When opportunities choose us

On August 20, 2008 an MD-82 airplane performing a JK5022 (Madrid-Las Palmas) flight has failed to take off from Madrid-Barajas airport, fell down and exploded. 154 of 172 passengers and crew members were killed. The further investigation has shown that the accident has been caused by a sequence of pilots’ and technicians’ mistakes. The fatal mistake, the one that actually was an immediate reason for the crash, was an attempt to take off with slats and flaps closed.

A very similar case (and happily, not a “very similar accident”) has happened in that very Spain a year before the Barajas crash. On June 5, 2007 an MD-83 airplane performing Lanzarote-Barcelona flight had been a subject for exactly the same bunch of staff mistakes, and also attempted to take off with closed flaps. Fortunately, there was a strong headwind; besides, the aircraft was slightly underloaded. Because of these two factors the machine succeeded in reaching the necessary lift that let it have avoided the JK5022 fate. The crew and the passengers had to experience several seconds of drastic 60 degrees right and left rolls though.


Generally, an aircraft taking off with its flaps closed does not have a chance to climb. That is, the passengers of MD-83 have been sentenced to death when they checked in to the flight in Lanzarote (or when they were booking the tickets, or ... who knows when exactly they’ve been, never mind). But the environment -- someone might wish to call it fortune, destiny, God, weather, closed system, whatever -- just has given them a minute opportunity to survive.

A good case to recall when you will be blaming the piercing wind that has blown your hat away.