Comments by "Keit Hammleter" (@keithammleter3824) on "What REALLY Caused the Tenerife Airport Disaster?! The WORST Aviation Accident in History" video.

  1. A factor in this is that the KLM captain had not flown for 12 weeks prior to this flight. I know from doing complex jobs under pressure myself that such a long break can impair your reaction time and decision making ability, especially as one gets older, as this chap had. If the incident had not happened, on his next flight the captain would probably got his performance back to top standard. I'm not a pilot, so I might be unaware of some factor, but in a circumstance like this, rotten visibility, language issues, wouldn't it have made sense for the KLM crew to ask the tower, or the other aircraft, to specifically confirm the runway is clear, by asking "yes or no"? Because that would depart from procedure or radio etiquette? They were fools if that was the reason. Since clearance for takeoff is critical to safety, why does it depend solely on a single voice communication? Because that's the way it has always been done? Given technology is easy, how about mandating that ATC must dial in a flight number and flick a switch to transmit clearance by radio to the aircraft, which would light a lamp or something in front of the aircrew? If you don't get a green light AND voice approval to take off, OR voice approval repeated in separate transmissions, you don't take off. That is a procedure that is both fail safe and fault tolerant.
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