I appreciate if you woudnt talk that fast, almost impossible to follow for me that not have English as the main language, just being stressed of listening, sorry...
You have to put yourself in that time, where everything was limited, from technology, funding, to people' awareness of the danger they could be in, in so many situations that were unthinkable of at that time...
@@watercat1302 correct but I think he’s just saying if in that time they had the technology more accurate and available many of theee accidents wouldn’t have occurred.
Can't imagine how hard it is to be a airline pilot. Every accident there is new information you have to update. Some crashes they say "if he'd only listened to his equipment" other crashes they say "if he'd only ignored the false readings of the equipment."
I lost family in this terrible accident. My Dad gave them a lift to Manchester Airport that day to catch the doomed flight. I turned round on my bike waving to them on my front door as I set off for school. Little did I know that would be the last time I would see them alive. It was heartbreaking for me as a 12 year old child and the rest of the family too. I would like to thank Green Dot Aviation for making this video. I’ve read the report into the crash but this video gives me a better understanding of the accident xx
I was a Dan Air stewardess at the time, flying out of Manchester, and I will never forget the truly sickening feeling and the disbelief, horror and shock on learning what had happened. The loss of colleagues who were also friends and of so many people looking forward to their holidays was hard to take in, and I remember thinking back to my training course when we had to complete a form detailing any identifying features or jewellery that was worn permanently, such as a wedding ring, should identification ever be needed in the event of an incident. I left my job shortly afterwards - not out of fear, but because I found it hard to deal with and it was difficult to stay focused and keep smiling when working. I will always remember the date (I always think of it as 'black Friday') and those who lost their lives.
My grandparents died in this horrible crash. My mother told me the details of how they give a emergency number out on TV for relatives to ring. My mother rung the number only to be told they were not on the flight....... Unfortunately a mistake had been made and both her mum and dad were dead aged in there mid 40's. I never knew them and it kinds bugs me to this day. There is a memorial garden in Manchester for the lost that died that day. No body ever seems to remember Dan Air flight 1008.
I'm so very very sorry to hear this. I can't begin to describe the shockwaves and heartbreak that encompassed the whole of Manchester Airport and the Manchester area. It was hard to take in, and has never been forgotten by those who worked at the airport when this happened. I still have the newspaper cutting. If it's any comfort to you, on the Dan-Air Facebook pages there are countless people - ex crew, engineers, catering, cleaners - who remember that day with great sadness. I have never been back to Manchester since, but actually I may very well visit the memorial garden in the not too distant future.
@@highdefinitionstanleytm9614 I wish I could say more. But Manchester was a much smaller airport then than it is today, and I know that so many people who worked there in various capacities, as well as those of us who worked for Dan-Air and lost friends and colleagues, have never forgotten that terrible time.
I had never known the reasons behind this crash until now. One of my friends from uni was one of the flight crew. She was a lovely bubbly person and this was her dream job. RIP Kerry - you will never be forgotten.
A girl I knew at school lost her parents in this crash. Over 43 years later I still pass their house and I’m often reminded of this accident. Sending you a hug Janet wherever you are.
I fly into TFN on a very regular basis, and these days it's evolved into an extremely safe and capable airport. One has to bear in mind the location of this airport to understand its issues. It's high up - very high up. Temperatures on the coast can be 25 - 30c and sunny, yet as I drive up to the airport in my car - the temperature has often dropped to around 12-15c, and thick cloud and fog has shrouded the airport. This cloud/fog can disappear within minutes to reveal blue skies again and then it will rapidly descend again. Landing on either runway and quickly you can see the distant land below rising up underneath you without the plane actually descending very much - reminding you that this island is one big volcano rising upwards from all of its coastal points. It's certainly a crazy place to have an airport - and when it does close due to the weather, TFS is there to take the strain - and this happens quite frequently. You're content is absolutely gripping - well done!
There's nothing inherently unsafe operating without radar (called Procedural Control) but you MUST have the the instrument approach procedures published to enable the ATCO to manage and sequence the traffic expeditiously, effectively and - most of all - SAFELY.
It’s absurd that it took 20+ years to install radar in Tenerife after such a crash, especially as a popular vacation spot. Also it’s an incredibly bizarre decision to have a runway where the approach requires pilots to fly over mountains when you’re on an island, not to mention the lack of planned holding patterns.
I will never understand how the first reaction to the ground proximity warning is anything but immediately climbing the aircraft. To me it’s like driving in foggy conditions and suddenly noticing you are about to drive off the side of the road… it is instinctive to turn away. If I was a pilot landing at an airport that had nearby mountains, I’d memorize the height of the highest peak and be prepared to climb to a safe altitude if I became disoriented about my position. Better to get to safety and start over.
Christ that's the first time a flight sim crash has made me jump. How fast the ground came out of the fog was terrifying, I can't imagine what that would have been like in real life
At the time, following the investigation, we were assured that by the time the crew in the flight deck realised what was happening it would have been all over, and that the passengers wouldn't have known a thing, which is a blessing.
For the passengers I doubt there was any real processing time available to them to realise what was happening before the lights went out, thankfully. What an awful, avoidable accident...
Very good video with the best graphical explanation of this tragedy I’ve seen. I grew up in Blackpool (near Manchester) and was a regular Dan Air passenger in the late 70s and early 80s - in fact we flew in G-BDAN to Menorca once. At school we were all shocked and upset by the crash because a fellow pupil lost relatives. All very sad.
Interesting CFIT case. As a pilot who flies to countries where English is not always great, I know that this is not a valid excuse when things go wrong. The pilot in command is ultimately responsible. In this case, the crew clearly lost situational awareness of their position with respect to the terrain. The crew showed confusion about what they were supposed to do, both the F/O and the Capt. expressed this confusion openly. If you find yourself in a cockpit in which everyone is confused, all while in IMC and descending to an airport surrounded by high terrain, this calls for an immediate go around, climb to MSA and turn towards the direction of low terrain while cross-checking their position against the VOR/DME of TFN, on which the MSA was centred.
Good analysis. Unfortunately (or rather fortunately) we are all wiser now, because of accidents such as this one. Loss of situational awareness - I hope that nowadays this cannot happen as easily as it did to this crew. They more or less flew themselves into a trap.
I was flying back from Tenerife to Manchester on the day of this crash and though I was only 9 years old, I still remember all the press and TV crews at the airport after we had landed .RIP
Had thought at the time of the infamous Pan Am / KLM crash that another airport was close to completion. If true, surprised they didn't shut down this airport once the other came online. The pilots, the airport and the ATC were to blame for this avoidable tragedy. Thank you for presenting this story, had never heard of it before.
For almost 10 years Los Rodeos was downgraded to regional operations and all domestic and international routes were settled at Tenerife South. Later, in the 90s, Los Rodeos began to host domestic lines and since the new century regular international routes have Los Rodeos as destination, specially with UK and German, but also with Portugal, France, Venezuela or even Miami.
Several jets inbound as I write a 757, at least 2 A320s etc. infact 11 more passenger jets scheduled for only this evening, small turbopropa not included. Foxtrot Papa beacon still in use, and taxiway E2 still not suitable for a 747 backtracking on RWY 12, as it’s angle is too sharp and is for aircraft with less than 30m wingspan only. Those taxiways is however closed in low visibility operations, as it seems like this airport still doesn’t feature a ground radar.
@@julosx Not at all. Tenerife North holds almost all national traffic from the Iberian Peninsula, while Tenerife South is mainly holiday charter traffic.
Ah yes... Dan Air London.. A great airline and start friendly crews.... I flow on there Comet 4 GAPDC in 1970 .. that aircraft was previously owned by BOAC and was one of the first jets to fly across the Atlantic with GAPDB. . My flight in November 1970 was with Clarksons and one of the earliest package Holidays abroad..
Oh bloody hell.. it’s 3am and now you’ve forced me to watch your videos due to how fantastic they are. In all seriousness, keep it up! Great content and honestly super enjoyable
My sister worked for Dan Air and was there till the very end of the company. She always said that while many of the pilots where nice guys, they had that "Battle of Britain" attitude that it was below them to query any thing that they weren't sure of and the "wing and a prayer" attitude prevailed.
First time hearing about this tragic event. Have to say, after hearing about so many air disasters on TH-cam, I really do think flying is only the safest form of transportation today at the cost of many lives lost in the past. Statistics really don't paint the full picture of the tragedies that occurred before all the safety measures were put in place today. The swiss cheese model only described how an air disaster event is extremely unlikely today, but it wasn't always like this. It's just sad that many of these disasters were preventable if there was less red tape involved in implementing some of these recommendations from earlier disasters.
Flew to Tenerife a couple of times in the 1980s on family holidays when I was very young. The first one was in about 1985. Makes you think how close it was in time to these crashes.
Great vlog. Another thing is that they built TFS near Los Christianos. It has about 340 days of sunshine a year. TFN is mainly used for domestic Spanish routes.
Sadly David my parents from Hull were on this flight too my only comfort is knowing they died together and with no pain it had a big impact to many families in the north.The mass funeral in manchester south cemetery was dreadful i was only thinking of my parents bodies but to see 123 coffins together was too much for me to witness so much grief .
I was working that day at EGCC Manchester. The boss came in the mess room and told us of the crash, the guys who loaded it felt a kind of connection as they saw the passengers boarding plus they handled all their luggage, when I got home that evening it was on the news. I used to always think when watching the passengers boarding, seeing how happy they are plus young excited children going on an aeroplane and going on holiday. I have flown only once on a DanAir B727 The last letters of the reg was NE we called it 'Nellie the elephant' as it had a noticible hump on the roof of the body, they say it was where it was joined together from two different aircraft, not sure if that was true or just a rumour.
I hadn't heard about this crash before this video. Thank you for posting. This is the first time I've watched your channel. Will definitely watch more.
Very good pictorial presentation which other videos on this accident lacked. It took years and years before the Dan Air crew was finally exonerated and Spain took action to prevent a reocurrence.
Thanks for the video, but one small point about your final comments about safety flying into Tenerife, you forgot to mention that the newer airport, Tenerife South, is where most of the flights land now.
It has more traffic but that's only because most holiday resorts are closer. Tenerife north recieves a good deal of traffic daily, domestic, national and international with the same safety conditions as any other
There was another crash that got overshadowed by the 1977 disaster and is largely forgotten and never profiled. On Dec 3, 1972 Spantax flight 275 crashed on takeoff from Los Rodeos airport killing all 155 aboard.
It's one of those accidents which you're not supprised that they have happened but rather why they didn't happen for so long till finally they did. No hold pattern for the runway, pilots confused but didn't clarify with ATC, terrain ahead message which should give shiver to each pilot was effectively ignored.
Christ that was such a fast crash and made me jump, can’t imagine how horrifying that would’ve been in the cockpit. Shocks me learning that debris flew so far it landed onto a road, folk driving must’ve had such a sinking feeling in their hearts learning what the wreckage was
I went to the hairdresser the day after the accident and my usual girl was nowhere to be seen. The other girls were running around trying to cover her appointments. I asked what was the matter. ‘Didn’t you know?’ they said. ‘All her family were killed in the air crash.’ It was true. She lost parents, brother and grandparents in the crash. She was the only member of the family who wasn’t on that flight.
Very very good description. I'm from Tenerife. I saw the aircraft pass over my school. And when I arrived home, I remembered they were on the radio informing about searching for the plane. There were even "witnesses" who had "seen" the plane throwing fuel to the sea, just in the opposite direction of the actual flight path. How did you know those details about the pilots previous flights to Tenerife?
Yes indeed, this was a horrific accident - and many good people from Manchester area died. Children were orphaned, families torn apart. It will never be forgotten.
Hard to understand. Basically your English is terrible. For one, “now a days cars do “ too seems to be what you mean. But really beyond using the correct spelling of “to”, you should just bin the whole awkward, clumsy sentence for something that conveys the proper meaning but hasn’t the mistakes in grammar, spelling, syntax and other errors. That’s just for starters.
I used to got Tenerife twice a year in the late 80s and 90s. All yr round warm sunshine. 2 weeks self catering for about £90-150 including insurance. I miss those days and the prices.
Whoof. So much of this could have been avoided by confirming with a readback... they failed themselves by not reading back and ATC failed them by settling for "Roger", too.
The BBC show Panorama did a pretty good re-enactment of the crash shortly after it happened. I remember watching it. Much better acting than the re-enactments done these days.
Tenerife is notorious for poor visibility due to altitude-induced weather. For this airport not to have effective radar amounts to criminal negligence. The crew had all the charts and knew of the lack of radar; they should have taken a more dynamic control over their own destiny by overriding and querying the controller's instructions.
A lot has improved in 40 years. Tenerife has two airports, the Tenerife South is the main airport and handles most of the international traffic nowadays.
I live in the north of Tenerife, and let me tell you when you go to the north airport you will be met with lots of wind very frequently. And also there is a thing that my dad told me (pretty sure it's not real) about an engineer who put a cross to show where not to build an airport and they still built it there.
Shouldn’t, but it’s not entirely foolproof. It relies on the aircraft’s navigational position being accurate. If it isn’t then the terrain display is worthless.
There should have been a daily fine of 1000 bucks from the EU till a radar would have been installed. I can't be that the deadliest crash happens on your grounds and nothing changes on that airport. It's just crazy
I´m from Tenerife and I fully blame the spanish authorities for the accident,an airport like TFN without radar is just criminal,add to this the infamous approach instructed by the controller we have a recipe for a disaster.May I add that when the accident took place the new Tenerife south aiport (without the fog issues of the north) was operative,it was opened in November 1978,since that moment onwards airlines started to move to the new airport,Dan Air was one of the last to do that,Dan Air moved to TFS on May 1st 1980,just 5 days after the crash,DA1008 was scheduled to be one of the last flights to operate into Tenerife North
En aquella época ningún aeropuerto del mundo, comparable a Tenerife no solía tener ese tipo de radar. Se consideraba que era seguro volar porque había otras medidas para compensarlo. Y las aerolíneas volaban es porqué tenían recursos suficientes para evitar tragedias. No hay aeropuertos peligrosos sino cuando además se vulneran todas las capas de seguridad adicionales. En todo accidente siempre hay muchas causas, culpar solo al aeropuerto o controladores en este caso, es una visión muy parcial y ciertamente errónea
Tenerife north is a modern and safe airport that's open and recieving domestic, national and international flights everyday without ever having another issue after this one. I just landed there today so you may be a little wrong about the closed part
@@AnaGarcia-lu8wq It was closed to international flights until 2002. As for safety: it is often covered in fog, so I guess it's good to have the other airport in Tenerife.
@@bjoernaltmann I live next to it, literally. There was an update of the main terminal building between 2000-2003 but flights arrived normally they only changed the arrivals terminal to another part of the premises, next to the hangars). I travelled to Germany and to Spain’s mainland often during those years and a few times on the bigger airbus (can’t remember the model now, the one with the center seats and 2 aisles). There was even a weekly flight from Venezuela during that time. Is not covered in fog, it’s regular clouds that come from the mountain and since the Dan Air accident this has never caused any issue besides delays until is safe to take off (mostly the smaller planes that operate between islands) or if the weather is specially bad but when this happens this also affects the est of the island including the south airport. The south airport is good to have but it was not a security issue that made them built it there, it was logistics as the tourism center was starting to develop there.
It's baffling to see that Teneriffe had aviation's worst crash and the main reason was not having an airport surveillance Radar. And even after that, 3 years passed and still they did not put up a Radar in that same airport !!!
whats really scary to think about is that some of these videos are much longer than the actual events they depict and that a lot of these happens in minutes/seconds
A few years back I flew from Tenerife North to La Palma and back. It is difficult to maintain your good holiday spirit while watching that notorious runway and remembering what happened.
It's used and a lot of people fly from there daily. Not the ones that come for holidays but people who yravel for business use this one as a primary one as is connects faster and more oftenwith the mainland cities and major wuropean capitals
Had ATC instructed the pilot to hold NW of the beacon on the 150 degree bearing to the station, none of that would have happened, although the pilots should have questioned ATC once they realized that there was confusion.
Just when English and communication improved back then with air traffic control, today we face the same communication problen at fast food takeout windows!
That’s Why “ROGER” IS NEVER THE CORRECT READ BACK FOR CONTROLLERS ! READ BACKS Are KEY To a Safe Flight, PRIMARILY IN APPROACHES, MOSTLY in Foreign Countries, Even If We Are Familiar To The Airfield. “HOME THREAT” Does Bot Take Place at Our “Home Place” ! Unfortunately This Might Be The Case !
As a VHF/HF short wave radio listener, I have heard many confusing comms between English, French, Spanish controllers and aircrew, over Europe and Africa. When will they learn to speak a common language?
Hello Green Dot Aviation, great video as always but I do have two questions. As I understood the flight happened in the morning when it was still light outside so how come there was no visual help. I didn’t pick up on any bad weather that could have resulted in such loss of vision that the pilots didn’t see anything before impact. The other one is why they didn’t pull up after they got the too low terrian warning. I can understand the loss of spatial awareness so wouldn’t it have been better if they flew a bit higher to not encounter anymore terrain. Sorry if these are dumb questions but I can’t seem to find these answars anywhere.
Totally reasonable questions. 1. It was a cloudy day, and the majority of the flight's final few minutes were conducted inside the clouds, where there is basically no visibility out the windows. They wouldn't have seen the ground until the last second, if even that. 2. They should have pulled up when they got the GPWS alarm, but the reason they didn't is probably because the captain thought that a turn away from the mountain would be enough. Nowadays the training on this is very clear, and it is basically a reflex for pilots. If you hear that warning nowadays, you pull up without a moment's thought.
@@GreenDotAviation Oh okay, thanks for the reply. I couldn’t understand why the captain didn’t pull up immediatly after the warnings as that would put them out of dangers way but I guess that was how they were trained in those times. Have a good night!
@@GreenDotAviation Can you sometime do another report on the Dan Air Comet 4 flight that crashed near Barcelona.. I think it was GAPDN C4 Manchester UK to Gerona Spain.. It was a similar accident to the B727 at Tenerife so crashing into a mountain.. I think in the 80's.. Thankyou
Love your story telling reliving it down to the smallest detail. Good job on the flight sim modelling too. Which add ons do you use and do you operate the sims yourself or contract them out?
How the horrible communication between pilots and controllers don't cause crashed everyday amazes me, the different languages, different accents, planes are accidents waiting to happen.
The Danair crash occurred in 1980 (according to your info) and you mentioned at the end of your video, that there hasn't been another air crash since 1999. I am unable to find any information about this.
☕This video was fuelled by caffeine - buy me a coffee for more! www.buymeacoffee.com/GreenDot
That makes sense, i though you were talking about 10-15% faster than your usual pacing lol
I appreciate if you woudnt talk that fast, almost impossible to follow for me that not have English as the main language, just being stressed of listening, sorry...
@@monisa456 if you hit the cog on the video you can adjust the playback speed
@@shaunhunterit342 Yes i know. 👍
@@monisa456 I have short attention span so I'd think he was talking slow.
The amount of 1970-1980s crashes could’ve been prevented had ground control just had radar is astonishing to me.
You have to put yourself in that time, where everything was limited, from technology, funding, to people' awareness of the danger they could be in, in so many situations that were unthinkable of at that time...
@@watercat1302 correct but I think he’s just saying if in that time they had the technology more accurate and available many of theee accidents wouldn’t have occurred.
And also if Spanish controllers spoke basic English and used correct terminology.
Spanish controllers have caused many of (including the worst) aviation accidents due to poor English and communication brevity.
The job of air traffic controller before radar mustve been so much more nerve wracking than today, you cannot make ANY mistakes
Can't imagine how hard it is to be a airline pilot. Every accident there is new information you have to update. Some crashes they say "if he'd only listened to his equipment" other crashes they say "if he'd only ignored the false readings of the equipment."
And all those decisions they have to take in seconds
I lost family in this terrible accident. My Dad gave them a lift to Manchester Airport that day to catch the doomed flight.
I turned round on my bike waving to them on my front door as I set off for school.
Little did I know that would be the last time I would see them alive. It was heartbreaking for me as a 12 year old child and the rest of the family too.
I would like to thank Green Dot Aviation for making this video. I’ve read the report into the crash but this video gives me a better understanding of the accident xx
Hope you are doing well now 💔
So sad brother 💔
I hope you are doing well . Much love to you and your family ❤❤❤
thank you for sharing this, wishing you and all of your family the best.
😢😢😢😢🙈💔
Sorry for your loss ❤
I was a Dan Air stewardess at the time, flying out of Manchester, and I will never forget the truly sickening feeling and the disbelief, horror and shock on learning what had happened. The loss of colleagues who were also friends and of so many people looking forward to their holidays was hard to take in, and I remember thinking back to my training course when we had to complete a form detailing any identifying features or jewellery that was worn permanently, such as a wedding ring, should identification ever be needed in the event of an incident. I left my job shortly afterwards - not out of fear, but because I found it hard to deal with and it was difficult to stay focused and keep smiling when working. I will always remember the date (I always think of it as 'black Friday') and those who lost their lives.
My grandparents died in this horrible crash.
My mother told me the details of how they give a emergency number out on TV for relatives to ring.
My mother rung the number only to be told they were not on the flight....... Unfortunately a mistake had been made and both her mum and dad were dead aged in there mid 40's.
I never knew them and it kinds bugs me to this day.
There is a memorial garden in Manchester for the lost that died that day.
No body ever seems to remember Dan Air flight 1008.
@@highdefinitionstanleytm9614 I
I'm so very very sorry to hear this. I can't begin to describe the shockwaves and heartbreak that encompassed the whole of Manchester Airport and the Manchester area. It was hard to take in, and has never been forgotten by those who worked at the airport when this happened. I still have the newspaper cutting. If it's any comfort to you, on the Dan-Air Facebook pages there are countless people - ex crew, engineers, catering, cleaners - who remember that day with great sadness. I have never been back to Manchester since, but actually I may very well visit the memorial garden in the not too distant future.
@@leightimmins2800 thanks for the kind words., ❤️🙏😘
@@highdefinitionstanleytm9614 I wish I could say more. But Manchester was a much smaller airport then than it is today, and I know that so many people who worked there in various capacities, as well as those of us who worked for Dan-Air and lost friends and colleagues, have never forgotten that terrible time.
I had never known the reasons behind this crash until now. One of my friends from uni was one of the flight crew. She was a lovely bubbly person and this was her dream job. RIP Kerry - you will never be forgotten.
That's right - she won't be forgotten.
I'll remember too.
Is there anything else you'd like to say about her?
Rest in peace to your friend!! 😢
Damn what a way to go. Rip
What always baffles me
First crash there, they had no radar.
Years later, STILL no radar. 🤦♂
You should look at the political moment all of this happened in Spain. Not easy times
A girl I knew at school lost her parents in this crash. Over 43 years later I still pass their house and I’m often reminded of this accident. Sending you a hug Janet wherever you are.
Absolutely tragic. 😔 I hope Janet is doing ok in her life. 🙏
Its crazy to think that a week ago i went to visit the crash site of the plane since i live in tenerife and the landing gear is still there
@@biejaleslol1225 did this not happen in the mountains?
I fly into TFN on a very regular basis, and these days it's evolved into an extremely safe and capable airport. One has to bear in mind the location of this airport to understand its issues. It's high up - very high up. Temperatures on the coast can be 25 - 30c and sunny, yet as I drive up to the airport in my car - the temperature has often dropped to around 12-15c, and thick cloud and fog has shrouded the airport. This cloud/fog can disappear within minutes to reveal blue skies again and then it will rapidly descend again. Landing on either runway and quickly you can see the distant land below rising up underneath you without the plane actually descending very much - reminding you that this island is one big volcano rising upwards from all of its coastal points. It's certainly a crazy place to have an airport - and when it does close due to the weather, TFS is there to take the strain - and this happens quite frequently. You're content is absolutely gripping - well done!
"An additional problem was that the controller didn't have radar"
3:15
No words.
Well produced video with good map displays- thanks
Yes, indeed! - Three years after the first Tenerife Disaster.
smh, didn’t they learn anything?
There's nothing inherently unsafe operating without radar (called Procedural Control) but you MUST have the the instrument approach procedures published to enable the ATCO to manage and sequence the traffic expeditiously, effectively and - most of all - SAFELY.
It’s absurd that it took 20+ years to install radar in Tenerife after such a crash, especially as a popular vacation spot. Also it’s an incredibly bizarre decision to have a runway where the approach requires pilots to fly over mountains when you’re on an island, not to mention the lack of planned holding patterns.
I will never understand how the first reaction to the ground proximity warning is anything but immediately climbing the aircraft. To me it’s like driving in foggy conditions and suddenly noticing you are about to drive off the side of the road… it is instinctive to turn away. If I was a pilot landing at an airport that had nearby mountains, I’d memorize the height of the highest peak and be prepared to climb to a safe altitude if I became disoriented about my position. Better to get to safety and start over.
Christ that's the first time a flight sim crash has made me jump. How fast the ground came out of the fog was terrifying, I can't imagine what that would have been like in real life
Made me sick thinking of being in that cockpit!
The real recording's out there (it was broadcast on TV at the time). That second, sudden, almost reflexive 'Bank angle!' is really chilling.
At least the passengers never felt anything. It's so terrible if you know you are going to crash.
At the time, following the investigation, we were assured that by the time the crew in the flight deck realised what was happening it would have been all over, and that the passengers wouldn't have known a thing, which is a blessing.
For the passengers I doubt there was any real processing time available to them to realise what was happening before the lights went out, thankfully.
What an awful, avoidable accident...
Very good video with the best graphical explanation of this tragedy I’ve seen. I grew up in Blackpool (near Manchester) and was a regular Dan Air passenger in the late 70s and early 80s - in fact we flew in G-BDAN to Menorca once. At school we were all shocked and upset by the crash because a fellow pupil lost relatives. All very sad.
Interesting CFIT case. As a pilot who flies to countries where English is not always great, I know that this is not a valid excuse when things go wrong. The pilot in command is ultimately responsible. In this case, the crew clearly lost situational awareness of their position with respect to the terrain. The crew showed confusion about what they were supposed to do, both the F/O and the Capt. expressed this confusion openly. If you find yourself in a cockpit in which everyone is confused, all while in IMC and descending to an airport surrounded by high terrain, this calls for an immediate go around, climb to MSA and turn towards the direction of low terrain while cross-checking their position against the VOR/DME of TFN, on which the MSA was centred.
Good analysis. Unfortunately (or rather fortunately) we are all wiser now, because of accidents such as this one. Loss of situational awareness - I hope that nowadays this cannot happen as easily as it did to this crew. They more or less flew themselves into a trap.
I was flying back from Tenerife to Manchester on the day of this crash and though I was only 9 years old, I still remember all the press and TV crews at the airport after we had landed .RIP
Had thought at the time of the infamous Pan Am / KLM crash that another airport was close to completion. If true, surprised they didn't shut down this airport once the other came online. The pilots, the airport and the ATC were to blame for this avoidable tragedy. Thank you for presenting this story, had never heard of it before.
Yes, these days the other airport (Tenerife South), is far more widely used, and it's in a much safer location by the sea.
Las Rodeos Airport, the northern one, is used only for general aviation now.
For almost 10 years Los Rodeos was downgraded to regional operations and all domestic and international routes were settled at Tenerife South. Later, in the 90s, Los Rodeos began to host domestic lines and since the new century regular international routes have Los Rodeos as destination, specially with UK and German, but also with Portugal, France, Venezuela or even Miami.
Several jets inbound as I write a 757, at least 2 A320s etc. infact 11 more passenger jets scheduled for only this evening, small turbopropa not included. Foxtrot Papa beacon still in use, and taxiway E2 still not suitable for a 747 backtracking on RWY 12, as it’s angle is too sharp and is for aircraft with less than 30m wingspan only. Those taxiways is however closed in low visibility operations, as it seems like this airport still doesn’t feature a ground radar.
@@julosx Not at all. Tenerife North holds almost all national traffic from the Iberian Peninsula, while Tenerife South is mainly holiday charter traffic.
Very clearly explained.
Dan Air had lost a Comet 4 at Barcelona 10 years previously flying into high ground.
Ah yes... Dan Air London.. A great airline and start friendly crews.... I flow on there Comet 4 GAPDC in 1970 .. that aircraft was previously owned by BOAC and was one of the first jets to fly across the Atlantic with GAPDB. . My flight in November 1970 was with Clarksons and one of the earliest package Holidays abroad..
Flew on this plane from Gibraltar to Gatwick in Sept. 1975. First time used as service trooping flight from Gibraltar.
What a terrible tragedy.
Great documentary, makes you wonder how many near misses occurred around this airport.
Oh bloody hell.. it’s 3am and now you’ve forced me to watch your videos due to how fantastic they are. In all seriousness, keep it up! Great content and honestly super enjoyable
Hope there were no nightmares after you watched!
My sister worked for Dan Air and was there till the very end of the company. She always said that while many of the pilots where nice guys, they had that "Battle of Britain" attitude that it was below them to query any thing that they weren't sure of and the "wing and a prayer" attitude prevailed.
First time hearing about this tragic event. Have to say, after hearing about so many air disasters on TH-cam, I really do think flying is only the safest form of transportation today at the cost of many lives lost in the past. Statistics really don't paint the full picture of the tragedies that occurred before all the safety measures were put in place today. The swiss cheese model only described how an air disaster event is extremely unlikely today, but it wasn't always like this. It's just sad that many of these disasters were preventable if there was less red tape involved in implementing some of these recommendations from earlier disasters.
Flew to Tenerife a couple of times in the 1980s on family holidays when I was very young. The first one was in about 1985. Makes you think how close it was in time to these crashes.
Great vlog. Another thing is that they built TFS near Los Christianos. It has about 340 days of sunshine a year. TFN is mainly used for domestic Spanish routes.
Very interesting. I knew 2 people from Garforth , Leeds and one person from Selby who died on this flight very sad
Sadly David my parents from Hull were on this flight too my only comfort is knowing they died together and with no pain it had a big impact to many families in the north.The mass funeral in manchester south cemetery was dreadful i was only thinking of my parents bodies but to see 123 coffins together was too much for me to witness so much grief .
@@carlharris2808 Hi Carl so sad to hear that
@@carlharris2808 Carl I’m so sorry to read that. Thank you for sharing.
@@davidwilkinson6949 thx David
@@zero_wing_ Thank you for your thoughts sadly people lose loved ones everyday.
This is the best aviation channel. RIP to everyone on board.
I was working that day at EGCC Manchester. The boss came in the mess room and told us of the crash, the guys who loaded it felt a kind of connection as they saw the passengers boarding plus they handled all their luggage, when I got home that evening it was on the news. I used to always think when watching the passengers boarding, seeing how happy they are plus young excited children going on an aeroplane and going on holiday. I have flown only once on a DanAir B727 The last letters of the reg was NE we called it 'Nellie the elephant' as it had a noticible hump on the roof of the body, they say it was where it was joined together from two different aircraft, not sure if that was true or just a rumour.
I hadn't heard about this crash before this video. Thank you for posting. This is the first time I've watched your channel. Will definitely watch more.
Very good pictorial presentation which other videos on this accident lacked. It took years and years before the Dan Air crew was finally exonerated and Spain took action to prevent a reocurrence.
it isnt mentioned in the video that a new airport was built in the south of the island -where most of the airlines now fly into
Considering the fact that nonstandard phrases played a role in the crash of the two jumbos at Tenerife, it’s amazing they didn’t fix the problem.
Thanks for the video, but one small point about your final comments about safety flying into Tenerife, you forgot to mention that the newer airport, Tenerife South, is where most of the flights land now.
It has more traffic but that's only because most holiday resorts are closer. Tenerife north recieves a good deal of traffic daily, domestic, national and international with the same safety conditions as any other
The silence of all those souls on-board resting in peace perfect peace...God Bless them X
There was another crash that got overshadowed by the 1977 disaster and is largely forgotten and never profiled. On Dec 3, 1972 Spantax flight 275 crashed on takeoff from Los Rodeos airport killing all 155 aboard.
It's one of those accidents which you're not supprised that they have happened but rather why they didn't happen for so long till finally they did. No hold pattern for the runway, pilots confused but didn't clarify with ATC, terrain ahead message which should give shiver to each pilot was effectively ignored.
Christ that was such a fast crash and made me jump, can’t imagine how horrifying that would’ve been in the cockpit. Shocks me learning that debris flew so far it landed onto a road, folk driving must’ve had such a sinking feeling in their hearts learning what the wreckage was
If you listen to the recording of it, I don't think they were even aware of what was just about to happen.
You did it. Thank you so much. I remember this being on the news when it happened.
Thanks for the suggestion! It was an interesting one to research.
I went to the hairdresser the day after the accident and my usual girl was nowhere to be seen. The other girls were running around trying to cover her appointments. I asked what was the matter. ‘Didn’t you know?’ they said. ‘All her family were killed in the air crash.’ It was true. She lost parents, brother and grandparents in the crash. She was the only member of the family who wasn’t on that flight.
God, that’s terrible
These videos are addictive, well done!
Thank you! Glad you’re enjoying them 🙏🏼
Very very good description.
I'm from Tenerife. I saw the aircraft pass over my school. And when I arrived home, I remembered they were on the radio informing about searching for the plane. There were even "witnesses" who had "seen" the plane throwing fuel to the sea, just in the opposite direction of the actual flight path. How did you know those details about the pilots previous flights to Tenerife?
Yes indeed, this was a horrific accident - and many good people from Manchester area died. Children were orphaned, families torn apart. It will never be forgotten.
Hard to believe no radar at the time there..
Great job on this, thanks as ever.
Agreed, especially considering that the KLM/Pan Am crash had just happened.
Not much use - it's in a mountainous area.
@@stoobydootoo4098 Yeah, but at least ATC would have tracked their initial moves that led them in the path of danger.
I remember flying Dan Air for family holidays in the 80s.
That was excellent. Many thanks for taking the time to do this.
Thank you, a very factual & credible account as have been all others I have watched.
I knew a couple from Blackpool who were killed on this flight
It seems most accidents have many parents.
Miscommunication always seem to be involved, and usually CRM issues show up too.
Terrifying details of the accumulation of 'events' . Thinking of all Dan-Air crew and all those lost on this flight 😐
There so much to keep an eye on in a cockpit
And car's now a day do to. So many buttons and screens.
Hard to understand. Basically your English is terrible. For one, “now a days cars do “ too seems to be what you mean. But really beyond using the correct spelling of “to”, you should just bin the whole awkward, clumsy sentence for something that conveys the proper meaning but hasn’t the mistakes in grammar, spelling, syntax and other errors. That’s just for starters.
Shame on you Lonny. If I read this stuff, I like to understand it. Oar is that too understand it?
I used to got Tenerife twice a year in the late 80s and 90s. All yr round warm sunshine. 2 weeks self catering for about £90-150 including insurance. I miss those days and the prices.
So much for trusting ATC.
Whoof. So much of this could have been avoided by confirming with a readback... they failed themselves by not reading back and ATC failed them by settling for "Roger", too.
Don't know where you are, ground proximity warning, isn't the first thought full thrust and climb?
The 70’s-80’s was a dangerous time to fly
First flew Dan Air in 1972 to Alicante airport from Glasgow Airport the old propelled engines
The BBC show Panorama did a pretty good re-enactment of the crash shortly after it happened. I remember watching it. Much better acting than the re-enactments done these days.
I must have a look for this!
Tenerife is notorious for poor visibility due to altitude-induced weather. For this airport not to have effective radar amounts to criminal negligence. The crew had all the charts and knew of the lack of radar; they should have taken a more dynamic control over their own destiny by overriding and querying the controller's instructions.
A lot has improved in 40 years. Tenerife has two airports, the Tenerife South is the main airport and handles most of the international traffic nowadays.
I live in the north of Tenerife, and let me tell you when you go to the north airport you will be met with lots of wind very frequently. And also there is a thing that my dad told me (pretty sure it's not real) about an engineer who put a cross to show where not to build an airport and they still built it there.
This incident is very reminiscent of the Yugoslavian plane that crashed in Corsica a year later.
The first flight I ever flew on was a Dan Air 727 in 1984.. Aged 4 lol
Your channel is my favorite :) so interesting and I always learn so much
I believe modern aircraft can now see the terrain miles ahead so an accident like this cannot happen ( should not )
Shouldn’t, but it’s not entirely foolproof. It relies on the aircraft’s navigational position being accurate. If it isn’t then the terrain display is worthless.
GPS has been a massive imorovlemtn. They can literally see their exact location, and you can set it so any terrain shows in bright red.
Damn Tenerife can't catch a break
It's incredible how alot of Airports had no radars years ago.
Great job on video 👍
There should have been a daily fine of 1000 bucks from the EU till a radar would have been installed. I can't be that the deadliest crash happens on your grounds and nothing changes on that airport. It's just crazy
I´m from Tenerife and I fully blame the spanish authorities for the accident,an airport like TFN without radar is just criminal,add to this the infamous approach instructed by the controller we have a recipe for a disaster.May I add that when the accident took place the new Tenerife south aiport (without the fog issues of the north) was operative,it was opened in November 1978,since that moment onwards airlines started to move to the new airport,Dan Air was one of the last to do that,Dan Air moved to TFS on May 1st 1980,just 5 days after the crash,DA1008 was scheduled to be one of the last flights to operate into Tenerife North
En aquella época ningún aeropuerto del mundo, comparable a Tenerife no solía tener ese tipo de radar. Se consideraba que era seguro volar porque había otras medidas para compensarlo. Y las aerolíneas volaban es porqué tenían recursos suficientes para evitar tragedias. No hay aeropuertos peligrosos sino cuando además se vulneran todas las capas de seguridad adicionales. En todo accidente siempre hay muchas causas, culpar solo al aeropuerto o controladores en este caso, es una visión muy parcial y ciertamente errónea
It's frustrating watching these crash videos that involve such a high level of incompetence.
Tenerife North was closed to commercial traffic following all these accidents. That’s certainly one way to solve it.
Tenerife north is a modern and safe airport that's open and recieving domestic, national and international flights everyday without ever having another issue after this one. I just landed there today so you may be a little wrong about the closed part
@@AnaGarcia-lu8wq It was closed to international flights until 2002. As for safety: it is often covered in fog, so I guess it's good to have the other airport in Tenerife.
@@bjoernaltmann I live next to it, literally. There was an update of the main terminal building between 2000-2003 but flights arrived normally they only changed the arrivals terminal to another part of the premises, next to the hangars). I travelled to Germany and to Spain’s mainland often during those years and a few times on the bigger airbus (can’t remember the model now, the one with the center seats and 2 aisles). There was even a weekly flight from Venezuela during that time. Is not covered in fog, it’s regular clouds that come from the mountain and since the Dan Air accident this has never caused any issue besides delays until is safe to take off (mostly the smaller planes that operate between islands) or if the weather is specially bad but when this happens this also affects the est of the island including the south airport. The south airport is good to have but it was not a security issue that made them built it there, it was logistics as the tourism center was starting to develop there.
It's baffling to see that Teneriffe had aviation's worst crash and the main reason was not having an airport surveillance Radar. And even after that, 3 years passed and still they did not put up a Radar in that same airport !!!
These airline companies need to start training there pilots
whats really scary to think about is that some of these videos are much longer than the actual events they depict and that a lot of these happens in minutes/seconds
Flying into Tenerife is so much safer now mainly due to use to Tenerife South airport, the North airport isn't as highly used as it used to be
Very true
A few years back I flew from Tenerife North to La Palma and back. It is difficult to maintain your good holiday spirit while watching that notorious runway and remembering what happened.
It's used and a lot of people fly from there daily. Not the ones that come for holidays but people who yravel for business use this one as a primary one as is connects faster and more oftenwith the mainland cities and major wuropean capitals
Had ATC instructed the pilot to hold NW of the beacon on the 150 degree bearing to the station, none of that would have happened, although the pilots should have questioned ATC once they realized that there was confusion.
Just when English and communication improved back then with air traffic control, today we face the same communication problen at fast food takeout windows!
Not so fun fact, some one I knew, knew one of the flight attendants on this plane and told us the story about this *today*
"the controller decided to make a holding pattern up on the spot" ah jesus oh boy
Interesting.as a crash! enthusiast,i'd not heard of this one.thanks for the upload,Mr green dot.
That’s Why “ROGER” IS NEVER THE CORRECT READ BACK FOR CONTROLLERS !
READ BACKS Are KEY To a Safe Flight, PRIMARILY IN APPROACHES,
MOSTLY in Foreign Countries, Even If We Are Familiar To The Airfield.
“HOME THREAT” Does Bot Take Place at Our “Home Place” !
Unfortunately This Might Be The Case !
Yes, indeed.
Tenerife is quite the clusterfuck back in the day for crashes.
Bro they got to lock these Tenerife controllers up
As a VHF/HF short wave radio listener, I have heard many confusing comms between English, French, Spanish controllers and aircrew, over Europe and Africa. When will they learn to speak a common language?
Hello Green Dot Aviation, great video as always but I do have two questions. As I understood the flight happened in the morning when it was still light outside so how come there was no visual help. I didn’t pick up on any bad weather that could have resulted in such loss of vision that the pilots didn’t see anything before impact. The other one is why they didn’t pull up after they got the too low terrian warning. I can understand the loss of spatial awareness so wouldn’t it have been better if they flew a bit higher to not encounter anymore terrain. Sorry if these are dumb questions but I can’t seem to find these answars anywhere.
Totally reasonable questions.
1. It was a cloudy day, and the majority of the flight's final few minutes were conducted inside the clouds, where there is basically no visibility out the windows. They wouldn't have seen the ground until the last second, if even that.
2. They should have pulled up when they got the GPWS alarm, but the reason they didn't is probably because the captain thought that a turn away from the mountain would be enough. Nowadays the training on this is very clear, and it is basically a reflex for pilots. If you hear that warning nowadays, you pull up without a moment's thought.
@@GreenDotAviation Oh okay, thanks for the reply. I couldn’t understand why the captain didn’t pull up immediatly after the warnings as that would put them out of dangers way but I guess that was how they were trained in those times. Have a good night!
@@GreenDotAviation Can you sometime do another report on the Dan Air Comet 4 flight that crashed near Barcelona.. I think it was GAPDN C4 Manchester UK to Gerona Spain.. It was a similar accident to the B727 at Tenerife so crashing into a mountain.. I think in the 80's.. Thankyou
To not have radar installed at all, especially in low visibility mountainous airspaces, is a deathwish, plain and simple.
This is really shocking one. Everyone in involved contributed to the disaster.
Id like to know who decided to line up giant airplanes for landing next to a giant mountain.....
Love your story telling reliving it down to the smallest detail. Good job on the flight sim modelling too. Which add ons do you use and do you operate the sims yourself or contract them out?
Imagine having an airport without radar. Like having a car without a windshield
I was living in Madrid when this accident occurred.
How the horrible communication between pilots and controllers don't cause crashed everyday amazes me, the different languages, different accents, planes are accidents waiting to happen.
I know it’s been covered before, but could you cover the story of United 1549 in 2009? It’s a great story and has a happy ending.
The Danair crash occurred in 1980 (according to your info) and you mentioned at the end of your video, that there hasn't been another air crash since 1999. I am unable to find any information about this.
my auntie from leeds was supposed to catch this flight back to manchester but they missed it, thats what you call lucky
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Good video.
I remember the story from the time it happened only because a friend of my Father's was on board...
What flight simulator program are you using, Green Dot?
MSFS and XP-11
Please make video on Tenerife worst airport diaster of 2 747s
I really wouldn't have wanted to fly to Tenerife North. I knew a lot about the 1977 crash, but nothing about this one.
I REALLY Love your accent!
Never again will I fear I talk too much in giving directions or in asking for clarification.