Could technology cause a disaster like the one that happened during the regular flight Aeroperú 603 of Peruvian Airlines flying from Lima to Santiago de Chile?
The secret of the disaster that awaits the innocent victims on October 2, 1996, is hidden in a black box.
The results of the investigation speak clearly – the accident was not caused by the equipment, but at first glance by a small human error. A maintenance failure eventually claimed the lives of 70 passengers.
Boeing in danger
“Why did we extend the landing gear?” “I do not know! We’re hitting the water!”, are the last words that reveal the recording in the black box. It turns out that the pilots themselves have no idea what is going on with their giant Boeing 757-23A plane.
Shortly after midnight they will leave Lima for the capital of Chile. They soon notice that all is not well with the flying colossus, which has only four years of service under its belt.
Jokes aside
“We’re as accurate as a Swiss watch,” the pilots joke together Eric Schreiber or David Fernandez shortly before departure. They expect a routine flight. They’ve flown thousands of hours over their long careers, so they’re certainly not lacking in experience.
Moreover, he sits in the cockpit of one of the safest planes. So what could happen?
Devices are crazy!
But the last tens of minutes of life are ready for 61 passengers, mainly Chileans, Peruvians, but also Europeans and nine crew members. The onboard instruments go on strike shortly after the Boeing takes off from the ground. The plane is in the air, but all altitudes show zero.
Soon, other devices rebel too. Also the speed is at zero according to the dashboard. As if the pilots were suddenly flying blind. Although they keep a straight course, lights flash like crazy, sirens go off and the computer forces the pilots to change course.
Nothing works at all
The altimeters suddenly recover, but even though the pilots are climbing, the instruments decide to show just the opposite. The computers go completely crazy. There is one meaningless warning after another that does not correspond to the current state of the aircraft.
“Nothing seems to be working here,” the pilots agree, wondering how to get the dangerous situation under control.
“We are declaring a state of emergency”, is finally heard in the control tower at Lima airport. The plane turns and turns.
Blind piloting
The first emergency landing 70 kilometers from Lima fails. The pilots are convinced that the mechanics did a really bad job. They are surrounded only by the darkness of night and fog, and although the plane is mechanically controllable, it is impossible to navigate in the dark with the naked eye.
Information about the speed goes to the cockpit only from the control tower, but no one knows at the time that this data is also incorrectly displayed by the on-board computer. Disaster is getting closer every minute.
The computer is broadcasting nonsense
On-board computers are the only thing that can help pilots steer the plane at night over the ocean. But they cannot be trusted. Unfortunately, the extent of the confusing messages they transmit will only be revealed upon investigation. While the flight controller in the control tower believes that the plane is at an altitude of 3000 meters, as the computers tell him, in reality the car is descending.
Last chance to save
The lives of 70 people are ultimately in the power of rebel devices. Totally incorrect information about altitude and speed is coming from the control tower, but neither the controller nor the pilots have a clue about it.
“We want a plane, any plane that can guide us!”
This is one of the last options available to pilots. However, the Boeing’s speed had already fallen below the collision threshold. It’s too late to help.
Death for a few pennies
“Aeroperú 603 – Lima… Aeroperú 603 – Lima…”
the dispatcher announces urgently, but the plane has already broken up on the surface of the water. The Pacific Ocean swallows all but nine of the bodies carried by the waves. And the culprit? In short, the maintenance person forgets to remove the adhesive tape from the probes after cleaning, with which the on-board computers read information about the surrounding conditions, and no one notices it even during several inspections of the aircraft.
Photo: Nobody / Creative Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0, planes / Creative Commons / GFDL 1.2, Jimenito1010 / Creative Commons / CC BY 3.0, Phillip Capper / Creative Commons / CC BY 2.0