The WORST FLIGHT in New York Giants HISTORY | Giants @ Seahawks (1980)

Following a victory at the Kingdome over the Seattle Seahawks in week 14 of the 1980 NFL season, the New York Giants were set to make the cross-country flight from Seattle to Newark to return home. Instead, what followed was a disaster of a flight where the team almost did not survive, as the plane had to undergo crash landing procedures, with the pilots not being able to fully identify the problem until two minutes before touchdown. This is the story behind one of the craziest flights in NFL history, and a true almost-disastrous situation.
BUY OFFICIALLY LICENSED NFL MERCHANDISE HERE: amzn.to/3B6hyE2
OFFICIAL JAGUARGATOR9 MERCHANDISE: jg9shop.com/
New listings every week! Get your official JG9 merchandise at jg9shop.com, featuring t-shirts, sweatshirts, mugs, and much more! Includes merchandise of the JG9 logo, the JG9 Live logo, some minigames played on JG9 Live, and a shirt symbolizing your passer rating if you did nothing but spike the ball into the ground on every single play
LINK TO PATREON: / jaguargator9
Get early access to videos, your name featured in the credits, and the ability to request future video topics by joining today for as low as $3!
LINK TO TWITCH: / jaguargator9_nfl
Play live NFL trivia every Wednesday night at 9 PM Eastern/6 PM Pacific with the chance to win cash prizes! Join me every Monday night at 9 PM ET where we'll have an informal Q&A session!
Check out the video below to learn more: • WEEKLY LIVE NFL TRIVIA...
LINK TO DISCORD: / discord
LINK TO TIK TOK: vm.tiktok.com/...
See videos like this condensed down to 60 seconds by following JaguarGator9 on Tik Tok!
SUBSCRIBE TO JAGUARGATOR8: / jaguargator8
Learn more about the weird history of college football by subscribing to JaguarGator8! New videos every Monday and Friday at 6 PM ET!
HIRE JG9 ON FIVERR: www.fiverr.com...
Let JaguarGator9 create customized questions for your next NFL trivia show! Whether you want to play with a group of friends and family, or whether you want to host a trivia show for your business or company, JG9 has you covered!
Members of the 1980 Giants:
Brad Van Pelt
Phil Simms
Scott Brunner
Dave Jennings
Joe Danelo
Gary Woolford
Don Patterson
Doug Nettles
Eric Felton
Tony Blount
Terry Jackson
Alvin Garrett
Bud Hebert
Larry Heater
Beasley Reece
Eddie Hicks
Jim Culbreath
Leon Perry
Scott Laidlaw
Jerome King
Nate Rivers
Mike Hogan
Mark Haynes
Don Harris
Billy Taylor
Art Best
Bo Matthews
Mike Dennis
Steve Henry
Frank Marion
Steve Tobin
Joe McLaughlin
Harry Carson
Brian Kelley
Jim Clack
John Skorupan
Mike Whittington
Whip Walton
Kelly Saalfeld
Ralph Perretta
Brad Benson
Phil Cancik
Ben Apuna
Terry Falcon
Kevin Turner
JT Turner
Roy Simmons
Gary Jeter
Myron Lapka
Gordon King
Jeff Weston
Chris Linnin
George Martin
Curtis McGriff
Vern Holland
George Small
Mike McCoy
Dale Markham
Phil Tabor
Tom Mullady
Danny Pittman
Earnest Gray
Nate Johnson
Johnny Perkins
Gary Shirk
Mike Friede
Dennis Johnson
Kervin Wyatt
Ray Perkins (head coach)
Members of the 1980 Seahawks:
Efren Herrera
Jim Zorn
Sam Adkins
Dave Krieg
Herman Weaver
Vic Minor
Dave Brown
Al Hunter
Don Dufek
Kerry Justin
Lawrence McCutcheon
Jeff Moore
Dan Doornink
Jim Walsh
Larry Brinson
Cornell Webster
Will Lewis
Keith Simpson
Jim Jodat
John Harris
Sherman Smith
John Yarno
Joe Norman
Keith Butler
Art Kuehn
Michael Jackson
Tim Walker
Terry Beeson
Terry Rennaker
Tom Lynch
Terry Dion
Fred Anderson
Ron Essink
Bill Cooke
Jeff Sevy
Louis Bullard
Andre Hines
Manu Tuiasosopo
Robert Hardy
Steve August
Bill Gregory
Bob Newton
Jacob Green
Steve Largent
John Sawyer
Mark Bell
Steve Raible
Sam McCullum
Jessie Green
Jack Patera (head coach)

[@jaywmeinen]

The DC-8 didn’t need hydraulics for cruise flight as the controls in that airplane were manual. They benefitted from burning fuel and having a much lower landing weight in Newark. Brakes, although hydraulic, likely had accumulators that would provide limited brake pressure. The pilots would definitely declare an emergency since their systems were compromised but I doubt the situation was dire.

[@paultheaudaciousbradford6772]

We don’t need no stinking hydraulics!

[@marrisueno1]

But wouldn't you want to land sooner ad opposed to later? They were actively leaking right? Maybe they lose only....I dunno 30% as opposed to 80% if they continue to newark?

[@bigdrew565]

@@marrisueno1 Pilot in command makes the call at the end of the day. But I will say, that landing a plane "Heavy"(fully fueled) can be more dangerous than the emergency that caused you to abort. So you're going to be flying for a while to shed weight. Most passenger planes don't have emergency fuel dumps, and I don't even think you're allowed to dump fuel overland anyway.

[@jjreider8668]

I heard this story before. It wasn’t the #2 engine that failed, but the primary hydraulic system. The plane also had a secondary and tertiary hydraulic system. There was really minimal risk and the OP is correct that it was better to burn off the fuel prior to landing. Also, if the problem isn’t related to the actual flying of the aircraft, some pilots may find the additional time to plan and solve the problem beneficial. The only really serious thing here is how alarmed the passengers of the plane were because communication was poor.

[@bigdrew565]

@@jjreider8668 catch-22. If you tell them, they can panic. If you don't tell them, and they get a whiff of serious problems...they can panic. Me personally? I'm better off not knowing. But I can see where the problem is.

[@michaelmarino7391]

Marshall Unversity plane crash on November 14, 1970 comes to mind.

[@Statinthehat]

First thing that I thought of too. Along with Yaroslavl Lokomotiv.

[@GreenBayPayton]

Thinking the same thing

[@KWCline91]

One month after Wichita State football. Also think about Manchester United too.

[@Donald38]

That plane crash actually involved a DC-9 if you could believe it

[@DolFan316]

I don't remember this Giants-Seahawks game, but I do remember the one from '86 because it was one of the Giants' two losses that season.

[@eugenedenbrook322]

Those Seahawks missed the playoffs on tie breakers, yet beat both of that year's SB participants.

[@Bruce12867]

This near disaster may have been what prompted the NFL to adopt a disaster plan for restocking a roster in 1981.

[@jamesmelcher9355]

That makes sense! Even before that, MLB required each team to have a certain number of players who would be available to help restock a team who lost its players in a plane crash or the like. What particular players were on the list were secret. It was known as the “Ghoul Pool”.

[@bas3q]

1.) Hydraulic fluid doesn't leak from engines. Fuel goes into engines. Hydraulic fluid is contained in the hydraulic system. 2.) Even without hydraulic fluid, the DC-8 had manual backups in case the hydraulics completely failed. That means that the landing gear can be cranked out manually, and the aircraft controlled (with some difficulty). The plane could have landed normally on the backup systems. 3.) Though disturbing for passengers, emergency landings with precautions taken are standard procedure in situations like this. The fact that they took precautions is not indicative that this was an extreme emergency, or that the plane landing safely was a "miracle". 4.) According to an API story following the incident: "An airline spokesman said, 'We had a relatively minor incident with our hydraulic system. There was a small amount of leakage and we went to our backup system. All we did was follow normal procedure and we touched down without incident.' " Also quoted in the article: "In the event of a failure with the backup hydraulic system, another option, a manual hydraulic backup, could have been used." I'm going to be kind, but it's pretty clear that the situation wasn't nearly as dire as you're making it out to be.

[@jamesmelcher9355]

Well said.

[@williamcoolidge9884]

JaguarGator9 is the king of making a mountain out of a molehill. But I love 1970's and 1980's NFL videos so I put up with it.

[@CTubeMan]

The Minneapolis Lakers almost had their plane crash 20 years earlier.

[@williamcoolidge9884]

Was Kobe on the flight?

[@julianlymond975]

​@@williamcoolidge9884No He Didn't. Kobe Bryant Didn't Join The NBA's Los Angeles Lakers Until The 1996-97 Season.

[@kevinburke6055]

1980 was a historic great year for the Giants. I know u might at first be confused by that comment since the Giants were awful in 1980 but if the Giants weren't that bad in 1980 they wouldn't have been able to draft the greatest defensive player in history of NFL Lawrence Taylor

[@phantomblade89]

no, but he did expose the giants on being a horrible franchise. LT a crack head, did they get him help? nope. did he ruin his life yeah he kind did.

[@anthonykology1728]

superman was in the way

[@markbrian7179]

The pilot of the plane was the real NFL MVP for the week.

[@nymike06]

Indeed!

[@CowboysNo1Fan]

Giants fans, thank the LORD y’all back in 1980 got to see your Giants play. What a miracle

[@gluserty]

I would've loved to view the entire 1980 NFL season as it happened: highly competitive, highly competent, very exciting. It has to be one of the best NFL seasons (I like any season in 2hich the 1990s Cowboys or Ravens won a Super Bowl, and I also highly favor the 1997, 1999, 2003, 2006, 2009, 2013, & 2017 seasons).

[@mitchwinder1204]

I was 18 and remember all of that. But I didn’t know all of the details of the Giants flight. I don’t think anyone did. And yes, to say John Lennon’s death overshadowed everything would be an understatement. I worked during the day and my first semester of college was at night. At work the next morning everyone was crying over John.

[@arthur131313]

Was the inflight movie Airplane? Came out that year. "Assume crash positions"

[@donaldpaluga]

I picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue

[@CTubeMan]

Because of the subject matter I don’t want to be too cute in my response. But I’ll say you made a video about the Rams-Bills game that week, as well as the Falcons scoring 62 points in their season opener in 1973.

[@Rockhound6165]

I'm surprised a movie hasn't been done about Tim Mazzetti. Just as Kurt Warner went from stocking shelves to starting in the NFL, Mazzetti went from being a bartender in Philadelphia to being an NFL kicker. I mean he literally went from tending bar to kicking in the NFL.

[@teen_laqueefa]

Thought Mark Wahlberg starred in the movie you are describing

[@iamhungey12345]

Reminds me of that SNL skit where the Giants plane starts having trouble after the loss against the Seahawks, then Feely took control of the plane and lands it...only to end up in the swamp.

[@stevengrvp]

That's some scary stuff

[@DolFan316]

The '80 Seahawks somehow managed to go 0-8 at home BTW.

[@nymike06]

Wow!

[@jacekatalakis8316]

Now I need to find the NTSB report on this. Wikipedia doesn't give a flight number. To be fair the DC-8 wasn't any better or worse plane on its own at all, it was down to the airline that operated it. United had a string of incidents in the 70s and 80s, but they were far from the only, or even, the worst operator. NationAir takes that prize for forging documents, taking off with an unsafe plane and a wheel on fire, then bringing that wheel up into the plane, then trying desperately to return to the airport in the middle of the desert, with passengers literally falling out of the plane as it is burning up in mid air. Also as or why they kept going, look up get there-itis and put yourself in the mindset of a United pilot in the 70s/80s. Crew resource management/CRM was not a thing until several years later post Northwest 255 crash, so the F/O would have spoken up and been ignored by a more senior capain or not felt able to speak up even if he knew, or the flight engineer knew, something was wrong. In short, whatever the captain says, goes. It's like the coach sending in a play and the QB going no, but they got two corners on this side and the coach going shut up, you're wrong, I don't want to hear your complaining, do your your job!

[@chrishollister80]

Wow that's crazy. I was born the next day on December 9 1980.

[@DolFan316]

6:10 The danger of stacking the box if the RB can break through the line was apparent even 42 years ago.

[@arthur131313]

The year before LT came to town

[@paultheaudaciousbradford6772]

If the Giants plane had gone down, I’m sure the NFL would have cancelled the MNF game the next day, which means Cosell wouldn’t have been broadcasting, which means none of us would have found out that Lennon had been killed. Help!

[@paultheaudaciousbradford6772]

@@matthewdaley746 it’s like the song, “I Should Have Known Better”.

[@CTubeMan]

Wow

[@donaldpaluga]

All the lonely people, where do they all come from....

[@olewillyboy]

Chances are no airports where available for landing. If the flight route were to be over Canada, no airports with a sizable runway would have been available. Plus, just because a primary system were to fail, there are secondary systems still available. The plane would have flown just fine.

[@nasetvideos]

Your research on this story was incredible. The detail you presented regarding the plane, engine, and the leaking was awesome. What a great job you did. This was really interesting....as to why they didn't land as soon as there was a problem is absolutely unclear--I agree. Why not land the plane at the nearest airport as soon as an emergency was a possibility? Fly it across the country to Newark?-Don't get it at all--Maybe to use up all the fuel? No idea.....and I can only imagine what everyone was thinking those last 45 minutes when the passengers were all told; especially those last 120 seconds. And credit those pilots that landed the plane successfully and safely because everything that seemed to go wrong, did--Excellent job with this story!

[@chaosgreyblood]

The guy called Johnny Bravo has several answers to your question on his reply above. You can't miss it.

[@icetraydemartini3963]

Media always ignored the Giants. Only team in history to win 4 Super Bowls and people say they suck. I don't know how you win a Super Bowl if you suck. The media has always wanted to ignore them.

[@xturner09]

You should seriously do a video on the NFL Contingency Plan

[@RetroJR3379]

NOW thats a Meadowlands miracle

[@Salvatore1268]

I heard about this but never knew the details of how close this catastrophe was

[@jimmymcinerney1950]

I'm a Giants fan and I never knew of this story. I'm glad it didn't end tragically.

[@elwin38]

This was an outstanding season. I remember it start to finish(even the preseason games were crazy). I was 12yrs old at the time and i remember Howard Cosell making both announcements about John Lennon. There was a 1980 preseason game between the Chargers(i cant remember the other team) that was called off because of lightning(it ended in a scoreless tie). My favorite games that year was when the Giants upset the Cowboys and the Raiders beating the Steelers in a shootout.

[@ToyfareMark]

At least Ric Flair wasn't on the plane.

[@JDFrank20Diaz]

He broke his back in a 1975 Plane Crash and The Infamous 2002 Flight yeah let's not mention that

[@stevensuarez4843]

@@JDFrank20Diaz ah the plane ride from hell, it's on Dark side of the Ring, check it out 🤣.

[@mfm4205]

then the plane certainly wouldn't have crashed (that's actually a running joke among a lot of wrestlers: "plane can't crash if flair's on it, since no one's ever been in two plane crashes").

[@RetroJR3379]

Quite similar to the California Angels back in 1992 when thier bus turned over

[@tjp72675]

I think the reason they continued to fly across the country was to get the fuel level down, so if they had to crash land, there would be as little fuel as possible, last thing they need is a giant fireball. I mean they can dump fuel in the air, but maybe that wasn't an option considering they are not sure exactly what is wrong with the plane. I would guess they would rather have a hundred gallons of fuel in the tank as opposed to 10 thousand gallons.

[@Davepool-hs7vr]

That does sound like a crazy week

[@carloscolon3331]

Wow after all the things my giants have been through the years this is one story I never heard happen.

[@crittoneida958]

The "most important TD of the day" thing towards the end? Hilarious!!!

[@chriswahl4139]

Belichick was in his first year on the Giants staff, if he goes down, do the Patriots still have their dynasty?

[@nymike06]

No

[@marcus813]

I'm not sure why the crew didn't land the plane at an airport to see what was wrong and get the Giants' people on a safer plane. I can't believe that American Airlines would keep using those DC-8s even with all those problems. Thank goodness everyone survived.

[@bas3q]

The DC-8 wasn’t a particularly unsafe aircraft, at least compared to all the other jet aircraft in that era. People today are used to flying being ridiculously safe and forget that it wasn’t always that way. In the 70s/early 80s, the risk of crashing was something people were aware of and still went about their business without too much concern.

[@Musicradio77Network]

Allec Joshua Ibay and “TheFlightChannel” might be doing a video about the United DC-8 from Seattle to New York which it gives you a simulated view of what was going on while flying where it had a hydronic leak until the plane finally lands with no crashes and deaths.

[@DolFan316]

1:45 Everything else before this just seems like a bunch of close games, but the Colts could've matched the biggest 4th quarter comeback in NFL history (Cards over Bucs) if only the other Mike Meyer brother Steve hadn't missed an extra point after one of their 4th quarter TDs.

[@somebodysthrowaway]

The "Emergency Landing" isn't a crash landing. The 1st thing they will do is figure out the closest landing strip to land. In the 80s some Pilots took the gamble on issues that groud a plane immediately today. They have multiple checklists they have to conduct and if the checklists say, get the bird home it'll make it. You do that and prepare people for a rough landing.

[@nymike06]

Very scary

[@chadwickwhite6107]

Well CONSIDERING the FACT that BOTH the Seattle Seahawks AND the New York Giants are WORSE than a 39.6 COMBINED and should SPIKE the football into the ground on EVERY single OFFENSIVE play, the Giants PROBABLY would have WELCOMED DEATH on THIS FLIGHT.

[@Cantpasslevelcandycrush]

How history would have changed if the plane crashed and deaths happened. John Lennon may not have been shot that Monday night because America would have been mourning the deaths of the NY Giants players and coaches. MNF game probably would have been played. The final NY Giants games would have been probably forfeited due to them been eliminated already.

[@danielanderson4726]

If that happened, the NFL would have replaced the Giants game in Landover with Bengals-Bears (would have been a 4pm start rather than 2pm) and would have switched Seahawks-Chargers to Sunday. In that case Dick Enberg and Bob Trumpy would have stayed where they were, while Don Criqui and John Brodie would have gone to Minnesota. CBS would have moved Cardinals-Eagles to the 12:30pm slot with Vin Scully and George Allen.

[@danielanderson4726]

But Enberg was scheduled to do a college basketball game that day. My guess is either Charlie Jones or Don Criqui would have gone to Chicago to work with Trumpy and either Merle Harmon or Mike Adamle or even Sam Nover (who didn't have a game that week) would have done the Browns-Vikings game with Brodie. Whichever one didn't do Browns-Vikings would have done Seahawks-Chargers with Len Dawson.

[@danielanderson4726]

The other option would have been to move Marv Albert to Bengals-Bears with Trumpy and send Don Criqui and John Brodie to Denver, as scheduled. And since the Giants game against Oakland would have been probably forfeited, NBC gives NYC Browns-Bengals.

[@danielanderson4726]

NY would have gotten Vikings-Oilers had the Raiders-Giants game been forfeited. WCBS would be allowed to show this game since the Giants home game was forfeited.

[@donaldpaluga]

Surely you can't be serious, JG9!

[@nicolasdonohue6403]

Could i have the source

[@bonesmccoy4407]

THINK OF THIS... If the worst actually ended up taking place and there was a massive loss of life on that plane, that likely would have included giants coach Ray Perkins...who was the one who the following year in 1981 approached Bill Parcells about becoming Giants defensive coordinator...who obviously not only became a very successful head coach in his own right, but ALSO was himself responsible for recruiting Bill Belichick to become HIS defensive coordinator on the Giants...and of course it was Belichick's success in that capacity which led to him becoming viewed as head coaching material later on, most notably with the Patriots of course...so I think the case can rightly be made that IF a tragic crash actually had occured...NFL history would have been VERY different!!!

[@bigdrew565]

Who knows if they would have even hired Parcells if it came to that? Most of his key staff when he made it to Head Coach in '83 were brought in by Ray Perkins. Ron Erhardt. Hired in 1982. Belechick in '79....remember, he was on this flight... I don't know who George Young would have brought in to coach the Giants in '81. But I'm pretty sure Duane "Bill" Parcells wouldn't have been it....except as a defensive coordinator. I wouldn't even know who would have been a good choice in 1981 to take over for Ray Perkins. Maybe Ditka? Who knows?

[@bonesmccoy4407]

@@bigdrew565 Bruh...that's my entire point. No more Perkins likely means no Parcells at all. Which likely means no Belichick.

[@bigdrew565]

@@bonesmccoy4407 seemed vague. Just making sure. 😆 the thought of ditka coaching the Giants caused a nightmare for me. Literally.

[@bonesmccoy4407]

@@bigdrew565 Vague? I said if Perkins dies that likely means no Parcells on the giants, which means no Belichick.

[@bigdrew565]

Everything seems vague at 4am when you don't sleep well. Cut me some slack. 😆

[@joesphclifton9730]

You do not want to just land as you do not know how the plane will behave during landing, they probably wanted to work out the problem or try for solutions. Also the other comments like landing weight, airport availability, etc...

[@jamesmelcher9355]

I think JohnnyBravo and I might have seen the same article.

[@caryturner4452]

Let george WB harkins fly the plane he was the best worker in my post office in islip terrace ny

[@stoves92]

Gotta love youtube. Unskippable ads every 30 seconds. More ads than video. Pretty much unwatchable.

[@ivantheteribul]

Especially at some crucial moment in the video.

[@DolFan316]

That's nothing compared to randomly deleting people's comments without any warning or notification because they used non deep state approved "keywords" in other comments.

[@DolFan316]

And in a further bit of irony, the person who replied to me got his comment deleted. I saw it in my notifications but not the thread. Guess he used the wrong "keywords".

[@stoves92]

@@DolFan316 no I deleted it. Your comment was not showing up. Thought it was deleted.

[@donaldpaluga]

And no Rhapsody In Blue

[@richardmiller5818]

How come teams can't. fly commercial

[@bigdrew565]

Share a plane with an entire 53 man roster? Yeah, nah....I'll drive.

[@bigdrew565]

@Matt Joseph yep. It was bad enough being a flight attendant on those charter flights. '86 mets anyone?

[@kascnef]

2023 ?