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Friday, April 6, 2007 12:00 AM

Ask the pilot

A look back at the catastrophic chain of events that caused history's deadliest plane crash 30 years ago.
By Patrick Smith

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  • Friday, April 6, 2007 08:59 AM

    Ego

    I have been associated with some faucet of aviation all of my life. As a former Air Traffic Controller I took an interest in Tenerife from both a professional and an intellectucal point of view. I've read literally thousands of accident reports. While Patrick respectfully skirts the issue, essentially this accident boils down to a very senior KLM captain's (I believe he was their Chief Pilot at the time)ego as being the cause. Yes weather, heterodyning, missed turns on intersections all were part of the equation but it came down to one man saying let's go without a proper clearance. The Captain is responsible for that aircraft period.

    —Patco13 Read Patco13's other letters

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