Plane skids off runway in Madrid

[igs942]

My thoughts go out to all involved.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7572643.stm

[Craig.]

Just watching this on bbc news 24. Once again its the news reporter who I think belongs on Sky news. Pushing people for overly dramatic reports, he did the same with the ambulance spokesman on sunday with the light aircraft crash.

As for the incident, sad news, 45 now confirmed dead, thoughts go out to all involved.

[Fozzer]

I suffered the first few minutes of the "umming" and "arring" and "erring" from the usual News Reporters desperately trying to find something to say, before I cancelled the video...

24 Hour Television News:
...how can anyone discuss anything for 24 hours, non, stop... >:(...!

I dread to think what 24 Hour Television Sport must be like... ...!

Paul.

Sad end to the start of someone's holiday.

[AMDDDA]

Added to wiki...



I think it's a plane fault, as I never liked MD-80's, but this isn't the time for that.

Thoughts go out to the involved.  :'(

[waspiflab]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/
shame Gary Glitter wasnt sat on it on his own

Planes go down every single year all across the globe, I guess thats just how it is, unreliable heaps of metal. You could never keep on top of all the different parts that make up an aircraft, it's impossible it all wears out in time.
Purchase your ticket and good luck!!

Thoughts go out to the involved.

90 confirmed dead 26 survived:'(

[zacharace]

Spanair has/had an excellent safety record, though. Didn't seem like the weather at Barajas was particularly bad, either.
Thoughts go out to all involved as well :-/

[AMDDDA]

At least 100 people have been killed after a passenger plane swerved off the runway at Madrid's Barajas airport, Spanish officials say.

[DaveSims]

The latest I've seen is 149 dead.  They are reporting that the aircraft had been delayed for a while due to mechanical difficulties, but that may not have had anything to do with it.  

I think it's a plane fault, as I never liked MD-80's, but this isn't the time for that

Until there has been some investigation, I wouldn't put blame on anything.  Its rarely something that simple.  All aircraft incidents are caused by a chain of events, and its way to early to blame the aircraft.

[Wii]

149 dead and 25 allive. My sister flies home on a delta md...lovely
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080820/ap_on_re_eu/spain_airport_accident
:-/

[Rich H]

May the dead passengers rest in peace.

[Alonso]

That's really bad news to hear. My thoughts are with the affected families....

[expat]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/


Planes go down every single year all across the globe, I guess thats just how it is, unreliable heaps of metal. You could never keep on top of all the different parts that make up an aircraft, it's impossible it all wears out in time.
Purchase your ticket and good luck!!

Thoughts go out to the involved.

90 confirmed dead 26 survived:'(

The most dangerous part of the journey is to and from the airport by bus/car/cab/train etc.
As some one who spends my day "keeping on top of it", it is possible, however things break even when they are 5 minutes old. As for aircraft being unreliable heaps of metal, I would sooner get into a 25 year old airliner than a mates 10 year old Ford Escort, 300 days into it's last MOT and driving down the motorway at 70mph, but we don't think twice about that.

Matt

[todayshorse]

Interestingly, on the radio this afternoon, i heard that there defo WAS a fault with this aircraft, as '...before it took off, a thing that measures air temperature outside was disconnected...' Obviously radio news reports love sensationalism, and over-hype anything they can, assuming the listener knows about as much as they do about aircraft procedures - but this didnt seem right somehow!

I find it hard to beleive that the aircraft would have been allowed to take off if it wasnt considerd safe to disconnect this item before take off. Im aware an aircraft can and often do fly with things inop, as long as its not somthing that would cause the aircraft to be grounded as stated in the aircrafts 'things you can and cant take off with' book. I forget its name, and im sure someone here will remind me! A bit ike going round the room on an apollo mission, a go/ no go for launch type thing!

Indeed, i have a video of a flight to miami on an old virgin 747 'from the cockpit', and they have a generator go down during start up - the burly F/E then explains to the camera just what they do, and that they do have three others, so its indeed safe to go, as the 'book' says so.

Does anyone know the real story to this? Just didnt make sense on the radio, kinda suggested that yes, this 'thing' was disconnected, and yes, thats what caused it.


EDIT - forget that, i just found this titbit "Spanair reported that the pilot had previously attempted and aborted takeoff due to excessive temperature in the engine airtake. It is reported that a defective external temperature sensor was replaced on the ground, delaying departure by an hour"

So that explains that then - apologies!! Not quite what they said on the radio however!

[AMDDDA]

Kind of like the LAX-> EGLL flight where one engine failed at the beginning and they went all the way to EGLL?

[DaveSims]

The overheating thing that the media is jumping about sounds like just the temperature probe on the nose of the plane, which is heated and may have been overheating.  It was disconnected to prevent the heat from coming on, but I highly, highly doubt it had anything to do with this incident.  From what I'm hearing there was a possibly engine failure or fire on takeoff, but that doesn't explain the whole crash, as an MD can fly on one engine.  As usual there is a chain of events.  Like the DC-10 crash years back where the engine fell off.  Yes an engine fell off, but the aircraft was still flyable.  But the engine falling off caused a failure of the stall warning system, which in turn failed to alert the copilot (who had the controls) that he was too slow and allowed the aircraft to crash.