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accident report Boeing 747-200
Sunday 27 March 1977 KLM Boeing 747-206B PH-BUF “Rijn” c/n 20400
ISP Flight KL4805 from Tenerife – Los Rodeos apt. (TCI) to Las Palmas (LPA), Gran Canaria with 14 crew and 234 passengers. First flight : 1971
Airframe hrs : 21195 cycles : 5202 engines : JT9D-7W.
KLM's Boeing 747-206B PH-BUF "Rijn" collides with a taxiing Panam Boeing 747 during take-off from Tenerife. A total of 583 people were killed. All 248 on board KLM 747-206B PH-BUF died. Among the 396 people on board the Pan Am 747, 335 were killed and 61 injured. This is the biggest disaster in aviation history. On March 27, a bomb exploded in the airport building of the airport on Los Palmas, one of the Canary Islands. The airport was temporarily closed to all airplanes and they were sent to Tenerife, 115 km away. The 747 of the KLM and the 747 of the Panam had to wait at this airport. The captain of the KLM aircraft was in a hurry because the maximum number of flight hours of his crew was almost over and the aircraft had to stay in Tenerife until the next day. After two hours of waiting, the passengers of the KLM-Jumbo were told that Las Palmas was open again. Due to the crowds, all aircraft had to taxi over the only runway of the airport. The Panam-747 taxied behind the KLM-747 and had to leave the runway at the third exit. At that time it was quite foggy and the visibility is only a few hundred meters.
The Panam-747 had trouble finding the exit in the fog, meanwhile the KLM-747 had turned 180 degrees and was busy going through the take-off procedure. The KLM captain starts the take-off before he has received final permission from the control tower. The BWK Schreuder is uncertain whether the Panam-Boeing is gone and asks the Captain "Isn't he off, that Pan American?" The Captain replies "Yes it is" and continues the run-up. The Panam-Boeing suddenly sees the KLM aircraft looming and tries to taxi quickly off the runway. The KLM-747 tries to pull up just in front of the Panam aircraft, but in vain. The nose wheel just shoots over it, but the main landing gear drills full into the fuselage of the Panam-747. It's 5:06 p.m. local time. The KLM aircraft struggles through the air for another 150m and then flips back onto the runway, slides another 300m and then explodes. All 248 people on board this plane were killed. In the Panam-747, only 59 people survived the disaster of the 394 people on board, although all were injured. The disaster had not been seen from the control tower, although two explosions had been heard. It took a while for a parked aircraft to report that it saw fire, after which the fire brigade called out.
Initially, only the KLM-747 was found and it was only when the fog lifted for a while that the Panam aircraft was discovered. The KLM aircraft weighed 317 tonnes, that of the Panam 315 tonnes. The captain was J.L. Veldhuyzen van Zanten (50), chief instructor on the 747 at KLM....so not someone you contradicted at the time. The captain of the Panam-747 was Victor F. Grubbs, he survived the disaster.
After this disaster, there was a lot of improvement in the cooperation between the crew. The captain no longer had to act authoritarian, but was open to input from the other crew members. There had to be more team spirit.
Later picture with parts of the aircraft already removed
The Americans and Spaniards put the blame on the KLM captain who had started his take-off without permission. However, the RLD had come to a different conclusion, the tower had said "Okay", the "Stand by for Take-off. I will call you" is barely audible in the cockpit due to a whistling sound. So everything was the result of miscommunication and not Van Zanten's fault. The RLD adheres to this reading to this day! According to research, however, the KLM-747 was already 6 seconds into the take-off run at the time of the "Okay" !
Literature : vk15feb97, vk26mrt97
248 people died in the crash and injured.
location : +- 10m 28°28’59.59”N 16°20’33.50”W
Literature :
Sunday 01 January 1978 Ari India Boeing 747-237B VT-EBD “Emperor Ashoka” c/n 19959. ISP Flight from Bombay (BOM) to Dubai (DXB) with 23 crew and 190 passengers. The captains Attitude Director Indicator showing wrong readings, shortly after take off from RW27 while climbing at night through 2000ft. The captain took wrong corrective actions that brought the aircraft in a steep bank after which control was lost. The aircraft crashed into the Arabian Sea 3km offshore. First flight : 1971 engines : JT9D-7J. All 213 people on board died in the crash. location : +-100m 19°06’55”N 72°46’32”E
Thursday 1 September 1983 Korean Air Lines Boeing 747-230B HL7442 c/n 20559
ISP Flight from Anchorage (ANC) to Seoul (SEL) with 23 crew and 246 passengers. The 747 was out of course and entered unintended Russian air space. It was shot down by Russian fighter planes. First flight : 1972 engines : JT9D-71.
Korean Air Lines Boeing 747 was en route from Anchorage to Seoul, flight KAL 007.
After Bethel VORTAC the flight was supposed to begin following route R20 on a magnetic heading of 238°. For over 5 hours the aircraft followed this wrong heading undetected by the flight crew. This wrong heading brought the aircraft over Russian territory, 300 miles from the correct route.
Some Sukhoi Su-15 fighters took off to intercept the intruder. The Russian defence was very "touchy" because almost daily Boeing C-135 Elint reconnaissance aircraft flew along their borders to investigate the Russian defences.
The 747 did not respond to radio messages and the Su-15 pilot, Gennady Osipovich, could not tell from his IFF transponder whether it was a military or a civilian aircraft. The 747 is almost back over international airspace. Time is running out for the Su-15 pilot. He fires two AAMs that fatally hit the 747. All 269 people on board were killed.
Many questions remain. Did the Americans know about the 747's sharp deviation from the course? And if so, why didn't they warn the crew. Or was the 747 deliberately sent over Russian territory in order to be able to study the reaction of the Russian defences!? The plane had already flown over Russian territory for 2.5 hours before it was shot down.
How could the Boeing with all the navigation equipment on board get so far off course?? According to Hersch, the very experienced captain Chun Byung-in had made a mistake with the INS, but then there are several other navigation systems (VOR-DME, compass) that must also point incorrectly.
Gennadi Osipovitsj
All 269 people on board died in the crash. location : 37km W off Sakhalinsk, North of Moneron island, 46°33'32"N, 141°19'41"E, at a depth of 174m, from the accident report.
Literature : KAL007-The Cover-Up , David Pearson
The target is destroyed, Seymour Hersch
vk08oct88,vk10dec96,vk01mrt84
Vk31aug93, vk03aug89
Sunday 23 June 1985 Air India Boeing 747-237B VT-EFO “Kanishka”c/n 21473
Flight AI182 from Montreal (YMX) to London (LHR) with 22 crew and 307 passengers.
Suddenly disappeared from the radar. At FL310 there was an explosion in the forward cargo hold, causing a rapid decompression. The aircraft broke up and crashed into the sea. The wreckage sank to a depth of 6700 ft. Probably there was an explosive device smuggled on board with an unaccompanied suitcase.
First flight : 1978 Airframe hrs : 23634 cycles : 7525 engines : JT9D-7J. All people on board died in the crash.
location : 176km W of Cork, Ireland +-1km 51°3’N 12°49’W at a depth of 6500 ft.
Saturday 25 May 2002 China Airlines Boeing 747-209B B-18255 c/n 21843
ISP Flight CI611 from Taipei (TPE) to Hong Kong (HKG) with crew and passengers. Sort after take-off from Taipei, when the aircraft reached its cruise height of 35.000 ft, the aircraft suddenly disappeared from the radar screens. The aircraft suffered an in flight brake up. A tail strike in February 1980 was not repaired according to guidelines, this resulted in fatigue cracks that now resulted in the structural failure during the flight. First flight : 1979 Airframe hrs : 64394 cycles : 21180 engines : JT9D-&AW. 225 people died in the crash and injured.
location : 45km NE off Penghu Island, Taiwan +-10km 23°59’N 119°47’E
