Remembering the worse aviation crash in history, 34 years ago today

34 years ago today, March 27, 1977, 2 747s collided at Tenerife Los Rodeos Airport sadly killing 583 people.. One was a KLM reg PH-BUF and the other was Pan am reg N736PA Clipper Victor.. 77 passengers did survive the crash that day.. The crash was mainly the fault of the KLM pilot taking off without permission of the Los Rodeos tower, being in a hurry to leave.. Both planes taxied on the runway, however heavy mist/fog rolled in and the Pan Am pilot missed his turn off and the aircraft could not get off the runway on time as the KLM aircraft was rotating.. RIP to all who died that day..

I remember the hearing the news reports of this incident like I do the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion.

When this accident occurred in the early 70's, a popular song they were constantly playing on the radio was James Taylor's "Fire and Rain."
To this day, when I hear the verse "sweet dreams and Flying Machines in pieces on the ground,", I think of that crash.

FYI - The verse in the song actually refers to the name (Flying Machines) of a failed band Taylor was in when he was young.

It boggles the mind that something like that could happen. Makes you wonder what life would have been like for all those people had there not been interference in the KLM headsets just before they pushed those throttles up.

Never knew that about James Taylor

Interference? The Capt new he wasn't cleared so did the FO. Blame is squarely on crew not equipment or the language barrier.

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Originally Posted by NIKV69

Interference? The Capt new he wasn't cleared so did the FO. Blame is squarely on crew not equipment or the language barrier.

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Yes, the radio interference when Tower and Pan Am were talking at the same time most certainly did factor into the crash. Although KLM knew they weren't cleared and proceeded anyway, they missed a vital opportunity to abort when Pan Am's transmission that they were not clear was blocked by Tower telling KLM to stand by, neither of which were heard by KLM. I have a hard time believing the KLM captain would have continued the t/o had either message been audible to him, rushed or not.

I'm not saying this wasn't the fault of the KLM crew, just wondering about the outcome had they heard either of the other parties.

From what I understand is that the KLM captain didnt want to lose his flying hours as well, thats how much in a hurry he wanted to take off.. Also he pretty much assume that the Pan Am 747 was off the runway, but Pan Am had some trouble locating the right taxi because of the fog that rolled in, so obviously the whole situation was uncall for. That accident never should have happened..