Tenerife airport disaster
The Tenerife airport disaster happened on March 27, 1977, when two Boeing 747s collided on the ground of Los Rodeos Airport (now Tenerife North Airport). This crash killed 583 people onboard the two flights.
 Wreckage on the runway | |
| Accident summary | |
|---|---|
| Date | March 27, 1977 |
| Summary | Runway collision |
| Place | Tenerife, Canary Islands Coordinates: 28°28′54″N 16°20′18″W / 28.48165°N 16.3384°W |
| Total injuries (non-fatal) | 61 |
| Total fatalities | 583 |
| Total survivors | 61 |
| First aircraft | |
.jpg) PH-BUF, the KLM Boeing 747-206B involved in the accident | |
| Type | Boeing 747-206B |
| Name | Rijn ("Rhine") |
| Airline/user | KLM Royal Dutch Airlines |
| Registration | PH-BUF |
| Flew from | Amsterdam Airport Schiphol Netherlands |
| Flying to | Gran Canaria Airport Gran Canaria, Canary Islands |
| Passengers | 234 |
| Crew | 14 |
| Fatalities | 248 |
| Survivors | 0 |
| Second aircraft | |
 A Pan Am Boeing 747-121, similar to the aircraft involved in the accident | |
| Type | Boeing 747-121 |
| Name | Clipper Victor |
| Airline/user | Pan American World Airways |
| Registration | N736PA |
| Flew from | Los Angeles International Airport Los Angeles, United States |
| Stopover | John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York City, U.S. |
| Flying to | Gran Canaria Airport Gran Canaria, Canary Islands |
| Passengers | 380 |
| Crew | 16 |
| Injuries (non-fatal) | 61 |
| Fatalities | 335 (326 passengers, 9 crew) |
| Survivors | 61 |
The crash was caused by many reasons. One reason is that as the KLM captain wanted to takeoff quickly so that he could return to Amsterdam. This made him misunderstand that he was cleared by Air Traffic Controller to takeoff and so he began to take off, eventually crashing into the Pan Am flight.[1] At that time, the Tenerife North Airport did not have ground radar, so the controllers could not know that the KLM flight was taking off.[2]
Another reason was the fog surrounding the airport. The bad weather reduced the visibility, meaning the pilots could not see each other and neither could the controllers see the two planes on the runway. Because of the fog, the pilots only saw each other at the last minute, when they could not have prevented the crash. If there was no fog, the KLM crew would have seen the Pan Am plane on the runway and would not have taken off.[2]
References
- ↑ "ASN Aircraft Accident Boeing 747-121 N736PA Tenerife-Norte Los Rodeos Airport (TFN)." Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved April 7, 2014.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Mayday, Crash of the Century (Special). Cineflix, 2006.
- ↑ "Aviation Safety Network > Statistics > Worst accidents > 100 worst accidents." Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved April 7,