On March 27, 1977, two 747 jumbo jets crash into each
other on the runway at an airport in the Canary Islands, killing 582 passengers
and crew members. Both Boeing 747s were charter jets that were not supposed to
be at the Los Rodeos Airport on Santa Cruz de Tenerife that day. Both had been
scheduled to be at the Las Palmas Airport, where a group of militants had set
off a small bomb at the airport's flower shop earlier that day. Thus, a Pan Am
charter carrying passengers from Los Angeles and New York to a Mediterranean
cruise and a KLM charter with Dutch tourists were both diverted to Santa Cruz. The
Los Rodeos airport is known for its sudden fog problems and was not a favorite
location for pilots. At 4:40 p.m. on a typically foggy afternoon, the KLM jet
was cleared to taxi to the end of the single main runway. The Pan Am jet
followed behind it and was to wait in side space while the KLM jet turned
around to begin takeoff. However, in the fog, the Pan Am pilot was unable to
keep the KLM jet in sight and did not move into the proper position. The Dutch
crew of the KLM jet, apparently unable to understand the accented English
spoken by the flight controllers, began to take off down the runway before the
Pan Am jet was able to move to the side space. At the last minute, the Pan Am
pilot saw the other 747 coming straight at his own jet and screamed “What's he
doing? He'll kill us all,” while attempting to swerve into a grassy field. It
was too late, the KLM 747 slammed into the side of the Pan Am jet and both
planes erupted into a huge fireball. The only survivors on either plane were
those in the very front of the Pan Am 747. 114 victims on the Pan Am flight
were from Leisure World in Laguna Hills, California and were buried in a mass
grave at Westminster Memorial Park in Westminster, California.
No comments:
Post a Comment