"Hello there viewer...Keiko here...*I proceed to say this while traditionally bowing to the viewers as usual. To which I then proceed to bring my attention and eyesight back up again, in order to continue to address the viewers. I also now proceed to clear my throat, as I then proceed to continue, to properly address the viewers*...Now then viewers, I did say in the last chapter, that this was going to be a non action filled filler chapter...And that is just what this chapter is going to be, now then viewers, shall we begin?...*I proceed to say this, while also smiling with both of my eyes closed, and my head tilted to one side, in a very cute looking manner*...
So for this chapter viewers, we are going to be going through four separate airline accidents...
Three of which have to do with some sort of collision between two different planes...While the fourth one is what is still the worst air disaster in the history of the United Kingdom...And for those who are going to attempt to try and argue that the Bombing Of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland was worse...You see viewers, while that is in fact true, the Bombing Of Flight 103 over Lockerbie, was a deliberate act...And as I am sure you noticed at the beginning of this, I am only going to be talking about air crashes that are accidents...But, that doesn't mean viewers, that we won't get to that incident in a later chapter...
But anyway, as for the first accident that we will be discussing in this chapter...we will first need to start, by going all the way back to October 8, 2001...Which on a heavily foggy day at Italy's Linate Airport...A McDonnell Douglas MD-87 operating as Scandinavian Airlines System Flight 686 or SAS Flight 686...at the time of this accident, flight 686 was carrying 104 passengers, 4 flight attendants, and two pilots...for a total of 110 passengers and crew...
The second aircraft involved in this particular accident...was a Cessna Citation CJ2...operating with a call sign of Delta India Echo Victor X-Ray...or translated over from the International Radio-Telephony Spelling Alphabet...is D-IEVX, or the Cessna's tail registration...And at the time of this accident, was carrying 2 pilots and 2 passengers...
And unfortunately, due to the heavy fog at Linate Airport on the day of this accident, neither one of these aircraft could see each other in the fog...
And tragically, as flight 686 began its takeoff roll, and just managed to get airborne...the pilots of the MD-87 didn't see the Cessna Citation until far too late...as the collision wound up having the MD-87 completely destroying the Cessna...
This caused debris to get ingested into one of flight 686's engines...and the impact caused the other engine to get sheared off completely...The collision also wound up destroying the right hand landing gear of flight 686...And though the pilots of flight 686 did try to gain control...the amount of damage done to the aircraft was just too severe for them to overcome...
In total, all 110 passengers and crew aboard flight 686...all four people on board the Cessna Citation, and another 4 people on the ground were killed...
And to this day, this is still the worst air disaster in the history of Italy...
Now then viewers, we will now head into the second of the four air accidents that I am going to be talking about in this chapter...
And for this one, we will need to go all the way back to December 3, 1990...More specifically at Detroit's Metropolitan Wayne County Airport, in Michigan...
And on the day of this particular accident...and like that of the Linate Airport Disaster...the airport was covered in a dense layer of fog...
The first aircraft involved in this particular accident, was a McDonnell Douglas DC-9-14 operating as Northwest Airlines Flight 1482...Which at the time of the accident, was carrying 40 passengers, 2 pilots, and 2 flight attendants...
The second aircraft that was involved in this accident, was a Boeing 727-251-Adv...operating as Northwest Airlines Flight 299...and at the time of the accident, was carrying 146 passengers, 3 pilots, and 5 flight attendants...
And viewers, for those who are wondering why flight 1482 had 2 pilots, while flight 299 had 3 pilots...Well that viewers, is due to the fact, that unlike the DC-9...a Boeing 727 is required, to have at least 3 pilots on the flight deck to help operate the 727...
This included a captain, a first officer, and of course, a flight engineer...this was also a standard practice on other aircraft, such as the Boeing 707 and 747-100, 747-200, 747-300, 307 Stratoliner, the McDonnell Douglas DC-6, DC-7, DC-8, DC-10, which is normally referred to as either the Death Chamber 10, or The Death Plane...as the DC-10 has had a mass amount of fatalities over the course of its use in non cargo service as early as 1972...
And only after the crash of American Airlines Flight 191 on May 25, 1979 was it then finally decided to demote the DC-10 to cargo service...
But anyway viewers, getting back to the Wayne County Airport runway collision...
What basically happened in this incident, was that the crew of flight 1482, being lost in the fog...caused them to wander onto an active runway...the same runway in which flight 299 was taking off from...
And I will give the flight crew of flight 299 credit...they did try their best to avoid a collision...Even the PF...or the Pilot Flying...wound up wrenching his control column hard left to try and avoid a collision with flight 1482...
But unfortunately, even though this did wind up raising flight 299s right wing...the wing still wound up tearing through the right hand side of flight 1482s fuselage just below the windows on that side...causing a deep and severe gash down the side of flight 1482...
Which also wound up sparking a fire...and killed 8 people on board flight 1482...all of which were seated in window seats along the row of seats that had been sheared through by the right wing of flight 299...
And now viewers, we will move onto the third accident in this chapter...And to do this, we will be now heading a bit forward in time, all the way to June 18, 1972...Which on that day...a Hawker Siddeley Trident 1C...operating as British European Airways Flight 548...or call sign Bealine 548...was conducting a flight from London's Heathrow Airport over to Brussels Airport in Belgium...
At the time of the accident, flight 548 was carrying 112 passengers, 3 pilots, and 3 flight attendants...
And unfortunately, on climb out from Heathrow...someone wound up retracting the droop flaps of the aircraft far too soon...
And viewers, for those who are going to ask why I didn't name a specific one of the three pilots having done this...Well that is because the accident aircraft, wasn't equipped with a CVR, or Cockpit Voice Recorder...it only had an FDR, or Flight Date Recorder...or for the more technical term of both of these devices...the Black Boxes...
Which is something that I never truly quite understood, as both of the so called Black Boxes, are in fact a bright orange color...
So then, why aren't they called the Orange Boxes?...Seems a bit daft to call them Black Boxes if not a single part of them are...
And to this day, the crash of Bealine Flight 548 near the town of Staines...is the worst air accident on British soil, and is also the deadliest air accident of a Hawker Siddeley Trident...
And now viewers, we will be moving onto the final aviation accident of this chapter...
And for this one, we will be going quite a bit more back in time...all the way back in fact, to September 10, 1976...To what back in the day, was the worst mid air collision in aviation...
Where the first aircraft involved the mid air collision...which was a Hawker Siddeley Trident operating as British European Airways Flight 476...or Bealine 476...was on route from London's Heathrow Airport, over to Yeşilköy International Airport in
Istanbul, Turkey...
And at the time of the mid air collision...flight 476, was carrying 54 passengers, 3 pilots, and 6 flight attendants..
The second aircraft involved in the mid air collision...which was a McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32...operating as Inex-Adria Aviopromet Flight 550...was on route from Split Airport in Split, SR Croatia, or what was former Yugoslavia...and at the time of the mid air collision...was carrying 108 passengers, 2 pilots, and 3 flight attendants...
And unfortunately, these two aircraft wound up colliding in mid air over Zagreb...the resulting impact causing the left wing of flight 550 to slice clean through the front of flight 476...completely severing the controls for flight 476, and also wound shearing off most of flight 550s left wing...
And unfortunately, no one aboard either plane survived...as all 176 passengers and crew were killed...
And at the time, was the worst mid air collision in the history of aviation, and to this day, is the worst air disaster in the history of both Croatia, and Yugoslavia...
Now viewers, this now marks the end of this non action filled filler chapter...And we will be getting right back into the main story in the next chapter...so viewers, see you lot there...okay?...*I proceed to say this, while also smiling with both of my eyes closed, and my head tilted to one side, in a very cute looking manner*"