When two Boeing 747s collide at Tenerife Airport in Spain in 1977, 583 people are killed in aviation's greatest accident.
Two Boeing 747s collide on a foggy runway in Tenerife, Canary Islands, killing 583 people in the worst aviation tragedy in history. Sixty-one persons are still alive. Sixty-one persons are still alive. The planes, Pan Am flight 1736 from Los Angeles and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines flight 4805 from Amsterdam, collided on Los Rodeos Airport's only runway. The visibility on the ground was low, just around 1,000 feet, but many other reasons contributed to the calamity. Muddled directions, failing runway lights, and an overcrowded airport all played a part, but arguably the most significant element was pilot error, notably the Dutch captain's poor judgement.
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