Part 5/9:

Miscommunication continued to escalate as the pilots, unaware of their descent’s impending danger, entered a holding pattern at a dangerously high altitude over mountainous terrain. Meanwhile, the air traffic controller, lacking radar, had a distorted mental image of the aircraft's position, relying instead on the pilots’ position reports—reports that increasingly diverged from reality.

The Fateful Descent

As minutes passed, the pilots began their descent without fully grasping that they were still high over the mountains, below the minimum safe altitude. A lack of attention to crucial details, like the proper holding pattern as indicated in their charts, would prove to be a fatal oversight. The misunderstandings deepened, leading to a catastrophic turn in events.