On 27th March, 1977 two Boeing 747 passenger jets, operating KLM Flight 4805 and Pan Am Flight 1736, crashed on the runway at Los Rodeos Airport which is now called Tenerife North Airport on the Spanish island of Tenerife. This led to 583 casualties, this was known to be the deadliest accidents in the history of aviation
A terrorist occurrence at Gran Canaria Airport caused most of the flights to divert to Los Rodeos and this includes the two aircraft affected by the accident.
The airport instantly became overcrowded with parked airplanes blocking the only taxiway and compelling evacuating aircraft to taxi on the runway rather. Patches of heavy fog were drifting across the airfield, hence vision was blurry for pilots and the control tower.
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The collision happened when the KLM airliner launched its takeoff run while the Pan Am airliner, swathed in the fog, was still on the runway and about to turn off onto the taxiway. The consequence and resulting fire massacred everyone on board KLM 4805 and most of the boarders of Pan Am 1736, with only 61 survivors in the front section of the aircraft.
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The succeeding investigation by Spanish authorities determined that the main cause of the collision was the KLM captain’s decision to take off in the mistaken belief that a takeoff authorization from Air Traffic Control (ATC) had been given.
Dutch investigators placed an enormous intensity on mutual misunderstanding in radio communications between the KLM crew and ATC, but ultimately KLM conceded that their crew was accountable for the accident and the airline agreed to financially compensate the relatives of all affected victims.
The historical catastrophe had an enduring impact on the industry, highlighting in particular the vitality of using systematic terminology in radio communications. Cockpit protocols were also reviewed, providing the establishment of crew resource management as a fundamental part of airline pilots’ training.
