Last words from pilot before world's deadliest aviation accident
On 27 March 1977, two planes collided at Los Rodeos airport in Tenerife in what would become the deadliest aviation accident in history.
There have been a few air crashes so far this year, doing absolutely no favours for travellers with a fear of flying...
The American Airlines flight that collided with an army helicopter in Washington DC made headlines last month, while a Delta Air Lines aircraft flipped upside down and caught fire upon landing in Canada last week.
But the reality of it is that aviation accidents happen, and they've been occurring for as long as air travel has existed.
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The deadliest air accident in history though, happened in Tenerife in 1977.
It would culminate in two planes colliding with each other in the middle of a runway, killing 583 people.
Pan Am Flight 1736 was scheduled to take off from Las Palmas Gran Canaria Airport when a bomb was set off at the site, forcing the aircraft to reroute to the much smaller Los Rodeos Airport in Tenerife in the fear that a second may go off at any point.
Also having to be diverted to Tenerife was KLM 4805, which was in the same situation after making its way from Amsterdam.
They were among a number of other planes in the small airport that usually dealt with light aircrafts, featuring just one runway and minimal parking for Boeing 747s.
KLM's captain, Jacob Veldhuyzen van Zanten, was a senior pilot that was becoming increasingly frustrated with the delays with the flight, as he needed to return to Amsterdam after Las Palmas.
They were getting close to exceeding flying time limits, and he could be heard saying: "I've seen postage stamps bigger than this place. Now we're going to get some boxed in here, goddammit," when seeing the airport.
As all the runways were blocked with aircraft, the main one was used as a taxiway, with planes taxiing to the far end to use the runway to take off.
The weather also started to worsen, with fog setting in, but there was good news - Las Palmas airport had reopened and planes were being directed one by one.
The KLM captain took the decision to refuel, holding up the Pan Am airplane behind it.
As soon as it was done, the plane moved as quickly as possible, as Captain van Zante was set on leaving ASAP, despite the poor visibility.
After mistakenly believing they had been given clearance to take off, van Zanten sent the KLM hurtling down the runway and straight into the Pan Am plane, which hadn't finished taxiing off the runway.
Pan Am pilot Victor Grubbs, could be heard saying before impact: "There he is... look at him. Goddamn that son-of-a-b***h is coming!"
Turning sharply to try and steer clear of the oncoming plane, first officer Robert Bragg exclaimed: "Get off! Get off! Get off."
The KLM flight barrelled into the Pan Am craft, taking most of the roof off it, with the KLM plane flying into the air and slamming into the ground in a huge ball of fire.
In total, 583 people perished, with just 61 people surviving from the Pan Am flight.
The investigation into the incident looked into the conversation logs between the planes and the control tower.
It was found that the main cause of the accident was the KLM captain taking off without clearance, something he was warned about by crew.
It was then argued that the decision to take on extra fuel delayed takeoff and allowed the fog to set in more, and that the weight of it slowed the plane down during takeoff.
The fuel also caused the fire to be much bigger than it would have been.
As a result, international airline regulations were changed forever, with flight crew and air traffic controllers required to use standardised English phrases and to make decisions by mutual agreement.
Crew resource management was also improved, allowing pilots to challenge the captain with less hassle.
Topics: Travel, World News, History
Joshua Nair