Most Horrific Accident That Took 583 Lives | Tenerife Airport Accident
Introduction
How did two planes collide on the runway of the airport and hundreds of innocent people lost their lives. How in an attempt to escape from a bomb blast, the fate brought two air planes to an airport where this tragic accident happened. What was the reason for such a big accident and whose fault was it? Let us know the answers to all these questions.
Case Study
27 March 1977, like a normal day, PAN AM Flight 1736 was flying from Los Angles to the Canary Islands.
This was a latest airplane of the Boeing 747-121 series, also known as the Clipper Victor. This was the first airplane of the 747 series to be delivered to any airline. On that day along with 380 passengers there 16 crew members in the flight.
At the same time, a short distance from the PAN AM flight, a KLM flight 4805 was also on their way from Amsterdam to the Canary Island. This KLM flight was running ahead of PAN AM flight. Registered under the name Rhine, it was also the latest airplane of the Boeing 747 series, in which 235 passengers were flying along with 14 crew members.
Both these flights were just heading towards the Canary Island when at around 1.15 pm there was an explosion at the airport terminal of Canary Island, in which a man was injured and there was a panic at the whole airport
Right now the airport authority was trying to handle this situation that only then they got a warning that another bomb has been planted somewhere at the airport which can explode at any time.
The airport authorities did not want to endanger the lives of passengers under any circumstances, and in view of this warning, the airport was immediately closed and all 5 flights coming to Gran Canaria airport were diverted to Los Rodeos Airport in Tenerife.
Both these flights were just heading towards the Canary Island when at around 1.15 pm there was an explosion at the airport terminal of Canary Island, in which a man was injured and there was a panic at the whole airport
Right now the airport authority was trying to handle this situation that only then they got a warning that another bomb has been planted somewhere at the airport which can explode at any time.
The airport authorities did not want to endanger the lives of passengers under any circumstances, and in view of this warning, the airport was immediately closed and all 5 flights coming to Gran Canaria airport were diverted to Los Rodeos Airport in Tenerife.
But right now they were unaware that this decision taken to save everyone’s life was going to prove to be such dangerous.
Los Rodeos Airport, where the KLM flight and the PAN AM flight were diverted, is a small airport with only one runway and a large taxiway with a number of smaller taxiways connected.
5 big flights were diverted & landed at such a small airport, but there was no place to stop so many planes at the airport, due to which all these flights were parked on the taxiway.
While waiting at the taxi way, the captain of the KLM flight asked the Los Rodeos airport service team that all the passengers sitting on the plane are getting very bored and if they can allow all passengers off the plane and send them inside the airport to take rest.
After a little thought, the airport service team allowed the passengers of KLM flight to come to the airport lounge.
After seeing this, the PAN AM flight also asked for permission to get its passengers off the plane and go inside the airport. But because Rodeos Airport was a small airport that did not have the facility to hold so many passengers at once, the service team did not give this permission to PAN AM flights.
Just now, the passengers of KLM flights were preparing to go inside the airport when all the flights were informed that the Gran Canaria airport has opened. Hearing this, everyone was happy and the flight’s captains started preparing to fly from Los Rodeos Airport to the Canary Islands.
At this moment the captain of the KLM flight thought of refuelling the plane at Los Rodeos airport itself and ordered the airport staff to refuel the plane.
Seeing this, the PAN AM flight which was just behind the KLM flight, asked the captain of KLM how long would it take to refuel his plane. And when the captain of the KLM flight told him about half an hour, the captain of PAN AM got a little disappointed, because even PAN AM flight could not take off until the KLM flight went ahead after filling the fuel.
Due to the time taken to refuel KLM flight, managing the takeoff for so many flights was becoming quite confusing for the Rodeos airport team.
It was now raining heavily at Rodeos Airport, due to which the fog had also increased a lot. As the KLM flight was ready to take off after refuel, the control tower asked them to start backtracking. At the same time the control tower asked the PAN AM flight to follow the KLM flight. The control tower instructed the PAN AM flight not to go to the runway directly and wait only at exit 3.
PAN AM was following the instructions given by the tower but people in the tower were very confused as the airport had become very hazy after the rain and some places of the airport were not clearly visible from the tower.
At that time there was such heavy fog at the airport that PAN AM could not see anything in front of it. They didn’t even understand where they were heading at airport.
While the PAN AM flight was trying to figure out the way, the KLM flight had completed it’s backtracking and reached the runway and was ready for take-off. The captain of the KLM flight started the take-off without getting the clearance from the control tower. The first officer, trying to convince the captain, said that the control tower has not given them the permission for take-off yet, so they should wait. But the captain asked the first officer to continue the take-off. Now the KLM flight started moving at its full speed on the runway.
That’s when the KLM flight captain came to know from conversation between flight engineer & control tower that the PAN AM flight was still on the runway, which he got a little upset after hearing that. He too could not see anything on the runway due to rain and mist.
On the other hand, where PAN AM felt that they were walking on the right track and in this misconception they did not know when they reached the C4 runway.
Due to the fog, where both the flights could not see anything on the runway, the control towers were also unable to see anything on the runway. All this was happening in such a hurry that no one got a chance to understand the situation and the upcoming danger.
The KLM flight was still unable to see the PAN AM flight while sprinting at full speed on the runway. But then the PAN AM captain saw the light of KLM flights. He shouted “Goddamn, that son-of-a-bitch is coming!. By then the first officer of PAM AM had also seen the KLM flight and he shouted to the captain to get out of here soon.
The KLM flight was running towards them on the runway at a speed of 260 km per hour. Before the KLM flight could completely take-off, both the planes collided with each other with a big bang. The collision was so severe that the KLM flight came out tearing the PAN AM flight from the middle.
Due to such a high speed and huge amount of fuel, both the planes caught into fire immediately after the collision.
None of the crew members and passengers on the KLM flight survived. Even in the PAN AM flight, only 61 people survived in this terrible accident.
Overall 583 people died on that day in this biggest air accident in human history.
Tenerife Rodeos Airport was closed for 2 days after this accident.
Spain’s CIAIAC investigation team investigated this tragic accident and said that the lack of proper coordination between the two planes and the control tower was the reason for this accident.
After every major Air Accident, lessons are taken around the world, and new rules are made so that such an accident does not happen again. For this reason, air travel is the safest way to travel. The chances of dying in an air accident are negligible as compared to a car accident. So don’t panic and enjoy your air travel happily with confidence.
