Introduction to ArtificiaI Intelligence in Higher Education
Worst Aviation Disaster
1.
2. Some 583 people died or were mortally
injured on March 27th 1977 after two
Boeing 747 jumbo jets collided on a
runway at Los Rodeos airport,
Tenerife, in the Canary Islands, making
this the world's worst civil aviation
disaster
3. The PanAm
Boeing 747-121, on a charter passenger flight
from Los Angeles to Las Palmas, had been in
the air for eight hours. Some 396
people, including 16 crew, were on board. Its
captain was annoyed as he had not obtained
clearance to land at Las Palmas. A bomb had
exploded there two hours previously and the
airport was closed for being repaired. The 747
was requested to divert to Tenerife, 70 km
west of Las Palmas. The Captain and his
passengers were unhappy about this
arrangement, but they had no other choice.
4. At 14h15 GMT, PanAm flight 1736
made its final approach on runway
30. The landing at Los Rodeos
airport (Tenerife North) was a smooth
one, but the captain noticed the
larger than usual number of aircraft
at the airport. Many
aircraft, including a 747-206B from
KLM, had landed there following the
closure of Las Palmas airport. The
small Tenerife airport was saturated.
5. The PanAm 747 was requested to
park in fourth position, behind the
KLM 747. The KLM aircraft was also a
charter flight (KLM 4805). It had
landed 45 minutes previously, with
248 people onboard, including 14
crew. Its captain was nervous: very
strict Dutch regulation forbid the crew
to exceed their quota of flying hours.
If the plane didn’t take-off soon, its
captain and KLM could be in serious
trouble.
6. At 14h30 GMT, good news: the Tenerife
control tower informed all grounded
aircraft that Las Palmas airport had
just re-opened. The controller informed
the Panama Captain that in order to
speed up take-off, he could taxi right
behind the KLM 747. The Panama
captain agreed.
7. Weather deteriorated: a heavy fog would soon
cover the airport. The visibility rapidly dropped
to a few hundred meters (300 feet). At 16h51,
the KLM 747 was cleared to start its engines.
At 16h52, the Panama 747 requested clearance
to start its engines. The control tower's answer
was as follows:
16:52 (Tenerife control tower) - PanAma 1736,
you are cleared to start. Report ready for taxi.
For your information, you will have to backtrack
behind the other 747 and leave the runway third
taxiway to your left.
8. Both 747s would therefore backtrack
the length of the 3,400-meter (11,000
feet) runway at low speed. The KLM
aircraft would backtrack to the end
of the runway, make a u-turn and
report ready for take-off.
The PanAm plane would exit the
runway into the third taxiway in
order to free the way for the KLM
aircraft to take off. This was deemed
the simplest solution in view of
heavy traffic at the airport.
9. Both aircraft were still backtracking down the
runway, but the PanAm 747 was lost in the
fog, the latter making it very difficult to spot the
exit taxiways. The control tower had confirmed
earlier that the aircraft must exit the runway into
the third taxiway. This picture was taken at the
Tenerife airport, a few minutes prior to the crash.
It shows both 747 that will collide in a few
minutes. Foreground, the KLM one.
Background, the PanAm one.
10. Yet more bad news. In addition, the crew of the
PanAm 747 had just passed the third taxiway
without seeing it. They had seen the first
one, missed the second one, and were now
passing the third one thinking it was the second
one. They were now headed for the fourth one.
Meanwhile, the Dutch 747 had finished
backtracking the runway and was now making
an a-turn. The fog dissipated slightly and the
visibility increased to 700 meters. This was an
opportunity that the KLM captain wasn't about
to miss.
11. The 747 obtained clearance, but was not allowed to
take off as yet. However, its captain, in a
hurry, started advancing the throttle, having forgotten
that another aircraft was still taxiing down the
runway. The stressful situation was probably to blame.
The Panam first officer was talking simultaneously.
The controller was struck by a sudden doubt. He
reminded the KLM captain that he had not been
cleared for take-off.
The last two messages were radioed simultaneously
and were therefore heard as a long four-second high-
pitched sound. The KLM 747 speed increased. Some
1,500 meters further on, the PanAm 747 was still
taxiing down the runway.
12. Paths of both 747
The last two messages were radioed simultaneously
and were therefore heard as a long four-second high-
pitched sound. The KLM 747 speed increased. Some
1,500 meters further on, the PanAm 747 was still
taxiing down the runway. The KLM captain did not
react. He may have misunderstood and thought that
the PanAm 747 had just cleared the runway.
13. Areas where debris were found
Meanwhile, the PanAm jumbo jet reached the fourth
taxiway. Suddenly, the PanAm captain spotted the
landing lights of the KLM Boeing approximatively
700 meters away in the fog. The PanAm crew set full
throttle to leave the runway as quickly as
possible, but it was too late. The KLM captain
spotted the PanAm jumbo jet on the runway.
15. The impact was about thirteen seconds later, at 17:06:50
GMT, after which the air traffic controllers were unable to
return to communicate with any of the two planes.
Due to intense fog, the KLM jet pilots could not see the
Pam Am plane in front. KLM Flight 4805 was visible from
approximately 8 s and 1736 PAA half before the
collision, but despite having tried to accelerate out of the
track, the crash was inevitable.
The KLM was completely in the air when the impact
occurred, about 250 km / h.Experts estimated that 25 feet
(7.62 meters) would have been enough to avoid disaster. Its
front hit the top of another Boeing, ripping the roof of the
cabin and upper deck passengers, after which the two
engines hit the Pan Am plane, killing most of the rear
passengers instantly.
16. The plane continued flying Dutchman after the
collision, crashing into the ground about 150
meters from the crash site, and gliding down the
runway about 300 m more. There was a violent
fire immediately and although the impact to the
Pan Am and the soil was extremely violent, the
248 people aboard the KLM died in the fire, and
335 of the 380 people aboard the Pan
Am, including 9 who died later due to injuries.
The weather conditions made it impossible for the
accident was seen from the control tower, where
there was only one explosion followed
another, without being clear their situation or
causes.
17. Trucks and divided close to what they thought
was a second outbreak of the fire itself, they
discovered a second plane on fire. Immediately
concentrated their efforts on the second plane as
the first was completely unrecoverable.
As a result, despite the powerful flames on the
second plane, could save the left, where he later
extracted between fifteen and twenty thousand
kilos of fuel. Meanwhile, the control tower, still
covered in a dense fog, still could not find the
exact location of fire and if it was one or two
aircraft involved in the accident.
18. According to survivors of Pan Am flight, including
the flight captain, Victor Grubbs, the impact was
not terribly violent, prompting some passengers to
believe that it had been an explosion. A few located
on the front, jumped the track for openings on the
left side while several explosions occurred. The
evacuation, however, occurred quickly and the
wounded were taken. Many had to jump blindly and
many survivors had fractures and sprains in the
height of the jumbo.
19. The people who work at the
airport are witnesses of such
paranormal phenomena as
watching screaming
ghosts, who tried to go out or
jump from the planes, they
also saw passengers ghosts
running towards the track at
nights.
