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I was the controller being relieved on that night in the TRACON. Our usual routine was to have a "late guy" who works alone from about 10 pm until midnight. That night was miserable, howling winds, sideways rain, multiple go-arounds and diverts. I recall thinking when I left the shift to the two "mid-shift" guys, that this is the type of nights accidents happen. Runway 15 at KBDL was a terrible runway to land on and the VOR approach wasn't much help to that runway; I have landed on that runway myself and I didn't like it. The next day, I went to the hangar where the airplane towed, and the aircraft was a mess! Every foot of both leading edges had damage and there was a tree limb sticking out of one of the engines. Both of the main landing gears had trees wrapped in them. I am surprised they made it to the runway. I forgot to mention they hit the RW 33 ILS antennas on the approach end and those parts were stuck to the aircraft. Quite a night, they even closed the tower due to the high winds.

I was the National Transportation Safety Board investigator-in-charge of the government work on this one. Thank you for an extremely clear summary. Our final report criticized the pilots and also commended them for landing successfully. A bit of a rarity. I and the other pilots on my NTSB team wondered if we could have done as well as this AAL crew did in a similar situation. As an aside, I was told that the AAL union pilots awarded the captain with a tree fragment from his landing gear well. I thought that was pretty cool.

A bird strike is bad enough for the engine. The whole nest and tree is another level.

The first officer seems like a great friend to have

Living life as an ILS antenna is hazardous.😂

Dear Petter! Please cover Alrosa Flight 514. It's a true miracle. Please like so that Petter will see it. UPD. Many English-language sources describing the event completely miss the key point what made this landing possible: after the airstrip was closed in the beginning of 2000th, it was used only as a helipad. However, the airport warden, Sergey Sotnikov, on his own initiative was himself cleaning the runway (!) and maintaining it in a good condition for 13 years despite the airport to be long closed without any hope of revival. When asked "why", he basically said that it was painful for him to see the runway in a bad shape. He was later awarded by then russian president Medvedev.

I had posted elsewhere here but as a TRACON controller who was there that night, I just wanted to say that I listened to this with a very critical ear and you my friend get an A+ for accuracy, as well as the overall presentation! Thank you...

I must be honest, a teardrop fell of my eyes when the FO called "god bless you we made it". What an incredible history, thanks Peter for sharing with us!

Anytime there’s an elaborate description of anything that seems benign, I anxiously await to hear the words “Remember that” spoken with a slight nod and cryptic look in the eyes… when it happens, it’s like Christmas

I love the ones with good airmanship and happy endings

I love that the first officer was helping without taking over - and starting a ‘fight for control’ - reasonable suggestions, questions and encouragement.

I’m a tv news photographer and was at the airport after the incident. Soaking wet passengers in their socks in the terminal. We got to go to the tarmac to see the plane and it looked like someone walked down the leading edge of the wings hitting them with a baseball bat. No doubt a few inches lower would have caused a crash. My favorite sound bite was someone upset that the pilots didn’t make an announcement after the impact inform them of the problem.

I was a cabin crew member of a USair flight that landed just prior to the American. It was a nerve wracking approach - weather was terrible with many strong gusts, shifts and high potential for windshear. (I kept hoping the pilots would divert). Strong turbulence at low altitude and I wasn't really surprised when I heard the morning news about this incident.

One Swiss cheese slice away from a BBQ.

I was an AA S80 CA at the time this occurred. I'm going to say with absolute certainty that the trap this crew fell into could happen to any crew on the wrong day at the wrong time. So it was eventually a great CRM class example that everyone learned from. Yes they made mistakes, but the conditions they faced and the rapidity of having to deal with several nonstandard issues put them behind the curve in the blink of an eye. I have seen a few situations where things just go all to hell that fast. Late at night, probably some fatigue setting in, crazy weather - they got loaded up pretty quickly. Once they hit the trees it was pure airmanship that got them to the lip of the overrun. That and about a million angels holding the plane up in the sky. No one liked the old school method of dive-and-drive down to a non-precision MDA which was a procedural option at the time, but it's easy to imagine the desire to do so in this case because of being anxious to acquire the runway visually. Also, the altimeter QFE settings below 10,000' was unique to AA and it was weird using your standby altimeter as the primary altitude reference. Good riddance to that procedure shortly after this incident. That approach to RWY 15 looks a bit intimidating even in clear weather with the high ridge line right below you. I can easily imagine drifting below the MDA because 1. using VOR to track a course was a very rare occurrence, and 2. the crosswind drift meant an expected automation aid was suddenly not available and the CA was literally flying by the seat of his pants and transitioning to hand-flying under mounting duress. The picture in the hanger afterward was insane with that HUGE THICK branch sticking out of - I forget - either the wing leading edge or the engine intake. I was amazed it wasn't a hull loss. I actually flew that plane a few times after it returned to service. It acquired a few nicknames - "Hartford Garden Weasel", "Hartford Weed Whacker", Hartford Wood Chipper", etc. At some point a creative Captain took a black magic marker, and on the left windshield pillar covered with that lovely blue-green foam, drew a vertical line about 6 inches high with 7 horizontal hash marks on it representing a scale gradation superimposed on the lower windshield corner view. At the bottom of the scale he wrote "Good trees" and at the top of the scale he wrote "Bad Trees". Pilot humor.

Love Petter saying, "Things were not great,...... but they were about to get a LOT worse"

20:56: I like how the leftmost guy in the control tower has a coffee cup balanced on his wrist and he's looking at it like a watch. "What time is it son?" "It's exactly coffee o'clock sir!"

I loved that CRM and cockpit work by the flight crew specially the FO. Sometimes, a little encouragement and help goes a long, long way. But also how ingenious was the captain's idea with the flaps, even if to an extent, they played a role into this incident happening, I'd still gladly fly with a crew like them on my plane.

Those last few seconds were such a nightmare. The pilots were genuine flyers, each playing their role so excellently, and recovering from a situation that would have sunk many less CRM savvy and skilled crews. The first officer in particular got the gear down and made the right calls. Brilliant teamwork. All while being in blistering rain and turbulence. "God bless you, you made it" says it all.

I watch almost all the plane crash documentary's but mentor pilot is the only channel I've truly learned from. The way Peter explains anything from systems to now the weather is thorough and very well said

I’ve researched this one before. Very interesting how they cleared the fence by deploying the flaps at the last second, getting enough of a ‘bounce’, so to speak, to get over the fence without hitting it.

I was 8 when this happened, and remember it. I live below the runway 6 approach, and remember they put lights atop the hill the plane grazed. Thank you for covering this one!

My youngest child think it's macabre to listen to these case studies, but I find them some of the most inspirational things to listen to. And that's an overused word, but there's something we can all learn from people who work a problem and fight to the very end. Sometimes it's about how to work, or not work, with others, sometimes it's about letting go of your ego, and sometimes it's about listening to the voice beside you telling you that you've got this and you can do it.

As a mechanic (cars, not airplanes), I love the time you take to explain the technical and mechanical systems that come into play in these incidents. Thank you for making such interesting and high-quality videos.

This guy just explained high and low air pressure, and what it looks like on a forecast map, better than any science teacher I ever had!!! Actually visualising it like hills and valleys, and how the wind changes when the hills are steep… it finally makes sense!!!

i think this might be one of my favorite stories just because it shows how redeemable absolutely devastating mistakes can be. one bad slip up can down an aircraft, but one good call can save it, too.

I WAS THE ILS at the near end of RW-15 THAT NIGHT! I had proudly served as ILS localizor for RW-33 - but I knéw something bad was going to happen!! Even my grandpa - an old lightbulb at a firestation - had warned me of ever getting involved w. the aeronautics industry! But there I was.... first getting pelted by rain - and then - right out of the dark black night - a landing gear hit me right in the array'! - Can you imagine how that feels?? To add insult to injury the tail end of the airplane smacked me something fierce and spread me across the tarmac. Only upside was that my aluminium got recycled and parts of me are now resting on beachtables on Hawaii :- )

Peter - I was a newly minted AA MD-83 Capt in 1997 1. Entirely accurate exquisite detailed narrative /debrief - AA MD80 Fleet Manager used this in new upgrade CRM 2. You are a WONDERFUL master storyteller besides teaching skills -this is a lost art Your timeline , great narrative skills had me on the edge of my retired seat You ALSO eloquently painted a accurate picture of how BUSY the MD80 AA non precision cockpit WAS (nightmare seems prehistoric now ) In 1997 AA was transitioning entire fleet we were limited to visual and non precision for 6 months NOTE : AA after this and the 757 Cali Columbia recognized NONE of AA pilots or fleet had integrated radio altimeter into scan which may have prevented both terrain isssues ALL AA fleets mandatory “RADIOMETER ALIVE “ call (it wakes up 2,500 feet AGL) The 767 was a dream - u finished last 8 years just LAX HAWAII 6x per month - no weather , light winds scattered showers ❤that was my airline pilot dream job SIA 747-400 Contract Capt another nightmare company and procedures 😂

This video was much better than the Mayday/Air Crash Investigation episode on American 1572

I see mentour pilot. I click. Simple life,

Bless the copilot for his praise and encouragement during maximum stress

Better Help is not a good company

I really hope those guys kept their jobs. Even though they made an error, keeping cool (when the trees hit the fan) is a trait every good airline needs.

Green dot aviation yesterday and Mentor pilot today? What a weekend!!! Alls we need now is Disaster Breakdown tomorrow 🤣

The FO encouraging the captain is so amazing; it should be common place but thankfully these circumstances aren't common place. Im just glad everyone survived and had a heck of a story to tell!

I am the owner of a car service centre . One of my mechanics failed to fasten a rear brake caliper proprerly on a customers vehicle . It came loose! Two day later the customer called from a town 500 km's away reporting that he had to stop at another workshop to sort out the problem . No one was hurt and no damage was done . My initial response was to give the mechanic a proper tongue lashing and final warning .Because of watching and learning from the mentour pilot ,I thought about it and approached the situation differently . I took into account that this mechanic has not had a mishap in two years and that he was working on two cars intermitantly . ....which was the actual root cause of the incident . We now have preventative measures in place .ps. I am thankful that we work on cars and not aircraft !

PETTERHELP YES! BETTERHELP NO!!!! Apart from that... awesome breakdown and quality again MP. Chapeau!!

Aviation disasters AND lines on maps??? This Mentour and William Spaniel fan is a happy cat.

The coolest part of these videos is seeing comments from people who were directly involved in some way.

This is my local airport. I live about 30 miles away. I remember when this incident happened. It was all over the TV news channels for a few days, back when people actually watched the local news channels. There was a reporter who interviewed a person who went to where the plane first hit the trees so he could gather a tree branch as a memento of his brush with death. His praise of the pilots' actions was profuse with gratitude for their flying skills. Close shave!

The amount of information/knowledge pilots need to have and apply, is truly exceptional.

That was a nail-biter indeed! Great work from that pilot pairing. The mistake is forgivable given the workload and conditions. The recovery was heroic.

"God bless you. You made it". Oh, I felt that one!

Just another little tid-bit. As I said in another post, the MD-80 was towed to hangar on the field. About two days after the accident, an American DC-10 arrived from DFW with mechanics and parts; they swarmed that aircraft for a couple days and then it was flown back to Dallas at 10,000 ft, further repaired, and then returned to service.

I was working at Bradley airport at that time with that incident happened. I came in the following morning to our hanger, which was business Express and saw the MD 80 sitting there in our hanger sideways with all the physical damage. They were very lucky after hitting those trees plane stay there for at least a week where they repaired it for flight back out, I thought I had some photos of it but it’s been a long time since that happened that I took great story Brian

Mentour Pilot, without a doubt the best aviation videos that go into serious details. Always warms my heart when you do MD80 videos Petter (8500 on that beautiful bird)…but any video from you is a MUST WATCH

Close isobars and “you’re in for a bit of a ride”, brilliant description

That last minute flaps deployment was amazing. Not sure I've ever been on the edge of my seat this much when watching one of your videos.

I'm very happy that the incident I've been eager to see it covered on this channel is finally been covered. I heard former NTSB investigator in Charge Bob Benson saying that as much as the crew made mistakes they showed great flying skills and averted a disaster and one of the investigators said something like "that was great flying if there's one" as they did everything right after hitting the trees.

What an amazing skillset these two pilots have! God’s Blessings to them both indeed.

As a tower controller who used to work at BDL, admittedly not during the incident, this hits very close to home and was why I watched this episode. It was the first time I had watched an episode by Petter and they are all just absolute quality. Keep up the good work.

The first officer's words and actions made me cry! This is a beautiful story of two heroes! Thank you for sharing! Two heroes who exemplify what it is to be a pilot! "We're still flying!" Wow!😢❤

I am no pilot or even engineer and never ever thought of becoming one. But it's been 4 days since I your video for the first time Sir and until now only watching your channel. I know my words means nothing comparing to the value you're putting in society. But I must say that you're doing a remarkable job on youtube because if I can understand your videos it means anyone can. Salute to you Sir.

Despite the crew being the initial cause, that move with the flaps was frankly pretty brilliant. At least the crew knew how to think on their feet as a team!

Mentour Pilot. That was a great build-up. I was sweating bullets as your description was just like being there. I was on a flight from Bangkok to Yangon. Part way out, we ran into engine problems. The pilot turned back to Bangkok. I noticed a spray coming out of the tip of the wing on my side of the aircraft. I looked over at the other wing, and it was doing the same thing. So, I realized it was controlled and was fuel being deliberately dumped. Then I heard this high-pitched whinning sound, which really shocked me until I realized it was due to the pump(s) struggling to pump out the last bit of fuel from the wings. We were flying very low over the jungle, but we came into the airport and landed with no problem. My legs were pumping faster than the pumps dumping the fuel, and took thirty minutes to stop after landing.

A true story with maximum suspense until the very end, plus a good dose of first class education. It doesn't get any better than this. Thank you and all the best from Germany.

I'm disappointed you're continuing to associate with Better Help, even after they have been caught lying about selling customer data

As a cyclist I've seen the effects of sudden pressure changes on calculated elevation. I once cycled through a violent thunderstorm on a summer day in Florida. My cycling computer's quick profile afterwards showed I had climbed and descended a couple thousand foot hill!

I saw there at KBDL the next day. We saw the photos of the damage. It was incredible! They were very lucky! The other thing that amazed me was, American Airlines managed to keep the incident out of the national headlines. This incident later became a training exercise on SOPs and error chain management in recurrent training. My brother-in-law is a Captain at AA. He never know about this incident, until I told him about it. Life can be strange.

This episode shows the vast difference in mental capacity between pilots. The captain and the encouraging first-officer here have shown incredible cohesion which was probably one of the reasons they've made it. Great one to watch.

Just when I thought I'd start studying... Mentour pulls me right back!

Great story! You may want to let the animators know that nearly all North American major airports use jet bridges. I don’t think I’ve used stair/bus more than 5 times in the last 40 years.

Better explanation of VOR, QNH, QFE and Transition Level than most of the material I am currently studying. You have a knack for communication!

The graphics and animations in this video were exceptionally good, kudos to whoever makes them

You so do some research on your sponsor they sell client data.

I'm not a pilot but I really enjoy your videos and your experience is Top notch!! Hello from Houston Tx

Perfect quality, perfect length, perfect content, perfect narrator. Amazing.

I was living just a few miles from BDL at that time. It was indeed a dramatically stormy night. I remember being awake at that hour, watching the storm. Thank God they landed safely.

What an incredible sequence of events! That landing felt like a scene out of an action movie, heroic effort from both pilots.

New Mentour pilot? Ahhh yes that’s how we start the morning🤩

This is unbelievable masterful piloting. The presence of mind required to make a split second decision to land when they had already decided to go around is astounding.

Amazing work my esteemed colleague ( referring to you Petter ) . Mistakes were made , but these guys saved the day, & thank God one controller came back , big help in the post-crash for sure. I actually felt quite emotional in the last few min of the video to see that my beloved profession has value / purpose beyond what any accountant could ever understand, and that good airmanship / CRM can overcome some REALLY big shit.

what a huge amount to learn and remember just for Air Pressure! When you add all information and procedures from all the videos on this channel about all the possible problems with those lives on board.. I could never, ever be a Pilot. 😯

Sometimes it seems to me that pilots need a degree in meteorology. As always an impressive presentation.

"And now things start happening very quickly." When Petter says that... you know you're in for it!!

Amazing airmanship by these two pilots!

Disappointed to see you selling Better Help. They are a very poor service with an extensive background of controversies

Those two competent pilots where exactly what we needed after the last video😅

well this pilot duo was a complete 180 from the PIA one 2 weeks ago ahah. Phenomenal video again Petter!

This incident could have been a scene I a movie and I would have called bullshit. The fact this really happened is nothing short of amazing.

I was literally at the edge of my seat that last couple of minutes.

Crew recovery was absolutely legendary!!!

please stop promoting better help, it has been shown to be toxic, harmful and dishonest, and associating with it greatly hurts the air of professionalism the channel is rightly so proud of.

Petter, I've heard a lot of pilot perspectives but as a firefighter, could you do one where you interview the firefighters and give the perspective of the firefightering crew. Things like how they attack the situation and what training they got, just like you do for pilots. I'm thinking of like the dubai fire but theres plenty of other accidents where the firefighters made the difference.

This is an interesting one; the errors made by the pilots were all very subtle.

Great video - I'm especially impressed with the pilots recovery from their error and their teamwork to get the plane down safely. True airmanship. Mistakes will always happen - it's what happens after mistakes that matters.

It is the airmanship and CRM that made this a successful crash landing with no loss of life. I live near this airport, and know the area around BDL well. Good job, in a lousy situation.

We always set our radar altimeter to the height desired for each segment, this gives us a backup alert if we were to decent to low for that segment of the approach.

20:55 been holding my coffee wrong this whole time!

Bravo to the pilot and copilot for keeping your cool 🌹

This is the best aviation channel on the Tube. The quality of your productions and the work you put into the subjects far and away exceed anything else. Each of these videos is a documentary that could air on TV. Keep up the great work.

Not a pilot but absolutely love the physics of flying. You always make things so clear. Thank you!

The MD-80 is such a beautiful aircraft.

I know this case a year ago from Air Crash Investigation also and when i watched it, i was surprised of how close they are to disaster. Even though the pilots made a mistake, CRM is still working until they made it to the runway without any engine power. Well done for those 2 pilots and Very good video, sir.👍

Was a DC-8-70 F/0 flying into BDL on evenings when this incident happened. Drive n drive was how it was done, before CDA’s, VOR 15 was especially challenging due to the 8’s runway requirements and the terrain west of the airport. The ridge lines you mentioned on their approach is just West of the field. 38:17 Our ops specs were extremely limiting due to length of runway 15/33. At the time, I remember thinking, it was a miracle that they got this flight on the ground and no one died! Admiration to the skills of the pilots. Departures on RNY 33 required an immediate at 400 MSL RT turn to avoid that rigid line that they encountered. Thanks for your content!

I have watched very many of these shows. I was sure that this flight had "bought the farm" when it struck the treetops. I was then absolutely certain when they did not have enough to make it to the runway. Then that little last minute 'trick' with the flaps saved the day. Mindblowing result! So happy!

One does not simply see a new Mentour pilot video and immediately drop everything to watch! Brilliant as always good sir!

Request to bring back those two little sleepy dogs back into the videos. Loved seeing the video, it was absolutely perfect and as informative as ever. Keep up the good work : )

It's beautiful that this flight ended as well as it did in spite of the terrible conditions affecting crew and machines.