happily surprised they survived. The way you described the hill and how crucial mistakes were made that gave me dread for the passengers and crew. Some of your videos you try this, but the thumbnail gives it away. I very much enjoyed this one. Please keep me guessing at the outcome. Love your videos
i've been waiting for a good sim/reenactment of this one ever since they theaticalized it in that CVR play/film -- thanks for doing it, absolutely heart-stopping to get it from the cockpit perspective, and all the atmospherics are great.
The MD-80/90’s seem to be rather tough airplanes! I flew on one and flew through a thunderstorm on approach to Orlando Fl… could feel the plane sinking and yawing, and as I sat in the back I noticed how incredibly much the fuselage flexed!
One of my CFIs had an acronym she’d write down on approach WAR: winds, altimeter, remarks. This way, if everyone in the cockpit lost their mind, at least you had the critical info. Also, as to outdated ATIS information, at no point is it mentioned “which” information the pilots had. I don’t know of any controlled airport that’ll let you take off/land without reading back which ATIS information you have (alpha, bravo, whatever) and if that is in fact the current information. Seems like there were lots of omissions on the part of ATC and crew.
Well to be fair I recall the tower "wasn't really officially open" and that the single guy manning the tower was basically volunteering his time on a "continue at your own risk" kinda deal.. he wasn't even legally allowed to clear the airplane, moreso "advise" it from here to there.
Does it make any sense to have a 908' MDA, when the terrain peaks at 819' almost directly under the glidepath? That is just 89' (27m) difference. It seems insanely low, clearence. Would a 1000' MDA make sense? I'm not a pilot, I don't know how close to terrain ure usually allowed to fly, but 89' seems a bit too tight, even with all instrument settings done right.
A bit of correction to Green Dot, 908' was the MDH. 1080' was the MDA. The captain adjusted the primary altimeter's pressure altitude to coincide with the TDZE or airport elevation, so it works out the same really so minor thing. Another is that RWY 15 has no ILS approach so not likely to hit a "ILS antenna" which doesn't really exist anyways. But if an antenna is attributed to ILS it would be the glideslope antenna. More than likely they hit the localizer antenna array.
That cockpit view as they were bearing down on that runway was riveting. I've actually never heard of this accident. I had no idea how this was going to end, in a catastrophic fireball, breaking apart, no idea. Looking at the runway lights, I was gritting my teeth thinking, c'mon, c'mon, hang on guys...then during the landing, I actually thought "whoa baby hold it down, hold it down," and imagine my surprise when the Capt. said the same...I yelped out loud, scared my cat off my lap. I don't think I've ever been that immersed in a RUclips video. Excellent work, Green Dot. 💚 and that really was some top notch CRM and white knuckle flying by that crew. Glad there was only a minor injury.
Great storytelling! Makes it easy for the viewer to recall the banging sound a plane makes when it hits heavy turbulence at night, jolting it down a couple times, and it makes flying a bit scary.
Very good and well thought out video ... Truly appreciated the explanation, (or the pointing out), of the "check sum" yielded by the two altimeter settings that yielded the actual height above sea level of the runway, (at 13:00 ), .Never had anyone explained that before .. not even "Mentour Pilot".
I came across your channel by accident (no pun intended), but have to say I am hooked. You have a brilliant narration voice and tell the stories so well. Clearly you research each of these incidents thoroughly. I have learnt so much about flight controls and how the flying surfaces work. Who knows if I am ever on a flight where both the captain and first officer spotaniously combust I may jump in the cockpit and use some of the information I have gleaned from your channel. At least I would have an awareness where things are when pilot at the other end of the radio trys to talk you down. As that is unlikely to happen anytime soon I will continue to work my way through your posts. Great job and keep this good work up. Clive
"Omg omg, hs, hs, oh f---, oh f---, wt....oh THANK GOD". I was on this flight, though I was delayed by 27 years I was on this flight. Your vids are so engrossing, I seem to lose perception of anything going on around me. Pilots and ATC's, y'all are fascinating creatures to me and I'll never comprehend how you do what you do but I'm grateful. Something that is so prevalent among pilots is their ( your) uncanny knack for detail and excellent memory. My Dad was a TG pilot/ fighter / instructor and I was always amazed at his ability to recall
Regardless of other factors the pilots displayed amazing airmanship during this emergency. Thank god they had 2 military pilots in the cockpit that refused to give up. Mistakes were make howevee lives were saved thanks to cool heads that never panicked
That's definitely something I've noticed in these very close-call vids which end positively, that (at least in the UK & US) military/navy flight backgrounds do seem to lead to pilots who have really excellent level-headedness & creative thinking in an emergency? Doesn't seem to apply as consistently across other countries, alas! 🫤 Interestingly, glider experience seems to be another one which has repeatedly proved extremely useful when handling multiple airliner crises! I guess perhaps because of the superlative understanding of flight physics it develops, & the transferable skills in terms of unpowered flight, very useful if engine failure is involved? Capt Sully of the Hudson landing certainly combined both these characteristics, no doubt contributing to their positive outcome. And his FO (now Capt) Skiles, whilst not sharing that background, certainly also showed a remarkable level of CRM skill & collaborativeness- much like the FO in this vid. Altogether a remarkable combo for snatching victory from the jaws of defeat!
Presumably they did not have a radar altimeter. Seems to me; if the weather is so bad they have to evacuate the control tower it's probably time to divert
that's all i could keep thinking. amazingly, this video makes it sound like the weather wasn't really a factor other than the fact that air pressure had dropped - but that impact was limited to the altimeter and not the general flying conditions
I live about 20 miles from this airport. At some point, no matter what the hindrance, fights should just be cancelled and we have to accept that man is not always supposed to fly. Planes are trying to land in a storm and the "tower is not sufficiently open?" Whaa...
Really glad I found your channel, you should have a lot more subscribers. Your videos are very high quality, extremely educational, and the visuals are stunning. Love the work!
The radio altimeter was never mentioned in this video. He explained how the conventional altimeter works; it's basically a vacuum gauge. The radio, or radar, altimeter uses echolocation to run systems like the gpws (terrain warning).
The encouraging words from the FO probably could have me landing in that position. I always love safe airmen with great CRM amongst all on board especially leading to a landing without anything lost but some planes pieces and perhaps a little bit of ones nerves only. However, having someone calmly and positively encourage you through something of which you may be fully capable of handling but with the stressors, tiresome time, weather, false reports, human error and just bad luck like this, there is nothing more lovely than hearing the crew have genuine words of encouragement like this for another above the standard CRM procedures and I personally know how much a difference having someone you trust just give you this above all else allow you to overcome the most fearsome of trials. Often having someone else believe enough in your efforts and/or ability despite you not even believing in such yourself can be solely enough to get to the place where you achieve things you never knew or believed possible until you did so. And all because of a supportive and calming presence keeps us all in our best tests yet to defeat with some genuine words of simply, you got this, you can do it. Im sure many others have noticed this crew speak really be above the usual in times of distress like such, but hearing it, feels like allowed the captain to keep his control to safely land the stricken craft without injury most. Certain words may be simple but hold such power when needed most and like this, timely spoken.
Al I can say that as a non-pilot its clearly the slightest little mistake can cause a crash, as in this case thank God we had two exceptional pilots that overcame extreme weather conditions and I pray they are still flying as this will only make them better. As the report said they had made a fractional error with a 1000 thanks they had going on with that flight. I 'm just thankful everyone is ok. Awesome pilots
Applause for the captain and first officer, even though they were decending faster than they shouldve, thats just one example of human error, but i still have to give the pilots a massive applause for making jt onto the runaway safely
Great vid. I truly believe that this aircraft and its passengers and crew were blessed. I have never before heard of an airplane striking the trees and then recovering ... and then without a single loss of life or critical injury! So interesting, too, to see the comment from North Maine Guy, below!
Any landing, where passengers and crew can walk out of the plane on their own is a good landing. And I think this definitely qualifies as one considering the circumstances.
My dad was on the flight landing in front of this one. And his plane as it was getting closer to touching down hit an air pocket and it dropped rapidly. He’s never been known to be scared of flying or such but he said this experience did. To be honest though, out of all the landings I’ve experienced all the ones at BDL have been the worse. It is such a bad place for landings due to the mountain wind.
I do think I can say I was in severe turbulence once as a child because I remember feeling the plane suddenly dropping like a stone. I felt the freefall sensation one gets on a roller coaster, though it was far more terrifying in this context. After what felt like an eternity but was likely a few seconds, the plane leveled out. To this day I'm not entirely sure how that drop happened. It was a stormy flight, but I've never experienced a drop like that since. I've also been on a flight where the plane landed so hard that some of the oxygen masks dropped. The pilot came on the PA system and simply said, "Oops."
Couldn’t agree more that although the pilots are to blame, they’re also to credit for the recovery. This was a phenomenal recovery. In fact, I was shocked I’d never heard of this accident. I’m extremely familiar with Bradley (every time I think of it, I still remember the flipped planes right near the entrance after the rare tornado that struck the airport). How could I not know about this incredible event? Likely, because there were no deaths and only one minor injury. I don’t know what happened to the pilots, but I really hope that they were sent for refresher training to ensure they don’t make similar mistakes again, but were NOT fired, reprimanded or otherwise disciplined. They did a fine job on the recovery, and as this video mentions, the CRM was exceptional. The captain went so far as to tell the first officer to advise him. They did a phenomenal job. They just made a mistake. We all make mistakes. I really hope this captain and first officer went on to have brilliant, successful careers. Yes, they made a mistake. But their recovery from it was textbook perfect. Yes, they should receive criticism… they caused the problem. But they should receive more praise than criticism. I’d ask anyone who disagrees this question…. they were hitting treetops prior to the recovery, so: “How many times have you heard of a plane literally already in the trees that ends up recovering.” I can think of zero. There are one or two accidents I can think of where they ALMOST pulled it out, but zero who did. And in every case, since they’re just below flight speed (obviously… since they’re falling slowly, scraping tree tops), the speed is high enough such that the majority of passengers and crew perish. This is the ONLY flight I know of which struck tree tops and there were not only zero fatalities but almost zero injuries (just one minor… which makes you wonder if that’s the passenger’s fault… not buckled in, perhaps?). This is simply unheard of. The pilot and first officer did a spectacular job. I know… they are ultimately to blame. And without their mistake, their heroics are never needed. So, I get it if some people want to give them more blame than credit. But no one is perfect. We all make mistakes on our job. And in this case, the mistake made (entering the wrong altimeter setting) does not appear to be an error that is in any way nefarious (careless, neglectful, etc)… just a simple, innocent mistake. These pilots deserve incredible praise.
To the creator of this content: I have watched quite a few "RUclips? videos like this (aviation incidents/crashes/investigations, etc) fewer such videos than some have watched, but no doubt more than many others have watched---anyway, you told a damn good story well and told it all stupendously. Had me on the edge of my seat all the way! Bravo! A good story, told well!
Great video as always but your narration at around 5.15 may be misleading to some viewers. In the cruise, aircraft set their altimeters to standard pressure so that they are all using the same regardless of where they set off or where they are going to. This gives them a ‘flight level’ rather than a true altitude (which is height above sea level). As they approach the airport they then need true altitude as that is how obstacles and MDA are charted. That’s when they need the local atmospheric pressure at sea level (known as QNH). The elevation above the ground is ‘height’ and for the runway would be given by setting the atmospheric pressure to the pressure at the airport (known as QFE) or using a compensation factor as you described.
Correct - However I figured that if I showed a clip of the altimeters saying 9000ft, this might be confusing as I explained QFE while the plane was in cruise. There may have been another way to explain this but I hope that this got the main idea across for most people.
@@GreenDotAviation While I don’t necessarily disagree with the OP, I feel that you struck a good balance between providing good technical background information and conveying the concepts for non-aviators/enthusiasts. It’s a very minor point, but the only thing that struck me was the use of the phrase “made up”, when describing the AGL-referenced altimeter’s setting. As you know, it wasn’t _arbitrarily_ set, it was merely offset from the true altitude. You went on to describe the intent and rationale quite well. Thanks for the truly excellent content!
Really enjoy the format of these excellent videos. The narration and comprehensive background information regarding the pilots actions, explain quite clearly the cause of these incidents.
Incredible story, both pilots sounded like they had it together under pressure but sadly dropped the ball and became a little complacent. I reckon these two would learn from their mistake and become even better pilots. Thanks
Adding full flaps when flying into a very strong headwind will shorten your approach, as they introduce more drag than lift. Most glider pilots understand that only up to 15 deg of flaps will produce lift and get you onto the runway, any more than that and you could end up short. I think every airline pilot should have a few years experience in gliders before starting their airline careers. After all, when the engines quit, you are just flying a very heavy glider.
i even learned this just doing amateur flight sim programs. you can "feel" the lift from the first 15 degrees of flaps and after that it just slows you down. Another point is that it was mentioned that leading edge slats were damaged, so the decision to deploy flaps could have had another risk of catastrophe had that turned out to matter
I’m sort of addicted to these videos. I have no idea why, but it fascinates me, but I’m far from afraid of getting on a plane. What I’ve learned from these videos is that for a plane crash to be absolutely awful many things have to go wrong.
I'm my lowly opinion, they should have gone to their alternative airport. Weren't the winds at or higher than the maximum for landing? I'm always amazed how well so many pilots react when diaster is imminent. They go into a zone, pilots make mistakes, but this shows how well trained they are for crises. Great video.
I hope no one got in any serious trouble, even with the mess ups and near death situation i think the crew should be praised for not turning that plain into a pancake
Any time I hear about these aircraft still being in service I wonder if at any point some aviation enthusiast recognized the tail number and told someone "oh it's the one that almost crashed 10 years ago" or so. I'm sure many people wouldn't take that well.
I mean to be fair, it wasn't the plane that caused the near-crash in this case, and many similar crashes that's the case as well. But yea definitely could spook some people!
I have heard of some stories of that happening although I can't remember which plane.(I think it was the glide into the dike next to NASA-Houston) An enthusiast said he almost told his friend who had anxiety flying "You know this plane has an interesting history..." and then thought better of it and told him after they landed. So yeah, pretty sure that's occurred. And no, I wouldn't be too pleased to be told that in the air or before boarding although I think it would be funny to be told after we'd landed.
Regardless of the who or why, people get a sketchy feeling knowing they're flying in a crashed & repaired airplane, what with how many airplanes have randomly exploded at pressurization height due to improperly repaired impact damage performed several years ago. I'm not all that savvy with tail numbers & whatnot but I'm pretty confident that if even just one passenger recognizes it, others will end up hearing about it soon 😆
@@232K7 You are correct! What a hell of a landing by that pilot. I remember that pilot being an interesting character, eye shot out while flying, glider pilot, the works. I still can't remember if that was the plane the guy who almost trolled his nervous buddy flew on but TACA 110 was definitely the flight I was referencing.
The bigger question to me is why didn't ATC order the plane to divert to the airport with better weather conditions or at least execute the missed approach with better weather conditions , considering they themselves had to close the tower and therefore all airport operations.
Dude I had no idea how blind pilots are. I’m still gonna fly without massive anxiety but it does make me think I don’t wanna fly at night or in bad weather. I just assumed it was super safe. This channel is awesome
Did you do what the first officer did on purpose?😄 You stated a difference of 40 feet when the video text read, "70 feet." It made me think it must be easier to do than I'd originally thought. 😄 I'm absolutely addicted to your videos!
@@GreenDotAviation As I read the comments I was surprised that no one else mentioned it I didn't want to come across as snarky, 😄 so thank you! I love your work!
Get a 7-day free trial and 25% off your Blinkist membership! www.blinkist.com/greendot
Thanks to Blinkist for sponsoring this video!
👌🏽👍🏼🤍
Love green dot keep those videos coming
@@cynthiadavid5282 Thanks for the long-time support, Cynthia! Next video up this Tuesday 😎
Nit pick: Lindbergh was the first person to cross the Atlantic solo by plane. John Alcock and Arthur Brown made the first non-stop transatlantic flight in 1919.
One small note the pressure at field elevation is far from made up in fact that is the value that was actually measured originally. If anything the mean sea level pressure (QNH) is the artificial one as it is calculating the pressure for an essentially made up datum point assuming an idealised model of the atmosphere that ignores key variables like temperature. In fact if you were to actually drill an open well into the Earth down to 0m elevation and put a barometer at the bottom it would almost always give a different value from the one aircraft use. The QNH we use is the pressure that will cause an altimeter calibrated to the ISA (International Standard Atmosphere) to read the field elevation when our wheels hit the runway. But QFE (The pressure at the field elevation) is the only one we can realistically measure and honestly it is the only one that would be useful to use from a direct measurement anyway. Inputting the actual sea level pressure would produce a significant temperature dependent error as the ISA and thus our altimeters assume the density (and thus weight) of air depends only on altitude in reality this is not the case, the T in the noble gas equation (PV=nRT) exists for a reason. Since it is the weight of air that creates the pressure in a gravitationally bound gas like a planets atmosphere this is what we need to do in order to boil this variation down to a single variable we can use for calibration.
After the plane hit trees I can imagine how relieving first officer saying repeatedly "You're gonna make it. You got it dude, you're gonna make it." The first officer took the heavy stress off the Captain and was a major factor in completing the flight on the runway.
That captain was way too nervous. Look up that Garcez lunatic from Varig 254, he was about to crash land the plane in the middle of the amazon rainforest and behaved like it was just another Tuesday to him.
@@darth3261 Would love to see how you would react if you were in a plane that was mid-air *after* crashing through a small forest
@@darth3261Later It was revealed that Garcez got paralysed of panic and the co-pilot Zelli had to make the landing, Zelli's version is the most accepted in Brasil and his reputation was somewhat re-established sometime after...
that sounds like something I would say to a labor patient!
Gotta love The F/O's positive altitude and resilience- when they hit trouble he didn't back down - seriously inspitrational
Yes I agree! He kept telling the pilot he could do it and could make it!
Hell yes. I loved that part especially, all the "you got it, dude" comments, "you're gonna make it." Amazing CRM and communication skills.
(positive aLtitude)
...just can't be negative about that, right.?😅
@@predragpopovic992 yeah, altitude and attitude... weird, because I heard in many respectable channels the usage of the word attitude instead of altitude, but in aviation attitude, I think, also refers to the angle of the plane's nose relative to the ground, but I could be wrong.
Exactly. He did 2 mistakes but his dedication was 100% & sadly as any human he also made couple of mistakes. Hope he didn't get fired or anything.
The positive attitude and uplifting words from the F/O after clipping the trees was amazing to watch and listen too. Amazing the plane was able to be fixed.
My exact thoughts.. I appreciate tue captain asked for support too and he gave it. ❤ really good CRM!
My dad flew jetliners for years and was often mocked when he stated that there's not a wreck in the world that can't be salvaged with some well placed words. I consider this his redemption. And that of the 196 pax. RIP ye bastards.
could tell the captain was fully focused by only answering "OK". impressively calm crew
Same. That FO was great at keeping the Captain focused. They might’ve made a few mistakes, but they worked brilliantly together when it mattered
Yeah, my god: that guys support and steel in such a terrifying situation - he's the kind of guy you want next to you should anything go wrong.
The pride I feel for these men is enormous. @@cardwitch91
i love it when they save the craft and nobody dies. I legit celebrate and am so happy for the pilots.
I hate when the top comment contains video spoilers and ruins that same feeling for me
@@b2n136on RUclips mobile the top comment is visible just when you press on the video
Bruv I was here for the suffering :(
spoiler
Guess I'll watch another video :;/
First I want to say excellent job! As someone who was there that night, I couldn't find a single error in your video. With that said, I was the "late guy" controller on duty in the radar room that night. The late guy took all of the positions and worked them until the mid-shift controller arrived. It was a terrible night with high winds, rain and crappy visibility -- aircraft had been going around and diverting all night. I gave the mid-shift controller the briefing, I signed out and went home. On the way, I thought to myself this is the type of night crashes happen -- and 20 minutes later American hit the trees. I went to see the aircraft the next day and it had tree limbs in the engines and landing gear and not one foot of the wing leading edge was undamaged. Parts of ILS antenna that they hit was still in the landing gear. How close they came...
Glad you enjoyed the vid, especially given that you were there! It’s incredible that they still made it despite the damage you described. What a sight that must have been…
Thank you ATC controller, wow what a story from your side
Why did they not divert? Thanks for the insight.
@@yuglesstube They will usually try the approach at least once before diverting unless it's a minima issue. RW15 at BDL is a terrible runway to land on during a clear and calm day. As a pilot, I used that runway many times and I really disliked the approach to it because of the mountain range and the squirrely winds down low on the approach. There's more to this story than meets the eye but it was a long time ago.
Do you know of what happened to the pilots afterwards? They messed up the alt settings (but so did the ATC supe by not mentioning it) are they still flying?
Loved the support from the FO as the captain brought it in, it actually made me smile to hear such a supportive cockpit environment
For real. I wasn't sure how this one ended so i didn't know if it was futile or not. What a guy
It is rather refreshing to hear a captain say “watch me” and “sing out if you see anything.” That exactly what I would tell a first officer, no matter how new they are or experienced I might be. If nothing else, it’ll instil some confidence that they can speak up if they need to.
Which is precisely why I would tell a new operating room tech to tell me if he or she saw a bleeding vessel or another problem I had missed. They have eyes too. Ego is something you should leave at the door.
If they're in the cockpit, they're good enough to give an opinion. CRM. But they were both fairly experienced here, weren't they?
Compare that to the ego of the pilot at Tenerife, and the fear that his reputation instilled.
@@PeterC5263 ,Same Rules Apply When Your In An Ambulance,Like OR’s,Not The Time Or Place For Mistakes,God Love and Be With Your Crew Always🙏🏻❤️🙏🏻
@@cynthiatolman326
Judging by the way they were communicating, i would guess ex air force pilots?
Man that convo between the Captain and FO was heart wrenching, so glad they all made it.
Accidents like these ending on a good note with everybody surviving always leaves me in good spirits!
This was a miracle. Bless those pilots, as they prevented the loss of lives. I could have sworn when the plane hit the top of the hill, that the flight would be done for, and lives would have been lost, or at least 40% casualty rate. But no, everyone made it. 10/10 piloting skills. :)
I like that when you read the transcript, you add in other cockpit sounds, e.g. 'dont sink' or 'terrain', etc. It helps get into the mindset of the flight crew a bit, especially when there's a lot of warnings going off at once. Sometimes you wonder 'why were they so confused/overwhelmed?', but when you hear everything else thats going on in the background it makes sense. Also, the way you do the subtitles makes it much clearer; putting the captain's on one side of the screen, the FO's on the other, and ATC at the top. It makes it easier to make sense of who's saying what.
I'm amazed they managed to bring that plane down on the runway, sure they messed up with the altimeters and the MDA but they did an amazing job. Even more amazing that the plane was repairable, it must have been a very strong aircraft!
The pilots had good chemistry. Copilot was like you got it.
The Maddogs are well built. Damn good aircraft.
@@krozareq They look really good too. Wish they still made them!
It's a matter of both the strength of the airframe (which is indeed admirable), and just the high value of any aircraft. It's astounding sometimes how heavily damaged an aircraft can be and still be monetarily worth repairing.
Ironic considering dc 10s literally couldn’t hold themselves together even if their life depended on it, yet a md 80 can knock down a jungle and still be airworthy
Awesome video, it had me on the edge of my seat! Good to see videos that cover non-fatal accidents rather than the usual high profile accidents. Keep up the good work!
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it
Agreed. Nice to see happy endings.
Yes.. I thought the samething.. by the way he was narrating I thought surely this was going to be death and destruction what a very happy and surprising ending well done
Yes. Gripping.
I love the "everyone lives" endings. I was shook when they went 40 on final flap at their slope.
Man knew his airplane!
maybe should have held off on lowering the gear another 10 seconds?
Such a relief the crew recovered from the initial tree strike holding it together saving the lives of all the passengers.
Incredible, from the moment they hit the trees I thought they were sure to crash. Well done those pilots!
well done my ass. should have never been in that situation in the first place. flying into sever turbulence, landing with a wind shear warning and not managing altimeter with poor visibility during non precision approach. more like - well done putting lives in danger.
@@iclicklike3397 Knew there would be one of these comments, yeah mate they shouldn't have been in that situation but they were. So lets praise them for not killing anyone after their mistake as the investigation even points out. Get off the high horse mate.
@@brotakig1531 again, nothing to be praised for. If a driver breaks multiple trafic rules, ignores warning signs put up gets into an accident, will you praise him for not killing anyone?
@@iclicklike3397 Whatever. I think you will find your view is in a minority. You obviously do not understand the complexities of flying and the stresses that can accumulate in the cockpit, typical Monday morning quarterback.
I didn't know how this ended, and as the GPW echoed in the cockpit I wondered if the plane would make it. And, of course it did the ground antennae.
Wow. I have thousands of hours in the MD-80 and can feel exactly what was going on. I have to check my heart rate after hitting the trees. Awesome airmanship saving the plane and passengers.
Would you have cancelled that flight due to Bradley's conditions? Do you think American Airlines played a big part in not granting the crew a requested cancellation?
@@hualani6785 Greetings Hualani. I would not have cancelled the flight. Weather can change rapidly. I would make the decisions to continue or divert as I approached the airport. Also with the strong winds I may have delayed the approach for 15 minutes. Strong winds or storms at the field can change a lot in 15 minutes. Having said all that I should also add that the decisions I made when I was 40 years old were not always the same decisions I would make at 60+ years. Non precision approaches with step downs based on altimeters have been the cause of several accidents. They have more risks and more things that can go wrong. This crew was given a difficult but legal approach. I think a lot of crews would have ended up in the same situation that they found themselves.
these two's CRM is something else. they work so well together you'd think they were best friends "you got this dude." how many other crashes could have been avoided if every flight crew got along that well?
The way the FO talked to the captain while the CA was trying to land was incredible teamwork (and likely a bit of friendship). Almost guaranteed that those words helped to calm him and concentrate instead of panicking and rolling the plane.
I’ve flown all over for decades and candidly, never considered how sketchy flight is. The air pressure thing was a YIKES moment for me. This is a great yet scary channel.
I've heard it said that the most shaky times are take-offs and landings. I can see why. Also, to have such good CRM at that time is inspiring to me. The pilots would have been the first ones at the crash had that happened and they don't want to die, either. Thankfully, no one died in this one.
Much like the report states that was some excellent CRM there at the end that definitely saved lives. Compared to some other disastrous accident sequences this crew did not panic in the moment.
Basically, everything they did after the moment they realized they screwed up was the best thing they could have done.
Great flying can sometimes overcome a series of mistakes and mishaps.
@@Capecodham Crew resource management. Basically how well a team works together during an issue/emergency.
@@Capecodham But that's true of pretty much every hobby or subject on the internet.
From what I've seen the flying community on the internet is pretty relaxed but when going over accident reports you are going to run into jargon.
My favorite is 'controlled descent into terrain' which is a pretty fancy way of saying 'fly into the ground'.
I personally appreciate when these videos really explain what this stuff means because while these stories are fascinating; I've never been into a plane's cockpit in my life and I would have no idea what they are talking about otherwise.
Another exceptional video dude. Looking forward to whatever is next!
Refreshing to hear the captain actually encouraging his FO to call out any mishaps he sees. Even if its ALWAYS encouraged, im sure it gives the FO even more confidence with the captain verbally telling him.
That first officer is honestly the best hype man anyone could have.
Ain't that the truth!
He's on my team!
I clearly remember this miraculous landing after hitting trees. Most planes are lost when that happens, so the pilots really held it together until they were down on the runway.
Since you spoke of Charles Lindbergh.
My Great Grandfather used to fly with Charles Lindbergh on his US mail delivery mail route.
My grandmother was born at the end of one of the runways at the St Louis International airport where our family house used to be. The airport was much smaller way back then but they bought their farm house and land to expand. Mr Lindbergh used to stay with my family when the weather was to bad to fly or just to visit as good friends. I met my great Grandfather afew times but was to young to talk to him about Charlie. My grandmother had some good stories though.
I'm a new subscriber so you might see several comments as I'm binging on your other videos. Thanks
How interesting, thank you for passing along this info!
8:30: I love technical detail because I love learning how things work.
Got to admire the F/O's faith in the Captain with his "You're gonna make it!". I wonder if they eeked out a few extra feet of flying as a glider because the wings are cleaner without engines slung beneath them? They screwed up handsomely, but showed their mettle in getting their aircraft down safely.
@@Capecodham first officer
the engines flamed out and probably were severely damaged, but remained affixed to the wings. on the ground they pulled limbs and foliage out of them.
i just found your page, absolutely gripping storytelling. i really can’t believe there’s not a movie for every single one of these stories - pilots, crew, and air traffic control/engineers are truly heroes.
there is! youre watching it.
Kudos for your outstanding narration and clear explanation of the factors affecting the outcome of this flight, that even a know-nothing like myself could understand. So very glad the ending was happier than the one I was expecting right up to the last minute. I've bitten my thumbnail clean off!
I've so much respect for pilots , ATC folk and engineers alike,
they are all literally heroes on a daily basis!
This is great endorsement of the invaluable services that commercial pilots provide. They are called upon infrequently but earn their pay when they need to.
Man pilots dont get enough money for all this knowledge and awareness. The pilots in this case did an excellent job with what they had and saved many lives👍👍
Absolutely excellent video in every way. Just one suggestion. It is my understanding that runways are always identified by calling out the two numbers separately, so runway 15 would not be runway "fifteen," but runway "one five." Runway 08L, would be "zero eight left." Thanks for doing such a great job on such an interesting aviation mishap.
He usually does, may have been a slip 🙂
Appreciate the suggestion - I tend to switch between the two because I'm aware that many viewers may not be that familiar with aviation (hence the km/h as well). Might switch to the aviation 1-5 as you say, to keep it consistent.
In practice, pilots and controllers often utilize both expressions. Admittedly, the "fifteen" is not technically correct, but humans still tend to be humans and revert to more familiar terminologies. So - not an issue for me in this video, fwiw. ;-)...
Hats off big time to the captain and first officer! Two awesome men to keep their calm and bring it in after that mess.
Pilots are amazing , talk about holding your nerve in a stressful situation . Take My hat off to them
Your ability to explain aviation concepts in layman's terms and to only explain things that need explaining makes these videos great. I never find myself confused or asking any questions, i am always 100% invested.
I've flown in and out of Bradley many times. In fact, my house is in the landing pattern for one of Bradley's runways although it's the northeast facing runway 24, not the northwest facing runway 15 where this incident took place. I often see the bottom of aircraft as they fly directly over my house at altitudes between 2,500 and 3,000 feet. The hill this plane clipped is called Metacomet Ridge and runs from Long Island Sound to northern Massachusetts. It sits only some 750 feet from the end of runway 15, jutting up out of nowhere to around 650 feet at its nearest point to the runway. You can plainly see it from the airport and it's rather a scary sight when you're taking off in a westerly direction which is common since that's the usual wind direction. It's fairly rare to land on 15 because that would usually mean a tailwind.
wow, I was expecting a crash into the hill I was nit expecting a 100% survival
What a relief the crew were able to save the plane
Once they struck the trees the pilots did an amazing job of insuring each and every 'soul on board' had the best chance for survival. I always dreaded flying (and driving), during 'frog-washer' storms, visibility is almost nil and it can be disorienting. I trust the pilots were able to keep their jobs. The lessons learned will never be forgotten.
I am somebody who is scared of airliners at the best of times and hights in general so these videos give me a nervous injection whenever I follow the plot but when the crew and souls on board are this lucky I feel like jumping for joy literally, absolutely amazing that aircraft got away with that landing.
I gotta say one thing that pisses me off about almost all aircrash videos is the willingness to take chances with people’s lives to save a relatively small amount of time, effort, or convenience. All these employees should have the mindset that ANY risk of human life is too great. If it’s risky to land the plane at Bradley LAND THE DAMN PLANE AT BOSTON. People will miss meetings and be pissed off, but at least they will live long enough to be pissed off and complain about their missed meetings. I guarantee you they would much rather that than risk being smashed into the side of a mountain.
IKR? The pilots incompetence is what put them in this very situation. People forget that just because by a stroke of luck that they barely missed hitting the terrain and killing everyone aboard is not a reason to celebrate this deadly incompetence. Yet the mindless pilot simping comments in these air crash type videos is overwhelming. THoSe pILotS aRe HerOeS!
Well said. Stubbornness was the major factor in most of these crashes. Yes it's inconvenient for everyone to divert. Passengers may even curse you for doing so, but its best compared to TAKING CHANCES.
Holy hell what a rollercoaster!
Can't believe they made it. That's amazing work
I think this is the 20th? Video of yours I have watched and it’s the first one where I 100% was convinced that it was a game over and was very happily surprised they survived. The way you described the hill and how crucial mistakes were made that gave me dread for the passengers and crew. Some of your videos you try this, but the thumbnail gives it away. I very much enjoyed this one. Please keep me guessing at the outcome. Love your videos
That was INTENSE. I didn’t think videos like these could put me on the edge of my seat. Crazy
amazing video great detail immediately after striking the trees the pilots did everything perfectly
i've been waiting for a good sim/reenactment of this one ever since they theaticalized it in that CVR play/film -- thanks for doing it, absolutely heart-stopping to get it from the cockpit perspective, and all the atmospherics are great.
Excellently done mate. Not rushed or too long. Just....excellently done
The MD-80/90’s seem to be rather tough airplanes! I flew on one and flew through a thunderstorm on approach to Orlando Fl… could feel the plane sinking and yawing, and as I sat in the back I noticed how incredibly much the fuselage flexed!
One of my CFIs had an acronym she’d write down on approach WAR: winds, altimeter, remarks. This way, if everyone in the cockpit lost their mind, at least you had the critical info. Also, as to outdated ATIS information, at no point is it mentioned “which” information the pilots had. I don’t know of any controlled airport that’ll let you take off/land without reading back which ATIS information you have (alpha, bravo, whatever) and if that is in fact the current information. Seems like there were lots of omissions on the part of ATC and crew.
Well to be fair I recall the tower "wasn't really officially open" and that the single guy manning the tower was basically volunteering his time on a "continue at your own risk" kinda deal.. he wasn't even legally allowed to clear the airplane, moreso "advise" it from here to there.
That was like being their. Not sure if I would want that, but all the same, excellent.
Thanks Stuart!
@@GreenDotAviation Really nice video. So glad a study level MD-82 has been released for MSFS. One of my favorite fairly modern planes.
Absolutely. What a fantastic video, from beginning to end.
@@krozareq It's great, MSFS is getting a lot better this year.
I'm kindly surprised for the quality and detail on which this new channel deals with the stories it shows. I believe it's a great future.
Does it make any sense to have a 908' MDA, when the terrain peaks at 819' almost directly under the glidepath? That is just 89' (27m) difference. It seems insanely low, clearence. Would a 1000' MDA make sense? I'm not a pilot, I don't know how close to terrain ure usually allowed to fly, but 89' seems a bit too tight, even with all instrument settings done right.
Yea. Would've thought it'd be something like 100 meters minimum
The descended to MDA before they were supposed to ….human error . MDA (908)in the chart is at about 1nm before the runway .
A bit of correction to Green Dot, 908' was the MDH. 1080' was the MDA. The captain adjusted the primary altimeter's pressure altitude to coincide with the TDZE or airport elevation, so it works out the same really so minor thing. Another is that RWY 15 has no ILS approach so not likely to hit a "ILS antenna" which doesn't really exist anyways. But if an antenna is attributed to ILS it would be the glideslope antenna. More than likely they hit the localizer antenna array.
@@krozareq That would be the localiser aerial for the opposite direction runway ( RW23.).
Higher approach speed, higher MDA. Lower MDA is good only when approach is very very slow, and instruments are more than perfect.
That cockpit view as they were bearing down on that runway was riveting. I've actually never heard of this accident. I had no idea how this was going to end, in a catastrophic fireball, breaking apart, no idea. Looking at the runway lights, I was gritting my teeth thinking, c'mon, c'mon, hang on guys...then during the landing, I actually thought "whoa baby hold it down, hold it down," and imagine my surprise when the Capt. said the same...I yelped out loud, scared my cat off my lap. I don't think I've ever been that immersed in a RUclips video. Excellent work, Green Dot. 💚 and that really was some top notch CRM and white knuckle flying by that crew. Glad there was only a minor injury.
Great storytelling! Makes it easy for the viewer to recall the banging sound a plane makes when it hits heavy turbulence at night, jolting it down a couple times, and it makes flying a bit scary.
Am baffled...but relieved everyone survived. Love the MD 9. Thank you for posting such excelent video and clear walk through
You’re so talented at this. Also, thanks for profiling lesser-known crashes/excursions/incursions.
Very good and well thought out video ... Truly appreciated the explanation, (or the pointing out), of the "check sum" yielded by the two altimeter settings that yielded the actual height above sea level of the runway, (at 13:00 ), .Never had anyone explained that before .. not even "Mentour Pilot".
I came across your channel by accident (no pun intended), but have to say I am hooked. You have a brilliant narration voice and tell the stories so well. Clearly you research each of these incidents thoroughly. I have learnt so much about flight controls and how the flying surfaces work. Who knows if I am ever on a flight where both the captain and first officer spotaniously combust I may jump in the cockpit and use some of the information I have gleaned from your channel. At least I would have an awareness where things are when pilot at the other end of the radio trys to talk you down. As that is unlikely to happen anytime soon I will continue to work my way through your posts. Great job and keep this good work up. Clive
"Omg omg, hs, hs, oh f---, oh f---, wt....oh THANK GOD". I was on this flight, though I was delayed by 27 years I was on this flight. Your vids are so engrossing, I seem to lose perception of anything going on around me.
Pilots and ATC's, y'all are fascinating creatures to me and I'll never comprehend how you do what you do but I'm grateful. Something that is so prevalent among pilots is their ( your) uncanny knack for detail and excellent memory. My Dad was a TG pilot/ fighter / instructor and I was always amazed at his ability to recall
it's absolutely incredible that the pilots managed to keep the plane one piece at the end, fantastic video !
Regardless of other factors the pilots displayed amazing airmanship during this emergency. Thank god they had 2 military pilots in the cockpit that refused to give up. Mistakes were make howevee lives were saved thanks to cool heads that never panicked
That's definitely something I've noticed in these very close-call vids which end positively, that (at least in the UK & US) military/navy flight backgrounds do seem to lead to pilots who have really excellent level-headedness & creative thinking in an emergency? Doesn't seem to apply as consistently across other countries, alas! 🫤
Interestingly, glider experience seems to be another one which has repeatedly proved extremely useful when handling multiple airliner crises! I guess perhaps because of the superlative understanding of flight physics it develops, & the transferable skills in terms of unpowered flight, very useful if engine failure is involved?
Capt Sully of the Hudson landing certainly combined both these characteristics, no doubt contributing to their positive outcome. And his FO (now Capt) Skiles, whilst not sharing that background, certainly also showed a remarkable level of CRM skill & collaborativeness- much like the FO in this vid. Altogether a remarkable combo for snatching victory from the jaws of defeat!
If I keep watching these air disaster vids, I’m taking the bus to Europe next year-and I live in Hawaii 😊
DEAD AF! 😂 😂
I feel the same way hahaha
@@myfriendisapotato or maybe I’ll take a kayak.
That First Officer is an absolute chad level officer.
Literal bro.
His giant balls of steel literally kept the aircraft pinned safely to the runway.
With almost 3000 hours in an md-83 I felt like i was right there with em
But how many trees have you pruned with an md-83?
Presumably they did not have a radar altimeter. Seems to me; if the weather is so bad they have to evacuate the control tower it's probably time to divert
Yep, totally… um,
We’re outta here and so should you! Time to divert.
that's all i could keep thinking. amazingly, this video makes it sound like the weather wasn't really a factor other than the fact that air pressure had dropped - but that impact was limited to the altimeter and not the general flying conditions
I live about 20 miles from this airport. At some point, no matter what the hindrance, fights should just be cancelled and we have to accept that man is not always supposed to fly. Planes are trying to land in a storm and the "tower is not sufficiently open?" Whaa...
Really glad I found your channel, you should have a lot more subscribers. Your videos are very high quality, extremely educational, and the visuals are stunning. Love the work!
Thank you! More videos on the way :)
FINALLY, someone explained what radio altimeter settings mean!! 👍😉✌️
The radio altimeter was never mentioned in this video.
He explained how the conventional altimeter works; it's basically a vacuum gauge.
The radio, or radar, altimeter uses echolocation to run systems like the gpws (terrain warning).
@@232K7 Yeah if radio altimeters had been standard equipment back then, this whole thing wouldn't have happened!
The encouraging words from the FO probably could have me landing in that position. I always love safe airmen with great CRM amongst all on board especially leading to a landing without anything lost but some planes pieces and perhaps a little bit of ones nerves only. However, having someone calmly and positively encourage you through something of which you may be fully capable of handling but with the stressors, tiresome time, weather, false reports, human error and just bad luck like this, there is nothing more lovely than hearing the crew have genuine words of encouragement like this for another above the standard CRM procedures and I personally know how much a difference having someone you trust just give you this above all else allow you to overcome the most fearsome of trials. Often having someone else believe enough in your efforts and/or ability despite you not even believing in such yourself can be solely enough to get to the place where you achieve things you never knew or believed possible until you did so. And all because of a supportive and calming presence keeps us all in our best tests yet to defeat with some genuine words of simply, you got this, you can do it. Im sure many others have noticed this crew speak really be above the usual in times of distress like such, but hearing it, feels like allowed the captain to keep his control to safely land the stricken craft without injury most. Certain words may be simple but hold such power when needed most and like this, timely spoken.
Al I can say that as a non-pilot its clearly the slightest little mistake can cause a crash, as in this case thank God we had two exceptional pilots that overcame extreme weather conditions and I pray they are still flying as this will only make them better. As the report said they had made a fractional error with a 1000 thanks they had going on with that flight. I 'm just thankful everyone is ok. Awesome pilots
Super cool graphics, really accurate. I love the chipped paint on the control yokes, very realistic!
Applause for the captain and first officer, even though they were decending faster than they shouldve, thats just one example of human error, but i still have to give the pilots a massive applause for making jt onto the runaway safely
Awesome job by the pilot to land the plane. That plane was pretty scratched up for a landing configuration! Thanks Dot! 👍🇦🇺👍
Great vid. I truly believe that this aircraft and its passengers and crew were blessed. I have never before heard of an airplane striking the trees and then recovering ... and then without a single loss of life or critical injury! So interesting, too, to see the comment from North Maine Guy, below!
Any landing, where passengers and crew can walk out of the plane on their own is a good landing. And I think this definitely qualifies as one considering the circumstances.
My dad was on the flight landing in front of this one. And his plane as it was getting closer to touching down hit an air pocket and it dropped rapidly. He’s never been known to be scared of flying or such but he said this experience did. To be honest though, out of all the landings I’ve experienced all the ones at BDL have been the worse. It is such a bad place for landings due to the mountain wind.
I do think I can say I was in severe turbulence once as a child because I remember feeling the plane suddenly dropping like a stone. I felt the freefall sensation one gets on a roller coaster, though it was far more terrifying in this context. After what felt like an eternity but was likely a few seconds, the plane leveled out. To this day I'm not entirely sure how that drop happened. It was a stormy flight, but I've never experienced a drop like that since.
I've also been on a flight where the plane landed so hard that some of the oxygen masks dropped. The pilot came on the PA system and simply said, "Oops."
Couldn’t agree more that although the pilots are to blame, they’re also to credit for the recovery. This was a phenomenal recovery. In fact, I was shocked I’d never heard of this accident. I’m extremely familiar with Bradley (every time I think of it, I still remember the flipped planes right near the entrance after the rare tornado that struck the airport). How could I not know about this incredible event? Likely, because there were no deaths and only one minor injury. I don’t know what happened to the pilots, but I really hope that they were sent for refresher training to ensure they don’t make similar mistakes again, but were NOT fired, reprimanded or otherwise disciplined. They did a fine job on the recovery, and as this video mentions, the CRM was exceptional. The captain went so far as to tell the first officer to advise him. They did a phenomenal job. They just made a mistake. We all make mistakes. I really hope this captain and first officer went on to have brilliant, successful careers. Yes, they made a mistake. But their recovery from it was textbook perfect. Yes, they should receive criticism… they caused the problem. But they should receive more praise than criticism. I’d ask anyone who disagrees this question…. they were hitting treetops prior to the recovery, so: “How many times have you heard of a plane literally already in the trees that ends up recovering.” I can think of zero. There are one or two accidents I can think of where they ALMOST pulled it out, but zero who did. And in every case, since they’re just below flight speed (obviously… since they’re falling slowly, scraping tree tops), the speed is high enough such that the majority of passengers and crew perish. This is the ONLY flight I know of which struck tree tops and there were not only zero fatalities but almost zero injuries (just one minor… which makes you wonder if that’s the passenger’s fault… not buckled in, perhaps?). This is simply unheard of. The pilot and first officer did a spectacular job. I know… they are ultimately to blame. And without their mistake, their heroics are never needed. So, I get it if some people want to give them more blame than credit. But no one is perfect. We all make mistakes on our job. And in this case, the mistake made (entering the wrong altimeter setting) does not appear to be an error that is in any way nefarious (careless, neglectful, etc)… just a simple, innocent mistake. These pilots deserve incredible praise.
I haven’t flown more than a dozen times in my life but the MD83 is the plane on which I’ve flown most of them. Love that plane!
Those pilots kept their cool and flew their plane. I panicked and I wasn't even there!
As usual great explanation and visuals, keep up the great work
Thanks!
To the creator of this content: I have watched quite a few "RUclips? videos like this (aviation incidents/crashes/investigations, etc) fewer such videos than some have watched, but no doubt more than many others have watched---anyway, you told a damn good story well and told it all stupendously. Had me on the edge of my seat all the way! Bravo! A good story, told well!
Great vid. I believe the years of Air Force training helped them save all on board. Keep up good work
Exactly what I was thinking.
Beautifully produced. Bravo!
very well done as always, thankyou. Such a great story in itself given the nail biting finale, superb subject matter!
Thank you Simon! Glad you enjoyed it 😎
Great video as always but your narration at around 5.15 may be misleading to some viewers. In the cruise, aircraft set their altimeters to standard pressure so that they are all using the same regardless of where they set off or where they are going to. This gives them a ‘flight level’ rather than a true altitude (which is height above sea level). As they approach the airport they then need true altitude as that is how obstacles and MDA are charted. That’s when they need the local atmospheric pressure at sea level (known as QNH). The elevation above the ground is ‘height’ and for the runway would be given by setting the atmospheric pressure to the pressure at the airport (known as QFE) or using a compensation factor as you described.
Correct - However I figured that if I showed a clip of the altimeters saying 9000ft, this might be confusing as I explained QFE while the plane was in cruise.
There may have been another way to explain this but I hope that this got the main idea across for most people.
@@GreenDotAviation While I don’t necessarily disagree with the OP, I feel that you struck a good balance between providing good technical background information and conveying the concepts for non-aviators/enthusiasts.
It’s a very minor point, but the only thing that struck me was the use of the phrase “made up”, when describing the AGL-referenced altimeter’s setting. As you know, it wasn’t _arbitrarily_ set, it was merely offset from the true altitude. You went on to describe the intent and rationale quite well. Thanks for the truly excellent content!
Really enjoy the format of these excellent videos. The narration and comprehensive background information regarding the pilots actions, explain quite clearly the cause of these incidents.
Incredible story, both pilots sounded like they had it together under pressure but sadly dropped the ball and became a little complacent. I reckon these two would learn from their mistake and become even better pilots. Thanks
Adding full flaps when flying into a very strong headwind will shorten your approach, as they introduce more drag than lift. Most glider pilots understand that only up to 15 deg of flaps will produce lift and get you onto the runway, any more than that and you could end up short. I think every airline pilot should have a few years experience in gliders before starting their airline careers. After all, when the engines quit, you are just flying a very heavy glider.
i even learned this just doing amateur flight sim programs. you can "feel" the lift from the first 15 degrees of flaps and after that it just slows you down. Another point is that it was mentioned that leading edge slats were damaged, so the decision to deploy flaps could have had another risk of catastrophe had that turned out to matter
I’m sort of addicted to these videos. I have no idea why, but it fascinates me, but I’m far from afraid of getting on a plane.
What I’ve learned from these videos is that for a plane crash to be absolutely awful many things have to go wrong.
I'm my lowly opinion, they should have gone to their alternative airport. Weren't the winds at or higher than the maximum for landing? I'm always amazed how well so many pilots react when diaster is imminent. They go into a zone, pilots make mistakes, but this shows how well trained they are for crises. Great video.
I agree, I kept thinking, "Divert! Divert!"
I hope no one got in any serious trouble, even with the mess ups and near death situation i think the crew should be praised for not turning that plain into a pancake
Any time I hear about these aircraft still being in service I wonder if at any point some aviation enthusiast recognized the tail number and told someone "oh it's the one that almost crashed 10 years ago" or so. I'm sure many people wouldn't take that well.
I mean to be fair, it wasn't the plane that caused the near-crash in this case, and many similar crashes that's the case as well. But yea definitely could spook some people!
I have heard of some stories of that happening although I can't remember which plane.(I think it was the glide into the dike next to NASA-Houston) An enthusiast said he almost told his friend who had anxiety flying "You know this plane has an interesting history..." and then thought better of it and told him after they landed.
So yeah, pretty sure that's occurred. And no, I wouldn't be too pleased to be told that in the air or before boarding although I think it would be funny to be told after we'd landed.
Regardless of the who or why, people get a sketchy feeling knowing they're flying in a crashed & repaired airplane, what with how many airplanes have randomly exploded at pressurization height due to improperly repaired impact damage performed several years ago.
I'm not all that savvy with tail numbers & whatnot but I'm pretty confident that if even just one passenger recognizes it, others will end up hearing about it soon 😆
@@drpainglove3389 TACA 110 😉 If memory serves, they replaced both engines on-site & took off again down the road lol
@@232K7 You are correct!
What a hell of a landing by that pilot.
I remember that pilot being an interesting character, eye shot out while flying, glider pilot, the works.
I still can't remember if that was the plane the guy who almost trolled his nervous buddy flew on but TACA 110 was definitely the flight I was referencing.
The bigger question to me is why didn't ATC order the plane to divert to the airport with better weather conditions or at least execute the missed approach with better weather conditions , considering they themselves had to close the tower and therefore all airport operations.
What I learnt from this channel is never fly at night … cuz almost every crash has been in the dark
Dude I had no idea how blind pilots are. I’m still gonna fly without massive anxiety but it does make me think I don’t wanna fly at night or in bad weather. I just assumed it was super safe. This channel is awesome
As a person who flies from Bradley (due to no lines and it being close) this is, just, weird to see an accident trying to get to the airport I use
Did you do what the first officer did on purpose?😄 You stated a difference of 40 feet when the video text read, "70 feet." It made me think it must be easier to do than I'd originally thought. 😄 I'm absolutely addicted to your videos!
Good catch and the irony isn’t lost on me! Glad you’re enjoying the vids 🙌
@@GreenDotAviation As I read the comments I was surprised that no one else mentioned it I didn't want to come across as snarky, 😄 so thank you! I love your work!
I appreciated the information on barometric pressure as I never understand the reference to inches of mercury. Thanks!
Brilliant video! Incredibly well told. Well done!