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What: Spanair Airbus A321-200 en route from Las Palmas to Madrid
Where: Las Palmas
When: Aug 19 2010
Who: 194 people on board
Why: After take off, the flight was underway when the engine made a big bang, and an engine began sparking. The pilot shut down the engine and returned to Las Palmas where they made a safe landing. A replacement jet was provided.

George’s Point of View

It was good to hear the Spanair jet made it back to Las Palmas safely. I could not help but be reminded of Spanair flight JK 5022, which crashed with 172 aboard.

Although the CIAIAC, the Civil Aviation Accidents and Incidents Investigation Commission, published their opinion on 6 October 2010, the final conclusion did not discuss why the alarm did not go off for its abnormal takeoff configuration, why one thrust reverser was deployed and other abnormal and/or pre-existing abnormalities. A cause of that incident may have been Trojans in Spanair’s central computer. La computadora no operaba correctamente por unos programas ‘troyanos’.

For the 194 aboard the Las Palmas flight, they at least had a safe landing. Not so for the 172 victims of Spanair flight JK 5022.