Juan Javier Pérez, the judge in charge of a judicial investigation into the Barajas air disaster last August, is considering charging three Spanair mechanics with the negligent manslaughter of the 154 that died.

The three men, the two mechanics responsible for checking the plane and clearing it for take-off, and Spanair's Barajas airport maintenance chief, have been summoned for questioning.

Based on the findings of the Civil Aviation investigation team published last week, the maintenance team is accused of failing to check whether a problem detected in an exterior air temperature gauge that forced the pilot to abort a first take-off attempt, may have been linked to the warning system failure that ultimately led to the doomed second attempt.

The Civil Aviation team concluded that the crash was caused by a combination of the wing flaps of the MD-82 failing to deploy, and the failure of the cockpit warning system, which, had it been working, would have given the pilot time to abort for a second time.

It also emerged during the inquiry that wing flap problems had been detected on the same aircraft on more than one occasion in the days leading up to the tragedy.

Spanair denies warning system failure
By: thinkSPAIN
Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Javier Muela, operations director for Spanair, denies that the Barajas air disaster was caused by a failure in the takeoff warning system, which is the main conclusion of the crash investigation team's preliminary report leaked yesterday.

Notwithstanding, Mr Muela admits that the company did not start complying with the manufacturer's recommendation that this system should be checked before each flight until after the accident last month that claimed 154 lives.

The company's justification for this is that "Spanair did not exist" when the recommendation was made - "it was made in 87, Spanair was founded in 88," explained Mr Muela, who went on to say that the company's own experts also challenge the official investigation team's conclusions concerning the position of the wing flaps.

Routine check would have prevented Madrid air disaster
By: thinkSPAIN
Tuesday, September 16, 2008

According to a report in today's El País, which claims to be based on the preliminary findings of the team investigating the Barajas air disaster, the accident would have been prevented if a routine check recommended by the manufacturers had been carried out.

The theory first reported by The Wall Street Journal that the plane's wing flaps failed to deploy is confirmed by the preliminary findings of the team, who also conclude that this problem was compounded by a failure in an alarm system which, if it had been working correctly, would have given the pilot time to abort.

It now seems clear that a similar fault caused the Detroit air disaster in 1987, also involving an MD-82.

Coincidentally, on both occasions, 154 lives were lost.

Following that incident, the manufacturers - McDonell-Douglas (now Boeing) - recommended that this system should be checked before every flight.

Notwithstanding, Spanair decided that this check was only required before the first flight of each day, or each time there was a change of pilot.

Final air smash victims identified
By: thinkSPAIN
Saturday, August 30, 2008

A spokesman from the Interior ministry confirmed late last night that the remains of all those who died in the Barajas air disaster nine days ago, have now been identified.

The process took longer than hoped as dental record or DNA analysis was required to identify the most badly burned.

In total, 152 were killed outright, one died on the way to hospital while the 154th passed away in hospital last weekend. 

Of the seventeen most seriously injured survivors, two have been discharged, two others have been transferred to hospitals in Gran Canaria and Finland while fourteen remain hospitalised in Madrid.

One of these, a 57-year-old man with multiple fractures and serious facial injuries, remains in a very critical condition at Ramón y Cajal Hospital.

Development minister Magdalena Álvarez divulged further details about the tragedy to a cross-party parliamentary select committee yesterday.

It seems that Spanair had considered changing planes after a technical problem initially forced the pilot to return to the terminal for a checkup.

The MD82 involved, which was manufactured at the McDonnell Douglas factory in California in 1994, had completed 28,132 trips (21,361 hours). Originally owned by Korean Air, it was sold to Spanair in 1999.

Ms Álvarez was also able to confirm that the first fire appliances arrived at the scene within three minutes of the accident, and that both pilot fatigue and Spanair's precarious financial situation have been ruled out as possible contributory factors.

Barajas air smash survivor leaves hospital
By: thinkSPAIN
Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Six-year-old Roberto Álvarez Carretero, who was injured in the Barajas air smash last Wednesday, was released from hospital yesterday. Roberto, whose 16-year-old sister died in the accident, was described as a "hero" by the Prince and Princess of Asturias who were impressed by his positive attitude to his situation during their visit to the Ramón y Cajal Hospital last week.

Judge Javier Pérez, who is handling the investigation, will receive today the preliminary findings of the Accident Investigation Commission that is responsible for analysing the contents of the black box and in-flight voice recorder.

He also expects to receive preliminary reports from the Guardia Civil and the National Police over the coming days.

So far, the remains of 103 of the 154 people who died in the smash, have been identified.

Air disaster survivor falls into deep coma
By: thinkSPAIN
Monday, August 25, 2008

A 44-year-old woman injured in the Barajas air disaster last week has gone into, what doctors at the Ramón y Cajal Hospital fear may be, an "irreversible coma." The patient, whose son was also injured in the tragedy, suffered very serious head injuries as well as widespread contusions.

A 57-year-old man with severe facial injuries as well as multiple fractures, who is being treated at the same hospital, remains in a very critical condition following essential surgery yesterday.

There have been no changes in the condition of the other sixteen survivors since the last update with one critical, three critical but stable, two critical but recovering satisfactorily, nine recovering well and one almost ready to be discharged.

Madrid air disaster survivor dies in hospital
By: thinkSPAIN
Sunday, August 24, 2008

One of the nineteen survivors of the Madrid air disaster died from her injuries at Madrid's La Paz Hospital at around 7.30pm yesterday evening, raising the total number of victims to 154. María Luisa Estévez González (31) suffered burns to 72% of her body.

According to the latest medical report, of the eighteen others, two are very critical, one is critical, three are critical but stable, two are critical but recovering satisfactorily, nine are recovering satisfactorily while it is hoped that the eighteenth will be well enough to return home soon.

Govt. moves to protect Barajas crash victims
By: thinkSPAIN
Friday, August 22, 2008

At the conclusion of a three-and-a-half hour emergency meeting at the Moncloa Palace yesterday afternoon, government first vice-president María Teresa Fernández de la Vega confirmed that a multi-discipline team has been formed to support those most directly affected by the Madrid air disaster.

Led by president Zapatero, the mini-cabinet meeting was also attended by the four ministers most directly involved in dealing with the aftermath of the tragedy.

Apart from the creation of the victim support office, it was also confirmed that three days' official mourning will be observed across the country, starting today and ending next Sunday.

A public funeral mass will be held in Madrid next week as previously announced by Mayor Alberto Ruíz Gallardón, and Mr Zapatero is liaising with the regional government of the Canary Islands, that was home to around half the victims, concerning local funeral arrangements.

Ms De la Vega also confirmed that the Interior and Development ministries have been jointly assigned responsibility for overseeing the identification of the bodies, returning these for burial, and for providing support to grieving relatives and close friends.

She also stressed that a panel of international independent crash experts is already working to establish the cause of the accident in order to allocate blame, and prevent similar tragedies from recurring in the future.

Barajas crash death toll rises to 153
By: thinkSPAIN
Thursday, August 21, 2008

Development minister Magdalena Álvarez confirmed last night that 153 people, including two babies and twenty children, have died as a result of yesterday's plane smash tragedy at Barajas airport. Nine of the 28 that initially survived the crash have since died. Twelve of the 19 others, including three children, are critically injured.

Ms Álvarez also confirmed that the accident occurred at 2.45pm, around an hour after the plane was forced to return to the terminal building after the pilot noticed a technical problem as he was preparing for take off.

It is feared that it may take several days to identify the remains of those that died as many of the bodies were burned beyond recognition.

At this stage, it is believed that the vast majority of the passengers were Spanish thought it seems that there may have been four Germans, two Swedes and at least one Colombian also on board.

A number of leading political figures, including president Zapatero, regional president Esperanza Aguirre, and opposition leader, Mariano Rajoy, have interrupted their summer holidays to return to the capital as a gesture of support for the victims, and three days' official mourning have been declared.

After visiting the scene yesterday evening, Mr Zapatero promised that everything possible is being done to comfort the victims' families and establish the cause of the accident though, in advance of an analysis of the contents of the black box flight recorder, it seems that left engine of the 15-year-old MD-82 exploded as the plane was reaching terminal velocity.

The elevated number of victims makes this Spain's worst air traffic accident in more than a quarter of a century and the most serious in Europe for a decade. 

Barajas crash death toll could reach 150
By: thinkSPAIN
Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Latest reports suggest that only 26 people of the 173 people on board a Spanair flight that crashed shortly after taking off from Barajas airport in Madrid this afternoon have been taken to hospital.

Nineteen of the survivors are reported to be seriously injured.

It also seems that the majority of the 166 passengers were from the Canary Islands. 

At least 45 killed in Barajas smash
By: thinkSPAIN
Wednesday, August 20, 2008

While the government has confirmed that 45 people have died in an air traffic accident at Barajas airport this afternoon, the Spanish Red Cross estimates that the final toll could be more than twice that number.

It appears that Spanair flight AJK-5022 with 6 crew and 166 passengers - including two babies - on board bound for Las Palmas de Gran Canaria crashed shortly after take-off - at around 2.15pm - and burst into flames.

It seems that the pilot of the MD-82 twin-engined jet was trying to take off for a second time after an initial attempt had failed.

The resulting fire, which appears to have started in the plane's left engine before the plane left the ground, was extinguished by around 4.30pm.

An information line has been opened for concerned friends or relatives (00 34 800 400 200).

Eighteen ambulances have been ferrying an unconfirmed number of survivors to several different hospitals in Madrid.