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00:00.
00:07Words cannot adequately describe the horror.
00:11583 people died.
00:14The worst air disaster in history.
00:18It was all over in seconds.
00:20For the handful that lived, they would be the longest
00:23and most terrible seconds in their lives.
00:26At first, I thought they had gotten to us the bomb.
00:29The only thing I could liken it to is if each molecule of air exploded.
00:34I looked in the cabin and everything was on fire.
00:37I thought, oh, my God, we're trapped.
00:40We had 28 people in the upstairs lounge.
00:43The lounge was no longer on the airplane.
00:45Joan was standing there yelling, Suzanne, take my hand.
00:48The engines were starting to disintegrate.
00:50I lost Joan's hand very quickly.
00:52I had put my hands over my face and said, Lord, today I'll see you.
00:58It was a survival mode that kicked in and it was just get out of that airplane.
01:03I said, I will jump and try and break your fall.
01:07The airplane was collapsing in on people.
01:09I immediately thought it was total destruction.
01:12Well, I felt so responsible because I couldn't take care of my passengers.
01:17And so helpless in looking back and knowing that there's nothing you can do.
01:22You can't get back in the aircraft.
01:24There's no way to get in it.
01:26And it's all on fire.
01:28Firemen are there for 12 hours trying to put out the flames.
01:32But it's a hopeless task.
01:34As the news spreads around the world, everyone wants to know.
01:39How could two state-of-the-art aircraft possibly be on the same runway at the same time?
01:47All those people dead.
01:49What had gone wrong?
01:51Who was to blame?
01:53Only later would they discover the chain of coincidences, mistakes and misunderstandings
01:59that had led to the biggest disaster in the history of aviation.
02:04The story begins at midday on the 27th of March.
02:13Pan Am flight 1736 is nearing the Canary Islands.
02:19This has been a long, long flight.
02:22The plane left Los Angeles via New York the afternoon before.
02:26Now the passengers are tired, looking forward to journey's end in the Canary's capital, Las Palmas.
02:33So, have you guys been to the Canary's before?
02:36Have you guys ever visited the Canary Islands?
02:38Yeah.
02:39I had a great time there.
02:42Ah, golden beaches.
02:43Oh.
02:44Grilled fish.
02:46Midnight swims.
02:47Mmm, I could do with that.
02:50But this is the first time I've been rooted this way.
02:53Me too.
02:54It's gone quickly.
02:55Yeah.
02:56And this particular flight was one of the first ones
02:59that was what we named a fly cruise trip.
03:03Most of the passengers were retirees.
03:06Their destination was Las Palmas.
03:08Then they would board a cruise ship and do a ten day cruise
03:12and then come back and then they would be picked up again
03:14and flown back to the United States.
03:16What no one has told the passengers is, the Canary Islands have their own local brand of terrorists.
03:23They're determined to get independence from Spain, which actually owns the Canary Islands.
03:29But, it has to make everyone understand that the Canaries are in a situation of war.
03:47Since the Canaries are in a colony, there will be a war against Spain.
03:51If the Spanish government does not accept our three conditions,
03:56we will stop the fight with the total army,
03:58we will continue the fight until the end.
04:08Six hours out of New York?
04:10I could do it again.
04:11Doesn't time fly when you're having fun?
04:17On board the Pan Am plane are 380 passengers.
04:21With 11 flight attendants to look after them.
04:24I was on the flight with my best friend, Suzanne Donovan,
04:28and we used to bid flights together.
04:30We could do that because we enjoyed each other's company so much.
04:34Hey, Suzie, save some of that energy for Irene.
04:38Oh, oui, oui.
04:39We're just going to go to Las Palmas and drop off the passengers
04:43and ferry the aircraft, which means flying it without any passengers,
04:46up to Paris and then stay in Paris.
04:51Few disasters are ever caused by a single event.
04:54It takes a chain of tiny coincidences.
04:57And so it was that day.
04:59Everything is going fine.
05:01But at that moment, the terrorists decide to act.
05:04And as luck would have it, they choose Gando,
05:07the airport for Las Palmas,
05:09where the Pan Am plane is due to arrive shortly.
05:12Just ahead of the Pan Am is another jumbo jet from the Dutch airline KLM.
05:30It, too, is heading for Gando Airport with 234 Dutch holidaymakers.
05:35The captain of the Dutch plane is Jakob van Zanten.
05:42He's KLM's star pilot.
05:44It's his face that appears in adverts all over the world.
05:48Van Zanten is so senior he hardly flies anymore.
05:52When he's not in the photo studio, he's in a simulator training young pilots,
05:58like the man in the next seat, Class Murs.
06:01He'd personally given Murs his license,
06:03something which Murs is not likely to forget.
06:07You're just now looking at the arrival information for Gando?
06:13Yeah, I'll program in the alternates as well.
06:15We can do the briefing any time.
06:17For future reference, I don't like to leave it this late in the flight, OK?
06:22I was just re-checking the procedures.
06:25There are no times to worry about here.
06:27Good. Thank you.
06:31The Dutch passengers are looking forward to journey's end, too.
06:35But not all of them are going on holiday.
06:37Three are young tour guides who actually live in the Canaries.
06:41They've been back to Holland for a seminar
06:43and are now returning to their work.
06:45It's true.
06:46I've been back in Holland.
06:47Yeah.
06:48But I'm glad to be getting back to Selling Teneri.
06:49I mean, how many people can say they have banana trees in their back garden?
06:52Yeah, well, a week was just good enough for me.
06:54I don't know why they sent us back to Holland for this seminar.
06:57I mean, really, it's not as if we learn anything.
06:59We're not going to suddenly sell more package deals.
07:01Hey!
07:02We've got a free trip home to see our families.
07:04I'm not complaining.
07:05All right.
07:06Well, why don't we celebrate our return to the sweet life
07:09and paint Las Palmas downright tonight?
07:10Yeah!
07:11You both up for it?
07:12Three of us went to Holland for a week.
07:15It was a kind of holiday and work.
07:17I lived in Puerto de la Cruz.
07:20That's a small village in northwest of Tenerife.
07:24Yvonne was traveling with me.
07:26Walter was traveling with us.
07:28And it was nice to see your colleagues every year.
07:30It was a very nice atmosphere on board and a very relaxed atmosphere.
07:36There are many families on the plane taking an Easter vacation break, among them 53 children.
07:48There are two bombs in the terminal.
07:49You have ten minutes to save as many lives as you wish.
07:52We'll talk again.
07:55And so it begins, the first step on the road to disaster.
08:16You have control.
08:18Gando's already, uh, dialed in there.
08:21Yeah.
08:22Crew.
08:23Gando.
08:24Las Palmas Airport in 45...
08:28Five minutes.
08:29Ah, si, si, si.
08:33Gando.
08:34Las Palmas.
08:35Cero Puerto.
08:36Hombre.
08:37Hand me the arrival info, would you?
08:40Yeah.
08:45For the passengers, a welcome sight.
08:47The flight attendants beginning to tidy up in preparation for landing.
08:57Here are your roses.
09:00They still look nice and fresh.
09:02Oh, lovely.
09:04Yes, a friend of mine gave them to me in the airport.
09:07I wish somebody would give me roses like that.
09:09Here.
09:10Oh, take one.
09:12I insist.
09:15I had worked very hard and I was ready for a break.
09:22I had great anticipation for what we would see and hear and experience.
09:28For nearly everyone on board, this is the start of something special.
09:34The holiday they've always promised themselves.
09:37My husband and I were taking this trip to celebrate our tenth wedding anniversary.
09:45It was the first really big trip we'd been able to take because we'd been in school forever
09:51and didn't have the resources to take a trip like this before.
09:55o
09:56o
09:58o
10:00o
10:02o
10:04o
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