MD-80 Kills Again

Madrid, Spain- Spanair Flight JK5022, an MD-82 en route to the Canary Islands with 175 souls on board crashed on take off from Madrid's airport. At last count there were 28 survivors.Initial reports state that the aircraft experienced a fire in its left engine. Having been unable to gain altitude, it crashed in the vicinity of the runway then broke up into at least two parts and was engulfed by the subsequent explosion. The plane had previously attempted and aborted its take off. After maintenance on the ground, further take-off roll was attempted, during which the mishap occurred.


The MD-80 series has done more to curb the population explosion since the invention of the fragmentation grenade. The MD-80 series has been involved in 57 mishaps,including 23 aircraft lost with 1,170 fatalities.

2008 has not been a good year for the MD-80 with numerous crashes, mishaps, in flight emergencies and groundings. If your planning to travel for the up coming holidays I seriously suggest you avoid the MD-80.

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Obama In Flight Emergency-Update

The FAA has released the cockpit recordings of the In Flight Emergency (IFE) of the MD-81 carrying Senator Obama on a flight out of Chicago.



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Text Message Saves Flight

Thursday, 7 August 2008

A quick-thinking air traffic controller's texting saved an aircraft with five people on board which had lost all communications and electrical power.

The Piper Seneca light aircraft had taken off from Kerry airport on a flight to Jersey last November when it had a complete electrical failure.

The pilot flew south to clear the coast and clouds and to see the ground. He tried to contact Kerry airport and air traffic control in Cork on his mobile phone. He briefly made contact with Cork, telling them about the problem.

He then received a text message on his mobile from the controller at Cork advising him that he was on radar and that Cork would allow the plane to land.

He followed the controller's instructions given by text. The undercarriage gear had to be lowered manually. The aircraft did a fly-by of the control tower so that controllers could check visually that the wheels were down.

The aircraft landed safely and an air accident investigation report published yesterday said the loss of all aircraft electrics during such a flight was considered very serious.

The report, by investigator John Hughes, praised the "positive and proactive " initiative of the air traffic controller who texted his instructions to the pilot.