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Aviation English

However, because many pilots and controllers lack proficiency in English, accidents have continued to result from miscommunication, including the deadliest aviation accident in history: the 1977 Tenerife airport disaster, which claimed 583 lives.

International Tenerife Memorial March 27, 1977

The International Tenerife Memorial March 27, 1977, erected in memory of the 583 victims of the Tenerife airport disaster, is a monument located on the Mesa Mota park on the outskirts of the city of San Cristóbal de La Laguna on the island of Tenerife (Canary Islands, Spain).

York, Alabama

On March 27, 1977, Bragg was the first officer for Pan Am Flight 1736, one of the Boeing 747s lost in the Tenerife airport disaster.

Backtaxi

An infamous and rare example of where backtracking was used for large commercial aircraft was the Tenerife airport disaster, where two Boeing 747s at Tenerife North Airport were required to backtaxi in order to position themselves for take-off.

Canary Islands Independence Movement

The chain of event links to the Los Rodeos airplane accident with the highest number of fatalities to date, when two Boeing 747 airliners collided resulting in the death of 583 people but the competent authorities recognised later that the accident was a human error.

Test of English for Aviation

Following several accidents and incidents where language was a contributory factor (such as the Tenerife airport disaster#Communication misunderstandings), the International Civil Aviation Organization now requires all civil pilots and Air traffic controllers (working in an international environment) to have a minimum level of English.

see also

Veldhuyzen van Zanten

Jacob Veldhuyzen van Zanten, KLM pilot involved in the 1977 Tenerife airport disaster