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MADRID - Technicians fixed an air intake fault on a Spanair jet just before it crashed in Madrid, the airline said Thursday, but there was no indication it was linked to the accident, the cause of which remained unclear.
A total of 153 people were killed and 19 injured when the MD 82 plane crashed during takeoff at Madrid's airport on Wednesday on a Canary Islands-bound flight.
The jet was about 50 metres (160 feet) off the ground when it veered to the right of the runway before breaking up in flames, Transport Minister Magdalena Alvarez said.
Witnesses have said the left engine was on fire during takeoff, but experts said that was not enough to explain the accident.
The airline Thursday said the plane had taxied to the runway once, before turning back because the pilot had indicated a fault.
"Before the tragic flight, the captain turned back to the gate...reporting a problem with the heating system in an air intake" valve located under a window in the cockpit, Spanair's deputy managing director Javier Mendoza said.
"The heating problem was treated and corrected by Spanair maintenance personnel. The fault was isolated and the aircraft dispatched for flight within
the set standards of maintenance manuals," he told a news conference.
Chris Yates, aviation analyst with security information group Jane's, said investigators face "a conundrum that may take a significant length of time to unravel."
"The single reasonably hard fact to emerge from this catastrophe is that the left-hand engine appears to have caught fire as the aircraft made its take-off roll."
"Aircraft engine fires are mercifully rare and their cause is inevitably the subject of much speculation."
Investigators will have to examine "both internal and external forces that could have prompted the fire and events that occurred immediately following ignition that could have exacerbated the substantial loss of life."
The Spanish press Thursday criticised the airline over the disaster, with one newspaper blaming financial problems and cutbacks at Spanair for the tragedy.
"The crisis at Spanair led to a tragedy with 153 dead," said El Mundo's front page.
In an editorial headlined "Fateful coincidence or criminal negligence?" it said "the technical inspection by Spanair could have committed a fatal error."
The ground staff had given the go ahead for takeoff after the pilot had returned to the terminal once because of a technical problem.
"The (Spanair) pilots had denounced the long days they had to put in stretching their limits to the full, the punishing hours and the fact that the cabin crew were acutely shortstaffed ... during intense traffic in August," it said.
Asked by national radio whether the company may be negligent, Alvarez said "I dare not say that."
Spanair managing director Marcus Hedblom defended the airline, saying that "everything we did with the aircraft was by the rules or regulations.
"We will have to wait for the investigation ... to understand exactly what happened, the complete events and the reason for the accident. We will have to be patient."
Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero promised an "exhaustive, rigorous and total investigation" by an independent commission.
The McDonnell Douglas 82 is a short-to-long haul aircraft of an old design that is still widely used throughout the world.
The plane involved in Wednesday's accident was built 15 years ago, not a particularly long time for a civilian aircraft, and was overhauled early this year, Spanair said.
The Boeing company, which took over McDonnell Douglas in 1997 and handles maintenance for the MD 82, said it is ready to help in any way it can.
- AFP /ls
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