Tenerife Airport Disaster

Tenerife Airport Disaster
Student’s Name
Institution Affiliation

Background of the study
PanAm 747 was on air for eight hours, traveling from Los Angeles to Las Palmas. On board were 380 passengers and 16 members of the crew. The captain of PanAm 747 was getting impatient, as he had waited to get clearance to land at Las Palmas. Two hours earlier, there was an explosion, and Las Palmas airport was closed for repair. Flight 747 Captain was advised to divert to Tenerife, which is 70 km to the west of Las Palmas. The captain complied since he had no alternative (1001Crash.com, 2016). By 1415 hours GMT, PanAm 1736 was approaching on runway 30. The captain noticed that so many aircraft saturated Tenerife airport (Ranter, 2016). According to 1001Crash.com (2016), PanAm 747 was to park behind KLM 747 whose captain has stayed for 45 minutes in the airport. KLM captain had 234 passengers on board and 14 members of the crew. KLM captain was nervous because the Dutch regulations on exceeding flying hours were strict.
At 1430 hours GMT the Tenerife control tower announced that Las Palmas airport had reopened and all grounded aircraft would soon be freed to move. The controller explained to the PanAm captain to take-off by taxing behind KLM 747. The weather was not favorable; a thick fog in the airport reduced visibility to 300 feet. There was heavy traffic in the airport created by the grounded aircraft. KLM 747 was cleared at 1651h to start its engine in preparation for take-off.

PanAm 747 made requests to start its engine at 1652h (1001Crash.com, 2016).
Jacob Van Zanten, the KLM pilot, began rolling down through the runway without precise instructions from the controller (Ranter, 2016). The weather had interfered with visibility in the runway. At the same time, PanAm was taxiing to the runway. The controller attempted to alert KLM crew to standby and be ready for a take-off (1001Crash.com, 2016). The PanAm co-pilot and the controller spoke at the same time and no one heard the information conveyed. The pilot in KLM cockpit only heard the phrase “take off” (Smith, 2007). Captain Van Zanten takeoff led to the death of 583 people. The Dutch aircraft was about to take-off and fly over the other aircraft on the runway but the tail section of KLM flight cut-off its fuselage. The Dutch aircraft lost control and created impact, which caused the fire while slamming into the runway (Pearson, 2016). The Dutch flight busted into flames with the full fuel tank force. Everyone in the Dutch aircraft died. PanAm aircraft also caught fire. Luckily, 61 passengers and the crew escaped the hot jet and survived. The explosion heat cleared the fog in a kilometer radius (Ranter, 2016).
Rescue and Survival
There were no survivors in the KLM flight even though the impact on the ground and collision with PanAm aircraft was not very violent. The raging fire was immediate, and the doors were all shut. There was no escape route for the passengers of the crew from the fire. The fuselage pressure also intensified the fire thus escape would not be easy (1001Crash.com, 2016).
The first lounge in the PanAm flight was destroyed by the impact. There was a way out on the lounge floor. The crew took advantage of the opening, jumped through the first class section, and used the hole behind L1 exit to escape from the tragedy. The hole was the primary escape route to the front the passengers could locate. Sadly, no one in the first class lounge survived the incident. According to the survivors, the impact was not very violent; the report indicates that it was the fire that mainly caused the destruction.
It took about one minute for total evacuation. The crew and individual passengers helped in the process. During the incident, five ambulances were within the airport’s premises. The general evacuation plan was efficient and rapid. The local guard directed the ambulances from the airport to hospitals. The traffic towards the hospital was favorable. There were numerous blood donations from various philanthropists to save lives (1001Crash.com, 2016).
Causes of the accident
Human factors
From the investigation report presented by Spanish authority, there were no medical contributions to the event of the crash. However, there were many psychosocial factors connected to the cause of the collision.
Time limit of Dutch crews
The Dutch pilot was under stress of the strict rules regarding the extension of flight hours. The rules were rigid, and the captain could be prosecuted if he extends time at his discretion. However, the crew could have sent a telex to Las Palmas to explain the factors in consideration, but the scenario was stressful. It would also be difficult to determine how much time of the extended time they would require communicating their case. The uncertainty of the limit also contributed to stress and reduced concentration and possibly false judgments by the crew (Pearson, 2016).
Behavior
The visibility before the accident and during the incident could have caused worry and probably panic. The report from the Spanish investigation team report shows that there was acute variation in visibility (Pearson, 2016). Within a short span, visibility reduced from 500 meters to 300 meters and below. This scenario could have cost worry and panic which could have been the result of coerced judgment by the cockpit crew and barriers to communication. Besides, the threat of reduced visibility could have also caused fixation. At such point, the crew had a challenge of testing visibility and concentrating on instructions from the controller. The only way out of the scenario was to talk as fast as possible to maintain concentration (Pearson, 2016). However, the random communication also became a barrier as two people talked at the same time and information could not be transmitted clearly (Ranter, 2016).
Stress
Organization behavior and effects of stress on people were among the factors contributing to Tenerife collision. Psychological stress entails judgments that a specific environment cannot sustain (Holroyd and Lazarus 1982). Among the stressful demands presented to KLM crews were; delays caused by the terrorist bombing at Las Palmas the varying weather conditions the strict hours of duty that was about to expire. The PanAm crew, though no time limit rule to worry about were also facing the tormenting environmental condition and had been working for the past eleven hours. The Spanish controllers were also facing the unusual number of plane traffic they are used to controlling. The traffic volume at Tenerife was heavier than the standard condition the controller dealt with in the past. The controllers had to communicate in English plus an addition language they were evidently less familiar with (1001Crash.com, 2016). According to Holroyd and Lazarus (1982), such demands could have caused disruption in the controllers’ cognitive process. The scenario could also reduce attentiveness, which results to unsound judgments.
Possible biometric factors
The crew in the Dutch flight had been on the air for eight hours. The stressful situation presented at the Tenerife and back in Las Palmas airport could have caused fatigue. There was also an accumulation of problems above the standard conditions for the captain to accommodate. The co-pilot also had no experience in 747s (Pearson, 2016). Furthermore, noise level and vibration in 747 is usually high and could be a barrier to communication and concentration (Ranter, 2016).
Conclusion
The investigation carried by the Spanish was very thorough. Reports indicated that the accident was attributed to the unstable weather conditions, unsafe acts by organizations (Particularly the Dutch time regulations). The stressful human factors presented in the causes of the accident were linked to rules and agencies behavior. Some researchers believe that the incident would have been avoided if there were clear communication between the Dutch flight and the controller. However, some studies also emphasize that there was no method for averting the environmental condition, which was also a contributory factor (Pearson, 2016). Other studies also elude the inexperienced employee and fatigue as the primary cause of the accident. However, this study summarizes the primary causes of the incident on weather conditions and human factors.
Tenerife Airport Disaster was the deadliest accident that had occurred at its time and the second worst throughout history (Pearson, 2016). Several studies have used the incident as a point of references to make safer rules to avert the future occurrence of the same event. The incident has also been the point of references for making safety measures and plans by flight authorities. Scholars who advocate for the need of coaching employees on stress management also lay emphasis on the Tenerife disaster as their point of inference. The Disaster was so influential to the Aviation Industry that it serves as textbook examples for reviewing and frameworks used for investigation and prevention.

References
1001Crash.com,. (2016). The Tenerife disaster – 1001 Crash. 1001crash.com. Retrieved 11 November 2015, from http://www.1001crash.com/index-page-tenerife-lg-2-numpage-2.htmlHolroyd, K. & Lazarus, R. (1982). Stress, coping and somatic adaptation. In Goldberger, C. &Breznitz, S. (Eds.). Handbook of stress. New York Free Press, 21–25
Pearson, O. (2016). My Research Paper. How Aviation Accidents Have Shaped Regulations?. Retrieved 11 November 2016, from http://owenp16808.weebly.com/my-research-paper.htmlRanter, H. (2016). ASN Aircraft accident Boeing 747-121 N736PA Tenerife-Norte Los Rodeos Airport (TFN). Aviation-safety.net. Retrieved 11 November 2016, from https://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19770327-0Smith, P. (2007). We gaan: The horrors and absurdities of history’s worst crash. Retrieved December 8, 2013, from Ask the Pilots website: http://www.askthepilot.com/essaysandstories/tenerife-we-gaan/