I was on this flight. I remember looking out the window and seeing the tops of buildings. I was very young and more thrilled instead of scared. The captain and crew pulled off a true miracle. 💯💯💯❤️
As NovusMaximus has commented - most Greek pilots are ex-military. Military pilots are taught to keep clam in a crisis and to get a stricken plane away from populated areas - even if (on a military plane) it means they are unable to eject.
This is a pilot thing in general… not really a military thing, you fight with the plane until the very last second and do everything possible to minimise all kinds of damage regardless of a military background
It's a difference in mentality, like the previous replies have said. But it's not exclusive to pilots- anyone can develop and enforce that mentality, and you see it in EMTs and other emergency workers as well if they're even halfway competent. First, diagnose the situation. Second, formulate a plan. Third, enact the plan. Only _then_ once everyone is safe and the situation rectified do you hyperventilate into a lil paper baggie and unpack the fact that someone and/or everyone almost died.
Piloting 101 - Never give up and try anything/everything that could/might work, because it just might. Those who "give up" are statistically a hugely significant component of fatalities/injuries.
This guy definitely need a movie as he was in constant trauma and obstacles were neverending whilst sully has no other options but to ditch palne in the river.
@@that90skid72 Yes, that's exactly what I had in mind when writting this comment. The SW111 situation was so serious that they might have failed to land safely anyway but who knows? Instead, going through procedures, endless check-lists and wasting time dumping fuel sadly doomed them for sure
The Swissair 111 suffered from defunct cables from the entertainment system. Also the insulation material itself was flammable which was removed from all planes after this crash. Whatever they did, they run out of time before landing in halifax. After the crash 20 crews were given a try in the simulator and all of them crashed. There just wasn’t enough time unfortunately.
@@slennie Yes, I agree. That's why I said that they might not have succeeded in landing safely since the situation was so serious that this flight was probably doomed from the begining. However, what I wanted to highlight was a little different: they didn't even try, they followed the procedures. In this particular case, whatever they would have done, they would probably have crashed anyway but, at least they would have tried something, at least skiping the fuel dumping ...
Another fun(?) fact: As the captain admitted, on his return to land, he did not dump all the required fuel, because he felt it would be too much of a waste. So he landed with more fuel than permitted. What a guy.
Honestly, one thing had already gone wrong. I figure him keeping fuel was more of a tactical choice than a business decision. More options is always better than less
In case the PIC did that (= overweight landing by purpose) than he did not chose wise...... = in other words: he traded monney against monney....... / Reason: = overweight landings request heavy inspections (= that costs a lot !)
@@Grimpy970 that’s kind of hard to believe because admitting that could result in serious disciplinary action for him. Do you have a link to a reference for this? If this happened I’m truly surprised
@@Duckduckobtusegoose hey, I didn't claim that he kept the fuel. I just imagine that if the first commenter is right, he probably would have kept the fuel for a different reason than cost savings. I have no source because I never made any historical claims lol. Ask the guy I was responding to, he might know. I mean, he established it as fact based off of a quote apparently? I didn't bother to verify it, I just thought his given reasoning sounded.. unlikely to put it kindly.
One of the very best captains. Understanding aviation and its rules (and the reasons for those rules) to the point when you can confidently and justifiably break them is the highest level of competence in my opinion.
Later in the war he became a POW when his plane crashed and his artificial legs were damaged. The Germans contacted the British and it was allowed that a plane could fly over German territory and replacement legs could be parachuted down and delivered to Douglas Bader.
Almost all of Greek commercial pilots come from the Airforce. They are extremely well trained with fighter jets, have been in real dogfights and learn how to keep their cool in very challenging situations. This captain's training and skill saved lives. I was living in Greece at the time, this incident was all over the news.
Military pilots excel in challenging situations. Air Force pilots are put through the ringer just to qualify. As you know, every day in the cockpit can be a myriad of different problems to undo. In combat, multiply that to the tenth power.
@@dstarboi9965 In the first 6 months of 2022 there have been 111 "dogfights" over the Aegean sea according to Greek Airforce data. I assume there is no use of ammunition, but all the other aspects of fighting are present.
Boeing couldn't believe that the captain had managed to avoid stalling this fully- loaded aircraft, despite the unbelievable speed it maintained due to the emergency! The captain remains a legend at Boeing!!!
@@cmendoza1094 sarcastic reply indeed, Sir. If you are or were flight crew at Boeing, you would be fully aware of the potential disaster that awaited that crew and passengers on that flight. The captain miraculously managed control of the fully-loaded NY bound 747 at a dangerous 2 knots below the flight manual stated stalling speed, and at a very low height. Flying a Boeing 747 fully- loaded at high OAT and two engines at low or minimal thrust and no water- injection, is a recipe for disaster. Read the full story before jumping to conclusions or better still, speak to qualified flight personnel at Boeing familiar with this event. Otherwise, stick to telling jokes at your local pub or bar with persons of similar education lebels. Leave facts to those who know the facts, and nonsense talk to idiots. Respect for all pilots who save their crew and passengers regardless of creed race and culture. This is the respect predominant in the aviation world then and now.
Even in such a grim circumstance he thought about the lives on the ground. If his plane was gonna go down he didn’t want anyone else to become a casualty. But he was able to save everyone, what an absolute legend.
@@Panagiotis_P You can thank God all you want, God didn't have the pilot go extensive training with incredible dedication and motivation to gain this level of skill so he could save all these people, it was him alone
What most people might not know is that the same captain, at 18:00 of the same day, took off for NY with the alternative 747 that was prepared for the trip. No week off, no stress relieve, nothing. The guy kissed his daughters hi, and flew out again. All simulations executed by Boeing, based on recorded data, failed to reproduce the landing. For the manufacturer, this is one in a lifetime "stretching the laws of physics" example.
You know you'll survive crashing in a simulator, it's a lot different when your own life as well as passengers and aircrew are going to be lost. This pilot really pulled off something incredible, he took risks and they worked. He knew what he was doing.
Could be a function of imperfect simulation. It was 1978, after all. The modern flight simulator being used to generate the graphics for this video seems to have no problems reproducing the flight.
I live in Kallithea, Athens and I remember hearing the roar of that 747 as it was skimming our rooftops. I was eight years old back then. Had that plane crashed full of fuel for a transatlantic flight in such a densely populated area like Kallithea the death toll would probably be much higher than that of the Tenerife disaster. I probably owe my life to Cpt. Migadis as many of middle aged or older inhabitants of Kallithea.
You're lucky. I always wanted to witness something like this. Is that wrong? I have a recurring dream where I'm witnessing a plane crash. There's often amazing futuristic aircraft and spaceships. One time I saw the space shuttle. 😍
@@TheEgg185 I witnessed the TAM crash in Congonhas Airport, isn't a site to see. It's awfull, never goes way, the schock and the feel of impotence. Terrible, just terrible. The fire, the chaos, and the certainty that every single soul on board and in the ground are dead.
@@Vortex__24 TAM Airlines Flight 3054 (JJ3054/TAM3054) was a regularly scheduled domestic passenger flight from Porto Alegre to São Paulo, in Brazil. Congonhas (CGH) it's the main airport inside the city, the city took over the airport with all the expansions over the years and it's a very bad place for landing if anything goes wrong.
He did what Sully did in NY : he flew the plane and relied on his experience. He retracted the gear to reduce drag on the long term while Sully switches the APU earlier than told by the procedure. And again a former military pilot with extensive experience in taking split second decisions... and the copilot is also to be commended as he trusted his captain and did retract the gear... I flew to Hellenikon in 1990 with Alitalia (as a passenger, I was 19 at the time) and remember the approach from the sea was tricky in poor weather (had a storm at sea and we nearly got rerouted to Heraklion, but landed at the third attempt - the turbulence were dreadfull and we all applauded the pilot when he landed the Douglas super-80 let me tell you...) What this captain did is simply amazing ; and the whole crew professional behaviour, keeping quiet and working with the captain was a huge factor in saving the jet and its passengers. Should definitely be a movie made on this story... perhaps another role for Tom Hanks ?
I agree with every word you’ve said there. The only problem with a movie is the flight was so short, it might be difficult to make it last long enough.
@@moiraatkinson well the miracle on the hudson lasted even less... themovie can also show the investigation and why the engine blew up... as well as why the captain had so few power to fly the jet... a guy like Tom Hanks could make it work with a good script as base...
@@ericsainte290 Did it really last an even shorter time? Either way, if you think it’ll make a good movie, I’m not going to argue, as I know zilch about movie making. Maybe it would. I think Miracle on the Hudson was more dramatic, with passengers who were more scared,
Water to steam expansion is roughly 700: 1 by volume. Add in the rich fuel mixture and alcohol injection to thin out the JP1 fuel which is basically kerosene. That's how you get to the 110% power output. The first officer that shut off both the water and alcohol injection came closer to killing everyone than the loss of one engine. I hope that the pilot recommended additional training for him...
I do not see how that can happen. Presumably the switch is marked "off" and "on", and operates in a particular direction. Presumably they use it relatively frequently, so are familiar. I would love to know how this happened.
no a mistake like this should end in a complete suspension of the engineer from flying for atleast 3 years and to be fired from the airline, this wasn't a lack of training issue he knows how the system works, he had that training at time, this was and issue of environmental awareness, this could be caused by stress, lack of sleep, alcohol abuse while off duty, age and overall health, the guy needs to undergo extensive evaluation before even considering letting him fly again and after all that if they certify him again let him fly cargo.
Was not the first officer that shut off the water- injection. This was the fault of the flight engineer who was seated exactly behind him with his own panel
@@lcfflc3887 Yours is a typical comment demanding stiff punishment for mistakes in the airline industry. This is totally misguided, as it would create a culture of fear where nobody would own up to any mistakes and it would ultimately cause more accidents. Luckily, the consensus view in the airline industry is more intelligent than your simple mind, that's why the industry embraces an open culture where mistakes can be admitted and others can learn from them.
As a former pilot, this pilot flew a giant aircraft, like a bush pilot, showed incredible knowledge of how to fly this aircraft, not to mention his fearless balls of brass! KUDUS, Bob There are some pilots who are just good!
I hear exactly what you are saying and 'Mind over what really Matters' is what this man displayed. I wonder if that bumbling Flight Engineer still had his job after all was said and done.
The narrator says that the pilot was heading for the mountains in order to crash there. This baffles me. Why wouldn't he consider attempting a sea 'landing'. Any ideas?
As a light aircraft pilot, this pilot KNEW HOW TO FLY! He milked every ounce of lift out of that aircraft! There is so much technical about this episode, it would take pages to describe it! I don't know where to begin! First he kept his cool in the worst possible scenerio. Low power on takeoff! This has killed many a pilot! Make no mistake, it is NOT the landing that is dangerous, you can pull that off with NO engines! It is the take off! If that goes bad, you can kiss your ass goodbye! We call it LOW and SLOW!, and it is a death sentence! His mission, knowing he was probably going to crash, and kill everyone aboard, including himself, was to get out of a populated area. That is what true pilots do! Instead he got a series of breaks which allowed him to keep the aircraft in the air! As for a water landing this plane has engines under the wings. If he hits the slightest wave, the engine will dig in, it will cartwheel at roughly 150-160 mph. and the plane will be torn apart. Many will die on impact and the rest drown! Again, KUDUS to this pilot. If I had been on that plane, I would send him a gift every year for the rest of my life! Bob I hope that answers some questions.
There was a documentary on Greek National TV a few years back about this miracle. 90% of Olympic pilots were ex-military. Olympic has never had a crash in all its history, and was considered as the very top worldwide in aircraft maintenance. And this was years before the crash in New York that became a movie!
Olympic actually had several accidents in its history with the latest at Samos on the 3rd of August 1989. There is a misconception regarding its accident history
In those air crashes small aircraft were involved and they were mostly domestic flights. The worst accident had 90 deaths. It was in 1969 and the plane was a Douglas DC-6
This seems to be the case of a pilot with lots of experience and confidence, managing to keep his head in the game rather than succumbing to panic. The fact that the captain thought they were doomed and simply wanted to keep the plane in flight long enough to maneuver away from a populous area, may have helped bring on a calm that allowed him heightened awareness and ability to reason. There was obviously no time for reviewing procedure in the manual.
It looks like he took it one quick step at a time and every step the captain made was a step forward to where he needed the plane to be out of immediate catastrophic failure. Horrible circumstances led to the engine blowing up and extraordinary circumstances led to the plane landing safely.
@@MrPLC999 To be fair I was thinking “there must be something else to this” because there are four engines and only one was damaged. If a normal plane can fly on one then a 747 should be able to fly with three. I’m probably going to have to go watch the Mentour Pilot version as he’s actually really good at teaching. No doubt fuel load and passenger numbers plus the low height made things worse but airliners don’t use full power when taking off. Even with three engines he should have been able to do a TOGA thrust to gain more power even if it doesn’t last long. But then again an engine doesn’t just explode and not damage anything else around it. Wings have a lot of stuff in them. Various flaps, hydraulics and whatnot plus fuel lines to the engines. A full on explosion would probably damage at least some of that. Then again fuel enrichment was mentioned. If the wrong sort or mix of fuel was being used then I suppose it could have rendered the other three weaker than they should have been, then yeah the struggle to get any kind of proper height or speed would make sense. Lol, no I’m neither pilot nor engineer so I’m guessing based on this video and a few aviation videos.
One thing I've heard is that the flight can owe its success in part to Athens' flat roofs. Had the roofs been terraced, the slight reduction in ground effect could've very well made the difference and caused the 747 to stall out over the city.
The captain needs the thanks not made up sky people from 2000 year old fiction! God didn’t save anyone and never has because there is no reason to believe a god exists at all. Thank the real hero’s not the fictional ones.
@dlblair fyi I'm not religious. I just have studied history and religion and even today god is saving more people than ever. Drug addiction is rampant and healing addicts are in church. God has saved billions of people from darkness and given them the strength they needed to save other people. Given this pilot us from greece im guessing he wouldnt agree with your comment either. They are very religious there and rely on god to help them everywhere.
@@Benji-jj2bg the concept of god may help people in irrelevant situations but in this situation the pilot saved the lives and the pilot is a real thing and not a concept. A concept may help a drug addict but a concept will never land an airplane. Even if the pilot is religious I doubt he credits god and not himself. Demonstrate the existence of god then he can take credit for things. We might as well thank Harry Potter.
It seems like the flight engineer was a bit of the jerk. First, he messed up the water injection of Engine 3 on ground which overheated it, and then messed the alcohol enrichment when in the air which costed performance the aircraft desperately needed. Basically, he inadvertendly was doing everything he could to put down the plane and its the Captain's excellnce that he fought off such adversities to save lifes.
Agreed but some blame must fall on the panel designer too. It should be blatantly obvious to even a child if a switch is on or off. Also, it shouldn't be forgotten that the flight engineer did manage to optimise the engines enough for them to return.
@@charmio - nope, that's his one job on that plane - to know exactly how every single switch, dial and knob on that panel works, regardless of how logical it appears to you and me. He needs to have it memorized to a point where he can perform his actions in his sleep. You don't entrust hundreds of lives to someone who isn't proficient at their job.
This captain should be celebrated and decorated with medals for saving sooo many lives while keeping them calm and not causing panic,also thinking of others on the ground under that pressure,amazing empathy and conscientiousness. Should be a film and he should be internationally recognised for the impact one honourable man can have. Salutations to this angel at the cockpit.❤❤❤
Water/methanol is injected into the core engine of a turbo fan. It cools the air entering the engine through evaporation thereby increasing the air’s density. The denser air entering the combustion chamber is sensed by the fuel control unit which matches it by increasing the amount of fuel to be combusted. The fuel/air ratio stays the same but the increased fuel and denser air produce more energy, driving both high pressure and low pressure turbines faster. This, in turn, drives the fan faster, producing more thrust. The effect of the water injection is to cool the air entering the engine. Cooler air entering the combustion chamber results in a lower turbine inlet temperature so the power can be increased without increasing turbine temperature too much. The methanol mixed with the water served only as an anti-freeze. No modern engines need or use water injection anymore. Advances in material technology have negated the need for such systems, which were not particularly good at increasing power and susceptible to misuse. They were common, however, in the sixties and early seventies.
@@harrickvharrick3957 - Turbofan engines have two airflow paths (which is usually not evident from just looking at the front of the engine. There is the bypass air, which actually accounts for most of the thrust. This air only passes through the fan, and then into a bypass duct around the engine - none of it is used in combustion. The there is the core airflow, which passes through the fan, then into the core of the engine. Exact design details vary from engine to engine, but this air typically passes through a low pressure compressor section, then a high pressure compressor, and then into the combustion chamber, then through the high and low pressure turbines, then into the exhaust stream where it recombines with the bypass flow. It is this core flow which the water injection was added to, for the reasons Mr. Land expounded upon. Here’s a decent graphic depicting this I found in a quick search: 3.bp.blogspot.com/_5B0lBO413L8/SWmK24H0CnI/AAAAAAAAABc/SMfzPZU_cl8/w1200-h630-p-k-no-nu/Cfm56-3-turbofan.jpeg
Yeah, if you want to see an example, B-52s scrambling would use it to get off the air a bit faster. Minimum Interval Takeoff (MITO) videos are a great place to look for what those systems look like in action.
@@harrickvharrick3957 the core is that part of the engine that is not the fan and fan duct. The air enters the front of the engine; 75% of it goes through the fan and straight out the back. The other 25% goes through the core.
The apt buildings in Greece have antennas on the rooftops. This captain was flying at 55 meters off the ground , barely missing these antennas. Just picturing this gives me the shivers…
Great and interesting story .No , I think they were lucky to have that pilot that day,but I do not think they would have made it to where they were going .I think he is a hero and probably was sweating bullets without engines functioning properly.
"Rules are made for the guidance of wise men, and the obedience of fools". He knew the checklist order wouldn't help in his situation, so adapted as appropriate. That is very different from thinking he knew better than to follow the checklist (which has brought some aircraft down).
One pilot from SerbiaAir had his engine lost over Zürich just couple of min. after takeoff, he did not followed procedure and landed back not calling for emergency with one engine only...the smart asses from Swiss Air safety wrote he did not followed the procedure and rules of checklist...fuck that he landed so smootly not even passengers knew what happened.
@@The_Touring_Jedi An engine failure warrants notifying of an emergency: ground services and other aircraft need to know. That would have been irresponsibly ignoring of the checklists. With a single engine failire there is time to react appropriately and minimise risk. Any idea of the date/flight number?
@@The_Touring_Jedi violation of rules that are in the safety of others is a different beast from realising they need alternative methods in dealing with the situation. For instance if the engine was on fire and the captain didn't notice then it would have been a serious disaster for everyone on the ground, there's a reason why quick response firetruck teams are always on standby; or that he might accidentally cause an airspace intrusion and lead to collisions if he was unlucky While managing to control the plane is commendable, this is different from making sure your actions don't lead to risking others unnecessarily
does that include keeping the flaps full open? I mean after takeoff that is the biggest drag on the aircraft preventing airspeed and gain of altitude....sure it allows for more lift at lower speeds but in this case he truly wasn't out of the woods until he retracted the flaps...that was the real issue. Raising the gear was the first smart thing he did, the doors opening and closing are not that big of a deal, it happens so fast and immediately reduces the largest drag to lift issue he was having, no argument there. He should have retracted the flaps in increments after that to gain airspeed and altitude.
It's so great to see a pilot calmly and intelligently make key decisions quickly to avert a crash, so many of these accidents are frustrating to see because of poor choices by the pilots, you never know how your pilot will react to high pressure emergency situations. Great video. TY
This pilot is an aviation legend... there were a few moves that if not made exactly at that time, they all would of died, he literally had a few moves that saved the entire plane even though they were unorthodox... a natural great aviator. God bless this Pilot.
For those intrested about the case , there is a interview with the pilot in 1994 ( watch?v=f9YzsO_ZPGI - fortunately there are subtitles for non-greek speakers ) - amongst other thing the pilot said that he reached an altitude of max 250 feet but against all odds he put the nose down in order to order to ease the pressure - he knew that the plane was ready to stall and wanted to gain some momentum and take use of the ground effect , keep in mind while heading straight to mount Egaleo ( approx 1500 ft) . Flight recoder showed the lowest at about 157 feet flying over a city full buildings - where the airplane almost touched the antennas of surrounding rooftoops . Both pilot and copilot knew they had minimal chances of survival , after the successfull landing the copilot Fikardos told Pilot Migadis that when he saw approaching the mount Egaleo and they were not gaining alltitude his tought was "dont be afraid - die like a man "
If someone made a 100% accurate movie of this, critics would watch it and say it's such overblown move hype. I heard someone actually said so of Apollo 13, that their survival was pure Hollywood fantasy.
@@adotintheshark4848 Possibly, but it probably wouldn't have been nine feet if the gear was down. Raising the gear temporarily increased drag, then reduced it, he was gambling that raising it would be a net benefit, but it's hard to know for sure. So either he wouldn't have cleared at all (regardless of the gear itself hitting) or would have cleared by more. I'm guessing he was right, raising the gear was a net benefit.
@@quillmaurer6563 I see your point. I'm going to say too, his decision was correct. The passengers thinking the plane was on a "sightseeing" trip got me too!
This is the kind of captain I want when I fly. His quick thinking and experience saved everyone onboard this flight! Sometimes they have to break the rules to save lives! God Bless this courageous Captain. Thank God everyone survived! ❤️ XO
I was a kid back then, living in Athens Greece. I can still remember the noise coming from this low flying 747. Of course then, we had no idea of the drama taking place on the air.
Every cockpit needs a Migadis or Sully onboard at all times. This is a clear example of experience trumping protocols, and when its all on the line, why it is acceptable for a pilot to toss the book and rely on their years of experience. As the OP said, some of the decisions Migadis was making were with just a few seconds of time to decide. Not even the best speed reader could have scanned the manual for anything that could have been a better call than those made by the air crew.
Don't leave out Al Haynes, the hero of United 232 with the engine blowout which killed all hydraulic lines. His intuition in the first moments of that event kept everyone alive and provide insight on how to maneuver a crippled plane with no standard flight controls. And there was no book to toss out on that one. It was inconceivable that it could happen and never given any thought further.
@@bridgefin I was with our local Emergency Management Office when Flight 232 crashed. The incident was was much more than just the skill of Al Haynes, his co-pilot and the flight engineer. It also involved the skill and very careful emergency preparedness of the Emergency Services community in and around Sioux City, Iowa (where the plane attempted to land). Al and the crew were lucky to have an official test/check pilot on board who took control of the throttles for the engines, which were the only method they had to turn or to change elevation. That being said, the flight track was put up for other pilots, and none were able to get anywhere near the air field during the simulations. The disaster was even memorialized in a made for TV movie titled "A Thousand Heroes."
@@DarianCaplinger You: The incident was was much more than just the skill of Al Haynes, his co-pilot and the flight engineer. Me: Thank you for your service on that very trying day. And thanks to all of the emergency people on the scene to deal with the horror and hope. Long before the plane arrived in Sioux City, before Denny went up to hep in the cockpit, before the stewardesses did their heroic jobs, Al Haynes had a plane in his hands which was rolling over to the left out of control with no controls available. In that situation it noses over and descends at high speed straight down to destruction. It's all over at that point except that Al does something never taught...he gives the right engine full thrust as he retards in on the left engine. That asymmetrical thrust brings the plane back to somewhat level flight and provides the answer to having some level of control until the end of the flight. If Al didn't do that they are all dead within the minute. BTW a friend of mine was on the flight and was regarded as a hero saving a number of lives. He took me the the memorial for Al Haynes when he died a few years ago. Have you read Lawrence Gonzales book on the flight (United 232). Very enlightening about all aspects of the accident and subsequent recovery.
@@bridgefin Two things to respond to here. 1) I haven't heard of the book, but I'll take a gander to find it! Thank you very much for letting me know it's out there. 2) I think I came across much differently than I meant to. I live in Missouri, and was with Emergency Management in our local community in Missouri, not in Sioux City, Iowa, as my misspelling of the name Sioux should indicate. I was part of the team who developed two air crash drills at our national airport in Springfield. We actually used some of the details from the crash report post-Sioux City when we drafted the initial scenarios for them. I won't disagree at all that in the few seconds after the blowout which took out all 3 hydraulic fluid systems, Al's response saved many lives that day. He insisted on a flight path which would take him away from the city itself, to spare deaths on the ground. A very selfless act, in the middle of chaos. It was a miracle the crash had any survivors, let alone as many as there were. He was, without any doubt, a true hero that day.
@@DarianCaplinger You will enjoy the book. Right after the plane "arrives" at the airport with a summersault and a ball of fire some rescue guys are driving around the perimeter of the airport. They see some civilians walking around and yell at them "What are you doing here? "Where did you come from." They can't comprehend their answer that they just came off that plane. Wasn't everybody killed in that crash? Of course we saw it with our eyes. My "favorite" part of the event has Al talking to the tower who tells him that he can pick whatever runway he wants. What must be running through Al's mind is that he is in a barely controllable aircraft which has to try a landing at a far higher speed than recommended or designed for (no flaps, speed brake). This is not going to be an uneventful landing and he is likely to be among the first killed. But do your best that as many as possible survive. In the midst of that life stopping reality Al's answer is "You want me to put it on a runway too?" At some level he would have expected that he is dead within two minutes and yet he gives an answer which has to put a smile and a tiny bit of relief on everybody's heart. My hero. At Al's memorial Sully gave a talk and mentioned how he had spent a good deal of time studying Al's event. I met Sully afterward and told him that he and Al were my here pilots. Grace under pressure. And nothing different from what you rescue guys do when saving us or just picking up the pieces. Thanks to all of you. And read the book!!
I agree what about the British airways pilot that 4 engines stop because of volcano ash or the the Qantas pilot with blown up engine on a 380 out of Singapore and there must be many others
This senario was one of the BOAC simulator excercises (back in 1971) except two engines were failed on the same side. The first order the Captain had had to give was pull the fuel dump bar. The programming had the a/c at max TOW and at max temperature (45C ? it was a long time ago). As the co-pilot, I had to have both feet on the one rudder to take the strain of that from the Captain after getting airborne. Even in the simulator it is an interesting exercise.
Here is a link to an interview of the pilot for a Greek program on the incident (with English subtitles): ruclips.net/video/f9YzsO_ZPGI/видео.html Boeing considered it impossible to save the plane under these conditions and changed certain flight procedures as a result. An amazing story of a 1970s Greek version of Sully Sullenberger.
Sullenburger's story is a version of Captain Migadis, there have been many 'sully' events in aviation and elsewhere, it's just that the US version got more attention and a film made.
Jet engines are limited by their internal temperature when running. If you keep adding fuel you get more power, but the thing gets hotter which can cause bits to melt. Adding the water methanol mix lowers the temp, so you can chuck in more fuel without melting anything and get some more power from your engine safely.
I had goosebumps as I watched this. This captain earned the gratitude and blessings of not only the 417 other people on the flight, but also those of their loved ones and many others besides. A true hero, and largely unsung one at that 🙏🏽🙏🏽💕💕
The captain used his experience & tremendous initiative just like Sully Sullenberger did when he put his plane in the Hudson well bloody done to this amazing Captain & crew.
I watched the interview with the pilot. He kept the plane aloft even though they were at stall speed. He said the flight data recorder showed even slower at 158. I can’t imagine how that plane stayed airborne. Everyone heard of the miracle on the Hudson, this is also a miracle that no one knew about
Ground effect. If you fly low enough, you compress air below you against the ground. The compressed air has nowhere to go so it pushes back up on you. Hence, you can fly below stall speed.
Wow this captain is a Master of his craft. No time to review his procedure. Of course No pointing the plane nose into the sky but just keep flying the big Bird long enough with whatever he had. The no more mistakes from there on kept the big Bird in the sky long enough to turn around to land again. Yes he lives again to tell his story. Great Job .. Captain.
@@adamp.3739 Ground effect is only really effective below half a wingspan over terrain. That’s about 125’ on a 747. And the pilot had buildings to deal with. The pilots who make miraculous “saves” like this are, often, glider and or military pilots. The only pilots who are really experienced in flying close to the ground. And of course glider pilots have plenty of experience with all engines out.
An amazing story. Hopefully, whatever caused the flight engineer to make those two critical mistakes was discovered and corrected. One of your better stories, thank you!
That flight engineer counteracted the pilot's commands which tells me he panicked. He shouldn't be in that seat unless placed under a strict retraining regiment and scrutinized closely before allowing him, if ever, to fly again.
Correction for something like this would be termination. Some people just aren't meant to do certain things. But that's ok, there are plenty of other jobs to be had in this world.
@@SupernovaSpence agreed. However, that reality goes to why employers whose people are responsible for the lives of others must do a far better job vetting their people before putting them into the job.
Having worked on B747 for 35 years and being licenced on them since 1980, I can safely say that no B747 was ever fitted with alcohol injection. Some early P&W JT9D engines could use water injection for 'hot and high' operations. Switching on the water pumps provided extra mass flow and cooling to allow the fuel flow to be reset higher, giving more thrust but keeping EGT within limits. Switching the pumps off could only be done for both i/b or both o/b engines, but not for any single engine. Loss of water pressure should cause the fuel flow to reset to the lower setting. Overboosting would occur if the fuel flow did not automatically reset. If the water injection (electric) pumps were switched off while the engines were at high power and all engines reset except #3, that could cause #3 to overboost with excessive EGT which could easily cause a catastrophic failure. If later the F/E realised his error and switched the water pumps on again, that would give them the extra thrust that got them out of the poo.
thank you for you comment. You're right about it. I believe the f/e noticed the #2 degraded engine readings during the runway roll and switched off the inboard pumps to save that engine. #3 didn't reset, overboosted and blew its guts out. He the proceeded to shut off the outboard pumps to save #1 and 4. Realising they needed the power he then proceeded to turn them all on.
I understand the narration here may not have accurately described the incident timeline, but why did the pilot wait so long to begin dumping fuel? It seems an intercontinental flight would have lots of fuel to spare when it was revising to a 'return to field.'
@@dhill4001 at the altitude they was at, they would shower people with a toxic jet-fuel (over a city), the altitude wasn't big enough for the jetfuel to vaporize. and since he had somewhat control, and the time needed to dump fuel, it's not something that is done in 10 seconds. it's better for them to focus getting out of the city first
@@heuhen Granted, jet fuel is somewhat toxic and I don't know what the resultant concentration on the ground would be. I expect that would depend on some complicated combination of speed, rate of discharge and altitude. However every ton of fuel dumped would be a ton of lift margin in a situation where a stall would almost inevitably result in death for all souls on board. I did readily find a Health and Human Services document titled "Jet Fuel Toxicity" which included in part a statement: "Most persons exposed to jet fuel appear to recover fully within several days after exposure is stopped." An immediate fuel dump might have been a marginal benefit, but they were pretty busy and not to be criticized.
@@dhill4001 I would guess it was too much to think about at the time. The needle he was threading was so thin already. Maintaining the ships attitude and bank so close to the ground, while contemplating where to land to minimize casualties and getting over terrain, was number objective number one. He said it himself. So maybe it wasn't until after they had some breathing room that they even considered dumping fuel, once they realized a landing back at the airport was possible. In hindsight he should have done it a lot sooner. And I don't think there would've been a major concern over dumping the fuel on a city, seeing as the alternative may have been crashing into it.
@ jmurray01 For the Boeing people who went to Greece to investigate the incident such thing just never happened! They thought the story was ficticious. In their archives, Boeing registered this plane as written off! And that's it!
@Budd Smokegood yeah, it's like the flight engineer was trying his hardest to being down the plane while the pilot was doing everything in his power to keep it from going down. Luckily the pilot was better then the engineer.
@Budd Smokegood In Greece, when you work in the public sector, you are never fired. If you have done any bullshit, either you are transferred to another department or you are sent to another service with an unfavorable transfer. But you never lose your salary.
There is a full documentary about this flight but only in Greek language without English subtitles. Even Boeing's executives disputed that this incident was true due to the fact that by all simulations made afterwards the plane crashed! It's unbelievable that there's no movie made for this miracle. Onassis amongst his multi talents he had the knowledge to choose the best Greek pilots!
@@firewindentertainment Unfortunately it was on a Greek tv channel, i saw it by chance when i search for something else and stay to watch it all. If this man was born in US or England or some other major country, his life will be made a movie for sure. It was in Greek anyway, if i find something relative i will post the link. I remember the name of the tv show, maybe the channel has an archive on line but in Greek as i said before.
@@nativeafroeurasian it was a documentary at the Greek Parliament Channel. The name was "Ελληνες Αειναυτες", sorry i can t translete it accurate for you.
Sorry, but I am literally shaking 44 years later as this made me re live this experience. We, as passengers, definitely knew something was very wrong as we flew closely over the tops of buildings in Athens. We heard the bang of the troubled engine and saw the smoke coming from it as well. There were several Greek priests traveling with us who began praying for us. We were all very scared. Some passengers crying, and some were very quiet. I looked into the eyes of the flight attendants and could see that they knew we were in serious trouble. I was also able to see how close we came to hitting the hilltop, and I remember seeing the fuel being dumped as it was being ejected from the tip of the wing on my side of the plane. This video really brought this memory back to life for me so many years later.
I lived next to the stadium close to Kallithea, where captain Migadis in his interview was saying that it was his first objective to bring the plane down, if they couldn’t make it. I was fortunate enough to be on holidays away from Athens with my family at that day, but it would’ve been devastated if would’ve happened, because buildings are in such close proximity to the stadium. We’re really proud in Greece for our airforce pilots being amongst the best in the world, and Olympic Airways used to hire experienced ex military pilots at the time, which was most likely a contributing role to the situation awareness of the crew along with obviously some luck in their misfortune that saved them. It would definitely make a good scenario for a movie, especially because when they tried to recreate the scenario in Boeing’s flight simulator multiple times, the plane was always kept crashing!
The videos of the captain being interviewed (in Greek) are just fascinating to watch. I have absolutely zero knowledge of how a plane works or anything, but his explanations are very concise in his interviews despite a bit of a struggle to try to simplify his obviously vast technical knowledge for those of us who know nothing. I flew on Olympic many times growing up, but most of those times were out of the current airport (Venizélos). I couldn't imagine being that low over the villages like this flight was. Athens has a lot of rocks. The pilot's rule-breaking that ended up saving lives is such a cultural truth for Greek identity and it's the least shocking part to me as a Greek. It was drilled in me from a really young age that my ancestors invented everything -- including the rules -- and thus having this sense of feeling "obligated" to make them better at all costs for the greater good...which includes breaking those rules with a "do now, ask questions later" attitude. He did something so culturally ingrained that I'm not sure how to better describe in English.
This would be a lot less dangerous if this flight departed from Venizelos, which is way in the suburbs outside Athens. Ellinikon was right in Athens and on the sea. Captain Migadis was a hero. I saw that interview too. The way he said "Egw allaksa ta 'procedures'!" was such a Greek attitude.
The captain should have got a award for his actions. If he would have been in the military at the time he probably would have got the distinguished flying award for his actions. It’s great when some people break the rules and it pays off. It doesn’t always work that way. Love this channel. Keep up the good work.
What an amazing feat. I was a teenager in Athens at that time, and i was reading every detail in the papers . in the interview that you graciously linked , the subs miss the point (5:02) that he clipped several home TV antenas(... "harvested" the tv antennas, they were gone...) of Athens apartment buildings in order to get help from the Ground Effect. Doing it by scraping rooftops has never been done, nor should be ever. I remember reading that the stunned Boing engineers had to update their data, and the event is tought in advanced pilot schools ever since. On his trips abroad, the other pilots and mechanics were recognizing Captain Migadis and saluting him at attention. The unbelievable fact is that after all this, he only wanted to hug his family, and returned to the airport that same evening, to fly another plane to NYC. Definitelly he was the Captain Sully of his days. I don't think Tom Hanks would mind playing that hero Captain also. After all, Tom Hanks is a Greek Citizen by Presidential Degree for the Philanthropic work and the Love he has for Hellas.
@@claudiaholmes8468 What is the disgusting reason? All I know is the press accounts that Tom Hanks was awarded Greek citizenship because of his funraising efforts for the victims of a deadly wildfire near Athens in 2018. Could you be thinking of some other actor?
I remember this,at the time,my family and I had returned to Greece from Pittsburgh, PA.I was twelve and lived in Piraeus, the port city of Athens. It was an incredible story with an incredible pilot that was confident and just loved what he did. Being s pilot was in his blood. A miracle Indeed. Greetings from Greece 🇬🇷
@@cosmaki1 Hello Cosmas. That is pretty cool. I moved back to the burgh in 1984 to study and finally returned to Greece again in 2001,before 9/11. Have been here ever since and would not change a thing. Take good care of yourself.
He was obviously flying right at the threshold of stalling and between the combination of his steady nerves, skills as a pilot and some luck he managed to keep it airborne in the initial climb.
What an amazing story and a true legend. He must of been terrified of what was happening and yet with his professional skills he was able to avoid a major disaster and was able to land the aircraft safely with no facilities.. A guardian Angel was definitely watching over him and passengers of this flight
Generally the best pilots (who get out of dire situations) are the ones that keep their cool in a crisis. It is something you have or do not have, cannot be taught. Although not a pilot, I am very much like that in a crisis, and reserve the 'panic' until the situation is over, and yes, I have been in a number of life and death situations. In this situation, he not only had that, but a great knowledge of aircraft handling (trading altitude for speed, calculated risks). Those risks paid off, but it was close to the wire. He is totally a hero. Also, if you want another hero pilot of similar skill and thought about ground casualties, then Scully 'Miracle on the Hudson', is another. There have been others who cared about ground casualties, but were not so fortunate with onboard casualties.
This is one of the most incredible stories you have ever told! Imagining what it must have felt like for that heroic crew to make it back to the airport after coming to terms with certain death made me emotional. Thank you for telling their story. Great work!
I think if I were a passenger and seeing us pass over the rooftops with only 9' to spare, I would have immediately thought, "Houston, we have a problem".
Can we just have a hand for the amazing plane! It practically broke the law of physics. 747 was my first jumbo and I've always felt very at home on these beautiful planes. Obviously huge props to the pilot, but the plane did more then it was designed for and got everyone home. Great story, not sure why this one isn't better known. Its pretty extraordinary.
I remember my grandpa Johnny (WWII Fighter Pilot - USNRET) called this a stellar example of seat-of-the-pants flying skill. Old pilots, bold pilots, no old, bold pilots.
Thanks for sharing this 747 tale. The 747 benefitted greatly by having a skilled aviator in the left seat that morning. He dealt with everything as it was thrown at him and used good common sense from years of flying to guide him. Absolutely concur on bringing up the gear early-the gear door cycle time isn’t that great and the trade off for a much cleaner aircraft made a significant amount of difference! Clearing a hill “by 9 feet” is better than hitting the ground 1 foot below the summit! One piece that I was expecting but didn’t see was the captain telling the FE to start dumping fuel almost immediately. Reducing the gross weight of the aircraft helps as it’s a variable in computing your stall speed. Also, if you have an impact, you have at least removed some of the potential fire-fuel. My buddy went on from the USAF (where we flew essentially 707-320Bs-E-3As) to fly 747 cargo aircraft. In his previous USAF life he had been an IP-instructor pilot. He had been in our simulator about a week to ten days with a crew that would soon be in the first fatal AWACS crash in Alaska, immediately after takeoff. Some similar circumstances, but only worse. During take off, just at V1 they suffered multiple engine failures from ingesting about 20 Canadian Snow Geese. Those birds took out the two right wing engines, #3 and 4. The had hostile rising terrain ahead of them, and a plane full of people (24 I recall) and a full fuel load with a gross weight of about 315,000 lbs. With significant asymmetrical thrust the aircraft commander had to be careful not to attempt to firewall the two left engines to make things even worse, despite putting in as much right rudder to counter the loss of 3&4. Having just been through a very similar practice scenario in the E-3 simulator a week earlier, he immediately ordered the FE to dump fuel. Sadly, despite dumping fuel, they were in a lose lose situation. They didn’t even attempt to retract the LG because the cycle time would have been too great. They also attempted to retract flaps a bit but the time to retract flaps was also too great. They were ultimately in the air less than a couple of minutes. I believe they went in inverted and lost everyone. Yet, despite all of this, the crew had performed admirably. They were loaded for bear, having just gone through the “multiple engine loss on takeoff with rising terrain” scenario. Months later Boeing put their “Golden Gloves” test pilot in our simulator and he could only keep the bird up maybe another 50-100 yards. EXPERIENCE. That’s what saved these pax and crew members. Clearly, a novice 747 pilot would have lost it within 100-200 yards of the departure end of the runway. He remained calm, and worked the problem. Despite multiple failures, he remained on the edge of the flight envelope. The loss of water injection was also a significant loss for him. The USAF used to fly KC-135 Stratotankers with water injected engines. They truly make a racket-probably rarely used over a city like that due to noise-abatement rules, but critical to this survival tale. And yet again, it was denied to him. I used to always describe aircraft accidents as analogous to the pins in a lock. If all pins retract, the lock opens. If only one holds, it remains locked. In aviation, one pin could be what keeps you in the air. Despite “pins” opening all around him, this guy managed to keep the lock from opening, and was no doubt one “pin” from a disaster. Clearly, this one goes in the books and should be shared with all heavy flyers! Thanks! (The captain should have gone on to Las Vegas and put everything he had on the table! This was clearly his luckiest day!)
given he was low over a populated area, dumping fuel would have very severely damaged the health of thousands of people, so, if he could instead crash into an unpopulated area that would have been the right call of the two... originally, as a good pilot, he aimed to fly outside of the city then crash, in this situation, your primary concern, is not to cause collateral damage.... this is the reason why so many large airports will have planes take off over the mountains or the sea... yes, you occasionally get disorientation/CIFIT related crashes, but then, if someone does crash, the ground death-toll is usually zero.
@@blackwidow8412 By the time they were over the water they already had positive lift. In such a case its better to try and get to nearest airfield since ditching is a dangerous procedure.
@@BuriBuster I do have great respect for the pilot but that positive lift was extremely difficult to obtain. He took a great deal of risks that had a happy ending. However, it could of had a different ending. So if he had crashed trying to make the turn....would it be smarter to lose the positive lift and purposefully land in the water?
Thank you !!! For not adding extra noise! And treating your audience with just a story, your voice, the words ... like a conversation! No dogs and ponies, bells and whistles, slapping smacking! Thank you!
These graphics are freaking ASTONISHING. I live in Athens and I am sure I've just been on a lowkey sightseeing flight watching this video. GREAT JOB as always.
Tolis Drums MSFS 2020 is fantastic. If you check out my earlier videos you will can see all inhabited Greek islands and many others, cities and mountains too. I'm a Greek from Australia so it's the easiest way for me to get familiar with the topography of Greece 👍
I flew the 747-100/‐200 for almost 11 years, and I have to say that this was a good bit of aviating by the Captain. All of my 747 flying was in cargo ops, so we were generally 150k-200k# heavier than passenger aircraft. Depending on weight, terrain, and atmospheric conditions, I would often brief my Flight Engineers to immediately jettison fuel if we lost an engine on takeoff, because immediately shedding weight could be the difference between flying or impacting the planet. I had crewmembers who balked at the idea of dumping fuel at low altitude, but I reminded them that jet fuel makes less of a mess than an aircraft hitting a populated area. I know it's wrong to second-guess a crew, but may have been helpful to jettison immediately after recognizing the engine failure and the associated performance degradation.
He was an ex HAF (Hellenic Air Force). And they would never do that. He would prefer to ditch it right outside Faliron bay, instead of spraying half the city with jet fuel. The sea was right at his left side. It is true the weather helped a lot. Young flyers are still tought about this example at the AF academy .
Wrong to second guess crew? Hardly, that’s command decisions by pilot in charge. Shows they more concerned about non life threatening issues than immediate life threatening issues. Hopefully you educated them so that they will not pilot themselves into the ground if and when they are in charge. Never mind the fact that if you issued an order during an emergency and they balked ? Decisive action in seconds saves the day, indecision and hesitation are saved for the grave. What would have happened had the copilot NOT raised the gear cause he didn’t agree with that course of action that the pilot in command had ordered? Probably would have been a video on the 3rd worst air Diaster.
What an amazing story. This captain showed his incredible expertise and knowledge of his 747 and saved every single person's life. Not just the 418 people on board, but everyone who would have been affected with a different result. There are immortals that walk among us sometimes and we need to acknowledge and hail their genius. So many people were allowed to simply get on with their day and have a story to tell at parties.
We did alcohol & water injection experiments along with combustion liner development in the 1980's. These were off the books as our test subject was part of an army contract. We managed to reduce max EGT from 1200°F to just over 800°F at full rated power. Let's just say that not all successful attempts are appreciated for whatever reason. Retired now & just looking back.
Certainly improved the aerodynamics so in turn increased lift with reduced engine power, wonder if he was related to sully ( miracle on the Hudson) he didn't do what the book said either (Airbus Quick Reference Handbook)
Galileo Chiu - The plane was so heavy because of the enormous size of the captain's balls. This is also why the airlines hired ex military pilots. The experience and decision making under stressful conditions can not be over estimated.
I think it showed a deep understanding of the system's tradeoffs, which can be more valuable than an emergency checklist. The checklist was made on the basis of "gear doors cause more drag", but the Captain here knew that "gear doors cause more drag *for a a short time* but having the gear up removes a lot *more* drag thereafter". He had enough of an altitude cushion at that particular instance to survive the short deficit, and the reduced drag would be more important thereafter. I'm reminded of Sully switching the APU on straight after he realised both engines had failed, because he knew that the electrical and hydraulic systems that powered the flight controls would otherwise be compromised; the checklist didn't have an APU item until quite near the end, which he didn't have time for. Also the 777 pilots at Heathrow who reduced the flaps one notch, enabling them to stretch the glide into the airport perimeter and clear of the motorway.
I shudder to think how different this could have turned out! All I know is that if I am on a plane in distress I would want that captain at the controls. He is a true hero saving all those lives. God bless him and them all.
Of greater concern is the fact that despite having 4 engines, the loss of 1 engine was almost enough to doom the plane. That's not why planes were designed to have 4 engines. The multiple engines are supposed to provide redundancy, so that you can afford to lose one and not crash. The fact that this plane can't climb at all with 3/4 engines working at full throttle (at sea level) is a design flaw which trades passenger safety for revenue. To people who will reply: Yes, planes are heavy, especially during takeoff. Yes, planes take off at 100% throttle to gain initial altitude. (You're not telling me anything I don't know.) My point is, planes shouldn't be made so heavy or so low on thrust that they REQUIRE ALL OF THEIR ENGINES TO WORK AT 100% power to take off... because of situations just like this. A properly designed plane should have enough power to take off at LESS THAN FULL POWER. The extra throttle should be OVERKILL and UNNECESSARY, used only for EMERGENCIES.
@@herbie747 Due to having undergone "some maintenance" the No.2 engine could only thrust to 94%, instead of 110% that is required at take off. Personally, I think claiming 110% is a silly calibration but I'm no engineer so... So, instead of having 3 engines at the full 4 engines at 110% ( re 440%) you know had the equivalent of 314%. Which is well under 72% of thrust. I do agree with your point but we're speaking of a time in aviation when they were hydraulic driven, no fly-by-wire systems, (still don't) and the biggest, fattest passenger aeroplane in the sky at the time. i.e. one nick name was Jumbo Jet because of her size but now she's 'The Queen of the Skies'.
@@annakeye Take Off power is 110% of maximum sustainable power. Staying at take off power for too long will damage the engines. Even some piston aircraft can be overdriven like this.
There are a few things to be said about this. As the person who is replying: In this case, the plane is heavy, but they aren't always heavy at takeoff. As a function of maximum takeoff weight, lots of flights (maybe not the majority, but still lots) takeoff well below their max takeoff weight (MTOW). No, planes do not take off at 100% throttle. They only do that when 1) windshear is reported on the climb out and/or 2) a combination of weight, runway length, and density altitude dictates that power. Most takeoffs are done with a "derate". On Boeings, these are indicated by "D-TOx" (x is a number) as well as an assumed temperature; on Airbuses, these are indicated by "FLX +xxC". Speaking of density altitude (DA)... the airport has a sea-level elevation, but airplanes don't perform based on elevation, they perform based on DA. High temperature and low pressure can cause the DA of an airport to rise far above its elevation relative to mean sea level (MSL). Density altitude is only equal to elevation at 29.92 inHg and 15 Celcius. Airplanes DO have enough power to take off at LESS THAN FULL POWER. The extra throttle (a "bump" on Boeings and simply "TOGA" on Airbuses) is used only when absolutely required. In fact, twin-engine airplanes can climb at MTOW on one engine. Let's not forget that in this case, performance-increasing functions were mistakenly switched off, AND we don't know if the damaged engine is causing significant extra drag.
@@annakeye 110% is not actually magically delivering more power. The scale of 100% is measured based on the initial findings of what RPM the spool is designed to run at. It's actually slightly inaccurate to describe the "110% N1" of the engine as "110% power" since thrust does not necessarily scale linearly between spool rotation speed and thrust output. In this case, if 100% is 10,000RPM, then a development of the engine rated at up to 110% will go up to 11,000RPM. The engine is still delivering only 100% thrust at full throttle, that doesn't change. It's only above 100% when measured against the FIRST version of that engine. Having an engine deliver less than full thrust is possible, but way more procedures are in place nowadays to account for engine performance changes, especially in these transport category aircrafts.
imagine clearing a mountain by just 9ft.. sitting in the cockpit looking at the mountain fast approaching. Would be a great netflix doc/movie for sure ..
One of our aircraft hit about 15 feet BELOW the crest of a mountain. Killed everyone onboard of course. We still recall that one. You miss a mountain top by 9 feet and the word doesn’t quite spread the same amount.
Yeah, there's no way the pilots could have known for sure they'd clear that. I admire that they kept flying, it must have seemed to all of them that they were more than likely going to crash
Besides his own skills, the captain seems to have had a whole lot of luck with the weather, which fortunately outweighed his bad luck with the flight engineer's mistakes. If that favourable wind hadn't been there, if the temperature had been different... Amazing that he managed to get the plane back down on the ground safely.
@@alltunedj1234 You're right. I figured you mean "dumping." Fuel & Dumplings might turn out to be a favorite lunch in tourist class...we eat anything back there!
Regarding being lucky with the weather, in short yes and no but mostly no. This near accident happened at a very hot August day in the old Ellinikon airport (a hot area by itself) at noon time. If I recall correctly it was +37 - +38oC. It was inevitable that sea would bring some coolness at this low altitude but his precarious position was due to the very hot weather to begin with.
@@billolsen4360 Economy class you mean? :) Edit: Maybe humans can consume fuel and dumplings. Lol... Ethanol is a fuel (not what jet airplanes use, but can be consumed by humans in the form of wine/beer/champagne). BTW, in the future, jet fuel manufacturers may potentially be able to convert the molecular structure (deoxygenated alcohol) of ethanol into jet fuel. It is called alcohol-to-jet fuel (ATJ).
What an absolutely amazing story and outcome. The Captain is a real live saver and hero. So thankful it all worked out. This could be a great movie for sure. 👨✈️✈️🙏❤️
Not really for new pilots. In the vast majority of incidents, the correct action is to follow the checklists. Deviating from established emergency procedures requires experience know when it is needed and even then, is still probably going to end a pilots career. Definitely not something to teach in flight school.
In an emergency there are no rules except fight to live. Experience and nerves of steel saved the day there. He did what he knew. Fly the plane until she stops moving, and in that saved his passengers and crew. Godspeed Captain!
FLY THE PLANE UNTIL IT STOPS MOVING! Got that right. Today's fly by wire and glass cockpits has generated more crashes of all types (by percentage) since pilots are not constantly using stick and rudder skills! The reason Sully and other older flight crew have made miraculous saves is because they fly the plane first...not turning knobs and pushing buttons. Aviation - Navigate - Comm7nicate !!! And the Boeing Maxx disaster is one even worse example of trying to computerize safety at the expense of training ( and retaining!) excellent pilots!
I am in awe of this captain and flight crew. Thinking and planning and thinking again in the moment...making the constant adjustments to understand the conditions. And believing in your experience. Everything aligned. A beautiful and terrifying story.
This was a great story that I dont think that Ive ever heard before, thank you. 747s have a lot of lift at lower speed, so this probably helped out a bit. Between that and the pilot and crew making fast decisions and flying by the seat of their pants, saved that plane.
Bob, every time I come across this pilot’s interview on Greek tv, I watch it over again. I’ve just about memorized it, lol. The guy’s comments, you can tell, are so full of, what I call “sidewalk experience”, street smarts, if you will. He knew the aircraft and managed it perfectly.
Flew from FrankfurtAM to Korfu to Athens on 707 Olympic Airways. At night, you could not feel any change of direction on the flight. Smoothest pilot/flight have ever experienced.
What an incredible story! I'd never heard this before. The old Athens airport was so embedded in the city that it's a miracle we avoided deaths on the ground.
Reminds me of the old Mexico City airport. A huge disaster waiting to happen with civilization all around the perimeter. The last time I flew in and out of there the new international airport was under construction south of Mexico City.
Okay but what's up about that flight engineer that kept making mistakes? First it was the alcohol and then it was the water. Like literally causing the problems? What happened to him afterwards? Kudos to the captain, that was an amazing feat and immensely incredible 👏
Netflix or Aircrash Investigations: I would love to have say, a Christmas Special on "Not a crash: Lucky near misses!" Nice to see the stories that DIDN'T make a headline because of people dying, but still has all the fascinating information on pilot skills and mechanical information!
A Continental Airlines flight, Gatwick-Washington, DC, Feb 1, 1988, experienced a similar near-tragedy. They lost not one but TWO engines at and shortly after liftoff. According to my colleague who was the first officer (copilot) on the ill-fated flight, the only thing that saved them from crashing was the quick thinking reactions of the second officer (flight engineer) who immediately pushed all the throttles forward to max thrust, and IMMEDIATELY commenced max effort fuel dumping. As gross weight was gradually reduced by fuel jettisoning, the crew managed to eventually climb to 4,000 feet where they ran the applicable checklists, briefed the air return to Gatwick, and made an otherwise "normal" approach and landing with two malfunctioning engines operating at idle thrust. This takes nothing away from the Olympic Airways captain's skill, but the Continental crew was faced arguably with a worse emergency situation, and saved hundreds of lives both in the plane and on the ground.
It shows what good training does and how there are many solutions to various problems as long as everyone keeps calm. If just one of the flight crew started going omg OMG they're more likely to have died. Keep calm and save a life. 😁
@@iHelpSolveIt also the area around Gatwick has open field spaces to dump fuel immediately, not so over densely populated Athens. Different terrain and temperature conditions in relation to lift as well. Certainly another challenging situation, similar but not the same conditions for an exact comparison.
Greek pilots are among the best in the world. Greek Combat pilots are rated 3rd in the world. Nothing surprises me about them and their incredible abilities.
A great story and an absolute amazing pilot. One that uses his head and his experience. The fact he was a former military pilot didn't hurt either. The type of pilot that knows when to break the rules responsibly. Sometimes the people that write the rule books are good at their jobs is not the pilot that may crash. Those people on that flight didn't know how lucky they were to have that pilot in the cockpit. The military teaches all of us keep a clear head in a disciplined manner and remember your training. Great Job.
The most miraculous of all crash prevention miracles to me is the Gimly Glider case, where an Air Canada pilot who went fuel-dry for ground fueling miscalculation (metric vs. imperial units confusion), landed his silent gliding heavy twin-engine on the runway of a deserted military air base he once served at as a RCAF pilot. Reportedly scaring the hell out of two runway-riding BMX teens and their parents who used the area for weekend outings.
@@ivailotzonev4073 the glider maneuver using the wing as an air brake is crazy. Apparently the airframe on a 747 is so sturdy that during test flights for investors test pilots would perform aerobatic maneuvers
The flight engineer pulled a lot of weight too, managing to get the remaining engines optimized too! Amazing story, could have ended so horribly but it didnt. Imagine if the weight of luggage or passengers had been just a bit more, or if that sea breeze hadn't come... Woe
As an aviation history buff, I can't believe i've never heard of this incident! We used to fly Olympic 707's, then 747's from JFK Airport, NY to Athens, GR in the 70's, since my father was originally from Hellas, and we were living in the NYC area then. This pilot has my utmost respect for rising to the occasion in such a professional manner!
@@that90skid72 Great experience! Those Olympic flights 'back in the day' were top notch, with great service and shorter flight times to Athens (and back) than now. The 707's were significantly faster than today's more fuel efficient jets (777-ER for example).
@@AudiophileTubes Glad to hear that! I do remember they used to be quite good an airline till 1990s. But afterwards, it was the beginning of the end. When I flew with them a few years before they went bust, it was appalling...old unrefurbished planes, terrible crew...it was painful sight.
Former military pilots are the best. They have extreme confidence and command skills that many commercial pilots don’t. It seems this situation was further complicated by the first officers confusion over the control settings to the disabled engine. Still, all of the crew should be commended for reversing such a challenging situation. The flight attendants kept their cool and had a reassuring effect on the passengers. Thanks to all.
Under stress, in an emergency situation, never question the intuition of an experienced person. If you do so, you might not even have the moment left to regret it.
As it has been said “any landing you can walk away from, is a good one”…..or for us helicopter guys we “keep the shiny side up”! For the sake of the captains decision to either crash for sure, his electing trim with the time and performance he was working with paid off. He was thinking ahead, and calculating his risk, not having much else to work with. He needed speed to live and found a way to get it. Another may fly how they elect, but his efforts kept everyone alive in the face of a rather compounding situation. I learned from flying helicopters, in an engine out situation, it’s autorotation wether you like what you see below you or not. Extending your glide can be everything in some cases…so I get the concept of configuring a clean aircraft. Brother had hope and confidence in aeronautics….I say good job captain, and we fly on!
That captain is a true Aviator. Using knowledge on the spot instead of rulebooks. Some people sometimes make good calculared decisions in split seconds. This guy knew what he was doing. Or trying to do. Knowledge and training combined make all the difference...
![Twenty One Pilots - “The Line” (from Arcane Season 2) [Official Music Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/E2Rj2gQAyPA/mqdefault.jpg)
I was on this flight. I remember looking out the window and seeing the tops of buildings. I was very young and more thrilled instead of scared. The captain and crew pulled off a true miracle. 💯💯💯❤️
Wow we have a survivor who commented
bro that’s cap
I can easily find you on the flight manifest archive :)
@@jlockwood65 People are just so cruel.
People can only see their own ceiling I belive you sir
Fully expecting to die but having the presence of mind to try to prevent others' deaths instead of freaking out is very heroic.
As NovusMaximus has commented - most Greek pilots are ex-military. Military pilots are taught to keep clam in a crisis and to get a stricken plane away from populated areas - even if (on a military plane) it means they are unable to eject.
This is a pilot thing in general… not really a military thing, you fight with the plane until the very last second and do everything possible to minimise all kinds of damage regardless of a military background
It's a difference in mentality, like the previous replies have said.
But it's not exclusive to pilots- anyone can develop and enforce that mentality, and you see it in EMTs and other emergency workers as well if they're even halfway competent.
First, diagnose the situation.
Second, formulate a plan.
Third, enact the plan.
Only _then_ once everyone is safe and the situation rectified do you hyperventilate into a lil paper baggie and unpack the fact that someone and/or everyone almost died.
@@bradeast8021
M
Piloting 101 - Never give up and try anything/everything that could/might work, because it just might. Those who "give up" are statistically a hugely significant component of fatalities/injuries.
If Sully got a movie, I’d say this guy deserves one too!
He deserves more than a movie, Aviation’s highest award would be more appropriate
ruclips.net/video/f9YzsO_ZPGI/видео.html
It won't happen, that's because the captain isn't 'American'. Sad but true...
I agree
This guy definitely need a movie as he was in constant trauma and obstacles were neverending whilst sully has no other options but to ditch palne in the river.
He didn't fight the jumbo jet, he taught it how to fly while injured. A true superhero! Hats off to that man!
Well said.
As a former pilot this man has got my admiration: in a desperate situation, a pilot flying more with his head than with procedures. Hats off.
This is something pilots from flight SR 111 should have learned...as good as they were
@@that90skid72 Yes, that's exactly what I had in mind when writting this comment. The SW111 situation was so serious that they might have failed to land safely anyway but who knows? Instead, going through procedures, endless check-lists and wasting time dumping fuel sadly doomed them for sure
The Swissair 111 suffered from defunct cables from the entertainment system. Also the insulation material itself was flammable which was removed from all planes after this crash. Whatever they did, they run out of time before landing in halifax. After the crash 20 crews were given a try in the simulator and all of them crashed. There just wasn’t enough time unfortunately.
@@slennie Yes, I agree. That's why I said that they might not have succeeded in landing safely since the situation was so serious that this flight was probably doomed from the begining.
However, what I wanted to highlight was a little different: they didn't even try, they followed the procedures. In this particular case, whatever they would have done, they would probably have crashed anyway but, at least they would have tried something, at least skiping the fuel dumping ...
@@patolt1628 Quite so. Especially given how long SR checklists were
Another fun(?) fact: As the captain admitted, on his return to land, he did not dump all the required fuel, because he felt it would be too much of a waste. So he landed with more fuel than permitted. What a guy.
Honestly, one thing had already gone wrong. I figure him keeping fuel was more of a tactical choice than a business decision. More options is always better than less
In case the PIC did that (= overweight landing by purpose) than he did not chose wise...... = in other words: he traded monney against monney....... / Reason: = overweight landings request heavy inspections (= that costs a lot !)
With the possible airframe damage, weight, balance etc that was a big hairy sack of guess/hope lol..
@@Grimpy970 that’s kind of hard to believe because admitting that could result in serious disciplinary action for him. Do you have a link to a reference for this? If this happened I’m truly surprised
@@Duckduckobtusegoose
hey, I didn't claim that he kept the fuel. I just imagine that if the first commenter is right, he probably would have kept the fuel for a different reason than cost savings.
I have no source because I never made any historical claims lol. Ask the guy I was responding to, he might know. I mean, he established it as fact based off of a quote apparently? I didn't bother to verify it, I just thought his given reasoning sounded.. unlikely to put it kindly.
One of the very best captains. Understanding aviation and its rules (and the reasons for those rules) to the point when you can confidently and justifiably break them is the highest level of competence in my opinion.
I can't agree more sir!
Truth with all rules and laws. That's the exact reason why companies break laws all the time
Thanks
Thank God that was not a DEI hire !!
😊
“Rules are for the guidance of wise men and the obedience of fools”
-Captain Sir Douglas Bader. (2/21/1910-9/5/1982) RIP.
A brave man indeed...🇿🇦
True wisdom from a man who became an ace in the Battle of Britain...with 2 artificial legs!
Barrder was NOT a good guy
Later in the war he became a POW when his plane crashed and his artificial legs were damaged. The Germans contacted the British and it was allowed that a plane could fly over German territory and replacement legs could be parachuted down and delivered to Douglas Bader.
@@OneKindWord according to “reach for the sky (his biography)” the British refused the offer and dropped the legs on a normal bombing raid
Almost all of Greek commercial pilots come from the Airforce. They are extremely well trained with fighter jets, have been in real dogfights and learn how to keep their cool in very challenging situations. This captain's training and skill saved lives. I was living in Greece at the time, this incident was all over the news.
Military pilots excel in challenging situations. Air Force pilots are put through the ringer just to qualify. As you know, every day in the cockpit can be a myriad of different problems to undo. In combat, multiply that to the tenth power.
@@tommytwogloves16 except some countries pilots actually get live combat training
Many countries do this .
What real dogfights have they been in lmao
@@dstarboi9965 In the first 6 months of 2022 there have been 111 "dogfights" over the Aegean sea according to Greek Airforce data.
I assume there is no use of ammunition, but all the other aspects of fighting are present.
Boeing couldn't believe that the captain had managed to avoid stalling this fully- loaded aircraft, despite the unbelievable speed it maintained due to the emergency! The captain remains a legend at Boeing!!!
I worked there 35 years and never hear of him
@@jerrybrown6169 Olympic flight almost crashed
@@jerrybrown6169 Sir, unless you were flight crew at Boeing, you wouldn't have heard of Captain Megadis who saved 418 passengers from disaster
@@jerrybrown6169 I'm sure they now include it in the pre-employment orientation videos. Along with the HISTORY OF BOEING.
@@cmendoza1094 sarcastic reply indeed, Sir.
If you are or were flight crew at Boeing, you would be fully aware of the potential disaster that awaited that crew and passengers on that flight. The captain miraculously managed control of the fully-loaded NY bound 747 at a dangerous 2 knots below the flight manual stated stalling speed, and at a very low height. Flying a Boeing 747 fully- loaded at high OAT and two engines at low or minimal thrust and no water- injection, is a recipe for disaster.
Read the full story before jumping to conclusions or better still, speak to qualified flight personnel at Boeing familiar with this event. Otherwise, stick to telling jokes at your local pub or bar with persons of similar education lebels.
Leave facts to those who know the facts, and nonsense talk to idiots. Respect for all pilots who save their crew and passengers regardless of creed race and culture. This is the respect predominant in the aviation world then and now.
A procedure can be broken, but the laws of physics don't. Risky but logical, cold mind, very focused. Amazing pilot and crew.
Haha, I often say, "You may be able to break the laws of man and get away, but if you try to break the laws of physics you WILL be punished."
@@Cautionary_Tale_Harris yeah
Olympic air back in the day had the " habit " of hiring mostly ex military combat pilots 😉
@@Cautionary_Tale_Harris
"We'll just bend them a little..."
The universe showing einstein light refraction.
Albert Einstein broke the 1905 laws of physics. Or, rewrote them, at least.
Even in such a grim circumstance he thought about the lives on the ground. If his plane was gonna go down he didn’t want anyone else to become a casualty. But he was able to save everyone, what an absolute legend.
God helped keep that plane in the air. Bless all.
@@sharoncassell9358 God had nothing to do with anything here or elsewhere, only this captain's amazing skills could have saved them.
@@sharoncassell9358 agree Thank God first and his amazing skills too
@@Panagiotis_P You can thank God all you want, God didn't have the pilot go extensive training with incredible dedication and motivation to gain this level of skill so he could save all these people, it was him alone
What most people might not know is that the same captain, at 18:00 of the same day, took off for NY with the alternative 747 that was prepared for the trip. No week off, no stress relieve, nothing. The guy kissed his daughters hi, and flew out again. All simulations executed by Boeing, based on recorded data, failed to reproduce the landing. For the manufacturer, this is one in a lifetime "stretching the laws of physics" example.
Just unbelievable! Some men are born with wings.
You know you'll survive crashing in a simulator, it's a lot different when your own life as well as passengers and aircrew are going to be lost. This pilot really pulled off something incredible, he took risks and they worked. He knew what he was doing.
Could be a function of imperfect simulation. It was 1978, after all. The modern flight simulator being used to generate the graphics for this video seems to have no problems reproducing the flight.
Reminds me of UA 232. Simulations after the crash all resulted in crashes far from the airport.
Balls of Steel and a Wicked Moustache to boot!
I live in Kallithea, Athens and I remember hearing the roar of that 747 as it was skimming our rooftops. I was eight years old back then. Had that plane crashed full of fuel for a transatlantic flight in such a densely populated area like Kallithea the death toll would probably be much higher than that of the Tenerife disaster. I probably owe my life to Cpt. Migadis as many of middle aged or older inhabitants of Kallithea.
You're lucky. I always wanted to witness something like this. Is that wrong?
I have a recurring dream where I'm witnessing a plane crash. There's often amazing futuristic aircraft and spaceships. One time I saw the space shuttle. 😍
@@TheEgg185 I am not qualified to answer this.
@@TheEgg185 I witnessed the TAM crash in Congonhas Airport, isn't a site to see. It's awfull, never goes way, the schock and the feel of impotence. Terrible, just terrible. The fire, the chaos, and the certainty that every single soul on board and in the ground are dead.
@@YasminCarli Congonhas ?
@@Vortex__24 TAM Airlines Flight 3054 (JJ3054/TAM3054) was a regularly scheduled domestic passenger flight from Porto Alegre to São Paulo, in Brazil. Congonhas (CGH) it's the main airport inside the city, the city took over the airport with all the expansions over the years and it's a very bad place for landing if anything goes wrong.
He did what Sully did in NY : he flew the plane and relied on his experience. He retracted the gear to reduce drag on the long term while Sully switches the APU earlier than told by the procedure. And again a former military pilot with extensive experience in taking split second decisions... and the copilot is also to be commended as he trusted his captain and did retract the gear...
I flew to Hellenikon in 1990 with Alitalia (as a passenger, I was 19 at the time) and remember the approach from the sea was tricky in poor weather (had a storm at sea and we nearly got rerouted to Heraklion, but landed at the third attempt - the turbulence were dreadfull and we all applauded the pilot when he landed the Douglas super-80 let me tell you...) What this captain did is simply amazing ; and the whole crew professional behaviour, keeping quiet and working with the captain was a huge factor in saving the jet and its passengers. Should definitely be a movie made on this story... perhaps another role for Tom Hanks ?
I agree with every word you’ve said there. The only problem with a movie is the flight was so short, it might be difficult to make it last long enough.
@@moiraatkinson well the miracle on the hudson lasted even less... themovie can also show the investigation and why the engine blew up... as well as why the captain had so few power to fly the jet... a guy like Tom Hanks could make it work with a good script as base...
Miracle on the Hudson had the additional drama of landing in the water. Additionally they lost all power.
Mr Sainte, thanks for sharing your Ellinikon landing story 👍
@@ericsainte290 Did it really last an even shorter time? Either way, if you think it’ll make a good movie, I’m not going to argue, as I know zilch about movie making. Maybe it would. I think Miracle on the Hudson was more dramatic, with passengers who were more scared,
Water to steam expansion is roughly 700: 1 by volume. Add in the rich fuel mixture and alcohol injection to thin out the JP1 fuel which is basically kerosene. That's how you get to the 110% power output. The first officer that shut off both the water and alcohol injection came closer to killing everyone than the loss of one engine. I hope that the pilot recommended additional training for him...
I do not see how that can happen. Presumably the switch is marked "off" and "on", and operates in a particular direction. Presumably they use it relatively frequently, so are familiar.
I would love to know how this happened.
@@Rapscallion2009 maybe was on a similar plane before so got confused what way
no a mistake like this should end in a complete suspension of the engineer from flying for atleast 3 years and to be fired from the airline, this wasn't a lack of training issue he knows how the system works, he had that training at time, this was and issue of environmental awareness, this could be caused by stress, lack of sleep, alcohol abuse while off duty, age and overall health, the guy needs to undergo extensive evaluation before even considering letting him fly again and after all that if they certify him again let him fly cargo.
Was not the first officer that shut off the water- injection. This was the fault of the flight engineer who was seated exactly behind him with his own panel
@@lcfflc3887 Yours is a typical comment demanding stiff punishment for mistakes in the airline industry. This is totally misguided, as it would create a culture of fear where nobody would own up to any mistakes and it would ultimately cause more accidents. Luckily, the consensus view in the airline industry is more intelligent than your simple mind, that's why the industry embraces an open culture where mistakes can be admitted and others can learn from them.
As a former pilot, this pilot flew a giant aircraft, like a bush pilot, showed incredible knowledge of how to fly this aircraft, not to mention his fearless balls of brass! KUDUS, Bob There are some pilots who are just good!
I hear exactly what you are saying and 'Mind over what really Matters' is what this man displayed. I wonder if that bumbling Flight Engineer still had his job after all was said and done.
Those where probably carbide, or some titanium alloy balls made from the bits of engine number 3.
The narrator says that the pilot was heading for the mountains in order to crash there. This baffles me. Why wouldn't he consider attempting a sea 'landing'. Any ideas?
@@irukandjedi I will look at it again. Bob
As a light aircraft pilot, this pilot KNEW HOW TO FLY! He milked every ounce of lift out of that aircraft! There is so much technical about this episode, it would take pages to describe it! I don't know where to begin! First he kept his cool in the worst possible scenerio. Low power on takeoff! This has killed many a pilot! Make no mistake, it is NOT the landing that is dangerous, you can pull that off with NO engines! It is the take off! If that goes bad, you can kiss your ass goodbye! We call it LOW and SLOW!, and it is a death sentence! His mission, knowing he was probably going to crash, and kill everyone aboard, including himself, was to get out of a populated area. That is what true pilots do! Instead he got a series of breaks which allowed him to keep the aircraft in the air! As for a water landing this plane has engines under the wings. If he hits the slightest wave, the engine will dig in, it will cartwheel at roughly 150-160 mph. and the plane will be torn apart. Many will die on impact and the rest drown! Again, KUDUS to this pilot. If I had been on that plane, I would send him a gift every year for the rest of my life! Bob I hope that answers some questions.
There was a documentary on Greek National TV a few years back about this miracle. 90% of Olympic pilots were ex-military. Olympic has never had a crash in all its history, and was considered as the very top worldwide in aircraft maintenance. And this was years before the crash in New York that became a movie!
00000
Olympic actually had several accidents in its history with the latest at Samos on the 3rd of August 1989. There is a misconception regarding its accident history
Olympic has had a few accidents over the years. Unfortunately our proud Greek friends and family frequently repeat this myth.
Olympic airways had 7 fatal accidents, first one in 1949 and the last one in 1989. An exceptionally good safety record I would say.
In those air crashes small aircraft were involved and they were mostly domestic flights. The worst accident had 90 deaths. It was in 1969 and the plane was a Douglas DC-6
This seems to be the case of a pilot with lots of experience and confidence, managing to keep his head in the game rather than succumbing to panic. The fact that the captain thought they were doomed and simply wanted to keep the plane in flight long enough to maneuver away from a populous area, may have helped bring on a calm that allowed him heightened awareness and ability to reason. There was obviously no time for reviewing procedure in the manual.
Ex military pilot...no wonder he saved the day.
It looks like he took it one quick step at a time and every step the captain made was a step forward to where he needed the plane to be out of immediate catastrophic failure.
Horrible circumstances led to the engine blowing up and extraordinary circumstances led to the plane landing safely.
Something doesn't make sense as the 747 should have had no real trouble gaining altitude on three engines even if one of the 3 was slightly degraded.
@@MrPLC999 150 ton of fuel and 400 people really? A pilot your not!
@@MrPLC999 To be fair I was thinking “there must be something else to this” because there are four engines and only one was damaged. If a normal plane can fly on one then a 747 should be able to fly with three. I’m probably going to have to go watch the Mentour Pilot version as he’s actually really good at teaching.
No doubt fuel load and passenger numbers plus the low height made things worse but airliners don’t use full power when taking off. Even with three engines he should have been able to do a TOGA thrust to gain more power even if it doesn’t last long. But then again an engine doesn’t just explode and not damage anything else around it. Wings have a lot of stuff in them. Various flaps, hydraulics and whatnot plus fuel lines to the engines. A full on explosion would probably damage at least some of that.
Then again fuel enrichment was mentioned. If the wrong sort or mix of fuel was being used then I suppose it could have rendered the other three weaker than they should have been, then yeah the struggle to get any kind of proper height or speed would make sense. Lol, no I’m neither pilot nor engineer so I’m guessing based on this video and a few aviation videos.
One thing I've heard is that the flight can owe its success in part to Athens' flat roofs. Had the roofs been terraced, the slight reduction in ground effect could've very well made the difference and caused the 747 to stall out over the city.
Also the passengers not being obese
@@p3rp351 But they were americans
@@Nxtn the ones who travels are skinny, the fat ones never go abroad
@@waNErBOY lmao I love this thread. 😂
This is prob a good example to show the people that complain about how much weight they can take in their bags.
Finally! Our cardboard box-shaped buildings proved useful somewhere
The flight engineer seemed to have made a lot of mistakes, first to cause the situation and then to worsen it. Thank God for the Captain!
Human factors and the truth isn’t always out there. I suspect there’s more to this but the fact being , in the end they all survived.
That’s a fact.
The captain needs the thanks not made up sky people from 2000 year old fiction! God didn’t save anyone and never has because there is no reason to believe a god exists at all. Thank the real hero’s not the fictional ones.
@dlblair god has saved billions of people. You just cant see anything passed your own ignorance. Noone is taking away from what this pilot did.
@dlblair fyi I'm not religious. I just have studied history and religion and even today god is saving more people than ever. Drug addiction is rampant and healing addicts are in church. God has saved billions of people from darkness and given them the strength they needed to save other people. Given this pilot us from greece im guessing he wouldnt agree with your comment either. They are very religious there and rely on god to help them everywhere.
@@Benji-jj2bg the concept of god may help people in irrelevant situations but in this situation the pilot saved the lives and the pilot is a real thing and not a concept. A concept may help a drug addict but a concept will never land an airplane. Even if the pilot is religious I doubt he credits god and not himself. Demonstrate the existence of god then he can take credit for things. We might as well thank Harry Potter.
It seems like the flight engineer was a bit of the jerk. First, he messed up the water injection of Engine 3 on ground which overheated it, and then messed the alcohol enrichment when in the air which costed performance the aircraft desperately needed. Basically, he inadvertendly was doing everything he could to put down the plane and its the Captain's excellnce that he fought off such adversities to save lifes.
Agreed but some blame must fall on the panel designer too. It should be blatantly obvious to even a child if a switch is on or off.
Also, it shouldn't be forgotten that the flight engineer did manage to optimise the engines enough for them to return.
@tom billiard Not copilot. Flight engineer. At that time, cockipts have 3 crew members: Pilot, copilot, and flight engineer.
@tom billiard
Sir,
Somehow they saved the lives.congrats
@@charmio - nope, that's his one job on that plane - to know exactly how every single switch, dial and knob on that panel works, regardless of how logical it appears to you and me. He needs to have it memorized to a point where he can perform his actions in his sleep. You don't entrust hundreds of lives to someone who isn't proficient at their job.
Yeah...the Flight Engineers performance was about as dumb as a bag of fucking hammers....J/S.🙄🤯
The job he did is just amazing. How come this is the first time I've heard of that? Captain Migadis deserves so much more recognition!
This captain should be celebrated and decorated with medals for saving sooo many lives while keeping them calm and not causing panic,also thinking of others on the ground under that pressure,amazing empathy and conscientiousness. Should be a film and he should be internationally recognised for the impact one honourable man can have. Salutations to this angel at the cockpit.❤❤❤
Water/methanol is injected into the core engine of a turbo fan. It cools the air entering the engine through evaporation thereby increasing the air’s density. The denser air entering the combustion chamber is sensed by the fuel control unit which matches it by increasing the amount of fuel to be combusted. The fuel/air ratio stays the same but the increased fuel and denser air produce more energy, driving both high pressure and low pressure turbines faster. This, in turn, drives the fan faster, producing more thrust. The effect of the water injection is to cool the air entering the engine. Cooler air entering the combustion chamber results in a lower turbine inlet temperature so the power can be increased without increasing turbine temperature too much. The methanol mixed with the water served only as an anti-freeze. No modern engines need or use water injection anymore. Advances in material technology have negated the need for such systems, which were not particularly good at increasing power and susceptible to misuse. They were common, however, in the sixties and early seventies.
Well you live and learn, I never knew any of this, great thanks.
Great expansion, only I don't get that part of the first line that says 'the core engine of a turbo fan'?
@@harrickvharrick3957 - Turbofan engines have two airflow paths (which is usually not evident from just looking at the front of the engine. There is the bypass air, which actually accounts for most of the thrust. This air only passes through the fan, and then into a bypass duct around the engine - none of it is used in combustion. The there is the core airflow, which passes through the fan, then into the core of the engine. Exact design details vary from engine to engine, but this air typically passes through a low pressure compressor section, then a high pressure compressor, and then into the combustion chamber, then through the high and low pressure turbines, then into the exhaust stream where it recombines with the bypass flow. It is this core flow which the water injection was added to, for the reasons Mr. Land expounded upon.
Here’s a decent graphic depicting this I found in a quick search:
3.bp.blogspot.com/_5B0lBO413L8/SWmK24H0CnI/AAAAAAAAABc/SMfzPZU_cl8/w1200-h630-p-k-no-nu/Cfm56-3-turbofan.jpeg
Yeah, if you want to see an example, B-52s scrambling would use it to get off the air a bit faster. Minimum Interval Takeoff (MITO) videos are a great place to look for what those systems look like in action.
@@harrickvharrick3957 the core is that part of the engine that is not the fan and fan duct. The air enters the front of the engine; 75% of it goes through the fan and straight out the back. The other 25% goes through the core.
Wow, he was in several catch 22's yet managed to both fly and land it safely. What a greatly skilled pilot.
The apt buildings in Greece have antennas on the rooftops. This captain was flying at 55 meters off the ground , barely missing these antennas. Just picturing this gives me the shivers…
Great and interesting story .No , I think they were lucky to have that pilot that day,but I do not think they would have made it to where they were going .I think he is a hero and probably was sweating bullets without engines functioning properly.
"Rules are made for the guidance of wise men, and the obedience of fools". He knew the checklist order wouldn't help in his situation, so adapted as appropriate. That is very different from thinking he knew better than to follow the checklist (which has brought some aircraft down).
One pilot from SerbiaAir had his engine lost over Zürich just couple of min. after takeoff, he did not followed procedure and landed back not calling for emergency with one engine only...the smart asses from Swiss Air safety wrote he did not followed the procedure and rules of checklist...fuck that he landed so smootly not even passengers knew what happened.
@@The_Touring_Jedi An engine failure warrants notifying of an emergency: ground services and other aircraft need to know. That would have been irresponsibly ignoring of the checklists. With a single engine failire there is time to react appropriately and minimise risk. Any idea of the date/flight number?
@@The_Touring_Jedi violation of rules that are in the safety of others is a different beast from realising they need alternative methods in dealing with the situation.
For instance if the engine was on fire and the captain didn't notice then it would have been a serious disaster for everyone on the ground, there's a reason why quick response firetruck teams are always on standby; or that he might accidentally cause an airspace intrusion and lead to collisions if he was unlucky
While managing to control the plane is commendable, this is different from making sure your actions don't lead to risking others unnecessarily
All about context
does that include keeping the flaps full open? I mean after takeoff that is the biggest drag on the aircraft preventing airspeed and gain of altitude....sure it allows for more lift at lower speeds but in this case he truly wasn't out of the woods until he retracted the flaps...that was the real issue. Raising the gear was the first smart thing he did, the doors opening and closing are not that big of a deal, it happens so fast and immediately reduces the largest drag to lift issue he was having, no argument there. He should have retracted the flaps in increments after that to gain airspeed and altitude.
It's so great to see a pilot calmly and intelligently make key decisions quickly to avert a crash, so many of these accidents are frustrating to see because of poor choices by the pilots, you never know how your pilot will react to high pressure emergency situations. Great video. TY
This pilot is an aviation legend... there were a few moves that if not made exactly at that time, they all would of died, he literally had a few moves that saved the entire plane even though they were unorthodox... a natural great aviator. God bless this Pilot.
Would of died?
So, him being Greek, you could say he was an... unorthodox Orthodox pilot?
🫥
Two feebleminded sheep believing in their imaginary friends.
@@seventhflatfivewe use that word,when we do something diferent than the protocol
For those intrested about the case , there is a interview with the pilot in 1994 ( watch?v=f9YzsO_ZPGI - fortunately there are subtitles for non-greek speakers ) - amongst other thing the pilot said that he reached an altitude of max 250 feet but against all odds he put the nose down in order to order to ease the pressure - he knew that the plane was ready to stall and wanted to gain some momentum and take use of the ground effect , keep in mind while heading straight to mount Egaleo ( approx 1500 ft) . Flight recoder showed the lowest at about 157 feet flying over a city full buildings - where the airplane almost touched the antennas of surrounding rooftoops . Both pilot and copilot knew they had minimal chances of survival , after the successfull landing the copilot Fikardos told Pilot Migadis that when he saw approaching the mount Egaleo and they were not gaining alltitude his tought was "dont be afraid - die like a man "
No wonder the, didn't gain altitude fast enough. His massive balls of steel were weighing the plane down.
This is insane, can't believe I've never heard of this. NINE feet of clearance. It really does feel like a movie scene
If someone made a 100% accurate movie of this, critics would watch it and say it's such overblown move hype. I heard someone actually said so of Apollo 13, that their survival was pure Hollywood fantasy.
if the captain hadn't retracted the landing gear, there wouldn't have been those nine feet. This jet and 400 lives would have been history.
@@adotintheshark4848 Possibly, but it probably wouldn't have been nine feet if the gear was down. Raising the gear temporarily increased drag, then reduced it, he was gambling that raising it would be a net benefit, but it's hard to know for sure. So either he wouldn't have cleared at all (regardless of the gear itself hitting) or would have cleared by more. I'm guessing he was right, raising the gear was a net benefit.
@@quillmaurer6563 I see your point. I'm going to say too, his decision was correct. The passengers thinking the plane was on a "sightseeing" trip got me too!
Athens almost turned to Hiroshima
This is the kind of captain I want when I fly.
His quick thinking and experience saved everyone onboard this flight!
Sometimes they have to break the rules to save lives!
God Bless this courageous Captain. Thank God everyone survived! ❤️ XO
Bless Jesus for such humans HalleluYAH
I was a kid back then, living in Athens Greece. I can still remember the noise coming from this low flying 747. Of course then, we had no idea of the drama taking place on the air.
the drama in the air was due to a inefficient use of aerodynamics in recovering the aircraft to a flyable status where it can climb as advertised.
I could never live in direct distance of an airport... It's simply a miracle, that there is happening as rare incidents there are.
@@Daemonarch2k6 I live 1.8 miles (
Every cockpit needs a Migadis or Sully onboard at all times. This is a clear example of experience trumping protocols, and when its all on the line, why it is acceptable for a pilot to toss the book and rely on their years of experience. As the OP said, some of the decisions Migadis was making were with just a few seconds of time to decide. Not even the best speed reader could have scanned the manual for anything that could have been a better call than those made by the air crew.
Don't leave out Al Haynes, the hero of United 232 with the engine blowout which killed all hydraulic lines. His intuition in the first moments of that event kept everyone alive and provide insight on how to maneuver a crippled plane with no standard flight controls. And there was no book to toss out on that one. It was inconceivable that it could happen and never given any thought further.
@@bridgefin I was with our local Emergency Management Office when Flight 232 crashed. The incident was was much more than just the skill of Al Haynes, his co-pilot and the flight engineer. It also involved the skill and very careful emergency preparedness of the Emergency Services community in and around Sioux City, Iowa (where the plane attempted to land). Al and the crew were lucky to have an official test/check pilot on board who took control of the throttles for the engines, which were the only method they had to turn or to change elevation. That being said, the flight track was put up for other pilots, and none were able to get anywhere near the air field during the simulations. The disaster was even memorialized in a made for TV movie titled "A Thousand Heroes."
@@DarianCaplinger
You: The incident was was much more than just the skill of Al Haynes, his co-pilot and the flight engineer.
Me: Thank you for your service on that very trying day. And thanks to all of the emergency people on the scene to deal with the horror and hope.
Long before the plane arrived in Sioux City, before Denny went up to hep in the cockpit, before the stewardesses did their heroic jobs, Al Haynes had a plane in his hands which was rolling over to the left out of control with no controls available. In that situation it noses over and descends at high speed straight down to destruction. It's all over at that point except that Al does something never taught...he gives the right engine full thrust as he retards in on the left engine. That asymmetrical thrust brings the plane back to somewhat level flight and provides the answer to having some level of control until the end of the flight. If Al didn't do that they are all dead within the minute.
BTW a friend of mine was on the flight and was regarded as a hero saving a number of lives. He took me the the memorial for Al Haynes when he died a few years ago. Have you read Lawrence Gonzales book on the flight (United 232). Very enlightening about all aspects of the accident and subsequent recovery.
@@bridgefin Two things to respond to here. 1) I haven't heard of the book, but I'll take a gander to find it! Thank you very much for letting me know it's out there. 2) I think I came across much differently than I meant to. I live in Missouri, and was with Emergency Management in our local community in Missouri, not in Sioux City, Iowa, as my misspelling of the name Sioux should indicate. I was part of the team who developed two air crash drills at our national airport in Springfield. We actually used some of the details from the crash report post-Sioux City when we drafted the initial scenarios for them.
I won't disagree at all that in the few seconds after the blowout which took out all 3 hydraulic fluid systems, Al's response saved many lives that day. He insisted on a flight path which would take him away from the city itself, to spare deaths on the ground. A very selfless act, in the middle of chaos. It was a miracle the crash had any survivors, let alone as many as there were. He was, without any doubt, a true hero that day.
@@DarianCaplinger
You will enjoy the book. Right after the plane "arrives" at the airport with a summersault and a ball of fire some rescue guys are driving around the perimeter of the airport. They see some civilians walking around and yell at them "What are you doing here? "Where did you come from." They can't comprehend their answer that they just came off that plane. Wasn't everybody killed in that crash? Of course we saw it with our eyes.
My "favorite" part of the event has Al talking to the tower who tells him that he can pick whatever runway he wants. What must be running through Al's mind is that he is in a barely controllable aircraft which has to try a landing at a far higher speed than recommended or designed for (no flaps, speed brake). This is not going to be an uneventful landing and he is likely to be among the first killed. But do your best that as many as possible survive. In the midst of that life stopping reality Al's answer is "You want me to put it on a runway too?" At some level he would have expected that he is dead within two minutes and yet he gives an answer which has to put a smile and a tiny bit of relief on everybody's heart. My hero.
At Al's memorial Sully gave a talk and mentioned how he had spent a good deal of time studying Al's event. I met Sully afterward and told him that he and Al were my here pilots. Grace under pressure. And nothing different from what you rescue guys do when saving us or just picking up the pieces. Thanks to all of you. And read the book!!
I agree. Sully isn't the only remarkable pilot out there. A series on miracle pilots would be a hot ticket!
I agree. You can't make a feature film over this one terrifying incident. But a series of them could work.
Aloha Airlines flight 243 is another excellent pilot and should be featured in a movie.
I agree what about the British airways pilot that 4 engines stop because of volcano ash or the the Qantas pilot with blown up engine on a 380 out of Singapore and there must be many others
Shame he doesn't do military flights. An Israeli pilot brought his fighter back with a wing missing!
You rather mean the two Sullys? There are actually two Sullys saving a whole aircraft out of an awful situation
This senario was one of the BOAC simulator excercises (back in 1971) except two engines were failed on the same side. The first order the Captain had had to give was pull the fuel dump bar. The programming had the a/c at max TOW and at max temperature (45C ? it was a long time ago). As the co-pilot, I had to have both feet on the one rudder to take the strain of that from the Captain after getting airborne. Even in the simulator it is an interesting exercise.
Here is a link to an interview of the pilot for a Greek program on the incident (with English subtitles): ruclips.net/video/f9YzsO_ZPGI/видео.html Boeing considered it impossible to save the plane under these conditions and changed certain flight procedures as a result. An amazing story of a 1970s Greek version of Sully Sullenberger.
Sullenburger's story is a version of Captain Migadis, there have been many 'sully' events in aviation and elsewhere, it's just that the US version got more attention and a film made.
video no longer available.
Video unavailable :(
Boo to the corrupt copyright system.
Jet engines are limited by their internal temperature when running. If you keep adding fuel you get more power, but the thing gets hotter which can cause bits to melt. Adding the water methanol mix lowers the temp, so you can chuck in more fuel without melting anything and get some more power from your engine safely.
yeah, that's what the P-47s have, and that those water methanol mix gave them the boost when needed to
@@isaaclao2380 In piston engines the water meth is there to stop detonation. That's when the mixture explodes instead of burning.
@@SimonWallwork but still its for performance, while different mechanics, still does the same thing
@@isaaclao2380 You are right about that.
Good God!! Wish I had half the knowledge you guys have...👍
I had goosebumps as I watched this. This captain earned the gratitude and blessings of not only the 417 other people on the flight, but also those of their loved ones and many others besides. A true hero, and largely unsung one at that 🙏🏽🙏🏽💕💕
The captain used his experience & tremendous initiative just like Sully Sullenberger did when he put his plane in the Hudson well bloody done to this amazing Captain & crew.
I watched the interview with the pilot. He kept the plane aloft even though they were at stall speed. He said the flight data recorder showed even slower at 158. I can’t imagine how that plane stayed airborne. Everyone heard of the miracle on the Hudson, this is also a miracle that no one knew about
Even a greater miracle! Imagine the passengers were unaware of what happened and walked out. The ‘Hudson’ incident would have left me with PTSD.
Ground effect. If you fly low enough, you compress air below you against the ground. The compressed air has nowhere to go so it pushes back up on you. Hence, you can fly below stall speed.
Apparently, the plane did NOT get that memo on stall speed!
Wow this captain is a Master of his craft. No time to review his procedure. Of course No pointing the plane nose into the sky but just keep flying the big Bird long enough with whatever he had. The no more mistakes from there on kept the big Bird in the sky long enough to turn around to land again. Yes he lives again to tell his story. Great Job .. Captain.
@@adamp.3739
Ground effect is only really effective below half a wingspan over terrain.
That’s about 125’ on a 747.
And the pilot had buildings to deal with.
The pilots who make miraculous “saves” like this are, often, glider and or military pilots.
The only pilots who are really experienced in flying close to the ground.
And of course glider pilots have plenty of experience with all engines out.
An amazing story. Hopefully, whatever caused the flight engineer to make those two critical mistakes was discovered and corrected. One of your better stories, thank you!
I was looking for this comment,,turned off two things thinking he was turning them on,,they needed the power too..
That flight engineer counteracted the pilot's commands which tells me he panicked. He shouldn't be in that seat unless placed under a strict retraining regiment and scrutinized closely before allowing him, if ever, to fly again.
Did the flight engineer not know ON from OFF - 2 critical errors he made.
Correction for something like this would be termination. Some people just aren't meant to do certain things. But that's ok, there are plenty of other jobs to be had in this world.
@@SupernovaSpence agreed. However, that reality goes to why employers whose people are responsible for the lives of others must do a far better job vetting their people before putting them into the job.
Having worked on B747 for 35 years and being licenced on them since 1980, I can safely say that no B747 was ever fitted with alcohol injection. Some early P&W JT9D engines could use water injection for 'hot and high' operations. Switching on the water pumps provided extra mass flow and cooling to allow the fuel flow to be reset higher, giving more thrust but keeping EGT within limits. Switching the pumps off could only be done for both i/b or both o/b engines, but not for any single engine. Loss of water pressure should cause the fuel flow to reset to the lower setting. Overboosting would occur if the fuel flow did not automatically reset. If the water injection (electric) pumps were switched off while the engines were at high power and all engines reset except #3, that could cause #3 to overboost with excessive EGT which could easily cause a catastrophic failure. If later the F/E realised his error and switched the water pumps on again, that would give them the extra thrust that got them out of the poo.
thank you for you comment. You're right about it. I believe the f/e noticed the #2 degraded engine readings during the runway roll and switched off the inboard pumps to save that engine. #3 didn't reset, overboosted and blew its guts out. He the proceeded to shut off the outboard pumps to save #1 and 4. Realising they needed the power he then proceeded to turn them all on.
I understand the narration here may not have accurately described the incident timeline, but why did the pilot wait so long to begin dumping fuel? It seems an intercontinental flight would have lots of fuel to spare when it was revising to a 'return to field.'
@@dhill4001 at the altitude they was at, they would shower people with a toxic jet-fuel (over a city), the altitude wasn't big enough for the jetfuel to vaporize. and since he had somewhat control, and the time needed to dump fuel, it's not something that is done in 10 seconds. it's better for them to focus getting out of the city first
@@heuhen Granted, jet fuel is somewhat toxic and I don't know what the resultant concentration on the ground would be. I expect that would depend on some complicated combination of speed, rate of discharge and altitude. However every ton of fuel dumped would be a ton of lift margin in a situation where a stall would almost inevitably result in death for all souls on board. I did readily find a Health and Human Services document titled "Jet Fuel Toxicity" which included in part a statement: "Most persons exposed to jet fuel appear to recover fully within several days after exposure is stopped." An immediate fuel dump might have been a marginal benefit, but they were pretty busy and not to be criticized.
@@dhill4001 I would guess it was too much to think about at the time. The needle he was threading was so thin already. Maintaining the ships attitude and bank so close to the ground, while contemplating where to land to minimize casualties and getting over terrain, was number objective number one. He said it himself. So maybe it wasn't until after they had some breathing room that they even considered dumping fuel, once they realized a landing back at the airport was possible.
In hindsight he should have done it a lot sooner. And I don't think there would've been a major concern over dumping the fuel on a city, seeing as the alternative may have been crashing into it.
My grandma was included in this incident, she was watching television until the sound of roaring engines where heard 20 feet high.
Hardly "included"
I hadn't heard of this one before, that truly was some superb skills by the captain.
@ jmurray01 For the Boeing people who went to Greece to investigate the incident such thing just never happened! They thought the story was ficticious. In their archives, Boeing registered this plane as written off! And that's it!
@Budd Smokegood yeah, it's like the flight engineer was trying his hardest to being down the plane while the pilot was doing everything in his power to keep it from going down. Luckily the pilot was better then the engineer.
@Budd Smokegood In Greece, when you work in the public sector, you are never fired. If you have done any bullshit, either you are transferred to another department or you are sent to another service with an unfavorable transfer. But you never lose your salary.
@Budd Smokegood ok babe very good
There is a full documentary about this flight but only in Greek language without English subtitles. Even Boeing's executives disputed that this incident was true due to the fact that by all simulations made afterwards the plane crashed! It's unbelievable that there's no movie made for this miracle. Onassis amongst his multi talents he had the knowledge to choose the best Greek pilots!
as we know now boeing doesn't know squat about airplanes.
Is the ground effect accounted for in the simulations?
The Hudson River landing from 2009 in simulations had the same fate - it crashed, yet in real time everyone made it out alive
@@daciefusjones8128 Boeing acquired most of its institutional incompetence after it bought McDonnell Douglas.
Ι saw recently an interview of the pilot. Was like a bio-doc because this guy had a incredible life. He was a WW II veteran and so many other things.
Got a link for that? I'd love to see it!
@@firewindentertainment Unfortunately it was on a Greek tv channel, i saw it by chance when i search for something else and stay to watch it all. If this man was born in US or England or some other major country, his life will be made a movie for sure. It was in Greek anyway, if i find something relative i will post the link. I remember the name of the tv show, maybe the channel has an archive on line but in Greek as i said before.
@@xaros738 what's the name of channel or show?
@@nativeafroeurasian it was a documentary at the Greek Parliament Channel. The name was "Ελληνες Αειναυτες", sorry i can t translete it accurate for you.
@@xaros738 ah thanks! Isn't the translation "Greek aeronautics"?
Sorry, but I am literally shaking 44 years later as this made me re live this experience. We, as passengers, definitely knew something was very wrong as we flew closely over the tops of buildings in Athens. We heard the bang of the troubled engine and saw the smoke coming from it as well. There were several Greek priests traveling with us who began praying for us. We were all very scared. Some passengers crying, and some were very quiet. I looked into the eyes of the flight attendants and could see that they knew we were in serious trouble. I was also able to see how close we came to hitting the hilltop, and I remember seeing the fuel being dumped as it was being ejected from the tip of the wing on my side of the plane.
This video really brought this memory back to life for me so many years later.
The power of prayer was no doubt a factor here
@@onthisrock1970 🙂 it wasn't our time
@@onthisrock1970No, it had absolutely no effect.
I lived next to the stadium close to Kallithea, where captain Migadis in his interview was saying that it was his first objective to bring the plane down, if they couldn’t make it. I was fortunate enough to be on holidays away from Athens with my family at that day, but it would’ve been devastated if would’ve happened, because buildings are in such close proximity to the stadium. We’re really proud in Greece for our airforce pilots being amongst the best in the world, and Olympic Airways used to hire experienced ex military pilots at the time, which was most likely a contributing role to the situation awareness of the crew along with obviously some luck in their misfortune that saved them. It would definitely make a good scenario for a movie, especially because when they tried to recreate the scenario in Boeing’s flight simulator multiple times, the plane was always kept crashing!
The videos of the captain being interviewed (in Greek) are just fascinating to watch. I have absolutely zero knowledge of how a plane works or anything, but his explanations are very concise in his interviews despite a bit of a struggle to try to simplify his obviously vast technical knowledge for those of us who know nothing. I flew on Olympic many times growing up, but most of those times were out of the current airport (Venizélos). I couldn't imagine being that low over the villages like this flight was. Athens has a lot of rocks.
The pilot's rule-breaking that ended up saving lives is such a cultural truth for Greek identity and it's the least shocking part to me as a Greek. It was drilled in me from a really young age that my ancestors invented everything -- including the rules -- and thus having this sense of feeling "obligated" to make them better at all costs for the greater good...which includes breaking those rules with a "do now, ask questions later" attitude. He did something so culturally ingrained that I'm not sure how to better describe in English.
And yet, Greece still has capitalism.
This would be a lot less dangerous if this flight departed from Venizelos, which is way in the suburbs outside Athens. Ellinikon was right in Athens and on the sea. Captain Migadis was a hero. I saw that interview too. The way he said "Egw allaksa ta 'procedures'!" was such a Greek attitude.
This is so interesting. I didn't know that about Greek national character. Thanks for the info.
@@thewhitefalcon8539 So what?
The captain should have got a award for his actions. If he would have been in the military at the time he probably would have got the distinguished flying award for his actions. It’s great when some people break the rules and it pays off. It doesn’t always work that way. Love this channel. Keep up the good work.
That was one skilled, gutsy pilot. Thank gods for him and the rest of the crew.
Except the flight engineer who almost killed them all
Thank you for covering this! This Captain is a legend.
What an amazing feat. I was a teenager in Athens at that time, and i was reading every detail in the papers . in the interview that you graciously linked , the subs miss the point (5:02) that he clipped several home TV antenas(... "harvested" the tv antennas, they were gone...) of Athens apartment buildings in order to get help from the Ground Effect. Doing it by scraping rooftops has never been done, nor should be ever.
I remember reading that the stunned Boing engineers had to update their data, and the event is tought in advanced pilot schools ever since. On his trips abroad, the other pilots and mechanics were recognizing Captain Migadis and saluting him at attention. The unbelievable fact is that after all this, he only wanted to hug his family, and returned to the airport that same evening, to fly another plane to NYC.
Definitelly he was the Captain Sully of his days. I don't think Tom Hanks would mind playing that hero Captain also. After all, Tom Hanks is a Greek Citizen by Presidential Degree for the Philanthropic work and the Love he has for Hellas.
Tom Hanks became a citizen of Greece for a disgusting reason. I will never watch any of his movies ever again.
Hollywood is full of sick monsters..😑
@@claudiaholmes8468 What is the disgusting reason? All I know is the press accounts that Tom Hanks was awarded Greek citizenship because of his funraising efforts for the victims of a deadly wildfire near Athens in 2018. Could you be thinking of some other actor?
I remember this,at the time,my family and I had returned to Greece from Pittsburgh, PA.I was twelve and lived in Piraeus, the port city of Athens. It was an incredible story with an incredible pilot that was confident and just loved what he did. Being s pilot was in his blood. A miracle Indeed. Greetings from Greece 🇬🇷
That's crazy, my family also had .over from Pittsburgh to Greece around that same time. I was 11
@@cosmaki1 Hello Cosmas. That is pretty cool. I moved back to the burgh in 1984 to study and finally returned to Greece again in 2001,before 9/11. Have been here ever since and would not change a thing. Take good care of yourself.
He was obviously flying right at the threshold of stalling and between the combination of his steady nerves, skills as a pilot and some luck he managed to keep it airborne in the initial climb.
What an amazing story and a true legend. He must of been terrified of what was happening and yet with his professional skills he was able to avoid a major disaster and was able to land the aircraft safely with no facilities.. A guardian Angel was definitely watching over him
and passengers of this flight
ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL.
You mean...fatalities?
@@DavidMcCoyII eh I understood, but maybe he meant the souls who shat their pants 😅.
Bh7hij
Generally the best pilots (who get out of dire situations) are the ones that keep their cool in a crisis. It is something you have or do not have, cannot be taught. Although not a pilot, I am very much like that in a crisis, and reserve the 'panic' until the situation is over, and yes, I have been in a number of life and death situations.
In this situation, he not only had that, but a great knowledge of aircraft handling (trading altitude for speed, calculated risks). Those risks paid off, but it was close to the wire.
He is totally a hero.
Also, if you want another hero pilot of similar skill and thought about ground casualties, then Scully 'Miracle on the Hudson', is another. There have been others who cared about ground casualties, but were not so fortunate with onboard casualties.
This is one of the most incredible stories you have ever told! Imagining what it must have felt like for that heroic crew to make it back to the airport after coming to terms with certain death made me emotional.
Thank you for telling their story. Great work!
I think if I were a passenger and seeing us pass over the rooftops with only 9' to spare, I would have immediately thought, "Houston, we have a problem".
Can we just have a hand for the amazing plane! It practically broke the law of physics. 747 was my first jumbo and I've always felt very at home on these beautiful planes. Obviously huge props to the pilot, but the plane did more then it was designed for and got everyone home. Great story, not sure why this one isn't better known. Its pretty extraordinary.
I remember my grandpa Johnny (WWII Fighter Pilot - USNRET) called this a stellar example of seat-of-the-pants flying skill. Old pilots, bold pilots, no old, bold pilots.
Thanks for sharing this 747 tale. The 747 benefitted greatly by having a skilled aviator in the left seat that morning. He dealt with everything as it was thrown at him and used good common sense from years of flying to guide him. Absolutely concur on bringing up the gear early-the gear door cycle time isn’t that great and the trade off for a much cleaner aircraft made a significant amount of difference! Clearing a hill “by 9 feet” is better than hitting the ground 1 foot below the summit! One piece that I was expecting but didn’t see was the captain telling the FE to start dumping fuel almost immediately. Reducing the gross weight of the aircraft helps as it’s a variable in computing your stall speed. Also, if you have an impact, you have at least removed some of the potential fire-fuel. My buddy went on from the USAF (where we flew essentially 707-320Bs-E-3As) to fly 747 cargo aircraft. In his previous USAF life he had been an IP-instructor pilot. He had been in our simulator about a week to ten days with a crew that would soon be in the first fatal AWACS crash in Alaska, immediately after takeoff. Some similar circumstances, but only worse. During take off, just at V1 they suffered multiple engine failures from ingesting about 20 Canadian Snow Geese. Those birds took out the two right wing engines, #3 and 4. The had hostile rising terrain ahead of them, and a plane full of people (24 I recall) and a full fuel load with a gross weight of about 315,000 lbs. With significant asymmetrical thrust the aircraft commander had to be careful not to attempt to firewall the two left engines to make things even worse, despite putting in as much right rudder to counter the loss of 3&4. Having just been through a very similar practice scenario in the E-3 simulator a week earlier, he immediately ordered the FE to dump fuel. Sadly, despite dumping fuel, they were in a lose lose situation. They didn’t even attempt to retract the LG because the cycle time would have been too great. They also attempted to retract flaps a bit but the time to retract flaps was also too great. They were ultimately in the air less than a couple of minutes. I believe they went in inverted and lost everyone. Yet, despite all of this, the crew had performed admirably. They were loaded for bear, having just gone through the “multiple engine loss on takeoff with rising terrain” scenario. Months later Boeing put their “Golden Gloves” test pilot in our simulator and he could only keep the bird up maybe another 50-100 yards. EXPERIENCE. That’s what saved these pax and crew members. Clearly, a novice 747 pilot would have lost it within 100-200 yards of the departure end of the runway. He remained calm, and worked the problem. Despite multiple failures, he remained on the edge of the flight envelope. The loss of water injection was also a significant loss for him. The USAF used to fly KC-135 Stratotankers with water injected engines. They truly make a racket-probably rarely used over a city like that due to noise-abatement rules, but critical to this survival tale. And yet again, it was denied to him. I used to always describe aircraft accidents as analogous to the pins in a lock. If all pins retract, the lock opens. If only one holds, it remains locked. In aviation, one pin could be what keeps you in the air. Despite “pins” opening all around him, this guy managed to keep the lock from opening, and was no doubt one “pin” from a disaster. Clearly, this one goes in the books and should be shared with all heavy flyers! Thanks! (The captain should have gone on to Las Vegas and put everything he had on the table! This was clearly his luckiest day!)
Plus the drag increases at higher airspeeds so maybe best to get it up early while the cost is cheaper.
given he was low over a populated area, dumping fuel would have very severely damaged the health of thousands of people, so, if he could instead crash into an unpopulated area that would have been the right call of the two... originally, as a good pilot, he aimed to fly outside of the city then crash,
in this situation, your primary concern, is not to cause collateral damage.... this is the reason why so many large airports will have planes take off over the mountains or the sea... yes, you occasionally get disorientation/CIFIT related crashes, but then, if someone does crash, the ground death-toll is usually zero.
Considering the gear takes up the majority of their 9’ clearance to the mountain/hill they crossed, I don’t think they were making it past it…
Could you imagine being outside on that hill when the jet flew overhead?
@@JohnS916 I can only hear ringing!
I thought for sure he was going to ditch it in the water. This pilot is absolutely brilliant! Much respect.
@@blackwidow8412 By the time they were over the water they already had positive lift. In such a case its better to try and get to nearest airfield since ditching is a dangerous procedure.
@@BuriBuster I do have great respect for the pilot but that positive lift was extremely difficult to obtain. He took a great deal of risks that had a happy ending. However, it could of had a different ending. So if he had crashed trying to make the turn....would it be smarter to lose the positive lift and purposefully land in the water?
The 747 is the most beautiful plane in the world, and this captain is clearly an super-hero!
Concord
Thank you !!! For not adding extra noise! And treating your audience with just a story, your voice, the words ... like a conversation! No dogs and ponies, bells and whistles, slapping smacking! Thank you!
These graphics are freaking ASTONISHING. I live in Athens and I am sure I've just been on a lowkey sightseeing flight watching this video. GREAT JOB as always.
FS2020 does look pretty good with everything cranked up to Ultra. Hell I run it on Medium settings and it still looks pretty decent.
Tolis Drums MSFS 2020 is fantastic. If you check out my earlier videos you will can see all inhabited Greek islands and many others, cities and mountains too. I'm a Greek from Australia so it's the easiest way for me to get familiar with the topography of Greece 👍
Wow, a truly heroic crew, obviously not their time to die, great piloting skills
✈ 💜 ✈
I flew the 747-100/‐200 for almost 11 years, and I have to say that this was a good bit of aviating by the Captain. All of my 747 flying was in cargo ops, so we were generally 150k-200k# heavier than passenger aircraft.
Depending on weight, terrain, and atmospheric conditions, I would often brief my Flight Engineers to immediately jettison fuel if we lost an engine on takeoff, because immediately shedding weight could be the difference between flying or impacting the planet. I had crewmembers who balked at the idea of dumping fuel at low altitude, but I reminded them that jet fuel makes less of a mess than an aircraft hitting a populated area.
I know it's wrong to second-guess a crew, but may have been helpful to jettison immediately after recognizing the engine failure and the associated performance degradation.
He was an ex HAF (Hellenic Air Force). And they would never do that. He would prefer to ditch it right outside Faliron bay, instead of spraying half the city with jet fuel. The sea was right at his left side. It is true the weather helped a lot. Young flyers are still tought about this example at the AF academy .
Hitting the planet...🤣...question : back then did they have simulators for these jets ? Or was it all in flight ?
Wrong to second guess crew? Hardly, that’s command decisions by pilot in charge. Shows they more concerned about non life threatening issues than immediate life threatening issues. Hopefully you educated them so that they will not pilot themselves into the ground if and when they are in charge. Never mind the fact that if you issued an order during an emergency and they balked ? Decisive action in seconds saves the day, indecision and hesitation are saved for the grave. What would have happened had the copilot NOT raised the gear cause he didn’t agree with that course of action that the pilot in command had ordered? Probably would have been a video on the 3rd worst air Diaster.
RESPECT!!!!
@@gulthepilot there were simulators even in the golden age of the 707, although not as sophisticated as today.
What an amazing story. This captain showed his incredible expertise and knowledge of his 747 and saved every single person's life. Not just the 418 people on board, but everyone who would have been affected with a different result. There are immortals that walk among us sometimes and we need to acknowledge and hail their genius. So many people were allowed to simply get on with their day and have a story to tell at parties.
We did alcohol & water injection experiments along with combustion liner development in the 1980's. These were off the books as our test subject was part of an army contract. We managed to reduce max EGT from 1200°F to just over 800°F at full rated power.
Let's just say that not all successful attempts are appreciated for whatever reason. Retired now & just looking back.
Retracting the gear was a good call, I don't think they would have made it if they did not retract the gear.
Certainly improved the aerodynamics so in turn increased lift with reduced engine power, wonder if he was related to sully ( miracle on the Hudson) he didn't do what the book said either (Airbus Quick Reference Handbook)
Thats what i do in EXTREME LANDINGS EXTREME CHALLENGES game😂😂😂
Galileo Chiu - The plane was so heavy because of the enormous size of the captain's balls. This is also why the airlines hired ex military pilots. The experience and decision making under stressful conditions can not be over estimated.
I think it showed a deep understanding of the system's tradeoffs, which can be more valuable than an emergency checklist. The checklist was made on the basis of "gear doors cause more drag", but the Captain here knew that "gear doors cause more drag *for a a short time* but having the gear up removes a lot *more* drag thereafter". He had enough of an altitude cushion at that particular instance to survive the short deficit, and the reduced drag would be more important thereafter.
I'm reminded of Sully switching the APU on straight after he realised both engines had failed, because he knew that the electrical and hydraulic systems that powered the flight controls would otherwise be compromised; the checklist didn't have an APU item until quite near the end, which he didn't have time for. Also the 777 pilots at Heathrow who reduced the flaps one notch, enabling them to stretch the glide into the airport perimeter and clear of the motorway.
Did he dump fuel? I would have thought that would be procedure given fully laden to help airspeed
Experience, cold blood, clear mind, emotions off, a good dose of intuition and a massive dose of good luck. Well done, Captain. 👍🏼💪🏼
I shudder to think how different this could have turned out! All I know is that if I am on a plane in distress I would want that captain at the controls. He is a true hero saving all those lives. God bless him and them all.
Of greater concern is the fact that despite having 4 engines, the loss of 1 engine was almost enough to doom the plane. That's not why planes were designed to have 4 engines. The multiple engines are supposed to provide redundancy, so that you can afford to lose one and not crash. The fact that this plane can't climb at all with 3/4 engines working at full throttle (at sea level) is a design flaw which trades passenger safety for revenue.
To people who will reply:
Yes, planes are heavy, especially during takeoff.
Yes, planes take off at 100% throttle to gain initial altitude. (You're not telling me anything I don't know.)
My point is, planes shouldn't be made so heavy or so low on thrust that they REQUIRE ALL OF THEIR ENGINES TO WORK AT 100% power to take off... because of situations just like this. A properly designed plane should have enough power to take off at LESS THAN FULL POWER. The extra throttle should be OVERKILL and UNNECESSARY, used only for EMERGENCIES.
That was also my thought. Why couldn't they climb with 3 engines on full throttle? Terrible design flaw.
@@herbie747
Due to having undergone "some maintenance" the No.2 engine could only thrust to 94%, instead of 110% that is required at take off. Personally, I think claiming 110% is a silly calibration but I'm no engineer so... So, instead of having 3 engines at the full 4 engines at 110% ( re 440%) you know had the equivalent of 314%. Which is well under 72% of
thrust. I do agree with your point but we're speaking of a time in aviation when they were hydraulic driven, no fly-by-wire systems, (still don't) and the biggest, fattest passenger
aeroplane in the sky at the time. i.e. one nick name was Jumbo Jet because of her size but now she's 'The Queen of the Skies'.
@@annakeye Take Off power is 110% of maximum sustainable power. Staying at take off power for too long will damage the engines. Even some piston aircraft can be overdriven like this.
There are a few things to be said about this. As the person who is replying:
In this case, the plane is heavy, but they aren't always heavy at takeoff. As a function of maximum takeoff weight, lots of flights (maybe not the majority, but still lots) takeoff well below their max takeoff weight (MTOW).
No, planes do not take off at 100% throttle. They only do that when 1) windshear is reported on the climb out and/or 2) a combination of weight, runway length, and density altitude dictates that power. Most takeoffs are done with a "derate". On Boeings, these are indicated by "D-TOx" (x is a number) as well as an assumed temperature; on Airbuses, these are indicated by "FLX +xxC".
Speaking of density altitude (DA)... the airport has a sea-level elevation, but airplanes don't perform based on elevation, they perform based on DA. High temperature and low pressure can cause the DA of an airport to rise far above its elevation relative to mean sea level (MSL). Density altitude is only equal to elevation at 29.92 inHg and 15 Celcius.
Airplanes DO have enough power to take off at LESS THAN FULL POWER. The extra throttle (a "bump" on Boeings and simply "TOGA" on Airbuses) is used only when absolutely required. In fact, twin-engine airplanes can climb at MTOW on one engine. Let's not forget that in this case, performance-increasing functions were mistakenly switched off, AND we don't know if the damaged engine is causing significant extra drag.
@@annakeye 110% is not actually magically delivering more power. The scale of 100% is measured based on the initial findings of what RPM the spool is designed to run at. It's actually slightly inaccurate to describe the "110% N1" of the engine as "110% power" since thrust does not necessarily scale linearly between spool rotation speed and thrust output. In this case, if 100% is 10,000RPM, then a development of the engine rated at up to 110% will go up to 11,000RPM. The engine is still delivering only 100% thrust at full throttle, that doesn't change. It's only above 100% when measured against the FIRST version of that engine.
Having an engine deliver less than full thrust is possible, but way more procedures are in place nowadays to account for engine performance changes, especially in these transport category aircrafts.
imagine clearing a mountain by just 9ft.. sitting in the cockpit looking at the mountain fast approaching. Would be a great netflix doc/movie for sure ..
One of our aircraft hit about 15 feet BELOW the crest of a mountain. Killed everyone onboard of course. We still recall that one. You miss a mountain top by 9 feet and the word doesn’t quite spread the same amount.
Yeah, there's no way the pilots could have known for sure they'd clear that. I admire that they kept flying, it must have seemed to all of them that they were more than likely going to crash
Holy crap. A tall guy could have reached up and touched it.
Besides his own skills, the captain seems to have had a whole lot of luck with the weather, which fortunately outweighed his bad luck with the flight engineer's mistakes. If that favourable wind hadn't been there, if the temperature had been different...
Amazing that he managed to get the plane back down on the ground safely.
If the passengers knew the circumstances they were unaware of, I think many of them would have kissed the tarmac upon returning to the airport.
Dumpling that fuel when able definitely helps! Great job!
@@alltunedj1234 You're right. I figured you mean "dumping." Fuel & Dumplings might turn out to be a favorite lunch in tourist class...we eat anything back there!
Regarding being lucky with the weather, in short yes and no but mostly no. This near accident happened at a very hot August day in the old Ellinikon airport (a hot area by itself) at noon time. If I recall correctly it was +37 - +38oC. It was inevitable that sea would bring some coolness at this low altitude but his precarious position was due to the very hot weather to begin with.
@@billolsen4360 Economy class you mean? :)
Edit: Maybe humans can consume fuel and dumplings. Lol... Ethanol is a fuel (not what jet airplanes use, but can be consumed by humans in the form of wine/beer/champagne). BTW, in the future, jet fuel manufacturers may potentially be able to convert the molecular structure (deoxygenated alcohol) of ethanol into jet fuel. It is called alcohol-to-jet fuel (ATJ).
What an absolutely amazing story and outcome. The Captain is a real live saver and hero. So thankful it all worked out. This could be a great movie for sure. 👨✈️✈️🙏❤️
I am a former pilot. Retracting gear was a good idea.
It took away drag and ended up improving buoyancy slowly.
Buoyancy? You didn't happen to be the pilot of a bit air balloon, did you?
He had no place to land where the landing gear would have made it less of a disaster, but he averted it by staying in the air.
THANKS. JACKASS!!!!!
@@robbiejames1540 a plane flying is "buoyant" on air
@@robbiejames1540 A lot of aviation terms sound silly or even stupid by people who don’t fully understand how aircraft work.
Respect is the minimum for this Captain. This is something that must be a standard lesson for all new pilots.
It comes with many, many hours of flying! I have 19000+ hours of flying experience--3892 combat hours. It takes wisdom from experiemce...
Not really for new pilots.
In the vast majority of incidents, the correct action is to follow the checklists.
Deviating from established emergency procedures requires experience know when it is needed and even then, is still probably going to end a pilots career.
Definitely not something to teach in flight school.
In an emergency there are no rules except fight to live. Experience and nerves of steel saved the day there. He did what he knew. Fly the plane until she stops moving, and in that saved his passengers and crew. Godspeed Captain!
FLY THE PLANE UNTIL IT STOPS MOVING! Got that right. Today's fly by wire and glass cockpits has generated more crashes of all types (by percentage) since pilots are not constantly using stick and rudder skills! The reason Sully and other older flight crew have made miraculous saves is because they fly the plane first...not turning knobs and pushing buttons.
Aviation - Navigate - Comm7nicate !!! And the Boeing Maxx disaster is one even worse example of trying to computerize safety at the expense of training ( and retaining!) excellent pilots!
I am in awe of this captain and flight crew. Thinking and planning and thinking again in the moment...making the constant adjustments to understand the conditions. And believing in your experience. Everything aligned. A beautiful and terrifying story.
This was a great story that I dont think that Ive ever heard before, thank you. 747s have a lot of lift at lower speed, so this probably helped out a bit. Between that and the pilot and crew making fast decisions and flying by the seat of their pants, saved that plane.
Bob, every time I come across this pilot’s interview on Greek tv, I watch it over again. I’ve just about memorized it, lol. The guy’s comments, you can tell, are so full of, what I call “sidewalk experience”, street smarts, if you will. He knew the aircraft and managed it perfectly.
This captain did what he was supposed to do: aviate, navigate and then communicate! He flew the plane! Kudos to this man!
Now that's a skilled pilot that didn't rely on the instruments to fly his plane! Between him & the angels under those wings saved all those lives!
As an aviation enthusiast I have to say that this is the finest flying I've ever watched.
Flew from FrankfurtAM to Korfu to Athens on 707 Olympic Airways. At night, you could not feel any change of direction on the flight. Smoothest pilot/flight have ever experienced.
What an incredible story! I'd never heard this before. The old Athens airport was so embedded in the city that it's a miracle we avoided deaths on the ground.
Reminds me of the old Mexico City airport. A huge disaster waiting to happen with civilization all around the perimeter. The last time I flew in and out of there the new international airport was under construction south of Mexico City.
Is prime real estate now
@@JohnS916 When was it built? I flew there as a kid in 1988
Okay but what's up about that flight engineer that kept making mistakes? First it was the alcohol and then it was the water. Like literally causing the problems? What happened to him afterwards? Kudos to the captain, that was an amazing feat and immensely incredible 👏
Netflix or Aircrash Investigations: I would love to have say, a Christmas Special on "Not a crash: Lucky near misses!" Nice to see the stories that DIDN'T make a headline because of people dying, but still has all the fascinating information on pilot skills and mechanical information!
Brilliant pilot. They have enormous responsibility’s. He must have been so experienced and cool in these dangerous and heart stopping situations.
A Continental Airlines flight, Gatwick-Washington, DC, Feb 1, 1988, experienced a similar near-tragedy. They lost not one but TWO engines at and shortly after liftoff. According to my colleague who was the first officer (copilot) on the ill-fated flight, the only thing that saved them from crashing was the quick thinking reactions of the second officer (flight engineer) who immediately pushed all the throttles forward to max thrust, and IMMEDIATELY commenced max effort fuel dumping. As gross weight was gradually reduced by fuel jettisoning, the crew managed to eventually climb to 4,000 feet where they ran the applicable checklists, briefed the air return to Gatwick, and made an otherwise "normal" approach and landing with two malfunctioning engines operating at idle thrust. This takes nothing away from the Olympic Airways captain's skill, but the Continental crew was faced arguably with a worse emergency situation, and saved hundreds of lives both in the plane and on the ground.
It shows what good training does and how there are many solutions to various problems as long as everyone keeps calm. If just one of the flight crew started going omg OMG they're more likely to have died. Keep calm and save a life. 😁
@@iHelpSolveIt also the area around Gatwick has open field spaces to dump fuel immediately, not so over densely populated Athens. Different terrain and temperature conditions in relation to lift as well. Certainly another challenging situation, similar but not the same conditions for an exact comparison.
Greek pilots are among the best in the world. Greek Combat pilots are rated 3rd in the world. Nothing surprises me about them and their incredible abilities.
This is one of the most underrated achievement in aviation history
A great story and an absolute amazing pilot. One that uses his head and his experience. The fact he was a former military pilot didn't hurt either. The type of pilot that knows when to break the rules responsibly. Sometimes the people that write the rule books are good at their jobs is not the pilot that may crash. Those people on that flight didn't know how lucky they were to have that pilot in the cockpit. The military teaches all of us keep a clear head in a disciplined manner and remember your training. Great Job.
The most miraculous of all crash prevention miracles to me is the Gimly Glider case, where an Air Canada pilot who went fuel-dry for ground fueling miscalculation (metric vs. imperial units confusion), landed his silent gliding heavy twin-engine on the runway of a deserted military air base he once served at as a RCAF pilot. Reportedly scaring the hell out of two runway-riding BMX teens and their parents who used the area for weekend outings.
@@ivailotzonev4073 the glider maneuver using the wing as an air brake is crazy. Apparently the airframe on a 747 is so sturdy that during test flights for investors test pilots would perform aerobatic maneuvers
The flight engineer pulled a lot of weight too, managing to get the remaining engines optimized too! Amazing story, could have ended so horribly but it didnt. Imagine if the weight of luggage or passengers had been just a bit more, or if that sea breeze hadn't come... Woe
As an aviation history buff, I can't believe i've never heard of this incident! We used to fly Olympic 707's, then 747's from JFK Airport, NY to Athens, GR in the 70's, since my father was originally from Hellas, and we were living in the NYC area then. This pilot has my utmost respect for rising to the occasion in such a professional manner!
Interesting ! How was the experience onboard their 707s ?
@@that90skid72 Great experience! Those Olympic flights 'back in the day' were top notch, with great service and shorter flight times to Athens (and back) than now. The 707's were significantly faster than today's more fuel efficient jets (777-ER for example).
@@AudiophileTubes Glad to hear that! I do remember they used to be quite good an airline till 1990s. But afterwards, it was the beginning of the end. When I flew with them a few years before they went bust, it was appalling...old unrefurbished planes, terrible crew...it was painful sight.
Ha.. some history 'buff' you are.
Former military pilots are the best. They have extreme confidence and command skills that many commercial pilots don’t. It seems this situation was further complicated by the first officers confusion over the control settings to the disabled engine. Still, all of the crew should be commended for reversing such a challenging situation. The flight attendants kept their cool and had a reassuring effect on the passengers. Thanks to all.
Under stress, in an emergency situation, never question the intuition of an experienced person. If you do so, you might not even have the moment left to regret it.
What a great pilot, kept his cool and made great decisions in this emergency 👏 👍
As it has been said “any landing you can walk away from, is a good one”…..or for us helicopter guys we “keep the shiny side up”!
For the sake of the captains decision to either crash for sure, his electing trim with the time and performance he was working with paid off. He was thinking ahead, and calculating his risk, not having much else to work with. He needed speed to live and found a way to get it. Another may fly how they elect, but his efforts kept everyone alive in the face of a rather compounding situation. I learned from flying helicopters, in an engine out situation, it’s autorotation wether you like what you see below you or not. Extending your glide can be everything in some cases…so I get the concept of configuring a clean aircraft. Brother had hope and confidence in aeronautics….I say good job captain, and we fly on!
That captain is a true Aviator. Using knowledge on the spot instead of rulebooks. Some people sometimes make good calculared decisions in split seconds. This guy knew what he was doing. Or trying to do. Knowledge and training combined make all the difference...
This fella was magnificent, intuition common sense and great flying ability!