Fatal Crash Case Study

Preventing A Fatal Crash in the Modern-Day Workplace

Geraldine C. Ballano

Regent Universtiy

ABSTRACT

The tragic crash at Los Rodeos Airport, Tenerife, Canary Islands, serves as a huge object lesson which organizational leaders can draw from. This paper begins with an analysis of what took place on that fateful day. It delves on the hindrances that the key people involved in the accident faced in terms of decision making. The impediments to be discussed pave a way for the author to examine which alternative actions could the involved people have taken to avoid the accident and save hundreds of lives. Drawing from reliable sources, the author writes ways on how these methods apply to organizational leaders. This article also provides learning insights from the accident which could be utilized in the organizational setting. These insights include lessons in managing technology in the modern-day workplace.

The unfortunate incident that became the worst disaster in aviation for the previous century is a culmination of misunderstandings and unresolved impediments to decision making. The 1977 accident that took place at the Los Rodeos Airport, Tenerife, Canary Islands, when two 747 jumbo jets (KLM Flight 4805 and Pan American Flight ("Clipper") 1736) collided is a sad testament on

One factor is that the Los Rodeos Airport is not big enough to accommodate all the aircraft that diverted to it when the Gran Canaria Airport temporarily closed due to a bomb explosion and a threat of a second bomb. The limited space available restricted the options of the Air Traffic Control (ATC) in terms of planning the takeoff of the planes. Congestion in the runway made it difficult for the planes to maneuver for takeoff when the Gran Canaria Airport