Iberia Flight 401 was a routine domestic flight from Madrid International Airport 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, an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain. With a land area of and a population of 965,575 inhabitants as of A ...

. 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 In aviation, a runway is an elongated, rectangular surface designed for the landing and takeoff of an aircraft. Runways may be a human-made surface (often asphalt concrete, asphalt, concrete, or a mixture of both) or a natural surface (sod, ...

, 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_(aeronautics), 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 var ...

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 . As he applied full power, the aircraft struck a scraper, a tractor and a minivan about 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 Spanish city and capital of Gran Canaria, in the Canary Islands, in the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital city of the Canary Islands (jointly with Santa Cruz de Tenerife) and the m ...

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 in Europe {{Spain-transport-stub