Well, I think that what MPH means is that, from the point of view of the pilots, they (and the engineers) thought the problem had been "fixed", at least well enough to sign the airplane fit to fly that flight.
Gracias como siempre -69, yes that could be a "human kind of thinking/trusting".
I think most of us has been there; experienced on the type, many years in the company, knowing the maintenance guys and girls etc etc.
I have flown in spain as well and still working here, and enjoying it, BUT I have been in situations e.g I had to tell the Maintenance-guy/girl not to reset the computer but to read-out the code what triggered the malfunction....
This was on a turbo-prop, which is/can be much more foregiving. But this should not be a difference!
One day a (maintenance)-person told me; I rather work on a jet (not getting my hands dirty) then on a "prop-thing", (working in the engine, prop, oil etc etc)
In Madrid Barajas airport you cannot be relaxed while taxi out time is not less than 20 min, ground times are really shorts, particulary, when the airplane is full of pax and finally, your rotation is very tight.
Also true, its not funny to get your airway and startup clearance sometimes, blocked frequencies, long taxi routings etc etc.
And than Your company is asking you your delays??
You kind of feel pushed, its up to us to determine what is safe and what is not (how many of our spanish collegues are out of a job, as we speak?)
IF (and clearly this is still the subject of the investigation) the crew indeed forgot to set the slats/flaps, then this is the prime and only direct cause of the accident. Setting flaps is a part of basic airmanship, no doubt the investigation will heavily focus on the particular and systemic causes for the crew to have made such a gross error.
Fully agree, all what happened before MAY have been a contributing factor, but if investigated and they "forgot" the flaps..........
I remember 2 accidents in BCN last year, i think.
1. A contracted (no spanish registration) turbo-prop landed nose-gear-up in bcn.
2. Whithin 24 hours a "little"-jet (spanish registration) landed completely gear-up in bcn
In case of nr.1 a fully initial report is available (in no time) via the spanish DGAC.
In case of nr.2 some initial fact are known, while most of the spanish aviation-community knows that, "due to circumstances", they simply forgot to lower the gear.
I was told, case nr 1 was handled professional, pax informed, atc informed etc etc.
This was not the case in the nr.2
I donīt know, but I feel a little "protecting our own market"-thing in spain.
No, I didnīt use the words "cover-up".
But, its just an observation, which I hope will not happen in the spanair-case; "let the true but nothing than the true" come out.