The criminal case of the fatal air accident that occurred on the 20th of August 2008 at Madrid’s airport, Baraja, which resulted in the deaths of 154 people when the aircraft failed to take off, has finally reached its conclusion.

The tribunal considers that the two ground mechanics that disconnected the heat sensor were not to blame for the accident. Instead the tribunal considers that the pilot and co-pilot, both of whom perished, were responsible for the crash, because they had carried out ‘sloppy pre-flght checks’ and had tried to take off with the flaps and slats inactivated – an impossible task.

The civil cases against the now defunct airline, Spanair, and its insurance companies, brought about by survivors and the families of the deceased, continue, however.

What the law tribunal did not clear up – a very controversial point – was why the alarm system (TOWS) did not alert the crew to the danger that all control surfaces were not in the correct configuration for a take off? Only the pilots could definitively answer this question, which, of course, is now impossible.

(News: Madrid, Spain)