Two 747s that crashed on that fateful day, weren't even supposed to be there. There were supposed to fly to the Gran Canaria islands with loads of Holidayers.
I am reading this book, "Sway : The Irresistible pull of Irrational Behaviour", where it gives the psychology behind irrational decisions.
The first case study in it was the world's worst Air crash, the Pan AM - KLM crash in Tenerife, where 583 people were killed.
Two 747s that crashed on that fateful day, weren't even supposed to be there. There were supposed to fly to the Gran Canaria islands with loads of Holidayers.
The Pan AM pilots were no slouched too.
As a result the authorities closed the airport and diverted all the flights, including the Pan AM and KLM to the nearby airport at Tenerife
Now Tenerife airport is a very small provincial airport. It was not equipped to handle big 747s. But it had no choice.
Amidst a lot of smaller planes, both the flights landed and jostled for space. It was at this point, von Zanten started worrying.
Just as the flight started refueling, the Gran Canaria airport reopened.
The Pan AM pilots tried to become a Chennai auto and tried to find a gap. But they were missing it by 20 feet
20 feet was the difference
It reduced the visibility to zero. And the ATC couldn't see the runway & the aircraft
With the pilots almost blind & the ATC completely blind, the process of take off started
Because of the small airport, the planes had to taxi down the main runway, turn around at the end and then take off
The KLM went first and Pan Am after
At the same time, the Pan AM was taxiing down the same runway. Because of the fog, nobody could see each other. All communications was on the Radio.
He asked them to take the third exit. The Pan AM guys miscalculated
Which got lost in the Radio noise
So von Zanten took off, while the Pan AM was still on the runway
Pan Am tried to get out of the way. But failed
Result, the KLM smacked into the Pan AM. The full fuel load ignited and resulted in the world's worst Air disaster, with 583 people losing their lives.
Sadly, it didn't happen.
Makes you realize, you may think you are in control of your fate.
But you probably aren't.
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