Nova’s latest episode, “The Deadliest Plane Crash,” focuses on the collision of two 747 jumbo jets on the island of Tenerife in 1977. Due to a myriad of factors, most notably and importantly, grossly negligent pilot error (without which there would have been no accident), a KLM jet ran into a Pan Am jet while both were on the runway in heavy fog. The accident killed nearly 600 people and has been the single deadliest aviation accident in history (provided one doesn’t consider 9/11 an aviation accident).
In true Nova style, the show meticulously recreates the events and sets the scene wonderfully. The show is full of actors playing out the events that occurred on Tenerife on March
27th of that year. These recreations are interspersed with interviews of people who were on hand.
The story is compelling, at least initially. But the nearly hour long runtime of the show slowly has the power of the message seep out. While the confluence of factors that set the stage for the plane crash are interesting, in the end, it really all just boils down to the captain of one plane making a horrific mistake: he failed to get clearance for takeoff. All other factors aside, had the pilot bothered to try and get clearance for takeoff, the accident never would have occurred.
The episode does attempt to go into the pilot’s mentality, and the atmosphere in the cockpit at the time, but by the time it explores this, it seems a case of too little too late. The show fails to delve deep enough into the psychology of the pilot, and some of the suppositions made by the experts come off sounding foolish (whether they are accurate I cannot attest to, just that they sound foolish).
Article comments
1 - the deadliest plane crash
its scary!
2 - TV and Film Guy
what's scary?
3 - Killerman
Thats soooo fake they both would have blow up..if the hit like that..
4 - Spiceystuff
That is scary..amagine being in one of thoughs planes....
5 - james mcfaden
my nan was on this :|
no joke, and she had parkinsons....
gutted
6 - athony james charles william ben smith
hey
i can play the banjo
7 - alex mcleish
i love the villa
8 - jake
that picture is so cool!!!!!!!!!!
9 - jake
dude these airplanes are so big that they need so much gas and dont you think they might have blown up. REALLY COME ON AND REALLY THINK ABOUT IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
10 - Dr Dreadful
Aeroplanes are filled with aviation fuel, not Semtex. I know that in Hollywood, vehicles blow up if you so much as tap them lightly with a screwdriver. In this case, however, both planes caught fire and hundreds of people perished, which was bad enough.
This isn't a movie, Jake: that crash really happened.
11 - h&t
Jake and Killerman, this did happen both pilots couldnt see eachother as the visability was poor!!!!!!!!!! when they did see eachother it was too late but on of the planes managed to pull up and its landing gear caught the plane below as shown...
12 - Gabby
YALL STUPID PEOPLE DIED
13 - helder
pilot error and control tower
14 - conley
how do u watch it ?