Junior at my school died in this crash. She was going to Cali to visit her family during winter break. The school planted a tree in her name and memory, it has grown huge.
Imagine losing both your parents on your birthday, surviving, and now thinking about that for the rest of the birthdays you have. My heart goes out to her 🙁💔
She became a speaker, and since the crash she vowed that she would make her second chance at life count and that she has not only for herself, but also for the tens of thousands of people who have heard her story and her message.
I thought the same thing. How horrible that must have been for her. Christmas coming up, it’s her birthday and they’re going to visit their family to celebrate. Then it goes all wrong due to pilot error and out of service equipment. So sad. As it was for all those poor people were on the plane, whether they survived or not.
Thanks for sharing the documentary. I am moved by all these comments. I’m Daniel Dussan. The son of Gonzalo and younger brother of Michelle Dussan. My family is a miracle from heaven. I am a miracle as well. We are now firm believers of Jesus and have truly found that his love is also real! This is our story. Thank you all.
The poor man heard his stranded son but he couldn't help him, can you imagine the pain that man lives with? Hearing his son's last words and not being able to do anything
will you believe?...after the son calling scene and when i heard that boy died in the hospital, i was literally crying in tears, i was feeling and thinking that the level of helplessness, when a father was listening the painful calls of his badly injured dying innocent son but he couldn't find him, after that innocent boy couldn't make it and passed away, can we just feel the madness of a father when he thinks that he couldn't do anything for his son when he was calling him in huge pain and he dies?, YA ALLAH...
You clearly don't understand business, running airport means business, shutting the airport down means loss of business, radar not working or runway not working, doesn't matter to businesses and corporate owned governments, lives don't matter, all that matters is money.
The FAA makes them delay the flight the next day so the pilots can get enough rest, but they let the plane fly into an airport without radar? That makes a lot of sense
@@m74796 I mean, the FAA couldn't regulate the airport since it wasn't in the US. And other countries have other regulations, there were many airports that didn't have radar back then, especially in developing countries.
Everyone here seems to have forgotten that the radar was blown up by insurgents. They should take some fault for this. Their actions allowed the crash to be possible and I cannot believe that no one pays attention to it or blames them. I mean, blowing up equipment meant to keep civilians safe is fine, right?
I'm so glad that doggie survived. I always think of the many pets in cargo when a plane goes down. People always get rescued but animals are left behind.
That little boy perched on the tree branch for 8 hours was mind boggling. I am still trying to process that... condolences to the family members of the deceased
I can't imagine that. If I were ever in such a situation, I don't know that I could ever recover from the sheer surreality of it all. Life is weird enough without being walking, breathing proof of it.
Yes, casting pros earn their pay time and again in the industry. The technical production seems seamless..and the piles and reconstructions of airplane parts, and distressed planes and passengers ? Fasconating..
Mercedes was a student at the university I taught at in Missouri, and I saw her a few months after this when she brought a student touring the campus to my office. Such a strong, sweet woman.
No comprendo si esta do ,cerca del Aeropuerto cambios un trajico axcidente un gran record para la Historia para la aviacion y Gran dolor para la Familia y El Mundo ,Dios guarde a estas personas en El Cielo .
The strength of the father, despite being horribly hurt, to crawl to his daughter amazes me. I have seen parents abandon their kids for way less; so this hits me
Actually I watched other aircraft investigation videos. In this videos actors and actress werent that good. The girl didnt even call out to his father and mother, didnt check on them. That father as well didnt try to get his daughter out of the aircraft, he didnt even searched for his wife.
Sitting in a giant 350 mph tube at 35,000 feet - what could possibly go wrong. Gotta think positive - many of them do not crash. Roll them dice! Yowsah!
The guy that played the pilot had some of the best acting I had ever seen, it felt like a conversation between me and my boss when we are driving heavy equipment. Really good quality for a documentary.
My dad and my mom were friends of the flight attendants in that flight (my parents are retired flight attendants of AA). My mom flew Bogota-Miami the day before (in the same 757 that crashed), December 19th of 1995, and my dad was scheduled to fly Miami-Cali a day later, December 21 of 1995, the flight was obviously was canceled. Fun fact: my parents were friend of “Pedro Pablo Calle”, one of the flight attendants in the plane, that appears in the video in the minute 41:52. RIP for all of those in that plane ❤️
@@libragal815 Yes, my parents continued flying after the accident. My mom retired in 2020 after 25 years of service, and my dad retired in 2018 after 42 years of service.
@@m.a.b9397 that's great to hear ☺. If u don't mind me asking as u said ur dad was in the service for 42 years. So can u please say me when a pilot or flight attendant retire?? Or to say by which age. Sorry for my English 😅
do you know the odds of not only the dad surviving, but also his small six-year-old daughter? this was horrific but at least the two of them had each other and didnt survive alone
the thing about both this accident and JAL 123 is that the section of the plane mattered on whether you survived or not (here it was near the wings, JAL 123 was the back). With family members usually sitting near each other, the odds of multiple family members surviving in a low survivor crash is slightly increased.
Possibly more people survived, but they died from their injuries or from exposure to cold. They have waited 8 hours to get help. Gonzalito would probably survive too, but waited too long to get help. RIP to everyone who didn’t survive. Pilots made terrible mistake. Everybody makes mistakes, but unfortunately this mistake this time caused lots of fatalities. I feel sorry for the pilots too and for their families.
The accident was listed as non survivable. However, they do believe that with the case of Gonzalito that he would’ve made it though surgery if found earlier. The NTSB tried to do a seat by seat analysis of injures and cause of death but were unable to because many people moved seats. Very common on Christmas Latin American flights at the time.
The interview the pilots wife’s btw in another documentary that came out this year. The captains wife didn’t like press. They say that the press pestered her so much she had to move to another state. The captain was a well known captain with AA and frequent flyers.
I agree with you totally without controller employees they wouldn't know if anything is wrong this is crazy it's like the want people to die .These people that passed away are important to their love ones .if you don't use Radar tell the pilots what you need in order for a safe landing.
No, pilots killing nearly all their passengers and all their colleagues when all that on-board technology is at their disposal, is never a good thing. It's arrogance that caused this tragedy. Not the lack of radar at Calí.
Michelle Jackson But he did ask him a number of times for specific information along the descent and approach. Yet, the Captain couldn't even confirm Tulua because he made his first arrogant mistake by deleting the course that was entered so the airplane could reach Calí. He did not seem to have even looked at the screen but just deleten that course. Then he did not correct that mistake but made a few other fatal ones. Did he confirm with the co pilot? Did the co pilot double check the decisions of the pilot? You cannot blame the Calí ATC when clearly the pilots made the mistakes. And again I wonder how it is even possible that two men flying such a sophisticated airplane with the latest in tech at their fingertips never realized they were about to kill (all but four of) their passengers until it was too late to change lanes.
Kinda reminded me of Titanic's maiden (and final) voyage that set sail without binoculars--a crew officer took the binoculars with him and locked it in his f**king safe in Southampton when he finished his shift.
A counselor at Psychological services at Brown University died in this flight alongside her husband and two kids. I will never forget the day when I heard about this tragedy. She was such a great person. May she rest in peace.
@@pauldirc..think if they wanted to, they would have but I’m sure if you really researched you could prob find it. “Psychological services brown university staff die in plane crash” on google & you might find em
I was grateful the son got to at least hear his dad's voice after hanging in the tree all night. He was probably able to finally close his eyes in peace, thinking, "Dad's okay. He says he's coming to get me..."
He died in the hospital, though, but I agree I bet he was very very relieved and very relaxed to hear his father's voice and I'm sure he passed away knowing how loved he was
I believe he was "pronounced dead" at the hospital. Which is a formality. It's been a little while since I've watched this but as I recall, the implication, by those who were there, was that he'd passed away before anyone could get to him. I'll need to watch again.
@@maherfatfat9035 even tho it hit trees an most likely did slow down the fact that only 4 ppl lived is amazing. It was deemed a unsurvival crash. They didn't expect anyone to live. I think the 6 yr old lived becYse she didn't know what was really doing on an didn't brace. She was limber. Which helped her. The little boy(her brother) lived threw the crash an on top of a branch for over 8 hours in the cold weather only to pass once he got to the hospital an went into surgery because it took so long to get him down an out of there.they took the 6 yr old by foot to the bottom of the MTN an then rushed her to the hospital which is how she lived as well.
Small children actually tend to survive plane crashes more than adults. So this is not unexpected, and there is a scientific explanation for it, it wasn't "god," despite the survivor's remarks.
@@victoire614 Everyone that’s afraid of dying always invokes some kind of god. There’s a reason why people are afraid of dying and that is because they know where they are going.
This is the perfect recipe for an air crash - holiday season, night time, radar not working, language issues, pilots in a rush to land, failure to check waypoint ID. Those pilots were experienced and still managed to crash. It can happen to anyone.
Hats off to the rescue teams going above and beyond their means to help the survivors my heart truly goes out to all the families and people affected 🙏
I’m surprised that none of the blame was put on the fact that the airport they were trying to fly into had no radar. That would’ve been a huge help 🤦🏼♀️
But why? They weren't to blame. The passengers on board that flight were dead the minute the pilot haphazardly began pushing buttons, thereby deleting the course to Calí, entirely missing waypoints Tulua and Rozo, turning into the direction of Bogotá, and, the kicker is that with all the experience between the two piloting the plane and all the technology at their disposal, they never noticed they were not turning right to the south side of the airport but left to the mountains!
@@Southamericangirl42 they ARE to blame. There is a reason why we have all these security mechanisms around planes, they are meant to be used. The security of a plane can't be put on the hands of only one person. Had the radars been working, this disaster could be avoided
American Airlines knew they had no functioning radar even before they took off from Miami International, so it was their choice to still fly into that airport with whatever standard procedures were available for the aircraft to successfully maneuver in the valley
Heartbreaking the father heard the voice of his son crying out and couldn’t find him, then he dies later on the operating table, thank God he and his little girl survived, RIP to all 😭🙏🏼
After watching a few of these episodes, maybe it's time to bring back the flight engineer. Having three people on the flight deck may have saved hundreds of lives.
Now the computer took over the flight engineers ,also it will prevent hijacking like the German wing co pilot who deliberately crashed the plane due to mental illness rip
I dated an amazing guy back in 2004 who moved interstate from a smaller capital city of australia to Melbourne; i wish i could remember if it was because he got a job as a flight/airplane engineer/mechanic. He was amazing. And as a mechanic/truckie’s daughter with a desire to learn how to fly since mid 90s, i agree… Although i never knew they didnt exist (anymore) as aviation-any flying is too expensive for me :( I reckon these days - ESPECIALLY with so much tech advances etc engineers/mechanics/SYSTEMS specialists as well as the 2 pilots could save many lives.
Nah...having a flight engineer wouldn't really help. In the old days of 3 man cockpits, i.e. ... with a flight engineer, there were plenty of crashes still. Usually the flight engineer is too timid to speak up but even when he did he was usually ignored by the captain and copilot/first officer because after all he was a 2nd officer; the lowest guy on the totem pole.
The job of the flight engineer has been taken over by computers in modern aircraft. I know having 3 people on the flight deck may seem safer, but actually, eliminating the need for an error prone human to monitor so many important flight systems actually makes flying safer.
I swear...the casting and acting are so realistic that I sometimes forget this is a recreation...very good job on that I also love when we get interviews with the survivors after it's known to us that they survived...it's always a great relief...
@@jackminng9272 I mean, TV regulations probably don't allow them to put much cursing in their show now. TV regulations were probably more lax in 2005, back when this episode first aired.
"I was given a second chance and I am going to make the best of it" That is the difference between a victim and a Survivor. Blessings on her for all things wonderful
@@gamesleather1863 Shawn Ferrie stated it beautifully, but I'll try to further explain. The difference between a survivor & a victim, is the way they deal with something horrible that happened in their life (outlook on life). For example. Lets say 2 people experience the exact same tragedy with the same outcomes. The "survivor " will have a positive outlook on life, not letting the tragedy to inhibit them from making the best of their life. Whereas a "victim" will be physiologically hampered by the tragedy, using the tragedy as an excuse to not do things, to hold them back in life, & carry the burden of that tragedy... sometimes for the remainder of their life.
That's not fair. You're spitting on those who survive something traumatic and end up a wreck afterwards. Different people do not always react to similar situations the same way.
@@kathrynhoward4196 in order to get to the positive outlook you have to go through the grief and many people don’t like how uncomfortable people are during that time, hence ignorant comments like the two before yours
My best friend's father perished in this horrific crash in December of 1995. He recently went to Cali and sent me a photo of the memorial to the victims. After so many years it looks very deteriorated from the weather. God bless all who lost their lives and their families that had to go through this hell on earth.
@@robertschwab4503 yes the repaired the radar. A couple of days after the crash. Meaning they could’ve done do all along. That said AA still took responsibility for the crash. Makes me wonder if they would do so today.
@ The idiots who continued to run a major airport whose radar had been blown up by terrorists and who chose not to tell the incoming traffic about that little fact are scummier.
I felt so sad for Gonzalo😢.Imagne you went on a plane for christmas holiday with your wife & son & daughter and only a few hours later you wake up in the colombian no where.....knowing your wife is dead..your son is calling for help and not survive because it took so long for finding the crashside...what a horror...😢...brave people are these 4 people....❤
I don’t care how many times I fly on a plane, I get anxiety and am always scared. It’s an uneasy feeling. I never understood when someone says ‘I love flying’, how? I’m petrified and I get such a relief when we land. I have this ‘thing’ where I refuse to fly at night because In my mind I feel like the pilot can see better, I know I know it makes no difference
I can tell you a million times that flying is actually very safe. But no matter what I say, it will make no difference and I know. Lol my sister in law is a nervous flyer. Edibles and a bag of chips work for her.
@MicahIsDumb I flew once during bad thunderstorm for work next day.. I prayed in the plane that I will never fly again in that situation and nothing bad to happen.. it was scary .. my original flight was canceled and after I told them I had to be at work next day they put me in other flight with layover different than the original one.. it was a tiny old flight rather than the big flight I had booked .. Probably they analyze the weather situation and only go if weather permits, but it’s still scary in a tiny plane with a lot of turbulence throughout the journey ..
I love flying, it's waay safer than in those days. For something bad happens nowadays must have a lot of mistakes/fails... It's not something 100% safe, but safer than travel in cars or something else.
Actually it does make a difference- there's at least one kind of instrumentation that if it goes out they can compensate in decent weather in the daytime but not at all at night.
It's amazing how close the actors resemble the actual characters of the story. They have done a great job story after story. It makes it much easier to watch as they switch back and forth from the enactment to the story telling with the real people.
Hurrying and last minutes changes..a recipe for disaster no matter what you are doing. My heart goes out to the survivors and all the families of the passengers and crew lost.
@@somethingelse9228 Especially in cross cultural communications. Even when both cultures speak the same language. "How's the craic?" means something very different to an Irish person than it does to an American. Though written the difference is clear, spoken it sounds just like a cheap, illegal form of colane.
@@saladasss2092 prior to this crash, it was upgraded to give an earlier warning. Also, spoilers were redesigned to retract when high power was called for.
And shows the importance of crew resource management training. They can't be both scratching their heads at the CDU, especially in a mountainous valley. It's human nature though to want to help your colleague with an issue but someone needs to be checking the MSA and altitude and if need be switch to heading mode or set a course on the VOR that is just south of the airport. Losing situational awareness happens to the best of people at times though.
No matter how tight your schedule is,put people's lives first. You are being paid to transport them safely All precautions, guidelines have to be followed whether it means reaching your destination late.
Backseat pilot here. Please forgive the hindsight review. You've lost situational awareness, do not know where you are going, and are flying in a heavily mountainous region. Immediately climb to a safe altitude and restart the landing procedure.
Amen! I things like this,but at the end of the dayh you gotta have faith.The lord works in mysterious ways, and who knows what the lord had in plan.Maybe it was just us talking about faith or the wonderful lady the young girl who lost her leg's become.Who knows!!!!!
Imagine the relief of hearing your childrens voices after such a horrific event ... only to not be able to help them ... That must have been such an emotional rollercoaster ... poor guy
First responders are my heroes, they are so brave, so strong, so completely unappreciated. Police, firefighters and EMT’s, risk their lives every day, so save people, to help those that are helpless. Thank you with all my heart, to all first responders. ❤️✝️🙏🏼
@@GTNTAnimations I meant like the amount of views they get on each of their vids. Even if it’s reuploaded, it least it’s a free alternative to Netflix and is decent
I agree. Especially entertaining are people screaming as they plummet to their deaths! Who can not watch a good crash, car or airplane.? "flying is safe, flying is safe, flying is safe" keep telling yourselves LOL
Damn I kept thinking "Come on Gonzalito, hang on." Brought a tear to my eyes. Why the f do I watch these videos? Did I die in a plane crash in a previous life or something?
The emergency response was absolutely shocking. I wonder how many people survived the initial impact only to die from their injuries and exposure to the elements. Had the little girl been outside instead of inside the fuselage she would have perished.
@@andema83 yeah, though there is a notable difference. The Colombian rescue effort was working in unfavorable conditions with limited resources. Meanwhile with JAL 123, the crash was discovered quickly by US Armed Forces stationed in Japan and were ready to mobilize a rescue, but someone in the Japanese Armed Forces declined the help and decided to do their own rescue many hours later.
Five people survived the initial impact, unfortunately though, Gonzalo Dussan’s son passed on the table. The daughter (who survived) faced survivor guilt.
I never thought by 1995 that American planes would still fly into mountains but I see how confusing the computers on this jet could be. Hearing that ground proximity buzzer going off would have scared the heck out of me if I was the pilot. I hope that life has been good to Mercedes Ramirez-Johnson as well as the two Dussans and Mauricio Reyes. A dog survived and I hope it lived a normal doggie life span too.
The dog was adopted by an American Airlines employee. As for the Dussan Family they have inquired about a possible second reason why the plane crashed. A study was done by them and a British Airways pilot.
The real "human error" in this case was the decision by officials to remain open and improvise flight operations after their radar was intentionally destroyed. Ridiculous. A simple radar plot would have aided the pilots/controllers "situational awareness" as is its purpose-even exposed/corrected the pilots mistake(s).
Airport do have a responsibility by risking safety of flights heading/taking off from the airport without functional radar. But it's not that crazy enough when you have another 50 flights just flew in or out safely that day, yesterday, two days ago, a week ago and so on by average per day even without radar. If you closed the airport for such reason tho, you may lose more $$$ since you have 'pay' the aircraft companies for the loss, workers, maintenance cost, etc. Rebuilding the tower, importing the parts and setting up stuffs may takes days, months or even a year. But it takes only a single rocket to destroy and broke all the stuffs. In this case, the big part of responsibility was on the airline companies instead; they should've knew this airport did not have functional radar at the time, so why keep operating the flight line? Or pilot training and procedure was inadequate?
@@Chaosfred almost all airports lease planes rather than buy them out right. It’d be the same thing if someone leased a Lamborghini and crashed it. Fault would lie on the person leasing the vehicle, unless the vehicle was defective at which point fault would lie on manufacturer and/or maintenance crew. If an airport cannot afford a radar, they need to make budget adjustments accordingly in order to have the funds to repair/replace it. Really no excuse for not putting public safety first in the field of public transportation.
This was Columbia in the 90's; drug runners were absolutely crawling all over the place, among other things. Fixing a radar in a post-colonial country that used to be effectively governed by kingpins and has an astronomical violent crime rate is a whole other ballgame from doing the same in the U.S., Canada or Eurpoe.
A functioning radar is not a requirement of making a safe flight or closing an airport. The radar being out was a known factor. Notice American Airlines still flew there, and the pilots didn't refuse the flight just because of that fact.
On both Japan Airlines flight 123 and American Airlines 965, the impact kill most passenger and all crew members on board but, only 4 passengers survived. RIP to all souls who’ve lost their lives at the moment the plane crashed into terrain.😞❤️
While watching this and hearing the conversation of the pilots that they were unsure of their location, and knowing absolutely nothing about flying a plane or protocols, my instinct was to gain altitude and start over. To get up high and get your bearings and get situated. Being rushed was the problem. They were thinking of that they needed 10 hours or 12 hours off duty in order to reset their work clock for next flight tomorrow and if they touched down 10 minutes too late, they would miss their off duty hours window and not make the run for the next day and will loose a days pay. To me this was mindset to make the next days shift was the main mistake
What's the worst about disasters like this is that they'll always happen no matter what. The chances of bad chains of events can be lowered by better equipment, more safety regulations and other factors but the risk can never be entirely removed.
Absolutely Yes,The pilots were considered as very good pilots,the aircraft was the "hit" of the 90's and still you have this....Its like a bad day at work,you keep making mistake after mistake after mistake bcs you want to go home on time...The only difference is i work with numbers,they work with people
Someone close to me passed in this crash. The terrain without a doubt, hampered rescue efforts. Her dad had to hire locals to take him up the mountain to look for her. He flew in from California and understandably was beyond distraught. He wouldn’t take no for an answer, and being Colombian, was able to secure local help getting up the mountain. When they came across her, he said she looked like she was sleeping and not a mark on her, it was unbelievable. He thought she was still alive and was crushed when he realized she was gone. Heartbreaking. Only twenty one, she was going to Colombia to see family to celebrate Christmas. She was in University in Miami at the time. A kind, intelligent young lady who’s life was taken too soon. A devastating loss. Never forgotten 💜
Why were the pilots not told there was no radar at the airport by air traffic control. This mistake is why the pilots were confused. None of these people would have died.
In most cases I wouldn’t want someone to spoil the ending but in this case, I am so glad to see passengers being interviewed. Though many people didn’t survive which is always heartbreaking.
I live in Port Hueneme across the street from the memorial. I walk over there sometimes and say prayers for the family and friends of the passenger and crew. You will be in my thoughts and prayers for ever. God bless you all.
This is so sad, my ex boyfriend had an 19 year cousin on that flight. They dropped him off @ the airport and saw him off.. after having stayed for 3 months. He was a kid when this happened. He remembers everything about that day. And went to Colombia for the funeral. My ex was afraid to fly anywhere after that, he still is afraid of flying. RIP. 😞
Let alone the first officer forgetting the brakes while he was trying to climb that the saddest part bc apparently they would've cleared the mountain with a large distance
It’s not an “active war”. The FARCS blew it up and they have been engaging in terrorists tactics in that country since 1964. Sadly the Columbian Government made no effort to replace it for years.
How convenient to blame the people who could never be held to account. In wars, there are casualties, this is as true when the US is bombing weddings as when someone straps a bomb to their chest and walks into a building in retaliation. Don't like it, stop causing wars, the enemy isn't broken up that people on your side died. The responsibility is on those who are nominally on their side, but failed to protect them. The airport authorities who could have closed the airport but didn't. The airline who could have chosen not to fly there, but didn't. Even the pilots who attempted to continue an approach after becoming disoriented because they had getthereitis. There were more proximate causes than some rebels blowing up an airport radar for god knows what reason.
@@Person01234 i’m sorry but even though your overall making a pretty coherent point it just sounds like you’re excusing what they did lmao. Nobody here is saying that the rebels bombed the plane themselves or are the only ones to blame, but their target of destroying a radar is a massive contributor as to why the plane crashed. Are we just going to find ways to excuse people because sometimes these people are figures we can’t hold to an account?
Yes, my heart goes out to... uh... the airplane. And to all the other airplanes who loved it so. I will always spare a tissue to wipe away their tears of grease, and pain, but mostly grease. In fact, call maintenance please. Jah bless.
It was poor communication, to be exact. When ATC said "directly" they did mean the plane should follow a route through one of the previously specified passways. They pilots, on the other hand, understood it to mean they should simply proceed directly to the airport from where they had been.
No one thing is responsible for anything, you can blame the engineers of the plane and it's equipment, teachers of those engineers, pilots , teachers of the pilots, CEO of the airline company etc. It was an unfortunate 'failure chain' of events and circumstances that ended in this crash. The world moves on but hopefully safer in light of this disaster.
@@Miketar2424 Pilots. Pilots. Pilots. Do you understand now? They should have known better by recognizing all those defective chains and avoid flying a potential bomb.
@@missangela6720 And , do you understand that the controller had a responsibility to communicate more carefully with the pilots and be certain they understood all instructions , especially with the lack of radar? Also the government had a responsibility to replace the radar asap for the safety of all flights? The designers of the waypoint charts had a responsibility to mark the ROZO position clearly, not just with 'R'. The engineers had a responsibility to design the plane with safer automation (which occurred only after this crash). The airline had a responsibility to train their pilots on the dangers of situations like these. So I do understand there is blame to go around including the pilots.
This Channels Reenactments are simply amazing. Spent many hours watching this channel and really appreciate the excellent work that goes into making these episodes.
I’ll never forget that day. I was 5 years old, attending Jack D Gordon Elementary in Miami Kendall in Pre-K when the news broke over winter break. My sisters best friend at the time, Diego age 7 and his entire family died in this crash. Still brings chills down my spine. Such a tragedy. I can still remember it all so very clearly. The trauma of that memory is so disturbing it still lingers today. I am 30.
Sorry for your loss. 🥺 It's so devastating knowing that many lost families and friends thanks to misconduct of the Pilots. Rushing and all that caused such a terrible tragedy. I was 10 and in Science Class. When it came on class stopped and our teacher turned on the TV. I still remember the sobs during the news. Everyone was shocked and couldn't focus on the class. I'll never forget this day. 😥
This is a sad story, 2 experienced pilots that had gotten too comfortable with allowing procedures to be overlooked because they think there is no possible way that the wrong coordinates could of been entered into the navigation system and by the time they did realize it they had crossed a threshold that couldn’t be corrected. The procedure calls for both pilots to verify the correct information was being entered.
I love this show. In my country (Australia), it's called Air Crash Investigation. It's always great to learn that every crash/disaster makes flying safer.
As has been said on many other wonder: mayday videos, the dynamic between the members of the cockpit (especially, between someone of lower rank to a superior) can very often be the deciding factor in whether a plane does/does not make it out of an emergency. The intro of CRM has most certainly prevented many flight emergencies from ever even making the news, as the crew worked quickly to solve and resolve the issue before it ever had the chance to snowball into something catastrophic.
Exactly, so when lost he should have immediately ascended to an altitude that would clear any mountain and program to a point he was sure of. He definitely made the most critical errors.
@@LaFonteCheVi Actually if you looked up other reports about this accident, even real pilots have stated that this was due to pilots making mistakes and not paying attention and in some cases even incompetence. I'm inclined to agree with them. This wasn't the "best" or most "well trained" crew. A well trained crew wouldn't have allowed the plane to get ahead of them, they also would've been thinking more about a safe in approach rather than trying to rush things.
I remember that day my friend died. we were in third grade. His mom was our babysitter and his brother was the same age as my sister. We were always in the same class. I was in the third grade and I cried so much. I never forgot him. I remember their dad couldn’t go, and was distraught for years after losing his wife and two sons.
I clearly remember this tragedy back in the mid 1990´s, when I use to live in the U.S.. My 10 year old sister lost a classmate in her elementatary school, Bent Tree Elementary, in Kendall, Miami, FL. For some reason, something made me look at him really well one morning when I dropped off my sister at school on one particular morning. He was a black, colombian, small boy with a beautiful, angelical face, and eyes full of love. I thought to myself, "what a beautiful spirit this boy has". Then, a few months later, my little sister told me about the tragedy.
I've looked up the victims list. That boy was likely named Juan Jose Bernal. He was the only 10 y.o. on board that flight, and he was from Miami. RIP 🥀
Three months ago I broke both my femur and my patella. I couldn't stand on my leg and seeing the reenactment of Mercedes' rescue I was taken back to that day that I broke my own leg. I felt that reenactment. The poor girl. Severely injured and one of only four survivors....she's amazing (and so are the other survivors), recounting all of it as calmly as they are. Prayers and much respect to all of them.
So next time I fly, I'm going to have to check on the mental health of the pilots. Everyone feeling good? No recent breakups? Financial portfolio doing ok?
After watching many of these air accidents over the years, there's one thing all the poor families of the victims know for sure. Hindsight can be a very bitter pill to swallow. My heart goes out to them all.
this was gutwrenching to watch. I just cannot fathom the ptsd the survivors will have as well as survivors guilt. This should never have happened. R.I.P to all the passengers who died. Devastating !!!!
So true about survivor's guilt. Kind of a lonely feeling. I hope they can free themselves from it and the phobias that can develop from going through this experience so they can move forward with their lives.
I went to school with one of the passengers that passed away, this story will forever be with me....We were part of the highschool marching band....we were a very large family and this hurt us all....Erika, may you, your mom and your little sister forever rest in peace...I will always remember you. ❤❤❤
The fact they were able to get in contact with 3 of the 4 survivors is incredable
Junior at my school died in this crash. She was going to Cali to visit her family during winter break. The school planted a tree in her name and memory, it has grown huge.
God bless her 😔
Amen.
Man, so sorry..
💔
Oh lord I got no words
Imagine losing both your parents on your birthday, surviving, and now thinking about that for the rest of the birthdays you have. My heart goes out to her 🙁💔
She became a speaker, and since the crash she vowed that she would make her second chance at life count and that she has not only for herself, but also for the tens of thousands of people who have heard her story and her message.
Especially if the reason they died was for my stupid birthday
I thought the same thing. How horrible that must have been for her. Christmas coming up, it’s her birthday and they’re going to visit their family to celebrate. Then it goes all wrong due to pilot error and out of service equipment. So sad. As it was for all those poor people were on the plane, whether they survived or not.
Lol
Kayla Miller-🙏🏼🙏🏽🙏🏾🙏🏿🤎❤️💙🖤🤍
Thanks for sharing the documentary. I am moved by all these comments. I’m Daniel Dussan. The son of Gonzalo and younger brother of Michelle Dussan. My family is a miracle from heaven. I am a miracle as well. We are now firm believers of Jesus and have truly found that his love is also real! This is our story.
Thank you all.
Glad to hear that!! It's truly a miracle!! ❤
God bless all of you!
So glad to hear you believe in Jesus ...that's such a wonderful awesome outcome. Thanks for sharing that.🙏
Wow that's amazing! This story is really incredible and I'm thankful that your father and sister survived!
Hallelujah my experience with Jesus shows He is real
The poor man heard his stranded son but he couldn't help him, can you imagine the pain that man lives with? Hearing his son's last words and not being able to do anything
One of the worst things that can happen to a person
will you believe?...after the son calling scene and when i heard that boy died in the hospital, i was literally crying in tears, i was feeling and thinking that the level of helplessness, when a father was listening the painful calls of his badly injured dying innocent son but he couldn't find him, after that innocent boy couldn't make it and passed away, can we just feel the madness of a father when he thinks that he couldn't do anything for his son when he was calling him in huge pain and he dies?, YA ALLAH...
It was too panic I can imagine what happened there it's too dangerous
Thankfully his daughter survived. Although it doesn’t begin to ease the pain of the son dying, at least it’s some comfort.
@@annnee6818 Yes..😭
The fact that an airport didn't have a working radar is insane to me. Close the airport or fix the radar
You clearly don't understand business, running airport means business, shutting the airport down means loss of business, radar not working or runway not working, doesn't matter to businesses and corporate owned governments, lives don't matter, all that matters is money.
EXACTLY! I can't understand how that was permitted! It's obviously dangerous... smh
The FAA makes them delay the flight the next day so the pilots can get enough rest, but they let the plane fly into an airport without radar? That makes a lot of sense
@@m74796 I mean, the FAA couldn't regulate the airport since it wasn't in the US. And other countries have other regulations, there were many airports that didn't have radar back then, especially in developing countries.
Everyone here seems to have forgotten that the radar was blown up by insurgents. They should take some fault for this. Their actions allowed the crash to be possible and I cannot believe that no one pays attention to it or blames them. I mean, blowing up equipment meant to keep civilians safe is fine, right?
I’m still amazed that there were survivors to this crash. That plane crashed into a mountain and four people and a dog walked out.
Friggin' unbelievable.
The dog especially, as it was n the cargo hold, shocked me
Only 4 , that’s not alot
@@fava4816 5 with the dog.
I'm so glad that doggie survived. I always think of the many pets in cargo when a plane goes down. People always get rescued but animals are left behind.
That little boy perched on the tree branch for 8 hours was mind boggling. I am still trying to process that... condolences to the family members of the deceased
it breaks my heart
I can't imagine that. If I were ever in such a situation, I don't know that I could ever recover from the sheer surreality of it all. Life is weird enough without being walking, breathing proof of it.
Its always relieving to see passengers being interviewed.
Yes! In another TV Interview they actually somehow were able to get the pilots wives do interviews.
I just wish everyone survived
Amen, would have been even better to interview every passenger as a survivor of a dreadful incident.
Barely in this case..
It’s only relieving until you realize MOST OF THE PEOPLE DIED a painful horrific death. 😩🥺😢
Can we appreciate how casting gets actors that look almost exactly like the real people in these docs?
Agree !
And the lifetime achievement Emmy in Casting goes to!
They even tried to copy accent like the real people!
ye, watched around 10 episodes, and its very good job right here with the similiar actors.
Yes, casting pros earn their pay time and again in the industry. The technical production seems seamless..and the piles and reconstructions of airplane parts, and distressed planes and passengers ? Fasconating..
Mercedes was a student at the university I taught at in Missouri, and I saw her a few months after this when she brought a student touring the campus to my office. Such a strong, sweet woman.
Geeez, I can’t imagine going to university let alone touring months after this. I hope she’s doing well now.
No comprendo si esta do ,cerca del Aeropuerto cambios un trajico axcidente un gran record para la Historia para la aviacion y Gran dolor para la Familia y El Mundo ,Dios guarde a estas personas en El Cielo .
@@alfonsacontreras5165 Oraciones por la familia de Señora Mercedes y los mejores deseos para ella.
What a wonderful comment. Thank you.
This has touched me.
The strength of the father, despite being horribly hurt, to crawl to his daughter amazes me. I have seen parents abandon their kids for way less; so this hits me
Truly Amazing..my heart goes out to him😢❤
Actually I watched other aircraft investigation videos. In this videos actors and actress werent that good. The girl didnt even call out to his father and mother, didnt check on them. That father as well didnt try to get his daughter out of the aircraft, he didnt even searched for his wife.
@@denizbaroncello9813 He did try to get her out but she was pinned, remember?
She did an interview on a podcast recently, that's how I found this
A small brown dog 🐕 that was traveling in the plane’s baggage compartment survived.
Rescuers named it Milagros (Miracle)
I made a comment on that already.
Still great that the dog survived.
@@titan9259 yeah saw your original comment
@@rileywatson9079 hello dear how are you doing today okay
@@susanwolfgang7286 I’m good how about you?
Unfortunately a mutt survived
Every time I get off a plane I am so thankful.
Edit: Thanks for all the likes…1500 and counting 🤷♀️
That part 🙏🏾
Yes i always have tons of anxiety both taking off and landing. And I'm always so happy when I finally land safely.
Sitting in a giant 350 mph tube at 35,000 feet - what could possibly go wrong. Gotta think positive - many of them do not crash. Roll them dice! Yowsah!
@@robertschwab4503 statistically you are 19x more safe in a plane than in a car. Planes are generally quite safe.
Oh me too! There’s been flights where we clapped and cheered when we landed hahaha just grateful we made it!
The guy that played the pilot had some of the best acting I had ever seen, it felt like a conversation between me and my boss when we are driving heavy equipment. Really good quality for a documentary.
Their actors are top-notch
I think some of that comes from taking the script from the cockpit voice recorder - not to say the actors don't do an excellent job as well.
Don't tell me you have similar accidents!?
OMG It was stunning. I had the same thoughts. He did fantastic. He really pulled it off.
The actor who played the main pilot sounded like Eddie Albert the actor from Green acres. I could be wrong.
My dad and my mom were friends of the flight attendants in that flight (my parents are retired flight attendants of AA). My mom flew Bogota-Miami the day before (in the same 757 that crashed), December 19th of 1995, and my dad was scheduled to fly Miami-Cali a day later, December 21 of 1995, the flight was obviously was canceled. Fun fact: my parents were friend of “Pedro Pablo Calle”, one of the flight attendants in the plane, that appears in the video in the minute 41:52.
RIP for all of those in that plane ❤️
Just a sad tragic story all together. I'm sorry for your parents loss.
Did they still remain attendants after this incident?
@@libragal815 Yes, my parents continued flying after the accident. My mom retired in 2020 after 25 years of service, and my dad retired in 2018 after 42 years of service.
@@m.a.b9397 wow can u tell us stories about ur mom flying during that era? Where ur mom really close to the friend who died on the crash?
@@m.a.b9397 that's great to hear ☺. If u don't mind me asking as u said ur dad was in the service for 42 years. So can u please say me when a pilot or flight attendant retire?? Or to say by which age.
Sorry for my English 😅
Did your mom and dad know the pilots?
How was AAs response to the accident? How did crisis management or Bob Crandall respond?
do you know the odds of not only the dad surviving, but also his small six-year-old daughter? this was horrific but at least the two of them had each other and didnt survive alone
And that the son almost made it too
It's like JAL123 , 520 fatalities , only 4 survivors. 2 of the survivors were mother and daughter
the thing about both this accident and JAL 123 is that the section of the plane mattered on whether you survived or not (here it was near the wings, JAL 123 was the back). With family members usually sitting near each other, the odds of multiple family members surviving in a low survivor crash is slightly increased.
@@potatofuryy hello dear how are you doing today okay
@@itaintsimin1190 Hello dear how are you doing today okay
Possibly more people survived, but they died from their injuries or from exposure to cold. They have waited 8 hours to get help. Gonzalito would probably survive too, but waited too long to get help. RIP to everyone who didn’t survive. Pilots made terrible mistake. Everybody makes mistakes, but unfortunately this mistake this time caused lots of fatalities. I feel sorry for the pilots too and for their families.
The accident was listed as non survivable. However, they do believe that with the case of Gonzalito that he would’ve made it though surgery if found earlier. The NTSB tried to do a seat by seat analysis of injures and cause of death but were unable to because many people moved seats. Very common on Christmas Latin American flights at the time.
The interview the pilots wife’s btw in another documentary that came out this year. The captains wife didn’t like press. They say that the press pestered her so much she had to move to another state. The captain was a well known captain with AA and frequent flyers.
the airport and military were just really poorly equipt with no radar and no night vision
@@brysonbradford8622 common in any flight that has empty seats.
I say air traffic controllers at fault
Air Traffic control working without radar is never a good thing.
I agree with you totally without controller employees they wouldn't know if anything is wrong this is crazy it's like the want people to die .These people that passed away are important to their love ones .if you don't use Radar tell the pilots what you need in order for a safe landing.
No, pilots killing nearly all their passengers and all their colleagues when all that on-board technology is at their disposal, is never a good thing. It's arrogance that caused this tragedy. Not the lack of radar at Calí.
Michelle Jackson But he did ask him a number of times for specific information along the descent and approach. Yet, the Captain couldn't even confirm Tulua because he made his first arrogant mistake by deleting the course that was entered so the airplane could reach Calí. He did not seem to have even looked at the screen but just deleten that course. Then he did not correct that mistake but made a few other fatal ones. Did he confirm with the co pilot? Did the co pilot double check the decisions of the pilot? You cannot blame the Calí ATC when clearly the pilots made the mistakes. And again I wonder how it is even possible that two men flying such a sophisticated airplane with the latest in tech at their fingertips never realized they were about to kill (all but four of) their passengers until it was too late to change lanes.
*deleted
Kinda reminded me of Titanic's maiden (and final) voyage that set sail without binoculars--a crew officer took the binoculars with him and locked it in his f**king safe in Southampton when he finished his shift.
A counselor at Psychological services at Brown University died in this flight alongside her husband and two kids. I will never forget the day when I heard about this tragedy. She was such a great person. May she rest in peace.
May she, RIP!!
May you tell her name
@@pauldirc..think if they wanted to, they would have but I’m sure if you really researched you could prob find it. “Psychological services brown university staff die in plane crash” on google & you might find em
I was grateful the son got to at least hear his dad's voice after hanging in the tree all night. He was probably able to finally close his eyes in peace, thinking, "Dad's okay. He says he's coming to get me..."
😭😭😭😭😭. Aawww that's so true. At least he probably didn't feel alone anymore.
He died in the hospital, though, but I agree
I bet he was very very relieved and very relaxed to hear his father's voice and I'm sure he passed away knowing how loved he was
I believe he was "pronounced dead" at the hospital. Which is a formality. It's been a little while since I've watched this but as I recall, the implication, by those who were there, was that he'd passed away before anyone could get to him. I'll need to watch again.
Grateful?😂😂
@@thenoisyneighbour Yes?
Flying into a mountain....and somehow 4 people survived, including a 6 year old girl?! That is the most INSANE part about this crash!
I am pretty sure the plane hit so many trees before crashing on the ground slowing the plane down. This is the reason why some people survived.
@@maherfatfat9035 even tho it hit trees an most likely did slow down the fact that only 4 ppl lived is amazing. It was deemed a unsurvival crash. They didn't expect anyone to live. I think the 6 yr old lived becYse she didn't know what was really doing on an didn't brace. She was limber. Which helped her. The little boy(her brother) lived threw the crash an on top of a branch for over 8 hours in the cold weather only to pass once he got to the hospital an went into surgery because it took so long to get him down an out of there.they took the 6 yr old by foot to the bottom of the MTN an then rushed her to the hospital which is how she lived as well.
Small children actually tend to survive plane crashes more than adults. So this is not unexpected, and there is a scientific explanation for it, it wasn't "god," despite the survivor's remarks.
@@victoire614 Everyone that’s afraid of dying always invokes some kind of god. There’s a reason why people are afraid of dying and that is because they know where they are going.
And a doggo too! Don’t forget the doggo survived
This is the perfect recipe for an air crash - holiday season, night time, radar not working, language issues, pilots in a rush to land, failure to check waypoint ID. Those pilots were experienced and still managed to crash. It can happen to anyone.
holiday, night time, on a rush to get their turkey servings.
@Dancing Candle mo radar, mo problems!
@@PabloBarnes617 lol
Be ahead of your airplane. Accidents happen when you are in a rush. This can happen in a Car or Airplane.
Yeah they did not put any blame on the air traffic controller not telling them the radar was down ..
Hats off to the rescue teams going above and beyond their means to help the survivors my heart truly goes out to all the families and people affected 🙏
I’m surprised that none of the blame was put on the fact that the airport they were trying to fly into had no radar. That would’ve been a huge help 🤦🏼♀️
But why? They weren't to blame. The passengers on board that flight were dead the minute the pilot haphazardly began pushing buttons, thereby deleting the course to Calí, entirely missing waypoints Tulua and Rozo, turning into the direction of Bogotá, and, the kicker is that with all the experience between the two piloting the plane and all the technology at their disposal, they never noticed they were not turning right to the south side of the airport but left to the mountains!
@@Southamericangirl42 they ARE to blame. There is a reason why we have all these security mechanisms around planes, they are meant to be used. The security of a plane can't be put on the hands of only one person. Had the radars been working, this disaster could be avoided
With all the other civil unrest countries in the world, it’s only the South of the border countries that get slack for it.. Just an observation...
You have to keep in mind this is Colombia, a third world country who’s been at war for what? 50 years at that point?
American Airlines knew they had no functioning radar even before they took off from Miami International, so it was their choice to still fly into that airport with whatever standard procedures were available for the aircraft to successfully maneuver in the valley
Heartbreaking the father heard the voice of his son crying out and couldn’t find him, then he dies later on the operating table, thank God he and his little girl survived, RIP to all 😭🙏🏼
After watching a few of these episodes, maybe it's time to bring back the flight engineer. Having three people on the flight deck may have saved hundreds of lives.
Now the computer took over the flight engineers ,also it will prevent hijacking like the German wing co pilot who deliberately crashed the plane due to mental illness rip
I dated an amazing guy back in 2004 who moved interstate from a smaller capital city of australia to Melbourne; i wish i could remember if it was because he got a job as a flight/airplane engineer/mechanic. He was amazing. And as a mechanic/truckie’s daughter with a desire to learn how to fly since mid 90s, i agree…
Although i never knew they didnt exist (anymore) as aviation-any flying is too expensive for me :(
I reckon these days - ESPECIALLY with so much tech advances etc engineers/mechanics/SYSTEMS specialists as well as the 2 pilots could save many lives.
Nah...having a flight engineer wouldn't really help. In the old days of 3 man cockpits, i.e. ... with a flight engineer, there were plenty of crashes still. Usually the flight engineer is too timid to speak up but even when he did he was usually ignored by the captain and copilot/first officer because after all he was a 2nd officer; the lowest guy on the totem pole.
The job of the flight engineer has been taken over by computers in modern aircraft. I know having 3 people on the flight deck may seem safer, but actually, eliminating the need for an error prone human to monitor so many important flight systems actually makes flying safer.
‘75$4-
I swear...the casting and acting are so realistic that I sometimes forget this is a recreation...very good job on that
I also love when we get interviews with the survivors after it's known to us that they survived...it's always a great relief...
The uncensored swearing is great. That's what happened for real. Don't sugarcoat it.
The old mayday episodes have this, the never ones will replace the swearing with "hell" or "Heck".
@@jackminng9272 And I doubt it was their decision to do it.
Just like the Uberlingen episode?
@@nnnnn-q6r Do what?
@@jackminng9272 I mean, TV regulations probably don't allow them to put much cursing in their show now. TV regulations were probably more lax in 2005, back when this episode first aired.
"I was given a second chance and I am going to make the best of it" That is the difference between a victim and a Survivor. Blessings on her for all things wonderful
I don't get
@@gamesleather1863
Shawn Ferrie stated it beautifully, but I'll try to further explain.
The difference between a survivor & a victim, is the way they deal with something horrible that happened in their life (outlook on life).
For example. Lets say 2 people experience the exact same tragedy with the same outcomes. The "survivor " will have a positive outlook on life, not letting the tragedy to inhibit them from making the best of their life. Whereas a "victim" will be physiologically hampered by the tragedy, using the tragedy as an excuse to not do things, to hold them back in life, & carry the burden of that tragedy... sometimes for the remainder of their life.
That's not fair. You're spitting on those who survive something traumatic and end up a wreck afterwards. Different people do not always react to similar situations the same way.
@@kathrynhoward4196 in order to get to the positive outlook you have to go through the grief and many people don’t like how uncomfortable people are during that time, hence ignorant comments like the two before yours
Jesus has advised us "to put the stones down" or "stop throwing stones", and to stop pointing out other people's faults.
My best friend's father perished in this horrific crash in December of 1995. He recently went to Cali and sent me a photo of the memorial to the victims. After so many years it looks very deteriorated from the weather. God bless all who lost their lives and their families that had to go through this hell on earth.
So Cali finally repaired their radar, I assume?
May God rest their souls in peace. Can’t imagine how your best friend felt visiting the memorial.
@@robertschwab4503 yes the repaired the radar. A couple of days after the crash. Meaning they could’ve done do all along. That said AA still took responsibility for the crash. Makes me wonder if they would do so today.
@ The idiots who continued to run a major airport whose radar had been blown up by terrorists and who chose not to tell the incoming traffic about that little fact are scummier.
How sad
As a pilot - the number of careless deviations from procedures here was nothing short of reckless and appalling.
I felt so sad for Gonzalo😢.Imagne you went on a plane for christmas holiday with your wife & son & daughter and only a few hours later you wake up in the colombian no where.....knowing your wife is dead..your son is calling for help and not survive because it took so long for finding the crashside...what a horror...😢...brave people are these 4 people....❤
Fact
Fact
Feel sad for everyone not just Gonzalo.
@@D_Thang oh my god, now we can't even sympathise with one individual because there are other individuals who were involved?
Sad indeed.
I don’t care how many times I fly on a plane, I get anxiety and am always scared. It’s an uneasy feeling. I never understood when someone says ‘I love flying’, how? I’m petrified and I get such a relief when we land. I have this ‘thing’ where I refuse to fly at night because In my mind I feel like the pilot can see better, I know I know it makes no difference
I can tell you a million times that flying is actually very safe. But no matter what I say, it will make no difference and I know. Lol my sister in law is a nervous flyer. Edibles and a bag of chips work for her.
@@melemetcalf1681 yeah unfortunately sooo much safer than cars.
@MicahIsDumb I flew once during bad thunderstorm for work next day.. I prayed in the plane that I will never fly again in that situation and nothing bad to happen.. it was scary .. my original flight was canceled and after I told them I had to be at work next day they put me in other flight with layover different than the original one.. it was a tiny old flight rather than the big flight I had booked .. Probably they analyze the weather situation and only go if weather permits, but it’s still scary in a tiny plane with a lot of turbulence throughout the journey ..
I love flying, it's waay safer than in those days. For something bad happens nowadays must have a lot of mistakes/fails... It's not something 100% safe, but safer than travel in cars or something else.
Actually it does make a difference- there's at least one kind of instrumentation that if it goes out they can compensate in decent weather in the daytime but not at all at night.
It's amazing how close the actors resemble the actual characters of the story. They have done a great job story after story. It makes it much easier to watch as they switch back and forth from the enactment to the story telling with the real people.
Thats what makes it so Good
They don't make shows like these anymore 😞
Hurrying and last minutes changes..a recipe for disaster no matter what you are doing. My heart goes out to the survivors and all the families of the passengers and crew lost.
No matter how good you are, no matter how much experience you have, you are never immune to making a stupid mistake.
Well said
True
Or to miscommunication
@@somethingelse9228 Especially in cross cultural communications. Even when both cultures speak the same language.
"How's the craic?" means something very different to an Irish person than it does to an American. Though written the difference is clear, spoken it sounds just like a cheap, illegal form of colane.
I think at a certain point it’s negligence. “Mistakes” are made by rookies.
Thank you Wonder for these great documentaries! Who else has been hooked on to these since lockdown began last year?
I wait earnestly every wk for quality documentary
Big time
I do !!!!
Me
No, I've been binge watching since a couple of days lol
This accident is the reason Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System (EGPWS) is now standard on commercial airliners.
they should warn earlier in mountain terrain
@@saladasss2092 prior to this crash, it was upgraded to give an earlier warning. Also, spoilers were redesigned to retract when high power was called for.
And shows the importance of crew resource management training. They can't be both scratching their heads at the CDU, especially in a mountainous valley. It's human nature though to want to help your colleague with an issue but someone needs to be checking the MSA and altitude and if need be switch to heading mode or set a course on the VOR that is just south of the airport. Losing situational awareness happens to the best of people at times though.
@@saladasss2092 hello dear how are you doing today okay
@@krozareq hello dear how are you doing today okay
No matter how tight your schedule is,put people's lives first.
You are being paid to transport them safely
All precautions, guidelines have to be followed whether it means reaching your destination late.
Losing both parents on her birthday 😞 that's rough. I feel for ALL the families. Just awful.
Edit for my bad spelling. 😑
Mercedes Ramirez became a motivational speaker after this.
@@brianwong7285 these motivational speakers are the most useless thing ever
@@MyGodZach 😬i hate to agree but yeah, you're right
@Brian Wong. Motivational speaker on what?
@@kellyhunte9668 She told people about her experiences...
The kid she tried avoiding on the plane was not only one of the 4 survivors ... he also ended up going into the wreckage to save her...
@@cvcoco yeah, I`d like to know that too
@@cvcoco Foolish question
@@cvcoco they had a lot in common. And the grandchildren : Grandpa how did you and grandma meet. That's a story for the ages.
@@cvcoco They did not. She married someone she had been dating at our university, in Missouri.
@@SkromnitsaKrasotka hello dear how are you doing today okay
I am from Cali, this was an awful tragedy. The fact that 4 people survived is a miracle. 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏
How
@@truedarklander hello dear how are you doing today okay
@@susanwolfgang7286 and he never repied
@@Boviee I wouldn’t either
@@susanwolfgang7286 The most important question is how are you Susan? 😊
Backseat pilot here. Please forgive the hindsight review. You've lost situational awareness, do not know where you are going, and are flying in a heavily mountainous region. Immediately climb to a safe altitude and restart the landing procedure.
Absolutely. Piloting by ‘hope’ is no way to fly.
😂😂😂
They said the exact thing already in the video, chief
You would think that that would be common sense for pilots🤷♂️😂🙏
Hignsote is always 20-20
R.I.P to all lives lost on flight 965.
Amen! I things like this,but at the end of the dayh you gotta have faith.The lord works in mysterious ways, and who knows what the lord had in plan.Maybe it was just us talking about faith or the wonderful lady the young girl who lost her leg's become.Who knows!!!!!
May the good Lord grant them eternal peace.
RIP😔
F in the chat
Then how are the passengers still around to talk about it?
Imagine the relief of hearing your childrens voices after such a horrific event ... only to not be able to help them ...
That must have been such an emotional rollercoaster ... poor guy
First responders are my heroes, they are so brave, so strong, so completely unappreciated. Police, firefighters and EMT’s, risk their lives every day, so save people, to help those that are helpless.
Thank you with all my heart, to all first responders.
❤️✝️🙏🏼
This is the best flight accident documentary ever. Can't imagine the feeling of the relatives waiting at the airport 😢 so horribly unexpected.
This channel is incredibly underrated
they have 1.18 million subs ... also I don't think they made these, I think they bought the license to them and are re-uploading them
@@GTNTAnimations I meant like the amount of views they get on each of their vids. Even if it’s reuploaded, it least it’s a free alternative to Netflix and is decent
@@forthechickens comparing with Netflix no way near this video is this is a very low quality scenes
I get you bro 👌👌👌👌👌
I agree. Especially entertaining are people screaming as they plummet to their deaths! Who can not watch a good crash, car or airplane.? "flying is safe, flying is safe, flying is safe" keep telling yourselves LOL
Damn I kept thinking "Come on Gonzalito, hang on." Brought a tear to my eyes. Why the f do I watch these videos? Did I die in a plane crash in a previous life or something?
Maybe we all did and we are drawn to it 😂
😂😂
Or may be we are going to 😂
Idk how old you all are but I could have been in most of these crashes and been reincarnated
😂
The emergency response was absolutely shocking. I wonder how many people survived the initial impact only to die from their injuries and exposure to the elements. Had the little girl been outside instead of inside the fuselage she would have perished.
Yes. It resembles the Japan Airlines flight 123 that also crashed in the mountains.
@@andema83 yeah, though there is a notable difference. The Colombian rescue effort was working in unfavorable conditions with limited resources.
Meanwhile with JAL 123, the crash was discovered quickly by US Armed Forces stationed in Japan and were ready to mobilize a rescue, but someone in the Japanese Armed Forces declined the help and decided to do their own rescue many hours later.
It was in a mountain in night time far away from the nearest village without any roads, what do you expect?
3rd world response.
Five people survived the initial impact, unfortunately though, Gonzalo Dussan’s son passed on the table. The daughter (who survived) faced survivor guilt.
that “too low terrain” alarm will haunt my nightmares. it’s sounds so scary, i can’t imagine how scary it sounds when ur actually in the plane
i know, kind of like your mom hanging out down at the navy base
it doesn’t sound that scary normally. The ground proximity sensor goes off every time you land.
hahahahah me too i swear
@@jonathandpg6115the gpws system does not go off at every landing, tf you talking about.
I never thought by 1995 that American planes would still fly into mountains but I see how confusing the computers on this jet could be. Hearing that ground proximity buzzer going off would have scared the heck out of me if I was the pilot.
I hope that life has been good to Mercedes Ramirez-Johnson as well as the two Dussans and Mauricio Reyes. A dog survived and I hope it lived a normal doggie life span too.
The dog was adopted by an American Airlines employee. As for the Dussan Family they have inquired about a possible second reason why the plane crashed. A study was done by them and a British Airways pilot.
I remember this day. I was at the Miami airport that day and saw the passengers boarding for Cali. Sad and tragic accident. Horrific.
Damn
The real "human error" in this case was the decision by officials to remain open and improvise flight operations after their radar was intentionally destroyed. Ridiculous. A simple radar plot would have aided the pilots/controllers "situational
awareness" as is its purpose-even exposed/corrected the pilots mistake(s).
Airport do have a responsibility by risking safety of flights heading/taking off from the airport without functional radar. But it's not that crazy enough when you have another 50 flights just flew in or out safely that day, yesterday, two days ago, a week ago and so on by average per day even without radar. If you closed the airport for such reason tho, you may lose more $$$ since you have 'pay' the aircraft companies for the loss, workers, maintenance cost, etc. Rebuilding the tower, importing the parts and setting up stuffs may takes days, months or even a year. But it takes only a single rocket to destroy and broke all the stuffs.
In this case, the big part of responsibility was on the airline companies instead; they should've knew this airport did not have functional radar at the time, so why keep operating the flight line? Or pilot training and procedure was inadequate?
@@Chaosfred almost all airports lease planes rather than buy them out right. It’d be the same thing if someone leased a Lamborghini and crashed it. Fault would lie on the person leasing the vehicle, unless the vehicle was defective at which point fault would lie on manufacturer and/or maintenance crew. If an airport cannot afford a radar, they need to make budget adjustments accordingly in order to have the funds to repair/replace it. Really no excuse for not putting public safety first in the field of public transportation.
This was Columbia in the 90's; drug runners were absolutely crawling all over the place, among other things. Fixing a radar in a post-colonial country that used to be effectively governed by kingpins and has an astronomical violent crime rate is a whole other ballgame from doing the same in the U.S., Canada or Eurpoe.
@@dylanattix2765 basically avoid any countries like Columbia to fly to.
A functioning radar is not a requirement of making a safe flight or closing an airport. The radar being out was a known factor. Notice American Airlines still flew there, and the pilots didn't refuse the flight just because of that fact.
On both Japan Airlines flight 123 and American Airlines 965, the impact kill most passenger and all crew members on board but, only 4 passengers survived. RIP to all souls who’ve lost their lives at the moment the plane crashed into terrain.😞❤️
😮
In fact, flight 77 isn’t the first American 757 crashed and I understand it.
While watching this and hearing the conversation of the pilots that they were unsure of their location, and knowing absolutely nothing about flying a plane or protocols, my instinct was to gain altitude and start over. To get up high and get your bearings and get situated. Being rushed was the problem. They were thinking of that they needed 10 hours or 12 hours off duty in order to reset their work clock for next flight tomorrow and if they touched down 10 minutes too late, they would miss their off duty hours window and not make the run for the next day and will loose a days pay. To me this was mindset to make the next days shift was the main mistake
What do u mean by "knowing absolutely nothing about flying a plane"
@@kanna.7079 I'm saying that I know nothing about flying planes. I do know something about not rushing in order meet a schedule
@@todeotodeo140 oh ok
That was my thought too. Get to a safe altitude, buy time, then take your time ascertaining every waypoint, step by step.
Riiiight. And just how many hours do you have flying a plane bud?
It’s amazing that anyone survived this. It must be awful for the survivors who lost their family members.
And bless that college student passenger for searching the wreck for anyone alive. Amazing that he was okay enough to walk around and try to help
I must admit you look so beautiful and adorable🥀
What's the worst about disasters like this is that they'll always happen no matter what.
The chances of bad chains of events can be lowered by better equipment, more safety regulations and other factors but the risk can never be entirely removed.
Absolutely Yes,The pilots were considered as very good pilots,the aircraft was the "hit" of the 90's and still you have this....Its like a bad day at work,you keep making mistake after mistake after mistake bcs you want to go home on time...The only difference is i work with numbers,they work with people
That 19 year old is a beast 😮, he survived without injuries and even had energy to go looking for help!!
Someone close to me passed in this crash.
The terrain without a doubt, hampered rescue efforts.
Her dad had to hire locals to take him up the mountain to look for her.
He flew in from California and understandably was beyond distraught.
He wouldn’t take no for an answer, and being Colombian, was able to secure local help getting up the mountain.
When they came across her, he said she looked like she was sleeping and not a mark on her, it was unbelievable.
He thought she was still alive and was crushed when he realized she was gone.
Heartbreaking.
Only twenty one, she was going to Colombia to see family to celebrate Christmas.
She was in University in Miami at the time. A kind, intelligent young lady who’s life was taken too soon.
A devastating loss.
Never forgotten 💜
Why were the pilots not told there was no radar at the airport by air traffic control.
This mistake is why the pilots were confused. None of these people would have died.
@Delia Thompson You’re right Delia, should have never happened. 😞
At least he saw for one last time
*"on both sides of the valley are towering mountain ranges"*
That's how valleys work
Ikr?🤦
I hated to laugh about this, but RIGHT!
Sometimes there is only one towering mountain overlooking a valley.
@@alvaroakatico9188 Can you please explain it? I'm a bit confused
@@BLUEBoyPlayzPH It's a joke I think😉
In most cases I wouldn’t want someone to spoil the ending but in this case, I am so glad to see passengers being interviewed. Though many people didn’t survive which is always heartbreaking.
Hi Julie, how're you doing?
I can't imagine the level of responsibility you have to bear while piloting a plane. The next minutes of your passengers is all on your shoulders.
I live in Port Hueneme across the street from the memorial. I walk over there sometimes and say prayers for the family and friends of the passenger and crew. You will be in my thoughts and prayers for ever. God bless you all.
You're a kind soul. Thank you
This is so sad, my ex boyfriend had an 19 year cousin on that flight. They dropped him off @ the airport and saw him off.. after having stayed for 3 months. He was a kid when this happened. He remembers everything about that day. And went to Colombia for the funeral. My ex was afraid to fly anywhere after that, he still is afraid of flying. RIP. 😞
😢
How can you have an airport working without the radar, smh
But Captain made a crucial mistake entering the wrong route and not noticing it
Exactly, I feel that disclosing a lack of radar would have been vital as well.
....and, not getting other pilot confirmation.....
Let alone the first officer forgetting the brakes while he was trying to climb that the saddest part bc apparently they would've cleared the mountain with a large distance
@@evallitt330 He was probably on panic mode at that time.
Colombia was going through an armed conflict with rebel militia at the time, who blew up the radar. Did you not see that part?
It's amazing how they manage to get actors that look like the real pilots and passengers.Where do they get them all?
I could NEVER be a pilot, knowing I have the lives of dozens of people in my hands. Hell nah, I would crack under that pressure.
you could do cargo (but you would be hitting stuff that are usually packed in the last three days and are relatively high value)
I would hate to be a pilot too. That pressure is no joke.
If you don't have radar because of an active war you shouldn't be sending comercial flights there
It’s not an “active war”. The FARCS blew it up and they have been engaging in terrorists tactics in that country since 1964. Sadly the Columbian Government made no effort to replace it for years.
I blame the people who destroyed the radar equipment for their own political gain for the deaths of these people.
exactly, underrated comment
How convenient to blame the people who could never be held to account. In wars, there are casualties, this is as true when the US is bombing weddings as when someone straps a bomb to their chest and walks into a building in retaliation. Don't like it, stop causing wars, the enemy isn't broken up that people on your side died. The responsibility is on those who are nominally on their side, but failed to protect them. The airport authorities who could have closed the airport but didn't. The airline who could have chosen not to fly there, but didn't. Even the pilots who attempted to continue an approach after becoming disoriented because they had getthereitis. There were more proximate causes than some rebels blowing up an airport radar for god knows what reason.
@@Person01234 i’m sorry but even though your overall making a pretty coherent point it just sounds like you’re excusing what they did lmao.
Nobody here is saying that the rebels bombed the plane themselves or are the only ones to blame, but their target of destroying a radar is a massive contributor as to why the plane crashed.
Are we just going to find ways to excuse people because sometimes these people are figures we can’t hold to an account?
Airports with no radar or control towers are quite normal.
@@Person01234 You are rationalizing....
The fact that the 19 year old and Mercedes both made it seemed like fate honestly. I can't imagine how everyone must has felt on board..
Yeah I actually waited till the end if she and the guy who rescued her had a relatinship or marriage. As maybe passed on mind of the girl's mother
This is filmed and edited like a movie. Great work to the company that produced this.
It's true
8 hours knowing you literally survived a plane crash and there are 159 people dead next to you for all that time... Mindblowing!!!!
Better than 70 days and actually having to eat other corpses in order to survive like survivors from another plane crash in South America..
Rip to the passengers, flight attendants, pilots and the airplane ✈️
Yes, my heart goes out to... uh... the airplane. And to all the other airplanes who loved it so. I will always spare a tissue to wipe away their tears of grease, and pain, but mostly grease. In fact, call maintenance please.
Jah bless.
@@LeatherCladVegan may all those airplanes fly happily in heaven. Amen
I will like to know you🥀
May they RIP 🪦 and may the remains of the plane ✈️ be remembered 🙌🏽
I am a grown man and after watching this episode , my eyes are full of tears .God bless all the souls which were perished in this crash😢
Not only radar was to blame, it was also lack of communication.
Goes to show lack of communication ruin relationships and situations
It was poor communication, to be exact. When ATC said "directly" they did mean the plane should follow a route through one of the previously specified passways. They pilots, on the other hand, understood it to mean they should simply proceed directly to the airport from where they had been.
No one thing is responsible for anything, you can blame the engineers of the plane and it's equipment, teachers of those engineers, pilots , teachers of the pilots, CEO of the airline company etc. It was an unfortunate 'failure chain' of events and circumstances that ended in this crash. The world moves on but hopefully safer in light of this disaster.
@@Miketar2424 Pilots. Pilots. Pilots. Do you understand now? They should have known better by recognizing all those defective chains and avoid flying a potential bomb.
@@missangela6720 And , do you understand that the controller had a responsibility to communicate more carefully with the pilots and be certain they understood all instructions , especially with the lack of radar? Also the government had a responsibility to replace the radar asap for the safety of all flights? The designers of the waypoint charts had a responsibility to mark the ROZO position clearly, not just with 'R'. The engineers had a responsibility to design the plane with safer automation (which occurred only after this crash). The airline had a responsibility to train their pilots on the dangers of situations like these. So I do understand there is blame to go around including the pilots.
This Channels Reenactments are simply amazing. Spent many hours watching this channel and really appreciate the excellent work that goes into making these episodes.
This is a TV show called Air Crash investigation. Been a long follower of this TV show
@@keriddunk1520 yea, this episode released back in 2004, I think. Wonder probably procured the rights to show the first five seasons.
Incredibly detailed documentary. Even the actors look like the survivors.
Watching these documentaries while flying somewhere is definitely an unnerving experience
I’ll never forget that day. I was 5 years old, attending Jack D Gordon Elementary in Miami Kendall in Pre-K when the news broke over winter break. My sisters best friend at the time, Diego age 7 and his entire family died in this crash.
Still brings chills down my spine. Such a tragedy. I can still remember it all so very clearly. The trauma of that memory is so disturbing it still lingers today. I am 30.
That's devistating, I'm sorry for you and your sister's loss. I hope she ended up doing okay in the long run.
Kinda like when we were in school and got sent home from 9-11..everyone sitting around the tv watching the news.. eerie…
Sorry for your loss. 🥺 It's so devastating knowing that many lost families and friends thanks to misconduct of the Pilots. Rushing and all that caused such a terrible tragedy.
I was 10 and in Science Class. When it came on class stopped and our teacher turned on the TV. I still remember the sobs during the news. Everyone was shocked and couldn't focus on the class.
I'll never forget this day. 😥
I'm sorry that happened man my heart ❤️ goes out you and your sister friend
This is a sad story, 2 experienced pilots that had gotten too comfortable with allowing procedures to be overlooked because they think there is no possible way that the wrong coordinates could of been entered into the navigation system and by the time they did realize it they had crossed a threshold that couldn’t be corrected. The procedure calls for both pilots to verify the correct information was being entered.
I love this show. In my country (Australia), it's called Air Crash Investigation. It's always great to learn that every crash/disaster makes flying safer.
Adelaide here! 🙋🏻♀
Perth here!!!
Melbourne babies!!! :D
Also fun fact. There has never been a fatal jet crash involving an Australian airline
Gold Coast !
As has been said on many other wonder: mayday videos, the dynamic between the members of the cockpit (especially, between someone of lower rank to a superior) can very often be the deciding factor in whether a plane does/does not make it out of an emergency. The intro of CRM has most certainly prevented many flight emergencies from ever even making the news, as the crew worked quickly to solve and resolve the issue before it ever had the chance to snowball into something catastrophic.
Rip to the ppl that didn't make it out alive 🙏🏽🕊🕊
The Captain had flown there 6 days prior to this flight therefore, he should have known there were high mountains surrounding the airport.
He did
Exactly, so when lost he should have immediately ascended to an altitude that would clear any mountain and program to a point he was sure of. He definitely made the most critical errors.
Part of me feels bad for the pilots wife and children. Imagine knowing your husband or father was responsible for those deaths.
All of those lives, people now gone because of a simple misunderstanding. RIP to all those aboard this flight, none of them deserved it.
WASN'T SIMPLE MISUNDERSTANDING. PILOT HAD TO MANY CLUES TO GO HIGH SORT THINGS OUT.
The air controller also didn't have radar... so that could've saved them too
@@ronniewall1481 Says the armchair pilot
NON ENGLISH SPEAKERS MUST NOT BE WORKING IN AN AIRPORT WITH INTERNATIONAL FLIGHTS
@@LaFonteCheVi Actually if you looked up other reports about this accident, even real pilots have stated that this was due to pilots making mistakes and not paying attention and in some cases even incompetence.
I'm inclined to agree with them. This wasn't the "best" or most "well trained" crew. A well trained crew wouldn't have allowed the plane to get ahead of them, they also would've been thinking more about a safe in approach rather than trying to rush things.
I remember that day my friend died. we were in third grade. His mom was our babysitter and his brother was the same age as my sister. We were always in the same class. I was in the third grade and I cried so much. I never forgot him. I remember their dad couldn’t go, and was distraught for years after losing his wife and two sons.
I clearly remember this tragedy back in the mid 1990´s, when I use to live in the U.S.. My 10 year old sister lost a classmate in her elementatary school, Bent Tree Elementary, in Kendall, Miami, FL. For some reason, something made me look at him really well one morning when I dropped off my sister at school on one particular morning. He was a black, colombian, small boy with a beautiful, angelical face, and eyes full of love. I thought to myself, "what a beautiful spirit this boy has". Then, a few months later, my little sister told me about the tragedy.
I've looked up the victims list. That boy was likely named Juan Jose Bernal. He was the only 10 y.o. on board that flight, and he was from Miami. RIP 🥀
Three months ago I broke both my femur and my patella. I couldn't stand on my leg and seeing the reenactment of Mercedes' rescue I was taken back to that day that I broke my own leg. I felt that reenactment. The poor girl. Severely injured and one of only four survivors....she's amazing (and so are the other survivors), recounting all of it as calmly as they are. Prayers and much respect to all of them.
Who else was getting chills thru out this episode 😳😭😫😩🤧
Me.
Me.
Me
Have always been amazed at the rescue efforts. Sad for the people who lost their lives. RIP.
So next time I fly, I'm going to have to check on the mental health of the pilots. Everyone feeling good? No recent breakups? Financial portfolio doing ok?
😁😁😁
Good one, Middle Aged Gomer.
😂😂🤣🤣
Right?
Well said. Exactly what l would want to know!!!!
The chain of events that caused this horrible crash is unfathomable.
Any one thing done differently might have changed the outcome.
Was a flight attendant for 2 years. Everyday we would fly 2-5x a day. My only prayer is for a safe take off and landing for all flights 🙏🏼🙏🏼
That's true. Did the same while i was at my crew seat. Recalling safety sops & equipments locations on board..
@@raymonandrewkoh7182 Did the same! Also recalled my sequence of duties in case of an emergency landing every time we had turbulence
@@sofiepan847 👍.. Safety Class and Lecturers prepared us well.
After watching many of these air accidents over the years, there's one thing all the poor families of the victims know for sure. Hindsight can be a very bitter pill to swallow. My heart goes out to them all.
this was gutwrenching to watch. I just cannot fathom the ptsd the survivors will have as well as survivors guilt. This should never have happened. R.I.P to all the passengers who died. Devastating !!!!
So true about survivor's guilt. Kind of a lonely feeling. I hope they can free themselves from it and the phobias that can develop from going through this experience so they can move forward with their lives.
These documenteries are really awesome and interesting
I have to stop watching these. I’m now scared to death to fly.
Same here...
Been wathcing such stories on tv, youtube etc since I was 6 years old, I still push on towards becoming a pilot (I am 22 now) lol
They are now stop using 747 ..with 4 engines and Boeing ..is manufacturing cheaper smaller planes ..omg ..I am not going home
i fly back to my home state tmw. i’ve watch so many of these.
@@kamis1396 bro fr i have a flight in like 3 days and i’m scared i don’t wanna die😭
I went to school with one of the passengers that passed away, this story will forever be with me....We were part of the highschool marching band....we were a very large family and this hurt us all....Erika, may you, your mom and your little sister forever rest in peace...I will always remember you.
❤❤❤