Report on Spanair flight crash finds wing flaps failure
This is according to an initial report on the accident that killed 154 people.
The investigators did not say whether they believe the flap problem caused the August 20 crash that killed all but 18 aboard the MD-82. They offered no theory on what triggered Spain’s worst air disaster in 25 years.
Investigators said they needed to further study a malfunction of an air temperature gauge outside the cockpit, which forced the pilot to abandon a first attempt at takeoff just before the crash.
Spanair has described it as a minor glitch that was resolved by turning off the gauge because it was not essential equipment.
However, the report said the faulty gauge might be linked to the failure of the cockpit alarm horn, which is supposed to sound when a departing plane is not properly configured to get off the ground.
The findings were drawn from the flight data and cockpit voice recorders which showed no evidence of problems with the plane’s two engines.
A Spanair official declined to comment on the report. The investigation found wing flaps — moveable panels on the trailing edge of a plane’s wings that provide extra lift during takeoff — failed to extend. But the pilots were unaware of the problem because the cockpit alarm did not go off.
The flight data recorder revealed that from the time the engines started on the runway until the crash, sensors measuring the position of the flaps gave a reading of zero degrees, which means they did not extend as they were supposed to.
A loud horn should have gone off in the cockpit, but the cockpit voice recorder registered no sound from the takeoff warning system, the report said.
Some of the 18 survivors have said the plane struggled to gain speed and altitude during takeoff. The report says the plane only got 40 feet off the ground.
Investigators say the aircraft crashed tail-first, bounced three times as it skidded through a grassy area near the runway, then largely disintegrated and burned after halting at the edge of a stream.
The report was carried in Spanish media, and Spanair confirmed it had been given to the government and the plane’s manufacturers.
The report said that in 1987 after another deadly MD-82 crash in Detroit, Michigan, McDonnell Douglas recommended that airlines operating such planes check their take off warning system before each flight.
Spanair’s policy is to check the system before a plane’s first flight of the day and during stopovers only if an entirely new cockpit crew takes over for the continuing leg, the report said.
If one member of the cockpit crew stays on — as was the case in the plane that crashed — Spanair does not carry out the checks.
The flight originated in Barcelona, stopped in Madrid and was to go on to Las Palmas and the pilot and co-pilot were not relieved.
