Last year was the safest year on record for airlines, with just two fatal accidents for commercial flights recorded.
Aviation safety has continued to improve over the years. A lot of changes occurred after the worst plane crash in aviation history happened in 1977.
The Tenerife Airport Disaster is now considered the deadliest plane accident on record after killing 583 people onboard.
But how did the incident happen?
On March 27, 1977, two Boeing 747 planes collided on the runway on the island of Tenerife in the Canary Islands.
Both planes, the KLM flight and Pan Am flight, were not meant to land at the airport, but due to a terrorist incident at Gran Canaria Airport, which injured one person, their flight routes were diverted.
The two aircrafts were then both on the third runway when the incident occurred. The two flights both taxied onto the runway, with the KLM plane told to hold their position with the Pan Am flight told to follow.
The incident then occurred after the KLM flight took off without proper clearance from the airport.
It wasn’t the only problem, as the Pan Am flight also missed the turning off the runway after mistaking the exit C4 for exit C3 in the foggy conditions
The KLM flight started to take off despite the runway not being clear and was unable to see the Pan Am flight until the last minute.
A recording from the Pan Am flight heard the captain exclaimed: “G******, that son-of-a-b**** is coming!” with the first officer then yelling: “Get off! Get off! Get off!”.
Despite the Pan Am plane attempting to turn off the runway while the KLM flight pulled up, the two planes then collided on the ground.
All 234 passengers on the KLM flight were killed, as well as the 14 crew members. The Pan Am flight had 61 survivors, with 7 crew members of the 16 on board and 54 of the 380 passengers surviving.
After an investigation into the crash, KLM accepted responsibility, after it was found that the captain mistakenly believed he had been given clearance to take off from Air traffic control.
Settlements to the families and for the damages were estimated at $ 110 million.
The disaster has since changed a number of aviation regulations. One part of the investigation found that air traffic control, using the word “OK” caused confusion between them and the KLM captain regarding take-off being allowed.
Air traffic control is now required to only use the word “take-off” when allowing or cancelling the take-off; any other time it must use the word “departure”.
