Flight 009 British airways : The flight returned safely even after getting stuck in the volcano

A flight that first got stuck in a volcano, then its four engines caught fire, it was faced with a high cliff falling down, and then this aircraft was about to fall into the sea that a miracle happened, and then the whole story Changed. This tragedy happened with Flight 009 of the British airways! The date was 24 June 1982, and the place was Java Island of Indonesia..! Flight 009 had taken off from London to Auckland with 263 people, but before reaching its destination, the flight drown in death. After this, what happened to this unlucky flight and the passengers aboard? Knowing all this incident will give you goosebumps? So let’s know that Tragic Story of Flight 009, which still shakes the hearts of people after hearing it.

As usual, on 24 June 1982, British Airways Flight Boeing 747-236B got take off from Heathrow Airport in London for Auckland, New Zealand. It was a long journey that was supposed to take almost 24 hours. This Long Duration Flight also had to stop in Mumbai, Kuala Lumpur, Perth, and Melbourne in between.

263 people including 248 passengers and 15 crew members were on board the flight.

The responsibility of flying the flight was on the shoulders of 32-year-old Senior First Officer Roger Greaves and 41-year-old Captain Eric Henry Moody.

Senior Engineer Officer Barry Townley-Freeman, 40, was also present on this flight.

Flight completed the journey from London to Kuala Lumpur easily. Flight 009 entered Indonesia after the take-off from Kuala Lumpur.

The F9 was flying over the Indian Ocean at an altitude of 37 thousand feet, south of Java Island. It was 8:40 pm Jakarta time when Captain Eric Henry Moody noticed smoke coming out of the corner of the washroom.

Here Moody saw smoke, and on the other side a crew member saw a strange light emanating from the windscreen. Its colour was bright blue. If said, this light was something like what is shown in the world of space in science fiction movies. For a moment it felt as if this flight was passing through a clump of stars.

Seeing the outside light, the crew members thought that the weather might be bad, but when they checked the weather radar, they saw the sky very clearly. Despite the clear sky, seeing the light like Lightning, the crew members started fearing something untoward!

On the other hand, smoke started spreading in the passenger cabin too and it smelled like sulphur!

At 8:42, only 2 minutes after the smoke and blue light was visible, the same light started coming out of the engine number-4 of the flight as the light outside the flight was visible. The pilot’s attention was not yet taken off the engine when the spark emanating from the engine ignited, and the fourth engine of the flight was engulfed in flames.

The crew member’s hearts started beating after the engine caught fire. In a hurry, the pilot shut down that engine and shut off the fuel supply, but before he could think of the next step, engine number two also saw the same light and in the blink of an eye, he too was stunned by the flames. picking.

Within seconds of the second engine fire, the first and third engines caught fire simultaneously.

The most surprising thing was that till now no one was able to understand why all this is happening with the flight without any technical fault?

After the engine was shut down, the flight started falling rapidly. Calculating the speed of the flight falling down and the speed of the flight, the pilots discovered that now the flight can stay in the air for a maximum of 23 minutes until it goes below 37 thousand feet, and during this time it can travel 169 km. Is.

Passengers sitting in the flight were very nervous, after that Captain Moody finally made an announcement and informed the passengers about the failure of all four engines. In view of the situation, most of the passengers started waiting for death considering this journey as their last journey. Many travelers also started writing notes for their loved ones.

Charles Capewell, who was traveling with his brothers, also wrote an emotional note to his mother. He wrote “Mother…we are in trouble, the plane is falling down, we love you…Sorry Papa”

Passengers were frightened, crew members were trying to save the lives of people, but as if this trouble was not less, so another big trouble came from the front. The south coast of Java Island is surrounded by high peaks. A minimum altitude of 12 thousand feet is required for any plane to pass through this area safely, but according to the calculation of the pilots, the altitude of the flight was going to be less than 12 thousand feet till reaching that area, that means getting the option of safe landing. The lives of 263 people were about to end before hitting the peak, but Brave Crew Members were not going to give up so soon!

The pilots decided to land the Flight 009 in the sea.

In the midst of so many problems, another problem came. The pressure of the cabin started decreasing due to which there was a shortage of oxygen, and oxygen masks came in front of the passengers. But let me tell you that oxygen is present in this oxygen mask for only 12 minutes, so the pilots had to bring down the flight rapidly so that the Atmospheric Pressure could be normal, and people could breathe easily!

After reaching an altitude of 37 thousand feet to 13,500 feet, now the pilots started preparing to land the ship in the sea. It was going to be very risky, but there was no other option.

As a last hope, the pilot tried to restart the engine, and miraculously this time the fourth engine of the plane started.

The engine started at 8:56, after which with the help of this engine, Captain Moody reduced the speed of the flight coming down, and then started going up slowly with the help of this engine.

The mysterious way in which all the four engines failed due to fire, miraculously the first and second engines also started.

After three engines were started, the flight could achieve such a height that it could cross the high peaks of Indonesia, so the pilots did the same.

After reaching the height, the first incident started repeating again, and the same Mysterious Lights started appearing. Simultaneously, a spark started coming out of the second engine, after that engine was stopped immediately.

The flight was lowered to protect the rest of the engine, and the Flight 009 crossed Indonesia’s high peaks at 12,000 feet.

Thanks to the intelligence of the pilots, the Flight 009 was able to reach Jakarta safely, but another problem occurred during landing. Actually the windscreen of the flight was completely blurred, and the pilots could not see anything. But for the pilots who have managed to bring the flight out of the mouth of death and bring it to the airport, it was just a small problem. With the instrument landing system, the Flight 009 finally managed to land safely at Jakarta International Airport!

Flight 009 British airways

Not once but many times such a situation arose that none of the 263 aboard the Flight 009 would be spared, the pilots took out the flight from such a situation, and not a single passenger got scratched.

Now the question arises that why did this happen with Flight 009 ? And what was that Mysterious Blue Lights? And one more thing…After landing, there were many scratch marks on the exterior of the plane, as if someone had attacked the plane from outside? So what was all this?

An inquiry committee was formed to find out this matter. After investigation, it was found that F9 was actually trapped in a cloud of volcanic ash i.e. dust particles emanating from the volcano at an altitude of 37 thousand feet.

In 1982, Mount Galunggung exploded. In this Volcanic Eruption, along with the hot gas, light and very small dust particles also went into the sky, and were present in the form of clouds, in which the Flight 009 Crash was trapped.

Blue lights appeared due to this dust particle colliding with the flight, while there was a lack of oxygen due to the dust particle being absorbed into the engine, due to which the engine could not work properly and it caught fire.

Scratch marks on the outer part of the plane were also due to this dust particle.

After this incident, the airspace around Mount Galunggung was closed, but it was reopened a few days later, and Singapore Airlines passing through that airspace just 19 days after the Flight 009 Incident also suffered an F9-like situation. suffered, and had to shut down 3 of its engines. After which finally this airspace was closed permanently.

So this was the full story of the accident with Flight 009! Hope you got to know a lot from this article today.

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