Tenerife Airport Disaster | Deadliest Crash in Aviation History

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. With Gran Canaria as their main destination, they receive information of a terrorist attack and they are forced to divert to Los Rodeos airport (Tenerife North). Another flight that joined them was Pan Am flight 1736, which were on a flight from Los Angeles to Gran Canaria with a stop at New York. The 3 pilots on board were Captain Victor Grubbs, First Officer Robert Bragg and Flight Engineer George Warns.

Eventually Gran Canaria reopened so both flights began preparations for the short hop to Gran Canaria. The first flight to depart was KLM 747, who were instructed to taxi down runway 12 and make a 180º turn to line up onto runway 30. This procedure is also known as a runway backtrack. The Pan Am 747 would then follow the KLM aircraft onto the runway, and exit via taxiway C3, and use the parallel taxiway to taxi to the runway.

However, as the Pan Am pilots entered the runway, the visibility turned from 500 meters to 100 meters. As they were taxiing, they were unsure as to whether the controller had said C1 or C3 and were then struggling to identify the exit through the thick and dense fog. At this stage, neither of the jumbo jets can see each other and the air traffic controller had no idea of the series of events that were about to unfold.

As the KLM aircraft lined up, the captain began applying take-off power, before realising that they did not have a clearance. The pilots and air traffic control exchanged communications regarding the clearance, and were then told to standby for the take-off clearance. This last message was never received (due to interference), and the KLM aircraft began rolling for take-off. Soon after, the controller asks the Pan Am crew to call when they have cleared the runway. The flight engineer on the KLM 747 hears this and raises the alarm with the Captain, who immediately dismisses him.

Seconds from collision, the Pan Am aircraft identifies the 747 through the fog and makes a desperate attempt to get off the runway as quickly as possible. Meanwhile the KLM aircraft attempts to perform an early rotation, causing a tailstrike for a distance of 20 meters and only just gets into the air. The aircraft nose clears the Pan Am aircraft but the right engines slam onto the forward part of the fuselage, just behind the cockpit. The main gear hits the center of the fuselage while the left engines destroy the empennage. The KLM aircraft manages to take-off for a moment but it becomes completely unflyable and crashes 150 meters later and slides down 300 meters of runway.

The aircraft, filled to the brim with fuel, almost instantly ignites. All 248 passengers and crew in the KLM aircraft and 335 passengers in the Pan Am aircraft perish. 61 people on the Pan Am aircraft, including the flight crew, manage to survive, escaping through the left wing of the aircraft and openings on the fuselage. The visibility from the tower was very poor, so the air traffic controller had no idea of what had just happened, and could only hear two explosions, one after the other.

A massive investigation quickly got under way involving all three countries involved as well as both airlines, revealing the sequence of events that led to this disaster.

Credits:
KLM 747 taking off - Aviation NZ
Gran Canaria Airport, Flickr - Stefan Ekström
Airport footage, Creative Commons - g4shf
747-400 Cabin from Row 60, Flickr - Paulo O
KC-130J footage, Creative Commons - USMCairAFG
Performance graph, 747SP Airplane Characteristics document - Boeing
Simulator 737-800 flight, Creative Commons - Emmanuel Chaligné
United Airlines 757 Takeoff, Creative Commons - PDX Aviation
Heathrow aircraft time-lapse landing, Creative Commons - Cargospotter
Pan Am 747-121, Flickr - clipperarctic
Ground radar station, Creative Commons - Ynterstella
747 CAT IIIB landing, The Pilot Channel
Final Report - Netherlands Aviation Safety Board

[AM-rdvc]

My mom, Encarnación Pons, a commercial airline pilot for 23 years, was the air hostess who had to work during this flight. Before becoming a pilot, she worked as an air hostess for 10 years, and she was stationed in Tenerife. She received a call that day asking to please come and board because she was an English speaker, and the other air hostess who spoke English was ill and asked to stay at home. When she was at the airport, the other girl said she was feeling better and asked to work for that day instead. While my mom was driving her Mini Cooper back to her house, she witnessed the plane crashing into pieces. I always feel how close I was to not exist. I would not be here today writing this if my mom had worked that day almost 50 years ago.

[franevodopija]

ironic how the worst aviation accident happened on ground

[TheC.O.-VISIT]

Ah the 70's, what a time to fly. Captains who ignored commands, airports without land radar equipment, unprepared emergency response teams, ah yes.

[petcatznz]

KLM captain ignores all departure protocols and his flight engineer's advice in thick fog, what could possibly go wrong!

[wafflehorse]

I feel bad for these people they died from miscommunication and impatience you guys don’t have to like this comment just give those passengers and workers who died respect

[Great]

NEVER underestimate the power of miscommunication.

[loetjeabc]

It’s scary to realize my grandmother and grandfather would be on the KLM flight but just that morning they got a call with the question if they wanted to take a plane later because it was overbooked. They accepted it and took a flight later. And when this accident was on the news my mom and her siblings thought there parents where dead. Can’t believe how happy they where when they heard their parents took a flight later. They’ve been so so so lucky.

[filthywings]

Technically all plane crashes change aviation history, that’s how crashes became so infrequent.

[mdaniels]

It's so frustrating seeing such levels of human stupidity

[diegopalos]

So basically it was caused due to an arrogant captain who didn't care about taking didn't care he was responsible for many lives.

[hayabusa-iii]

K.L.M. regulations and the impatience of the Dutch Pilot killed 583 people. Even the WW-2 Japanese Kamikaze pilots did not take off without permission and they were on suicide missions. Could not wait 3-5 minutes.

[BettinaBalser]

This is the best video I have seen about this crash.

[bayofbengal]

The captain of the KLM was under pressure to leave the airport to avoid being stranded at the airport. The captain did not wanted to get in trouble with the management of KLM if the airline ended up paying for the overnight stay of the crews and passengers because the captain couldn’t leave the airport, this played a key role in KLM captain’s decision to leave the airport at any cost.

[frankiecrocker]

It's still unfathomable how the KLM captain was so situationally unaware. With all of the adverse conditions present, he literally threw caution in the air and caused over 500 deaths!

[ellenwinslet]

Every time you fly and land and get off safely you owe your life to people who died in accidents before you flew.

[tiggasgaminghd]

Imagine being that flight engineer warning the captain on KLM. Has to be the biggest *I told you so* in history

[Cohdiboi]

Weather was so bad the rescue crew couldn’t even tell a second plane was burning, but apparently that didn’t keep KLM from trying to take off?

[nigel]

The greatest tribute we can pay to all those affected that day, not just the passengers that died, but their families also, is that we've learnt from this tragedy. By implenting procedures like CRM we do our level best to make sure this sort of disaster never happens again.

[yacintajakobs]

I will never forget this horrible accident in my hometown 3 children became in one instant orphans

[bluevictory]

The saying, "Patience is a virtue" is powerfully true and something that captain didn't have.