Spanair accident in Madrid
Judge investigating Spanair crash turns to Interpol
El País on Saturday published details of the summary of the judge’s investigation into the Spanair accident at Barajas Airport in Madrid on August 20 which resulted in the death of 154 people.
The judge has turned to Interpol to supply the information which Spanair, Boeing and the Ministry for Development on the instructions and warnings over the airworthiness of the MD-82 craft given by the constructor.
The newspaper considers that the judge has centred his concerns on the TOWS alert system, which should detect any problems ahead of take off. The manual says that the system should be revised ahead of each take off, but it seems that Spanair was allegedly only doing so before the first flight of the day. Had it done so the judge considers the tragedy could have been avoided as the possible fault in the working of the flaps would have been found.