WARNING: The following contains SPOILERS for Yellowjackets.
SHOWTIME's newest series Yellowjackets is a gripping survival story set in the aftermath of a horrible accident, but what causes the plane to crash during the show's pilot? Created by two of the writers and producers of Netflix’s Narcos, the show joins Dexter on the premium channel's lineup of horrors, but adds a twisted coming-of-age tale to the mix. Yellowjackets features a stellar cast of characters including Juliette Lewis and Christina Ricci for the series’ adult characters along with a teen cast led by Ella Purnell.
Yellowjackets episode 1 alternates between two storylines. The first follows a high school girls’ soccer team preparing to go to the National Championship in 1996, and the second arc picks up years later with the same characters as adults having survived after their plane crashes in the wilderness. The teenage girls survive against all odds for 19 months before eventually being rescued. While the story may seem unbelievable and Yellowjackets is in no way based on truth, some similarities can be drawn to the real-life crash of Flight 571 in the Andes Mountains in 1972, carrying a young Uruguayan rugby team.
Episode 1 shows the girls’ flight take off with Yellowjackets' main characters Teen Shauna and Jackie—played by The Book Thief's Sophie Nélisse and Army of the Dead's Ella Purnell, respectively—in a Valium-induced sleep. Shauna awakens to chaos and lifts the plane's window shade to see the aircraft descending rapidly toward a remote terrain, but the viewer is left to wonder as to the cause of the crash. Like the tragic Andes crash of 1972, the plane in Yellowjackets episode 1 likely crashes due to pilot error.
Though Yellowjackets is complete fiction, one of the comparable elements between the two stories is the size of the planes on which the two teams travel. In Yellowjackets episode 1, the girls take off on a private plane similar in size to the Uruguayan Air Force Fairchild F-227 from the crash in 1972. Both of these aircrafts are smaller and weaker than the typical large commercial jet. As is reported by Joshua Lattucca (via High Sky Flying) smaller planes weigh less and have weaker engines, “which could pose a serious danger in the wrong circumstances."
In the Andes crash, the survivors’ accounts reported turbulence before the aircraft struck a mountain, causing the loss of one of the aircraft’s wings. Turbulence, however, is rarely the catalyst of plane crashes. Lattuca points out that “it is extremely rare for an airplane to be negatively affected by even the most extreme turbulence.” He goes on to say that pilot error is the leading cause of airplane crashes as was the case in the real-life Andes crash, as the pilot had miscalculated the destination and began descent early. This led to the inability of the pilot to correct the flight course after the turbulence due to the plane’s limited capabilities.
In Yellowjackets, Shauna awakens to someone placing an oxygen mask on her face, leading to the idea that the plane has lost significant altitude, possibly from turbulence. While it is unclear if the plane suffered exterior damage before crashing, internally the plane appears intact. Additionally, when she lifts the shade, there is no sign of bad weather or any other external factor that may have potentially caused the incident. It seems likely the plane in Yellowjackets crashed due to pilot error as it is the leading cause of plane crashes.
Yellowjackets streams on SHOWTIME on Sundays.
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