Spanair Crash Probe Begins

Air Safety Week, August 25, 2008

A Spanair MD-82 jetliner crash landed, broke up and was consumed by fire immediately after departing a runway at Madrid's Barajas International Airport on Aug. 20, killing 153 people in Spain's worst aviation accident in 25 years and one of the deadliest European air carrier crashes in a decade. Of the 172 passengers and crew onboard Spanair Flight JK5022/LH2554, a McDonnell Douglas MD-82 twinjet (EC-HFP), only 19 survived.

While preparing for takeoff, the flight deck crew had reported a broken air temperature gauge. It was checked and turned off, delaying the departure by one hour, said a Spanair spokeswoman. It was on the second takeoff attempt that the plane crashed. The air carrier says the device is not on a checklist of equipment that has to be functional for commercial transport to depart, and that turning off such a device is an accepted procedure.

It was initially reported that the No. 1 Pratt & Whitney JT-8D-219 may have been on fire or exploded during the takeoff roll. However, video footage of the twinjet's takeoff did not show an engine on fire, as some witnesses had claimed. But even if there had been an engine issue, the MD-82 is designed to climb with an engine failure on takeoff, and pilots train in flight simulators for such an event.

It has also been suggested that the thrust reversers may have been deployed during the takeoff, robbing lift. The aircraft's flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder, which were recovered by rescue workers, will be instrumental in ascertaining the condition of the aircraft just prior to the fatal crash.

Meanwhile, it is reported that another Spanair MD-82 was forced to make an emergency landing during a flight from the Canary Islands to Madrid on Aug. 16. The jetliner, which experienced problems with both engines, landed without incident.

The jetliner, operated by the SAS subsidiary, was bound for Las Palmas de Gran Canarias, Canary Islands, a popular tourist destination off the coast of West Africa.

SAS has been trying to sell the money-losing Spanair for the past year. Plans call for a major cutback in staff and flights.

The jetliner broke apart and came to rest in a ditch beyond Runway 36L's overrun area. Spanair said its Flight 5022 was a code-share flight with Lufthansa LH 2554.

The investigation will be headed by the Spanish Comision de Investigacion de Accidentes e Incidentes de Aviacion Civil, or CIAIAC. The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board sent a team of investigators to Madrid to assist in the investigation of the fatal accident. The U.S. team also includes technical specialists from the FAA, Boeing, and Pratt & Whitney.

Although Spanair has a relatively unblemished safety record, it is reported that in the months before the fatal crash, its pilots had warned management repeatedly that safety was being put at risk. In a series of emails, Sepia, the pilot's union, said Spanair's day-to-day operations were "a disaster and chaotic." The union said the air carrier's MD-80 fleet was not being replaced fast enough. "The MD fleet has not been renewed in favour of A320s in the agreed timeframe," one email noted.

The last fatal airline crash in Spain was in February 1985, when a Boeing 727 crashed on approach to Bilbao Airport. All 148 people on board were killed. Barajas International last suffered fatal accidents in 1983, including a Boeing 747-200 that hit a tree on approach, killing 181 of the 192 on board.

Spain's worst air disaster killed 583 in the Canary Islands where two Boeing 747s collided at Tenerife's airport in March 1977. A KLM Royal Dutch Airlines jumbo jet taking off in fog hit a Pan American World Airways widebody taxiing for departure in the deadliest runway incursion accident.

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