Collision on Tenerife: The How and Why of the World's Worst Aviation Disaster

Collision on Tenerife: The How and Why of the World's Worst Aviation Disaster by Jon Ziomek

The first half of this book provides a detailed account of the collision between two 747s in the Canary Islands. It even answers questions that I was curious about, such as "what happened to that cruise that passengers were going to go on?" (the cruise did go on, even though none of the passengers from the TWA 747 joined it.) The pilot of the KLM 747 seemed to be the root cause of the crash, with his desire to rush off as soon as possible. It is interesting that crew duty time limits were the root of his rush. Duty limits were in part an attempt at safety, but ended up leading to a disaster. The KLM noticed the TWA jet too late, and tried to take off over it. They nearly made it, but hit the top of the plane, instantly killing some on the TWA jet. The KLM jet then traveled a short distance before crash landing and killing everyone in a fireball. For those that were not killed on the TWA jet, some escaped - often by jumping out of holes in the aircraft to the ground. Many initial survivors died when the TWA plane later burned. 

In identifying the deceased, the Dutch on the KLM jet were easier to identify. They tended to be younger, and the state Dental plan records were readily available. For the TWA jet, the dental records were more not readily available for all Americans and many passengers were older and used dentures. 

The second half discusses the aftermath. There were safety changes made in aviation. More of the discussion was on the personal impact. People often "freeze" in terms of big stress. They could have escaped, but they didn't. People may be more passive and waiting for people to tell them what to do. They could also not have paid attention and are looking to go out the way they came in, rather than the closest exit. Men tend to survive at higher rates than women. People also tend to suffer in different ways after the disaster. Airplane crashes are large scale disasters that don't have the same "community" as natural disasters.