Deadly Draft | Eastern Air Lines Flight 66

[@sc-cg2wh]

My dad was the last person to die. He lived 9 days. We thought he was going to make it. His best friend sitting beside him survived. Almost 44 years later, and it still seems somewhat surreal. He was 37, I'm now 62. His father died from injuries in a truck accident at 30. It's curious how the curve of history is altered in a moment. You always wonder how things would have been different.

[@madwax4771]

Sorry to hear that

[@sumelle2]

So sorry😿

[@omd4737]

My condolences. This has to be hard to watch.

[@jamesowens62]

Very sorry

[@glennevans5824]

Wow real sad....so sorry.....😿

[@gh9111]

I lived directly in line with runway 22 and we were about 2 miles from the airport. The jets flew over day and night. After a while you just get used to the noise. I was lying down when I heard that jet come over my house. I said "man that guy was low". A minute later was the boom.

[@anthonya2349]

Remember those rainy days, couldn't hear TV with planes going over about 1 minute apart.

[@davidh9844]

This is as creepy as hell, and I've lived with it for 45 years now. I was on the 747 KLM flight (641 ex Amsterdam) that first reported the shear (2:37), and led to the go around for EA 902. We came in over eastern Long Island, and there were tall cumulus clouds building all over the island, which we were dodging. It was bumpy, but nothing frightening. We vectored in for the 22L runway landing, which was great - I had a window seat on the left, and actually had a clear view of my house from the air. And the car, so I knew than my parents hadn't left for the airport yet. As it turns out, my father and mother were heading to the car at just that moment, and watched my flying over Elmont Road on approach. As we got closer to touchdown, we saw rain clouds, but no rain (yet). Just above threshold, the left wing of the plane dropped very suddenly, we lurched, the pilot applied what I assume was full power, the wing righted, the plane hit the runway very hard, and flew right into blinding rain, that lasted a few seconds only. We came to a normal stop, taxied to the terminal, I got through customs in no time - we were early for the international arrivals. As I went into the luggage area and customs, bells started going off, and a lot of personnel started running in every which direction. I knew our landing was abnormal, the bells were definitely not normal, but I got my bags, and walked out. My father saw me, and looked like he had seen a ghost. He had been a WW2 B-25 navigator. He saw the clouds of black smoke over Rockaway Avenue from the Southern State Parkway. He knew what it was, and he had just seen me less than 20 minutes earlier flying over the house. During peak rush hour, planes approach the runway every 90 seconds. EA 902 was 90 seconds behind us, and opted to go around. EA 66 was 180 seconds behind us, and didn't make it. I believe 2 or 3 people survived the crash. It was much to close for comfort. I caught the 11PM news that night, our pilot was interviewed. I'll never forget his saying "...We have some bad weather in the Netherlands, but this was the most difficult landing I have ever made..." Normal flight, wing dipped for 1 or 2 seconds only, engines powered up, we leveled off and landed. It could have been me.

[@skipdillard]

Captain Kleven was my Uncle. I remember this day like it was yesterday. I was 15 years old. I was watching TV and the weather was horrible. I lived in Whitestone. Across the TV it say "Special Report". When they said it was an Eastern airlines plane I had this horrible feeling it was my Uncle. My mom came home from work and said it was Unclw John's plane. We were devastated. Three years later my Uncle's son was killed in a helicopter crash with the National Guard. I don't think my Aunt ever got over these tragedies. 😥☹

[@patriciagurwitz509]

Today is Nov. 25, 2019. I was a flight attendant for Eastern until 1990. Sure do miss flying but enjoy watching these videos of days gone by. I am grateful to have never an emergency. It was the best airline back then.

[@mebeingU2]

Patricia Gurwitz, were you ever nervous or scared while in the air doing your job?

[@miyanor4743]

I hope eastern airlines will back in operation.

[@unzipyourfly]

Patricia Gurwitz Best job I ever had. Still miss it to this ver moment. The thought crashing never came across. That’s what training back then was all about.

[@Shuzcan61]

FYI...my dad was captain for the whisperjet liner, this is mid 70s when I was teenager based in Miami Int.l

[@georgemerriken7504]

Patricia, Where were you domeciled? I flew EAL a lot when I was in USAF. DCA, BAL, JFK, MSY, DAL. Mostly B727. George [e-mail]

[@JBrandeis1]

I knew people on that flight very well, and I can tell you that their deaths left deep scars on the lives of their relatives and friends that have never gone away.

[@epicmadnesss]

Did you know of the Norwegian sailors

[@JBrandeis1]

@@epicmadnesss No. The people I knew were all from New Orleans.

[@marydahm6851]

I experienced a severe wind shear incident on a TWA flight landing in Wichita around 1977 or so. Unlike this accident, the weather was clear. As we came in for landing, the plane just sunk. I remember seeing the trees and ground coming up and then going down hard and then the pilot pulling us up so severely all the overhead bins opened and grown men were screaming. I was just a teenager then, not used to flying. Looking back I was grateful the pilots were most likely ex-military and knew what to do. We landed on a cross strip for the next approach and lived to tell the tale.

[@bruzote]

Wow!

[@judaism163]

Overhead bins? What are those? U mean the ceiling came off? What are overhead bins??

[@marydahm6851]

Judaism Overhead bins are the storage areas above your head for carry on luggage. They are on almost all commercial planes. They have a closure mechanism which under severe mechanical stress (pulling the plane up quickly) can open and the contents will come spilling out. Back then they didn’t have the same rules about the size of the luggage that went up there. In this case the overhead bin doors opened and suitcases came spilling out into the cabin, on to people, the floor, etc. The fuselage of the plane was not compromised but there was a lot of g force with the steep pull up.

[@sanddabz5635]

@@judaism163 Really? You don't have a clue as to the name of the spot where you store your carry-on luggage.....it's called the "overhead bins", think about it~

[@winstonchurchill3597]

"most likely ex-military and knew what to do" - really - as a teenage passenger you would not have a clue into what makes a good pilot; therefore your opinion doesn't mean squat - just saying.

[@andrewharris1443]

I was 10 years old, riding in the back seat of my dad's Mercury, coming back from a family trip to Manhattan. We were on Rockaway Boulevard and the weather was very very bad. Lots of thunder and lightning. We had a minor bumper-to-bumper accident prompting my dad and the other driver to briefly get out and look at the damage. There was none, or at least not enough to bother with in that weather. Moments after dad got back into the car and we started moving forward there was bright flash and boom. Then we saw the fireball that had been Eastern Flight 66 rising about a mile or less ahead of us. My sister cried she could see the wreckage from her window. It was a defining moment of my childhood. Growing up near JFK, I'd always heard planes overhead. But it was my first experience with a crash. To this day, I still have nightmares when a loud or low-flying plane passes overhead while I'm sleeping.

[@ikaikamaleko8370]

I remember back in the 80s being at Lax when you could walk right to the gates and sitting right at a window and watching a Delta L10ll pull practically right up to the window, it was a rush, and I looked right at the pilots as they pulled that beautiful airplane right up to the jetway; the same type and livery as FLT 191 that also crashed from a microburst.

[@hankloggins2723]

DAN FOLGABERG woop

[@victorgrasscourt3382]

It was clear that the Eastern L1011 came close to crashing before the 727, executing a go-around and just got away with it by 100 feet! Then JFK ATC sent the next aircraft into this danger zone and it crashed.

[@gomphrena-beautifulflower-8043]

Wow. Another example of improvement to airline safety written in blood. I’d love to hear some survivors ‘ accounts, and how their lives were affected if any are living today. Again, great job Allec!

[@nenblom]

AMEN!! Unfortunately, a lot of improvements in airline safety come after tragic accidents.

[@matt8863]

Agreed Niklas...Allegheny Airlines flight 485 was one of those...The NTSB made several notable recommendations to the FAA.

[@perarnehansen]

My uncel worked for many years as a kaptein on big ships after he survived. His story is unbelivible. I got it confirmed by one of the heros cutting him loose from his seat.

[@Maplelust]

kissass.

[@davidh9844]

See below. I was on KLM 641 out of Amsterdam. The last plane that landed on 22L that day, 3 minutes before the crash

[@samuelsimon1604]

I remember this accident, my mom was just getting off the clock in Brooklyn when she got called to come back in to work at the hospital,one the survivors she treated was burned over 60%of his body,mom's said she'll remember it till the day she dies... excellent work allec Joshua ibay

[@perarnehansen]

Is your mothers name carol ? My uncel was badly burned. Not sure, but was it jamaica hospital?

[@samuelsimon1604]

@@perarnehansen no it's Victoria and she was assigned to Brookfield hospital in Brooklyn,but she had to check in Jamaica hospital

[@billiebobbienorton2556]

I remember the day it happened. I was living on Long Island and the weather was quickly turning more severe. When the crash occurred the 3 networks broke into normal broadcasting and covered the tragedy. WNBC's news anchor Chuck Scarborough was a licensed pilot and gave some interesting commentary about conditions that could have impacted the landing. I think he may have discussed the possibility of the phenomenon called "wind shear".

[@billgiordano4425]

I remember that plane, because I was a crane operator @ Naparano Iron&Metal works in Newark, at the time and they had the contract to recycle the wreckage of that plane. I remember the seats being burned with the clothes of the people melted into the back rests., and lots of beads from the Mardi Grad that the people were coming back from. It was a sad scene! The grapple hook crane I usesfed the parts into a crusher, which groaned when the ram was supposed to crush the tianium into squares. I remember it well!

[@ikaikamaleko8370]

Wow

[@karyngarvin2685]

Mardi Gras is in February. This happened in the month of June.

[@billgiordano4425]

Karyn Garvin I know when it was in.our yard was probably months after the C.A.B. got done with their investigation. Know what I saw. And what plane it was! What do you know?!

[@karyngarvin2685]

@@billgiordano4425 I know enough that the video says the crash was in June of 1975. Mardi Gras is over the day before Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent, which is in February almost every year and never any later than the first week of March. These people were not returning from Mardi Gras.

[@leonswan6733]

@@karyngarvin2685 Good catch Karyn lol i went to Mardi Gras in early march ( i think ) of 2003. We will give him the benefit of the dout and i do think in New Orleans ( I been there at non Mardi Gras months ) almost every day is a little Mardi Gras where you would be able to get those beads all on Bourbon street. He still could be telling the truth.

[@rjb073]

I can remember flying into Kansas City in 2001 when an American was landing in front of me and was reporting that they had received a microburst alert and decided to divert. We didn't even get into our short final when we received a wind shear alert, so I made the decision to abort the landing and to follow the American. My F/O was telling me that he could already feel the plane pushing him down. It was a real bad day in Kansas City and a lot of planes were having issues on takeoff and landing. We later saw on the news that there were three tornadoes spotted in the area of the KC airport.

[@dalethelander3781]

For that decision, you are hereby awarded the title of Steely-eyed Missile Man.

[@cdtaylor7732]

When we learn now, we are taught that if encountering a Microburst, they can generate 6000’ per minute downdrafts. This means that nearly any aircraft will be forced to the ground if on short final. The development of equipment to detect it has changed aviation forever!

[@riggs20]

How does the detection system on the plane work? It must detect a microburst that's in front of you?

[@thomaskunze8196]

@@riggs20 It ist installed on the ground, using o doppler radar system, detecting rain drops of unusual up or downdraft.

[@riggs20]

@@thomaskunze8196 Makes sense, thanks!

[@MrSoccerball100]

Wow. That’s a really cool way of detecting microbursts.

[@davidbuschhorn6539]

My dad flew 727s and DC-9s out of BWI. When he switched to DC-9s he said the pilots had no need for windows and the plane just about didn't need pilots. You taxied to the end of the runway, told the plane where you were going and sat back. The plane took off and landed for you. He didn't like it. Once he was flying in and the tower told him to wave off and go around as visibility had gone to zero on the ground. He replied, "I'm already on the ground." At no point had he been able to see the runway. Only what his instruments showed in the heads up display. The plane landed without him ever seeing the ground.

[@davidbuschhorn6539]

@RedneckSpaceMan Dad said the only reason they have windows is that passengers would never feel comfortable knowing the pilots couldn't "see." :-) You can see in a lot of these crash videos, the pilots never looked out the window. Like when they thought the airspeed indicator was wrong and they stalled at 2000 feet... if they'd looked out the window they would have known, "Hey look how slow we're going!" :-(

[@hcb7562011]

@@davidbuschhorn6539 Autoland is a fact. But the pilot does not look out the window to see how fast or slow they are going to detect a stall.

[@davidbuschhorn6539]

@@hcb7562011 The thing is, you'd totally see the difference between a 160 knot approach speed and an 80 knot, about-to-drop-out-of-the-sky speed.

[@robertpegues6133]

@@davidbuschhorn6539 g.

[@Bartonovich52]

Actually planes have crashed because pilots were looking at the ground rather than their instruments and flying by attitude and power. Illusions Created by Drift is one of the Elementary Air Exercises pilots first learn about in my country. Planes fly relative to the air... not the ground. I’ve had strong enough headwinds that I’ve flown backwards in light aircraft. The problem here was wind shear. The wind changed direction and intensity so fast that the aircraft couldn’t maintain a safe speed.

[@citationpilotusa]

Another contributing factor to the survivability of this accident was the runway approach lights. The lights were mounted on solid steel stanchions which were very strong and caused significant damage to the aircraft when it struck them. The approach light stanchions were replaced with lighter weight units, designed to break away if struck, so as to cause less damage to an aircraft. These are used at airports all over the world now. Every time I pass that site on Rockaway Turnpike, I look at the approach lights and think of this accident.

[@jimdep333]

I remember flying on a brand new Eastern 727-200 from Miami to JFK as an 8 year old. I remember the bold colors, whisper jet written on the fuselage, and the new plane smell. Great memories. I also flew on the Eastern L1011.

[@Novusod]

Eastern was a cool airline. Flew with them every year for vacation between Newark and Orlando back in the 1980s.

[@kendallevans4079]

Yes, they were. I liked flying on their L1011's which, I believe, they hung on to right up till the end

[@zoso73]

My dad was a computer systems engineer for Eastern Air Lines, Inc. In the 1970s. I worked part-time for EAL in the late 1980s at the terminal. I still have my wings. Whisperjet.

[@ted.angell7609]

A 727 "Whisperjet". Having lived near an airport flightpath, I can assure you that's a misnomer.

[@weofnjieofing]

lol, I laughed when I saw that too! I think it was intended for the L1011?

[@doabarrellroll69]

@@weofnjieofing I believe Eastern introduced the "whisper" naming in the late '60s, the only ones that I know of are the Whisperjet for the 727 (not exactly fitting as mentioned above) and DC-9, and Whisperliner for the L-1011 (which was, fun fact, the quietest widebody when it entered service, however it was beaten a short while later by the A300)

[@charlesduran8700]

I was there on my home from my job on Rockaway Blvd when I saw the Plane crash and debris crossed the road . It was rush hour and all the cars stopped and tried to turn around but couldn't . By that time all the emergency vehicles came from all directions and blocked a few cars that were still on the Blvd from getting out including mine . No one on the ground were killed . I did not get home until after midnight

[@davidh9844]

My story is further down. We were heading to the LIRR station in Valley Stream to pick up my fiance. Dad was planning on driving on Rockaway to avoid the Southern State traffic at rush hour - cops were out in force closing off Rockaway Blvd. I took about an hour and a half to get from the Van Wyck to Valley Stream. My fiance was mildly frantic when I showed up on the platform to get her. A co worker on the train told her that a plane had just gone down at Kennedy. It's like it happened last week.

[@commander009]

Was working at JFK that day ,very dark and gloomy ,light rain ,could see the smoke from the burning aircraft ,sad.

[@Bravo-Too-Much]

Okay boomer.

[@zigman8550]

@@Bravo-Too-Much Okay gamer.

[@georgie3]

Very sad. Shut up Aldo.

[@ernestkovach3305]

@@Bravo-Too-Much What is your problem? People reading your rude obnoxious unacceptably uncivil comments must know that YOU are a moron. Quit while you are behind . Stop being a fool.

[@michaelmccarthy4615]

@@Bravo-Too-Much be respectful.

[@Grand74Master]

I was driving in New Jersey about 10 miles away from JFK, shortly before this incident and was enveloped in a swirling cauldron of high winds from different directions. The clouds were literally boiling. I remember thinking that I would not want to be flying. There was a DC-8 which had a marginal landing before 66 and the pilot was yelling at the tower to change the runway.

[@andrewpadaetz5549]

That was a Flying Tigers cargo plane which just preceded Eastern 902. Once 902 narrowly avoided disaster, that should have had the runway changed to 31L but JFK tower ignored the warnings. As did the crew of Eastern 66.

[@perarnehansen]

Think the plan was to take down 66, then close it. My uncel did survive the crash. He was located in the back of the airplane. Before the landing he had to go to toilet , even as the "be seated" light was on. He was at the window. When he came back, the one in the middle seat moved to the window, so he dident have to pass him to sit down. He remember a crash noice..plane hit light pole. The foam coverd him. The firefighter theam had orders not to go inn close to my unckel, as there was jet fuel and a smoking hot engine. To firefighters saw a hand in the foam, and ignored the order, went inn. He was upside down,with one dead person on his left and one one his right. They cut him loose, and took him away. 30 sec later, the place was on fire again. My uncel had much burn-damage. He was some time on hospital. He is from Norway. Another Norwegian from Bergen also survived. He remembering to loosen his belt, and people in front of him screaming "help,we are burning". He went off his seat, and landed on a hood on a parked car. From this place he saw the plain burning and in thousens bits. He said he was thinking "poor people, they are all dead". Both my unckel and this other guy where sailers.

[@tangosherwin]

per arne Hansen .

[@JLynnDetamore]

per arne Hansen Thanks so much for sharing this. 💖💖

[@chateaupig826]

@@perarnehansen O M G that is SO DRAMATIC !! It probably didnt happen as fast as you explained it , but bravo to your Uncle and RIP to those that perished. Btw , my Auntie lives in Bergan

[@Tom_239]

My father was a meteorologist who was working (for NOAA) in the New York metro area at the time of this incident. He was later called to testify at a hearing. When he got back from testifying I asked him how it went but he didn't want to talk about it. Years later I asked what had happened at that hearing; he said there was pertinent information he would have liked to have shared but couldn't because he was only allowed to answer the questions he was asked.

[@dcseny]

Tom Ace bb/7

[@raoulcruz4404]

They are only looking for information to make their case. Where I used to work my boss was called to testify about a fatal accident. They asked certain questions and were not interested in any information that might alter their case.

[@kambirajpur]

I like the efforts on these simulator videos, keep doing them, planes are your passion and never stop.

[@midlifemotox]

4 of my family members were on Eastern 66. 1 died instantly, one lived for a few days, the other 2 survived with burns. Forever changing our lives. Pino, my cousin laid on the ground injured and burned. A disgusting criminal thought he was dead and took his watch off his arm. He also had $20,000 cash in a brief case. He got the brief case back with $17,000 missing from it. This was when I found out that people are basically, as a whole, evil.

[@epicmadnesss]

Did you know of any Norwegian sailors

[@matt8863]

Great video Allec, just subbed....Allegheny Airlines flight 485 was another accident that brought some extremely important changes within the industry.

[@donaldtireman]

I boarded an Eastern 727 Buffalo to Atlanta 6 days later, I had graduated from high school 2 days before the crash, headed for a wake up call at Lackland AFB...surreal...

[@blyve]

I flew for the first time in my life out of Kennedy the very next day.

[@JohnSmith-cb6sw]

I flew that same day on Eastern out of Boston headed for Lackland AFB also. Rumor was we were supposed to be on this plane after it flew from NY to Atlanta. Waited around the Atlanta airport for awhile and another Eastern plane came and flew us to San Antonio. Very quite flight as the crew had friends that died that day.

[@swami1]

I was 16 and living in southern CT at the time. I remember that day well; it was hot and humid, perfect for violent weather. God bless those on Flight 66.

[@robertrozel7045]

Be interesting to know who the crew of 902 were since they may have saved the lives of all their passengers.

[@hshs5756]

We normally think of wind "gusts" in the positive sense, but a calm in the wind is like a negative gust. If an aircraft has a headwind as part of its airspeed and suddenly that headwind disappears, if the aircraft was barely above stall speed during landing, a moment of calm puts it below stall speed and sinks into the ground faster than the pilots can correct. A sudden calm can have bigger consequences than a sudden gust.

[@Heart2HeartBooks]

Never thought about that..Good point..Thanks.

[@gomphrena-beautifulflower-8043]

Hs Hs • That’s an interesting thought. How is an aircraft protected against such? Or are the chances of convergence at the right (or wrong, rather) time very unlikely?

[@mizzyroro]

What makes the microburst deadly is the sequence of events. You suddenly have a strong increase in headwind and airspeed. As you slow down you have a strong downdraft pushing the airplane to the ground with a high sink rate. Then suddenly as you are sinking you hit the strong tailwind and you lose airspeed below stall speed. Being close to the ground There is no way of recovering from this.

[@carolmorris404]

@@gomphrena-beautifulflower-8043 I would also appreciate an answer to your question. I know this was in 1975 and although the aviation industry has developed so many changes to make flying a very safe mode of transport, there is one thing they can not control and that is WEATHER.

[@kevinmalone3210]

@@gomphrena-beautifulflower-8043 There are actually two air speeds, one is ground speed, the true airspeed, and the other is just air speed, the speed the wind is moving across the aircraft. The pilots are suppose to compensate by knowing about wind speeds and its affect on the air crafts speed. If a plane has is traveling at 110 knots, and it has a 5 knt head wind, it's true speed is 105 knots, or 105 ground speed. The pilots then when landing can land at a faster speed in case the headwind disappears, but headwinds usually don't disappear. They would have to be gusty headwinds, but my point is pilots will know enough about existing wind conditions when landing to take make any necessary adjustments when landing. These pilots on flt 66 encountered a windshear. Today there are windshear alert systems in place, at major international airports, back then they didn't have them. Usually if a windshear is bad enough, the pilots can request a go around, or the tower can direct the flight to land at a different runway at the airport if available.

[@philippefils-aime8315]

I remember that day, the storms that rolled in that afternoon and soon after it was announced that Eastern 66 had gone down

[@jasoncarpp7742]

It's incredible what little pilots and airport controllers knew/know about these microbursts and their effect on planes and pilots.

[@stephencaparelli7733]

conditions so bad and they still try go to the alternate not worth the risk.

[@ricktanglewood]

Very, very incredible to the max!!!

[@bruzote]

@@stephencaparelli7733 - Please use punctuation. Don't ruin our language. It works pretty well with proper punctuation. Seriously, I had trouble figuring out you meant. If you don't use proper punctuation, you might suggest the wrong thing when you text your friends about your driving plans saying, "i will run right over john"!

[@mancuby6679]

Finally, just seconds before diying, the pilots had realised which crews were really asinine ..... 😖😖😖😖😖😖

[@libertyliberal4349]

Company plane "dude we almost crashed" Accident airplane "yeah ok you're just pranking"

[@markferraro5250]

I remember this was 14 at the time. Lived on LI. So tragic. Rip all victims

[@jaclynstjames5112]

thank you for this animation, i have always wondered why no one had done one for this happened on the day i was born in ny. I appreciate your hard work , thanks

[@annedodgshun7191]

So beautifully presented. Such a sad outcome. Thanks, such wonderful videos you make.

[@marks2731]

I do wish people who add subtitles would recognise the fact they need to use a contrasting background colour for the text rather than just overlay it over the video. White text on an image of a cloud becomes white text on white cloud. Invisible.the same holds true of black text on a video shot in the dark.

[@dx1450]

Or it helps if they use text with a black outline.

[@BigfistJP]

There is a saying in surgery that for everything a surgeon learns, some patient has paid for it with their life. Seems appropriate here.

[@kendallevans4079]

Yes, more evidence that the FAA manual is written in blood

[@johntechwriter]

My Dad was a surgeon and he never said anything that idiotic.

[@BigfistJP]

How do you know that? Did you ask him? It's a well known saying among surgeons. You really should not speak of things of which you have no knowledge. Get back to me when you complete your surgery residency, idiot.

[@seanjacobs3552]

Bob d - preach my man!!

[@BlindSpot1000]

The FAA isn't called the 'tombstone agency' for nothing. In most cases, nothing gets done until a crash happens and people die.

[@bobbycvsixfour5258]

Allec, how much time have you put into these recordings. YOU ARE AN INCREDIBLE PERSON.

[@6733hbr1]

My childhood friend said she and her family were driving near the airport when they saw the plane crash. She always tended to exaggerate things. I do believe they were near the site but never actually saw the plane hit the ground. On a side note. My next door neighbor was on EAL 401 that crashed in the Florida everglades. She survived and when I visited FL I had to see her and ask her what she remembered. She said that all she can remember is the pilot saying they were going to circle to check on the nose gear. She then recalled the plane dipping to one side and then it started to cartwheel. She then woke up on a marshy patch of land and saw the helicopter lights overhead. She was shouting, I'm here, I'm alive... I was fucking awestruck. She said she was brought into the hospital in a bag. She was pretty broken up. I LOVE flying but I HATE crashing...so...

[@howward4071]

@Herbie and Missi yes. That is what I understood happened.

[@vfx7t]

what I see from your videos, at the time, micro-bursts had done a lot of damage ! merci :)

[@steinwaygrande9736]

It always takes a fatal accident to make flying safer. Bitter pill to swallow but from disaster comes safer flying.

[@JBrandeis1]

Flying will never be safe. People will continue to make stupid mistakes forever.

[@sigvar6795]

I remember this one. I lived in Woodmere at the time. I am 57 now but at the time of this I was still riding bicycles to get around! My friends and I were nearby when this happened. Absolute carnage. People used to park on the side of the road where that happened to watch the planes land. The were so close to the ground when they passed over the road.

[@jebj1]

I remember parking there as a kid with my mom to watch planes. Now, there's no where to pull over and stop and if you do, you'll get surounded by cops in 5 seconds.

[@robhill9336]

"You know, this is asinine." Goes and does it anyway.

[@riggs20]

I thought what he was referring to as asinine was Flight 902's decision to abort the landing?

[@Bravo-Too-Much]

He was referring to vector control and flight 902s comms about the aborted landing and shear you fucking idiot.

[@ernestkovach3305]

@@Bravo-Too-Much he was still wrong, ..as the flight that aborted and was prudent landed safely elsewhere.

[@michaelmccarthy4615]

@@Bravo-Too-Much be respectful. Those are KZbins guidelines. This is not the channel.

[@SpicyTexan64]

He was arrogantly referring to 902s decision to go around.

[@kamikaziwastaken]

175 likes and 0 dislikes. Allec , Your gonna be successful.

[@DavePainkiller]

Crazy, 3 weeks later: 1K likes and 60 dislikes. Can't please everyone. These videos are great.

[@jimmycline4778]

I was a child in the 70s and I remember vividly that their was a lot of airline crashes, and a lot of Dams that would break!

[@jaymorgenthal9479]

Storms in Queens were very severe that afternoon. I was living in Flushing and we had one early afternoon.

[@fubarmodelyard1392]

Even in that thick haze the L-1011 is beautiful

[@flybyairplane3528]

FUBAR Model Yard that was not HAZE It was raining and an active thunderstorm was moving over the field, then the MICROBURSTS are always are on the outer edges ,,similar to a updraft / down burst of a tornado

[@fubarmodelyard1392]

@@flybyairplane3528 I stand corrected mr know it all and has a burning need to prove it.

[@chooch1995]

Uh, Jack? The ‘27 crashed, not the “beautiful” 1011.......

[@patricia2645]

Hi Alec, your videos are top notch! May I suggest using any color other than white or black for the subtitles?It is hard to read them quickly, and pay attention to video. Maybe a light blue or? Thanks, keep up the good work!

[@haiti222]

Still visiting Las Pinas. This is a very dramatic video with the different planes making different decisions. Love it!

[@perarnehansen]

Think the plan was to take down 66, then close it. My uncel did survive the crash. He was located in the back of the airplane. Before the landing he had to go to toilet , even as the "be seated" light was on. He was at the window. When he came back, the one in the middle seat moved to the window, so he dident have to pass him to sit down. He remember a crash noice..plane hit light pole. The foam coverd him. The firefighter theam had orders not to go inn close to my unckel, as there was jet fuel and a smoking hot engine. To firefighters saw a hand in the foam, and ignored the order, went inn. He was upside down,with one dead person on his left and one one his right. They cut him loose, and took him away. 30 sec later, the place was on fire again. My uncel had much burn-damage. He was some time on hospital. He is from Norway. Another Norwegian from Bergen also survived. He remembering to loosen his belt, and people in front of him screaming "help,we are burning". He went off his seat, and landed on a hood on a parked car. From this place he saw the plain burning and in thousens bits. He said he was thinking "poor people, they are all dead". Both my unckel and this other guy where sailers. At 1:16 in this video, we se one of the brave men that saved my uncel, the firefighter on the right. Think its the back of the plain they still foam. kzbin.info/www/bejne/oobGh5ahf8R7maM

[@wintercomesearly]

Those good men ignored orders and saved a life dear to you. I hope your uncle lived a long and good life thereafter. Severe burns take a long and arduous time to heal, if survived at all. What a horror this incident was. BTW Have you seen this live reporting by local news? They speak of the several Norwegian passengers arriving at the hospital and one man who was conscious telling of what happened. Maybe your uncle? kzbin.info/www/bejne/bJOZnnmmicagp6s

[@perarnehansen]

@@wintercomesearly It might be...another guy from Bergen also made it. He landed on the hood of a parhed car..and rememberd it all. I got his intervju.

[@epicmadnesss]

What was his name if I may ask? I'm trying to research what happened. My uncle was on that flight and working with the Norwegian sailors

[@melynaturopplevelser6919]

@@epicmadnesss His name is Karl Egil Engenesset , a guy from Bergen also survived..not sure his name, but can find it. He landed on the hood of a car by the highway near the crash, and saw the plane in flames from where he landed , he never passed out. He told the papers he was thinking, "poor people, they are all dead" from the car. He remember that plane broke upp and was on fire, and he loosen his belt and went out, landing on that parked car.

[@epicmadnesss]

@@melynaturopplevelser6919 this means a lot. I'm trying to research this because my uncle was on this plane, he was only 20 when it crashed. My father was supposed to be on the flight but missed it and had to deal with the crash aftermath. I believe they both were working with the Norwegian sailors on board the flight as my family comes from Norway. My uncle was Paul Kristiansen.

[@thomasmoriarty6741]

I remember that day, living in Queens we had a thunderstorm, and than we heard the news story about the crash.

[@transitfan954]

The strange thing is, it hardly rained in Brooklyn at all. It was the day after I graduated from HS, so I went to see Jaws (or rather, the last 2/3 of it after waiting in a long-ass line). After that, I went to meet my mom at my grandmother's house which was in East New York which isn't far from JFK. It was kinda cloudy, but not a drop of rain. I guess it was a fairly localized storm. RIP to all that were lost.

[@ErnestTeeBass]

The steady noise of the plane cruising at 35k feet makes me want to sleep. Wonder if there is a cd with just that noise for those of us who have trouble getting to sleep

[@rtrThanos]

B W my preferred method is to queue up an 8 hour video of a plane flying and use Bluetooth to connect to a speaker near my bed. If that’s not an option for you, making a CD isn’t hard to do. First you need something that can download KZbin vids. The Firefox plugin that I use is no longer available, but there’s a website that I use for it and I’ll try to remember to get the link off my other computer (I think it’s called PickVideo, but not 100% sure). Once you download the video from KZbin, probably in MP4 format, you need a free piece of software that can covert videos to MP3. I use one called AnyVideoConverter, but there are others. Once it’s saved as an MP3 you should be able to burn it to a disc (I’m assuming Windows Media Player can still do that, but it’s been a while since I made a CD). But for me the easiest thing to do is play an 8 hour video on my iPad of a plane flying, a train, or a thunderstorm, send it to my Bluetooth speaker, and dim the screen.

[@rtrThanos]

Almost forgot, keep in mind that a CD can only hold about 90 minutes of music, so you’ll need a video that’s less than 90 minutes long.

[@libertyliberal4349]

There are asmr videos here on yt, you can get prop sounds, jet sounds, specific aircraft sound. I have one that is 8hrs long.

[@avrail5seven793]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/i3uZeKCXj7t5obc This may work.

[@muffs55mercury61]

The term microburst didn't exist in 1975 but we now have known it's one of the most deadly forms of windshear when it comes to airplanes.

[@nenblom]

So tragic. Anyone remember Delta Airlines flight 191 that crashed at Dallas-Fort Worth due to a microburst? That was a Lockheed L1011 Tristar. Big plane.

[@andrewpadaetz5549]

Niklas Enblom both of those crashes (Delta 191 and Eastern 66) were the result of the same phenomenon (microburst wind shear). This was what led to wind shear detection devices being placed on both planes and at airports.

[@cellgrrl]

I remember it very well, I lived about 20 miles from DFW. It was the only news on our local news stations. Very sad day.

[@ricktanglewood]

I was on that flight

[@watchgoose]

@@ricktanglewood troll, go back down to your mom's basement and drink your milk before beddie bye.

[@watchgoose]

@@cellgrrl I was driving up to Keller and could see that black cloud as I got there, then got the news from the Delta pilot I was visiting that it had just happened, so sad.

[@brianzak]

I was in a microburst in Phoenix in 1996. Definitely one of my top 10 scary experience in my life. And I was on the ground. Rip to all of those people.

[@LazyEli5214]

Great video/re-upload, Allec! It was a great recreation, although there was one part of the video in which it confused me. The picture shown at 7:20 is not the wreck of Eastern Airlines Flight 66, but of Continental Airlines Flight 11: an in-flight suicide bombing that occurred on May 22, 1962.

[@gottawatch]

Ya I noticed that too.

[@christopherhennessey8991]

Didn’t the Eastern L1011 pilot landed in Newark rather than Kennedy, because of the wind shear?

[@nenblom]

It was also a microburst that brought down Delta Airlines flight 191 at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport in 1985. Almost everyone on board the L10-11 Tristar were killed, including the pilots and the flight engineer. In addition, a motorist who was unfortunate enough to be passing by DFW right at that second was struck by one of the engines and killed instantly. RIP to all. A microburst is dangerous stuff.

[@wotan10950]

I was working in Manhattan that day, still in my late-teens, and I took a quick break in the stairwell of a Madison Avenue building with a nearly-360-degree view. I was watching the planes land at LGA -- I couldn't quite see as far as JFK -- and a storm quickly rolled in. It was a hot/humid day. A little while later, I heard about the crash at JFK.

[@GREGORYABUTLER]

I was remember this crash vividly - I grew up in Far Rockaway, on the other side of Kennedy Airport from the crash site. Also June 24th 1975 was my 7th birthday. I had just got home from school and I heard a huge BOOM! The next day my mom and I went to the crash site - the devastation was really gruesome

[@mnpd3]

I'd noticed years ago that technology was changing flying. The pilots were flying the plane less, and telling the plane to fly itself more. The skill set for pilots was changing. The problem is that sometimes you still have to fly the plane, and it's at a time when airmanship is in decline. I'm sure that technology will eventually replace human pilots; crews of four or five have already been reduced to just two. But the transition is going to be bad.

[@gpiano88]

Good point. The same thing is happening with automobile technology. Don't worry about the driving skill, just let the car do the thinking and reacting eh? Go technical and leave the driving to the car.

[@Musician_Robert]

Wishing I had been a traffic controller telling them that weather was not safe to land. That is very sad.

[@randallgilbert8062]

now days the controllers close the airport for landing and everyone diverts to alternate airports. They don't fuck with low level wind shear anymore.

[@randallgilbert8062]

However we had to live through Delta 191 in DFW/Aug 1985 before controllers finally put a stop to landing during thunderstorm related wind shear

[@Musician_Robert]

Randall Gilbert that’s good.

[@Musician_Robert]

Randall Gilbert it’s good they stopped those types of landings taking place in those conditions. Glad to hear that.

[@BAFFLED-u4o]

RIP Ms. W (My French teacher for four years since 1st grade) and two daughters who were going to take a connecting flight to Paris to visit relatives.

[@TheBeingReal]

Seems the pilots who aborted were not just ‘covering’. Over confidence kills.

[@MrHappyMickey]

I actually saw this plane on final approach while driving home from work. As it tucked behind some trees which hindered my sight for a few seconds, the next this I saw was a huge plume of smoke building over the tree line. I was a volunteer fireman at the time and immediately headed to my first department which was only 7 miles from the crash site. We listened to all the police and NYFD radio traffic. The vehicle traffic was completely backed up for 5-8 miles in all directions around Rockaway Turnpike making it difficult to get emergency vehicles into the crash site.

[@cherylwilson8775]

I was driving a truck then, it was even hard to see the road, the plane just flew in so low, and I saw the crash. I had to stop driving because I was shaking so hard. That was the worse thing I had ever seen and I was just in my 20's when this happened.

[@johannesbols57]

It's the kind of experience that induces PTSD. The thing about PTSD that people who've never experienced it don't understand is how instantly it can be triggered, and that your reaction is uncontrollable. I shriek and scream if I hear an unexpected noise from behind, before I can identify it.

[@2345allthebest]

The unsung heroes of EAL902, through skill and professionalism, were able to abort and continue, as opposed to ending up in AJ Ibay's playlist also

[@VideoCityTV]

I remember that day playing ball with my friend Bruce Buchanon in White Plains and headed home cause a storm was brewing, then shorty after the crash was reported on TV

[@scarecrow2885]

I lived in Queens at the time and I remember when this happened. The weather was nasty in NY that day.

[@flybyairplane3528]

Scare Crow like you, I was working on some roof top equipment , at a TWO GUYS in HACKENSACK NJ,

[@dancindavey1515]

Leighton Samms That is very important to the story, and to us. NOT!

[@redtorino]

@@dancindavey1515, do you want some cheese with that whine?

[@dancindavey1515]

Keith Coppage Yes, I would prefer some mozzarella. Thanks for asking.

[@ronjonnj01]

Yes your right there was a Thunderstorm that came through the area , I was with my Dad as we were picking up my Mom from her job in downtown Jersey City it was a nasty system that barrelled through. I get worried every time my flight flies through a T-storm

[@DowntownCanon]

Bob Loft was clearly guiding flight 902 here.

[@charlesstrader3005]

This is sad. After the Delta Crash in DFW, the training for this kind of thing changed.

[@lifeasmyselflikepanam]

In this scene 7:20, this is not Eastern Airlines Flight 66, its Continental Flight 11

[@saleconomos473]

Caught that too. Well spotted.

[@appel199]

I grew up in the flight path of 22 L maybe a mile or two away. I was 15 at the time. Not only do I remember this day well but we used to sit right on the shoulder of Rockaway Turnpike directly in front of the last landing light tower to watch and listen to the planes come so close over our head and watch the smoke from the tires when they hit the runway. That is right where the plane went down.

[@kerryjimenez8200]

I really enjoy these videos, but if I could make a suggestion to use a font with black outline around the white letters it would make some of the text easier to read, especially when the background is the instrument cluster.

[@KermitTheGamer21]

According to my friend, his grandfather was working at JFK then as a meteorologist and told either the ATC or the aircraft directly not to try and land through the microburst, but they did anyway.

[@nilsdriver]

My uncle died on that flight. 1st mate on M/S Fernwind. He was on his way home to Norway for vacation.

[@bobbypaluga4346]

Same issues with the PanAm 727 crash at New Orleans on takeoff. I think the 727s were more susceptible to scream and microbursts than airliners with engines on the wings.

[@thewaywardwind548]

I think the 727's were powered by JT3D engines that took a while to spool up to power and weren't overly powered when they did spool up. The Tri-Star ahead of the 727 barely made it out of the micro-burst at a hundred feet. The 727 didn't have the giddyup to get out in time. Of course, the captain expressed to the first officer that landing then was not a good idea. He was right.

[@ChrisGarciaorlzzt]

As a kid growing up right across the county line in Valley Stream, we were always told of the "gawkers" who watched the first responders clean up the debris and remains; and of the locals who looted the bodies and luggage. Thankfully, aviation has evolved to where these types of accidents are rare.

[@MrTruckerf]

But the looters are still around, waiting...........waiting..........waiting.

[@johnbrickel6446]

As always, good work

[@retired1219]

I was on rockaway Blvd on my way to visit my girlfriend and thought it was thunder I heard until I looked in my rear view mirror and saw the explosion..I missed it by about three minutes

[@blyve]

Used to go with my mom to Korvette's all the time, so I was quite familiar with the area. Absolutely amazing at that time of day, that no one was killed on the ground.

[@tikogto3866]

I was stationed at the Brooklyn Navy then, and was out driving somewhere at the time. I saw lightening, but it was nothing.

[@closed7234]

I encountered a microburst whilst piloting a boeing777,,, luckily when we hit hit the grass hard we bounced off and were able to abort landing. Such a terrible ordeal.

[@rtrThanos]

I don’t think most people realize just how close this flight was to safely landing. 2 planes ahead of flight 66, Flying Tiger Line flight 161 which touched down before flight 902 attempted to land, had all the knowledge needed to keep this from happening. As soon as he touched down and cleared the runway, he pleaded with the tower to close 22L due to wind sheer and to use 22R instead. The tower didn’t see the need for it since winds at ground level weren’t bad, so they ignored his observation about the bad wind sheer at about 300 feet. In addition, he also knew how to defeat the wind sheer! Back then INS was fairly new technology. He knew that it could accurately read a plane’s ground speed. So if the plane’s air speed read 180 knots the ground speed read 100 knots, he knew that somewhere between the plane’s current altitude and the ground they would lose 80 knots of speed so he would adjust the plane’s power accordingly. It was a bit more complicated than I make it out to be, but that was the gist of it. This was revolutionary thinking that not many pilots knew about, and the pilot learned it the hard way when he almost crashed cargo plane and they landed so hard that all 24 cattle on board broke all their legs and had to be destroyed. Eventually this knowledge circulated but never became a standard. It was deemed to be too much additional math for a pilot to deal with while struggling to land a plane, so instead the standard was to simply perform a go-around or to divert. Captain Jack Bliss of Flying Tiger Line Flight 161 could have been a hero on this day if more people would have simply listened to him.

[@bsd107]

National Geographic had a full article on this incident some time in the late 1970’s, and as a kid I read that article over and over again. Would have been good to include the Flying Tiger’s DC-8 in the video, too. (Video is overstretched horizontally, distorting the planes and cockpit....)

[@georgepizzo9396]

I lived a few miles away and when the plane crashed our house shook and we heard a very loud explosion. The house I grew up in and where I lived was on the path of runway 13 left into JFK. I will never forget that day. Rockaway Blvd only 2 blocks away was closed and opened to only emergency vehicles getting to the crash site only a few miles away. I was 18 years old at the time.

[@willnot3297]

How can the tower give Clearance to land, when minutes earlier a flight aborted touchdown...

[@adammcdonald3632]

Pilot's discretion whether to land or not. Clearance just means the runway is not occupied.

[@thereallincolntakanashi]

This is great, yet depressing for me, even though no one I know died in a plane crash. Now, if you respond to this, can you do the flight 66 that's a Boeing 7 4 7 and crashed in Malaysia? You need a livery mod for the 747-200F. Oh, and feel free to use this: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_Tiger_Line_Flight_66 Thanks! - Lincoln's Aviation

[@sumelle2]

So inexcusable that it took two more crashes and several years after flight 66 for them to accept microbursts and to do something about it. After ther first plane nearly crashed they should have swicthed runways and stopped them from landing there.

[@Bobrogers99]

It was tragic that the pilot disregarded the wind report and that the ATC permitted him to land on that runway despite it. While the concept of wind shear was little known then, the previous (and smarter) pilot had found conditions unsuitable for landing. Pilots shouldn't gamble with other people's lives, and ATCs shouldn't let them.

[@garyhaber333]

I was only 8 when this happened. I lived near Rockaway Blvd as a child. But I remember the crash. I had nightmares for years, and still have a fear of flying.

[@stevep827]

I was 4 miles from this crash at the five towns movie theater with my older sister for the premiere of the movie Jaws. The entire theater shook. A tragic day indeed..I was 15..

[@iwanaGoFast2010]

I need Xanax to watch this channel anymore. It’s so heartbreaking.

[@Cola64]

Terrible I remember hearing about this on my AM radio it stuck in my head because of the micro burst

[@airman329]

God bless and prayers! So sad!

[@sunnyfon9065]

Eastern Airlines L-1011 almost crash at 2:54 but Eastern Airlines Boeing 727 (Eastern Airlines Flight 66) had crashed at 6:42.

[@PaulG0502]

sc4400 My heart goes out to you and all thse involved. You do wonder about how things would have been different. Life can be so short and you never know how long your life may be. I am sure your Dad is proud of you and all that you have done in your 62 years. God Bless.

[@nidurnevets]

I thought I remember hearing that the pilots of the plane that went around tried to convince the tower to change runways, but couldn't convince them. Am I mistaken? It's long ago, so I might remember it wrong

[@perarnehansen]

It is so. Here is the report : libraryonline.erau.edu/online-full-text/ntsb/aircraft-accident-reports/AAR76-08.pdf

[@nidurnevets]

@@perarnehansen Thanks!

[@joelt4416]

I'm amazed how aviation in the 70s still knew very little about microbursts