March 27,1977

As Jacob Louis Veldhausen van Zanten moved the thrust levers forward, the four JT9D-7W Pratt & Whitney engines slowly spooled up until they blasted around 92,000 pounds of thrust that began to move the lumbering behemoth that was the Boeing 747-206B of KLM flight 4805 down a foggy runway on the Spanish Island of Tenerife – a takeoff roll which would in only a few moments take 248 souls on a flight to eternity. Another 335 people down the takeoff runway on a different 747 from America, Pan Am flight 1736, would accompany them on their journey to the hereafter.

Earlier that day as both flight KLM 4805 and Pan Am flight 1736 were en route to the nearby Las Palmas airport on the island of Gran Canaria, a terrorist’s bomb exploded at that facility, causing the airport to close as the authorities feared further action. Both flights were diverted to the Las Rodeos airport located on the nearby island of Tenerife. The American plane was nearing the end of a long flight that had originated in Los Angeles with an intermediate stop at JFK in New York City. The Dutch flight was coming from Amsterdam.

The small airport at Tenerife did not normally process jumbo jets, nor did it usually accommodate the large number of other large passenger jets that had to divert there. It was on a Sunday and there were only two controllers on duty who suddenly found themselves attempting to manage an unheard-of crowd of airliners and passengers at their tiny facility. The terminal was not physically large enough to accommodate all of the extra passengers, so the Dutch passengers, who arrived first were allowed to disembark to the terminal facility, but the American passengers had to stay on board the flight 1736 Clipper Victor for what turned out to be a long stay on the tarmac.

The arrangement of the planes found the 1736 flight spotted behind the Dutch 4805 on the tarmac. The captain of the KLM flight was under time pressure due to a company policy that required crews not to fly beyond a certain number of hours without a rest period, and van Zanten was becoming desperate to get back to Amsterdam, but he would still need to make his Las Palmas stop prior to departure back to Holland which would greatly increase the possibility of having to lay over (and KLM would have to pay hotel fees for his passengers). With this in mind, van Zanten opted to take on fuel at Las Rodeos since they were stuck there anyway rather than take the extra time that would be required to do so when they got to Las Palmas.

As luck would have it, they got the all clear from Las Palmas while the Dutch plane was still fueling, but with the KLM plane spotted in front of the Pan Am jet, the American pilots could not maneuver around the fueling KLM, so the Pan Am had to wait for van Zanten to take 55 tons of fuel and clear the taxiway. Then both of the huge jets began their rolls with destiny at the same time. Since there was only one runway at Los Rodeos with a parallel taxiway, and since that taxiway was crowded with jetliners and could not be used for the better part of the necessary taxi to the takeoff spot, both planes were instructed to taxi down the main runway with the KLM plane taxiing all the way to the end and turning a 180 and with the Clipper instructed to go about three fourths of the way down on the main runway and cross over to the taxiway, which this far out was clear of aircraft.

There was a side story happening at the Los Rodeos airport and no narrative of this tragedy could be complete without a mention of what God did to save the life of one Dutch girl. Her name was Robina von Lanschot and she was a tourist guide travelling with two of her friends on the KLM flight. Robina had a boyfriend who lived on Tenerife, and if the KLM flight had gone as expected, it was her intent to fly from Las Palmas over to Tenerife to stay with him but since they were already (unexpectedly) at Tenerife, she saw no reason to go back to Las Palmas at Gran Canaria and come back again, so she asked one of the KLM stewardesses if she could just stay there, to which the stewardess replied no, she would have to complete the flight to Las Palmas. As mentioned earlier, the Dutch passengers were off the plane and in the concession area of the terminal, so as the passengers were instructed to reboard the KLM jet, Robina sort of melted into the crowd and stayed behind. The friends with whom she was traveling arranged to take care of her luggage at Las Palmas. This decision saved her life as every other passenger on that plane – including Robina’s friends – died in a high-speed crash and horrific explosion – immolated in a huge burst of flames.

As the big jets were trying to get lined up for departure, there were some communication issues. Fog rolled in to the airport, reducing visibility to the extent the controllers couldn’t see either plane and the planes could not see each other. The Dutch plane reached the end of the runway and did its spin preparing for a takeoff roll that would last for eternity but never leave the airport. The American plane crew were busy trying to find the exit point (in the thick fog) they were supposed to take to get clear of the runway. Due to the lack of visibility and poor communication between the tower and the planes, van Zanten flying the KLM plane apparently thought he had takeoff clearance well before the Pan Am plane was clear so he began his takeoff roll and the Dutch plane only became visible to the American crew a matter of seconds later when they suddenly saw it break out of the fog headed at them approaching takeoff speed and far too late for Pan Am to exit the runway. Van Zanten heaved the yoke mightily trying to get the big KLM plane airborne, and without that extra 55 tons of fuel, they might have been able, but instead KLM landing gear crashed into the upper fuselage of the Pan Am at an estimated 160 knots, resulting in the total destruction of both aircraft but the Dutch plane was completely decimated, killing all 248 people on board. The Pan Am plane fared even worse with 335 fatalities but miraculously there were 61 survivors. The cabin crew and a couple of flight attendants on the Pan Am aircraft survived, as did several passengers who were all in the front section of the plane. Dorothy Kelly, one of the flight attendants who survived and went on to relate her incredible story of survival in many interviews and documentaries, had been reassigned from the rear to the front of the plane for this flight (due to the Purser, Francoise de Beaulieu being self-conscious of her own French accent) and had this reassignment not happened, attendant Kelly undoubtedly would not have survived.

Captain Victor Grubbs, First Officer Robert Bragg, and Flight Engineer George Warns of the Pan Am flight survived to a life of interviews and narratives for a curious public about the greatest aviation tragedy in history. The aforementioned Pan Am flight attendant would go on to tell and retell her story of survival. Of the other survivors of the Tenerife tragedy, all would remember with great sadness an early spring day when the world exploded around them on a remote volcanic island off the coast of Africa. Robina van Lanschot chose to keep a low profile after the tragedy, avoiding interviews as much as feasible and her bio has faded into the years since, but she couldn’t possibly forget the day at Los Rodeos airport on the tiny island of Tenerife when decided to break a rule to be with her boyfriend – not knowing at the time that it would save her life.

A few years back I worked with a young fellow who left the job where we worked to go to flight school to become a pilot. I reminded him that every time he started to move the thrust levers to power up for takeoff and his checklists are complete, he should take a second to remember Jacob Veldhausen van Zanten’s final roll and be 100% sure everything is clear. Especially if he can’t see the runway ahead…