A Spanair MD-82 aircraft crashed at Madrid's Barajas Airport earlier today. The accident happened at 14:45 local time as Spanair Flight JK5022 was taking off from Madrid bound for Gran Canaria Airport (Las Palmas) in the Canary Islands. Spanair has confirmed that "the aircraft was carrying a total of 172 people, of which 162 were passengers, 4 passive crew members and 6 flight crew." Multiple fatalities and injuries have been reported, however the exact number of fatalities and the extent of injuries to survivors is unclear at this time.A press advisory issued by the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which is sending a team to Spain to assist with the investigation of the Spanair accident, identified the aircraft's (Spanish) registration number as EC-HFP. The NTSB advisory mentioned that the "The aircraft broke apart and a post-crash fire ensued."
Spanair Flight JK5022 is a code share flight with Lufthansa Flight LH 2554. Spanair, which is a unit of SAS Group (Scandinavian Airlines), is headquartered at Palma de Mallorca.
Updates will be posted here on Aircrew Buzz as soon as more factual information becomes available.
Condolences to the families, colleagues and friends of those who perished in today's accident.
UPDATE: Spanair has published the list of Flight JK 5022 passengers on the airline's website.
Link: http://www.spanair.com/web/en-gb/DSite/Listing-of-passengers/
UPDATE Aug. 21, 2008: Aviation news website FlightGlobal.com is reporting that only 19 of the 172 people who were on board the Spanair Flight JK5022 survived the crash.
An article on Forbes.com, quoting Spanair's deputy managing director Javier Mendoza, says that the aircraft's 'Black Boxes' -- the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder -- have been recovered from the crash scene.
"One seems to be a bit damaged, but they are confident they can use the information. We must wait for the results of the analyses," said Mendoza.
UPDATE Aug. 26, 2008: More information about this accident can be found here: New details about the Spanair MD-82 crash in Madrid
UPDATE Oct. 10, 2008: Spain's Comisión de Investigación de Accidentes e Incidentes de Aviación Civil (CIAIAC) has released a preliminary report about the Spanair MD-82 crash at Madrid.
UPDATE Aug. 18, 2009: Spanish investigators release interim report on 2008 Spanair MD-82 crash at Madrid - includes links to both the Spanish and English language versions of the report.
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