Airplane Crashes
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Swissair Flight 111
On September 2nd, 1998 a german airplane, Swissair Flight 111, crashed in Nova Scotia.The airplane broke when it hit the water when the pilots didn't know why there was a fire in the cockpit.
The reason there was a fire in the cabin is that people put in a new entertainment system which overheated and was made out of flammable material. That is why there was a fire in the cockpit. The crew were not warned by the intruments and when they finally noticed the fire.
The Transportation Safety Board recommendations after this crash was to test everything new for flammable materials and to train people in fire detection and using fire-fighting gear.
Tenerife Disaster
(KLM
4805 and Pan Am 1736)
On, March 27, 1977 two planes crashed into each other on the runway of Los Rodeos airport. The reason for that crash were:
- KLM took off without getting take-off clearence
- Fog limited the visibility of the runway therefore the planes couldn't see each other
- Pan Am went through the #4 exit instead of the #3 exit as directed by the control tower
- There was communication problems between control tower and the two planes
- KLM used non-stardard phrases such as "O.K." and "we're at take-off"
- There was a bomb threat, causing the airport to use the usually reserved taxi runways
