Iberia Flight 401 was a routine flight from

Madrid International Airport Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

in Spain to

Los Rodeos Airport LOS, or Los, or LoS may refer to: Science and technology * Length of stay, the duration of a single episode of hospitalisation * Level of service, a measure used by traffic engineers * Level of significance, a measure of statistical significanc ...

Tenerife Tenerife (; ; formerly spelled ''Teneriffe'') is the largest and most populous island of the Canary Islands. It is home to 43% of the total population of the archipelago. With a land area of and a population of 978,100 inhabitants as of Janu ...

. The aircraft had first entered service with Iberia new in 1954 and was named "Santa Maria". There was heavy fog at around 21:17 (9:17 p.m.) local time. As the plane came in on final approach, fog started to settle in and blocked view of the

runway According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a man-made surface (often asphalt concrete, as ...

, and the approach controller informed the crew that visibility was below minimal. The pilot made a very low run and initiated a

go-around In aviation, a go-around is an aborted landing of an aircraft that is on final approach or has already touched down. A go-around can either be initiated by the pilot flying or requested by air traffic control for various reasons, such as an unstab ...

and made another approach to land. He got a view of the beginning of the runway, but not the rest of the runway and decided to go around at about 1,000 ft (305 m). As he applied full power, the aircraft struck a scraper, a tractor and a minivan about 50 meters (164 feet) from the runway centerline. The plane was damaged and could not gain altitude, causing it to crash in the Los Rodeos gorge besides the runway. The post-accident investigation faulted the pilot for not diverting to

Las Palmas Las Palmas (, ; ), officially Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, is a Spain, Spanish city and capital of Gran Canaria, in the Canary Islands, on the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital (jointly with Santa Cruz de Tenerife), the most populous city in th ...

External links

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Images of the accident. (00:17- 01:26)
. NODO (a) of 17 May, 1965. Spanish film national archives. Aviation accidents and incidents in 1965 Aviation accidents and incidents in Spain Accidents and incidents involving the Lockheed Constellation Iberia (airline) accidents and incidents 1965 in Spain Disasters in the Canary Islands May 1965 events in Europe {{Spain-transport-stub