Wall Street Journal says electrical and flap problem led to Spanair crash in Madrid

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Wall Street Journal says electrical and flap problem led to Spanair crash in Madrid
By h.b. - Sep 4, 2008 - 8:47 AM

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Spanish air travellers remain nervous when problems arise.

The Wall Street Journal says that the Spanair JK5022 plane crash at Barajas Airport in Madrid on August 20 could have been caused by an electrical fault. The paper claims that data from the black boxes showed that the two engines were working correctly, and that they are investigating whether the cabin crew were distracted or acted in a hurry. Some of the plane’s electrical circuits mistakenly sent signals indicating the plane was airborne when it was not and this is thought to have meant the flaps did not extend as they should have for take off. The electrical fault would have meant that the pilots received no warning signal about the problem with the flaps.

Half the passengers on an 8am Air Europa flight from Tenerife to Santander refused to board the plane yesterday, after they were told the plane could only go as far as Madrid because of the weather in Santander and because the plane had a defective anti-icing valve.
87 of the original 165 passengers demanded that the company supply another plane and finally they did indeed leave for Santander on another plane which left Tenerife at 4.30pm.

Meanwhile news of a separate incident on Monday, when an Easy Jet plane on the route from Madrid to Oviedo, had to delay landing by 20 minutes as a technician could not be found to land the plane. It seems the technician was off work and a replacement had not been found. The plane finally landed when an ATSEP replacement air security technician was located and rushed to the airport.

The Federation of Independent Aeronautical Unions has informed Typically Spanish that in fact the controller was at his post, but AENA had not sent ‘an electronic angel’ – a request for his service.