Disaster at Tenerife is the third episode of the sixteenth season of Air Crash Investigation. The episode aired on 21 June 2016, and coverd the world's deadliest aviation accident, the Tenerife Runway disaster.
Plot[]
On 27 March 1977, KLM flight 4805 is refuling while waiting at the airport at Tenerife after being re-routed. Right behind them, is Pan Am flight 1736 waiting for taxing. The KLM plane later taxies down the runway, and turns around and awaits take-off. While the Pan Am 747 is taxing down the runway, the cockpit crew spots lights in the distance coming towards them. They try to turn of before it's too late. But the two planes collide on the runway, resulting in the loss of 583 people. The investigation concludes that the captain of KLM 4805 made the mistake of taking of without proper permission and despite the warnings.
Trivia[]
- This accident was previously coverd as the 2005 special episode, titled "Crash of the Century".
- This episode has the third time a runway collision has been coverd, the first being in "The Invisible Plane" and the second one being "Fatal Transmission."
- John Nance was also in the special episode of this accident.