Seconds from Disaster — Season 1, Episode 12: Collision on the Runway

Episode synopsis

Two Jumbo Jets, Pan Am 1736 and KLM 4805 collide on the lone runway at Tenerife, Spain. The two aircraft are then burnt out and 583 people lose their lives. But how come two experienced pilots made a mistake of this magnitude? How come two passenger jets collided on the runway?

About Seconds from Disaster

Seconds from Disaster is a US/UK-produced documentary television programme that investigates historically relevant man-made and natural disasters of the 20th century. Each episode aims to explain a single incidental by analyzing the causes and circumstances that ultimately effected the disaster. The program uses re-enactments, interviews, testimonies, and CGI to analyze the sequence of events second-by-second for the audience. Narrators for the show are Ashton Smith, Richard Vaughan and Peter Guinness.

More episodes from Season 1

• E1Crash of the Concorde (Concorde)
• E2Tunnel Inferno
• E3The Bomb in Oklahoma City
• E4Fire On the Star (Fire Onboard the Star)
• E5Derailment at Eschede (High Speed Train Wreck)
• E6Wreck of the Sunset Limited
• E7Meltdown in Chernobyl
• E8Inferno at Guadalajara
• E9Fire on the Ski Slope
• E10Explosion in the North Sea
• E11Flood at Stava Dam
• E13Pentagon 9/11