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Great that he saved the plane and i know it's not a lot, but would it not have been possible to bet on that newly serviced engine to actually deliver 100% thrust instead of 96% in this dire situation. It seems he was riding on the edge of disaster with not a lot of hope of not crashing, so i would imagine that it would be worth the risk.
After my email about this, i did a little more digging for the final report and as you said there is not one. Reason for that is that the years we're talking about were a rather fragile period of political turmoil, the country just got out of a seven year military dictatorship, the government was keeping a rather difficult balance and all this contributed to this incident being kept under the table for a long time. Thank you for your awesome content!
Hi Petter ... do you know if there's any kind of other mixtures that can be feed in a combustion chamber ? ... or is that a practice that belongs to some older engines conception
@Mentour Pilot Thanks for this video. I appreciate these aircraft Investigation videos you do. Very detailed explanations. Could you do a video about American Airlines 587?
I was on this flight almost 44 years ago. I was 15 years old traveling by myself to New York after spending most of the summer with relatives in Greece. I still have my passport and plane tickets from this flight if you need to verify what I'm saying. Your video is fascinating and really tells most of the story. From a passenger's perspective, I was seated next to the left wing, at a section of 3 seats next to the window. Since I was seated across and parallel to the right wing, I was able to see the flame out and heavy black smoke from engine 3 as the plane shook when it happened. I can tell you with certainly that most passengers knew immediately something was wrong as we could clearly see we were flying just over the roof tops of buildings and not gaining altitude. There were 3 Greek priests seated a few rows behind me, and they began praying out load resulting in lots of crying and some screaming among the passengers. Some of us remained calm but very worried. I could see in the eyes of the flight attendants that they knew we were in serious trouble. I was seated with and next to a newly wedded couple who had shared with me before takeoff, as we engaged in cordial conversation, that they had just found out they were having a baby. As we experienced this terrible predicament, we actually held arms because we were so afraid. Your entire depiction of what was happening outside the plane regarding our altitude, speed, and landmarks is very accurate, and I clearly remember the hills we could see ahead of us. I also remember the gradual left turn away from the hills and over the sea where we were also then able to see fuel being ejected from the tip of the wing we were sitting next to. We, of course, made it back to the airport. When we exited the plane, which in those days in Athens was by walking down the steps and not through the tube, I remember seeing a number of, I assume, members of the press taking pictures while others shook the hand of the the flight deck crew. We were taken back to the terminal where we waited some hours as another 747, which was being prepped for a flight to London, was then given to us to fly to New York later that day. In other conversations with personnel at the terminal, we were told the highway next to the airport was cleared in case we had to emergency land there. When I finally arrived in New York, my Dad had been waiting for me at the airport, and he had been waiting for hours past the time we were supposed to arrive. The airport arrival screen in New York said only that the flight was delayed...no other information. He tried to find out more but to no avail. I told him what had happened, and he didn't believe me. A few days later, he apologized to me after reading the story and seeing photographs in the Greek newspaper. Watching your video gave me chills all these years later as this was an experience I never forgot, but I kind of repressed all along. Should you ever need to reach out to me for more information, from the passenger perspective, please feel free to do so. Thank you for the great video.
@@obsequey96 but of course it was god.2 gods actually, the one named ground effect and the other one named “balls of steel” of the captain that kept his cool.
The speed at which pilots go from “normal day at work” to “I am probably going to die, but I will do everything in my power to save as many lives as possible” is insane
It happens to fast in a plane, that you literally dont even have time to react. Wake turburlance, a jammed stabilizer, the next thing u know ur flying toward the ground. I was flying back from aruba when my family like first got our timeshare there, like maybe 99-2000. And on the flight back, we hit at the time, people were calling an "air pocket" and literally, the plane just freefall fell for like 5 solid seconds, enough for the entire thought to run thru my mind im dead, and then it jus stopped. Some small asian kid who doesnt buckled in, flew up and hit the roof so hard his nose was bleeding and i think he got knocked unconcious for a few seconds. Now ive looked this effect up, its supposed to be someting do with the elevation changes when flying over mountains, but let me tell you, we were over the caribbean ocean, so.. i never understood what does that, to this day i still get people who try to explain it, but when i tell them there was no mountains below me they look puzzled. Another year, flying back from the same place, i wake up from a nap to my mom tapping me telling me there making an emergency landing, because "the radar" stopped working, i didnt hear what they said, but my mom and father said they said something about the radar. Now i doubt that was the real reason. But i woke up and i was like am i still asleep, i was nervous. But we got to land in peurto rico, and it happend to be during some festival lmao, and they airline put us all up in a really cool hotell and there was a party going on basically all night it felt. Ive been in a few sketchy airline incidents, one of them was approaching i think philly airport when it was windy, and the pilot literally did like 2-3 go arounds. Even my dad who was in the navy started getting worried, and he used to be the one that would tell me it was nothing. Airplanes fail alot less than cars, yes while this may be true, a car doesnt carry hundreds of passengers, and if a car has problems it can pull over, a plane its a whole different story. So anyone who feeds you that cars are safer than planes thing, while it might be somewhat true is not a accurate comparison. Ud be better off comparing planes to trains or busses if you wanted to get that point across.
This pilot is insane levels of boss. The skill, the composure, the resolve, and this time with what he was provided in equipment and crew ability, the payoff. What a legend.
In 1978 this pilot invited me into his cockpit on a flight from Melbourne to London . Being a learner flying Cessna 152 it was an awesome experience I spent hours in there and his knowledge was remarkable he gave me priceless flying information A true gentleman and amazing pilot
"all of us who were onboard that aircraft smuggled life (cheated death). But even when at the worst situation there can be a tiny glimpse of hope which at the end may save the day". Those are the words of Captain Migadis in the one and only tv interview he ever gave. An exceptional professional.
Usually a lot of things have to go wrong at the same time for a plane to crash. This time a lot of things went just right for it to fly, what a refreshing experience. Props to the crew for their skill and professionality.
I know it’s bad to drop fuel over populated areas, but wouldn’t whatever risk of doing thisvearlier, be less of a risk then the plane crashing into the city still full to the brim with Jet fuel? It seems almost miraculous that it didn’t stall, so I wonder if they contemplated dumping the fuel over the city?
The Ellinikon airport closed down in 2001 and I remember my grandpa taking me to the street just outside where the Olympic jets were parked and abandoned and telling me this story. Mr. Migadis is considered a local folk hero by older Greeks.
I think "local" may be replaced by a much wider spanning word. I, a younger Canadian, consider him...Legend! Oh, the stories and knowledge Grandpas are filled with! I miss my "Gumpa" as my lil' brother used ta call him! You have a swell day! :)
He sure deserves it tho great skill sometimes is not enough, you need a bit of luck too :) Anyway, awesome story, I did not expect them to make it and felt great when things started to go their way.
I wondered about that. Back in the early '80s, my family took a flight to Athens from Amsterdam, and I remember landing on an airport somewhere in the middle of nowhere, and taking a bus to the inner city to our hotel. In my recollection that airport was named Heraklion. Is this correct? When I looked at the Athens-map this morning, I saw the shoreline airport and the airport I probably landed on relatively close to eachother.
@@Dirk-van-den-Berg Nope.Heraklion airport is on an island called Crete, 200 km south of Athens.Nothing to do with Elinikon airport.There was no other international airport in Athens at that time, only few military bases not eligible to accept civilian flights.
plane crashes are tragic, but when a plane is saved in such a spectacular way, there's something extra special about these stories that so incredible to learn about.
I've said it before and I'll say it again - you are a *gifted* storyteller, and these videos are absolutely fascinating. You include just the right amount of technical explanation (e.g. the water/glycol system). I enjoy the feeling that we're just sitting in my living room or by a fireplace in a pub somewhere while you're telling me this story - me, just me, not many thousands of RUclips viewers. Well done sir, and thank you!
and lets not forget the great visualisations of these videos. Which we would not have at a fireplace. But I absolutely agree, Mentour is a great storyteller and unfortunately there have been enough incidents that we can expect many more stories. Glad, this one left no casualties!
Same. But I'm in my bed, you have to draw the line somewhere, so he's got a special sofa next to my bed to sit on whilst storytelling. I once asked if he would maybe sit on the end of my bed but he was not comfortable with the idea. I am not gay btw, Im just a 48 year old boy that likes a bedtime story. Thank you. 👍😉
My uncle was a 747 pilot at Olympic Airlines back then. Ioannis Migadis was a living legend among Olympic pilots. As you said Migadis was not trying to save the plane. Rather he was trying to reach the mountain est of the center of Athens to crash in a less populated area. You 3D renconstitution is nice but there are no tiled roofs in Athens but rather flat terraces. Migadis said that the flat terraces helped create ground effect. Also some think that the hot air rising from the streets created a lifting current adding a slightly ascending force that helped the plane to continue flying despite being quite under the stall speed. Some other say Zeus intervened directly to avoid the crash of a plane named after him. I am of the latter .⚡
@@ayrtonsenna4522 Mentour Pilot was mentioning it took them 30 minutes to drop enough fuel to be able to land and the plane was still slightly overweight.
Yah, the central/northern European buildings _were_ throwing the simulation off a bit for me,* but I guess the animator(s) had to work with what they had. Still an amazing story, and still glad they _didn't_ crash! I always do like the incidents with happy endings. 😀 EDIT: And I think this is the earliest I've caught a Mentour video after posting 😎 * I'm far more of an architecture geek than an aviation one
@@AaronOfMpls I am sure Migadis hierachy of priorities was : 1) Avoid the Parthenon. 2) Avoid the Acropolis. 3) Avoid any ancient building/museum. 4) Avoid any populated building. 5) Crash in the sea 6) Avoid crash.
I'm from Athens and had vaguely heard of this story. Asked my dad about it today - he was a young man at the time: "Dad, have you heard about this crazy story with the plane that flew too low in 1978"? And my dad was like "Not only have I heard of it - I saw this flight"! He was at work and remembers seeing the plane flying super low and heading towards Mount Egaleo. He and his colleagues were all glued to the windows and watching - they were sure it was going to crash on the mountain.
I was just thinking how this mustve looked to all the people on the ground! 747 is such huge machine and being that low, it mustve looked like some ancient pterodactyl scouting for suitable prey.. ugh. Was your dad in that tall building the plane flew past? (Greetings from a Finn, who thinks Hellas is her mental home, my favorite place to visit since I was 2yo, Im now 46)
I was watching a program where they were talking about how fighter pilots learn to fly by feeling the airplane, because you may not be able to look at your instruments while in a dogfight. This captain was obviously flying based on feel - listening to what the airplane was telling him in every movement, and making micro adjustments in realtime based on that feel. Impressive.
When I was young, I could only afford older, clunkier cars that were always on the verge of needing repair. I hadn't realized how attuned I'd become to listening to and feeling these cars as I drove them until one Fourth of July weekend while driving near an airport that was in the middle of an air show. As I drove along, a Harrier jump jet approached us from behind a hundred or so feet above us. It was so loud that it drowned out all the sensory perception I had of the car. It disoriented me until I saw the plane shoot ahead of us, stop in mid-air, turn around, and fly back over us.
Captain Migadis was a WWII veteran - he had taken part in the Battle of Crete and then in the Cretan resistance, serving with the SOE. In 1943 he escaped to Egypt where he joined the allied forces and learned how to fly in an RAF training centre in (what was then) Rhodesia. Other Olympic captains, such as Pavlos Ioannidis, had a very similar background.
@@michailjimnopoulos6168 they have had plans in the area of Alimos to name a street as an honor 10 months ago. I doubt whether it came true...so the real answer is not at all!
Back then most pilots of Olympic were former fighter pilots. They were experienced in making split-second decisions. Like Sully, Migadis was also former Air Force pilot.
@@MrT------5743 I’m not a pilot…but assume that most military pilots, if they have combat experience, have much more experience at split second decision making than the average commercial pilot .
When the representatives of Boeing saw the flight records, they said: "This plane can't exist, it has crashed ". Then captain Migadis replied: "Here it is, come see it, it's yours ". Some people suggest that the new airport of Athens should have been named Sifis Migadis, instead of Eleftherios Venizelos. I totally agree with that, this man is a legend, a national hero. He saved hundreds of lives, he tricked the reaper.
I have to wonder, even with 4 working engines, how the replacement 747 managed to get airborne with the weight of Capt. Migadis' pair obstructing his proper use of the rudder pedals! The scary thing is that the sort of seat-of-the-pants flying he used to save that flight would be well outside any acceptable flight envelope adjudicated by computers in a fly-by-wire system from any source. It does make a good case for there being a full manual mode of last resort, where the computers are just put into a recording mode.
@@MentourPilot Amazing story. He did a great job stopping that aircraft from stalling and getting over the hill then turning down the valley. Even gear up was not a bad idea. I guess they were not allowed to dump fuel over the city - even though that might well have stopped a crash into the city?
Thank you so much Petter for honouring Captain Sifis Migadis, Greece's "Sully" & the miracle of OA411. Migadis's 2 daughters were also told about their father from a cousin of theirs who saw the plane barely fly above the light towers of Panaionios football stadium in Athens as many had presumed the aircraft would surely crash. Had the aircraft crashed into the densely populated area of Athens, the combined death toll from both those on-board & those likely killed on the ground would've likely exceeded that of the Tenerife crash between the KLM & PanAm Boeing 747s. Being 43c, many residents would've been staying inside their apartment buildings likely having a siesta with the aircon on. Migadis actually kept a copy of the flight data recorder data because as he had exclaimed in an interview on Greek TV that he felt people would have thought he was totally insane that the plane was even airborne at those speeds & Boeing had the same view. Migadis proudly showed the FDR results to the interviewer. A young pilot rushed into the office of Olympic Airways Aviation Safety Director, Olympic airways capt. Akrivos Tsolakis, urging him: "Sir, come and see an airliner that is going to fall into the sea!". The very same Akrivos Tsolakis would become lead accident investigator on Helios 522. It's true that Migadis didn't actually get a well deserved day off but had piloted the ATH - JFK Boeing 747 PAX flight approx 1800p that same day, but Sifis did achieve legendary status both amongst Olympic Airways pilots and all of Greece. It's true that when other 747-200 pilots were presented this exact scenario in the 747 simulator that most ended up crashing. Despite this, at the time Migadis was criticised by some for breaking a stack of rules but the irony is had Migadis followed the rules & not his own ingenuity in such an unusual, non-textbook situation the flight would've ended up far different. Migadis also praised first officer Fikardos & had remarked at the time that had it been anyone else they would've not retracted te gear as per Olympic & 747 SOP instead of following Migadis orders. Finally, huge kudos for having the balls to pronounce such uncommon Greek words such as lekanopaidio (Λεκανοπέδιο). Hat's off to you, captain & happy new year to you, all your family & all the very best in 2022 & beyond
Air conditioners in Greek homes in the 70s were, at best, extremely rare. People usually made do with fans. So I doubt that most people would choose to stay indoors at the time.
@@jtsiomb I use the term "aircon" loosely as those ones when I had first visited Greece & Athens (Moschato, Paleo Faliro & Glyfatha where cousins/old friends live) were more like glorified fans back then. At the flight time of 1400p Athens in summer is a bakehouse, unless one is smart enough to be either in a pool or at the stretch of beach from Ag Stefano to Varkiza along the coast but usually I'd go for a swim late morning (after morning tiropita), have lunch, have an afternoon nap, wake with a frappe & catch up with friends during the evening to about 4am. Good times, that was paradise!
My father was captain of Olympic airways from 1968-1986. John Stylianakis Thank you for depicting Athens and Olympic airways, and giving the story such a beautiful visual….nice memories.
Then, the probability exists that I flew as a child with my family from Athens to Crete with your father as a pilot ( in DC4s or DC6s) or 707 to London, Paris and Frankfurt!
@@annatamparow4917 yes he did all routes and Crete especially since he was from there. And all the European cities. He flew the 747 transatlantic too but because it was too difficult with us kids being alone with a German mom in Athens, he decided to stay at the small routes.
@@maryblue75 Eυχχαριστω πολυ για την απαντηση σας! Ελπιζω να ειναι ολη η οικογενεια καλά και σας ευχομαι ειλικρινα ενα υγιες Νεο Ετος! Ο πατερας σας και οι αεροσυνοδοι της Ολυμπιακης προσσφεφεραν ενα θεαρεστο εργο και αξεχαστες αναμνησεις!
Hats off to the captain, co-pilot, and flight engineer (no one really knows if he accidentally shut down the water/glycol system or not). If the captain didn't react calmly and pulled the lever like most inexperienced pilots do today out of fear, we would have heard about one of the terrible accidents of all time....Great job captain and crew, wherever you are now....
The skill of these pilots blows my mind. How well he understood his aircraft and the split second precision of those slight adjustments that made the difference between life and death is just amazing!! xxx
Well, there arealso these specially gifted and tallented guys, who above skills and knowledge have this very something making them practically supernatural. As a famous script writer put it in the lips of a character referring to guys like S. Migadis "put wings in a washing machine and they can fly it".
Thats amazing... the pilots were sure they were going to crash and die, but they still tried everything possible to avoid any harm to the people in town. So glad they made it out alive...
In the Greek TV documentary about this, it was also suggested that the hot stream of air moving up from the city (due to the extreme temperature) provided more lift for the airplane and kept it in the air. This might have also been the reason the simulation always failed but the actual flight kept going. Anyway this is an excellent presentation of the events. Thanks a lot for this!
That sort of make sense. All the wind blowing into the city, then turn upwards cooling of at a higher alittude then blowing out of the city, A delta temperature gradient of 5 degrees for as so short distance would give a really solid thermal rise. Now i lack the software to calculate it, but it should not be that hard to do for someone how have it
The reason the simulations fail is probably because they don't allow for design safety factors, this aircraft needed 145,000 Lbs thrust in those conditions to take off, the 3 remaining engines were capable of 138,000 the extra. My figures show that the drag of the U/C and Flaps/Slat in take-off configuration amount to the negation of 15,000lbs, leaving the crew with 123,000 Lbs, this is where I believe the thermals from the top of the flat roofs and for that matter the fact that the Athens is a pretty flat city architecturally wise that this did indeed stabilise to the ground effect to a point that it was safe to use that 15 seconds to retract the U/C allowing them to "gain back" approximately 6,000 lbs of thrust from the reduction in drag. As stated in the video they climbed 200 ft to clear the hill, had the U/C been down they would not have done this without at least clipping building on the hill thus reducing airspeed and and resulting in the worst. The rest I believe would play out as described in the vid. So in my evaluation of this would be that the Captains decision to retract the U/C was the one thing that saved them, the co-pilots hesitation to follow the captains order COULD have cost them, I would love to hear the CVR to se if the captain had to affirm the command but that is not available, had the Co put the U/C up without hesitation then I think they may have gained a little more airspeed and been around 50 ft higher when crossing the hill and then not had the problem of airspeed being too low. The kudos goes to the captain on this though for breaching Boeings policy, quick and calculated decisions, plus what also appears to be of the calmest persona in light of the 99% certainty of failure. Also the cabin crew, a fantastic show of calmness to make the passengers think this is just a low level fly-by of the city.
I remember my father telling me stories about this flight , he wasn’t at the flight but he saw the airplane from his house back in the day which was near the centre of Athens … how Boeing can possibly reject such an event witnessed by thousands !? Hell of a pilot , thankfully the weather helped him !
They probably have to reject it on paper because they can't prove it happened in the simulator. I'm sure nobody there actually doubts that it happened.
Boeing rejected it for different technical reasons. Do they doubt that it was low flying yes but they don’t believe the speed and other stuff not the flight itself
Goosebumps at19:55 I actually started tearing up the moment Peter mentions how captain Migos’ daughters were waiting for him. As a pilot about to graduate, I found this to be a fascinating miracle story
Migadis flew another airliner to New York that same evening! A true hero! What an amazing captain and also that Boeing tried to replicate the same outcome in the simulator but they failed every time makes this a true miracle.
Don’t know why but the part where his daughters went to the airport made me tear up. The thought of the positive emotions of relief when they found out the plane landed safely must have been overwhelming
I was supposed to fly from Albany to O'Hare to LAX to spend my vacation with my parents and brother on May 25th, 1979. That was an extremely disruptive morning for me and when the cab picked me up by the Schenectady Holiday Inn, I had him take me back to our GE office instead of going home. That was a Friday, the start of Memorial Day Weekend and all flights were booked solid. A supervisor talked me into taking on a job in Venezuela starting the next day and promised to give me a full 2 week vacation when that assignment was over. It had been a terribly stressful week and I was dead tired. I checked into the Lexington Hotel in Manhattan, booked my flights from JFK to Miami to Caracas to Maracaibo for the next day and promptly fell asleep for many hours. That evening, I awoke and immediately called my parents to tell them that I wasn't coming home to see them probably for another 2 months. My dad answered the phone sobbing, unable to speak. He put my mom on who was crying hysterically and could only say ''Your brother''. I pleaded to find out what happened to him and nobody was able to speak. Finally, my brother got on terribly shaken and said crying ''You're dead. Your plane crashed''. I was dumbfounded and they were all crying, unable to continue talking. They all sobbed terribly. After a few minutes, they told me that the plane that I was booked on crashed in Chicago and killed hundreds of people. I had no clue. I turned the TV on and it was all over the news. American Airlines Flight 191 crashed shortly after takeoff, no survivors. They called me back 3 times that night with the last call well after midnight in New York. They needed triple assurance that I had indeed missed the flight. My parents always refused to mention that close call as it affected them deeply. They passed away decades later. My brother always changed the subject if I ever mentioned it. He passed away in September of 2023. I think of that close call all the time. I did not cancel either flight. Some poor soul in the Standby line was probably overjoyed when I didn't show up and took my seat. The fact that I didn't cancel my reservations still bothers me. Every May 25th, I spend the day by myself in some quiet place and read the names of the 273 people who were killed that day. 2 guys were killed on the ground at work in the resulting fireball. The crash of American 191 is burned into my life forever. It had some really strange connections and coincidences later in my life that would take pages to explain. I can see how this Greek pilot's daughters were shaken. It must have been such a blessing to know that their dad was very much alive.
As a college instructor, I have to tell you how much I admire your willingness to be right up front about the difference in your sources, that they are primary but not your usual report sources.
Thank you Petter for one of the most riveting accounts ever given. I’m a former Purser on 747-400s and 777s and 767-400s and it’s also very gratifying when a cabin crew’s professionalism is mentioned. On behalf of us past and those present, BRAVO!
100% agree with you. So many incidents or accidents where cabin crew have played a critical role in the outcome. I remember reading Richard De Crespigny’s account of flight QF32, and he makes special mention of the role his cabin crew played in the successful evacuation of the aircraft. Worth a read.
Hi, It seems tome that Mentour Pilot, Petter, is (unusually?) good at mentioning and crediting cabin crew in his videos, and rightly so. I as an end user of the flight industry, I find that the cabin crews I've met during my travels (I'm a WCHS traveler) are almost without fail, the most pleasant and kind service people you can ever hope to encounter. Thank you, and thank you all curren cabin crews out there for what you do, despite having to deal with the worst modern humanity throws at you. You guys rock. Yours, Ann
Obvious massive props to the pilots, but we shouldn’t forget the fact that the cabin crew was *so good at staying calm that people were taking pictures like tourists in a potentially deathly situation* Like damn, that’s impressive
I choked up when you related that, although the crew knew that "...we are screwed...", the flight crew's initial impulse was to minimize on ground loss of life. Freaking heroes.
Former flight attendant on the L-1011, DC-10, and 727-100 in the late 1980's during college. Finally got my PPL my own airplane 10 years ago after being an aviation and aircraft geek my whole life. I looooooove these MentourPilot videos. The more technical, the better. Keep up the great work!
i was waiting for a new episode and since i am greek im double happy with this one. i just wanted to tell you a big THANK YOU for all your vids, i used to be so afraid about flying, because i was experiencing so many unknown things on an aircraft and that made me so nervous but after watching so many vids of yours and kelsey's, i feel like the next time i get in an aircraft it will be a much nicer experience for me. i even thought about becoming a pilot but im kinda old for that....anyway , thank you so much!!!
Marios, you could take a few lessons. It might be fun even if you don't get all the way through to getting your license. Flight school i worked at years ago had an older student that flew every couple weeks or so. He wasn't ever going to take a checkride, he just enjoyed it.
I am a Quality Control/Quality Assurance Engineering inspector in the oil and gas industry, and part of my job is to provide on-site training to company new hires. I have started using your videos to drive home to my trainees the importance of following proper procedures and standards, and to highlight how critical it is to communicate anything that might be incorrect or in violation of those procedures. These videos reinforce the fact that being "by the book" is a good thing, because the book was written for a reason!!
Exactly! The wealth of available info. this guy covers in each incident is phenomenal. I always imagine this to be a great learning tool for everyone, no matter what field/profession they work in. These videos are superbly educational!
@@adi45713 Agreed. And that's what I love most about it. The airline industry is obviously different from oil and gas, but in a lot of ways inspection is very similar. I think it helps my trainees to see how serious the consequences can be when we fail to do our jobs in a professional and proper way.
Right. If the flight engineer accidentally turned off the water injection system and realized it, he should have said it out loud so that the pilot flying knows about the issue and the the flight engineer could try to restart the system.
Very happy to watch your video, it’s the most accurate version I’ve watched today! First Officer Kostas Fikardos was school mate of my uncle, my dad’s brother. As such, I met him several times at my uncle’s over barbeques, etc. Fikardos had received his training during WWII with a lengthy stint in South Africa and he was telling us some funny stories from his time there. In the flight was his older daughter, Corina, travelling to NY with her dad. I met Fikardos a couple of years after that eventful flight, again over BBQ at my uncle’s and he was very humble, it must have been a traumatic experience and generally was not keen to talk about it. However, he did mention the simulation of the flight at Boeing which none of the pilots that attempted it managed to save, they all crashed it! I remember this distinctly! Congratulations for this excellent story!
and then realizing he's piloting another flight to New York. Daughters: "oh my god, my dad is alive! where is he?" Olympic: "he's piloting another plane to New York" Daughters: ...
@@toddsmith8608 No. A cousin called them and said that he saw the plane fly just a few metres over a football stadium (Panionios stadium) and that it will probably fall. So they rushed to the airport.
Do you mean the Flight Engineer with regards to the water/glycol system? I'm not trying to be picky, but I didn't see any mistake by the First Officer. Both your points are correct, though.
I’m a recent subscriber - I have next to no knowledge about aviation, I’ve literally flown once in my life before, but I find your videos truly fascinating! Your excellent breakdowns of situations and explanations of aviation theory and physics make your content compelling, even for a complete noob like myself. I’ve been binging your content for the last few weeks now. Keep up the amazing content!
I'm binging too! This particular video is intense for me not because I fear flying (I'm seasoned) but it reminds me of a dream I had.. flying a plane that could not gain altitude.
If there was a Pantheon for the most courageous and gifted pilots who saved the lives of all their passengers, the list would include: Capt. Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger, Captain Carlos Dárdano, Captain Richard Champion de Crespigny, Captain He Chao and Captain Sifis Migadis.
At first I was a bit like “meh just an engine failure nothing special, wonder why he's covering this", but WOW that was way more interesting than I was expecting 😂 Excellent work Petter!
I was expecting this. When the old airport was still in operation one of my friends was living in a highrise in Paleo Faliro on the path of the runway. When I was invited over we could nearly see the pax inside. And the noise was amazing to us. Not in a bad way, as we were and are aviation addicted. What happened was just amazing and the crew was so brave and professional in correcting whatever failure might have occurred. I lived in Athens for ten years and guys I can tell you it's massively populated. What they did was spectacular. They brought back the aircraft safely and everyone survived. Good vid Captain 👍
Masterful instincts and situational awareness by Captain Migadis, as well as a roller coaster of terrible luck to great luck. The entire scenario of a fully loaded 747 flying over a large densely populated city at rooftop level is like something out of a dream, and gives me goosebumps/chills. So glad it didn't end as a nightmare. Thanks for retelling this incredible story!
OH WOW WHAT A STORY! That was a phenomenal feat of flying! That story should be told more what a story! The three in the cockpit deserve a LOT of credit and so do the flight attendants who must have been certain they were about to die horribly and never showed it as well!
I stayed in Athens 8 years .. Indeed there is an extra micro clima within Lekanopedio . The Pilot really just change an airplane and continue the flight . His decisions were the critical point of survival . Still remains a miracle
i have watched mayday and air crash investigations. both cover the same crashes. your videos go into more detail, give more information, and deliver it more succinctly than either of these multi million dollar programs. i find myself learning things that were fully omitted from these two programs who proport themselves to be 'documentary style' investigations. your videos are truly top notch!
Those documentary channels tend to hype the drama for entertainment purposes, whereas Mentour Pilot narrates events in a more sober and factual manner and also from the perspective of an actual airline pilot.
I think those documentary series are doing something wrong with the "drama for entertainment purposes". I've grown quite fed up with their plots because one always has to wait until the end to find out what happened >.< Petter delves straight into the real reasons but I still stay to the end.
@@Cherubi-chan I agree, when I'm with any kind of show where RUclips video that starts teasing in the beginning. I normally turn it off. I just don't have the energy or patience anymore to deal with being strong along
Peter thank you so much for bringing this story to light! Once again your video was perfect! For us Greeks Olympic Airways have a special place in our heart. It is said that as he was climbing down the stairs exiting the plane a colleague ask Migadis if he had understood what he had done... Migadis replayed "It's all part of the job". A few hours later he was flying another 747 200 to NY. He also said in his interview that he found him self scared at one point and he said to him self "what are you doing? If you die you die like a man!".
What an beautifully done video, thank you! The pilot and co-pilot were both friends of my uncles who both served in the Hellenic Air Force in the 1950's-80's.
My partner is a cabin crew, and strangely your videos have helped me feel a bit calmer when he flies. Your production value and story telling skills are incredible! Thank you for taking the time to sift through reports and any resources you can find to create these amazing videos. This is my favourite aviation channel on YT by far.
In my initial training I was told to fly as smoothly as possible,keeping in mind cabin crew walking around with pots of hot coffee. However,when I got online at the airline i was lucky enough to fly with a Captain who had a similar experience to this in a 737. He was known for demanding extremely smooth handling and told me it was because it was that which saved the aircraft. The final report attributed the successful outcome to his delicate handling of the aircraft. I've flown with many rough handlers over the years and it's detrimental in a situation like this.
@@MentourPilot what do you think of the suggestion that perhaps flying over the city streets like that gave the airplane a little lift due to the heat creating a (probably weak) updraft? It's something I saw in a few other comments.
Less is often more when it comes to handling a vehicle during a situation. Same in cars. Once upon a time I had a flat tyre. Slow leak, right rear. It was about 15psi. Unnoticeable until the long 80kph left hander. Rear kicked out, experience kicked in, and I turned the steering wheel no more than 3" on a normal sized wheel. Probably less than 5 degrees at the wheel. Recovered fine. No sweat. Had I yanked the wheel half a turn, I absolutely would have overcorrected and wound up swinging the other way at least once before ending up backwards, possibly off the road. This pilot demonstrated that less is more.
Today is the exact anniversay of this astonishing story. Incredible airmanship! I always like those episodes where everyone survives - very cheering in these dark times.
Captain Migadis and his entire crew......a standing ovation 👏👏👏👏👏👏. I actually stood up to complete this presentation video! A Captain of steel yet cool calm and had all his neurons firing in the correct direction. You should post an interview with THIS HERO !
This was a definite nailbiter. It's fascinating to learn about the reasons behind actions taken by pilots in emergencies. Good problem-solving is a crucial skill in pilots. And I wonder if it can really be taught or is just innate.
@@L1LmeatGang Yes, exactly. Something like that depends on the personality - there´re huge differences how human beings are able to perform under severe stress, even if their performance is equal under normal conditions.
@@L1LmeatGang Agree, some people can shut it down and be dead calm and focused in a life or death situation, others just knowing their dire situation gonna panic no matter how much training they got. Its a natural thing, either you have it or not.
Capt Migadis, like Capt Sully (US Airways 1549) & Capt de Crespigny (Qantas 32) were all ex-air force pilots. Clearly, they are cut from a different cloth & exceptional, out of the box thinking pilots as all 3 pilots had clearly demonstrated in their aircraft situations
This is what you can call a skilled pilot, he knows his plane, can think way forward and has a really good knowledge of the geography around the area, to be fair if it was a pilot which was not familiar witg Athens it would've been a lot more challenging from what it was already, and yes, getting back on another Boeing to fly to his destination just shows how dedicated he is, genuine airforce quality...
I love that you don’t cover only the famous stories, but also the near misses or the incidents that generally go unnoticed. It’s good to learn about how things can turn out right even when they go horribly wrong. Keep it up! :)
Nothing like blowing all the shingles and roofing tiles off of the houses! To hear a 747 engines that close to your house, the homes shaking from the thrust and air displacement of the airplane, the roar as it moved by. Incredible feat by the pilots and crew. Simply amazing to think about!
While Everyone else is worried about the whole thing Captian Migadis and his crew are doing a sight seeing across the town of athens that most of the passangers had a really amazing time.....what an incredible story i have ever heard.....take a bow Capt Migadis and the crew for showing this wonderful example of Crew managment despite the situation they faced that day 👌
Wow, hats off to Captain Migadis for keeping everyone safe and keeping the cool to manouvre the Boeing 747 across Athens in this way. Never heard of that incident but I really had to hold my breath throughout the story. But also hats off to the crew on board, who kept the passengers calm by staying calm. Must be tough, as they certainly expected to crash and likely die within the next few minutes.
Even though I know the outcome, I was still clenching the arms of my chair. Great storytelling, Petter, and excellent animations. I'm glad to be a member of your Flight Crew! Thank you!
This pilot is a true master and a hero He was able to work out a plan, give out instructions, and manouver the plane while having the pressure of your plane probably crashing and not only killing you, the crew, and the passengers, but also causing death and damages in Athens? Damn that's cold blooded
I finally understood something thanks to your vid. I perfectly remember in April 1999 seeing an OA 747 taking off from Hellinikon, as we were coming to pick-up my grandparents from the airport. Not only did the aircraft make a hard turn to the left while taking off (I remember my mom finding it impressive), it also had very smokey engines (especially compared to today's planes), so much that I thought they were on fire. Now I know why :)
Imagine what was going through the minds of the crew (flight attendants included) when you've already resigned yourself to die and are just trying to do it in a less populated area, to shortly afterwards find themselves flying again then not too long after safely back on the ground. What a surreal day that would've been.
What's impressed me is the fact that Boeing the literal company to manufacture this aircraft couldnt replicate what this guys did in real life. Like props to thier legendary task
Remember that this was in a time when they didn't have 3D design input to computers and the simulators were very, very crude. Powerful computers were so expensive that the entire engineering department would have one that all the engineers shared. This was a scenario they would never test with a real plane. There were so many factors involved, it would be very unlikely to be a test case.
In addition to what @rickcollions2814 said, I believe that part of what saved the flight was the presence of thermal uplifts. Nobody sane would fly a large jet like a hang glider but if the ground effect alone was not enough to keep the plane aloft at an airspeed as low as 160 knots, the plane might have gotten a small amount of lift from thermal uplifts in such hot weather. This of course probably was not calculated in a 1970s era flight simulator as it would be insane to try using thermal uplifts to fly a plane that's far too heavy to maintain altitude on thermals alone.
@@davidmiller6593 I am not sure even ground effect would be properly calculated on a 1970s simulator. Sure, the resulting effect was well understood by then. But calculating the amount of difference it makes is an entirely different story. Especially with a complex geometry, like a city with houses.
During that time, I flew all over the world as a Field Engineer for General Electric Company. I stopped in Athens for a few days and explored the city. Early 1979, I think. One morning just after dawn, I went up to the Parthenon. On the East end of it, there was an older woman standing there crying. Very few people were there, yet. I was a bit shaken asked her what was the matter. She said she was a retired grade school teacher in the USA and taught history. The Parthenon was a place she wanted to visit all of her life and the school kids helped her buy the Greek vacation she always wanted. She told me that it was her lifetime dream to stand in front of the Parthenon in the morning sun. I used her camera to take quite a few good photos of her realizing her dream. I have a few pictures that she took of me with my camera as well. I was 26 back then and got paid to see the world. When I think of Greece, the retired school teacher comes to mind. The other thing I think of is drinking ouzo like a fish down in Piraeus. As one who lived in many foreign places, I am glad you did things that few people are able to do.
@@kimmer6 And I am very thankful for that. My parents were very poor. We didnt even have had furniture in our small flat back in the 1990s. I had no toys. We watched TV through the neighbours windows and learned lip reading. I can say now that "I have made it". Education was a hard but successful road for me. With passion, desire and diligence you can create a good outcome for yourself. Thank you for sharing the story with the teacher at the Parthenon. I cant imagine "few people" up there right now. It is so crowded, even in the early morning hours when they are opening.
I remember flyng in and out of Ellinikon in the 90s when I went to Greece for vacation, the new Venizelos airport is far more better, even if is quite distant from the city. This entire story is "very Greek" in all its parts and I say this in positive way. Kudos to Capt. Migadis Petter, your recostruction of this story is AMAZING! One very small detail: Athens buildings have no inclined roofs, but flat terraces, the buildings used in the simulation seems more Dutch than Greek 🙂
Ground effect makes a huge difference. I came across a case like that in much smaller. A studend pilot was flying with a glider (model ka-8) at a small airfield (only for gilders) and misjudged the updrafts. He ended up with a patch of forrest between him and the airfield with far to little to make it back and in an attack of goal fixation he still tried to make it instead of safly landing on a field next to the airfield. He somehow managed to make it home without a scratch. In the review afterwards we could see that he had only a couple of meters (below 15 ft) between him and the top of the trees and he managed a glide ratio of 1 to 60 (meaning for every 1 ft lost in elevation he traveled 60 ft). This plane has a optimal glide ratio of 1 to 27 and the brst gliders in the world only manage 1 to 56 to my knowledge and he beat them.
First thought when Peter said "this was a fully loaded flight": how bad can it be? What could possibly be too heavy for a 747? "It was loaded with American tourists" Uh-oh.
Leaving the Landing gear down might have been a fatal decision . I was yelling at the Laptop when he cleared the Hill . Laughed out loud when it was by 9 feet . Left speechless when he flew past the tall building . And relieved when he got to 170 knots and was dumping fuel . Perfecto ,Captain Migadis
There is a greek documentary about it. It mentions a lot of interesting things, many of which you have mentioned. I'd like to mention two things: 1) the human factor sometimes makes the difference over engines and 2) the flight attendant interviewed mentioned they really did board another plane and fly to the USA
Thank you! I saw somewhere someone suggesting that Migadis might have flown that same day, but I was thinking that this would be highly unlikely, as I figured that the airline would want to be debriefing him that day, so I didn't think that would be very likely true. A few hours ago I watched this documentary: youtu dot be/WH6tCbybzqI I suspect that when you mention the flight attendant saying that they flew to the US later that day, you are referring to the documentary above? So then they really did fly to the US hours later? That's what the flight attendant confirmed? I didn't understand a single word, but put it on fast speed and watched it anyway, hoping that I could pick up bits and pieces of information, but in the end, it was all Greek to me... didn't get much more info from it... until you came along and translated for me ;-) Thank you once again!
@@N1755L There's a comment in here from someone who was on that flight. He confirmed the captain flew those game to get onto the replacement plane later in that day. He greeted them all as they boarded so as to try to reassure them. Passengers saw the engine burn out & knew full well something was very wrong & were crying & hugging as it was happening, then clapping & cheering on the later flight once it actually got up
Wow. My cousin is a retired pilot, having flown various commercial aircraft, including 757/767. He shared some harrowing tales of how he and his copilots handled various challenges over the years. FWIW, his first flight when promoted from flight engineer, then copilot, then finally to pilot, was hijacked to Cuba (he flew mostly the Montreal/Miami route.) Outstanding video!
Boeing: "No plane can fly that low and not crash". Captn. Migadis: "Hold my beer" This was an amazing episode! Had me on the edge of my chair. Well done, Petter!
Even guessing the outcome, I held my breath all the way through. Ever since two extremely bad flight experiences as a teenager (I won’t go into it), I can’t even enter an airport unless I’m heavily medicated, but these calm explanations and storytelling skill are helping me become less afraid. We’ll see how I do, the next time I have to fly! (I even got a Positive Attitude t-shirt 😄)
TO THE MENTOR PILOT. I would bet, somewhere in the meandering crevices of your mind you believe that you can put up a lemonade stand and sell ENRON stock certificates.
I'd also recommend flying MS Flight Simulator 2020. After you learn how to operate an airliner there you start undestanding how hard it is to crash it actually. Not because the simulation is bad, but because it's so full of automation and autopilot is so good that you really need a deliberate effort to make it fall ;)
Wow. That's exactly the kind of pilot I'd want running the show on a flight I was on. He and the entire crew kept their cool and because they didn't panic they ended up taking the one series of steps that would save everyone on board and everyone on the ground - against the longest possible b odds. Thank you for this story. I would have been interested in hearing more from the captain - if I understood, you interviewed him in your research for this. Even if it was just you talking about what he told you (for example, if he did not want to appear on camera). It takes a very special person to not panic and to maintain a focus throughout this event. I understand that part of it comes from good training, well rehearsed observational awareness, flawless teamwork, years of experience, a good working environment, and a thorough understanding of the air frame. Even allowing for all that, it still takes a very special person. I really like the stories of exceptional skills and tight teamwork by pilots, navigators, and cabin crew. Another amazing example of this was United 232. In that event, not everyone was saved but far more than would have survived if not for the clear thinking of pilot (the ones frying the aircraft plus the passenger pilot who came up and assisted. Also, one question. I had thought I understood that for commercial jet aircraft, there’s 8was a "margin of safety" built in so that a single engine failure would not be catastrophic. It sounds to me though that in this case, due to weight of the aircraft, density altitude at Athens that day, and the possible failure of a water/glycol engine cooling pump - that there was no margin that allowed for a single engine failure from the point of rotation and initial climb out. Please correct me if I am wrong - I am not a pilot - and so I'm not suggesting anything was done wrong - but it seems like they configured the aircraft!( i.e. weights, fuels and density altitude at time of takeoff) so that a single engine failure during takeoff would not be survivable. Comments - either from you or the other current/former commercial pilots who understand this far better than I do??
Had a similar one years ago, 1742ft ASL, and a 41C day. The aircraft needed all the runway, 13094 feet, plus a tiny bit more, and yes was in ground effect for a pretty long time, at least 20km of it before it was able to gain enough airspeed to climb out.
Another masterpiece by Mentour Pilot. I've been a passenger in commercial and private aircraft several times, but I'm ifascinated by the knowledge, skill, and experience--and in the best case scenario, humility!--it takes to pilot. Metour Pilot embodies all of these attributes--plus, he's a fantastic raconteur.
What I really appreciate about these videos is the analysis, even handed, of what went wrong and what went right without judging the crew, the airline or the manufacturers, contrasted with 'disaster' shows on TV who so sensationalize everything for the dramatic effect. As an aviation enthusiast it's great to understand how even tragedies have helped to improve airline safety. This particular event also goes to show that, even when the outcome seems inevitable, never stop trying until the outcome is complete. This goes for aviation, driving, sports, daily life. The outcome is only decided in two cases: When the event is complete, or when you stop trying.
I had to pause the video and do a "Happy Dance" when you got to the part where they safely landed and everyone survived! I didn't know this flight ended with all surviving, I thought everyone was going to die. What a great feeling! This just made my night! Great video Mentour Pilot and great job flight crew of the 747!! 😁😄!!
I can’t watch the ones where the plane crashes and everyone dies. Or at least it’s hard to watch. But stories like this one, when the pilots fight for survival and win generally makes me happy.
The pilots, ATC, and everyone else thought they were going to die too! Just goes to show: fly your aircraft and don't give up! Double-check, triple-check. Keep trying. If they had given up, if the flight engineer hadn't gone back to double-check all settings, etc they wouldn't have had such a happy ending.
So, according to cabin crew interviews the passenger actually thought it was a completely normal, safe procedure and a 'gift' as a goodbye tour and started taking pictures of the buildings! People on the ground on the other hand realised very quickly that there was probably something very wrong with the aircraft, don't know if they actually realised at the time how close call it was but even from the day after it was all over the media and people were terrified but also very proud for the flight crew.
absolutely amazing - pilot is so a total hero. and it all happened so fast. when you said 90 seconds, i was really surprised! i’m part Greek, so it makes it more personal. thanks much.
The "Swiss cheese" theory compares the different factors that take place in an incident as cheese slices. In order for an accident to happen, the holes in these slices have to be aligned. That means that multiple errors should occur at the same time, and pass through the holes, otherwise it can be stopped by one factor (pilot, ATC, aircraft). In the OA411 case, it's exactly the opposite, as captain Migadis took a series of correct decisions and saved the flight against all odds. In a later interview he said "We are life smugglers. But there is always hope!"
I am from Greece and really love this story. Nice to see that a foreign RUclips channel made a video with Sifis Migadis. Unfortunately in Greece this story is not so well known as is an old story and just a few remember this incident. By the way you did an amazing job mate, you reported every single detail and i can confirm everything you said is true. Congrats 👏
Thank you for covering this! I wanted to suggest this story to be covered forever and I'm very glad the case will be more known to the aviation enthusiasts! This case in my opinion is even more unbelievable than the Hudson miracle!
Another excellent presentation! I was on the edge of my seat! That was in insanely close call. I dont think you could get closer to crashing without actually crashing. Massive respect to the flight crew.
The fact you managed to recreate this in a flight sim is utterly impressive. Like seriously. I don’t know what’s cooler. This story, or the fact we have the tech to do this just readily available now… or that someone can do it. Nah. The pilot is the legend for sure. What a champion. (Of Zeus)
These are the stories I love most. Aviation is full of stories of crashed where a bunch of things go wrong resulting in disaster, when just one of those things NOT going wrong would have avoided catastrophe. So it's refreshing every now and then to hear a story where so many things go wrong, but the pilots still manage to gather enough skill and resources to snatch the situation from the jaws of disaster.
Yep, keep 'em coming. Near misses are as engaging as fatal accidents when told by someone like you with a great balance of technical and story telling. You've opened up a goldmine of content. Thanks, Petter.
That was some of the best 20 mins I have spent watching a video EVER! I was totally absorbed into the story which was told so expertly and with such flair that my captivation was 100%. Loved every second of it. Thank you so much! (Knowing precious little about jet engines, I always wondered why the B52's were so 'smokey' on take off - now I know). Excellent. 👍
Oh my goodness...I literally have had nightmares of being in a plane flying very close to the rooftops and sometimes in between tall buildings...What a nightmare scenario for the pilots and crew : huge airplane filled with passengers and fuel that looks like it might crash onto a highly densely populated area. What an amazing (and terrifying) story, and what a legendary captain !
I remember that when 747's were relatively new, Northwest Airlines had a special training program for pilots to learn how to handle just such a low-speed, low altitude situation as described in this episode. I don't know if the impetus for that program was this event, but it certainly could have been.
Boeing should have given a medal to the captain for his outstanding performance as well as his helpers. But of course such an action would be too below them. Bravo to the captain and engineers and other pilot. in no other Boeing such a heroic action and quick clever decision has ever been made. Thank you for your story....stay safe and God bless. I do believe all the prayers did help!
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Great that he saved the plane and i know it's not a lot, but would it not have been possible to bet on that newly serviced engine to actually deliver 100% thrust instead of 96% in this dire situation.
It seems he was riding on the edge of disaster with not a lot of hope of not crashing, so i would imagine that it would be worth the risk.
After my email about this, i did a little more digging for the final report and as you said there is not one. Reason for that is that the years we're talking about were a rather fragile period of political turmoil, the country just got out of a seven year military dictatorship, the government was keeping a rather difficult balance and all this contributed to this incident being kept under the table for a long time. Thank you for your awesome content!
Hi Petter ... do you know if there's any kind of other mixtures that can be feed in a combustion chamber ? ... or is that a practice that belongs to some older engines conception
@Mentour Pilot
Thanks for this video. I appreciate these aircraft Investigation videos you do. Very detailed explanations. Could you do a video about American Airlines 587?
Hi there everyone! Long time fan here!
I was on this flight almost 44 years ago. I was 15 years old traveling by myself to New York after spending most of the summer with relatives in Greece. I still have my passport and plane tickets from this flight if you need to verify what I'm saying.
Your video is fascinating and really tells most of the story. From a passenger's perspective, I was seated next to the left wing, at a section of 3 seats next to the window. Since I was seated across and parallel to the right wing, I was able to see the flame out and heavy black smoke from engine 3 as the plane shook when it happened. I can tell you with certainly that most passengers knew immediately something was wrong as we could clearly see we were flying just over the roof tops of buildings and not gaining altitude. There were 3 Greek priests seated a few rows behind me, and they began praying out load resulting in lots of crying and some screaming among the passengers. Some of us remained calm but very worried. I could see in the eyes of the flight attendants that they knew we were in serious trouble.
I was seated with and next to a newly wedded couple who had shared with me before takeoff, as we engaged in cordial conversation, that they had just found out they were having a baby. As we experienced this terrible predicament, we actually held arms because we were so afraid.
Your entire depiction of what was happening outside the plane regarding our altitude, speed, and landmarks is very accurate, and I clearly remember the hills we could see ahead of us. I also remember the gradual left turn away from the hills and over the sea where we were also then able to see fuel being ejected from the tip of the wing we were sitting next to.
We, of course, made it back to the airport. When we exited the plane, which in those days in Athens was by walking down the steps and not through the tube, I remember seeing a number of, I assume, members of the press taking pictures while others shook the hand of the the flight deck crew.
We were taken back to the terminal where we waited some hours as another 747, which was being prepped for a flight to London, was then given to us to fly to New York later that day.
In other conversations with personnel at the terminal, we were told the highway next to the airport was cleared in case we had to emergency land there.
When I finally arrived in New York, my Dad had been waiting for me at the airport, and he had been waiting for hours past the time we were supposed to arrive. The airport arrival screen in New York said only that the flight was delayed...no other information. He tried to find out more but to no avail. I told him what had happened, and he didn't believe me. A few days later, he apologized to me after reading the story and seeing photographs in the Greek newspaper.
Watching your video gave me chills all these years later as this was an experience I never forgot, but I kind of repressed all along.
Should you ever need to reach out to me for more information, from the passenger perspective, please feel free to do so. Thank you for the great video.
Thanks for sharing
@@brookecassidy117 Thank you for acknowledging 🙂
i trully believe it's God who helped the plane not crash , and having 3 priests praying on the plane as well for it . . .
@@obsequey96 but of course it was god.2 gods actually, the one named ground effect and the other one named “balls of steel” of the captain that kept his cool.
Ειμαι πολύ χαρούμενη που άκουσα την ιστορία από έναν άνθρωπο εντός του αεροπλάνου...και χαίρομαι που όλα πήγαν καλά! Δόξα το θεό!!!!
The speed at which pilots go from “normal day at work” to “I am probably going to die, but I will do everything in my power to save as many lives as possible” is insane
and then later that night... "yeah, let's do it again"
It happens to fast in a plane, that you literally dont even have time to react. Wake turburlance, a jammed stabilizer, the next thing u know ur flying toward the ground. I was flying back from aruba when my family like first got our timeshare there, like maybe 99-2000. And on the flight back, we hit at the time, people were calling an "air pocket" and literally, the plane just freefall fell for like 5 solid seconds, enough for the entire thought to run thru my mind im dead, and then it jus stopped. Some small asian kid who doesnt buckled in, flew up and hit the roof so hard his nose was bleeding and i think he got knocked unconcious for a few seconds. Now ive looked this effect up, its supposed to be someting do with the elevation changes when flying over mountains, but let me tell you, we were over the caribbean ocean, so.. i never understood what does that, to this day i still get people who try to explain it, but when i tell them there was no mountains below me they look puzzled. Another year, flying back from the same place, i wake up from a nap to my mom tapping me telling me there making an emergency landing, because "the radar" stopped working, i didnt hear what they said, but my mom and father said they said something about the radar. Now i doubt that was the real reason. But i woke up and i was like am i still asleep, i was nervous. But we got to land in peurto rico, and it happend to be during some festival lmao, and they airline put us all up in a really cool hotell and there was a party going on basically all night it felt. Ive been in a few sketchy airline incidents, one of them was approaching i think philly airport when it was windy, and the pilot literally did like 2-3 go arounds. Even my dad who was in the navy started getting worried, and he used to be the one that would tell me it was nothing. Airplanes fail alot less than cars, yes while this may be true, a car doesnt carry hundreds of passengers, and if a car has problems it can pull over, a plane its a whole different story. So anyone who feeds you that cars are safer than planes thing, while it might be somewhat true is not a accurate comparison. Ud be better off comparing planes to trains or busses if you wanted to get that point across.
@@profo4544 You literally need to literally use less literally u/ur/us, text walls, lowercase Is, and literallys.
@@George-iz2ce You like literally like think so?
"normal day at work" -> "trying to find a non-populated area where we could crash the plane"
This pilot is insane levels of boss. The skill, the composure, the resolve, and this time with what he was provided in equipment and crew ability, the payoff. What a legend.
Absolutely a legend pilot
Then went on to fly later that evening. Balls of steel.
Olympus Zeus 'Like A God' (Like A Boss).
I hope he got a medal of recommendation. He save everyone on board plus the plane. This pilot is a true flying man !
It is actually amazing how much resourcefulness and nerve you discover when you are trying to save your life!
In 1978 this pilot invited me into his cockpit on a flight from Melbourne to London .
Being a learner flying Cessna 152 it was an awesome experience I spent hours in there and his knowledge was remarkable he gave me priceless flying information
A true gentleman and amazing pilot
Wow
"all of us who were onboard that aircraft smuggled life (cheated death). But even when at the worst situation there can be a tiny glimpse of hope which at the end may save the day". Those are the words of Captain Migadis in the one and only tv interview he ever gave. An exceptional professional.
Bless that wonderful pilot & all of you ❤ who survived.
Nerves of steel. Conscientiousness in the face of fear.
Sounds almost like dumbledoor with the light turned on
Usually a lot of things have to go wrong at the same time for a plane to crash. This time a lot of things went just right for it to fly, what a refreshing experience. Props to the crew for their skill and professionality.
Except for the flight engineer.
That several things can go wrong is telling about the system that supports it. Many people die because of the 'sacred doctrine' of efficiency.
yeah, this is a case where one thing went wrong at the worst possible time, and it took a lot of skill to keep it from being a catastrophe.
Inverse-cheesehole theory.
I know it’s bad to drop fuel over populated areas, but wouldn’t whatever risk of doing thisvearlier, be less of a risk then the plane crashing into the city still full to the brim with Jet fuel? It seems almost miraculous that it didn’t stall, so I wonder if they contemplated dumping the fuel over the city?
The Ellinikon airport closed down in 2001 and I remember my grandpa taking me to the street just outside where the Olympic jets were parked and abandoned and telling me this story. Mr. Migadis is considered a local folk hero by older Greeks.
I hope they will like this video then! 💕
I think "local" may be replaced by a much wider spanning word. I, a younger Canadian, consider him...Legend! Oh, the stories and knowledge Grandpas are filled with! I miss my "Gumpa" as my lil' brother used ta call him! You have a swell day! :)
He sure deserves it tho great skill sometimes is not enough, you need a bit of luck too :) Anyway, awesome story, I did not expect them to make it and felt great when things started to go their way.
I wondered about that. Back in the early '80s, my family took a flight to Athens from Amsterdam, and I remember landing on an airport somewhere in the middle of nowhere, and taking a bus to the inner city to our hotel. In my recollection that airport was named Heraklion. Is this correct?
When I looked at the Athens-map this morning, I saw the shoreline airport and the airport I probably landed on relatively close to eachother.
@@Dirk-van-den-Berg Nope.Heraklion airport is on an island called Crete, 200 km south of Athens.Nothing to do with Elinikon airport.There was no other international airport in Athens at that time, only few military bases not eligible to accept civilian flights.
plane crashes are tragic, but when a plane is saved in such a spectacular way, there's something extra special about these stories that so incredible to learn about.
I strongly agree. I can practically feel the relief wash over me when they describe how people escaped and cheated death
I've said it before and I'll say it again - you are a *gifted* storyteller, and these videos are absolutely fascinating. You include just the right amount of technical explanation (e.g. the water/glycol system). I enjoy the feeling that we're just sitting in my living room or by a fireplace in a pub somewhere while you're telling me this story - me, just me, not many thousands of RUclips viewers. Well done sir, and thank you!
Thank you! 💕
That’s exactly what I’m trying to do here, I’m so glad you like it!
We actually are in your living room.
@@daheikkinen Wait, *I'M* in my living room and I can't see you. WHAT IS GOING ON HERE.
and lets not forget the great visualisations of these videos. Which we would not have at a fireplace. But I absolutely agree, Mentour is a great storyteller and unfortunately there have been enough incidents that we can expect many more stories. Glad, this one left no casualties!
Same. But I'm in my bed, you have to draw the line somewhere, so he's got a special sofa next to my bed to sit on whilst storytelling. I once asked if he would maybe sit on the end of my bed but he was not comfortable with the idea. I am not gay btw, Im just a 48 year old boy that likes a bedtime story. Thank you. 👍😉
My uncle was a 747 pilot at Olympic Airlines back then. Ioannis Migadis was a living legend among Olympic pilots. As you said Migadis was not trying to save the plane. Rather he was trying to reach the mountain est of the center of Athens to crash in a less populated area. You 3D renconstitution is nice but there are no tiled roofs in Athens but rather flat terraces. Migadis said that the flat terraces helped create ground effect. Also some think that the hot air rising from the streets created a lifting current adding a slightly ascending force that helped the plane to continue flying despite being quite under the stall speed. Some other say Zeus intervened directly to avoid the crash of a plane named after him. I am of the latter .⚡
So interesting to hear about the details of the flat terraces !
@@ayrtonsenna4522 Mentour Pilot was mentioning it took them 30 minutes to drop enough fuel to be able to land and the plane was still slightly overweight.
The hand of Zeus was there! \m/
Yah, the central/northern European buildings _were_ throwing the simulation off a bit for me,* but I guess the animator(s) had to work with what they had.
Still an amazing story, and still glad they _didn't_ crash! I always do like the incidents with happy endings. 😀
EDIT: And I think this is the earliest I've caught a Mentour video after posting 😎
* I'm far more of an architecture geek than an aviation one
@@AaronOfMpls I am sure Migadis hierachy of priorities was :
1) Avoid the Parthenon.
2) Avoid the Acropolis.
3) Avoid any ancient building/museum.
4) Avoid any populated building.
5) Crash in the sea
6) Avoid crash.
I'm from Athens and had vaguely heard of this story. Asked my dad about it today - he was a young man at the time: "Dad, have you heard about this crazy story with the plane that flew too low in 1978"? And my dad was like "Not only have I heard of it - I saw this flight"! He was at work and remembers seeing the plane flying super low and heading towards Mount Egaleo. He and his colleagues were all glued to the windows and watching - they were sure it was going to crash on the mountain.
I was just thinking how this mustve looked to all the people on the ground! 747 is such huge machine and being that low, it mustve looked like some ancient pterodactyl scouting for suitable prey.. ugh. Was your dad in that tall building the plane flew past?
(Greetings from a Finn, who thinks Hellas is her mental home, my favorite place to visit since I was 2yo, Im now 46)
@james kasabalis
@@janemiettinen5176 yeah, like imagine working on the rooftop of some building, then suddenly seeing a huge ass plane coming your way.
Cool story.
@@kumaahito3927 And looking down upon the topside of the plane which is flying by.
I was watching a program where they were talking about how fighter pilots learn to fly by feeling the airplane, because you may not be able to look at your instruments while in a dogfight. This captain was obviously flying based on feel - listening to what the airplane was telling him in every movement, and making micro adjustments in realtime based on that feel. Impressive.
When I was young, I could only afford older, clunkier cars that were always on the verge of needing repair. I hadn't realized how attuned I'd become to listening to and feeling these cars as I drove them until one Fourth of July weekend while driving near an airport that was in the middle of an air show. As I drove along, a Harrier jump jet approached us from behind a hundred or so feet above us. It was so loud that it drowned out all the sensory perception I had of the car. It disoriented me until I saw the plane shoot ahead of us, stop in mid-air, turn around, and fly back over us.
That Captain is a legend. over 400 people still walk the earth today because of him, more if you count any kids they had after.
Not to mention those who might have been killed on the ground!
@@TheUnofficialMaker yup, we're talking more like 400,000 lives saved, not 400!
Some people just look at death and say no.
And even more if you think about the people on the ground, he probably saved thousands of lives.
@@mehere8038400000? lol , that's a plane, no nuclear weapon.
Captain Migadis was a WWII veteran - he had taken part in the Battle of Crete and then in the Cretan resistance, serving with the SOE. In 1943 he escaped to Egypt where he joined the allied forces and learned how to fly in an RAF training centre in (what was then) Rhodesia. Other Olympic captains, such as Pavlos Ioannidis, had a very similar background.
So he had the wright stuff/ right stuff
Is there any monument ?
@@michailjimnopoulos6168 they have had plans in the area of Alimos to name a street as an honor 10 months ago. I doubt whether it came true...so the real answer is not at all!
if you call someone a Cretan, isn't that an insult? why?
@@WhatsDaveUpTo You are thinking of the word "cretin". Cretan means a person from Crete.
Back then most pilots of Olympic were former fighter pilots. They were experienced in making split-second decisions. Like Sully, Migadis was also former Air Force pilot.
Back then probably most pilots were former military pilots. Also pilots need to have split-second decision making skills anyway.
@@MrT------5743 I’m not a pilot…but assume that most military pilots, if they have combat experience, have much more experience at split second decision making than the average commercial pilot .
@@MrT------5743
?????????. That's what Nick said.
Well, that asian guy who pulled the wrong lever and crashed that propeller plane was a former fighter pilot.
@@crooster1 Captain Wie Tu Lo?
When the representatives of Boeing saw the flight records, they said: "This plane can't exist, it has crashed ". Then captain Migadis replied: "Here it is, come see it, it's yours ".
Some people suggest that the new airport of Athens should have been named Sifis Migadis, instead of Eleftherios Venizelos. I totally agree with that, this man is a legend, a national hero. He saved hundreds of lives, he tricked the reaper.
Why hasn't a movie been made about this?
cause he is not American@@peeweebarney
Any video?
@@armin3057unfortunately :(
@@armin3057knock it off. Its just not a famous enough incident.
It was about time for this wonderful aviation story to become known and for Cpt. Migadis to get the recognition he deserves ✈
Glad you liked it, feel free to share the video with your friends.
I agree, the crew did an excellent job!
@@MentourPilot of course I did!
I have to wonder, even with 4 working engines, how the replacement 747 managed to get airborne with the weight of Capt. Migadis' pair obstructing his proper use of the rudder pedals!
The scary thing is that the sort of seat-of-the-pants flying he used to save that flight would be well outside any acceptable flight envelope adjudicated by computers in a fly-by-wire system from any source. It does make a good case for there being a full manual mode of last resort, where the computers are just put into a recording mode.
That is Captain Migadis to you.
@@MentourPilot Amazing story. He did a great job stopping that aircraft from stalling and getting over the hill then turning down the valley. Even gear up was not a bad idea. I guess they were not allowed to dump fuel over the city - even though that might well have stopped a crash into the city?
Thank you so much Petter for honouring Captain Sifis Migadis, Greece's "Sully" & the miracle of OA411.
Migadis's 2 daughters were also told about their father from a cousin of theirs who saw the plane barely fly above the light towers of Panaionios football stadium in Athens as many had presumed the aircraft would surely crash.
Had the aircraft crashed into the densely populated area of Athens, the combined death toll from both those on-board & those likely killed on the ground would've likely exceeded that of the Tenerife crash between the KLM & PanAm Boeing 747s.
Being 43c, many residents would've been staying inside their apartment buildings likely having a siesta with the aircon on.
Migadis actually kept a copy of the flight data recorder data because as he had exclaimed in an interview on Greek TV that he felt people would have thought he was totally insane that the plane was even airborne at those speeds & Boeing had the same view.
Migadis proudly showed the FDR results to the interviewer.
A young pilot rushed into the office of Olympic Airways Aviation Safety Director, Olympic airways capt. Akrivos Tsolakis, urging him: "Sir, come and see an airliner that is going to fall into the sea!".
The very same Akrivos Tsolakis would become lead accident investigator on Helios 522.
It's true that Migadis didn't actually get a well deserved day off but had piloted the ATH - JFK Boeing 747 PAX flight approx 1800p that same day, but Sifis did achieve legendary status both amongst Olympic Airways pilots and all of Greece.
It's true that when other 747-200 pilots were presented this exact scenario in the 747 simulator that most ended up crashing.
Despite this, at the time Migadis was criticised by some for breaking a stack of rules but the irony is had Migadis followed the rules & not his own ingenuity in such an unusual, non-textbook situation the flight would've ended up far different.
Migadis also praised first officer Fikardos & had remarked at the time that had it been anyone else they would've not retracted te gear as per Olympic & 747 SOP instead of following Migadis orders.
Finally, huge kudos for having the balls to pronounce such uncommon Greek words such as lekanopaidio (Λεκανοπέδιο).
Hat's off to you, captain & happy new year to you, all your family & all the very best in 2022 & beyond
Thank you very much for this informations!
Air conditioners in Greek homes in the 70s were, at best, extremely rare. People usually made do with fans. So I doubt that most people would choose to stay indoors at the time.
Completely shows the trust and respect First Officer Fikardos had in Captain Migadis in following his orders vs. the SOP!
@@jtsiomb I use the term "aircon" loosely as those ones when I had first visited Greece & Athens (Moschato, Paleo Faliro & Glyfatha where cousins/old friends live) were more like glorified fans back then. At the flight time of 1400p Athens in summer is a bakehouse, unless one is smart enough to be either in a pool or at the stretch of beach from Ag Stefano to Varkiza along the coast but usually I'd go for a swim late morning (after morning tiropita), have lunch, have an afternoon nap, wake with a frappe & catch up with friends during the evening to about 4am. Good times, that was paradise!
@@johnathanasiou9284 Lovely. Was that on a weekend or a working day? 😆
My father was captain of Olympic airways from 1968-1986. John Stylianakis Thank you for depicting Athens and Olympic airways, and giving the story such a beautiful visual….nice memories.
Ο θείος μου επίσης. Ήταν η εποχή της ακμής της Ολυμπιακής ! ✈⭕⭕⭕⭕
Then, the probability exists that I flew as a child with my family from Athens to Crete with your father as a pilot ( in DC4s or DC6s) or 707 to London, Paris and Frankfurt!
@@annatamparow4917 yes he did all routes and Crete especially since he was from there. And all the European cities. He flew the 747 transatlantic too but because it was too difficult with us kids being alone with a German mom in Athens, he decided to stay at the small routes.
@@maryblue75 Eυχχαριστω πολυ για την απαντηση σας! Ελπιζω να ειναι ολη η οικογενεια καλά και σας ευχομαι ειλικρινα ενα υγιες Νεο Ετος! Ο πατερας σας και οι αεροσυνοδοι της Ολυμπιακης προσσφεφεραν ενα θεαρεστο εργο και αξεχαστες αναμνησεις!
Hats off to the captain, co-pilot, and flight engineer (no one really knows if he accidentally shut down the water/glycol system or not). If the captain didn't react calmly and pulled the lever like most inexperienced pilots do today out of fear, we would have heard about one of the terrible accidents of all time....Great job captain and crew, wherever you are now....
@@zakarianaji9209 yes, this one, 747 out of Athens to New York.
Hats off to the three priests praying in the back. This was more than just great flying it was a miracle.
Yes, captain & crew...bless you!
Oh yes, and the priests & everyone praying, thank you!
@@petergrandahl2386yess hats of to the crew and priests thank God for the outcome
The skill of these pilots blows my mind. How well he understood his aircraft and the split second precision of those slight adjustments that made the difference between life and death is just amazing!! xxx
Well put, Roxanne!
We are required by the FAA to know absolutely everything about the aircraft; down to what manufacturer makes the parts :)
Local airport knowledge also helped.
Well, there arealso these specially gifted and tallented guys, who above skills and knowledge have this very something making them practically supernatural. As a famous script writer put it in the lips of a character referring to guys like S. Migadis "put wings in a washing machine and they can fly it".
Thats amazing... the pilots were sure they were going to crash and die, but they still tried everything possible to avoid any harm to the people in town. So glad they made it out alive...
In the Greek TV documentary about this, it was also suggested that the hot stream of air moving up from the city (due to the extreme temperature) provided more lift for the airplane and kept it in the air. This might have also been the reason the simulation always failed but the actual flight kept going. Anyway this is an excellent presentation of the events. Thanks a lot for this!
I was thinking that, as I was listening. Plus all that hot air from Greek people gossiping about stuff. Lucky Jumbo captain!
Yeah, Athens has many flat roofs, on a 43°C day the city must be a huge thermal.
That sort of make sense. All the wind blowing into the city, then turn upwards cooling of at a higher alittude then blowing out of the city, A delta temperature gradient of 5 degrees for as so short distance would give a really solid thermal rise.
Now i lack the software to calculate it, but it should not be that hard to do for someone how have it
The reason the simulations fail is probably because they don't allow for design safety factors, this aircraft needed 145,000 Lbs thrust in those conditions to take off, the 3 remaining engines were capable of 138,000 the extra. My figures show that the drag of the U/C and Flaps/Slat in take-off configuration amount to the negation of 15,000lbs, leaving the crew with 123,000 Lbs, this is where I believe the thermals from the top of the flat roofs and for that matter the fact that the Athens is a pretty flat city architecturally wise that this did indeed stabilise to the ground effect to a point that it was safe to use that 15 seconds to retract the U/C allowing them to "gain back" approximately 6,000 lbs of thrust from the reduction in drag. As stated in the video they climbed 200 ft to clear the hill, had the U/C been down they would not have done this without at least clipping building on the hill thus reducing airspeed and and resulting in the worst. The rest I believe would play out as described in the vid.
So in my evaluation of this would be that the Captains decision to retract the U/C was the one thing that saved them, the co-pilots hesitation to follow the captains order COULD have cost them, I would love to hear the CVR to se if the captain had to affirm the command but that is not available, had the Co put the U/C up without hesitation then I think they may have gained a little more airspeed and been around 50 ft higher when crossing the hill and then not had the problem of airspeed being too low. The kudos goes to the captain on this though for breaching Boeings policy, quick and calculated decisions, plus what also appears to be of the calmest persona in light of the 99% certainty of failure. Also the cabin crew, a fantastic show of calmness to make the passengers think this is just a low level fly-by of the city.
@@Smakheed Indeed, exactly!
I remember my father telling me stories about this flight , he wasn’t at the flight but he saw the airplane from his house back in the day which was near the centre of Athens … how Boeing can possibly reject such an event witnessed by thousands !? Hell of a pilot , thankfully the weather helped him !
They probably have to reject it on paper because they can't prove it happened in the simulator. I'm sure nobody there actually doubts that it happened.
Boeing rejected it for different technical reasons. Do they doubt that it was low flying yes but they don’t believe the speed and other stuff not the flight itself
weather caused it in the first place though
they simulation probably couldn't do calculate the effects of the increase of heat and the ground effect....@@RealRaven6229
I loved it when you said, "This is a heavy, fully loaded flight. It is full of American tourists. So it is very very heavy."
I choaked with laughter 😂
choked + croaked = choaked? 🤔🙂
Americans were much thinner then.
🤣
@@UptheMountainVideo
They're all obese now.
@@cuda010 I think if you listen again it would seem as if he made a joke, whether intentional or not. I'm sure no offense intended.
Goosebumps at19:55 I actually started tearing up the moment Peter mentions how captain Migos’ daughters were waiting for him. As a pilot about to graduate, I found this to be a fascinating miracle story
I have to wonder if this is part of why he made the next flight that day? Maybe his daughters made him feel better about himself?
miracle ... LOL
Absolutely, a fascinating miracle story!
Migadis flew another airliner to New York that same evening!
A true hero! What an amazing captain and also that Boeing tried to replicate the same outcome in the simulator but they failed every time makes this a true miracle.
You cannot simulate awesomeness.
I guess the seriousness of the situation never hit
Don’t know why but the part where his daughters went to the airport made me tear up. The thought of the positive emotions of relief when they found out the plane landed safely must have been overwhelming
Absolutely. Beautifully put!
I was supposed to fly from Albany to O'Hare to LAX to spend my vacation with my parents and brother on May 25th, 1979. That was an extremely disruptive morning for me and when the cab picked me up by the Schenectady Holiday Inn, I had him take me back to our GE office instead of going home. That was a Friday, the start of Memorial Day Weekend and all flights were booked solid. A supervisor talked me into taking on a job in Venezuela starting the next day and promised to give me a full 2 week vacation when that assignment was over. It had been a terribly stressful week and I was dead tired. I checked into the Lexington Hotel in Manhattan, booked my flights from JFK to Miami to Caracas to Maracaibo for the next day and promptly fell asleep for many hours.
That evening, I awoke and immediately called my parents to tell them that I wasn't coming home to see them probably for another 2 months. My dad answered the phone sobbing, unable to speak. He put my mom on who was crying hysterically and could only say ''Your brother''. I pleaded to find out what happened to him and nobody was able to speak. Finally, my brother got on terribly shaken and said crying ''You're dead. Your plane crashed''. I was dumbfounded and they were all crying, unable to continue talking. They all sobbed terribly.
After a few minutes, they told me that the plane that I was booked on crashed in Chicago and killed hundreds of people. I had no clue. I turned the TV on and it was all over the news. American Airlines Flight 191 crashed shortly after takeoff, no survivors. They called me back 3 times that night with the last call well after midnight in New York. They needed triple assurance that I had indeed missed the flight. My parents always refused to mention that close call as it affected them deeply. They passed away decades later. My brother always changed the subject if I ever mentioned it. He passed away in September of 2023.
I think of that close call all the time. I did not cancel either flight. Some poor soul in the Standby line was probably overjoyed when I didn't show up and took my seat. The fact that I didn't cancel my reservations still bothers me. Every May 25th, I spend the day by myself in some quiet place and read the names of the 273 people who were killed that day. 2 guys were killed on the ground at work in the resulting fireball. The crash of American 191 is burned into my life forever. It had some really strange connections and coincidences
later in my life that would take pages to explain.
I can see how this Greek pilot's daughters were shaken. It must have been such a blessing to know that their dad was very much alive.
As a college instructor, I have to tell you how much I admire your willingness to be right up front about the difference in your sources, that they are primary but not your usual report sources.
Thank you Petter for one of the most riveting accounts ever given. I’m a former Purser on 747-400s and 777s and 767-400s and it’s also very gratifying when a cabin crew’s professionalism is mentioned. On behalf of us past and those present, BRAVO!
100% agree with you. So many incidents or accidents where cabin crew have played a critical role in the outcome.
I remember reading Richard De Crespigny’s account of flight QF32, and he makes special mention of the role his cabin crew played in the successful evacuation of the aircraft. Worth a read.
Hi, It seems tome that Mentour Pilot, Petter, is (unusually?) good at mentioning and crediting cabin crew in his videos, and rightly so.
I as an end user of the flight industry, I find that the cabin crews I've met during my travels (I'm a WCHS traveler) are almost without fail, the most pleasant and kind service people you can ever hope to encounter. Thank you, and thank you all curren cabin crews out there for what you do, despite having to deal with the worst modern humanity throws at you. You guys rock. Yours, Ann
WCHS means?
Thanks
@@sailaab I am guessing that in this case WCHS means wheelchair assistance needed category of passenger.
Obvious massive props to the pilots, but we shouldn’t forget the fact that the cabin crew was *so good at staying calm that people were taking pictures like tourists in a potentially deathly situation*
Like damn, that’s impressive
i need to see some of those picture omg
@@EVRLYNMedia They would be family treasures today.
The passengers: This is a great sight seeing flight! Let's take some pictures!
I'd like to see those photo as well. I hope they were able to get developed and later scanned in.
The captain probably said, “folks, we are making a low flyby of Athens for your viewing pleasure, enjoy”.
I choked up when you related that, although the crew knew that "...we are screwed...", the flight crew's initial impulse was to minimize on ground loss of life.
Freaking heroes.
Former flight attendant on the L-1011, DC-10, and 727-100 in the late 1980's during college. Finally got my PPL my own airplane 10 years ago after being an aviation and aircraft geek my whole life. I looooooove these MentourPilot videos. The more technical, the better. Keep up the great work!
i was waiting for a new episode and since i am greek im double happy with this one. i just wanted to tell you a big THANK YOU for all your vids, i used to be so afraid about flying, because i was experiencing so many unknown things on an aircraft and that made me so nervous but after watching so many vids of yours and kelsey's, i feel like the next time i get in an aircraft it will be a much nicer experience for me. i even thought about becoming a pilot but im kinda old for that....anyway , thank you so much!!!
Well said, and who knows, it could be a possible carrier path for you!
You’re never too old!
I’ll be getting in flight school at around 30 and hopefully getting my ATPL license by 35, you’re never old mate 🙏🏻καλή τύχη
Gia sou file
Marios, you could take a few lessons. It might be fun even if you don't get all the way through to getting your license. Flight school i worked at years ago had an older student that flew every couple weeks or so. He wasn't ever going to take a checkride, he just enjoyed it.
I am a Quality Control/Quality Assurance Engineering inspector in the oil and gas industry, and part of my job is to provide on-site training to company new hires. I have started using your videos to drive home to my trainees the importance of following proper procedures and standards, and to highlight how critical it is to communicate anything that might be incorrect or in violation of those procedures. These videos reinforce the fact that being "by the book" is a good thing, because the book was written for a reason!!
Exactly! The wealth of available info. this guy covers in each incident is phenomenal. I always imagine this to be a great learning tool for everyone, no matter what field/profession they work in.
These videos are superbly educational!
@@adi45713 Agreed. And that's what I love most about it. The airline industry is obviously different from oil and gas, but in a lot of ways inspection is very similar. I think it helps my trainees to see how serious the consequences can be when we fail to do our jobs in a professional and proper way.
Right. If the flight engineer accidentally turned off the water injection system and realized it, he should have said it out loud so that the pilot flying knows about the issue and the the flight engineer could try to restart the system.
They say, the book is written in blood...
Interesting and good on you for recognizing an important learning tool!
Very happy to watch your video, it’s the most accurate version I’ve watched today! First Officer Kostas Fikardos was school mate of my uncle, my dad’s brother. As such, I met him several times at my uncle’s over barbeques, etc. Fikardos had received his training during WWII with a lengthy stint in South Africa and he was telling us some funny stories from his time there. In the flight was his older daughter, Corina, travelling to NY with her dad. I met Fikardos a couple of years after that eventful flight, again over BBQ at my uncle’s and he was very humble, it must have been a traumatic experience and generally was not keen to talk about it. However, he did mention the simulation of the flight at Boeing which none of the pilots that attempted it managed to save, they all crashed it! I remember this distinctly!
Congratulations for this excellent story!
Gosh imagine being one of the daughters at the airport, being so relieved and proud of their father for getting everyone back safely.
and then realizing he's piloting another flight to New York.
Daughters: "oh my god, my dad is alive! where is he?"
Olympic: "he's piloting another plane to New York"
Daughters: ...
So the controllers called them and said "your dad is about to crash a plane, come on over to the airport? " I don't understand this part.
@@toddsmith8608 No. A cousin called them and said that he saw the plane fly just a few metres over a football stadium (Panionios stadium) and that it will probably fall. So they rushed to the airport.
What a cool headed captain and an observant FO for realizing his mistake and correcting it in time!
Do you mean the Flight Engineer with regards to the water/glycol system? I'm not trying to be picky, but I didn't see any mistake by the First Officer. Both your points are correct, though.
I’m a recent subscriber - I have next to no knowledge about aviation, I’ve literally flown once in my life before, but I find your videos truly fascinating! Your excellent breakdowns of situations and explanations of aviation theory and physics make your content compelling, even for a complete noob like myself. I’ve been binging your content for the last few weeks now. Keep up the amazing content!
I'm binging too! This particular video is intense for me not because I fear flying (I'm seasoned) but it reminds me of a dream I had.. flying a plane that could not gain altitude.
If there was a Pantheon for the most courageous and gifted pilots who saved the lives of all their passengers, the list would include: Capt. Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger, Captain Carlos Dárdano, Captain Richard Champion de Crespigny, Captain He Chao and Captain Sifis Migadis.
But not only save the passengers lives. Also save hundreds of People in the streets and houses and buildings of athens
add Capt. Fernando Murilo, from flight VASP 375, on that list!
add Captain Leul Abate to that list too
Captain Eric Moody (BA9), Captain Peter Burkill (BA38), Captain Stefan Rasmussen (SAS751), and Captain Tadeusz Wrona (LOT16) as well.
Capt. Alistair Atchison too
At first I was a bit like “meh just an engine failure nothing special, wonder why he's covering this", but WOW that was way more interesting than I was expecting 😂 Excellent work Petter!
There is always a reason 😂
Thank you for watching!
I was expecting this. When the old airport was still in operation one of my friends was living in a highrise in Paleo Faliro on the path of the runway. When I was invited over we could nearly see the pax inside. And the noise was amazing to us. Not in a bad way, as we were and are aviation addicted. What happened was just amazing and the crew was so brave and professional in correcting whatever failure might have occurred. I lived in Athens for ten years and guys I can tell you it's massively populated. What they did was spectacular. They brought back the aircraft safely and everyone survived. Good vid Captain 👍
What Highrise in Paleo Faliro? Are you making this shit up?
@@dohc22h Highrise does not mean skyscraper. There are multiple definitions but many are on the 10 stories range, which exist in Palaio Faliro.
Masterful instincts and situational awareness by Captain Migadis, as well as a roller coaster of terrible luck to great luck. The entire scenario of a fully loaded 747 flying over a large densely populated city at rooftop level is like something out of a dream, and gives me goosebumps/chills. So glad it didn't end as a nightmare. Thanks for retelling this incredible story!
OH WOW WHAT A STORY! That was a phenomenal feat of flying! That story should be told more what a story! The three in the cockpit deserve a LOT of credit and so do the flight attendants who must have been certain they were about to die horribly and never showed it as well!
SHould have Greek interview with English Subtitles
There have been stories of exceptional airmanship, but I personally believe this one is the crown jewel. What an exceptional pilot.
I stayed in Athens 8 years .. Indeed there is an extra micro clima within Lekanopedio . The Pilot really just change an airplane and continue the flight . His decisions were the critical point of survival . Still remains a miracle
i have watched mayday and air crash investigations. both cover the same crashes. your videos go into more detail, give more information, and deliver it more succinctly than either of these multi million dollar programs. i find myself learning things that were fully omitted from these two programs who proport themselves to be 'documentary style' investigations. your videos are truly top notch!
btw they're the same show just different names in different regions
Those documentary channels tend to hype the drama for entertainment purposes, whereas Mentour Pilot narrates events in a more sober and factual manner and also from the perspective of an actual airline pilot.
@@downedaviator also, Mayday is more accessible to people who might not be very familiar with flying. not everyone knows what flaps are, for example.
I think those documentary series are doing something wrong with the "drama for entertainment purposes". I've grown quite fed up with their plots because one always has to wait until the end to find out what happened >.< Petter delves straight into the real reasons but I still stay to the end.
@@Cherubi-chan I agree, when I'm with any kind of show where RUclips video that starts teasing in the beginning. I normally turn it off. I just don't have the energy or patience anymore to deal with being strong along
What an exceptional Captain - Cool, calm, and collected doing a great job under terrifying circumstances. He saved 400 lives.
Peter thank you so much for bringing this story to light! Once again your video was perfect! For us Greeks Olympic Airways have a special place in our heart. It is said that as he was climbing down the stairs exiting the plane a colleague ask Migadis if he had understood what he had done... Migadis replayed "It's all part of the job". A few hours later he was flying another 747 200 to NY. He also said in his interview that he found him self scared at one point and he said to him self "what are you doing? If you die you die like a man!".
What an beautifully done video, thank you! The pilot and co-pilot were both friends of my uncles who both served in the Hellenic Air Force in the 1950's-80's.
My partner is a cabin crew, and strangely your videos have helped me feel a bit calmer when he flies. Your production value and story telling skills are incredible! Thank you for taking the time to sift through reports and any resources you can find to create these amazing videos. This is my favourite aviation channel on YT by far.
Extreme airmanship and a modicum of luck made this a flight to remember. Great analysis, Petter...as always.
Yes!!!
It would have been a *flight to remember* either way. But thankfully this one, in a good way.
In my initial training I was told to fly as smoothly as possible,keeping in mind cabin crew walking around with pots of hot coffee.
However,when I got online at the airline i was lucky enough to fly with a Captain who had a similar experience to this in a 737.
He was known for demanding extremely smooth handling and told me it was because it was that which saved the aircraft.
The final report attributed the successful outcome to his delicate handling of the aircraft.
I've flown with many rough handlers over the years and it's detrimental in a situation like this.
True to a certain extent
@@MentourPilot what do you think of the suggestion that perhaps flying over the city streets like that gave the airplane a little lift due to the heat creating a (probably weak) updraft? It's something I saw in a few other comments.
Less is often more when it comes to handling a vehicle during a situation.
Same in cars. Once upon a time I had a flat tyre. Slow leak, right rear. It was about 15psi. Unnoticeable until the long 80kph left hander. Rear kicked out, experience kicked in, and I turned the steering wheel no more than 3" on a normal sized wheel. Probably less than 5 degrees at the wheel.
Recovered fine. No sweat.
Had I yanked the wheel half a turn, I absolutely would have overcorrected and wound up swinging the other way at least once before ending up backwards, possibly off the road.
This pilot demonstrated that less is more.
@@MentourPilot should he have begun dumping fuel earlier to reduce weight?
@@peetky8645 don’t want to dump fuel on a city full of people
You are one HECK of a storyteller! I enjoy these recaps more every time you release one, thank you for doing this! Keep good
Thanks for being here and for your comments! 😊
Today is the exact anniversay of this astonishing story. Incredible airmanship! I always like those episodes where everyone survives - very cheering in these dark times.
Captain Migadis and his entire crew......a standing ovation 👏👏👏👏👏👏. I actually stood up to complete this presentation video! A Captain of steel yet cool calm and had all his neurons firing in the correct direction. You should post an interview with THIS HERO !
He passed away in 1996
This was a definite nailbiter. It's fascinating to learn about the reasons behind actions taken by pilots in emergencies. Good problem-solving is a crucial skill in pilots. And I wonder if it can really be taught or is just innate.
Of course it can be taught. Any pilot needs to have intellect but its taught all the time obviously. 👍
@@L1LmeatGang Yes, exactly. Something like that depends on the personality - there´re huge differences how human beings are able to perform under severe stress, even if their performance is equal under normal conditions.
Your profile pic has a face mask 😂
@@L1LmeatGang Agree, some people can shut it down and be dead calm and focused in a life or death situation, others just knowing their dire situation gonna panic no matter how much training they got.
Its a natural thing, either you have it or not.
Capt Migadis, like Capt Sully (US Airways 1549) & Capt de Crespigny (Qantas 32) were all ex-air force pilots.
Clearly, they are cut from a different cloth & exceptional, out of the box thinking pilots as all 3 pilots had clearly demonstrated in their aircraft situations
This is what you can call a skilled pilot, he knows his plane, can think way forward and has a really good knowledge of the geography around the area, to be fair if it was a pilot which was not familiar witg Athens it would've been a lot more challenging from what it was already, and yes, getting back on another Boeing to fly to his destination just shows how dedicated he is, genuine airforce quality...
I love that you don’t cover only the famous stories, but also the near misses or the incidents that generally go unnoticed. It’s good to learn about how things can turn out right even when they go horribly wrong.
Keep it up! :)
Nothing like blowing all the shingles and roofing tiles off of the houses! To hear a 747 engines that close to your house, the homes shaking from the thrust and air displacement of the airplane, the roar as it moved by. Incredible feat by the pilots and crew. Simply amazing to think about!
While Everyone else is worried about the whole thing Captian Migadis and his crew are doing a sight seeing across the town of athens that most of the passangers had a really amazing time.....what an incredible story i have ever heard.....take a bow Capt Migadis and the crew for showing this wonderful example of Crew managment despite the situation they faced that day 👌
especially when they turned the water injection off.
Wow, hats off to Captain Migadis for keeping everyone safe and keeping the cool to manouvre the Boeing 747 across Athens in this way. Never heard of that incident but I really had to hold my breath throughout the story.
But also hats off to the crew on board, who kept the passengers calm by staying calm. Must be tough, as they certainly expected to crash and likely die within the next few minutes.
Even though I know the outcome, I was still clenching the arms of my chair. Great storytelling, Petter, and excellent animations. I'm glad to be a member of your Flight Crew! Thank you!
This pilot is a true master and a hero
He was able to work out a plan, give out instructions, and manouver the plane while having the pressure of your plane probably crashing and not only killing you, the crew, and the passengers, but also causing death and damages in Athens?
Damn that's cold blooded
20:28 now that's a professional.
I finally understood something thanks to your vid. I perfectly remember in April 1999 seeing an OA 747 taking off from Hellinikon, as we were coming to pick-up my grandparents from the airport. Not only did the aircraft make a hard turn to the left while taking off (I remember my mom finding it impressive), it also had very smokey engines (especially compared to today's planes), so much that I thought they were on fire. Now I know why :)
Imagine what was going through the minds of the crew (flight attendants included) when you've already resigned yourself to die and are just trying to do it in a less populated area, to shortly afterwards find themselves flying again then not too long after safely back on the ground. What a surreal day that would've been.
What's impressed me is the fact that Boeing the literal company to manufacture this aircraft couldnt replicate what this guys did in real life.
Like props to thier legendary task
Remember that this was in a time when they didn't have 3D design input to computers and the simulators were very, very crude. Powerful computers were so expensive that the entire engineering department would have one that all the engineers shared.
This was a scenario they would never test with a real plane. There were so many factors involved, it would be very unlikely to be a test case.
In addition to what @rickcollions2814 said, I believe that part of what saved the flight was the presence of thermal uplifts. Nobody sane would fly a large jet like a hang glider but if the ground effect alone was not enough to keep the plane aloft at an airspeed as low as 160 knots, the plane might have gotten a small amount of lift from thermal uplifts in such hot weather.
This of course probably was not calculated in a 1970s era flight simulator as it would be insane to try using thermal uplifts to fly a plane that's far too heavy to maintain altitude on thermals alone.
@@davidmiller6593 I am not sure even ground effect would be properly calculated on a 1970s simulator. Sure, the resulting effect was well understood by then. But calculating the amount of difference it makes is an entirely different story. Especially with a complex geometry, like a city with houses.
That Captain sorted it like a BAWSS!!!
Full respect to him ✊🏾😏
Another great episode sir!
As a Greek guy who lives almost his entire life in foreign countries, I didnt know this story. Thanks for telling this. I have goosebumps.
During that time, I flew all over the world as a Field Engineer for General Electric Company. I stopped in Athens for a few days and explored the city. Early 1979, I think. One morning just after dawn, I went up to the Parthenon. On the East end of it, there was an older woman standing there crying. Very few people were there, yet. I was a bit shaken asked her what was the matter. She said she was a retired grade school teacher in the USA and taught history. The Parthenon was a place she wanted to visit all of her life and the school kids helped her buy the Greek vacation she always wanted. She told me that it was her lifetime dream to stand in front of the Parthenon in the morning sun. I used her camera to take quite a few good photos of her realizing her dream. I have a few pictures that she took of me with my camera as well. I was 26 back then and got paid to see the world. When I think of Greece, the retired school teacher comes to mind. The other thing I think of is drinking ouzo like a fish down in Piraeus. As one who lived in many foreign places, I am glad you did things that few people are able to do.
@@kimmer6 And I am very thankful for that. My parents were very poor. We didnt even have had furniture in our small flat back in the 1990s. I had no toys. We watched TV through the neighbours windows and learned lip reading.
I can say now that "I have made it". Education was a hard but successful road for me. With passion, desire and diligence you can create a good outcome for yourself.
Thank you for sharing the story with the teacher at the Parthenon.
I cant imagine "few people" up there right now. It is so crowded, even in the early morning hours when they are opening.
I remember flyng in and out of Ellinikon in the 90s when I went to Greece for vacation, the new Venizelos airport is far more better, even if is quite distant from the city.
This entire story is "very Greek" in all its parts and I say this in positive way.
Kudos to Capt. Migadis
Petter, your recostruction of this story is AMAZING!
One very small detail: Athens buildings have no inclined roofs, but flat terraces, the buildings used in the simulation seems more Dutch than Greek 🙂
"Very Greek" 😂
I second that!
Dramatic but not tragic?
@@annatamparow4917 Was not thinking about that, more because Capt. Migadis simply ignored the engineering limitations to save the day
Wow You used " very Greek " as we Greeks do , that's probably makes you " very Greek " as well 😁 ( i used it in a veryyyyy positive way )
@@Pavlos_Charalambous I take this a great compliment, efharistò poly!
To be honest, when I go to Greece for vacation I am often mistaken by Greek 😁😁😁
Ground effect makes a huge difference. I came across a case like that in much smaller. A studend pilot was flying with a glider (model ka-8) at a small airfield (only for gilders) and misjudged the updrafts. He ended up with a patch of forrest between him and the airfield with far to little to make it back and in an attack of goal fixation he still tried to make it instead of safly landing on a field next to the airfield.
He somehow managed to make it home without a scratch. In the review afterwards we could see that he had only a couple of meters (below 15 ft) between him and the top of the trees and he managed a glide ratio of 1 to 60 (meaning for every 1 ft lost in elevation he traveled 60 ft). This plane has a optimal glide ratio of 1 to 27 and the brst gliders in the world only manage 1 to 56 to my knowledge and he beat them.
First thought when Peter said "this was a fully loaded flight": how bad can it be? What could possibly be too heavy for a 747?
"It was loaded with American tourists"
Uh-oh.
Hey!! I resemble that!!
We weren't as heavy in the 1970s
@@yurapit88 To resemble means to look like. Who or what are you saying you look like?
@@GoldenEDM_2018 you should then check the official WHO where it clearly says that number one decease in USA is obesity
@@desmond-hawkins it is a play on "I resent that remark"
Leaving the Landing gear down might have been a fatal decision . I was yelling at the Laptop when he cleared the Hill . Laughed out loud when it was by 9 feet . Left speechless when he flew past the tall building . And relieved when he got to 170 knots and was dumping fuel . Perfecto ,Captain Migadis
It was a gamble that paid off, they risked 15 seconds of slightly more drag for way less drag afterwards
There is a greek documentary about it. It mentions a lot of interesting things, many of which you have mentioned. I'd like to mention two things: 1) the human factor sometimes makes the difference over engines and 2) the flight attendant interviewed mentioned they really did board another plane and fly to the USA
Thank you! I saw somewhere someone suggesting that Migadis might have flown that same day, but I was thinking that this would be highly unlikely, as I figured that the airline would want to be debriefing him that day, so I didn't think that would be very likely true.
A few hours ago I watched this documentary: youtu dot be/WH6tCbybzqI
I suspect that when you mention the flight attendant saying that they flew to the US later that day, you are referring to the documentary above? So then they really did fly to the US hours later? That's what the flight attendant confirmed?
I didn't understand a single word, but put it on fast speed and watched it anyway, hoping that I could pick up bits and pieces of information, but in the end, it was all Greek to me... didn't get much more info from it... until you came along and translated for me ;-) Thank you once again!
@@N1755L There's a comment in here from someone who was on that flight. He confirmed the captain flew those game to get onto the replacement plane later in that day. He greeted them all as they boarded so as to try to reassure them. Passengers saw the engine burn out & knew full well something was very wrong & were crying & hugging as it was happening, then clapping & cheering on the later flight once it actually got up
Wow. My cousin is a retired pilot, having flown various commercial aircraft, including 757/767. He shared some harrowing tales of how he and his copilots handled various challenges over the years. FWIW, his first flight when promoted from flight engineer, then copilot, then finally to pilot, was hijacked to Cuba (he flew mostly the Montreal/Miami route.) Outstanding video!
Wow, how exciting but also frightening.
Did he go from flight attending to pilot in one flight? I'm confused there
Boeing: "No plane can fly that low and not crash".
Captn. Migadis: "Hold my beer"
This was an amazing episode! Had me on the edge of my chair. Well done, Petter!
"Hold my ouzo".
It is actually,
" hold you number 3 engine "
This is the best comment!
Outstanding work by the crew! They followed the golden rule "keep flying the aircraft"
Even guessing the outcome, I held my breath all the way through. Ever since two extremely bad flight experiences as a teenager (I won’t go into it), I can’t even enter an airport unless I’m heavily medicated, but these calm explanations and storytelling skill are helping me become less afraid. We’ll see how I do, the next time I have to fly! (I even got a Positive Attitude t-shirt 😄)
Same. And tornado videos.
I can't imagine what that's like. Strength to you!
TO THE MENTOR PILOT. I would bet, somewhere in the meandering crevices of your mind you believe that you can put up a lemonade stand and sell ENRON stock certificates.
@@RUclips.TOM.A That's a weird thing to say. What's in the crevices of your mind?
I'd also recommend flying MS Flight Simulator 2020. After you learn how to operate an airliner there you start undestanding how hard it is to crash it actually. Not because the simulation is bad, but because it's so full of automation and autopilot is so good that you really need a deliberate effort to make it fall ;)
Wow. That's exactly the kind of pilot I'd want running the show on a flight I was on. He and the entire crew kept their cool and because they didn't panic they ended up taking the one series of steps that would save everyone on board and everyone on the ground - against the longest possible b odds. Thank you for this story.
I would have been interested in hearing more from the captain - if I understood, you interviewed him in your research for this. Even if it was just you talking about what he told you (for example, if he did not want to appear on camera).
It takes a very special person to not panic and to maintain a focus throughout this event. I understand that part of it comes from good training, well rehearsed observational awareness, flawless teamwork, years of experience, a good working environment, and a thorough understanding of the air frame. Even allowing for all that, it still takes a very special person.
I really like the stories of exceptional skills and tight teamwork by pilots, navigators, and cabin crew. Another amazing example of this was United 232. In that event, not everyone was saved but far more than would have survived if not for the clear thinking of pilot (the ones frying the aircraft plus the passenger pilot who came up and assisted.
Also, one question. I had thought I understood that for commercial jet aircraft, there’s 8was a "margin of safety" built in so that a single engine failure would not be catastrophic. It sounds to me though that in this case, due to weight of the aircraft, density altitude at Athens that day, and the possible failure of a water/glycol engine cooling pump - that there was no margin that allowed for a single engine failure from the point of rotation and initial climb out.
Please correct me if I am wrong - I am not a pilot - and so I'm not suggesting anything was done wrong - but it seems like they configured the aircraft!( i.e. weights, fuels and density altitude at time of takeoff) so that a single engine failure during takeoff would not be survivable. Comments - either from you or the other current/former commercial pilots who understand this far better than I do??
Had a similar one years ago, 1742ft ASL, and a 41C day. The aircraft needed all the runway, 13094 feet, plus a tiny bit more, and yes was in ground effect for a pretty long time, at least 20km of it before it was able to gain enough airspeed to climb out.
Do you know the flight number by any chance?
I am in awe of the network of skill and professionalism that got everyone home safe.
Another masterpiece by Mentour Pilot. I've been a passenger in commercial and private aircraft several times, but I'm ifascinated by the knowledge, skill, and experience--and in the best case scenario, humility!--it takes to pilot. Metour Pilot embodies all of these attributes--plus, he's a fantastic raconteur.
What I really appreciate about these videos is the analysis, even handed, of what went wrong and what went right without judging the crew, the airline or the manufacturers, contrasted with 'disaster' shows on TV who so sensationalize everything for the dramatic effect. As an aviation enthusiast it's great to understand how even tragedies have helped to improve airline safety.
This particular event also goes to show that, even when the outcome seems inevitable, never stop trying until the outcome is complete. This goes for aviation, driving, sports, daily life. The outcome is only decided in two cases: When the event is complete, or when you stop trying.
I had to pause the video and do a "Happy Dance" when you got to the part where they safely landed and everyone survived! I didn't know this flight ended with all surviving, I thought everyone was going to die. What a great feeling! This just made my night! Great video Mentour Pilot and great job flight crew of the 747!! 😁😄!!
I can’t watch the ones where the plane crashes and everyone dies. Or at least it’s hard to watch.
But stories like this one, when the pilots fight for survival and win generally makes me happy.
The pilots, ATC, and everyone else thought they were going to die too! Just goes to show: fly your aircraft and don't give up! Double-check, triple-check. Keep trying. If they had given up, if the flight engineer hadn't gone back to double-check all settings, etc they wouldn't have had such a happy ending.
If it had crashed in the center of Athens you would have heard something because it would have killed hundreds of people.
Same feeling bro
did you do the saturday night fever dance or just the happy jumping dance?
I wonder if the passengers and people on the ground in the flight path ever realised how close a call that was…
Thanks for the video!
So, according to cabin crew interviews the passenger actually thought it was a completely normal, safe procedure and a 'gift' as a goodbye tour and started taking pictures of the buildings! People on the ground on the other hand realised very quickly that there was probably something very wrong with the aircraft, don't know if they actually realised at the time how close call it was but even from the day after it was all over the media and people were terrified but also very proud for the flight crew.
absolutely amazing - pilot is so a total hero. and it all happened so fast. when you said 90 seconds, i was really surprised! i’m part Greek, so it makes it more personal. thanks much.
We know how cool pilots are. But the underrated part of this whole thing is the flight attendants who keep the cool
The "Swiss cheese" theory compares the different factors that take place in an incident as cheese slices. In order for an accident to happen, the holes in these slices have to be aligned. That means that multiple errors should occur at the same time, and pass through the holes, otherwise it can be stopped by one factor (pilot, ATC, aircraft). In the OA411 case, it's exactly the opposite, as captain Migadis took a series of correct decisions and saved the flight against all odds. In a later interview he said "We are life smugglers. But there is always hope!"
I am from Greece and really love this story. Nice to see that a foreign RUclips channel made a video with Sifis Migadis. Unfortunately in Greece this story is not so well known as is an old story and just a few remember this incident. By the way you did an amazing job mate, you reported every single detail and i can confirm everything you said is true. Congrats 👏
Thank you for covering this! I wanted to suggest this story to be covered forever and I'm very glad the case will be more known to the aviation enthusiasts!
This case in my opinion is even more unbelievable than the Hudson miracle!
Another excellent presentation! I was on the edge of my seat! That was in insanely close call. I dont think you could get closer to crashing without actually crashing. Massive respect to the flight crew.
The fact you managed to recreate this in a flight sim is utterly impressive. Like seriously. I don’t know what’s cooler. This story, or the fact we have the tech to do this just readily available now… or that someone can do it.
Nah. The pilot is the legend for sure. What a champion. (Of Zeus)
These are the stories I love most. Aviation is full of stories of crashed where a bunch of things go wrong resulting in disaster, when just one of those things NOT going wrong would have avoided catastrophe. So it's refreshing every now and then to hear a story where so many things go wrong, but the pilots still manage to gather enough skill and resources to snatch the situation from the jaws of disaster.
Yep, keep 'em coming. Near misses are as engaging as fatal accidents when told by someone like you with a great balance of technical and story telling. You've opened up a goldmine of content. Thanks, Petter.
That was some of the best 20 mins I have spent watching a video EVER! I was totally absorbed into the story which was told so expertly and with such flair that my captivation was 100%. Loved every second of it. Thank you so much! (Knowing precious little about jet engines, I always wondered why the B52's were so 'smokey' on take off - now I know). Excellent. 👍
Oh my goodness...I literally have had nightmares of being in a plane flying very close to the rooftops and sometimes in between tall buildings...What a nightmare scenario for the pilots and crew : huge airplane filled with passengers and fuel that looks like it might crash onto a highly densely populated area. What an amazing (and terrifying) story, and what a legendary captain !
I remember that when 747's were relatively new, Northwest Airlines had a special training program for pilots to learn how to handle just such a low-speed, low altitude situation as described in this episode. I don't know if the impetus for that program was this event, but it certainly could have been.
Boeing should have given a medal to the captain for his outstanding performance as well as his helpers. But of course such an action would be too below them. Bravo to the captain and engineers and other pilot. in no other Boeing such a heroic action and quick clever decision has ever been made. Thank you for your story....stay safe and God bless. I do believe all the prayers did help!