Cockpit transcripts have revealed that the pilot at the helm of a fatal 1979 plane crash believed he had sufficient time to alter his course before tragically crashing into a closed runway.
The cockpit conversation was from a Western Airlines DC-10 jumbo jet disaster at Mexico City Airport on 31 October 1979. During the disastrous event, pilot Charles Gilbert crashed into a closed runway, hitting a construction vehicle and a storage building, before immediately bursting into flames.
The horrific incident claimed the lives of 70 out of the 87 passengers and crew on board, including all three pilots. The news emerges as a man was accidentally decapitated by his best pal in gruesome car accident inspired horror film.
The operator of the construction vehicle was also fatally wounded in the collision, reports the Express US.
Aviation experts informed the NYT that the final cockpit conversation roughly included this exchange:
Captain: "We're cleared onto the right, is that correct?".
Copilot or engineer: "Yeah, that's right."
Captain: "This is the approach to 23 left."
Company rules require that pilots announce every 100 feet below 1,000 feet and every 10 feet below 50 feet. However, the recordings reveal that no announcements were made whatsoever.
Aviation experts were left baffled as to how an experienced flight crew lost track of their altitude, leading to a devastating crash onto a decommissioned runway.
Standard protocol dictates that pilots should abort their landing approach in foggy conditions if they cannot see the runway upon reaching a certain low altitude.
Cockpit transcripts reveal that Captain Gilbert realised he was mistakenly approaching the wrong runway and tried to use the electronic instrument landing system (I. L. S. ) to "sidestep" to the correct runway from 800 feet away.
Tragically, moments after the final exchange in the cockpit, the aircraft plunged onto the unlit runway as the pilots pushed the throttles to full power in a desperate bid to climb and prepare for another landing attempt.
However, the aircraft collided with a construction vehicle, swerved onto the closed runway and crashed into a storage unit, bursting into flames.
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