Spanish officials held a press conference earlier today regarding the fatal crash last week of a Spanair MD-82 aircraft at Madrid's Barajas International Airport. The investigation into the cause of the accident, which happened on August 20, 2008 as Spanair Flight JK5022 was departing Madrid for the Canary Islands, is ongoing. However Francisco Javier Soto of the Comisión de Investigación de Accidentes e Incidentes de Aviación Civil (CIAIAC), the Spanish agency leading the accident investigation, provided some details about what is known so far.
According to an account of the press conference published by the Spanish news service El Mundo, the aircraft was airborne only briefly before hitting the ground tail first, and then bouncing three times across the area adjacent to runway 36 L at Barajas Airport. The aircraft's tailcone is believed to have separated first; subsequently the rest of the aircraft broke up progressively with each bounce and caught fire.
Soto stated that no skid marks or other signs of contact by the aircraft were found on the runway itself, but that the aircraft continued for about 1,200 meters after it left the runway, bouncing over the uneven terrain. Soto indicated that the uneven ground contributed to the destruction of the aircraft.
Both of the aircraft's engines have been recovered, and Soto said that their condition was good enough to expect them to yield important information. Both the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) and the flight data recorder (FDR) have been recovered, and data from both devices is being evaluated. The FDR was damaged, but technicians in England are in the process of enhancing the data. Soto indicated that the data obtained from both devices was expected to provide valuable contributions to the investigation.
The Commission expects to issue a preliminary accident report within a month. That report will present factual information, but the investigation into the accident's cause will continue for some time.
The death toll from the Spanair accident has climbed to 154, as one of the initial survivors has succumbed to injuries. Two accident survivors, including a child, have been released from medical care to date.
Names of the crew members have not been officially released, however news reports have said that one flight attendant, identified as Antonia Martinez Jimenez, has survived. She was not working on the accident flight, but was on board as a (dead-heading) passenger.
An online Condolences Book has been established on the Spanair website.
UPDATE Sep. 17, 2008: Aviation news website Flight International published an article today with information from the draft report on the Spanair accident by Spain's Comisión de Investigación de Accidentes e Incidentes de Aviación Civil (CIAIAC). The report includes a timeline of events leading to the crash. Here is the link to the article: Inquiry timeline details Spanair MD-82 crash sequence - Flight International, Sep. 17, 2008
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
New details about the Spanair MD-82 crash in Madrid
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5 comments:
Latest findings indicate that BOTH pilots had BOTH their arms broken BEFORE they hit the ground leading to believe there was a massive mechanical flight control problem and the poor pilots fighting the control yoke to save the airplane.
Could it be?????
A/C returend to gate because of Ram Air Temp indicating 99 degc. Meening A/C was elecricallty Airborne ie heating on RAT sensor. Thrust Rating Computor reducing T/O power to 1.38 EPR because of high temp IE more than 29 deg c. Flat Rated at 29 deg c. If Flap/slat was not set for T/O, the T/O warning was disabled as relay R2-5 had failed "in flight" position therefore the Reduced T/O power, No T/O warning "FLAP-SLAT" as A/C was already "airborne".
Spanair are holding back crucial parts of the cockpit conversation recorded on the voice recorder. Prior to the crash the co-pilot shouted: "Fire! The left engine". (Seems the turbine was indeed on fire). The pilot shouted back: "More pedal" Give me more pedal!"
The ground staff had switched off a temperature gauge on the air-intake of the left engine, and this was electrically interconnected within the plane's el. circuit with a number of indicators, controls, warning devices etc. As it seems, the ground staff were responsible for the "flaps not engaged"-warning horn's malfunction as well as for other electrical malfunctions. As the temperature gauge at the left engine's air intake had been switched off, the engine could overheat and consequently catch fire. The pilots did indeed engage the flaps and confirm this command, but the electrical system did not obey for the above reasons, and the pilots could not notice this.
Hello,
I feel that we are not told the truth about what really happens inside the airlines today. So many airlines are almost broke - it is logica that they dont spend as much money on maintenance than they did when times where good!
I saw a new forum that deals with all this airline safety stuff. It looks good:
http://www.atsf.t2-global.com
Thanks,
Alice
I have no idea where you get your info. All that I can say about this issue is that you can find the official report here; http://www.fomento.es/mfom/lang_castellano/dire
cciones_generales/organos_colegiados/ciaiac/span
air_2008/032_2008_0.htm
It seems there was no "fire" or "give me more pedal" or "broken arms". Instead there was just, a stall alarm, "terrain terrain", and a crash. As simple as that. Why?. Because when they configure the flaps for Taking-Off nothing indicated they were not really extended. Exactly the same story step by step, as it happened in Detroit with the same airplane. Please stop guessing and just read the official investigations reports.
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