Tenerife Airport Disaster  



       In 1977 on March 27 at Los Rodeos Airport, two Boeing 747s collided in what would be known as one of the deadliest disasters in aviation history. Now known as the Tenerife Airport Disaster on an island called Tenerife, one of Canary islands.  The collision on the runway of Los Rodeos killed 583 people of the 644 passengers on board the two jumbo jets. Forty years later, the Tenerife Air Disaster has become an example for reviewing the process of aviation and proper framework procedures taken during a take off. 

       Ironically neither plane was suppose to be on Tenerife. Both were scheduled to land at Las Palmas, a nearby island of the Grand Canary.  A bomb had exploded in the Las Palmas airport flower shop and at that time another was reported to be going off following the first bomb.  The airplanes were then detoured to Los Rodeos. Weather conditions and a lack of proper communication between the pilots and the tower lead to the catastrophe. The companies involved were Pan Am, most known for their franchise and experience in aviation history, along with KLM one of the oldest operating airlines in the world. Fog was the main issue that lead to weak visibility of the airport and the location of the different planes. The second major cause of the disaster was the inability to communicate to each party involved. At that present time, pilots and controllers communicate via 2-way VFH radios or similar to "walkie talkies."  Because of the old style radios if someone clicks to speak at the same time, the transmissions cancel each other out. The pilot of the KLM plane asked to prepare for take off, but when the air traffic controller responded the KLM pilot did not hear the entire response, but only heard the words, "take off" and "okay."  In the meantime the Pan Am plane missed its turnoff continuing onto the runway.  Other issues of airport conditions added to the problem. The tarmac was congested, the route to the runway was partially blocked, and the planes had to take a 180-degree turn before taking off. To top it off the airport had no ground tracking radar and visibility of the runway to the tower was not possible. As the KLM pilot began to take off and was picking up speed the Pan Am plane realized by what they had heard over the radio that KLM was taking off and headed straight for them down the runway.  By the time Pan Am was able to see KLM the plane was approaching take off speed.  Pan Am pilots quickly tried to move their plane into the grassy area beside the runway, but the KLM plane's landing gear struck the right side of the Pan Am fuselage and ripped it apart the center of the plan. Both planes were destroyed and many lives lost.  Some of the successes of the disaster was how the pilot of the Pan Am plane made some smart decisions. He pulled the fire handles that cut off the supply fuel, air, electricity and hydraulics running to the engines.  He and a group of others jumped from the plane or shimmied down the sidewalls jumping to safety.

  This accident had an influential change on the industry.  The major change occurred in the communication area.  Now a standardized ATC communication by both controllers and pilots are required. They have particular wording or code types words which are required by all participants. The word "take off" was removed and is only used by the ATC when the actual aircraft is departing. A new concept in team work has been implemented, called the Crew Resource Management Team.  This allows all crew members to ask questions or challenge their captains to evaluate all decisions.  This training is required by all airplane pilots. The region has since recovered and built a second airport on the island.  Los Rodeos renamed to TFN, Tenerife North Airport.  They have installed a ground radar to the airports. Memorials have been in place and Tenerife joined an international commemoration service in Santa Cruz.