Dan-Air Flight 1008
Tenerife North Airport, Tenerife, Canary Islands | |
Occupants | 146 |
---|---|
Passengers | 138 |
Crew | 8 |
Fatalities | 146 |
Survivors | 0 |
Dan-Air Flight 1008 was a fatal accident involving a
Aircraft history and crew information
The aircraft, operated by
At the time of the accident, the airframe had accumulated 30,600 hours.[2]
The captain and pilot in command was 50-year-old Arthur John Whelan, who had flown to Tenerife North Airport 58 times previously. He had 15,299 flight hours, including 1,912 hours on the Boeing 727. The first officer was 33-year-old Michael John Firth, who had flown to Tenerife North Airport 9 times previously. He had 3,492 flight hours, including 1,618 hours on the Boeing 727. The flight engineer was 33-year-old Raymond John Carey, who had never flown to Tenerife North Airport before. He had 3,340 hours, though his experience on the Boeing 727 is not stated in the report.[1]: 4–6
Flight history
Flight 1008 was a
Although the
CVR on Dan-Air 1008
Source | Content |
---|---|
GPWS(Ground Proximity Warning System) | *whoop whoop* Pull Up! |
Captain | Okay, overshoot. |
GPWS | *whoop whoop* Pull Up! |
Captain | He's taking us 'round to high ground. |
GPWS | *whoop whoop* Pull Up! |
First Officer | Yeah. |
GPWS | *whoop whoop* Pull Up! |
GPWS | *whoop whoop* Pull Up! |
GPWS | *whoop whoop* Pull Up! |
Captain | Watch my EPRS. |
First Officer | I suggest a heading of 122, for ya. |
First Officer | It'll take us through the overshoot. |
Flight Engineer | Let's get out of here. |
Captain to ATC | Err... Dan-Air 1008. We've had a ground proximity warning. |
Flight Engineer | Bank angle... |
Flight Engineer | Bank ang- |
Crash Sounds | *sound of impact* |
End of Recording |
Accident investigation and cause
The official (Spanish) investigation concluded that the cause of the accident was that the pilot in command, without taking account of the altitude at which he was flying, took the aircraft into an area of high terrain and thereby failed to maintain a safe height above the terrain. A British addendum to the report found that tardy and ambiguous directions from air traffic control regarding the unpublished hold directly contributed to the disorientation of the aircraft commander.[1]: 4 : 30 The addendum also found that the unpublished track onto which the aircraft was directed required tight turns to be flown. These were practically unflyable, making entry into the region of high ground inevitable for an aircraft flying this track, even without the navigational errors made by Dan-Air 1008.[1]: 31 Further, the addendum found that the directed altitude of 5,000 ft (1,500 m) was inadequate for this holding pattern, and that the minimum altitude for entry into the holding pattern should have been 8,000 ft (2,400 m) (with a minimum altitude of 7,000 feet (2,100 m) for the pattern itself), had a minimum safe altitude calculation been performed ahead of time by a competent authority. The addendum concluded that the accident would not have occurred if the aircraft had not been cleared below 7,000 ft (2,100 m).[1]: 30
Memorial in Southern Cemetery, Manchester
A memorial in Southern Cemetery, Manchester commemorates the victims of the disaster, whose names are inscribed on a series of slate tablets within a small grassed enclosure. Also, a garden of remembrance exists aside of All Saints Church in Taoro Parque (Puerto de la Cruz, Tenerife), as passengers of the descended flight were members of the Anglican Parish there.
In popular culture
The crash of Flight 1008 was the subject of an episode of the BBC's Panorama current affairs programme that was aired in July 1981.[7]
See also
- Air China Flight 129
- Air Inter Flight 148
- Flydubai Flight 981
- Garuda Indonesia Flight 152
- Thai Airways International Flight 311
- Korean Air Flight 801
- Tenerife airport disaster
Notes
- ^ a b c d e f g "Report No.8/1981 Report on the accident to Boeing 727, G-BDAN on Tenerife, Canary Islands, 25 April 1980" (PDF). Air Accidents Investigation Branch. July 1981. Retrieved 25 June 2019.
- ^ a b c Ranter, Harro. "ASN Aircraft accident Boeing 727-46 G-BDAN Esperanzo Forest". aviation-safety.net. Retrieved 25 June 2019.
- ^ "G-INFO Database". Civil Aviation Authority.
- ^ Historical Ledger for G-BDAN (retrieved 2 March 2018)
- ^ https://admiralcloudberg.medium.com/the-curse-of-tenerife-the-crash-of-dan-air-flight-1008-5de84985b2f0
- ^ Dan-Air flight 1008 - Cockpit Voice Recorder (with Subtitles), retrieved 24 November 2023
- ^ "Panorama[06/07/81] (1981)". BFI. Archived from the original on 22 April 2023. Retrieved 22 April 2023.
References
- UK CAA Document CAA 429 World Airline Accident Summary
- Final Report – Spanish Civil Aviation Accident Commission
- English translation hosted by the UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch: Report No.8/1981 Report on the accident to Boeing 727, G-BDAN on Tenerife, Canary Islands, 25 April 1980 (Archive).
- Appendices of English version (Archive)
- Original Spanish version available on request from the Civil Aviation Accident and Incident Investigation Commission
Further reading
- The Spirit of Dan-Air, Simons, G.M., GMS Enterprises, Peterborough, 1993
- Kompass – Winter 1974/75 Edition, Dan Air Services Ltd, West Berlin, 1974 (in German)
- Berlin Airport Company — Report on Dan-Air's Berlin operation, July 1975 Monthly Timetable Booklet for Berlin Tempelhof and Berlin Tegel Airports, Berlin Airport Company, West Berlin, 1975 (in German)
- In Flight – Silver Jubilee Anniversary Edition, Dan Air Services Ltd, London, 1978
- Airliner Classics (Dan-Air – Popular British Charter operator: The Boeing 727), Key Publishing, Stamford, UK, November 2011
External links
- Aviation Safety Network
- Airline Profile: Number Forty-Three in the Series – Dan-Air, Flight International, 31 May 1973, pp. 836/7
- Airline Profile: Number Forty-Three in the Series – Dan-Air, Flight International, 31 May 1973, p. 839
- Dan-Air: cautious optimism, Air Transport, Flight International, 31 October 1974, p. 589
- Dan-Air Boeing 727-46 G-BDAN at Manchester Airport on 5 April 1980 (photo)