Wing flaps blamed in Spain crash

Wing flaps blamed in Spain crash Accident investigators in Spain have published a preliminary report into a plane crash that claimed 154 lives at Madrid airport in August. The MD-82 plane reached an altitude of just 18m (40 ft) on take-off, before crash-landing and bursting into flames as it careered off the runway. Only 18 of those on board Spanair flight 5022 survived. The plane's wing flaps were wrongly positioned, but a warning system failed to alert the pilots, investigators say. Their preliminary report concluded that the wing flaps - which are designed to provide lift on take-off - appear not to have been deployed. Judge to decide It is unclear why, but the error was compounded by the failure of the cockpit alert system, which should have sounded a warning to the pilots. Only eighteen of those on board Spanair flight 5022 survived. The investigators, who studied voice and flight data recorders, found no evidence of prior engine problems, and concluded that the plane caught fire only after hitting the ground. The report does not apportion blame - and it stresses that the two Spanair pilots did carry out routine checks before take-off. A judge will now decide whether anyone can be held criminally responsible for western Europe's worst air disaster in two decades.