Last words cheerful - nine minutes later, thirteen people dead inside a cloud-covered mountain

Aviation Survival Stories · Oct 19, 2026 · 17m

Last words cheerful - nine minutes later, thirteen people dead inside a cloud-covered mountain

A routine thirty-minute flight ended with thirteen dead after a cheerful radio sign-off at 11:11 on August 11, 2009 - the Twin Otter vanished into cloud over the Owen Stanley Range nine minutes later. How did two experienced pilots on a familiar route, flying an aircraft with 46,700 flight hours and no recorders, end up inside a mountain?

In this episode, we present the facts of Airlines PNG Flight 4684 and the conditions and paperwork that preceded the crash, tracing crew qualifications, aircraft…