Spanair Flight 5022

Spanair Flight JK5022

Occurrence
Date	20 August 2008
Summary	Unknown
Site	Barajas International Airport, Madrid, Spain 40°29′3″N 003°34′00″W
Aircraft type	McDonnell Douglas MD-82
Operator	Spanair
Registration	EC-HFP
Flight origin	Barajas International Airport
Destination	Las Palmas Airport
Passengers	164
Crew	9
Fatalities	140+
Injuries	~27
Survivors	~27

Map showing crash location

Spanair Flight JK 5022 of the SAS Group, registration EC-HFP, was a McDonnell Douglas MD-82 flight from Barajas Airport in Madrid to Gran Canaria Airport in the Canary Islands, Spain, on 20 August 2008. The flight crashed immediately after takeoff from runway 36L of Barajas Airport at 14:45 CEST (12:45 UTC) becoming the first deadly accident in Spanair history, and the 56th accident involving the MD-80.

Crash

Initial reports stated that the aircraft, which was carrying 164 passengers and 9 crew members according to latest Spanair official notice, experienced a fire in its left engine. Having been unable to gain altitude, it crashed in the vicinity of the runway then broke up into at least two parts and was engulfed by the subsequent explosion. El País reported that the plane had previously attempted and aborted its take off. After maintenance on the ground, further take-off roll was attempted, during which the incident occured.

The flight was also a codeshare operated on behalf of Lufthansa as LH 2554. 7 Passengers with Lufthansa Tickets had reservations onboard.

Casualties

According to official reports, 27 survivors were found in the wreckage, and taken to area hospitals; one of them, a two-year-old girl, died on the way to hospital. Nineteen of the survivors are in critical conditions. The rest are thought to have died in the crash or immediately after in the fire, but fire crews have not yet recovered all the bodies from the airplane.

Initial reports of casualties are mixed. Most sources report that at least 100 people died in the flight and some report that as many as 149 were killed. The Associated Press reports that a Spanish emergency rescue official claimed as little as 23 passengers survived the crash. The rest are supposed to have died either in the crash or immediately after in the violent fire.

Airport history

There were deadly accidents at Barajas Airport in 1983. On 27 November 1983, Avianca Flight 011 crashed while attempting to land, killing 181 passengers and crew. On 7 December 1983, an Aviaco DC-9 landed at the same time as an Iberia Airlines Boeing 727. The aircraft collided with each other on the tarmac resulting in 85 deaths.

See also

• Philippine Airlines Flight 137
• TACA Flight 390
• TAM Airlines Flight 3054
• Runway safety area

Links

• Pictures of Spanair EC-HFP at Airlines.net
• Pictures of Spanair EC-HFP at planepictures.net