THE TENERIFE AIRPORT DISASTER
Episode 235 | Historical Events
In this History episode we focus on the Tenerife Airport Disaster of March 27th, 1977 — two Boeing 747s colliding on a fog-shrouded runway at a small Spanish island airport that was never meant to handle them, killing 583 people in the deadliest aviation accident in history. Neither plane was supposed to be at Los Rodeos. A terrorist bombing at their original destination had diverted them. The airport had one runway, no radar, no runway visibility system, and no taxiway markings.
We trace the specific chain of errors: KLM Captain van Zanten's decision to begin…
The skinny
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