Worst Air Disaster (Tenerife)

I think i saw something on telly about this once, there was some controversy over the actions of one of the captains I think

Yes, this is the worst air disaster ever (9/11 kinda doesn't count I suppose, although it could). A PanAm Boeing 747 landed in Tenerife in thick fog. A KLM 747 was waiting at the other end of the runway to depart. The Pan Am pilots did not follow instructions very well and stayed on the runway longer than necessary (they missed the turn-off). The KLM captain thought he heard clearance to take-off and did so - crashing into the PanAm 747 and killing a lot of people.

From the little I read about the crash, it was what it always is: a cascade of errors and unfortunate events, that lead to destruction. I suppose most of the blame in my mind lies with the KLM captain. He did not ask for confirmation, assumed a lot of things, ordered the FO to take off overriding the latter's protest. And all, because their flight limit was approaching and they'd have to change crews and lay over half way to their destination.

*sigh*

Indeed, but the ironic fact is had the KLM CApt. not refueled he would have been able to clear the Panam 747's Tail.

Im a expert on disasters i watch Air Crash Investiagtion, i find them fasinating. I supose it shows how muchy presurre a pilot is under 🙄

Some more interesting info about it:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/27/newsid_2531000/2531063.stm

Heres a detailed report of what happened:

At 12:30 a bomb explodes in the Las Palmas passenger terminal. Because of warnings of a possible second bomb, the airport was closed. A large number of flights were diverted to Tenerife, a.o. KLM Flight 4805 from Amsterdam and PanAm Flight 1736 (coming from Los Angeles and New York).
Las Palmas Airport opened to traffic again at 15:00.
Because the PanAm passengers remained on aboard it was possible to leave Tenerife at once. The taxiways were congested by other aircraft however. This meant the PanAm crew had to backtrack on runway 12 for take-off on runway 30. The entrance to runway 12 however, was blocked by the KLM Boeing. The PanAm flight had to wait for almost 2 hours before all KLM passengers (except 1) had reboarded and refueling had taken place.
The KLM flight was then cleared to backtrack runway 12 and make a 180deg. turn at the end. Three minutes later (at 17:02) Pan Am 1736 was cleared to follow the KLM aircraft and backtrack runway 12. The PanAm crew were told to leave the runway at the third taxiway and report leaving the runway. At 17:05:44
KLM 4805 reported ready for take-off and was given instructions for a Papa beacon departure. The KLM crew repeated the instructions and added "We are now at take-off". The brakes were released and KLM 4805 started the take-off roll.
Tenerife tower, knowing that Pan Am 1736 was still taxiing down the runway replied "OK ...... Stand by for take-off, I will call you." This message coincided with the PanAm crew's transmission "No ... uh we're still taxiing down the runway, the Clipper 1736". These communications caused a shrill noise in the KLM cockpit, lasting approx. 3.74 seconds.
Tenerife tower replied: "Papa Alpha 1736 report runway clear.", whereupon the PanAm crew replied: "OK, will report when we're clear". This caused some concerns with the KLM flight engineer asking the captain: "Is he not clear then?" After repeating his question the captain answers emphatically: "Oh, yes".
A number of second before impact the KLM crew saw the PanAm Boeing still taxiing down the runway. The crew tried to climb away and became airborne after a 65 feet tail drag in an excessive rotation.
The PanAm crew immediately turned the aircraft to the right and applied full power. The KLM aircraft was airborne, but the fuselage skidded over the PanAm's aft fuselage, destroying it and shearing off the tail. The KLM aircraft flew on and crashed out of control 150m further on, sliding another 300m bursting into flames.

From http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19770327-1

An interesting and unfortunate read.

yeah...i heard about that,it was really horrrible. 😕 😞

Watch out on National Goegraphic TV,as there is a program featuring this disaster. ➡

COLLISION ON THE RUNWAY

On Tenerife, a Pan Am flight taxied on the runway, while a KLM flight took off. But miscommunication caused one of the worst aviation disasters when the two jumbo jets collided, killing 583 people. Investigate what led to this fateful airplane collision.
http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/seconds/episodes.html

Tenerife has 2 airports the newer main one is in the South, Sur Reina Sofia Airport, and then there is Los Rodeos Airport in the North.

After the disaster Los Rodeos Airport was used only by domestic flights between the Canary islands,but due to Tenerife being a very popular holiday destination,Los Rodeos is now seeing more and more charter flights

I have flown in to Reina Sofia a few times and it is a fairly modern airport (with upgrade work seemingly on the go all the time)

I always though that a 747 landed on another 747 and killed a bunch of people. Both stories sad very sad indeed.

Yes I agree, this was a very sad but also very interesting event.

So many tiny errors lead to one big awefull collision and a lot of lives lost 😞

I read this interesting passage on wikipedia the final radio transmissions from the tower to the aircraft:

1706:20.08
TENERIFE TOWER Stand by for take-off, I will call you.
1706:20.3
PanAm Radio(c/p) And we're still taxiing down the runway, the clipper one seven three six.
1706:19.39- 1706:23.19
RDO and TENERIFE TOWER communications caused a shrill noise in KLM cockpit -
messages not heard by KLM crew .
1706:25.6
TENERIFE TOWER Roger alpha one seven three six report when runway clear
1706:29.6
PanAm Radio(c/p) OK, we'll report when we're clear.
TENERIFE TOWER Thank you
1706:32.43
KLM FLT ENGR Is hij er niet af dan? {Is he not clear then?}
1706:34.1
KLM CAPTAIN Wat zeg je? {What do you say?}
1706:34.15
KLM-? Yup.
1706:34.7
KLM FLT ENGR Is hij er niet af, die Pan American? {Is he not clear that Pan American?}
1706:35.7
KLM CAPTAIN Jawel. {Oh yes. - emphatic}
1706:40.0
PanAm captain sees landing lights of KLM Boeing at approx. 700m
1706:44.0
PH-BUF started rotation...

Reading though those tranmissions makes me imagine just what it must have been like, aweful!

I just found that reading on wikipidea today

cheekytrolly wrote:

I was reading on Wikipedia about the Canary Islands and I just discovered this passage:

The Tenerife disaster took place at 17:06 local time on March 27, 1977, when two Boeing 747 airliners collided at Los Rodeos Airport on the island of Tenerife, Canary Islands, killing 583 people. The accident had the highest fatality number of any accident in aviation history, the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 not taken into account.

The aircraft involved were Pan Am Flight 1736, named Clipper Victor, under the command of Captain Victor Grubbs, and KLM Flight 4805, named Rijn (Rhine River), under the command of Captain Jacob Veldhuyzen van Zanten. The accident happened on the ground. The KLM aircraft was just about to take off when it crashed into the Pan Am aircraft which was taxiing on the same runway.

Los Rodeos Airport (then TCI, now TFN) is situated in the northern part of Tenerife, and is used mainly for flights within the Canary Islands and flights from the Spanish mainland.

➡ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenerife_disaster

I have never heard about this disaster, but apparently it was the worst air incident ever before 9/11!

You learn something new every day 😕

I remember this vividly.
Captain Jacob van Zanten was an arrogant power monger. He was impossible to criticize or to deal with. He is 90% responsible for this mass murder. His name should be cursed daily.

This was not an accident.
This was mass murder.

KLM airlines is complicit because they allowed this Saddam type personality to be the spokesman for their arrogant airline.
They promoted him without checking his potential mental deterioration.
They even made him their spokesman in commercials, and the chief of training.

After this horrific intentional event, most airlines started to reign in the power of arrogant Captains who thought they were God.

Don't be afraid to speak up.
Ask questions, and criticize your airline.
Air travel can be dangerous.
If you're not comfortable with the circumstances, say something.

Pilots routinely take off and land into dangerous storms to meet a stupid deadline. There are other ways the airlines and pilots compromise your safety. It is done in the name of money.

One of the 747's (the one that began rotation at the time of collision) decided to refuel a tank while they were delayed even though it wasn't required. Had they not refuelled it might have been light enough to miss the other 747.

I wonder wether the panam crew survived.

hms_endeavour wrote:

I wonder wether the panam crew survived.

pretty sure everyone died 😞

The Pan Am Captain, First Officer, and Flight Engineer survived.

Jamie4590 wrote:

One of the 747's (the one that began rotation at the time of collision) decided to refuel a tank while they were delayed even though it wasn't required. Had they not refuelled it might have been light enough to miss the other 747.

If the so-called 'Documentary' I watched has any credibility, the Dutch captain decided to take fuel on board at Los Rodeos Tenerife instead of Las Palmas Gran Canaria because he feared that at Las Palmas there would be a queue of aircraft wanting to refuel, causing delays and thus preventing him and his crew from returning to Schiphol the same day.

The fact that his unscheduled decision caused delays to other aircraft at Los Rodeos didn't seem to bother him.

From memory, he was about 50 tons heavier at TO because of the excess fuel which was supposed to take the KLM 747 all the way back to Schiphol.

Yes, if you read the entire CVR transcript you see the Pan Am pilots complaining about him.

Isn't this the same incident where a flaw with the readio system used contributed to the pilots not getting important info from ATC because the message was cut off when the other aircraft used the radio. I forget the term used for this flaw.

Also, since the accident another airport was built on higher groud but the same airport is still used even when fog descends down to meters above the runway which is the same conditions that were present on the day of the accident. Of course cockpits today have advanced proximity alert systems so a simliar should never happen again.