On March 27, 1977, the Las Palmas Airport (Canary Islands) was the target of a bomb attack

perpetrated by the Movement for Self-Determination and Independence of the Canary

Archipelago (MPAIAC), a separatist movement of the Canary Islands.Following this catastrophic
evacuation, the airport was temporarily closed and all planes bound for Las Palmas were
immediately alerted to divert to Los Rodeos airport, on the neighboring island of Tenerife.And it
is there that the fate of 644 people on board two planes diverted to Los Rodeos will depend on
the weather, one is a Boeing 747-200 KLM from Amsterdam with 248 people (passengers +
crew (P+ME)) on board and the other is a Boeing 747-100 Pan Am arriving from Los Angeles
with 396 people (P+ME).The latter had requested permission to make loops in the air while
waiting for landing clearance at Las Palmas but was instructed to land at Los Rodeos.

Los Rodeos, this small airport of Tenerife was transformed into an international airport this
Sunday March 27, 1977.before Las Palmas reopened, the regional airport of Tenerife was
already saturated.at least five large aircraft to be evacuated towards Las Palmas.which will not
be an easy task since most of the diverted aircraft are parked on a part of the taxiway (a taxiway,
see article on Airport-Infrastructures) and in addition the airport has only one runway connected
to the taxiway by a few ramps.For the two air traffic controllers of Los Rodeos (that day they
were only 02 in the tower, as it is a Sunday), it will be necessary to use all the possible
techniques for the evacuation of these surprise visitors. On the ground, on the tarmac, the
waiting is more and more difficult for the captain of the Pan Am, Victor Grubbs and his
passengers blocked by the KLM of the captain Jacob Veldhuyzen van Zanten which is
refueling.Indeed, after the authorization of the reopening of Las Palmas, our two controllers of
Los Rodeos succeeded in making leave some of their unannounced guests.it is thus the turn of
the KLM but its commander had decided to make the refueling not to have to do it any more
once in Las Palmas, but a decision heavy of consequences.When the KLM was refueled, it
received the authorization to take off, followed by the Pan Am. As the taxiway was not free, it
was necessary to go up the runway, to take speed and to take off in the opposite
direction.During this time, the Pan Am is going back up the runway to meet the KLM and will be
instructed to leave the runway by an exit ramp to allow the KLM to take off. Until then, more fear
than harm.But what our two air traffic controllers fear is that the weather is getting worse, and
as if the fate of our 644 passengers and crew members was already sealed, Los Rodeos is
suddenly invaded by fog. What the two air traffic controllers of Los Rodeos fear is there.This fog
will result in a considerable drop in visibility, even below the minimum required.our pilots are
then in a lot of trouble, especially the Pan Am captain and his crew members who have to leave
the runway by a ramp they can hardly see.up in the control tower, our two controllers having lost
sight of the two planes, are now relying on the pilots' clairvoyance, given that the airport has no
ground radar.Believing that the Pan Am had left the runway, the controllers ordered the KLM to
take off, but unfortunately, the Pan Am was still on the runway, somewhere in front of the KLM.
In fact, the Americans had not found the ideal exit ramp."The Dutch captain Van Zanten stepped
on the gas, but his co-pilot still doubted that the runway was clear, and asked, "Did he really
clear the Pan Am?"They soon realized that the Pan Am was on the runway, only a few hundred
meters ahead of them, and that it was not far from an exit ramp. The captain of the Pan Am,
after realizing that the KLM was coming towards them, desperately tried to get off the runway.
He barely managed to get the nose of the plane out of the way of the KLM, when the KLM hit the
fuselage and started a last second takeoff.The efforts of the commander Van Zanten on the
stick will be vain and this failure would be partly related to the weight of the plane weighed down
by the additional quantity of fuel (remember the KLM had filled up). It was explained to us that
to limit the weight of the plane to the takeoff, it is necessary just the quantity of kerozene
necessary with a margin of safety. However the KLM was not with the perfume of this safety
measure. Why did the commander Van Zanten have broken this rule of its deontology? He took
the answer to this question with him.The toll of the collision was high: 583 dead and 61
survivors, some of whom were seriously injured.Meanwhile, on the other side of the airport, in
the control tower, our two controllers have not yet realized the magnitude of the situation, while
they were hoping to get rid of it soon.The runway becomes a hell following this collision of
these two 350-ton giants.Aviation has just recorded one of the deadliest accidental disasters in
its history.

Investigations into the accident have revealed human error and bad weather as the causes.the
human error is shared between the decision of the KLM captain to refuel, the misunderstanding
and inconsistency in the pilot/controller exchanges. As bad weather conditions, it is about the
fog, a meteorological constraint until today dreaded by any pilot.Tenerife or the historical Crash,
there is something to learn.Since then, the system of communication tower/cockpit has been
reviewed, corrected and clarified.The aeronautical language is now universalized.To cope with
weather conditions often disastrous as the fog, the airports will be from now on obligatorily
equipped with radar on the ground.And the most modern ones have nowadays beacons on or
under their runway.The beacons on the runway, usually red and green, are like the traffic lights
on our roads, they automatically regulate the traffic of aircraft on the runway.The beacon under
the runway emits radio waves in the direction of an aircraft landing.The pilot has on his
dashboard a dial with a cross that indicates the orientation with the axis of the runway.He can
land his aircraft on the runway without looking outside, let alone accommodate to see a runway
engulfed by fog.

This March 27, 1977, Tenerife will have marked forever the history of aviation by the magnitude
and the horror of this accidental disaster.everything would have started from the revolt of a tiny
group of individuals who under the banner of the MPAIAC have put out of use momentarily an
airport that will reject some of its guests in a gehenna on the nearby island of Tenerife.