Same aircraft veered off Spanish runway in 2004

THE plane at the centre of yesterday’s crash was involved in an incident in Spain in 2004 when its nose wheel suddenly locked into a right position forcing the aircraft to veer off the runway.

The turbo-prop aircraft was an SA227-BC Metro III built in 1992 by aircraft manufacturer, Fairchild Swearingen, based in San Antonio, Texas, in the US.

Since first entering service, this model aircraft has been involved in 81 incidents where the plane was destroyed. Thirty of these accidents claimed a total of 181 lives.