Aircraft News - Europe

AirGuide Business, Sept 1, 2008

Ryanair, Boeing

Ryanair has identified the Boeing 737-800 involved in a depressurization incident late yesterday as a five-year old example, adding that the twin-jet was serviced a month ago. The Irish Air Accidents Investigation Unit has given the registration of the aircraft as EI-DAS. Flight's ACAS database says the aircraft is owned by the Irish budget airline and had accumulated over 17,300 hours in more than 11,600 cycles. The 737 had been operating Bristol-Girona as flight FR9336 when it suffered the depressurization and diverted to Limoges in France, touching down at 11:30. Sixteen of the 168 passengers on board were transferred to a local hospital with ear problems. Ryanair says the aircraft was last serviced on July 24, and stresses that the oxygen system on board the jet was operating correctly. It adds that the captain of the aircraft has over 13,400 hour flight experience reported Flight. Aug 26, 2008

Spanair, McDonnell Douglas

Spanair had considered replacing a McDonnell Douglas MD-82 jet just an hour before 154 people were killed when it crashed last week, a government minister said on Friday. But despite a technical problem the airline decided to keep passengers aboard the 15-year-old jet which shot off the runway during takeoff at Madrid Airport on August 20 in Spain's worst air disaster in 25 years. Public Works Minister Magdalena Alvarez told Congress the plane had been due to take off early in the afternoon but left the runway after the fault was detected in a temperature gauge. Alvarez was summoned before Congress to testify on Spain's air safety procedures in the wake of the crash, which left 18 survivors. She said the aircraft operated by Spanair, which is owned by Scandinavia's SAS, had been regularly inspected. Aug 29, 2008

Spanair, McDonnell Douglas

Spanish authorities have recovered the engines of the Spanair MD-82 that crashed on takeoff last week and will disassemble them "screw by screw" to try to determine whether a thrust problem contributed to the accident, the head of the crash investigation said yesterday. Francisco Soto, secretary of the Commission for Investigating Civil Aviation Accidents and Incidents, briefed media for the first time on the inquiry, revealing that officials have determined that the aircraft hit the Madrid Barajas runway "tail first" after a brief ascent and then bounced at least twice more as it travelled about 1,200 m. from the initial point of impact. He declined to speculate on possible causes and would not comment on Spanish press reports that one of the Pratt & Whitney JT8D-219's thrust reversers was deployed. Soto acknowledged that a number of the 18 survivors testified that the aircraft appeared to be moving slowly down the runway prior to takeoff. He said a careful autopsy of the engines should yield answers. He said the recovered but damaged flight data and cockpit voice recorders were sent to the UK for examination, citing British authorities' expertise on working "with damaged black boxes." He added, "We are now trying to improve the conditions of the pilots' recordings." A preliminary report on the investigation will be produced within a month, he said. Aug 28, 2008