The Tenerife air disaster was caused by the KLM captain's decision to take off in the mistaken belief that a takeoff clearance from air traffic control (ATC) had been issued.
Captain Robert Bragg was the co-pilot aboard the Pan Am plane, and was one of the few who survived the collision.
He spoke to Witness about that terrible disaster.
Witness is a programme of the stories of our times told by the people who were there.
The Tenerife airport disaster occurred on March 27, 1977, when two Boeing 747 passenger jets collided on the runway at Los Rodeos Airport on the Spanish island of Tenerife.
The collision occurred when KLM Flight 4805 initiated its takeoff run while Pan Am Flight 1736 was still on the runway.
When the all clear came to resume their journeys, a combination of bad weather and miscommunication meant that Pan Am Flight 1736 was still on the runway as KLM Flight 4805 attempted take-off.
Captain Robert Bragg was the co-pilot aboard the Pan Am plane, and was one of the few who survived the collision.
All the 248 passengers and crew aboard the KLM died, while the Pan Am reported 335 deaths taking the total fatalities of the incident to 583.
Remarkably 61 passengers and including 5 crew members:
The Captain, First Officer, Flight Engineer and Flight Attendants of the Pan Am man managed to survive the crash.
Tenerife airline disaster, runway collision of two Boeing 747 passenger airplanes in the Canary Islands on March 27, 1977, that killed more than 580 people.
Both planes involved in the crash had been scheduled to depart from Las Palmas on the island of Gran Canaria.