Today in Technology History
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March 27
Today, we continue our year-long commemoration of the centennial of the Wright brothers' first flight with the story one of the worst moments in the history of aviation. It was exactly 26 years ago, on March 27, 1977, that the deadliest airplane accident in history occurred.
The accident happened on the Spanish-owned Canary Islands. Several planes heading for one of the islands were redirected to a different island, Tenerife, after a bomb exploded at their intended destination.
As a result, the small Tenerife airport became crowded and the taxiways leading to the runway were congested. Among the planes waiting for approval to leave were two Boeing 747s, one from the Pan American airline, the other from the KLM Royal Dutch airline.
As evening approached, weather conditions worsened somewhat and the passengers and flight crews became antsy. Both the American and the Dutch aircraft were ready for takeoff at about the same time. The Pan Am jet started to leave the runway so the KLM flight could take off, but the KLM plane started taking off too soon and they collided on the ground.
The resulting explosions destroyed both planes. Everyone aboard the KLM plane perished -- all 14 members of the crew and all 234 passengers. On the Pan Am flight, nine of the 16 crew members died along with 326 of the 380 passengers. Only 15 of the survivors walked away from the accident. In total, 583 people died out of the 644 people on the two planes, making it the deadliest airplane accident in history. (The only aviation incident that resulted in more deaths was the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001 -- which of course does not count as an accident.)
The Dutch, Spanish and American governments conducted investigations into the cause of the accident on Tenerife Island. Although the final reports disagreed about the cause, the transcript from the cockpit recorders suggests that the Dutch pilot disobeyed or misunderstood instructions from the air traffic controllers.
Related links:
Click here to see several pictures from the accident scene.
Click here to read a transcript from the cockpit voice recorders.
Click here to read a list of the 100 worst aviation disasters.
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