This is a nasty one. You can barely find intact parts - only debris. This plane crash killed 153.
Summer is almost ending and it's at the height of the vacation season. I know, because most of my colleagues in Madrid are away from their desks in the office.
It feels frighteningly close to home because I have been to the Barajas Airport in Madrid, though I've never flown Spanair.
The black box (known in aviation circles as the 'flight data recorder') was retrieved from the debris. We'll probably know what happened soon enough.
Initial reports suggested that a fire had broken out in one of the engines during or shortly after take-off from Terminal Four, and the plane ended up in a field.
The plane had earlier begun taxiing to the runway, before turning back because of a technical problem, which had caused an hour's delay in the take-off.
The pilot had reported a fault with a temperature gauge, but it was thought to have been fixed. It is possible that there was indeed a big problem, just not with the gauge.
The aircraft in question was an American-made McDonnell-Douglas MD-82 so apparently the United States National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is sending an investigation team to Madrid.
Let's see if they can somehow blame the crash on Malaysian engineers.
6 comments:
As an ostrich, I like dealing with problems from the safety of the sand around my head. So imagine my dismay when I saw this on CNN this morning.
My daughter leaves for Canada in a couple of weeks. And on a Star Airlines flight.
Dunno how to think about that right now.
My hope is that ALL planes are checked extra carefully now - in the light of this crash; and before the why's of the crash come in.
My thoughts are with the families and loved ones of all those who died and were injured in the crash.
Sorry about the double send, and delete. My internet connection is totally acting up, and going funky on me :(
Pat
Don't worry about it. :)
You're far too hard on Malaysian engineers. From what I've seen they're bad and good and no different to anywhere else.
Patricia: "And on a Star Airlines flight. " - There is no such thing. Star Alliance is an *alliance* of various carriers. Spanair was one such member. It went bankrupt a while ago.
Anyhow, it turns out that the pilots made an error, and a warning light didn't turn on.
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