Description

On 20 August 2008, a McDonnell Douglas MCDONNELL DOUGLAS MD-82 being operated by Spanair on a domestic scheduled passenger flight from Madrid Barajas to Gran Canaria crashed on departure immediately after becoming airborne from runway 36L in day Visual Meteorological Conditions (VMC) and impacted terrain to the east of the runway. The aircraft was destroyed by the impact and subsequent fire and 154 of the 172 occupants were killed with the remainder being seriously injured.

Investigation

An Investigation was carried out by the Spanish Accident Investigation Board, the Comisión de Investigación de Accidentes e Incidentes de Aviación Civil (CIAIAC). Flight Data Recorder (FDR) and Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) data were available to aid reconstruction of the event, but some of the FDR data was corrupt due to a recorder fault.

It was noted that prior to the accident take off attempt, the aircraft had taxied out for departure but had returned for engineering attention to a faulty Ram Air Temperature (RAT) probe heating which had been functioning on the ground contrary to design intent. It was found that release to service based upon an incorrect application of the Minimum Equipment List (MEL) had occurred, but that this could not be linked to the subsequent accident.