so yesterday ....

[Druska]

Pilots on the plane that crashed in Madrid yesterday, killing 153 people, had reported a faulty valve on its first attempt to leave Madrid airport, the flight's operator, Spanair, said today.

The jet was cleared for a second takeoff by technicians who had turned off the air intake gauge in accordance with standard procedure, a spokesman for the airline said.

It was not immediately clear whether the defect was a factor in the tragedy, the worst air disaster in Spain for almost 25 years.

The airline said the pilot had been taxiing for takeoff at Barajas airport when the gauge detected overheating in the air intake valve.

Company technicians were alerted, the gauge was turned off and the plane was cleared for takeoff.

During a second takeoff attempt an hour later, the US-built MD-82 momentarily took to the air before plunging to the ground and bursting into flames.

Only 19 on the 172 passengers and crew on board the flight, which had been heading for the Canary Islands, survived the disaster.

Three children, aged six, eight and 11, were among the survivors. Twenty children and two babies were on board.

Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega, the Spanish deputy prime minister, said there were 18 foreigners from 11 countries aboard.
Spanair, which has released the passenger list, said in a provisional report that one person from Turkey, two from Sweden, four from Indonesia and six from Germany were on the flight.

An additional 79 people lived in the Canary Islands, but were not necessarily Spanish.

Around 39 bodies have so far been identified. Officials said the identification process could take several days because many had been burned beyond recognition and would need to be DNA tested.

Air accident investigators have recovered two black box flight recorders and will begin attempting to discover how one of the world's safest aircraft was destroyed on takeoff.

The Spanish development minister, Magdalana Alvarez, said the cause of the accident appeared to be "an error in take-off".

However, Spanish media reports and a source close to the situation said the plane's left engine, made by Pratt & Whitney, had caught fire.

The El País newspaper said one of the two engines failed and may have caught fire. There were reports from witnesses of an explosion and fire in the left engine.

A team of US air safety experts is being sent to help their Spanish counterparts.

Experts dismissed the idea that turning of the air intake gauge alone would cause a catastrophic failure.

Others have said the failure of one engine should not have caused a disaster because the MD-82 is designed to be able to take off and fly with one engine if the other fails.

Spanair, Spain's second largest airline, also confirmed today that another of its fleet of nine MD-82s was forced to make an emergency landing during a flight from the Canary Islands to Madrid on Saturday.

The aircraft, which experienced problems with both engines, landed on the nearby island of Gran Canaria.

The Madrid crash has sent Spain into three days of official mourning.

Flags in Madrid are being flown at half mast, and a five-minute silent vigil was held at noon to commemorate the crash.

The country's King and Queen plan to visit a makeshift morgue where families are waiting to claim their relatives' remains.

The morgue has been set up at Madrid's main convention centre, which was used for the same purpose after the 2004 commuter train bombings.

Spanair chartered a plane in the Canary Islands to fly in relatives of people killed in the crash. Some mourners spent the night at the morgue.

Kieran Daly, the editor of Flight International magazine, said it was premature to speculate on a crash cause, but "accidents on takeoff are relatively rare".

The MD-80 family of planes – built by McDonnell Douglas, now part of Boeing – had been in "one or two nasty accidents" involving engine problems, he said.

There are still 861 of the aircraft, which first came into service in the 1980s, in service across 57 airlines.

The MD-80 family is rated the second safest in the world by AirDisaster.com, with nine incidents in about 20m flights in which a fatality was recorded that was "solely due to the operation of an aircraft".

The MD-82 model involved in the Madrid crash carries a maximum of 172 passengers and has a cruising speed of 504mph.

Spanair is owned by the Scandinavian carrier SAS, which put the money-losing airline up for sale more than a year ago. It has so far failed to attract any buyers.

the whole country is mourning ...6 of the survivors are in critical state ...i can only say two things R.I.P and fuck the spanish media they're showing people crying for their loved one asking them stupid questions ... leave them alone bastards !!!

[adrianSum]

R.I.P
andrea have you seen antena3 this morning ? stupid spanish media

[samueeL]

there was one woman from finland who luckily survived
but yeah

R.I.P

[punkrock101]

R.I.P

[Gibsum 41]

That's tragic. I agree they shouldn't show people mourning for their loved ones. My best wishes to the survivors/families. R.I.P.

[Childish Gambino]

That's awful


I have to take a plane on Saturday, awesome

[xmarryxx]

jeez that terrible...
theres not much i can say about that.
R.I.P. to those who died and best of wishes to those who were injured

[wiggs1441]

R.I.P

[I'm A Cunt [*banned*]]

That's awful


I have to take a plane on Saturday, awesome

I have to take two sept 9th. which is close to the 11th.

R.I.P

Sad.

[Pedro]

RIP. They're monsters for not respecting the mourners

[adrianSum]

thats how the media works here awful

[Boni]

I read about the in the Sun newpaper, it was pretty devistating

[Definitely not vendo.]

tl;dr

[Peterr]

Heres a real dick thing to say

Poor Jet.

What i'm ganna say

damn...