Originally Posted by
FUMR
Not as simple as you conclude! Phraseology was different (and changed after this accident). A transmission to the KLM aircraft was partially stepped on by the Pan Am crew, thus KLM heard "take-off" when the controller was actually saying "stand by for take-off". The KLM Flight Engineer did challenge the Captain if they were actually cleared for take-off and was waved off with a "yes" (remember no CRM in those days and the captain was a very senior crew member). I reject the conclusion that "the KLM crew" contributed to most of that. I would say that a set of unusual circumstances, poor phraseology, a crossed transmission and the KLM Captain all contributed to this accident.
Well said.
Human.Error somewhere along the chain of events. We will never eliminate this . Someone made a mistake, resulting in a very tragic outcome.
As long as humans have their sticky little mitts on machinery, or anything else for that matter, accidents will happen of course.. IMHO