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Wing flaps blamed in Spain crash Wing flaps caused Madrid crash
(about 7 hours later)
Accident investigators in Spain have published a preliminary report into a plane crash that claimed 154 lives at Madrid airport in August. A Spanish passenger jet crashed in August because the wing flaps were in the wrong position, investigators say.
The MD-82 plane reached an altitude of just 12m (40 ft) on take-off, before crash-landing and bursting into flames as it careered off the runway. A warning system failed to alert the pilots and the Spanair flight 5022 crashed on take-off at Madrid's airport, killing 154 people on board.
Only 18 of those on board Spanair flight 5022 survived. The MD-82 plane reached an altitude of just 12m (40ft) before crashing to the ground and bursting into flames.
The plane's wing flaps were wrongly positioned, but a warning system failed to alert the pilots, investigators say. The investigators' preliminary report does not apportion blame, saying that the pilots carried out routine checks.
Their preliminary report concluded that the wing flaps - which are designed to provide lift on take-off - appear not to have been deployed. Eighteen people survived the crash, Western Europe's worst air disaster in two decades.
Judge to decide The investigators, who studied voice and flight data recorders, found no evidence of prior engine problems and concluded that the plane had caught fire only after hitting the ground.
It is unclear why, but the error was compounded by the failure of the cockpit alert system, which should have sounded a warning to the pilots. Only eighteen of those on board Spanair flight 5022 survived. It is unclear why the wing flaps failed to deploy, but the error was compounded by the failure of the cockpit alert system, which should have sounded a warning to the pilots.
The investigators, who studied voice and flight data recorders, found no evidence of prior engine problems, and concluded that the plane caught fire only after hitting the ground. A judge will now decide whether anyone can be held criminally responsible.
The report does not apportion blame - and it stresses that the two Spanair pilots did carry out routine checks before take-off.
A judge will now decide whether anyone can be held criminally responsible for western Europe's worst air disaster in two decades.