If you liked this video, be sure to subscribe as there are new videos every Saturday. This video went out on my Patreon 48 hours before going out publicly on TH-cam. If you would like to join my Patreon, you can here from £3 per month: www.patreon.com/DisasterBreakdown
Hey Disaster... Just a pro tip... We would call the runway "one seven three five" or "one seven left three five right" all in one phrase when we are referring to the piece of pavement as a whole. Example "Tower had airplanes stacked all the way down foyr left two two right." . And we just consider it a single runway. Thats coming from a captain in the States anyway. Great vids!
It's worth noting that well before landing, the pilots contacted Tam and told their supervisors they weren't feeling safe about landing at Congonhas due the heavy rain on that night, one of the thrust reverse was deactivated and, on top of that, the short runway at Congonhas. They requested to divert to Guarulhos International Airport, a more adequate and well equipped airport, 40km away from Congonhas. Their requested was declined because of all the troubles Tam would have to transport all the passengers to Congonhas.
I really like both airports, but the thing is, even with all the problems Congonhas had, this accident was still caused mainly due to human incompetence. If both engines were switched to idle, the plane would have stopped in time.
I guess they figured transporting 170 dead bodies was easier. The pilots should have ignored them and flown over that dangerous, poorly maintained airport. It’s disturbing how many airports are located in the middle high density populations. And it’s also maddening how developers are allowed to build so close to airports. I wish in a lot of these accidents they’d list greed as one of the causes, if not the primary cause in some accidents.
There are two issues that I would like to point out that were not mentioned in this video: 1- Plane had more fuel than usual for a flight like that, due to tax reasons. Fuel is affected by state aliquots in Brazil, and the state of Rio Grande do Sul had cheaper fuel at time when compared to São Paulo, which led to the decision to refuel prior to the flight. That naturally made the plane heavier and harder to stop; 2- The fuel issue, along with a heavily crowded flight and heavy rain, led the pilot to adopt an older throttles positioning since it would save between 50 to 100 meters of runway when compared to the newer. As we know, he forgot to set the second throttle to idle, which made the plane "confused" since there were both landing and take-off inputs at the same time. Ironically, if he stayed on both throttles to reverse like newer recommendation, the accident probably would never had happened.
The city just grew exponentially after ww2 with immigrants and emmigrants from all places. No one predicted that it would turn into the biggest city of the *American continent* so quickly in a way that it would surround the airport, that was VERY far away from everything when it started lol
@@carloseduardolefosse3015 they could still buy some properties at the start or the end of the line and expand it a little more or rebuild the street next to the runway
This one hits very close to home in many ways. My grandma used to live just minutes away from the airport. While I was not at home that day, she called me crying her heart out that "another plane" crashed and she heard the boom. (The another one she mentioned was also a tam flight that crashed nearby in the 90's) I had to get past the wreckage in my way back home. It was honestly the worst thing I've ever saw. Rip everyone on board. (I also refuse to get on a plane off or to congonhas still :|)
My house was about 800m away from the airport, I was 7yrs old and still remember that night. I was playing on the family computer and my parents were watching TV, when we heard a loud boom. It being a rainy night, we tought a lightning had struck near our house, but minutes later national TV was showing live coverage of the crash, and we could see the glow of the fire from our street. We passed by the crash site the next day. By then it was blocked off with barriers and full of police, firemen and investigators (I think), but we could still see the orange tail of the airplane stiching out if the burnt building. Scary stuff.
@@BiancaRodrigues-mk4kz Eu tive um pouco de medo de aviões depois disso, mas na primeira vez que voei a alegria de ter andado de avião foi o bastante para vencer o medo kkk. Hoje eu entendo que a aviação é bem mais segura doq dirigir, por exemplo (e ninguém vai fazer uma investigação milhonária caso eu morra em um acidente de carro para saber o que aconteceu e ver como evitar aquilo no futuro :P).
@@DOUGL4S1 sim. Dihsjahsja aconteceu mais ou menos comigo. Atualmente eu sou nerd de aviação eihwuwhejwhe mas esse acidente em específico, e aquele com o voo 1907 da gol até hj me dão um leve desespero só de pensar
How is this a simple mistake? It's like you mistaken your gas pedal with the break pedal in your 18-wheeler crashing into a crowded area. I can't imagine how ignorant the pilots must have been to keep the right engine thrust above idle. Also, why wouldn't they simply have pulled it back when it was clearly not slowing down?
Yep. You're right. In fact, due the proximity to the airport, that building was used exactly as facility to transport goods and cargo to and from the planes, and the wast majority of people who died on ground were in that building. To make things worst, right next to that building was a petrol station which also caught fire. Some cab drivers who served the airport passengers and were there at the gas station also died.
I used to spot airplanes taking off and landing from there when I was a kid with my dad. We stood right below oncoming planes, so it was a nice experience. We'd usually park our pickup at that gas station, grab a drink and some snacks and just spend the entire afternoon there. Matter of fact, if I recall correctly I remember being on the exact spot the plane crashed no more than a week before it happened. Eerie stuff.
Even more ironic when you realize the pilots asked TAM to land in Guarulhos instead, but TAM denied because they didn't want to deal with the cost of transporting people from Guarulhos to Congonhas. I guess they've learned their lesson, they now offer a free bus transfer from Guarulhos to Congonhas (and vice-versa).
This crash was really shocking for us here in Brazil, the country was still passing through hard times with the GOL 1907 crash that happen in 2006, and at that moment things start to calm down a little, then this happens out of nothing and really shock the entire country again and hurt the people morale. Man, hard times. Note: it is really fun landing on Congonhas, while getting close to the runaway you can see the tips of the plane wings REALLY REALLY close to the builds on the city.
Some of the best TH-cam content can be found on channels with less than 80k subs. It's because in order to stand out from other channels, they have to have a unique idea and have to work much harder for those views so the quality is higher.
@Arielle JS A It's s private platform. There is no Freedom of Speech on a private platform and they can remove content for any reason or none at all. Or equally, promote what ever they like. Stop acting like they are stepping on some kind of right of yours. They're not and you accept their rules the second you make an account.
I've always felt a little relieved on flights once the plane touches down. I don't remember hearing much about crashes due to overrunning the runway. Yikes! So horrible. RIP to all those souls. Great job, sir, as usual. Excellent graphics and information presented with respect for the fatalities. Thanks for never trying to sensationalize these events.
I remember this one, it happened when was a kid. There was also an accident from the Gol company pretty close, that combined, made me gain a fear of flying that stills remains.
TAM was an Airline known for horrible safety records and a philosophy that said "nothing matters more than profit" The Irony that the plane hit the Airline's building sounds a bit like Karma, but none of the poor souls deserved such fate.
Why put all the blame on the Airline? The Brazilian air transport industry at that time was being put pressure on by media, creating a litteral chaos, and TAM was one of if not the best Airline at the time.
Thank you, for making a video on one of the most dangerous acidents in my countrys history. You just got a new subscriber. Today Sao paulo is a huge metropolis, and congonhas stands in the middle of it, but when the airport was made, they didnt expect the city to reach the size it did.
I also flew that route from Porto Alegre to Congonhas in an A320 (now LATAM), knowing about that accident years ago and hoping it would never strike the same location and the same aircraft again... Some days later I had some time to visit the site, as I've been on the waiting list for my flight back to Germany, but got no seat for 2 days... So I drove in my rental car to visit the location. I've been sitting there at the "Memorial 17 de Julho" for a while. Every takeoff on RWY35L shocked me, as you don't hear anything until you see the aircraft, and then it's suddenly quite loud! All the victims names are written around the concrete memorial, which has a "surviving" tree in the middle. As this flight came from the south of Brazil, I also saw "german" names, like "Gottfried Taglöhner". There are still a lot of german descendants in the states of Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina, where several citys have been founded by german emigrants. I actually heard a woman speaking a strange german accent on my earlier flight to Porto Alegre... The Runway end is quite high above the street level. I saw, they had constructed an "Overrun" area to add some meters. Lots of steel and concrete. What a tragic accident. Today many children are playing at the site, as a part of that terrain is a playground now.
So they didn't back down on their right engine because the reverse thrust was inoperative, which caused the right engine to continue forward thrust? Jeez.
13:52 There hasn't been another fatal accident in this airport, but I do remember 2 cases (one last year), of smaller planes literally sliding after landing. One of them managed to stop exactly at the end of the runway, and the other went off the runway and stopped at the slope, almost touching the wall that separates the road and the airport.
I just recently discovered your channel and am going through all the videos! I wanted to say thank you for the warning before some about audio/video of the crash itself. It's very helpful for me! I really appreciate it!
I don't often point fingers, but how can two experienced pilots not know to remove thrust from an engine while trying to stop? It seems like a no-brainer and so sad it cost so many people their lives. Sorry, dumb mistake.
No one knows for certain. But to be fair, when the plane touches the ground, it emits a "retard" alert to let the pilots know when to reverse the thrust. But when the pilot brings just one of the engines controls back and leave the other untouched, the alert ceases when it clearly shouldn't.
One thing not properly highlighted is they never understood what was the problem. Before landing they were apreensive with the possibility of slipping on the runway (as it was a know problem of cog airport). When the plane didn't decelerate they thought they were slipping. It's confirmation bias
I lost two school classmates of mine on this crash, and to be honest never really understood why this happened since I was like 14 at the time...well now I know.
Absolutely amazing I’ve heard about this crash and learned about it on air crash investigation but I still watched it anyways You also forgot when it crashed into a gas station and it blew up leading the investigators on site to worry about if the flight recorders were destroyed by the fire because it was so ferocious.
What really haunts me is that in the seconds before all those people lost their lives in such a heartbreaking way, the pilots were screaming for their lives. My heart goes out to all the people impacted not only by the crash, but by the blast that caught structures in the area on fire as well. I hope that I never, ever have to take a plane ride to or from Congonhas.
It was probably painless death. It is almost certain that everyone there died on impact (as the aircraft was at almost 200 km/h or 124 mph) so the chances of anyone surviving the impact at that speed is almost zero, the human body is very sensitive
Awesome! I was looking forward to seeing a video on this TAM flight. Brazil has quite a history of big airplane disasters. Now I look forward to seeing a video on Varig 254.
wow.i saw this episode onece caled deadly procedure. R.I.P to all pasengers crew and civilians that died that day. love your content btw. and i always watch and i sit an wait until you upload.
This accident was actually very briefly covered on the This is Monsters channel yesterday - its theorized that a cult family had died in this accident going to the cult hotspot of Brazil. Super interesting, and super cool how things line up like this!
What absolute dingus allowed a plane they KNEW was broken to be flown for FOUR DAYS? That's the better part of a week! Also there's a typo in that CVR transcript.
Its normally not a problem, and wouldn't have been one hadn't it been combined with the pilots not taking their foot off of the gas (putting both thrust levers down to idle) 10:42 and the airport neglecting to install drainage into the runway. The plane was even screaming at them to kill the engine until they put the left engine into reverse. As a result of this and a few similar accidents they changed the alert to not stop until both engines are set to idle or reverse, instead of cutting off once the first was: www.flightglobal.com/enhanced-a320-logic-to-warn-pilots-of-throttle-retard-oversight/97089.article
you should check out ilheus aiport also here in brazil, reaaaaaaaaaally small runaway wih water on both sides it's always an adventure when I land here
I was 10 when this happened. My stepfather caught this flight on a regular basis because he had clients in Porto Alegre. For my little brothers' sake, I'm damn glad he didn't go that time. It was a pretty dark time for us, I even remember the scorched building.
Your videos are really great mate, there are flights that I know the fate of yet I watch your videos anyway just for the added information, top stuff, and I'd be interested to see the same style of video for other vehicle incidents, keep it up!
I was on a treadmill at the gym when the soap opera that was on TV was interrupted with this breaking news. I was about 10 km (~6 miles) from the airport when it happened. Up until the previous year, the spot in that avenue that the plane flew over was part of my daily commute.
Could you do one on Turkish Airlines flight 1951? It crashed near Schiphol Airport in a field next to the road. People stopped their cars & farmers got their tractors to help with the rescue. My boyfriend can remember the endless amount of sirens going to and from the horrific scene. I know there was some sketchy stuff going on with Boeing and the plane's system but I don't remember the whole story.
I’ve been here since 3.8k subs, let me just say that I am so glad that your channel has grown, I appreciate your dedication to your channel do much. Please continue to make amazing videos!
I have mixed feelings atm. Not because of the video, your channel's great! I just found out about it and watched all the vids and I love hearing about these events! It's just that I live in LI by JFK so on average 6-8 planes fly over my house each hour. I'm not scared of something happening, but binge watching this content isnt isn't doing my mind any favors 😅
I can relate, as I live by BWI, literally on runway heading of the primary runway (10/28). There are times when a plane might only be ~1500 feet, right over my house. I’m originally from the NYC area (I moved to MD from Astoria, actually), and I remember when American 587 crashed into Belle Harbor, so while I’m generally not worried about something happening, there have definitely been a couple times when a plane has flown _just_ a little too low overhead and caused my pulse to quicken briefly. Stay safe-and enjoy the view! 🛫 🛬
It's kinda weird to notice that I remember this crash, like, in the news and I don't remember the air collision one that happened roughly around the same period. Also: it gets so interesting when you know the wider context like politics/economics. And that it's one of the last accidents in civil aviation. I mean, if there's a safe thing to do in Brazil, it's to fly in a comertial airliner. (Also, it's kinda funny when people think Congonhas was built in the middle of a city. Just... there wasn't a city? It was built in the middle of nowhere? Because brazilians aren't as stupid as you think we are? Urbanization happens? Because São Paulo is a massive city with over 12 million people that need to live somewhere? Nobody would willingly build an airport in the middle of the largest city of South America. )
Flying into Cuzco, Peru is a corkscrew down into their airport the Andes. If you go to Machu Pichu you'll probably make this flight. Then there's the horrible hours-long train ride where the seats are wood and too small. But it's worth it to see the ruins.
I love your videos, they're really informative and well presented. I would like to ask you if you could make a video of Austral Airlines 2553 and LAPA 3142 flight disasters which occurred in South America, I still remember these were really big disasters in my country, Argentina, when they happened. Thank you again!
I absolutely love the quality of your content and how many videos you've been putting out. It really rekindled my love for aviation, keep up the hard work!
I don’t think planes should be allowed to fly if they have something inoperative on it. I know it was given the ok by Airbus but you never know how it will affect the aircraft. The lack of reverse thrust obviously didn’t help this flight but could have done if it had been operative. In fact would have helped.
The lack of reverse thrust on engine 2 wasn't really the issue here. It was the fact that the pilots failed to set the throttle correctly. Everything snowballed from this mistake.
I appreciate your work and excellent presentation of this channel and (obviously) sensitive material...well researched and not sensationalized. Thanks so much and keep it up!
Porto Alegre is the capital of my Estate. One week before this flight I was interviewing one of the passengers who died in the crash (university graduation work, he was the owner of a graphic design agency here in my city). I was shocked, since this is one of the most commom flights we use to reach major cities in Brazil as well as pre- international flights. I know at least 2 people who lost this flight because they arrived late at POA airport. 😢
it's difficult to say for sure. on the one side, that same day and the day before this incident there were reports of multiple planes having a hard time landing on that runway, one of them even slightly veered off it as well, but thankfully nothing serious happened. on the other hand, this very same plane had already landed there twice that same day without any issue. so who knows. I guess it was a tragic mix of things going wrong at the same time.
That's Airbus' weak excuse. How can a computer issue commands overriding the landing in such an asymmetric configuration, with spoilers already deployed, all landing gears on the ground, one engine going at full reverse, and not deploy autobrake without any warning? The issue is that even if the pilots detected the incorrect position in time, it would not be possible to overcome the situation because its system is designed not to abort the go-around with the engine spooling
Yeah, Bromma airport is pretty rarely used. I've been to the Bromma mall probably hundreds of times and I've never even seen a plane taking off at the runway. There's talks about demolishing it. It doesn't even serve any locations in Denmark or Norway, the only non Swedish destination is Helsinki.
As a Motorsport and aviation fan I was wondering if you could do a video on the Alan Kulwicki plane crash Which happened in 1993 a couple months after he won the NASCAR cup title
Woohoo a new vid! I really enjoy your content. It is very informative and really puts a perspective on the cascading failures that lead to these unfortunate accidents.
One of the crucial factors on this crash, is that the A320 family didn't have any warnings for the aforementioned condition. The pilots never realized that they had one engine on reverse thrust and the other on forward thrust. After some time, the European FAA (EASA) acknowledged the recommendation from ANAC (Brazilian FAA) to implement this warning.
My only friend is dead, the only person I ever wanted to spend the rest of my life sentence with on this rock prison hates me, 90% of my time is spent at work. _So which plane is most likely to end up on this channel? I've always wanted to fly_
Its so sad that disasters like this happens, they are so easily avoidable but pilots arent gods and knows everything. They thought that they were doing the right thing not taking the right engine into reverse thrust, not knowing it would make it impossible to slow the plane down as the right engine would still provide thrust. I dont blame the pilots, they thought they were doing the right thing, what should had happened was a routine for landing a plane with one engine not being able to use reverse thrust. "Take both engines into reverse thrust - this is needed so spoilers can be used" etc etc. Its just a poor example.
At the airline I flew for, we had a standing joke that one of the most dangerous situations you could have in a cockpit was two Captains flying together. In this case, I fail to understand why they didn’t notice the right throttle lever in the forward position or why they didn’t attempt a rejected landing procedure.
Just a small addition: the pilots yellng "turn, turn, turn" in the CVR is not an attempt to take the plane off the runway, it's the opposite: the plane began veering left from the thrust imbalance and they weren't able to keep it going straight.
Hello, yes I changed the URL so its DisasterBreakdown. Here is the link: www.patreon.com/DisasterBreakdown I need to change the descriptions soon to reflect this, thanks.
I LOVE your videos and I know they're about disasters but I definitely still want get my pilot license. I need to hug my pilot every time I land though lol
I have two topics for you. One is about TAM's Focker 100 where a bomb exploded in mid-flight, this case also more incidents made Brazilians refuse to board the plane becouse as bad reputation. The second is the VASP flight hijacking at the end of the 1980s, were the hijacker intended do the same thing as 9/11.
Spoilers also change the wing shape, they massively cut lift. With auto spoilers and auto brake, the plane will put out the spoilers when it senses the ground on the wheels, cutting lift and allowing the wheels to take the full weight of the plane, and use the extra grip in braking. With no spoilers the wings would be generating a lot of lift, braking from the wheels would be cut by half(?), just that alone could cause an over run.
there was a company culture of avoiding go-arounds and diverts, in order to save money. some say that the pilots radioed the airline asking to divert, but were forbidden to do so
So what I'm hearing is not only did two long-term pilots completely miss that one of the throttles was on climb power, they knowingly used the one operative thrust reverser while on a wet runway. Even if the other engine were completely shut off that would be a terrible idea. That's a great way to go off the side of the runway at speed. Add to that a seemingly incompetent airport management that didn't realize grooves on a runway are a good idea. Way to go Brazilian civil aviation!
There are always a multitude of failures which lead to a disaster… this accident being no exception. The footage was harrowing to watch… RIP to all lives lost.
7:27 Reverse thrust is not a 'primary' tool for slowing a plane down at least not at airports in the USA. (yes I realize regulations may vary in other countries) While reverse thrust is almost always used when operational by FAA regulations runways can only be certified for aircraft if that particular type is able to land there safely without the use of thrust reversers. This is necessary for engine failure-caused emergency landings when thrust reverse cannot be used.
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This video went out on my Patreon 48 hours before going out publicly on TH-cam. If you would like to join my Patreon, you can here from £3 per month: www.patreon.com/DisasterBreakdown
Do Scandinavian airlines flight 686
Do 1996 Air Africa crash. There were more ground casualties than any crash other than 9/11.
Brilliant editing Anthony. Thank you.
did you mean to pin this comment?
Hey Disaster... Just a pro tip... We would call the runway "one seven three five" or "one seven left three five right" all in one phrase when we are referring to the piece of pavement as a whole. Example "Tower had airplanes stacked all the way down foyr left two two right." . And we just consider it a single runway. Thats coming from a captain in the States anyway.
Great vids!
It's worth noting that well before landing, the pilots contacted Tam and told their supervisors they weren't feeling safe about landing at Congonhas due the heavy rain on that night, one of the thrust reverse was deactivated and, on top of that, the short runway at Congonhas. They requested to divert to Guarulhos International Airport, a more adequate and well equipped airport, 40km away from Congonhas.
Their requested was declined because of all the troubles Tam would have to transport all the passengers to Congonhas.
Boy sure I hope their families sued tam big time for that
That really gets my goat. I sure hope that they are regretting that on a daily basis.
@@5thdawg917 In SA? Good luck with that.
I really like both airports, but the thing is, even with all the problems Congonhas had, this accident was still caused mainly due to human incompetence. If both engines were switched to idle, the plane would have stopped in time.
I guess they figured transporting 170 dead bodies was easier. The pilots should have ignored them and flown over that dangerous, poorly maintained airport. It’s disturbing how many airports are located in the middle high density populations. And it’s also maddening how developers are allowed to build so close to airports. I wish in a lot of these accidents they’d list greed as one of the causes, if not the primary cause in some accidents.
There are two issues that I would like to point out that were not mentioned in this video:
1- Plane had more fuel than usual for a flight like that, due to tax reasons. Fuel is affected by state aliquots in Brazil, and the state of Rio Grande do Sul had cheaper fuel at time when compared to São Paulo, which led to the decision to refuel prior to the flight. That naturally made the plane heavier and harder to stop;
2- The fuel issue, along with a heavily crowded flight and heavy rain, led the pilot to adopt an older throttles positioning since it would save between 50 to 100 meters of runway when compared to the newer. As we know, he forgot to set the second throttle to idle, which made the plane "confused" since there were both landing and take-off inputs at the same time. Ironically, if he stayed on both throttles to reverse like newer recommendation, the accident probably would never had happened.
This crash interests me because the airport location looks like something I’d do in SimCity without planning ahead.
Lol that's just Brazil in general then
When congonhas was made, it didnt stay in themiddle of the city.
The city just grew exponentially after ww2 with immigrants and emmigrants from all places. No one predicted that it would turn into the biggest city of the *American continent* so quickly in a way that it would surround the airport, that was VERY far away from everything when it started lol
@@carloseduardolefosse3015 they could still buy some properties at the start or the end of the line and expand it a little more or rebuild the street next to the runway
I'm pretty sure I've seen people use an asset that looks just like that. XD
This one hits very close to home in many ways. My grandma used to live just minutes away from the airport. While I was not at home that day, she called me crying her heart out that "another plane" crashed and she heard the boom. (The another one she mentioned was also a tam flight that crashed nearby in the 90's) I had to get past the wreckage in my way back home. It was honestly the worst thing I've ever saw. Rip everyone on board. (I also refuse to get on a plane off or to congonhas still :|)
My house was about 800m away from the airport, I was 7yrs old and still remember that night. I was playing on the family computer and my parents were watching TV, when we heard a loud boom. It being a rainy night, we tought a lightning had struck near our house, but minutes later national TV was showing live coverage of the crash, and we could see the glow of the fire from our street.
We passed by the crash site the next day. By then it was blocked off with barriers and full of police, firemen and investigators (I think), but we could still see the orange tail of the airplane stiching out if the burnt building. Scary stuff.
@@DOUGL4S1 é. Eu só passei por lá uns 3 dias depois. Eu tinha uns 11 anos. Tive pesadelos e medo de vôo por anos
@@BiancaRodrigues-mk4kz Eu tive um pouco de medo de aviões depois disso, mas na primeira vez que voei a alegria de ter andado de avião foi o bastante para vencer o medo kkk. Hoje eu entendo que a aviação é bem mais segura doq dirigir, por exemplo (e ninguém vai fazer uma investigação milhonária caso eu morra em um acidente de carro para saber o que aconteceu e ver como evitar aquilo no futuro :P).
@@DOUGL4S1 sim. Dihsjahsja aconteceu mais ou menos comigo. Atualmente eu sou nerd de aviação eihwuwhejwhe mas esse acidente em específico, e aquele com o voo 1907 da gol até hj me dão um leve desespero só de pensar
Tam flight 402 in 1996
I remember that day. So tragic...
On a lighter note, your pronunciation of "Congonhas" and "Guarulhos" are on point.
Came here to say that about the pronunciation, he really did his homework.
It's the seemingly small things that really make a good quality channel.
It's so sad how simple mistakes like that can cost so many lives. Been an airline pilot is not an easy job and I salute everybody that does their job.
How is this a simple mistake? It's like you mistaken your gas pedal with the break pedal in your 18-wheeler crashing into a crowded area. I can't imagine how ignorant the pilots must have been to keep the right engine thrust above idle. Also, why wouldn't they simply have pulled it back when it was clearly not slowing down?
@@sergiuszwinogrodzki6569 You're clearly not a pilot and have no idea what it's like to do anything as close as difficult to this.
@@LorenzoGiordanoGomes nope
It's somewhat ironic that a TAM Airlines plane crashed into a TAM Airlines building.
Yep. You're right. In fact, due the proximity to the airport, that building was used exactly as facility to transport goods and cargo to and from the planes, and the wast majority of people who died on ground were in that building. To make things worst, right next to that building was a petrol station which also caught fire. Some cab drivers who served the airport passengers and were there at the gas station also died.
Friendly fire
I used to spot airplanes taking off and landing from there when I was a kid with my dad. We stood right below oncoming planes, so it was a nice experience. We'd usually park our pickup at that gas station, grab a drink and some snacks and just spend the entire afternoon there. Matter of fact, if I recall correctly I remember being on the exact spot the plane crashed no more than a week before it happened. Eerie stuff.
Even more ironic when you realize the pilots asked TAM to land in Guarulhos instead, but TAM denied because they didn't want to deal with the cost of transporting people from Guarulhos to Congonhas. I guess they've learned their lesson, they now offer a free bus transfer from Guarulhos to Congonhas (and vice-versa).
This crash was really shocking for us here in Brazil, the country was still passing through hard times with the GOL 1907 crash that happen in 2006, and at that moment things start to calm down a little, then this happens out of nothing and really shock the entire country again and hurt the people morale. Man, hard times.
Note: it is really fun landing on Congonhas, while getting close to the runaway you can see the tips of the plane wings REALLY REALLY close to the builds on the city.
At least there hasnt been any comercial plane crashes on the country since then
Ans then when we thought everything was over, Chapecoense's plane crashed
I love airplanes and that would be cool to see so close. But nah lol, I'd legit have a panic attack.
I love TH-cam for introducing me to these smaller channels. Amazing work man. Keep it up!
Glad you enjoy it!
Some of the best TH-cam content can be found on channels with less than 80k subs. It's because in order to stand out from other channels, they have to have a unique idea and have to work much harder for those views so the quality is higher.
@Arielle JS A It's s private platform. There is no Freedom of Speech on a private platform and they can remove content for any reason or none at all. Or equally, promote what ever they like.
Stop acting like they are stepping on some kind of right of yours. They're not and you accept their rules the second you make an account.
@@pegg00 Not really. Without TH-cam you never would have found it in the first place.
@@pegg00 I do praise him lol. I show thanks to TH-cam as well because I most likely would not have found this channel if it wasn’t for the recommended
I've always felt a little relieved on flights once the plane touches down. I don't remember hearing much about crashes due to overrunning the runway. Yikes! So horrible. RIP to all those souls. Great job, sir, as usual. Excellent graphics and information presented with respect for the fatalities. Thanks for never trying to sensationalize these events.
I know, I always assume that once we have truly landed we are safe. Or that even if you overshoot it won't be anything too serious.
😢☹
I love how you post these on Saturday and bless us on the best day of the week.
Glad you enjoy it!
Remember your channel password, one day TH-cam will bless you with the grace of the algorithm. This channel is a gem
I live for this time of the week and get so excited when new plane videos drop.
I'm guessing you're a patreon
@@ElectroRail * 1 day ago * YES lol
I remember this one, it happened when was a kid. There was also an accident from the Gol company pretty close, that combined, made me gain a fear of flying that stills remains.
TAM was an Airline known for horrible safety records and a philosophy that said "nothing matters more than profit" The Irony that the plane hit the Airline's building sounds a bit like Karma, but none of the poor souls deserved such fate.
Why put all the blame on the Airline? The Brazilian air transport industry at that time was being put pressure on by media, creating a litteral chaos, and TAM was one of if not the best Airline at the time.
Thank you, for making a video on one of the most dangerous acidents in my countrys history. You just got a new subscriber.
Today Sao paulo is a huge metropolis, and congonhas stands in the middle of it, but when the airport was made, they didnt expect the city to reach the size it did.
I also flew that route from Porto Alegre to Congonhas in an A320 (now LATAM), knowing about that accident years ago and hoping it would never strike the same location and the same aircraft again...
Some days later I had some time to visit the site, as I've been on the waiting list for my flight back to Germany, but got no seat for 2 days...
So I drove in my rental car to visit the location. I've been sitting there at the "Memorial 17 de Julho" for a while. Every takeoff on RWY35L shocked me, as you don't hear anything until you see the aircraft, and then it's suddenly quite loud!
All the victims names are written around the concrete memorial, which has a "surviving" tree in the middle. As this flight came from the south of Brazil, I also saw "german" names, like "Gottfried Taglöhner". There are still a lot of german descendants in the states of Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina, where several citys have been founded by german emigrants. I actually heard a woman speaking a strange german accent on my earlier flight to Porto Alegre...
The Runway end is quite high above the street level. I saw, they had constructed an "Overrun" area to add some meters. Lots of steel and concrete.
What a tragic accident. Today many children are playing at the site, as a part of that terrain is a playground now.
I love how you explain the way planes work, why certain decisions are made.
So they didn't back down on their right engine because the reverse thrust was inoperative, which caused the right engine to continue forward thrust? Jeez.
How two experienced pilots can f*** up like that ...
13:52 There hasn't been another fatal accident in this airport, but I do remember 2 cases (one last year), of smaller planes literally sliding after landing.
One of them managed to stop exactly at the end of the runway, and the other went off the runway and stopped at the slope, almost touching the wall that separates the road and the airport.
Having discovered your channel today, I sincerely hope you will keep up the great work and improvements within your videos!
Welcome aboard!
I just recently discovered your channel and am going through all the videos! I wanted to say thank you for the warning before some about audio/video of the crash itself. It's very helpful for me! I really appreciate it!
I don't often point fingers, but how can two experienced pilots not know to remove thrust from an engine while trying to stop? It seems like a no-brainer and so sad it cost so many people their lives. Sorry, dumb mistake.
No one knows for certain. But to be fair, when the plane touches the ground, it emits a "retard" alert to let the pilots know when to reverse the thrust. But when the pilot brings just one of the engines controls back and leave the other untouched, the alert ceases when it clearly shouldn't.
One thing not properly highlighted is they never understood what was the problem. Before landing they were apreensive with the possibility of slipping on the runway (as it was a know problem of cog airport). When the plane didn't decelerate they thought they were slipping. It's confirmation bias
I lost two school classmates of mine on this crash, and to be honest never really understood why this happened since I was like 14 at the time...well now I know.
Absolutely amazing I’ve heard about this crash and learned about it on air crash investigation but I still watched it anyways
You also forgot when it crashed into a gas station and it blew up leading the investigators on site to worry about if the flight recorders were destroyed by the fire because it was so ferocious.
Such an amazing channel. The only disappointing this is that I gotta wait a week to see another vid from this amazing channel
What really haunts me is that in the seconds before all those people lost their lives in such a heartbreaking way, the pilots were screaming for their lives. My heart goes out to all the people impacted not only by the crash, but by the blast that caught structures in the area on fire as well. I hope that I never, ever have to take a plane ride to or from Congonhas.
It was probably painless death. It is almost certain that everyone there died on impact (as the aircraft was at almost 200 km/h or 124 mph) so the chances of anyone surviving the impact at that speed is almost zero, the human body is very sensitive
Awesome! I was looking forward to seeing a video on this TAM flight. Brazil has quite a history of big airplane disasters. Now I look forward to seeing a video on Varig 254.
wow.i saw this episode onece caled deadly procedure. R.I.P to all pasengers crew and civilians that died that day. love your content btw. and i always watch and i sit an wait until you upload.
I've been to Congonhas Airport once or twice in my life, that airport gives me chills.
I've always preferred Guarulhos instead.
you guys also should check the aiport of Ilheus also here in Brazil, always a "fun" time to land here
This accident was actually very briefly covered on the This is Monsters channel yesterday - its theorized that a cult family had died in this accident going to the cult hotspot of Brazil. Super interesting, and super cool how things line up like this!
Super.
Thank you for this, I looked them up, I now have 2 new channels to enjoy!
oh damn I didn't even realise this, I only just watched that video a couple days ago before stumbling across this one. small youtube!
Can you post the link?
I found your channel about a week ago and I'm addicted to these detailed and perfect documentaries.
Ironic how it crashed into a TAM building
Thanks for doing my request 😁
What absolute dingus allowed a plane they KNEW was broken to be flown for FOUR DAYS? That's the better part of a week! Also there's a typo in that CVR transcript.
Its normally not a problem, and wouldn't have been one hadn't it been combined with the pilots not taking their foot off of the gas (putting both thrust levers down to idle) 10:42 and the airport neglecting to install drainage into the runway.
The plane was even screaming at them to kill the engine until they put the left engine into reverse. As a result of this and a few similar accidents they changed the alert to not stop until both engines are set to idle or reverse, instead of cutting off once the first was: www.flightglobal.com/enhanced-a320-logic-to-warn-pilots-of-throttle-retard-oversight/97089.article
Great video as always RIP to 199 people
I remember seeing an episode of Mayday covering this incident, I've been dreading this airport ever since.
you should check out ilheus aiport also here in brazil, reaaaaaaaaaally small runaway wih water on both sides
it's always an adventure when I land here
I was 10 when this happened. My stepfather caught this flight on a regular basis because he had clients in Porto Alegre.
For my little brothers' sake, I'm damn glad he didn't go that time.
It was a pretty dark time for us, I even remember the scorched building.
IT IS ALWAYS THE REVERSE THRUST!!
Your videos are really great mate, there are flights that I know the fate of yet I watch your videos anyway just for the added information, top stuff, and I'd be interested to see the same style of video for other vehicle incidents, keep it up!
I was on a treadmill at the gym when the soap opera that was on TV was interrupted with this breaking news. I was about 10 km (~6 miles) from the airport when it happened. Up until the previous year, the spot in that avenue that the plane flew over was part of my daily commute.
Could you do one on Turkish Airlines flight 1951? It crashed near Schiphol Airport in a field next to the road. People stopped their cars & farmers got their tractors to help with the rescue. My boyfriend can remember the endless amount of sirens going to and from the horrific scene. I know there was some sketchy stuff going on with Boeing and the plane's system but I don't remember the whole story.
I’ve been here since 3.8k subs, let me just say that I am so glad that your channel has grown, I appreciate your dedication to your channel do much. Please continue to make amazing videos!
Thank you. Thanks so much for sticking around
@@DisasterBreakdown no problem, I’ll continue to watch your videos forever!
As always your pronunciation of Brazilian Portuguese is on point!
I have mixed feelings atm. Not because of the video, your channel's great! I just found out about it and watched all the vids and I love hearing about these events! It's just that I live in LI by JFK so on average 6-8 planes fly over my house each hour. I'm not scared of something happening, but binge watching this content isnt isn't doing my mind any favors 😅
I can relate, as I live by BWI, literally on runway heading of the primary runway (10/28). There are times when a plane might only be ~1500 feet, right over my house. I’m originally from the NYC area (I moved to MD from Astoria, actually), and I remember when American 587 crashed into Belle Harbor, so while I’m generally not worried about something happening, there have definitely been a couple times when a plane has flown _just_ a little too low overhead and caused my pulse to quicken briefly. Stay safe-and enjoy the view! 🛫 🛬
Less than 2 minutes in and a commercial already - well done TH-cam - not
It's kinda weird to notice that I remember this crash, like, in the news and I don't remember the air collision one that happened roughly around the same period. Also: it gets so interesting when you know the wider context like politics/economics. And that it's one of the last accidents in civil aviation. I mean, if there's a safe thing to do in Brazil, it's to fly in a comertial airliner. (Also, it's kinda funny when people think Congonhas was built in the middle of a city. Just... there wasn't a city? It was built in the middle of nowhere? Because brazilians aren't as stupid as you think we are? Urbanization happens? Because São Paulo is a massive city with over 12 million people that need to live somewhere? Nobody would willingly build an airport in the middle of the largest city of South America. )
Flying into Cuzco, Peru is a corkscrew down into their airport the Andes. If you go to Machu Pichu you'll probably make this flight.
Then there's the horrible hours-long train ride where the seats are wood and too small. But it's worth it to see the ruins.
Guarulhos is a really nice airport.
I love your videos, they're really informative and well presented. I would like to ask you if you could make a video of Austral Airlines 2553 and LAPA 3142 flight disasters which occurred in South America, I still remember these were really big disasters in my country, Argentina, when they happened. Thank you again!
I absolutely love the quality of your content and how many videos you've been putting out. It really rekindled my love for aviation, keep up the hard work!
This video appeared today on my recommended section... Today July 17th, 2021, exact 14 years after this tragedy
I don’t think planes should be allowed to fly if they have something inoperative on it. I know it was given the ok by Airbus but you never know how it will affect the aircraft. The lack of reverse thrust obviously didn’t help this flight but could have done if it had been operative. In fact would have helped.
It’s normal. If they didn’t, half of all flights would be cancelled.
Planes count on a lot of redundancy, so if one thing is faulty it's okay to keep using it for a little while before fixing it.
The lack of reverse thrust on engine 2 wasn't really the issue here. It was the fact that the pilots failed to set the throttle correctly. Everything snowballed from this mistake.
Really love when TH-cam has the contextual blindness to put an Expedia ad on a plane crash channel. XD
Get those ad dollars, I guess. XD
I appreciate your work and excellent presentation of this channel and (obviously) sensitive material...well researched and not sensationalized. Thanks so much and keep it up!
That was a very hard evening news to watch :(
I like how Guarulhos is supposed to be the International airport of Sao Paulo but I see everyone else using Congonhas
Mate you need to do a video on Toncontin Intl airport, literally the planes when they are landing they pass above my house
Thank you so much for these videos, they are amazing
Porto Alegre is the capital of my Estate. One week before this flight I was interviewing one of the passengers who died in the crash (university graduation work, he was the owner of a graphic design agency here in my city). I was shocked, since this is one of the most commom flights we use to reach major cities in Brazil as well as pre- international flights. I know at least 2 people who lost this flight because they arrived late at POA airport. 😢
these videos are so interesting ! this channel is definitely a hidden gem :)
Just found this channel a couple days ago. Been binging on the videos. Taking a flight this Monday. 🤦♂️
So glad youtube recommended this channel to me, love your videos
Great video as always, could you do a video on Air India Flight 182?
So with my understanding. If they properly followed procedures and held it down to stop the engines. Would they have not crashed?
it's difficult to say for sure. on the one side, that same day and the day before this incident there were reports of multiple planes having a hard time landing on that runway, one of them even slightly veered off it as well, but thankfully nothing serious happened.
on the other hand, this very same plane had already landed there twice that same day without any issue. so who knows. I guess it was a tragic mix of things going wrong at the same time.
They would almost certainly have been fine.
That's Airbus' weak excuse. How can a computer issue commands overriding the landing in such an asymmetric configuration, with spoilers already deployed, all landing gears on the ground, one engine going at full reverse, and not deploy autobrake without any warning? The issue is that even if the pilots detected the incorrect position in time, it would not be possible to overcome the situation because its system is designed not to abort the go-around with the engine spooling
Yeah, Bromma airport is pretty rarely used. I've been to the Bromma mall probably hundreds of times and I've never even seen a plane taking off at the runway. There's talks about demolishing it. It doesn't even serve any locations in Denmark or Norway, the only non Swedish destination is Helsinki.
If it was used as much as congonhas is, I'd be pretty scared honestly. There's a bunch of buildings close to it and a whole mall very close by.
As a Motorsport and aviation fan I was wondering if you could do a video on the Alan Kulwicki plane crash Which happened in 1993 a couple months after he won the NASCAR cup title
That would be so great
Great work on these videos! Do you have plans on breaking down other events like maritime disasters?
Dang, thought your videos were from a million sub channel with how good they are. Keep up the good work!
Woohoo a new vid! I really enjoy your content. It is very informative and really puts a perspective on the cascading failures that lead to these unfortunate accidents.
Thank you for your great Channel
Could you make a video of Scandinavian Airlines 933? No sign of it on TH-cam 😩
Don’t know why I’m so obsessed with these videos but I am great videos keep it up!
Typical official "solution" - pilots mishandle the engines, therefore the runway needs to be improved. Uh-huh.
Thank you for a very well explained and detailed account of this tragic accident.
Great content, haven't found a channel that specifies in Air Disasters, very interesting!
One of the crucial factors on this crash, is that the A320 family didn't have any warnings for the aforementioned condition. The pilots never realized that they had one engine on reverse thrust and the other on forward thrust. After some time, the European FAA (EASA) acknowledged the recommendation from ANAC (Brazilian FAA) to implement this warning.
My only friend is dead, the only person I ever wanted to spend the rest of my life sentence with on this rock prison hates me, 90% of my time is spent at work.
_So which plane is most likely to end up on this channel? I've always wanted to fly_
Its so sad that disasters like this happens, they are so easily avoidable but pilots arent gods and knows everything. They thought that they were doing the right thing not taking the right engine into reverse thrust, not knowing it would make it impossible to slow the plane down as the right engine would still provide thrust.
I dont blame the pilots, they thought they were doing the right thing, what should had happened was a routine for landing a plane with one engine not being able to use reverse thrust. "Take both engines into reverse thrust - this is needed so spoilers can be used" etc etc. Its just a poor example.
Congonhas is so small, in the middle of the city, with skyscrapers surrounding it, pilots describe as "landing & taking off from an aircraft carrier".
Just seeing that CVR transcript is devastating.
there's actually both audio from the cockpit and video footage from the crash, it's even worse. truly sad
At the airline I flew for, we had a standing joke that one of the most dangerous situations you could have in a cockpit was two Captains flying together. In this case, I fail to understand why they didn’t notice the right throttle lever in the forward position or why they didn’t attempt a rejected landing procedure.
Just a small addition: the pilots yellng "turn, turn, turn" in the CVR is not an attempt to take the plane off the runway, it's the opposite: the plane began veering left from the thrust imbalance and they weren't able to keep it going straight.
You should do Varig 254 next :D
It’s scary how a pilot error could lead to tragedy. Surely pilots need better training?
You're Patreon is getting a 404 error, looks like you changed names there but not in your video description template
Hello, yes I changed the URL so its DisasterBreakdown. Here is the link: www.patreon.com/DisasterBreakdown
I need to change the descriptions soon to reflect this, thanks.
I LOVE your videos and I know they're about disasters but I definitely still want get my pilot license. I need to hug my pilot every time I land though lol
I have two topics for you.
One is about TAM's Focker 100 where a bomb exploded in mid-flight, this case also more incidents made Brazilians refuse to board the plane becouse as bad reputation.
The second is the VASP flight hijacking at the end of the 1980s, were the hijacker intended do the same thing as 9/11.
Please do a video about Eastern Airlines Flight 401 that crashed in the Florida Everglades. I don't believe you've done a video on this one yet.
Is that the one that originated the “haunted plane legend”?
@@Er_Guille Yes. And in 1996 a valjet airplane crashes also in the everglades just meters from where flight 401 crashed
Spoilers also change the wing shape, they massively cut lift.
With auto spoilers and auto brake, the plane will put out the spoilers when it senses the ground on the wheels, cutting lift and allowing the wheels to take the full weight of the plane, and use the extra grip in braking.
With no spoilers the wings would be generating a lot of lift, braking from the wheels would be cut by half(?), just that alone could cause an over run.
I wonder if a take off instead of full braking was an option.
there was a company culture of avoiding go-arounds and diverts, in order to save money. some say that the pilots radioed the airline asking to divert, but were forbidden to do so
So what I'm hearing is not only did two long-term pilots completely miss that one of the throttles was on climb power, they knowingly used the one operative thrust reverser while on a wet runway. Even if the other engine were completely shut off that would be a terrible idea. That's a great way to go off the side of the runway at speed. Add to that a seemingly incompetent airport management that didn't realize grooves on a runway are a good idea.
Way to go Brazilian civil aviation!
Gotta ask, when will you be doing Iranair 655 which got shot down by a US battleship
Ironic that a TAM airplane crashes into a TAM Airlines building.
There are always a multitude of failures which lead to a disaster… this accident being no exception. The footage was harrowing to watch… RIP to all lives lost.
The explanation for the crash is actually pretty simple. The plane didn't want to be in Brazil
Isnt it ironic that it crashed into a TAM building?
7:27 Reverse thrust is not a 'primary' tool for slowing a plane down at least not at airports in the USA. (yes I realize regulations may vary in other countries) While reverse thrust is almost always used when operational by FAA regulations runways can only be certified for aircraft if that particular type is able to land there safely without the use of thrust reversers. This is necessary for engine failure-caused emergency landings when thrust reverse cannot be used.
Heart wrenching