Posted on 03/27/2017 7:50:26 PM PDT by RckyRaCoCo
The article does not make clear: The Pan Am flight never should have been on that runway. They were told to turn down the third runway, but given that the third runway was a very sharp angle, they turned down the fourth runway.
But this is the clincher against the KLM pilot: After mistaking ATC’s “OK,” meant simply as “understood” but interpreted as “clear for takeoff,” the pilot was asked by the copilot, “Is the Pan Am not clear?” The copilot had heard the Pan Am flight say, “We’ll report when clear.” The arrogant sonofabitch simply responded, “Oh, yes.”
Probably the biggest reason you don’t hear of disasters like this anymore: Both planes were destroyed by resultant fireballs. The fuel used no longer forms fireballs.
Few people ever bring up the CIIM Movement that started this whole mess to occur.
CIIM was created by some local guy there in the Canary Islands...to separate them from Spain and be some kind of independent nation. The group never drew much in terms of numbers, and they weren’t violent until January of 1977 (their first bomb episode was a airline office in Las Palmas). This 2nd bomb episode at Las Palmas was just a small bomb-like device at a flower shop in the airport, wounding eight.
Oddly, after this accident at Las Rodeos, CIIM is on a short-life and drawing a lot of attention. In less than two years, they put out a message that their goal of ‘struggle’ is finished.
No one has ever gone in and asked how CIIM was financed (they operated strangely enough out of Algeria). My humble guess is that a secret service unit from some Warsaw Pact country funded and used them....and after the accident, way too many people were angry over things, and financing CIIM simply dissolved away. It would be interesting today to go back and dig into this aspect of the group, who triggered the aircraft accident.
He was their Mr. Safety. Rolled with no takeoff clearance, only a departure clearance in heavy fog on a single runway where they had to backtaxi. Incredible that even anyone survived (only on Pan Am).
[The taxi way was blocked by the KLM on the fuel pad, thus Pan Am missed an opportunity to depart when the flight restrictions, due to a terrorist attack, were lifted. After the hour plus delay fog swept in across the airport at dusk.]
Correct. The Pan Am pilot said he and the copilot stepped it off and they were 20 feet (IIRC) short of being able to taxi around the KLM bird refueling.
[KLM had no clearance for the take-off roll]
yep
Regardless of visual conditions I always said I was "clear of the runway" after I made my turn off. Also you clear the runway on a taxiway and not another runway. This whole damn thing was total miscommunication between the aircraft and ground control. The magic word is "cleared for takeoff." I do not think this actually happened. If those words were not transmitted, KLM was at fault.
The precision of words are of extreme importance when taking off and landing in IFR conditions!
ps
The hardest part is taxiing on the ground after you have landed in an airport you have never landed at before in poor visibility.
I have a friend who lost his parents in this crash. Horrific event.
I have a friend who lost his parents in this crash. Horrific event.
Shortly after that crash, I was on a plane landing at HSV. I was seated next to a woman who had been rather withdrawn. As we neared the landing, she reached out and held my hand. I could tell she was upset so I said nothing and let her hold my hand. After we landed, she said to me: thanks for doing that. I was supposed to be on one of those planes that crashed in the azores but my connecting flight was delayed.
I would assume at that time they were using Jet-A instead of JP-4 in Tenerife. JP-4 was basically gasoline and kerosine a very good fuel but incredible flammable. I may be incorrect but think at that time it was Jet-A and not JP-4. Perhaps I am wrong.
I read of a controversy about Jet-A and JP-4 and its safety. The proponent of Jet-A suggested that his adversary stand in a tub of JP-4 and drop lit matches in it as he would stand in a tub of Jet_A and drop matches in it at a discreet distance from the man in the JP-4 tub. The proponent of JP-4 declined the challenge.
Amen
I was reminded of this in one of Walter White’s gauche moments. (”Breaking Bad”)
the original video footage is worse
Correcting my numbering—What went wrong that day:
1. A bomb exploded in the main airport in the Canary Islands, forcing all traffic to divert to Tenerife.
2. Las Rodeos wasn’t equipped to handle 747s.
3. There was only one runway at Las Rodeos.
4. it was a Sunday, so only two air traffic controllers were working.
5. The Pan Am wanted to take off first, but was blocked by the KLM plane and could almost get around it, but there was just a few feet too little of space.
6. Because all the 747s weren’t backed up, the planes couldn’t go down the taxi runway. They had to go down the main runway, turn around, and then take off.
7. The airport didn’t have ground radar.
8. The ground lights weren’t working.
9. It was the end of the month and the KLM crew was under a lot of pressure not to fly too many hours in the month.
10. A family from the KLM flight had wandered off, thereby putting even more pressure on the KLM.
11. To save time later, the KLM decided to refuel—and filled it all the way to the top, which is usually not done. It made the plane very heavy, which became a key factor later.
12. Everyone on both planes had worked a long day and was tired.
13. The Pan Am misinterpreted the order to take the third exit.
14 A heterodyne (simultaneous transmission) blocked crucial information that the
the Pan Am was still on the runway.
15. The fog rolled in and the planes couldn’t see each other.
16. The pilot of the KLM was using nonstandard terminology and there appeared to be some miscommunication about what was meant by “takeoff.”
17. The crew of the KLM was so busy with pre-takeoff checks that all but the navigator missed crucial information.
18. 747s aren’t particularly maneuverable on the ground, so the Pan Am didn’t have sufficient time to get out of the way.
19. The one way to survive when the planes saw each other was for the KLM to take off over the Pan Am. Without the added gas weight, that might even have worked.
Sad. Incredible, but sad
It wasn't that cut and dried. The tower told them to take the third taxiway. At that time, they had already passed the first taxiway, C1. They didn't know whether he was speaking in absolute or relative terms. Absolute would mean turning on C3, the third one, while relative would mean C4, the third one ahead of them. C3 would have meant a 135 degree turn for the big jet, which would have been almost impossible. C4, on the other hand, would have meant an easy 45 degree turn. It seems logical that the controller meant C4, but why he didn't specifically say C3 or C4 rather than "third" is a mystery. That is irrelevant, though, because the KLM took off without proper clearance.
Totally misses the point about the two fuels. The newer fuel is every bit as flammable; it has to be to work. But it doesn’t spray into a mist.
Yes; I wasn’t meaning to fault Pan-Am, although I didn’t realize they were already past the first runway.
The word, “takeoff” was uttered. Since the Tenerife accident, that word is only used specifically in “cleared for takeoff” and never in any other context; “Departure” is now used.
The most unforgivable screw-up seems to be that a member of the crew of the KLM (copilot?) HEARD that the Pan Am plane was in its way and sought confirmation from the captain that the Pan Am was out of the way before proceeding. The captain sought no confirmation, instead relying entirely on his understanding that they were cleared for takeoff. Given the fact that ATC had no ground radar, that everyone was functionally blind, that planes were stacked up all over the airport, that he heard plenty of background noise and interference, that he was not at his usual airport, etc., it’s incredible to me that he didn’t double-check with anyone... even if he had plainly heard, “KLM, you are cleared for take-off.” Pan Am said they weren’t out of the way; was it so inconceivable that even ATC could have made an error?
I do think ATC made an error in not more clearly specifying the desired taxiway. (If it had been C4, however, which would have made the most sense and the surviving Pan Am pilot believes it was intended to be, Pan Am would still have been on the runway when KLM came through.) That was not the fatal mistake, however. Reviewing the transcripts from the Pan Am cockpit voice recorder, it's clear that ATC told KLM to hold pending further instructions, though KLM may not have heard it due to the heterodyne caused by a simultaneous transmission. It is clear, though, that the flight engineer heard the transmission from Pan Am about it still being on the runway because, as you correctly state, he questioned Van Zanten about it. It really is amazing how many bizarre coincidences had to come together to allow this to occur.
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