Tenerife airport disaster

The Tenerife airport disaster was a fatal runway collision between two Boeing 747s on Sunday, March 27, 1977, at Los Rodeos Airport (now Tenerife North Airport) on the Spanish island of Tenerife, one of the Canary Islands. The crash killed 583 people, making it the deadliest accident in aviation history. As a result of the complex interaction of organizational influences, environmental preconditions, and unsafe acts leading up to this aircraft mishap, the disaster at Tenerife has served as a textbook example for reviewing the processes and frameworks used in aviation mishap investigations and accident prevention.

A bomb explosion at Gran Canaria Airport, and the threat of a second bomb, caused many aircraft to be diverted to Los Rodeos Airport. Among them were KLM Flight 4805 and Pan Am Flight 1736 – the two aircraft involved in the accident. At Los Rodeos Airport, air traffic controllers were forced to park many of the airplanes on the taxiway, thereby blocking it. Further complicating the situation, while authorities waited to reopen Gran Canaria, a dense fog developed at Tenerife, greatly reducing visibility.

Tenerife

Tenerife (/tɛnəˈriːf/; Spanish: [teneˈɾife]) is the largest and most populous island of the seven Canary Islands; it is also the most populated island of Spain, with a land area of 2,034.38 square kilometres (785 sq mi) and 898,680 inhabitants, 43 percent of the total population of the Canary Islands. Tenerife is also the largest and most populous island of Macaronesia.

About five million tourists visit Tenerife each year, the most of any of the Canary Islands. It is also one of the most important tourist destinations in Spain and the world. Tenerife hosts one of the world's largest carnivals and the Carnival of Santa Cruz de Tenerife is attempting to become a World Heritage Site. Tenerife is served by two airports, Tenerife North Airport and Tenerife South Airport, and is the tourism and economic centre of the archipelago.

Santa Cruz de Tenerife is the capital of the island and the seat of the island council (cabildo insular). The city is capital of the autonomous community of Canary Islands (shared with Las Palmas), sharing governmental institutions such as Presidency and ministries. Between the 1833 territorial division of Spain and 1927 Santa Cruz de Tenerife was the sole capital of the Canary Islands, until a decree ordered that the capital of the Canary Islands be shared, as it remains at present.

Province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife

Province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife also Province of Santa Cruz (Spanish: Provincia de Santa Cruz de Tenerife) is a province of Spain, consisting of the western part of the autonomous community of the Canary Islands. It consists of about half of the Atlantic archipelago: the islands of Tenerife, La Gomera, El Hierro, and La Palma. It occupies an area of 3,381 km².

Its capital is the city of Santa Cruz de Tenerife (commonly known as Santa Cruz), on the island of Tenerife (Spain's most populous island). In 2008 the province had 1,005,936 inhabitants and a density of 313.57 /km², making it the province of Spain with the sixth highest population density, higher than that of the province of Las Palmas (the eastern half of the Canary Islands). 24% live in the capital. Santa Cruz de Tenerife is the capital of the Autonomous Community of the Canary Islands. There are 54 municipalities in the province; see List of municipalities in Santa Cruz de Tenerife. Tenerife is the most populated island in the province of the Canary Islands and most populous island of Spain. The island of Tenerife has the highest altitude of Spain (Teide 3718 m).

Tenerife (disambiguation)

Tenerife may refer to: