Spantax Flight 995

Infobox Airliner accident|name=Spantax Flight 995
Date=13 September 1982
Type=Aborted take-off
Site=Malaga Airport
Fatalities=50
Injuries= 110
Aircraft Type=Douglas DC-10-30
Operator=Spantax
Tail Number=EC-DEG
Passengers=294
Crew=10
Survivors =244

Spantax Flight 995 was a charter flight from Malaga Airport to New York. When the aircraft was rolling for take-off the pilot felt a strong vibration and aborted the take-off. The flightcrew lost control of the aircraft and were unable to stop in the runway available and the aircraft overran the runaway, hit an airfield aerial installation losing an engine then crossed the Malaga-Torremolinos Highway hitting a number of vehicles before hitting a railway embankment and burst into flames. An emergency evacuation of the aircraft was carried out but 50 on board died of both burns and other injuries. A further 110 persons were admitted to hospital.

The cause of the accident was the detachment of fragments from a recapped tread on the right wheel of the nose gear, this created a strong vibration. The pilot not knowing the cause of the vibration aborted the takeoff even though he was passed the Vr speed (the speed of rotation). The pilot did not follow standard procedures but it was considered reasonable under the abnormal circumstances. It was noted that pilot training only covered engine failures on take-off and there was a lack of training on wheel failures. [UK CAA Document CAA 429 World Airline Accident Summary (ICAO Summary 1985-5)]

Passenger Carlton Maloney - an audio-visual specialist at Pace University - was recording audiotape during the accident as part of a series of recordings of airplane takeoffs and landings. As it became clear that something was going wrong, he began to report on the incident and its immediate aftermath. [cite news
title = A Grisly Triptych of Disasters
url = http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,925742-1,00.html
work = TIME MAGAZINE
date = 1982-09-27
accessdate= 2008-07-30 ] [cite episode
title = Steve Dahl on WJMK discusses the accident and the Carlton Maloney audio (2:20 and 28:08).
work = Steve Dahl Show Podcast - 07/30/2008 hour 4
url = http://podcast.iknowjack.com/wckg2/1237990.mp3
series = Steve Dahl Show
station = WJMK
city = Chicago
airdate = 2008-07-30
date = 2008-07-30
accessdate = 2008-07-30
transcripturl = http://www.dahl.com/show_logs/2008/07/30.asp ]

References

External links

* [http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19820913-0&lang=en Aviation Safety Network]