What is known about the first return to gate was that a failure indicator lighted on the cabin. The captain informed the PAX that he wasn't sure what it was and was returning to gate to have it checked. He later said (and Spanair and technician in charge of the repairs, through the spokeperson for the airplane repair technicians' union confirms) that the indicator was for overheating of the device that warms the air intake tube orifice (that leads to the outside air temperature probe) to avoid the formation of ice on cold weather. Since the flight from MAD to LPA was not thought to be in any danger of bad weather or ice formation, it was turned off by taking the fuse out, in accordance to approved operations giving a 10 days margin for finding the fault and repair it properly.
The captain reportedly informed the PAX, which remained on board during the aprox. 1h delay, that it was a "broken heat sensor that was repaired" and were now ready to take off (late).
Captain and technician signed the flight fit-to-fly. The technician was totally confident his action couldn't be in any way part of the cause of the accident and expressed his sadness for the loss of the crew which he knew well personally and spent the last minutes of their lives with.
Most sources close to the investigation seriously doubt it was related to the accident, but of course it's being investigated. Worst case scenario would perhaps imply that outside air temperature automatic measurement could be off or not working properly, but even that is unlikely.
Last edited by justme69; 23rd Aug 2008 at 06:44.