Original subtitles

PASSENGERS:

NARRATOR: Two jumbo jets.

JOHN: Five hundred and eighty-three people.

NARRATOR: The deadliest air crash of all time.

JOHN: This was a nightmare beyond all expectation.

CPT. VAN ZANTEN: If I mess this up, I could actually lose my license.

NARRATOR: Blame soon falls on one pilot.

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: Stand by for takeoff. I will call you.

DENNIS: Why would he ignore those instructions?

NARRATOR: But as investigators sift through all the evidence...

FO. MEURS: We are now at takeoff.

DENNIS: Whoa. Whoa, whoa. What just happened there?

NARRATOR: The disaster in Tenerife

grows more and more mysterious.

INVESTIGATOR: Why didn't they get off where they were told?

DENNIS: These are the top guys.

These are the best in the business. How could this happen?

Flight attendant: LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, WE ARE STARTING OUR APPROACH.

Pilot: WE LOST BOTH ENGINES!

Flight attendant: PUT THE MASK OVER YOUR NOSE.

EMERGENCY DESCENT.

Pilot: MAYDAY, MAYDAY.

Flight attendant: BRACE FOR IMPACT!

Controller: I THINK I LOST ONE.

Man: INVESTIGATION STARTING INTO THIS TRAGEDY...

Man: HE'S GONNA CRASH!

♪

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: Sunjet 2-8-2,

proceed directly to runway, backtrack and hold.

NARRATOR: Los Rodeos Airport on the Spanish island of Tenerife

is busier than it's ever been.

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: BA-783, hold short of the runway

and stand by for taxi clearance.

NARRATOR: The controllers are swamped.

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: Scandinavian 1-4-2-0,

you are cleared for takeoff.

Sterling 7-3-9-2, you are next in line.

Sierra Alpha Tango Alpha 69, right turn, heading 0-4-0.

Goodbye.

NARRATOR: A few hours ago, dozens of flights were diverted here

after a terrorist bombing shut down a larger airport

in nearby Las Palmas.

JIM: It's a single-runway airport

with a single parallel taxiway,

and because of the terrorist event in the region,

they had much more traffic

than I'm certain that they would normally see.

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: Sterling 7-3-9-2, taxi to the runway

and exit at taxiway Charlie 3.

JIM: They were dealing with aircraft

that had been delayed for a good part of the day,

and now there was a sense of urgency

to get them out and safely on their way.

NARRATOR: With so many planes parked on the taxiways,

the controllers instruct departing flights

to taxi along the airport's only runway

to get into position for takeoff.

One of the planes waiting to get to Las Palmas

is Pan Am flight 1736.

CPT. GRUBBS: We must be getting close.

FO. BRAGG: I sure hope so. I'm ready for the beach.

NARRATOR: Thirty-nine-year-old Robert Bragg

is the first officer.

ROBERT: After we got to Las Palmas,

we were supposed to have a day there

and then fly the airplane to Paris and have a day off

and then back to New York.

So it was supposed to be a very good trip.

NARRATOR: His captain is Victor Grubbs.

Flight engineer George Warns

completes the highly experienced crew.

JOHN: Pan American World Airways was not only a pioneer,

but they were the one we all looked up to tremendously.

Those of us who wanted to be pilots and who later were

always had that fantasy that we might some day fly

for Pan American.

So they were the creme de la creme for so many, many decades.

NARRATOR: The Pan Am crew is ready to get back in the air,

but they can't taxi to the runway.

A KLM 747 has stopped in front of them to refuel.

ROBERT: We were about 12 feet short of getting around them,

and we were all on the same radio.

I asked him how long would it be for him to finish fueling.

He said about 45 minutes.

JOHN: You're trying to get your passengers

where they want to go and now KLM wants more fuel

and it's just one of those things. It gets frustrating.

These irritations are small, but at the end of a long day

they begin to add up.

PASSENGER: Not even a sandwich?

NARRATOR: It's been a long day for the 378 passengers

on board the Pan Am airplane.

The flight started in Los Angeles before stopping

in New York and now in Tenerife.

ROBERT: They had been on the airplane 12, 13 hours.

So they were getting tired.

NARRATOR: The passengers have no idea

how long the delay will last.

ROBERT: KLM was our big concern.

And we found out his fueling would be finished.

FO. MEURS: Tenerife, KLM 4-8-0-5. We've finished refueling.

Requesting clearance for start up.

NARRATOR: The KLM aircraft is finally ready to roll.

Both 747s should be back in the air soon.

FO. BRAGG: Clipper 1-7-3-6, requesting start clearance.

ROBERT: I said okay, Pan Am is ready to start also.

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: Clipper 1-7-3-6,

you are cleared to start.

♪

CPT. GRUBBS: Okay. Pre-start checklist please.

FO. BRAGG: Ladies and gentlemen, the flight deck once again.

I'm happy to say we've been finally cleared to get moving.

We should have you in the air in about 15 minutes from now.

NARRATOR: The Canary Islands lie off the west coast of Africa.

Tenerife is one of seven in the Spanish archipelago.

The mountainous island

is famous for constantly changing weather.

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: I can't see anything out there.

JIM: A fog bank rolled in,

and visibility went down to almost zero.

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: Clipper 1-7-3-6,

clear taxi into the runway following the 747 from KLM.

FO. BRAGG: Clipper 1-7-3-6.

JIM: To expedite the departures of both KLM and Pan Am,

they taxied both on the runway at the same time

to put them in a position where they would be ready

for a departure.

ROBERT: He said follow KLM down the runway, backtrack,

make an exit to get around back of KLM.

So that's what we were doing.

NARRATOR: Once they get in the air, the flight to Las Palmas

should only take about 25 minutes.

♪

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: KLM 4-8-0-5,

how many taxiways did you pass?

FO. MEURS: I think we just passed Charlie 4 now.

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: Okay.

NARRATOR: The KLM 747 will be the next plane to take off.

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: At the end of the runway make a 180

and report ready for ATC clearance.

(In Spanish) Ya despues de estos dos ya terminamos.

NARRATOR: First Officer Bragg is unfamiliar with the airport.

He checks a runway diagram to help find their turning.

FO. BRAGG: Okay, that's this one right here.

CPT. GRUBBS: It goes ahead. It's going to put us on the taxiway.

NARRATOR: As they taxi,

they listen to the tower controller tell

the KLM crew ahead of them what to do after departure.

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: You are cleared to the Papa Beacon.

Climb to and maintain flight level niner-zero.

Right turn after takeoff.

FO. MEURS: Roger. Cleared to the Papa Beacon. Flight level 9-0.

Right turn at...we are now at takeoff.

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: Okay. Stand by for takeoff.

I will call you.

FO. BRAGG: And we're still taxiing down the runway,

Clipper 1-7-3-6.

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: Papa Alpha 1-7-3-6,

report runway clear.

FO. BRAGG: Okay. We'll report when we're clear.

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: Thank you.

NARRATOR: The Pan Am crew will be turning off the runway

in just a few more yards.

But now something's wrong.

First Officer Bragg can see a plane through the fog.

FO. BRAGG: I think he's moving.

ROBERT: And I looked up and there he was

coming down the runway.

It was very obvious that he was moving

because his landing lights were shaking.

CPT. GRUBBS: Look at him. That idiot's coming!

ROBERT: He saw KLM too.

FO. BRAGG: Get off. Get off!

♪

NARRATOR: Captain Grubbs tries to steer clear

of the oncoming KLM.

But it's bearing down on them at nearly 200 miles an hour.

ROBERT: He had lifted off the runway.

I could see his rotating beacon underneath.

FO. BRAGG: Get off. Get off. Get off.

Get off. Get off. Get off!

ROBERT: And then I ducked and said a real quick prayer.

"God, I hope he misses us."

PASSENGERS:

♪

NARRATOR: The unimaginable collision between two jumbo jets

has turned a runway in Tenerife into a disaster zone.

ROBERT: I opened my eyes.

The first thing I noticed, all the windows were gone,

and it looked like somebody had taken a big knife

and just cut the whole top of the airplane off.

FO. BRAGG: Get out! Get out!

ROBERT: That's when I decided it was time to leave.

NARRATOR: It's a 45-foot drop onto solid concrete.

ROBERT: And I just jumped right over the side.

I didn't even think about it.

When I hit I rolled on the ground and looked around

and discovered I wasn't hurt.

WOMAN:

NARRATOR: Some passengers in the shattered cabin of the Pan Am jet

have also survived.

FEMALE PASSENGER: Get out!

NARRATOR: They're desperate to get off the plane.

ROBERT: The airplane was totally burning.

There were flames probably 200 feet high.

NARRATOR: An opening in the fuselage

offers the possibility of escape,

but there are no emergency slides.

The long drop to the runway could be fatal.

With the plane engulfed in flames, it's the only way out.

PASSENGER: We're going to have to jump.

ROBERT: I thought the airplane was going to blow up.

And I yelled out at them to start jumping. And they did.

NARRATOR: Only 61 people from the Pan Am flight survive.

The cockpit crew is alive, but 335 others are dead.

On the KLM flight, there are no survivors.

Two hundred and forty-eight passengers and crew

have been killed.

All told, the disaster claims 583 lives.

It's the deadliest aviation accident of all time.

♪

JOHN: Five hundred and eighty-three people,

with only a few getting out on Pan Am.

This was something that we really had not contemplated

when we started building bigger airplanes.

Nobody ever thought, what if we lost two of them

in a collision on the ground?

This was a nightmare beyond all expectation.

♪

NARRATOR: The next morning, investigators from Spain,

the Netherlands and the United States are on the scene.

DENNIS: We didn't have a whole lot of experience

with 747s crashing at that point.

So from an accident investigation standpoint

it was going to be as big a deal as you can get.

INVESTIGATOR: Pan Am clearing the runway.

KLM on its takeoff roll. Someone messed up.

NARRATOR: They face a huge task,

trying to untangle the chain of events

that led to this catastrophic runway collision.

The search for the black boxes begins immediately.

The recorders could hold important details

about what was happening in both cockpits.

DENNIS: The voice recorders in this case were vital.

You had two airworthy aircraft coming together on the runway.

So the events leading up to that, you know, were key.

INVESTIGATOR: It was busy.

Controllers had to get almost 50 planes off the ground

in just a few hours.

NARRATOR: Investigators know that Los Rodeos Airport

has no ground radar to help controllers track planes.

JIM: At a busy location, it's unusual for a controller

to have to work without ground radar.

It increases the stress a little bit in the tower.

NARRATOR: There's no question that the small airport

was dealing with more traffic than usual.

Was it too much for controllers to handle?

Did they make a fatal mistake?

A visit to the tower is the obvious next step.

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: We've never been that busy.

And the planes were parked here and here.

They had to use the runway

to taxi into position one at a time.

JIM: They were actually having to park aircraft on the taxiway,

the only taxiway that they had, and therefore kind of deviate

from their standard operating procedures.

And anytime you do that, unfortunately, risk,

things get a little bit riskier.

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: So I instructed KLM to taxi

to the foot of the runway, make a 180,

and wait for takeoff clearance.

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: At the end of the runway, make a 180

and report ready for ATC clearance.

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: And a couple of minutes later,

he reported that he was in position here.

FO. MEURS: KLM is ready for takeoff, waiting for ATC clearance.

JOHN: When KLM had turned around at the end of the runway

and was in position for takeoff,

we call that "line up and wait."

So they are waiting for takeoff clearance,

which will equal a clear runway.

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: And then I had Pan Am move up the runway right behind the KLM.

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: Papa Alpha 1-7-3-6 report runway clear.

FO. BRAGG: Okay. We'll report when we're clear.

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: It's true we were busier

than we've ever been before, but we were managing.

We were getting the job done.

NARRATOR: It's becoming clear to investigators

that the cause of the Tenerife tragedy goes beyond

a busy airport.

Controllers had a lot to do, but they were not overwhelmed.

There must have been other factors at play.

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: Que paso?

JOHN: In accident investigation,

we learned a long time ago that there is never ever

just one cause,

and there are a multiplicity of moving parts on this.

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: I couldn't actually see what happened.

A thick fog had rolled in.

Visibility was almost zero by then.

DENNIS: This particular airport had a unique characteristic

in that it was high enough so that you would get

actually clouds rolling in across the runway.

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: KLM 4-8-0-5,

how many taxiways did you pass?

JIM: The controllers looking out the window

could not see any aircraft that were taxiing,

either on the taxiways or on the runways,

and instead had to rely solely on transmissions from the pilots

to report whether or not they were clear of the runway.

NARRATOR: Investigators know that

if the controller couldn't see the airplanes through the fog,

his instructions to the pilots would have to be crystal clear.

They gather recordings from air traffic control.

Perhaps the tapes can paint a better picture

of what really happened.

DENNIS: That was the key to the whole investigation.

Where were the aircraft on the runways,

and what was being said along their path down the runway?

FO. BRAGG: Get off. Get off! Get off!

NARRATOR: History's deadliest air crash is leading newscasts

around the world.

The pressure for answers is not about to let up.

DENNIS: We knew we had a tremendous task on our hands

to solve this accident.

♪

INVESTIGATOR: All right, let's start with KLM clearing

the end of the runway. 5-0-2.

NARRATOR: Investigators want to know if the Tenerife controller

said anything to the KLM or Pan Am pilots

that could have led to the collision.

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: KLM 4-8-0-5, how many taxiways did you pass?

NARRATOR: They listen to the recordings from inside the tower.

FO. MEURS: I think we just passed Charlie 4 now.

INVESTIGATOR: Okay, so they just passed Charlie 4 right here.

♪

NARRATOR: KLM Captain Jacob Van Zanten and his first officer, Klaas Meurs,

taxi up the runway in thick fog.

JOHN: By the time that the main island airport at Las Palmas

reopened and everybody was getting ready to go,

it was down to about 700 to 900 yards' visibility,

and that's just right at minimums.

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: At the end of the runway,

make a 180 and report ready for ATC clearance.

INVESTIGATOR: Okay.

KLM was told to proceed to the end of the runway,

turn around and wait.

What was the Pan Am flight told to do?

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: Clipper 1-7-3-6,

leave the runway 3-1 to your left.

INVESTIGATOR: Whoa. What did they just ask him to do?

FO. BRAGG: I'm sorry. Say again please.

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: Leave the runway,

the third one to your left.

FO. BRAGG: Okay. Taxi down the runway

and leave the runway at the first intersection on the left.

Is that correct?

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: Negative. The third one. The third one.

JOHN: Whenever we look at the question of

whether or not the air traffic controllers in the tower,

the two gentlemen in the tower were giving clear instructions,

you've gotta remember we have kind of a linguistic problem

here because these were two Spaniards who speak Spanish

as their native language attempting

to speak in aviation English to an American crew

and to a KLM Dutch crew.

INVESTIGATOR: He's on an active runway,

and he doesn't know if he's being told to get off here,

here, or maybe here.

JIM: There seemed to be some confusion

as to which exit they were supposed to take,

and I have a feeling part of that had to do

with the accents involved.

FO. BRAGG: Maybe I'll ask him again.

Would you confirm that you want Clipper 1-7-3-6 to turn left

at the third intersection?

NARRATOR: It takes an extra effort,

but the controller eventually makes himself understood.

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: The third one, sir. One, two, three.

The third one, third!

NARRATOR: The controller's accent

may have been another complicating factor for pilots

in an unfamiliar airport on a very busy day.

But for investigators, it's not enough to explain the crash.

They need to keep digging.

INVESTIGATOR: One, two, three.

This is where they were told to get off,

and they clearly understood. But they moved past C-3.

Why didn't they get off where they were told?

NARRATOR: The Pan Am plane taxied past the third exit.

Why did it stay on the runway?

For more insight, investigators examine the geometry

of the turn the Pan Am pilots were asked to make.

That leads to a surprising discovery.

INVESTIGATOR: So you have a 148-degree turn here,

followed by another one here.

NARRATOR: Leaving the runway at the third intersection

would have required two very sharp turns,

both tighter than 90 degrees.

INVESTIGATOR: That's practically impossible.

JOHN: A 747 is a beast. This is a big, big airplane.

You just can't turn it on a dime.

So a crew is going to always be reluctant,

an experienced crew especially like Pan Am's,

to take a turn if it doesn't look logical to them.

And this one did not look logical to them.

INVESTIGATOR: All right. So the collision happened here.

So he obviously passed C-3 and was headed for C-4.

NARRATOR: Instead of leaving the runway at an exit

that required two very difficult turns,

the Pan Am crew headed for the fourth exit.

It was further along the runway

but provided a much easier turn.

ROBERT: If you see C-4, it's the only taxiway

going off the runway at a 45-degree angle.

The other, C-3, would have not done what we needed to do.

JIM: I can see how that would definitely have induced

the Pan Am crew to think that Charlie-4

was the exit that they were supposed to turn at.

NARRATOR: In the fog, the KLM crew

would not have been able to see that Pan Am 1736

was taxiing past the C3 exit as they waited

for takeoff instructions from the controller.

FO. MEURS: KLM is ready for takeoff. Awaiting ATC clearance.

JIM: The first clearance they were asking for was

an air traffic control route clearance,

which tells pilots how to get

from the airport that they were at, Tenerife,

to their destination airport.

NARRATOR: The air traffic recording suggests the KLM crew

knew the correct procedures and was following them.

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: You are cleared to the Papa Beacon.

Climb to and maintain flight level niner-zero.

Right turn after takeoff.

INVESTIGATOR: It sounds fine.

FO. MEURS: Roger. Cleared to Papa Beacon.

Flight level nine-zero. Right turn out. We are now at takeoff.

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: Okay. Standby for takeoff.

I will call you.

JIM: It's kind of a verification between the controller and

the pilot that they are doing what they should be doing.

INVESTIGATOR: He's telling the tower he's in takeoff position,

but he's been told to wait for takeoff clearance.

So why does he start his takeoff roll?

NARRATOR: Investigators are mystified.

Nothing on the tower recording can explain

why the KLM crew started down the runway

before they were cleared to do so.

DENNIS: The big question then was, you know,

once you get over the horrific nature of it

and say, how could this happen?

NARRATOR: At the crash site,

there's new hope of finding some answers.

Investigators have recovered the black boxes.

DENNIS: The voice recorders were key to the investigation.

That gave us an insight

into what was going on in the respective cockpits.

NARRATOR: They can only hope the new evidence will be enough

to finally solve the mystery of the worst air disaster

the world has ever seen.

INVESTIGATOR: We've located the CVR.

♪

NARRATOR: The investigation into the Tenerife disaster

shifts to the Washington headquarters

of the National Transportation Safety Board.

Investigator Dennis Grossi has painstakingly matched up

the cockpit voice recordings with the known movements

of both planes.

DENNIS: Okay. Let's listen to the Pan Am.

DENNIS: In this case, fractions of a second mattered.

So it was important that we had those recorders synced up

so you could hear it and you could have precise measurements

of when things were said.

FO. BRAGG: Yeah. That's that 45 there.

That's this one right here. The next one is almost a 45.

Goes ahead. It's going to put us on the taxiway.

NARRATOR: The Pan Am cockpit tape confirms that the crew

was having a hard time figuring out where to leave the runway.

DENNIS: They're passing C-3 and no one sees them.

NARRATOR: Did the KLM crew think the Pan Am plane

was already off the runway?

DENNIS: Keep it going.

NARRATOR: What the tape reveals next suggests the answer is no.

FO. MEURS: We are now at takeoff.

FO. BRAGG: And we're still taxiing down the runway,

Clipper 1-7-3-6.

NARRATOR: Both crews are using the same radio frequency.

KLM should have heard

First Officer Bragg report his location.

ROBERT: That's why I said, "We're still on the runway,

and we will report clear of the runway."

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: Papa Alpha 1-7-3-6,

report runway clear.

FO. BRAGG: Okay. We'll report when we're clear.

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: Thank you.

DENNIS: Crystal clear for all to hear.

He's still on the runway. Yet KLM continues to take off.

NARRATOR: Captain Van Zanten is a highly experienced pilot

with more than 11,000 hours in the air.

What led him to believe the runway ahead was clear

and that he had permission to take off?

DENNIS: It just seems so alien

for the crew to make that mistake.

I mean, these are the top guys.

These are the best in the business.

DENNIS: He lands just after 13:30.

NARRATOR: Investigators turn to the KLM voice recording

for answers.

Perhaps something said in that cockpit

can explain the incomprehensible decision

to start down the runway.

FE. SCHREUDER: We landed here at 1:38.

CPT. VAN ZANTEN: Yes, I know that,

but we have to start from 7:00. That's when we checked in.

DENNIS: You're trying to recreate the cockpit environment,

why certain decisions were made, why things were said.

CPT. VAN ZANTEN: The time limit is 10 hours of flying

with an amplitude of 13 hours. That's with one stopover.

NARRATOR: The recording reveals that the captain

is worried about work hours.

If the crew exceeds their duty time,

they'll be forced to cancel the flight.

JOHN: And that means probably thirty, $40,000 of hotel rooms

for the outbound passengers

who they're not going to be able to carry back that night.

It is a bit of a logistical nightmare,

especially in an outstation in a foreign place.

NARRATOR: Dutch regulators have also recently

tightened the rules governing flight crew duty time.

A Dutch pilot can now have his license revoked

if he exceeds the legal number of hours.

The crew left Amsterdam at nine in the morning.

They still have to get their passengers to Las Palmas,

pick up another load of passengers,

and get back to Amsterdam before the clock runs out.

CPT. VAN ZANTEN: If I mess this up, I could actually lose my license.

FE. SCHREUDER: We certainly wouldn't want that.

CPT. VAN ZANTEN: Well, if we're waiting, we might as well refuel.

Tenerife, KLM 4-8-0-5.

Now requesting refueling at the apron.

NARRATOR: Van Zanten's concern over duty time explains

why he decided to refuel while in Tenerife.

DENNIS: He was going to do everything in his power

to make sure that he could complete the flight

within his legal duty time limits.

NARRATOR: But then, a short time later,

the airport in Las Palmas reopens.

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: To all aircraft, Las Palmas has reopened.

You may ask for start up and clearances at your discretion.

NARRATOR: And Van Zanten's plan backfires.

Refueling takes much longer than expected,

and now he can't move until it's done.

JOHN: When Las Palmas reopened, here he is

sucking on a fuel hose

instead of starting the engines and moving.

FO. BRAGG: This is Clipper 1-7-3-6

requesting startup clearance.

NARRATOR: Van Zanten's decision has a huge impact

on the Pan Am flight as well.

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: The KLM beside you

has requested a refuel,

and it doesn't look like you're going to get by him.

JOHN: The Pan American 747

didn't have enough wing tip clearance.

FO. BRAGG: You gotta be kidding me.

Roger Tenerife, Clipper 1-7-3-6.

JOHN: The other captains were unhappy with him

because he was the cork in the bottle.

NARRATOR: The refueling delay means the KLM crew

now has only two hours until they're grounded.

DENNIS: A half hour to taxi. A half hour to get there.

An hour to swap passengers and get back in the air. It's tight.

And guess what? The weather's getting worse.

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: KLM 4-8-0-5,

you are clear to taxi to the runway.

NARRATOR: The question facing investigators now is,

did the rush to get off the ground in worsening weather

cause the KLM crew to jump the gun?

DENNIS: So he taxis to the end of the runway and does this 180.

We know this from the tower tapes.

Can we hear it from that point please?

CPT. VAN ZANTEN: Starting. Landing lights on.

Checklist complete.

NARRATOR: Investigators hear more evidence

that the captain of KLM flight 4805 may have been in a rush.

DENNIS: Is he throttling up?

FO. MEURS: Wait a minute. We do not have ATC clearance.

CPT. VAN ZANTEN: No, I know that. Go ahead and ask.

DENNIS: It's obvious that time was an important factor

in the KLM Captain's decision-making.

He wasn't going to waste any time

once he got to the end of the runway.

FO. MEURS: KLM is ready for takeoff, waiting for ATC clearance.

DENNIS: So he requests ATC clearance.

We're about a minute from the collision.

JOHN: When the first officer asked for the clearance,

he was asking for the air traffic control clearance,

completely separate from the clearance

to actually roll this 500, 600,000-pound monster

down the runway.

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: You are cleared to the Papa Beacon.

Climb to and maintain flight level niner-zero.

Right turn after takeoff.

NARRATOR: What investigators hear next

answers many of the questions plaguing this investigation.

CPT. VAN ZANTEN: Yes!

FO. MEURS: Roger. Clear to the Papa Beacon.

CPT. VAN ZANTEN: Let's go! Check thrust.

FO. MEURS: Flight level 9-0, right turn out.

We are now at takeoff.

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: Okay.

DENNIS: Whoa. Whoa, whoa. What just happened there?

Play that again, please.

NARRATOR: The controller is providing instructions

for what to do after takeoff.

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: You are cleared to the Papa Beacon.

Climb to and maintain flight level niner-zero.

Right turn after takeoff.

CPT. VAN ZANTEN: Yes!

NARRATOR: But the captain reacts

as if he's actually been cleared for departure.

JIM: They get a clearance from air traffic control

that contains the word takeoff,

and that confirms for them that everything is

the way it should be, when in fact everything was not.

FO. MEURS: Roger. Cleared to the Papa Beacon.

CPT. VAN ZANTEN: Let's go. Check thrust.

NARRATOR: Before his first officer

has finished reading back the instructions,

Captain Van Zanten is already on the roll.

FO. MEURS: Flight level 9-0. Right turn out.

We are now at takeoff.

NARRATOR: Investigators now know

what the Dutch first officer meant by "at takeoff."

DENNIS: He's reporting that he's actually taking off,

not that he's ready to take off.

JIM: Unfortunately, in this case

it meant they were taking off from the KLM perspective.

And from the air traffic control perspective,

they were hearing, "We are at takeoff position."

NARRATOR: But for investigators

there's something about the radio exchange

that still doesn't make sense.

DENNIS: According to the tower transcripts,

the controller advised him to stay put.

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: Okay. Stand by for takeoff.

I will call you.

NARRATOR: Why didn't the KLM crew follow that clear instruction

to stand by?

DENNIS: Give me Pan Am at 17:06.

That's when Pan Am reports on the same frequency

that they're still on the runway.

FO. BRAGG: And we're still taxiing down the runway,

Clipper 1-7-3-6.

DENNIS: Hold it there. Why would he ignore them?

NARRATOR: The cockpit recordings

continue to baffle investigators,

until they hear another critical moment on the KLM tape.

FO. MEURS: We are now at takeoff.

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: Okay.

DENNIS: That's what he heard?

NARRATOR: It's a stunning discovery.

FO. MEURS: Flight level 9-0. Right turn out.

We're now at takeoff.

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: Okay.

NARRATOR: The two warnings to stay put

were never heard in the KLM cockpit.

The tower and the Pan Am flight

both made their critical calls at the exact same moment.

FO. BRAGG (Overlap): And we're still taxiing down the runway.

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER (overlap): Okay. Stand by for takeoff. I will call you.

FO. BRAGG: Clipper 1-7-3-6.

NARRATOR: The simultaneous transmissions

produced a four second squeal in the KLM cockpit.

FO. MEURS: We are now at takeoff.

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: Okay.

FO. BRAGG: Clipper 1-7-3-6.

NARRATOR: The crew heard only one word: okay.

JIM: Unfortunately, this happened

during that pause after the controller says okay.

For KLM, they had no opportunity

to hear the controller saying standby for takeoff,

nor were they able to hear,

because they were speaking at the same time,

the Pan Am crew reporting that they were still on the runway.

DENNIS: So what's next?

NARRATOR: There's one final transmission

recorded in the KLM cockpit.

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: Papa Alpha 1-7-3-6,

report runway clear.

NARRATOR: It should have alerted the crew

that another plane was still on the runway.

FO. BRAGG: Okay. We'll report when we're clear.

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: Thank you.

NARRATOR: Only the flight engineer seems to have understood it.

FE. SCHREUDER: Is he not clear then?

CPT. VAN ZANTEN: What did you say?

FE. SCHREUDER: Is he not clear then, the Pan American?

CPT. VAN ZANTEN: Oh, yes.

NARRATOR: The pilots ignore his concern

and miss their last chance to avoid a disaster

that will claim 583 lives.

CPT. VAN ZANTEN: Oh, damn it!

♪

DENNIS: Van Zanten should not have moved

without explicit clearance.

ROBERT: You learn that in probably the first or second lesson

in aviation: Do not take off unless you get a clearance.

NARRATOR: Investigators dig into the career

of Captain Van Zanten.

They're looking for anything that might explain

why an experienced pilot would violate such a fundamental rule.

INVESTIGATOR: This guy was a superstar.

NARRATOR: They learn that Van Zanten

was one of KLM's top pilots.

He was the face of the airline, the director of flight safety,

and head of the flight training department.

JOHN: How could a human being with so much intelligence,

so much capability and experience and position,

and the director of safety -- how could he fail like this?

♪

NARRATOR: Investigators suspect that, in an odd twist,

the captain's elevated status

may have played a role in the Tenerife disaster.

ROBERT: Back in those times, everyone had an awe

of the captain, if you will. His word was god.

His word was unquestioned.

DENNIS: If he has that kind of authority,

it's less likely for someone his junior,

in this case the flight engineer and the first officer,

to challenge anything he does.

FO. BRAGG: Okay. We'll report when we're clear.

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: Thank you.

FE. SCHREUDER: Is he not clear then?

CPT. VAN ZANTEN: What did you say?

FE. SCHREUDER: Is he not clear then, the Pan American?

CPT. VAN ZANTEN: Oh, yes.

NARRATOR: The conversation in the KLM cockpit

leading up to the accident seems to support that notion.

But Van Zanten's esteemed status doesn't explain

the most troubling question of all.

Why did he believe it was safe to take off in the first place?

DENNIS: Logically, you should make extra clear that,

hey, we're taking off. Is the runway clear?

NARRATOR: Investigators search desperately for an answer and

come across a stunning detail in the captain's flight log.

It could be the final piece of the puzzle.

INVESTIGATOR: This was his first flight in three months.

NARRATOR: Records show that Van Zanten's cockpit hours

had dropped dramatically in recent years.

He was spending most of his time in a simulator

training other pilots.

JOHN: The simulation is interesting

because, when you spend a lot of time as an instructor

in a simulator, it's an artificial environment

that we try to make as real as possible.

CPT. VAN ZANTEN: Okay. Checklist complete. Let's go. Thrust.

NARRATOR: Flight simulators do a remarkably good job

at recreating the experience of a real flight.

But there is one very important element missing.

There is no air traffic controller in a simulator.

DENNIS: His focus was on training,

and there was this difference in the way

you treat air traffic control communications

in a training environment versus the real world.

CPT. VAN ZANTEN: Okay, let's go. Thrust. V-1. Here we go.

Takeoff thrust. Rotate. Okay let's go. Takeoff thrust.

Thrust. Let's go.

INVESTIGATOR: All that time he spent in a simulator

works against him.

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: Climb to and maintain

flight level niner-zero. Right turn after takeoff.

FO. MEURS: Roger. Cleared to the Papa Beacon.

CPT. VAN ZANTEN: Let's go. Check thrust.

JOHN: Jacob Van Zanten's attempt to take off

without a clearance

resulted from his time in the simulator

and that he kind of reset himself.

He was his own clearance authority in the simulator.

INVESTIGATOR: And then two separate radio calls

that should have told him the Pan Am was off the runway

cancel each other out.

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: Okay.

FO. BRAGG: Clipper 1736.

The world's deadliest airline accident

is now all but inevitable.

FO. BRAGG: I think he's moving.

CPT. GRUBBS: Look at him. That idiot's coming!

♪

JOHN: Basically we had a captain

who wanted to get off the ground as rapidly as possible.

CPT. VAN ZANTEN: Oh, damn it!

♪

JOHN: The weather was not cooperating,

and he was about out of crew duty time,

and in a situation like that, the human mind,

our carbon-based brains tend to jump a few cogs, so to speak.

FO. BRAGG: Get off. Get off. Get off.

Get off! Get off! Get off!

JOHN: He had a gun cocked and loaded by various factors

and he was the one that pulled the trigger.

But you have to take them all in connection.

NARRATOR: The investigation into the collision at Tenerife

results in dozens of recommendations.

Few aviation accidents have triggered a greater number

of significant changes.

JOHN: That's what began to be the seed of training

for what we later called crew resource management

where we said to the captain, we're onto you, bub.

You're a human being.

You can make mistakes, even when you have no intention to,

and even when you're completely qualified.

NARRATOR: KLM and other airlines

transform their training methods for captains,

helping them become more responsive to their crew-mates.

DENNIS: Even the most senior

and the most highly trained individuals can make mistakes

and we need to rely on the resources

of all the crew members to compensate for that.

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: You are cleared to the Papa Beacon.

Climb to and maintain flight level niner-zero.

Right turn after takeoff.

NARRATOR: The accident also changes the very language

used by controllers around the world.

JIM: Controllers don't use the word takeoff

unless they actually mean and intend

for the aircraft to be doing just that, taking off.

Instead, they will substitute the word "after departure turn

right heading zero-four-zero" or something to that effect.

JOHN: Those 583 people did not die in vain.

We have learned those lessons.

They changed the whole face of aviation safety.

♪