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[–] 38 points 4 days ago (16 children)

Yeah this is a crazy accident. They basically plummeted from cruising altitude. The audio is devastating to hear.

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  • [–] 27 points 4 days ago (14 children)

    Yeah, I was not ready for that audio. It happened so fast, but you could still tell how aware the pilots were of how unrecoverable the situation was. RIP, they didn't deserve to go out like that.

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  • [–] 19 points 4 days ago (13 children)

    I had to look it up, you're not kidding. The pilot literally just screams their decent rate (22,000 feet per minute) and bank (60°) a few times and then nothing.

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  • [–] 15 points 4 days ago (3 children)

    Apparently she was only 20. Not that it would be less tragic if she was older.

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  • [–] 9 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (2 children)

    She was the copilot.

    The pilot was a 55 year old male.

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  • And more precise, she was the 'pilot monitoring' (PM) meaning she handled all the comm tasks and everything not related to actually flying the plane. The captain was pilot flying (PF)...

    Everyone should look for Captain Steeeve on youtube. This man handles this incident with the utmost dignity and respect, only broadcasting the relevant part of the ATC audio, not the entire piece. That is safe for listening. You can feel his pain reviewing the incident.

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  • [–] 20 points 4 days ago (5 children)
  • [–] 1 point 2 days ago (1 child)

    Is it normal for ATC to be this emotionally detached?

    • OMG we're going to die!!!
    • Ok let me know if you need any additional assistance
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  • [–] 2 points 2 days ago

    Kinda thinking the same thing, but at the same time, what was he supposed to say? He's probably shaken during it too and you don't want to say anything to incite more panic, or try to be comforting but miss the mark and waste their last seconds of life.

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  • [–] 7 points 4 days ago (2 children)

    What does bank 60 degrees mean? 60 degreees down from horizontal?

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  • [–] 10 points 4 days ago (1 child)

    It's how level the wings are with the ground. 0° means the plane's wings are perfectly level, 90° means one wing is pointing straight up and the other towards the ground.

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  • [–] 4 points 3 days ago

    Though their pitch (nose angle) was so steep the bank value was almost meaningless because the rotational axis was almost perpendicular to the ground. So it didn't really refer to the actual bank angle as it meant "this situation we're in right now is completely fucked, I'm panicking but hoping I'm missing something useful in my panic so just calling out information in case it's the essential piece of info to a solution I can't see right now".

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  • [–] 7 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

    It was more or less in free fall the entire time. Likely reached terminal velocity. They tried to roll the plane to get lift back which is why the plane is sideways, but they couldn't pitch it back up.

    One of the current theories is the stabilizers on the tail got obstructed or damaged by ice. They detached at some point before the crash. They were found a few miles away from the crash site today.

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