Known as the Tenerife Airport Disaster, the 1977 collision of two Boeing 747s at Los Rodeos Airport on the Spanish island of Tenerife is considered to be the worst air crash of all time. Here’s what happened.
Tenerife is located in the Canary Islands.
A popular tourist destination to this day, the Canary Islands was the subject of intense political unrest in 1977. A separatist group called the Canary Islands Independence Movement had risen to infamy and aimed to remove the islands from Spanish rule.
This group would come to play a key role in the Tenerife disaster.
On March 27, 1977, the group conducted a bombing
At 1:15 in the afternoon, the separatist movement exploded a bomb at Gran Canaria Airport, resulting in the injuries of 8 people.
With the threat of a second bomb imminent, civil aviation authorities closed the airport, and all flights were rerouted to Los Rodeos in Tenerife.
Los Rodeos was not prepared for the traffic
A much smaller airport, Los Rodeos could not easily handle the increased traffic, which included five large airliners. The airport only boasted one runway and one major taxiway, with four small taxiways connecting the two — much too small for the jumbo jets now forced to use it.
They were instead parked right on the taxiway, and the runway was turned into a taxiway/runway combo.
Pan Am Flight 1736 was re-routed to Los Rodeos
Captain Victor Grubbs and First Officer Robert Bragg piloted the plane, which requested to be put in a holding pattern rather than land and park at Los Rodeos.
Though they had enough fuel to circle for two hours, they were still ordered to land at Tenerife.
They were preparing to depart from Los Rodeos
The Pan Am plane was ready to take off, but their access to the runway was blocked by KLM Flight 4805, piloted by Captain Jacob Veldhuyzen and First Officer Klaas Meurs. They were being refueled.
After much delay, the KLM flight was ready to depart as well.
The KLM plane was told to begin taxiing
As you recall, the runway was used for taxiing and takeoff. The tower instructed the KLM plan to taxi down the runway and then turn around to get into the takeoff position.
Pan Am was told to taxi, too
Instead of heading all the way down the runway, they were told to veer off down one of the four small taxiways connecting the major taxiway to the runway. However, the crew was unsure which exit they were being told to take, eventually being told, “The third one, sir; one, two, three; third, third one,” by the controller.
This order would later be determined to be “impractical” for a 747 to do by investigators.
Weather conditions impeded visibility
Clouds had blown down to the airport, giving the Pan Am crew and tower control very little visibility.
Over at KLM, a combination of language barriers and miscommunication led Captain Veldhuyzen van Zanten to believe he had clearance for takeoff.
The planes couldn’t see each other
KLM accelerated forward at the same time that Pan Am was in position to turn onto one of the taxiways directly in the middle of the runway. The pilots had seconds to realize what was happening; KLM’s pilots attempted to lift the plane over Pan Am, but failed.
The two planes collided, with KLM’s right engine smashing through the upper deck of the Pan Am plane and killing everyone instantly.
KLM’s failed flight resulted in the plane stalling and rolling
The plane, which had been fully refueled, immediately exploded upon impact with the ground.
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All 248 passengers and crew perished, as well as 335 aboard the Pan Am flight. Sixty-one from the Pan Am flight survived, including the captain and first officer.
The following investigation revealed the fault mainly was Veldhuyzen van Zanten’s
The much-celebrated captain had failed to obtain proper clearance before beginning runway procedures.
Other factors included the foggy weather, unclear radio transmissions, miscommunication, and Pan Am’s failure to take the third taxiway as instructed.