Air Safety, Tragedy at Teneriffe

March 17,1977 will go down in history as the day the world’s biggest air disaster took place. Ironically this tragedy occurred on the ground as two Boeing 747s impacted while under Tower instructions at fog-bound Los Rodeos Airport, Tenerife in the Canary Islands. A total of 583 persons lost their lives in this most complex of aviation accidents, the investigation of which is still arousing considerable controversy worldwide. We thank the National Transportation & Safety Board for their edited translation of this, the official transcripts of the accident investigation by the Spanish Ministry of Transport and Communications.

Investigation

Flight History.

The KLM Boeing 747, registration PH-BUF, took off from Schipol Airport (Amsterdam) at 9:00hr on March 27, en route to Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. This flight was part of the Charter Series Kl 4805/4806 Amsterdam-las Palmas (Canary Islands) – Amsterdam operated by KLM on behalf of the Holland International Travel Group (HINT) Rijswijk-ZH.

The Pan Am Boeing 747 registration N736 PA, flight number 1736, left Los Angeles International Airport, California, USA, on March 26, 1977, local date, at 0129 z (GMT) hours, arriving at John F. Kennedy International Airport at 0617 z hours. After the airplane was refuelled and a crew change effected, it took off for Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (Spain) at 0742 z.

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