Head on collision on runway!

[brucek 38]

No we had just landed and I was coming down the steps when it happened. I'm not sure if it was mentioned that the Pan Am flight was diverted from Las Palmas due to a fake bomb threat at the airport and the pilot was unfamiliar with Tenerife layout.I believe also that there was no ground radar at the time.MikeJust found an old photo taken at the time, avery much younger, thinner and less grey hair back then

Thanks Mike- what a thing to experience, I can't begin to understand what it was like there when that collision occurred.Yes, the Pan Am captain's unfamiliarity with the airport was mentioned, but secondary to both the lack of experience of the tower controllers at handling two big jets that had both been diverted due to the closure at Las Palmas (KLM and PA) (the runway layout required them both to back taxi on the runway), and the impatience of the KLM captain who was running close to being over duty-time and would need to overnight in Las Palmas if he didn't get off as quick as possible from Tenerife. One of those cases of multiple issues that led to the crash, any of which if removed would have avoided the accident- as it usually is. And of course the dense fog played a role, as did the bomb at tenerife.Thanks for sharing, Bruce.

[Nikos_f3n 0]

Hello again. It's the first time this happened to me so i wasn't expecting this to happen. The traffic was set at 35%. The Atc cleared me to land but never heard Atc clearing the other aircraft to take off so i didn't know about its excistence at all. A thing i have noticed after that is that the allow colissions option was unchecked. So the collision shoudn't have happened. Anyway i will be more carefull with ai traffic and of course the atc is bad, especialy on special aproaches..

[rhodges 6]

Any solution of which I can think leaves something to be desired, but for what it is worth:When you have head on conflicts about to develope in FS with other aircraft on the ground, or in the air for that matter, pausing FS for a moment and changing the time by a minute or so will reset the AI aircraft to start over and remove the conflicting aircraft (along with others unfortunately that you might have preferred to retain).Happy flying:RTH

Hello again. It's the first time this happened to me so i wasn't expecting this to happen. The traffic was set at 35%. The Atc cleared me to land but never heard Atc clearing the other aircraft to take off so i didn't know about its excistence at all. A thing i have noticed after that is that the allow colissions option was unchecked. So the collision shoudn't have happened. Anyway i will be more carefull with ai traffic and of course the atc is bad, especialy on special aproaches..

[palafox 0]

Nikos, have you really been cleared to land by the default ATC? I'm asking, because I have seen/experienced many flaws of the default ATC, but never that FSX ATC has cleared 2 aircraft to take off/land in opposite direction at the same time. In FSX and FS4 runways are never open for operation in both directions simultaneously (just like it is in real life).Wolfgang

If memory serves me well, I have seen that at least in two ocassions. The first time I can recall, I was cleared and ready to take off from LEZL at RWY 09, and could see another aircraft landing on RWY 27 at the same time. Another time, I was cleared to land at LEVC RWY 30 and on final approach, and then another fellow was cleared to land at 12. Hope it's not a peculiarity of local controllers here in Spain, according to FSX. Maybe the sim switches dynamically the active runways (both times I was using current weather), but forgets to take into account the clearances actually given.

[yellowjack 28]

If memory serves me well, I have seen that at least in two ocassions. The first time I can recall, I was cleared and ready to take off from LEZL at RWY 09, and could see another aircraft landing on RWY 27 at the same time. Another time, I was cleared to land at LEVC RWY 30 and on final approach, and then another fellow was cleared to land at 12. Hope it's not a peculiarity of local controllers here in Spain, according to FSX. Maybe the sim switches dynamically the active runways (both times I was using current weather), but forgets to take into account the clearances actually given.

There is a problem that can be generated when using real world weather. ATC normally advises you of your landing runway when giving the approach clearance about 70 miles from the destination airfield. However, if the wind shifts before you arrive at the destination, other (AI) aircraft will be giving clearances and use the new active runway taking into account the new wind direction. Unfortunately the ATC never changes the users approach clearance once it has been given. This was particularly relevant if using ASE and DWC (direct weather control) is switched on. Normally in ASE the weather is fixed at a user set distance from the destination airport with the destination airport's weather. This prevents the issues that are being discussed from occuring.