Boeing 747 on Fire Breaks Up in Mid-Air | Flight from Hell (With Real Audio)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 11 ม.ค. 2023
- A Boeing 747 operating as South African Airways Flight 295 and named Helderberg experiences a catastrophic in-flight fire in the cargo area, breaks up in mid-air, and crashes into the Indian Ocean. Find out what really happened.
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This video has been recorded and edited in 4K resolution and 60FPS. - เกม
My Father, Alan Daniel, was the 2nd flight engineer onboard this flight. As much as this video was not easy at all to watch, I appreciate the effort put into it and to hopefully encourage those that know the truth to come forward.
There is a lot more to this story, as well as a possible 1st fire shortly after take off.
South Africa did not have many allies in the 80’s and landing an aircraft with cargo not listed on the manifest on our national carrier would have been detrimental to our government.
I truly hope the truth will one day be spoke.
This accident has been on my mind ever since it happened. It must've been a huge loss to you and your family, to have lost your Dad under such horrible circumstances. I knew a person who knew all the SAA Pilots of those days. This person shared details of what happened from take off to crash, including the 1st fire etc (about 2 hrs into flight ?) and the refusal of Taiwan to allow plane to return, but that the fire was apparently exstinguished. This type of info has been available on the net for a few years now, as a result of all the attempts by lawyers and families trying to get to the truth. Much of the actual truth has seeped out onto the Internet, but because nobody can afford to confirm or deny, the info will always be regarded as a "conspiracy" theory. And yes... it would be bring some closure to this terrible story, if one day someone came clean and TOLD it like it actually happened. This accident was the second aviation "cover-up" at the hands of the late Margo. The first one being the Rietbok in the '60's.
There were unconfirmed rumors that South African passenger aircraft flying overseas smuggled military weaponry as South Africa was still under an international arms embargo under the apartheid years. By the time of the accident South Africa was still fighting a war against Angola; they just couldn't build all the guns and bullets themselves so they buy things clandestinely from other countries, no questions asked. One theory stated that the plane was carrying a rocket system in the cargo hold and that the vibration of unstable chemicals may have caused the cargo to ignite.
I lost a very dear relative decades ago to political infighting and obscure interests. He's still in my thoughts every day. What you imply is both sad and very much probably true.
Hello Marc. I flew with your Dad several times and flew that aeroplane on the same route as well. He was a very nice guy, it was really tough for me to watch this as well. All of us from back then would like to know the truth.
@@endless_song it was the well done. glad you mentioned it.
Terrible to be in the middle of nowhere, on fire, and no place nearby to land. God rest the souls of the victims.
Yes! May GOD have mercy on their souls ! Requiescat in Pace!
@@metrocustomer7941 awful incident
Especially in the dark
they were just a few minutes away from the stopover on mauritius
There was an ocean right there
I cannot even imagine the absolute terror and sheer panic of being trapped 15,000 feet in the air with fire and smoke encroaching on you, knowing that all you see is open water. That is pretty damn heartbreaking.
Water landing??
@@94balkrishnato far away from land it would take rescuers hour to get there
I suspect all the passengers were dead long before the fire got to them. The smoke would have been very toxic. If nothing else, as soon as the fire broke through the cargo bulkhead, the cabin would have been flooded with toxic smoke.
@@94balkrishna Who knows? If they knew how bad the fire was at the beginning , maybe they would have chosen that. Then maybe a few of them would have survived. I wouldn’t be surprised if all the passengers were long dead before the pilots managed to reach 15,000 feet. Battery fires are nasty things and the smoke is very toxic.
@@Ryarios 😪
In memory to all Crews & Passengers of SAA 295 ❤️
My friends nephew had to help recover the body parts floating inthe ocean, heads, arms, legs. He said it was awful and he still has visions of the horror he saw.
I know someone who lost his father on this flight. I'm from Mauritius and I asked a few people from the airport staff how it was at that time. They all said that it was heartbreaking, because they have been prepared for this emergency in the early hours and they have been waiting for an airplane and for passengers that would never arrive. Everybody on the island was shocked and even my parents were always sad when they told the story. My thoughts go to the families who have lost their loved ones.
💔💔💔😭😭😭😭😭
I am from Mauritius too and heartbreaking accident. 😢
Ask any pilot regardless of hours flown or rank, he/she will tell you it's not an engine failure, it's not rapid decompression, it's not any system malfunction, it's fire that they fear the most. Personally, I think aircraft should be passenger transport or cargo. Any loss of life is of course tragic, and I don't mean to sound callous, but when things go badly wrong as in this sad tale it would be bad enough losing a cockpit crew, but in this case, it was cabin crew and passengers as well. Who was ultimately to blame? no one. Nicely done and told TFC
I couldn't agree more. The entire "Combi" idea is ridiculous. Passengers OR cargo; not both at the same time.
While I agree with both comments - and I don't know if combi planes like this still operate with cargo on the passenger deck - either way cargo is still in the cargo deck.
It would be nice if someone would tell me which fire is easier to tackle manually or automatically. A fire underneath or behind the passengers. It seems fire and smoke would spread more rapidly on the upper deck.
I hope cargo on passenger and freight aircraft undertake stricter inspection now, though I doubt it. Airlines will just believe the paperwork. Also that firewalls and pallets are very fire resistant and extinguishable.
This plane burned apart structurally in the air. I suspect with a significant fire the same could happen on a 787 or any modern plane.
Most passengers were possibly dead or unconscious before then.
Even so, this goes up there in my top three or four worst air disasters for prolonged human suffering and certain death.
God rest them all.
@pomerau I absolutely agree!
From what I've seen these "combi" planes are always stuffed to the brim with as much cargo as possible (for obvious reasons why) but there are clearly safety hazards that come along with piling so many things in such a small place.
Speaking as a retired Navy Chief, fire is the most feared casualty on board ships as well.
Yep, I am from South Africa and remember this disaster was huge news back then. This tragedy was the reason why Boeing stopped the production of the 747 Combi version. They were able to establish that fire broke out in the rear cargo compartment, behind the passenger area and the cause of the fire could not be established. If I remember correctly the aircraft scattered remains lay at a depth of more than 12000 feet.
Like Martin once said "DAMN GINA"
CHEEEOW
The worst thing you can experience as a pilot is total loss of control, especially due to the aircraft breaking apart mid-air. You see the ground straight in front of you.. you cant get out of it, you know that its gonna be the peak of pain, you can do nothing to save your plane at that moment, condolences to all who passed away, nice work The Flight Channel
i always wondered in these type of accidents, wouldnt be better and safer the moment they knew about the fire, to immediately descend and fly much slower near the water? All these talks with ATC and checklists cost so much precious time..
@@Christoss007 No offense but that might make the situation worst, if you descend fast you will encounter speed as you descend, because the aerodynamics of an aircraft work this way, this in turn will put stress on the already damaged air frame (body) of the aircraft, which in this case; is fire. In this situation there is way more chance of the aircraft breaking apart midair while its descend. So technically you can descend fast, but not on a damaged air frame. Even if you get the plane two a low altitude, you will be going very fast, the point where its considered over speed. Now if your'e very lucky and you get the plane to a low altitude and slow speed simultaneously, now comes the challenge to land. most people think that water crashes are less painful, well that's sort of wrong, water has molecules just like solid on ground. and those molecules together make enough force to deform the aircraft body on impact due to its high speed crash, plus the fact that every air frame has its own tension breaking point, so overall its not easy at all. On the other hand, landing on ground has its own issues, you need plain areas to stop a gigantic metal bird speeding up to around 140 knots (260 KM/H). in both cases, air crafts are usually lost, and so are lives most of the times... safe travel ya'll
@@Christoss007 I was thinking that too
I always wonder, what if they all manage to jump out of it with a parachute once its evidently thats going to fail??? like 20 minutes before it happens, they are certain it will crash, so why not just create an emergency room, an emergency door with parachutes under every seat, they can all put on fast????
I can still remember working as a flight attendant on a 747-400 Combi, we were instructed to visually check the main deck cargo section every 30 mins. And we were over-particular to do so, remembering the SAA accident. The main deck cargo fire procedure was very strict and the available fire extinguishing equipment, as well as our personal protection gear, was about twice as much as on a regular 747-400.
We knew if a fire occured, we were the very first on the front to extinguish it definitely within a very few minutes, after the cockpit crew had released the main deck cargo fire extinguish system by flooding that area with fire extinguishing agent Halon.
In 1987 they had Halon suppression systems in the lower hold, but not in the main deck cargo compartment. They were later retrofitted to all Combi aircraft but Boeing would soon stop making the 400 Combi as a couple of bad accidents, including this one, put airlines off buying them.
I was wondering about Halon. My only knowledge of it was being shown around or walked through the IT departments of 2 or 3 international banks headquarters in London in the late Eighties and early Nineties by the night boffins.
Larger hardware then obviously, but I thought someone there explained they had to get out and the doors would seal before the Halon could be released. I could be wrong; or else they would have to wait before reentering until it dissipated. Therefore I assumed Halon would not be used in a plane.
Time to put my google search finger to work:
It's production was banned by the US EPA IN 1994, bu "there is still demand for it for specific applications"
@@pomerau we were ordered to re-enter the main deck cargo area after the Halon had been released, protected by oxygen-supplied smoke hoods.
Halon is the most effective fire extinguisher agent. That's why it is still allowed and used aboard aircrafts.
@@Schrottkralle I missed your reply. Interesting. Thank you for that. I also missed that you mentioned Halon at the end. I thought krashd brought it up. Certified schmuck here 🙃
Halon was replaced with halotron early 2000’s , more of a clean agent! It was dangerously bad for ozone and cancerous, works amazingly with no residue or mess , pressurized liquid gas would evaporate!! I used too hydro test cylinders as a fire safety tech!
That pilot seemed remarkably calm to me. God rest their souls.
Ex military Mirage fighter pilot , we have been fighting a bush war called the South African Bush war for almost 30 years against the best the world could have frown at us , our pilots was of the best in the world if not the best in the world at that time , they were firmiliar to handle serious situations while doing combat flying in a war .
They were tremendously capable and exceptionally well trained flying maybe the most well maintained aircraft and probably fully expected to land. Also they were most probably from the air force originally.
The memorial notice commemorating the dead should remain visible for at least 15 seconds, so it is not immediately obscured by the TH-cam advertisements that pop up at the end of the video. it is difficult to read the notice, which is visible for only a second or two.
I am Mauritian and I was 17 when this horrific crash happened, my uncle, who worked in Aviation at the time, went by boat to the site of the crash that same afternoon. It was a huge shock for us all. So sorry for what they, and their families, had to go through..
Did they recover the plane afterwards?
@@ultr3n_m4gic46Yes, parts of it despite 3 miles down.
Sad South African here.
I was still fairly young when Helderberg happened. But I remember it well from watching News with mom and dad.
Fire in a plane is a pilot and passengers' worst nightmare.
I cried when the music came on near the end. No one deserved to die in this tragic way. RIP to everyone that died.
I wish everyone a safe flight when you guys travel this year xx
Hopefully
I'm glad I'm binge watching this channel before several business trips in the next few months. I'm sure I won't think about these videos at all when taxiing, taking off, flying, turning, descending, landing, taxiing. 😵💫
Enjoy, Numbskull.
Remember: the events of this video happened over 35 years ago, flying has gotten much safer
You’re still safer flying than you are driving.
Flying was awfully safe in 1987, but today it's way safer than that even. You're more at risk going 75 on the local Interstate.
Just don't watch them while flying, and you'll most likely be fine.
The classic 747 looked beautiful in the old SAA livery.
Yes,we miss our old colours of our planes(and flag).Our new ones,spell :disaster...as our 🤬😈govt is the most corrupt ever('new' South Africa 😥)
@@niciv.n.8747 Yes indeed. Our country is slowly being destroyed by a bunch of corrupt incompetent clowns.
@@niciv.n.8747 Why are you still there man, it will only get worse and become like every other African country
@@niciv.n.8747 I bet you also miss apartheid you old racist fuck
@@niciv.n.8747 i love the livery From Saa and the 747
Absolute nightmare. I wouldn't want to be stuck in the middle of nowhere in a burning aircraft over 150 nautical miles from the nearest airfield. Thank you TFC for the insight on the accident.
Wow your attention to detail is amazing. The shot of the plane with 2/3's of the windows dark with the rear third lit, presumably on fire, really puts it into perspective.
Man that is just horrible! No wonder I've never seen one of those "Combi" planes flying in the modern day. That safety risk is massive. Even worst, I believe the pilots knew they weren't gonna make it to the airport being 165 nm away with an out-of-control blaze that they couldn't put out, and absolutely no where else to land.
Rest In Peace to all of the victims.
Why didn't they land in the water? Many would have survived.
@@Heart2HeartBooks xatcly even the cold but gullibaly warm h20 could’ve engulfed & swallowed off all the blazing fires flames all by itself demselves near rear back cabin anywayz KZJ instead yoy bud I’m guessing by the intimacy uf everything else kay, it was by pure intrusion intrusive,y INTSTRUMENTAL chance things occurred & hppnd they way they all turned out in tha very end |mfaO.
Yeah thats what I don't understand..why did they not just put it in the water. Even if they made it to land, the moment the touched down that fuselage was guaranteed to crack in half causing a horrific crash and fireball. They should have laid it down in the water. I don't understand people's decision making process...
@@GoofysBanditImagine landing in pitch black with no instruments. This is not the hudson, its one of the deepest oceans in the world hundreds of miles away from civilization.
@@fz7091 Also, adding to your point, that was the 1980s when pilots were not even trained for performing such actions, the first ditching happening in 1996 (as far as I'm concerned).
As a former Flight attendant and flying the 747-200 Combi Version, where was the Cabin Crew trying to extinguish the fire..?
We had a fire drill on the mock up every year.
The end of the Combi does not mean.. a fire will not break out at the cargo hold.
true but i think by the time they realised, the fire was too fierce to be tamed
Out of curiosity did you fly the Combi before or after this incident? I believe SAL295 prompted a total overhaul of safety procedures on these aircraft
I wonder if it was crew trying to inform the pilots about what was going on when they ignored that ding from the cabin that said that someone wanted to talk to them. with four people in the cockpit, someone should have answered
@ The Flight Channel, thank you for producing the video I requested
Checklists are critical, but with so many pilots onboard, the captain should have sent them back to physically check the situation and FIGHT the fire! Additionally, he should have made an emergency descent to a water landing in an attempt to save as many as possible. He sounded very confused on the radio. Very sad.
Definitely should have sent one of the crew back to assess the situation. Sitting in the cabin guessing the situation is only going to end one way.
The captain seemed to be suffering from oxygen deprivation already what with the many "ehh ehh" his mind was getting foggy.
Allegedly they did, but the individual either fled, or was incapacitated and never discharged the extinguisher.
I feel like I would have send a 2nd person as a follow up after a few minutes of no news.
Of course, we don't know what happened on the plane, and I'm sure feel a tremendous sympathy for what they faced. But, listening to the audio you don't get a sense, this is an emergency, NOW, seconds will decide if you live or die
Exactly what I was thinking
Deepest condolences to all the families and friends who lost a loved one in this tragedy. This is a stark reminder of how life can turn in just a heartbeat.
one of the things that always surprises me with incidents that involve fire onboard a commercial airliner is the procedures. A fire within the fuselage of an aircraft is a very grave situation and one thing you don't have is time. The only way you have any real chance of survival is to get the plane down in minutes. Yet in many incidents that involve fire there are checklists to follow, fuel to dump because of being overweight etc etc. A fire doesn't wait for you to complete checklists, procedures or fuel dumping, it will simply consume the aircraft and it's game over. If you have a fire raging inside the aircraft and you are not near any airport you may as well just do an emergency descent down to 1000 feet and then just ditch the plane in the sea, at least some people may survive. Keeping the plane in the air for any real period at all is almost certain to end in a total loss. I think when there is a fire on your aircraft it's seat of the pants stuff not rulebook stuff
Failure by the pilots to respond immediately to a fire is usually a major contributing factor in these types of incidents/crashes.
Just being curious here, do you guys think it is necessary for the aircraft to land immediately or ditch if flying above waters?
What is the science behind coming down, as soon as fire alarms ?
I thought, being above 20k feet , and opening the cargo doors are safer options. Lack of oxygen ,will itself take care fire then. Imo
Nobody is going to survive ditching a plane into the open ocean 145 NM from the airport.
@@mallninja9805 just because you are 145 miles from an airport doesn't mean you are 145 miles from land. Planes have life vests it gives you a chance to be picked up by boats. I'd rather take my chances in the water than I would in a fire
It’s so hard to here the voices of the doomed crew. What the passengers went through can only be imagined. Poor people.
Please bring back the music intros. It's a little touch that I didn't realize was needed until it was gone.
Thank you for this video. A few years ago I suggested that you cover this tragedy, and now you did! I worked plenty of flights on that plane, and like many of my colleagues, we could very well have been on it that fateful day.
If I may ask, do you think the official cause is to be believed?
@@sergiosaunier no, is the short answer. I don't think there's obvious evidence that it cannot be believed, but I'm convinced one day the truth will be revealed. Maybe not in my lifetime.
*_ Ben, who was the purser on that flight ços my mom said it was the boy that escaped death in the flight that my father was piloting (Cessna 150) and crashed on the field runway at VanRyns Dorp which killed him and the front passenger. In the back seat, the father of the boy and the little girl all survived. _*
@@liongod1000 he was N. M van Schalwyk, the senior cabin controller. I didn't know him personally very well. I seem to think it was Nick or Nico, I'm really not sure.
@@bensteyn1974 Thanks for getting back ..... Yep, it was him then.... twist of fate that he escaped death as a kid then only to die much later in an aircraft... sad
Can't even imagine the fear of being on a plane as it starts to break apart. Geez!! RIP to all involved.
Think about it...by the time the back of the plane finally fell off, there was no one left alive on that jet...the smoke and heat would have killed everyone before it destroyed the plane.
Funny thing is my sister was supposed to be a passenger on that flight. However while they were in Taipei, their luggage was in Hong Kong, so they decided to instead go there, collect it, and stay an extra day, and catch the next flight.
It's not funny
What a lucky baggage fail!
Nothing funny about the 159 dead passengers now is there?
@@Heart2HeartBooks If they got on it would have been 161.....
With 19 crew you would think someone could have checked on the cargo when they got the first warning; Seconds count when it comes to a fire and you're that far from land.
Before I watch this I have to tell you that I’ve been binging your content for weeks now! You put together amazing videos that are so well done. Thank you!!!
No oxygen, no fire......depressurisation at flight altitude could save their lives. The problem is at high flight altitude, the outside temperature is -55°C. Fire on any ship is hell, Swissair flight 111 comes to my mind.
if you depressurize at a height that's that cold the passengers and crew will die. oxygen masks only last for approx the time it takes to get the plane down to a height with breathable air, so, you'd need to begin that descent almost immediately if you depressurized the cabin.
all the way down to the safe height for flying depressurized aircraft the oxygen levels in the air are increasing , this rising level of oxygen would lead to a quite rapid increase in the size and intensity of any onboard fire not 100% extinguished.
@@noneofyourbizness It´s just a question to choose between shit and deep shit. To choose between sure death or having a minimal remote chance to survive. At 35´000 feet the fire would extinguish inmediately and instant smoke vent occures. The passenger oxygen generator cartridges supply 30 minutes oxygen, so also crew oxygen bottles. The only problem is the cold outside temp.
You can briefly survive that temperature, long enough to exhaust the fire of air. You can't survive thousands of degrees Fahrenheit, chemical fumes, or a full speed plunge into the ocean.
@@wysoft Yes, that´s what i answered to somebody, choose between shit or deep shit. Or better saying, sure death or a minimal chance to survive.
*Lord have Mercy, how horrifying this had been for all onboard.*
I'm not even going to try to imagine what the passengers were going through all at once as the plane was on fire, and their state of mind hearing the "Pandemonia, Screaming, Confusion, Praying and trying to comprehend their fate during this horrifying nightmare before coming to their demise.
My deep condolences to all their loved ones...
I'm so very sorry, and I know there are no words to take away the pain and grief your feeling, and I pray that over time, you'll have peace in your hearts and mind. ✝
they probably all passed out tbh
Nice
I suppose the only solace is they probaly would have been overcome by fumes pretty quickly. Still, the moments before that would be terrifying.
god is not real
Even if the pilots landed safely everyone on board would have been dead by then
I wondered what would have been the outcome if the pilots had followed the checklist and depressurized the plane while opening the doors as stated in the video. Hard to believe that there wasn't some sort of fire-suppression system in the cargo hold. I can't imagine the terror those people went through - burning to death, plane breaking apart and crashing into the dark ocean. It is also a bit unsettling that the cause of the fire wasn't clearly determined.
when Captain Uys shouted "close the bloody door" in Afrikaans, that was an indication that the doors actually had been opened in flight, but unfortunately, it appeared to be of no use
They wouldnt have burned to death, but they would have choked on the smoke
The small non rechargeable batteries on desktop computers, which simply retain date and time are not a fire risk. However, the rechargeable batteries on portable computers have plenty of energy to cause a fire. Even without a fault, if the computer switches on while packaged, it will soon overheat and cause a fire. Ideally, the battery pack should not be connected to the computer prior to being set up by the user, but this is not always the case.
One distinct possibility was that during the customs inspection, the computers were incorrectly repacked. Something as simple as one of the boxes being upside down, could have easily have resulted in the weight or vibration activating the on switch on one of the machines to activate.
Determining which one, would be almost impossible, but at the same time fairly pointless.
Transit crates containing either fire risk or combustible cargo, should be of a sealed fireproof design. When ANY batteries are involved, they should be even stronger, since once alight, batteries can produce their own oxygen.
My guess? Lithium batteries in the computers.
My guess? Lithium batteries in the computers.
My father, a former senior jumbo captain, always said that an onboard fire is the most terrifying thing you can have in the air.
This truly was a flight from hell. I just kept thinking listening to the captain's calm voice that the passengers must have been in a horrifying panic in the back.
....and actually,that 'hel' on the plane's side(written),is standing for:Helderberg...one of our most beautiful mountains in Cape Town.😥
its sad that even in 1987 when most buildings have sprinklers, there is no form of automated Fire suppression or retardant that could have automatically Reduced the intensity of the fire, instead of relying on a human who can panic, and of course will have trouble fighting a fire when smoke is obscuring their vision in what is essentially a small tube. RIP to those people. Maybe its time someone create some kind of cargo hold with fire resistance material, (but that would cost too much money and we know airlines only care about $$$$ first)
Back in the day, naked battery packs were used in computer UPS, while shipping. Now the law is strengthened. A fully discharged battery or protected battery can only be shipped via cargo. As they say , aviation laws are written on blood. Rip those poor souls.
i think not just about money (money ofc the first thing comes to mind) , making the cargo hold resist burning will make it unnecessarily heavier than normal which plane manufacture need to re-design many things to accomodate it. but the cargo container nowadays are made from materials that can resist burning much better than in the past.
also theres at least many regulation in place now to prevent any kind of ignition in the first place, safer alternatives than trying to put down fire
its more expensive to pay back the victims families...
@@PaulTC777 I disagree. It's significantly more expensive to retrofit every airliner with such a system then it is to compensate the rare occurrence of this happening. Corporations have these risks figured out by actuaries to save money. Profits over people, as usual.
@@PaulTC777 if that happen often then yes. but even in the past its still rare compared to numbers of uneventful flights
😭😭😭😭I actually wanted to cry during this. Cockpit audio always brings the tragedy up close and personal.
The ignored call from the cabin would've probably given them better info and lead them to act accordingly and faster. This was such a harrowing incident that no one deserves to go through.
Indeed, five flight crew members and none of them could answer the call from the cabin?
Excellent point.
Ditch in the water. NO WAY THEY WERE GOING TO MAKE it to airport.
@@Heart2HeartBooks At night time with no electronics, in the middle of the ocean
i swear like there are 20 different incidents with fires leading to either:
explosions
breakups
crashes
loss of control
smoke inhalation then death
True fire on a plane can be very very dangerous
The passenger who wanted to speak to the pilots and got ignored was going to inform them that he smells fire.... if they took him into consideration another story it would have been... RIP to all these people
This is literally a nightmare in reality. I can't even begin to imagine what must have been going through the minds of everyone on board as this played out. 😢
These videos are excellent.. keep them coming..Its sad people lost their lives buy there is something about aviation disasters that really interest me and I Love learning about all the different accidents around the world, Fatal or not
Thank you TFC for sharing how this tragedy has happened. This flight was coming to my country. I can't even imagine what the passengers and crew members on board went through... It was definitely a flight from hell. May them RIP...
But they didn't show you how it happened, just the end result. How did the fire start?
@@krashd It is said that the cargo where the fire started contained computers. Were they laptops with batteries? That's the only thing I can think of.
@@Marchant2 No laptops in the 1980s!
@@chendaforest there were laptops, but they were not as efficient as today.
@@krashd probably a terrorist 🤦♂️
And here I am, planing my next flight to Europe, LOL. Your videos scare me sometimes into not wanting to ever fly again. So well done. I am really so sad for all those people.
Just remember how safe flying is. And that fact that everyone brings up but is still true, you’re more likely to be struck by lightning or killed driving to the airport than die in an aircraft accident. Around 100k flights take off and land successfully every day.
It's weird, I'm exactly opposite. I am terrified of flying, but every single video like this is a problem that I know won't happen again.
Best thing is to feel safer that every issue that causes a crash in the past is addressed and protocol so it never occurs again
@@PhsykoOmen True, and that is a very good thing indeed
@@OfficialSamuelC but if you're on the one plane that crashes, however infrequently it may happen, it's a 100% for you. No choice, no escaping. Hopefully I'd die of a heart attack before too much time passes while this catastrophe is ongoing. Also I would feel so guilty having invited a family member to accompany me. Guess the guilt would only last as long as I am conscious.
I have flown across the Atlantic numerous times but I am still scared sh*tless every time I must do it. I get anxious just approaching the airport. While sitting in the departure area, I've often looked around and thought "oh, so that's the people I'm going to die with". Awful feeling. My kids and my ex rode a tourist helicopter. I stayed on the ground. There are no strings holding us up in the air... not my cup of tea.
If my destination is within the continent, North and Central America or Europe, I will drive no matter how long it takes.
Very informative but sad video thank you ,I must say how impressed I am with the graphics especially the way the passengers and crew walk on to the plane amazing.
I love watching those little robot people.
I swear, you read my mind, friend! I was genuinely secretly looking forward to this video and then you uploaded it! This is so fricking scary and sad. Those poor passengers and those poor crew members. The absolute horror and despair that they had to have been feeling is beyond unimaginable.
I can’t wait for you to make a vid on the Nepal crash that just occurred, prayers to the family’s affected🙏
I don't understand how there is not an automatic fire extinguisher system like in buildings that you can activate if required.
it was the fucking 1980's.
@@DavidMoviez don't get mad
@@DavidMoviez - What they didnt have water or sprinklers in the 1980s
@@nicknico4121 I'm not mad. I'm amazed that you just comment without doing a little bit of research.
@@nicknico4121 It's like, saying... 'why didn't they kill hitler in 1914 so he wouldn't start world war 2 in 1939?" ...
The presence of a robust automatic fire suppression system capable of fighting both paper and electrical fire (Halon, for example), could have saved the plane. Note also that the apparent absence of surveillance radar in Mauritius at the time contributed to a lack of situational awareness on both the aircraft and the control tower. The controller should have been able to track position and distance without relying on the crew but could not. The crew misinterpreted the DME information and thought they were a lot closer to the airport than they really were, which would have affected decision-making had the plane not broken up when it did.
Some battery chemistries contain their own oxidisers and will continue to burn in oxygen-depleted environment and sometimes *even under water*. This is what makes modern Lithium-ion batteries dangerous and why there are restrictions for carrying batteries inside aircraft today.
A fitted sprinkler system would have likely made no difference in this particular case and would incur a significant weight penalty. It also may not reach nooks and crannies where a fire might burn (eg. behind panels) and might also be damaged when loading or unloading cargo. There would also be the question of whether an inoperative fire suppression system would need to be on the Minimum Equipment List (MEL) for the aircraft and whether dispatch would not be possible if the system was inoperative. Portable extinguishers can be directed more accurately towards the seat of a fire and can be quickly replaced if they are found to be faulty.
*If* there were batteries on the pallete and *if* those batteries had oxidisers as part of their battery chemistry, then the fire would be unstoppable. The only way to save the aircraft and its passengers and crew would be to land and evacuate.
South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, headed by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, determined that it was highly likely that armaments or their components were being smuggled on board SAA flights, 295 being the one that paid the ultimate price. If this was in fact true, then the fire may have been burning an incendiary (or a precursor) and would have been disastrously intense and unstoppable. The Commission's report is worth reading for further information on this point, including reports that Captain Uys initially refused to carry the cargo, but was threatened and eventually agreed.
If the contents of the cargo were illegal, fitting additional fire protections beyond those commonly fitted to 747s may have alerted ground handling and maintenance crews that there were unusual risks being taken with the aircraft and its cargo. The South African government would not want to have been discovered in this way, hence such equipment would not have been fitted.
In relation to the bean-counting aspect of your comment, elements of actuarial analyses (eg. the "Value of a Statistical Life") are used to weigh up risks vs. risk treatments. As risks become known, treatments are put into place to mitigate or eliminate those risks based on their impact and likelihood. These become part of the overall risk management system used within aviation, which is highly risk averse. Service Bulletins, Alert Service Bulletins, Airworthiness Directives, aircrew training and operating standards all work together to make aviation the poster child for managing the delicate balance between operating cost and safety. Airlines generally have a "safety first" culture, although there are exceptions.
There are always improvements to be made to any human activity and they will be made as and when the risks become known. Its unfortunate that the passengers and crew of SAA 295 paid the ultimate price, even more so if the root cause was flouting of international law and threats and intimidation of the aircrew...
Death by falling is one of the worst ways to die because you can literally see ur death to the very last second before crash!
I’ve been waiting for this one to arrive on TFC, Absolutely loved it!!!!
I wonder how much worse would’ve been to ditch in the ocean. I fly small light single and multies, if I ever see smoke and flames coming from anywhere in the plane while over water, I’m ditching.
1:07 Boarding from the ramp in this scene takes me back to flying in Latin America. Not a disconnected, sanitized experience - you know you’re about to ride a rocket.
We do it this way at my local airport because it's such a small regional with only a handful of flights a day. As an aviation enthusiast it's peak joy to be so close to a jet at ground level and inspect it.
I'm in Southeast Asia.
As usual your videos are superbly done. Thank you
I'd like to know more about the Taiwanese customs officer coming on board to inspect the cargo. As that would not be standard procedure, you have to wonder what prompted this course of action. Two things; 1. They had information that lead to believe there was an issue with the cargo and failed to inform the captain of this information. Which in itself is outrageous because even if the customs officer found nothing, he was on board the plane under unusual circumstances. 2. The customs officer did something to create the fire.
agreed i think their is some possible indication that there was sabatoge or terrorist activity involved here. what strikes me odd is they never did any back checking on anybody aboard this flight that im aware of other then the routine stuff. and there is new evidence that indicates mh370 was pilot terrorist downed.
Maybe he sabotaged the plane?
For anyone interested in this angle, there's additional information on the Mail & Guardian's website. Search for "Key Helderberg evidence uncovered" to venture down this rabbit-hole... The truth of this is unlikely to ever be uncovered.
Many ppl believes that the aircraft was carrying something fishy based on the political situation of South Africa at that time. There are conspiracy that the plane might be carrying firearms or missile components. So that officer might knows what the actual cargo was and came to escort it?
@@a098012070417 Some battery chemistries contain their own oxidisers and will continue to burn in oxygen-depleted environment and sometimes *even under water*. This is what makes modern Lithium-ion batteries dangerous and why there are restrictions for carrying batteries inside aircraft today.
A fitted sprinkler system would have likely made no difference in this particular case and would incur a significant weight penalty. It also may not reach nooks and crannies where a fire might burn (eg. behind panels) and might also be damaged when loading or unloading cargo. There would also be the question of whether an inoperative fire suppression system would need to be on the Minimum Equipment List (MEL) for the aircraft and whether dispatch would not be possible if the system was inoperative. Portable extinguishers can be directed more accurately towards the seat of a fire and can be quickly replaced if they are found to be faulty.
*If* there were batteries on the pallete and *if* those batteries had oxidisers as part of their battery chemistry, then the fire would be unstoppable. The only way to save the aircraft and its passengers and crew would be to land and evacuate.
South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, headed by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, determined that it was highly likely that armaments or their components were being smuggled on board SAA flights, 295 being the one that paid the ultimate price. If this was in fact true, then the fire may have been burning an incendiary (or a precursor) and would have been disastrously intense and unstoppable. The Commission's report is worth reading for further information on this point, including reports that Captain Uys initially refused to carry the cargo, but was threatened and eventually agreed.
If the contents of the cargo were illegal, fitting additional fire protections beyond those commonly fitted to 747s may have alerted ground handling and maintenance crews that there were unusual risks being taken with the aircraft and its cargo. The South African government would not want to have been discovered in this way, hence such equipment would not have been fitted.
In relation to the bean-counting aspect of your comment, elements of actuarial analyses (eg. the "Value of a Statistical Life") are used to weigh up risks vs. risk treatments. As risks become known, treatments are put into place to mitigate or eliminate those risks based on their impact and likelihood. These become part of the overall risk management system used within aviation, which is highly risk averse. Service Bulletins, Alert Service Bulletins, Airworthiness Directives, aircrew training and operating standards all work together to make aviation the poster child for managing the delicate balance between operating cost and safety. Airlines generally have a "safety first" culture, although there are exceptions.
There are always improvements to be made to any human activity and they will be made as and when the risks become known. Its unfortunate that the passengers and crew of SAA 295 paid the ultimate price, even more so if the root cause was flouting of international law and threats and intimidation of the aircrew...
remember hearing about the "Helderberg" on the TV news as a 10 year old in South Africa. Those were momentous times in SA what with the war in Angola still raging, terrible violence in the townships, etc and this tragedy seemed to sum up the zeitgeist in the country and region at the time....that the old order was coming to a fiery end itself.
I'm surprised they didn't just attempt a water landing once the smoke started getting half way through the plane. Would had better chances
These are all nail-biters! Thank you, TFC, for memorializing such an awful loss. May it never occur again.
This accident shook the whole South Africa to the core.
I wonder why I keep watching these videos. I will probably never gonna fly again...
Very good production, but scary!
Thank you TFC for the well-produced video on this tragedy. May I suggest you look into Garuda 421? It's like Miracle on the Hudson except the river is even more narrow and meandering with twists & turns.
My brother was in primary school in South Africa when this happened. A classmate of his lost her father (a passenger on board.) It was deeply traumatizing for their whole grade, and every time this is mentioned we think of her and her family ♥️
Japanese professional wrestler Kazuharu Sonoda and his wife died on this flight 😥
Maybe things are different now than at that time. But one would expect there to be automatic fire suppression equipment in the cargo hold. I'm very surprised that there was not. That's so sad.
Great video. I had never heard of this tragedy and it's reminiscent of the Swiss Air disaster of 1998. RIP
Condolences to family of crew and passengers. I just finished my final exam in High school, 11/1987, driving to Natal when we heard the news.
You are absolutely brilliant!
Those passengers had to have suffered. Their families will live with that knowledge for the rest of their lives. Such a sad situation. I hope they find comfort in happy memories.😔
We can only hope in an odd sort of way that they passed out due to smoke inhalation, and didn't have to endure the spiral into the ocean from several miles above. Very, very sad.
I have often wondered if emergency ditching in the ocean, that far out from the airport with a fire going on would be the better move than trying to reach the airport... Time works against you with an aircraft fire. May the crew and passengers of this doomed flight rest in peace.
Agreed
@afterburner
I agree I would have ditched in this case ASAP.
But even if they did ditch, there is gonna be causalities
but yet again. Ditching is still an option and only way out
@@Interdictiondeltawing Even > 90% causalities is still better than a total loss
@@CynicalOldDwarf This, I never understand why so many people posting say that ditching with even a few survivors is considered worse than crashing trying to find a landing site with NO survivors....weird.
Absolute dire situation miles from an airport. Terrifying.
When I was a kid, I flew on the Helderberg from Joberg to New York. That was 1982
This is heartbreaking. They tried so hard.
What did they try?
They were doomed from the moment the fire began. 😔
The worst possible time to have a fire emergency..R.I.P to the souls onboard
Excellent and informative video as always
Thanks for this. I remember 3 things about this time.
I had to take my boss and his wife to the airport to catch a flight from Johannesburg to Mauritius and the chaos there because SAA were taking family members of those on the helderburg to Mauritius the day after the accident.
My mum did pottery with the captain's wife and it was a terrible time.
My parents were best friends with another couple where the husband was a senior Captain on SAA, and my dad asked him after the accident what was the cause and he replied that he couldn't talk about it
All pilots had to rotate and take those flights in turn to the far East.
The talk was that there was fireworks. That was the excuse. But at the time there were military and other embargoes against South Africa so things were being brought in secretly. Something that burnt really really hot.
To burn through aluminium temps have to be way above 300⁰C.
This was eventually bought to court to determine the cause. But the feeling after the end of the case was that things were swept under the carpet, as secrets could not be made public. The full transcript of the cockpit voice recorder is available on the web, but I personally think that parts have been removed.
I hope one day we get the truth
Excellent content, as always. A minor quibble: I doubt there would have been a QR code on cargo pallets in 1987.
Ya. They started in the mid-90s, I think. No biggy though.
@@soujrnr Actually he's using a flight simulator to recreate this, so he can only use the skins/objects in the game. THa'ts why it's like that.
With the rapid talk, and the accents from different areas I don't know how there aren't accidents everyday.
RIP to all souls lost on this flight. It is amazing that there were not more fire suppression methods in place given that this was a different configuration that allowed cargo on the main deck. At the very least there was probably technology available at the time to automatically start fire suppression based on the alarm, instead of having to wait for human intervention.
This was a relatively prolonged progression to the ultimate crash, the crew must have been aware of how desperate the situation was as more and more systems failed. Horrible for everyone on board.
TFC, thanks for your usual excellent presentation of the events as they unfolded.
what a tragedy, they were just minutes away from the stopover on Mauritius
The pilot is so calm report to ATC even he know the end of his life is in front of his eyes , Respect 🥀
Too calm.
Could they have landed somewhere earlier? Must have been a nightmare experience.
What a terror!! my heart goes to all passengers on that flight.
Rest in peace to the flight crew and passengers.
This is the best site of its kind in TH-cam.
Don't know why I watch these. I travel about 4 times a year by plane. I just came back from Madrid last night.
Oh well!
Boeing: should we install fire suppression system since cargo will be vulnerable to fire? Like building codes?
Executives: Nope. That's a couple thousand saved. Besides we will *contest" that rigid aluminum won't weaken exposed to 300 C.
I believe this crash was the end of the combi flights. Terrible crash...horror for the passengers and crew and, as always, a chilling recreation. Thank you for the experience.
Flew a combi out of Alaska just a few years ago. Crazy to think about all the shite in the cargo hold!
End of combi flights for SAA maybe. Flew in a Lufthansa combi back in 1996 which coincidentally stopped over in Johannesburg from Harare before going Northbound to Frankfurt.
@@taridean A 747 combi?
@@MrCrystalcranium Yes a Lufthansa 747-400 combi. I sat near the back where you see the wall between the cabin and cargo area.
@@taridean OK I don't remember where I heard that but I stand corrected! Thank you!
All these pilots and flight engineers in the flight deck and all of them very complacent! Absolutely Incredible!
That's why the cargo bay is floor separated from the passenger bay, they are not in same level. So the cargo bay can be depressurized to prevent fire. Less oxygen makes fire hard to spark.
I remember when this crash happened and I still wonder if there was any point at which the situation could have been salvaged and a good outcome ensured, or would it always have ended in crash?. I think there is still some dispute about whether the plane broke up in mid-air or crashed intact into the ocean but the result is of course the same. i think also that following this crash laws were changed so that combi configurations were not used again (although cargo continues to be carried in the hold of passenger aircraft)
I think the only chance they had was ditching immediately. It seems they underestimated the severity of the situation until it was too late.
Why are these containers not airtight? Make them fireproof as well.
Sometimes you have to consider ditching vs burning up in flight. It's not an easy option by any means but it may be the best one you've got in a fire scenario. Prayers to the families of those deceased.
Plane crashes are already scary enough but to the fact it was over open water AND at night. That’s so terrifying
RIP. 💔😢🙏🏻
Such a sad story. It brings to mind several "what if" thoughts. Most of the people may have survived if the crew would have landed on the ocean. Did the crew really think the fire was small enough not to be a problem?
Actually, an impact with water has very low survivability unless it is expertly controlled, at low speed. Considering the circumstances here, there was no chance for a water ditch.
0% chance of any survival. 150 miles from land in the middle of the night. Poor bastards had one option and they did their best.
This is absolutely terrifying. You realize the importance of checking baggage, etc. I'm about scared to fly now because anything can happen.
With so many crewmen aboard that plane, I don’t know why the captain didn’t order two guys to head down there immediately to see what was going on. Probably pretty extinguishable if they would’ve got there early on.
Wow! Nine hours into the flight and some catches fire? I wish they knew what happened. I wonder if they had followed the instructions and let in air to blow it out, if they could have been saved. Second guessing doesn't do any good, but I will still always wonder. Those poor souls. RIP
Thank you for another great presentation.