Speaker 1: Pushkin. Captain Jakob Veldhausen van Zanten opens up the throttles
Speaker 1: on his Boeing seven four seven. We're going, says Captain
Speaker 1: van Zanten in Dutch. The big KLM plane starts to
Speaker 1: trundle down the runway. On board are two hundred and
Speaker 1: thirty five passengers looking forward to a package holiday on
Speaker 1: the Canary Islands off the coast of Morocco. But their
Speaker 1: holidays have not got off to a good start because
Speaker 1: they've had to land on the wrong Canary Island. They've
Speaker 1: been hanging around in the airport all afternoon waiting to
Speaker 1: be able to take off for the short hop over
Speaker 1: to the right Canary island. Finally they're on their way.
Speaker 1: The crew were keen to get going, it's been a
Speaker 1: long day. Just want to drop off their passengers, pick
Speaker 1: up the ones who are waiting, and get back home
Speaker 1: to Amsterdam. The seven four to seven gathers pace. The
Speaker 1: runway is shrouded in thick fog. You can't see far ahead.
Speaker 1: The flight engineer says something. Captain Vanzantin doesn't catch it.
Speaker 1: What was that, he asked, It's not off yet. The
Speaker 1: Pan American off the runway. The flight engineer means, there's
Speaker 1: another seven four seven, the PanAm that's also been hanging
Speaker 1: around all afternoon waiting to make the hop from one
Speaker 1: island to the other. The KLM plane taxied down the
Speaker 1: runway first, then turned around. The Pan American plane was
Speaker 1: going to taxi part of the way down the runway
Speaker 1: behind them, then turn off onto the first available exit.
Speaker 1: But was the pan American plane definitely off the runway now, well,
Speaker 1: says Captain Vanzanten. Yes, well is the literal translation. But
Speaker 1: the senses yes, of course, perhaps with a hint of annoyance.
Speaker 1: Of course, the PanAm plane is off the runway. Faster
Speaker 1: and faster goes the KLM plane. It passes one hundred
Speaker 1: and fifty miles an hour, too fast now to abort
Speaker 1: the takeoff. And then through the fog a shape begins
Speaker 1: to appear on the runway ahead of them. It's the
Speaker 1: PanAm plane. Oh God, damn it, says Captain van Zanten.
Speaker 1: Here on Cautionary Tales, we released an astonishing, tragic, and
Speaker 1: as always instructive story about an aviation catastrophe that really
Speaker 1: should be better known. There are two parts to the
Speaker 1: Tenerife airport disaster, Why did the crash happen? And given
Speaker 1: that the crash happened on the ground, why didn't more
Speaker 1: people escape? To do those two parts justice, we've made
Speaker 1: two contrasting episodes. They'll have you on the edge of
Speaker 1: your seat, and they're both available now add free exclusively
Speaker 1: for subscribers to Pushkin Plus. If you're not already a subscriber,
Speaker 1: you can sign up for Pushkin Plus on the show
Speaker 1: page on Apple Podcasts or at pushkin dot fmslash Plus.
Speaker 1: I'll be back again on Friday on the main ad
Speaker 1: supported fiend. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy my
Speaker 1: two parter on the Tenerief Airport disaster.