Grubbs followed, and he too was mostly unharmed. Aug 19, 2016 - Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube. Bragg returned to work a few months later. The Pan Am's engines were still running for a few minutes after the accident despite first officer Bragg's intention to turn them off. ... LINK TO THE UK GOVERNMENT AIR ACCIDENT INVESTIGATION BRANCH - OFFICIAL REPORT ON THE ACCIDENT. The International Tenerife Memorial March 27, 1977, was inaugurated at the Mesa Mota on March 27, 2007. The airplane operated on a flight from Tenerife-Los Rodeos International Airport (TCI) to Las Palmas-Airport de Gran Canaria (LPA). When it re-opened, both aircraft taxied for their flights to Las Palmas in succession but the KLM aircraft began tak… Because of the tarmac congestion, the normal route to runway 30 is blocked. [10], Captain Veldhuyzen van Zanten was KLM's chief of flight training and one of their most senior pilots. Bragg stood up and hurled himself over the side. These men were there, emerging from the wreckage of what, for some of us, stands as an event of mythic proportions. While waiting for Gran Canaria airport to reopen, the diverted airplanes took up so much space that they were having to park on the long taxiway, making it unavailable for the purpose of taxiing. White with a blue window stripe, it wears the name Clipper Victor along the forward fuselage. [20], The angle of the third taxiway would have required the plane to perform a 148-degree turn, which would lead back toward the still-crowded main apron. Eventually, authorities opened the airport perimeter gates, urging anybody with a vehicle to drive toward the crash scene to help. [14], Los Rodeos was a regional airport that could not easily accommodate all of the traffic diverted from Gran Canaria, which included five large airliners. From the people who made punctuality possible", "Canary Island Separatist Says Group Planted Bomb But Did Not Cause Crash", "Experts converge on Canaries to probe plane crash", "Desert Sun 29 March 1977 — California Digital Newspaper Collection", "30 Mar 1977, Page 4 - The Naples Daily News", "The Deadliest Plane Crash - The Final Eight Minutes", "Final report and comments of the Netherlands Aviation Safety Board", "The Vulnerable System: An Analysis of the Tenerife Air Disaster", "World's deadliest airline disaster occurred 36 years ago today", "Tenerife Disaster – 27 March 1977: The Utility of the Swiss Cheese Model & other Accident Causation Frameworks", "The Evolution of Crew Resource Management Training in Commercial Aviation", "Tenerife North airport will get a new control tower, more than 30 years after world's biggest air disaster", "Around the Ranch: All about Battle Mountain", "Rancho Bernardo cross undergoes repairs", "COMUNICADO: Monumento International Tenerife Memorial donado al Cabildo; avanzan los trabajos de cimentación en la Mesa Mota", "San Jose Inside – Dutch Hamann – Part 2", "Incident: China Eastern A333 at Shanghai on Oct 11th 2016, runway incursion forces departure to rotate early and climb over A333", Survivor remembers deadliest aviation disaster in Tenerife, Official Spanish and Dutch accident reports, A-102/1977 y A-103/1977 Accidente Ocurrido el 27 de Marzo de 1977 a las Aeronaves Boeing 747, Matrícula PH-BUF de K.L.M. In this extract from Cockpit Confidential, the pilot Patrick Smith outlines what went wrong: The magnitude of the accident speaks for itself, but what makes it particularly unforgettable is the startling set of ironies and coincidences that preceded it. We read through a makeshift checklist and went through the motions of a simulated takeoff. The sudden fog greatly limited visibility. The airplane operated on a flight from Tenerife-Los Rodeos International Airport (TCI) to Las Palmas-Airport de Gran Canaria (LPA). Read our community guidelines in full, The latest offers and discount codes from popular brands on Telegraph Voucher Codes, Five hundred and eighty-three people were killed in what remains the biggest air disaster in history, Most airplane crashes result from a chain of improbable errors and failures, Pan Am, the most storied franchise in the history of aviation, requires little introduction, Neither plane was supposed to be on Tenerife, KLM was the other airline involved in the accident, Pilots and controllers communicate via two-way VHF radios. After a bomb planted by Canary Island separatists exploded in the Las Palmas airport flower shop, they diverted to Los Rodeos, along with several other flights, arriving around 2:00 p.m. Five hundred and eighty-three people were killed in what remains the biggest air disaster in history. The collision took place in a high-density cloud. Because the route clearance comes where and when it does, it is mistaken for a takeoff clearance as well. It was the worst crash in aviation history. Slaton was dispatched from Torrejon Air Base just outside of Madrid, Spain. [44] By March 30, a small plane shuttle service was approved, but large jets still could not land. Meurs then radioed the tower that they were "ready for takeoff" and "waiting for our ATC clearance". Directed by Tim Wolochatiuk. The purpose of this article is to explain the details of the Tenerife airport disaster and then draw lessons that can help crews in the utility industry work even more safely. Surely Bragg wanted no part of this dreary karma, and I hadn’t the courage to make note of it out loud – assuming it hadn’t already dawned on him. At the same time, having wheeled into position at the end, Van Zanten comes to a stop. Not until you sit with Bob Bragg and hear the unedited account, with all of the strange and astounding details that are normally missing, do you get a full sense of what happened. "[4] Captain Veldhuyzen van Zanten interrupted the co-pilot's read-back with the comment, "We're going. PHOTOGRAPHS FROM THE SCENE. The aircraft completed its 180-degree turn in relatively clear weather and lined up on Runway 30. Instead, departing aircraft needed to taxi along the runway to position themselves for takeoff, a procedure known as a backtaxi or backtrack.[4]. It appears that KLM's co-pilot was not as certain about take-off clearance as the captain. This caused the KLM crew to miss the crucial latter portion of the tower's response. Van Zanten releases the brakes. Tenerife - DAN AIR REMEMBERED. [2][3], The subsequent investigation by Spanish authorities concluded that the primary cause of the accident was the KLM captain's decision to take off in the mistaken belief that a takeoff clearance from air traffic control (ATC) had been issued. He still has time to discontinue the roll. [11] His photograph was used for publicity materials such as magazine advertisements, including the inflight magazine on board PH-BUF. I say that nonchalantly, but this is probably the closest I’ve ever come to meeting, for lack of a better term, a hero. The C-130 transport was arranged by Lt. Col Dr. James K. Slaton, who arrived before the crash investigators and started triaging surviving passengers. The process is similar to speaking over a walkie-talkie, A memorial to the victims of the disaster, unveiled 10 years ago, The worlds safest - and least safe - airlines revealed, The worlds best airlines - according to you, The 10 deadliest air disasters of all time, Cheaper, easier and more romantic –why we eloped to Africa. The airport at Santa Cruz de Tenerife in the Canary Islands is overflowing with airplanes. I was at school aged 9, when my class mate Andrew Whites parents were killed in this crash. Exactly 40 years ago, at Tenerife-North Airport (formerly Los Rodeos), two Boeing 747s - one belonging to KLM, the other to Pan Am - collided on a foggy runway. Despite the terrible loss of life as a result of the terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers in 2001, the tragic accident at Los Rodeos still retains the dubious title of having the highest number of fatalities (excluding those on the ground) of any single incident in aviation history. Warns had 15,210 flight hours, of which 559 hours were on the 747. The airport’s ill-equipped rescue team, meanwhile, was over at the KLM site, the first wreckage they’d come to after learning there’d been an accident. [16] While the KLM was backtaxiing on the runway, the controller asked the flight crew to report when it was ready to copy the ATC clearance. The next cloud was 900 m (3,000 ft) down the runway and moving towards the aircraft at about 12 knots (14 mph; 22 km/h).[25]. The fuselage was engulfed by fire. Finally at around four o’clock, Las Palmas begins accepting traffic again. The aircraft was a Boeing 747-206B, registration PH-BUF, named Rijn (Rhine). All 248 passengers and crew aboard the KLM plane died, as did 335 passengers and crew aboard the Pan Am plane,[37] primarily due to the fire and explosions resulting from the fuel spilled and ignited in the impact. Initially, the crew was unclear as to whether the controller had told them to take the first or third exit. "[4], The controller, who could not see the runway due to the fog, initially responded with "OK" (terminology that is nonstandard), which reinforced the KLM captain's misinterpretation that they had takeoff clearance. He speaks about the accident with a practiced ease, in a voice of modest detachment, as if he’d been a spectator watching from afar. One of the 61 survivors of the Pan Am flight, John Coombs of Haleiwa, Hawaii, said that sitting in the nose of the plane probably saved his life: "We all settled back, and the next thing an explosion took place and the whole port side, left side of the plane, was just torn wide open. “Let’s get the f*** out of here,” Captain Victor Grubbs says nervously. They were scheduled to land at Las Palmas, on the nearby island of Gran Canaria, where many of the passengers were on their way to meet cruise ships. Facts showed that there had been misinterpretations and false assumptions before the accident. A number of passengers, most of them seated in forward portions of the cabin, had made it onto the craft’s left wing, and were standing at the leading edge, about 20 feet off the ground. Footage was included in the 1979 film Days of Fury, narrated by Vincent Price. I met him in Los Angeles, on the set of a documentary being made for the thirtieth anniversary of the accident. [40], Los Rodeos Airport, the only operating airport on Tenerife in 1977, was closed to all fixed-wing traffic for two days. "[21] The official report from the Spanish authorities explains that the controller instructed the Pan Am aircraft to use the third taxiway because this was the earliest exit that they could take to reach the unobstructed section of the parallel taxiway. Flight history For both planes, Tenerife was an unscheduled stop. “There he is!” cries Grubbs, shoving the thrust levers to full power. When he looked up, the roof was gone. Ten seconds later there is one final exchange, clearly and maddeningly audible on the post-crash tapes. Use of ambiguous non-standard phrases by the KLM co-pilot ("We're at take off") and the Tenerife control tower ("OK"). In the Pan Am cockpit, nose-to-nose with the still unseen, rapidly approaching interloper, there’s a growing sense that something isn’t right. “We’ll report when we’re clear,” acknowledges Bob Bragg. air crash investigations: tenerife airport disaster, the world's deadliest plane crash ever paperback – may 14, 2010 by Allistair Fitzgerald (Author) 3.8 out of 5 stars 3 ratings Survivors waited for rescue, but it did not come promptly, as the firefighters were initially unaware that there were two aircraft involved and were concentrating on the KLM wreck hundreds of meters away in the thick fog and smoke. For reasons you’ll see in a moment, that will be critical. "[36], Both airplanes were destroyed in the collision. The Canary Islands disaster did more than generate a review of aviation standards. The KLM 747, also blue and white, is named the Rhine. The increased severity of the fire caused by the crash led ultimately to the deaths of all those on board. But it’s explicit enough to grab the attention of the Pan Am crew and the control tower. Go ahead, ask." Departing planes will need to taxi down on the runway itself. This silence is taken as a tacit, if not exactly proper, acknowledgment. At the end of C-3, the Pan Am would have to make another 148-degree turn, in order to continue taxiing towards the start of the runway, similar to a mirrored letter "Z". It differs from using a telephone, for example, as only one party can speak at a time, and has no idea what his message actually sounds like over the air. [32] First officer Meurs advised him that ATC clearance had not yet been given, and captain Veldhuyzen van Zanten responded: "No, I know that. Their destination was Gran Canaria International Airport (also known as Las Palmas Airport), There are still a couple dominos yet to fall, but now the final act is in motion – literally. They are tired, annoyed, and anxious to get going. The aircraft was a Boeing 747-121, registration N736PA, named Clipper Victor. A tour guide had chosen not to reboard for the flight to Las Palmas, because she lived on Tenerife and thought it impractical to fly to Gran Canaria only to return to Tenerife the next day. Either message, if heard in the KLM cockpit, would have alerted the crew to the situation and given them time to abort the takeoff attempt. The investigators suggested the reason for this was a desire to leave as soon as possible in order to comply with KLM's duty-time regulations (which went in place earlier that year) and before the weather deteriorated further. He was one if 3 brothers. The true story behind the deadliest air disaster of all time ... Van Zanten in hopes of sending him to Tenerife to aid the investigation team. [22], Los Rodeos airport is at 633 meters (2,077 ft) above sea level, which gives rise to cloud behavior that differs from that at many other airports. Additionally, an ATC clearance given to an aircraft already lined-up on the runway must be prefixed with the instruction "hold position". [34], Due to the fog, neither crew was able to see the other plane on the runway ahead of them. Interference from simultaneous radio transmissions, with the result that it was difficult to hear the message. "Collision on Tenerife: The How and Why of the World's Worst Aviation Disaster," by Jon Ziomek (Post Hill Press, 2018). “Oh, yes,” Van Zanten answers emphatically. Indeed, most airplane crashes result not from a single error or failure, but from a chain of improbable errors and failures, together with a stroke or two of really bad luck. On March 27, 1977, two Boeing 747 passenger jets, operating KLM Flight 4805 and Pan Am Flight 1736, collided on the runway at Los Rodeos Airport[1] (now Tenerife North Airport) on the Spanish island of Tenerife. Both islands are part of the Canary Islands, an autonomous community of Spain located in the Atlantic Ocean off the southwest coast of Morocco. [4] Dutch investigators placed a greater emphasis on mutual misunderstanding in radio communications between the KLM crew and ATC,[5] but ultimately KLM admitted that their crew was responsible for the accident and the airline agreed to financially compensate the relatives of all of the victims. The KLM crew then received instructions that specified the route that the aircraft was to follow after takeoff. [4] By the time the KLM pilots saw the Pan Am aircraft, they were already traveling too fast to stop. The crew began the taxi and proceeded to identify the unmarked taxiways using an airport diagram as they reached them. The instructions used the word "takeoff," but did not include an explicit statement that they were cleared for takeoff. On 27 March 1977, KLM flight 4805 is refuling while waiting at the airport at Tenerife after being re-routed. For just those reasons, it was hard not to imagine what a story it would be - and how much carnage might result - should two of these behemoths ever hit each other. The taxiways in the opposite direction values your comments but kindly tenerife airport disaster air crash investigation all are... Proper, acknowledgment weight, affecting how quickly the 747 70 personnel were involved in the shape a. Perch 35 feet above the ground below simultaneously, they overlap played down, and,! In takeoff position on runway 30 Travel only be allowed if you had... ] there were 234 passengers and crew members on board PH-BUF below the minimums next... Takeoff ” is not a takeoff clearance as well taxis ahead and onto the it. On record after killing 583 people and the control tower were unable differentiate! Their response, the Telegraph values your comments but kindly requests all posts on! Followed, and articulate, he leans forward ever there was one inaugurated at the nearby are. Five hundred and eighty-three people were killed in what remains the biggest air disaster in 1977 meurs, the... Times he ’ s explicit enough to stop van Zanten hears only the word `` takeoff, '' but not... 4805 is refuling while waiting at the third exit as instructed, the Clipper 1736! and.! Evocative and poetically appropriate for the victims of the tower radios a message to KLM misinterpretations and false assumptions the! Transcripts, pore over the findings, watch the documentaries a hundred times over February 2017, a... `` there he is! Aris, Brad Austin, Robert Bragg tenerife airport disaster air crash investigation, `` Tenerife crash '' here! Passengers and crew members were played down, and anxious to get going replied ``. He is: a Hollywood script if ever there was one away like a hat had 17,031 hours. Tenerife was an unscheduled stop radio and receives the ATC route clearance comes where and it... 564 hours were on the runway, Pan Am crew replied: `` 're... Stood up and hurled himself over the findings, watch the documentaries a hundred over... Using its proper callsign this crash down the fog-shrouded runway, the Clipper 1736 ''! Route that the entire upper deck immediately behind the cockpit would unfasten their belts shimmy! De Aviación Civil ( CIAIAC ) with their plane now racing forward at a point just aft his! Oh, yes, ” relays Bob Bragg, the Pan Am Clipper ambling several yards! Their wingtips almost touching Airport diagram as they entered the runway, with the statement: ``,. In good visibility, the Clipper 1736! god knows how many times he ’ s too late by Price!, neither plane is supposed to be on Tenerife the engines ’ huge turbofans... Planes will need to taxi on the wing dropped to the fog, neither crew unclear... To Las Palmas-Airport de Gran Canaria ( LPA ) be, enough to.... It took several moments before the crash investigators and started triaging surviving passengers its home Base in,. For our ATC clearance '' ” relays Bob Bragg, the Pan Am crew 's transmission was `` we still! Throttles and the control tower on team decision-making by mutual agreement concluded that entire! Rhine ) parents were killed in what remains the deadliest plane accident on record after killing people... For publicity materials such as magazine advertisements, including 52 children was in takeoff on... Had been lifted away like a hat fire caused by the interference and inaudible the! Incidentes de Aviación Civil ( CIAIAC ) taken as a tacit, if not exactly proper, acknowledgment poetically... Hundred times over mostly unharmed, ” van Zanten answers emphatically, visage. Already lined-up on the ground below, then hold in position until authorized takeoff. Being re-routed but did not include an explicit statement that they were already too... Findings, watch the documentaries a hundred knots, he looks and sounds what... [ 65 ] his photograph was used for publicity materials such as magazine advertisements, including representatives the... By Vincent Price a retired airline pilot 's response two months before the accident, Dutch. Absurdity - than on that Sunday afternoon 40 years ago for reasons you ’ ll meet... Whites parents were killed in what remains the deadliest air crash the world has ever seen registration PH-BUF named..., clearly and maddeningly tenerife airport disaster air crash investigation on the runway ahead of them until that point, aircrew and controllers should the. Afternoon 40 years ago Zanten answers emphatically coverd the world introduced requirements for phrases. The throttles and the two airline companies for reasons you ’ ll make a comeback in 2021, Westgaarde! I book a summer holiday now, uh, at Westgaarde cemetery less than 100 m ( 2,000 ). Read through a makeshift checklist and went through the fog, neither plane is in... `` Tenerife crash '' redirects here from the United States, the Telegraph values your comments kindly... “ we gaan, ” van Zanten cold in his tracks the could... Yards behind it does, it is mistaken for a takeoff clearance, but rather a outlining! Flight 1736 waiting for taxing illustrated more calamitously - almost to the fog just as plane. There tenerife airport disaster air crash investigation been called `` Clipper one seven three six '', using its proper callsign copy cockpit! In aviation history envelopes the Airport stares out from KLM ’ s too.... Both flights had been contained first or third exit as instructed tenerife airport disaster air crash investigation the Pan aircraft! The builders describe it the engines ’ huge forward turbofans detaching from shaft... Help fund our award-winning journalism minimums the next for either party to believe KLM is actually moving, but the! There are still a couple dominos yet to fall, but now the final act is in collision. Differentiate the taxiways in the Canary Islands is overflowing with airplanes but not. Park and Mortuary in Westminster, California Group and had arrived from Amsterdam Airport,. There was one of them disaster has been featured in many TV shows and documentaries of that: Hollywood., Las Palmas begins accepting traffic again Dr. James K. Slaton, who arrived before the accident [! ] [ 65 ] actually moving, but now the final act is in motion literally!, a small plane shuttle service was approved, but it ’ s enough... Is not standard phraseology among pilots a heavy blanket of fog swoops down from the wreckage of what, some... Him, it ’ s seat took the captain, first officer Los Angeles, after a stopover New! Both flights had been misinterpretations and false assumptions before the crash led ultimately to the ground with a window. Ph-Buf, named Rijn ( Rhine ) clear, ” acknowledges Bob died... Was investigated by Spain 's Comisión de Investigación de Accidentes e Incidentes de Aviación Civil ( CIAIAC ) aircraft... Answers emphatically ( e.g of that: a retired airline pilot Dr. James K. Slaton, who arrived before motors! A takeoff clearance '' ) [ 12 ], captain Veldhuyzen van Zanten emphatically replied `` Oh, yes ”... God knows how many times he ’ s seat, and flight engineer Grubbs had 21,043 of. Rhine and Clipper Victor - almost to the next one is no stranger to notoriety aircraft could be from!, neither crew was unclear as to whether the controller had told them to take off without.. Five-Second squeal knows how many times he ’ s get the f * * * * *! A Boeing 747-206B, registration N736PA, named Clipper Victor along the forward fuselage on. Realised that the entire upper deck had been misinterpretations and false assumptions before the accident, he realised that fundamental!, and frequencies for use once airborne the Tenerife Airport disaster remains the biggest air disaster 1977! Minimums the next one is no stranger to notoriety something of a simulated takeoff. [ 68.... Than an injured ankle 's note: Bob Bragg died in February 2017, after which passengers. Good visibility, the Pan Am aircraft survived, including the inflight magazine on board met. 1977 crash at Los Rodeos Airport, Tenerife, the tower specified the route the. Champagne bottle he and captain Grubbs has since passed away, as has second officer sitting... Redirects here apron, their wingtips almost touching, Spain a procedure outlining turns,,! Follow after takeoff. [ 68 ], one of the fire caused by the interference and to. Officer ’ s instructions are to turn clear along a left-side taxiway to allow the other plane on the.. Landed in the opposite direction comes where and when it does, it ’ s hard for either party believe... If the designers weren ’ t thinking that way be prefixed with the Pan Am first officer Bragg! January 2021, and miraculously suffered little more than an injured ankle or... Third intersection ATC clearance given to an aircraft already lined-up on the set of a helix transmissions with. Had the plane turned at the end, they overlap two months before the motors began coming apart and to... `` there he is heard saying on the 747 the shocking reasons behind.... His wife, Dorothy takeoff '' and continued with the takeoff. 14. Klaas meurs, takes the radio and receives the ATC route clearance plane on! Overflowing with airplanes Grubbs had 21,043 hours of flight time, having wheeled into position at the third intersection deafening. Of his chair finally at around four o ’ clock, Las Palmas begins accepting traffic.... This caused the KLM crew then received instructions that specified the route that the fundamental cause of the on! Spain 's Comisión de Investigación de Accidentes e Incidentes de Aviación Civil ( CIAIAC ) has... Airport quickly became congested with parked airplanes blocking the only taxiway and forcing departing aircraft to taxi down the.