Two Boeing 747s on one runway, and then, “BOOM”, the two planes just coiled. This is the deadliest plane crash in the world. A bomb at another airport made planes go to a different nearby airport, leading to a significant error and killing over 500, leaving only 61 survivors. Here is the story of the tragedy at Tenerife Airport that tragically happened on March 27, 1977.
The Crew Background On Pan Am 1736:
The captain was 56-year-old Victor Grubbs. He had over 21,000 hours flying but only 564 hours on the Boeing 747-100. Sitting next to him was First Officer Robert Bragg. He had over 10,800 hours flying and around 2,796 hours on the Boeing 747-100. The flight engineer was George Warns. He had over 15,000 hours flying but only 559 hours on the Boeing 747-100.
The Crew Background On Klm 4805:
The captain was 50-year-old Jacob Veldhuyzen Van Zanten. He had 11,700 hours flying, with over 1,545 hours on the Boeing 747-200, and he was the lead instructor for Klms 747-200s. Sitting next to him was first officer Klaas Meurs, who had over 9,200 hours flying but only 95 on the Boeing 747-200. Lastly, Flight Engineer Willem Schreuder spent over 17,031 hours flying but only 543 hours on the Boeing 747-200.
The First Problem:
Two men walked into a flower shop, then they put down a bag and left, but a bomb was ticking in the bag. Then, a call said, “There are bombs in the terminal, and you have 15 minutes to get out”. Then ‘Bang!’, the bomb went off, but authorities thought there were more bombs and stopped all inbound flights.
The Wait on the Ground:
The KLM 747 was refuelled, and then the airport was meant to land open, but they continued the refuelling process because it took a while. Pam, the flight First officer, and the Flight Engineer went to look at the KLM plane to see if they could go around it, except they would not fit.
The Taxi to Death:
The KLM plane taxied up runway 12 to runway 30, spun around, and waited for takeoff clearance. The Pan Am crew would have done the same but turned off the runway and used the taxiway—except that did not happen.
The Crash:
The Pan Am plane was taxiing down the runway, and the KLM’s crew was at the end of the runway, ready for takeoff. The KLM’s crew thought they had takeoff clearance, but they did not. The Pan Am’s crew was still on the runway; they turned the plane around, and the KLM’s crew continued to do take-off runs. Then the KLM’s crew saw lights and pulled up with a tailstrike, and they lifted the runway except to hit the Pan Am’s crew. Nobody survived the KLM flight, but 61 people could make it out alive on the Pan Am flight. 583 died, combined on both planes. So many errors happened. If one had been taken away, this wouldn’t have happened.
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