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Speaker 1: Pushkin. Did you know that the most deadly aviation accident

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Speaker 1: in history happened on the ground? You might if you're

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Speaker 1: a Pushkin Plus subscriber, because the episode you're about to

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Speaker 1: hear has been available to those subscribers for a year.

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Speaker 1: We thought that everyone else might enjoy it and the

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Speaker 1: gripping sequel in a terrifying two part special on the

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Speaker 1: nineteen seventy seven ten reef air disaster. And if you're

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Speaker 1: a Pushkin Plus subscriber already, thank you. I hope you're

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Speaker 1: enjoying our special episodes about the Panama Canal. And there

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Speaker 1: is another exclusive cautionary tale coming very soon on the

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Speaker 1: cancer beating therrac Machine. But for now, we want everyone

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Speaker 1: to enjoy this terrifying but fascinating cautionary tale about the

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Speaker 1: fatal consequence of a simple miscommunication. Captain Jakob Veldhausen van

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Speaker 1: Zanten opens up the throttles on his Boeing seven four seven.

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Speaker 1: We're going, says Captain van Zanten in Dutch. The big

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Speaker 1: KLM plane starts to trundle down the runway. On board

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Speaker 1: are two hundred and thirty five passengers looking forward to

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Speaker 1: a package holiday on the Canary Islands off the coast

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Speaker 1: of Morocco. But their holidays have not got off to

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Speaker 1: a good start because they've had to land on the

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Speaker 1: wrong Canary island. They've been hanging around in the airport

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Speaker 1: all afternoon waiting to be able to take off for

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Speaker 1: the short hop over to the right Canary island. Finally

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Speaker 1: they're on their way. The crew were keen to get going,

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Speaker 1: it's been a long day. They just want to drop

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Speaker 1: off their passengers, pick up the ones who are waiting,

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Speaker 1: and get back home to Amsterdam. The seven four seven

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Speaker 1: gathers pace. The runway is shrouded in thick fog. You

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Speaker 1: can't see far ahead. The flight engineer says something. Captain

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Speaker 1: Vanzantin doesn't catch it. What was that, he asked. It's

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Speaker 1: not off yet. The Pan American off the runway. The

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Speaker 1: flight engineer means. There's another seven four seven, the Pan

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Speaker 1: am that's also been hanging around all afternoon waiting to

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Speaker 1: make the hop from one island to the other. The

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Speaker 1: KLM plane taxied down the runway first, then turned around.

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Speaker 1: The Pan American plane was going to taxi part of

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Speaker 1: the way down the runway behind them, then turn off

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Speaker 1: onto the first available exit. But was the pan American

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Speaker 1: plane definitely off the runway now, well, says Captain Vanzanten. Yes,

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Speaker 1: well is the literal translation, but the senses Yes, of course,

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Speaker 1: perhaps with a hint of annoyance. Of course, the PanAm

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Speaker 1: plane is off the runway. Faster and faster goes the

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Speaker 1: KLM plane. It passes one hundred and fifty miles an hour,

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Speaker 1: too fast now to abort the takeoff. And then through

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Speaker 1: the fog a shape begins to appear on the runway

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Speaker 1: ahead of them. It's the PanAm plane. Oh God damn it,

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Speaker 1: says Captain van Zanten. I'm Tim Harford, and you're listening

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Speaker 1: to cautionary tales. The Canary Islands are a group of

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Speaker 1: volcanoes poking up above the Atlantic Ocean. They've been ruled

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Speaker 1: from Spain since the fourteen hundreds, the colonial history of

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Speaker 1: slavery and sugarcane. By nineteen seventy seven, the economy has

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Speaker 1: shifted to tourism, and most Canary Islanders are happy enough

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Speaker 1: to be part of Spain, which is just emerging into

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Speaker 1: democracy after decades of dictatorship. Most but not all, the

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Speaker 1: movement for the Independence and self determination of the Canarias

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Speaker 1: Archipelago doesn't have many followers, but the followers it has

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Speaker 1: are zealous. On Sunday, March twenty seventh, nineteen seventy seven,

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Speaker 1: two young supporters of the movement walk into the airport

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Speaker 1: on Grand Canaria with a bomb in a suitcase. The

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Speaker 1: two men leave the suitcase surreptitiously outside a florist's shop

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Speaker 1: in the terminal building. Then they call the airport.

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Speaker 2: Switchboard evacuate the airport lanch. It bombs.

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Speaker 1: The switchboard operator is still getting the message to airport

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Speaker 1: security when the bomb goes off, glass shatters, plaster falls

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Speaker 1: from the ceiling. Could have been worse. When the smoke clears,

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Speaker 1: only a few people have been injured. But did the

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Speaker 1: voice on the phone say they'd planted a bomb or bombs?

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Speaker 1: They'd better get everyone out of the airport and conduct

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Speaker 1: a thorough search. Up in the air Captain Jakob Veeldhausen

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Speaker 1: van Zanten is preparing to land his seven four seven,

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Speaker 1: filled with expectant holidaymakers. Vanzanten has just turned fifty. At KLM,

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Speaker 1: he's something of a celebrity. He's the head of the

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Speaker 1: flight training department. He drives a yellow Ferrari Dino. The

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Speaker 1: Airlines magazine adverts feature an image of Van Zanten at

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Speaker 1: the cockpit controls, looking back over his shoulder, silver haired,

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Speaker 1: sun tanned and confident with a gleaming white smile. At KLM.

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Speaker 1: The advert promises, you'll find your trust sincerely reciprocated thanks

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Speaker 1: to that singular Dutch ability for doing things well. Van

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Speaker 1: zanton hasn't been flying much these days. He's mostly been

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Speaker 1: training others. Later in the week, he's due in Ireland

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Speaker 1: to oversee exams for trainee pilots on the seven four seven,

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Speaker 1: and in Zurich for an international meeting on aviation safety.

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Speaker 1: But he knows he needs to keep his hand in

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Speaker 1: with actual flights, so he's taken this one. It should

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Speaker 1: be straightforward from Amsterdam to Grand Canaria, then straight back home,

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Speaker 1: hopefully in time for dinner. But then comes the message

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Speaker 1: from Grand Canaria airport. Don't land. A bomb's gone off

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Speaker 1: circle above us while we figure out what to do.

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Speaker 1: Then we think there might be another bomb. We have

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Speaker 1: to clear the airport and search. It'll take a while.

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Speaker 1: Land in tena Reef wait there till we give the

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Speaker 1: all clear. Ten a Reef is the next island over

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Speaker 1: from Grand Canaria, about fifty miles away. The airport is tiny,

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Speaker 1: it's not really set up for seven four sevens, and

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Speaker 1: Vanzantin's KLM flight isn't the only one that's been diverted

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Speaker 1: to ten Reef because of the bomb. They're soon followed

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Speaker 1: by another seven four seven, the Pan American, and a

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Speaker 1: lot of smaller planes. They all land taxi off the

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Speaker 1: runway and find a place to park as best they can.

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Speaker 1: The tarmac's getting crowded and nobody knows how long the

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Speaker 1: delay is going to be. For Captain vanzanton that presents

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Speaker 1: a headache. KLM has rules on how long a flight

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Speaker 1: crew is allowed to be on duty inneed. Rules like

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Speaker 1: that you don't want tired and overworked pilots in charge

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Speaker 1: of a plane, But the rules have recently changed. Before

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Speaker 1: they were more like company guidelines. The captain could use

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Speaker 1: discretion if they went a bit over the limit, with

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Speaker 1: a good enough excuse, they'd be forgiven. Not anymore, Pilot

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Speaker 1: overtime rules have been written into Dutch law. That's not

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Speaker 1: all With the old guidelines, there'd been a simple way

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Speaker 1: to calculate the maximum hours the crew could work. It

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Speaker 1: out themselves. With the new law, it's more complicated. Kalm's

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Speaker 1: headquarters in the Netherlands have to apply a formula to

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Speaker 1: work it out. Van Zanton walks to the control tower

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Speaker 1: and asks to use the phone. He calls headquarters, explains

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Speaker 1: the situation and says, by when will I have to

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Speaker 1: leave Grand Canaria? If I want to be sure I

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Speaker 1: can make it back to Amsterdam without exceeding the time limit,

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Speaker 1: good question. Say if you can get off Tenerif in

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Speaker 1: the next hour or so, he'll probably be fine. If not, HM,

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Speaker 1: we'll figure it out and send you a telex In

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Speaker 1: Grand Canaria. So Van Zanton doesn't yet know how much

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Speaker 1: time he's got, but he does know that if he

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Speaker 1: gets home a minute too late, he'll be in trouble,

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Speaker 1: maybe serious trouble. The captain now has personal legal responsibility

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Speaker 1: for not exceeding the crew's maximum duty time. In the cockpit,

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Speaker 1: the crew discuss what all these recent changes mean. What

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Speaker 1: are the repercussions you'll face the judge.

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Speaker 3: Is it a question of fines or of prison?

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Speaker 1: Van Zanton joins the conversation.

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Speaker 4: At any rate, he says, it would mean revocation of

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Speaker 4: your license for quite a while.

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Speaker 2: And that means money.

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Speaker 1: The clock ticks on, there's still no word from Grand

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Speaker 1: Canaria Airport on how they're bomb sweep is going. Vanz

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Speaker 1: Anton really doesn't want to be stuck on Tenerif or

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Speaker 1: Grand Canaria for the night. He's got a busy, weakerhead,

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Speaker 1: and besides, wherever they're going to magic up last minute

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Speaker 1: hotel rooms for a planeload of stranded passengers, but he

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Speaker 1: can't afford to risk his license. He starts to think

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Speaker 1: about what will happen when they finally get to Grand Canaria.

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Speaker 1: How long will it take to turn the plane around

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Speaker 1: for Amsterdam. He'd been planning to refuel there for the

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Speaker 1: journey home, but after all the delays and diversions, the

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Speaker 1: airport's bound to be manic. Maybe he should try to

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Speaker 1: save time by refueling here in Tenerif. Instead, he calls

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Speaker 1: the control tower and makes the order. Fifteen thousand gallons

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Speaker 1: fuel trucks arrive, and wouldn't you know it, No sooner

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Speaker 1: has the nozzle gone into the airplane. The news comes

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Speaker 1: through from Grand Canaria. They've finished the search, no more bombs,

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Speaker 1: the airport's open again. Well, they've started refueling. Now they

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Speaker 1: may as well finish. Some other smaller planes start to

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Speaker 1: taxi pass and make their takeoffs for Grand Canarrea. But

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Speaker 1: further down the tarmac there's one plane that can't get

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Speaker 1: past Vanzanton. It's too big. It's the other seven four seven,

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Speaker 1: the Pan American. Its pilot comes on the radio in

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Speaker 1: Van Zanton's cockpit.

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Speaker 3: How much longer are you going to be with that refueling?

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Speaker 1: About twenty minutes, says van Zanten. The two big planes

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Speaker 1: sit and wait, and as they do, the weather changes.

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Speaker 1: The island of Tenerif is a twelve thousand foot volcano

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Speaker 1: poking up above the ocean. The airport is on the

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Speaker 1: side of the mountain two thousand feet above sea level.

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Speaker 1: Sometimes clouds form quickly higher up the slopes and roll

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Speaker 1: down towards the airport. That happens now. By the time

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Speaker 1: the ALM plane has been fueled up, thick fog is

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Speaker 1: all around. Cautionary tails will be back after the break.

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Speaker 1: In the nineteen nineties, academic researchers ask their students to

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Speaker 1: imagine a hypothetical plane crash on a national border with

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Speaker 1: debris strewn on both sides. They wanted to know what

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Speaker 1: the students thought should happen next. Where should the survivors

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Speaker 1: be buried? If they were mostly European, what if they

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Speaker 1: were traveling circus performers of no fixed abode. About half

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Speaker 1: the students thoughtfully engaged with the question of the most

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Speaker 1: appropriate burial site. Only half said, hold on, you asked

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Speaker 1: whether survivors should be buried, You don't bury survivors. They're

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Speaker 1: still alive. The researchers were trying to learn more about

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Speaker 1: a curious phenomenon known as the Moses illusion. It had

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Speaker 1: been discovered a few years earlier by the social scientist

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Speaker 1: Thomas Erickson and the psychologist Mark Matson. How many animals

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Speaker 1: of each different kind did Moses take onto the ark?

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Speaker 1: The answer, of course, is that it wasn't Moses, it

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Speaker 1: was Noah. Still, when Ericson and Matson asked experimental subjects

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Speaker 1: to this question, they found roughly half gave the confident

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Speaker 1: answer too. It's not that these people didn't know who

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Speaker 1: took the animals on the ark. When asked afterwards, they

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Speaker 1: were well aware that Noah was the arc guy and

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Speaker 1: Moses was the one who parted the Red Sea and

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Speaker 1: brought down the Ten Commandments. So why hadn't they noticed

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Speaker 1: that the question was wrong. Ericson and Matson were intrigued.

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Speaker 1: Perhaps they thought it's because Moses and Noah sounds so

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Speaker 1: what are like They're both two syllable names. They picked

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Speaker 1: another two syllable name and ran an experiment. How many

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Speaker 1: animals did Nixon take on the arc? This time? Nobody

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Speaker 1: answered to Everyone said Nixon, and they tried another old

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Speaker 1: Testament name instead, one that sounds nothing like Noah. How

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Speaker 1: many animals did Abraham take on the arc? Again? A

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Speaker 1: lot of people answered too. Language scientists are still investigating

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Speaker 1: exactly what's going on when people make this kind of error.

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Speaker 1: They run experiments scanning people's brains as they listened to

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Speaker 1: different sentences that might trigger the illusion. But the basic

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Speaker 1: problem seems clear enough. Sometimes the brain fills in the gaps.

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Speaker 1: It hears what we expect to hear rather than what's

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Speaker 1: actually said something something arc animals. How many another word

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Speaker 1: in the sentence sounds incongruous like Nixon. We pay attention

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Speaker 1: and the illusion breaks. But when all the other words

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Speaker 1: sound conceptually related arc animals, some dude from the Bible,

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Speaker 1: we often don't notice the mistake. The researchers who asked

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Speaker 1: students about burying survivors of a plane crash found something similar.

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Speaker 1: They wanted to test how variations on phrasing the question

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Speaker 1: would affect how many people fell for the illusion. But

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Speaker 1: they also tested a question without that conceptual link. Instead

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Speaker 1: of asking about a plane crash, they asked about a

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00:15:48,170 --> 00:15:53,370
Speaker 1: bicycle accident. Where should we bury the survivors? Nobody suggested location,

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00:15:53,690 --> 00:15:57,410
Speaker 1: apparently because survivors isn't a word you usually hear. With

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Speaker 1: bicycle accident, we notice straight away that something's wrong, but

217
00:16:02,730 --> 00:16:06,810
Speaker 1: survivors and plane crash they often go together, so the

218
00:16:06,810 --> 00:16:10,650
Speaker 1: brain might not flag up that the sentence makes no sense.

219
00:16:11,450 --> 00:16:15,970
Speaker 1: We just hear something something plane crash, bury ware, and

220
00:16:16,090 --> 00:16:22,290
Speaker 1: we fill in the blanks for ourselves. At the airport

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00:16:22,370 --> 00:16:25,970
Speaker 1: in Tenerif, at long last, the final drop of the

222
00:16:26,050 --> 00:16:30,010
Speaker 1: fifteen thousand gallons of fuel has been deposited in the

223
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Speaker 1: tank of the KLM plane. An airport employee comes into

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Speaker 1: the cockpit to give Captain van Zanten the good news.

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00:16:39,530 --> 00:16:42,690
Speaker 1: Is Captain van Zanten so stressed by the delay that

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Speaker 1: he can't think straight. If he is, he's doing a

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00:16:46,210 --> 00:16:49,370
Speaker 1: good job of hiding it. The airport staff said that

228
00:16:49,410 --> 00:16:53,570
Speaker 1: he was kind, polite and easy going. He gets on

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Speaker 1: the radio to the control tower.

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Speaker 4: Tenerif Kalem four eight zero five is ready to start.

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00:17:00,290 --> 00:17:04,330
Speaker 1: The controller instructs him to taxi down the runway. Usually

232
00:17:04,450 --> 00:17:07,570
Speaker 1: a plane will use a separate taxiway to get themselves

233
00:17:07,570 --> 00:17:10,050
Speaker 1: to the right end of the runway, but that's not

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00:17:10,130 --> 00:17:13,650
Speaker 1: an option. Here in the cockpit, the KLM crew can

235
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Speaker 1: also hear everything that's being said between the control tower

236
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Speaker 1: and the pan And plane called Clipper Victor. They're using

237
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Speaker 1: the same radio frequency.

238
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Speaker 3: Tenerif Clipper are one seven three six Clipper one seven

239
00:17:27,530 --> 00:17:31,570
Speaker 3: three six ten reef, we were instructed to contact you,

240
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Speaker 3: and also taxi down the runway.

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Speaker 2: Is that correct?

242
00:17:34,930 --> 00:17:38,290
Speaker 4: Affirmative? Taxi into the runway and leave the runway third

243
00:17:38,570 --> 00:17:42,010
Speaker 4: third to your left, third third to the left.

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Speaker 1: Okay, So Captain van Zanton knows that the pan AM plane,

245
00:17:46,330 --> 00:17:49,330
Speaker 1: the Clipper one seven three six, is going to taxi

246
00:17:49,330 --> 00:17:52,570
Speaker 1: down the runway behind him. The clouds are coming and going.

247
00:17:53,170 --> 00:17:57,490
Speaker 1: The fog thickens and easies and thickens again. At times

248
00:17:57,970 --> 00:18:01,290
Speaker 1: you can barely see more than three hundred meters ahead,

249
00:18:01,650 --> 00:18:04,010
Speaker 1: less than a tenth of the length of the runway

250
00:18:04,930 --> 00:18:07,730
Speaker 1: from the control tower. The controller can't see the planes

251
00:18:07,770 --> 00:18:09,850
Speaker 1: on the runway. He has to ask where they are,

252
00:18:10,370 --> 00:18:12,970
Speaker 1: and in the fog, it's not always easy for the

253
00:18:12,970 --> 00:18:15,570
Speaker 1: pilots to be sure. How many of those exits to

254
00:18:15,610 --> 00:18:16,890
Speaker 1: the left they've gone past?

255
00:18:17,970 --> 00:18:21,810
Speaker 4: Kalemn four eight zero five? How many taxiways did you pass?

256
00:18:22,410 --> 00:18:24,570
Speaker 5: I think we just passed Charlie four.

257
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Speaker 4: Now, okay, at the end of the runway, make it

258
00:18:27,810 --> 00:18:30,610
Speaker 4: one to eighty and report ready for EIGHTC clearance.

259
00:18:30,930 --> 00:18:31,530
Speaker 5: Okay, sir.

260
00:18:32,890 --> 00:18:37,370
Speaker 1: EIGHTC clearance. That's air traffic control. Before they can depart,

261
00:18:37,930 --> 00:18:41,450
Speaker 1: planes need two kinds of clearance. There's clearance for the

262
00:18:41,490 --> 00:18:45,490
Speaker 1: takeoff itself, and there's ATC clearance that's for where to

263
00:18:45,570 --> 00:18:48,930
Speaker 1: go after you've taken off their separate things. In the

264
00:18:48,970 --> 00:18:52,690
Speaker 1: KLM cockpit, another conversation between the pan and plane and

265
00:18:52,730 --> 00:18:54,890
Speaker 1: the control tower comes over the radio.

266
00:18:56,130 --> 00:18:58,930
Speaker 3: Would you confirm that you want the clipper one seven

267
00:18:58,970 --> 00:19:02,610
Speaker 3: three six to turn left at the third intersection.

268
00:19:02,730 --> 00:19:08,170
Speaker 4: Third one, sir one two three third third one, Very good,

269
00:19:08,250 --> 00:19:13,330
Speaker 4: Thank you, clipper one seven three six. Report leaving the runway.

270
00:19:13,890 --> 00:19:17,450
Speaker 1: Report leaving the runway. The controller is asking them to

271
00:19:17,490 --> 00:19:21,370
Speaker 1: report on the radio when they're leaving the runway. Is

272
00:19:21,410 --> 00:19:25,170
Speaker 1: it possible Captain van Zanten misheard and thought they were

273
00:19:25,290 --> 00:19:30,650
Speaker 1: reporting they were leaving the runway. Maybe Captain Vanzanton gets

274
00:19:30,690 --> 00:19:33,330
Speaker 1: to the end of the runway and turns his plane around.

275
00:19:34,050 --> 00:19:36,850
Speaker 1: That isn't easy. The seven four seven is a big

276
00:19:36,890 --> 00:19:41,690
Speaker 1: plane with a wide turning circle, but he manages appointing

277
00:19:41,690 --> 00:19:44,610
Speaker 1: the right way. Now in the cockpit, the first officer

278
00:19:44,770 --> 00:19:47,570
Speaker 1: is going through the last of the formalities.

279
00:19:47,810 --> 00:19:51,450
Speaker 5: Buddy gave dis Armed landing lights on, checklists.

280
00:19:50,930 --> 00:19:54,610
Speaker 1: Completed, Vanzanten releases the brakes and starts to move forward.

281
00:19:55,170 --> 00:19:57,450
Speaker 5: Wait a minute, we don't have an eighty SE clearance.

282
00:19:58,650 --> 00:20:01,690
Speaker 1: No I know that, says van Zanten. Go ahead and

283
00:20:01,730 --> 00:20:07,450
Speaker 1: ask hmm did Vanzanton know that or had he forgotten?

284
00:20:08,330 --> 00:20:13,090
Speaker 1: Vanzanton was the head of KLM's flight training department. It

285
00:20:13,130 --> 00:20:15,570
Speaker 1: had been twelve weeks since he had been in charge

286
00:20:15,570 --> 00:20:19,410
Speaker 1: of an actual plane. He's more used to instructing trainees

287
00:20:19,450 --> 00:20:23,490
Speaker 1: in the simulator and as the instructor, he also plays

288
00:20:23,530 --> 00:20:26,050
Speaker 1: the role of the controller. He's the one who gives

289
00:20:26,050 --> 00:20:30,050
Speaker 1: clearances to the trainee pilot. Has he got too accustomed

290
00:20:30,090 --> 00:20:35,450
Speaker 1: to not needing clearance from anyone else? Perhaps the first

291
00:20:35,490 --> 00:20:36,930
Speaker 1: officer gets on the radio.

292
00:20:38,690 --> 00:20:41,450
Speaker 5: The KLM for eight zero or five is now ready

293
00:20:41,450 --> 00:20:46,610
Speaker 5: for takeoff, and we're waiting for our eighty C clearance.

294
00:20:47,650 --> 00:20:51,770
Speaker 1: Remember, they need two types of clearance from the control tower,

295
00:20:52,050 --> 00:20:55,730
Speaker 1: the eighty C clearance for their route after takeoff and

296
00:20:56,010 --> 00:20:59,690
Speaker 1: the clearance for takeoff itself. The first officer has asked

297
00:20:59,690 --> 00:21:04,170
Speaker 1: for both types of clearance, Explicitly we're waiting for our

298
00:21:04,210 --> 00:21:10,690
Speaker 1: ATC clearance and implicitly we're ready for takeoff. In response,

299
00:21:10,850 --> 00:21:14,650
Speaker 1: the controller gives him the ATC clearance, but doesn't tell

300
00:21:14,730 --> 00:21:16,090
Speaker 1: him that he can take off yet.

301
00:21:17,090 --> 00:21:19,770
Speaker 4: Kalem eight seven zero five, you are clear to the

302
00:21:19,810 --> 00:21:23,610
Speaker 4: PAPA beacon. Climb to and maintain flight level nine zero

303
00:21:24,170 --> 00:21:28,050
Speaker 4: right turn after takeoff, proceed with heading zero four zero

304
00:21:28,490 --> 00:21:32,770
Speaker 4: until intercepting these three to two five radio from Las Palmas.

305
00:21:33,570 --> 00:21:36,770
Speaker 1: By the way, what's the KLM flight's number? In that

306
00:21:36,850 --> 00:21:40,050
Speaker 1: last message, the controller messed it up. He said eight

307
00:21:40,130 --> 00:21:42,770
Speaker 1: seven zero five, not four eight zero five?

308
00:21:43,410 --> 00:21:45,610
Speaker 2: Did you notice? Why should you?

309
00:21:45,690 --> 00:21:49,690
Speaker 1: It doesn't matter. There's only one KLM plane here. Everyone

310
00:21:49,770 --> 00:21:53,730
Speaker 1: knew what he meant. Maybe that's why our brains evolved

311
00:21:53,810 --> 00:21:57,010
Speaker 1: to be susceptible to the Moses illusion. Most of the time,

312
00:21:57,210 --> 00:22:00,130
Speaker 1: when we hear what we expect to hear, it's also

313
00:22:00,290 --> 00:22:04,090
Speaker 1: what the person we're talking to intended to say. It's

314
00:22:04,130 --> 00:22:08,690
Speaker 1: our brain helpfully filtering out a misspeak. But the Moses

315
00:22:08,730 --> 00:22:13,650
Speaker 1: illusion can be deadly. Captain van Zanten was expecting to

316
00:22:13,730 --> 00:22:17,290
Speaker 1: hear that he was cleared for takeoff. He got only

317
00:22:17,370 --> 00:22:21,050
Speaker 1: the air traffic control clearance, but the sentence did also

318
00:22:21,130 --> 00:22:24,530
Speaker 1: contain the word takeoff and a bunch of other words

319
00:22:24,530 --> 00:22:28,290
Speaker 1: that are all conceptually related. It seems that all he

320
00:22:28,290 --> 00:22:33,570
Speaker 1: heard was something something cleared take off. We're going, said

321
00:22:33,610 --> 00:22:37,610
Speaker 1: Captain van Zanten. He opened the throttles and the plane

322
00:22:37,850 --> 00:22:42,730
Speaker 1: began to move. The calamity could still have been averted.

323
00:22:45,370 --> 00:23:01,010
Speaker 1: We'll hear why it wasn't. After the break. When Captain

324
00:23:01,130 --> 00:23:04,970
Speaker 1: van Zanten said we're going, his first officer was just

325
00:23:05,090 --> 00:23:09,410
Speaker 1: finishing reading back the air traffic control clearance to the controlled.

326
00:23:10,530 --> 00:23:12,850
Speaker 5: Roger, Sir, we are clear to the PAPA Beacon flight

327
00:23:12,970 --> 00:23:16,890
Speaker 5: level nine zero right turnout zero for zero until intercepting

328
00:23:16,930 --> 00:23:19,250
Speaker 5: the three two five, and we're now at takeoff.

329
00:23:20,330 --> 00:23:24,450
Speaker 1: Is that what he said at takeoff? That's what most

330
00:23:24,450 --> 00:23:28,210
Speaker 1: of the investigators heard. Some think he said we're now

331
00:23:28,690 --> 00:23:32,290
Speaker 1: taken off. But the controller seems to have heard at

332
00:23:32,490 --> 00:23:36,570
Speaker 1: takeoff and understood it to mean we're in position ready

333
00:23:36,610 --> 00:23:40,130
Speaker 1: for takeoff. Okay, said the controller.

334
00:23:40,330 --> 00:23:42,410
Speaker 2: Stand by for a takeoff. I will call you.

335
00:23:43,490 --> 00:23:48,290
Speaker 1: But then a tragic coincidence, both the KLM plane and

336
00:23:48,370 --> 00:23:51,890
Speaker 1: the pan AM plane. Remember are using the same frequency

337
00:23:51,970 --> 00:23:54,970
Speaker 1: to talk to the control tower. In the cockpit of

338
00:23:55,010 --> 00:23:58,850
Speaker 1: the PanAm plane, they've also heard the KLM first officer

339
00:23:58,930 --> 00:24:02,530
Speaker 1: say we're now at takeoff, and they think they'd better

340
00:24:02,570 --> 00:24:06,810
Speaker 1: make sure everyone knows where They are still moving slowly

341
00:24:06,850 --> 00:24:09,610
Speaker 1: along the runway trying to count the exit. It's in

342
00:24:09,690 --> 00:24:10,490
Speaker 1: the fog.

343
00:24:10,810 --> 00:24:12,890
Speaker 2: And we're still taxiing down the runway.

344
00:24:13,490 --> 00:24:16,650
Speaker 1: But both transmissions happen at the same time, and that

345
00:24:16,730 --> 00:24:20,490
Speaker 1: causes interference. In the KLM cockpit, all they hear.

346
00:24:20,450 --> 00:24:23,090
Speaker 2: Is step back, I will call you.

347
00:24:23,810 --> 00:24:25,930
Speaker 1: They might just have made out what was being said

348
00:24:26,250 --> 00:24:31,290
Speaker 1: if they'd been listening closely. They weren't. Captain van Zanten

349
00:24:31,490 --> 00:24:35,050
Speaker 1: was pushing the big plane down the runway faster and

350
00:24:35,130 --> 00:24:38,850
Speaker 1: faster through the fog. But then another transmission on the

351
00:24:38,930 --> 00:24:42,370
Speaker 1: radio between the controller and the PanAm plane, and this

352
00:24:42,410 --> 00:24:46,850
Speaker 1: one was perfectly clear.

353
00:24:45,410 --> 00:24:51,170
Speaker 2: About a fore six, report runway clear. Okay, we'll report

354
00:24:51,210 --> 00:24:51,850
Speaker 2: when we're clear.

355
00:24:52,730 --> 00:24:56,450
Speaker 1: Captain Vanzanton doesn't respond to this, nor does the first officer.

356
00:24:57,130 --> 00:25:00,450
Speaker 1: The flight engineer has heard the exchange and he speaks up,

357
00:25:00,930 --> 00:25:01,210
Speaker 1: Is he.

358
00:25:01,250 --> 00:25:01,930
Speaker 3: Not off yet?

359
00:25:01,970 --> 00:25:03,490
Speaker 2: Then? What was that?

360
00:25:03,530 --> 00:25:04,450
Speaker 3: It's not off yet?

361
00:25:04,650 --> 00:25:06,130
Speaker 5: The Pan American y?

362
00:25:06,410 --> 00:25:11,050
Speaker 1: Well, of course, the PanAm plane off the runway. Why

363
00:25:11,210 --> 00:25:15,650
Speaker 1: is van Zanton so sure? Perhaps because he mistakenly believes

364
00:25:15,730 --> 00:25:18,650
Speaker 1: he's been cleared for takeoff and he knows the controller

365
00:25:18,650 --> 00:25:20,890
Speaker 1: wouldn't have given him that clearance if the runway was

366
00:25:20,930 --> 00:25:24,490
Speaker 1: still blocked. But hasn't he just heard that exchange on

367
00:25:24,530 --> 00:25:29,010
Speaker 1: the radio with the controller saying report when runway clear,

368
00:25:29,370 --> 00:25:34,250
Speaker 1: and PanAm replying we'll report when we're clear. Maybe he

369
00:25:34,330 --> 00:25:37,530
Speaker 1: wasn't listening, or maybe he half heard and it was

370
00:25:37,570 --> 00:25:44,610
Speaker 1: another Moses illusion something something runway clear. Van Zanten heard

371
00:25:44,690 --> 00:25:52,050
Speaker 1: what he expected. After every accident, there are some causes

372
00:25:52,090 --> 00:25:54,850
Speaker 1: you just have to file under one of those things.

373
00:25:55,850 --> 00:25:57,850
Speaker 1: There isn't much of a lesson we can draw from

374
00:25:57,890 --> 00:26:01,850
Speaker 1: the strange sequence of the bomb, the diversion, the refueling

375
00:26:01,930 --> 00:26:05,450
Speaker 1: and the fog. But sometimes there are causes you can

376
00:26:05,530 --> 00:26:09,650
Speaker 1: learn from and they change how things are done. Nowadays,

377
00:26:10,090 --> 00:26:12,970
Speaker 1: all members of a flight's crew are training to speak

378
00:26:13,090 --> 00:26:16,770
Speaker 1: up respectfully but forcefully when they think the captain is

379
00:26:16,810 --> 00:26:20,250
Speaker 1: making a mistake. There's room to wander if the first

380
00:26:20,290 --> 00:26:24,330
Speaker 1: officer and the flight engineer felt too timid to contradict

381
00:26:24,450 --> 00:26:28,890
Speaker 1: Captain Jakob Veldhausen van Zanten, the celebrity pilot whose face

382
00:26:28,970 --> 00:26:33,090
Speaker 1: beamed from the KLM adverts. Some investigators think the first

383
00:26:33,090 --> 00:26:38,290
Speaker 1: officer said we're now taken off in a tone of surprise,

384
00:26:38,690 --> 00:26:41,930
Speaker 1: trying to alert the controller that Van Zanten had jumped

385
00:26:41,930 --> 00:26:46,210
Speaker 1: the gun. Maybe, but just a few moments earlier he

386
00:26:46,250 --> 00:26:49,250
Speaker 1: had reminded van Zanten that they didn't have air traffic

387
00:26:49,290 --> 00:26:53,050
Speaker 1: control clearance. That doesn't sound like he was too overawed

388
00:26:53,050 --> 00:26:55,250
Speaker 1: to point out when his boss was messing something up.

389
00:26:56,050 --> 00:26:59,450
Speaker 1: If he'd realized they weren't cleared for takeoff, he'd surely

390
00:26:59,450 --> 00:27:03,690
Speaker 1: have mentioned that too. What about the flight engineer. Was

391
00:27:03,730 --> 00:27:08,810
Speaker 1: he genuinely reassured by van Zanton's emphatic javelle assuming the

392
00:27:08,850 --> 00:27:12,610
Speaker 1: cap must have access to information he doesn't know, or

393
00:27:12,610 --> 00:27:15,130
Speaker 1: did he spend the last few seconds of his life

394
00:27:15,130 --> 00:27:19,450
Speaker 1: thinking should I insist he aborts the takeoff? Paddled a

395
00:27:19,530 --> 00:27:22,330
Speaker 1: layers and I'll get the blame. Would he have been

396
00:27:22,410 --> 00:27:25,730
Speaker 1: more insistent if it had the kind of training flight

397
00:27:25,770 --> 00:27:32,050
Speaker 1: crews get today. We'll never know. But something else changed

398
00:27:32,050 --> 00:27:34,370
Speaker 1: too as a result of what happened that day on

399
00:27:34,490 --> 00:27:38,410
Speaker 1: Tenerif let's pick up our copy of a Guide to

400
00:27:38,490 --> 00:27:43,450
Speaker 1: Phraseology for General aviation Pilots in Europe and turn to

401
00:27:43,530 --> 00:27:44,170
Speaker 1: page seven.

402
00:27:45,330 --> 00:27:47,490
Speaker 4: Listen carefully to make sure you understand what.

403
00:27:47,530 --> 00:27:48,050
Speaker 1: Is said to you.

404
00:27:48,690 --> 00:27:51,610
Speaker 4: It is easy to hear what you expect rather than

405
00:27:51,610 --> 00:27:52,730
Speaker 4: what is actually said.

406
00:27:53,930 --> 00:27:57,530
Speaker 1: It is easy to hear what you expect rather than

407
00:27:57,570 --> 00:28:01,850
Speaker 1: what is actually said. A perfect warning not to succumb

408
00:28:01,930 --> 00:28:05,730
Speaker 1: to the Moses illusion. Pilots are now trained to be

409
00:28:05,770 --> 00:28:09,130
Speaker 1: aware of the risk. But apart from asking people to

410
00:28:09,170 --> 00:28:11,810
Speaker 1: listen more carefully, what can we do if we want

411
00:28:11,850 --> 00:28:15,210
Speaker 1: to minimize the chance that someone might fall prey to

412
00:28:15,250 --> 00:28:19,730
Speaker 1: the illusion. One approaches simply not to say the words

413
00:28:19,770 --> 00:28:23,810
Speaker 1: that might lead to confusion. Turn to page seventeen of

414
00:28:23,850 --> 00:28:28,050
Speaker 1: our Guide to Aviation Phraseology.

415
00:28:27,530 --> 00:28:31,690
Speaker 4: To avoid confusion. The word cleared is only used in

416
00:28:31,730 --> 00:28:33,570
Speaker 4: connection with a clearance to take.

417
00:28:33,370 --> 00:28:34,050
Speaker 3: Off or land.

418
00:28:34,570 --> 00:28:38,210
Speaker 4: The words take off are only used when an aircraft

419
00:28:38,290 --> 00:28:42,170
Speaker 4: is cleared for takeoff or when canceling a takeoff clearance.

420
00:28:44,010 --> 00:28:47,090
Speaker 1: Pilots and controllers are now taught to use different words

421
00:28:47,130 --> 00:28:52,010
Speaker 1: in different situations. Instead of ready for takeoff, say ready

422
00:28:52,090 --> 00:28:58,290
Speaker 1: for departure. Instead of after takeoff, say wants airborne. If

423
00:28:58,290 --> 00:29:02,050
Speaker 1: you want to make sure nobody hears something something cleared

424
00:29:02,130 --> 00:29:06,250
Speaker 1: take off, don't say the words cleared or take off

425
00:29:06,730 --> 00:29:16,690
Speaker 1: at all. The KLM plane is hurtling down the fog

426
00:29:16,730 --> 00:29:20,850
Speaker 1: bound runway in Tenerif, and there's the PanAm plane still

427
00:29:21,010 --> 00:29:24,890
Speaker 1: searching for the right exit. Captain van Zanton is going

428
00:29:25,090 --> 00:29:28,210
Speaker 1: over one hundred and fifty miles an hour, too quickly

429
00:29:28,250 --> 00:29:31,330
Speaker 1: to stop. But is he going quickly enough to get

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00:29:31,370 --> 00:29:34,970
Speaker 1: into the air. He yanks on the controls. If the

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Speaker 1: nose points up, the tail slams down into the runway.

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00:29:38,610 --> 00:29:41,450
Speaker 1: It leaves a streak of metal and the tarmac twenty

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Speaker 1: meters long. At last, the plane starts to lift off

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Speaker 1: the runway, but it struggles. If only it didn't have

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00:29:48,570 --> 00:29:53,450
Speaker 1: those extra fifteen thousand gallons of fuel on board. The

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00:29:53,610 --> 00:29:57,090
Speaker 1: nose clears the top of the PanAm plane, but the

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Speaker 1: rest isn't going to make it.

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Speaker 2: Oh God, damn it.

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Speaker 1: The bottom of the plane clips the top of the other.

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Speaker 1: It crashes back onto the tarmac and careens along the runway.

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Speaker 1: The collision ruptures the fuel tanks. The fifteen thousand gallons

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00:30:13,810 --> 00:30:18,050
Speaker 1: explode into a fireball hot enough to melt the fuselage.

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00:30:19,210 --> 00:30:24,210
Speaker 1: Flames rise high in the air. Everyone on board is

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Speaker 1: killed instantly. Forty four of the bodies are so badly

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00:30:29,450 --> 00:30:34,810
Speaker 1: burned they can never be identified. Among them, Captain Jakob

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00:30:34,970 --> 00:30:40,210
Speaker 1: Veldhausen van Zanten, a few hundred meters back from the fireball,

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00:30:40,610 --> 00:30:44,570
Speaker 1: stands what's left of the PanAm plane. Some of its

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00:30:44,610 --> 00:30:48,970
Speaker 1: passengers have also been killed already. Others are still alive,

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00:30:49,610 --> 00:30:53,450
Speaker 1: but many of these survivors will end up being buried.

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00:30:54,050 --> 00:30:56,930
Speaker 1: They don't have long before fire will begin to consume

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00:30:57,010 --> 00:31:02,570
Speaker 1: their plane. We'll hear what decides who makes it out

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00:31:03,250 --> 00:31:07,490
Speaker 1: and who doesn't in the next episode of Cautionary Tales.

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00:31:14,650 --> 00:31:18,250
Speaker 1: An important source for this episode was Collision on tenna

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00:31:18,330 --> 00:31:21,490
Speaker 1: Reef for How and Why of the World's worst aviation

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00:31:21,610 --> 00:31:26,530
Speaker 1: disaster by John Ziamec and Caroline Hopkins. For a full

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00:31:26,570 --> 00:31:29,610
Speaker 1: list of our sources, see the show notes at Timharford

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00:31:29,690 --> 00:31:36,930
Speaker 1: dot com. Cautionary Tales is written by me Tim Harford

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00:31:37,010 --> 00:31:40,410
Speaker 1: with Andrew Wright. It's produced by Alice Fines with support

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00:31:40,490 --> 00:31:44,090
Speaker 1: from Marilyn Rust. The sound design and original music is

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00:31:44,130 --> 00:31:48,250
Speaker 1: the work of Pascal Wise. Sarah Nix edited the scripts.

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00:31:48,930 --> 00:31:52,250
Speaker 1: It features the voice talents of Ben Crowe, Melanie Guttridge,

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00:31:52,330 --> 00:31:56,930
Speaker 1: Stella Harford, Jemmy Saunders and Rufus Wright. The show also

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00:31:57,010 --> 00:32:00,050
Speaker 1: wouldn't have been possible without the work of Jacob Weisberg,

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00:32:00,290 --> 00:32:05,570
Speaker 1: Ryan Dilly, Greta Cohne, Betal Mollard, John Schnaz, Eric's handler,

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00:32:05,850 --> 00:32:10,610
Speaker 1: Carrie Brody, and Christina Sullivan. Details is a production of

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00:32:10,770 --> 00:32:15,570
Speaker 1: Pushkin Industries. It's recorded at Wardour Studios in London by

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00:32:15,610 --> 00:32:19,970
Speaker 1: Tom Berry. If you like the show, please remember to share,

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00:32:20,450 --> 00:32:23,890
Speaker 1: rate and review, tell your friends and if you want

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00:32:23,890 --> 00:32:26,690
Speaker 1: to hear the show ad free, sign up for Pushkin

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00:32:26,810 --> 00:32:30,250
Speaker 1: Plus on the show page in Apple Podcasts or at

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00:32:30,290 --> 00:32:39,210
Speaker 1: pushkin dot fm, slash plus