Accident Overview
On 25 April 1980, Dan-Air Flight 1008, a chartered international passenger service operated by Dan Air Services Limited, crashed in a forest on Tenerife's Mount La Esperanza. The aircraft, a Boeing 727-46, was destroyed in the accident. All 146 persons on board were killed. The flight was en route from Manchester, United Kingdom, to Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain.
Sequence of Events
The accident occurred when the flight crew incorrectly performed an unpublished holding pattern. This maneuver took place in an area characterized by very high terrain, leading to the aircraft's collision with the mountainside.
Background
This accident was Dan-Air's second major accident within a ten-year period. It became the worst accident involving the deaths of fare-paying passengers in the airline's history. Additionally, it ranks as the seventh deadliest accident involving a Boeing 727 aircraft.