Martinair MP495 – A Cabin Crew’s Story

Just a few days before Christmas, on December 21, 1992, Martinair flight MP495 crashed at Faro Airport (FAO), Portugal. On board were 13 crew members and 327 passengers. Tragically, 54 passengers and two cabin crew were killed in the accident.

One of my lovely followers, Herman Jansink, contacted me regarding this terrible accident. Jansink was one of the ten cabin crew working the flight that day. His heroic and candid story is told here, much of it in his own words.

Last Minute Roster Change

Jansink had begun working for Martinair, a Dutch charter carrier based at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport (AMS), just a few months earlier and had fallen in love with the job and the airline.

Originally rostered for the late afternoon FAO service, he was changed at the last minute to the early morning departure, meaning his plans to meet up with his family before Christmas had to be altered slightly.

It was a cold, crisp winter day as the 13 crew (three flight and ten cabin crew) arrived at Schiphol for their pre-flight briefing. All were in good spirits. It was just a few days before Christmas, so they knew the flight would be full of passengers off to meet loved ones or to soak up some winter sunshine in the Algarve.

The flight Purser asked who wanted to assist the cabin crew working in the lower galley. After some hesitation, as the job downstairs under the passengers’ feet was very demanding, Jansink raised his hand. Little did he know that this decision would potentially save his life just a few hours later. Operated by a McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30CF (PH-MBN), the jet had been delivered brand new to Martinair in 1975.

It was still dark in Amsterdam as the 327 passengers boarded the aircraft and settled in for the flight. The pilots had been warned of some bad weather at their destination and possible thunderstorm activity. However, this was nothing unusual for the time of year, and the flight crew had operated the route many times before.

Decent Into Faro

Just over two and a half hours after takeoff, the DC-10 began its descent into Faro. The flight had passed off uneventfully as the crew prepared the cabin for landing. Buffeted by some light to moderate turbulence, the Captain warned that the weather ahead was pretty bad and to ensure that the cabin and galley areas were well secured.

However, as the aircraft started its final approach, the turbulence intensified. A large thunderstorm lay directly over the airport, and flights ahead of MP495 reported severe wind shear hampering their approaches. By now, both crew and passengers were feeling uneasy, and Herman takes up the story from here.

“Just before landing, the weather began to get pretty bad, and during our descent, I could hear the rain battering the fuselage. We experienced a lot of turbulence in the final stages of the flight, and suddenly, there was a loud bang. I whispered to the attendant beside me, ‘I think we have just landed’. I then saw flashes of light as ceiling panels fell down, luggage bins popped open, and then suddenly everything went dark.

“I remember hearing the sound of metal scratching on concrete as the DC-10 began to tumble. I lost all sense of direction and didn’t have a clue what was happening. All I could taste was sand, and I realised that this could be the end. Images of important moments in my short life appeared before my eyes like a movie. The last image I saw was my partner, just smiling at me. I knew I was going to die, and to be honest, I felt at peace with it. Either I was going to be compressed by debris, buried alive, or I was going to explode.

“After what seemed like ages, the plane came to a stop, and it dawned on me that I wasn’t dead at all. It was pitch dark, and I didn’t know where I was. All I knew was that I had to get out. I couldn’t undo my buckle and noticed I was hanging from the ceiling. After holding my breath, I tried again, and finally, it opened. I then fell down below, realising that I probably could not open the door next to my crew seat. I couldn’t reach my flashlight either.

Survival Mode

“After a few seconds, my eyes grew accustomed to the darkness (the emergency lights apparently did not come on), and I spotted a rip in the fuselage, my only hope of escape. Until that point, my mind was in shock, and I had been in complete survival mode. If I’m being honest, I didn’t think of passengers at all.

“But as I crawled outside, I realised I had to do something. It was then that I began to shout the evacuation commands I had learnt just a few months before during my initial training. Some passengers came towards me, and others stayed in their seats, totally frozen. Where I could, I grabbed hands and feet and told people to unfasten their seat belts and get out of the plane.

“Until then, I had not seen any other crew members. Suddenly, I heard a female scream, ‘Get me out of here’. As she reached out to grab my hands, I saw a red uniform decorated with gold buttons and realised it was one of my colleagues. I used all my strength to free her from underneath a galley block. I told her we had to get out, and as we didn’t see any more passengers in our compartment, I pushed her through the rip and followed her.

“When I came outside, I couldn’t believe my eyes. The white/red DC-10 had broken into three pieces and was on fire, billowing big black puffs of toxic smoke from the fuselage. I immediately began sending people as far away from the site as possible because I knew this thing would explode. As I looked at the plane, I knew the people back home would not believe I was still alive.

“As we moved away, I stumbled upon a passenger who could not move. I did not want to risk him sustaining more injuries by pulling him away, so I decided to cover him with my uniform jacket. However, others would probably not recognise me anymore as a crew member.

“Two passengers came back towards the plane, and as I was sending them away, they began screaming that their baby was still inside. Another colleague and I decided to go back and look for their child, but Portuguese rescuers had arrived by this time and were sending us away. Thank god, the baby was later found alive.

“While searching, I found a pile of blankets that had fallen from a luggage compartment. I took them to the injured passenger to put on my jacket again to be recognisable to the passengers and emergency services.

“Airport personnel began to shuttle passengers from the crash site to the terminal. Before long, no one was left, and suddenly, I felt strong arms wrap around me. It was a Portuguese paramedic who told me that my time had come to go to the terminal, too; there was nothing else I could do. It was on that bus, all by myself, that I looked back at the burning wreckage. With the rain still pouring down, it was like the Portuguese skies were crying, and I started to cry, too.

Lucky To Be Alive

“Arriving at the terminal, I saw crew members of another Martinair flight who had landed just a few minutes before us and had witnessed the crash. They assisted airport personnel in loading the less severely injured passengers onto buses to be brought to the hospital. After a few firm hugs, I was on one of those buses.

“At the hospital, the press waited for us with their cameras and disrespectful flashlights. I hated them. All I wanted was to get in touch with my family back home. A sweet female doctor told me I could use the phone in her office. As I called my partner, he picked up the phone, and all I could say was, ‘I’m alive,’ and all I was suffering from was a sore leg before being disconnected. My partner had been on the phone ever since the media picked up the accident because a lot of our friends knew that I was going to Faro that day. Others who didn’t know asked cautiously where I was, not knowing I had been on the doomed flight.

“Finally, I was reunited with my colleagues, and I found out that the two girls at the overwing exits were not there. We all hoped they had been taken to another hospital. It was only later back home that I found out they had not survived after seeing their enlarged passport photos on the front page of one of the newspapers. They will always be my Guardian Angels.

“Our CEO flew in to bring us back home when the airport reopened. None of us wanted to fly, but we didn’t have a choice. I have never been so scared during a landing as that touchdown in Amsterdam, and my colleagues and I squeezed each other tight. At the airport, our family and loved ones were waiting, along with another bunch of press hounds, of course.

“When I finally made it home, early in the morning of December 22nd, I saw front page news that made me realise that what I had experienced the day before had sadly not been a very bad dream, but the awful truth. After two weeks on the ground, I wanted to fly again. I was afraid that if I didn’t do it, I would never get over it. Now, many years later, I still love my job. “

The final report blamed wind shear and pilot error for the crash that morning. In the cabin, however, the brave actions of Herman Jansink and his colleagues undoubtedly saved the lives of many passengers who may have perished had they not been helped to safety.

Safety is the main reason cabin crew are on board any aircraft, and this story reinforces that fact. It is a shame that many passengers often forget this.

© Confessions of a Trolley Dolly by Dan Air