Reyes said in an interview for the Canadian television series '' Mayday '' that when he disengaged the autopilot he feared that the aircraft would bank right again and the crew would lose control of the aircraft ; because of the pressing need to land quickly to attend to the injured and inspect the plane for additional damage , however , Reyes instructed Herrera to take hold of his own controls and then Reyes deactivated the autopilot . The aircraft did not bank after the disengagement of the autopilot , but neither would it respond to steering inputs from either controller due to the control cable damage caused by the bomb . The crew struggled to use the ailerons , which could allow the aircraft to roll but were still unable to change the plane 's direction . After thinking through the different hypothetical methods of control , the crew settled on using asymmetric thrust to control the jet , in a very similar fashion to United Airlines Flight 232 's crew five years earlier , because other methods of control were either deemed too risky to attempt , or would not have as much effect as other ways
United Airlines Flight 232
United Airlines Flight 232
Philippine Airlines Flight 434