Human consequences
583 dead: the deadliest disaster in aviation history. All 248 people on the KLM aircraft die; 61 people survive on the Pan Am aircraft.
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TransportTenerife airport disaster
583Deaths
Not quantifiedDisplaced / homeless
Not quantifiedEstimated cost
- 583 deaths; 61 people survived, all on board the Pan Am aircraft.
In thick fog, at an airport crowded with planes diverted after a bomb attack at Las Palmas, a KLM Boeing 747 begins its take-off without clearance and crashes into a Pan Am 747 taxiing down the runway.
Consequences
Environmental consequences
The fuel of the KLM jet, which had just refuelled, feeds a fire that rescuers struggle to locate in the fog.
Economic consequences
The airlines and their insurers compensate the families; the new Tenerife South airport, already under construction in a less foggy area, opens in 1978.
Political consequences
The accident brings in standardised radio phraseology, with the word “take-off” reserved for take-off clearance, and crew resource management, which encourages first officers to challenge the captain.
Further reading
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