The Spanair aircraft which crashed in Madrid last Wednesday resulting in the death of 153 passengers, was in Malta only two days before, The Malta Independent has learnt.
The information was unearthed by aviation enthusiast Ryan Paul Galea, who snapped the MD-82 as it came in for landing at Luqa on 18 August. EC-HFP is a McDonnell Douglas MD-82 and was built in 1993. It was delivered to Spanair on 23 July 1999 after flying for more than six years with Korean Air as HL7548. Its construction number is 53148. The aircraft involved in the crash at Madrid airport was an old model which had completed almost 40,000 hours of commercial flying.
Built by McDonnell-Douglas in the United States, the jet had completed 30,245 take-offs and landings.
The Malta International Airport confirmed that the aircraft was indeed in Malta and had been on a charter flight. A spokesman said that Spanair often operates charter flights to Malta in the summer. “We often have them here in summer,” the source said.
Flight JK5022, serviced by an MD-82 aircraft – which has a chequered safety record – was due to fly to Las Palmas in the Canary Islands off the West African coast from Madrid’s Barajas airport last Wednesday afternoon.
The aircraft crashed back down during takeoff and split in two before bursting into flames. The death toll was put at 153 – there were 20 survivors, many of whom are still receiving treatment in Madrid hospitals.
The airline stated officially that the accident occurred at 2.45pm local time during take off. EC-HFP was carrying a total of 172 people of whom 162 were passengers, and there were four passive crew members and six flight crew.
It has been disclosed that shortly before the crash, the plane had been forced to return to its gate at Barajas airport after its first attempt at take off failed. Passengers were warned they could have to disembark and change planes, it was claimed.
However, only an hour after arriving back at the gate the MD-82 attempted another take-off which proved fatal. According to one report it was seen coming out of a maintenance shed just moments before its second attempt.
It was also disclosed that a sister plane of the one that crashed in Madrid had to make an emergency landing only five days ago after suffering suspected engine problems. That plane diverted to an airport in Gran Canaria after losing power in mid-air.
This McDonnell Douglas model has been involved in a series of crashes around the world.
In 2004 one overran the runway in Surakarta, Indonesia killing 25 people. The following year 152 died when an MD-82 crashed in mountains in Venezuela.
Last year an MD-82 crashed at the side of the runway and exploded killing 89 in Phuket, Thailand.
In June this year an American Airlines flight overshot the runway at Little Rock, Arkansas and 11 people died.
The aircraft were originally made by McDonnell Douglas which was bought by Boeing in 1997. The last one rolled off its production line in 1999. The website www.airdisaster.com listed 19 fatal crashes dating back to 1981.
Maltese tour operator Maltabargains.com used to operate a later version of the same family, an MD-90-30 on lease under the British Jet banner. It was built in 1996. It now uses Air Malta aircraft, which are all manufactured by Airbus. The MD-90-30 in question is now in the hands of Swiss charter airline Hello.