The INCREDIBLE Captain Who Broke The Rules And Saved 418 Lives | Olympic Airways 411

This is the incredible story of Olympic airways flight 411. On the 9th of august 1978 an olympic airways boeing 747 was preparing to depart Hellinikon airport in greece bound for JFK international airport in new york. The plane had 398 passengers on board and about 20 crew members adding up to about 418 people on this plane. The 747 was absolutely huge and olympic airlines was keen to tap the travel demand between the US and greece with their 747s and so this plane was mostly filled with americans returning to the US from Greece the. The jumbo jet was piloted by captain Sifis Migadis and first officer Kostas Fikardos. The 747 was fueled up with about 150 tons of fuel for the flight to New york. Just before 2 pm the 747 started its roll down the runway, the plane picked up speed and soon they were at V1 the speed at which they could no longer safely reject the takeoff. As the captain started to lift the nose of the plane into the air, a loud bang rocked the 747. Captain Migadis had no idea what had happened, did a tyre blow did an engine explode? Whatever the cause he didn't have a choice, they were going too fast to stop in the runway that was remaining. But in the cabin Cabin crew member Lucia Siachou got an intercom message from a colleague at the back, engine number three or the inboard engine on the right hand side had blown up. The colleague said “we are screwed” she just replied with “I Know”. Controllers in the tower watched on in horror as they watched the plane struggle to gain altitude. The shattered engine peppered the runway with parts.

In the cockpit the captain was trying to coax every ounce of performance from the stricken plane. But they had problems, engine number 2 had undergone some maintenance and so was only producing about 94% of power as opposed to the 110% that is supposed to generate. Making matters worse for the crew, the captain asked the flight engineer to turn on the alcohol enrichment valve. In the 1970s planes had an alcohol fuel enrichment system to improve performance but unfortunately the flight engineer turned it off instead of turning it on.

But the plane took off, that was a miracle in its own right, captain Migadis, an ex combat pilot immediately commanded a retraction of the landing gear. This was against boeings policy for this situation. You see right now the plane in in a precarious situation its low and slow and it needs all the speed that it can get retracting the gear now would mean that the landing gear doors would open and then close, meaning that there would be a temporary increase in drag and at that point any increase in drag would be enough to send them crashing back down. His first officer complied. His reasoning was that he needed speed in the long term, he had a hill in his flight path and there was no way that hed be able to clear the hill with the gear down slowing the plane down. He was relying on his decades of experience and so he made the call. The controllers watched as the plane barely gained any altitude once the gear was up the plane gained a bit of altitude. But the 200 foot tall Panos hill was now barely a mile away. The captain didnt have a choice; he pulled the nose up as the airspeed he had built up so far bled away. The jumbo jet cleared the hill by 9 feet. Talk about cutting it close.

But this was far from over, climbing to avoid the hill had cost him precious airspeed. He now had to drop the nose to speed up otherwise the jumbo jet would drop out of the sky. The captain decided to trade about 50 feet of altitude for about 6 knots in airspeed. It wasn't much but it would keep them from stalling. At this point the jet was so low that it barely cleared the

[mikilikit]

I was on this flight. I remember looking out the window and seeing the tops of buildings. I was very young and more thrilled instead of scared. The captain and crew pulled off a true miracle. 💯💯💯❤️

[mage]

Fully expecting to die but having the presence of mind to try to prevent others' deaths instead of freaking out is very heroic.

[imthebest]

He didn't fight the jumbo jet, he taught it how to fly while injured. A true superhero! Hats off to that man!

[mastergx]

One of the very best captains. Understanding aviation and its rules (and the reasons for those rules) to the point when you can confidently and justifiably break them is the highest level of competence in my opinion.

[emeraldqueen]

If Sully got a movie, I’d say this guy deserves one too!

[constantinosschinas]

Another fun(?) fact: As the captain admitted, on his return to land, he did not dump all the required fuel, because he felt it would be too much of a waste. So he landed with more fuel than permitted. What a guy.

[AZtwoNE]

“Rules are for the guidance of wise men and the obedience of fools”

-Captain Sir Douglas Bader. (2/21/1910-9/5/1982) RIP.

[TheSpiceAndRice]

Even in such a grim circumstance he thought about the lives on the ground. If his plane was gonna go down he didn’t want anyone else to become a casualty. But he was able to save everyone, what an absolute legend.

[patolt]

As a former pilot this man has got my admiration: in a desperate situation, a pilot flying more with his head than with procedures. Hats off.

[DanielSilva-gchf]

A procedure can be broken, but the laws of physics don't. Risky but logical, cold mind, very focused. Amazing pilot and crew.

[brentsnocomgaming]

One thing I've heard is that the flight can owe its success in part to Athens' flat roofs. Had the roofs been terraced, the slight reduction in ground effect could've very well made the difference and caused the 747 to stall out over the city.

[ITZTrudeau]

My grandma was included in this incident, she was watching television until the sound of roaring engines where heard 20 feet high.

[supercat]

Boeing couldn't believe that the captain had managed to avoid stalling this fully- loaded aircraft, despite the unbelievable speed it maintained due to the emergency! The captain remains a legend at Boeing!!!

[NovusMaximus]

Almost all of Greek commercial pilots come from the Airforce. They are extremely well trained with fighter jets, have been in real dogfights and learn how to keep their cool in very challenging situations. This captain's training and skill saved lives. I was living in Greece at the time, this incident was all over the news.

[jameskasabalis]

Sorry, but I am literally shaking 44 years later as this made me re live this experience. We, as passengers, definitely knew something was very wrong as we flew closely over the tops of buildings in Athens. We heard the bang of the troubled engine and saw the smoke coming from it as well. There were several Greek priests traveling with us who began praying for us. We were all very scared. Some passengers crying, and some were very quiet. I looked into the eyes of the flight attendants and could see that they knew we were in serious trouble. I was also able to see how close we came to hitting the hilltop, and I remember seeing the fuel being dumped as it was being ejected from the tip of the wing on my side of the plane.

This video really brought this memory back to life for me so many years later.

[greanstreak]

Water to steam expansion is roughly 700: 1 by volume. Add in the rich fuel mixture and alcohol injection to thin out the JP1 fuel which is basically kerosene. That's how you get to the 110% power output. The first officer that shut off both the water and alcohol injection came closer to killing everyone than the loss of one engine. I hope that the pilot recommended additional training for him...

[ky]

I live in Kallithea, Athens and I remember hearing the roar of that 747 as it was skimming our rooftops. I was eight years old back then. Had that plane crashed full of fuel for a transatlantic flight in such a densely populated area like Kallithea the death toll would probably be much higher than that of the Tenerife disaster. I probably owe my life to Cpt. Migadis as many of middle aged or older inhabitants of Kallithea.

[LVUJC-FM]

This is the kind of captain I want when I fly.
His quick thinking and experience saved everyone onboard this flight!
Sometimes they have to break the rules to save lives!
God Bless this courageous Captain. Thank God everyone survived! ❤️ XO

[Iris_Collins]

That was one skilled, gutsy pilot. Thank gods for him and the rest of the crew.

[robertgoodwin]

As a former pilot, this pilot flew a giant aircraft, like a bush pilot, showed incredible knowledge of how to fly this aircraft, not to mention his fearless balls of brass! KUDUS, Bob There are some pilots who are just good!