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After receiving the ATC’s clearance, the pilot casually asked for an update on a football match, even joking with controllers to “keep a beer ready” for his arrival
At 12.15 pm on January 7, 1972, as the aircraft approached Ibiza Airport, the pilot contacted ATC to request a descent to 5,500 feet. (Representational Image)
In an incident that remains etched as one of aviation’s darkest chapters, Iberia Airlines Flight 602 crashed into a mountain just moments before landing on January 7, 1972, killing all 104 people on board.
The flight, operating from Valencia to the Balearic island of Ibiza, was carrying 98 passengers and six crew members, many of them believed to be holidaymakers returning home. At the controls was 37-year-old Captain Jose Luis Ballester Sepulveda, an experienced pilot with nearly 7,000 flying hours, assisted by First Officer Jesus Montesinos Sanchez and Flight Engineer Vicente Rodriguez Mesa. The aircraft itself was regarded as a modern jet of its time, powered by two Rolls-Royce engines.
At around 12.15 pm, as the aircraft approached Ibiza Airport, Captain Sepulveda contacted air traffic control to request a descent to 5,500 feet. After receiving clearance, he casually asked for an update on a football match, even joking with controllers to “keep a beer ready” for his arrival.
Investigators later found that during this conversation, the crew turned the aircraft towards Runway 7, and continued discussing the match. The plane began descending below its authorised altitude, but the crew failed to notice the rapid loss of height until it was too late.
Seconds later, the aircraft slammed into Atalayasa Mountain, just below its peak. The explosion was so powerful that the aircraft was destroyed on impact, leaving no survivors.
The official inquiry concluded that the crash was the result of human error, citing the captain’s failure to maintain minimum safe altitude.
January 07, 2026, 8:16 PM IST
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