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Lee · 20-08-2008, 07:48 PM

Madrid air crash information taken from Sky News

Quote:

More than 100 people have died after a plane burst into flames during take off from Madrid's airport, according to emergency rescue officials at the scene.

Spanish daily newspaper El Mundo reports that so far only 27 survivors out of 173 people on board have been pulled from the burnt fuselage.

The paper reports that up to 140 on board may have died.

The extent of the tragedy was described by a worker of airport owner AENA who witnessed the disaster.

"The plane was totally broken apart, it was all full of bodies," the worker told El Pais newspaper.

Two civil guards returning from the scene of the stricken aircraft told the same newspaper: "It doesn't look anything like a plane - it's horrific - everything is burnt.

"It's the closest to hell that I've seen. The bodies were boiling, we burnt ourselves collecting them."

[Only Registered Users Can See Links. Click Here To Register] the latest breaking news on the accident.

An official with the [Only Registered Users Can See Links. Click Here To Register] emergency rescue service SAMUR says crews are removing injured people and bodies from the plane.

"It is certain catastrophe," a SAMUR official said. "The plane has been completely destroyed."

Firefighters have now put out the flames after a column of smoke was seen rising over the Barajas airport.

Reports say the accident happened as the craft was taking off from the airport's Terminal Four, bound for Gran Canaria.

Witnesses said the plane's left engine caught fire during take-off, causing the aircraft to crash to the ground off the runway and break into two parts.

El Pais reported that the disaster occurred during a second attempt at take off.

An earlier attempt had to be averted after technical issues, which resulted in an inspection of the plane.

There were 173 people on board the Spanair MD-82 plane, 164 passengers and nine crew members.

Spanair Flight JK-5022 was bound for Las Palmas in the [Only Registered Users Can See Links. Click Here To Register], a resort off West Africa, the company said.

The plane was a shared-code flight with Lufthansa's LH-255, it added.

Local journalist Bill Bond said Spanair was a major Spanish airline that has been running for 20 years.

"It flies throughout Spain and internationally and has a good accident record," he said.

However, the [Only Registered Users Can See Links. Click Here To Register] does not have a great safety record.

Aviation expert Professor Joseph Lampel has told Sky News: "It appears at the moment to have been some sort of engine problem.

"It's rare, but not unheard of. The focus will now be on engine maintenance."

Malcolm Ginsberg, editor of Air and Business Travel, said: "It appears to have been a normal sort of day, so I can only imagine there must have been some sort of mechanical problem."

Full details and latest news can be found on the sky web site by clicking below
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El Sid · 21-08-2008, 12:43 AM

It should have been able to take off, go around and land on one engine, if the crew followed the correct procedures. I wonder if the engine failure was so catastrophic that it hurled turbine blades into the rear fuselage and tail section, disrupting the hydraulic lines to the elevator and rudder, leading to a loss of control. There's a lot of rotating mass in a jet engine and when they let go it can be like a bomb going off, with the blades flying out like shrapnel. The engine nacelle ( housing ) on passenger jets is designed to try and contain the debris and prevent it from causing secondary damage - but sadly stuff doesn't always work as it should.

Lee · 21-08-2008, 10:31 AM

A three day morning has been announced across Spain in light of the tragic accident

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Madrid air crash, 140 feared dead

Madrid air crash, 140 feared dead

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