A survivor of the deadliest air crash in history still remembers that day (4 photos)

On March 27, 1977, the deadliest plane crash in history occurred when two planes collided on the runway at Los Rodeos Airport in Tenerife. 583 people died, 61 survived. American Joanie Feathers was among the survivors, and that terrible day will forever remain etched in her memory.





A woman who survived the worst plane crash in history, in which 583 people died, recalls the horrific event.

On March 27, 1977, an event occurred that would change aviation history forever. Two planes collided on the runway at Los Rodeos Airport on the island of Tenerife, killing 583 of the 644 people on board both planes.

After the bombing of Gran Canaria Airport, all flights to the island were diverted to the much smaller Los Rodeos, causing it to quickly become overcrowded.

A diversion, poor weather conditions, and a miscommunication between air traffic control and the pilots of KLM Flight 4805 led to the crash. The KLM flight attempted to take off, but collided with Pan Am Flight 1736, which was moving along the runway at the time.



The collision killed all 248 people on board the KLM, while only 61 of the 396 passengers and crew on the Pan Am survived. It remains the deadliest air disaster in aviation history.

Among the lucky survivors on the Pan Am was Joanie Feathers. She was heading to the Canary Islands for a Mediterranean cruise with her boyfriend, Jack Ridout. She was uneasy about the KLM plane being so close to them, and she shared her fears with Jack.

His response was a chilling foreshadowing of what was to come.





"Don't worry. If it hits us, you won't feel a thing," he told her.

Declining an offer of a drink in the lounge above the passenger cabin, Joanie fastened her seatbelt and waited for the KLM jet to leave the runway.

Moments later, she found herself in a cabin that had been torn apart by the KLM jet. And the upstairs bar they had been invited to was gone.

Both she and Jack were injured but alive. Now all they had to do was get out of the wreckage.

The aftermath of the crash was horrific. Joanie recalls one woman being cut in half by her seat belt, while another woman, with curlers in her hair, was engulfed in flames.



Joanie and her boyfriend, using the skills they had acquired over their years in law enforcement, managed to survive the crash. Joanie left the plane and ran as far away as she could, while her boyfriend stayed behind to help the flight attendant deploy a life raft. However, he was soon forced to flee when the subsequent explosion decapitated the woman.

Joanie remembers watching the plane explode like an "atomic bomb." They endured terrifying moments before she and Jack were taken to the hospital, where she was able to talk to her mother.

In the years since the crash, Joanie has flown several times, but the experience never leaves her.

"It's always with me when I get on a plane," she says.