Plane Swerves at Madrid Airport - Fire - Fatalities

[allardjd 1,853]

Takeoff accident...

http://my.earthlink.net/article/top?guid=20080820/48ab96c0_3ca6_1552620080820-2079215926

EDIT: It was an MD-82 and they're now saying about 140 dead. It was heading for Las Palmas airport on Gran Canaria.

[hurricanemk1c 195]

It's a MD82 op'ed by Spanair.

So sad

Kieran

[mutley 4,498]

The more I see on the news the worse it looks :neutral:

[dgor 0]

Absolutely horrific. Last news report I saw on it listed 153 dead (including children) and 19 survivors. 7 of the survivors remain in a critical condition in hospital. Most of the passengers were Spanish with some Swedish and German tourists arriving on codeshare flights (SAS and Lufthansa presumably). News reports say that the plane had aborted an earlier takeoff roll and had been looked at by maintenance before trying again - could maintenance be at fault?

Rest in peace.

Dave

[hurricanemk1c 195]

Codeshare with LH, flight LH5022

Kieran

[allardjd 1,853]

The accounts I read suggest the earlier aborted takeoff was for an outside air temperature instrument. That sounds innocuous enough, but probably feeds into engine EPR settings or some other engine control system parameters. If it was just a pilot's indication of OAT, I can't see aborting a takeoff for that. It must have been something a little more important.

Difficult to assess what connection that might have had with the accident. Does anyone know if either of the pilots were among the few survivors? Hopefully the CVR and FDR will reveal something definite. A single engine failure shouldn't have caused this. At least one report says they were airborne briefly.

John

[dgor 0]

Hi John,

I heard it was an engine temperature sensor. I think at least one of the black boxes was recovered earlier today. Accounts seem to suggest the engine not only failed but exploded, perhaps that was the cause of the accident?

Dave

[allardjd 1,853]

Thanks, Dave,

I read about the engine explosion. It should fly on one unless the damage affected the other engine or flight controls. It's happened before - Sioux City DC-10 for instance. One engine failed catostrophically and had a major effect on flight controls.

John

[MartinW 0]

The latest suggestion, based on CCTV footage, is that the engine wasn't on fire at all, and only ignited after the crash.

Too much confusion and conflicting reports at the moment.

[allardjd 1,853]

http://my.earthlink.net/article/int?guid=20080916/48cf2f40_3ca6_1552620080916-1538998884

"The investigation found wing flaps - moveable panels on the trailing edge of a plane's wings

that provide extra lift during takeoff - failed to extend. But the pilots were unaware of the

problem because the cockpit alarm did not go off.

The flight data recorder revealed that from the time the engines started on the runway until

the crash, sensors measuring the position of the flaps gave a reading of zero degrees, which

means they did not extend as they were supposed to."

Ooops! Sounds like this may be pilot error that was somehow not caught by a system that is

intended to protect aircrew from themselves.

[hurricanemk1c 195]

Not again!

Kieran