Bali 1974 — When Technology Wasn’t Enough – The Crash That Changed Aviation Forever
On April 22nd, 1974, Pan Am Flight 812 — a Boeing 707 named Clipper Climax — departed from Hong Kong’s Kai Tak International Airport heading to Los Angeles, with planned stopovers in Bali, Sydney, Fiji, and Honolulu. But this routine flight turned into one of the most tragic aviation disasters in the Pacific.
The aircraft crashed into Mount Mesehe in Bali during a night approach, killing all 107 people on board. Investigators determined that the crew misinterpreted the ADF (Automatic Direction Finder) signals, believing they were over the airport when in reality, they were still 30 nautical miles away.
This video tells the complete story of the Pan Am Flight 812 disaster, the investigation, the shocking findings, and the lasting impact this accident had on the aviation industry. From training failures to the absence of radar in Bali, discover the chain of errors that led to this tragedy.
Learn how this crash forced the FAA, ICAO, and Pan Am to implement new safety measures, improve pilot training, and develop crucial systems like GPWS (Ground Proximity Warning System), saving countless lives in the decades that followed.
This is a story of human error, technology limitations, and a harsh lesson learned in aviation history.
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Bali 1974 — When Technology Wasn’t Enough – The Night Pan Am 812 Crashed Into a Mountain
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I was visiting friends in Papeete and was supposed to be on the PANAM flight that crashed. I had had an accident and left Papeete 4 days earlier and thus avoided the ill-fated flight. I was in my hotel in SFO and learned of the crash when watching TV. I felt quite sick and very sad for those passengers. I believe the plane crashed in very deep water and was never recovered although I understand one person survived when his seat into which he was strapped surfaced. It is 2025 and I still have sad memories.
Mr. Victor, can you make a video of the chronology of the Jeju Air Flight 7C2216 plane crash at Muan International Airport, South Korea? I have been waiting for this moment for a long time. So please make the video right now. I will wait for 7 days.
That's not Bali on the map shown. Bali is among the Lesser Sunda islands, east of Java – great video though
This is quite an amazing video. One can easily make out that a lot of work was put into this. Keep up the good work!
bad stories about Panam. stayed in Tahiti in 1973 when 707 crashed into the sea. visited Bali in 1975 at a nearby village of crash…
I refueled many a 707, but I can still remember being under the wing between 1&2 engines or 3&4 just admiring the beauty of this large aircraft. Some 707s fueled on the outside of 1&4 near the wing tips, different models but still a marvel.
What was Hillary Clinton doing flying around Denpassar on her broomstick that night…?
PAN AMERICAN——-Worlds most Experienced Airline——–One in Every Ocean.
16:05 It clearly does not read that 🙄
Appreciate the work put into this. For those of us new to aviation, the acronyms are a bit daunting.
I enjoy reading up on Pan Am's history and this incident unfortunately is part of the history. The only comment I would make is that Pan Am s call sign back in the day up until 1991 was "Clipper", so for example this flight would have been known as Clipper 812 rather than Pan Am flight 812.
Excellent video, great artwork and clear and pleasant voice!
And yet 6 years later Dan Air 1008 happened.
Both Human and Technical Especially Technical Problems
It all happened just 3 years after I got my licence. Food for though ….
They should have never flown thete at night.
Horrific!😔 ✈️🙏
The captain had 18,200 hours and still managed to crash into the ground nowhere near the airport.
Pan Am has seen so many horrific tragedies, man. My Lord….😞😓
500 ? Square meters?
Boeing's 707 is a gorgeous aircraft. In 1970, our family flew on Pan Am 707's from Miami to San Juan to Lisbon, Portugal. This accident would occur about four years later. I'm kind of wondering if I ever flew on that particular aircraft.
The technology hadn't yet caught up like it did later on. It's easy to "Monday Morning Quarterback" any accident. It would've been a blessing had the pilots realized something was amiss and would've climbed way back up to a higher altitude. An accident similar to this one happened with an American Airlines 757 some years later. Those two guys flew that plane into the near top of a mountain down in Colombia. Tragic.
TOTAL tragedy. ALL incidents/accidents where people perish are. I was 11 when this happened. I don't recall it. Likely because it was an overseas accident, not in the United States. Remember Eastern Airlines flight 401 vividly.
Fake
I just read the Indonesian report and it appears they made a right turn over OR NDB when they were still about 30 nautical miles north of the NDB the other ADF still pointed South. OR was not the standard local low power NDB, it was High Power good for navigation for 300 NM. I’m sure PanAm still had Doppler Navigational Computers rather than upgrading to an INS system. These computers only had two stages in areas that had good VORs and NDBs you could use them for additional help as a backup. If you were going to overfly an NDB or VOR and join an airway you would put the next leg in the A stage by putting the airway course in the course window and the N Miles to the next Fix/VOR/NDB in the miles window. When you go over your starting fix you rotate the switch to A and your miles to the next fix starts counting down, then if you haven’t already loaded the second leg you put that course and distance in the B stage. when the computer switches from your current A stage to the B stage you load the subsequent leg in the A stage and continue that to your destination. In the case of PA 812 the plan would end with OR NDB. You can even use it for aa backup on the approach but I never saw that done at a U.S. airline and the Navigator worked out all these calculations for the pilot. If PanAm was using their doppler that could explain why they made the right turn 30 miles north of OR. If they made an error with the mileage on their last leg that could have caused an early turn. If the distance from the previous fix to OR was in error by 30 miles that could have caused the early turnIf the correct distance was 210 NM and they misread the map or their computer flight plan and had inserted 180 NM. Something influenced them to turn right and NDBs always cause doubts. I recall on a westbound trip listening to a PanAm flight that seemed to be all screwed up and off course. I mentioned what I heard to a PanAm friend at the local airport.. He said he knew what happened. The crew in error loaded the course in the miles to go window and the miles to go in the course window. Something like Course 245 Miles To Go 285 so they had loaded Course 285 Miles 245.
When they made the right turn at 30 miles from OR the MSA was 9700’ in. that area. The MSA W/S/E is 2-3000’. The airport is on a strip of land between the main Island and another large piece of land with water surrounding it except the connecting strip.
Excellent informative video.Thanks!
As in most cases pilot error with a non critical mechanical failure
The flight stewardess at 17:23 looks like actress Angela Landsbury.
I was traveling a lot in 1974 as a customer service engineer for my company. I pretty much stopped flying PanAm after those three crashes and flew Braniff and Eastern (???). Unfortunately, PanAm was the only means to get some places – Canary Islands and parts of South America. RIP to those souls that lost their lives on the three flights mentioned
ADF systems are pretty much gone in the US, but still used widely in other countries. Because ADF operates on the AM frequency band, it's know to interference from AM radio station, and could have cause the flickering on the needle. The needle just points to the station, and swings 180 deg at station passage. A VOR with no DME is of no use if you are unfamiliar with the area. PanAm did not a very bad safety record. Visual approaches with limited navadis are a death trap. Tragic indeed.
Interesting case.