The Sun Valley Mall Plane Crash Disaster 1985
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 9 ส.ค. 2022
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The in-depth story of the Sunvalley Mall Plane Crash Disaster 1985.
It’s just two days before Christmas in 1985, and a thick cloud of fog rolls down over the Californian city of Concord in Contra Costa County. Through the mist and darkness, two flashing red lights are seen in the sky. A plane appears, descending toward the Buchanan Field Airport's runway on the city's western outskirts. Weather conditions are far from ideal for flying, but behind the controls of the twin-engine Beechcraft 95-A55 Baron aircraft is an experienced pilot.
Seconds after, a loud explosion shakes the neighbourhood, followed by a ball of fire rising 40 feet into the air. The plane crashes into the skylight of the Sun Valley Mall and creates havoc inside.
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@@sofiyakamalova4137 thanks for the warning!
No.
@@sofiyakamalova4137 You're a lifesaver! Let's stop greed in its tracks!
@@737Garrus me too
The fact that other shoppers and mall workers put the burn victims in the fountain and Sears used ice to soothe their injuries has me in tears... They really tried to help as best they could!
That was very good thinking on someone's part.
True FIRST RESPONDERS NO PHONE CALL NEEDED!
In the dirty fountain water on open wounds possibly causing infection...
@@GlennDavey - Nothing short of an operating room is sterile. What else were they supposed to do? Just stand over them and watch them suffer?
C'mon man.
@@christopherweise438 The road to hell is paved with good intentions. Nice idea, bad execution.
My stepdad, brother, and I headed out to that mall on that night. We told our mom we were going there. As we started to drive away, we decided that the mall would probably be a zoo and we headed to Walnut Creek instead. We had no idea what was going on at Sun Valley until we were listening to the radio headed back home. We got home to my mom freaking out because she thought we were at the mall.
Now THAT'S a story! Your mother must have been beside herself and fit to be tied. That's just wild. Heck, the entire story is wild. And you'll always have it as a Christmas memory. How bizarre. Sure glad you guys changed your plans.
Wow! That was divine intervention!
Man me and my group lives there midnight movies were out there we used to go see Metallica in the city and go down there I was blown away when that happened by that time I was no longer a mall rat I was the mother of a 6-year-old I didn't know somebody that was there but they were okay they were at Wilson's Leather
Oh my goodness, somebody finally covered this one. I spent a lot of time in this mall as a kid and remember this well. A family member was actually in Macy's when this happened. I wish it had never happened but I'm glad it's not forgotten yet.
Hey neighbor. I live right by the Target in PH. I remember this happening. The airplanes STILL fly low over the area daily.
I went with my mother to see Santa the previous day, was 3. Lived right next to Valhalla.
Had a plane overrun the runway once and plow through the road at the end about 15 minutes after I drove by too. Good times.
I was in the mall that night and left the mall about 20 minutes before the crash. When I got home I turned on the TV, and a little while later there was a special bulletin about the crash.
My father had a plane at Buchanan Field at the time and was acquainted with James Graham.
Yep, lived in the area too and remember this incident like it was yesterday
@@mkay1957 wow. You are pretty intimately associated with this incident.
In remembrance to the victims:
Pilot James Mountain Graham, 67
Passenger Brian Ward Oliver, 23
Passenger John Frederick Lewis, 48
And those on the ground:
Pamela Joy Stanford, 22
Alexander Luong, 14 months
Chandrika K. Shah, 49
Patricia Joanne Larson, 45
😔💐
Thank you for naming the victims.
14 months.. fuck
What an awful event, I'm at least glad this list isn't any longer
@@ZephyrusAsmodeus I’m surprised that more people didn’t die … especially with it happening near the holidays.
Bruh James was flying a plane at 67?!!!
Thats past retirement age.
RIP.
This truly was a horrible tragedy. That poor mother who survived but lost her baby boy… I couldn’t imagine the grief and pain.
At least she'll have food for a few days afterwards
@@joshuakuehn you sicko, delete the comment
It's amazing that in the 80's we felt bad when a woman lost her baby but in the 2000s we applaud them for what happened. 900,000 dead babies a year and counting!
@@joshuakuehn huh??
@@joshuakuehn Dude... just... what the fuck...
Omg! I was working at Macys that night. It was so scary. All we were told was to “stay with our cash registers “… hours later they allowed us to go home. It was quite a scene outside that night. Much later we were allowed to walk into the mall. It was so eery and creepy. Dark and burnt out. What a terrible night
Yep, protect the company’s cash.......even if it costs you your life........
@@rrknl5187 thats how companies work these days, i saw a story where a co worker had died and the company tried to find a replacement saying it took up value company time and the cost of not having an employee working had impacted them, they clearly didnt give two shits about people, only company, honestly if i was bexa i would of just left and dipped, no money can buy anyones life, these companies need to care more
@@rrknl5187 ha exactly what I was thinking.
That's just awful
You actually stayed with your cash register?
7 people dead is lower than expected. The evening 2 days before Christmas?! This could have been a lot worse.
My dad was working at a toy store in this mall when this happened. I remember him telling me the story almost every time we went as a family.
Was that K.B. that was on the ground floor? It's now McDonald's.
@@amandab8433 McDonald's will consume all
Over yonder is where i dug up some arrow heads.
You have proof to that? Lol I can say I worked at the toy shop there and nah that store was closed way before this incident happened lol
@@bowens9763 😂😂😂
As a burn victim myself that suffer third-degree burns to over 50% of my back from gasoline you do not ever put water on a burn victim you will actually introduce bacteria into the wound unless you’re putting them out because they’re on fire keep water away from open burns
Youre not supposed to use water to put out a fire on someone either
@@shadowsinmymind9how do do you put them out a rug
I knew Pam when I was five. She lived across the street from me and we did everything together. She was amazing, even at that young age. A very compassionate child. I wish she had had more of years to her life. I knew she had passed in this event. I had no idea how horrific it was for her.
Life is awful now she may be a lucky one I wish I was dead
Now back then life was easier and finding a good career and place to live was easy so maybe not 🤔
That’s so interesting to hear. She would have been my aunt if she had been alive when I was born.
@@haleyguadagni3580 That's amazing. I remember your dad.
@@angelaflood5919 why does that sound like a threat
Unfortunately, I knew a girl that was horrifically burned in this incident 😢 However, she had the fortitude of someone ten times her age and pulled through!
God bless her and her family!
fortitude is what doctors use on rich patients. It's like the wonder drug. Too bad more don't have it or else we'd all still be alive
You can be extremely well trained but spatial disorientation can still confuse you, it’s pretty insidious that way.
I was acquainted with a couple who died in Utah in 2012 as the result of spatial disorientation. They were flying from Buchanan Field to Aspen in a Cirrus SR22. High thin clouds caused the pilot to lose spatial awareness and they went down at a steep angle. Their bodies were found several hundred feet apart.
Which an awful way to die, completely loss of awareness. And when it can happen to a pilot with 40+ years experience, it's only worse. What would have prevented such an issue here?
@@mkay1957 Are the just not using flight instruments? I don't see how you couldn't notice the artificial horizon dipping too low.
@@bernlin2000 I'm not sure if the pilot lost spatial orientation and panicked or had a medical issue. He was an experienced pilot, so he shouldn't have panicked. At the time, some people speculated that he saw the lights at the mall and thought they were runway lights.
@@bernlin2000 The human brain is genetically predisposed to trust it's internal senses before external stimuli. Pilots have to undergo lengthy training to learn that fact and to trust in their instruments. However in high stress situations, such as landing in bad weather the natural instinct to trust in your bodily senses in strong and can sometimes override that training. Many aircraft accidents have occurred specifically due to the pilot losing orientation and trusting their senses over their instruments.
I was there and I saw things no 15 year old should see, smell, the heat, and it has left an everlasting trauma deep in my soul.... It was horrible.
sorry man
Yes, the sweet sickening smell of burning flesh and entrails always stays with you
Doug - do u remember what it was like about 10-15 seconds before impact ie were ppl looking around like, goodness that sounds close ? I went to war and I've seen a lot of death but really gets me is what we were doing just b4 an incident.
Sure felt like a 9-11 moment long before 9-11-01 terrorist attack even existed.
@@marvin469 nope. Me and my best friend were sitting at the fountain with the big Christmas tree on it, and for us it started to feel like a oven and we began running but I got knocked down when the explosion happened.
There was no warning at all. I was in shock and thought I could help and staggered back that is when I saw one of the saddest and most horrible thing, the young lady taken out of the fire 2 feet from me burnt 100%. The only thing that’s sticks out is her eyes, fluttering back and forth.
Ok getting triggered. Sorry.
I know they would have found this out by an autopsy but the “garbled speech” along with the almost immediate steep decline sounds like he had a heart attack/stroke or aneurism. Nevertheless, thank you so very much for your great videos and incredible content....
Possible. But my guess is that in the process of tuning to the departure control frequency he took his eyes off the instruments and lost control in the clouds. Just takes a few seconds, happens all the time.
Kinda hard to do an autopsy on most plane crash victims. There generally isn't much left to work with
That was my exact thought as well. Especially since he was in the risk group for cardiovascular disease (older male), it's not exactly uncommon. There was a crash in Germany a few years back where a Cessna pilot likely had a heart attack and crashed into a field. Luckily, they didn't hit anything, but the pilot and passenger died.
It was fog.
@@opwave79 Would agree. Experienced pilots that used to flying in adverse conditions don't make mistakes like that. way id descended was like he slumped over controls.
This reminds me of that disaster I heard about where a jet skidded into an ice cream shop full of people and exploded.
shockingly bad disaster
Oh, i hadn't heard of that one before. Thanks for sharing! The 1972 Sacramento Ice Cream Parlor F‐86 Sabre Crash.
Fascinating Horror made a good vid covering that disaster, although I'm curious as to your take on it as well, Dark History.
Yeah I watched a video about that one a few months back.
Yep. Crashed into a Farrell's, if I'm not mistaken. That chain is long-gone, except for one remaining store. Heck, that one might be gone as well.
A lady took the owners of a drive-in theater to court because of noise. "Mam, were you aware there was a drive-in theater across the street when you built your house there?" asked the judge. "Yes I did, your honor." "Case dismissed!" I think the airport was there first.
Can’t fix stupid!! I hope he gave her the bill for the costs!!
People do that crap with gun ranges all the time. They'll move right next to one, and then try to get it shut down because they don't like living next to it.
That level of stupidity should be illegal.
@@samhouston1288 This is why I don't like democracy. If a bunch of people move next to a place that was already there, they actually have the power to close the thing down.
@@RCassinello yeah we should just revert to monarchy.
It was much simpler then.
Yeah, the only people who should be getting raked over the coals are city planners. I'm glad they took the brunt of the lawsuits.
Years ago a plane crashed 1 1/2 block from my house. Hit a tree in a backyard. The pilot was in over a dozen pieces. He actually was a bit of a hero bc he dropped all his fuel before crashing so there wouldnt be as big of an explosion. He also stayed inside and tried to guide the plane away from houses and ppl bc this was a Summer afternoon when kids were out playing. He did what he could and sacrificed himself to keep others from dying. This was in Taylorville, Illinois.
I'm in tears by how regular people, who are also victims, come together and try to save and aid people who were more injured. People can do great things.
thats literally just the bare minimum you should expect from humanity and a species with our level of awareness. the fact it brought you to tears is whats sad because it should be a regular thing.
@@bloppyBloop considering your username is "white ppl arent it", you don't have any idea on what the bare minimum of humanity is
@@bloppyBloop it is a regular thing
Me2
I know this is a small detail, but I really appreciate that you use actual subtitles. It's much easier to understand and keep up with these as opposed to the auto-generated ones.
We knew my younger brother was going shopping there, on the day, and had a few hours of panic, trying to get hold of him. He'd left the mall an hour or so before the horror started and, without such things as cell phones, he and his friend hadn't heard about it. I vividly remember that the parts of the mall that could, reopened the next day, because it was the last day before Christmas. And while a lot of building has taken place over the years, the drive-in movie theater on the northeast corner of the field has been prevented, time and again, from becoming a walk-in theater, because of this tragedy.
Cell phones were not a thing until about 10 years later.
A few years back a similar incident happened in Australia where a plane crashed into a mall but I believe the mall was closed but the pilot and the four people he was transporting were all killed.
That's OK then, Australia loves being locked down.
Yes, it occurred at a shopping centre near Melbourne in early 2017. The four passengers were US tourists.
No...this is CLASSIC spacial disorientation.
@@austinformedude The similarity is that they were both light aircraft which collided with shopping centres/malls.
It happened at Essendon DFO around 2017/2018 I believe. I used to work there. Essendon DFO (direct factory outlet) is an indoor outlet mall with a large strip mall attached. The strip mall was mostly home goods and furniture stores. There is a small airport right next to the entire thing seperated by a chain link fence. I worked in the indoor outlet at Swarovski at the time. The plane had hit one of the strip mall stores called Spotlight (a large craft/home goods store) which was near the entrance to the mall. Luckily it happened before they opened so there were no customers and none of the staff was hurt which was very fortunate. I did remember hearing that the plane came very close to hitting the manager who was in their office. I was on my way to work when my manager texted me and told me to go back home. I saw the smoke and everything. They closed the entire mall down but employees were allowed to go in if we needed to and so my manager and I worked one day and it was really creepy cause all the lights in the centre were off except for emergency ones. There was a temporary memorial erected in front of the craft store for people to come and pay their respects. I don't remember if it was replaced by a permanent one. It was really sad. The people on the plane were enroute to go golfing at some special location not far away. It crashed almost immediately after take off.
I grew up in the Bay Area in the 80s and 90s and have been to that mall several times, so I was pleasantly surprised to see someone finally cover this. It's an often overlooked bit of history.
I moved there a few years after this crash. Nobody talked about it. I found out about it a few years later. It's like people wanted to forget about the tragedy, it was so awful.
I worked there in the late 70s / early 80s. I was shocked when I read about this in the newspaper the next day.
I lived in the East bay and South bay back then. The Sun Valley Mall - Concord crash sounds similar to the several small plane crashes I remember at the Reid-Hillview airport in San Jose next to the Eastridge Mall. Note: The airport was there first. Developers got approval to put the mall along the main approach vector somehow. The thumbnail photo reminded me of Eastridge because I think in one of the crashes it too hit Macy's.
@@elwoodblues9613 I moved to Pleasant Hill in 1987 and you are correct it was not talked about!
My sister was working in the Mall at the time this happened. It was tragic and horrible, but the bystanders did work together to help as much as they could.
This reminds me of Kobe Bryant's pilot mistaking his direction and crashing full speed into the ground. My dad was a small plane pilot in the Bay Area and he was extremely careful, and we flew together several times. We once saw a plane practicing stalls and completely screwing it up, the pilot almost crashed into a mountain and was obviously panicking. He didn't crash, but watching it take place was terrifying because we couldn't do anything but watch....I thought my heart was going to burst from fear, just watching...
This is my hometown mall, I swear whenever I went with any adult to the mall they would tell me about how the a plane once crashed here. No one ever explain how tragic it was. Truly such a boring mall but It holds a dear place in my heart
I'm from Oakland and I agree that mall suckes
@@kyoakland well now we know the motive of this attack
@@kyoakland it ain't that bad, not a whole lot to do but the stores are fine and the outside area is nice to hang out. lot of my best highschool memories are from that parking garage and food court
i live by concord! never knew this happened, i’m actually going to this mall today. what are the odds you’d upload this video huh? love your videos!
if anything happens let us know
It’s a sign
I've heard it mentioned once but totally forgot, I've been to that mall more than any other, same with the port Chicago disaster, I only recently learned about it despite living in this area my whole life
I wonder if they have a memorial plaque there?
@@mskinetik I've never seen anything any of the times I've been to the mall, I'd imagine that Santa area is where it would be and I've never noticed one
awesome video just one super small critisism when you were naming the runways, runway 19R and runway 1L are adressed as "19 Right" and "1 Left" not Romeo and Lima as those runways are parellel to two other runways called "19 Left" and "1 Right". this lets pilots know they are approaching 2 parallel runways and when given clearance which one to look for to avoid confusion (this is simplified of course tho)
Was coming here to say this
Bless y'all. Good info to have.
Also to nitpick even more 19L is spoken as one-nine-left, not nineteen-left.
And to nitpick even more 19L actually should be spoken as one-niner-left, the extra r to distinguish from the German “nein”.
Romeo and Lima sound like taxiways actually rather than runways
@@brians2808 Huh, I always figured that was to distinguish it from the similar-sounding English number 5. However that's just my logical reasoning and not based in any kind of research. ✌️🍍
Wow! I was there. Myself and a friend were collecting donations without permission inside the mall. At about 8:15pm three security guards, Two men and a woman apprehended us. Usually if we were collecting without permission somewhere the security guards would just warn us. But this time they were adamant about us leaving and actually escorted us to our van and watched until we drove away. The next morning I saw the headlines. OMG. 15 minutes later this terrible disaster.
had that been me: those #@≠ cops, how _dare_ they throw me out!
had that been me 15 minutes later,: those cops saved my life!
My mom was actually shopping here the day this happened… she was walking in the middle section across from where the elevator now is and she said her and her friend had a dread feeling all day, that something very wrong was going to happen. It’s amazing after living my whole life thinking i was the only person who thought about this.
Why did it have to be dreadful? If only she could have sensed something
very very right was going to happen. She could have walked to any store
selling lotto tickets and hit it big with landing all the numbers for a nice
payday! Reverse psychology is the word. Strange how some things work.
I remember someone asking me what numbers to play for the three digit
lotto, and I was carrying a lamp with the department number 640. So I
tell him 640. Guess what? Yeah, the next day he's cussing up a storm telling
me he didn't play the number I told him, and it came up. It was a couple grand,
but it was a long time ago when a couple grand was a good down payment
on a new car. $2000 could take you somewhere, where today, you can't go to
the end of the block with it.
I worked at Sun Valley for years and never heard of this. That’s so wild. It always makes me nervous how low the planes fly, won’t lie. Diablo Valley college is right there too, nerve wracking.
Well that’s normal all around the work go to London Heathrow we’re they fly no more then 100ft above the motorway and houses airports are in built up places for a reason
Gotta love this story showing why you don't build next to existing airports...... Why would you move near an airport and complain about the fact that it is there.
Yeah it's nuts having airports near malls or housing. There's an airport and landing strip directly across the street from Eastridge Mall in San Jose. Planes look awfully close to the mall roof as they come in for their approach 👀. Surprised this hasn't happened there yet to be honest.
As long as the people who don’t like the airport
Out number the people who like the airport.
LoL
Reminds me of something that happened 5 years ago when two Cesnas collided in mid air in St-Bruno, Quebec. One crashed on the roof of a shopping mall, and the other crashed in the parking lot. One of the pilot died and the other badly injured. There was nowhere near as much damage.
We had to evacuate the mall because of a fuel leak from the roof plane crash, but that went mostly without a hitch.
Es-tu responsable de cet événement malheureux ?
@@MonTube2006 Non. J’étais dans l'aire de restauration du centre d'achat lorsque c'est arrivé. Nous avons entendu un bruit incroyable (l'avion qui frappais le toit), et environs 30 seconde plus tard, l'alarme sonnait, nous indiquant que l'on devais évacuer.
@@Sideshownicful omd 🙏
Je revenais du IKEA de Boucherville quand c’est arrivé. J’etais sur la route de retour et je passais devant les Promenade St-Bruno quand c’est arrivé! Il s’est mit à pleuvoir des morceaux d’avions dans le ciel et tout c’est écrasé sur le toit et le parking! C’était assez épeurant! 😳
En effet, j'imagine que voir l’écrasement, ca devait être quelque chose! Tout ce que j'ai vécu se resume a entendre un grand vacarme dans le building et a être forcé de sortir...
I was there that day. My aunt and I were in the Sears auto center that was out side of the main mall. When we walked out there were people running out of the mall. It was chaos. What a horrible tragedy.
I was in the mall about 2-3 hours before this happened. Weather wise this was a one of a kind December in the Diablo Valley and probably Nor Cal in general. What was memorable was that we didn’t see the sun for a least 3 weeks or more…overcast and or foggy the entire time!
I'm literally five minutes away from this mall, seven from the airport (Buchanan Airport). Not long ago a small plane crashed into the highway (HWY 4) took out the airport fence and several cars that were going by. Planes fly low DAILY around here. It's amazing there haven't been more accidents.
I drove by that on Highway 4 minutes after it happened. The firefighters were still putting out the fire. There was a heavy haze in the air with about 1/4 to 1/2 mile of visibility. The pilot was lining up for runway 14 but lost depth perception and came in short, clipped the center divide and ended up in a car dealership parking lot.
If I remember right, they were flying in from SOCAL.
I'm surprised that they haven't shut down that airport
I was going to mention that , my hubby was stationed at the naval weapons station when that happened and they responded for aid . I used to drive hghwy 4 and those planes get real close you can see the pilot and passenger . Too close to the gas station built by the end of the runway only separated by a 4 lane road .
Agreed
first time being here this early, while i have the spotlight, thank you for always bringing us something interesting to watch and learn about! i always look forward to these, no mater how dark they get
I know right! But I ain't got shit to say! 🤣😂🤣
Next time you have the spotlight, do us all a favor and put your pants on. This is a family channel.
Amen dude
This is my first time hearing this so thanks for covering this. This is really shocking and so tragic. I've been going to this mall since I was a kid (I'm in my 20s now). Yeah, I always thought that the airport was in a weird location but the real weird location should be the community built around it. There are so many shopping centers, housing, schools, auto malls, there's even a golf course right next to the airport
I live in concord, I also own a small plane at bucannon and truly enjoy flying, since this crash the safety at the airport has immensely increased and the Air traffic controllers take protocol very seriously now.
That's what we want to hear! It's a good thing that we learn from our mistakes to avoid the same exact one from happening again.
Something will still go wrong one day in the future, possibly when some uber-careful person gets sloppy.
Thank you for this. I was living in Canada and was 15 years old, at the time. It was so horrific it made it on Canadian news. I remember shopping malls were on high alert that Christmas. I didn't realize it was so severe. My heart goes out to the survivors of this horrible crash.
Congrats on getting over 160k ive been watching since about the end of January! You and tragedy tales are my favourite channels for survival/disaster stories!
Check out scary interesting too if you like this type of content
I subscribed to Scary Interesting and Dark History right around the same time. Love the way they narrate theirstories
now 300k+
Good video! Absolute tragedy and definitely a cautionary tale about losing awareness. One note when talking about runways, the L & R, from where you say "19 Romeo and 1 Lima", they mean “Right & Left” So It should be 19 Right & 1 Left. And if you ever see "C" following a number in context of runways (not taxiways) it means “Centre”. The numbers relate to the compass angle the runway runs relative to North.
Grey put out a good video about how runways are numbered.
Magnetic North
I, too, just watched CGP Grey's video...
Also, one "climbs" an aircraft, not "ascends" as used in the video. This is to reduce the possibility of confusing ascend with descend on the radio.
Also, it's not runway "nineteen," but runway one nine.
This reminds me of a airplane crash that happened in my country (Portugal) 4 years ago. The small plane crashed into a supermarket while attempting to land and killed 5 people (4 on board and one in the ground).
I remember this accident. I remember sitting in the pharmacy of a Bay Area medical clinic several weeks after the crash and seeing a woman walk in with bandages covering what must have been horrible burns on her face and knowing immediately how/where she got those burns. It was horrible.
I was in the hospital where one of the burn victims was a patient. One burn became severely infected and the odor was intense.
As someone that has been to Sun Valley Mall multiple times, I would've never expected such an event to surround this mall, but hey, you learn a new thing every day, y'know.
My dad was there shopping with buddies when this happened, I remember him telling me they heard a loud crash and saw a ball of fire in the middle of the mall, and a women came screaming at them with her hair on fire, him and his buddies got her on the ground and put the fire out on her, then helped other people get out of the mall. I remember my dad told me that the Pilot died of a heart attack, probably something that was in the news then, but with so little evidence left over now adays it's hard to say.
I don’t see anything unusual about this crash. Fully one-third of VFR into IMC crashes are by instrument rated pilots. While strictly speaking this isn’t that, experienced commercial jet pilots have flown jets into the ground while attempting a go-around under similar conditions.
As someone has already noted, spacial disorientation can sneak upon the very best pilots. It does not discriminate.
This kind of a situation is precisely WHY zoning boards exist. When utilized correctly, they're supposed to protect lives by not zoning residential or commercial zones right next to, say, an airport. But I guess when you're going through a "construction boom", money talks louder than safety.
I live near El Monte CA airport. Lived here 20 years. It's a pretty big city near Los Angeles. I've never heard of any plane crashes happening here. Must be a weather issues.
@@nerychristian Anectodical evidence to say the least, but that doesn't even address the fact that just because it's done elsewhere doesn't mean it's right. In Texas, you can build a propane distribution site next to an elementary school; but that doesn't mean that all 50 states should allow propane distribution sites to be built next to elementary schools.
4 hours before this crash, my dad and I made the approach to land, landed successful and reported the visibility was *AT* minimums and the fog was only getting worse. As we taxied to our parking spot the tower announced that they were closing up for the night.
I was not a pilot (this happened about a week before my 16th birthdays) but I was very used to helping my dad make IFR approaches by letting him know when I saw the runway.
My dad was getting ready to make a missed approach when I said I saw the approach lights, I then called out that I could see the runway just as we crossed the point were a go around would be required.
We landed at 4:30 and as the sun set the fog was getting worse. The fog was not predicted to improve until morning and as conditions were at minimums at 4:30 (and getting worse) the tower decided to close up shop after we landed.
At 8:30 the crash took place.
Concord native here. Bittersweet seeing this tragic part of our history on here as the event is mostly unknown to the younger generations. Worked 7 yrs at the mall and id hear the stories of strange happenings at Macys after hours and during the Holidays...lights flickering on and off. Cold spots. Screams. Children crying. Burnt electrical smells Etc. It was a tragic event and so close to Christmas. RIP.
I get the bitter part, what's the sweet part?
I worked with a guy years ago who was injured in that accident. It was always crazy hearing him talk about it……Hard to imagine.
I was a 15 year old working in the mall at the time (although I did not work this particular night). I honestly don't remember it being this bad, but this was 38 years ago. I worked at Dr Pet Center aka Dr Death, which was adjacent to Macy's at the time. Some fish tanks cracked but we were back up and running the next day.
The mall owners probably down played the incident in order to stay open during Christmas. If workers really knew what happened, they would have stayed home.
@@nerychristian Would they? It's a pretty freak accident.
@@jesuszamora6949 I mean, it’s the principle. You have a destroyed plane leaking fluid that was immolating people the night before. The shops around you are destroyed and people you know are hurt. Who would want to risk the hazard mere hours after the initial event? Also, many mall workers are children. No sane parent is gonna let their child take that risk.
I don’t think they really had to downplay it to stay open. People were getting their last minute things in order and the perspective was likely that it’d cause more chaos to close than to open. They didn’t really have to depend on a huge worker turnout as I’d think the only citizens who would come are the ones who NEED to get something and more specifically, need to get something available in the in-tact sections of the mall.
Thank you for covering this! Worked at Sun Valley at the time. Two comments, the left right vs romeo lima thing already mentioned, as well as the runways are wrong in the narration and graphics. @7:45- you correctly identify the primary runway being used as 19R, but then mislabel the other runway 1L (which is 180 degrees from 19R, so this is just the same runway but other direction) when the actual 'other runway should be 32R. Then @9:19 same error.
Wow! I visited this mall with my partner back in April, as one of the remaining Sears stores still open is at Sun Valley, and didn’t realize that this happened! Sort of awe striking!
When ever people talk about plane crashes I always get annoyed when people say this like “he wasn’t prone to take risk, or make costly mistakes” or they’ll say “they were a skilled pilot and wouldn’t have made a mistake like this”. I’m not “prone” to getting in fatal car accidents, that doesn’t mean I can’t get into one. Even the best of the best make mistakes.
Oh god how have I never heard of this before?? I've been to that mall countless times throughout my life and never knew that this happened.
Ah, this was my home away from home for all my tween and teenage years. Yes, this was so sad.
Airport built in open area.
People build house near airport
People want the airport closed because it's not suitable for the community.
🤷♂️
Except there aren’t houses near the airport. There’s businesses and retail stores though.
You gotta love how people move in and around an existing airport and then complain about the airport.
as someone who’s lived near this mall all my life and go here quite often, i find it astonishing that i’ve never heard of this terrible event before, seeing the footage is kinda eerie knowing i walk down those parts often
I wonder why the widow and company were so weird about having the plane and engines looked at? Seems like pretty standard procedure after an accident like this
Perhaps she was trying to protect her husband's reputation as a skilled pilot. Still doesn't justify impeding the investigation of a disaster of this magnitude.
@@straswa Or maybe she was worried about the families suing her estate
@@nerychristian Possible, all we can do is speculate.
With all due respect, screw that widow in this regard. Her dear hubby crashed a plane into a busy mall. Every angle should be looked into what caused this crash.
@@deszalt4492 Right you are.
Ohmigosh! I'm 51 and I can still remember that interview with Deanna Arbelaez from her hospital bed. 😮😢
I live in the town next to Concord. I very much remember this disaster. Utterly tragic.
I grew up here and spent a lot of my youth in this mall. I wasn't there when this happened (I was two months old), but it was something that was like a urban legend during my childhood
this is a part of local history you’ll always hear about from those who experienced it. glad to see a video covering the incident.
i work in a mall and now have a new fear. but in all seriousness, my heart goes out to the victims of this tragic accident.
I remember this like it was yesterday. Surprised with all the real footage you have of Sunvalley mall
Thanks for covering this! I grew up in this area and my dad was a pilot. We flew out of Buchanan often.
Despite this tragic incident, I would like to say that I enjoy your videos. Please continue making more
I just had a airline ad on a PLANE CRASH VIDEO 💀💀💀
1:34 i’ve gone to this mall my whole life and there are zero traces of this accident. there’s not even a little memorial. had i not found your channel, i would’ve never known this happened!
I lived in the SF Bay Area at the time and it surprises me that I can barely remember this tragedy. What amazes me more is that I worked at the 8 story Wells Fargo Credit Card Center in '87 & '88 which was VERY Near this airport but I don't remember anyone there mentioning this accident nor expressing any fear about working in a tall building so close to that airport. I guess that there's SO Much Bad News in the World everyday that it's difficult after a while to fully pay attention to it all.
Watching this video did jog my memory a bit. They completely renovated the mall a few years after the crash, so I think the new look prevented people from permanently associating it with the accident.
Same
One of my friends that I played little league baseball was in the plane. RIP Brian.
I lived in Concord California when this happened. My older brother and his best friend were at the mall when it happened. Thankfully at the other end of the mall. That place was amazing for its time! Movie theater ice skating rink etc. Had my ears pierced when I was 5 at Bedazzled lol
People build houses and businesses around an airport then demand it to be closed. This sounds like where I live. People build a subdivision next to a farm that has cattle and then bitch about the smell and want it shut down. Crazy!
I remember hearing about this. As a kid I used to go to the sun valley mall! I still go but dang I never knew a plane hit all while growing up
Ha, I was at this mall 2 days ago and had no clue this history existed, nice documentation!
Lol I was there on Saturday at Macy’s! Moved to the Bay in ‘87, two years after it happened and it was the first mall I shopped in when we moved here. Didn’t learn about this tragedy until the 10 year anniversary of it.
Same never heard of it
I grew up in Concord. I got my ears pierced in 4th grade in this mall. I spent my summers w my friends in this mall. It was an intrigal part of my youth. I remember seeing the mess after it happened and watching the slow repairs, but I’ve never seen a story about it. Thank you!
Thanks for covering this. I've always heard stories from the community but never so much detail.
Thank you for the interesting video! Never heard of this one before. Great work! 👌👍 and RIP to all those involved in the tragedy
This is amazing history; I graduated college that year, which seems like yesterday. Thank you for all your research and hard work on these videos
Did you go to DVC?
@@bexabunny674 fellow DVCian?
There seems to be a trend that an airport is built in a perfectly reasonable place, then people move around the airport, then they complain that the airport is there.
Such a great channel! Thanks for uploading these! RIP to all victims of this tragedy.
No way I always watch your Channel this is the first time I've seen something in my hometown. My family was in the mall when this happened
Sorry your family was there. I hope they are all good now
While this disaster is a true tragedy, the residents should not have complained about something that has been there long before their houses were built. A similar thing is happening near Laguna Seca raceway
Not at all. Safety standards in the past were not that good. Just because something was deemed safe in the past does not mean that a) it continues to be safe or b) that it would be found safe by today’s improved standards. I’ll remind you that those standards we have today are written in blood.
So I totally reject your claim. The residents are not somehow eternally beholden by a bad decision made in the past.
@@shibasurfing Depends… I mean this is something people actually do… zone commercial around airports. Would you rather it be like Midway? If you bought the property after the airport was built, it’s on you. You knew it was there. Keep it GA and non VFR in bad weather… the real problem was that the municipality kept it open in poor weather.
@@shibasurfing I'm gonna guess the OG commenter is a Republican, and the the 2nd commenter is a Democrat.
A safe bet. One seems to believe in personal responsibility and the other that daddy government should take care of everyone and everything.
To be honest, if you really want to play it safe around airports, then there should be zero development of any kind within a 50 mile radius of any airport, whether it’s a large commercial one or a small aircraft one. That should leave enough room in case of a takeoff or landing disaster. Now let’s see how practical that will be for us the next time we want to fly.
Thank you for subtitles. Interesting video!
I'll never forget this. My Mom was working at the Bookstore there and had just gotten off work and was heading to her car in the parking lot when the plane crashed. I was at my dad's when it happened and his phone started ringing non-stop with people asking if my Mom was ok which she was, but still heartbreaking others weren't.
I remember that incident very well it's the city's responsibility they caused it, the airport been there longer than almost the city itself. It's also on at least a 100 year living trust that it must remain an airport, Urban blight came to the airport not the other way around
Exactly. That's like moving to a beach house and getting angry about storm damage.
You'd be surprised how often people move to Airport area & complaint about the Airport.
Some new development, tract housing, was put in near our major international airport. All well and good.
Soon after, and with notice, the approach for the landing was changed.
It became very obvious the new builds didn't have very sound-resistant roofs very quickly.
The new homeowners felt like 737's were landing on their roofs, and much outrage ensued.
...They bought houses less than 2 miles from one of the biggest airports in the country. 🤦
The mall has been there since the 60s.
@@opwave79 And the airport had been there since the 40’s. What’s your point?
instead of helping the investigation the wife decides to immediately become one of the biggest villians of 1985
My wife and I where almost involved in this. We had just finished some last minute Christmas shopping at Sun Valley Mall and drove the 20 minutes home to Benicia. When we got home and turned on the Tv we were shocked to see the news story about what just happened right after we left.
Wow thanks for making this video, my family has lived in Pleasant Hill for many years. My grandmother was Christmas shopping there when this happened.
Thank you for posting this interesting video about such a tragic event. You established that the pilot had many years of experience, including in the military. What wasn’t clear was whether he still had an instrument rating, and what his recent experience was (I.e. how many hours flown in IMC over the past 1-2 years.). Even if you’ve been flying for decades, my understanding (as an aviation enthusiast, but not a pilot myself) is that instrument flying skills deteriorate if you don’t use them enough. I’d love to hear comments from actual pilots regarding whether this is true, and their thoughts regarding the accident.
I am a pilot, you are correct.
We call it ‘getting rusty’......it only takes a few months to lose your edge with flying in the clouds.
@@rrknl5187 thanks for your comment. That’s consistent with what I’ve heard and read elsewhere.
@@luv2sail66 Lol.....it's based on my own personal experience........
I'm nine seconds in so far, and I had to pause just to say *THANK YOU* for making your audio engineering so excellent that I can hear you even on my crappy little phone. 🥰
The really really sad thing about this, is those who did survive, definitely have hardcore PTSD.
Never heard this. You told the story very well with great pics.
Great vid Dark History. RIP to the victims and condolences to their families and loved ones.
It seems odd for the local people to blame the airport and want it shut down when it was built in the area first.🤔 Oh well.
To me it sounds like the pilot maybe suffered some type of acute medical problem. Either way, I have very mixed feelings right now. I'm glad not more people died, and that people managed to think outside the box, and use clothes to carry victims to a fountain to help with burns etc, on the other hand, it's terrible that people died, and in that way.
Yeah! I am feeling such disdain for all those Sears well-meaning dummies using up their ice stores to "help." Just, no, why? Do people still think this is a helpful way to manage burns? Ignorance hurts.
@@virulentboyer3280 it was 1985! Knowledge wasn't the same as it is today....
Ignorance does indeed hurt. My head is throbbing reading the post Monday morning quarterbacking 37 years later.
Remember kids, if you seem someone hurt don't render any aid in case someone judge your actions in the past by today's standards.
I worked at Sears. I was off that day, but was at the mall with my friend that night to finish up Christmas shopping. I remember it was a stinking cold, damp night with a heavy marine later and light mist with fog starting to develop. We had stopped at the upstairs breakroom at Sears for a snack from the vending machine and debated crossing the mall to get a tee shirt for a friend in Canada or just heading to the mall down the street to finish shopping. We decided to leave because it was 8:30 and the other mall closed at 9pm. We left, got our other shopping done, and were at the stop light that headed toward Sunvalley and the freeway when ambulance after ambulance raced by. I commented that it must be a really bad accident on the freeway. I think we counted 13 ambulances. I'm sure there were many more that arrived from the other street that borders the mall as well as the freeway.
When we got to my friend's house, her mom came racing out in a panic asking if we were ok. We were confused, and she told us what happened, telling us a plane had crashed into Sears, which scared me since I knew so many people who worked there and it was the last place we had been before leaving for the Willows. There was a lot of confusion immediately after the accident and I guess at least one tv station reported the plane hit Sears.
It was a crazy night.
Sears was the only store that opened the following day, and I had to work that day. I worked in the Men's department, which was right next to the opening to the mall. I was disgusted that Sears was so greedy that they opened their doors (I can't remember if Penney's - at the opposite end - did too, but I think they didn't, at least not right away). I was then disgusted by how many people came to gawk throughout the day, even though there was nothing to see as they had blocked it off with black canvas and plywood walls. What finally sent my blood boiling was when the store manager sent over the popcorn cart to sell the gawkers snacks while they stared through the locked gate and took snapshots. I also heard (though didn't witness) that some poor slob was sent to wander around the crowd hawking Sears credit and discover cards (which just came out that year and were Sears' attempt to break into the national credit card game). The store's willingness to profit off of the tragedy still irks me to this day.
One of my coworkers also worked at Macy's and was working the perfume counter when the plane crashed. She said there was a stampede of people, many injured, some on fire. She remembered one woman in particular whose hands were completely engulfed in flames, screaming as she ran. She was traumatized, and had to endure people asking if any of us witnessed the crash for weeks. My hand was in a cast at the time and I was constantly asked if I got hurt in the crash. It drove me nuts and I felt so bad for my coworker who had to relive everything. Other Sears coworkers were there that night, too, but didn't have injured running through the store. They helped evacuate people and helped to bring supplies to paramedics, who were overwhelmed.
There were so many rumors flying around, too. (Pun not intended - sorry about that) The pilot was on coke. The passengers were dealers. They were transporting drugs. The pilot did it intentionally. He was angry about something. He was suicidal. He wasn't supposed to be flying due to health. It was crazy. No one knew what to believe.
I was a little freaked out that if we had gone to the last store (at the other end of the mall) we would most likely have been passing Macy's right as the plane hit.
I was just at Sunvalley today with my daughter. She is a little older than I was when this happened, and I guess that plus the crash just outside Buchanan airport earlier this week brought it all back.
As a quick and strange epilogue, the man who played Santa that night was injured but survived. Several years later he was arrested for cp and cm.
I went to that mall once and I never heard about it have such history. Thanks for sharing.