r/CatastrophicFailure • u/Crazy-Performance411 • 14h ago
Fatalities Tenerife airport disaster, 27 March 1977: KLM 4805 took off without clearance and collided with Pan Am 1736
When Las Palmas reopened, Pan Am 1736 tried to taxi and found the way blocked by KLM 4805, which stood between it and the entrance to the runway. The KLM had just decided to refuel, 55,500 litres, which took about half an hour. By the time both jumbos moved, low cloud was rolling across Los Rodeos. "We can hold clear here, if he'd let us," the Pan Am captain said in his cockpit; they were sent down the runway behind the KLM.
From the Spanish accident report and ALPA's 1978 study. Full documentary from the record: https://youtu.be/SFEFUGNRy2g