@@suzyrottencrotch5132 i believe Stacy was a passenger..the captain did his best to save everyone despite a badly malfunctioning aicraft. Bad maintenance was the cause,not the pilot.
Can you imagine how sick to your stomach you would be if you were a pilot seeing that plane plunge into the water? I can barely handle listening to this. Yet I thank you for this recording. Incredible.
Jack Kitchen No joke, I knew a guy who flew over the site after the crash. He said there were sea gulls everywhere. Kind of obvious what they were eating.
It's amazing how you can feel the change in emotions from concerned, to urgency, to fear, to hopelessness, and ultimately, sadness in everyone's voices.
All in just under 4 minutes of time. That is an incredibly fast situation from above 17,000 feet all the way down to the ocean. The fear everyone must've felt is immeasurable
Tones of voice by all parties reveal their humanity. Thinking of those who died that day unleashes fierce and conflicting emotions: sorrow and fury. Alaska betrayed the passengers and crew of Flight 261in the most cruel way possible - the airline’s negligent maintenance procedures killed all aboard. We should pressure our congressmen and women to pass legislation to require all airlines to archive all service and repair records in a federal server. No reentry would be possible amending a record must be accomplished be entering an entirely new record containing the amendment. I don’t know what’s in place right now. But I do know this: Whoever signed off on the plane’s maintenance record - and the VP in charge of aircraft airworthiness - should have been prosecuted for negligent homicide in each of the deaths that resulted from the incident.
If only the pilot HAD given up trying to get the stabilizer unstuck. They could have landed. Unfortunately he thought it was the electric motor that turns the jack screw. He didn't know it was the jack screw itself that was stuck. He asked Alaskan Airlines ground maintenance for advice and they only told him "Do whatever you think best and see you at the gate." They messed with the controls until the jack screw came unstuck causing the vertical stabilizer to pitch the plane all the way nose down.
On Wikipedia if says after they lost full control of the pitch they tried to fly it upside down to control it, meaning they hit the water inverted and nose down, brave men.
@@BrettonFerguson That´s some big time Monday morning quarterbacking though. The checklists at the time were not sufficient to solve the problem or prevent a potential disaster.
For those wonder why the ATC said “Very good” in a very obvious serious situation. The term “Very Good” in aviation basically means “I understand what your saying”. It’s just a term for acknowledgement.
@@WilliamBruhhh it’s a deviation from standard icao vocabulary, the correct term would be « Roger » sometimes atc will also use « understood »but « very good » is not commonly used, because it’s not part of standard icao language
@@WilliamBruhhh it doesn’t matter if he uses it or not, it’s not standard vocabulary, so I don’t know why original commenter is talking like it is widely used around the world because it isn’t.
It took 81 seconds from the 1st plunge, then 2nd plunge, and then they hit the water OMG. That must have seemed like an eternity. I remember watching an episode of, air crash investigation, about this crash. Someone who listened to the cockpit recording said u could hear the horrifying screams of the passengers as the plane plunged. These people did not go "gently into the good night". I only hope that the family and friends of the crew and passengers have found a way to find happiness in their lives. The grieving never ends. RIP crew and passengers.
@@davidkamerath7749 Incredible. So brave. But their quick thinking during the dive is indicative of their lack of panic and retention of their bearings. How many people would have the resourcefulness to attempt to invert the plane to pull it out of the dive under that level of duress? I certainly wouldn't. Reminds me of Swissair 111, even as the fire raged into the cockpit they remained fully calm as they declared emergency. True professionals
For anyone unfamiliar with the details of this tragedy, I highly recommend that you search a documentary on the crash investigation, though it's likely to make your blood boil! In short, Alaska Airlines decided to cut corners on maintenance and repairs of their planes to increase profits. This deliberate negligence directly led to this fatal crash.
Bex Fire, when an Airline Commercial Jet is scheduled for maintenance, usually a C or D check, the maintenance base has X amount of days to complete the check. Many panels are removed. The cabin seats and carpet is gutted. Quality Control now goes in to inspect. Sometimes they find a lot of corrosion especially around the lav's and galleys that can migrate to the substructure and the sheet metal repair can eat your lunch. You cannot rush sheet metal work. I agree that there is a lot of pressure put on mechanics to get the job done. Most Airline maintenance facilities run a 24 hour 7 days a week as the Operations management wants that aircraft back in the air making money. As a result steps are skipped and, or pencil whipped.. so sad regarding this accident.
@@samhobbs6517 oh good to know, thanks! I am guessing it's not on UA-cam yet, though...I am thinking of getting a subscription where I can watch newer Mayday episodes. I get withdrawals now that I think I've watched all of the full length ones on YT. 😢
Same thing happened with the American Airlines 191 crash. Airline went against Mcdonnel Douglas' instructions to save money. Because of that the engine flew off right as they were starting to get in the air after takeoff. Everyone on the plane and 2 others on the ground were vaporized by the crash and explosion . Still the worst crash in US history(Deathwise).
"yes he uhhh... he hit the water. He's, he's down" I can't even imagine how the rest of those other flights conversations went after watching that happen. You can hear the sound of shock in their voice
They watched two of their own plunge to almost certain death. I hope they weren't required to fly the rest of the day once they landed. I would not be fit to fly witnessing something like that.
@@gnnascarfan2410 wouldn't be surprised if the planes that were nearby were immediately grounded to question the pilots on what they saw, so they could help with the investigation.
@@lickjo Might be a weird comparison but look at Sports: Damar Hamlin collapsing on the field. You cannot expect players to go back out and play after seeing one of their own potentially die. Likewise you cannot expect your pilots to continue working after witnessing two of their own almost certainly die. We may never know the actual answer of what happened to them, but I hope you are right.
Basically their fellow pilots just died. No matter what company they're flying for, all the pilots of the world are one big family. When you lose fellow pilots, it stings.
Pilots got an award for heroism... There was nothing they could have done to save that plane considering what they later found out was the problem... Alaska Airlines maintenance cutting corners in their work killed those poor people. Should have been charged with manslaughter..
@Goosed Tooter Wow you wasted an hour of your life replying to a comment with a lame manifesto, (sorry I didn’t read but two words when I saw how long it was) that nobody will ever read ahh hahahahahaha bwah hahahahahaha Burt Reynolds laugh here
Heartbreaking. Such professionals. They have two minutes to live.... and he's "We're going to do a little troubleshooting." I'm thinking about those twenty seconds at the end. God bless them
@Goose Tater well the maintenance crew failed to adequately lubricate the jackscrew assembly. Which was already heavily worn. The threats of the nut stripped during the flight when they tried to free the jammed stabilizer. If I remember correctly they did a job that would of taken 4 hours in 1. The crew did everything they could until the end, they deserved the medals they got. RIP.
@Goose Tater Hope you are not insinuating that it was in any way the pilots fault, they were faced with a problem that they had never encountered or trained for, they did their best but they were in a lose lose situation.
@Goose Tater The cause of this accident was due to poor maintenance, if the procedures were properly adhered to then the pilots would never have found themselves in this situation in the first place
@Goose Tater Regardless of whether the pilots contributed to the problem, the original problem was inexcusably caused by criminally negligent maintenance practices and a culture of cost-cutting. The pilots should never have been in that position to begin with; we don't need to judge the pilots' skill or heroism but rather who is responsible for the death of a hundred innocent lives.
@Goose Tater I just said we DON'T need to judge the pilots- good OR bad- because they were not the root or main cause of this incident, nor should any pilot EVER find themself in this situation if proper maintenance is followed. And given your non-stop comments about this all over the place, I must say you are awfully obsessed with blaming the 2 dead pilots who were killed by their airline's cost-cutting, regulation-dodging bullshit. I'm not angered by the mistakes the pilots made because, again, it was the airline's intentional cost-cutting measures that put them there to begin with and no pilot should ever face this precise scenario. You also avoid the simple fact that the decision to use negligent and insufficient maintenance practices is a DELIBERATE act- and therefore a direct gamble of passenger and crew lives by Alaska- whereas the pilots tried to remedy the situation, even if they failed to do so properly. But what baffles me is that the pilots' errors despite their efforts anger you more than the deliberate gamble. That's what baffles me and it's really pathetic to focus your energy there when that's not where the actual evil that ultimately led to the crash occurred.
Pilots amaze me with their fearlessness and professionalism. They guys were literally flying upside down, yet still kept enough composure to follow their training and trying everything to get that airplane back on the ground intact. No matter how many times you fly, you can never forget you're trusting your life to the guys on the ground who inspect, maintain, and work hard to keep the airplane airworthy.
aerlial360 He said him and the other Coast Guard guys were making jokes about all the the bodies and body parts they were pulling out of the water. Like,”Oh, look, it’s an arm” he explained the incident to me that they were cleared for take off, but the pilot was told not to try to force the rudder, but he did and they flipped upside down for some time. My dad said he had nightmares seeing all the dead bodies for a couple weeks after and that it was one of the most disturbing things he had seen.
Keep in mind during this time the jackscrew has not gone out of operation. The plane is doing a downward dive and the pilot is manually pulling it up with 140 pounds of force, he's fighting going up and down at this time. The pilot claims to have control, as he's fighting the downward motion, while the second person probably notices he is straining quite hard and that the plane is fighting back. It wouldn't be for a little bit longer(when the dive by another plane was announced) that the actual plate holding the jack screw would quit, leading them downward regardless of pilots operation. The plane had inverted and the pilot managed to level it out some, but it still was undeniably sloping into the water.
@@1w598 It's really quite a sad situation. All of this could've been avoided if the maintenance crew had just lubricated the jack screw. The pilot here had 17,750 flight hours, 4000 of those were operating the MD-80(this plane). The First Officer had 8,140 flight hours, 8060 of those operating in the MD-80. Both of these gentlemen knew their plane very well, I have no doubt in my mind they did everything possible to remain in flight.
I agree, the CEO and top executives should've been jailed for this. This was completely unacceptable in every regard and every single person on that plane suffered greatly before they died.
For those wondering, this accident is very unlikely to happen again simply because newer airplanes use a much better design to adjust horizontal stabilizer incidence. The DC-9 and MD-80 used a steel ACME screw with an aluminum nut riding on it. The idea was that the nut would always wear faster than the screw, since it’s a much smaller part that’s easier to replace. Even with proper lubrication, the nut has a finite life span, and was calculated to wear just so much with every flight hour. Periodic lubrication was required, and endplay checks would be performed to find out just how much life the nut had left. The problem was that Alaska Airlines had asked for and been granted an increase to the lubrication interval. Several lubrication points on the accident air craft were clogged and would not take grease. They were not repaired, starving the mechanism of lubrication and causing it to wear much faster than normal. Finally, they were using locally fabricated tooling to measure stabilizer endplay which was later found to be inaccurate. This led to the nut on the accident airplane wearing out until the threads stripped out in flight, causing the stabilizer to go in to a full nose down position, and beyond. There were no mechanical stops to keep it from going beyond its designed maximum nose down limit. Modern airplanes have done away with ACME jackscrews, instead relying on ballscrews for stabilizer trim. In this arrangement, the screw is a raceway of U-shaped channels, and the “nut” is made of many small ball bearings. There is no sliding friction in this arrangement, and it is expected to last the entire life of the airplane. They do require grease, but it functions mostly to drive water out and thus prevent corrosion. Even without grease, a ball nut will still roll fine with minimal wear. Besides that, stabilizers on newer airplanes cannot go beyond basic mechanical limits. This is both a function of their basic configuration and a desirable safety feature.
It's my understanding that there is a mechanical stop at the end of the Acme screw, and that in this incident, after the nut was sheered and they entered the first dive, the stop at the end of the screw was slammed into and then the screw itself broke in half at the second dive.
@@GuyNamedSean The first dive was caused when the threads on the ACME nut failed and the stabilizer went to the full airplane nose down position. They recovered the airplane from the dive at around 24,000 ft and began to return to Los Angeles. At this point, what was left of the nut was resting up against a part at the end of the jackscrew. The NTSB calls it a “cap”. I’m not sure what it’s intended function was, but it was not intended as a mechanical stop. It eventually failed due to overload, causing the jackscrew to completely separate from the nut and go beyond its maximum nose down limit. This led to the second, ultimately fatal dive. The jackscrew itself was not significantly damaged before the crash and was recovered from the ocean floor intact. It was the nut that failed.
Mentour Pilot channel has a detailed video about the accident and according to it, there were mechanical stops but those too failed because of metal fatique. Pilots were able to barely keep the plane in controlled flight until the mechanical stops failed, too. The accident was caused by really poor maintenance, probably caused by company politics.
I think all crashes are tragic, but for some reason this one can really bring a tear in my eye. The crew fought so hard to get this plane under control. Even in the last few seconds the pilot wanted to make a passenger announcement and explain why they inverted the plane.
i read the transcript never heard the audio of course nobody has and i teared up a lot and again when i heard the atc it shouldn't have happened but the all mighty dollar strikes again
I lived close to the area this plane went down, I remember the rescue/ recovery helicopters flying over my house back in forth for days, very brave pilots that fought for all the lives , may God hold them all now.
Goose Tater Are you serious? He’s referencing how the captain and the co pilot did EVERYTHING possible to maintain flight of the aircraft. Even when the plane was upside down, they continued to communicate with each other and continued to fly the airplane. They did everything they could. If you wanna talk about how Alaska airlines was negligible, which they certainly were, go find another comment to reply on because this certainly isn’t it.
Goose Tater My original comment was how the pilots did everything they could to maintain flying the airplane given the circumstances. You then said I was wrong and didn’t know what I was talking about...like a child. The crash was caused by excessive wear resulting from Alaska Airlines' insufficient lubrication of the jackscrew assembly. Alaska airlines was responsible. Please show where the pilots are at fault, which is what you disagreed with me about.
"Later, during the public hearings into the accident, the request by the pilot not to overfly populated areas was mentioned." Even when facing their death, the pilots thought of others, so sad they had to go because of corporate greed, may they all rest in peace.
Atomic: Not really... We routinely hold aircraft over the ocean because there is very little traffic confliction. Besides, his assigned route was over the ocean.
The flight crew probably frequented the California coast and Southern California often. Given their experience they probably had Aeromexico 498 (which did crash on land and killed people on the ground in Los Angeles) in the back of their heads.
@@michaelhall9138 They were offered a direct routing to LAX due to the technical issues, which presumably would have taken them over land, but they declined it.
@@michaelhall9138 Mentour Pilot has a great video about this accident. They were offered direct route but the captain decided to fly extra miles to keep the plane above the ocean to test if they can still control it while taking lower flight level.
The feeling of helplessness controllers must feel when they receive mayday calls comes across listening to this one, I suppose because it's the ATC recording. The controller is listening to perhaps the last words of the pilots and can do nothing. That's some serious heavy shit to carry with you. I see some comments about how he sounds emotionless, like he doeesn't care... I'd say the guy is in work mode and knows he has to keep his composure. No doubt it'll replay in his head for years to come.
They lose their shit occasionally, and the evidence is when it simply switches to a new controller at the same position. During something like this they have to be like a 911 operator and focus on clearing airspace and/or gathering information from other flights in the area.
I live close to where the plane impacted, it was near the Channel Islands in SoCal, it’s an area famous for squid fishing, those boats have extreme lightning to attract the squid, every single boat charged out hoping to help, it was heartbreaking to speak with them after, a found nothing but pieces of people, god bless all involved in every aspect!!!!
I was an Alaska Airlines ramp agent at SFO when this happened. We would load up this plane daily. I can specifically remember hearing of an Alaskan Air flight attendant with her baby and family coming back from vacation that were aboard that flight. The look on people's faces that were there waiting for their loved ones I will never forget. May God bless all those souls that perished that day.
I can't imagine how it was for the friends/family waiting for loved ones (wasn't this before 9-11 when you could go up where the plane was actually coming in)?. I looked up the date here and couldn't find it without exiting my comment. My experience was no where what these dear people went thru at the airport but one time my daughter and grandchildren were flying in to Seattle and I was there to greet them. The plane was so late and an address system came on telling us it was circling the airport for some reason. Even with that little bit of info I was falling apart inside. Am I so weak? Yes, I am. If that's how i reacted then I think of these dear people and my heart breaks for them.
@jeanettea12345 yes, it was early 2000. I'd worry as well if I were in a situation. I guess it's human nature to fear the worst. Now 9-11 changed everything as you can imagine. Rules were enforced so that people were getting fired without warnings. Tailgating someone at employee-only entry doors with tarmac access wasn't an issue until then. Driver's licenses became mandatory even for cabin cleaners, and of course, background checks became stricter.
@@coreyjwingate what was the purpose of that statement? Do you think it matters what happens in this world? In each person’s lifetime? Besides turning your life over to Jesus etc….If you do believe etc, you will be seeing everyone again. Don’t make the mistake of worrying about what goes on with yours and others earthly lives. Just turn your life over to Jesus. Forgive others and sin no more!
Is thiz the flight coming bCk from Cancun going to seattle that went down jan 29th 2000 off coast of los angeles if so my young 19 year old cousin n his 2 friends died thay day soo sad 😢
These pilots amaze me. Even in the midst of crisis and eminent death. They stay calm and dignified until the end. Such a horrible way to go. May all these souls Rest In Peace
Got to be one of the most heartbreaking atc tapes u can hear...i feel like when I listen it brings some kind of sympathy to them and what they were trying to do in an impossible situation, bless them all...
Most heroic and brave pilots ever. The horror those other pilots witnessed is incomprehensible. Those pour souls suffered tremendously in their last minutes. Heartbreaking.
I truly can’t imagine the absolute horror of being a passenger on this flight. Going through two massive nose dives before inverting and then slamming into the water must have been so beyond terrifying I can’t even imagine. I mean time slows down with adrenaline so passengers in the back of the plane had to see the plane exploding in those microseconds before death and realized this is how it ends. May they Rest In Peace and in heaven and praise to the pilots for giving it their all, god rest their souls.
@@windsofmarchjourneyperrytr2823 ya not this one. Nose dive into the ocean at 500mph... there is a 0% chance of survival. All dead on impact in a millisecond
I work in an operations center and I'm always amazed at how professional and calm dispatchers / traffic controllers generally are when dealing with intense situations like this. Getting emotional, screaming, yelling, doesn't help you recall what your procedures are. It doesn't make it easier for others to understand what you're saying. Just an amazing job.
Although the ATC was controlling his emotions, he got quiet toward the end. Think also of the experience of the pilots who witnessed this. Makes it pretty hard to go to work again the next day. A tragedy that was so clearly avoidable by proper maintenance.
Honestly I hope none of the pilots who witnessed this directly did not go into work the next day. Fundamentally they watched two of their fellow aviators die a horrific death. If I saw such a thing no way in hell I would've gone into work the next day. However, this was early 2000 and mental health issues were unfortunately not as mainstream as they were in the 2010s. So I imagine they were back in the cockpit within a week.
They falsified the maintenance records they were NOT checking the elevator screw jack threads for lubrication like they should have. The maintenance crew manager killed all those people. The pilots saved a lot of lives by trying to free up the elevator over water instead of just trying to land.
I agree... all they did was follow the protocol. They also tried several times to talk with maintenance and got zero help. They had no idea it was a major malfunction until it was too late. Not the pilots fault at all!
@FIDIRONU You're correct. Even with electronics or cars. If something's wrong you turn it off go inspect then slowly try and fix it. You don't go around testing things mid flight. I don't care if it is protocol.
@Goose Tater My only point was all they did was get out the manual and did what it said. The manual didn't say, "Don't mess with that!!" It told them to try and free it up by doing XY and Z. So they did. Hope you don't get hurt climbing down from your high horse there Goose.
@Goose Tater And another thing.. I don't think the pilot thought he could even land the plane the way it was. He had to pull back hard on the stick just to keep level flight!!! He very likely would not be able to get enough up elevator to flair out on the landing. Knowing this he probably felt a dire need to try something as he was pretty much screwed at that point! Also note the way he decided to try and get it un-jammed over the water just in case. That decision saved God knows how many lives on the ground.
The pilots flew that aircraft upside-down just to keep it in the air. Ever hung upside down in a tree? Blood rushes to your head and you can't even think. The unthinkable terror of those pilots, passengers and crew. I hope those Alaskan Airline executives spend the rest of their lives waking up to the thought of those people's final moments in their heads. -Fucking criminal.
They'll wake up in their penthouse suites, sip a whisky and probably chuckle quietly to themselves as they slide into a gown and slippers and gaze out across a beautiful tropical holiday home. Never put your life in the hands of anyone else, period.
"I hope those Alaskan Airline executives spend the rest of their lives waking up to the thought of those people's final moments in their heads." They most *certainly* did not. If they were the types to show remorse, they wouldn't be the types to commit such heinous and greedy acts.
I was driving back from LAX along Pacific Coast Highway, right before Point Mugu Rock when the plane hit the water. I didn't see the plane go down but a few cars in front of me did and we all stopped, searching the water with our eyes (it was too far away). How helpless all of the pilots and crew must have felt - an absolute tragedy. And to think that Alaska wasn't held accountable for their corner-cutting actions just sickens me.
This makes me cry every time knowing that the pilots fought till the end. They could’ve just gave up and had the plane plummet but no, they flew it for a bit even if it’s inverted. They have taught me to be a resilient brave soul and I hope to apply their attitude in my life.
They won't release the actual cockpit recording, but they said you can hear the high pitched whine of the engines and screaming for the last 20 seconds. Absolutely terrible way to go.
Trey Smith Yes, the NTSB and the airline involved. Before the 1990 law they were released to the public. Now the public can only read the written transcript of the CVR (black box).
FAKE news, where the fuck did you get this info? You must work for the white house. try researching (google?) - the LAST communication received from the crew on the air to ground loop was a MAYDAY. There was no screaming or bullshit that you suggest. The official transcript is all over the web you fucking tool.
My father retired from the FAA after 30 years. Air Traffic Controller (ATC) training is similar to the military ATCs - and First Responders! All must remain somewhat detached in order to do their jobs. It's after a crisis that the emotions and reactions slam the individuals and throughout their lives they try to cope as best as they can. Air Traffic Controllers have one of the top 10 most stressful jobs. Now, about those UFOs - the ATCs know the truth.
That mindset is very much what nurses have to do Working in ICU I had to run codes more often than we wanted of course. But you get to know the family when they come visit, you know that people love this patient, you’ve met them. And when they code you try and do all you can. My first year as a nurse I would see the patients families in my head during a code. Remembering them say I love you to each other or I’ll see you tomorrow or can’t wait till you come home, the smiles, the hugs, the love in the room. It was hard for me at first, I cried a lot. It was really hard to tell someone’s adult child that their parent is no longer here. No matter how old we get it’s hard losing a parent We are so much more than just a nurse at times like that, we’re therapists, emotional support, all kinds of things they don’t warn you about in school. In time you learn to process it all and if you don’t it wears on you 🙏🏻
He saved countless people on the ground by taking it out over bay. The Pilots were heroes fighting to their last seconds of life even flying inverted knowing they too would die but they tried and tried to save many others until they met their own fate. That is what being a hero is. Heroes might not always save the day but the fact they never give up despite the odds being completely against them shows courage and character. Sad that so many great people like these meet a tragic early fate and pure slime walk the Earth in their place.
Morris Thompson, once the U.S. Commissioner of Indian Affairs and his wife and daughter were aboard this plane. I didn't know him, but I did once interview him for a national publication. He was a very nice man, and I wish this hadn't happened. RIP, Commissioner.
For me... Hands down the saddest one of them all. This one affected me then and affects me today every time I catch wind of it. I can't imagine the horror the occupants felt.
i feel like i'm about to cry oh wait i already did at the start of the video- also SKW5154's pause in the "Yes, sir. He... He hit the water. He's down." (3:11) actually really hit me
I was 12 years old when this happened. Will never forget this as a So Cal native. Those pilots did everything they could. There was no way they could've known about the state of the stabilizer and the jackscrew. I have avoided Alaska at all costs. They cared more about their profits than the safety of the passengers. Absolutely disgraceful. I'll never fly Alaska. The maintenance people who falsified the records should have gone to prison for fraud and negligence. John Liotine lost his job after he blew the whistle to the FBI.
To ignore the fact that this was Alaska's first crash in over 35 years is to this day appalling. To say you will never fly ASA is just outside of ridiculous. Were mistakes made? Yes. Were precious lives lost? Tragically. Were people held accountable for their mistakes? You betcha. But think of the lessons learned. Like Jack in The Box after their massive eco scare for which they became one of the safest fast food chains, Alaska was eventually able to return to a stellar safety and passenger satisfaction reputation. I am proud to say that I worked for them for over 5 years both during this accident and post accident times and saw how much they truly care for and cared for their passengers and employees. Long live the Eskimo.
May God rest the souls of all aboard that craft. Those pilots did everything they could to fix their airplane, but the sad irony is the more they tried, the worse the situation became. Alaska Air didn't repair their planes on schedule, falsified maintenance logs, and left that plane w a faulty screw in the horizontal stabilizer. Dozens of lives meant less to them than profit. Nice post, Allec :) Keep em coming...
I'm surprised they only got a small slap on the wrist for what they were doing. Falsifying maintenance logs goes beyond not doing proper maintenance. People needed to go to jail for what happened.
The worst thing about the maintenance was that an employee voiced his concerns about the maintenance procedures and was fired for whistleblowing. If only he had been listened to, all of those poor souls might still be alive today.
Lost a friend on this flight, I knew her from childhood. Really sad, gave me nightmares for years. Probably because I knew someone on the airplane, this crash more than any other still haunts me to this day.
I can't even imagine how they felt knowing they couldn't pull out of it. There's no word's to describe it im sure. Hearing the pilots voice makes it so real. I know this was a few years ago but prayers to the families for their loss.
Amen. It’s incredible they didn’t just tank it, but fought, literally, going down. I’m sorry to hear about the corporate greed. It’s sick. But I believe God took away all their panic and pain in that flash to eternity We love because HE loved us first
My dad flies for United. My brother flies f18s. I’m in flight school to become an airline pilot. My gf hates I watch these, but my dad showed me them. Said watching flight disaster videos are learning experiences. He’s had a few crazy things happen. Engine blown off his md80 over the Gulf of Mexico. Almost crashed on final in a 757 from wake turbulence at Newark. He always said “this job will get your heart pumping a few times in your career, but that’s why we train so hard.”
I watched this video, and it left me shaken to my core. Hearing the pilot's calm yet helpless voice in his final moments is something I can’t get out of my mind. I couldn’t sleep after this-it’s a haunting reminder of how unpredictable and fragile life is.
No, they had at least eleven minutes. That's the time from the first dive to the last, fatal one. Some of the passengers may have noticed issues before that. This was a problem the flight crew was dealing with for quite a while.
No, the captain told them he was inverting the plane to fix an issue, but in reality he only said that to reassure everyone so they didn't freak out, even though he knew death was imminent. It was only 90 seconds of invertion. Everyone died not knowing what happened right before impact.
Heartbreaking absolutely moving! 88 on board all passed and what remains is the voice of a captain who did whatever he could to save them all. Rest In Peace
There’s an odd thing in this country where the scale of your business seems to shield you from consequences. Imagine if a small trucking company cut corners and it caused one of their big rigs to crash on the highway, killing dozens of people. There would likely be a lengthy investigation followed by indictments for the people in the company responsible for cutting corners and compromising safety. But a massive airline will get a pass, even if their safety violation was more egregious and their accident killed more people. It’s pathetic. You can apply the same logic to banks - if a small family-owned community bank cheated their customers they would easily be charged and shut down. But if you’re one of the large banks who caused the 2008 financial crisis, bankrupting thousands of people and tanking the entire economy; here’s a 700 billion dollar bailout and zero legal consequences. It’s unsustainable.
@@Ward413 Exactly! Once you are a large enough corporation, the USA will literally bend over backwards for you to screw them and every single human being, and you'll be rewarded exorbitantly for it.
When a company is big enough to say, "Everybody is responsible," nobody is responsible. If the CEO and other senior company officers get the big bucks, they should do the time when things go wrong. It is their job to make sure that everything is being done the right way.
I really cannot imagine how the Center controller must have felt when he heard the news from N50DX that Flight 261 had just hit the water. I also feel really sad for the pilots of N50DX, Skywest 5154, American 161 and some plane with registration starting with Charlie (pilot must have had gate access to the final moments of the drama). They all must have had traumatizing nightmares about this air crash for a very long time already. I hope that everyone involved in this saddening tragedy are all doing alright.🙏🏻
@@MikeyJebediah highly doubt it, the plane that crashed was in front of any plane that was relaying info. Also the pilot was tell the passengers a plane is crashing in front you
The restraint ATC and other pilots helping have without freaking out is amazing. It really shows you how skilled you need to be to work in Aviation. Heartbreaking tragedy
It’s just meaning “acknowledged.” It’s not literally meaning good. Keep in mind this guy still has other planes on his frequency and has to keep his composure.
@@katkrause679 a) I'm sure he uses that phrase hundreds of times daily in place of "affirmative" or "okay" b) Incredibly high stress situation in a notoriously high stress job, doubt he had time to think about substituting his usual "very good" for something more situationally appropriate c) It did not and could not have affected the outcome of the situation d) ATC recordings are not routinely subject to the scrutiny of the public eye, so I seriously doubt that in that moment, he was concerned about how his word choice would be scrutinized by someone on the internet, such as yourself, whose main focus is finding something to be offended by in piece of minutiae they possibly can
Man as soon as the ATC said to the other flight keeping an eye on 261 “do what you have to do but keep an eye on him..” is bloody saddening, even him knew not much could’ve been done at that point to salvage the situation.
These people were murdered. Imagine cooking the Maintenence logs to save $75,000 on a jack screw that you know will kill people- and your airline grosses $200 million per year.
I had two friends on that flight. People here, near Seattle still talk about it. We all know the cause, but also that mechanic departnent, in Oakland had had numerous warnings for other failed repairs
I had to talk to SKW right after this. The Center was working with us (LA approach) to get him back to LAX when he went down. SKW was quite professional as I had no idea he had just witnessed the crash. The worst part about being a controller is watching something like this and not being able to do anything.
0:04 even though the plane had been somewhat stabilized at that point, that's the voice of a man fully aware that he is in the midst of his last rodeo. To their credit, Captain Ted Thompson & First Officer Bill Tansky never gave up. No matter how bleak it got they did everything they could right to the end. RIP everyone on board that day. The horror those people had to endure in their last moments of life is unfathomable.
This crash was totally avoidable if the higher ups would have let the mechanics do the proper maintenance proceedures. The fking jackscrew that controlled the rear stabilizers had stripped the threads off of it, rendering it useless. It was past due to be replaced 2 years earlier!
I was a controller at ATL Center for 30 years.....NOT SOMETHING A CONTROLLER WANTS TO HEAR!!! My heart goes out to all crew, passengers, and the controller who last talked to the crew. This is something that will stay with you for the rest of your life! Good job staying calm and collective. You can bet that controller will relive these moments forever.
One of my favorite radio personalities was on board. Cinthia Oti was a talk show host on 560 AM KSFO out of San Francisco...Rest in peace Cinthia, i miss listening to you.
That controller, knowing one plane is being lost, while many more need his directions, focus, and care to safely land...thank you sir, for your professionalism and courage to go on, and RIP to all of the innocent lives lost on that Alaska Air flight.
My dear friend Toni and her daughter Jaclyn died in this crash. She was a wonderful person who changed my life and I miss her everyday. 🙏🏻RIP Toni, Jaclyn and the other 86 souls on board.
This doomed flight and the Fed Ex 705 are the most powerful for me. Two sets of superior air crew doing what they can to the best of their ability. Oh, and the third set, Flight 232. Heartbreaking, courageous, hopeful, stupefying by turns. Bless them all.
The pilot and co-pilot had balls of steel, the CVR showed that right up to impact even though it was clearly hopeless they were still trying to coordinate between themselves and regain control. "But we're still flying" was what the pilot kept telling the co-pilot every time things got worse, trying to keep hope right up till the end.
The emotions in this recording are so raw. First it's urgency, you can tell the crew are struggling and fighting for their lives. ATC is clear, concise and alert, trying to help. Then as the situation grows ever hopeless, you can hear a distinct shift in the voice of the ATC ending in a very palpable saddness. The crews of nearby planes watching this unfold in front of them, it must have been so gut wrenching to witness. You can hear it in their communication. I once read the CVR recording for this flight. That crew fought hard all the way. Even when they were impacting the water they were still making control inputs. Last words recorded were from the co-pilot: "Here we go". So tragic.
They did all they could and as you said, fought until the very end to try and save it. I suppose the mercy of it is that death would have been upon impact for everyone on the plane, I know they had to suffer the terrible and extremely frightening descent but once it hit the water, no more suffering. For those left behind and those who witnessed it, I can't imagine the pain of watching something so awful happening and not being able to do a damn thing to help.
The pilots intentionally kept their aircraft over water saving untold lives on the ground and continously fought for control up to impact. I can't even begin to imagine what everyone on board was going through but the flight crew never gave up. TRUE HEROES!!!!!
Matthew Neathery Are you a complete fucking idiot? Do you know what “very good” means? They could of said practically ANYTHING, besides very good. it’s complete disrespect, a bunch of people are dead and this bozo at ATC shows no sympathy or concern. you have to be a dumb fucking imbecile to come to that conclusion.
1:47 - 3:08 that's how long it took from beginning final dive until crash, just a minute and 21 seconds. But while listening to this during that time period, it feels like eternity knowing that people were upside down, pressed into their seats from the downward g forces, most likely nearly everyone either screaming or crying or in too much shock to react. It was only about 10 minutes from the first moment the people realized they might be in danger until their lives came to a merciful end. Not many ways to die can top that in the horror department.
There was an uncontrolled decent earlier in the flight. From the time the critical damage occurred until the plane hit the water was about half an hour.
@@shamelesshussy I know it seems like that, but it was only 10 minutes between dives, 15 tops. First dive (note times) 1609:18 CAM-1 holy s**t. 1609:19.6 CAWS [sound similar to horizontal stabilizer- in-motion audible tone] 1609:21 CAM-1 you got it?... f**k me. 1609:24 CAM-2 what are you doin? 1609:25 CAM-1 I it clicked off--- 1609:25.4 CAWS [sound of chime] Altitude Second dive 1619:21.1 CAM [sound of faint thump] 1619:24 CAM-2 you feel that? 1619:25 CAM-1 yea. 1619:29 CAM-1 ok gimme sl--- see, this is a bitch. 1619:31 CAM-2 is it? 1619:31 CAM-1 yea. 1619:32.8 CAM [sound of two clicks similar to slat/flap handle movement] 1619:36 CAM-? * 1619:36.6 CAM [sound of extremely loud noise] [increase in background noise begins and continues to end of recording] [sound similar to loose articles moving around in cockpit] 1619:37 CAM-? * 1619:37.6 PA [sound similar to CVR startup tone] 1619:43 CAM-2 mayday. 1619:49 CAM-1 push and roll, push and roll.
I find a lot of parallels between this and the JAL 123 crash: mechanical failures in the rear of the plane making it uncontrollable; pilots performing valiantly under inhuman amounts of stress; and maintenance workers slacking off on the job. With JAL 123, however, the president of JAL resigned, and several maintenance workers killed themselves as their way of atoning for their mistakes that cost 520 people their lives. And all we got from ALA is a whistleblower who got blacklisted from the industry for doing the right thing. As far as I'm concerned, as long as there are no criminal charges against ALA executives and the maintenance workers who LIED about their "work," these 88 deaths are in vain.
These type of accidents will always happen until executives who make these policy changes are held criminally responsible. Just as a example Blue Bell ice cream was expanding and making buckets of money so they decided not to shut down lines to properly clean the plants. People died but no one went to jail. Now if we had a law that said you will spend time in prison for avoidable deaths corporate would think twice.
None of the people responsible even work for this airline anymore so what’s your point? It’s a totally different company. Probably one of the best and safest in operation right now. Look at their safety record and satisfaction ratings. They speak for themselves… Accidents happen, this one was completely avoidable. If we learn nothing from it, then yes their loss of life would be in vain. But in fact this spurred policy change like any aviation accident. These lives were not lost in vain. And a similar accident will never happen again. It’s a hard lesson. RIP to those innocents lost
@@nordicpride9708 this was totally avoidable. Maintenance management, at the very least, should have spent time behind bars for falsifying and manufacturing maintenance records. That's a legit crime. Also, go read up on the Alaska Air mechanic who blew the whistle on Alaska Air upper management and got blacklisted from the aviation industry for it just a year before this plane went down. Alaska Air maintenance management was at complete fault here. It doesn't matter if "they aren't working there anymore," they committed literal crimes for years and it lead to 88 lives being taken. Alaska Air now taking safety seriously after this tragedy isn't relevant, it doesn't erase crimes that were already committed by their upper management.
@@PlayshotKalo Did you bother reading anything I wrote above?…. I stated it was AVOIDABLE. Next time maybe digest what is previously written before just saying what you want to say.
Lord, may all the victims be conquers of this tragedy and remain by your side with everlasting life. And we ask that you unceasingly continue to comfort the families of the lost ones and assure them that they have landed in a truly better place and will be one day reunited with them through your grace. Amen
@@jdtown6585 Who said anything about justice on Earth? Justice is dished out in the afterlife. If you take your chances without him, you will be sent to hell at death just like everyone else not in Christ.
On the CVR I believe he even said, “At least upside down we’re flying...”. Still giving commands to the FO about using the rudders and speed brakes. For over a minute. Those pilots literally tried every single thing they could to get that plane safely somewhere and they should be commended for it. Never gave up. Till the very end they tried.
That poor ATC controller. You can hear his voice begin to shake as he realizes he’s going to lose that plane and that he was probably going to be the last person to ever hear those pilots alive. He did a great job. Sometimes things just happen.
Rest in peace Stacey Schuyler, you were a wonderful friend
my heart breaks reading your comment
Oh man..so sorry for your loss.
Matt K terrible pilot but wonderful friend
@@suzyrottencrotch5132 i believe Stacy was a passenger..the captain did his best to save everyone despite a badly malfunctioning aicraft. Bad maintenance was the cause,not the pilot.
@@suzyrottencrotch5132 Suzy the troll has a rotten crotch.
Can you imagine how sick to your stomach you would be if you were a pilot seeing that plane plunge into the water? I can barely handle listening to this. Yet I thank you for this recording. Incredible.
Jack Kitchen No joke, I knew a guy who flew over the site after the crash. He said there were sea gulls everywhere. Kind of obvious what they were eating.
Fluke Well, I am a Captain of a major airline. And the guy who told me flew in the area during that time. I have no reason to not believe him.
Fluke Well, he told me that. I believe him. I guess anyone could lie though. It isn’t my story.
@@josephdale69 i can confirm, i was the seagull
Fluke the fuck you talking about, seagulls absolutely are scavenger birds and regularly eat dead animals on the road
It's amazing how you can feel the change in emotions from concerned, to urgency, to fear, to hopelessness, and ultimately, sadness in everyone's voices.
All in just under 4 minutes of time. That is an incredibly fast situation from above 17,000 feet all the way down to the ocean. The fear everyone must've felt is immeasurable
Where is all this emotion that you're hearing? Because all I hear is monotone, except for the pilot.
@@TheEarthRealmno literally
@@TheEarthRealm feel the change. However, you can literally hear the change in his voice...
@@MadHandys Where? Can I get a timestamp, mate?
the quiver in the captain's voice. he was trying so hard to stay calm. heartbreaking.
Yep. You could hear the sadness and resignation in the controller's voice at 2:52, he knew how it was going to go and obviously felt helpless.
Shania Rover 😢😢😢😢 I know
Actually he was using every bit of strength he had trying to hold the stabilizer in position.
Tones of voice by all parties reveal their humanity. Thinking of those who died that day unleashes fierce and conflicting emotions: sorrow and fury.
Alaska betrayed the passengers and crew of Flight 261in the most cruel way possible - the airline’s negligent maintenance procedures killed all aboard.
We should pressure our congressmen and women to pass legislation to require all airlines to archive all service and repair records in a federal server. No reentry would be possible amending a record must be accomplished be entering an entirely new record containing the amendment. I don’t know what’s in place right now.
But I do know this:
Whoever signed off on the plane’s maintenance record - and the VP in charge of aircraft airworthiness - should have been prosecuted for negligent homicide in each of the deaths that resulted from the incident.
When the first officer said “No we don’t.” That was awful.
One thing was made clear by the CVR, those pilots NEVER gave up, they fought until the very end. Balls of steel, both of them, RIP.
Additionally, they had asked to set up for landing over the ocean to prevent from crashing over the city.
Sometimes just passing out would have had the same outcome. Such as this flight.
If only the pilot HAD given up trying to get the stabilizer unstuck. They could have landed. Unfortunately he thought it was the electric motor that turns the jack screw. He didn't know it was the jack screw itself that was stuck. He asked Alaskan Airlines ground maintenance for advice and they only told him "Do whatever you think best and see you at the gate." They messed with the controls until the jack screw came unstuck causing the vertical stabilizer to pitch the plane all the way nose down.
On Wikipedia if says after they lost full control of the pitch they tried to fly it upside down to control it, meaning they hit the water inverted and nose down, brave men.
@@BrettonFerguson That´s some big time Monday morning quarterbacking though. The checklists at the time were not sufficient to solve the problem or prevent a potential disaster.
For those wonder why the ATC said “Very good” in a very obvious serious situation.
The term “Very Good” in aviation basically means “I understand what your saying”. It’s just a term for acknowledgement.
It doesn’t mean I acknowledge, the ATC was just really shocked and he lost proper phraseology.
@@mathis8007 nah it’s an acknowledgment. Means “I heard you”.
@@WilliamBruhhh it’s a deviation from standard icao vocabulary, the correct term would be « Roger » sometimes atc will also use « understood »but « very good » is not commonly used, because it’s not part of standard icao language
@@mathis8007 it may not be standard but it still means acknowledgment. This dude probably uses it all of the time.
@@WilliamBruhhh it doesn’t matter if he uses it or not, it’s not standard vocabulary, so I don’t know why original commenter is talking like it is widely used around the world because it isn’t.
God, you could hear the barely restrained fear in the Captain's voice. RIP crew and passengers of this plane
It took 81 seconds from the 1st plunge, then 2nd plunge, and then they hit the water OMG. That must have seemed like an eternity. I remember watching an episode of, air crash investigation, about this crash. Someone who listened to the cockpit recording said u could hear the horrifying screams of the passengers as the plane plunged. These people did not go "gently into the good night". I only hope that the family and friends of the crew and passengers have found a way to find happiness in their lives. The grieving never ends. RIP crew and passengers.
Katy Gilday the cvr picked up the mayday. why didn't the tower?
that was the cockpit tape yes they probably didnt key the mic to atc
I’ve heard the full CVR and ATC recordings. They actually remained quite calm and professional right up till the end.
@@davidkamerath7749 Incredible. So brave. But their quick thinking during the dive is indicative of their lack of panic and retention of their bearings. How many people would have the resourcefulness to attempt to invert the plane to pull it out of the dive under that level of duress? I certainly wouldn't.
Reminds me of Swissair 111, even as the fire raged into the cockpit they remained fully calm as they declared emergency. True professionals
For anyone unfamiliar with the details of this tragedy, I highly recommend that you search a documentary on the crash investigation, though it's likely to make your blood boil! In short, Alaska Airlines decided to cut corners on maintenance and repairs of their planes to increase profits. This deliberate negligence directly led to this fatal crash.
Yes. The Mayday episode "cutting corners" is excellent...
Bex Fire, when an Airline Commercial Jet is scheduled for maintenance, usually a C or D check, the maintenance base has X amount of days to complete the check. Many panels are removed. The cabin seats and carpet is gutted. Quality Control now goes in to inspect. Sometimes they find a lot of corrosion especially around the lav's and galleys that can migrate to the substructure and the sheet metal repair can eat your lunch. You cannot rush sheet metal work. I agree that there is a lot of pressure put on mechanics to get the job done. Most Airline maintenance facilities run a 24 hour 7 days a week as the Operations management wants that aircraft back in the air making money.
As a result steps are skipped and, or pencil whipped.. so sad regarding this accident.
@@deprofundis3293 idk if you saw but they remade it for season 22 and called it "Pacific Plunge."
@@samhobbs6517 oh good to know, thanks! I am guessing it's not on UA-cam yet, though...I am thinking of getting a subscription where I can watch newer Mayday episodes. I get withdrawals now that I think I've watched all of the full length ones on YT. 😢
Same thing happened with the American Airlines 191 crash. Airline went against Mcdonnel Douglas' instructions to save money. Because of that the engine flew off right as they were starting to get in the air after takeoff. Everyone on the plane and 2 others on the ground were vaporized by the crash and explosion . Still the worst crash in US history(Deathwise).
"yes he uhhh... he hit the water. He's, he's down"
I can't even imagine how the rest of those other flights conversations went after watching that happen. You can hear the sound of shock in their voice
They watched two of their own plunge to almost certain death. I hope they weren't required to fly the rest of the day once they landed. I would not be fit to fly witnessing something like that.
@@gnnascarfan2410 wouldn't be surprised if the planes that were nearby were immediately grounded to question the pilots on what they saw, so they could help with the investigation.
@@lickjo Might be a weird comparison but look at Sports: Damar Hamlin collapsing on the field. You cannot expect players to go back out and play after seeing one of their own potentially die.
Likewise you cannot expect your pilots to continue working after witnessing two of their own almost certainly die. We may never know the actual answer of what happened to them, but I hope you are right.
Basically their fellow pilots just died. No matter what company they're flying for, all the pilots of the world are one big family. When you lose fellow pilots, it stings.
@@lukethomas.125especially in the manner 261 went down I couldn’t even fathom what that must’ve been like for them to see 261 inverted 😔
Pilots got an award for heroism... There was nothing they could have done to save that plane considering what they later found out was the problem... Alaska Airlines maintenance cutting corners in their work killed those poor people. Should have been charged with manslaughter..
Adapa Yes, everyone of them should have gone to prison.. No justice..
@Goosed Tooter Wow you wasted an hour of your life replying to a comment with a lame manifesto, (sorry I didn’t read but two words when I saw how long it was) that nobody will ever read ahh hahahahahaha bwah hahahahahaha Burt Reynolds laugh here
Manslaughter*
Adapa You can’t just send people to prison over this. Accidents happen and shoddy maintenance happens. Everything is always rosy in hindsight.
Adapa they weren’t charged with murder therefore the pilot was at fault. Simple
Both pilots were military vets. Pure professionalism til the end. RIP.
Not too many of those guys around anymore. Assume they were from the Vietnam era.
@@JaxonSmithers now we've got Afghanistan war on terrorism vets
They could have fly inverted
@@RR-jr4ow lol passenger planes are not designed to do that.
funny as vet myself throughout my life I tell people I was a vet they say...... I thought that...for the way we are alwasy professional.
Heartbreaking. Such professionals. They have two minutes to live.... and he's "We're going to do a little troubleshooting."
I'm thinking about those twenty seconds at the end. God bless them
They were aware of the problem for about 30 minutes before impact.
@Goose Tater well the maintenance crew failed to adequately lubricate the jackscrew assembly. Which was already heavily worn. The threats of the nut stripped during the flight when they tried to free the jammed stabilizer. If I remember correctly they did a job that would of taken 4 hours in 1. The crew did everything they could until the end, they deserved the medals they got. RIP.
@Goose Tater Hope you are not insinuating that it was in any way the pilots fault, they were faced with a problem that they had never encountered or trained for, they did their best but they were in a lose lose situation.
@Goose Tater As an ex air crash investigator with 10 years experience I think I should know plenty about this subject Mr Know All
@Goose Tater The cause of this accident was due to poor maintenance, if the procedures were properly adhered to then the pilots would never have found themselves in this situation in the first place
The crew gave it everything. They didn’t deserve to die.
The crew should have landed at the first sign of trouble wayyyy back in Mexico.
Goose Tater what speed were they flying when they hit the water?
Goose Tater go fuck yourself
@Goose Tater Regardless of whether the pilots contributed to the problem, the original problem was inexcusably caused by criminally negligent maintenance practices and a culture of cost-cutting. The pilots should never have been in that position to begin with; we don't need to judge the pilots' skill or heroism but rather who is responsible for the death of a hundred innocent lives.
@Goose Tater I just said we DON'T need to judge the pilots- good OR bad- because they were not the root or main cause of this incident, nor should any pilot EVER find themself in this situation if proper maintenance is followed. And given your non-stop comments about this all over the place, I must say you are awfully obsessed with blaming the 2 dead pilots who were killed by their airline's cost-cutting, regulation-dodging bullshit. I'm not angered by the mistakes the pilots made because, again, it was the airline's intentional cost-cutting measures that put them there to begin with and no pilot should ever face this precise scenario.
You also avoid the simple fact that the decision to use negligent and insufficient maintenance practices is a DELIBERATE act- and therefore a direct gamble of passenger and crew lives by Alaska- whereas the pilots tried to remedy the situation, even if they failed to do so properly. But what baffles me is that the pilots' errors despite their efforts anger you more than the deliberate gamble. That's what baffles me and it's really pathetic to focus your energy there when that's not where the actual evil that ultimately led to the crash occurred.
Pilots amaze me with their fearlessness and professionalism. They guys were literally flying upside down, yet still kept enough composure to follow their training and trying everything to get that airplane back on the ground intact. No matter how many times you fly, you can never forget you're trusting your life to the guys on the ground who inspect, maintain, and work hard to keep the airplane airworthy.
Oh shut up
@@jimalden9376 this is the best you could reply with ? try harder
@@jimalden9376autism?
And how do you know that?
Then you hear some of the other CVRs where the pilots are arrogant and combative
Scream like children in the face of death
The pause in SKW5154 when he said: "He...He hit the water." Got to me. RIP brave souls.
Yes!!! Tone of his voice. :((
That's one of the saddest crashes tbh. The crew did everything. . .
So sad
I searched this up because when my dad was in the Coast Guard he had to retrieve the wreckage and all the bodies.
Share with us some of the stories he told you if any please.
aerlial360 He said him and the other Coast Guard guys were making jokes about all the the bodies and body parts they were pulling out of the water. Like,”Oh, look, it’s an arm” he explained the incident to me that they were cleared for take off, but the pilot was told not to try to force the rudder, but he did and they flipped upside down for some time. My dad said he had nightmares seeing all the dead bodies for a couple weeks after and that it was one of the most disturbing things he had seen.
Yeah, it was a sad accident
"Plane's inverted, sir."
Chilling & haunting
Captain: "Yeah we've got it back under control her-"
First Officer: "No we don't"
:(
Talk about roller coaster of emotions.
Yeah I thought I heard that. I didn’t have the courage to listen again to check. rip all souls
Keep in mind during this time the jackscrew has not gone out of operation. The plane is doing a downward dive and the pilot is manually pulling it up with 140 pounds of force, he's fighting going up and down at this time. The pilot claims to have control, as he's fighting the downward motion, while the second person probably notices he is straining quite hard and that the plane is fighting back. It wouldn't be for a little bit longer(when the dive by another plane was announced) that the actual plate holding the jack screw would quit, leading them downward regardless of pilots operation. The plane had inverted and the pilot managed to level it out some, but it still was undeniably sloping into the water.
@@mr-toyota Omg! That actually puts this into perspective a LOT more clearly..
@@1w598 It's really quite a sad situation. All of this could've been avoided if the maintenance crew had just lubricated the jack screw. The pilot here had 17,750 flight hours, 4000 of those were operating the MD-80(this plane). The First Officer had 8,140 flight hours, 8060 of those operating in the MD-80. Both of these gentlemen knew their plane very well, I have no doubt in my mind they did everything possible to remain in flight.
The executives at Alaska Airlines should have gone to prison for this.
well said!!!
The old CEO was replaced.
DrunkHolland4869
Should have gone to prison.
I agree, the CEO and top executives should've been jailed for this. This was completely unacceptable in every regard and every single person on that plane suffered greatly before they died.
They should have gone to Achewitz
For those wondering, this accident is very unlikely to happen again simply because newer airplanes use a much better design to adjust horizontal stabilizer incidence. The DC-9 and MD-80 used a steel ACME screw with an aluminum nut riding on it. The idea was that the nut would always wear faster than the screw, since it’s a much smaller part that’s easier to replace. Even with proper lubrication, the nut has a finite life span, and was calculated to wear just so much with every flight hour. Periodic lubrication was required, and endplay checks would be performed to find out just how much life the nut had left. The problem was that Alaska Airlines had asked for and been granted an increase to the lubrication interval. Several lubrication points on the accident air craft were clogged and would not take grease. They were not repaired, starving the mechanism of lubrication and causing it to wear much faster than normal. Finally, they were using locally fabricated tooling to measure stabilizer endplay which was later found to be inaccurate. This led to the nut on the accident airplane wearing out until the threads stripped out in flight, causing the stabilizer to go in to a full nose down position, and beyond. There were no mechanical stops to keep it from going beyond its designed maximum nose down limit. Modern airplanes have done away with ACME jackscrews, instead relying on ballscrews for stabilizer trim. In this arrangement, the screw is a raceway of U-shaped channels, and the “nut” is made of many small ball bearings. There is no sliding friction in this arrangement, and it is expected to last the entire life of the airplane. They do require grease, but it functions mostly to drive water out and thus prevent corrosion. Even without grease, a ball nut will still roll fine with minimal wear. Besides that, stabilizers on newer airplanes cannot go beyond basic mechanical limits. This is both a function of their basic configuration and a desirable safety feature.
you wrote a whole fact file in a comment section, congratulations
it helps when you properly maintain them...
It's my understanding that there is a mechanical stop at the end of the Acme screw, and that in this incident, after the nut was sheered and they entered the first dive, the stop at the end of the screw was slammed into and then the screw itself broke in half at the second dive.
@@GuyNamedSean The first dive was caused when the threads on the ACME nut failed and the stabilizer went to the full airplane nose down position. They recovered the airplane from the dive at around 24,000 ft and began to return to Los Angeles. At this point, what was left of the nut was resting up against a part at the end of the jackscrew. The NTSB calls it a “cap”. I’m not sure what it’s intended function was, but it was not intended as a mechanical stop. It eventually failed due to overload, causing the jackscrew to completely separate from the nut and go beyond its maximum nose down limit. This led to the second, ultimately fatal dive. The jackscrew itself was not significantly damaged before the crash and was recovered from the ocean floor intact. It was the nut that failed.
Mentour Pilot channel has a detailed video about the accident and according to it, there were mechanical stops but those too failed because of metal fatique. Pilots were able to barely keep the plane in controlled flight until the mechanical stops failed, too.
The accident was caused by really poor maintenance, probably caused by company politics.
I think all crashes are tragic, but for some reason this one can really bring a tear in my eye. The crew fought so hard to get this plane under control. Even in the last few seconds the pilot wanted to make a passenger announcement and explain why they inverted the plane.
i read the transcript never heard the audio of course nobody has and i teared up a lot and again when i heard the atc it shouldn't have happened but the all mighty dollar strikes again
@@googaagoogaa12345678 to be really honest this is not about the dollar. It's about people running the airline that got dumb.
Marc Liljeqvist I agree the passenger knew it’s over
Goose Tater pretty sure this dude knows they didn’t purposely invert the plane lmao. Try not to be such an easily triggered bitch.
I lived close to the area this plane went down, I remember the rescue/ recovery helicopters flying over my house back in forth for days, very brave pilots that fought for all the lives , may God hold them all now.
Rip captain Thompson, and to all the people aboard the aircraft. We shall not forget. Thanks for uploading this.
Goose Tater Are you serious? He’s referencing how the captain and the co pilot did EVERYTHING possible to maintain flight of the aircraft. Even when the plane was upside down, they continued to communicate with each other and continued to fly the airplane.
They did everything they could. If you wanna talk about how Alaska airlines was negligible, which they certainly were, go find another comment to reply on because this certainly isn’t it.
Goose Tater You’re a classless person. Disgusting.
Goose Tater My original comment was how the pilots did everything they could to maintain flying the airplane given the circumstances.
You then said I was wrong and didn’t know what I was talking about...like a child.
The crash was caused by excessive wear resulting from Alaska Airlines' insufficient lubrication of the jackscrew assembly. Alaska airlines was responsible.
Please show where the pilots are at fault, which is what you disagreed with me about.
Goose Tater this isn’t a blog dumbass
Goose Tater wow you're extremely stupid
"Later, during the public hearings into the accident, the request by the pilot not to overfly populated areas was mentioned." Even when facing their death, the pilots thought of others, so sad they had to go because of corporate greed, may they all rest in peace.
Atomic: Not really... We routinely hold aircraft over the ocean because there is very little traffic confliction. Besides, his assigned route was over the ocean.
The flight crew probably frequented the California coast and Southern California often. Given their experience they probably had Aeromexico 498 (which did crash on land and killed people on the ground in Los Angeles) in the back of their heads.
@@michaelhall9138 They were offered a direct routing to LAX due to the technical issues, which presumably would have taken them over land, but they declined it.
@@michaelhall9138 Mentour Pilot has a great video about this accident. They were offered direct route but the captain decided to fly extra miles to keep the plane above the ocean to test if they can still control it while taking lower flight level.
Corporate greed. Yep
The feeling of helplessness controllers must feel when they receive mayday calls comes across listening to this one, I suppose because it's the ATC recording. The controller is listening to perhaps the last words of the pilots and can do nothing. That's some serious heavy shit to carry with you. I see some comments about how he sounds emotionless, like he doeesn't care... I'd say the guy is in work mode and knows he has to keep his composure. No doubt it'll replay in his head for years to come.
Work mode is all you can do. The pain and stress come later.
@@bajatroy Yes and the news about that accident which you take part of it like every sinngle minute of it, is horrifying.
They lose their shit occasionally, and the evidence is when it simply switches to a new controller at the same position. During something like this they have to be like a 911 operator and focus on clearing airspace and/or gathering information from other flights in the area.
I live close to where the plane impacted, it was near the Channel Islands in SoCal, it’s an area famous for squid fishing, those boats have extreme lightning to attract the squid, every single boat charged out hoping to help, it was heartbreaking to speak with them after, a found nothing but pieces of people, god bless all involved in every aspect!!!!
The controls voice literally made me cry. Just a terrible avoidable accident. How can you cut corners when it comes to people’s safety. RIP
I was an Alaska Airlines ramp agent at SFO when this happened. We would load up this plane daily. I can specifically remember hearing of an Alaskan Air flight attendant with her baby and family coming back from vacation that were aboard that flight. The look on people's faces that were there waiting for their loved ones I will never forget. May God bless all those souls that perished that day.
@Mason Calhoun i thought everything was gods will...
I was there that night as well, waiting for my wife off a SWA flight from Phoenix.
The mood around the Alaska Airlines counter was saddening.
I can't imagine how it was for the friends/family waiting for loved ones (wasn't this before 9-11 when you could go up where the plane was actually coming in)?. I looked up the date here and couldn't find it without exiting my comment. My experience was no where what these dear people went thru at the airport but one time my daughter and grandchildren were flying in to Seattle and I was there to greet them. The plane was so late and an address system came on telling us it was circling the airport for some reason. Even with that little bit of info I was falling apart inside. Am I so weak? Yes, I am. If that's how i reacted then I think of these dear people and my heart breaks for them.
@jeanettea12345 yes, it was early 2000. I'd worry as well if I were in a situation. I guess it's human nature to fear the worst. Now 9-11 changed everything as you can imagine. Rules were enforced so that people were getting fired without warnings. Tailgating someone at employee-only entry doors with tarmac access wasn't an issue until then. Driver's licenses became mandatory even for cabin cleaners, and of course, background checks became stricter.
@@coreyjwingate what was the purpose of that statement? Do you think it matters what happens in this world? In each person’s lifetime? Besides turning your life over to Jesus etc….If you do believe etc, you will be seeing everyone again. Don’t make the mistake of worrying about what goes on with yours and others earthly lives. Just turn your life over to Jesus. Forgive others and sin no more!
"He hit the water. He's, uh...he's down."
The shakiness in witness voices speaks volumes. 😥
@@whiskeyrun4996 That story does not ring true at all.
@@whiskeyrun4996 Police officers in the USA don't abuse random old men who are saying a prayer at a Vietnam memorial. I just don't buy it.
@@Aethelhald fight! fight! fight!
Yeah :( You can tell he knew damn well nobody could survive that. He witnessed a plane full of people die. I'd be shaky too.
Is thiz the flight coming bCk from Cancun going to seattle that went down jan 29th 2000 off coast of los angeles if so my young 19 year old cousin n his 2 friends died thay day soo sad 😢
These pilots amaze me. Even in the midst of crisis and eminent death. They stay calm and dignified until the end. Such a horrible way to go. May all these souls Rest In Peace
Got to be one of the most heartbreaking atc tapes u can hear...i feel like when I listen it brings some kind of sympathy to them and what they were trying to do in an impossible situation, bless them all...
knightfive, I feel the same. Thanks for putting it in words.
GOL 1907 CVR will make you have nightmares.
Most heroic and brave pilots ever. The horror those other pilots witnessed is incomprehensible.
Those pour souls suffered tremendously in their last minutes. Heartbreaking.
May they all RIP
I just hope it was quick
@@Jackieb741 they were diving straight down 3 times and then flying upside down. Nothing about it was quick...
@@NizRacingNY I mean the actual death.
I truly can’t imagine the absolute horror of being a passenger on this flight. Going through two massive nose dives before inverting and then slamming into the water must have been so beyond terrifying I can’t even imagine. I mean time slows down with adrenaline so passengers in the back of the plane had to see the plane exploding in those microseconds before death and realized this is how it ends. May they Rest In Peace and in heaven and praise to the pilots for giving it their all, god rest their souls.
I think it still went too fast. Your brain needs time to process this information. They hopefully couldn't see it anymore.
Yeah adrenaline does not slow time, they would die before their brain register any pain or see any fire.
The plane hit the water at around 500mph, at those speeds you are dead instantly, it's extreme deceleration.
Much of the time. You survive a crash.
@@windsofmarchjourneyperrytr2823 ya not this one. Nose dive into the ocean at 500mph... there is a 0% chance of survival. All dead on impact in a millisecond
In a year and a half, it'll be twenty years. Almost two decades ago. And it still hurts to hear this.
It will be 2 decades 10 days from now
I work in an operations center and I'm always amazed at how professional and calm dispatchers / traffic controllers generally are when dealing with intense situations like this. Getting emotional, screaming, yelling, doesn't help you recall what your procedures are. It doesn't make it easier for others to understand what you're saying. Just an amazing job.
YOUE LIE!
@@ilovecops6255 I don't believe this guy either. Operations center..yeah right
A friend of mine was on board that flight. Breaks my heart to hear these recordings. Cynthia Oti. RIP ONS
I had two friends. Husband and wife.😥
Although the ATC was controlling his emotions, he got quiet toward the end. Think also of the experience of the pilots who witnessed this. Makes it pretty hard to go to work again the next day. A tragedy that was so clearly avoidable by proper maintenance.
Honestly I hope none of the pilots who witnessed this directly did not go into work the next day. Fundamentally they watched two of their fellow aviators die a horrific death. If I saw such a thing no way in hell I would've gone into work the next day.
However, this was early 2000 and mental health issues were unfortunately not as mainstream as they were in the 2010s. So I imagine they were back in the cockpit within a week.
They falsified the maintenance records they were NOT checking the elevator screw jack threads for lubrication like they should have. The maintenance crew manager killed all those people. The pilots saved a lot of lives by trying to free up the elevator over water instead of just trying to land.
I agree... all they did was follow the protocol. They also tried several times to talk with maintenance and got zero help. They had no idea it was a major malfunction until it was too late. Not the pilots fault at all!
@FIDIRONU You're correct. Even with electronics or cars. If something's wrong you turn it off go inspect then slowly try and fix it. You don't go around testing things mid flight. I don't care if it is protocol.
Redacted
@Goose Tater My only point was all they did was get out the manual and did what it said. The manual didn't say, "Don't mess with that!!" It told them to try and free it up by doing XY and Z. So they did. Hope you don't get hurt climbing down from your high horse there Goose.
@Goose Tater And another thing.. I don't think the pilot thought he could even land the plane the way it was. He had to pull back hard on the stick just to keep level flight!!! He very likely would not be able to get enough up elevator to flair out on the landing. Knowing this he probably felt a dire need to try something as he was pretty much screwed at that point! Also note the way he decided to try and get it un-jammed over the water just in case. That decision saved God knows how many lives on the ground.
R.I.P Sheri I was to young to really know you but my mom tells me you where a great aunt
I'm so sorry
;(..
The pilots flew that aircraft upside-down just to keep it in the air. Ever hung upside down in a tree? Blood rushes to your head and you can't even think. The unthinkable terror of those pilots, passengers and crew. I hope those Alaskan Airline executives spend the rest of their lives waking up to the thought of those people's final moments in their heads. -Fucking criminal.
They'll wake up in their penthouse suites, sip a whisky and probably chuckle quietly to themselves as they slide into a gown and slippers and gaze out across a beautiful tropical holiday home.
Never put your life in the hands of anyone else, period.
@ChainsawGutsFuck Sadly, youre correct.
"I hope those Alaskan Airline executives spend the rest of their lives waking up to the thought of those people's final moments in their heads."
They most *certainly* did not.
If they were the types to show remorse, they wouldn't be the types to commit such heinous and greedy acts.
@@DisemboweII
Very true.
I was driving back from LAX along Pacific Coast Highway, right before Point Mugu Rock when the plane hit the water. I didn't see the plane go down but a few cars in front of me did and we all stopped, searching the water with our eyes (it was too far away).
How helpless all of the pilots and crew must have felt - an absolute tragedy. And to think that Alaska wasn't held accountable for their corner-cutting actions just sickens me.
Exactly
This makes me cry every time knowing that the pilots fought till the end. They could’ve just gave up and had the plane plummet but no, they flew it for a bit even if it’s inverted. They have taught me to be a resilient brave soul and I hope to apply their attitude in my life.
That really is the stuff of nightmares.
I just had a dream like this last week.
They won't release the actual cockpit recording, but they said you can hear the high pitched whine of the engines and screaming for the last 20 seconds. Absolutely terrible way to go.
In 1990 it became illegal to release the CVR. You can read a transcript but can’t actually listen to it.
Redwingsfan who is allowed to hear it ? Only NTSB?
Trey Smith Yes, the NTSB and the airline involved. Before the 1990 law they were released to the public. Now the public can only read the written transcript of the CVR (black box).
I wouldn’t want to hear the actual recording.
FAKE news, where the fuck did you get this info? You must work for the white house. try researching (google?) - the LAST communication received from the crew on the air to ground loop was a MAYDAY. There was no screaming or bullshit that you suggest. The official transcript is all over the web you fucking tool.
I hope Heaven holds a place for these guys. They fought for everything until the end.
My father retired from the FAA after 30 years. Air Traffic Controller (ATC) training is similar to the military ATCs - and First Responders! All must remain somewhat detached in order to do their jobs. It's after a crisis that the emotions and reactions slam the individuals and throughout their lives they try to cope as best as they can. Air Traffic Controllers have one of the top 10 most stressful jobs. Now, about those UFOs - the ATCs know the truth.
I'm kinda curious. Surely he's told you something
@jetshockey5 There's no apostrophe in "UFOs." Straighten yourself out.
@jetshockey5 My my. Don't take corrections real well, do we?
I'm
That mindset is very much what nurses have to do
Working in ICU I had to run codes more often than we wanted of course. But you get to know the family when they come visit, you know that people love this patient, you’ve met them. And when they code you try and do all you can. My first year as a nurse I would see the patients families in my head during a code. Remembering them say I love you to each other or I’ll see you tomorrow or can’t wait till you come home, the smiles, the hugs, the love in the room. It was hard for me at first, I cried a lot.
It was really hard to tell someone’s adult child that their parent is no longer here.
No matter how old we get it’s hard losing a parent
We are so much more than just a nurse at times like that, we’re therapists, emotional support, all kinds of things they don’t warn you about in school. In time you learn to process it all and if you don’t it wears on you 🙏🏻
You can hear it in the 1st officers response. He knew right then and there that it was over =(
He saved countless people on the ground by taking it out over bay. The Pilots were heroes fighting to their last seconds of life even flying inverted knowing they too would die but they tried and tried to save many others until they met their own fate. That is what being a hero is. Heroes might not always save the day but the fact they never give up despite the odds being completely against them shows courage and character.
Sad that so many great people like these meet a tragic early fate and pure slime walk the Earth in their place.
Morris Thompson, once the U.S. Commissioner of Indian Affairs and his wife and daughter were aboard this plane. I didn't know him, but I did once interview him for a national publication. He was a very nice man, and I wish this hadn't happened. RIP, Commissioner.
sorry to hear this so sad RIP to all
For me... Hands down the saddest one of them all. This one affected me then and affects me today every time I catch wind of it. I can't imagine the horror the occupants felt.
i feel like i'm about to cry
oh wait i already did at the start of the video-
also SKW5154's pause in the "Yes, sir. He... He hit the water. He's down." (3:11) actually really hit me
I was 12 years old when this happened. Will never forget this as a So Cal native. Those pilots did everything they could. There was no way they could've known about the state of the stabilizer and the jackscrew. I have avoided Alaska at all costs. They cared more about their profits than the safety of the passengers. Absolutely disgraceful. I'll never fly Alaska. The maintenance people who falsified the records should have gone to prison for fraud and negligence. John Liotine lost his job after he blew the whistle to the FBI.
its literally one of the top rated airlines now as far as safety. unfortunately the aviation industry is written in the tombstone standard.
The maintenance people are the little guys. The CEO who decided on cutting corners should be in prison.
The maintenance manager responsible for this is currently (2021) a manager at American Airlines. Sickening
@@lo3769 Wow! Good thing I don't fly American. That's insane. How he managed to avoid jail I have no idea.
To ignore the fact that this was Alaska's first crash in over 35 years is to this day appalling. To say you will never fly ASA is just outside of ridiculous. Were mistakes made? Yes. Were precious lives lost? Tragically. Were people held accountable for their mistakes? You betcha. But think of the lessons learned. Like Jack in The Box after their massive eco scare for which they became one of the safest fast food chains, Alaska was eventually able to return to a stellar safety and passenger satisfaction reputation. I am proud to say that I worked for them for over 5 years both during this accident and post accident times and saw how much they truly care for and cared for their passengers and employees. Long live the Eskimo.
May God rest the souls of all aboard that craft. Those pilots did everything they could to fix their airplane, but the sad irony is the more they tried, the worse the situation became. Alaska Air didn't repair their planes on schedule, falsified maintenance logs, and left that plane w a faulty screw in the horizontal stabilizer. Dozens of lives meant less to them than profit.
Nice post, Allec :) Keep em coming...
If i learn my flight is on Alaska airlines imma ask for a refund of my ticket
I'm surprised they only got a small slap on the wrist for what they were doing. Falsifying maintenance logs goes beyond not doing proper maintenance. People needed to go to jail for what happened.
John Sauerbrun ikr honor all on the plane... but that's another reason of responsibility
The worst thing about the maintenance was that an employee voiced his concerns about the maintenance procedures and was fired for whistleblowing. If only he had been listened to, all of those poor souls might still be alive today.
India Salmon at least he sued the bastards. i hope he won.
Lost a friend on this flight, I knew her from childhood. Really sad, gave me nightmares for years. Probably because I knew someone on the airplane, this crash more than any other still haunts me to this day.
Sorry for your loss. I hope she is in a better place now!
Amen
Very sad. I was working at Port Hueneme Police Department when the media called us about a plane that had gone down in the area. RIP
Nani R Nice I was stationed there for a bit. Great little area over there.
Man, I really feel bad for not just the victims of the crash, but that Skywest Pilot really seemed shaken up by seeing the crash.
That SkyWest pilot's voice when he reports that they hit the water is heartbreaking.
I can't even imagine how they felt knowing they couldn't pull out of it. There's no word's to describe it im sure. Hearing the pilots voice makes it so real. I know this was a few years ago but prayers to the families for their loss.
Amen.
It’s incredible they didn’t just tank it, but fought, literally, going down.
I’m sorry to hear about the corporate greed. It’s sick.
But I believe God took away all their panic and pain in that flash to eternity
We love because HE loved us first
My dad flies for United. My brother flies f18s. I’m in flight school to become an airline pilot. My gf hates I watch these, but my dad showed me them. Said watching flight disaster videos are learning experiences. He’s had a few crazy things happen. Engine blown off his md80 over the Gulf of Mexico. Almost crashed on final in a 757 from wake turbulence at Newark. He always said “this job will get your heart pumping a few times in your career, but that’s why we train so hard.”
I watched this video, and it left me shaken to my core. Hearing the pilot's calm yet helpless voice in his final moments is something I can’t get out of my mind. I couldn’t sleep after this-it’s a haunting reminder of how unpredictable and fragile life is.
And for 3:00+ minutes that we watched this video, those poor passengers were totally aware that they were going to die...terrible, just terrible!
Yep, lost a friend and his wife and little girls on that flight. No way to even imagine their last minutes 😢
Those passengers had approximately 3 minutes to contemplate death.
More like think about life
@@julsc2106 No they would’ve been thinking about death
No, they had at least eleven minutes. That's the time from the first dive to the last, fatal one. Some of the passengers may have noticed issues before that. This was a problem the flight crew was dealing with for quite a while.
Thats crazy ive had an entire life time.
No, the captain told them he was inverting the plane to fix an issue, but in reality he only said that to reassure everyone so they didn't freak out, even though he knew death was imminent. It was only 90 seconds of invertion. Everyone died not knowing what happened right before impact.
Heartbreaking absolutely moving! 88 on board all passed and what remains is the voice of a captain who did whatever he could to save them all. Rest In Peace
Cutting corners is the mindset created and fostered by corporate executives. Why did they not receive jail terms for involuntary manslaughter?
There’s an odd thing in this country where the scale of your business seems to shield you from consequences. Imagine if a small trucking company cut corners and it caused one of their big rigs to crash on the highway, killing dozens of people. There would likely be a lengthy investigation followed by indictments for the people in the company responsible for cutting corners and compromising safety. But a massive airline will get a pass, even if their safety violation was more egregious and their accident killed more people. It’s pathetic.
You can apply the same logic to banks - if a small family-owned community bank cheated their customers they would easily be charged and shut down. But if you’re one of the large banks who caused the 2008 financial crisis, bankrupting thousands of people and tanking the entire economy; here’s a 700 billion dollar bailout and zero legal consequences. It’s unsustainable.
@@Ward413 Exactly! Once you are a large enough corporation, the USA will literally bend over backwards for you to screw them and every single human being, and you'll be rewarded exorbitantly for it.
When a company is big enough to say, "Everybody is responsible," nobody is responsible. If the CEO and other senior company officers get the big bucks, they should do the time when things go wrong. It is their job to make sure that everything is being done the right way.
@@Ward413 I hate America.
This must be one of the saddest air traffic exchanges ever.... RIP :(
2:45 "He's Inverted" turns my stomach everytime
When the nearby pilots say he is inverted, then say he hit the water, and he is down, I cry every time. 😢
I really cannot imagine how the Center controller must have felt when he heard the news from N50DX that Flight 261 had just hit the water. I also feel really sad for the pilots of N50DX, Skywest 5154, American 161 and some plane with registration starting with Charlie (pilot must have had gate access to the final moments of the drama). They all must have had traumatizing nightmares about this air crash for a very long time already. I hope that everyone involved in this saddening tragedy are all doing alright.🙏🏻
Passengers on those flights may have seen it too. RIP
@@MikeyJebediah highly doubt it, the plane that crashed was in front of any plane that was relaying info. Also the pilot was tell the passengers a plane is crashing in front you
Most likely it was just N50DX and OO5154 that saw the plane go down. However, they gave useful information as to where the crash was.
The restraint ATC and other pilots helping have without freaking out is amazing. It really shows you how skilled you need to be to work in Aviation. Heartbreaking tragedy
“The plane’s inverted, sir.”
“Okay, very good.”
Right? Who the hell says that?
It’s just meaning “acknowledged.” It’s not literally meaning good. Keep in mind this guy still has other planes on his frequency and has to keep his composure.
Poor choice of words.
@@katkrause679 a) I'm sure he uses that phrase hundreds of times daily in place of "affirmative" or "okay"
b) Incredibly high stress situation in a notoriously high stress job, doubt he had time to think about substituting his usual "very good" for something more situationally appropriate
c) It did not and could not have affected the outcome of the situation
d) ATC recordings are not routinely subject to the scrutiny of the public eye, so I seriously doubt that in that moment, he was concerned about how his word choice would be scrutinized by someone on the internet, such as yourself, whose main focus is finding something to be offended by in piece of minutiae they possibly can
@@the_color_orange ..great input. Thank you for broadening my horizons on that! It was a good read.
Man as soon as the ATC said to the other flight keeping an eye on 261 “do what you have to do but keep an eye on him..” is bloody saddening, even him knew not much could’ve been done at that point to salvage the situation.
God, yes. like "we know what's coming but just see them, make sure they're not alone." and Lord love them they did.
These people were murdered. Imagine cooking the Maintenence logs to save $75,000 on a jack screw that you know will kill people- and your airline grosses $200 million per year.
The movie flight with Denzel Washington was based around this. They used quite a lot of this recording in the script.
Hollywood trash, unfortunately.
I had two friends on that flight. People here, near Seattle still talk about it. We all know the cause, but also that mechanic departnent, in Oakland had had numerous warnings for other failed repairs
Sorry for your loss! May they rest in peace!
I had to talk to SKW right after this. The Center was working with us (LA approach) to get him back to LAX when he went down. SKW was quite professional as I had no idea he had just witnessed the crash. The worst part about being a controller is watching something like this and not being able to do anything.
Really gets your attention at :32 where the co-pilot says "No we don't" after the pilot radios it's under control. Co pilot says it instantly.
When you really find out why this plane went down you wonder why some of the top brass mgmt at Alaska Airlines didn't went to prison
It’s disgraceful it really is. I hope it burns in their souls.
0:04 even though the plane had been somewhat stabilized at that point, that's the voice of a man fully aware that he is in the midst of his last rodeo.
To their credit, Captain Ted Thompson & First Officer Bill Tansky never gave up. No matter how bleak it got they did everything they could right to the end.
RIP everyone on board that day. The horror those people had to endure in their last moments of life is unfathomable.
This crash was totally avoidable if the higher ups would have let the mechanics do the proper maintenance proceedures. The fking jackscrew that controlled the rear stabilizers had stripped the threads off of it, rendering it useless. It was past due to be replaced 2 years earlier!
I was a controller at ATL Center for 30 years.....NOT SOMETHING A CONTROLLER WANTS TO HEAR!!! My heart goes out to all crew, passengers, and the controller who last talked to the crew. This is something that will stay with you for the rest of your life! Good job staying calm and collective. You can bet that controller will relive these moments forever.
I had this experience as a captain of an airliner when a privat jet crashed on my frequency. NEVER ever forget the panic in the voice of that pilot.
One of my favorite radio personalities was on board. Cinthia Oti was a talk show host on 560 AM KSFO out of San Francisco...Rest in peace Cinthia, i miss listening to you.
Me too
I can’t imagine anything scarier
That controller, knowing one plane is being lost, while many more need his directions, focus, and care to safely land...thank you sir, for your professionalism and courage to go on, and RIP to all of the innocent lives lost on that Alaska Air flight.
My dear friend Toni and her daughter Jaclyn died in this crash. She was a wonderful person who changed my life and I miss her everyday. 🙏🏻RIP Toni, Jaclyn and the other 86 souls on board.
This doomed flight and the Fed Ex 705 are the most powerful for me. Two sets of superior air crew doing what they can to the best of their ability. Oh, and the third set, Flight 232. Heartbreaking, courageous, hopeful, stupefying by turns. Bless them all.
Check out Japan Airlines 123... prepare to be shocked.
The pilot and co-pilot had balls of steel, the CVR showed that right up to impact even though it was clearly hopeless they were still trying to coordinate between themselves and regain control. "But we're still flying" was what the pilot kept telling the co-pilot every time things got worse, trying to keep hope right up till the end.
Ignore the troll, don't give him the attention he's desperate for by wasting your time
This is still one of the crashes that sticks in my mind because if how awful it must have been but also because of how avoidable it was
The emotions in this recording are so raw. First it's urgency, you can tell the crew are struggling and fighting for their lives. ATC is clear, concise and alert, trying to help. Then as the situation grows ever hopeless, you can hear a distinct shift in the voice of the ATC ending in a very palpable saddness.
The crews of nearby planes watching this unfold in front of them, it must have been so gut wrenching to witness. You can hear it in their communication.
I once read the CVR recording for this flight. That crew fought hard all the way. Even when they were impacting the water they were still making control inputs.
Last words recorded were from the co-pilot: "Here we go". So tragic.
They did all they could and as you said, fought until the very end to try and save it. I suppose the mercy of it is that death would have been upon impact for everyone on the plane, I know they had to suffer the terrible and extremely frightening descent but once it hit the water, no more suffering. For those left behind and those who witnessed it, I can't imagine the pain of watching something so awful happening and not being able to do a damn thing to help.
As a mechanic, I always think of these guys. Especially when dealing with the horizontal stabilizer jackscrew.
How Alaska Airlines is still in business is beyond me.
Because they actually turned it around
The pilots intentionally kept their aircraft over water saving untold lives on the ground and continously fought for control up to impact. I can't even begin to imagine what everyone on board was going through but the flight crew never gave up. TRUE HEROES!!!!!
The composure of everyone involved (particularly the pilot of Flight 261) is what makes this so chilling.
I was ATC about 11 years ago. It's never fun feeling helpless like that...Geeze. God be with them.
N50DX: Plane's inverted,sir.
ARTCC: Okay,very good.
lesselp
SKW5154: Ah, he's definitely out of control.
ARTCC: Okay, very good.
well what can they say? what can they do? yes its sad nobody wants to hear that but at that point ATC is helpless and they cant sit there and cry
Matthew Neathery Wtf? Nobody expected them to sit there and cry 🙄 But he could've just said ok ..
butchtropic We already knew that bro!! We're just joking because it sounded weird, thats all. Didn't take it literally 🙄
Matthew Neathery Are you a complete fucking idiot? Do you know what “very good” means? They could of said practically ANYTHING, besides very good. it’s complete disrespect, a bunch of people are dead and this bozo at ATC shows no sympathy or concern. you have to be a dumb fucking imbecile to come to that conclusion.
1:47 - 3:08 that's how long it took from beginning final dive until crash, just a minute and 21 seconds.
But while listening to this during that time period, it feels like eternity knowing that people were upside down, pressed into their seats from the downward g forces, most likely nearly everyone either screaming or crying or in too much shock to react.
It was only about 10 minutes from the first moment the people realized they might be in danger until their lives came to a merciful end. Not many ways to die can top that in the horror department.
There was an uncontrolled decent earlier in the flight. From the time the critical damage occurred until the plane hit the water was about half an hour.
@@shamelesshussy I know it seems like that, but it was only 10 minutes between dives, 15 tops.
First dive (note times)
1609:18 CAM-1 holy s**t.
1609:19.6 CAWS [sound similar to horizontal stabilizer- in-motion audible tone]
1609:21 CAM-1 you got it?... f**k me.
1609:24 CAM-2 what are you doin?
1609:25 CAM-1 I it clicked off---
1609:25.4 CAWS [sound of chime] Altitude
Second dive
1619:21.1 CAM [sound of faint thump]
1619:24 CAM-2 you feel that?
1619:25 CAM-1 yea.
1619:29 CAM-1 ok gimme sl--- see, this is a bitch.
1619:31 CAM-2 is it?
1619:31 CAM-1 yea.
1619:32.8 CAM [sound of two clicks similar to slat/flap handle movement]
1619:36 CAM-? *
1619:36.6 CAM [sound of extremely loud noise] [increase in background noise begins and continues to end of recording] [sound similar to loose articles moving around in cockpit]
1619:37 CAM-? *
1619:37.6 PA [sound similar to CVR startup tone]
1619:43 CAM-2 mayday.
1619:49 CAM-1 push and roll, push and roll.
I find a lot of parallels between this and the JAL 123 crash: mechanical failures in the rear of the plane making it uncontrollable; pilots performing valiantly under inhuman amounts of stress; and maintenance workers slacking off on the job.
With JAL 123, however, the president of JAL resigned, and several maintenance workers killed themselves as their way of atoning for their mistakes that cost 520 people their lives. And all we got from ALA is a whistleblower who got blacklisted from the industry for doing the right thing. As far as I'm concerned, as long as there are no criminal charges against ALA executives and the maintenance workers who LIED about their "work," these 88 deaths are in vain.
These type of accidents will always happen until executives who make these policy changes are held criminally responsible. Just as a example Blue Bell ice cream was expanding and making buckets of money so they decided not to shut down lines to properly clean the plants. People died but no one went to jail. Now if we had a law that said you will spend time in prison for avoidable deaths corporate would think twice.
Dammit why'd they have to commit suicide? A jail sentence is enough!
None of the people responsible even work for this airline anymore so what’s your point? It’s a totally different company. Probably one of the best and safest in operation right now. Look at their safety record and satisfaction ratings. They speak for themselves… Accidents happen, this one was completely avoidable. If we learn nothing from it, then yes their loss of life would be in vain. But in fact this spurred policy change like any aviation accident. These lives were not lost in vain. And a similar accident will never happen again. It’s a hard lesson. RIP to those innocents lost
@@nordicpride9708 this was totally avoidable. Maintenance management, at the very least, should have spent time behind bars for falsifying and manufacturing maintenance records. That's a legit crime. Also, go read up on the Alaska Air mechanic who blew the whistle on Alaska Air upper management and got blacklisted from the aviation industry for it just a year before this plane went down. Alaska Air maintenance management was at complete fault here. It doesn't matter if "they aren't working there anymore," they committed literal crimes for years and it lead to 88 lives being taken. Alaska Air now taking safety seriously after this tragedy isn't relevant, it doesn't erase crimes that were already committed by their upper management.
@@PlayshotKalo Did you bother reading anything I wrote above?…. I stated it was AVOIDABLE. Next time maybe digest what is previously written before just saying what you want to say.
You can hear the sadness in the pilots voice at 3:11 :(
"Yeah he hit the water. He's down."
"Okay..."
Nothing more anyone could do. Chilling stuff.
Lord, may all the victims be conquers of this tragedy and remain by your side with everlasting life. And we ask that you unceasingly continue to comfort the families of the lost ones and assure them that they have landed in a truly better place and will be one day reunited with them through your grace. Amen
Amen.
Mick Philpott .. come on, that’s too much. No need to be so crude. Have some civility.
If your lord wasn't powerful enough to bring those responsible for this tragedy to justice, I'll take my chances without him.
@@jdtown6585 Who said anything about justice on Earth? Justice is dished out in the afterlife. If you take your chances without him, you will be sent to hell at death just like everyone else not in Christ.
@@Romans8-9 Your argument is childish and silly. Go back to bed.
@2:26 that's when the captain gave up flying upright and try to fly inverted hoping to level the jet knowing there's little time. Sad sad sad.
On the CVR I believe he even said, “At least upside down we’re flying...”. Still giving commands to the FO about using the rudders and speed brakes. For over a minute. Those pilots literally tried every single thing they could to get that plane safely somewhere and they should be commended for it. Never gave up. Till the very end they tried.
When the captain said that they were in a dive he sounded so calm and controlled, you never would’ve known that something was going on.
That poor ATC controller. You can hear his voice begin to shake as he realizes he’s going to lose that plane and that he was probably going to be the last person to ever hear those pilots alive. He did a great job. Sometimes things just happen.