SIX FEET from Disaster, the PILOTS didn’t NOTICE!!

It's astonishing to think that in 2022 an entire jetplane was nearly lost because an air traffic controller said "1011" instead of "1001."

“Since the aircraft are not made of sugar, we can just fly straight through them.” What a memorable line!

This is terrifying. I know there were pilot mistakes too, but how is it that the Charles de Gaulle control made SO MANY critical errors. Repeatedly giving wrong pressure (and not noticing discrepancies in readback), not turning the lights on, repeatedly not bothering to pass on a critical collision warning or doing so incorrectly. I know that this channel is normally about understanding not blame, but the person responsible for training and establishing standards in this team should be fired.

This channel should be taken as an example of ideal research and journalism. Only facts, no opinions, not trying to frame or point finger of faults. Just a nice, clean, visual story-telling of an actual incident. Brilliant.

I am not a pilot, but an engineer and I love that his channel doesn't glorify disasters but educates, especially on technical and interpersonal issues. It's so interesting and so affirming for our next flight.

At this point, it is a family tradition to watch your videos ASAP every other week

As usual, a superb analysis of the incident. It is very tempting for ATC to talk to their local airlines in the language of that country. This results in all foreign aircraft being out of the loop, thereby possibly missing another chance to pickup a mistake.

Ok I know flying is difficult but this case is infuriating (thanks Mentour for the great report, as always). Every second video of yours includes the ILS being taken down in the airport, then things go wrong. Why don't we have mandatory backup ILS always in place or disable landings on airports with sudden ILS turnoffs. Secondly, It's unimaginable that the cockpit audio (and why is it even only audio in the first place, we should have live video, audio and button pressing history logs) has to be manually turned on. Just backup everything for 6 months in a drive and recycle-record it! Thirdly, why do we keep broadcasting crucial objective information (NUMBERS) over a bad audio signal that can be misinterpreted, can not be heard, can be difficult to understand due to language barrier issues, and not broadcasting it in a VISUAL text message. Automatically. Like "Press here to send over approach information". I can't believe 170 passengers flew to their deaths because of someone mistakenly saying 1011 instead of 1001. And lastly, how is it possible that you are flying downwards, like you know, the ground is coming up at some point, you have two numbers on your display (the radio and the altitude), you see them being of by 500 feet and you just don't question that? Like, it's either wrong OR THE GROUND IS COMING TOWARDS YOU FASTER. I won't even mention the lights being off. Like, JUST KEEP THEM ON ALL THE TIME. Is the airport caring about the electricity bill?! I don't know, maybe this case got to me. But I can't believe this whole multi billion industry with multi million vehicles still depend on crunched up audio and multiple people hearing numbers and gibberish for 8-10 hours straight and expect them to not miss a single digit and not "tune out" once in a while, while the other person is doing the same and repeats the wrong thing.

This is one of the most messy situations I've heard on flight scenarios without there being an actual collision. Scary stuff. I hope the finished investigation does everything possible to encourage proper checks and verifications.

As a retired air traffic controller, I love these videos. Hearback readback errors are always items we train for but as human beings we have difficulty overcoming, especially when values such as altitude assignments, altimeter settings and call signs are similar sounding. Following procedures is important. In the En Route system in the U.S. Datablock would flash MSAW when an aircraft was too low and the query was always to ask the pilot to verify both altitude and altimeter setting. Amazed nobody picked this up on the first attempted approach. Thank you for these videos

Some of these kind of issues could be improved by automation. For example, the QNH settings could be transmitted as data to the plane and processed automatically. A voice alert for the QNH mismatch could have prevented the near accident. Also, the MSAW warning could have been transmitted to the plane automatically, to avoid human error in relaying the message.

I actually find it surprising how such simple errors in verbal communication aren't much more common. There's probably a lot of small incidents that never make it into an investigation or such. Errors are human and we're probably better off not knowing every little mistake pilots make.

I work in software engineering, but i learned a lot from your videos: situational awareness, team and personal resource management, following proper procedures and clear communications help not only flying planes, but writing better software! Was there an accident/incident caused by software error? Thank you for your videos, all of us can learn from aviation industry

So lemme get this straight: The controller calls out the wrong QNH multiple times to multiple planes, misses several "incorrect" readbacks (the whole purpose of which is to CONFIRM communications), forgets to turn on approach lights, waits an inordinate amount of time to alert on MSAW, and had to be relieved of duty for performance issues. Is this dude in jail or what? I thought France took draconian action against things like this... And not to excuse their malfeasance at all but I wonder what drove the controller to such error? Intoxication, stress, unqualified, uncaring, what? Oh and in 2022 we STILL have CVRs with less recording time than an MP3 player from the early 2000s...

The QNH issue is reminiscent of the very, VERY close call of a plane on approach into Hartford, Connecticut in stormy weather. (I was living about 10 miles from the airport at the time, and yes, it was quite stormy.) The plane landed safely, but they found tree branches in the engines. If the plane had been merely a few feet lower, it would have flown straight into a vertical rock cliff.

We live in an era where data storage is ridiculously cheap. Why is it that every voice recorder isn't set to save everything no matter what and send the recordings to some data center automatically for preservation in case of being needed for future investigations? If something minor happens during a previous flight goes unreported, you could just listen to the archive of those flights to investigate the current major issue that prompted an investigation to ensure it wasn't some long term issue that compounded suddenly!

Thanks Petter for this masterclass. I'm an flight instructor here in Brazil, and also teaching meteorology classes. I've always made very clear to the students the importance of the correct QNH settings during approaches, and I've been searching for good examples to use in my classes. This video (and report) fit like a glove! It's exactly what I was looking for. Not only perfectly showed the importance of correct QNH settings, gave a good insight on how barometric pressure systems work, but it is also a great demonstration of Dr. James Reason Swiss Cheese theory. Thanks again Petter, on behalf of all us teachers who cares about good teaching for the new pilots, and increasing aviation safety levels in general! Keep up the excellent work!

They were flying basically blind, completely unaware of their situation - and when they decided to go around, it was literally in the last second for them to avoid a crash. That was really good timing!

I am not a pilot however I have learned so much about aviation and the workings of modern aircraft from watching your channel They way you present each accident report is always respectful of the pilots ,crew and passengers. You have a real gift of telling the events that led up to the accident including how the pilots are feeling , their mood that day and their level of expertise and even bringing up any isssues they had in training and hours logged on the aircraft. The phrase ‘“what would cause” is the start of your deep investigation of the accident report, I am hooked on the way you present the report findings even going into to how different devices work and interact with each other You keep my attention waiting for next bit of data or clue to solving the puzzle of the causes of the crash. The amount of responsibility on a cockpit crew and attendants is enormous, i have gained new respect for you guys. Thank you for sharing your knowledge with this curious mind.

How does the 172 passengers who were on the flight feel while watching this video