The air disaster in Tenerife still causes chills almost 50 years after it happened.
On March 27th, 1977, two passenger Boeing 747 planes collided on the runway, killing a total of 583 people.
Believing he had received clearance for takeoff at Los Rodeos airport, now called Tenerife North, the captain of the KLM flight, Jacob Veldhuyzen van Zanten, was descending onto the runway unaware that the Pan Am plane was still waiting for takeoff clearance.
Both aircraft were originally supposed to take off from Las Palmas, on the Spanish island of Gran Canaria, but a terrorist bombing earlier that day resulted in their diversion to the smaller Los Rodeos airport on Tenerife.
This decision was especially hard on the Dutch pilot Van Zanten, who was irritated by the delay on the way back to Amsterdam.
“I’ve seen postage stamps bigger than this place. Now we’re going to get some boxed in here, damn it,” he could be heard saying on the audio recording.
Every runway of the small airport was blocked by planes, and the main one was being used as a taxiway.
As the foggy weather began to worsen, it was announced that Las Palmas was open again and the planes were being directed there one by one. Van Zanten decided to refuel, keeping the Pan Am plane behind him.
The Dutchman was moving as fast as he could despite poor visibility, mistakenly thinking his route was clear. Van Zanten crashed into the Pan Am plane. Most of the roof of the American plane was torn off in the impact, while the KLM plane “took off into the air before crashing to the ground in flames.”
All passengers and crew members on the KLM plane lost their lives, while at least 330 people on the Pan Am plane were killed. More than 60, including the pilot, survived the impact and the fiery inferno, and many of them escaped through a hole near the left wing of the plane. On that terrible day, 583 deaths were recorded.
