The deadliest plane crash in history is characterized from the beginning by a tragic irony: it happened on the ground. The two PanAm and KLM aircraft that collided that afternoon on March 27, 1977 at Los Rodeos Airport in Tenerife they were to cut the thread of 583 human lives in a horrible way - without even counting the pain and lifelong mourning of those close to them, who were left behind.
The number of victims speaks for itself about the magnitude of the disaster, however what makes it really creepy is the series of coincidences and the tragic irony that combined in a fatal way and stigmatized the accident.
Experts often point out that most plane crashes are not the result of a single mistake or failure but of a series of mistakes and failures, which coincide with some really bad moments. And if there is one event that highlights all this tragic combination and its frightening result, it is undoubtedly the accident that happened 40 or so years ago.
It was 1977 and Boeing 747 he had only been tearing the ethers for eight years. It was the largest commercial aircraft ever built, with unparalleled glamor. Thus, it is not difficult to imagine the tragedy - and the magnitude of the losses - that could cause a clash between two such giants. And, really, how likely would it be to happen? Such a scenario would seem out of place in Hollywood - but sometimes reality is beyond imagination.
Neither of the two fatal Boeing 747s should normally be in the airport where one of the saddest chapters in the history of aviation was to be written. The Pan Am Boeing 747 was coming from Los Angeles and had made a stop in New York. KLM Boeing had started from its "base", Amsterdam. Both were to land normally in Las Palmas on the neighboring island of Gran Canaria, where many of the passengers were to board cruise ships.
But after a bomb blast at a Las Palmas airport store, flights were redirected to Los Rodeos.
KLM flight pilot Jacob Van Zanten was the 747's top pilot instructor and a celebrity in the airline ranks. His face was known to passengers, he also appeared in KLM ads in magazines.
The normally quiet Los Rodeos Airport was full of flights diverted there that day due to the terrorist attack. The "Rhine" and "Clipper Victor" aircraft are standing next to each other, at the southern end of the hangar, with the tips of their wings almost touching each other. Around 4 pm, Las Palmas Airport returns to operation. The PanAm aircraft is ready to take off but the lack of space and the angle at which the two aircraft are located require the KLM 747 to start first.
The weather is good until shortly before the accident, and if the KLM aircraft had not requested refueling at less than five, it would have been both in the air sooner. During the delay, a veil of dense fog descends from the hills and drowns the airport. The extra fuel also means extra weight and therefore affects how quickly the 747 can be ready to take off. This will prove to be crucial - but what could one have imagined then.
Due to the unexpected congestion in Los Rodeos, the normal route to Corridor 30 is blocked. The aircraft to take off must wheel on the runway itself, reach its end and there make a 180 degree turn to take off in the opposite direction. A process that is rare in commercial airports. This process, however, will put, in 1977 in Tenerife, two Boeing 747s in the same aisle, at the same time, and with visibility conditions that do not allow each other to see each other, but also to be both "invisible" for control tower. This will also prove crucial, given that the airport in question did not have ground radar.
Her aircraft KLM starts first, with PanAm behind. Governor Van Zanten has to drive it to the edge of the aisle, turn it in the opposite direction and wait for permission to take off. The PanAm aircraft must be removed from the runway by turning left in order to make room for the KLM 747. As soon as it safely exits the other Boeing, PanAm's aircraft must alert the control tower - to give the "OK" for KLM to take off.
Unable to distinguish which exit to exit, PanAm pilots miss the exit indicated by the control tower. They see an exit - the right one - but it has a difficult angle to turn such a huge aircraft. Then they see the next exit, which is smoother, and head towards it. Under normal circumstances this would not be such a big problem, but in this case it meant that the Boeing was left on the runway for several more seconds. And that would also play a role in the tragedy.
At the same time, having steered the KLM aircraft in the right position, Governor Van Zanten immobilized it. Officer Klaas Meurs takes over the radio and receives a first "ok" from him control tower. It is not a green light for takeoff but rather a process that refers to the speed, altitude and frequencies of the time the aircraft will be in the air. It is normally a message received long before an aircraft enters the runway for takeoff but so far the pilots have had a lot of work to do with checklists and directions to the airport. They are tired, irritated and can't wait to leave. And they are unaware that another 747 ακόμα is still on their way
And here continues in the most tragic way the domino of misunderstanding, coincidences and mistakes that led to the worst plane crash in history.
The initial approval of the route is perceived by the KLM crew as a green light for take-off. Meurs checks the necessary parameters and measurements and completes the test with the unusual for the typical phraseology of such a process "We are now, ehm, on take off", a phrase that is lost in the buzz of starting engines.
Van Zanten takes the brakes. "Let's go" can be heard saying to the cockpit voice recorder. And with that word the mammoth aircraft begins to move in the foggy runway, without having received approval from the control tower.
Meurs has not said anything typical of the process, but the word takeoff is enough to get the attention of both the PanAm crew and the control tower. Neither side can believe that the KLM aircraft has started to take off, but both are in a hurry to talk to confirm it.
"We're still on the treadmill," Bob Pangm told PanAm. And at the same time, the control tower tells KLM: "Okay, wait for takeoff, we'll contact you again."
There is no answer and silence is taken as an agreement. But unfortunately for everyone there was no agreement, quite the opposite. What was said should sound the alarm in the KLM cockpit, and the pilots would have time to stop the process. take-off. But none of them heard what the KLM crew and the control tower said, because they were both heard at the same time. And so, with one voice over the other, only one chatter is heard.
And from this fatal buzz, Van Zanten stands out only one word. The "ok". And so it goes on.
Ten seconds later the last conversation is recorded, which is clearly heard in the "black box". "Report as soon as the treadmill is clean," the inspector told PanAm. "We will notify as soon as we are gone," replies Bob Bragg.
Focused on the take-off process, Van Zanten and Meurs ignore the conversation - and are unaware that they are heading a hundred knots towards the other giant aircraft. But the second engineer, behind them, listens to her. "Has he not left? He asks. "The Pan Am aircraft?"
"He's gone," Van Zanten replies.
In Pan Am Boeing cockpit, however, there is a feeling that something is wrong. "Let's get out of here," said Governor Victor Grubbs nervously.
It takes a few moments for the lights of the KLM 747 to emerge through the fog to approach. "There it is!" Grubbs screams, "Look at him! Comes! Go away! Go! Go! " he says, turning left as fast as he can, hoping until the last minute that he will be able to get the aircraft off the KLM course.
Van Zanten sees them too, but it 's too late. Trying to take off faster than expected, he raises it aircraft with its tail resting on the ground of the airport, sparking.
He almost succeeds, he finds a breath of life to miraculously escape the tragedy. But as he takes off, his 747 "belly" and engines fall to the roof. Boeing of Pan Am, cutting it like a knife and causing a series of explosions.
After being severely damaged, the KLM aircraft crashed to the ground again and crawled with its bottom before being engulfed in flames, killing its 248 occupants, crew and passengers. Of the 396 people on board the Pan Am aircraft, 61 were rescued - including five in the cockpit, three captains and officers and two off-duty workers behind them.