Abstract

The accident at Tenerife runway was a collision between two Boeing 747s at Los Rodeos
Airport on Tenerife, Spain. The collision resulted in 583 people being killed and became the
deadliest event in the history of aviation. This has been an outbreak incident in the study of
human communication skills in aviation safety, as a result of the dynamic nature of
organizational forces, environmental prerequisites and dangerous actions leading up to the
incident. This research analyzes the possible communication errors leading to the accident
and aims to propose strategies for effective communication setting within the field of
aviation.
Introduction
Communication has often been implied in all areas of human activity as a serious
challenge, and is stated to be the main contributing factor in aircraft accidents as well. In
general, for pilots and ATC to arrive at the finest potential decisions from a selection of
various alternatives, correct information is a requirement and this is the essential aspect about
communication, which needs attention from aviation stakeholders to achieve and execute the
best ways to resolve communication difficulties. The research will reflect on what
communication failures lead to a tragedy at Tenerife Airport. The primary objective here is to
recognize some strategies to optimize the importance of effective communication in aviation,
which now is closely related to level of safety during flight operation.
Tenerife Airport Disaster
On March 21, 1977, on a foggy airport at Los Rodeos Runway in Tenerife, one of the
Spanish Canary Islands, 2 jumbo 747's collided into each other killing 587 passengers onboard.
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines Flight 4805 from Amsterdam seemed to have no survivors.
However on n Pan Am flight 1736, originating in Los Angeles, a total of 51 passengers and 7
of the 16-member flight crew survived. The predicate for the arrangement of these massive
aircrafts at Los Rodeos airfield was a terrorist act at Las Palmas Airport in neighboring Gran
Canaria. A terrorist organization planted a bomb at Las Palmas airport, shutting down that
field and rerouting flight operations. Airport Los Rodeos had just one runway to operate. The
redirected aircrafts had been parked on the taxiway, a situation that the Air Traffic Control
created to establish supposedly two way traffic on a unidirectional runway. According to
article1 , series of communication failures occurred after the airplanes were given approval to
brace for departure. The chief pilot of KLM flight 4805, Captain van Zanten, was by far the
most qualified 747 pilot of KLM. While English has become the primary language of all
operating air flights, that particular morning encountered a combination of languages,
accents, and a number of mixed aviation notations, impacting safety of the flight. To make
this situation even worst, a heavy, dense fog was streaming over the airport hindering
visibility.
Communication errors during Tenerife Airport Disaster
Key communication errors involved inadequate language use. When the KLM copilot
confirmed the approval of the ATC, he concluded with the phrase, "We are now at the takeoff."
The operator at ATC who had not given the permission to take-off, did not realize that
they had taken off. Equally wrong was the "OK" from the ATC, which followed the "stand
by for take-off" , albeit unnecessary in this situation as the take-off had already begun around
six seconds earlier. This aircraft must have communicated with the Control Tower to figure
out if the third interchange mentioned was C-3 or C-4 if it had any confusion but hesitated to
ask. It was not really important either, nonetheless, as the Pan Am airplane never announced
clearance of the runway, instead twice declared that it was taxiing on it.
The aviation sector created a model "Crew Resource Management" after the tragedy
in Tenerife which medical industry has now implemented. CRM is about how important
decision-making processes influence human behavior. CRM training improves language
skills, encourages a more support and social environment among members of the team, and
creates a culture where junior staff will feel free to talk when they assume something is
causing the problem.
Communication strategies to minimize risk of aviation errors
Efficient communication is a fundamental human necessity, and communication is an
important requirement for safety in aviation setting. If the airline industry succeeds in finding
ways to tackle all these communication challenges, airline accident risk can then be greatly
minimized. Aviation communication is composed of both written and verbal communication.
Written correspondence involves some form of conversation using the written document. In
reality, the most frequent mode of communication in airline industry is written
communication via the use of policies and procedures, flight instructions, flight schedules,
checklists and more between management and operational staff. Such records are used to
communicate knowledge and guidance that the company requires for organizational
employees to follow. Verbal communication is another effective means of communicating
between ATC and flight captain, management , and operational staff within the aerospace
operating environment. As illustrated in Tenerife Airport Disaster and also in several other
findings including publication2, miscommunication between ATC and captain is a key factor
to aircraft tragedies, and should therefore be viewed with serious importance.
The following are communication strategies for prospective employers and employees
that can help minimize these aviation errors. The pilots must be educated to develop a mutual
understanding among all the team members. In this scenario, a mutual agreement about what
is taking place in the cockpit, duties that are being shared and accurately planned and
executed, essential data that is being communicated amongst these crew members, can only
be accomplished via effective communication. Secondly, establishing an environment that
encourages subordinates to question their authority actions and communicating all essential
information to subordinates is of utmost importance. In addition, encouraging staff to
frequently announce their action plan, for example in a cockpit a copilot must be allowed to
attempt and declare descent of the aircraft. As explained in publication3 , a very important
strategy that needs to be put in practice includes informing staff in aircraft stakeholders, such
as technicians, ATC, etc. to note down details concerning any job which need to be executedby
the next shift, if it is not verbally conveyed. Accomplishing the flight records is another
critical topic that needs to be explained to ground personnel, as it includes vital data on board
for airline crews. It will include any detail about passengers and cargoes that are loaded into
the aircraft for details from flight crews. Finally, it is also critical to insure that all workers
have an ability to attend CRM training in some manner, since communication is one of
its training courses to insure that workers recognize the value of communication.
Conclusion
The effective communication in air travel is of utmost importance as it impacts safety.
Therefore, it is crucial that control measure be implemented that could add value to
enhancing the level of communication improvement. All aviation firms have a duty to
promptly build safety checks that will prohibit staff from being a contributor to the network
of interaction issues that may lead to emergencies. For instance, mechanics or engineering
department, quality assurance supervisors and subordinates must be encouraged to display
consistency with the accepted procedures of communication. Deviations from set guidelines
involving failures to receive adequate shift-change commands and failures to compile and
deliver daily reports are clear signs of poor communications that need to be analyzed
effectively