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Boeing 737 Gets Lost and Crashes in the Middle of Nowhere (With Real Audio)
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- Опубліковано 16 лис 2022
- A Boeing 737 operating as Varig Flight 254 takes off for a routine domestic service within Brazil. However, the aircraft will never reach its destination. Find out what really happened.
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This video has been recorded and edited in 4K resolution and 60FPS.
At 7:53 when the caption popped up to say the pilots have made “an incredible error” a UA-cam ad kicked in inviting me to “Visit Brazil, it’s so much more than you can ever imagine”.
Vast uninhabited regions, which hinder communication and location for pilots. Today , the northern region of Brazil has full radar coverage and such an error would not happen ..
UA-cam is trying to kill you.
@@SupersonicSynthwave80
Agreed. But you have to love it when automated advertising placement is unintentionally ironic.
@@grmpEqweer Sounds like the ad almost made the video better.
No tragedy should go to waste.
I’m Brazilian, and I’ve studied this case intensely. There’s many interviews with the copilot, and he actually wrote a book on this. The story goes that the Captain was extremely arrogant and would refuse to even listen to the FO when he was pretty sure they were going the wrong way.
EDIT: things that I forgot to mention/was reminded of:
1. Zille (FO) also suggested a climb to max altitude when they realized the situation and was met with silence. Instead of climbing to 38 thousand feet, Garcez climed to 9000, if I’m not mistaken.
2. The FO didn’t copy the pilot’s heading; he selected the heading from the flight plan and the compared the pilot’s heading to his own, which matched.
3. Originally, when the airplane couldn’t talk over VHF, they didn’t use a relay - they used HF radio. This lead them to believe they were closer to Belém than they actually were.
4. At one point in the flight, Captain Garcez actually told FO Zille to stop bothering him and to keep monitoring AM radios for radio direction finding. They were just hearing static due to the distance from Belém.
5. The copilot, Zille, does criticize Captain Garcez, but most of his criticism is regarding how poor CRM was at the time.
6. When Zille realized the mistake and said it out loud to the Captain, the Captain made a “shush” sound and pointed to the cockpit recorder. The Captain realized the mistake sooner and didn’t tell it to the FO over fear of loosing his job, same reason he pointed to the recorder and told the FO to not discuss this.
7. Before this accident, FOURTEEN other pilots made the same mistake on the same route when setting the heading.
yep, blame it on the "other" guy LOL!
@@trevorregay9283 of course there’s that, but overall, I do believe Zillie. He does provide evidence to this, especially the fact that CRM didn’t exist back then and questioning a superior officer was just not done. Garcez was an exceptionally difficult man to deal with and they already had problems even before this flight.
1989-Brazil’s corporate culture at its finest
@@rodrigorosatoalves oh yes, very much so. Not to mention Garcez was a respected former air force pilot and Zille was a “mere” air club student.
Well put, Shlomo! And no, Zille doesn't blame exclusevily his flight deck partner, just mention how poorly CRM was made that day, regardless repeated times Zille tried to warn PF they were flying west, towards setting Sun. It's said when Zille tried to put in words what his captain were doing, he pointed out to the cockpit's celling and making a "shush" sing, refering to the CRV recording them. When communication goes off in the flightdeck, no CRM can be effective...
I can't believe you could know your destination was North, fly directly into the setting Sun for an hour, and not realize something was wrong.
yep!!!! so obvious.....and why not have a little additional fuel aboard???
Yeah, that's crazy. I never miss a Mayday episode and a Flight Channel post, and the crashes due arrogance are really something, but this one could be put among the top three. As you put, input 270 without realizing, both polits, it's not going north, and also see the setting sun in front of you and do nothing -- these are just too much. It's hard to justify those with the captain not going through the standardization training.
I cannot believe a PILOT would do that,
The amount of studying I do to such high standards is insane
My thoughts exactly.
Seriously - how do you not realize you need to be flying north and you’re actually going west?
In one account of this disaster, it mentioned that even some passengers tried to point out to the captain via a flight attendant that the plane was heading west because it was flying toward the setting sun, but the captain refused to listen to them.
The captain was arrogant and didn't want to listen to the passenger's opinion.
@Jacky138 But wouldn't the flight attendant have known better?
@Jacky138 - They were all afraid of the captain's bad temper....
Possibly suicidal?
Garcez was a one error to be fire, because he make others mistakes few months before. He was afraid to be discover with his arrogance.
This man basically got on the intercom and calmly said "we're all gonna die!"
Honestly couldn't believe how panic-inducing that announcement was.
Actually he said that the aeroplane's system had made a mistake. Whoops, not quite the truth.
@@vinny1883 apparently many passengers knew they were going to be in trouble and tried to tell the captain he was way off course. So his announcement would not have came as a surprise to them.
Oh, don't forget "Have a good evening."
Did he mean to say "have a good ending" as opposed to "have a good evening"?
Thanks for the video, i'm brazilian! What saved the survivors' lives was a "Mateiro" (bushman), a man specialized in walking in the rainforest, he found water and then led a group until he found a clearing and the farm. In an interview, after the rescue, the bushman said: "-God put me on that plane, to take the survivors out of the forest."
Please make a video about "VASP 168."
@Donizete Why didn't they try to land at Imperatriz in Maranhao which was much closer than Santarem? Obrigada
Foi um milagro de verdade com aquele Mateiro. Deus é bom mesmo!
Cool bushman. I could never live in a jungle, f that. that would be nuts.
Awesome.
@@toomanydonuts I have lived in a swamp all my life, and now I live 20 miles from the swamp. The Swamp, the Jungle, both are just as bad with their own special dangers to navigate.
B737 Captain here. This video is an excellent reminder of the dangers of complacency. These guys had already completed several legs that day. A grueling day of up and downs. Probably tired, ready to get there, and the last leg a simple :40 flight. Complacency. The Captain did not see the obvious, his heading bug set west when the field is obviously north, and the FO too complacent about setting his own bug, independently, as a final cross check. I've made complacent mistakes. Calling a checklist item complete, when in fact it wasn't. I learned that when you rattle off the checklist challenge and responses multiple times daily, the brain just wants to hear the familiar challenge and response patter, and one can easily say "checked" out of habit, when the item was not checked. This is complacency and takes a determined effort, especially when tired, to avoid it. I felt sick watching this.
Amazing take.Thank you Captain 👍
Thank you for your insights. Question: What does bug mean?
Another Question re the Checklist:
Does it help to put hands (or eyes) on items from Checklist before replying Check? Or are their items on Checklist one can't put hands or eyes on?
@@ohdear2275 it's A marking on the heading indicator sweetie.
@@JohnnyLaps Thank you. So on the HSI. I wondered at it being called bug.
@@ohdear2275 yes interesting term right😊
always good when the captain comes on the intercom and says "have a happy ending"
That's when you look at a flight attendant and say "well, you heard the captain!"
@@johnd5398 still unsure why TSA gives you the strip search when you try to go on the plane with a parachute in your carry on, just covering my ass!
So, "have a happy ending" is airline speak for "we are fucked"
I wonder if something was lost in translation.
@@johnd5398 'Would sir like a 'happy ending?'
'Oh, yes please.'
'Okay, I'll read you Cinderella.'
How on Earth do you look at a map clearly indicating that you have to go almost straight north and set a heading that is obviously due west?!
How do you fly into the sun for an hour without realizing you're going west and not north?
@@dreednlb Yep- the "Why is the sun over there?" moment.
@@dreednlb the pilots both deny it but some say they are listening to a soccer match, Brazil and Chile for World Cup qualify. There are some evidences about it.
And then constantly fly toward the setting sun which indicates that you're heading west... I can only believe that pilot fatigue must have played a part.
Ah, look at this! Some a--hole moved the Sun!" Oh well... on we go!
I am honestly surprised there were so many survivors.
because no fuel left, no explosion or fire
@@hikemastersomg even then it was a miracle, just look at what happened to avianca flight 52 which suffered 73 deaths without a fire or explosion
The survivors waited for two days in the middle of nowhere, and the rescue team could not find the plane because it had flown in the wrong direction. The survivors managed to set up camp near the wreckage, and two days later they sent their four strongest (and less injured) men to get help. After walking 40 km through the deep Amazon forest, they found a farm and were able to contact the rescue team by radio
@@hikemastersomgBut the survivors still had to deal with the incredible impact that killed 12 of the others. Granted, fire and explosion would likely have resulted in no survivors. The aircraft had to crash land in the darkness in the rainforest. The captain was certainly honest with everyone in the cabin as to their situation at the end. Everyone had ample warning to prepare for what they probably were certain would be their death. What a horrifying experience this was for them, especially when the engines shut down and there was total silence as the aircraft became a glider. And once again, we know nothing of the extent of the injuries of the survivors--did any of them just walk away from the crash site? Maybe some of them did.
I’m amazed the pilots survived, you would think those in front would suffer the worst impact. I wish the video had gone into more detail about how the plane landed/broke up.
This was one of the more gut wrenching videos i’ve seen on this channel. The hopelessness you can imagine passengers are feeling when the pilot announces the mistake… so much time between then and the crash to think about the last moments of your life… and the fact that it was also such a smooth and uneventful flight from beginning until the very last seconds. Lastly, the fact that the sun was setting on them… man… this one’s tough to watch. So sad.
At least more passengers lived than died but yeah still tragic
@@GoldenMushroom64 No one needed to die. You shouldn't be in command of an aircraft if you don't know where the sun sets.
😢😢😢😢😢😢🙈💔
At least he told his passengers he wishes them a good ending. This is exactly what I hope for from my pilot before crashing a plane in the jungle.
...I hope my pilot isn't so stupid as to set an almost directly westward heading for *a city to the northeast.*
They didn't snap to when they were flying into the sunset. Talk about a glaring hint!
Barring that, I should hope they apologize for running us out of fuel and crashing us in the middle of nowhere!
@@grmpEqweer correction: a perfectly westward heading
Damn
This was clearly an attempted murder-suicide where the suicide part failed. These pilots should be executed.
@@patrickkonig I was joking. I agree with you.
My first flying job was in Indonesia - for the first year I would literally have a sheet of paper that amongst other info. would state the general direction of the flight, until I got to know the country. How two Brazilians didn't know that it was close to due North is unbelievable.
Exactly Two Brazilian Pilots flying in Brazil and didnt know where their destination was and apparently never bothered with a chart to see.
@@glennrishton5679 - Brazilians are a very special kind of people.
@@jenniferkelly6931 Aha, the geniuses then concluded that the accident happened because the pilots were Brazilian. There are very special people out there indeed!
I've watched a lot of these and perhaps this was the most tragic to view (especially as I thought from the title that no one survived). The decimal mistake was fair enough - but to not realise Belem was to the north? Boba.
@@jenniferkelly6931 o que você quer dizer com isso?
Amazing that only 12 people perished for such a rookie type error. R.I.P. to those who lost their lives.
Good evening everyone....we are about to crash in the middle of the jungle due to my stupidity....Have a nice evening and Good luck to everyone!
Exactly! Sigh😬
Once again, they wanted to fly to Belem which is roughly northeast of their takeoff place, and they flew directly into the setting sun. How did they not notice this error immediately ???
Probably diverting and dreaming.
Doofus in the cockpit...🤦🏽♂️
The sun was blinding them lol
They made about a Brazilian errors.
This channel actually produces very high quality content and I’m really mesmerised by the effort that is put into this.. hats off to you 👏🏻
He stole this one.
Agreed. There was really no reason for the clickbait thumbnail with the front of the plane coming off mid-air.
@@K1OIK Seems like this channel is continuously covering videos from Green dot three weeks ago
@@volumus_HK Plagiarism
I’m amazed that you were able to retrieve 33 years-old audio because my medical records only go back 5 years! How were you able to accomplish this?
It was well covered with books written about it. I believe the channel contacted the pilot to have him relive these moments which he is very proud of showing off his pilot skills to the world. The captain continues to tell this story to his great grandchildren everytime they go to get tacos and draws pictures for them using crayons.
It's public record from the brazilian's counterpart of NTSB
@@jokers7890 😂😂😂
UA-cam hasn't completely gone to shit like the system that's why lol
@@jokers7890 - You mean he's not sorry for having killed 12 people...?
This channel is seriously so enthralling with the research and animation. Thank you for what you do.
Amazing work! I agree!
The facts are largely copied from Wikipedia. Almost to the letter.
@@alexc3657 really? Wouldn’t surprise me but I guess if Wikipedia is going off of official reports and documents then no big deal
@@Swellington_ en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varig_Flight_254?wprov=sfla1
@@alexc3657 I get that. But the Wikipedia video and real audio is….. non-existent. Thus, this is a better presentation.
I saw another video about this flight (or I think it was the same flight), and after they were overdue for landing, one of the flight attendants asked the pilots about it and noticed that they were flying toward the sun when the sun should have been on their left. So one of the pilots placed a piece of paper in the window to block the sun.
not this flight...
@@AndreChaosweapon But it was another flight over Brazil.
@@dx1450 Do you remember something else?
Green Dot Aviation video ?
The pilot also used a crayon to draw a sad face on the paper with a arrow pointing down.
I'm amazed people survived. Happy they did. What a horrible mistake and realisation it must have been. You put so much effort Into your videos. Thanks for the upload.
And they were found because of some passengers that survived and decided to search for farms in the region (they found one that had an amateur radio), because the air force was searching in the route that the plane should flown
@@vimfga of course, I didn't think of that. Crazy
I also cant believe only 12 people were killed in this crash .
One of them walked into the jungle till he found a farm and got help
It's not a mistake. It's an error. To make a 'mis-take' means you are misguided or got something wrong. Setting the compass to "270" instead of "027" and then not realizing that the plane is flying in completely the wrong direction is incompetence.
Not knowing the general direction of the destination is appalling...shows a lack of knowledge of geography of the Country. I don't care how tired I get as a pilot, I will always know that the sun sets in the West. Excellent video. Thanks.
Why do I think the only radio they were paying attention to was Brazil vs Chile?
not! in the area they are not radio can't be tunned and that's why they are lost... FO Zille was searching for the radio to confirm where they are...
@@AndreChaosweapon
That's actually a point, since FM radio transmits on a line of sight.
They might have been trying to find a radio station to find the plane's location.
Maybe.
GPS is literally a lifesaving technology.
@@grmpEqweer Back then Brazil was using mostly Shortwave broadcasts for general programming like soccer matches, so it was likely that their HF unit was tuned to a Brazilian shortwave station carrying the match, the VHF radio can't tune down to FM commercial frequencies anyway
@@grmpEqweer tell me how to tune fm on my 737 500's avionics? Cause you can't.
exactly- the guy was telling the FO to shut up to cover his tracks on the recorder. They were listing to the game for sure. That is the single best explanation for the unbelievable oversights.
Really well done video! I've met a VARIG worker who was in the company's rescue team dispatched from Rio to the crash site and he told for an hour how was their job there, as part of a crisis staff formation training.
The root cause was a fail regarding the communication of the heading decimal reading changed short time before and the telex hasn't arrived to marabá station yet, so the pilots mistakely entered the heading coordinate with the old reading way, and a bad CRM did all the rest of the mess.
One of the passengers was from the region and noticed something wrong while looking down from his window. He then, after the crash, led one small group for many hours through the jungle until a farm in the region, and from there they could get help and contact authorities.
The pilots, despite their monumental mistake, did an outstanding job crash landing a dead jet plane into the jungle at night saving most of the lives onboard, throwing it into a tiny clearance that luckly was there and they could saw while the landing lights were working...
An outstanding job???? These idiots killed twelve people with their “outstanding “ job
@@rhm5158 Considering the conditions yes, was an outstanding job. So Al Haynes and his crew also did a shitty job crash landing the United 232, as your opinion...112 killed and 184 survivors.
@@vittoriocesaris9717 major difference. 232 was a major mechanical failure. This flight was due to pilot stupidity. So I stand by what I said.
@@rhm5158 Yeah, you're right about that. I was refering to the landing process itself, not on the causes. But that's ok.
@@vittoriocesaris9717 not a problem
The survivors two days struggle after crash must be mentioned too as the rescuers knew nothing about their exact location. And one more interesting fact: over the dark rainforest noone could anticipate the moment of impact. The moments right before the crash in the complete darkness must have been terrific.
But they knew it was coming once the engines shut down. Just didn't exactly when
I think you mean "terrifying" 😅
Not knowing the exact moment of impact may have also helped them, as they would not have been able to tense up, potentially causing even more serious injury.
The people who survived: It's like playing the game: "The Forest" !
And no smoke to help find them because no fuel!
Flying into the setting sun.....and thinking you are going north/northeast........... fucking amazing
Futbol is extremely important, ya know?
I feel so bad for the ones who died. Surprised the pilots survived. Another case of poor training and execution, but it is strange they didn't see, by the placement of the sun that they were going in the wrong direction. Thank you for another great presentation.
I have listened to some first officer Zille interviews. He claims that he had not coppied the heading from captain’s instruments, he acually read the flight plan. It Was 0270, no comma, no point. Its understandable. At least 7 crew did the same mistake in the same route, due to the recent Varig’s flight plan layout. Fortunately they could find themselves. He also states he asked captain to return to Marabá, as they still had the frequency on their receivers.
There's an extensive interview with FO Zille on UA-cam, in three parts, hosted by Lito Sousa, owner of the channel Aviões e Músicas (Planes and Songs). Obviously, in Portuguese. There, he discusses all the events leading to the disaster, how the Captain behaved, how the airline treated the captains (much better than other crew), and other topics. It's worth watching.
I'm absolutely amazed that ANYONE survived. And uncontrolled, unpowered (basically glide) straight to the ground? Wow.
belly landing, no fuel left, so no explosion or fire which is the factor that kills most
Its also believed that the top of the Trees helped smooth the landing.
Good assumption, save for idiotic Wow!
With no fuel left, it wouldn't be *that* bad. I'm guessing those who sat in the back survived.
The only things the crew could see on the horizon were faint light spots due to distant forest burnings, and at 9.06 pm, local time, the plane crash-landed over treetops that extended over 50 m (160 ft) above ground. The deceleration due to the crash was such that passengers without fastened seatbelts were flung to the front of the airplane, and some seats detached from the floor, also racing forward. When the aircraft fell through the foliage, two thick trees tore away both wings, and caused a severe torsion of the fuselage, which contributed to more seats detaching, and to the collapsing of the false roof over the passengers' heads. After its speed slowed to about 35 kn (65 km/h), the aircraft ran for little more than 30 m (100 ft) and stopped, lying on its right side. On 5 September, two days after the crash, Alfonso Saraiva and three other survivors started walking to look for help. After about two or three hours of walking in the jungle the group found the house of the Curunaré farm, in São José do Xingu. That farm had no radio, so they were taken by car to another farm, Serrão da Prata, reaching it around 12.30. With the help of radio operator João Capanema Jr., they were able to contact Franca Airport, 400 km (220 nmi) north of São Paulo, and at 16.27, an Embraer EMB-110 Bandeirante airplane from the Brazilian Air Force (FAB) dropped food packages over the wreckage. By noon the next day, on their fourth day in the jungle, all survivors had been rescued by the FAB.
Forty-one survivors were rescued from the crash site by helicopter, which flew them 50 km (25 nmi) to São José do Xingu, and from there they were flown by plane to Cachimbo Airport, 300 km (160 nmi) to the northwest. They were then flown to Brasilia Base Hospital near Brasilia.
www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1989/09/07/brazil-crash-survivors-tell-of-miracle/7eb7f8ec-99ce-4358-829d-ea084f0dc164/
You probably shouldn’t tell the passengers that you hope they have a good ending when you want them to stay calm
Yeah like what the fuck. I would have screamed on the spot
Fantastic simulation of the interior of a battered and old 737. Green Dot Aviation recently did this accident and had some additional details. Twice, the pilots attempted to tune their directional compass to follow the signal of commercial radio stations they knew to be in Belem and another possible landing site but due to a quirk in the ionosphere that night, the usual long range of an AM signal at night was very much longer than usual. They were, in fact, following radio signals broadcasting on the same frequencies the pilots knew and were tuning to but they were from well over the horizon greater than 1,000 km away. This led them further astray and they followed the river mistaken for the Amazon for a very long time. The tone of the Captain's announcement to the passengers was very haunting and hopeless. Also mentioned by GDA, the passengers, after the announcement, stormed the galley breaking open all of the alcohol containers drinking everything they could put their hands on. When you string all of the unfortunate circumstances and plain bad luck together, it's hard to imagine them not crashing. You can say how could they not know they were flying due west into a setting sun but, as mentioned, this route was flown like a train on rails with many stops. I'm sure the flight crew was exhausted and overwhelmed by the time they flew the last leg. Amazing so many survived.
Thank you. Hadn't seen that one from Green Dot yet.
That's one point in their favour, kinda. That you mentioned it was their eighth leg or something, they were exhausted, and this was just another leg to be input. They didn't seem to have a mental image any more of the route, and it was only a short hop.
If it was a one flight day for them and a much longer trip ... well, like most accidents it was a combination of many unusual conditions and errrors that combined together.
I do blame the captain, the lack of CRM and the airline, primarily; but I have a lot of sympathy for the situation they found themselves in as well - all things considered.
They were both young.
There is a huge difference between flying generally in a Northerly direction with the sun setting in the west, and flying due west into the sun, they must have known the time of day, and time of sunset.They must have flown this route before as they were looking for familiar landmarks.
Surprised so many survived.
Thank you "Flight Channel", superb as always.
I read a book about this accident and they said that a passenger, knowing that the plane was going to crash due to lack of fuel, started drinking and when the forced landing was about to happen, he didn't want to sit down and walked down the aisle of the plane drunk. On impact with trees, some passengers said he flew from the back of the plane towards the cabin, dying instantly.
I would have moved to the back of the plane… usually that’s where they find survivors.
@@spiritmatter1553 it depends
@@spiritmatter1553 I’ve seen some of the most deaths in plane crashes in the back. If I was in this situation I wouldn’t even care where I was I would just hope I die instantly or that I live
@@spiritmatter1553 If you look at statistics, the safest locations in a plane crash are usually just aft of the wings where the airframe is strong, and near the back as you say which 'crashes last'. Oddly, the least survivable locations are usually the costly first-class seats!
In this case was the back because the impact starts in the head of the plane and the g force made the chairs going to the front (this crash made Boeing to make new chairs to support more g force than necessary)
Fliying all the time with the sun in his eyes... Guess the captain believed that sun sets at N-NE or that Belem is at W of Maraba. What a genious.
A 737 pilot of an important airline like Varig does not control his position with the sun, incredible.
The Captain actually managed to get a signal working for rescuers by urinating on the beacons of the black boxes.
The captain also managed to get his brain to start working by smashing his head against some large rocks. He later admitted 95% of his brain is missing from a birth defect and never learned how to tie his shoes. He became a pilot by finding a commerical pilots license in a box of cereal and never looked back.
@Snoopy some things require water to work.
Always pee on it! thats my motto
@Snoopy probably one of those water activated SOS transmitters which are attached to the rafts (slides) or available onboard in specific compartments.
From an ex cabin crew.
nope! an expedition was made by the survivors and they find a farm near and asked help
Did the flight crew not notice that they were flying into the sunset for almost an hour?
Copilot noticed, but captain was a complete asshole. Crm was weak at that time. But yeah, the pilot did that.
It amazes me that pilots in 1989 have no geographical knowledge or use a map to understand from where to where they are going.
yeah yeah... flying in huge green mass of trees can be easy to localize yourself... the problem was the Captain he is stubborn and didn't admit his error when was asked several times by the FO, poor CRM was made
@@AndreChaosweapon My point is they should know where Maraba is and should know where Belem is and they should know going West is not gonna bring them to Belem. They should know that Belem is north of Maraba, especially since they are Brazilian pilots, they should know their countries geography on A level.
@@Minimal444 As for most of Varig pilots being from the South and Southeast regions, they were extremely prejudicious, lacking any interest or sense of orientation regarding anyplace north from Rio. Until very recently people from São Paulo and southwards would describe the country as it had the shape of Chile, a stack of 26 states piled up. East - West length is 4.330 km almost the same as the 4.380km North-South
@@AndreChaosweapon Forget the trees, just look at the sun.
I never heard about this accident previously. This is truly unbelievable.
The passengers probably realized before the captain that they were going the wrong way! How stressful for them!!!!
Check out my latest video "Boeing 747 Breaks Up Just After Takeoff | Falling Apart Over Hawaii (4K)"
Watch Now: ua-cam.com/video/vP7P9zn0PRY/v-deo.html
I wonder if Varig changed it’s company slogan to “Fly Varig, where you have an 80% chance of survival.”
And we take off with only 20% full fuel tank
"Fly Varig..... we hope you have a happy ending"
I used to work in North Slope Alaska. Point of hire was Anchorage airport. I LOVED the 737 flight from Seattle to Anchorage… with stops in Ketchikan, Hoonah, St. Petersburg, Sitka, Juneau and finally up to Anchorage. This flight took all day, vs. 3 hours non-stop. I’d arrive in ANC around at 10:00 PM, sleep in the nursery that was off hours, and fly out at 6:00 AM the next morning. I love the puddle jumper flights. I especially enjoyed how the plane used reverse thrusters to pull back from the gates in the smaller airports.
Ketchican, Juneau, Sitka…. Marvellous little towns I visited in the 1991, during a seacruise in the Inside Passage !!
I returned to Seattle from Anchorage (covered by ash of a vulcano’s eruption) on an Alaska Airlines 727… somerimes I think how terrible was, probably, the maintenance of that airplaine…😖😖😖😖
It’s Petersburg not St. Petersburg just FYI. And in one flight I was going to Sitka to visit and we almost crashed into the water because the fog coverage was so thick you could not see the runway at all. It was one of my scariest experiences
@@JM00237Yes, you are correct! Petersburg. Going from Wrangle to Petersburg in a 737, flying at about 2000’ is a unique experience.. but taking the Le Conte ferry was a lot more fun.
Ok. A pat on your back, by yourself. But what's that got to do with Varig in Brazil????
@@enigmawyoming5201 I just took the ferry to sitka and it was much more relaxing then a a scary plane ride. It was cheaper too.
How did they miss the other Airport for an emergency landing when it was close? This is not explained here
Because these bumbling morons apparently didn't consult their charts where they could find the nearest airfield. Some of the worst pilot error and arrogance (captain) I've ever seen. That's literally the first thing you do when you know you running out of fuel.
I wish we knew,p this.
Excellent video as always, though I'm surprised you didn't mention that the pilots tried to navigate the plane to their destination by tuning into local radio station frequencies, thinking that a strong signal would mean they're nearby; only to later find out after the crash that these radio station signals were simply being repeated in locations nowhere near their intended destination, resulting in them running up and down the river incessantly. Further, it's interesting to note that although the setting sun was staring them straight in the face, which should have been a big hint that they were going the wrong way after simply looking at a map of the country, which would indicate that they were going west, it should be mentioned that when this flight plan was later shown to 21 pilots from other major airlines by the International Federation of Air Line Pilots' Association; reportedly no less than 15 other pilots made the same mistake this crew did with their heading. This resulted in the installation of new navigation systems in the VARIG fleet from my understanding. This was a very sad, and seemingly avoidable accident. It still amazes me that aviation monitoring and navigation systems were/are still so primitive or non-existent in many countries of the world. Not only was this accident avoidable, but so was GOL 1907; which also took place in Brazil, and also occurred partially due to the way air traffic control was handled there in the year 2006 (controlled by the military with less than adequate communication reach).
It seems to me they would have realized their error when they saw they had the setting sun ahead of them, instead of to their left.
While vacationing in Brazil in the mid- 90s I took an uneventful flight from Sao Paulo to Rio. I didn't know then about this chaos in the Brazilian domestic flights,,,,otherwise I would have boarded a bus to get there.
Love how the captain takes no personal responsibility - speaks vaguely of a unfortunate things like it just happened to them instead of taking any ownership. Classic narcissist. These crashes are the absolute worst IMHO, because they were completely avoidable and ego-based. In contrast, the stories were the pilots work together with beautiful CRM in horrendous circumstances warm my heart and inspire me deeply -- like United Flight 232 (Haynes, Fitch et al) and TACA-100 (Dardano). Amazing heroes.
That's why you do not use internal bleach for your viral problems. Go vote save the slow death.
Total failure to accept responsibility, was he stood down ??
@@ianhorrocks3053 wasn’t there a gaol sentence?
the captain was a massive idiot
Apparently, the sun rises in the south and sets in the north, according to these pilots.
The passengers had more sense of direction than the pilots.
@theflightchannel, We just had a freak Helicopter accident here in Charlotte NC. Sky-3 copter for our local WBTV news station went down off the side of Interstate 77 with a meteorologist and skycam pilot aboard - neither survived. They're saying the Pilot, Chip Tayang, realizing he was going to crash, deliberately steered into the embankment to avoid the holiday traffic on the interstate. It might be worth looking into to see if you can find any details.
"Have a great ending." What a chilling send-off.
When your pilot hope you have a "good ending", that's not a good sign.
This is just so complacent. My father was a navigator in The RAF in WW2, flying B-24 Liberators over the Atlantic Ocean looking for U-boats. He was trained to do a position check every half hour, to re-check his calculations and try to relate the estimated location with the actual location where the plane was. Not very easy when 500 miles out over the ocean. These pilots made no effort to do a position check until obviously not at Belem, despite flying mostly over rainforest which is obviously hazardous terrain in navigation terms as it has hardly any distinguishing features. If they had flown the route before then surely it would have been really really obvious to both of them that the last leg was just about due North, and not West, and so making the mistake of setting the compass to "270" instead of "027" is unreal.
Thank you for covering one of the most horrendous days in my countrys aviation history. I am from brazil and i have been with first officer zille myself. And indeed he was at fault when copying the magnetic course from the captain at the time, but when i asked him about the sun position or rivers, he explained to me that once you are immersed in your mistake, in tunnel vision, you are hardly ever able to get out.
On the other hand zille as a still new f/o back in the 80s had no way of overcoming a captain since no CRM was considered back then.
Captain was very arrogant and despite zilles repeated requests to turn around, he refused to admit his error and turn around, afraid of being sacked. Zille said that he picked up the plates for belem intl, and noticed the entry to the dme arc. Thats where he realized their error. He said he said his farewells to family and asked god to greet him on the other side.
You'd hope the year's of training to reach this level you'd understand geography and the concept of bearings. It's inexcusable.
Why you shouldn't fly exhausted essentially the same effects of being drunk
The captain's word to the cabine was not very assuring. If I heard that I would be freaking out. 15min left...
Fact about this: after hearing that announcement, the passengers decided to raid the liquor cabinet, getting drunk and dehydrated. One passenger was so drunk he was standing during the landing. He was the only fatality from the landing itself - the others died after being stuck in the seats for days.
I read a book about this accident and they said that a passenger, knowing that the plane was going to crash due to lack of fuel, started drinking and when the forced landing was about to happen, he didn't want to sit down and walked down the aisle of the plane drunk. On impact with trees, some passengers said he flew from the back of the plane towards the cabin, dying instantly.
You dont get drunk in 15 min..
@@AT-qu2bz doesn't mean they weren't drinking before this. They were in cruise for hours.
The guy must have some kind of brain damage- on top of everything he makes that idiotic announcement to the passengers.
Let me just say, I LOVE the effort put into all your videos.
You know what kills me about the pilots? How the hell do you not know which way north is? You've been flying for how long? You're Brazilian and still don't know the lay of the land? How do you not realize that you're not flying into the sun or that the sun isn't on your left? Maybe it's me, but in combat I never fully relied on the Blue Force Tracker or GPS. I always knew where we were, where we were going. Always had a compass and back up compass. Had a rudimentary city map and new the directions each of the major MSRs followed. I planned my route, two others on my team would verify. Everyone had a copy of it. I know flying over jungle is much harder, but ill ask again, how do you not know WTF North is? Sorry for the rant! Cheers, Doc
absolutely
Fact I’ve been land surveying and its really easy to know where you are without a gps and with just compass and direction of the sun.
In combat you know your a$$ is on the line if you screw up, so you learn to not screw up pretty quick. Plus a mistake could also take out your buddies who your life depends on too, making the lesson doubly critical to learn.
Actually surprised that anyone survived this much less a large percentage of the passengers and both captains.
It was a miracle. You should listen to the FOs interview on this. It’s heartbreaking.
In the aftermath, the Captain were almost fatally injured. It's told the captain was peculiarly concerned about "what they (he and his copilot) should say" when the rescue team arrives, and Zille answered: tell them the truth, and you know what you've done to all of us. The rest of the flightcrew took good care of the survivors and organized a scout team to look for help in the nerby farms the crash occured.
Couple of real winners at the wheel
Flying into a setting sun, which would be West, when your needed course is North, is all the captain or 1st officer needed to know something wasn't right. Inexcusable.
"Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. I just wanted to come on the intercom to let you all know that if you have not repented your sins and made peace with god, now is a good time to start. We'll be on the ground in about 15 minutes."
Lol
All over the ground...
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
@Pushiswin splat!!!
"If you haven't made your peace with God, uh, now's the time to do it." -BSF
I'm no pilot, but is it crazy of me to think that flying in the direction of the setting sun is a pretty good indicator that maybe, just maybe, they weren't heading north where their destination airport was? Would it be so stinking crazy to think that?
Amazing the pilot didn't connect that he was putting in a due west heading for a town that is NE of his current location.
If I didn’t see this with my own eyes, I wouldn’t have believed it. How on earth can an experienced crew make such an incredible blunder? To set your compass over 100 degrees in the other direction? Supposedly flying north at 270? It’s only through a miracle that anyone survived.
Another fact: some passangers, who flew that percurse frequently, noticed the odd geography and inquired the crew about the disparities, but that never reached the captain. Also, the captain could use vhf radio to contact local radios in order to get the location, but he refused to do it, even after the co-pilot noticed there was something wrong, and asked him to do so. They also failed to set up a high performance configuration that wuld allow then to fly a little longer, wich could help then return to the original airport.
I found this one particularly fascinating. Certainly some huge and inexcusable errors made by the captain and first officer but I do think questions need to be asked like the captain missed training and no one thought that might be a problem and to make sure he got the training? seems to me if he had had the training then all this would have been prevented from the get go.
Some people are not trainable. If you won't accept training then the effort is wasted.
If you're a captain and your flying habits are this bad you need to retire. He was lazier and more ignorant than some student pilots I know. The FO just sat there and let it happen too. Inexcusable.
You don't need a pilot's training to know that the sun sets to the west. Can't understand how this could ever happen.
the captain was on vacation when training was given on their new system to decimal
@@dethray1000 Then he should have been required to take the training after vacation before being allowed to command a flight again.
This is the craziest most shocking mess I've seen. I hope the families and survivors got paid well.
eu lembro desse dia, eu tinha 17 anos e meu pai tinha falado que não tinha visto o avião sair...claro, foi para outro lado...
Not a very reassuring announcement to the passengers.
Goodness I love these videos, one of the best channels on all of UA-cam.
While both at Boeing Research and Development and at Honda Engineering I made the same mistake as my fellow Brasilian brothers here by not using the setting sun to help and assist with basic navigation or time evaluation. "CLIMBING AWAY INTO THE LAST AFTERNOON SUN" the video states.... As I would awake at 3:15 or 4:15 AM pitch blackness to get started each morning I obviously never saw the sunrise commuting into work and would arrive home each day with the sun set quite near high noon where I would continue on with a full day ahead of me to work on my own passion projects. Brasilians possess many traits, PASSION being likely the strongest of all (ever see their crazed soccer fans? LOL.)
As happened once at each employer I was exhausted upon arriving home and slept for number of hours and totally lost track of time. When I awoke quite tired and disoriented at 6 and saw the sunlight I immediately rushed into work (again, at neither place had I ever traveled to work in anything other than pitch darkness) so was freaking out I was LATE. After arrival when I finally realized it was PM not AM and incredibly relieved yet even more so EMBARRASSED. (Yeah my night owl Japanese colleagues were still there working, of course they were).
This pilot from what I have read didn't want to discuss his mistake on the cockpit voice recorder for fear of losing his job. I certainly had some explaining to do as well. If only us Brasilians would take the time to look and access and figure out WAIT A MINUTE, THE SUN SETS IN THE WEST!!!! They weren't traveling North and I wasn't commuting either in the AM. How foolish we all were. I am quite certain we aren't the only three men on earth to have made that mistake. Has it ever been made by any folks in "The land of the rising sun???" Omoshiroii desu. Hahaha.
Rest in peace to those twelve folks that died.
There was a feeling of impending doom throughout this video
Every youtube video has that, these days. It's your anxiety trying to figure out when the next ad is coming.
If you ever hear that music cueing up when you get on a plane? Get off.
My cat could navigate better than this crew...😼
This one is bonkers.. Sort of thing I'd do... I noticed the engine graphics are particularly amazing. (Pratt & Whitney Dependable engines). I am lucky enough to have flown on an early 737 with those lovely JT8Ds from Heathrow to Rome in 1976, only my second trip by air. My first was a Vickers Viscount to Dublin.
Good job on telling the story and finding the actual audios but why mislead us with an image of a plane breaking apart in mid air when it actually crashed in one piece?
It's reassuring and terrifying at the same time that a number of crashes aren't caused by faulty equipment, but by human error.
Autonomy in the cockpit will be a major thing in the next few decades, way too many lives lost due to human error.
If I understand correctly, the large majority are human error. When it is mechanical failure it's also often human error for lack of inspection or maintenance.
and most of the time, faulty equipment is caused by human error as well
well here in Bazil this case is so popular great video😁
Bazil?
@@K1OIK Brazil sorry
“That you have a *good* ending.” A good ending ? I get he’s being hopeful but, oh boy, those words.
That Brazil v Chile football match was about as disgraceful as this flight. Early in the second half, with Brazil leading 1-0, the Chilean keeper pretended to be hit by a firework. He rolled around on the ground and blood was streaming from him. The game was abandoned. It turned out that he cut himself with a razor blade. Brazil were awarded the match and Chile were banned from the 1994 World Cup.
I definitely need to research this now. It is seemingly insane they didn't realize they were heading West, or did not ask Belem for the nearest runway.
Curious if any pilots out there know if they had known of the closer runway, how would they have calculated the heading given they were lost.
By this point they had the situation figured out. If they had known, they probably could have landed.
they weren't technically lost, it's just a figure of speech. they knew where they left from, they knew what heading they took and for how long so once they realized their mistake they stopped being "lost"
@@blest5132 I was thinking they were lost since the video said even after they knew the mistake they were following a different river than they thought. Another video was saying they were using radio signal(s) as a heading once they knew, but followed them South when they should have known the signal would be Northeast. Maybe when they were going South they thought they were going North. I wouldn't be surprised.
I was not expecting anyone to survive this crash.
And apparently the people who died didn't from the crash per se but from seats that were behind them that moved forward and crushed them...
@@PinchePerroMetiche Thanks for the information, i did not know that.
@@royjudson4380no worries. I'm just repeating what I read in another comment though , so I can't guarantee you it's true
Being able to dump all the fuel is what saved them. There was no fire or explosion on impact.
This flight was featured on air disasters. The accident prompted Brazil and the airlines to make changes. The small airport put in a radar along with personnel to operate it. The 737s were converted to the updated direction control system with decimals. And pilots went through training that balanced technology with basic direction finding skills.
How can trained aviators fail to notice that they're flying this much of course? You know that your destination is to the north and yet you put 270 degrees in your computer without going "wait a minute... this can't be right"? What a bunch of clowns.
Imagine hearing the captain's announcement, "have a good ending"!
The destination was north, yet he put in a due west heading AND flew directly into the setting sun, and it never occurred to him that something wasn’t right? Did he not know Belem was to the north? This makes no sense. My only thought is the match. I wouldn’t want to fly when Brazil is playing soccer. Hell I wouldn’t even want to take a cab. The whole country stops to watch.
I once flew with a Unit Trainer who would get us lost often. Once they handed me the map (over the rockies) and told me finding where we were was part of my training...
Once we were a flight of two in horrid weather trying to get into a Class D airport VFR...we were over the runway at one point not even knowing it was the airport...
That UT got a Bronze Star at the end of their time in that Unit.
Meh, sometimes its about who ya know (we flew Generals).
Excellent work as always. F the Wikipedia comment. Then don't watch. Read it. I love the visual. And ever since you've added audio. Even better. Really puts the human element into it
This would be terrifying.
The pilot deciding to fly at 8,000 to burn off all fuel. Then glide until an attempted landing, purposefully as to avoid an explosion!? Imagine having these thoughts
I’m Brazilian and I remember this accident. The co-pilot used to live on my neighborhood and even had a little bakery (padaria) closer to our house. There’s many conspiracy theories about this accident. One is the pilots where listing the Brasil vs Chile game on the radio, another is that the flight captain mr garcez was a drug addicted and he was high at the moment, but looks like he wasn’t at the time lol and another is that the had a big fight over a flight attendant which they where envolved in a 3 way romance and the name of the f this lady was Rita. After the crash the co-pilot pass out ,due the impact , a tree branch, Brooke in thru the windshield and hit him on his head, and Garcez thought that the co-pilot (his rival lol) was dead, and even “was glad about it” . But Rita went to look for Him and found out that the co-pilot was only unconscious. The Brazilian Air Force found the crashed plane and its passengers 3 days later after a 19 years old man walked though the jungle found a cattle farm!! Another passenger that has died in the crash, was a Japanese descendent man, that refused to sit on the brace position, so he stood up on the alley of the plane and died immediately with the impact. Another theory was that the capitan , during the confusion moments , after one hr of flight, told the crew members to serve alcohol to the passengers , so they could stop asking, what’s going on? Are we there yet? This was a sad and crazy part of the Brazilian aviation. May God bless you all.
As has been said....how bad was the geographic knowledge of their own country? It's like flying from Heathrow to Newcastle, but setting the heading for Bristol ! That mistake was a dreadful one.
If my destination was North, but I was flying towards the setting sun, that should be a hint something is very wrong, and I should be very worried.
First, the model for that 737 is OUTSTANDING!
Second, I'm surprised they didn't they go for the river when they realized they were doomed? It would be easier for rescuers to find AND evacuate using boats, and has no trees for the landing?
Very closed forest, dark night.
I really like the animation of this channel. ❤
And it’s so informative, most of these cases I’ve never heard about. 😢
Wouldn't a basic knowledge of Brazilian geography tell them that to go from Marabá to Belém, you do *not* fly west?
The Sun Rises in the east and sets in the west. Not hard to figure out .
When the captain headed south, Zille thougt he had tuned a Belém broadcast station, although he could not listen to its indication, for his despair. Even Carajás NDB were not working that night, and both the Belém broadcasting and Carajás frequencies were mistaken from Goiás State and Mato Grosso state signals they could tune that evening, due to atmospherical phenomena.
Damn you do great work TFC!! If only the plumber I hired to fix my leaking hot water tank, that HE installed 30 months ago could let me have a hot shower after 3 days trying….. was just 10% as competent as you are with your videos. My apologies to all if my comment stinks.
This is also an issue with just common sense and perhaps being math illiterate. If you know where you are going, and have little math skills, even without pilot training, there is no way one should confuse a heading of 27 with that of 270 degrees.
even if in the chart was a direction of 0270? what number you'll put in? Captain made a huge mistake, FO was concerned about this all the time, but in that era Captains are the gods in the plane cabin...
@@AndreChaosweapon If the chart says 0270 and you know you are supposed to go due North, you should never enter 270, which is West when you know you are supposed to go due North. If you are math literate that is.
It was mentioned that the airline switched to the decimal system when the pilot was on vacation, and he was untrained in it.
It reminds me of that chapter later in that game "Dead Island" where you have to go far in to the jungle to check up on a down airplane.
Give me a break.
These two characters didn't know the geography of their own country!
If I'm flying from Memphis to Milwaukee, I don't need avionics to have an idea that I'm going mostly north.
I'm surprised the flight crew couldn't tell they were heading West when the sun was literally in their eyes.
One of the dumbest accidents in history.🤦🏽♂️
In the records, when the first officer noticed the mistake, he warned the pilot, but the pilot screams at him saying to shut his f*ckin mouth. They still had time to go back and land safely. This pilot emigrated to the U.S. to escape prison and not much time ago he was still flying in U.S. air space as if nothing has ever happened.
@@alexedelweiss3267 you have got to be kidding me? Someone still lets this guy in a plane?🤦🏽♂️
@@alexedelweiss3267 that is so sad and frustrating