Why does Russia issue pilot licenses to people with severe mental retardation? One would think that the last person u would want flying a plane would be someone as stupid as the pilot in this case. Unreal
yeah its not really tho, if you were given a rubix cube with a gun to your head 2.5 minutes will seem like an instant and you wont be thinking about anything other than the cube and the gun..
@@ObiWanCannabi There are tons of stories of people believing they're about to die and thinking about their families and stuff. These people had over 2 minutes to do so and could do nothing to stop their impending death. Whereas if someone has a gun to your head you have the option of fight or flight.
It's interesting that the deadliest air disaster in Soviet history happened in the deadliest moment in world aviation history. The summer of 1985 was the deadliest, with Air India 182, Delta 191, JAL 123, and British Airtours 28M. Aeroflot 5163 slots into this summer, only making it more deadly.
Keep in mind that China Airlines 006 and Iberia 610 happened on the same day (Feb 19 1985), even outside summer wasn't lucky. 1985 ended with Canada's deadliest air crash with Arrow Air 1285.
Extreme fatigue is often fatal. And the corruption of the USSR is equally fatal. Having a crew work in extreme heat with no viable shelter to rest is cruel.
The fatigue is definitely what sealed the deal on this one. This is normally an easy to prevent situation in which there are almost always some extenuating circumstances in order for it to happen. It's one of those things that is so simple to prevent. I've been in that position where I'm so tired that I almost start dreaming before my eyes close all the way. If I'm woken up, I have to fight that fog to clear my mind and focus on what's happening. I can see that happening to the crew, and it's a frightening situation to find one's self in.
@@Cognizant-ut9oj SO WHAT RUSSIANS ARE JUST AS MUCH A THREAT. ITS About THE RICH KILLING OFF THE POOR. LOOK BACK AT HOW WARS ARE FOUGHT. THEY ARENT TRYING TO WIN BATTLES THEY MAKE IT EASY TO KILL EACH OTHER.
8:11 - Worth noting is that it's nearly impossible to recover any aircraft from a flat spin. This isn't a design weakness or flaw of the TU-154. If you lock up a plane in such a way that it's falling flatly, it's going to be a very bad situation - regardless of make or model.
Only an acrobatic airplane can recover from a flatspin, or at least that's what I've seen, the rule of thumb usually is that the harder it is to enter a spin, the harder it is to recover from it, and as a pilot myself that had to go through spins as part of my training, spins are no joke
@@pr0t0typ38no it greatly depends on any individual aircraft and other conditions and many different aircraft required different steps to exit such flat spins and may need multiple minutes to exit it or even drague chuts on many military aircraft to help the best chances for any aircraft to not be lose to a flat spin is to recover before the aircraft departs flight
Most passenger airliners maybe, but smaller planes like general aviation aircraft, aerobatic aircraft, some gliders, trainers and fighters can generally get out of a flat spin given enough altitude. There's a reason why you need literally thousands of flight hours and years of experience before they even accept you into training to fly passenger airlines. People who get into that line of work the civilian route can only get that experience by working as flight instructors on general aviation aircraft for several years first.
Everyone correcting me is right. Acrobatic aircraft, aircraft with drag chutes, fighters, and small, slow planes and so on are much better off. Airliners could do it, I suppose, if the crew diagnosed the problem correctly almost immediately and had a LOT of altitude to work with. That said, if the crew manages to get the plane into such a predicament to begin with, it seems unlikely that they'd then also be able to correctly identify and respond to the problem. That's not an insult to them, of course; as in the case of this video, convincing your brain that its understanding of reality is wrong is another thing that's almost impossible... especially under high stress.
An all-too-common feature of the Soviet experience was the quiet suffering of individual families who knew only that their family was gone and would never be told how or why. For many decades, Soviet families would lose loved ones in obscure military operations, industrial accidents, and the like, and the most the state would tell them was that their loved one was dead and there might be a body to bury; lucky families might even have an approximate date of death. Many a Soviet graveyard was filled with young men (and some women) who clearly died before their time, but the sum-total of public disclosure on their death was they were dead.
@@johnrosswilhite9532the thousands who were "safely" outside of the Chernobyl radiation zone set by the Soviet Union are a good place to start, they weren't given the information about the deadly levels of radiation they experienced and the state would never admit it's fault, I'd be surprised if the Russian government currently even acknowledges what their forefathers did then.
Just thinking how slow my thinking is when I’m seriously sleep deprived, it’s scary to imagine being awoken in a Soviet cockpit and immediately confronted with a problem that endangers the lives of hundreds of people. Even if the pilots could determine the correct solution to the stall, given their muddled and sluggish thinking, it may still have been too late to save the flight
The current understanding from the US highway advisory board is that driving after being awake for 24 hours is like driving with a BAC of .10. That's bad if true.
I guarantee you, in a life and death situation, even if you're 48 hours without sleep, the adrenaline will make you feel 100% awake again. What's bad is being exhausted while doing something mundane, like driving (or flying). Driving while nodding off is the absolute worst feeling, I carry some powered caffeine in my glove box for when it happens. Probably not healthy but neither is flying off the road into a tree. I know airplanes used to have amphetamines in their survival kits, especially back then, would be a life saver in a situation like that
@@moonasha I don't think drugging our pilots so they can go for longer without sleep is the lesson to be taken from this. You did mention it'd be for an emergency/life saver situation, but we all know this would slowly be pushed from emergency procedure to the norm by certain air companies.
Flew on one of those TU154 once, when we decended in rally hot and humid weather and the cabin filled with dence mist as well as screaming passengers that thought the was a fire..
At the time of this accident, the Tu-154 had suffered 19 fatal or major accidents in the previous 11 years of service. This included the worst flight accidents in Kazakhstan (Aeroflot Flight 4225, 8 July 1980) and Russian (Aeroflot Flight 3552, 11 October 1984) history. The most recent accident occurred in December 1984. It was not a safe aircraft to fly, and it was operated by an airline with an atrocious safety record.
@@MM22966In Jugoslavija even it was known. I remember my parents talking, my dad was flying to Leningrad and mom scared because reputation of Aзрофлот
@@petergray2712I went on a deep dive with some aviation friends at uni into the aeroflot crash history. That list was almost longer then the every other commercial plane accidents list. Jesus CHRIST.
@Begeye-bh5ux Soviet Era civil and military aviation were so immersed in their own special category of Hell that even Boeing on its worst day was exponentially better than the Soviets on their best day.
Ive worked 24, 48, even 96 hours straight as an EMT. Its not safe. We have a system called "safety pauses" where if we feel tired, no matter what, we have to be sent back to our station and left alone for an uninterrupted 2 hour rest. Even still, work culture here pressures us not to use them
From Colombia Bogota, thank you for those videos about the USSR, I’m to young to even existed when it fell but learning from their story is very interesting. You are a treasure
There was a cargo 747 (MK Airlines) crash later on that was somewhat similar. There the direct cause was the crew not using enough power on takeoff (so the plane failed to clear an obstacle and crashed) but they also had been awake much longer than they should've been.
Also the DC-8 that crashed in Guantanamo Bay because the captain banked the plane too much while looking for a beacon that marked Cuban border. They too were overworked with not enough sleep
I would disagree, it probably a factor for a lot of them but, but then being overburdened seems to be just as common. Also poorly designed planes and malfunctions.
Aviation is a highly intricate business after all. It's no surprise that fatigue *is* the single biggest factor in many aviation accidents, when even the lightest forms of fatigue has the potential for pilots and crews to miss a single item on a checklist or procedures they should always be wary of. It's tragic, but in the end it's just human nature. Vigilance is crucial, and every rules and checklists in aviation are written in blood.
I’d imagine every pilot and passenger is always in fatigue mode on every flight. By the time a plane takes off, a typical pilot has already been awake at least for 4 hours. Add to this the nature of flying- extremely dull and drowsy, and every pilot will be in fatigue mode. Fatigue is just something you can attribute to every flight, not just the ones who had an accident, so logically it cannot be the(single) cause of the ones that did, or at least it’s just very hard to prove. Moreover, not sleeping for 24 hours is, in my opinion, unimpactful, it sucks but this is what adults do all the time. I personally went for 72 hours one time without a problem ( playing a video game online)
@@artyomarty391 Oh but it absolutely can be. Disclaimer: Aviation isn't my area of expertise, I'm only looking at this from a logical viewpoint The fact that fatigue is always present, but most flights don't crash, doesn't mean fatigue is not a large(or even largest)contributor in accidents. It can act as a multiplier, and there isn't only one fixed level of fatigue. It is entirely possible(and reasonable) that the worse the fatigue is, larger the impact is on the mental and physical performance of crew. And in exceptional/dangerous circumstances it can lead into chain of bad decisions, that could've been otherwise avoided Finally not sleeping for full 24 hours is not unimpactful in any way. I dread the lives of people that go such lengths without sleep on a regular basis, considering both short-, and longterm effects sleep deprivation has on almost every facet of human life. Importance of avoiding sleep deprivation should not be downplayed.
Best deconstruction of this terrible crash I've seen so far, explained in plain language without going into dull technical details. Graphics are interesting, and context of overall life in USSR at that time helps a lot. Good work! 👍
I only have experience in flight sims, but I'm shocked that they kept trying to reduce throttle despite losing more altitude. This seems like a completely avoidable crash.
in my uneducated experience, usually you'd nose down and throttle back up, then climb back to altitude? throttling back while still pulling back on the yolk just seems very counterproductive to me
It probably was avoidable, but being shocked awake while already sleep deprived really messes with your head for a good five minutes afterwards and weird counterintuitive logic can seem completely sound.
It could have been completely avoidable if those pilots had anywhere to sleep before flying 200+ people across the Soviet Union. Every single soul on board was fatally exhausted, but had no other choice but to fly because the airport was lacking in adequate infrastructure.
There is a phenomena in aviation called the Death Spiral, and while it does not fully apply here it is very much a real thing. It usually happens to inexperienced pilots in instrument-only conditions. What happens is, an aircraft will slowly, gradually, enter a turn and start to lose altitude. The pilot at this point has only to ignore what he "thinks" is right and look at the instruments and follow them, and them alone. But what the pilot usually does is yank back on the yoke because _dear God we're losing altitude! More power, more yoke!_ but now the turn becomes sharper. The altimeter starts to unwind. But the plane _can't_ be nearly on its wing! The pilot feels the g-forces pushing him back in the seat! More power, pull back harder! The death spiral is almost inescapable now. The pilot feels himself being pushed deeper into his seat and the last thing they probably think right before they smack into the ground is " _I'm doing everything right, why aren't I going up?!_ " Pilots simply get caught in a fatal decision loop, and each choice they make once they pass a certain point convinces them they're doing the right thing to remedy the situation, and it is in fact making it worse. I've watched F14 crash videos on carriers where the LSO will say in retrospect "If he'd kept his hands off the stick and just put more rudder in he'd have made it", small plane crash investigations where actual death spirals occurred...it's just a simple matter of the pilot's brain, for a few fatal moments, tricking them into thinking they're 100% right and what they're doing is the right action. If they ever realize what's happened, it's usually too late for them and their passengers and/or crew.
@@eyo8766 indeed, while ejecting because of a Flat Spin you must eject the canopy first manually, wait for it to clear the aircraft and only then eject your seat. This is because in a Flat Spin there is no relative wind from the nose to quickly blow the canopy backwards. The relative wind blows from below and the canopy may not separate in time. Maverick and Goose would indeed bang their heads against the canopy in a real life ejection done like that... 😒
Whenever I have to do risk assessment or compliance review, I almost always encounter pushback in the form of "we're not going over the limits, just get close to them". And I have to again and again warn people of a "cockup cascade" - a situation in which a series of small and negligible issues or errors lead ro absolute disaster because nobody has the room for error on anything as every limit is pushed.
This crash serves as a good example of why commercial jets with rear mounted engines fell out of favor. When exceeding the angle of attack the wings would cause disruption of the airflow to the rear engines, resulting in a compressor stall and engine failure. Engines mounted under the wings were never at risk under similar circumstances because no situation exists where the air to the engines can be disrupted, with the added benefit of engine mounted turbines providing more efficient weight distribution resulting in improved handling and efficiency.
So, a few weeks ago, I flew again for the first time in 18 years. Wow, somehow typing that out makes it seem like it was a really long time ago, yet 2005 doesn't sound nearly as bad. Anyways, sorry for that digression, I have been watching several channels on UA-cam that discuss aviation history and aviation incidents. I also learned to fly many, many years ago. So, between knowing how to fly and learning so much detailed information about so many aviation incidents and about the aircraft involved in those incidents, you'd think I would be terrified to fly again; but no, it had the exact opposite effect. I was confident in the aircraft and the pilots. I knew United had a solid training record and that the aircraft were well maintained, modern aircraft. I also knew what was happening at every single stage of the flight, from push-back, take-off, flight, landing, and arrival at the gate. Knowledge is power, well, Complete Knowledge is power. You have to have enough facts to about a subject to be knowledgeable about that subject. Otherwise, fear is the result.
This air disaster is almost unbearable!! Could it be that darkness played a role? In the daytime, it t would seem the pilots would understand the pitch if the aircraft better because of visual inputs. In the dark over a desert, it had to be completely pitch black!! RIP 😢
I have endured serious sleep deprivation before, usually on long, cross-country drives, and I've nearly dozed off behind the wheel at times too. If you're personally running on fumes, with no real stimulation for the senses for several hours, you WILL get heavy-eyed and doze off. In the cockpit of an airliner, this certainly can't be a joke either. At least in a car, you can listen to the radio or music, but in the cockpit? I'm sure the crew needs to maintain some kind of noise discipline in order to hear the radio and pay attention to other sensors, and the droning of the engines through the cabin probably makes the effort to stay awake even more of an uphill battle.
I get your point, but that's why you have at least two pilots on a plane. I've been on long car trips before too and in my experience, another person that's sitting there with you, exchanging control of the car sometimes, is way better than radio or music
I used to regularly drive between my place and the town I used to live in to visit friends. Often I'd leave late at night, or early AM with the intent of driving home to take a quick nap before getting up for class. After a couple of trips on which I didn't remember going through a couple towns in between, just leaving then I was home, I decided to redo my schedule.
In a way, it's kind of heartening to know that fashion in the early 80s was just as unflattering to people inside the Iron Curtin as it was to people outside.
I don't want to idealize nor trivialize the issues plagueing the USSR, but 200 dead as the deadliest air disaster is actually pretty low. The Tenerife collision in 1977 between KLM and PanAm cost almost 600 lives alone, that being the biggest loss of life in an aviation accident before 9/11. What makes this one stand out though, is that it doesn't feel like anything would change as a result, nothing was learned if they hide the truth. Usually new technologies or rules are implemented to avoid a repeat, but if they just gloss over the disastrous conditions for pilots they are just asking for the same thing to happen again.
i would not say that 9/11 was an "accident". And i guess they just literally didnt have as much air traffic and smaller plaens so less costly accidents
Increasing thrust is NOT the primary reaponse to a stall (exceeding the wing's critical Angle of Atack). It is to reduce the angle of attack immediately, by either relaxing control colomn pressure or pushing forwards.
even moreso during a spin, recovery step are the same for a stall or any kind of spin. reduce thrust, return yolk to neutral, pitch down with full authority. increase thrust when level flight is regained.
This song reached even my small village in Pampanga, Philippines. Did not know of the tragedy till today. What a truly small world we live in. Tragedy is a lose for all of us.
I love the the old aft fuselage-engined, T-tails! Specifically the larger jetliners, not the current regional jets mind you. Most of them were trijets, many others twinjets, and some of them were even quadjets. The '𝐓𝐮𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐞𝐯 𝐓𝐮-𝟏𝟓𝟒' wasn’t as sleek, or have as much the elegant lines of, say the '𝐁𝐨𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝟕𝟐𝟕', or '𝐕𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐒𝐮𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐕𝐂-𝟏𝟎', but it’s still very pleasant to look at. My favorite Soviet T-tails though, are the '𝐈𝐥𝐲𝐮𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧 𝐈𝐥-𝟔𝟐', and the straight-winged '𝐘𝐚𝐤𝐨𝐯𝐥𝐞𝐯 𝐘𝐚𝐤-𝟒𝟎'. And one unique element of Soviet produced aircraft that I find particularly enjoyable, is that the designers didn’t seem to be hampered by, or concerned with jet engine noise levels. At least from all the aviation UA-cam content I consume, the Soviet jetliner’s whirling screeches seem to be a notch above the more subdued sound of their Western counterparts; especially upon engine spool-up and takeoff run. I miss the jet engines that sounded like rocket ships. Where trips to the airport had you not just hearing the takeoffs, but feeling them all the way down into your bones. Those “blast offs” used to raise the hair on my arms, and give me goosebumps all over.
Paper Skies’ videos are brilliant. I hadn’t heard of this accident and it would be good to find more like this. I’ll definitely think about subscribing to Nebula.
I made a similar bet with my sister. We were riding my bicycle to tuition class when I told her I could reach the intersection with my eyes closed. I was right. When I opened up my eyes we actually reached the intersection...except we were NOT traveling on the road anymore but straight into the roadside ditch.
The soviet union lasted so long due to the women's wombs were elastic enough to produce required amount of the cannon fodder which motherland was requesting. Nowdays situation is not so bright and elastic, therefor mother-pa-russia will screwed up much quicker.
The USSR was forged in blood and the peoples resolve was hardened in WWII. Before the Nazis attacked, Stalin had starved 6 million Ukrainians and purged millions of his own people sending them to gulags. Then the NAZIS attacked and captured armies of soldiers. Stalin had the people dismantle factories and move them east of the urals. Armies of conscripts were trained to charge forward or be shot. The people endured unimaginable suffering and survived. By the battle of kursk, they had thousands of women digging trenches and a manpower and equipment advantage of 4 to 1. They threw these people into the battle and suffered horrible losses while grinding down the German army and morale. the survivors went on to storm Berlin. What came out of the war were hard men, survivors who were men and women of steel. These people had the willpower to conquer and subjugate Eastern Europe, the willpower to develop world class rocket technology and the first astronaut core. They developed the bomb, the h-bomb, and produced 60,000 warheads. Imagine the horror of hundreds of nukes landing on NYC. However, for all their tremendous wartime struggles and strength, life in the ussr was a long joyless slog. People were expected to meet their quotas but weren’t rewarded for innovation. The communists are fantastic during wartime and stagnate during peacetime. With no incentive to innovate and little use for consumer products, communists pretend to work and the state pretends to pay them. However rotten their structure becomes, kicking in the door doesn’t knock the whole thing down like Hitler infamously claimed. Likewise no stiff breeze would end the Soviets. Instead kicking in their rotten door causes a polar bear to jump out, beats the crap out of you while you empty your pistol into it in vain. Then while your lifeless body lies strewn about it barrels through your house, drinks all your liquor, has its way with your wife and drags your sons off so it has something warm to sleep on. The Russian bear then gets too drunk, enters a slumber so deep it doesn’t even procreate. So the bear just fades away into the wilderness, drunk as a skunk until Eventually someone comes around and plays the f around and find out game again. The easiest way to beat the bear is to leave it alone and let it sleep until the next war
@@Greg-yu4ij Well, they _stole_ the atom bomb and their space program was a terrifying jank-fest whose only purpose was to pointlessly one-up the West no matter the human cost.
@@Greg-yu4ij Actually quite good explanation what does mean a soviet bloody system. As well i would add progressive paranoia, mental issues, self destructiveness, extreme selfishness and hypocriticism among the majority of the population due to extreme life conditions, hardships and negative selection for a minimum 3-4 generations.
This channel is 10 times better just because of the first hand information and anecdotes from people who actually lived under the soviet regime! Love your work keep it up!
This channel never fails to impress with the quality of the videos. A very sad and needless air disaster. I always think of the Soviet Union as something like the pictures of food on the walls of the cheap restaurant looking so much nicer than what is actually delivered, and those who long for its return definitely look back through rose-coloured glasses.
I’ve watched a lot of air disaster channels and yours is one of the best. I really enjoy your unique style. It’s also great to hear about cases that are probably not well known in the West.
Hello, I truly appreciate your uniquely useful videos of the past. I'm an aerospace engineer (AE) and I watch your videos with great interest in learning about things that happened in the past and especially what went wrong. Now, in this particular video, at 3:42 you talk about exceeding the critical AoA and you've said it was 20 degrees! Was this an angle given in units in the cockpit or the real angle of attack of the wing? Unless you know it, the angle of attack indicated onboard is the actual angle of the AoA vane relative to wing's mean aerodynamic chord and because the airflow will always go from high to low pressures, it will curve towards the low pressure, which usually is the top of the fuselage. Due to this effect, the vane will always deflect more than for an undisturbed airflow, thus showing a higher angle than the real wanted/needed reference. For this instance, all prototype aircraft and test aircraft have the AoA vane mounted on a boom ahead of the plane so that the fuselage's upward (at positive lift) circulation of the airflow won't deflect it more than wanted. Due to, let's call them laziness reasons, almost all aircraft manufacturers engineers don't bother to correct the AoA vane angle shown in cockpit with the real AoA that the plane has relative to an undisturbed airflow ahead of the plane and this is why the MIG-21 has a caution AoA of 28 and critical value of 33, when instead of 33 degrees which the vane is deflected to by the upward flowing airflow, the aircraft's wings have just 20..21 degrees of real AoA. So, coming back to the subject of this wonderful airplane (I truly like it), the Tu-154, I wouldn't wonder if the AoA indication in cockpit (if the plane has it) would show the actual vane angle which is always greater than that of the clean/undisturbed airflow. So, I just ask..., can you please confirm that the plane had a cockpit indication of 20 degrees AoA? From my experience, these kind of wings usually have a critical AoA no higher than 15..16 degrees at low subsonic speeds, around the takeoff and approach speeds, while at higher altitudes, higher Mach number and lower Reynolds number the critical AoA can decay by some degrees. Having 20 degrees of real AoA in such conditions is of real interest for me to learn about and I would appreciate if you'd give me a link or some clue regarding the data retrieved after the crash. Kind regards!
All the numbers, including the angle of attack, were decoded from the 'black box.' Regarding the cockpit readings, the gauge malfunctioned after the second 'critical angle of attack' signal. Its arrow stuck at the 9.3-degree mark and didn't react to any further changes in the aircraft's angle. Therefore, the pilots only saw the 9.3-degree reading. I briefly showcased this at the video's start, but perhaps I should have emphasized this matter more. I didn't want to delve too deeply into technical details since my intention is to cater to a broad audience. The mentioned 20-degree angle and others, such as the report mentioning the middle engine shutting off at a 25-degree angle, were extracted from the black box. This information was sourced from the investigation report. Here's the link to the short report: airdisaster.ru/database.php?id=71, and here you can access the entire crash report: vk.com/@bort85185-akt-o-rassledovanii-katastrofy-samoleta-tu-154-85311-v-raion However, both documents are in Russian. While gathering information, I also stumbled upon these cyclograms. aviation-is.better-than.tv/af1461%20%20%D3%F7%EA%F3%E4%F3%EA%20-%20%F6%E8%EA%EB%EE%E3%F0%E0%EC%EC%FB.htm.ru.utf8 The individual claims they are from the Flight 5143 crash, but I couldn't verify their authenticity. In the first picture, at the bottom, you can see the readings related to the angle of attack: the blue line represents the real angle ('угол атаки истинный'), while the pink line indicates the gauge reading ('угол атаки указателя').
@@PaperSkiesAviation Hello again! I greatly thank you and appreciate all the effort you've already put into the video and also to reply back to me with such a great manner and provide those links and all the details. I will read them and try to understand what the actual critical angle of attack was as a real reference angle, not just the "alpha vane" (AoA vane) angle, which is what I'm so curious about. Many thanks Paper Skies for your implication in all the videos that you make, being an aviation enthusiast yourself as well! "Many talk, but few know"! You are among the very few to tell things right in your videos.
I recall reading an article about the Gloster Javelin, many moons ago, about the investigation into "Super Stalls" or "Deep Stalls" associated with T-tail jet aircraft. This lead to the introduction of a "stick pusher" system presumably the Tu-154 was not so equipped?
Imagine what it will be like when they start running out of Boeing and Airbus hulls to strip for parts. You know they will keep making exceptions to the minimum equipment list until they start falling out of the sky.
you're adorably swiss-cheese brained if you think soviet russia is the russia of today. Like, pure inability to think critically. Hell, you probably think ukraine's winning right now ;) @@fermutwo
As I recall Uchkuduk air crash weren't only sole flat spin and crash with tu154. In 2006 was a similar crash in Donetsk region when bellend captain climbed too high and then stalled the plain
Thanks for this documentary to remind us the importance to avoid drowsy driving. Actually in China, several tragic train accidents also caused by similar reason showed in this video: 83/804 accident in 1973, 179/1218 accident in 1983 and 0166/3856 accident in 1996. So, nowadays Chinese train drivers for long-range will be asked for mandatory sleep before their departure (it could be monitored). For high speed train, drivers have to kick the pedal every several seconds or minutes, their operation will be recorded by video, and their retina will be analyzed by computer to determine their conditions. All regulations are formed by accidents and tragedies...
Did they ever fix the flight and duty time regs in Russia? I have seen the flight and duty time regs updated twice in my 47 years of flying professionally. Short-term and long-term fatigue is an on going problem. The FAA is looking at how people actually sleep and what rest is and is not.
@@JCDFlex Not new here, I am a retired professional pilot ( US). Soviet Russian or not, people suffer the same physical problems regardless. My only fault is that I tend to give people the benefit of doubt- I would think that the guys running civil aviation would look at this and make some changes- Going a wrecking a perfectly good airplane for some so stupid even the Soviet State could not keep absorbing that sort of thing. All they needed to do here was to schedule a well rested crew, and off load some of the junk they were hauling. Not hard to do you know. I off loaded a lot of stuff over the years, And said more than once no
Perhaps a silly question - in a large passenger aircraft undergoing a flat spin, what if passengers could be told to run towards the front of the plane, bringing the center of gravity ahead of the wings? That would encourage a nose-down attitude, bringing wing flaps back into their aerodynamically functional range. At that point, recovery by the pilots should be possible, given enough remaining altitude. I'd guess there'd be a need to get the passengers reseated quickly after nominal control was established, to bring the CG back to nominal. Perhaps this isn't possible without careful training. Not to mention the possibility of having these passengers having to move "uphill" if the plane is still nose-down by any significant amount, although the continued decent would make that slightly easier.
This would also involve telling passengers to get up before a crash or flat spin recovery (both likely involve g-forces likely to cause injury to passengers who aren't strapped in), crowd at the front, be difficult for pilots compromised enough to get into a flat spin, and walk through the aircraft while it's spinning (those g forces might be unpredictable for a passenger, and could be too severe to traverse the cabin in).
Going into a flat spin spells disaster and is a horrible way to go. The crew should have had proper rest before the flight. 20 hours without the mandatory rest, and total fatigue, is unacceptable.
Hello, this is a great video. I could not find the Vasiliy Ershov "Crew Errors" book online, do you have a link to the source? It would help me with my university project on new aircraft operations :)
You always say "in the USSR" but we must not forget these things can happen everywhere, by pretending its just somthing that happens only to them might allow us to start thinking it could never happen to us and therefor lead to a lack of care. Besides, dont worry, if the USSR came back it would only be in name, theres no way current leaders like the idea of going back to such a vindictive world where even fallen leaders like Khrushchev could be disowned and stepped on- no, its more likely going to be a thing where the leaders get some more power but becomes a kind of Russian China kind of thing not that im saying that would be good, im just saying it wouldent be "The Soviet Union" ;P
How do pilots not know the first most basic lesson that "speed slower than that plane model needs" and "trying to fight descent by pulling up" equals "stall"??? Even before stall indicators existed it was the most basic thing to learn. "Why can't I keep it up?" And "oh look how slow I'm going" equals "it's only going fast enough to glide, dumbass, not fast enough to stay level. You can either stop resisting the descent and instead accept it and aim the nose down or you can add more speed, but you have to do at least one of these things. You can't keep going like this." That should be so drilled into instinct that even a sleepy pilot just does it as a first instinct and then starts looking for a cause after the stall is averted.
@@stephanguitar9778it should be a first instinct. Stop the stall first, then start trying to figure out what caused it. Being sleepy would make it take longer to do the conscious action of trying to figure out the cause. But it should still be drilled in instinct that trying to climb when the attempt isn't succeeding means you immediately stop trying because you'll stall. Accept the descent as inevitable while your tired brain tries to figure out why this is happening. It's like if you wake up sleepy behind the wheel of a car, see a tree in front of you you are headed toward, hitting the brakes should be instinctive and then after that you try to work out why there's a tree there. What happened here would be like seeing that tree and hitting the accelerator and aiming toward it. Even a groggy instinctive action shouldn't result in that.
Being sleep deprived isn’t the same as being sleepy. The lack of sleep to the degree the pilots had would make them in capable of driving a car let alone fly a plane. This is akin to drinking while flying.
Hope someday you'll cover the Soviet and American experiments into nuclear powered aircraft, which led to the Americans saying, "nope, not safe" and the Soviets building a nuclear powered Bear.
Well the Soviets also decided it wasn't safe either. Both flew dozens of missions with a nuclear reactor on board but neither ever used the reactor to power the engines.
In what world is a 20 degree angle of attack "normal" to any pilot? It seems simple.... if your aircraft is shaking (buffeting) and your AoA is 20 degrees, YOU ARE ABOUT TO ENTER A STALL, IF NOT ALREADY IN A STALL.
The problem is that in SOVIET Russia, they simply don't care. It's a shocking part of their culture: to simply not give a fuck. Oh, the submarine's reactor needs to be repaired? NYET! We will sail anyway. The aircraft missed its yearly inspection? NYET! We can fly anyway. It pervades to this very day long after the fall of the USSR. I've met Russians who are so laid back that I wonder if they would react at all to being threatened with a weapon in a dark alley in my hometown (several of them were students studying at the local university. This is where I encountered this amazingly casual, very laid back attitude.)
Maybe after Chloe (Disaster Breakdown) is out of recovery, maybe you two should collaborate on a few crash investigation videos? You two seem like you'd be a good complement for each other, and the amalgamation of your presentation styles would probably be fascinating. Her forte seems to be dangerous weather conditions...
Folks, flight and duty time regulations in the United States are WOEFULLY inadequate! Did you know that a flight crewmember can be required to be at work on duty for 16 hours? Yes, the pilot who flies you into Boston during a "Nor'easter" can have been at work since 8 AM and it is now midnight. And he is trying to land you and your CHILDREN safely during those winds and low clouds and visibility? And 16 hours doesn't count the time it takes him to wake up, drink coffee, take a shower, put on his uniform, and show up for the van ride to the airport. That man may have been up since 6:30 in the morning. And did you know that the Federal Aviation Regulations state that he only has to have 8 hours off of duty. Not 8 hours in the hotel, just 8 hours off. Which means that if it took 30 minutes to get to the hotel after his previous duty period [not unusual....] and 30 minutes to take his uniform off, call home, and get to bed, then if he has to show up at the other end on time and needs at least 30 minutes to get going, then he has AT BEST 6:30 in the sack before that 16 hour day in which he is supposed to land you (and your kids...) safely at Boston. In a gale, in icing conditions.... Those are the Federal Aviation Regulations that pertain to CFR Part 121 flying, or airlines. Look it up if you don't believe me. However, there is a caveat; Most airline pilots work under a ~~~ COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AGREEMENT ~~~ That prevents airlines from abusing pilots and thus SAFETY this way! Story: In 1999, I was a pilot for a non union cargo airline out of Dallas that shall remain nameless [Express One International]. I was in Indianapolis and went on airport reserve at 6 PM. I had gotten out of bed in my nasty crashpad around 8 AM and went running. Well, about 8 PM they sent me to fly to Philadelphia, then to Pittsburg, and then back to Indy. We got back around 11 PM and I figured we were done, since our reserve period ended at midnight. I was tired, but not too bad. I was planning to go back to the crashpad, take a shower, and read my book before going to bed. WRONG. They sent me to Dallas to ferry a 727 right at midnight....But we had a maintenance issue. We finally left and got into DF Dubya around 6 AM. I was dead tired! Inflight used the knob on the autopilot to turn the 727 towards the final approach course [localizer] and literally fell asleep with the knob in my hand! I startled awake and joined the ILS and landed safely. We went to the hotel in Dallas [A Red Roof Inn, the height of luxury...] and I was just pulling the sheets back naked when the phone rings, this was before I had a cellphone. It's scheduling, and guess what? They want us back at the airport ASAP to ferry a broken 727 back to Indianapolis for maintenance.... "It's legal" the scheduler said into the phone. YES, she was correct....That would have been legal. As captain, you are responsible for the safe transport of the aircraft. I could not in any way, shape, or form allow myself to be part of any aircrew at that point. I was simply too tired. So I used the "F" word: I officially called "fatigued". Which means that not only did I have to fill out paperwork, but so did the company, since the FAA requires the airlines to report these occurrences. Did I hear anything? No. Did the FAA do anything at all about it? NO! Folks, that right there is where a union collective bargaining agreement makes TONS of sense! Most airlines have union contracts that keep pilots and flight attendants from being abused by the FAR's. These contracts keep all of us safe, and are what stands between our modern airline system and the episode in this video, where an airliner spins into the ground because the crew fell asleep at the wheel~ GREAT video!
The band was surprisingly good. I would say this song is probably in the top 40 songs about being in the desert. The airplane crash was a horrible tragedy, poor children! It is inconceivable that there was a proper reason to fly the jet airliner below 300 km/h (160 knots) at that point in the flight. Jet airliners, being quite heavy, especially this one, needs to fly quite fast at higher altitude to generate the necessary lift to stay up in the air, usually well over 320 km/h. Most jet airliners fly, upon reaching top altitude, fly at between 880-920 km/h.
Get Nebula using my link for *40% off an annual subscription* : go.nebula.tv/paperskies
thank you for you videos. i love the references to popular culture in the soviet union.
Just joined up, and I have a question - is it correct that the Nebula Plus content is that which is not on UA-cam?
Neh-bula
@@Althemor yes, it is correct. Nebula Plus videos are exclusive to Nebula only.
Why does Russia issue pilot licenses to people with severe mental retardation? One would think that the last person u would want flying a plane would be someone as stupid as the pilot in this case. Unreal
Two minutes and 33 seconds is a very long time to contemplate every decision you've made in your life that brought you to this moment.
A good quarter of the people were kids who hadn't even made very many decisions at all yet.
@@MGower4465they would have grown up to be orc scum anyway
No worries, their decisions had already been made for them because this was before the dissolution of the USSR.
yeah its not really tho, if you were given a rubix cube with a gun to your head 2.5 minutes will seem like an instant and you wont be thinking about anything other than the cube and the gun..
@@ObiWanCannabi There are tons of stories of people believing they're about to die and thinking about their families and stuff. These people had over 2 minutes to do so and could do nothing to stop their impending death. Whereas if someone has a gun to your head you have the option of fight or flight.
It's interesting that the deadliest air disaster in Soviet history happened in the deadliest moment in world aviation history. The summer of 1985 was the deadliest, with Air India 182, Delta 191, JAL 123, and British Airtours 28M. Aeroflot 5163 slots into this summer, only making it more deadly.
Bad year to be in the skies 😢
Huh thats actually interesting.
AI182 I guess AI182 wasn't mentioned too much in the late eighties but comes up now and again, much to my personal chagrin.
Keep in mind that China Airlines 006 and Iberia 610 happened on the same day (Feb 19 1985), even outside summer wasn't lucky.
1985 ended with Canada's deadliest air crash with Arrow Air 1285.
"пох на людей! Зато какой пломбир бьіл вкусньій!"🇷🇺💩
Extreme fatigue is often fatal. And the corruption of the USSR is equally fatal. Having a crew work in extreme heat with no viable shelter to rest is cruel.
The fatigue is definitely what sealed the deal on this one. This is normally an easy to prevent situation in which there are almost always some extenuating circumstances in order for it to happen. It's one of those things that is so simple to prevent.
I've been in that position where I'm so tired that I almost start dreaming before my eyes close all the way. If I'm woken up, I have to fight that fog to clear my mind and focus on what's happening. I can see that happening to the crew, and it's a frightening situation to find one's self in.
I'm only like 10 seconds in, but.......are cockpits not pressurized and climate controlled?
THE WORLD IS RULED BY MONEY THOSE WITH MONEY THINK WE HAVE NO VALUE.
@@Cognizant-ut9oj WE TALK ABOUT OUR OWN FAILURES SO YOUR SUPPOSED TO BE IGNORED?
@@Cognizant-ut9oj SO WHAT RUSSIANS ARE JUST AS MUCH A THREAT. ITS About THE RICH KILLING OFF THE POOR.
LOOK BACK AT HOW WARS ARE FOUGHT. THEY ARENT TRYING TO WIN BATTLES THEY MAKE IT EASY TO KILL EACH OTHER.
8:11 - Worth noting is that it's nearly impossible to recover any aircraft from a flat spin. This isn't a design weakness or flaw of the TU-154. If you lock up a plane in such a way that it's falling flatly, it's going to be a very bad situation - regardless of make or model.
Only an acrobatic airplane can recover from a flatspin, or at least that's what I've seen, the rule of thumb usually is that the harder it is to enter a spin, the harder it is to recover from it, and as a pilot myself that had to go through spins as part of my training, spins are no joke
Most fighters are able to get out of a flat spin.
@@pr0t0typ38no it greatly depends on any individual aircraft and other conditions and many different aircraft required different steps to exit such flat spins and may need multiple minutes to exit it or even drague chuts on many military aircraft to help the best chances for any aircraft to not be lose to a flat spin is to recover before the aircraft departs flight
Most passenger airliners maybe, but smaller planes like general aviation aircraft, aerobatic aircraft, some gliders, trainers and fighters can generally get out of a flat spin given enough altitude. There's a reason why you need literally thousands of flight hours and years of experience before they even accept you into training to fly passenger airlines. People who get into that line of work the civilian route can only get that experience by working as flight instructors on general aviation aircraft for several years first.
Everyone correcting me is right. Acrobatic aircraft, aircraft with drag chutes, fighters, and small, slow planes and so on are much better off. Airliners could do it, I suppose, if the crew diagnosed the problem correctly almost immediately and had a LOT of altitude to work with. That said, if the crew manages to get the plane into such a predicament to begin with, it seems unlikely that they'd then also be able to correctly identify and respond to the problem. That's not an insult to them, of course; as in the case of this video, convincing your brain that its understanding of reality is wrong is another thing that's almost impossible... especially under high stress.
An all-too-common feature of the Soviet experience was the quiet suffering of individual families who knew only that their family was gone and would never be told how or why. For many decades, Soviet families would lose loved ones in obscure military operations, industrial accidents, and the like, and the most the state would tell them was that their loved one was dead and there might be a body to bury; lucky families might even have an approximate date of death. Many a Soviet graveyard was filled with young men (and some women) who clearly died before their time, but the sum-total of public disclosure on their death was they were dead.
I've never heard about this. Do you have any sources to look further into it?
@@peter_de_Jong817try googling soviet tech disasters. Or better "техногенньіе катастрофьі СССР" and use Google translate
@@peter_de_Jong817 right, is there any truth to this or just the typical Soviet stereotype that everyone parrots?
@@johnrosswilhite9532the thousands who were "safely" outside of the Chernobyl radiation zone set by the Soviet Union are a good place to start, they weren't given the information about the deadly levels of radiation they experienced and the state would never admit it's fault, I'd be surprised if the Russian government currently even acknowledges what their forefathers did then.
The more I watch this channel, the more I learn how true that is.
Just thinking how slow my thinking is when I’m seriously sleep deprived, it’s scary to imagine being awoken in a Soviet cockpit and immediately confronted with a problem that endangers the lives of hundreds of people. Even if the pilots could determine the correct solution to the stall, given their muddled and sluggish thinking, it may still have been too late to save the flight
The current understanding from the US highway advisory board is that driving after being awake for 24 hours is like driving with a BAC of .10. That's bad if true.
@@BiggestCorvid Yup, there's a lot of studies that show the effects of sleep deprivation are very very similar to being impaired/inebriated
I guarantee you, in a life and death situation, even if you're 48 hours without sleep, the adrenaline will make you feel 100% awake again. What's bad is being exhausted while doing something mundane, like driving (or flying). Driving while nodding off is the absolute worst feeling, I carry some powered caffeine in my glove box for when it happens. Probably not healthy but neither is flying off the road into a tree. I know airplanes used to have amphetamines in their survival kits, especially back then, would be a life saver in a situation like that
@@moonasha I don't think drugging our pilots so they can go for longer without sleep is the lesson to be taken from this. You did mention it'd be for an emergency/life saver situation, but we all know this would slowly be pushed from emergency procedure to the norm by certain air companies.
Idk, I've been woken up to life or death situations and my head kicked into gear in a quarter second, flat.
Flew on one of those TU154 once, when we decended in rally hot and humid weather and the cabin filled with dence mist as well as screaming passengers that thought the was a fire..
I refuse to fly on Tupolev aircraft. Luckily, this is not a problem as there are so few flying now.
i refuse to fly on anything Russian. @@MrArgus11111
This is exactly how, at the time I perceived every aeroflot flight, pre Soviet break-up, to be like.
@@MrArgus11111do they really have that bad a reputation? Also, have you ever actually refused to fly on a specific flight because it was a tupolev?
Literally any aircraft though. Was on a flight from Delhi to Dabolim and mist filled the cabin when it has been depressurized.
On boarding a Tu154 our Soviet minder stated, "these are the ones that keep crashing". I have never forgotten that.
So word got out anyway?
At the time of this accident, the Tu-154 had suffered 19 fatal or major accidents in the previous 11 years of service. This included the worst flight accidents in Kazakhstan (Aeroflot Flight 4225, 8 July 1980) and Russian (Aeroflot Flight 3552, 11 October 1984) history. The most recent accident occurred in December 1984. It was not a safe aircraft to fly, and it was operated by an airline with an atrocious safety record.
@@MM22966In Jugoslavija even it was known. I remember my parents talking, my dad was flying to Leningrad and mom scared because reputation of Aзрофлот
@@saraprva4172 Ouch.
@@petergray2712I went on a deep dive with some aviation friends at uni into the aeroflot crash history. That list was almost longer then the every other commercial plane accidents list. Jesus CHRIST.
Love the song. Hate the disaster. The video of the smiling children on their parents’ laps was chilling.
Really enjoy your content, I know how hard it is to get this stuff done
Thank you for your support!
...a blown fuse. Think about that. A blown fuse with NO redundancy for an instrument was the final nail in the coffin for these people's lives.
For any other country, this was a catastrophe. For the USSR, it was Wednesday.
The fact that the engineers actually bothered to put a fuse there lets you know that it was considered critical equipment by russian standards
@Begeye-bh5ux Soviet Era civil and military aviation were so immersed in their own special category of Hell that even Boeing on its worst day was exponentially better than the Soviets on their best day.
What about the staggering incompetence of the pilots?
@@martijn-velsincompetence?
Ive worked 24, 48, even 96 hours straight as an EMT. Its not safe. We have a system called "safety pauses" where if we feel tired, no matter what, we have to be sent back to our station and left alone for an uninterrupted 2 hour rest. Even still, work culture here pressures us not to use them
USA?
Any logical reason why to employ sleep deprivation on workers?
@@android584 money
@android584 Agreed, although maybe in a natural disaster some things go out the window unfortunately.
@@android584 Greed.
I want to note that the Wikipedia page is now edited to remark the crash was the deadliest in USSR history.
I was responsible for the entry update.
@@johndonaldson3619 Gold star my dude
The Knights in Shining Wiki Armour eh :-) Well done! @@johndonaldson3619
@@johndonaldson3619⭐️
@@johndonaldson3619 thank you for your service
A blown fuse on a very important warning device? No back up, no dual circuit? A 10 cent fuse FFS.... WOW, just WOW
A lot of planes don’t even have a aoa instrument
@@spannaspinnalike which planes? Lol preposterous!
@@samholdsworth420 to many to list
From Colombia Bogota, thank you for those videos about the USSR, I’m to young to even existed when it fell but learning from their story is very interesting.
You are a treasure
There was a cargo 747 (MK Airlines) crash later on that was somewhat similar. There the direct cause was the crew not using enough power on takeoff (so the plane failed to clear an obstacle and crashed) but they also had been awake much longer than they should've been.
Also the DC-8 that crashed in Guantanamo Bay because the captain banked the plane too much while looking for a beacon that marked Cuban border. They too were overworked with not enough sleep
Several accidents on landing have been linked to a lack of sleep for the pilots too, and I think more on takeoff as well. Exhaustion is a killer.
Fatigue is the single biggest factor in aviation accidents. Almost every deadly incident involves tired flight crews.
Not true
I would disagree, it probably a factor for a lot of them but, but then being overburdened seems to be just as common. Also poorly designed planes and malfunctions.
Aviation is a highly intricate business after all. It's no surprise that fatigue *is* the single biggest factor in many aviation accidents, when even the lightest forms of fatigue has the potential for pilots and crews to miss a single item on a checklist or procedures they should always be wary of. It's tragic, but in the end it's just human nature. Vigilance is crucial, and every rules and checklists in aviation are written in blood.
I’d imagine every pilot and passenger is always in fatigue mode on every flight. By the time a plane takes off, a typical pilot has already been awake at least for 4 hours. Add to this the nature of flying- extremely dull and drowsy, and every pilot will be in fatigue mode. Fatigue is just something you can attribute to every flight, not just the ones who had an accident, so logically it cannot be the(single) cause of the ones that did, or at least it’s just very hard to prove. Moreover, not sleeping for 24 hours is, in my opinion, unimpactful, it sucks but this is what adults do all the time. I personally went for 72 hours one time without a problem ( playing a video game online)
@@artyomarty391 Oh but it absolutely can be. Disclaimer: Aviation isn't my area of expertise, I'm only looking at this from a logical viewpoint
The fact that fatigue is always present, but most flights don't crash, doesn't mean fatigue is not a large(or even largest)contributor in accidents.
It can act as a multiplier, and there isn't only one fixed level of fatigue. It is entirely possible(and reasonable) that the worse the fatigue is, larger the impact is on the mental and physical performance of crew.
And in exceptional/dangerous circumstances it can lead into chain of bad decisions, that could've been otherwise avoided
Finally not sleeping for full 24 hours is not unimpactful in any way. I dread the lives of people that go such lengths without sleep on a regular basis, considering both short-, and longterm effects sleep deprivation has on almost every facet of human life.
Importance of avoiding sleep deprivation should not be downplayed.
Best deconstruction of this terrible crash I've seen so far, explained in plain language without going into dull technical details. Graphics are interesting, and context of overall life in USSR at that time helps a lot. Good work! 👍
I only have experience in flight sims, but I'm shocked that they kept trying to reduce throttle despite losing more altitude. This seems like a completely avoidable crash.
in my uneducated experience, usually you'd nose down and throttle back up, then climb back to altitude? throttling back while still pulling back on the yolk just seems very counterproductive to me
Hindsight is 2020. Did you guys not watch the video?
“Fatally exhausted”
They must have not been alert to what was going on due to their tiredness.
It probably was avoidable, but being shocked awake while already sleep deprived really messes with your head for a good five minutes afterwards and weird counterintuitive logic can seem completely sound.
It could have been completely avoidable if those pilots had anywhere to sleep before flying 200+ people across the Soviet Union. Every single soul on board was fatally exhausted, but had no other choice but to fly because the airport was lacking in adequate infrastructure.
There is a phenomena in aviation called the Death Spiral, and while it does not fully apply here it is very much a real thing. It usually happens to inexperienced pilots in instrument-only conditions. What happens is, an aircraft will slowly, gradually, enter a turn and start to lose altitude. The pilot at this point has only to ignore what he "thinks" is right and look at the instruments and follow them, and them alone. But what the pilot usually does is yank back on the yoke because _dear God we're losing altitude! More power, more yoke!_ but now the turn becomes sharper. The altimeter starts to unwind. But the plane _can't_ be nearly on its wing! The pilot feels the g-forces pushing him back in the seat! More power, pull back harder! The death spiral is almost inescapable now. The pilot feels himself being pushed deeper into his seat and the last thing they probably think right before they smack into the ground is " _I'm doing everything right, why aren't I going up?!_ " Pilots simply get caught in a fatal decision loop, and each choice they make once they pass a certain point convinces them they're doing the right thing to remedy the situation, and it is in fact making it worse. I've watched F14 crash videos on carriers where the LSO will say in retrospect "If he'd kept his hands off the stick and just put more rudder in he'd have made it", small plane crash investigations where actual death spirals occurred...it's just a simple matter of the pilot's brain, for a few fatal moments, tricking them into thinking they're 100% right and what they're doing is the right action. If they ever realize what's happened, it's usually too late for them and their passengers and/or crew.
I thought that compression stalls and death by flat spins only happened likeable supporting characters in 1980s US Naval Aviation recruitment films.
Now you know better.
Don't forget the defective ejection seats that launch you head first into your canopy
@@eyo8766 indeed, while ejecting because of a Flat Spin you must eject the canopy first manually, wait for it to clear the aircraft and only then eject your seat. This is because in a Flat Spin there is no relative wind from the nose to quickly blow the canopy backwards. The relative wind blows from below and the canopy may not separate in time.
Maverick and Goose would indeed bang their heads against the canopy in a real life ejection done like that... 😒
Man you are uploading like crazy recently! Make sure you get some sleep
[Video enters flat spin and crashes]
@@davidg3944🤣
Whenever I have to do risk assessment or compliance review, I almost always encounter pushback in the form of "we're not going over the limits, just get close to them". And I have to again and again warn people of a "cockup cascade" - a situation in which a series of small and negligible issues or errors lead ro absolute disaster because nobody has the room for error on anything as every limit is pushed.
This crash serves as a good example of why commercial jets with rear mounted engines fell out of favor.
When exceeding the angle of attack the wings would cause disruption of the airflow to the rear engines, resulting in a compressor stall and engine failure.
Engines mounted under the wings were never at risk under similar circumstances because no situation exists where the air to the engines can be disrupted, with the added benefit of engine mounted turbines providing more efficient weight distribution resulting in improved handling and efficiency.
This is one of my favourite channels to watch when I do stuff around my apartment.
So, a few weeks ago, I flew again for the first time in 18 years. Wow, somehow typing that out makes it seem like it was a really long time ago, yet 2005 doesn't sound nearly as bad. Anyways, sorry for that digression, I have been watching several channels on UA-cam that discuss aviation history and aviation incidents. I also learned to fly many, many years ago. So, between knowing how to fly and learning so much detailed information about so many aviation incidents and about the aircraft involved in those incidents, you'd think I would be terrified to fly again; but no, it had the exact opposite effect. I was confident in the aircraft and the pilots. I knew United had a solid training record and that the aircraft were well maintained, modern aircraft. I also knew what was happening at every single stage of the flight, from push-back, take-off, flight, landing, and arrival at the gate. Knowledge is power, well, Complete Knowledge is power. You have to have enough facts to about a subject to be knowledgeable about that subject. Otherwise, fear is the result.
Much awaited, much appreciated looking forward to excellent insights as always from you.
This air disaster is almost unbearable!! Could it be that darkness played a role? In the daytime, it t would seem the pilots would understand the pitch if the aircraft better because of visual inputs. In the dark over a desert, it had to be completely pitch black!! RIP 😢
Excellent introduction and great video about a very tragic event.
I love how you always bring in something that's mostly unrelated to the event but you always connect it
I have endured serious sleep deprivation before, usually on long, cross-country drives, and I've nearly dozed off behind the wheel at times too. If you're personally running on fumes, with no real stimulation for the senses for several hours, you WILL get heavy-eyed and doze off. In the cockpit of an airliner, this certainly can't be a joke either. At least in a car, you can listen to the radio or music, but in the cockpit? I'm sure the crew needs to maintain some kind of noise discipline in order to hear the radio and pay attention to other sensors, and the droning of the engines through the cabin probably makes the effort to stay awake even more of an uphill battle.
I get your point, but that's why you have at least two pilots on a plane. I've been on long car trips before too and in my experience, another person that's sitting there with you, exchanging control of the car sometimes, is way better than radio or music
I used to regularly drive between my place and the town I used to live in to visit friends. Often I'd leave late at night, or early AM with the intent of driving home to take a quick nap before getting up for class. After a couple of trips on which I didn't remember going through a couple towns in between, just leaving then I was home, I decided to redo my schedule.
Велика подяка за цікаве відео!
Радий,що Ви повернулись на ютуб із своїми роботами;)
In a way, it's kind of heartening to know that fashion in the early 80s was just as unflattering to people inside the Iron Curtin as it was to people outside.
What's crazy is this something you'd never think about like ever for a flight delay
I don't want to idealize nor trivialize the issues plagueing the USSR, but 200 dead as the deadliest air disaster is actually pretty low. The Tenerife collision in 1977 between KLM and PanAm cost almost 600 lives alone, that being the biggest loss of life in an aviation accident before 9/11.
What makes this one stand out though, is that it doesn't feel like anything would change as a result, nothing was learned if they hide the truth. Usually new technologies or rules are implemented to avoid a repeat, but if they just gloss over the disastrous conditions for pilots they are just asking for the same thing to happen again.
tbh Soviet Union didn't have large commercial aircraft until Il-86 was introduced, and guys at Ilyushin actually knew what they were doing.
They didn’t have a widebody jet until 1980 in the USSR
i would not say that 9/11 was an "accident". And i guess they just literally didnt have as much air traffic and smaller plaens so less costly accidents
200 is actually a shit ton for a soviet commercial flight of this type.
@@hikarikaguraenjoyer9918 There are also disadvantages with widebody jets btw
That opening was well made and written. Plus now I have a new song in my head :)
Increasing thrust is NOT the primary reaponse to a stall (exceeding the wing's critical Angle of Atack). It is to reduce the angle of attack immediately, by either relaxing control colomn pressure or pushing forwards.
even moreso during a spin, recovery step are the same for a stall or any kind of spin. reduce thrust, return yolk to neutral, pitch down with full authority. increase thrust when level flight is regained.
You do an amazing job walking through the details of this disaster and also providing interesting social context from the era. I love your channel.
This song reached even my small village in Pampanga, Philippines.
Did not know of the tragedy till today.
What a truly small world we live in.
Tragedy is a lose for all of us.
I love the the old aft fuselage-engined, T-tails! Specifically the larger jetliners, not the current regional jets mind you. Most of them were trijets, many others twinjets, and some of them were even quadjets. The '𝐓𝐮𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐞𝐯 𝐓𝐮-𝟏𝟓𝟒' wasn’t as sleek, or have as much the elegant lines of, say the '𝐁𝐨𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝟕𝟐𝟕', or '𝐕𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐒𝐮𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐕𝐂-𝟏𝟎', but it’s still very pleasant to look at. My favorite Soviet T-tails though, are the '𝐈𝐥𝐲𝐮𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧 𝐈𝐥-𝟔𝟐', and the straight-winged '𝐘𝐚𝐤𝐨𝐯𝐥𝐞𝐯 𝐘𝐚𝐤-𝟒𝟎'.
And one unique element of Soviet produced aircraft that I find particularly enjoyable, is that the designers didn’t seem to be hampered by, or concerned with jet engine noise levels. At least from all the aviation UA-cam content I consume, the Soviet jetliner’s whirling screeches seem to be a notch above the more subdued sound of their Western counterparts; especially upon engine spool-up and takeoff run. I miss the jet engines that sounded like rocket ships. Where trips to the airport had you not just hearing the takeoffs, but feeling them all the way down into your bones. Those “blast offs” used to raise the hair on my arms, and give me goosebumps all over.
Paper Skies’ videos are brilliant. I hadn’t heard of this accident and it would be good to find more like this. I’ll definitely think about subscribing to Nebula.
"Is this new airplane ready for production?"
"I don't care, we just need to impress someone with something for some reason"
That amurican aircraft maker who keeps killing off the ppl who tell the truth
"Did you fall asleep, or did you pass out?" -Billy Madison
This was the best intro I've ever seen on this channel, keep it up!
I made a similar bet with my sister. We were riding my bicycle to tuition class when I told her I could reach the intersection with my eyes closed. I was right. When I opened up my eyes we actually reached the intersection...except we were NOT traveling on the road anymore but straight into the roadside ditch.
Every video you do makes me question how the Soviet Union lasted as long as it did. Seems like a slight breeze should have made everything collapse.
The soviet union lasted so long due to the women's wombs were elastic enough to produce required amount of the cannon fodder which motherland was requesting. Nowdays situation is not so bright and elastic, therefor mother-pa-russia will screwed up much quicker.
The USSR was forged in blood and the peoples resolve was hardened in WWII. Before the Nazis attacked, Stalin had starved 6 million Ukrainians and purged millions of his own people sending them to gulags. Then the NAZIS attacked and captured armies of soldiers. Stalin had the people dismantle factories and move them east of the urals. Armies of conscripts were trained to charge forward or be shot. The people endured unimaginable suffering and survived. By the battle of kursk, they had thousands of women digging trenches and a manpower and equipment advantage of 4 to 1. They threw these people into the battle and suffered horrible losses while grinding down the German army and morale. the survivors went on to storm Berlin. What came out of the war were hard men, survivors who were men and women of steel. These people had the willpower to conquer and subjugate Eastern Europe, the willpower to develop world class rocket technology and the first astronaut core. They developed the bomb, the h-bomb, and produced 60,000 warheads. Imagine the horror of hundreds of nukes landing on NYC. However, for all their tremendous wartime struggles and strength, life in the ussr was a long joyless slog. People were expected to meet their quotas but weren’t rewarded for innovation. The communists are fantastic during wartime and stagnate during peacetime. With no incentive to innovate and little use for consumer products, communists pretend to work and the state pretends to pay them. However rotten their structure becomes, kicking in the door doesn’t knock the whole thing down like Hitler infamously claimed. Likewise no stiff breeze would end the Soviets. Instead kicking in their rotten door causes a polar bear to jump out, beats the crap out of you while you empty your pistol into it in vain. Then while your lifeless body lies strewn about it barrels through your house, drinks all your liquor, has its way with your wife and drags your sons off so it has something warm to sleep on. The Russian bear then gets too drunk, enters a slumber so deep it doesn’t even procreate. So the bear just fades away into the wilderness, drunk as a skunk until Eventually someone comes around and plays the f around and find out game again. The easiest way to beat the bear is to leave it alone and let it sleep until the next war
It's the power of lying about everything and having vassal states you can poach.
@@Greg-yu4ij
Well, they _stole_ the atom bomb and their space program was a terrifying jank-fest whose only purpose was to pointlessly one-up the West no matter the human cost.
@@Greg-yu4ij Actually quite good explanation what does mean a soviet bloody system. As well i would add progressive paranoia, mental issues, self destructiveness, extreme selfishness and hypocriticism among the majority of the population due to extreme life conditions, hardships and negative selection for a minimum 3-4 generations.
I'm still a BIG fan of the animation for this channel and long may it continue.
Strikes on youtube are becoming more and more an issue for us... BTW I really enjoy your videos, keep up the good work!
Such an excellent channel, thank you
This channel is 10 times better just because of the first hand information and anecdotes from people who actually lived under the soviet regime!
Love your work keep it up!
Excellent work as always!
listening to Paper Skies' intro gave reminded me of Air France 447, with the flight crew misinterpreting the stall warnings.
This channel never fails to impress with the quality of the videos. A very sad and needless air disaster.
I always think of the Soviet Union as something like the pictures of food on the walls of the cheap restaurant looking so much nicer than what is actually delivered, and those who long for its return definitely look back through rose-coloured glasses.
I’ve watched a lot of air disaster channels and yours is one of the best. I really enjoy your unique style. It’s also great to hear about cases that are probably not well known in the West.
I really like the animations. As always, solid storytelling!
Oh wow great channel. So glad I found this.
Hello, I truly appreciate your uniquely useful videos of the past. I'm an aerospace engineer (AE) and I watch your videos with great interest in learning about things that happened in the past and especially what went wrong. Now, in this particular video, at 3:42 you talk about exceeding the critical AoA and you've said it was 20 degrees! Was this an angle given in units in the cockpit or the real angle of attack of the wing? Unless you know it, the angle of attack indicated onboard is the actual angle of the AoA vane relative to wing's mean aerodynamic chord and because the airflow will always go from high to low pressures, it will curve towards the low pressure, which usually is the top of the fuselage. Due to this effect, the vane will always deflect more than for an undisturbed airflow, thus showing a higher angle than the real wanted/needed reference. For this instance, all prototype aircraft and test aircraft have the AoA vane mounted on a boom ahead of the plane so that the fuselage's upward (at positive lift) circulation of the airflow won't deflect it more than wanted. Due to, let's call them laziness reasons, almost all aircraft manufacturers engineers don't bother to correct the AoA vane angle shown in cockpit with the real AoA that the plane has relative to an undisturbed airflow ahead of the plane and this is why the MIG-21 has a caution AoA of 28 and critical value of 33, when instead of 33 degrees which the vane is deflected to by the upward flowing airflow, the aircraft's wings have just 20..21 degrees of real AoA. So, coming back to the subject of this wonderful airplane (I truly like it), the Tu-154, I wouldn't wonder if the AoA indication in cockpit (if the plane has it) would show the actual vane angle which is always greater than that of the clean/undisturbed airflow. So, I just ask..., can you please confirm that the plane had a cockpit indication of 20 degrees AoA? From my experience, these kind of wings usually have a critical AoA no higher than 15..16 degrees at low subsonic speeds, around the takeoff and approach speeds, while at higher altitudes, higher Mach number and lower Reynolds number the critical AoA can decay by some degrees. Having 20 degrees of real AoA in such conditions is of real interest for me to learn about and I would appreciate if you'd give me a link or some clue regarding the data retrieved after the crash.
Kind regards!
All the numbers, including the angle of attack, were decoded from the 'black box.' Regarding the cockpit readings, the gauge malfunctioned after the second 'critical angle of attack' signal. Its arrow stuck at the 9.3-degree mark and didn't react to any further changes in the aircraft's angle. Therefore, the pilots only saw the 9.3-degree reading. I briefly showcased this at the video's start, but perhaps I should have emphasized this matter more. I didn't want to delve too deeply into technical details since my intention is to cater to a broad audience.
The mentioned 20-degree angle and others, such as the report mentioning the middle engine shutting off at a 25-degree angle, were extracted from the black box. This information was sourced from the investigation report.
Here's the link to the short report: airdisaster.ru/database.php?id=71,
and here you can access the entire crash report: vk.com/@bort85185-akt-o-rassledovanii-katastrofy-samoleta-tu-154-85311-v-raion
However, both documents are in Russian.
While gathering information, I also stumbled upon these cyclograms. aviation-is.better-than.tv/af1461%20%20%D3%F7%EA%F3%E4%F3%EA%20-%20%F6%E8%EA%EB%EE%E3%F0%E0%EC%EC%FB.htm.ru.utf8
The individual claims they are from the Flight 5143 crash, but I couldn't verify their authenticity. In the first picture, at the bottom, you can see the readings related to the angle of attack: the blue line represents the real angle ('угол атаки истинный'), while the pink line indicates the gauge reading ('угол атаки указателя').
@@PaperSkiesAviation
Hello again! I greatly thank you and appreciate all the effort you've already put into the video and also to reply back to me with such a great manner and provide those links and all the details. I will read them and try to understand what the actual critical angle of attack was as a real reference angle, not just the "alpha vane" (AoA vane) angle, which is what I'm so curious about.
Many thanks Paper Skies for your implication in all the videos that you make, being an aviation enthusiast yourself as well! "Many talk, but few know"! You are among the very few to tell things right in your videos.
I recall reading an article about the Gloster Javelin, many moons ago, about the investigation into "Super Stalls" or "Deep Stalls" associated with T-tail jet aircraft. This lead to the introduction of a "stick pusher" system presumably the Tu-154 was not so equipped?
I’ve been saying this for years. Russian aviation is more of a threat to humanity than any weapon in its arsenal.
Imagine what it will be like when they start running out of Boeing and Airbus hulls to strip for parts. You know they will keep making exceptions to the minimum equipment list until they start falling out of the sky.
pure cope :) @@-Bill.
@@maeton-gamingnope, it'll happen. Happened in North Korea
you're adorably swiss-cheese brained if you think soviet russia is the russia of today. Like, pure inability to think critically.
Hell, you probably think ukraine's winning right now ;) @@fermutwo
Delusional as always...Airbus/Boeing crashes a lot more than Soviet/Russian's
Babe wake up, there's a new paper skies video
Babe wake up, pull up terrain alarm is blARING.
As I recall Uchkuduk air crash weren't only sole flat spin and crash with tu154. In 2006 was a similar crash in Donetsk region when bellend captain climbed too high and then stalled the plain
Yes
Pulkovo Flight 612. Was supposed to have been flying from Anapa to it's home base at Pulkovo.
The moment of impact was caught on camera.
Thanks for this documentary to remind us the importance to avoid drowsy driving. Actually in China, several tragic train accidents also caused by similar reason showed in this video: 83/804 accident in 1973, 179/1218 accident in 1983 and 0166/3856 accident in 1996. So, nowadays Chinese train drivers for long-range will be asked for mandatory sleep before their departure (it could be monitored). For high speed train, drivers have to kick the pedal every several seconds or minutes, their operation will be recorded by video, and their retina will be analyzed by computer to determine their conditions. All regulations are formed by accidents and tragedies...
New paper skies! Makes my day every time!
Wow! Fascinating! And absolutely frightening! Great production! Thank you. 😮
That Yalla song was really good.
I'm so old and even remember times when this song was introduced 😂
Awesome CGI work. I love the looks of this bird and the way it’s main gear rotates 180deg into the pods. Nice vid!
If you’re a town, having an air disaster happen near you is almost as bad as having a Russian rock song named after you.
Why would a Russian rock song named after a town be a bad thing?
I know Russian music is awful
It’s not a Russian song, but a Soviet song. The band is from Tashkent, which is a capital of a former USSR republic Uzbekistan.
Paper skies is the channel I watch wind I need to stay up, it’s like audio coffee
sounds to me like they didnt fall asleep
Life in the Soviet Union must have been even bleaker than I imagined if *that* song became a hit...
Did they ever fix the flight and duty time regs in Russia? I have seen the flight and duty time regs updated twice in my 47 years of flying professionally. Short-term and long-term fatigue is an on going problem. The FAA is looking at how people actually sleep and what rest is and is not.
...fix something wrong ...in soviet russia? You must be new here friend
@@JCDFlex Not new here, I am a retired professional pilot ( US). Soviet Russian or not, people suffer the same physical problems regardless. My only fault is that I tend to give people the benefit of doubt- I would think that the guys running civil aviation would look at this and make some changes- Going a wrecking a perfectly good airplane for some so stupid even the Soviet State could not keep absorbing that sort of thing. All they needed to do here was to schedule a well rested crew, and off load some of the junk they were hauling. Not hard to do you know. I off loaded a lot of stuff over the years, And said more than once no
Giving you a hug Paper, I believe you deserve it, only the best
Perhaps a silly question - in a large passenger aircraft undergoing a flat spin, what if passengers could be told to run towards the front of the plane, bringing the center of gravity ahead of the wings? That would encourage a nose-down attitude, bringing wing flaps back into their aerodynamically functional range. At that point, recovery by the pilots should be possible, given enough remaining altitude.
I'd guess there'd be a need to get the passengers reseated quickly after nominal control was established, to bring the CG back to nominal. Perhaps this isn't possible without careful training. Not to mention the possibility of having these passengers having to move "uphill" if the plane is still nose-down by any significant amount, although the continued decent would make that slightly easier.
This would also involve telling passengers to get up before a crash or flat spin recovery (both likely involve g-forces likely to cause injury to passengers who aren't strapped in), crowd at the front, be difficult for pilots compromised enough to get into a flat spin, and walk through the aircraft while it's spinning (those g forces might be unpredictable for a passenger, and could be too severe to traverse the cabin in).
@@reddragonflyxx657your question was silly bud , still a fun thing
mushrooms for breakfast?
Impossible
In a falling plane, if unstrapped they would be forced to the ceiling I believe
Going into a flat spin spells disaster and is a horrible way to go. The crew should have had proper rest before the flight. 20 hours without the mandatory rest, and total fatigue, is unacceptable.
Hello, this is a great video. I could not find the Vasiliy Ershov "Crew Errors" book online, do you have a link to the source? It would help me with my university project on new aircraft operations :)
Brilliant introduction, highlighting the depth of your research into these episodes.
You always say "in the USSR" but we must not forget these things can happen everywhere, by pretending its just somthing that happens only to them might allow us to start thinking it could never happen to us and therefor lead to a lack of care. Besides, dont worry, if the USSR came back it would only be in name, theres no way current leaders like the idea of going back to such a vindictive world where even fallen leaders like Khrushchev could be disowned and stepped on- no, its more likely going to be a thing where the leaders get some more power but becomes a kind of Russian China kind of thing not that im saying that would be good, im just saying it wouldent be "The Soviet Union" ;P
Happy to see so many new videos! Just hope you’re not burning yourself out! Take care ❤
That was a beautiful opening to the video. Wow.
This has got to be my favorite channel on UA-cam!
How do pilots not know the first most basic lesson that "speed slower than that plane model needs" and "trying to fight descent by pulling up" equals "stall"???
Even before stall indicators existed it was the most basic thing to learn. "Why can't I keep it up?" And "oh look how slow I'm going" equals "it's only going fast enough to glide, dumbass, not fast enough to stay level. You can either stop resisting the descent and instead accept it and aim the nose down or you can add more speed, but you have to do at least one of these things. You can't keep going like this."
That should be so drilled into instinct that even a sleepy pilot just does it as a first instinct and then starts looking for a cause after the stall is averted.
Because the laws of physics are capitalist propaganda comrade.
24 hours without sleep maybe.
I'm sure you would make no mistakes in that situation.
@@stephanguitar9778it should be a first instinct. Stop the stall first, then start trying to figure out what caused it. Being sleepy would make it take longer to do the conscious action of trying to figure out the cause. But it should still be drilled in instinct that trying to climb when the attempt isn't succeeding means you immediately stop trying because you'll stall. Accept the descent as inevitable while your tired brain tries to figure out why this is happening.
It's like if you wake up sleepy behind the wheel of a car, see a tree in front of you you are headed toward, hitting the brakes should be instinctive and then after that you try to work out why there's a tree there. What happened here would be like seeing that tree and hitting the accelerator and aiming toward it. Even a groggy instinctive action shouldn't result in that.
Being sleep deprived isn’t the same as being sleepy. The lack of sleep to the degree the pilots had would make them in capable of driving a car let alone fly a plane. This is akin to drinking while flying.
Nothing feels better than finding and binging new channel just to watch them gain 2k subs in under 24 hours.
Great video as always
I am impressed with the video. Authentic Soviet video.
Hope someday you'll cover the Soviet and American experiments into nuclear powered aircraft, which led to the Americans saying, "nope, not safe" and the Soviets building a nuclear powered Bear.
Project PLUTO was not intended to be safe 😅
Well the Soviets also decided it wasn't safe either. Both flew dozens of missions with a nuclear reactor on board but neither ever used the reactor to power the engines.
Damn you @PaperSkiesAviation!
This song has buried itself deep into my brain and I can't stop whistling it!
In what world is a 20 degree angle of attack "normal" to any pilot? It seems simple.... if your aircraft is shaking (buffeting) and your AoA is 20 degrees, YOU ARE ABOUT TO ENTER A STALL, IF NOT ALREADY IN A STALL.
The problem is that in SOVIET Russia, they simply don't care. It's a shocking part of their culture: to simply not give a fuck. Oh, the submarine's reactor needs to be repaired? NYET! We will sail anyway.
The aircraft missed its yearly inspection? NYET! We can fly anyway.
It pervades to this very day long after the fall of the USSR. I've met Russians who are so laid back that I wonder if they would react at all to being threatened with a weapon in a dark alley in my hometown (several of them were students studying at the local university. This is where I encountered this amazingly casual, very laid back attitude.)
How did I never hear about this before? Those poor people. I always feel bad for the victims of plane crashes and their families.
Maybe after Chloe (Disaster Breakdown) is out of recovery, maybe you two should collaborate on a few crash investigation videos? You two seem like you'd be a good complement for each other, and the amalgamation of your presentation styles would probably be fascinating. Her forte seems to be dangerous weather conditions...
Wow, you have to be a real genius to put a commercial aircraft into a flat spin.
I am sorry for the pax and their families.
Folks, flight and duty time regulations in the United States are WOEFULLY inadequate! Did you know that a flight crewmember can be required to be at work on duty for 16 hours? Yes, the pilot who flies you into Boston during a "Nor'easter" can have been at work since 8 AM and it is now midnight. And he is trying to land you and your CHILDREN safely during those winds and low clouds and visibility? And 16 hours doesn't count the time it takes him to wake up, drink coffee, take a shower, put on his uniform, and show up for the van ride to the airport. That man may have been up since 6:30 in the morning. And did you know that the Federal Aviation Regulations state that he only has to have 8 hours off of duty. Not 8 hours in the hotel, just 8 hours off. Which means that if it took 30 minutes to get to the hotel after his previous duty period [not unusual....] and 30 minutes to take his uniform off, call home, and get to bed, then if he has to show up at the other end on time and needs at least 30 minutes to get going, then he has AT BEST 6:30 in the sack before that 16 hour day in which he is supposed to land you (and your kids...) safely at Boston. In a gale, in icing conditions....
Those are the Federal Aviation Regulations that pertain to CFR Part 121 flying, or airlines. Look it up if you don't believe me.
However, there is a caveat; Most airline pilots work under a
~~~ COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AGREEMENT ~~~
That prevents airlines from abusing pilots and thus SAFETY this way!
Story: In 1999, I was a pilot for a non union cargo airline out of Dallas that shall remain nameless [Express One International]. I was in Indianapolis and went on airport reserve at 6 PM. I had gotten out of bed in my nasty crashpad around 8 AM and went running. Well, about 8 PM they sent me to fly to Philadelphia, then to Pittsburg, and then back to Indy. We got back around 11 PM and I figured we were done, since our reserve period ended at midnight. I was tired, but not too bad. I was planning to go back to the crashpad, take a shower, and read my book before going to bed. WRONG. They sent me to Dallas to ferry a 727 right at midnight....But we had a maintenance issue. We finally left and got into DF Dubya around 6 AM. I was dead tired! Inflight used the knob on the autopilot to turn the 727 towards the final approach course [localizer] and literally fell asleep with the knob in my hand! I startled awake and joined the ILS and landed safely. We went to the hotel in Dallas [A Red Roof Inn, the height of luxury...] and I was just pulling the sheets back naked when the phone rings, this was before I had a cellphone. It's scheduling, and guess what? They want us back at the airport ASAP to ferry a broken 727 back to Indianapolis for maintenance....
"It's legal" the scheduler said into the phone. YES, she was correct....That would have been legal.
As captain, you are responsible for the safe transport of the aircraft. I could not in any way, shape, or form allow myself to be part of any aircrew at that point. I was simply too tired. So I used the "F" word: I officially called "fatigued". Which means that not only did I have to fill out paperwork, but so did the company, since the FAA requires the airlines to report these occurrences.
Did I hear anything? No.
Did the FAA do anything at all about it? NO!
Folks, that right there is where a union collective bargaining agreement makes TONS of sense! Most airlines have union contracts that keep pilots and flight attendants from being abused by the FAR's. These contracts keep all of us safe, and are what stands between our modern airline system and the episode in this video, where an airliner spins into the ground because the crew fell asleep at the wheel~
GREAT video!
I find it amazing that you are able to find all the information for these posts.
Sleep deprived and very likely overheated, it was only a matter of when not if they would make serious lapses in attention and judgment.
Didn't know about this crash before. Thanks for all those informations. The animation also are really great, good job 👍🏿
These stories are actually so inmersive
I love these stories that come partly from your childhood in Russian, what a great perspective
They hade this problem with soviet tanks, like the t-34. The ergonomics and comfort was so bad that the crew got really exhausted pretty fast.
That transition was top notch
A shocking parallel with AF447. Different preconditions, similar outcome
The band was surprisingly good. I would say this song is probably in the top 40 songs about being in the desert. The airplane crash was a horrible tragedy, poor children! It is inconceivable that there was a proper reason to fly the jet airliner below 300 km/h (160 knots) at that point in the flight. Jet airliners, being quite heavy, especially this one, needs to fly quite fast at higher altitude to generate the necessary lift to stay up in the air, usually well over 320 km/h. Most jet airliners fly, upon reaching top altitude, fly at between 880-920 km/h.