· From the tragic farewell of a seven-year-old
trainee to the mutterings of a confused flight
crew, we count ten of the saddest last words
from pilots who are about to crash!
10 – Cessna 177B,
· Jessica Dubroff was a seven-year-old pilot-in-training
whose dream was to become the youngest person
to fly a light utility aircraft across the
United States.
· On April 11th 1996, Jessica, along with
her father and flight instructor, attempted
to take off from Cheyenne Regional Airport
in Wyoming in a Cessna 177B Cardinal single-propeller
aircraft.
· Unfortunately, conditions were poor that
morning, with heavy rain and strong gusty
crosswinds, and Jessica’s flight instructor
lost control of the plane minutes after takeoff.
All three died instantly.
· Jess had been on the phone to her mother
at the time.
Her heartbreaking final words were: ‘Do
you hear the rain?
Do you hear the rain?’
9 – Pacific Southwest Airlines 182,
· On the 25th of September 1978 the San Diego-bound
Pacific Southwest Flight 182 – a Boeing
727 with 128 passengers on board – collided
with a private Cessna 172, causing the deaths
of 144 people.
· The two aircraft crossed flight paths unexpectedly
and Flight 182’s seven-person flight crew
momentarily lost all trace of the Cessna,
resulting in the deadly collision.
· The crew’s final words before the power
and instruments failed included: ‘We’re
hit, we’re hit!’, ‘It’s bad…’
and ‘This is it, baby’.
The captain’s tragic last remark was: ‘Ma,
I love you.’
8 – Surinam Airways 764,
· Surinam Airways Flight 764 was a commercial
flight from the Netherlands’ Amsterdam Airport
to Paramaribo-Zanderij International Airport
in Suriname.
· On the 7th of June 1989, the flight crashed
while approaching its destination.
176 of the 187 on board died, making it the
deadliest aviation disaster in Suriname’s
history.
· An investigation revealed the crew’s
training was grossly inadequate and did not
meet international standards.
The crew also displayed terrible judgement
by knowingly attempting to land using an inappropriate
navigation signal and ignoring risk alarms.
· The last recorded words from the cockpit
were: ‘That’s it, I’m dead.’
7 – Air Canada 621,
· On the 5th of July 1970, Air Canada’s
Flight 621 was travelling its usual flight
route of Montreal to Los Angeles.
However, pilot error caused the McDonnell
Douglas DC-8-63 craft to crash during a landing
attempt in Ontario.
· Captain Peter Hamilton and First Officer
Donald Rowland had flown together many times,
and directly caused the crash by ignoring
the airline’s safety protocol.
By choice, they failed to arm the ground spoilers
– which are deployable flaps on a plane’s
wings that reduce airflow – at the start
of the plane’s final approach, instead preferring
to arm them on the ground.
· 109 people died on board, and First Officer
Donald’s final words were ‘Pete, sorry.’
Presumably he’s apologising for his aviation
mistake, but without context the apology could
be like ‘Sorry for crashing your car that
time’ or ‘Sorry for sleeping with your
wife.’
6 – Air Asia Flight QZ8501,
· On the 28th of December 2014, an Air Asia
Airbus flying from Indonesia to Singapore
crashed during bad weather.
Seven crew members and 155 passengers were
killed and debris and human remains were later
found floating in the Java Sea.
· The crash was caused by a malfunctioning
rudder travel limiter unit, which led to a
104-degree roll of the aircraft, and an apparent
miscommunication between the pilots.
· Playback of the recovered black box was
especially unnerving for investigators.
In their final moments, the pilots repeatedly
chanted the Islamic phrase ‘Allahu Akhbar’,
meaning ‘God is greatest’.
5 – Vladivostokavia 352,
 On the 4th of July 2001, Vladivostok Air
Flight 352, the commercial flight from Yekaterinburg
to Vladivostok, lost control and crashed while
approaching Irkutsk Airport.
 136 passengers and nine flight crew members
were killed, making it the third deadliest
aircraft crash over Russian territory.
 As the plane approached Irkutsk, the pilots
had lowered the landing gear, not realising
that the plane was banking.
The aircraft was at a 45-degree angle with
the nose dropping, and the co-pilot tried
to rectify this by violently pulling back
on the control column, causing an immediate
stall.
 Unfortunately, at this point the plane
was too close to the ground and impact was
inevitable.
The pilot’s last words were, ‘That’s
all guys!
Fuck!’
4 – Pacific Airlines 773,
· On the 7th of May 1964, a disturbed man
aboard Pacific Airlines Flight 773 told fellow
passengers that he was going to kill himself.
This was pre-security checks, so he’d actually
managed to bring a loaded handgun aboard.
· The enraged killer shot both the pilot
and co-pilot, and then turned the gun on himself.
Without a pilot, the plane plummeted into
a Californian hillside, killing all forty-four
people on board.
· According to the flight recording, the
last words spoken were: ‘Skipper’s shot!
We’ve been shot.
I was trying to help.’
· Fortunately the chances of this happening
nowadays are virtually nil, as you can’t
even board a plane with a plastic spoon or
pencil eraser.
Try it and you’ll end up in a headlock on
the floor.
‘Get down!
We know what you’re planning to do with
that!’
3 – Air New Zealand 901,
· On the 28th of November 1979, Air New Zealand’s
Antarctic sightseeing flight, Flight 901,
crashed into Mount Erebus, killing all 237
passengers and twenty crew members.
· The crash was caused by pilot error and
the resulting outcry from the public led to
the establishment of the Royal Commission
of Enquiry.
Most of the wreckage still remains on the
mountain today.
· The pilot’s last words: “Actually,
these conditions don’t look very good at
all, do they?”
2 – LOT Polish Airlines 5055,
· On the 9th of May 1987, LOT Polish Airlines’
Flight 5055 crashed into the Kabaty Woods
outside of Warsaw Poland.
· The flight never made it to its New York
destination, as the engine shaft disintegrated
and exploded due to faulty bearings.
All 183 people on board died, making it the
deadliest aviation to ever occur on Polish
soil and the deadliest overall accident of
1987.
· The poetic final words from the flight
crew were: ‘Goodnight, goodbye, we perish!’
1 – TransAsia Airways Flight 235,
 On the 4th of February 2015, TransAsia
Airways Flight 235 experienced a fatal crash
just two minutes after taking off from Taipei
Songshan Airport.
Forty-three of the fifty-eight on board died.
 After an engine flameout, the pilot mistakenly
switched off the plane’s second engine,
which was the only working one.
This was the second fatal accident involving
a TransAsia Airways ATR aircraft within seven
months.
 The Aviation Safety Council’s report
showed that Captain Liao Jian-zong had failed
the simulated training less a year earlier
because he could not demonstrate knowledge
of how to deal with an engine flameout on
takeoff.
 Liao’s last words were, ‘Wow, pulled
back the wrong side throttle…’
