Hey YouTube, Jim here!
Welcome to Top10 Archive!
From the very first time man has lifted off of the ground, to just yesterday, aviation
accidents have happened.
Sometimes human error, sometimes they’re mechanical faults, and sometimes it’s a
terrible coincidence of both.
It’s hard to imagine what the passengers and crews of these flights have gone through
in their final moments, but thanks to black box recordings we have a better idea of what
those final horrifying seconds might have been like.
Here’s our list of ten last words recorded from black box airplane crashes.
Before we play you these recordings, be sure to hit the subscribe button and click the
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10.
Alaska Airlines 261 In January of 2000, Alaska Airlines flight
261 was an international passenger flight that left Jalisco, Mexico and was destined
for Washington in the United States.
The plane was carrying mostly US citizens, and the experienced pilot’s calm final words
of resignation on the black box didn’t hint at the horror that was unfolding on-board.
The flight was routine until two hours in, when a mechanical fault caused by poor aircraft
maintenance sent the aircraft into an 8,000 feet nose dive for 80 seconds.
Both pilots were experienced veterans with more than 25,000 flight hours logged combined,
and neither pilot had ever been involved in an accident or incident prior to the crash.
Sadly, all 88 occupants, which included 83 passengers and 5 crew members, died on impact.
The final words of the brave pilots caught on tape were, “ah here we go”.
9.
Swissair 111 The final words heard on the black box of
Swissair 111 were simple, straight to the point, and sadly completely correct: “Rauf!”,
which translates to "up".
The Swiss aircraft began its final journey in September of 1998 from New York’s JFK
airport, destined for Geneva, Switzerland.
Two hours into the flight the crew detected an odor in the cockpit and determined that
it was smoke coming from the air conditioning unit, so the captain requested an emergency
landing.
The crew shut off power to the cabin, as per Swissair’s fire checklist, which knocked
out the recirculating fans and allowed the fire to spread to the cockpit.
Just 15 minutes later those last words were uttered before the plane crashed into the
Atlantic Ocean.
All 229 passengers and crew members died on impact.
8.
Korean Airlines 801 The last words from Korean Airlines flight
801 were not from the flight deck, but from air traffic controllers, as silence fell from
within the doomed aircraft: “Well, he must have crashed then”.
The 1997 flight left Seoul, South Korea for Guam in August 1997 with 254 passengers and
crew on board.
It was a turbulent flight from the start, but not enough to raise any concerns.
That is until the aircraft was being prepared for landing.
The rain was torrential in Guam and visibility was extremely low, so the captain decided
to attempt a landing using his instruments instead of his sight.
What the captain didn’t know, is that the electronic landing system that he was intending
to use on the runway to guide him in wasn’t working.
What the plane actually connected to was a random electronic device on the ground.
The plane was descending steeply and was fatally way off course, crashing some 3.5 miles or
5.6 kilometers from the runway.
228 people on board died, and one of the 26 survivors said that the crash happened so
quickly that passengers didn’t even have time to scream.
7.
United Airlines 232 In July of 1989, Flight 232 was a regularly
scheduled flight from Denver to Philadelphia in the United States, carrying 298 passengers
and crew members.
An hour into the flight the engine in the tail of the plane exploded, knocking out many
of the flight controls including autopilot.
The captain then discovered he also couldn’t get manual control over the plane, so they
pressed on with planning an emergency landing in Sioux City.
Throughout the situation, the pilots kept calm and even joked with ground control as
they navigated their treacherous situation.
When the plane hit the runway it was going way too fast and immediately burst into flames
as it skidded into a nearby cornfield.
The pilots managed to save 187 out of 298 lives with their quick thinking and their
dedication to their passengers and crew.
The final words from the stricken aircraft show that they never once gave up on their
mission, trying until the very end to find a solution: “Nah, I can't pull 'em off or
we'll lose it, that's what's turning ya”.
All 4 pilots survived the crash and would later return to duty.
6.
Japan Airlines 123 Japan Airlines 123 is the 2nd deadliest single-aircraft
accident in aviation history, and the final words on the black box prove that the captain
knew that there was no coming back from their grave situation.
This domestic flight was doomed just 12 minutes into its journey between Tokyo and Osaka,
and from that point, it only took another 30 minutes until the aircraft met its fate
in the mountains.
The flight was carrying 524 people and only 4 would survive.
Many other passengers survived the initial crash, but Japanese forces waited too long
to perform a rescue, so many died during that time.
The reason for the crash was determined to be a faulty repair after an incident seven
years earlier.
The last words from this flight signify that all hope was lost in the cockpit, as the pilots
realized their fate: “All hydraulics failed”.
5.
Delta Airlines 1141 This next recording happened right at the
beginning of Delta Airlines flight 1141, just 22 seconds into the doomed flight.
The flight was leaving Jackson, Mississippi in August 1988, heading to Salt Lake City,
Utah.
As the crew waited for their timeslot on the runway they talked about the crash of a Continental
Airlines flight and discussed what they would say on the black box recorder should they
crash.
Little did they know that it would become reality just a few moments later.
When it was time for take-off everything was normal at first until the front wheel left
the ground.
The aircraft started to roll and the wingtip hit an antenna, causing a fire that ripped
through the rear of the plane.
Two of the four flight attendants died, along with 12 of the 101 passengers.
One man lost his life after he bravely went back into the burning aircraft to try and
save his wife.
The crash was determined to be pilot error, and the final words on the black box recorder
probably weren’t what they'd imagined when joking about it a short time earlier…
“We got an engine failure.
We're not gonna make it.
Full power”.
4.
El Al 1862 In October of 1992, one of the most shocking
accidents in aviation history occurred, which resulted in many more lives lost on the ground
than in the plane.
In the final black box recording, it was clear that the flight crew knew just how bad their
situation was.
“Going down...eh...1862, going down, going down, copied going down?”
The Israeli cargo plane had started its journey in New York’s JFK airport before having
a brief stopover in Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport.
During the first leg of the flight, a few problems had been noted, including an issue
with engine number three.
But still, the plane continued, headed for its final destination of Tel Aviv, Israel.
Soon after take-off, there was a loud bang and engine three detached from the wing, ripping
out engine number four and causing serious damage to the wing flaps in the process.
The damage was due to microscopic cracks caused by fatigue and resulted in a total lack of
control of the plane.
The pilots attempted an emergency landing back at Schiphol but it wasn’t possible,
and the cargo plane nosedived into two high-rise apartment complexes.
43 people perished in the accident, and of those, 39 of them were on the ground.
The death toll is fiercely debated though, as many illegal immigrants lived in the high-rise
at the time.
3.
Pacific Southwest Airlines 182 In September 1978, a horrific mid-air collision
occurred that would result in the deaths of people in two planes as well as several on
the ground.
The flight took off from Los Angeles in the morning and all was fine.
The weather was good and the skies clear.
The crew was alerted to a small Cessna being flown by two professional pilots nearby, and
for a short while, the captain had a visual on it.
But then, they lost sight of it and things began to get dangerously confusing.
The Pacific Southwest crew thought that the Cessna had passed them, but it was actually
below and in front of them.
The Pacific Southwest plane was ready to land in San Diego, and was closing in on the Cessna
rapidly.
Shortly after, the two planes collided and erupted into a fireball, sending the wreckages
plummeting into a residential area.
All 135 people on the Pacific Southwest died, as well as the two pilots of the Cessna and
seven others on the ground.
The heartbreaking last words on the black box of the Pacific flight?
“This is it, baby!”
2.
Valujet 592 ValuJet flight 592 was on its regular scheduled
flight to Atlanta in May of 1996 when it crash-landed just ten minutes after take-off.
Problems started soon after the plane left Miami airport when passengers smelled smoke
in the cabin.
At the same time the pilots heard a loud bang and they started losing electrical power.
Seconds later, there was a fire in the passenger cabin and the captain requested an emergency
landing back at Miami airport.
But the plane was out of control and would never make it back.
Instead, it nosed dived into the Everglades, hitting the ground at over 507 miles, or 816
kilometers per hour.
All 110 people on board died in the crash, which was caused by a fire that started due
to improper cargo storage.
The final words on the black box recorder seem to show how confused the pilots were
by their fatal situation: “Uh, smoke in the cockpit... smoke in the cabin”.
1.
Aeroperu 603 Aeroperu flight 603 was in good condition,
the weather was perfect for flying, and the pilots were experienced.
So how did it crash, killing all 70 people on board?
Well, one simple error set a deadly chain of events into motion.
It was October of 1996 when the flight left Miami to fly south to Santiago, Chile.
Shortly after take-off, pilots discovered that their flight instruments weren’t working.
They declared an emergency and requested an immediate return to the airport.
The equipment was giving contradictory readings and the flight was at night so the crew couldn’t
make visual references as to their altitude, speed or position.
Because of this, the aircraft stalled multiple times and rapidly lost altitude, and before
they knew it the plane’s left wingtip struck water.
Amazingly, the pilots managed to get airborne again for 17 seconds, but the plane inverted
and crashed into the water, killing everyone onboard.
The accident was due to an error made by maintenance staff, which led to these infamous final words
on the black box recorder: “What shit have they done?”