HOW did this plane VANISH over the AMAZON?? Varig 254

Play World of Tanks here: tanks.ly/3RJXkoW
Thank you World of Tanks for sponsoring this video.
During registration use the code TANKMANIA to get for free: 7 Days Premium Account, 250k credit Premium Tank Excelsior (Tier 5), and 3 rental tanks for 10 battles each: Tiger 131 (Tier 6), Cromwell B (Tier 6), and T34-85M (Tier 6)
The promo code is only for new players during registration.
Check out the WoT merch on Amazon: amzn.to/3HhfIkG
--------
This video was inspired by Admiral Cloudberg's analysis of the incident, which you can read here: / lost-and-confused-the-...
🟢 Support the channel on Patreon! / greendotaviation
🌏 Join the Discord! / discord
-------
On the night of September 3rd, 1989, a Boeing 737-200 carrying 54 passengers and crew, simply vanished into thin air over Brazil. The aircraft was in perfect working order, the weather was calm, and the pilots had been talking to air traffic control. The flight was supposed to take less than 45 minutes, yet the aircraft never reached its destination. To this day, the incident is shrouded in mystery, yet the few facts that are known, paint a picture so shocking, that it is frankly hard to believe. This is the story of Varig flight 254.
----
00:00 Intro
00:47 Flight background
01:17 World of Tanks
02:22 Pilots
03:39 Departure
04:40 The first anomaly
05:37 Another anomaly
07:18 Where is Belém?
08:06 Turnback
09:18 Radio Stations and
10:12 A River
11:55 Where are we?
12:28 An unfortunate quirk of physics
13:41 Time is running out
14:45 The crucial error
17:30 Terrible regrets
19:05 Last ditch attempt
20:27 Morse code
21:30 Hope runs out
22:00 Preparations for crashing
22:46 Engines flameout and glide
25:01 Crash Aftermath
26:02 Investigation
27:31 A worrying study
28:08 Changes and consequences
28:54 Thanks!

[@GreenDotAviation]

Play World of Tanks here: tanks.ly/3RJXkoW Thank you World of Tanks for sponsoring this video. During registration use the code TANKMANIA to get for free: 7 Days Premium Account, 250k credit Premium Tank Excelsior (Tier 5), and 3 rental tanks for 10 battles each: Tiger 131 (Tier 6), Cromwell B (Tier 6), and T34-85M (Tier 6) The promo code is only for new players during registration. Check out the WoT merch on Amazon: amzn.to/3HhfIkG

[@PEPcessna]

what addon did you use for the baggage handling ?

[@VolatileHunter2]

Dude! I love your channel!! Thank you so much!

[@garthliggett5812]

❤

[@tbbbbzzzzz]

Get a War Thunder sponsor, its a better game

[@christianclarke158]

Llp++qq+p]pppp]ppppppAA]]

[@CarlosAlexandre-fl2ut]

What is not mentioned here is that after 15min of flight, a passenger called Epaminondas, that flew this route frequently, called a stewardess asking to talk to the captain that something was wrong. He saw the plane crossing several rivers and not parallel to just one. The crew didn't allow the guy to talk to the captain nor inform the captain about this fact.

[@antoy384]

So the “people must keep the curtains open so they can tell the pilots when an engine is burning” story is complete BS?

[@dp134]

@@antoy384 All resources should be used ...

[@serwisant1796]

Stewardesses probably knew what typical supervisor's ego means and therefore didn't even try to bring up such subject to the pilots.

[@jeffwood5614]

I've heard the same thing in another documentation. Someone was complaining that the sun can't be on his window side when they want to target the city of Belem

[@jonathanlund590]

@@jeffwood5614 maybe they noticed that after the captain made that 180% turn which would definitely put the sun on the wrong side

[@googoogjoobgoogoogjoob]

15 of 21 pilots independently made the same initial error with the flight plan?!! I think that speaks volumes of how badly the plan was communicated to the pilots.

[@ckpioo]

exactly and what benefits does the 4 digit heading even give?, it has no benefits so why was it even changed

[@patricktuggles4815]

And then they get 4 years in prison ridiculous

[@swiftrealm]

@@patricktuggles4815 For negligence. They made a series of unforgivable mistakes - the incorrect heading was not one of them. They flew for a long time at low altitude thus burning more fuel, they didn't climb higher than 8500 feet to give them a higher vantage point, the first officer could not find the charts despite them being in the cockpit, and they didn't listen to the Morse code of the beacons. That's 4 grave mistakes right there. The captain rightfully lost his license because at the time, CRM wasn't a thing and he was essentially "god".

[@yeetingat100subs9]

@@patricktuggles4815they only got community service. He said it in the video

[@MixtPersonality]

@@patricktuggles4815 they didnt get 4 years it was reduced to community service...

[@thuggwaffle8825]

The fact that 44 survived is beyond a miracle..

[@bobdebouwer7835]

Yes and no. Someone even survived falling out of a plane. Thanks to the high trees.

[@eustab.anas-mann9510]

The clickbaity title made it seem like the plane had truly never been found again. A small damper on an otherwise great story.

[@DiligentX]

@@eustab.anas-mann9510 Meh the quality of the video made up for it

[@MICKEYISLOWD]

Maybe crash landings should be in forests if possible?

[@bobdebouwer7835]

@@MICKEYISLOWD if I was a pilot and had a choice I would always prefer trees. They break the speed gradually. Better then water or buildings... There's many forest crashes with survivors

[@Jacob-df5hr]

Despite the pilots' best efforts, 44 people managed to survive.

[@slightreturner2655]

@@liukang3545 You comply misunderstood his joke. Tsk tsk

[@javkhlanariunbaatar385]

Ironic that how the pilots done everything they could potentially do wrong.

[@fredblahblah.6352]

One wishes every one of them had survived. That would have made for a full happy ending to the stupidest of misadventures!

[@marybarry2230]

😂

[@thetechnocrat4979]

​@@fredblahblah.6352 True. It would have been a funny case then.

[@change_your_oil_regularly4287]

If you are a pilot of a large commercial jet and find yourself navigating using rivers you have very likely farked up.

[@BlueAirways]

True

[@thomasmills3934]

Is your name by chance a PSA for a prior mistake you may have made?

[@greggstrasser5791]

Pilots used dead reckoning when they had four radial engines.

[@C.Fecteau-AU-MJ13]

@@thomasmills3934 LOL solid burn

[@philmann3476]

IFR -- "I follow rivers."

[@purplehaze8557]

A few additional infos. about this accident: 1- some frequent passengers on that flight realized the error the pilots had made (and tried to warn them) when they noticed the "sun was on the wrong side of the plane"; 2- the co-pilot noticed the error made by the captain, but it was too late; the captain told him to shush and pointed to cockpit microphones as to say he didn't want to be incriminated in the subsequent investigation; 3- You can hear the last 2 transmissions made by the captain here on YT; one was to the passengers, saying they had experienced a problem in the navigation instruments and wishing them good luck; another one was to another VARIG pilot who had managed to get in contact with them, and asked the captain what had happened. He gave the same excuse. In this last transmission, you can clearly hear one of the engines cutting off. 4- The co-pilot said that had it not been for the captain's arrogance, the accident would not have happened.

[@big_man_ank1768]

thx alot

[@C.Fecteau-AU-MJ13]

The captain was wishing the passengers good luck?... You know things have gone to shit when that happens.

[@tk9839]

@@C.Fecteau-AU-MJ13 Yes, the last words you want to hear from your pilot...geez!

[@coriscotupi]

@@C.Fecteau-AU-MJ13 In the actual wording used, he wished a _"good end"_ (of life??) to all. That, said by your pilot, would have surely been even more macabre than him merely wishing his passengers good luck.

[@Volodimar]

"I just want to wish you all good luck. We are all counting on you"

[@rilmar2137]

I can't imagine how terrifying it must have been for the passengers

[@gudivinaykumar6799]

Imagine being on a flight to England from America and you started seeing chinese fighter jets through window.

[@anonnimoose7987]

Bank angle in the first few seconds and overspeed in the next 10 seconds. Even flaps and landing gear didn't help at all.

[@tokyworld]

@@gudivinaykumar6799 that did happened. but it was russians IIRC that downed a korean commercial flight during the cold war. It was KAL 007

[@gudivinaykumar6799]

@@tokyworld OMG😮

[@bigchevy350boy]

Moses!

[@bernardospinelli5588]

Captain Garcez had had an incident some weeks prior to flight 254; his plane had struck another plane while taxiing and this could explain why he acted purposely to cover all the mess he was doing. He very likely feared that another serious incident could seriously jeopardize his carreer at Varig, to the point of choosing a path to death instead of trying to find a way out of the situation. On the other hand, co-pilot Zille had only a few months working for Varig and back in 1989 the captain used to hold all the powers in the cockpit. It wasn't simple for a co-pilot to overrule the Captain's actions. After missing Belém, Zille repeatedly tried to tell the Captain that they weren't going in the right direction but Garcez always pointed to the indication of the radio signal they were getting from a wrong station. When Zille checked the charts from Belém he told the Captain that they were supposed to arrive from 027 degrees, not 270, that this was the mistake they made and then the Captain pointed to the microphones in the cabin and made a sign for Zille to shut up and subsequentialy (and consciously) lied to aircontrol and to the other pilots he talked to from there on. According to Zille, when the plane lost engine powers the Captain became paralysed and he was responsible for the actions which led to the somewhat smooth landing. Also according to Zille, the first thing the Captain told him when he recovered conscience after the crash was that they should "work together" in the report, which Zille refused to. Other relevant infos are that the Captain was firstly seen as a hero when the survivors where discovered (which drastically changed when the details of the accident were unveiled) and that recently Co-Pilot Zille has been somewhat rehabilitated due to his version of the facts being considered very consistent throughout the years.

[@josephconnor2310]

Thank you for this information.

[@ninelaivz4334]

What? Zille had figured it all out but the captain bloked him? Why did the video not mention this?

[@bernardospinelli5588]

@@ninelaivz4334 maybe you should ask the people who made the video (which is rather good btw). But those are the facts. Zille might be not telling the truth but his version makes sense and hasn't changed since the accident (there are some videos on youtube where he talks in very detailed fashion about what happened, in Portuguese only though).

[@PInk77W1]

How does a pilot not know the difference between W and N

[@Sebastian-hg3xc]

"He very likely feared that another serious incident could seriously jeopardize his carreer at Varig" As it should have. The guy is incompetent.

[@annayosh]

Correction at 18:14 - the Xingú River IS a tributary of the Amazon. The real problem is that they followed the river upstream rather than downstream, presumably because they thought they had overshot Belem and thus were to the North of the Amazon.

[@GreenDotAviation]

Ah, thank you for the correction!

[@ImperialDiecast]

but if they were north of the amazon, did a 180 they should still turn LEFT to head to belem and not right

[@jeysonbraun4250]

Zile, the copilot, was interviewed by a popular Brazilian podcaster a year or so ago. He claimed in, amongst other things, that the pilot was arrogant and refused to listen his questioning and bringing up the possibility of them going the wrong way early in the flight. It was a time before CRM was much of a thing and the captain was king and no one questioned him

[@garage13]

broken cockpit culture in the past.

[@mathiasstrom7790]

Glad that bullshit like that doesnt fly anymore. Being "top dog" doesnt mean anything if you have peoples lives at your hands

[@extsaojose]

Qual é o podcast irmão?

[@fatrat6988]

First of all, Zile wasn’t a copilot. They were both pilots. There are no “copilots”. Zile was a first officer so get your labels correct. Also, call the captain captain, not pilot.

[@retriwa5640]

​@@fatrat6988jesus man, not everyone's native language is english. the relationship between the words captain&first officer is clearly the same as pilot&co-pilot although it technically doesn't work like that

[@greymark420]

Although the pilots made several mistakes, some responsibility must go to the airline for not updating the crew about the change in heading readout.

[@crunchystuff]

Well they did note the airline notified the pilots, but that was while the Captain was on vacation so he didn't know about it. To your point though, they should've made it way more obvious. Maybe add a note to every flight plan for 6-12 months reminding of the change next to the heading.

[@MICKEYISLOWD]

@@crunchystuff I strongly agree the airline should share some of the responsibility. Even in my job they put notices up when things change and mistakes wouldn't cost lives at all.

[@SoFloAntonio]

True, but also how does someone blindly follow a direction that’s completely incorrect. I can’t imagine flying from JFK to IAD and have anything but a mostly southern heading. It’s a really idiotic mistake. Also considering the fuel, when lost the best idea imo is to fly back to the origin airport. Not sure why they followed a river to the point fuel was low and return was impossible

[@jeffro202]

Agreed, besides 0270 means what it says, not 027

[@Zelielz1]

@@SoFloAntonio Pilots are told to follow procedures at all costs.

[@lunyteve]

A rule I always follow when lost is to just go back to where I came from. Once you start taking turns and changing direction, you're bound to get lost. They should have just continued back to Maraba after they turned around

[@pax6833]

This. The decision to blindly follow a completely unknown river "hoping" it would lead them somewhere is utterly baffling. Although considering the facts of the case (captain being worried about being fired) it makes more sense he would make a risky call like trying to find the airport, rather than turn around.

[@SwampCityRadio1974]

I was a relative beginner bush walking alone in trackless wilderness in a national park and I quickly developed my own method. The first thing I would do if I became uncertain or lost sight of guiding landmarks was to stop and just sit. I'd sit for quite a while, sometimes even half an hour and just let my awareness of everything sink in, the slope of terrain, the things immediately around me, the log I'd just climbed over. It helped me think better and it also meant that I was not going to do anything hasty and make things worse. Noticing things like the slope of the land helped me to backtrack more effectively if needed. I don't know if that's great advice or not, it's just how I decided to cope with uncertainty in the moment.

[@TruthNerds]

Exactly right. I suppose there was a combination of "get-there-itis" (learned that word from Mentour Pilot) and especially the captain's pride. He didn't want to admit his navigation failure and potentially even receive sanctions for it. This also highlights that there should be a company culture where it's ok to admit that you've messed up. People who come clean before anything really bad happens should actually be commended. Of course there must be interviews, reviews of procedure and extra training to make sure this sort of mistake doesn't happen again. But why not also give the personnel in question some recognition for their honesty and thus lessen the fears of anyone else who might have gotten themselves and others in a sticky situation…

[@JoeyCarb]

Right. This is something we learned in landnav. Go back to your most recent known location. Start over.

[@angeljohnson234]

I was stressed out listening to this. I can't imagine how the people involved felt. This is utterly terrifying.

[@delatroy]

Yeah my feelings exactly too. RIP 😢

[@GrumpyMunkyGameDesign]

Same here, when the engines gave out i leant forward like 'awww sheet! how they gonna get out of this ONE!' so glad to hear they all survived and the plane didnt 'vanish' as the misleading title suggests

[@Zandor]

@@GrumpyMunkyGameDesign All did not survive, 12 people died.

[@CrackHeadHuntersPharmacist]

​@@GrumpyMunkyGameDesign 12 died.

[@CrackHeadHuntersPharmacist]

​@@GrumpyMunkyGameDesign 12 died.

[@jalcome4201]

The dark cockpit simulation was terrifying. Made the plot twist that they surivived even more reliefing

[@Amandavg]

I can’t imagine being in a silent and completely dark air plane heading toward the dark rainforest at an unknown rate. That sounds absolutely terrifying. I cannot believe anyone survived this, let alone the majority of them. That’s wild.

[@breakpack]

Agreed. This would terrify me, but only 2 things would give me hope that I would have a chance to survive in that scenario: 1. The plane is staying level as it descends and not in a nosedive or major tilting to the side. 2. The fuel is completely empty from the engines and no chance of a huge explosion.

[@GrumpyMunkyGameDesign]

@@breakpackalso, a flair at the last moment to pitch the nose up just prior to impact and have the tail take the brunt of the impact would be helpful i'd imagine, tho pulling that off in the pitch dark would be difficult, but it WOULD help scrub off last minute airspeed using the belly of the aircraft and the wings surface area as an ad hoc air brake

[@On-Our-Radar-24News]

This accident was part of our coursework during my pilot training and the fact that the study by the airline pilots association had shown that 15 out of 21 pilots had made the same mistake. Its shocking to me that had these pilots understood compass coordinates and which direction they are associated with this accident would never have happened.

[@cathybaldry7822]

Flying into the sun during the afternoon when they were supposed to be flying north....yikes!

[@horsewithnoname12345]

I am not expecting pilots to be fully proficient in dead reckoning which is an entire job of its own, but basic compass coordinate skills must be understood! Flying toward the sun ffs 🤦‍♂️

[@nancylongworth9617]

Amazing that they didn't understand the basic fact that the sun sets in the WEST.

[@camila8031]

Brazilian here 👋 just watched an interview with the copilot of this flight he lost his license and still lives with the guilt to this day while the captain left the country and refuses to talk about it.. such an unfortunate event that could have been preventable

[@lqfr8813]

wow i hope that pilot is banned from aviation around the world, not his skill, but attitude is the one can make accidents

[@asneakylawngnome5792]

The pilot should be arrested honestly.

[@Ahmed_ElSayed01]

​@SecretLunarLabBro what does race have to do with anything 💀 they're all Brazilians in Brazil

[@AndreiMoura-gf8rq]

Brazil is not a country of only one race, it is a mixed country.

[@extsaojose]

Qual o nome da entrevista?

[@christinefoster5159]

This story was fascinating. One of the best I have watched. It's frightening to be lost in your car. To be lost in the dark, in a plane, with passengers on board; what a nightmare.

[@cubby6988]

As well as being on top of a tropical rain forest that spans thousands of miles with animals that probably haven’t been discovered yet..

[@lmc958]

I love his narratives he explains things in a language that even if you know nothing about aeronautics you understand what he is talking about! Very interesting video!

[@GreenDotAviation]

Much appreciated!

[@nicadair7700]

Sounds like a hint of Irish in the English spoken narration but it is excellent, so clear and precise.

[@valentinmercier3959]

I’ve said it before, this channel is the best there is when it comes to air crash investigation content. The narration is in a league of its own, even compared to mentour. The fact you’re only at 50k subscribers is simply wrong. Keep up the good work!

[@KathrynsWorldWildfireTracking]

We watched Green Dot... _Before it was cool._

[@pahvi3]

I agree, it's the best narrated flight channel.

[@GreenDotAviation]

Thank you for the kind words! Many more videos to come 😄

[@slypear]

Yep! At first on seeing there's another retelling of this incident up, I thought I might give it a miss. Then I remembered how awesome this channel is, gave it a watch, and was once again impressed to no end~

[@derpinguin7003]

Way better then mentour.

[@panzerkeks8530]

ok to be fair towards the pilots: why would the airline present a heading of 27 degrees (out of 360) as 0270. Why would you add an additional 0 to an information which only goes to 360? This makes no sense and is confusing!

[@dieSchreckschraube]

Yes, it is a very weird and confusing way to do things. Also, shouldn't the airline be aware which pilots were on vacation (or sick, for that matter) and therefor never got the info about the new system? It's a pretty important thing, they can't just announce it once and hope that word of mouth gets around to anybody who was absent that day. There needs to be more blame put on the airline for sure, Mr. Green Dot is way too easy on them.

[@artysanmobile]

I would consider that a major cause of this. It’s as stupid as changing clock time to five digits. Absolutely fundamental screw up.

[@XavierAway]

This is the first time I’ve actually felt frightened for everyone on board that day simply by watching a video of it, I can’t imagine how terrifying that must’ve been for them being there.

[@ianmatthewkline8279]

Empathy is what separates us from the androids

[@Widd3x]

In my opinion, a huge part of the responsibility of this accident should be placed on Varig’s communication, which failed to make everyone aware of the new way of displaying the direction. Also, why was there no decimal point between the 7 and the 0?

[@crunchystuff]

Well they did note the airline notified the pilots, but that was while the Captain was on vacation so he didn't know about it to at least. To your point though, they should've made it way more obvious. Maybe add a note to every flight plan for 6-12 months reminding of the change next to the heading. Also absolutely the the decimal would've helped.

[@kilosiq8104]

plane had no radar. the communications would have been off of pure assumption and no definite directions.

[@dieSchreckschraube]

@@crunchystuff Surely, the airline should be aware of the vacation times of their pilots and therefor, who still needs to receive the briefing about the new system.

[@amanabdulsalam1828]

This has to be one of the most gut wrenching crashes ive ever seen.

[@m.streicher8286]

Your videos make me realize how much effort it takes to turn a set of basic events into a compelling narrative.

[@GreenDotAviation]

Thanks for the kind words!

[@Hellsong89]

Pouring over the accident report, maps and researching the airline that might no longer exists is bit of a mountain.. well hill maybe of work, then flying the events in flight sim, recording, editing and checking everything is working.. yeah there is lots of work and most cases little payout, specially longer videos like this. But he has found the audience and his method of presenting it is rather unique.

[@jazzjames]

And how small mistakes can become catastrophic…

[@liukang3545]

he is just recording a shitty flying simulator and talking? hahaha :D

[@liukang3545]

its not hard lmfaooooo

[@CAROLUSPRIMA]

I was very pleased to see that Green Dot was covering this crash. First, because this as much as any other incident has fascinated and intrigued me. I have watched an read any accounts of it that I’ve been able to find. Second, I knew that despite all the information I’ve gathered about this flight I would learn something new. And so I did. Thanks. Great job. As usual.

[@GreenDotAviation]

Thanks!

[@alexandrad3158]

I know this was tragic for many people, but I just can't stop imagining Leslie Nielsen as one of the pilots.

[@sheiladikshit5110]

You like gladiator films?

[@kyleanuar9090]

Or Chris Rock

[@legitbeans9078]

Lol

[@marybarry2230]

I think Leslie Nilsen would’ve done a better job at flying!😅

[@richardcranium3579]

Don’t call me Shirley.

[@followme8238]

One thing I’ve learned after listening to a few of these stories: when something bad happens it is essential to gain elevation, except sometimes you need to lose elevation quickly…

[@Mugairyuiai]

Watching Green Dot instead of working, this addiction is getting out of hand. I would have been with the passengers that had their priorities right and were grabbing the alcohol. This was an amazing episode as per usual, thank you very much for your content.

[@GreenDotAviation]

Glad you enjoyed it :)

[@ClaudiaDolfi]

Well, walking through the jungle after the accident, less alcohol might be favorable... but how could they have known they even had a chance to survive...

[@SwampCityRadio1974]

It has a certain survival logic too I suppose, given that drunk people seem to survive crashes, falls etc better than sober ones.

[@cathybaldry7822]

The technical info in this makes you realise how full on being a pilot is. They were lucky more lives were not lost.

[@iitool]

I remember getting lost on my first solo Nav exercise... Luckily it didnt take long to restablish my location and continue the flight but that initial feeling was awful! Awesome video as usual! Great story telling and well paced, love it!

[@GreenDotAviation]

I'll be doing my first nav solo in a while, I'd say that was pretty frightening! And thanks, more vids coming :)

[@iitool]

@@GreenDotAviation awesome news!

[@Copilot1204]

@@GreenDotAviation how many co-pilot flights before solos just curious ? Love your videos the narration , graphics , editing good stuff .

[@Miguel195211]

This happened to me as well in my training. Luckily I knew how to reach for assistance. It was scary!

[@dronepro7316]

If you look at their flight path, had they simply flown straight after that 180, they could have made it back to the airport. If you get lost and make a 180 and double back, you will make it back home!

[@hilaryhongkong]

Except they didn't want to go back, they wanted to go to their destination

[@edmondse]

Classic case of get-there-itis... And not wanting to be caught in a mistake

[@postersm7141]

This truly is my favorite aviation channel on YT it really is crazy that he doesn’t have closer to 1 million subs.

[@GreenDotAviation]

Thank you! We'll get there eventually 👀

[@jonchowe]

Absolutely amazing that MOST people survived this totally blind landing into the jungle AND 2 days without rescue. Just mind blowing.

[@GreenDotAviation]

They were very lucky, absolutely.

[@rohinanand540]

@@GreenDotAviation or there's still things science can't explain 🤔

[@eileenpritchard9154]

@@rohinanand540 ABSOLUTELY.

[@pax6833]

Luckily they crashed close to civilization. If the pilots had not turned around, or went in some random direction, they could've flown deep into the amazon where survival was less likely.

[@retriwa5640]

​@@rohinanand540 probability can absolutely be explained by science lol

[@FlightMate]

This one kept me on the edge of my seat! Could easily be turned into a movie...

[@precumming]

As HF is mentioned, fun fact the wire that goes from the body of the aircraft to the tail is the HF antenna. More modern 737s have the antennas at the bottom of the front of the tail

[@ebaystars]

some HF antennae are deployable spools trailing behind when in use stowed when landing and or solid state HF whips

[@bigbubba0439]

I feel like there's something uniquely terrifying about being lost in a dark jungle in the middle of the night...

[@hotrodmercury3941]

Im a radio hobbyist and aviation geek. Cases like these were what stopped Acoustic navigation. Too dangerous!

[@theavandenberg6876]

Good lord, it's not often that I watch these video's and get (a bit) angry at the crew. But they messed this up royally. It's a miracle the majority of those on board survived.

[@eddiehimself]

It's funny you should mention that they might have been distracted by the radio, as I remember once I was in the car with my mum driving from Hull to Sheffield in Yorkshire while Andy Murray was playing in the Wimbledon semi final. We were so distracted by the match that she missed the turning to go south onto the M18 and we ended up being halfway towards Manchester before we noticed the mistake.

[@jupekz6147]

UNBELIEVABLE. I really hope that I'm never bording a plane with these kinds of pilots... The map at 26:03 says it all.

[@higor_alpha_romeo]

Varig was one of the biggest airliners of the world at that time. This accident revealed a small, but crucial problem with their fpl system at that time. I think the four numbers was because of the MD-11 that can fly decimals of degrees or something like this.

[@barbarawild2478]

Caught half of this incident on another channel- thanks so much for the brilliant video- with! outcome... My dad taught physics when computers first established themselves. He experienced- repeatedly- students believing faulty results (caused by faulty input)- blindly trusting, while he, sliderule in hand- pointed out the obvious impossibility of such a result, to him as blindingly obvious as a sun in the wrong place. Seems the speed of developement of automation exceeds our ability to handle it. Thanks again for all your so well researched and beautifully presented videos!

[@GreenDotAviation]

Thanks for your comment! Glad you enjoy the vids :)

[@noseboop4354]

It's going to get much worse when self-driving cars become the norm, I have already experienced them making questionnable decisions, almost crashing into the car in the next lane by overcorrecting a lane change..

[@suzannekate22]

Those poor passengers, hard to fathom how the airline didn’t brief all pilots on the navigational changes, and how the pilots didn’t immediately know that flying towards the setting sun was the wrong way

[@barbarawild2478]

@@noseboop4354 you are so right! The thought of my car behaving like the auto correct on my Macbook! And studies show the switch from automation to person takes the brain a definite amount of time (can't quote, but long enough to be worrysome!)

[@dex1lsp]

They were SO fortunate to pull off a crash landing in that dense rainforest and end up with so many survivors! Of course we don't know for sure, but I suspect that the outcome would have been very different in a different type of forest. The Amazon has an incredible diversity of trees, but many of them have relatively soft canopies with wide surface areas that can give a little bit before breaking. If this had happened in a dense North American pine forest dominated by much harder, drier, stiffer, sharper, taller trees, the fuselage likely would have been ruptured and ripped apart much more violently.

[@siriussaracen8371]

Very true!

[@dirkjanriezebos2240]

They didn't pull anything off, it was pure luck!

[@tihspidtherekciltilc5469]

Fun fact: The pilot that rescued many people from the Potomac River after Air Florida hit the 14th Street bridge and ended up in pieces in the ice covered river used roads to navigate as it was snowing so hard normal navigation means wouldn't work. He heard over the radio of the accident and couldn't stand not doing anything as helicopters were grounded due to the white out conditions so he flew along 395 and up the GW Parkway. My father boarded that flight but forgot something and we didn't know for almost six hours as "all circuits are busy" was what everyone was experiencing if they tried making a call.

[@violeta6846]

What

[@Kazavop]

​@@violeta6846 ikr, i don't get it either 😅

[@LorenzoGiordanoGomes]

I'm brazilian and was waiting for one of our famous crashes to show up here, thanks for bringing it!

[@yoteonthetoobs]

The soundtrack and narration is so calming and easy to listen to, the language used makes it very easy to follow and as someone with no grasp of aviation that's greatly appreciated. Absolutely brilliant channel

[@vans617]

when you let NPCs fly a plane

[@franklinmohlala955]

For people (pilots), who work with directions daily, it baffles me that they flew towards the sun the whole flight and never realised it. The river navigation was just the final nail in the coffin

[@SuperpowerBroadcasting]

25:59 I'm amazed that so many survived. Incredible luck

[@bigdmac33]

Couldn't believe that so many survived. Wonderful outcome for such a calamitous scenario.

[@pop5678eye]

You'd think that an experienced captain would have basic understanding of maps and that if an airport is north of your departure then flying 270 for most of your flight makes no sense.

[@nickv4073]

Yes but realize this was what? Their sixth flight of the day? Fatigue sets in. These pilots were operating like robots by that time. Nothing was registering in their minds.

[@coriscotupi]

@@nickv4073 Exactly.

[@PInk77W1]

@@nickv4073 u don’t need all your brains to Know the difference between N and W

[@ericthiel4053]

Falling into the complete blackness of the Amazon, a seriously deadly jungle, must have been absolutely terrifying.....

[@kirjuschaks]

Welcome to the jungle😂 like the movie with Vin Diesel

[@patolt1628]

27:45: unfortunately the most interesting information about this mistake is that on a simulator 15 pilots out of 21 (from major airlines) made exactly the same mistake! This shows that the whole airline pilots training has to be reconsidered. My opinion

[@pamelabassi]

humans makes mistakes, the idea about technology aid in aircraft is precisely to mitigate this. in this story there is also the information that a bunch of pilots made the same mistake at the time, but just this one ended in a tragedy, the real problem was the arrogance of the pilot that only thought about himself and his career in not assuming the error and asking for help

[@ivodepivo21]

@@pamelabassi this one ended in tragedy, because It's was actually a Real Flight. 15 pilots out of 21 making this same mistake wasn't a tragedy because the tested this in a simulator. Although the pilots made mistakes that could be corrected, you can't dismiss the failure of the airline to properly updated their pilots. Also using four digits where degrees can only be three digits, because the plains used only three digits is a huge failure. 0270 can be read as 027 degrees but also as 270 degrees. Why use a extra number that can only lead to a wrong interpretation and adding to a confirmation bias. 15 pilots of 21 made the same mistake in a simulator. That's it's a high number wich points into he direction that the new rule, wich the captain was not aware of, can let to other failures that can potentially lead to deaths. This is not only a case of blaming the pilots.

[@TheNicestPig]

This shows that 4 number headings are stupid. In addition to adding another number, they don't provide any meaningful information or help navigation in any way.

[@kolbenfresser9108]

@@TheNicestPigExactly. There was nothing wrong with the pilots. It was the Plan that was wrong. The Pilots can only be critized for not double checking after seeing a 4 digit heading

[@reggiebenes2916]

Why did the airline change to a 4 digit readout for navigation systems that will never use more than 3 digits, and if so why didn't they make the first digit always zero so that it would obviously be discarded? That is such a stupid decision that it's mind boggling.

[@sauce1232]

The copilot must have known that since he was not on holyday during the change

[@PInk77W1]

No other planes crashed for this reason

[@pennywaltz4601]

Think you could do Lapa flight 3142? you would be shock by the crews behavior and how they react when things go wrong!

[@GreenDotAviation]

That’s on the list!

[@jamest2401]

This Varig livery is my favorite livery of all time, with a close second being the BOAC livery. Third would be PSA’s livery when they used the pink-orange-red configuration, with Saul Bass’ United "Rainbow Tulip" livery and his Continental "Meatball" livery tied for fourth.

[@mrchrisadams43]

WTF ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?

[@patton303]

My only question is how did the captain not see that the sun was on the wrong side of the plane??!

[@GlennDavey]

This is like a scary campfire ghost story, but for pilots

[@kevinb9830]

They were lucky to have found a farm having come down in the amazon

[@bobdebouwer7835]

Luckily in the future the whole amazon will be farmland...

[@cathybaldry7822]

I wonder if this aircraft inspired my year 10 geography teacher. In year10 in 1990 we had to do a radio play on an aircrash in the Amazon jungle. The information and technical detail in this video is fantastic. Thank you soo much

[@schore69]

thank you again for that well produced piece of aviation content!

[@GreenDotAviation]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@gnarthdarkanen7464]

Once again, it seems no matter how many times I've seen or heard a telling of an air disaster, when I get it from here, I feel like "Now, I know the rest of the story." Great Job!!! Jeremy Wade, famed sport fisherman, respected marine biologist, and host of the series "River Monsters" on TV was on a plane that suffered a power loss to all engines. It was caught (in part at least) on film for his "River Monsters" TV show as he was tracking down stories of attacks and trying to unravel another mystery for the show... Now, I don't know if it'll provide a lot of useful information, or if there's much more than perhaps some "lost footage" you might get to beyond Jeremy Wade's ordeal on film, or even if you can get permission to explore it and talk about it even with links to the original show's footage... BUT from a perspective on "sketchy tour charters" as prolific as they are in South America in general to what ACTUALLY went wrong with the plane, you might find it worth digging into and taking a dive on if you ever feel like something similar but just a little bit different. "Lost power to the engines" and "a possible fuel leak" seemed to be the best I recall coming from the show... They WERE more about fishing and monsters and Jeremy Wade only took a little extra time to address some hours later in his hotel room when the gravity of surviving an airplane crash in the jungle sank in and took hold of him... One thing about the show, he WAS honest and clear about everything he did. It wasn't another weak "reality TV" spot full of BS. ;o)

[@roamingirl]

Woah. I love that guy! ⚠️Worlds Colliding!!!⚠️

[@gnarthdarkanen7464]

@@roamingirl I always enjoyed his honest approach... not just talking to people but actively LISTENING to their recounting stories no matter what. When other TV hosts or "Experts" would likely dismiss the stories off hand, Jeremy took notes, drew diagrams and sketches based on the descriptions, whatever it took. Yeah, my whole family enjoyed his adventures and the interesting fish we'd never seen nor heard of. BUT that episode with the plane going down, and he was in real shock in that hotel room. You could see him shaking and struggling with it, and it was a total 180 from when he was climbing out of the plane and passing down gear and helping other people get to boats or up the embankment... ;o)

[@roamingirl]

@@gnarthdarkanen7464 I could care less about fish and in fact, think the whole thing is slimy and gross! However, I like him a lot and I like seeing the totally unique places he goes and, as you said, essentially, how he interacts with locals and conveys to us a sense of the place and the people inasmuch as one can in the time allotted. I don’t recall the jungle crash episode. At least as much as I remember.🤷🏻‍♀️I’ve seen a lot of them, but not all, so prob not. Hopefully I’d remember that. I’ll have to look for it. Reminds me of an old show called Globe Trekker. Same idea, no fish! It was SO long ago I have no idea who produced it or how to find it. I tried looking for it a while back. Definitely inspirational to me and no doubt one of several factors, starting with inborn wanderlust, that fueled my determination to travel, which I have since then, a lot. Hence the user name, in part, anyway! 😊 I’m guessing it was on PBS given that we didn’t have cable at home but it could have been after that. It was a PBS type show. In the vein of Anthony Bourdain, too. Just a (usually young from what I recall) host and his (probably her, too, but can’t recall) backpack visiting places like Kazakstan meeting locals and seeing what’s up. It was way before all this BS staged reality and gamification of global exploration to ridiculous degrees and - the worst- fake drummed up drama every episode became acceptable in the “adventure” genre. Who cares about the personal rifts, strategies, cliffhangers at every episode’s end, love triangles, spin-offs, cash prizes, closeups of random bugs, staged scenes with fake tiki torches on perfectly cleaned and cleared grounds? No thanks! (Whew, rant over. Who knew I was that upset. lol) Regardless, the river monsters are terrifying, he’s a old school badass, and I love his journals and pens! Write in the Rain should sponsor him, though I suspect they are Moleskins. Not sure about the pens. I’d have to take a closer look. 🤓

[@gnarthdarkanen7464]

@@roamingirl Well, I kinda grew up Country... Mountains Country, in fact, so hunting and fishing are thick out here... I still joined the Navy to see the world (or a hell of a lot more than I'd get to on my own)... I've been an animal rescuer and reptile wrangler, mostly snakes, along the way, so I'm not as squeamish as the next person about all that... Still, always enjoyed Jeremy's matter-of-fact presentations and the fact that he's never afraid of laughing at himself and the hairy situations he can get into... I've always had to take a hard pass on all the manufactured drama of otherwise "reality TV" all the way back to "Road Rules" on MTV... God! I'm dated... haha... If you look around a bit, it shouldn't be too difficult to catch that Jungle Crash episode, though. AND yes, he's a genuine kind of bad-ass, so while he did sink a bit into shock later, he was resilient enough to pull himself together, not just for that episode, but to stay the course of the show as it went. The truly great part of Wade and his shows, including "Dark Waters" and whatever the mysteries of the ocean thing he's doing now (I can't pull it out of memory at the moment) is that he's authentically exploring and interacting instead of looking down his nose or dismissing everyone with a "wild tale" to tell... He's funny when he's swearing at Caymen and/or Piranhas eating all his bait and scaring him off his rock... BUT it's like a kid in a candy store when he gets to a tackle shop or finds a good spot for fishing... ;o)

[@jjquinn2004]

Great video. Your comments about flying west into the sun, reminded me of the time I was living in Dublin and took some visitors up to Belfast for the day (for those not familiar with Irish geography, Belfast is pretty much dead north of Dublin.) We headed back to Dublin in late afternoon and because we were busy talking to one another, I missed the turnoff to Dublin. The highway then turned west and when the setting sun was in my eyes, I immediately realized my error. I then got off at the next exit. How two pilots could be flying towards the sun for so long and not notice their error is beyond understanding. Perhaps they were listening to the football match.

[@coriscotupi]

The error was so basic it was unforgivable. But they were not listening to any game on the radio.

[@evertonamorim2163]

Agreed. Nowadays we have gps and I still use the sun as reference when I’m traveling to somewhere I’m not familiar with.

[@chrisanderson5317]

World war II pilots flew over this jungle at night without getting lost, having far fewer navigational aids than this pilot and co-pilot had at their disposal.

[@jodycampbell3895]

Exatamente!

[@wewanttruth8392]

Yea the ‘battle of the Amazon’ one of the major WW2 conflicts 🥴

[@RevertedRashidah]

@@wewanttruth8392😂😂😂😂

[@TruthNerds]

@@wewanttruth8392Second only to the Siege of Atlantis at the end of the war.

[@deantoth]

What an incredibly stressful episode, and that's a success for you. I have recently discovered your channel and the thing that I really love about it is the nail biting suspense. The sense of dread is ridiculous and I just keep shaking my head and almost yelling at the pilots

[@cbw56]

This is my favorite plane disaster channel by far... great work! Wish you the best

[@GreenDotAviation]

Glad you enjoy it! 🙏🏼

[@JerseyAir]

Im so suprised that mostly everyone survived, despite their critical mistakes i commend the pilots for making that incredibly dangerous landing somewhat successful

[@andylam350]

One thing I don’t understand about this accident was how it seemed like the crew didn’t use the magnetic compass. That would have told them straight away that they were flying in the wrong direction. VORs might go down for maintenance or have the wrong readings in the aircraft, but the compass will always indicate your general direction.

[@nancylongworth9617]

They could have looked at the setting sun in front of them, too.

[@Tea_Noire]

They didn't use a compass, they didn't use the setting sun, they didn't study the flight plan beforehand and realize that they were supposed to fly parallel to one river for most of the flight instead of crossing several, and didn't listen to the Morse code identifiers of the radios they depended on to guide them home. They weren't very bright.

[@foxtrotalphaaviation]

An incredible, almost unbelievable story. I heard about this story during my B732 training, definitely, a mistake no pilot wanted to make ever again. Great storytelling!

[@GreenDotAviation]

Agreed, it’s hard to believe this actually happened. Glad you enjoyed the video :)

[@Bork0r]

What a nightmare! Incredible that so many survived. Thanks for the amazing storytelling!

[@Forran]

The pilots actually made the decision to land on the trees. They were lucky that the wings were torn at the same time. One of the reasons people died was due to the seats coming off and crashing against the front of the plane. Even though the investigation authorities did not made recommendations regarding the seats, plane manufacturers reinforced the attachment of the seats to the planes anyway.

[@Mentos6]

I was surprised and relieved that so many survived. And even though the pilots botched this horribly, I was glad they made it. Pilots tend to not survive crashes in these aircraft. It's nice to hear when they do.

[@brennobarbosadecastro984]

Hi! AvGeek from Brazil here! Glad to see this history so well explained and detailful in this channel. I saw some videos about this case, even an interview with the co-pilot Zille, but this video is just amazing. Everithing is told at every small detail. Cheers from a brazilian fan of the Green Dot! Great Job o/ PS: it's "funny" to see the "real audio" from the cockpit in my own language kkkkkk

[@Galidorquest]

This man's voice helps me fall asleep.

[@tomk8663]

I'm not a pilot but, how on earth did these two guys have total unawareness of where Belem was in relation to Maraba? The fact that they didn't know they were supposed to fly northeast is inexcusable.

[@Ken_oh545]

Quite, like a pilot taking off from Las Vegas heading to Chicago but taking a 180 flightpath, it just wouldn't happen

[@ianharman3339]

Another brilliant video, explained, as always, in clear and concise terms. The best aviation docu-channel by miles.

[@GreenDotAviation]

Thank you! 🙏🏼

[@AhhTheBonnie]

15 Pilots in training on this Test failed wow that’s scary..Poor Souls rest in Peace. Another excellent video man 👏

[@franklinmohlala955]

The person who thought it was a good idea to use 4 digits on the manuals instead of 3 must be jailed for life

[@andrewthompsonuk1]

There is so much they could have done. The simplest thing would have been to turn back before half of the fuel was used. Beyond that they should have made more effort to confirm the beacons or radio stations. I am sure air traffic controllers could have helped. Air traffic control could even ask the radio station to identify in some way. I think along the way they were trying to cover and deny their mistakes.

[@Copilot1204]

Yeah facts maybe it was a mix of pride fatigue and confirmation bias .

[@iainmorgan6145]

Imagine the incredible noise of the jungle hitting the plane. Glad so many survived but that shit woulda been crazy scary

[@crocodilemasala7956]

Good to hear 42 people survived but aviation industry should be aware that ignorance has caused a number of air crashes.

[@skhochay]

I am surprised that pilots were not able to tell by sun position that they are flying west instead or north

[@PInk77W1]

Yes. That is an extreme mistake

[@skhochay]

​@@PInk77W1 That is 101 basic sun, compass navigation, but cocaine does amazing things.

[@PInk77W1]

@@skhochay yikes. I thought soccer distracted them.

[@PInk77W1]

@@skhochay I’m not a pilot But I sure as heck know the difference between 027 and 270

[@jayburgh]

Cutting everything except your voice-over at the time the engines flamed out was a touch of eerie genius, GD. 👏

[@TupmaniaTurning]

Incredible stories from the aviation world. Amazing graphics and your narration is calm and succinct. Subscribed!

[@pecosxicc2269]

THE best aviation channel on the planet. Really awesome videos. I've rarely subscribed to a channel but I'm all in with this one! Great work.

[@hrishikeshb]

Truly terrifying and tragic story. I can't imagine what must have been going through the passengers minds as it was unfolding.

[@larsv7366]

It's crazy it hasn't even crossed pilot's mind to turn around 180 and fly back to the airport of origin, this way they would 100% land safely and passengers would catch the next flight

[@evanhughes1510]

The didn’t have enough fuel to to get back to to the airport they came from at the point they realized they were going the wrong direction.

[@larsv7366]

@@evanhughes1510 As soon as they realised Belem is not where it should be they could just turn back to Maraba following opposite vector, at this moment they had more than enough fuel

[@PInk77W1]

@@larsv7366 They thought they were close to Belem

[@jankubicek9109]

Fucking hell imagine being in a plane while it's dark outside and you know this flight doesn't take that much time. Then the pilot announces an error and probably a jungle crash-landing. Then one motor stops. Then another. Bam crah. Now you are wounded and stuck in a jungle...

[@shaggybreeks]

THANK YOU for including links to parts of your documentary. I needed to use it, and easily found what I had missed.

[@GreenDotAviation]

You're very welcome!

[@mikeletaurus4728]

All of your uploads are so professionally produced. Thank you for taking the time to create quality viewing.

[@celliot9999]

Very well described, thank you. In UK I also used to use ADF to listen to Long Wave low frequency transmitters BBC Light prog 200 kHz, as well as navigation and let-downs through cloud (difficult). The dials you show for the ADF are in fact the VHF range like VOR. This flight was a shambles because of the setting sun in front of them, very fortunate most got out after crashing into trees. To get from London to the South Coast on a summer day, the sun in the South is a good clue. These pilots must have been very tired, distracted or badly trained, not to check the 0270 error in Varig's procedures. Thanks again, keep it up.

[@SallyGreenaway]

What a phenomenal story. Thank you very much for creating this video! I was fascinated the entire time - what a nail biter

[@GreenDotAviation]

Thank you very much, I'm glad you enjoyed it :)

[@keziasarah]

Great Video - Appreciate all your hard work!

[@GreenDotAviation]

Much appreciated!

[@Nisie23]

Traveled on VARIG airlines many times from Sao Paulo. Nationally and internationally. Good airline. This was a fluke.

[@JIMJAMSC]

After the crash into the dark jungle below, it was a miracle the passengers survived. The Captain and co- pilot then went to the passengers and pointed a flashlight on them. However, it was a flare gun igniting the passengers on fire. The Captain then gathered up the remaining passengers mistakenly leading them into the murky, piranha infested river. The only survivors were aboard a rescue helicopter when Captain accidentally turned the fuel off and it crashed into a mountainside. This guy!!!

[@badbadleroybrown]

Wow wow wow! I was not expecting the twist ending, you had led me down the most obvious reasoning that all would perish. Outstanding video! You've done it again Geen Dot!

[@eucliduschaumeau8813]

Wouldn't the compass have clearly shown that they were going in the wrong direction? Even that basic instrument could have tipped them off to turn northeast and regain the correct flight path. Something about the soccer match and their obsession with it points to such a disastrous oversight. The fact that the sun was visible straight ahead should have been obvious.

[@dann5480]

I love your videos. Very nicely presented. Thanks.

[@GreenDotAviation]

Thank you! More on the way ✈️

[@reyjusuf]

Primary school science. The sun sets in the west.