Who was responsible for Tenerife crash?

It killed everyone on board the KLM flight and most of those on the Pan Am airliner, leaving only 61 survivors. The primary cause of the accident was determined to be KLM pilot van Zanten’s decision to take off after making assumptions about messages received from ATC; he believed he had the clearance to do so.

Did the pilot survive the Tenerife air crash?

In March 1977, two jumbo jets collided at Tenerife Airport killing 583 people. Captain Robert Bragg was the co-pilot aboard the Pan Am plane, and was one of the few who survived the collision. …

When did the plane crash in Tenerife happen?

Tenerife airline disaster. Written By: Tenerife airline disaster, runway collision of two Boeing 747 passenger airplanes in the Canary Islands on March 27, 1977, that killed more than 580 people. Both planes involved in the crash had been scheduled to depart from Las Palmas on the island of Gran Canaria.

When did the Pan Am crash in Canary Islands?

Grubbs and his crew were trying desperately to get out of the way, even if that meant getting stuck in the soft grass adjacent to the runway. But they didn’t make it. On March 27, 1977, shortly after 5 p.m. local time, Pan Am 1736 and KLM 4805 collided on the runway of Los Rodeos Airport in the Canary Islands.

Who was the chief flight instructor at Tenerife?

At the time of the accident, Veldhuyzen van Zanten was KLM’s chief flight instructor, with 11,700 flight hours, of which 1,545 hours were on the 747. Meurs had 9,200 flight hours, of which 95 hours were on the 747.

Why was the Pan Am plane diverted from Tenerife?

The Pan Am plane was ready to depart from Tenerife, but access to the runway was obstructed by the KLM plane and a refueling vehicle; the KLM captain had decided to fully refuel at Los Rodeos instead of Las Palmas, apparently to save time.