As a pilot of 35 years experience I can attest that fatigue will have an effect almost exactly to that of alcohol. My guess is that simulator training with this company was inadequate, monitoring of crew performance was also inadequate, coupled with fatigue it was a disaster waiting to happen. Companies will always defend themselves when questioned over possible crew fatigue by stating that any crew member has the option to call in stating that they're unable to fly due to fatigue. OK.. try that twice!
totally. i think the pressure on pilots to perform is immense and it’s not talked about often enough. it of course does not excuse all the errors made by the pilots in this situation, but the company is just as if not more culpable - it’s treated as a job like any other where you are expected to show up and get it done, but there are pretty apparent differences between being a pilot and doing a desk job that the employment system does not really account for. really unfortunate, because i think this leads and has lead to a lot of unnecessary or otherwise avoidable accidents.
Seems like a lack of oversight contributed to these pilot’s behavior. The captain got away with not filing a report after a bad go-around just weeks earlier. I’d be curious to see how many corners they had been cutting in the months leading up to this crash.
I wonder how this works in the airline at all. I would expect that an airline can list go around, eg by openly available atc data. Then it's not a question of the pilot providing said data, but the airline asking for it. Or did he just give some standard reason like "not stabilised" and that's it?
I’d be curious to see how many corners the entire company had been cutting in the lead up to this crash! This kind of behaviour is more likely a result of the culture that existed within this company than two isolated people cutting corners.
How can you as a pilot be flying through fog having the ground proximity thing telling you THE GROUND IS TOO CLOSE and not actually be the least bit concerned enough to pull up on the stick and then glue your eyes to the altitude spinny to make sure it's going up?????
Damn good question. I'm always astonished at these accidents that happen when the plane gets to the charted minimum altitude and the pilots decide to continue even though they can't see. It seems like it's a running theme that these accidents happen after someone decides to break the rules.
The video did explain that acceleration & an aircraft climbing feel very similar. It seems the pilots had very poor training AND their airline had a very lazy culture. I'm surprised this whole airline wasn't investigated or grounded.
I work within audit and know how important discipline is in performing any procedure. Interesting how that is also reflected in aviation in a different manner. The root cause of the accident to me would mainly be a lack of discipline, instead of laziness. Great video again Mr. Airspace! Always enjoy it!
very short minded quote, as lazy people always rely on active responsible people to hide their complacency, and they are hugely a majority, I would say they are everywhere, about 80% go the easy routines, and eventually harm those people which they exploit. I always tell those people : dont make your sloth rest on my diligence!
Complacency is (arguably)more dangerous than equipment failure,it means that all procedures are not being followed correctly or are minimize….familiarity often creates a false sense of security and a “Taking things for granted “ attitude,you might get away with this in a office but in the air it’s could lead to catastrophe…
To be overconfident and unaware of dangers is common place among most people who drive dangerous machines. Car drivers never think they are managing energies able to easily destroy lives, including their own. Many pilots are like that, unless properly trained and made aware by their companies' programmes and policies
@Lisa Schuster There is some margin of error. Unfortunately, when chance eats up five or six of those margins, accidents occur. I was a pilot, a bad pilot, but quitted in time. I realised I could easily be the major cause of one such accident, so I decided to live and let live.
Self-inflicted defeating of *ALL* safety features - approach planning/briefing, approach chart, CRM, aircraft safety systems, and human factors (fatigue/training). Wow.
Thanks, well put. Unfortunately, this is so common in the workplace and there needs to be good monitoring to avoid it, as well as company culture. A huge deal more important in aviation than many other industries
Failing to learn from previous close calls is probably the most severe issue here. Piling up 5-10 mistakes I can see that from many people, but to do that on multiple occasions, and never learn… never taking corrective actions. I expect better from people who don’t even work with safety critical tasks.
I was doing a departure (BTX and fueling) of a B744 in the parking bay next to this aircraft when I saw some guys ( seven guys I worked with at Lanseria airport a few years earlier)I knew boarding the aircraft. I greeted them, wished them a good flight, watched the pushback and take-off of this flight. Returning to my refueling, the fuel truck operator told me that said flight never uploaded any fuel. I thought nothing of it because depending on which aircraft we had land, we would preload to 80 tons before parking the aircraft, and the departing tech would then top up the fuel. The next day I was asked if I heard what had happened to the flight by the same fuel truck operator
@@hazel_moore-1989 did you watch the video? It doesn’t sound like the fuel had any impact on the crash, they are just saying they were there and way he’d the takeoff
@@hazel_moore-1989 No. The normal fuel management of a flight is to *only load the required amount of fuel for the flight,* meaning, the A330 should have loaded some fuel at JNB. It didn't happen, meaning the aircraft was already fueled for the Tripoli - Johannesburg leg, *AND the return.* That's highly inefficient in theory, dead weight you drag for an ENTIRE flight; as an airline, you don't want to waste money that way. That's why the truck operator was concerned, pilots refusing refuel, well, the responsibility is on the pilots, and that airline will soon have some financial isues if it keeps doing that for multi hours flights... Now, could that A330 fly Tripoly-JNB-Tripoli and have enough fuel. The answer is *yes* assuming you don't load your aircraft with heavy cargo (beyond the passenger payoad and their luggage). It's all about mass, if you plan to bring your own fuel to return, you'll probably watch your max payload at JNB. The truck operator : he learned about the crash the day after. Obviously, there is no explanation yet, only "the plane crashed short of the runway". So, your job is to refuel an aircraft, the pilots denied it, probably stating they had enough fuel. But the plane crashed. Under the circumstances, the truck operator know investigators will look everywhere for evidence, and as an actor in the industry directly involved in the crashed plane, you ask yourself what role could have you played by anticipation. Of course, the truck operator were concerned, should he had checked twice, *voiced his disbelief* when the pilots denied the refuel ? However, bottom line is, the pilots are fully responsible of deciding to refuel or not. If at any rate, investigators suspect the plane ran out of fuel, the question *_"could have the truck operator done anything to avoid it ?"_* That's the concern : it's not that he did anything, it's precisely _"could have he done MORE ?"._ He would get asked everything, the talks, the circumstances, which words were used and how they could have been interpreted by each party... Fortunately, fuel shortage was not the issue, so, nothing this truck operator did wrong. Yes, the aviation industry is an unforgiven world, all this to ensure your safety and mine, so, when you travel, better be nice, all those people behind the scene are working very hard to get you where you want safely, even with delays, errors and other inconvenience, at least 150 people are involved *per flight,* people tend to only praise the pilots. (I digress but I'm addressing the impression "beside pilots and controllers, all actors are pretty much irrelevant..." *they aren't,* they very much play extremely important roles, and will get equally evaluated when things go bad...) Side note : What could justify NOT loading fuel for the next part of the route ? - anything that tells you you'll have trouble to get fuel at that airport : geopolitical tensions, higher fuel prices, fuel crisis in that region, security issues (you want to land, disembark/embark then leave as fast as possible), corruption, contaminated fuel at that airport, you have no dollars to pay the fuel... - anything that negates the cost of bringing your own fuel : free fuel at home, contaminated fuel at home you don't want to dump, instead, consume as fast to erase the problem, aircraft was fueled at Tripoli for a longer route, which gets cancelled, and now you have way too much fuel for the Johannesburg route... - you are tight on schedule : doesn't really apply here, but on short to medium hops, you generally don't refuel upon each stop, you load fuel for a set of legs and try to squeeze refuel (if possible and required) on a major airport where you are likely going to remain at the gate longer (or a smaller airport with very short taxi duration) - when the runway is short : doesn't apply here, but if you are already heavy enough (important payload), you'll probably trade range, meaning, you already plan an intermediate stop to refuel. - etc. ^^ there are many reasons, efficiency doesn't always mean "just enough fuel". I don't know the reason here, but the main airline of my country is very familiar with many of those reasons. Disclaimer : we are on the internet like in the middle of the road, and anyone can say anything. Sean's story is probably real, but we cannot be sure as it's hard to verify. I'm not asking for proof, I find it very plausible. All I'm saying is it's bad practice to hear a story, and spread it like as an affirmation. Sean can affirm what he knows to be true, I can only affirm what I am sure is true. Do not take my comment as a confirmation of anything, only as an explanation of the hypothesis of no refuel and it's consequences. BTW, do not trust me : verify :)
This is the point of instrument rating ! This is really tragic but so avoidable. What a shame on all those people and their loved ones…. It’s a very responsible job being a pilot, especially commercial large jet airliners, and they’ve placed undue risks on all those around them. Sad.
There were a lot of Dutch people on this flight. I remember the impact it had on the country, and the feeling I got when I saw pictures of the wreckage. I was too young then to understand the details of the crash, so this is equal parts interesting and upsetting. Such a preventable tragedy. The little boy that survived is doing well, according to his grandfather.
I’m not sure that’s quite right. There’s pilots flying, pilot monitoring as role dividers. PIC stands for “Pilot In Command” and I don’t know if first officers can become PIC without the captain becoming incapacitated.
The captain (left hand seat) will always be PIC, I think you mean Pilot flying (PF) which the FO was in this case with the captain being pilot monitoring.
I can understand how confusion could build up, but when a proximity warning goes off and you have a horizon indicator that’s displaying correct date…it’s hard to justify their response.
This is an odd one. With an NDB approach in this part of the world, the LNAV overlay is the mode briefed and flown usually with the runway threshold as the final waypoint, vertical profile is easy to calculate at 300 feet per nautical mile plus the airfield elevation. Crossing the NDB confirms the point in space co-incident with the final decent point also stored in the LNAV database. This could all have been flown with the autopilot engaged, and likewise, as you observed the same applies to the missed approach.
Correction: In some non-precision approaches, the go-around is not necessarily iniciated immediately when the MDA is reached. In most of NDB and VOR procedures, the correct procedure is to level at this altitude and proceed until the MAPT (missed approach point), which may be located overhead the radiobeacon, or in some specific distance from it. Maybe, in the specific situation described in this video, the go-around would've been the best option, but it isn't mandatory in several cases.
As a person who has no idea about flying, I can't comment anything, but maybe the pilots should have been more alert. Thank you Airspace for your videos!!
It seems strange that a `Plane can be smarter than the (RUBBISH) Crew, and left alone COULD land itself. Watch Mentour on `Can a non-pilot land a modern aircraft` - totally amazing, as is this channel - Bravo Airspace!
Smarter? No. A plane can’t think for itself, it can only do what it is programmed to do. In those mentour pilots he ( a highly experienced and senior type rated pilot) is talking the non-pilot through everything. A plane can’t just land itself with no human input nor does it have the ability to monitor itself and know when it is following the wrong inputs, when an autopilot exceeds certain parameters it will always knock itself off and default to human (manual) control When a plane lands ‘itself’ (auto land) this is a highly specialist procedure that only the most advanced airliners at certain airports with specially trained pilots can do. In that instance the pilots aren’t just passengers but monitoring the entire process and are ready to intervene. Plenty of disaster have been averted by pilots intervening by the way but you’ll never hear about that only when idiots like these guys get it wrong
Terrible company culture and training too. GPWS warning should be an immediate muscle-memory terrain escape maneuver. Why this wasn’t drilled into these pilots is beyond me…
They Claim flying is the Safest mode of travel but when I see/hear stories about the stupid crap some pilots, maintenance staff do or the illegal cost saving measures some airlines have been caught doing (buying illegal and unsafe replacement parts) I never want to fly. Zero chance of survival in most crashes. Not for me!
Oh dear, how absolutely horrible. I always get a terrible sinking feeling when it ends badly, even though the people are already dead it feels almost like one is witness to it! This is, despite that, very much to do with the well designed narrative that gives you the things you need to know but avoids too much detail so it allows the drama to build uninterrupted. I'm sure our highly qualified host does not really need a barrage of detailed feedback from a bunch of enthusiastic amateurs (with apologies to those who are, in fact, professionals! I should speak for myself only😆) so I won't - it seems very clear that all of the suggestions posed, played their part and reconfirms, frankly, why you would simply never catch me on Afriquiah Air, PIA, Aerosucre, Ariana, Garuda, Batik etc etc - I think everyone gets the drift😏
The more tired I would be, the more I'd focus on the fundamentals. Aka thrust, attitude, and air speed. That's the only thing that matters in a go around; the rest can come later. So I really do not understand this crash, still.
I totally get what you are saying here, but fatigue can be much much harder to deal with that. It’s possible to get so tired that you couldn’t track those things, remember what’s happening, or even hallucinate. I can’t imagine how it was possible that that level of fatigue could happen if there is an entire crew to check about, but that level of fatigue is certainly possible for a person to feel
The fact that both sidesticks input downward, this is a suicide, its impossible to not to look at the instrument screen when too low terrain warning shouting pull up!
Two things seem astounding. One, that any pilot with over 0 hours airtime doesn't know TOGA procedures head to toe, from countless drills. It's the most basic beginner training item, is it not? And the demonstration of the simulator is telling here: didn't they encounter the illusory condition in sim training, and know that you *must* confirm pitch? Second, that a plane this advanced - operating now in 2021 - can be manually commanded to aim at the ground short of the runway. That would only seem humanly possible in a _fully_ nonprecision approach! Like VFR??
And how BOTH pilots could be that inept. Perhaps one might, and the other was too timid to object. But what are the odds that two out of two could each, and independently, be so incapable of basic procedures? I disagree that this is a briefing failure. Here there are 2 morons that don't know beginner landing procedures(TOGA) ,and; 1 moron that hesitated to order TOGA; and a plane design where you can just aim at the ground, and be **required** to pull up or it's 100% CFIT.
Evidently these pilots didn't practice their Go Arounds very often. I really can't imagine forgetting to pitch up in those circumstances. That's really wierd. As per the other comments, I do watch Mentour sometimes but you have a sexier voice. 🤣
I'm not a pilot but I would've thought that their training would cover this type of problem. I also would've thought they could see the pitch of the aircraft on the instruments. Its a catalogue of schoolboy errors that cost the lives of 100 people....... absolutely tragic.
This crash was big news back than here in the Netherlands, because there was a large group of Dutch people on board, returning from their holidays in South Africa. They would change in Tripoli on a flight to Amsterdam. In this video you say that you cannot see when you pass that mdb locator beacon. That is not correct. First you can see its position on the nav screen (based on INS and GPS data). And you can select adf to be displayed on that same nav display, showing the needle pointing towards the beacon, as received on the adf receiver. First this needle should point strait forward (360 degr), when you are on the correct track towards the runway. Than, when you overpass the beacon, that needle turns around to the back (180 degr). This is similar to the older analoge ADF gauges. Anyway, fatigue and maybe a bit of lack of proficiency of the flight crew played a role in the cause of this preventable crash... Very sad.
I didn't mean to say it's impossible to see when you pass an NDB! It's difficult to see when you pass an NDB if you just use the NDB needle. As you pass overhead the beacon, the signal becomes erratic, and only after a while will it return to a more or less stable indication. I'd say the area of uncertainty can be about a mile wide - not very precise if you want to start your descent there. But of course, in the A330 the pilots should have been able to determine their position down to the meter, pretty much, seeing that they were GPS equipped.
It’s an interesting question, but if I recall correctly Sully and Skiles’ US Airways 1549 flight also had a terrain warning before touchdown in the water. Would the aircraft have known the difference between a forced ditching and a bad approach? Would it have pitched up higher than Sully had? Theoretically, software can be written to address any situation, but do sensors tell the right story? Air France 447 was in alternate law due to frozen pitot tubes, would software have recognized the approaching water and been able to react correctly? The more we complicate the systems the more difficult they become for humans to comprehend, and the more difficult they become to test. I’m sure someone at Airbus or Boeing is wondering if an automated go-around could be programmed to override an autopilot disconnect if the GPWS were to activate. In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me if an auto go-around was already programmed into Airbuses if the autopilot stayed enabled.
@Richard Nedbalek My point exactly. Now the pilots need to be trained to remember to press the “I’m really ditching button” in the middle of a high-stress situation, and if they forget and the autopilot disconnect doesn’t do that step, or a 15 cent part on the ditching button fails, or MCAS decides to trim weird... sigh!
Maybe I'm missing something, but based on the training and checking I've received and provided over thirty years, this doesn't sound like laziness or confusion. It just sounds like incompetence.
There is extensive corruption in that continent. I’m guessing you got your flying qualifications and passed routine competency checks if you paid the right money.
9:02 There you go. It is very understandable that the FO would think this is what the cpt meant. This is why communication has to be clear and standardized or this sort of thing happens. The FO should also have made sure he had the cpt's attention when he did it and that he heard him call out his action. The cpt could've countermanded it. 11:43 Even when playing on a home flight simulator you learn to keep your eyes checking on the attitude indicator. I don't understand why in so many of these crashes the crew's eyes weren't constantly checking the indicators.
imagine what could happen if Ryanair got its way and have only one pilot flying these complicated airships... this was mentioned around 2010. Although they have computers helping along the way, you refered to something very important, workload. even Embraer said this can be possible. Maybe it can be, but i feel somewhat uneasy about this idea (to save money)
Of course airlines would push for this ($$$) but it’s a horrendous idea. These are highly dynamic environments and only really work when workload is shared by a multi person crew. Putting all of that onto a single individual and then presenting them with a series of failures that increases their workload exponentially with no ability to cross check with another trained crew member is a disaster waiting to happen
Poorly trained to begin with, immature company culture, no accountability for mistakes in the past, all is the foundation for poor CRM, i.e., imcompetence.
These are not subtle errors. They've not easily-overlooked details, like punching in an incorrect air pressure setting, or getting confused by complicated instructions from ground control, or mistaking one radio beacon for another, or having one of those switches on the control panel in the wrong position, or misunderstanding a computer routine. This is more like a driver crashing into a tree because he forgot to steer - the most basic flying. A rank beginner would be working on this stuff by maybe his third hour of flight training. And you can't guess at it; you don't fly by "feel". That's another thing student pilots should have mastered long before they're commercial. To take the guesswork out of it all, even the most basic airplane has instruments. It's the altimeter and the airspeed indicator which keep an airplane in the air, with some help from that most magical of devices - the artificial horizon - when things get really mysterious. To climb, whether on takeoff or go-around, you need to control pitch and airspeed. That's it! Basic climbing is like walking; place one foot in front of the other while being careful to not fall over. If the engines and control surfaces are working properly, how can you screw it up? Of course, there were other problems here. Probably the biggest is failure to realize that an airplane can have only one pilot-in-command. Two pilots each doing a half-assed job doesn't add up to success.
I just read the Wikipedia article about the flight. It was the airline's girst fatal accident. While the captain hat 17'000 jours of flight experience, his first officer only had around 4000 and the relief pilot only 2000 hours, moreover the captain had only 500 hours on that particular model. The relative unfamiliarity with this aircraft together with the high workload was probably a contributing factor. But calling them lazy by not briefing the landing procedure correctly? They were landing on a very familiar airport after all.
But their unfamiliarity with the approach procedure suggests that they were very much unprepared and that a good briefing would have been in order. It was omitted --> laziness.
I feel bad for the 7 year old dutch boy who survived. Imagine waking up in the hospital with so much injuries and you find out youre the only one alive. Your parents are dead, the passengers are dead... And youre th eonly one left..
In circumstances like these, I'm more likely to blame inadequate training than anything else, including laziness. Pilots, regardless of airline, always have the best interest of the aircraft and passengers at heart. Pilots are hardworking people who are often over-worked and under-paid. They understand the gravity of their responsibility. I think before we blame laziness, we should consider whether or not the airline itself had failed the passengers by failing to train their pilots adequately.
This mishap perfectly illustrates the rather dismal outcome that can result from the attempt to introduce sophisticated machinery into a society that can cannot even understand the proper use of eating utensils.
Sounds, as it often does, as the result of a combination of factors. Some bad habits, poor communication and poor decision-making in a crisis situation, all made worse by being fatigued.
Plane was very light, pilots go TOGA, the thrust provides full power and accelerates quickly giving the sensation of pulling up. The pilots are probably looking at the flaps instead of instruments, relying on sensations to let them know how much they are pulling up. They feel they are pulling up too much and decide to push forward on the stick. Turns out it was all an illusion and they were not pulling up, they were just accelerating this whole time and in pushing forward, they dive bomb their plane into the ground.
At this point it just seems that pilots trained outside of Europe, the US and some parts of Asia (Singapore, India, HK) are a complete liability and ignore even basic pilot instincts or skills. Flying on your instruments is the most basic lesson taught to you during your instrument rating The only slight justification in this case is that to do this kind of non precision approach they’d have almost certainly turned of their flight directors and this would’ve given less of a prompt to airline pilots who are used to flying with FDs constantly. But again, basic pilot skills are lacking here. Pitch and power.
@@AirspaceVideos I am willing to bet that these names do not belong to American, Brittish and northern European ethnicity. Furthermore we will undoubtedly find that defective, missing and unchecked parts would inevitably be traced to third world/South American so called maintenance engineers/mechanics. Things will get worse inevitably. I am afraid I notice the reports are being sanitised in order to avoid attachment of guilt to those who are actually guilty last it offend.
And what kind of personality do you consider suitable? Besides, people change, and in the end, there is more pilot positions to be gilled than adequate people to fill the position...
But by the grace of God go I, and many others as well. Nearing retirement from a rather lack lustre aviation career, most of it in the airlines. I recall instances of laziness, stupidity, poor judgement and handling, both in myself and others that I have flown with. For the last decade or more I have been employed by a decent airline that keep a tight reign on the operation. The job of airline pilot in itself is quite easy and excruciatingly boring, and only by keeping the entire operation tightly corralled can safety be assured. .
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As a pilot of 35 years experience I can attest that fatigue will have an effect almost exactly to that of alcohol. My guess is that simulator training with this company was inadequate, monitoring of crew performance was also inadequate, coupled with fatigue it was a disaster waiting to happen. Companies will always defend themselves when questioned over possible crew fatigue by stating that any crew member has the option to call in stating that they're unable to fly due to fatigue. OK.. try that twice!
totally. i think the pressure on pilots to perform is immense and it’s not talked about often enough. it of course does not excuse all the errors made by the pilots in this situation, but the company is just as if not more culpable - it’s treated as a job like any other where you are expected to show up and get it done, but there are pretty apparent differences between being a pilot and doing a desk job that the employment system does not really account for. really unfortunate, because i think this leads and has lead to a lot of unnecessary or otherwise avoidable accidents.
"Failing to plan is like planning to fail"
Seems like a lack of oversight contributed to these pilot’s behavior. The captain got away with not filing a report after a bad go-around just weeks earlier. I’d be curious to see how many corners they had been cutting in the months leading up to this crash.
I wonder how this works in the airline at all. I would expect that an airline can list go around, eg by openly available atc data. Then it's not a question of the pilot providing said data, but the airline asking for it.
Or did he just give some standard reason like "not stabilised" and that's it?
That stood out to me as well.
I’d be curious to see how many corners the entire company had been cutting in the lead up to this crash! This kind of behaviour is more likely a result of the culture that existed within this company than two isolated people cutting corners.
Lack of CRM. They didn't communicate and the pilot got complacent.
How can you as a pilot be flying through fog having the ground proximity thing telling you THE GROUND IS TOO CLOSE and not actually be the least bit concerned enough to pull up on the stick and then glue your eyes to the altitude spinny to make sure it's going up?????
good question...
Damn good question. I'm always astonished at these accidents that happen when the plane gets to the charted minimum altitude and the pilots decide to continue even though they can't see. It seems like it's a running theme that these accidents happen after someone decides to break the rules.
The video did explain that acceleration & an aircraft climbing feel very similar.
It seems the pilots had very poor training AND their airline had a very lazy culture.
I'm surprised this whole airline wasn't investigated or grounded.
GPWS going off during landing is actually normal on some planes. Maybe not the model flown here
@@raheesom read the text properly. He questioned why the pilots didn't screen the altitude readings..!
Pilots and the airline belong in the Hall of Shame. Remarkable incompetence.
I work within audit and know how important discipline is in performing any procedure. Interesting how that is also reflected in aviation in a different manner. The root cause of the accident to me would mainly be a lack of discipline, instead of laziness. Great video again Mr. Airspace! Always enjoy it!
its called clickbait man. do you know how bad no one wants to see 'How Lack of Discipline Killed 103 People'?
Lack of discipline is a form of laziness! 😀
As my mum’s mum said, lazy people go to the most trouble. It’s annoyingly accurate.
Your Gran sounds like a right canny ol' girl !:-)
Еxactly. I've seen this
@@barrydysert2974 yes
very short minded quote,
as lazy people always rely on active responsible people to hide their complacency, and they are hugely a majority,
I would say they are everywhere, about 80% go the easy routines,
and eventually harm those people which they exploit.
I always tell those people : dont make your sloth rest on my diligence!
@@tomsawyer2112 true that
Complacency is (arguably)more dangerous than equipment failure,it means that all procedures are not being followed correctly or are minimize….familiarity often creates a false sense of security and a “Taking things for granted “ attitude,you might get away with this in a office but in the air it’s could lead to catastrophe…
To be overconfident and unaware of dangers is common place among most people who drive dangerous machines. Car drivers never think they are managing energies able to easily destroy lives, including their own. Many pilots are like that, unless properly trained and made aware by their companies' programmes and policies
@Lisa Schuster There is some margin of error. Unfortunately, when chance eats up five or six of those margins, accidents occur. I was a pilot, a bad pilot, but quitted in time. I realised I could easily be the major cause of one such accident, so I decided to live and let live.
Self-inflicted defeating of *ALL* safety features - approach planning/briefing, approach chart, CRM, aircraft safety systems, and human factors (fatigue/training). Wow.
Thanks, well put.
Unfortunately, this is so common in the workplace and there needs to be good monitoring to avoid it, as well as company culture.
A huge deal more important in aviation than many other industries
May the algorithm smile upon you and your views go up.
Lazy is right. The negligence is unconscionable. I’m sorry that poor boy lost whoever he had been flying with. I hope he is okay.
Another extremely well done episode. Thank you!
Failing to learn from previous close calls is probably the most severe issue here. Piling up 5-10 mistakes I can see that from many people, but to do that on multiple occasions, and never learn… never taking corrective actions. I expect better from people who don’t even work with safety critical tasks.
I was doing a departure (BTX and fueling) of a B744 in the parking bay next to this aircraft when I saw some guys ( seven guys I worked with at Lanseria airport a few years earlier)I knew boarding the aircraft. I greeted them, wished them a good flight, watched the pushback and take-off of this flight. Returning to my refueling, the fuel truck operator told me that said flight never uploaded any fuel. I thought nothing of it because depending on which aircraft we had land, we would preload to 80 tons before parking the aircraft, and the departing tech would then top up the fuel. The next day I was asked if I heard what had happened to the flight by the same fuel truck operator
oh my, so sad :(
What's happened to the flight? Was it his fault?
@@hazel_moore-1989 did you watch the video?
It doesn’t sound like the fuel had any impact on the crash, they are just saying they were there and way he’d the takeoff
@@hazel_moore-1989 No. The normal fuel management of a flight is to *only load the required amount of fuel for the flight,* meaning, the A330 should have loaded some fuel at JNB. It didn't happen, meaning the aircraft was already fueled for the Tripoli - Johannesburg leg, *AND the return.* That's highly inefficient in theory, dead weight you drag for an ENTIRE flight; as an airline, you don't want to waste money that way. That's why the truck operator was concerned, pilots refusing refuel, well, the responsibility is on the pilots, and that airline will soon have some financial isues if it keeps doing that for multi hours flights...
Now, could that A330 fly Tripoly-JNB-Tripoli and have enough fuel. The answer is *yes* assuming you don't load your aircraft with heavy cargo (beyond the passenger payoad and their luggage). It's all about mass, if you plan to bring your own fuel to return, you'll probably watch your max payload at JNB.
The truck operator : he learned about the crash the day after. Obviously, there is no explanation yet, only "the plane crashed short of the runway". So, your job is to refuel an aircraft, the pilots denied it, probably stating they had enough fuel. But the plane crashed. Under the circumstances, the truck operator know investigators will look everywhere for evidence, and as an actor in the industry directly involved in the crashed plane, you ask yourself what role could have you played by anticipation. Of course, the truck operator were concerned, should he had checked twice, *voiced his disbelief* when the pilots denied the refuel ? However, bottom line is, the pilots are fully responsible of deciding to refuel or not. If at any rate, investigators suspect the plane ran out of fuel, the question *_"could have the truck operator done anything to avoid it ?"_* That's the concern : it's not that he did anything, it's precisely _"could have he done MORE ?"._ He would get asked everything, the talks, the circumstances, which words were used and how they could have been interpreted by each party...
Fortunately, fuel shortage was not the issue, so, nothing this truck operator did wrong. Yes, the aviation industry is an unforgiven world, all this to ensure your safety and mine, so, when you travel, better be nice, all those people behind the scene are working very hard to get you where you want safely, even with delays, errors and other inconvenience, at least 150 people are involved *per flight,* people tend to only praise the pilots. (I digress but I'm addressing the impression "beside pilots and controllers, all actors are pretty much irrelevant..." *they aren't,* they very much play extremely important roles, and will get equally evaluated when things go bad...)
Side note : What could justify NOT loading fuel for the next part of the route ?
- anything that tells you you'll have trouble to get fuel at that airport : geopolitical tensions, higher fuel prices, fuel crisis in that region, security issues (you want to land, disembark/embark then leave as fast as possible), corruption, contaminated fuel at that airport, you have no dollars to pay the fuel...
- anything that negates the cost of bringing your own fuel : free fuel at home, contaminated fuel at home you don't want to dump, instead, consume as fast to erase the problem, aircraft was fueled at Tripoli for a longer route, which gets cancelled, and now you have way too much fuel for the Johannesburg route...
- you are tight on schedule : doesn't really apply here, but on short to medium hops, you generally don't refuel upon each stop, you load fuel for a set of legs and try to squeeze refuel (if possible and required) on a major airport where you are likely going to remain at the gate longer (or a smaller airport with very short taxi duration)
- when the runway is short : doesn't apply here, but if you are already heavy enough (important payload), you'll probably trade range, meaning, you already plan an intermediate stop to refuel.
- etc.
^^ there are many reasons, efficiency doesn't always mean "just enough fuel". I don't know the reason here, but the main airline of my country is very familiar with many of those reasons.
Disclaimer : we are on the internet like in the middle of the road, and anyone can say anything. Sean's story is probably real, but we cannot be sure as it's hard to verify. I'm not asking for proof, I find it very plausible. All I'm saying is it's bad practice to hear a story, and spread it like as an affirmation. Sean can affirm what he knows to be true, I can only affirm what I am sure is true. Do not take my comment as a confirmation of anything, only as an explanation of the hypothesis of no refuel and it's consequences. BTW, do not trust me : verify :)
There was plenty of “ laziness” at all levels. How tragic that carelessness and poor compliance with safety standards cost so many people their lives.
Complacency is a killer in the skies
This is the point of instrument rating !
This is really tragic but so avoidable. What a shame on all those people and their loved ones….
It’s a very responsible job being a pilot, especially commercial large jet airliners, and they’ve placed undue risks on all those around them. Sad.
There were a lot of Dutch people on this flight. I remember the impact it had on the country, and the feeling I got when I saw pictures of the wreckage. I was too young then to understand the details of the crash, so this is equal parts interesting and upsetting. Such a preventable tragedy.
The little boy that survived is doing well, according to his grandfather.
Big question comes to my: WHO was flying this plane? The FO was the PIC, yet he's asking the captain whether to go around? Horrible CRM
I’m not sure that’s quite right. There’s pilots flying, pilot monitoring as role dividers. PIC stands for “Pilot In Command” and I don’t know if first officers can become PIC without the captain becoming incapacitated.
@@mikoto7693 yea I'm pretty sure the captain is the PIC but both crew member can call for a go-around and it would be executed
The captain (left hand seat) will always be PIC, I think you mean Pilot flying (PF) which the FO was in this case with the captain being pilot monitoring.
Nicely done video. What a shame
I’m not a pilot, but when the plane is yelling PULL UP, terrain! I’m going to do that.
Thanks for a very detailed and informative video.
Great video man
I can understand how confusion could build up, but when a proximity warning goes off and you have a horizon indicator that’s displaying correct date…it’s hard to justify their response.
This is an odd one.
With an NDB approach in this part of the world, the LNAV overlay is the mode briefed and flown usually with the runway threshold as the final waypoint, vertical profile is easy to calculate at 300 feet per nautical mile plus the airfield elevation.
Crossing the NDB confirms the point in space co-incident with the final decent point also stored in the LNAV database.
This could all have been flown with the autopilot engaged, and likewise, as you observed the same applies to the missed approach.
Fatigue is least appreciated by those whose decisions cause it to others.
Correction: In some non-precision approaches, the go-around is not necessarily iniciated immediately when the MDA is reached. In most of NDB and VOR procedures, the correct procedure is to level at this altitude and proceed until the MAPT (missed approach point), which may be located overhead the radiobeacon, or in some specific distance from it. Maybe, in the specific situation described in this video, the go-around would've been the best option, but it isn't mandatory in several cases.
correct.
As a person who has no idea about flying, I can't comment anything, but maybe the pilots should have been more alert. Thank you Airspace for your videos!!
It seems strange that a `Plane can be smarter than the (RUBBISH) Crew, and left alone COULD land itself. Watch Mentour on `Can a non-pilot land a modern aircraft` - totally amazing, as is this channel - Bravo Airspace!
Super channel - MORE!!! Any T Shirts? (got Mentours)
thank you 😄 not yet, no!
Smarter? No. A plane can’t think for itself, it can only do what it is programmed to do. In those mentour pilots he ( a highly experienced and senior type rated pilot) is talking the non-pilot through everything. A plane can’t just land itself with no human input nor does it have the ability to monitor itself and know when it is following the wrong inputs, when an autopilot exceeds certain parameters it will always knock itself off and default to human (manual) control
When a plane lands ‘itself’ (auto land) this is a highly specialist procedure that only the most advanced airliners at certain airports with specially trained pilots can do. In that instance the pilots aren’t just passengers but monitoring the entire process and are ready to intervene. Plenty of disaster have been averted by pilots intervening by the way but you’ll never hear about that only when idiots like these guys get it wrong
Those somatic illusions are crazy! Can’t believe pilots still trust feelings vs checking instruments
I was supposed to watch and like this video 6 months ago but I got lazy... Great Video!
I think this was a mixture of fatigue and sloppy training in a situation they as officers should have known .
Terrible company culture and training too. GPWS warning should be an immediate muscle-memory terrain escape maneuver. Why this wasn’t drilled into these pilots is beyond me…
They Claim flying is the Safest mode of travel but when I see/hear stories about the stupid crap some pilots, maintenance staff do or the illegal cost saving measures some airlines have been caught doing (buying illegal and unsafe replacement parts) I never want to fly. Zero chance of survival in most crashes. Not for me!
Thank you Chris !:-)
Disregard of procedues heightened by long flight fatigue. Deadly combination.
Was the first officer even qualified to pilot an airplane?
Of course
Oh dear, how absolutely horrible. I always get a terrible sinking feeling when it ends badly, even though the people are already dead it feels almost like one is witness to it!
This is, despite that, very much to do with the well designed narrative that gives you the things you need to know but avoids too much detail so it allows the drama to build uninterrupted.
I'm sure our highly qualified host does not really need a barrage of detailed feedback from a bunch of enthusiastic amateurs (with apologies to those who are, in fact, professionals! I should speak for myself only😆) so I won't - it seems very clear that all of the suggestions posed, played their part and reconfirms, frankly, why you would simply never catch me on Afriquiah Air, PIA, Aerosucre, Ariana, Garuda, Batik etc etc - I think everyone gets the drift😏
Cool Video
The more tired I would be, the more I'd focus on the fundamentals.
Aka thrust, attitude, and air speed.
That's the only thing that matters in a go around; the rest can come later.
So I really do not understand this crash, still.
I totally get what you are saying here, but fatigue can be much much harder to deal with that. It’s possible to get so tired that you couldn’t track those things, remember what’s happening, or even hallucinate. I can’t imagine how it was possible that that level of fatigue could happen if there is an entire crew to check about, but that level of fatigue is certainly possible for a person to feel
The fact that both sidesticks input downward, this is a suicide, its impossible to not to look at the instrument screen when too low terrain warning shouting pull up!
Wow, these pilots really had no business flying. How could fatigue be the cause when they seemed to have had a history of poor flying skills?
Two things seem astounding. One, that any pilot with over 0 hours airtime doesn't know TOGA procedures head to toe, from countless drills. It's the most basic beginner training item, is it not? And the demonstration of the simulator is telling here: didn't they encounter the illusory condition in sim training, and know that you *must* confirm pitch? Second, that a plane this advanced - operating now in 2021 - can be manually commanded to aim at the ground short of the runway. That would only seem humanly possible in a _fully_ nonprecision approach! Like VFR??
And how BOTH pilots could be that inept. Perhaps one might, and the other was too timid to object. But what are the odds that two out of two could each, and independently, be so incapable of basic procedures?
I disagree that this is a briefing failure. Here there are 2 morons that don't know beginner landing procedures(TOGA) ,and; 1 moron that hesitated to order TOGA; and a plane design where you can just aim at the ground, and be **required** to pull up or it's 100% CFIT.
Evidently these pilots didn't practice their Go Arounds very often. I really can't imagine forgetting to pitch up in those circumstances. That's really wierd. As per the other comments, I do watch Mentour sometimes but you have a sexier voice. 🤣
Nice as always!
I'm not a pilot but I would've thought that their training would cover this type of problem. I also would've thought they could see the pitch of the aircraft on the instruments. Its a catalogue of schoolboy errors that cost the lives of 100 people....... absolutely tragic.
It wasn't laziness. It was incompetence.
Pilots were trained at Airbus training centre and were released to fly such aircraft by the way
This crash was big news back than here in the Netherlands, because there was a large group of Dutch people on board, returning from their holidays in South Africa. They would change in Tripoli on a flight to Amsterdam. In this video you say that you cannot see when you pass that mdb locator beacon. That is not correct. First you can see its position on the nav screen (based on INS and GPS data). And you can select adf to be displayed on that same nav display, showing the needle pointing towards the beacon, as received on the adf receiver. First this needle should point strait forward (360 degr), when you are on the correct track towards the runway. Than, when you overpass the beacon, that needle turns around to the back (180 degr). This is similar to the older analoge ADF gauges. Anyway, fatigue and maybe a bit of lack of proficiency of the flight crew played a role in the cause of this preventable crash... Very sad.
I didn't mean to say it's impossible to see when you pass an NDB! It's difficult to see when you pass an NDB if you just use the NDB needle. As you pass overhead the beacon, the signal becomes erratic, and only after a while will it return to a more or less stable indication. I'd say the area of uncertainty can be about a mile wide - not very precise if you want to start your descent there.
But of course, in the A330 the pilots should have been able to determine their position down to the meter, pretty much, seeing that they were GPS equipped.
Why wasn't the ground proximity going off? Thought he said it was going off at first.
Thanks again Airspace.
Tragic & unnecessary.
l would cite the airline & training, but as mentioned there were other factors.
It shocks me about how little bit left of the plane after the crash, considering an A330 is a massive plane.
Complecency really does kill
I want to know that if I step on a bus, train, plane or Starship, that there's none of this slacking on my ride!!
It was a negligence. Not fatigue, because our adrenal system switch on all our abilities for the stress situation
Since we have all this marvelous tech now...Perhaps the aircraft should be able to intervene when it senses improper operation for the situation.🤨
Good question - one that I can't really answer though, I don't know!
It’s an interesting question, but if I recall correctly Sully and Skiles’ US Airways 1549 flight also had a terrain warning before touchdown in the water. Would the aircraft have known the difference between a forced ditching and a bad approach? Would it have pitched up higher than Sully had? Theoretically, software can be written to address any situation, but do sensors tell the right story? Air France 447 was in alternate law due to frozen pitot tubes, would software have recognized the approaching water and been able to react correctly? The more we complicate the systems the more difficult they become for humans to comprehend, and the more difficult they become to test. I’m sure someone at Airbus or Boeing is wondering if an automated go-around could be programmed to override an autopilot disconnect if the GPWS were to activate. In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me if an auto go-around was already programmed into Airbuses if the autopilot stayed enabled.
@Richard Nedbalek My point exactly. Now the pilots need to be trained to remember to press the “I’m really ditching button” in the middle of a high-stress situation, and if they forget and the autopilot disconnect doesn’t do that step, or a 15 cent part on the ditching button fails, or MCAS decides to trim weird... sigh!
Maybe I'm missing something, but based on the training and checking I've received and provided over thirty years, this doesn't sound like laziness or confusion. It just sounds like incompetence.
There is extensive corruption in that continent. I’m guessing you got your flying qualifications and passed routine competency checks if you paid the right money.
imagine being the sole survivor of a tragedy such as this. I would doubt the reason I was the only survivor for my entire life...
They found the child hanged on a tree nearby with his seat
9:02 There you go. It is very understandable that the FO would think this is what the cpt meant. This is why communication has to be clear and standardized or this sort of thing happens. The FO should also have made sure he had the cpt's attention when he did it and that he heard him call out his action. The cpt could've countermanded it.
11:43 Even when playing on a home flight simulator you learn to keep your eyes checking on the attitude indicator. I don't understand why in so many of these crashes the crew's eyes weren't constantly checking the indicators.
imagine what could happen if Ryanair got its way and have only one pilot flying these complicated airships...
this was mentioned around 2010.
Although they have computers helping along the way,
you refered to something very important,
workload.
even Embraer said this can be possible.
Maybe it can be, but i feel somewhat uneasy about this idea (to save money)
And the 1 has a heart attack? Stroke? In a locked cockpit?
Ryanair can lump it.
Of course airlines would push for this ($$$) but it’s a horrendous idea. These are highly dynamic environments and only really work when workload is shared by a multi person crew. Putting all of that onto a single individual and then presenting them with a series of failures that increases their workload exponentially with no ability to cross check with another trained crew member is a disaster waiting to happen
Poorly trained to begin with, immature company culture, no accountability for mistakes in the past, all is the foundation for poor CRM, i.e., imcompetence.
These are not subtle errors. They've not easily-overlooked details, like punching in an incorrect air pressure setting, or getting confused by complicated instructions from ground control, or mistaking one radio beacon for another, or having one of those switches on the control panel in the wrong position, or misunderstanding a computer routine. This is more like a driver crashing into a tree because he forgot to steer - the most basic flying. A rank beginner would be working on this stuff by maybe his third hour of flight training. And you can't guess at it; you don't fly by "feel". That's another thing student pilots should have mastered long before they're commercial. To take the guesswork out of it all, even the most basic airplane has instruments. It's the altimeter and the airspeed indicator which keep an airplane in the air, with some help from that most magical of devices - the artificial horizon - when things get really mysterious. To climb, whether on takeoff or go-around, you need to control pitch and airspeed. That's it! Basic climbing is like walking; place one foot in front of the other while being careful to not fall over. If the engines and control surfaces are working properly, how can you screw it up? Of course, there were other problems here. Probably the biggest is failure to realize that an airplane can have only one pilot-in-command. Two pilots each doing a half-assed job doesn't add up to success.
I just read the Wikipedia article about the flight. It was the airline's girst fatal accident. While the captain hat 17'000 jours of flight experience, his first officer only had around 4000 and the relief pilot only 2000 hours, moreover the captain had only 500 hours on that particular model. The relative unfamiliarity with this aircraft together with the high workload was probably a contributing factor. But calling them lazy by not briefing the landing procedure correctly? They were landing on a very familiar airport after all.
But their unfamiliarity with the approach procedure suggests that they were very much unprepared and that a good briefing would have been in order. It was omitted --> laziness.
I feel bad for the 7 year old dutch boy who survived. Imagine waking up in the hospital with so much injuries and you find out youre the only one alive. Your parents are dead, the passengers are dead... And youre th eonly one left..
Because the pilots are lazy...
Yeah, the first thing ANY pilot should do when they hear "Terrain terrain" is pitch down. Now THAT'S great piloting.
Afriqiyah Airways landing procedure: Inshallah.
In circumstances like these, I'm more likely to blame inadequate training than anything else, including laziness. Pilots, regardless of airline, always have the best interest of the aircraft and passengers at heart. Pilots are hardworking people who are often over-worked and under-paid. They understand the gravity of their responsibility. I think before we blame laziness, we should consider whether or not the airline itself had failed the passengers by failing to train their pilots adequately.
Was the third pilot on the flight deck?
yup...
Does Tripoli *still* not have ILS technology?
This mishap perfectly illustrates the rather dismal outcome that can result from the attempt to introduce sophisticated machinery into a society that can cannot even understand the proper use of eating utensils.
Sounds, as it often does, as the result of a combination of factors. Some bad habits, poor communication and poor decision-making in a crisis situation, all made worse by being fatigued.
Tell me that automation doesnt reduce pilot's flying skills....
Why did pilot have priority if the co pilot was flying
HOW SAD
Plane was very light, pilots go TOGA, the thrust provides full power and accelerates quickly giving the sensation of pulling up. The pilots are probably looking at the flaps instead of instruments, relying on sensations to let them know how much they are pulling up. They feel they are pulling up too much and decide to push forward on the stick. Turns out it was all an illusion and they were not pulling up, they were just accelerating this whole time and in pushing forward, they dive bomb their plane into the ground.
I wonder how they manage to get their pilot license.
Afriqiyah Airways quality pilots 💀
Final Approach mode means RNAV?
not quite, it's just a mode in which one can fly an RNAV approach
I guess the fact that I am lazy is that this will happen to me.
Another reason why I do not fly. At least in a car, I am in control of the car. On a plane, someone else is in charge and your life is in his hands.
What was his MDA?
Im feeling lazy right now!
This would have never happened on my watch.
At this point it just seems that pilots trained outside of Europe, the US and some parts of Asia (Singapore, India, HK) are a complete liability and ignore even basic pilot instincts or skills. Flying on your instruments is the most basic lesson taught to you during your instrument rating
The only slight justification in this case is that to do this kind of non precision approach they’d have almost certainly turned of their flight directors and this would’ve given less of a prompt to airline pilots who are used to flying with FDs constantly. But again, basic pilot skills are lacking here. Pitch and power.
The pilots names or nationality were never mentioned. Why is this?
usually due to confidentiality. Their names are on wikipedia though, I think.
@@AirspaceVideos I am willing to bet that these names do not belong to American, Brittish and northern European ethnicity. Furthermore we will undoubtedly find that defective, missing and unchecked parts would inevitably be traced to third world/South American so called maintenance engineers/mechanics. Things will get worse inevitably.
I am afraid I notice the reports are being sanitised in order to avoid attachment of guilt to those who are actually guilty last it offend.
@Peter that is so racist and arrogant!
@@berits.2346 is is neither. I suggest that you are ignorant and reactionary. Go check then apologise.
how do you forget to pull up
Have you searched for any witnesses might have been near by and saw something ? After all Fatigue is the main Reason .
And airlines still keep pushing pilots
Why is it always in May?!
If you can't see the right ground.. Go around.
I keep on wandering why the hell there wouldn't be any personalality test for all those in charge of so many lifes...DOCTORS INCLUSIVE! 🤯🤔
And what kind of personality do you consider suitable? Besides, people change, and in the end, there is more pilot positions to be gilled than adequate people to fill the position...
My cousin and his boss died, even worse he was a qualified pilot so he knew what was happening!!!
Man hört den ch dialekt gut heraus😂
scho gäu?
Yo, das wirsch nie los ;-)
Wow. African pilots are usually so wonderful.
B list airplane disaster video
All of the above
But by the grace of God go I, and many others as well.
Nearing retirement from a rather lack lustre aviation career, most of it in the airlines. I recall instances of laziness, stupidity, poor judgement and handling, both in myself and others that I have flown with.
For the last decade or more I have been employed by a decent airline that keep a tight reign on the operation. The job of airline pilot in itself is quite easy and excruciatingly boring, and only by keeping the entire operation tightly corralled can safety be assured.
.
What a mess…