In the World's worst civil aviation disaster, 582 people were killed or mortally injured on March 27 when two Boeing 747 jumbo jets collided on the runway at Los Rodeos airport, Tenerife (in the Canary Islands).
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While all 248 passengers and crew on board a Dutch KLM jet from Amsterdam lost their lives, 62 of those on a Pan American aircraft en route from Los Angeles survived, of whom 15 escaped unhurt. The previous worst air crash occurred on March 3, 1974, when a Turkish Airlines DC-lO crashed near Paris, killing all 346 passengers and crew.
Both aircraft had been diverted to Tenerife airport, which was crowded with other diverted aircraft, due to a bomb explosion in the airport building at Las Palmas (their original destination), responsibility for which was claimed by the Movement for the Self-Determination and Independence of the Canary Archipelago (MPAIAC). The movement's secretary-general, Sr Antonio Cubillo, said in Algiers that the MPAIAC would suspend its bombing campaign because of the crash.
The results of a preliminary investigation by Spanish, Dutch and US experts indicated that the KLM jet had taken off with-out final clearance and that this was probably due to radio failure or interference which had blocked vital instructions from the airport control tower, possibly by a transmission from the Pan American aircraft. Furthermore, the runway at Tenerife airport was being used as a taxiing lane for large aircraft, and the absence of ground radar coupled with limited visibility conditions meant that traffic controllers were not aware that the Pan American jet failed to turn off into the correct side lane as instructed.
Tenerife airport, situated on a 2,000-feet-high plateau, is subject to cloud descent and sudden dangerous crosswinds. Four air crashes had occurred on the island since 1965, the worst being in December 1972, when an aircraft crashed on take-off, killing 155 people.
Alleged inadequacy of air traffic control equipment and facilities had been the cause of a nationwide work-to-rule beginning in August 1976 by Spanish air traffic controllers who, in an attempt to demonstrate that technical deficiencies and increased air traffic volume were endangering aircraft, applied safety regulations precisely and thereby caused massive hold-ups. (However, the control tower at Los Rodeos was reported to be operating normally at the time of the crash.)
As a result of the traffic controllers' action, a commission was formed of officials of the Spanish Air Force Ministry (which controls civil aviation) and traffic controllers to work out improvements, while equipment at Madrid, Barcelona and Seville airports was also studied by the US Federal Aeronautics Administration (FAA).
On April 28 the Spanish Government announced the installation of new and improved air traffic control equipment throughout the country in response to "reports on the alleged danger of Spanish airspace". improvements included radar installations belonging to the armed forces, a new control tower at Seville airport and route control radar at Las Palmas airport.
This article comes from Keesings Worldwide Online
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