How A Flat Tyre Killed 51 People | The Crash Of Spantax Flight 995

this is the story of spantax airlines flight  995. on the 13th of september 1982 a dc-10   started its day flying from palme de mayorca  to madrid's barajas airport later that day   the plane was ported by passengers and 13 crew  members they were flying from malaga to new york   as the passengers boarded and settled in for the  flight the pilots were configuring the plane for   takeoff they set the flaps and calculated the  important speed information for this takeoff   including the v-speeds today their v1 speed or  the highest speed at which they could reject the   takeoff and have sufficient runway to stop was 162  knots the plane left the gate and started to taxi   towards the runway all while the crew carried out  checks and checklists making sure that the plane   was set for takeoff as the plane lined up with  the runway the pilots got their takeoff clearance   from atc in the cockpit the pilots pushed all  three of the dc-10s giant engines to maximum power   the huge plane barreled down the  runway it went through 80 knots   the engine parameters were all in the  green as the plane passed through 160 knots   something was wrong a strange vibration could be  felt in the cockpit this was anything but normal   the plane was picking up speed and the pilots  had no idea what was causing these vibrations   the plane kept on accelerating and the vibrations  grew worse and worse the pilots had no idea what   was wrong with the plane would it be able to  stay in the air they did not know pilots had   been taught to reject takeoffs at or below their  v1 speed in this case 162 knots because that would   give them more than enough time to stop the plane  safely on the runway but in this case stopping   on the runway would be very hard as they were  going very fast the captain couldn't fall back   on his training this was totally new they had been  trained for things like engine failures on takeoff   but not this whatever this was knowing that they  had too little runway to stop the pilots decided   to take off they raised the nose of the plane but  suddenly as flight 995 strained to get airborne   the vibrations increased the pilots felt  that it was coming from the back of the plane   the captain could feel the plane vibrating through  his control columns he had no idea what was wrong   with the plane no idea if the dc-10 would be able  to sustain flight he knew that the plane was going   too fast to stop in time but he decided to reject  the takeoff anyway even as the pilots brought   the nose wheel back onto the runway the plane was  accelerating the captain engaged the reversers and   the spoilers but the plane was just going way too  fast in the cockpit window the captain saw that   they were headed for the building that housed the  ils equipment he struggled to control the plane   when it became clear that they would hit the  runway lights the captain ordered an engine shut   off as he did so the plane began crashing into the  approach lights of runway 3-2 the dc-10 traveled   another 290 meters after it overran the runway and  it slammed into the ils building destroying it but   the dc-10 still carried quite a bit of speed it  broke through the airport fence and went through a   busy highway damaging three vehicles eventually  the dc-10 crashed into some farming equipment   unfortunately 50 people on the plane and one  person on the ground did not make it when compared   to cruising takeoffs and landings are absolutely  chaotic there's just so much going on more   importantly margins are razer then if you lose  an engine at 35 000 feet you have a few seconds   to react if you lose an engine on takeoff you  literally have split seconds to make that decision   if you make the wrong choice at those speeds it  won't take long for you to crash into something   after all the saying goes a pilot's job is  99 boredom followed by a percent of sheer   terror so what went wrong on flight 995. the  takeoff for the most part was normal the plane   was accelerating as usual and the plane had no  trouble getting airborne flight 995 should have   been able to take off when they canvassed the  runway that flight 995 took off from they found   pieces of one of the tires of the dc-10 it looked  like not all of the dc-10 was at the crash site   this alone does not explain the crash of a  plane like the dc-10 sure losing a tire on   takeoff might be an annoyance and you might have  to carry out a few more checks on landing but it   should absolutely not bring down a passenger  jet air france flight 4590 notwithstanding   but nonetheless they sent the tire fragments to  the national institute of aerospace technology   for analysis the tire fragments had come from the  nose wheel they also found something interesting   the tire itself was not new in fact it had  been recently re-tread for a third time   retreading is a process to reuse old tires  by applying a fresh tread on a worn out tire   this particular tire had gone  through 14 landings after its retread   the parts that were found on the runway were from  this new material that was applied to the tire to   refurbish it for some reason it came off as  the plane started to take off the new tread   is made up of multiple layers but they noticed  that the layers weren't stuck together properly   the adhesive holding the layers together was very  weak in addition to that the retread had small   bubbles in it further weakening the whole  tire this meant that as the plane took off   multiple layers of the tread was ripped off the  tire as the plane picked up speed the retread had   not been done properly the adhesive that they  used to refurbish the tire was just not up to   snuff this explains the vibrations that the crew  felt as the plane picked up speed the now unevenly   shaped tire rotated faster and faster thus  increasing the intensity of the vibrations this   is where the human comes in during takeoffs the  pilots were experiencing vibrations that they   had never experienced before they weren't really  trained to deal with wheel failures on takeoff   their very first exposure to an emergency of  this sort was the real deal itself that brings   us to decision time decision time is the time it  takes for you to see something and to react to   it usually when you're driving or something the  decisions you have to take are relatively simple   but with an airplane you have to consider so many  scenarios what happens if i continue the takeoff   what happens if i reject the takeoff etc when  you're taking off you don't have the time to do   all of that so in an effort to simplify the  decision-making process air safety experts decided   that you should not reject a take-off above a  certain speed also known as the v1 speed this way   it's simple you can take action in mere seconds in  the case of flight 995 that way of thinking failed   them in normal circumstances the plane tells  you through a series of warnings what's wrong   here there was none of that just some very strong  vibrations they had no way of diagnosing what was   wrong was there something wrong with the wheels  maybe something wrong with the control surfaces   etc the pilots were in the dark at first the  pilots decided to continue with the takeoff   but when the vibrations intensified after the  nose lifted off the captain decided to reject   the takeoff even though he knew that they were  well past the point of no return he had no idea   if the plane would be able to stay in the air  which is why he decided against the takeoff   on the face of it it seems like he broke a  cardinal rule of aviation but the investigators   exonerated him for that choice they argued that  his actions were justified because they were in   a situation that they had not been trained for or  were familiar with in my opinion if you decide to   reject a takeoff after you've passed the point of  no return you're essentially playing the game of   chance in this case the captain did the right  thing but unfortunately 51 people lost their lives   a few months ago we talked about united airlines  flight 611 link to that video on the screen right   now that accident was very similar to this  one the pilots decided to reject the takeoff   very late which was the wrong call but everyone  ended up walking away from that crash that period   after v1 is very critical this crash  ultimately comes down to a flow of information   for most failures there's a light or a warning  that lets pilots know what exactly is failing   and how but there's no warning for a tire that  is disintegrating the pilots had no idea what   was happening with their plane which explains the  decisions that they made what do you think do you   think that the captain made the right call let me  know your thoughts in the comments below by the   way before you go we just hit 100 000 subscribers  i had no idea that the channel would be this   huge when i started it two years ago you're all  amazing thank you for watching i don't know what   the future holds for this channel but let's find  out together with that thank you for watching this   episode of mini air crash investigation if you  like the videos that i make do consider liking   and subscribing it will really help the channel  grow i will catch you guys next time stay safe

Channel: Mini Air Crash Investigation

Views: 86,268

Rating: 4.9193244 out of 5

Keywords: air crash investigation, air crash confidential, mayday, why planes crash, aviation safety, dc10, dc10 crash, american airlines flight 191, turkish airlines flight 981, spantax airlines, spantax airlines crash, spanish aircrash, spanish crash, runway overrun, how weak glue crashed this plane, plane crash explainer, theflightchannel, educational, aviation documenatry, failed takeoff, aircrash in spain, flight 995, flight 995 crash, aviation documentary, eduactional, takeoff crash

Id: -iXuOjf1NQw

Length: 9min 37sec (577 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 01 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/Baron_VonLongSchlong]

It’s always a DC-10. Poor DC-10.

[u/notsas]

or was it the Captain's decision to abort the take-off way past V1 with only a few hundred meters left of runway?

Weak glue????

[u/Kman0010]

Omg my parent's flight! My mother is still a nervous flier while my dad got his pilot's license after. Go figure.

[u/patmosboy]

Was the company that did the faulty retread liable?

[u/Leonashanana]

Bit of a trolley problem type of situation here.