Crash of the Century (Collision on the Runway)

[yo1706]

well the pilot from PAN AM looks more lively and way more fun than the KLM's ones

[steveskin1]

@yo1706 You're absolutely right. There seemed to be soo much more tension in the KLM cockpit even though they were both flying all day. Van Zanten had his crew on edge.

[2vintage68]

Really a superb documentary.

[SQK1200]

Pan Am instead of Clipper?

[0803049135]

I bet it coulde be another story when we hear from dutch investigation. We all know how well US fictionize to be a superhero even nowsdays. Honestly I dont believe this report.

[wenharn]

@0803049135 Do you believe the cockpit recorder?

[steveskin1]

Van Zanten reminds me of some of the arrogant surgeons at the hospital I work with who interrogate staff, and act like the hospital would close without them.

[base5ballsspilot]

The Pan Am pilot said it all at 38:30

[legmanpv72]

one thing that should not of happend is aircraft being to the nearest airport, we know tha pan am had at least 2 hours of fuel left and could of diverted to a further airport, and I am sure they would taken on more fuel, aircraft should only be diverted to such an airport if they running low on fuel or have an emergency

[legmanpv72]

that girl with long brown hair has the hots for the tour guide

[legmanpv72]

Although most agree (me included) that the KLM fc and especially the captain BUT we have to remember that all on the KLM flight perished including the pilots. Firstly is morally wrong to speak ill of the dead and also the story although done as well as it can be is going slightly one sided. We don't know these pilots and what sort of men they were, remember a dramatic license has be taken with cockpit chatter. Probabl would have been in dutch so certain things would've been lost in translation

[NS2589]

i really wonder how much the dutch captain personality is overstated...i bet he was a jerk, but just how much

[35emory]

dutch pilots sucks....American pilots rule!!

[AmericanAirlinesRule]

@35emory That wasn't called for.

[partycrasher001]

@ fastgreenfcf klm are in bussnis the changed the rules

[partycrasher001]

the klm pilot was a bit cocky to the co pilot and enginer but the pan am plane crew looked happy abd fun but i rember i went past the same airport and i saw an aniversary sighn comming down in 2007 and the picture was the plane on fire saying in spanish good luck and be safe so i went on the plane comming home and people where talkig about it and i saw on the news 20th anniversary and i was watching it and then thats it

[elsoueidi1]

Van Zanten was a good pilot. He spoke and acted very logically. It is just the way he addresses other that is a bit rude. But I guess that's why he got to where he is....

[OphiophagusHannah56]

Van Zanten is always angry because his wife didn't give him last night:-(

[CTTV101]

thumbs up u believe the pan am couldn't make the turn on to C3

[netbookeater]

final destination LMFAO

[netbookeater]

product placement

[piyapik]

crash 01.19.40

[adsvancer]

Sounds like a good traffic generater

[Johnhardman011]

Lol 40:44 LOVE the Pam am's song. LMFAO

[REMOTURNER]

I can only blame 1 thing for this horrible crash. Van Zanten, if he had not taken off NONE of this would of ever happened.

[1963johndaly]

@REMOTURNER I agree, but not only that, Van Zanten didn't need to refuel as he did, thereby causing the further delay for the aircraft stuck behind him (The Pan Am). His selfishness and arrogance was wholly to blame.

[cassius969]

forward to 53 for the action.

[catswyn]

One of the other pilots should have tossed that ass out the window. What an arrogant prick.

[theblacksheep1000]

prayers for all those who died, but it seems to me that the most notorious air crashes involved PAN AM... poor unlucky company

[HydeCoolLaruku]

I dont know in 1977 they have Penitum PCs

LOL

[337336324317313306]

HOW ON EARTH can the dutch make the claim, in the face of all the evidence, that the american flight was to blame when the dutch flight left without permission? don't get it.

[337336324317313306]

cute air traffic controller

[THENEWJM0NEY507]

that ginger flight attendant looks like claire from coronation street hahaha

[crazomonkey]

I wish this video was fake

[haymaybit]

Ban ZAN???? shit

[crazomonkey]

Stupid KLM .

[F111C4EVER]

I don't like to swear on here much, but this "accident" was a human fuckup of EPIC PROPORTIONS....

[Gideon5600]

In Panam 1736s Cockpit they had a nice working atmosphäre and they were nice guys

[NYCBG]

Did they have Airbus in 1977? How about PCs (in the flight control room)?

[zelauto]

Is it just me or does the Continental Flight landing at 0:17:20 have the livery from 2010?

[iJay842]

@zelauto MINDFUCK ._.

[iJay842]

@zelauto And Airfrance :L

[JRembrandt1]

That crash was the kml pilots fault. He should have waited

[whangie1]

The captain of the KLM really strongly resembles Graham Norton I think.

[jessesan2003]

How did they come up with the 580 coffins so fast?

[P90X490104]

Is the actor playing Captain Robert Bragg, the co-pilot the same actor that played the drill sergeant in Full Metal Jacket. His thick eyebrows reminded me of someone I had seen before and I thought about this actor.

[davielenake]

if i were the air traffic controller,i'd let the klm 747 takeoff first then instruct the pan am 747 to take off the same way.

[whatthehell728]

@davielenake You were not the controller

[zephead97]

Klm d bag

[sixnightsaweek]

The Van Zanten Pilot was a total ass, he figured he was the greatess thing to hit the skies, His mistake almost put KLM out of business

[TheMattyccc]

@sixnightsaweek Maybe if you didn't believe everything you saw on TV you would know it wasn't just the KLM captain at fault, the captain powering up was standard procedure to check the engines and when Van Zanten said "We are going" the tower responded "Ok" as he did not know where the KLM 747 was. It was the result of many different small mistakes and misunderstandings that caused the disaster. So to sum up KLM thought they were clear, the captain wasn't being an ass.

[FastGreenFCF]

@sixnightsaweek KLM's stupid rules almost put them out of business. Dutch pilots were too pressured by their extremely stupid rules of how much they'd to fly.

[aarvelo]

39:00 THE KLM PILOT IS VERY IMPATIENT. HE SHOULD HAVE WAITED. HOW DARE HE TAKE HIS ANGER ON THE ATTENDANT. MAY HE ROT IN HELL SO F*** HIM.

[bh3ader]

bad journalism in my opinion. There is no way to prove what the pilots did or said outside the cockpit-they are biased and were trying to antagonise the KLM pilot

[whatthehell728]

@bh3ader Are you fucking kidding!????

[klompsau2]

This is the must "scaryest" "MOVIE" i ever seed, SICK

[cheesemaster1000]

"PanAm 1736"? Make that "Clipper 1736" :P

[Deltapilot96]

The KLM captain was such a fucking douche bag, I can obviously not judge him since I weren't in the cockpit at that time but by watching this I think he was. There were lots of coincidents that together made this a disaster but the KLM captain didnt have to re-fuel, and he shouldn't have taken off without permission. The KLM captain made the puzzle complete with his take-off without clearance.

[Jada120784]

they're all destined to die..sad truth!lucky those who survived this tragedy,rest in peace to those who didn't..this was indeed a very tragic moment..:((

[hamstergirl591]

:< I wish this had been a near miss.

[Marcinex22]

Van Zanten, you fucking idiot

[sopirah]

arrogancies is dangerous!!!

[SuperWartyBalls]

How can the Dutch not accept it? The pilot was a wanker.

[wogga8]

@SuperWartyBalls Because thats how the Dutch are. Van Zanten's arrogance caused this disaster. Its certainly not the only factor but its the defining one.

[whatthehell728]

@wogga8It would not have mattered if he was from MARS let alone Holland. Van Zanten's actions were indeed the only factor in this disaster. There is fog,impatient pilots and undermaned control towers all over the world yet accidents like this do not happen. Common sense dictates if it is not safe wait. In all cases!!! It wouldn't have mattered if Pan Am was told to enter the 23rd turn off Van Zanten was NOT autorized to take off period.

[watsupyo888]

all coincidently came into place for this big disaster! Just needed The KLM Jumbo Jet pilot as the trigger! Short and simple!

[mariethereseangel]

all the pilot-actors did an amazing job here

[cheyelleomar]

Terrorists are the whores of the Earth.

[TheMillioncloud]

see? terrorists are douche bags

[trumanever]

Nobody asked America “Where are Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction” as nobody asked America in 1977, “What was Pan Am doing at the point of collision on the runway when it was asked to use 3rd exit”. In my opinion, all parties made mistakes…don’t try to prove that what KLM did was a mistake and what Pan Am did was inevitable.

[sweetheart2109]

@trumanever Pan Am was told to exit at the C3 but they are a 747 plane and that turn would have been impossible to make. 747 need to make a 45 degree turn and C3 was not a 45 degree turn. The fog made it impossible for Pan Am to see anything but in the end it was KLM faultfor the crash.

[trumanever]

their all actions are always justified from Japan to Iraq and from Vietnam to Afghanistan. Sorry… I am neither from Netherland nor do hate American People but I hate that mindset whose current results are Iraq and Afghanistan. (cont...)

[trumanever]

doable for Boeing 747 and 4th exit was more appropriate. This is typical American mindset which says “we are perfect and cannot make a mistake while all from the rest of the world are stupid” Pan Am pilot thought that the ground controllers of that “small” airport were not wise enough to give a good advice… Pan Am pilots were “rightful” in thinking like that because they were ‘Proud Americans’ who never make a mistake and (Cont...)

[trumanever]

the same frequency simultaneously which caused a phenomenon called “heterodyne” which creates noise and makes the communication inaudible. Dutch pilot heard only “Okay…” and believed that he was given takeoff clearance.

One major factor that has not been discussed in any of documentary (though quite evident) is that Pan Am pilot DELIBERATELY ignore the instruction to use 3rd exit (refer to the talk of copilot of pan am) because they thought that turn of 3rd exit was not (cont...)

[trumanever]

This production is totally biased and probably aimed to show in USA. A clear attempt has been made to paint Dutch captain as a villain. In official investigations it was sated that before starting takeoff when Dutch pilot said “we are at takeoff” the reply from controller “Okay, stand by” was heard just as “Okay” and the remaining part of the controllers sentence was not heard in KLM because both controller and the Pan Am pilot were using (Cont...)

[jctripplesticks]

@trumanever I don't doubt it, we in the US do have a way with that. But Command Pilots can be full of themselves a lot and being the Star Pilot of KLM with over 800 other pilots behind you, I would start becoming arrogant myself.

[sweetheart2109]

@trumanever This is British show not american

[MSalt69]

Argghhh! Now there's a B777 which was not introduced until the mid '90s!

[MSalt69]

That said, there is a lovely segment of Las Palmas with gorgeous shots of B707, DC-8, B727-200 and Sud Aviation Caravelle...

[MSalt69]

The aircraft shown in the live shots is a B747-400 which was not in service in 1977. Just a small point but irritating to we airliner nerds...

[snakes3425]

On ships officers are permitted to override the captain's orders if they feel they put the vessel in unnessary danger, I don't know if that rule applies to aircraft as well, but if it does the co-pilot had every right to override Van Zanten's orders if he suspected his actions were putting the plane and passengers in danger

[sopirah]

@snakes3425 i think your right....

[snakes3425]

Blame: The KLM Pilot for being in a hurry, but most of the blame lies with the Terrorist who was responsible for the incident that lead to the two planes having to diverte, namely the bomb attack at the other airport

[emelianenkoo]

@snakes3425 The blame is on the man who decided to take off without clearance.

[srkh28]

tragic - however, turn at 3 when your told too. If you can do 360 at the end, you can easily do a 270. But I take my hat off to the KLM co-pilot - he saved lives by trying to follow procedure. As for van zanten, he was destroyed by marketing long ago.

[emelianenkoo]

@srkh28 Marking has nothing to do with it. It is VERY simple. It was criminal of him to take off without clearance.

[srkh28]

@emelianenkoo I agree. but I said "Marketing".. not marking. - Zanten had been the favorite of KLM's marketing department for some time, who used him as a poster boy for the company. Maybe it went to his head. To decide at a congested airport that you'll take off your fully laden 747 when you want too - in heavy fog - is pure arrogance.

[whatthehell728]

@srkh28 The turn offs were numbered and they had already passed one of them I believe Pan Am wasn't clear wheather they ment no. 3 or the third one past no.1 because no.3 was at (lets say) a more difficult angle than no.4 which would have been the third one past no.1 I hope I got that right! I may be wrong.

[MrMABSBACK]

CAPT. GRUBBS WAS A GREAT FRIEND WHOM I MET IN THE 80,S. HE SAT AND TOLD ME THE WHOLE STORY OF THE ACCIDENT.HE TOLD ME HE ASKED SEVERAL TIMES TO THE CONTROL TOWER TO LET THE PAN AM STAY IN A HOLDING PATTERN. HE WAS DENIED.HE IS A REAL HERO TO THOSE THAT CAN TESTIFY TO HIS ACTION,S. HE RETIRED AND MOVED TO FRIPP ISLAND WHERE HE LIVED OUT HIS LIFE. HE PASSED AWAY SOME 10 YEARS AGO I BELIEVE. HE WILL FOREVER BE IN MY HEART.REST IN PEACE .A FRIEND,BILL VALENTINE.

[mallikahd]

My driving instructor taught me to drive the same way Van Zanten was teaching that co-pilot. I'm now scarred for life and hate driving. Teachers need to learn to be approachable. I work at the airport now as a summer job and the first thing my boss told me was to ask a question if I was unsure about anything and to not be scared to point out if one of my superiors makes a mistake. That's how you teach/train people.

[wfd8122]

anybody else notice the very modern pack of orbit gum at 53:25? sorry, I always notice these small details

[schizophrantic]

The producers of this show should have bought 70s clothes from a local Salvation Army for the actors to look more in tune to the period they portraying.

[SuperTennis3]

Whatever happened to the flight engineer in the cockpit!? If they still had them i would apply for the job!

[luapslev5826]

omg i won the lotto!!! :)

[Lewis9449]

@luapslev5826 i can imagine the feeling of someone receiving the news of winning when watching this :P

[captnimmort]

Biased.

[sharppointy1]

Amazingstory; thanks for sharing this, Lengas32.

IIRC, there was a huge change in all airlines training to de-god the pilots and to make it safe for anyone in the cockpit to question the captain.

May Van Zanten's relatives take that as his legacy.

Wonder what happened to the controllers?

[AlexxxMeireles]

Thanks for the upload

[poorsillyboy]

the last guy to talk on this vidclip is so right & very wise. It is important to go back and complete your journey especially if it was disrupted by such a tragedy...

[bieberhater555]

MY NAME IS LUIS!!!!!!!

[bieberhater555]

grumpy people are not made to be famous >:(

[ultimatezero12345]

singapore airlines at 1:23:44?

[02Ctu2486]

There is one thing that isn't mentioned very well in this documentary about VZ's decision. When Van Zanten started his take off run, both the controller and the Pan Am copilot called in at the same time. So when the transmissions were made, a loud noise called a hetero-dyne was all that was heard on the KLM frequency, so all Van Zanten heard was the word OK. He didn't hear: OK, Stand by for takeoff, I will call you" nor did he hear "We're still taxing down the runway, the Clipper 1736!!"

[RushDX08]

how i wish that was just a movie :/

[WindRiverRider]

That KLM pilot should've stayed in his simulator where he couldn't be any real harm to people. Such an arrogant asshole!

[Wykletypl]

@WindRiverRider Actually, the worst mistake in this KLM Jumbo Jet was that the teacher and the apprentice were in the same cockpit - When a teacher starts making mistakes, apprentice will be too afraid to stop him from proceeding in it. Such thing should never happen.

[jfsa380]

@Wykletypl nowadays, CRM or crew resource management works to prevent that, which promotes the lower crew, Flight Engineer, First Officer, and even Cabin Crew to stand up and correct what is wrong.

[diana1nicole]

pilot is a major doosh bag. OMG his arrogance killed a lot of people. The actor that plays him did a good job; even the doosh bag expressions.

[radudeATL]

@diana1nicole Agreed! Doosh (heh heh).. :)

[pubuman]

@diana1nicole This doco is biased, paints the KLM crew in a very bad light, and makes the PAN AM crew look really friendly and nice and all that. If you read up on the actual events ATC comms made it sound like the PAN AM had cleared the runway. The KLM pilot made a mistake, but its really wrong to blame him entirely.

[sweetheart2109]

@pubuman A MISTAKE A MISKTAKE. THAT IS MOST BIGGEST BULLSHIT EXCUSE EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YES THERE WERE FACTORS BUT THE MAIN REASON WHY THE CRASH HAPPEN WAS BECAUSE OF HIS RECKLESS. A MISTAKE!!!!!!!!!!!!! ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! PILOTS AND CAPTAINS DON'T HAVE THE LUXURY OF MISTAKES WHEN IT OTHER PEOPLE LIVES ON THE LINE!!!!!!!!!!! A MISTAKE THAT STUPID

[jfsa380]

@diana1nicole spelled Douche bag, the captain was doing a very good job indeed.

[diana1nicole]

@jfsa380 I know how to spell douche but was trying to be polite. Like typing f**ck instead of fuck.

[jfsa380]

@diana1nicole ahh, but it was a good acting job by the captain, especially because i don't believe he has been used by ACI or SFD, so its good to have a new actor. i do indeed wonder who played van zantan

[Marcinex22]

@diana1nicole he looks like Nigel Farage :D

[blueb0g]

@diana1nicole Shut up. Did you know Captain Van Zanten? No. You are not at liberty to talk about his arrogance. Just for reference, people who did know him have made it perfectly clear he was not an arrogant man, and was certainly not the way he is portrayed here. Yes, he made a huge mistake. That much is clear. But that doesn't reflect his character. He was rushed and tired, and his crew didn't speak up. Let's not insult him.

[diana1nicole]

@blueb0g complain to the makers of this documentary not me if he is portrayed wrong.

[OldFireStick]

@blueb0g "He made a huge mistake" "He was rushed and tired." That is the biggest bullshit excuse for recklessness I've ever heard. When you're in charge of a 100-plus ton machine carrying thousands of gallons of highly flammable fuel and over 200 people whose lives are directly in your hands, you ain't GOT the luxury of acting because you're rushed and tired. Huge mistake my ass, he was reckless and irresponsible.

2.

[blueb0g]

@OldFireStick Not an excuse. Just a defence against people calling hima "douche", people, I remind you, who never met him, nor probably have any knowledge of the man outside of this very one sided and for many parts factually incorrect documentary.

[OldFireStick]

@blueb0g So which parts are incorrect? He wasn't in a rush to take off? I looked up the disaster and everything I've read cites that as the main cause, if not the only cause, of this whole catastrophe. If anything his haste made him assume it was OK to go instead of explicitly asking the tower if he had clearance. A wise man once said this to me and I never forgot it: "Assumption is the mother of all fuck-ups". Anyhow you take it, if he wasn't so hot to trot this wouldn't have happened.

[blueb0g]

@OldFireStick I'm going to PM you because you're just not getting this...

[MrPician]

@diana1nicole ohh come on do you think a guy gets to be chief pilot at a major airline like KLM being a morron?the guy for sure made a fatal mistake taking off without ATC clearence but in this documentary his reactions are exagerated, I am sure he did not had that kind of behaviour!

[Joseph9536]

Very sexy legs @ 39:36

[steveskin1]

@Joseph9536 That woman is very hot!