Pilot's horrifying final words before deadly crash on flight from UK to Tenerife

Daily Record

26-06-2025

The chilling final words of those in the cockpit of a doomed flight demonstrate the panic that took place in the last moments before the British plane crashed into a Tenerife mountain — killing all on board
Tenerife is one of the most popular holiday hot spots for Brits hoping for sun, sea and sand.
However, on March 22, 1977, tragedy struck when a passenger flight heading towards Tenerife North airport, then Los Rodeos Airport, plummeted from the sky, killing all 583 people on board.
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The island of Tenerife has two airports but Tenerife North can be notoriously difficult for pilots to navigate. It sits at an altitude of 2,000ft, which can make it a notably difficult airport for pilots to navigate, especially when weather conditions include cloud cover, making visibility trickier than normal.
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Just three years after the 1977 disaster, tragedy struck for a second time. At 9.20am on 25th April 1980, Dan-Air's Flight 1008 departed Manchester Airport bound for Tenerife. The flight was primarily filled with British holidaymakers seeking the sunny beaches and stunning landscapes of the Canary Islands.
The flight crew consisted of three experienced pilots - Captain Arthur Whelan, 50, co-pilot First Officer Michael Firth, 33, and flight engineer Raymond Carey, 33. Alongside them were five flight attendants, bringing the total number of passengers and crew on board to 146.
For three hours, the flight proceeded without incident until the crew began their descent at 1pm local time.
The winds were blowing in from an unusual direction, meaning air traffic was being diverted to Runway 12 instead of the usual landing strip. However, this created a problem for air traffic controller Justo Camin, 34, as there was already another plane heading towards the same runway, putting the two aircraft at risk of a mid-air collision.
Without the aid of radar, Camin was forced to rely on procedural methods to manage air traffic and he instructed each plane to follow a predetermined route. At 1:18 pm, Camin realised he needed to put the Dan Air crew into a holding pattern to allow the plane ahead to land safely on Runway 12.
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However, there was no established holding pattern for this runway, so Camin had to improvise. He instructed Flight 1008 to enter a left-hand holding pattern, making turns until the other flight was clear.
In response to First Officer Firth's position report, Camin said, "Roger, the er, standard holding pattern overhead Foxtrot Papa is inbound heading one five zero, turn to the left, call you back shortly."
Captain Whelan replied with a simple "Roger", failing to repeat back Camin's instructions. If he had done so, the impending disaster could have been averted.
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However, when Camin instructed them to "turn to the left," he intended to say "turns to the left," indicating the direction the crew should take while navigating the holding pattern. But without the crucial 's', the crew interpreted this as "turn to the left."
Camin, who had also cleared the flight for an altitude of 5,000 feet, made a minor yet critical mistake.
Captain Whelan, perplexed by the sudden instruction to enter a holding pattern not displayed on any of his charts, made a single turn to the left, aligning with a heading of 150 degrees, convinced this was the controller's intention.
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They were now flying over mountainous terrain, where the minimum safe altitude was 14,500 feet.
Just one minute and six seconds before the crash, one of the pilots remarked, "bloody strange hold, isn't it?" adding, " It doesn't parallel with the runway or anything."
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The cockpit voice recording clearly showed the crew's growing unease, yet no one questioned the controller's instructions.
Controller Camin, assuming the plane was over the sea in his improvised holding pattern, allowed the aircraft to descend another 1,000 feet, oblivious to the fact that it was actually in the midst of the mountains.
Captain Whelan expressed his concerns about Camin's instruction to his co-pilot in the cockpit, saying, "I don't like that."
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His co-pilot responded, "they want us to keep going more round, don't they?" At this point, the automatic ground alarm sounded in the cockpit, warning them to "pull up, pull up!" In an desperate bid to evade the looming mountainous terrain, Captain Whelan abruptly aborted his left turn for a drastic right turn. He had the impression this manoeuvre would allow them to bypass the impending obstacle.
Ordinarily, upon hearing the alarm, the appropriate reaction would be to "pull up" in an attempt to gain as much altitude as necessary to clear any nearby landforms.
Co-pilot Firth, upon scrutinising the chart, realised the captain's decision was ill-judged and proposed alternative actions.
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The words "let's get out of here," voiced by Flight Engineer Carey, resonated through the cockpit voice recorder (CVR). Despite the engineer's advice, Captain Whelan persisted with the sharp right direction, which resulted in a descent of 300 feet.
Spanish investigators stated unequivocally in their findings that this very movement eradicated any hope for averting disaster.
Warnings from Flight Engineer Carey, "bank angle, bank angle!" echo as the last recorded words before the CVR goes silent.
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Dan-Air Flight 1008 met its tragic end as it crashed into La Esperanza at an elevation of 5,450 feet, a mere 92 feet (28 metres) shy of the peak.
The collision decimated the majority of the aircraft instantaneously, scattering debris along the side of the mountain. The rear section of the plane hurtled several hundred metres, eventually crashing to earth, plummeting into a ravine, and disintegrating.
Scattered small fires ignited amongst the dispersed wreckage and Tenerife North Airport was jarred by the crash alarm for the second time in just over three years. Rescue teams reached the mountain within hours but it was immediately clear that none of the 146 passengers on board had survived the crash.
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The scene was so devastating not a single intact human body could be found and many of the victims could not be definitively identified. While acknowledging the air traffic controller's mistake — Spanish investigators placed the entirety of the blame on the Dan Air crew.
However, British investigators contended the controller should have recognised sooner the proximity between the two planes would pose an issue, allowing him to implement a standard holding pattern and prevent any confusion amongst the crew.
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They further argued the controller should not have issued an untested and non-standard holding pattern, but conceded the Dan Air crew did not question the controller's instructions or seek clarification.
The decision by Camin to allow flight 1008 to descend to 5,000 feet also drew criticism from the British team. Had the holding pattern been designed in accordance with official regulations, the minimum altitude should have been set at 7,000 feet.
Upon receiving a ground proximity warning, the captain - unable to see due to fog and cloud - opted to make a right turn, which tragically led them directly into the mountain. Typically, crews are expected to ascend as high as possible in response to such an alarm.
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What remains undisputed, however, is the omission of a single letter in a word triggered the series of events that ultimately resulted in the crash.
Had the controller used "turns" instead of "turn", the tragic crash could have been averted.
The investigation into the crash led to an increased emphasis on clear, standardised procedures across all flight operations, including holding patterns.
The incident underscored the importance of unambiguous communication between air traffic controllers and pilots, with a particular focus on pilots repeating instructions from Air Traffic Control to eliminate any potential misunderstandings.
Despite the tragedy, Dan Air managed to bounce back and continued operations until 1992 when it was acquired by British Airways.
Even though it marked the largest loss of life on a British aircraft, the memory of Dan Air Flight 1008 and the 146 lives tragically lost that day seems to have faded over the last 45 years.