10:19pm UK, Thursday October 09, 2008

A plane which crashed at Madrid airport last month, killing 154 people, had faulty wing flaps and a warning system that failed to sound, an initial report into the crash has found.

An automated voice warned “stall, stall, stall” in the cockpit of Spanair flight JK5022 to Las Palmas moments before it climbed 40 feet into the air and then flopped back down onto its tail and careered off the runway.

The McDonnell Douglas MD-82, loaded with 10,130 litres of fuel, shot across half a mile of scrub before falling into a small ravine and bursting into flames, said the report, published on the Transport Ministry’s website.

Only 18 passengers survived the accident, Spain’s worst aviation disaster since 1983.

Data from the plane’s black box flight recorder showed that the flaps were flat and not pointed down to give the plane lift. The Civil Aviation Accident Investigation Commission adds that slats at the front of the wing not deployed, either.

Despite this, the take-off warning system failed to ring, which might have given pilots time to abort the takeoff. It added that both engines appeared to be working normally.

The 12-page report said investigators would conduct exhaustive tests on wreckage recovered from the crash while they continue analysing flight data.

The MD-82 jet arrived in Madrid’s Barajas airport from Barcelona at 10:13 a.m. and was preparing to fly on to Las Palmas in the Canary Islands when the pilots informed the flight tower of a problem and taxied back to hangar.

The plane returned to the terminal where technicians found overheating in a gauge and removed a fuse from the circuit.

After temperature returned to normal the plane taxied back to the runway, before the attempted take off at 14:23.