Pilot told airport 'get me a beer ready' minutes before plane exploded in mountain crash

dailyrecord.co.uk:

A pilot joked with airport control to get him a beer ready minutes before the aircraft he was flying collided with a mountain in Ibiza and killed all 104 people onboard.Iberia Airlines Flight 602 had been getting ready to land when it devastatingly exploded on impact after hitting Mount Atalaya in Spain on January 7, 1972, the Daily Star reports.Captain José Luis Ballester Sepúlveda had been flying the Sud Aviation SE 210 Caravelle which was carrying a total of 98 passengers along with a crew of six who were making the short journey from Valencia airport on the mainland to the Balearic island.

The 37-year-old who had 7,000 hours of flying experience asked for permission to descend to 5,500 feet at around 12.15pm before he jokingly told airport control: "Get me a beer ready, we are here'.Their conversation reportedly led on from beer to a football match as the aircraft reached below 2,000 feet on approach to Runway 07 when it descended below 2,000 feet.Working alongside Sepúlveda was first officer Jesús Montesinos Sánchez, and fight engineer Vicente Rodríguez Mesa but according to an investigation, the men had failed to notice how low the plane was with Mount Atalaya in their midst.Everything had been plain sailing since setting off across the Balearic Sea until the flight prepared to land and smashed into the mountain approximately 90 feet below its 1,515 foot summit.

Flight 602 exploded into a fireball on impact and there were no survivors.Bad weather could hardly have been blamed for the disaster as conditions were overcast with broken clouds Sepúlveda had tragically failed to maintain the minimum flight altitude for a safe visual approach to Runway 07.Don't miss the latest news from around Scotland and beyond - Sign