A pilot asked airport control to get a beer ready for him before crashing a plane on landing, killing all 104 people on board.

Iberia Airlines Flight 602 devastatingly exploded on impact with a mountain in Ibiza, Spain on 7 January 1972 in a freak accident on landing.

A total of 98 passengers were making the short distance journey from Valencia Airport on the mainland to the Balearic island but horrifically endured their final moments on descent to the runway.

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The Sud Aviation SE 210 Caravelle was carrying a crew of six including captain José Luis Ballester Sepúlveda, who at 37-years-old, had 7,000 hours of flying experience under his belt.

Working alongside Sepúlveda, was first officer Jesús Montesinos Sánchez, and fight engineer Vicente Rodríguez Mesa.

Everything had been plain sailing since setting off across the Balearic Sea until the flight prepared to land.

Sepúlveda asked Ibiza Airport over radio, for permission to descend to 5,500 feet at approximately 12.15pm and according to airport sources, the captain joked over the call "Get me a beer ready, we are here."

Conversation between the aircraft and airport tower controller, reportedly continued from beer to a football match as the plane reached below 2,000 feet on approach to Runway 07 when it descended below 2,000 feet.

According to an investigation into the crash, neither the Sepúlveda nor Sánchez clocked just how dangerously low they were with Mount Atalayasa in their way.

Flight 602 smashed into the mountain approximately 90 feet below its 1,515 foot summit and exploded into a fireball on impact. No one made it out of the wreckage alive.

Bad weather could hardly have been blamed for the disaster as conditions were overcast with broken clouds.

It was concluded instead, that Sepúlveda tragically failed to maintain the minimum flight altitude for a visual approach to Runway 07.

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