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A PILOT’S chilling last words as he struggled to regain control of a plummeting Boeing 747 were: “Going down, going down.”
Two-hundred people died when two-legged cargo flight El Al 1862 crashed into a block of flats shortly after departing Amsterdam.
AFP
AFP
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AP:Associated PressIt was the deadliest aviation disaster to ever happen on Dutch soil.
The flight started at New York JFK Airport on October 4, 1992 and was supposed to end at the Israeli flag carrier’s hub at Tel Aviv Ben Gurion Airport, following a stopover at Amsterdam Schiphol (AMS).
But tragedy struck just seven minutes after the flight left Schiphol and two of the plane’s four engines fell from the right wing.
Witnesses on the ground heard a bang and saw falling debris, a trail of smoke, and a flash of fire as the jet ascended to 6,400 feet.
One of the engines had separated from the wing and damaged a wing slat before striking another engine and tearing it off, too.
The first officer, Arnon Ohad, radioed air traffic control and said: “Going down, 1862, going down, going down, copied, going down.”
Captain Yitzhak Fuchs was heard in the background instructing Ohad in Hebrew to raise the flaps and lower the landing gear.
The plane nose-dived from the sky and crashed into two high-rise apartment blocks in the Bijlmermeer neighbourhood of Amsterdam, at the corner of a building where two complexes met.
Dozens of apartments were destroyed when the plane exploded in a fireball and the building collapsed inward.
All four people on board the plane and at least 39 people on the ground died in the tragedy, although exact figures are impossible to know as many of the apartments’ residents were immigrants.
Police said they believed more than 200 people died.
One of the four crew members who died was a 23-year-old El Al employee who was travelling to Tel Aviv to be married.
Among the victims on the ground were the teenage children of Marlene and Stanley Truideman who were watching TV in their flat.
Marlene and Stanley had left their home just before the crash and watched in horror as the plane struck their building.
The crash led to 26 injuries, 11 of which required hospital treatment.
Six years after the crash, it was revealed that the plane’s mystery cargo included at least one of the ingredients needed to make the human-made chemical warfare nerve agent sarin – sparking theories about a potential cover-up.
Sarin is one of the most toxic nerve agents known to man.
Hundreds of local residents reported health problems following the crash including depression, listlessness, and respiratory problems.
Investigators found that the fused pins keeping two of the engine pylons in place had fatigue cracks due to overloading.
The government was condemned in a 1999 official report for failing to properly investigate the crash and initiate health checks.
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Uruguayan Flight 571, 1972
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JAT Yugoslav Airlines Flight 367, 1972
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Lockerbie Bombing, 1988
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American Airlines Flight 191, 1979
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AP:Associated Press
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