Ground proximity warning systems were introduced in the 1970s to stop controlled flight into terrain accidents, using radar altitude to trigger alerts when an aircraft gets too low too fast. The Boeing 727, a widely flown trijet airliner from the 1960s to the 1980s, used an early version with the distinctive whoop whoop tone followed by pull up. Recordings and simulator clips later spread online through aviation forums and flight sim communities, then into meme edits where the warning became shorthand for any situation spiralling out of control.