From the KLMs cockpit voice recording, it was evident that Captain van Zanten was not closely following the conversations between First Officer Meurs and air traffic control during taxi and takeoff; in fact, he had to ask repeatedly for clarification. How could this have happened? The C-130 transport was arranged by Lt. Col Dr. James K. Slaton, who arrived before the crash investigators and started triaging surviving passengers. Neither plane was supposed to be on Tenerife in the first place; they diverted there after the closure of Gran Canaria. Oh yes! van Zanten emphatically replied. Instead, the controller only granted the ATC clearance. Bragg had 10,800 flight hours, of which 2,796 hours were on the 747. This was a sign that he had become more narrowly focused on taxiing, which due to the fog, the lack of taxiway markings, and the extremely tight turn at the end of the runway was a task requiring careful concentration. They also faced a crash scene which could only be described as apocalyptic. The process of rounding up all the KLM passengers proved to be extraordinarily difficult, ultimately running until 16:00, an hour and a half after Gran Canaria reopened. Video, 00:00:18, Police carry away Greta Thunberg from protest, As far as pranks go it was a good one - Gary Lineker. Had the plane turned at the third exit as instructed, the collision would not have occurred. This was one of the first accident investigations to include a study into the contribution of "human factors". Visit r/admiralcloudberg to read and discuss over 200 similar articles. 150 meters on, it crashed to the ground and broke into three pieces. Another symptom of stress is a reversion to deeply ingrained habits at the expense of conscious decision-making. One woman bravely jumped first, only for everyone else to jump on top of her. Unintended consequences propagated outward from every decision, affecting the course of events in unexpected ways. One possible factor shaping the junior crewmembers judgment about the location of the Pan Am was a simple unwillingness to believe that van Zanten would make such an egregious mistake as to take off while another plane was still on the runway. A terrorist incident at Gran Canaria Airport had caused . An ATC clearance is a description of the route which the plane will fly after departure, but does not give an aircraft permission to actually depart. [4] By the time the KLM pilots saw the Pan Am aircraft, they were already moving too fast to stop. This problem becomes particularly acute on the saddle between the islands two main mountain ranges, where the terrain funnels clouds directly over Los Rodeos Airport at a high rate of speed. On top of that, they had been on duty all day and were doubtlessly suffering from fatigue. All Bragg could do was duck. Moments later, the fuel in the right wing ignited, and an even bigger explosion tore through the plane from end to end, sending the remains of its twisted fuselage toppling inward into a fiery void. The plane immediately went into a stall, rolled sharply, and hit the ground approximately 150m (500ft) past the collision, sliding down the runway for a further 300m (1,000ft). Drifting clouds of different densities cause wildly varying visibilities, from unhindered at one moment to below the legal minimum the next. With a minimum takeoff visibility of 300 meters, they knew they needed to start rolling before the cloud enveloped them again. Video, 00:04:17Why did 918 people die because of this man? And so, as we launch into yet another account of the Tenerife Disaster, it is worth stepping back from the glaring carnage and the accusations of guilt to consider more important questions. Captain Grubbs applied full power to the throttles and made a sharp left turn towards the grass in an attempt to avoid the impending collision. [1] In some accidents it can be said that the resulting changes ensured that the victims did not die in vain. Others compared the near-miss to the infamous Tenerife Airport Disaster in 1977, when two Boeing 747 passenger jets collided on the runway of what was then called Los Rodeos Airport. From the smoldering wreck of the Pan Am jet, its left wing jutting out from a pile of charred metal, pieces of both planes lay strewn down the runway for several hundred meters, including some of the KLMs engines and numerous pieces of the right side of the Pan Am, some of which were found as far away as the second wreckage site. If they couldnt make it, they would have to cancel the flight, and KLM would have to find enough empty hotel rooms to house all 235 passengers and 14 crew on a small island at the height of the tourist season. A study carried out by the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) after the accident concluded that making the second 148 turn at the end of taxiway C-3 would have been "a practical impossibility". The disaster has been featured in many TV shows and documentaries. Who was to blame? indicated that captain Grubbs and first officer Bragg had recognized the ambiguity (this message was not audible to the control tower or KLM crew due to simultaneous cross-communication); The Pan Am had taxied beyond the third exit. Video, 00:04:17, Why did 918 people die because of this man? [10], The following day, the Canary Islands Independence Movement, responsible for the bombing at Gran Canaria that started the chain of events that led to the disaster, denied responsibility for the accident. Second Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIo2X26Eb8TT82-kUXb3owgPatreon: (Paused for December): https://www.patreon.com/brookemakennaDonations for this channel: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/brookemakenna Follow me on Instagram: https://instagram.com/brookemakenna_Email for Business Inquires: authorbrookemakenna@gmail.comShop My Vintage Closet on Depop @nowrongera What I'm Wearing: -Dress: Vintage! Lessons Learned from the Tenerife Airport Disaster. This steep authority gradient would have been reinforced by the fact that van Zanten had recently given Meurs his Boeing 747 type rating, and by the fact that Shreuder was apparently a proponent of a limited role for flight engineers, believing that they should stick to aircraft systems and not involve themselves in operational decision-making. Finally, at 16:51, KLM flight 4805 finished refueling and requested clearance to start its engines, and Pan Am flight 1736 followed suit 20 seconds later. It did not take the power of hindsight to see that they were in a dangerous position. Therefore, we take steps to ensure our own ability to respond . In March 1977, two jumbo jets collided at Tenerife Airport killing 583 people. Why did 918 people die because of this man? Meanwhile, KLM Captain Jacob van Zanten made another calculated decision which would further delay their departure from Tenerife but might reduce their overall time on duty. It cannot be emphasized enough that this had long since ceased to be a normal flight the number of considerations and ad-hoc decisions facing the two crews was highly abnormal. The other 61 passengers and crew aboard the Pan Am aircraft survived, including the captain, first officer, and flight engineer. After the aircraft landed at Tenerife, the passengers were transported to the airport terminal. Roger sir, we are cleared to the Papa beacon, flight level nine zero, At that moment, Captain van Zanten pushed the throttles to takeoff power and announced, Were going!, Apparently taken by surprise, First Officer Meurs hastily finished his transmission: right turn out zero four zero until intercepting the three two five. Analyzer of plane crashes and author of upcoming book (eventually). On March 27, 1977, KLM flight 4805 departs Schipol Airport, in Amsterdam, with 3 pilots: Captain Jacob Veldhuyzen van Zanten, first officer Klaas Meurs and flight engineer Willem Schreuder. Video, 00:04:17. Five hundred and eighty-three people lost their lives; only 61 survived the air disaster. Watch 40 years of the funniest Breakfast fails. The two. All in all, there were several sources of stress pressing in upon van Zanten from all sides. Because they were broadcasting, not receiving, neither the Pan Am crew nor the controller were aware of the resulting interference. The full load of fuel ignited, and the wreckage slid down the runway for another 300 meters, consumed in flames. The tail slammed into the runway in a shower of sparks as the fully laden 747, its engines straining, fought heroically to become airborne. Los Rodeos, renamed Tenerife North Airport (TFN), was then used only for domestic and inter-island flights until 2002, when a new terminal was opened and Tenerife North began to carry international traffic again. He said Okay, then paused, as though trying to formulate a directive which would cover all contingencies. In anticipation of further arrivals, the controllers instructed it to park down at the end of the main taxiway where it intersected runway 12. Interference from simultaneous radio transmissions with the result that it was difficult to hear messages. However, the truth is not nearly so clear-cut. Other flight attendants hurried to the left wing, where they estimated that around 50 passengers were standing directly above the still-spinning engines. It was there that the KLM plane lay split into several pieces, the burnt out shell of its fuselage rising ghost-like above a field of blackened debris. [24], The Pan Am crew found themselves in poor and rapidly deteriorating visibility almost as soon as they entered the runway. It appears that KLM's co-pilot was not as certain about take-off clearance as the captain. It remains the worlds deadliest air disaster. The Tenerife Disaster did catalyze several major changes in the aviation industry. She could not have known that out of 249 passengers and crew who flew into Tenerife on flight 4805, she would be the only survivor. He travelled with Howard Harper, who was killed. The co-pilot who survived the Tenerife aircraft disaster, The worst crash in aviation history. [12], Both flights had been routine until they approached the islands. . Initially, the crew was unclear as to whether the controller had told them to take the first or third exit. ATC clearance, it must be said, is not the same thing as takeoff clearance. [8] On 2 August 1970, in its first year of service, it also became the first 747 to be hijacked: en route between JFK and Luis Muoz Marn International Airport in San Juan, Puerto Rico, it was diverted to Jos Mart International Airport in Havana, Cuba. This crash killed 583 people on board the two flights. When he said Okay, he did not intend to express approval, but was simply filling air as he gathered his thoughts and worked out an instruction that would make sense regardless of whether the plane was stationary or rolling. The system itself, they said, was at fault in the crash. The third one sir, one two three, third, third one, the controller replied. The Olympian who never gave up. Many summaries of the accident today would have the reader believe van Zanten took off knowing he had not received clearance, even though this couldnt be further from the truth. [40][41], Spanish Army soldiers were tasked with clearing crash wreckage from the runways and taxiways. It was the first 747 to be delivered to an airline. In Photos The Most Disastrous Air Crashes Rediff News. Having no good reason to believe that the KLM would take off without clearance, he considered Meurss transmission to mean that they had assumed the takeoff position. Visibility oscillated between about 100 and 900 meters on a very rapid interval, and the taxiways were not marked with any sort of sign or painted number. As police hurried to respond to the attack, the airport received a phone call warning of a second bomb, prompting the authorities to shut down the airport and evacuate the terminal. The collision took place in a high-density cloud. The Tenerife Airport Disaster is considered to be the deadliest plane crash in aviation history. Video, 00:00:45Snowboarder takes to the slopes of Londonderry, One-minute World News. Third, imprecise terminology allowed the air crews and controllers to develop conflicting mental models of the traffic situation. And fourth, the crash would not have been possible without the severe lack of infrastructure at Los Rodeos airport. Witness is a programme of the stories of our times told by the people who were there. 61 survivors would make it out alive but almost 600 would not. To make matters worse, today was Sunday, and the control tower was short-staffed. [4] About 70 personnel were involved in the investigation, including representatives from the United States, the Netherlands[44] and the two airline companies. Directly above the still-spinning engines course of events in unexpected ways develop conflicting mental of... 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