The biggest airplane crash

The biggest plane crash was a collision of two planes on 27 March 1977 at an airport in Tenerife. Two Boeing 747 passenger jets, operating KLM Flight 4805 and Pan Am Flight 1736, collided on the runway at Los Rodeos AirPort (now Tenerife North Airport) on the Spanish island of Tenerife. In total, 583 people died. This accident is the dealiest in aviation history. Sixty-one of the passengers on the Pan Am flight survived.

Now the question is: What caused the collision in which so many people died?

Like many serious accidents, the cause was not a single error or failure but a chain of events that ultimately led, in his case, to this accident. As the airport was unusually busy that day, some aircraft were required to taxi down the main runway prior to take off and then make a 180-degree turn, in a maneuver called a "back-taxi", which the KLM flight was requested to do. The Pan Am 747 follows shortly after but was requested to exit the runway. During the maneuver, the Pan Am pilots mistake their assigned turnoff (due to the poor visibility) and remain on the runway for a few precious moments longer than expected. At the same moment, the KLM plane completed its turn and stood ready for takeoff. Sadly, as these instructions were given late, the KLM crew also mistook it for permission to take off — a mistake that will soon cost many hundreds of lives. They opened the throttle and the plane began to speed down the runway. The belly and undercarriage slice into the ceiling of the Pan Am plane, demolishing its midsection and setting off a series of explosions. The KLM plane crashed back onto the runway, skidded hard for about a thousand feet, and burst into flames.