MADRID, Spain — Spain’s top aviation official said Friday that a glitch in an air temperature gauge that forced a Madrid jetliner to abandon its first takeoff attempt an hour before it crashed should be closely examined to see whether it contributed to the accident.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Civil Aviation chief Manuel Bautista said a combination of failures — either technical, human or both — likely caused the crash Wednesday, which killed 153 people, many of them children and families on vacation. Nineteen people survived.
Aviation experts have described the air-gauge problem as a minor thing unlikely to have caused the crash. But Bautista would not rule out a link, saying it depends on what else was happening to the jet.
The glitch occurred while the jet was taxiing on its first takeoff attempt, causing the pilot to turn the plane around. After technicians were brought in to take a look, the gauge was essentially turned off, which is an accepted procedure, and the plane was cleared for takeoff. It crashed on the second attempt at takeoff.
Newspapers say some eyewitnesses reported seeing fire in one of the plane’s two engines shortly before it crashed. Bautista said that — even if true — a single engine’s failure alone would not have been enough to bring down a modern aircraft.
Rescuers told heartbreaking stories.
Firefighter Francisco Martinez told of Amalia Filloy, a mother severely injured in the crash, who insisted that rescuers pull her 11-year-old daughter Maria out first. The woman died, along with an older daughter, but Maria and her father survived.
Martinez rescued one of two little boys who survived the crash. “He asked if what was happening was for real,” he said. “He thought it was a movie.”
