Plane SNAPS in half over the ocean | The REAL story of South African 295
VloĆŸit
- Äas pĆidĂĄn 1. 06. 2024
- Grab Atlas VPN for just $1.99/mo before the deal expires: get.atlasvpn.com/GreenDotAvia...
Credit for the two-fire theory goes to Forensic Scientist David Klatzow. You can read his book about the incident here www.amazon.co.uk/Steeped-Bloo...
đą Support the channel and get perks on Patreon! / greendotaviation
Join the conversation on Discord! / discord
----
On a pitch black night miles above the Indian ocean, a fire rages on board a fully loaded Boeing 747. 140 terrified passengers rush to the front of the cabin in a desperate bid to escape the suffocating smoke. The pilots put the aircraft into a terrifying dive, desperately fighting to get their aircraft on the ground. Will they be able to make it to a small island in the middle of the ocean, or will the flames consume their chances? This is the horrifying story of South African Airways flight 295. And itâs a story with a puzzling twist.
-----
Final report:
en.wikisource.org/wiki/Report...
TRC Hearing:
www.gov.za/sites/default/file...
Stock footage and effects by Storyblocks
Map tiles by Stamen Design, under CC BY 3.0. Data by OpenStreetMap, under ODbL
Music Licensed through Epidemic Sound
------
00:00 Intro
00:45 Flight background
02:13 Pilots
03:38 Pushback and Routing
04:36 Atlas VPN
05:44 Takeoff and Climbout
06:24 ZUR
08:04 A Conversation about dinner
09:03 The First sign of trouble: CVR Audio
11:07 CVR out
11:38 Two scenarios
15:37 The ZUR tape
16:38 A sinister possibility
22:00 Flight 295âs Final moments
25:16 Investigation
27:18 Thanks :)
---- - ZĂĄbava
Grab Atlas VPN for just $1.99/mo before the deal expires: get.atlasvpn.com/GreenDotAviation
You can also support the channel in a big way by joining the Patreon, where you get early access to future videos âwww.patreon.com/GreenDotAviation
That actually sounds smart, been debating getting a VPN for lots a reasons
just went ahead and got it, just to support you! Keep up the great vids!!!
@@temoork-0197 very cool đ. Yes he does a good job. Kinda an ASMR vibe with his accent too
@@Ben-ks5bm don't understand the technology?
@@gordonlawrence1448 you clearly haven't watched lol
After nearly a decade, Iâve accidentally found myself back in my plane crash documentary phase
I go through that phase every few years myselfâŠ
This is my first phase, I'm usually a titanic documentary person lol
@@neomofokeng2755haha same
Lol. Same . Literally 10 years later as well đ
For me, it's not the macabre that is appealin, but the story-telling, cultural aspects, and intrigue.
I was a schoolboy in South Africa when this flight went down. One of the girls in my class lost both her parents who were onboard returning from a holiday in Taiwan. I can remember very clearly when they called her out of class and later the teachers told us what had happened. I've remained fascinated with this story ever since and have read many different theories and accounts of what happened. Thank you for adding your video to this list. I think the families of those onboard deserve an honest answer from the South African government about what happened. Unfortunately I think the former government was too good at destroying evidence.
Atleast it had an operational Airways back then.
as are the current Government here in SA, and many other Governments as we well know over the last 3 years
@@bwarrior6340 And an decent electricity supplier đ
My family lost a close friend.
We were immediately told it was fireworks.
I was a teenager and took that as the truth.
Propaganda to quickly quell any speculation.
Remember how many bombs were going off in Wimpy and at bus stops...
So to stop rumours and fear (among us kids) of bombs or terrorists, I guess the fireworks was actually hiding a much bigger truth.
Brett Ansley: Yours is the most affecting of all these stories. What more can one say? For a child to be called out of class and told both parents are gone ....
My uncle, one of the Taiwanese, was on that plane with his newly-wed. They went to South Africa for a promising future when I was 3 years old. As I remember, he gave me a toy horse as a farewell gifts before his departure. Unfortunately, both of them were killed in this crash, which leaves a great mourning in my whole family. What a great loss. May God be with all the passengers and crew members.
This would be a nightmare to be on this plane!
Want a cookie?
Why does tragedy always bring out the trolls? Like the cookie merchant above.
â@@hellogoodbyeforeverIf they scan your brain they will find only đŠ§đ©
@@Adzmataz Not troll..rather a-hole.
Several of the cabin and cockpit crew were known to me. During my time working as cabin crew in the '70s we were aware of 'cargo' belonging to the military being carried. I think it was never really questioned during this time. The incident haunted me for many years.
There was a rumour that there was a cargo of fish tanks which were packed with radio active material. Later after the flight went down a pilot went to Mauritius to retrieve a tape (sic) and was killed in Mauritius.
From one cabin crew to another, I understand.
My wife works for Malaysia Airways, she lost friends in MH370, which was also carrying Lithium batteries, far more than Europe allows.
I knew she wasn't on that flight because I had her roster in my phone but last minute crew changes happen, it was a long wait.
A few years later a friend text me and asked if my wife was on the ground, Malaysian had a 777 shot down over Ukraine. I couldn't believe another 777 had been lost but my wife was safe.
@@harveysmith100 MH17 was shot down 4 months after MH370 disappeared... hope you meant months instead of years because it makes your story doubtful.
Also, there's a high likelihood that the lithium batteries had nothing to do with MH370 disappearance.
My father worked as a Flight Engineer for SAA starting in the late 80's (when this happened). He knew a pilot in SAA (I forget his name but I can always ask my Dad again) who began conducting his own private investigation into what happened. Basically he was snooping around and trying to piece together what really took place. One day he received an anonymous letter that warned him to cease his investigation, and if not, him and his family would be in danger. The guy stopped after that and never found out who sent the letter. The overwhelming opinion amongst members of SAA was that there was a coverup and weapons were being transported as this video rightly suggests. Thought you'd all find this bit of info interesting!
Edit: 10 month update... Still alive.
Edit: 12 month update. Recently met the South African president at a work conference event thing. He had NO idea who I was. So obviously he's ill-informed of my CZcams fame! I mean really!! Oh and also I'm still alive... for now. But will I be next month? Who knows!
Too much Netflix is bad for mental health..
Wow! Kudos to him!
Definitely very interesting. Thanks for sharing.
May want to make sure your yt username isn't related to your actual name or family's name then lol Friendly looking out. Thanks for the info! It absolutely is MORE likely that they had weapons illegally. Because the whole incident that was recorded seemed like a shit show by the pilots. Like as if they were just going to fly it until it blew up. If I had ocean under me, I'm not a pilot given, And I knew there was an uncontrollable fire, I'd lay it down in the ocean asap as soft as possible. Bad bad bad situation. Maybe putting it down in the ocean is a no no. Idk? Seems like the most likely way for more to have a chance at survival
@@herehere3139 It doesnt make sense to land in the ocean if you can attempt to land at an airport, the pilots surely didnt know there were weapons on board.
'Just like a jigsaw, when a piece is missing, you can still see its shape in the space it leaves behind' - gripping stuff amigo!
When a piece is missing, not a space.
One of the best lines ever spoken!
@@crkatz30 The OP has it right. Read it again. But maybe they have fixed it, as their comment has been editted.
As someone with a bit of chemistry background, the "supplied its own oxygen supply" sounds pretty much like an oxidizer. Oxidizers are very common in military materials, and the most common oxidizers are sodium perchlorate, sodium nitrate, and (to a lesser extent) hydrogen peroxide. Working in a chem lab, one of the BIGGEST rules is to store oxidizers far, far away from flammables. That's because it really doesn't take much to initiate a chain reaction and produce a sudden explosion. With that in mind, it's possible and number of munitions were stored together improperly --batteries and corrosives, flares and pyrotechnics, honestly your options are nearly infinite. Less important than what actually is stored on these flights is the demonstration WHY this is a terrifying, idiotic choice made by an authoritarian regime with little respect for human life.
Agree. Busy studying general chemistry and you are right in everything you say.
You are an utterly irrational individual. Regardless of the political class at that time, South African people have always been multicultural, multiracial, and integrated. Based on your reasoning, Nelson Mandela is deserving of the Nobel Peace Prize for his involvement in the commission of violent terrorist acts against civilians. South Africa only made one idiotic choice, which was when the weakened politicians decided to succumb to 'liberal democracy' pressure from its supposed allies, the USA, the UK, and the EU. Left to its own devices, South Africa, an industrial, medical, scientific, and military powerhouse, would have evolved into a shining example of tolerance and harmony for the rest of the world. Now like so many countries that NATO has brought democracy to, South Africa has evolved into a corrupt, third-world, cesspit. What has Western democracy brought to the people of South Africa? Zimbabwe?, Libya?, the Congo?, Chad?, Niger?, the list goes on and on and on..... South Africans love life more than you will ever know, or can ever comprehend. God Bless South Africans!
@@psilocybemusashi right about what? Im genuinely curious on what your take on this authoritarian regime is
@@psilocybemusashi this type of racism is exactly why I left, there's no end to it. The apartheid bubble contained the seeds of its own demise. Yes, live was pretty good for the people inside the bubble. Yes, life outside the bubble for the vast majority of the population was absolutely shit, too. It was never going to work. People need to accept this fact.
@@karmatraining, but there are a thousand different places in South Africa where you could live and not have encounter this type of racism! Sowetho, Umtata, etc. But yet you left and deprived all the poor people of your portion of GDP, tax revenue, and skills transfer. Isn't leaving them to starve quite racist?
Hearing the dead silence of the cabin and the breakers popping in the background has to be one of the most terrifying sounds you'd hear as a pilot - or in general, really.
If i knew we were going to die and the people next to me are freaking out id be screaming for them to shut the fuck up
Youâd think they would have a crew member standing watch back there after the first fire. It might have saved all hands.
How does a plane not have some sort of suppression system if it is carrying cargo!??
Agreed 50% for me atleast it depends on what situasjon, but if an aircraft going down, i think i would stress the f out. all the forces in play, and dont knowing if it crash on water or land.
I love your videos! My Grandfather was a Cathay Pacific Pilot In the 70s. and one day he was going to fly flight 700Z. however at the last minute he had to swap with his other pilot friend. flight 700Z was hijacked and was blown up by a bomb somebody had taken aboard. everybody died. My grandfather is very lucky! he is 83 years old and living well.
That's so horribly sad, but I'm glad your grandfather wasn't killed too. It sounds like at the very least, he got to live a full life. Which is the best possible way to honor those who didn't have the chance to do the same.
I genuinely hope he isn't experiencing survivors guilt.
what's the name of your grandfather?
@@YanDaOne_QC Allen Miller
Oh my gosh. I canât even pretend to imagine what he mustâve been through.
That said, Iâm so happy to hear that your grandfather is alive and well today.
Blessings to you and yours. âźïž
This was the most tense story Iâve ever seen, and to think this actually happened. Rest in peace for all in this crash.
He keeps you on the edge your seat
@@JerseyLynne Yup, and he does a good job at doing so.
I agreeđ°đ°
No spoilers in the comments man.
Wat happend with the people
My dad travelled SAA every week JHB to Cape Town. Am trying to remember what he said to me about what he was told. A fire had broken out near Malaysia somewhere and one of the pilots wanted to land somewhere in India. The crew were overruled by some government official in JHB and told to fly on to Mauritius, where they would not have to reveal their cargo. The first fire had used all the firefighting equipment and extinguishers, so when the second fire broke out there were no extinguishers left. Also there was a graphite tennis racket which washed up on the beach in Mauritius and ( I donât know the exact figures and details ) but graphite only burns at over 2000 degrees C. Point I am trying to make is the fire was very intense and very hot. My dad heard that it was probably rocket fuel, which is very volatile when being bounced around in a aircraft carrier for some long.
I do wish that someone would open up this investigation again, as there are not many people alive who would have answers to a comprehensive inquiry and to answer the main questions. Hope to hear from anybody/anyone with their ideas.
@stephenoreilly6
Me too. A lot of whistle blowers have been coming out of the woodwork over the last three years and mind-blowing information is being revealed world wide .
The more revelations of the dirty work behind the scenes the sooner people are going to wake up to what really is going on.
đ current authorities will be amenable to a further investigation into this tragedy.
Such a turn on of a concept. These disaster documentaries are great to pass the time. †obviously the traffic is too busy during the day to drive to car crash incidents so that's a night time scanner and patience thing.
Your theory and what you were told is very plausible. It would fit in with the entire temperature situation, too. Imagine how great that fire roaring back to life and the terror of their faces, with the others near the back choking and clawing lower and lower at the backs, then legs of those still alive further forward. Imagine being able to steal the last breath by kiss of the person behind you.
With a lot of data conveniently disappearing, I imagine it would be hard to restart this investigation. Frankly, with how poorly it was publicly managed, it's also possible a confidential agreement was reached between international parties. Even post -apartheid investigations by South Africa should be considered with a heavy grain of salt because of their sensitive geopolitical position. Even if SA was in the wrong, would a young post-apartheid government want this revelation as their opening act? If any similar disasters happens in the modern era, it should hopefully receive more rapid response and scrutiny before essential witnesses and data conveniently disappear. I find it hard to believe this is the first time the embargoed nation (potentially) attempted illegal arms transfer. With how much aviation and military technology has advanced since then, and considering how isolated and resource-poor SA was at the time, it may be that these technological advances are enabling the clandestine transport of illegal munitions that just haven't been spotted. I'm unfamiliar with how manifests are handled in the modern era, but I find it hard to believe this would've garnered an investigation (albeit poorly managed) had it not slipped through "the swiss cheese". Routine flights don't gather the kind of attention this disaster did. Weighing the pros/cons of increasing globalization, which may make such conspiracies more difficult; alongside improved airline safety, increased automation/digitization, and many more civilian flights may very well mean that other countries have learned from this. Namely, this is suspicious because it was sloppy. If you want to bring chemistry into it, older military munitions rely on highly energetic, less selectively reactive, materials; modern munitions are much more highly reinforced and have much broader choices in terms of energy sources and sensitivity to environmental factors. Regardless, even a regular fire supplied with oxygen can burn much hotter than normal. Any number of lies could've led to this disaster, but it's very clear that there's lies involved. Hopefully modern disasters, god forbid they should ever occur, would have the same obvious signs of intervention
Salos made all our fuels. At one point we even started to export oil. Jordan F1 ran on Sasol. For a while I worked with a Duch engineer who came over from NASA.
WHY DOES EVERYONE KNOW SOMEONE RELATED TO THIS FLIGHT
Because people lie
A major in flight fire would be absolutely terrifying.
I'd rather be on a plane with all engines failed than a plane being consumed by a major fire
For me, both are terrifying, I've been on a plane with an engine failure, and that made me think I would be dying soon except it felt like an eternity in limbo waiting for the end that never came, scared me so much I've been apprehensive about flying. Still am.
I mean we have instances of planes lnding with both engines out, like the azore glider
@@titoskeleton9571 Good for you for continuing to fly. I've a phobia derived from an accident, it's not easy to get over. I'm glad yours (and mine, I suppose) had a god outcome.
Totally agree, almost anything would be better than fire. In fact, there was the 747 that lost all four engines after flying through volcanic ash that was able to safely land like a giant glider.
Hmm
I had Captain Uys as a pilot on a number of flights between Johannesburg and Cape Town in the 70s. He had a great personality and kept up chatter throughout those flights. I was shocked to learn he was the pilot on this flight. I think he would have done his best to save lives if he could have.
He was only a couple of flights from retirement, at the time of the accident. When he protested the carrying these cargoes, he was threatened with immediate dismissal, loss of his pension and worse. Like almost all SAA pilots, in those days, he was ex air force. So he was steeped in duty and patriotism.
Nickname was Krappies
@@johnkelly3886 Is there any proof of these protestations? Just wondering.
@@jimmycricket5366 The protestations are motioned in Klatzow's book (Steeped in Blood). You can take up thde trail there.
@@johnkelly3886 Thanks
Greetings from South Africa. I was a travel agent at the time so had lots of contacts within the industry. SAA had an excellent safety record and pilots/engineers plus ground staff were highly respected for their work ethic.
There was no way the cause of the accident was 'pilot error'. All of us in the industry knew the cause was the hazadous cargo the plane was carrying. The plane blew up mid air.
It was over 30 yrs ago this disaster happened and I can not for the life of me remember what the cargo was, but I do remember it was of chemical content.
The senseless loss of life due to authorative interference is horrendous.
I worked for Armscor that time and manufacturing rockets with solid fuel. In the mean time we imported Ammonium Perchlorate from Japan secretly as we were heavily sanctioned. This 747 was a Combi with half back as cargo. Ammonium Perchlorate is a strong oxidizer and burns well above 3000 deg C. This was in the cargo and the pilots unaware of it. It caught fire and while burning giving off oxygen so impossible to extinguish.
And that was the reason.
Cheers from South Africa
I think that you pretty much summed up everything accurately and succinctly. Thank you for sharing this information.
You were heavily sanctioned because your country was and is corrupt. The pilots knew something illegal was aboard, that's why they didn't make an emergency landing until it was too late... The rest of the passengers enjoyed apartheid...
Welcome
@@TheodoreAndor This makes me mad, corruption is a bych
The "Air Crash Investigation" series episode on this event talked about the airplane skin melting and that the temperature required for such a melting point was far above cargo listed on the cargo manifest. I agree with the theory of weapons being in the cargo bay on this flight. This does seem like a reasonable explanation.
Hi , am no expert and by all means no pilot but enjoy watching these video's, can I say if I was the pilot on this plane would you not just br the aeroplane down over the sea !
I know how riskey and dangerous it mayÄ”ĂčĂč is but trying to get your plane to an airport due to the severeairity on bored and weighing out the risks i think it wascÄ„7 big lack of dugement from the pilot ! ?
My openion i would have landed the plane in the sea soon as the breakers went off, at least there would have been a greater chance of some of the passengers surviving !
What do people think ?
Sometimes I think pilots forget how long they have befor there plane gets consumed !
Gret to hear other people opinions
@@billysaul7366 I'm no expert but this is my understanding.
The open ocean is full of waves. Ditching on such an asymmetric surface, while traveling at high speeds, is essentially a death sentence. I'm guessing they were hoping to control the plane as well as possible until they could attempt a ditching on land, where they'd have a much better chance of actually surviving.
Even if they did manage to bring the plane down in the ocean, and some people actually survived the impact, the majority of the aircraft is going to begin to rapidly sink. You'd be in the middle of the open ocean, with large waves washing over you, 120 miles (in this specific example) away from any land based rescue. Not to all the survivors are almost guaranteed to be injured to some degree. I'm not sure about the exact water temperature where they crashed, but in the open ocean I'd wager it's not much warmer than 5C (low 40's F). People would begin to lose consciousness and drown if the waves didn't get to them already.
One thing I can see against that theory is that weapons usually dont burn but explode, like ammo and bombs, but no explosions were reported in this case and the plane did not blow up midair either like if a bomb or other big explosive charge in the cargo would had gone off. It was just a huge fire. However there can also be other millitary material like gasoline/fuel for vehicles ect or heavy duty batteries for military equipment and such (although indeed as said, the extremley flammable Li ion batteries were not invented yet at the time but high capacity batteries no matter type can still cause electrical fires if shorted) so the theory about war equipment being carried still might hold. I mean that missing tape 100 % indicates they are trying to hide something! We will probably however never ever know what actually happened because of that fact and other things.
@@johnpekkala6941 Incendiary munitions frequently don't explode... Rockets discharge like rockets, which when restrained, act more like a high powered forced-air torch than a bomb...
White phosphorous was a popular anti-vegetation and general incendiary grenade type left over from the Korean and Vietnam war days... SO for a country looking for nefarious deals on a budget, such things would've been prime "low hanging fruit" for a black market operation...
AND things like that CAN achieve (easily) the temperatures required to melt aluminum of pretty much any grade. They'll turn a "pig-iron and steel" truck into slag in a handful of minutes, so even a fairly large aircraft is going to melt and sizzle away similar to trying to roast a hotdog with blast furnace...
What actually started the thing might be relatively inconsequential... The munitions getting involved, in part or completely, would contribute mightily to the escalation... AND even bullets wouldn't necessarily discharge the way you see them "cooking off" in movies. Largely, the brass gets so soft at heat ranges to cook off the propellant (which is no longer traditional gun powder) that they poof and burn more than explode into shrapnel frequently... Some still DO explode... ish... BUT it's more that the CASING is split open and sent outward into the "shrapnel" sense than the "gunshot" typical situation, because the casing is so much lighter than the slug... The bullet sits there and the brass just separates and "pops" off... No barrel and no rifling, pretty much guarantees anything that DOES pop is subsonic, so you may not even hear it past a lightweight door... let alone a bulkhead and air-tight seal like you'd typically find on a plane...
I DO find it troublesome that nobody found ANY hints about what "was probably" in that cargo hold??? Forensics might not have been as matured or refined as it is today, BUT... I kind of doubt there'd be "serious cargo" without some indication, structure or ghosts... like those slugs or casing parts... fuselage components to a rocket or RPG... SOMETHING that resembles what you'd expect if an "Armory" on a military base was burned to the ground...
Wonder who did this "inspection of the wreckage" and who owned them... ;o)
@@gnarthdarkanen7464 I was about to ask the same thing upon reading your insightful description: who did the report, can they be trusted, how accurate is that report, why has an independent report not been produced, why has there never been a modern report? Because it definitely sounds like they paid off the âinvestigatorsâ to produce a report the government would approve of.
Planes crashes are already scary but the fact it a night crash and over the ocean makes it 100000 times more terrifying
whats makes is terrifying is that a lot of passengers choked to death from the smoke b4 it crashed
Not to mention the smoke and knowing thier plane was on fire
This is unsurvivable, the pilots were extremely competent, but the fire was unstoppable.
AgreeâŠonce the flight crew knew something had gone wrong, it was too late.
They could've made an emergency landing, they just wanted to hide their corrupt acts... the other people on board enjoyed apartheid...
So funny story about this crash. My aunt survived this crash due to the fact that her ticket had the wrong time printed on it, so when she arrived at the airport the plane had already left the airport
I believe at the time a minor news article was made about her about how she narrowly avoided death due to the mistake of her ticket
She was sure 'Guarding Angels', glad she wasn't on the plane.
How is it 'funny'? Stupid.
This is a great life lesson that if things don't turn out the way they should it's because it's saving your life.
what is interesting fopr me with this story is the question, how she dealt with the fact that she escaped death this way. Was she ever again flying? Did she became religious?
@@rnies6849 She has flown many times since then. Worked as a translator for Japanese so flew to Japan quite a lot
My neighbour's dad was part of the cabin crew on the Helderberg when it went down, And although I lost touch with him when we moved overseas, every news article I read about Fl.295, to this day I still feel a helpless sadness at the heartache the surviving families continue to live. There can be no excuse for people to keep secrets about why someone has to grow up without a Dad, or stand at the watery grave of a child or loved-one. RIP.
Guy Butcher: Such a touching comment .... I regard the tragedy as one of the tragic massacres during the Apartheid Era.
Iâm sorry for your loss. Also sorry for this guy, and his channel that is making money off your loss with ad placement in the video. No one should be making money on lost souls.
@@RaidingGoonyup. the sponsors/ad breaks on these videos are incredibly exploitative
â@@dykesmcgee3136except its not exploitative. Mentor pilot, casual criminalist and several others also have ads/sponsors. Some channels have writers and video editors. Those ppl don't work for free nor would I expect them to just cuz its a tragic video. Get off that high horse nd sit down.
my grandma is hanry kissinger
As a former FA of x33 years this was an absolutely terrifying catastrophe.
I wouldnât make too much of the conversation the pilots had regarding their meal. I can tell you for a fact, often pilots do not eat their meals at the same early stage as the passengers. Often they will elect to eat much later, particularly if they had eaten preflight. Some donât even eat at the same time as each other - there are no hard and fast rules on this.
Such a tragic shocking incident. May all those souls RIP đ
Yeah, thatâs what I was going to say. Also, when the Pilot requested a full emergency declaration with the Mauritius ATC, shouldnât there have been a time stamp? Thatâd be an easy indication of when the pilots became aware of the fireâŠ
thats alot of fury/futa analyzing u have done wew
@@MrPaxio âŠ..and thatâs lot of grammatical errors youâve made in one short, garbled sentence too.
@@MrPaxio Forget your meds again bud?
The point of mentioning the meals is of course not the meals themselves but getting the time line of the fire incidences right - and for having evidence that a fire broke out TWO TIMES, not one - and hours apart. If you "play detective" you'll need every shred of evidence to put the jigsaw puzzle together.
Also, as a pilot I know that onboard fire is actually about the most critical emergency there is! Much more dangerous than engine failures or many other inflight emergencies. Aircraft are designed fail-safe, so if something fails something else can take over. And an aircraft without engine thrust can still fly! I.e. glide to the next suitable place - even runway - to land, as has done multiple times.
But with a fire on board while airborne, time is running out quickly. You will want to land asap, absolutely no questions asked.
So that makes the behavior of South African Airlines in this instance even more criminal!
My brother was a SAA Chief cabin steward. He was friends with a stewardess on the flight who was getting married. He spoke little, was very shocked but did say that everyone knew it was due to importing arms. The story was also that they were nuclear arms. It was shocking for me as I had worked for years at the then Jan Smuts airport in Johannesburg. I worked for TAP Airlines as a ground hostess. It was lovely because everyone was so nice. Going or arriving, there were smiles. So different today where it has become a mission. Even in dire trouble, the Captain still said ââyesâ and âthank youâ. South Africans are very polite, me too⊠My condolences to everyone. Very, very sad xx
We enriched our own uranium and our nukes we all home made. The nukes for the G5 & G6 were also home made.
ââ@@andremeyer863what if the onboard fuel was sample from Taiwanese nuke program? They were also an international pariah at the time and were actively developing nuclear weapon after project national glory got abandoned. Perhaps there were South African assistance in Taiwanese nuclear program
I enjoyed my visit to South Africa in 1987 while apartheid was still in effect. Now, I recently saw a video showing black murder-for-hire crimina 27:49 ls operating openly in the streets. This was the instigative program by Paula Zahn.
Let's be real now, there were no nukes onboard any of these flights. It isn't too difficult to hide arms but it is almost impossible to hide nuclear signatures from scanners at every airport. Had there been a nuke on this particular flight, the destruction would've been a global scale disaster with every country detecting the radiation leak.
it's honestly kind of amazing that out of everything designers thought of to make those black boxes as indestructible as possible, they never thought to give them backup batteries in case this exact thing happened
Gotta be because they don't want it to overwrite information after the plane is already down. If it has its own power supply, itll just keep overwriting important dialogue with silence post-crash
@@atsirdsart7386Trueee
A friend of mine was on that flight.
She was part of a group of travel agents who were sent to Taiwan to experience the destinations they were selling.
I remember telling her just before she left, how jealous I was and joked how she should smuggle me onboard in her luggage.
She was engaged to another good friend of mine, who unaware of the disaster, went to (the then Jan Smuts) Airport to pick her up.
I remember how the news broke later that day and the shock everyone felt.
It became obvious shortly thereafter, that the South African government was hiding the truth of what really happened.
Reports later came out of SAA, that the captain of the aircraft was refused permission by South African officials, to divert to the nearest airport when the fire first broke out.
It was suggested by many journalists at the time, that plane was carrying some type of rocket fuel, but I guess we will never know.
@@andybaubau5961Iâm sure you wouldnât say that if it were someone you knew, or that youâd want anyone else to say such things about you. OPâs friend died a tragic and unnecessary death, robbing her and her would be husband an entire lifetime together. This is tragic, have some respect
@@andybaubau5961loser of the year award to you. Your mom will be proud
â@@andybaubau5961hope the same happens to you
@@andybaubau5961congrats. you are a terrible person !
@@andybaubau5961 Stupid
Your videos are the best! As an ex- SAA cabin crew member who has had countless flights on the Helderberg, and knew some of the crew well, there is one discrepancy in your video I'd like to mention if I may. We are trained to only crack the doors open and then secure them with a provided strap in case of a smoke filled cabin. It will be impossible to open a cabin door in flight, as the doors open forward and the wind won't allow it, unless you have King Kong on board. Thanks for this video, great clarity and accuracy.
Thank you, and appreciate the correction!
Did you know Louise O'brien (nee Minaar)? She was a my aunt and a flight attendant on this flight.
@@DuncanAustin yes, I knew her and we flew together on a flight or two, but not very well. Sorry for your loss.
@@DuncanAustinsorry for loss, and also sorry for this channel that makes money off her. Really fucked up they put an ad in this video. Lost were lives, and all they think about is money.
Actually, I appreciate the effort put into bringing this incident to light and letting people know what happened
Maybe watching plane crash videos while im at the airport waiting on my flight home wasnt the best idea.
I do the same thing!!! đź
I am due to fly out of South Africa in 2 days. A bit unsettled after binge watching plane crash videos đ
@@ntandosekay Well, my return flight did not crash, but the captain sure as hell didnt seem to make any attempt at avoiding turbulence. It was probably in my top 5 "bumpiest" flights and i travel A LOT for work. I just noticed that you said youre flying out of SA, you'll be good! Whenever I'm feeling uneasy about a particular flight i typically just take a Xanax or two. I figure if we're going to crash i may as well have a nice buzz going!
I recently took my first two flights ever. Iâm watching this after Iâm home safe already lol đ
Wow, I've watched several versions of this incident. You're the only one who goes deep to expose the real circumstances surrounding the crashes. I pity the innocent passengers who lost their lives. It's ironical the pilots feared losing their jobs if the illegal consignment was caught. However they paid for this with their own lives.
ThatÂŽs the question..if only loosing jobs were in stakes. as you heard..whole country can be cut out and many people will suffer. It is not only black and white.
And still the higher ups were doing it without the fear of the country being cut out...
I also think they have done better than all I have read and listened to
The pilots would be killed too if the plane was inspected in Asia.. they feared for their own life too
â@@rongrongmiao3018, killed, not arrested? Killed by whom?
I think the missing tape is the biggest red flag anyone needs when it comes to knowing what happened, or what was on, that flight.
It was played at a meeting of the SAA pilots shortly after the crash. To obviously protect themselves, you can.be sure nobody is going to talk about it. I know of "the tape" and some of what was on it, because i knew someone close to the pilots. Its best to put the whole tragedy to bed.
@@keithm5048 Tell me please ?
I know - it just screams "guilty," somehow even more so than if they handed the tape over.
â@@keithm5048nope
Covering up eveything that happened there ever since Kruger was in power, is the reason why that "country" is doomed to be ninetieth-rate forever, â@@keithm5048
I think this is the most interesting story you've covered. And like always, high quality
Much appreciated đ
This coverage is absolutely unique and a testament to your skills and dedication as a professional. I have watched this video several times. It seems to provoke such emotion, mystery, and reflection moments. Could it have all been a different outcome? đą
Iâm delighted you enjoyed it :) Based on the intensity of the fire, itâs unlikely that the plane could have been saved. Especially if the fire started off the coast of mauritious.
the plane was near Mauritius when it happened@@GreenDotAviation
This channel deserves WAY more than 264k subscribers. The work put out on it is absolutely amazing. I love aviation stories that have a good mystery to them. BTW, I work in public service, and we have a saying. âWe donât believe in coincidencesâ. The things that happen to people usually happen for a reason. So if the tape from only that night is missing, this was most definitely by design. Whose design though, we donât know. But one of the first things I thought when listening to this was âwhereâs the cargo manifest from that flight?â
Some people aren't fascinated by learning how and why other people died. They leave their families to grieve rather than use it for entertainment.
I'm a Taiwanese-South African, who flew SAA on the same flight number from Taipei to Mauritius to Johannesburg 2 months before this flight. My dad lost his manager on this flight, and I remember as a kindergarten kid, he was watching news on this flight every day. At the time, the Taiwanese government and the South African government were co-operating closely in military, due to the political embargo for both countries. The Taiwanese head of nuclear bomb project (was in secret) escaped to the US just a month after this crash, he lost his nerve, believing the Helderberg might reveal everything. Iâve seen several Taiwanese analysis inviting journalists from the 80s and 90s, many believed the cargo had nuclear weaponary which generated heat high enough to melt a tennis racquet retrieved from the wreck. Only in the 1990s FW de Klerk closed the nuclear project.
it's an open secret , everyone knows but we all just act like we don't
Oh i didnt know that
@@materockk1579 Neither did I. This is new to me.
I always wondered why Taiwan didn't just get a nuclear deterrent. Interesting that they were cooperating with South Africa. Did you know that even if FW closed the program in 1990, South Africa retained her nuclear weapons? When Mandela came into office, some white supremacist military officers stole the nukes and went to hide them in barns all over the country. The CIA and South African special forces were then sent into action to capture the nukes that were then sent to the USA for safe-keeping when Mandela declared SA a nuclear free country. The South Africans also had a "space program" that was a cover for ICBM development. The new SA government shut that down too. It was a crazy time we lived in. I was a student in Cape Town when FW left office and I actually met him and shook hands with him in Rosebank. I was also present at the SA parliament in Cape Town when Mandela came there as president for the first time. Fascinating years.
@@amorosogombe9650 good f* grief but you talk a lot of BS , who told you this nonsense
Mentioned this video to a retired freight company owner. He said he and many others, moved weapon parts, systems, munitions, etc via SAA. The government paid in cash, sometimes they even unloaded the containers on the ship and dumped the empty container over the side when done. Only thing he never touched was the rocket fuel and in his opinion that is what caused this accident.
RIP to those brave pilots who tried to avoid death and save everyone.
Maar ze hebben niets ondernomen om het vuur te doven
I bet the pilots were in on it
I recently stubled across your channel, probably from the algorithms you tube has, and was really impressed by the work youve put into these videos. It's all sound doctrine and the delivery method is flawless. I've been on many different channels concerning aviation and astrology and, as of now, there are no ADS IN THE VIDEOS! I truly despise it when im trying to here a story and out of nowhere they throw in ads. There's no continuity and makes not want to listen to the rest of the story. I know that ads are needed for some people, but im happy that you haven't done it yet. Your stories engage me and are fantastic. Great work!
I was with Balagarda's son back then in primary school. I remember a bunch of people coming over to the school and taking his son out of the classroom. We all heard of the accident but found out later that his father was the pilot of the Helderberg plane that crashed. Well, that's what we were told but just found out in this video that he was the flight engineer, not the pilot..... R.I.P
@Drippy Mario what would he gain for making this up
â@@ThePeaches3335 attention?
School on Saturday?
â@@thewhorenextdoor8268the person posting this is seeking attention
â@@thewhorenextdoor8268attention on a youtube comment section? Lol what? Most people dont even check back on youtube comments after you make it, and its not as though you get paid for likes
Unless youre suffering from munchausen syndrome (which almost exclusively effects women) there is zero incentive to lie about such shit on youtube where you gain nothing from it.
Id you actually think you can get meaningful attention from Yt replies thats on you mate lol
I had flown my wife and friends from Rand airport Johannesburg to Swaziland for the weekend when this tragedy occurred. It occupied most of my thoughts as I piloted my aircraft back to Johannesburg. A fire onboard SA 295 with everyone lost. Most of South Africa were shaken up by this disaster.
I B Newton: Can't begin to imagine what it must have been like to be in midair when the disaster had just occurred. Pilots are a close fraternity. My Dad's best friend had served as a pilot in the RAF. His work necessitated frequent travel between Cape Town and Joburg. He would spend the entire flight listening to every single sound on the aircraft.
As far as I know this is the only blight on SAA's record?
@@gailjones2011 The only other accident was to SA228, a Boeing 707-320C which crashed shortly after taekoff at Windhoek on 20 April 1968. Five survived, 123 died.
Not really, only the white South Africans were shaken up about this. The majority blacks and the coloureds and indians didn't give two shits.
we were in Mauritius when this happened, we had just got married at Club Med outside Grand Baia. There were so many journalists and officials that had arrived. We spoke to some fishermen that were out fishing that night and they said that they saw a huge fireball explosion in the distance while fishing and the official story going around was that there was a huge cargo of fireworks from Taiwan that was being imported that was on that flight. They had brought in lots of pieces of the plane that were all laid out on the beach. Always wondered about that story. Never got any answers, until now. What you suggest seems the most plausible.
I graduated in 1979, the Sioux City Iowa plane crash was our 1st reunion. Over the 3 days we waited waited for any word of one of our classmates Denise BenBen, sadly she died coming to the reunion.
I had only a passing familiarity with this story because one of the passengers was professional wrestler Haru Sonoda, who was on his way to South Africa to work a show for Tiger Jeet Singh. He had just been married and was traveling with his wife. It was his boss, Giant Baba's idea that they use the trip to double as a honeymoon, so he had bought them tickets to go together. During the memorial, Baba wept in the ring and blamed himself for the rest of his life for Sonoda's death.
I'm gonna be so sad when I eventually get through all your current videos. This is probably the best air accident documentary channel I've found to date. Keep up the good work!
Kind of you to say :)
Except for the infernal fucking ads
Mentour pilot is also a good recommendation. Needless to say i love this channel too
@@brannontempels9301 @trineroks 74 Gear is also a good one as he also does funny stuff like ATC vs Pilots and not just crashes
Yeah I have to agree
Great video, many thanks! The evidence (or more precisely, lack therof) certainly supports the theory of the arms shipments. And it also seems that the crew were struggling with a terrible Catch-22 situation.
You may not see this, but ive gotten into the habit of binge watching your videos a month before an exciting flight trip 4 separate times in the past 2 years now
My Father was a South African airways flight engineering during this time. He was sent up with a huge team to aid the recovery of the planed after it crashed.
What ? Please learn how to spell proper English.
Did he have any suspicions or was this an accident?
@Gillian Louw: What did your father find out?
my grandma was the same
Another possibility for why the pilots were discussing dinner so late in the flight could have been that they decided to eat later on the flight. Food often provides a bit of an energy boost during a long shift.
i am more interested in what the food choices were and wherger it was fried od baked food
Thats what I was thinking too. Just cause dinner was served doesn't mean they have to eat it right away. The Captain rules the ship, not the flying waitresses.
Maybe they were taking turns to put out the initial fire? thus it was time to eat thereafter.
@@Mumbo_Jumbo_Kiwi.1 you can roasr hot dogs over a flame
@@WALLY.. probably fried like the plane
Excellent videos. I have been watching all the incidents, taken place in the airline industry. Your producing of all the videos, Is a excellent job. Thank you very much Sir. Huge respect for all your efforts, in producing these airline videos.. Some very sad disasters, and very distressing to watch.
There is something incredibly chilling about an air disaster. For me it terrifies me above all else. I think it must be the inevitably of the outcome and the time to process it
The relief First Officer Birchall was the last guy I took for a flight in Mirage 111BZ 818 on 1st September 1976. Lovely guy, who was about to the leave the SAAF. He thoroughly enjoyed the flight in the Mirage with me but was very excited to be joining SAA. Condelenses to his family and RIP
I still think that our Mirages were the most beautiful jets
Roger that!
Murray family: Very sad to read this. Maybe it's consoling to know you facilitated something so special before his life ended.
Rip hajur
Hearing that they "opened the door" mid flight scare the living daylights out of me as a cabin crew...
I watched this video today and was so impressed with your presentation, details of the flight and thorough breakdown and potential causes of the loss of 295 I immediately subscribed.
Great work.
Fascinating. I had no idea this had happened. Tragic. You tell the events so well.
Cpt Uys was our neighbour,'s son in law.
I was 17 at the time of this tragedy and flew in the Waterberg(the other 747 combi) 1 week after this flight disaster.
There was much terror and concern for the passengers and crew as we embarked.
35 years later and I remember it like it was yesterday.
We all suspected arms were involved and there were other stories circulating too.
As it happens that bird was written off too. In 2000 the aircraft was converted into a freighter and sold to MK Airlines. On October 14 2004 MK Airlines Flight 1602 was written off in Halifax Canada.
Wow, I've seen many different people cover this accident, this is the first time I heard the theory of the fire being put out/a reason that the dinner conversation showed up on the recording, and found out about that missing tape.
Agreed. Same here.
The whole military explosives thing is ludicrous. SA developed nuclear weapons unaided by anybody else. All the light and heavy equipment were produced by SA arms industry. Small arms , artillery, armoured vehicles, helicopter gunships. All local. And exported. Nonsense
@@Wolf-hh4rv this is not true. South Africa developed nuclear weapons only because of Israeli help.
Fernando Fernandez, don't how you know classified weapons development in South Africa however Israel was sympathetic at the time.
Btw:
SA only country to have Nuclear weapons and to voluntarily dismantle them.1989.
This is done all the time. Just land the plane.
I was a crew member on that aircraft many times before it crashed. We as crew were repeatedly instructed, in writing (memos those days), NOT TO SMOKE IN THE MAIN DECK CARGO COMPARTMENT, to which access was easily possible. Perhaps a simple burning cigarette or discarded match by a careless smoker caused the fire.
I love your puzzle piece analogy. Although a piece may be missing that is evidence. You can still see the shape. This shape points to the possibility of two fires. Brilliant work!
I was in Grade 12 in South Africa when this happened, and the story consumed the news for weeks. There were reports that people on the ground in Mauritius had seen an explosion in the air. I don't know if these reports were true, but they led to a widespread notion that there was a bomb on board the plane. The whole thing was such a terrible tragedy.
I thought Seychelles but I am often wrong/
@@derekstocker2071 It could very well have been people in Seychelles. Actually, given the trajectory of the plane, that probably makes more sense.
Would be quite ironic if the ANC terrorists smuggled a bomb on board, alongside the Nat Govt's red mercury stash...
@@boerboel7777Terrorists? You must have loved apartheid S.A.
@@R-STORIES Isn't that what you call those who plant bombs in restaurants and shopping malls? Land mines on civilian farm roads? Mandela was only removed from the US State dept's terrorist watch list in 2008, look it up and educate yourself.
I've always been interested in this story, but I never knew about ZUR before this. Being South African, I know what my government is capable, and smuggling weapons on civilian aircraft is definitely something they'd do. I firmly believe they would do it today if you gave them the chance.
You mean smuggling weapons on civilian aircraft is definitely something THEY DID? Why would we smuggle today when we can just order it from Russia or China.đ
Yeah, the yaapies are very arrogant. Anything is possible
Stop lying about south africa đżđŠ
@@leratoseretsi5603 our politicians would do anything to make more money. We have loadshedding because of corruption. Our hospitals and schools are underfunded because money keeps going missing. They would and they are ruining the country for their own gain. They would put ~100 people in danger for gain in a second.
â@@davidjma7226 what is a jarpie
My grandparents were on this flight as newlyweds before my dad was born. I remember hearing stories about this flight years later about the different theories about how how this plane was brought down.
Do you mean after your dad was born? lol
â@@FilmingFish probably meant grandparents from mother's side ig
This is the first Iâve heard of this incident. I watched spellbound. Hard to imagine the horror that the crew and passengers must feel during such an occurrence. My heart goes out to all those that were on that flight and their families and friends. Truly truly tragic. .
Would have been 2 more, my sister and her husband were scheduled for that flight. But they were in Taipei, but their luggage was still in Hong Kong, so they decided to instead go collect it, and catch the next flight instead.
Iâve studied this accident many times but the information you provide is so unbiased and more informative than anything Iâve ever seen
Yes, branding the South African Government as an "extremist, racist government" is as unbiased as you can get..! (I suppose..!)
@@danielcoetzee5793 Not unbiased at all, as itâs the truth. What possible image do you have in your head that paints the Botha government in a good light?
@@rhettgannon4417 Well, the "Botha govt." spent Billions of S.A. currency (if not Trillions) on uplifting the black populations and lead them to independence.
(which is more than what the British Empire did for Lesotho and Swaziland who were given independence by Britain and just dumped and left to their own devices).
The first act of the S.A. govt when they gained their own independence from Britain was to SET FREE all the black nations / tribes which were subjugated by the British Empire and forced into a "UNION" against their will and ruled by the British crown for a hundred years .
The S.A. govt returned their freedom and their traditional land to them which Britain took away from them, slaughtering and killing them by the thousands.
The S.A. govt. did not conquer or subjugate a single tribe in South Africa. The British Empire did all of that.
The two Boer Republics and the Dutch colony in the Cape were also subjugated to the British crown through the barrel of the gun and forced into an UNOLY UNION (The "Union of S.A..) with all the Black nations tribes of South Africa (no less than eleven different nations with different languages, customs, beliefs, values and identities).
The "Boers" were the "Liberators" of the Black tribes of S.A.. They liberated them from their OPRESSORS, the British Empire.
BUT the EMPIRE STRUCK BACK and with clever propaganda painted themselves as the "Liberators" while painting the true Liberators as the "Oppressors".
All while smearing the Boers as "racists", "extremists", "evil oppressors" etc. etc. etc. in the international Press and in the United Nations, stirring up opposition, HATRED and further oppression through "SANCTION" and "ISOLATION" and "BOYCOTS"..!
YOU, My Friend, is a product of that Propaganda smear and HATE campaign..! You have swallowed their LIES hook line and sinker and turned into a useful "anti-Apartheid" foot soldier idiot.
You are still perpetuating this HATE even 30 years after "Black Independence" in S.A. while turning a blind eye and deaf ear to the the real goings on in S.A..
You fight "Apartheid"..?
Then come to the EMPIRE OF SOUTH AFRICA...! It is alive and well and flourishing.
Or you can fight your own "Apartheid Govt." at home..!
@@rhettgannon4417 It's "all truth", isn't it My BBC listening Friend"..?
It is BBC "truth"..!
You must be British then, aren't you?
Tell me; what does "Apartheid" mean..? Do you even know..?
Apartheid was the system of Independence (sovereignty) for SEPARATE nations.
Are you a separate, independent, sovereign nation?
Do you have your own country (land, territory) SEPARATE from everyone else?
Do you have (international) borders?
Do you have your own constitution, flag, emblems, laws, military, police, language, history, culture, traditions, values and identity?
Do you have your own, separate elections, and your own government..?
Are you free as a nation or are you ruled and subjugated to another nation or EMPIRE..?
If you answer "YES' to these questions, then you have an APARTHEID government and system and you live under "Apartheid" and enforce your apartheid on others as well.
Do you have your own passports, borders, and customs, visas, currency etc..
Do you limit citizenship to any person or persons? Do you restrict entry into your country in anyway or can anyone enter and settle as they like or choose and have ALL the rights and privileges of a citizen of your country...?
Do you fight wars to defend your territory and sovereignty?(eg. against HITLER's invasion or in the Falkland Islands etc. etc. ?)
Do you fight wars against other countries to enforce your will and values upon them (Iraq, Afghanistan etc. etc. etc. etc. etc.)?
Do you (or did you) fight wars of conquest to subdue and subjugate other independent nations and peoples and rule over them steal their land and assets, eg. Boers, Zulus, Arabs, Indians etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc.)?
Did you commit war crimes and crimes against humanity by operating concentration DEATH CAMPS in occupied territories for women, children and old people.???!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
If so, then you do not only have an apartheid government, but also an EVIL one..!
S.A. "Apartheid" was a system of Separate development"....!
But you conveniently leave out the "DEVELOPMENT" part (which development you also left out when you granted Lesotho and Swaziland independence).
Here is a NEWS FLASH for the BBC...;
The Boers (Afrikaners) did not subjugate a single black tribe in S.A. (Britain did it ALL).
They didn't take a single nation's independence away from them EVER..!
Instead of taking freedom away they GRANTED FREEDOM and independence.
Neither did they oppress any other nation, instead they liberated them the moment they came under their control..!
How many nations/ peoples did the British Empire conquer and oppress...?
But listen on, you will NEVER hear that from the BBC...!
@@danielcoetzee5793 I don't agree with everything you've said, but yes, the bbc, known for decades (in it's more-respectable days) as "Aunty Beeb" has sadly just become a s__t show of lies, clever deception and gl0balist-fascist-marxist pr0paganda. I used to love listening to it as a younger person.đ
Agreed, not all intentions with the apartheid system were evil, but nobody (at least deliberately or openly) should condone the many backward, racist expressions of the apartheid system (and they were there!)
However, as with Zimbabwe the rapid and careless way SA was forced by an almost completely ignorant Western world to hand-over the reigns of the country to a greedy, incompetent marxist-thinking elite of politicos needs absolutely no explanation or convincing, for it is on full open-air display for everybody to see in today's South Africa. Very sad for all.
You are the MrBallen of aviation stories. I have no idea what youâre talking about but you present it so well that Iâm fully picturing it the whole time. Fascinating. Keep up the great work
My theory is that as you had said, the South African Government at the time had used commercial airliners to smuggle goods to their military, so I think that something happened to one of those things and it caused a fire throughout the back of the plane, which caused it to crash
I was living in Jo'burg at the time and remember this tragedy all too well as one of my father's friends, had a friend that died in this plane crash. I also remember the reason the SAA put out, was that it was carrying a consignment of fireworks from Asia which, for some reason, had caught alight and caused the plane to blow apart over the ocean. This never sat too well with me and now, upon hearing this documentary, I think the truth has revealed itself. This sounds like the real truth and all makes sense !
Remind me to never fly SAA!
ââ@@lisatarr3078SAA had a very good safety record, for your info.
ââ@@lisatarr3078this was literally almost 40 years ago under a VERY difficult political climate. SAA is not like that now and has an extrenely good safety record. This is about as fucking stupid as refusing to visit Vietnam because there was a war there several decades ago.
I was born and raised in South Africa and a young adult at the time this disaster took place. This was the time shortly after SA got involved with nuclear research. We were aware that SAA were involved in carrying dangerous cargo on passanger planes. There was at the time strong speculation that the dangerous cargo on this plane was enriched uranium⊠The nickname for this plane is Helderberg and the first captain was on his last flight before retiring⊠He never made it home⊠Very SadâŠ
Ammonium Perchloride (APC) was apparently the guilty chemical as I read on a blog by a very closely involved engineer. He even told the investigation committee, but they ignored it. APC can be very unstable - read up on the PEPCON disasterđą.
My maiden name is Uys. I was the same month in a Bell Jet Ranger helicopter accident. I live and walk to tell the story. â€ïžâđ©č
Agreed. That was the common perception at the time.
@@tebraduplessis420 This must be the most horrific experience imaginable!
That was all ignorant speculation. By the 80' s South Africas uranium enrichment capabilities were already in place at Palindaba(sp?)
I feel like big planes like this should have fire extinguishing systems in place and the plane should be in sections. So if a fire brakes out in area 3, then all the passengers can move into 2 and the oxygen be cut from the part. Idk. It would be hard to do.
Thanks for this enlightening video. I was just finishing school when I heard on the news that SAA Flight 295 (Helderberg) went down over the ocean near Mauritius. I also heard that there had been a fire aboard before the plane went down.
My late uncle was a flight attendant, who had been scheduled to fly on that flight but had been transferred to another flight just before the fateful flight.
The words own oxygen supply also made me think of explosives of the military kind, although I'd be really interested to find out who made those munitions available to that flight, and where it was loaded on board.
South Africa did not have many friends back then, and it is real curious that any of their friends would be hanging around South Eastern Asia.
I'm an airplane nerd and was familiar with this accident. After watching your video I'm not so sure it was an unpreventable accident. Thanks for your channel!
This incident is to me the most horrifying and tragic ever, it has been told and retold numerous times, but your rendition is clearly the most outstanding!
Pity though that weâll never find out what actually happened and whyâŠ
we will
The deletions and shredding make it not matter what ACTUALLY happened. It was an intentional crime that should have left West Africa forever without an international airport. Sometimes the price of committing a crime is just too high to pay so it's let go.
A terrible incident indeed. What is literally a million times more tragic and agonisingly slow is watching the entire nation of South Africa die by the cancer of an amazingly corrupt and inept government.
The countless people dying in South Africa every single day of many preventable crimes such as murders, preventable diseases at homes or in hospitals (with no running water, medicines or electricity), not to mention the plummeting life expectancy ultimately due to massive mismanagement of that entire country. Such a shame, and on open-air display for all to see.
Have you heard of MH370. It's kinda similar in a way. Not 100% but yeah. Check out mh370
I was in primary school as an 11 yo in South Africa when this happened. A friend and classmate lost her father in this tragic air accident and Iâll never forget the sheer sadness on her face to this day. I just remember seeing about âThe Heidelbergâ plane clash all over the news, I had forgotten anything more to this day. So sad for all the families who will never know the truth. RIP to all those who perished in this tragedy đą
your vids are the best when it comes to airline investigations, stories in my humble opinion. thanks!
Yes I remember photos from our local paper of 'dead 'bodies' being brought ashore in Port Louis by our coast guards. They were covered in white or black. There was one Mauritian passenger who perished in that tragic crash, a Mr Rostom. As Mauritians, we felt very sad by the loss of so many lives. However, the captain and his crew did a great job, until the end trying to avoid a crash. The sad thing is that politicians can use people for their own evil gain. Hope all those affected by this tragedy have found peace and cherish memories of their loved ones. I remember it was called the Heidelberg.
What makes you doubt the bodies or them being dead? I think the one thing we actually can be sure of is that people perished in this catastrophe, so the Mauritian coast guard bringing the remains of passengers and crew ashore is not unrealistic, no matter what actually happened.
@Matthias Patzelt . No I didn't doubt. It was very painful, a terrible moment.
That's the stuff of horror films. I know how quickly a fire can consume a building, for it to be in an aircraft over the sea must be absolutely horrendous.
czcams.com/users/shortsBmc9NFfhx74?feature=share
What a nice documentary, again, as usual on the channel. Quiet, descriptive, not thrill-seeking, it focuses on facts, and some hypothesis and eventually gives a real good global view of what happened. I'd almost call aeronautical đ
These videos are so good.
Fantastic storytelling.
I'm not a confident flyer and find being in a plane to be a claustrophobic experience, not helped by the fact that you can't just ask them to pull over and let you out. To be in a burning plane, however, is absolutely the stuff of nightmares. I don't even want to imagine how horrific it was for these people in their final moments. If this fire was down to illegally carried munitions then may it weigh very heavily on the consciences of those who authorised it.
I don't think the folks who authorised it even have consciences, unfortunately.
@@shaun_rambaran Yes, you're probably right. Imagine what an amazing world we would live in if all the effort we put into fueling wars was channeled into feeding everybody and ridding the world of disease and suffering. Ain't never going to happen, sadly.
@@shaun_rambaran capitalism is quite good at detecting people with consciences and weeding them out
@@thewhitefalcon8539 And it's more effective the closer you get to the top of the heap.
@kat if you think this is funny think about it some more
My sister's ex husband was a senior 747 captain with SAA at the time and was part of the crash investigation team,I spoke to him briefly about the crash not long after it had happened when they still hadn't recovered any of the wreckage,he and my sister divorced a year later and I haven't spoken to him since.He is still alive and would love to know what he knows about the circumstances now.Thanks for another great video, didn't know about the ZUR mystery.
Worked for SAA on the ground in Durban at the time ... was absolutely devastating .......we all knew a lot of the crew as the 747" s used to transit DUR in those days to MRU and LHR .......
Do you have his Contact?
Saa pilots back then did not speak about incidents for fear of losing their jobs. More recently they did not criticise the company for fear of being replaced by an under qualified AA pilot & then Dudu Myeni
One of Zuma's sidechicks put the airline out of business. Now it's an AA airline which you fly at your peril - I'm waiting for one to fall out of the skies like the one that nearly stalled out of Brussels because the quota pilots did not calculate the freight load correctly.
@@fredperry523
cedric carr
0 seconds ago
and imagine this... it's 2023 and we still have a racist regime as in the anc and we have lost our national carrier as in SAA due to this racist regime's corruption over the last 28 years....
@@fredperry523 I am a retired Loadmaster/Dispatcher/Weight&Balance Officer. Pilots are not responsible for that calculation. Ground staff work it out, and input it onto the weight & balance chart/loadsheet. When all calculations are complete it is taken to the flight deck and presented to the skipper. He or the F/O supposedly check the data which is put into the ship's computer. The L/S is signed by the skipper and a copy is retained on board and by law, a copy retained in the load control office.
Incidentally, if the loadmaster has made an error that results in death, he/she may be charged with manslaughter!
Now I remember if I ever find myself as a passenger in such a situation I'd inhale as much smoke as possible for the best possible outcome. What a horror!
WOW! What a story! As usual, such a well done presentation.
Crew did everything they could this is heartbreaking but very important to know about. Rest in Peace
No they did not. They purposefully did not call an emergency after the first fire and not divert to the closest airport. They tried to cover up the weapons in the back
No those greedy individuals care more about their image than actual lives
The narrator keeps sayingâflight attendant â. The correct word is either steward or stewardess
@@ronaldmessina4229 Steward/Stewardess, air-hostess, and flight attendant are all terms used to refer to the Members of the cabin crew.
Today the term âFlight Attendantâ is internationally accepted and most commanly used owing to being gender neutral and more appropriate and more in accordance with their duties as cabin crew.
The term steward/stewardess is almost obsolete and for the most part hasn't been used in decades to refer to the cabin crew. Cabin crew members were known as steward/stewardess for several decades since the beginning of the commercial aviation industry due to the role of the cabin crew back then only being limited to serving and ensuring the comfort of the passengers. But calling cabin crew stewards/stewardesses today, generally reduces their role of maintaining safety on board and being trained professionals able to effectively deal with emergencies of any nature, to only being concerned with food/drinks and passenger comfort.
As for the air-hostess, it is still regularly used to refer to female cabin crew members, but is far less common than the gender neutral âFlight Attendantâ which can be used to refer to any member of the cabin crew, their gender notwithstanding.
As for Flight Purser, a Flight Purser or a Chief Flight Attendant is a member of the cabin crew with all the same roles as any other memeber, but an additional managerial role. A purser is generally the head of the cabin crew and ensures everything goes on smoothly in the cabin. Apart from this a purser makes sure safety procedures are performed, handles all the money from in-flight sales, generally makes all the announcements, ensures paperwork is complete, deals with passenger complaints, and generally has serving duties just like the rest of the cabin crew.
The crew is rotting in hell.
Bloody f###ks killed everyone onboard.
Another great channel that is better than most things on Netflix. Currently binge watching all your videos. Really appreciate the hard work. It's great how you've made them so engaging with just animation and narration - saving us from the cheesy acting you see in air crash investigation reconstructions.
This particular video I think is the best because of the wider complications of politics/war and the mystery about the dinner conversation. What I like about your videos is that you also include ones about incidents where the planes don't actually crash (air crash investigation videos are only ever about disasters) but the incidents are still so compelling.
Thank you so much for the kind words! We put a lot of work into these videos and we're always trying to improve them, so I'm glad you're enjoying them đ
Very well said indeed, Matt! Even the unhurried way in which the details are gradually unpacked, the agreeable pitch of the narrator's voice in perfect synchrony with the exquisite graphics, and even the silent pauses and the suspense that he so skilfully injects into the unfolding drama, make these presentations so gripping that one cannot leave his seat till the actual conclusion has been reached ... and even then, as it happened with you, one wants another episode, and then another, and then another!
Who needs Netflix!
@@GreenDotAviation A bit of tailored music composition would enhance them enormously. It costs money but your investment would make your story even more compelling. (Library music however would kill it).
i love Netflix documentariesâ€
@@gowoke_gobroke No, please no! No âmusicâ! What an awful idea!
Itâs horrifying to imagine this happening to you. Imagine getting on a plane to go surprise ur family, not knowing that by tomorrow youâll be dead
South Africa? Corruption and deceit? Never!
A fire on board is terrifying enough, but somehow, the fact that we'll never learn what exactly happened makes it even more disturbing.
Intriguing video, as always. Thanks GDA!
One day somebody will reveal everything.
A manager just has to anger the wrong employee with enough knowledge and a vindictive personality to have it happen.
I remember being in the SAA Museum a few years back and taking a picture of the wallpaper of the South African 295 aeroplane. A beautiful cream, with golden accents in a floral, protea pattern. Edges lined with blackened, burnt paper, to the point where you can almost imagine you feel the heat from those burnt, delicate edges. It was a visceral experience.
To Charne Ueckermann: A Cape Town artist, whose father died in the tragedy, based 2/3 of her exhibitions on the event. It was terrible to see visitors crying at the gallery at the first exhibition. I went every day or two to talk to them. They were so appreciative of someone knowing why they were there. The saddest work was one made up of those old SAA baggage labels, one for each passenger. I bought it but eventually consigned it to auction, just couldn't look at it anymore.
@@vivicohen199 Thank you for sharing. I had no idea, I truly feel like this is something we should at least learn in school in SA.
I can imagine it was a grounding experience. Your donation as well.
Do you remember the name of the artist? I would love to see some of her work.
A masterpiece! Thank you so much for the amazing content.
Thank you. I have wondered about what happened with SA Helderberg 295, for decades
It was speculated that Armscor was possibly using SAA to transport certain items on civilian aircraft to bypass sanctions. It was well known that many pilots would refuse to fly these routes under threat of dismissal and / or imprisonment. Manifests were often "fudged" to disguise the real cargo. This tragedy was rumoured to have been caused by rocket fuel cells igniting in the cargo section. Such a sad situation.
Beyond sadđą. Itâs so outrageous that the nationalist government were prepared to do this. Still makes me furious.
Speculated? Rumoured? Wow. Well I'm convinced.
This video is so high quality that itâs truly unbelievable that you have only less than 100k subs, like, how is this even possible!? I watched this case before but Iâve never seen any reference to the political issues of the airlineâs origin country that it interfered the way the airline was operated, the suspicious conversation and how the cockpit recorder worked in a weird timeline if everything was put together. The amount of information here is telling me you did it passionately with all your heart, soul and effort. Itâs just flawless. I canât express how much i like your videos especially this one! Keep up the good work!
Thank you very much! My team and I put a lot of work into these videos, so Iâm delighted youâre getting so much out of them â„ïž
@@GreenDotAviation No wonder itâs this great. You guys deserve all the love and support. I just found your channel and am now binge-watching your videos, tremendously enjoyed and thanks to you i got a good amount of extra knowledge couldnât get anywhere else. Cheers! đ
Take a good look into the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie Scotland in 1998, special reference to FBI and CIA connections to victims and investigators both!
@@TheScouseassassin Iâll definitely look into that. Thanks for the suggestion!
the channel needs a more clearer voice and accent for the narrator, its the only reason I haven't subbed. it was presented well but the voice let's it down for me
Outstanding! Great investigation, truly enjoyed!
As a former first class flight attendant, also serving the flight deck crew, I can say that food might had been served much later after the regular passenger service.
It is not said that the cockpit crew had their meals right after dinner service in the main cabin.
The CVR-recordings might had ended either over South East Asia, if the pilots had their dinner right after the passenger service, or later if they had eaten a few hours later.
So it is still unclear when and where the recordings really ended.
I personally tend to the theory that a first fire ignited much earlier and also ended the CVR-recordings (they had dinner right after the main cabin service), flight attendants managed to superficially extinguish that first fire, according to their main deck cargo fire procedure, but it re-ignited hours later, shortly before reaching Mauritius.
Taiwan was known for selling weapons and explosives to South Africa during that time.
100% korek
What explosives did Taiwan manufacture that SA couldnât? While SA has vast natural resources Taiwan has nothing.
@@Wolf-hh4rv Taiwan was (is) a US protectorate with access to the latest technology and weapons (semiconductor manufacturers themselves) while SA was embargoed in trade, arms, sports and culture. They couldnât even participate in Olympic Games.
@@Wolf-hh4rv ammonium perchlorate is one guess en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_African_Airways_Flight_295
I was a 12 year old boy living in Johannesburg south when this took place. Too this day I still listen and watch anything old or new concerning flight SAA295. Many people have many theories concerning the downfall of the plane. I just hope that the families will know the truth one day.
I like this channel, because the others on aviation disasters make the videos so much longer than necessary.
Best channel I've found in yonks. Keep them going please đâïžâïžâïž
Horrible way to spend your final time on this side of the hereafter.
What an evil group of people were the racist south african colonists who caused this crash
nah that would be so epic especially after youve been drinking for the entirety of the flight and Maybe you just had sex w one of the help on board like I would cos I am so handsome and persuasive it would be so easy and also perfectly cap off the day in my humble opinion. I coulda probably landed it myself.
Not to mention whatâs on the other side⊠the endless void
The endless void? ?? Do you have proofs or this is in your fantasy?
â@JME1186 no more pain or worries đź
This story reminds me on the El Al flight LY 1862 that crashed on Amsterdam Oct 4 1992. It's still in mistery what in carried on that plane. The Dutch gouvernment decided to keep the archives closed until 2062
you do this so well thanks, great channel
Glad you enjoy the videos!
I lost a dear friend in this crash. Lynn Hayward. RIP. The SA government at the time spent a lot money, and a lot of time to find this aircraft, long after the search was called off by all other parties involved. One wonders why they would put so much effort into a search that might expose some illegal activity on their side.
BTW, you should read up on the South African Border War and the Angolan Bush War. South Africa was not "at war with its neighbor, Angola" as you claimed. The primary conflict that occurred in Namibia (then South West Africa), Zambia, and Angola was against SWAPO. Having said that, the South African defense force was assisting Jonas Savimbi's "National Union for the Total Independence of Angola". The USA backed Savimbi against the Cuban / USSR supported Marxist "People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola", until one day Chester Crocker just showed up and declared " you are on your own dudes.." They did manage to keep the Communists at bay long enough for the USSR to dissolve.......so there's that.
Wth are you on about ???
@@alam8403
Geo politics dear.
Geo politics are like jet planes.
Way over your head..
âOne wonders why the South African government might put so much money into an investigation that might expose some illegal activity on their sideâ
Iâm sure there is a name for this logical fallacy, but iâve forgotten it. This is essentially the same thing as others saying âif he wanted to kill his wife, why are there photos of them smiling and laughing?â Or âHe couldnât have committed this crime/he doesnât need to steal money because he has a stable job and a good family.â
The motive here is to obviously make the world less suspicious of the government. To make outside spectators think âTheyâre contributing to the investigation so therefore there was no shady coverups by the governmentâ.
Good reply and comments Neil đđ I think however to majority of this audience, they will go right over the heads (no pun) intended.
Unfortunately to those not familiar with the 'Border War' at the time, much too involved in any event, it's always about White Racist South Africans cooking the books and up to no good.
All the proxy wars / police actions fought by the US, UK etc don't count. TBC...
@@alam8403 he seems to be saying because they had success in this war against communists that it's OK the plane crashed.... although the logic in that reasoning escapes me....