Georgia Hardstark

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4,112 appearances 38 recordings 2 series first heard Nov 2024 last heard Feb 2025

Georgia Hardstark’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.

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My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark · 467 - Nipper & The Hat · 13 Feb 2025 podcast

But the KLM crew does hear the next transmission when the tower tells the Pan Am crew to report when they're clear. And so one member of the KLM crew then asks over the radio while they're at full speed taking off if this means they're not clear already. Like, clearly in that cockpit as well, there was some confusion. Like, with everybody.

Are you saying we're not clear? Right. And the captain, who's like... thinks we're clear and taking off is like old school seasoned captain. So like questioning him is probably like not something most people do.

So that clearly was his way of being like, this isn't right. So then the Pan Am flight comes into view of the KLM flight that's trying to take off. And the last recording recovered from the KLM cockpit is Captain Van Zant crying out as he tries to pull up and take off to avoid hitting the Pan Am flight. So he just like fucking tries so hard to pull up. But

They had just gotten a bunch of fuel on the plane, too, which made it heavier. There are about eight seconds when the two planes are visible to each other. And in those eight seconds, the captain of the Pan Am flight named Victor Grubbs says, quote, God damn it, that son of a bitch is coming. And he tries to steer his plane off the runway to get it out of the way.

So, sorry, they're both taking off at each other, essentially? The Dutch flight is taking off quickly in the direction of the Los Angeles flight. That's just taxiing and coming slowly forward. Okay. Yeah. So they're both coming towards each other. And then the Dutch flight is actually going really fast and trying to take off. Oh, my God. Right.

Despite the KLM flight trying to pull up and the Pan Am flight trying to veer away, it's no use. The KLM flight just gets off the ground, but slices right through the upper deck of the Pan Am flight, resulting in an instant explosion. I know. The KLM flight remains airborne for a few seconds before crashing to the ground in a fireball.

There are no survivors from the KLM flight, which had 248 people aboard. Wow. So meanwhile, at first, Pan Am First Officer Robert Bragg doesn't think their flight has been extensively damaged. They're the one who got hit that we're taxiing because all he could feel was a bit of shaking. And then he realizes that all the windows in the cockpit are gone.

And in this model of 747, the cockpit is on the upper level. So Robert turns around in a seat and sees the tail of the airplane, meaning the entire top part of the plane had just been sliced right off.

I know. Just turns around and like he can see the tail of the plane from the cockpit. He says, quote, we had 28 people in the upstairs lounge. The lounge was no longer in the plane. It was just a big hole there. End quote. That's the lounge that Joanie and her boyfriend had considered going up to, but instead had stayed in their seats.

So Joni had felt the plane veer to the left before the impact. And the next thing she remembers is this horrific scene of devastation around her and destruction. There's debris and small fires everywhere in the cabin. But next to her, her boyfriend Jack is also still alive. They're both injured, but not horrifically so.

And together they climb over the debris to a hole where one of the plane's doors used to be. And 747s are high off the ground. It's about a 12-foot jump from the door to the ground. And a man is already down there telling Joni that he'll catch her. So she is able to jump from that hole to the ground.

And meanwhile, Jack starts to help a flight attendant get other passengers to this door to get off of the plane.

At some point, terrifyingly, part of the plane collapses, but this actually makes the jump lower, so it's easier to get people to the ground. So they help get people off of the plane, which is incredible. And eventually, Jack also gets off the plane and is reunited with Joanie. I know.

Among those who have also survived the impact are best friends Suzanne and Joan, and they both instruct the people who can make it to the door to leave everything behind, and they help them get off of the burning plane, and eventually they have no choice but to get off as well.

Once on the ground, Joan, the flight attendant, thinks they are going to walk around the plane and find more survivors who have exited through the doors, but that doesn't happen. Some passengers do manage to get out over one of the wings of the plane, but the majority of the people on the flight are either killed on impact or suffocate in the fire.

Of those on the Pan Am flight, 331 people die and only 61 survive.

However, 61 survivors, I mean, miraculous.

You probably got your purse with you because you just are like, just totally in shock.

So in the aftermath, large memorial services for both flights are held. The Dutch service for the KLM flight is held in a hangar to accommodate more than 300 caskets, which is, I guess, staggering to see them all together. And those who died in the Pan Am flight are buried in Westminster, California. Wow. The only person who should have been on that KLM flight who does survive is Robina.

Remember the tour guide who stayed behind on Tenerife to see her boyfriend? At that point, the two had only known each other for four months, but they go on to get married. And in that 2006 Nova documentary, they say they've never separated since that day. She's like, love saved my life.

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