Engineering MISTAKE Leads to Near Catastrophe! The Incredible Story of Republic Airways 4439

[@MentourPilot]

Click here bit.ly/3iqEkiZ and get 65% off with my code HELLOPILOT if you’re in the US but wherever you’re watching from you will also get a very special discount as it’s valid internationally!

[@sparky6086]

The Captain of this flight seemed obtuse (hard headed). There were many times, that things should have clicked or rang a bell in his head, but he just kept doubling down on stupid, even taking the controls back, when they clearly should have landed immediately, when the first officer got control of the aircraft, rather than tempting fate.

[@chad584]

are you from sweden? because i can see the thing in the back

[@01fuzzylogic01]

after watching almost every upload, it's time to say thank you for your great work (again). AND: does everyone agree? He has the most lovely pronounciation of the word: towardge. :) - keep on doing great entertainment @mentour pilot

[@bikeny]

Please, I am begging you, please stop using music during your narrations. I am not talking about the particular choice, but rather the general use of more and more YT hosts using music while they are doing their narrations. It is distracting and adds nothing to the story. I can't hear you speak while the music is playing. Using the closed captions and muting, while helpful, also blocks out the screen at times where one wants to see what is being shown. Thank you very much.

[@danmyers7827]

@@bikeny I agree. Petter's material needs no musical additions! The attention to detail and intelligent analysis stand on their own merit. Maps, graphs and charts help to convey facts, but background music does not.

[@andrewmaksymiuk986]

I love when he starts talking about what the pilots were thinking in the moment because that means they survived

[@LisaNinnymuggins]

Agree! 💯

[@charlesmiriti3916]

Lately am more inclined to watching the survival Stories

[@tapiocaweasel]

I feel the same way. Sometimes I'm listening to a story I'm sure must end tragically and suddenly Petter says something that implies they made it and I'm pleasantly surprised

[@sykwiddit8575]

Wow spoiler alert

[@Voltikz95]

​@sykwiddit8575 maybe watch the video BEFORE you read the comments? The whole point of the comment section is for us to comment on the video and discuss it with others.

[@keithshergold9257]

I am a seaplane pilot at my job, and the aeroplanes we use are steered on the water using differential thrust and reverse from the two engines. Manoeuvring is very easy from the captain's position using two power levers on the cockpit ceiling. Occasionally, the engineers want us to park the plane with the starboard against the dock because it makes it easier to work on engine #2. One time I thought it might be easier to do this from the first officer's side, so I could see the dock more easily from there. I was quite mistaken. It turns out that my left hand has no idea how to steer the plane using the power levers. It is all muscle memory. There is no way to use just your knowledge to make your hands obey. The plane was extremely difficult to control until I got back into the seat I was accustomed to. Another time I was doing maintenance on my sailboat and installed the ropes that control the rudder backwards, resulting in reversed steering. It's a massively annoying job so I decided to leave it and go sailing anyway. I thought I could use my brain and remember the steering was reversed. Well, even knowing about the problem didn't help. The minute I left the dock, I was in trouble. I barely made it back without tipping the boat over or hitting something. Both those instances demonstrated to me how powerful "muscle memory" is, and how nearly impossible it is to work against it.

[@userPrehistoricman]

There are a few videos of people riding bikes customised with reverse steering that illustrates the same thing.

[@alex2143]

@@userPrehistoricman even something as simple as holding the bikes handlebar on the wrong side can show you how hard it is to go against muscle memory. It should be perfectly possible to control the bike when you're holding the handle bar on the wrong side, but you'll invariably fall if you try.

[@valtersvasilis]

I have driven in excavator backwards, rotating tower 180°, so the steering is reversed basically. It is all good until at a higher speed lizard brain kicks in and luckily brakes function well to save the day.

[@lauraelliott6909]

This reminds me of the exercise in a museum where you try to trace a star with an electronic pen while looking in a mirror, so that you have to do the reverse of what you see. Anytime you go off the line, the pen will beep. It's very difficult.

[@mrkkopola]

A more accessible (if nowhere near as cool) example is trying to play a FPS game when the last person who played uses the opposite look inversion settings to what you're used to. You invariably end up running about staring either at the sky or your feet. I have found that you can override your muscle memory with constant conscious effort over a period of about 10 minutes or so but then it messes you up when you change the setting back and you have to relearn again... 😅

[@arthur8301]

It always amazes when he goes on about the whole situation, and then states it all happend within 5 minutes. Makes you realize how fast it all happens.

[@rachmunshine9474]

Or sometimes 30 seconds

[@benh4569]

1 of my favorite things is when he gets to the '...and this is when things started to happen really fast' part. I repeatedly call his narrations the Final Destination scenarios - all the factors lining up, then the threat executed fast.

[@Jacob-2796]

More like 15 seconds in some videos

[@yusteryumeister4601]

​@@benh4569there was a TV show in the UK called Seconds from Disaster, every episode started with some guy saying 'Disasters don't just happen. They're a chain of critical events. Unravel those fateful decisions in the final..... Seconds From Disaster!'

[@benh4569]

@@yusteryumeister4601 🧡 that show too, along with Air Crash Investigations. It's amazing how thorough the NTSB gets, most of the time being able to piece together the scenario, including the factors that had to line up just right in order for disaster to happen. 1 memorable one was a hornet's nest covering a pitot tube that wasn't checked for when it landed in a tropical stopover airport; another was the unknown 'design feature' on Airbus that if you put the plane in autopilot then push the wheel past 30`, it automatically turns off autopilot - that was the crash in Russia where the pilot let his kid take control. With the CVR & DR, air crash investigators are fantastic detectives.

[@BritishBeachcomber]

Electronics R&D taught me that if you replace a part more than once and an intermittent fault persists, *look for the problem elsewhere.* They were going for an easy fix, *not diagnosing the actual problem.*

[@ollybonhomme2729]

Exactly what I thought, I’m a car technician and in my job you have to think for yourself, there’s not a set procedure to follow so you need to check everything and as soon as I heard that I would have been looking at wiring

[@Argumemnon]

Exactly.

[@peterbigblock]

Same here. Hearing that they kept replacing the switch and kept getting an intermittent fault, I thought for sure there’s a short somewhere. When the pilot was pushing the switch one way and it was giving him the opposite trim from what he expected, my first thought was “it’s upside-down.” This story kind of makes all involved sound like dopes.

[@jerry3890]

“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” I worked on computers for years. If a replacement did not fix the problem then you had to look somewhere else. Someone should have noticed that several trim switch replacements had not fixed the fault.

[@Rollin8.0]

​@@ollybonhomme2729also a mechanic... If a part fails more than twice (or appears to fail more than twice) it's time to start looking carefully at other causes, especially electrical issues!

[@generalrendar7290]

I'm a Republic pilot and we have definitely changed our procedures and memory items due to this incident. Runaway trim is extremely difficult to catch and react to in time, it took me failing in the sim to realize where I needed to look to catch it and not rely on the 3 second active warning announcement to catch it. This is one of the scarier failures to run across that doesn't include pieces coming off the airplane.

[@spelldaddy5386]

I'm interested to hear more specifically how your procedures changed. What are the memory items now? How would you be expected to handle this kind of emergency?

[@nicholasbondarenko9227]

Hey. Where are you based? I’ve just applied for the FO position at Republic. 😊

[@vernonsmithee792]

However, failure scenarios where parts depart the airplane are usually very easy to troubleshoot. Usually.😳

[@bohenriksson2330]

I’m a CA w Republic. We press and hold the autopilot trim cut out switch - as before - but now also push the two guarded trim cut buttons. This totally disables the trim system, giving you time to go through the associated checklist and maybe fix the problem. Or land with the configuration you have. I’ve been flying the Embraers for almost 20 years now and have enormous respect for them, they are solid birds with a stellar safety record.

[@donnabaardsen5372]

@@bohenriksson2330 What is a CA?

[@LieutenantGarber]

I'm no pilot, but after watching 100's of aircraft incident reviews, you explained the trim system better than anybody, which gave such a clear understanding of what lead to this. Bravo Petter, as always.

[@CieloNotturno86]

Right? He has a gift for explaining really complex things in a way that they can be understood by people with zero prior knowledge of the topic

[@The_ZeroLine]

Couldn’t agree more. I’ve also watched hundreds of video and understand most of the systems now, but this is the first time I’ve truly totally understood the trim system. It seems so simple/obvious now. It really just shows how, like every other skill, requires some true natural talent to rise above the pack. BTW, I don’t like to judge, but the captain of this flight seemed like a doofus. It seemed like they should have understood pretty quickly what was going on with the prior problem, especially after the first officer’s trim switch immediately fixed the problem. Props to the ATC though.

[@The_ZeroLine]

Just out of curiosity, as someone who also watches lots of these videos, what is the most intuitive control system for you (not counting the throttles which is dead obvious)? As someone who races (touring and some formula), the rudder system immediately fit perfectly into my underpowered brain as it controls yaw, which is essentially like throttle steering except using wind resistance rather than power and counter steering.

[@theplanesdude]

His name is Petter?

[@Piaz1n]

It always warms my heart when a history like this end up as the pilots landed safely.

[@franziskani]

Normally when he does not mention the names of the pilots we are good (they are goona make it).

[@obitouchiha4739]

@@franziskani Not always

[@JamesBraunstein]

I worked for Republic as a mechanic during this. Afterwards, every plane that came through had a required inspection to inspect the safety wire and the harness on the yokes. We also complied with that service bulletin by installing a bracket so the switch could not be installed upside down.

[@PhsykoOmen]

These are things I like to see, how every issue is addressed immediately and not left until another accident happens.

[@frankcooke1692]

Share your notes with USB cable manufacturers. Har Har. No but it should be a practice of any manufacturer of any industry to have little tabs and slots that can only fit the right way - not only does it save time for the manufacturer - it prevents the end user from ending up with a product that works backwards.

[@kevindonohue2912]

@@frankcooke1692 Just what I was thinking! Poor design, and something so easy to design correctly.

[@michaeljohn8905]

Im a mechanic at a flight school and if i come onto anything that can be put in upside down or is NON DIRECTIONAL as i call it i put tape on it and when i install it i have a clear idea of how it goes back. Sounds basic but ive seen my share of mistakes.

[@frankcooke1692]

@@michaeljohn8905 wait... how common are these 'non directional' parts?

[@lucascornelisse6896]

Also i love how even if he seems to lean blame toward the pilot, he never demonizes them. Just breaks it down and points out where there was likely some human error

[@jerradmechals1]

This quality of content is something one would usually pay for to watch on Netflix or any platform, but you give it for free. Thanks Petter, what an inspiration!

[@Hunter_Bidens_Crackpipe_]

Netflix is a woke shiethole

[@jasonadamik2206]

Very true. I do pay for KZbin Premium, but I'd pay that fee per year just to watch Petter's videos.

[@derekspringer6448]

Cool, except someone... Possibly you, possibly not, types this exact same comment on multiple of his videos... why?

[@jerradmechals1]

@@derekspringer6448 because the one I saw had a lot of likes so I copy and pasted it on the next video to get the same

[@derekspringer6448]

@@jerradmechals1 An honest man, I dig it. Carry on.

[@andersmalmgren6528]

As a engineer I think it's beyond stupid to make the switch in a way that it can be installed in the wrong orientation. It should be asymmetrical in a way that its impossible to mount it wrong even with moderate to extensive force

[@Chris-hf2sl]

Yes, exactly, I'm an electronic engineer too and as soon as I saw in the video that the engineer was instructed just to screw the old trim switch back in for now, I realised exactly what was going to happen. Even then, had the engineer tested the trim, surely he should have noticed that when he pressed 'up' it went down and vice-versa. That's fairly fundamental, even if you're simply fitting a wall light switch.

[@tonimarkovic8253]

0r to make small stickers i mean cmmon😂

[@tonimarkovic8253]

And i mean not judging but to FORGET that one of main parts for flying is not working 25min later is just unbeliveble....HE FORGOT ITS NOT IN USE AFTER ING TOLD HIM BEETWEEN FLIGHTS ITS NOT WORKING WHICH WAS 30MIN EARLIER,WERY GOOD PILOT IF WE CAN HAVE HIS NAME NOT TO FLY WITH HIM

[@richie1002]

I would definitely stick that INOP sticker on the trim switches. It doesn't need to last the flight, just long enough for the captain to register that it isn't working properly.

[@NicolaW72]

Indeed.

[@aarondavis8943]

Even next to the switch would make sense.

[@alyx6427]

or take the switch out

[@fazerider9287]

@@alyx6427 That leaves the problem of what to do with the wiring.

[@paulm749]

Your ability to clearly explain these issues that commercial pilots sometimes encounter, and do so in a manner that is understandable to the layman is really quite extraordinary. Can't give you enough compliments!

[@wazopaio]

I'm currently in school to become an Aeronautics Electronics Technician and I actually just did an exercise like that today, unintentionally. Ended up looping wires inverted and when I set the switch to on, it was off and vice versa. Shocked the hell out of myself trying to take it apart thinking it was off.

[@tohVEVO]

idk why but I love how you highlight your sponsors. I usually skip forward when a video is going "after this short message" but you always seem really genuine about your sponsors.

[@TheGOLDIdeluxe]

Another great video that shows how we humans subconsciously do things we shouldn't do just because we are used to it and have always done it that way. Thanks as always to the whole team!

[@MentourPilot]

Yep, that’s one of the things I wanted to highlight. 💕

[@TheGOLDIdeluxe]

@@TypicxlSortOfOdd If you are a patreon like me (which I can deeply recommend!!) you can watch the videos some hours prior to the official release :)

[@genericscottishchannel1603]

@@TheGOLDIdeluxe ah yes, deeply recommend being a few tax brackets higher, in this economy

[@TheGOLDIdeluxe]

@@genericscottishchannel1603 If you live in Scotland, definitely not :D

[@MattyEngland]

@@TypicxlSortOfOdd Bruh, you got pwned.

[@Sett86]

As an electrical engineer, upside down switch was the first thing that came to my mind as soon as I found out it was taken out. However I can easily see how it could not be the on less technical person's mind. And even I wouldn't exactly be eager to try to push the switch in the direction that is supposed to make the situation worse - both intuitively and consciously, as that kind of behavior can arise from any number of failures, and it could indeed make the situation much worse. Kudos to everyone involved for handling the situation.

[@justwantresults8768]

As an former engineer at a major engine company, I was very surprised at the lack of mechanical mistake-proofing in this switch installation, especially for such a critical system. We spent a lot of time making sure connectors/components/probes could not be mis-installed. Human factors is a huge issue.

[@rondj1965]

@@justwantresults8768 Quality control and small things like workmanship can have dire consequences.

[@Leftplayer1]

I had the same thought. Although I’m not an electrical engineer, I work in tech, and I’ve learnt to always blame a human (most often, myself) before any machine when things go wrong…

[@edzanjero353]

Only a tech would suspect such a possibility. Bingo.

[@jamesrecknor6752]

As a certified master toilet technician [plumber].... never mind, I am in over my head here.

[@gregknipe8772]

I had the opportunity to fly as a passenger last month, and found myself relating even more than usual to the flight crew, and their jobs, in no small part comforting rude or anxious passengers, due to delays out of anyones control. as a person thrilled by my infrequent travels, I find this program as a glory hole into technology, (incredibly reliable!!) and the humans who make it all happen. every job is important. it amazes me that you have created this niche, that is rewarding to you, and educational is a very broad set of topics, from psychology, technology, and problem solving. thank you and best wishes pursuing your dreams.

[@MentourPilot]

That’s what we are trying to do! I’m Glad it’s working. 💕💕

[@davidrobertson2826]

…….um, what? A glory hole? Lol

[@Danny___Riot]

I know what you mean! I’m going on vacation next month and I noticed I’m excited for the flight more than anything. 😅

[@lornemartin7636]

You just may want to edit your reference to “g…hole”. Inappropriate and I’m sure inadvertent.

[@haraldschweda611]

@@lornemartin7636 What I thought about it, too…

[@hamadalthani7535]

Thanks

[@aaroneisengart9887]

Being that pretty soon ill be training to be an airplane mechanic. Watching videos like this (and the titan air disaster of course), show me how important an airplane technician is. It shows me what a responsibility this job is, that everything must be precise. Additionally, I never knew planes have a HIL (or the FMC can be a tool for mechanics from titan plane). Thank you for these videos!!!

[@Chris-hf2sl]

Maybe it should be mandatory for any mechanic who works on a plane to be on the next flight.

[@GeekFurious]

As someone who has worked in IT, there have been times when I SHOULD have known what to do but because I thought I knew what the problem was I instead did 20 things BEFORE I did the thing I should have done. And I wasn't even flying a plane and worried about dying.

[@MentourPilot]

Yep, human perception and troubleshooting is a complex thing.

[@Saml01]

Step 1: Google it.

[@jimlatosful]

Saaame here 😂😭

[@FieryPouncer]

I also do IT stuff, and I spotted the problem pretty quickly... From my home office, on the ground, where absolutely nothing was at stake. It's _really_ easy to get into the mindset that you know what the problem is, and then, well... It can take a long time for you to break out of that and reevaluate the situation.

[@JanBruunAndersen]

I think my colleagues (also working in IT) sometimes gets annoyed with me because when trying to solve a problem, I like to step back and ask dumb questions that seemingly have nothing to do with the problem at hand. But I think there is method to my madness. I ask the dumb, basic questions because I want to know what works before I try to fix what is not working. I verify that I can ping a server using both IP adress and name. I verify that the file system is mounted, mounted correctly, that I can create and delete a test file,... Silly things, but it gives me a solid footing before trying to solve the more complex problem. And in many cases that kind of low level checking have often revealed some basic problems that only manifested itself as a problem at a higher level.

[@abdellahchaaibi]

I downloaded the whole playlist of peter’s Airlines’ incidents investigations to watch on my long flight back home last week-end, it made me more conscious about the aircraft during the trip. Absolutely fantastic series, thank you Captain!

[@MentourPilot]

That’s a fantastic idea!

[@jack002tuber]

You have more guts than I do. I can't watch these in a plane, only sitting on the ground

[@abdellahchaaibi]

@@jack002tuber Aviation is safer than ever thanks to the rules set because of the incidents that happened, I believe that everyday, this industry grows safer, and better for us all, passengers, and even pilots and everyone involved in the industry.

[@bhumikdhandhukia4471]

That's a great thing to do when you are out of horror movies

[@buskontention3872]

You binge watched air crash videos during a flight? Tempting fate?

[@alanbare8319]

As a former F-15 maintainer in Flight Line Avionics, these videos are absolutely fascinating. Deferred maintenance/discrepancies are well documented in the aircraft forms. Keep up the good work!

[@MentourPilot]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@asm_nop]

I'm surprised that the switch isn't keyed to ensure correct orientation.

[@TheRedRaven_]

@@asm_nop That and the switch should have a protruding tab that allows it to be installed in only one direction. Small little mods like this are necessary on these passenger airframes IMO.

[@hermanappelgren]

At a tech museum near me, they have a bike with super wheels that is rigged to lean the wrong way during a turn. Trying to ride this bike is one of the most confusing experiences I’ve ever had. The feeling of disconnect between your conscious intentions and what your muscle memory is making you do is unreal.

[@MephiticMiasma]

Another variation I've seen is gearing the handlebar so that turning it to the left causes the wheel to turn right and vice versa.... virtually impossible to ride it.

[@jennygrim2057]

😂

[@ed6185]

Thanks for your great video's.

[@MentourPilot]

Thank you so much for your wonderful support!!

[@TheAkashicTraveller]

I like the way he checked that the backup switch was working but then continued using the yoke switch even though he suspected it was faulty. Muscle memory and stress really mess with you huh.

[@MentourPilot]

Exactly!

[@myparceltape1169]

I am not in aviation but if anything was sometimes faulty it was never right. The trim function was shown on a pre war biplane. I think it was for passengers.

[@tonysu8860]

I'm only going by the computer generated appearance of the two switches because no actual photos of the switches were shown (that I remember) but I'm pretty sure the two switches don't duplicate the same functionality. The backup switches appear to be on/off switches to enable or disable the backup trim system while the yoke switch appears to turn the electrical trim motors one direction or the other. That means that you probably can't operate the trim motors up or down using the backup switches. It's interesting though that there are two backup trim switches and that both need to be activated the same way for those to work... I wonder what the reasoning is for that, especially when both switches are side by side and easy reach of both pilots.

[@duc9395]

@@tonysu8860 the two back up trim switches (on the center pedestal) work EXACTLY like the switches on either yoke. They are of a split switch design, the system logic prioritises the backup switches, then the captains switches, then the first officers switches. The only real difference with the backup switches is what the logic does if only one of the two split switches is registered as depressed for seven seconds. There are also two cut-out switches (they can be pushed in, or pushed out), the captain in this case pushed in only the left one thinking that would deactivate his side, but in fact each of the two cut-out switches deactivate one of two channels, but both channels are able to command trimming actions from any of the back up/captains/first officers trim switches, so his understanding of that system was flawed. Funnily enough because he only pushed in one switch it did not cut out his reversed trim switches, however it also allowed the first officer to still be able to trim using his side, as one channel had not been cut-out (the same reason why the back up switches also still worked). The QRH actually states to push both channel cut-out switches in, then push one out at a time with the other pressed in, and trying to trim the aircraft by various means. I must admit sitting at home watching this there's a lot of very obvious mistakes. I even said to myself as soon as the video started talking about the runaway that the button was clearly installed upside down, and laughed when I was right. But being in the heat in the moment can certainly be different.

[@bocckoka]

I normally cry on more serious episodes like Hellenic 522 or Tenerife, but here the cooperation here also made me cry, in a good way.

[@epiren]

As soon as you said about the switch being upside down, my jaw dropped. Talk about a simple mistake that was totally avoidable!

[@kenoliver8913]

And how come there isn't a notch so that is not possible? Having things fit only one direction into a socket is absolutely elementary in design, even in non-safety critical systems.

[@richardgilson3512]

Very interesting to see this side of the incident. Pre-pandemic I worked On those trim switches and the back-up trim panels for Embraer customers. I remember the flurry of service bulletins and "read and sign" memos that came out to deal with all this. Till I saw this video I had forgotten all about it.

[@Friend_of_the_One-Eyed_Ladies]

Fun fact, the accelerator pedal in your car has dual redundant circuits like this switch. (Obviously I'm only referring to modern vehicles with drive-by-wire throttle control.) In the event of a mismatch, for instance because of a broken wire as happened to one of my vehicles, the ECU will switch into a severely limited "Limp Mode" where your engine RPM is limited to 3000, and max throttle input is limited to like 25%. Takes minutes to achieve freeway speed, lol. This is to make any runaway situations easy to control with the brakes, and to protect the engine if it erroneously reads a max throttle input when the vehicle is in neutral (3000 RPM won't destroy a gasoline engine). I thought this was a cool set of safety redundancies, developed by some very smart engineers.

[@SafeBandicoot]

I’ve been waiting nearly 3 years for this. Ever since I watched the VAS Aviation recording of the ATC recording. It is bone chilling to hear stress in the pilot’s voice. Some of the passengers of 4439 has commented on VAS Aviation’s video.

[@MentourPilot]

Really? Can you tell them about this video? I would love to hear from them

[@austinchen6549]

@@MentourPilot I was the one that commented on VASAviation video, and some just notified me of this video. I was one of the very few passengers on 4439. Can verify if needed but would also love to talk to you. I happen to love aviation and watch a lot of videos.

[@officerahmo]

@@austinchen6549 How early did you realize that there was a problem? If you did?

[@pluisjenijn]

ATC can be found on VASAviation channel, including the Delta pilot who is willing to help out. It's clear that the pilots are under a lot of stress: calling the runway 10L instead of 10 and falling to count themselves (6 souls on board). Glad everything went well and that the root cause was found and dealt with

[@NicolaW72]

Thank you for the advise!👍

[@spy2778]

Can you post the link to that one?

[@pluisjenijn]

@@spy2778 I did first reply

[@contra1124]

@@spy2778 links often get deleted here- search vasaviation channel for republic airways 4439 it will be the first video you find (from 3 years ago)

[@tomhutchins7495]

Petter is an excellent instructor. As a non-pilot I was immediately thinking the switch had become reversed when the opposite trim effect was mentioned. As he says though, it's easy to recognise that from here and when we've been primed for the story, much harder to notice in the middle of a significant emotional event like this.

[@asmileisspecial]

This one was such a rollercoaster. I was so scared listening to this one, I don’t blame the captain for going back to the trim switch, the muscle memory and training is too strong. They did such a good job managing it, I was terrified they were going to crash.

[@thejailbreaker8675]

The funny thing is that as an Airbus A320 and A330 pilot for 9500 hours, I never ever thought about how trim works, until it breaks. I imagine that Airbus pilots for over 5 years going to a Boeing may only remember after having to force the controls.

[@lukeluke3964]

We get nice 30 minute walk throughs. In reality these skilled people we call pilots have to deal with this stuff in seconds or if they are lucky minutes. Love seeing them all survive and we get to make flying safer without losing lives and we get these videos.

[@yiuqwfj]

This incident reminded me of Air Astana Flight 1388. It's nothing short of a miracle how those pilots from Air Astana Flight 1388 could save the plane despite reversed controls.

[@SimonWallwork]

Haha. They saved themselves- the plane was a write off!

[@sm5970]

This is fast becoming my favourite KZbin channel. There’s so much life lessons to be learned from aviation you know. Love the channel, and I love your explanations. Currently catching up with past videos.

[@MentourPilot]

Great to hear! 👍🏻💕

[@whitelorna1967]

Yup Petter and Kelsey are my 2 most favorite aviatiors in the KZbin channels ( @74gear just in case your flying saucer only landed on Earth today... They have helped me SOOOOO much as I have been preparing to get my PPL. 🖖 Live long and prosper. 😎

[@Ozkan_Ozturk]

Petter, I know you definitely know what you do but I wanted to emphasize 2 very important points: You not only inform/guide/relieve/inspire aviation enthusiasts & passengers but also offer an enormous knowledge library for pilots, technicians & airlines. With all due respect to official trainings, these series are something to take as valuable resource on what can be done/thought in some never thought scenarios. If I was a pilot, I`d watch every video of yours 2-3 times to use them to sharpen my skills. As an aviation enthusiast, I salute you.

[@Landon.9910]

As an aircraft mechanic and inspector with almost 20 years experience (2 years of which were with Republic Airlines). My first thought was that the switch was re-installed upside down. I've replaced that switch multiple times and it's an easy mistake that a mechanic can make but not an easy one for a pilot to catch.

[@sharoncassell9358]

Like its easy to throw a ball but not easy for someone else to retrieve it.

[@Placeholderdo3]

Clear design oversight. Hard to think of every eventuality, but the fact that the up/down indications are separate from the actual switch make that an easy thing to mistake.

[@Rollin8.0]

I found this one really interesting because I feel like if I was flying and tapping a switch and it was having the opposite effect to what I expected my first instinct would be to flip it the other way to see if it did what I wanted. Seems strange that the pilot didn't register that the more he hut the trim switch the worse things got.... I suppose if you've done thousands of hours on a particular plane you "know" what should happen when you do something so the possibility the plane is "wrong" takes a while to enter your head.

[@PJ-qx5yt]

​@@Rollin8.0I think that generally they are trained to assume their controls work... Like if their plane pitches up instead of down I think the probability that there is a more complex issue at hand is higher than that the switch got installed incorrectly.

[@killman369547]

Goes to show the importance of the manufacturers of those components designing them so they only fit one way. Because if they can be installed wrong, it's only a matter of time before someone will end up installing it wrong, it's like murphy's law.

[@beltrams]

As a non-pilot, I so much appreciate your channel and the several other pilot channels out there. I've probably watched a few thousand videos by now. Anyhow, last winter I was flying out of JFK to BOS with a teenaged friend new to being on a plane at all. Our flight was delayed over 2 hours on departure because the aircraft had come in from Burlington, VT with some item reported as inoperative. We were told that they were attempting a repair at the gate, which took 2 hours as I say, but then we were good to go. The crew briefed us a bit before departure on the specifics. It turns out that the deicing system was the troubled system. Now, while the weather was clear at JFK, BOS was reporting 31F and light snow flurries. My friend was very annoyed at the delay, but eventually he calmed down when I asked him if he really wanted Jet Blue to fly him into known or suspecting icing conditions with a deicing system known to have issues? The pilot briefly touched on all this, but my friend took a long, more informed discussion of what icing does to a plane, how deicing systems work on various sizes and categories of aircraft and so on, and it was possible for non-flier me to do this more elaborated discussion thanks to these wonderful videos.

[@JoeyCarb]

It's absolutely insane that the maintenance techs were like oh well this sticker doesn't work, there is absolutely nothing else we can put here to remind the pilot that it's out of service. A small piece of masking tape with an X on it could have prevented this entire situation. The laziness is unreal.

[@georgeburns7251]

Technicians were union. They dont need to think to get a pay check.

[@mb2776]

@@georgeburns7251 won't prevent firing

[@CC-xn5xi]

​@@georgeburns7251Non union people have the same human failings.

[@jupiterzombies]

@@georgeburns7251 you realize people in unions can still get fired for criminal negligence, right

[@obitouchiha4739]

@@jupiterzombies yeah but if the plane crashes which is rarely. Most of them get saved by good pilots.

[@AngwarACE]

I gotta say you are getting better and better at explaining complex aviation problems to people with barely any knowledge. I knew absolutely nothing about planes when i started watching your channel and now i know so much it honestly surprises me that i no longer have issues understanding the mechanics you explain. You are fantastic at teaching and explaining i always look forward to your videos even though i have 0 interest in flying on planes haha

[@RufflestheKitten]

ATC deserves to be awarded for their effort to try and help.

[@kennethbowden4129]

Back in the 90's I was ground crew in the US Air force (KC-135) and we had an intermittent issue with a barber pole indication on one of the gear. It was a nightmare to trouble shoot because once we got to work on it and have the air craft jacked up. After weeks we finally figured it out. One of the indicator switches would fail when it was very cold like it was after a long flight.

[@pauleohl]

What a story. It was like living through a nightmare and being able to at last wake up and realize that it was only a bad dream.

[@atticstattic]

There are no more frightening words than, "it was a perfect day for flying."

[@stryk3r]

🤣fr

[@iztheterrible]

😄😁😉 thank God in heaven for the safe return to stable flight and a safe landing.

[@guardrailbiter]

It sets the stage by removing weather as an all-too-common contributing factor to accidents.

[@atticstattic]

@@guardrailbiter all too true

[@crew-rest]

I am an airline pilot and love your videos. Very clear, accurate and to the point. Just here to add my praise for another one beautifully done. Please keep it up!

[@anna_in_aotearoa3166]

It's so cool that there is so much extra learning material available to pilots & other airline professionals for free online these days! Esp. for those who are in training or relatively new. Great free resource. Even just as someone in general risk/safety management & incident investigation, the systems issues & psychological learnings are still valuable...

[@rickbarrington]

As a low time pilot I have to say I love your channel. The attention to detail, the quality of production and sheer professionalism is inspiring and educational

[@hanyiskandar5567]

One of few channels who truly earns subscribe. Petter you are doing an amazing job, please never stop. After Studying 5 years of vehicle engineering including all physics behind airplanes, I still gain alots of new knowledge from your videos. Thanks!

[@SmileIso]

I love the way you narrate your videos. So clear, so self explaining

[@DrarslanAbdulsattar]

😊

[@DrarslanAbdulsattar]

Angle moment handled on handle.

[@DrarslanAbdulsattar]

D

[@DrarslanAbdulsattar]

D . A. D

[@DrarslanAbdulsattar]

Left brake applied changed anglar gravity

[@davidp2888]

The detailed explanations and corresponding video illustrations are extremely well done! You and your team always deliver amazing results.

[@MentourPilot]

Thank you David. We do what we can and the level of detail is the reason it takes a while to produce them.

[@wernerderchamp]

I really like how you set us up wrongly by first mentioning the cable issues. I think during the accident sequence, most viewers thought that these issues were the cause for the trim runaway. But then it actually was just that switch mounted wrongly.

[@MentourPilot]

Haha! Yep, have to keep you guessing 💕

[@volvo09]

Same here!

[@freeculture]

I find it a bit curious that the pilot didn't try using it backwards. As a gamer i would. I mean if up isn't doing up but down, just try the opposite to at least see if it goes back to what it was instead of continuing the same action that clearly was doing the opposite.

[@marcellkovacs5452]

@@freeculture if you previously had connectivity issues with your mouse, you won’t be thinking that maybe someone inverted your controls while you were in the bathroom. Confirmation bias, they already had an explanation for the problem (runaway stabiliser) and it’s really difficult to abandon it.

[@whisperpone]

I find it really odd that they didn't put the inop sticker on just because it was awkward to mount meanwhile with something considerably less dangerous like a bandsaw (you can only kill one or two people with a bandsaw, but quite a lot with an airplane) they would have red tape and lockout tags as soon as anything with the controls are messed up

[@clagoeiro]

This reminds a bit the Embraer in Portugal which had their aileron cable controls reversed. Amazing videos as always! Thank you so much Mentour Pilot!

[@NicolaW72]

Indeed, me, too.

[@aaronwallace8397]

As someone who works in cars the second I saw the switch hanging out I was screaming that it was installed 180 off and that was going to cause the whole problem. Especially when the captain took back controls and it immediately did the same thing. Amazing what a sticker could’ve done in this situation no matter how poorly slapped on.

[@seanpeacock4290]

Given my experience keeping an old jeep running for 18 years, as soon as you said the plane kept pitching up I thought the switch had been put back upside down. I have managed similar mistakes without the pressure of getting a plane to the runway on time.

[@TheGweilo701]

Absolutely love that you called the problem “gremlins”! Gremlins are a real scientific phenomenon!

[@philipjamesparsons]

I had a similar problem happen in a Beech Duchess, back in 2005. The mechanics cabled up the trim in the opposite sense to how it was meant to work. When, I trimmed the opposite happened to what I expected, so I stopped trimming and returned to land. Rather than being sorry for the mistake the maintenance guys blamed me, saying that the problem was easy to work out and I should have just trimmed in the opposite sense. Looking back, this was BS and they were lucky they got away with it.

[@jasonadamik2206]

Just thought it was a good opportunity to tell you, Petter, if you happen to read this, just how very much I enjoy and look forward every day to your videos. I'm incredibly impressed by your presentation skills, your confidence and clear diction in front of the camera, your perfect English, your amazing explanations, etc., etc. Thank you for everything you're doing.

[@PetThePeeves]

Muscle memory is incredible. I began driving in an old jeep and had that same destruction box for over a decade. No matter what it would always drift to the right and I would naturally anticipate it and adjust accordingly depending on the terrain, knowing how that would impact my driving. Imagine the first few weeks in a normal car that did not do that and how many times I got honked at, shot the bird, and because I’m American, once had a gun waved at me (no joke). I COULD NOT break that habit for a longer time than seems believable. It’s like the brain understands it makes no sense on one level and on the other just goes “No, this is how it works, stupid”. It’s amazing when you need it and a huge handicap when you need to do something differently. Fortunately, while you’re definitely more likely statistically to die in a Honda Civic, it is definitely smaller and is ON THE GROUND. And it’s much easier to figure out what’s wrong when you have other lanes of cars around you and can easily see the distance from them. I’d drift or mess up turns, but I imagine if I was driving down an unlined road alone like a plane visually alone in the sky I would have run into a ditch more than once.

[@Skyhighnupe]

I’ve flown this exact plane many times. These pilots did a great job!

[@MentourPilot]

Yep, they got it down in one piece. That’s the important thing

[@jesspeinado480]

The capt was the problem. Nice cya thinking. Just like cops covering up for other cops.

[@norwegianzound]

@@jesspeinado480 Nonsense.

[@aesaphyr]

@@jesspeinado480 ... Right, that's why he immediately reported the fault and incident. Definitely trying to cover up. 🙄

[@bennaustin6632]

@@jesspeinado480 What? The airline chose not to wait 20 minutes for a replacement part and the maintenance crew put it back in upside down and without an inop tag. A physical reminder that could be seen and felt may have been enough of a reminder to break the captain out of automatic muscle memory back to conscious attention. The failure was not with the captain, except in taking back control from the first officer, which was a poor decision.

[@volkhen0]

I immediately knew they put it back upside down but told myself that it must have been impossible as the shape of the switch mounting should be foolproof and it’s shape should prevent upside down insertion.

[@luke83rj]

This is one of the best if not the best aviation channel on youtube, another great piece of work!

[@cypher686]

Judging from the thumbnail, One of the biggest engineering issues was the fact that the left engine was incorrectly positioned inside the wing and the right flaps were hanging off

[@cdnhey]

Having the aircraft in trim saved my life the seat just rolled back I let go of the yoke instantly good training pays off

[@spogeo45]

Excellent job Petter. You nailed it.

[@MentourPilot]

Thank you! I’m so happy I have you Patreons to quality check my videos prior to release. 💕

[@bigfootflyxr6160]

We discussed this occurrence and how our cognitive biases on both the part of the maintenance personal and the crew contributed to it during my recurrent training this week. Very cool to see a video on it this soon!

[@tensevo]

when the aircraft is not doing exactly what it is supposed to do, what you trained as a pilot, I would not call that cognitive bias. I would just say, the aircraft was not airworthy.

[@littletrebleclef]

Welcome back! This was a fascinating video elevated by the fact that everyone came home safe.

[@iztheterrible]

These are the best flying documentaries!!! I've watched a dozen and I can finally understand what the narrator pilot is saying now😄. He seems like a super cool young man that is almost like family, and someone you can depend on!!!

[@JanBackstrom-ot2dw]

Tack!

[@Kayari]

I only discovered your channel like a week ago but I've binged most of your videos at this point, and I've always had a fear of flying but the way you go into the hows and whys of how these incidents and accidents and even getting into the psychology behind why the pilots might've acted the way they did and what the aviation industry as a whole has learned from them and how they've made flying safer as a result has honestly made me feel a lot better about it, so, thank you.

[@kristianhans7588]

Feels great to always see a perfect video such as this one. Keep doing the great job. You inspire us who want to become pilots in future. I'm currently 19.

[@MentourPilot]

Best of luck with your training my friend! 💕✈️

[@henryhbk]

I would add a comparison to the “runaway acceleration” in the Audi 5000, caused by the pedals being too close together and slightly out of place for US drivers causing people to step harder on the “brake” to stop the acceleration, not realizing they were of course stepping on the accelerator. It is extremely hard to detect you’re doing something like that; funny story I had tacked up my horse in the dark (and my horse and her tack are all black) and was riding (thank goodness) in our indoor training ring, I would rein to the left and my horse turned to the right, in fact at one point turning out the door to the outside. Luckily my horse is both extremely smart and takes care of me, (and didn’t put me in the dirt like most dressage horses would) she then took control and marched (ignoring all my signals) right up to the mirror in the ring and kept staring at the mirror until I finally saw the reins crossing under her chin. It is extremely hard to convince your brain that your control inputs are not the correct ones. (I added an under chin look as part of my “preflight’ walk around on my horse)

[@sheridan1887]

You have a very intelligent horse!

[@henryhbk]

@@sheridan1887 you have no idea. I love her to death but it’s kind of a pain sometimes as if I am riding near someone getting a lesson my horse will listen to their instructor and do what she’s saying. But so many times she’s saved my butt. And she is bomb-proof, literally. When they were blasting for a development nearby the farm most of the horses were cowering while mine wanted to meet her friend the explosives technician!

[@GreatDogs]

I drive horses.... And ya, its nice having an actual smart autopilot. .. 🐎

[@markmcculfor6113]

@@GreatDogs 😂 my horses autopilot has one major mode, it involves a slow turn back home, and then a walk directly to the barn XD they're good horses though, I love them to bits

[@PhycoKrusk]

Must be a newer model

[@BaliMystic]

This reminds of a story from an avionics specialist working on a Challenger. One of the instruments was experiencing in flight issues. They tried replacing the unit multiple times and no luck, the in flight issues always came back. When came the time for a major overhaul, the owner insisted on replacing the wiring although the item wasn't mandatory. When they replaced the wiring, they found that some of the insulation had been worn off due to fretting and a short circuit would result only when the cabin was pressurized and the airframe would expand slightly. This explains why the wiring always checked out (pass) on the ground but would cause an instrument malfunction during the flight.

[@juliajanssens8432]

'always checks out or "always checked out' OR 'passed the checks'

[@poluciasICS]

Ďakujeme.

[@MentourPilot]

Thank you so much for your wonderful support!!

[@poluciasICS]

I love your channel man, and it's nice that you personally comment so ridiculously small donation @@MentourPilot , say a lot about you ,,,, i looking forward to another 737 course wirth you , i sing my self in a second it was possible :)

[@sylvainforget2174]

I remember operating a bridge shop hoist without looking at the pendant and things were not going well. After a bit of struggling, I realised that I was trying to operate it just like the shop hoist from a job I had left thirty years before. Old habits die hard.

[@shotokanads3325]

Love the way failures are investigated which leads to improved procedures and safety. Happy New Year to you and your family.

[@harryruzgerian4855]

Wow! What sequence of events that led up to this. I was on the edge of my seat hoping and praying they made it back safely. Great great video Petter and crew.

[@Dirk-van-den-Berg]

BTW. If there is loss of life, Petter will warn about that at the start of the video. But I was on the edge of my seat also. Was so relieved when the crew fixed the situation by great CRM...

[@elrobo3568]

I was a trained high performance driver /pursuit driving driver / instructor trainer at the General Motors proving grounds. We were not extensively trained in forward driving but had to drive in reverse using mirrors only. We had to get to fairly high speeds in reverse and had to get used to reverse controls. I am also a pilot and it think this made me a better pilot for unusual attitude control and recovery.

[@OurCognitiveSurplus]

It does feel like if a fault re-occurs more than x-times, there should be a requirement to do a deeper dive into the problem.

[@justwantresults8768]

This is a huge challenge in the aviation industry. Intermittent wiring related faults are absolutely the hardest to isolate. Unfortunately there is huge pressure to take a maintenance action to clear the fault and go, which unfortunately doesn't always address the harder to find root cause. We wracked our brains on this when developing engine control system troubleshooting procedures.

[@mikemorris3421]

There is, and any competent engineer would extend the diagnosis procedure, one would not just continue to repeat to do the same thing over and over. The initial thought was a wiring chaff and the first place to look are areas of loom movement. But putting the switch in the wrong way and not finding out shows lack of testing after the work was completed which is more concerning as simply testing i.e. running it and watching the indicator would have shown the issue. There are always time pressures on turnarounds but ones ingrained training should step in to resist such, as it is you that signs off the log item and as such carries the responsibility.

[@kvadratbitter]

I can imagine that starting to use the trim switch in reverse would be like paddling a bike in reverse or steering left for right, right for left, or something similar. Crazy stuff, great video.

[@sarowie]

it's even crazier. when cycling, for a right turn, you actually turn slightly left then right. In a car, after turning right, you might slightly left. Our you just give steering input to drive straight - you tend to use both directions and feel with very subtle input that something is totally wrong. With the trim, you would not think in their right mind to "counter trim" just to see what happens. In case of a mechanical failure, that would be crazy.

[@NicolaW72]

Indeed - and you must first get an idea that it works in this reverse direction.

[@svtpanda5948]

I always love these videos, you explain in great detail but so us non aviation workers can understand😂Everything is so fascinating to learn about, thank you!

[@MentourPilot]

That’s my goal! Awesome

[@10-AMPM-01]

Your work saves lives. Thank you for always being there, forever vigilant.

[@stepanbmw]

I found this channel a couple of days ago, and I'm so happy that I couldn't be more! I'm studying aerospace engineering, and I love how detailed and technical these videos are. I see that a lot of pilots are on this channel, and they find your videos useful for them, but, as well for us, future engineers, it is essential to see where and how not to make mistakes because, you know, theory and aerodynamics are one thing, but the practice is a bit different. All in all, very informative and interesting. Thank you!

[@nekomasteryoutube3232]

Its kinda surprising it was even possible to install the switch upside down, you'd think that something like that would be "keyed" so it can only go in one way.

[@TheAkashicTraveller]

Also ehy reinstall the suspected faulty switch at all? They should have just left it out. As soon as he mentioned them reinstalling it I suspected they'd do it the wrong way around.

[@MentourPilot]

Yep, that’s what the maintenance bulletin was made to fix.

[@MathieuDeVinois]

At 14:22 I thought what a wonderful flight that must be being in a mostly empty and quite small plane at night. Like a privat jet feeling. Then I remembered what channel I am watching 😅

[@OptimalToast]

Was great to see the Captain quickly give back control to the First Officer when problem arose again, despite believing they had a very firm understanding of the issues at hand and the unbelievably high amount of stress they were under.

[@javaking1000]

I know it's easy for me to be an "armchair pilot", but damn why did it take so long for the pilot to give the controls to the first officer? They both knew there was a problem with the pilot's trim control! Handing over would have literally been the first thing I would have done!

[@sidorgeorge]

Personally, I think the captain was foolish to wait so long to give control to the first officer. And even more foolish to take control back. What if after he got control back, they couldn't control the airplane anymore, or couldn't switch back. I think it was ego.

[@PurpleSixBeats]

Best Helo fresh invid ad I have seen ever I actually enjoyed watchid ad lol

[@TheCraftedMine]

As an A&P, these videos are always very useful to me, as a reminder to be wary of everything in my work. Thank you.

[@Karagon17]

I listened to this live on ATC at home that afternoon. It scared the crap out of me, it's the worst thing to happen at Hartsfield-Jackson in the last decade I think.

[@MentourPilot]

I can imagine. I hope you will like the video!

[@johnnyjoseph1389]

As somebody who's been an auto mechanic for 25 years I can't fathom how difficult it must be to be an airplane mechanic. One of the biggest parts of verifying a repair in the auto industry is driving the car to make sure it doesn't do "it" again. Working on a thing that you can't legally operate in real world (flying) conditions would seem me to be extremely difficult.

[@MentourPilot]

The maintenance work is very tightly controlled and follow very clear ABCD etc steps to follow. These steps are set up by the manufacturer and must be complied with. Normally that works fine but in this case, the original decision to fix the problem was reversed, hence the issue.

[@johnnyjoseph1389]

True enough, but even if a part were available and installed correctly the underlying issue still would have not been solved. Seems to me like you could have installed a thousand trim switches and the original problem still would have been there. We deal with poorly written or incomplete diagnostic flow charts in our industry as well but we often have the opportunity to catch the misdiagnosis before handing it back to the driver.

[@mbryson2899]

THANK YOU for clearly explaining and illustrating horizontal trim! I grew up building WWII models, the horizontal stabilizers were FIXED, only the elevator and trim tabs were movable. This is _very_ different from modern aircraft. As usual, you bring us relatable, clear facts. "We're not worthy, we're not worthy!" 😉

[@Stoney3K]

Fixed stabilizers with trim tabs are pretty standard for smaller aircraft. Big airliners have a movable stabilizer because they operate in much wider flight envelopes (weights, altitudes, speeds).

[@mightyd-max3717]

Just want to say ur delivery and edits skills are perfection feels like im watching a real show on tv well done my man well done

[@kobusvanstaden3747]

I am amazed that your channel has not yet been picked up by a TV channel or major streaming service as the quality is simply mindblowing! Extremely well done!

[@umerniaz7853]

Thanks mentour pilot for sharing such a quality content

[@MentourPilot]

Glad you enjoy it!

[@markmitchell457]

Thanks for putting out programs that are different than the major TV program that usually covers pilot error and generally ends with people scattered all over. It is nice to see some issues are caused by mechanical issues, and can be overcome by a good crew. As a retired person who used to travel 25% in my former position, I have wished I had worn my brown pants on several flights. Good communication from the pilot to pax is nice in scary situations. You do a great job of educating the public. Thanks.

[@ronnyskaar3737]

Another incredible story one never would thought possible. Embraer listen: put a pattern or a tap in the trim switch so it can only fit the right way. Fundamental.

[@JeremyPrend]

Thanks!

[@MentourPilot]

Thank you so much!

[@cynthiaroswick1621]

Captain I love your new videos. The format gives me so much more information especially with the little pictures of the parts of the plane you are talking about. Tell your son he may become the new Anthony Bourdain. Flying is wonderful and cooking is great. I love the new TSHIRTS. I'm too old (79) to wear them but I love them. Thank you again for your precise videos.

[@Ghost_fart_666]

Been binging all your videos for 6 months, thinking of doing a PPL because of this channel! Keep it up, fantastic content

[@MentourPilot]

Thank you, that’s great to hear. Best of luck with your training!