Spantax Flight 995 was an international charter flight from Madrid–Barajas Airport to New York via Málaga Airport. On 13 September 1982, when the DC-10 aircraft was rolling for take-off from Malaga, the pilot felt a strong and worsening vibration and aborted the take-off. The aircraft was unable to stop in the runway available and overran the runway, hitting numerous structures, crossing the nearby highway, collided with several vehicles before bursting into flames. A total of 50 people were killed in the accident.
Spanish investigators concluded that the crash was mainly caused by a faulty tire. A failure on one of the tires' treads created worsening vibration on the aircraft during the take-off roll. The crew decided to abort the take-off but due to the aircraft's speed at the time and the lack of remaining runway length, the aircraft eventually overran the runway and crashed. The decision to abort the take-off, however, was deemed as reasonable.
Aircraft The aircraft involved in the accident was a 5-year-old McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30CF. It was delivered to Overseas National Airways (ONA) on June 6, 1977. The aircraft was leased by Spantax in October 1978 and bought in December of that year. At the time of the accident the aircraft had 15,364 flight hours.
Passengers and crew The aircraft was carrying 381 passengers and 13 crew in two cabins of service. Among the 381 passengers were mostly American tourists, who had booked a trip around the Spanish coast. Officials from the United States confirmed that a total of 210 American tourists were on board, while the remainders were non-Americans. Among the non-Americans, a total of 165 Spaniards were on board, of whom 85 were U.S residents. A tour company from Canada stated that a total of 26 Canadians were booked on the flight. A Swiss national was also confirmed to be on board.
Among the passengers were Francisca Salazar and Natividad Cons, the sister-in-law and niece of then-President of Spanish flag-carrier Iberia, Francis Cons.
The captain was 55-year-old Juan Pérez, who had logged almost 16,129 flight hours, including 2,119 hours on the DC-10. The first officer was 33-year-old Carlos Ramírez, who had logged almost 6,489 flight hours, with 2,165 of them on the DC-10. The flight engineer was 33-year-old Teodoro Cabejas Barúque, who had logged 19,427 flight hours, including 2,116 on the DC-10.
Accident The flight had begun in Palma de Mallorca earlier in the morning, operating as Iberia Flight 4439 with 121 passengers, 13 crew members and an additional 4 Spantax employees, and made a routine stopover at Madrid–Barajas Airport. In Madrid, a total of 129 passengers boarded the aircraft, heading for Málaga as Spantax Flight 995. It arrived in Málaga at 08:20 local time. By this time, an undisclosed number of passengers had disembarked from the aircraft; however, a total of 251 additional passengers embarked on the flight. The aircraft was almost at full weight, with every seat in the aircraft being booked. The flight's final destination was New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport.
Crash At 09:58:50 local time, the aircraft was cleared for take-off on Runway 14. The flaps were set to 8 degrees, and the slats were extended. The throttles were fully pushed forward. Just seconds from reaching V1 (162 knots), passengers and crews began to feel vibrations on the aircraft. Both pilots were initially startled by the vibration but chose to continue the takeoff. After reaching VR (169 knots), the nose was pulled, and the vibrations started to get worse. At 175 knots, Captain Pérez, believing that he would lose all control of the aircraft if he continued, decided to abandon the take-off and pushed the nose down, slamming the aircraft's nose gear down and applied full reverse thrust and brakes.
As the aircraft rapidly approached the runway's end, Captain Pérez had to quickly switch his right hand from the control column to the throttle to apply the reversers. Unfortunately, during the panic, his right hand had slipped on the throttle for engine No.3, causing a slight thrust asymmetry as only the No.1 and No.2 engines were put into reverse. This eventually caused the aircraft to sway to the left. Knowing that there was not enough runway length to stop the aircraft, he ordered the engines to be shut down.
An audio-visual specialist at Pace University, Carlton Maloney, was recording audiotape during the take-off as part of a series of recordings of airplane takeoffs and landings. In the recording, passengers could be heard panicking and screaming as the aircraft started to lose control.
The aircraft eventually overshot the runway, striking multiple landing lights. Its engine No.3, which was located on the right wing, then slammed onto an ILS structure, causing it to detach from the wing. The aircraft then struck the airport's metal perimeter fence, passing over the Malaga-Torremolinos Highway and striking a truck and two cars, seriously injuring the truck driver. It eventually collided with a farm building with its right wing. The collision ripped off three quarters of the right wing and the right horizontal stabilizer, sparking the overwing fuel tanks and igniting a huge explosion.
The collision with the structures created gaping holes on the walls of the fuselage, specifically on the top part of the passenger compartment near the emergency door 4R. The holes enabled the fire to immediately enter the cabin, burning 8 people who were seated in the area to their deaths.
The aircraft eventually came to rest in a field about 450 m (1,475 feet) past the runway threshold.
Rescue operation As the aircraft came to a stop, heavy fumes and thick smoke immediately entered the cabin, and passengers quickly got up and rushed toward the exits. The aircraft had lost its electricity due to the severity of the crash, and thus the pilots could not send evacuation orders to the cabin crews. The cabin crews immediately ordered evacuation and tried to reach the megaphones to address and guide the passengers; however, due to their difficult-to-reach location, they opted to quickly attend to the passengers.
There were three cabins inside the aircraft: The forward cabin, the middle and the aft cabin. Due to the destruction of the right wing and the subsequent explosion and flames, evacuation through the exits on the right side were not safe, so passengers were quickly ordered to leave the aircraft through the left side. The evacuation was chaotic, with passengers being trampled and seats were jumped over. In the forward and middle cabin, evacuation of the passengers was hampered as many passengers decided to take their bags with them. Some of them tried to open the overhead cabins to retrieve their belongings, causing a significant jam. The flight attendants in the forward and middle cabin managed to open three emergency doors, which were door number 1R, 1L and 2L.
Emergency door number 2R, which was located on the right side of the middle cabin, was initially not used since the flight attendant stationed nearby saw fires near the door, thus concluded that it was not safe for evacuation and opted to guide the passengers to the left emergency door. A passenger eventually decided to open it, and a total of 4 passengers evacuated through the exit. Due to the door being opened, fire eventually managed to enter the middle cabin.
Meanwhile, in the aft cabin, passengers were panicking as fire from the outside managed to enter the cabin through the holes and gaps and ignited the seats, causing further panic among the passengers. Thick smoke and fumes limited visibility, creating more difficulty in the evacuation. The cabin was also the most heavily occupied area, and since the impact had caused deformities on two of the four available exits, this created a heavy jam within the corridors. Three flight attendants seated at the back of the aircraft had tried to open the emergency doors number 4R and 4L; however, both doors were unable to be opened, likely due to them being deformed. The three attendants were quickly overcome by smoke.
As there was only one emergency exit that could be used by the passengers who were seated at the aft cabin, which was emergency door number 3L, a huge traffic jam occurred on the left corridor of the cabin. Many passengers had also tried to take their personal belongings before leaving the aircraft, further causing jam. Cabin separators had also caused the passengers to not know that there were other exits that could be used, causing passengers to still be heavily distributed on the single, emergency door number 3L. The fumes eventually incapacitated dozens of passengers.
Rescue services eventually arrived in less than 5 minutes. Apparently, one of the ATC workers had prepared to raise the alarm following the aircraft's botched take-off roll. Personnel from Malaga Air Base were also quickly deployed after noticing that the aircraft had overrun the runway. The first to arrive was the Spanish Air Force, followed by medical personnel from the airport. The Civil Guard, the National Police, the Red Cross were also involved in the rescue operation. According to the survivors, the first firefighter arrived around 30 minutes after the crash. Rescue services initially had difficulty accessing the crash site due to the traffic jam in the highway.
During the evacuation, the tanks began to explode as the remaining fuel had ignited. Some of the passengers had tried to help the evacuation and rescue operation. According to a recount from one of the rescue services, one of the passengers had managed to evacuate 10 fellow passengers from the aircraft before an explosion occurred. That same passenger was later found to be dead.
The surviving passengers were taken to the airport's terminal, where they were assessed for injuries. A total of 116 people were taken care of by medics on the airport's sick bay, while 49 passengers were transported to Malaga Carlos Haya Hospital for further treatment. Overall, a total of 110 people had sustained injuries. At least 13 passengers were treated in the ICU and were deemed to be in critical condition. Due to the slow evacuation, 42 people died of smoke inhalation. The bodies of those who died mostly were found at the aft cabin, particularly near the rear.
Response
Immediately after the accident, the civil governor of Malaga, José Estévez Méndez, visited the site and directed the search and rescue efforts. Later in the afternoon, multiple high-ranking Spanish officials arrived at the airport, including then-Spanish Minister of Transport, Tourism, and Communications, Luis Gámir; President of Andalusia Rafael Escuredo; and Spanish Prime Minister Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo. At the airport, Gámir announced that they were investigating all possible theories during a press conference. He later added the updated figures of the death toll, including those who were still listed as missing. Malaga's mayor, Pedro Aparicio, stated that they would provide everything for the care of the injured passengers.
In response to the crash, calls for blood donations were issued throughout Malaga. All hospitals were notified, and thousands of residents of Malaga lined up towards donation centers to donate their blood. Hotels across the city were used for temporary accommodation for the survivors and relatives of the victims.
During the salvage operation, the Spanish Civil Guard managed to recover two and a half million pesetas from a double-deck suitcase from the wreckage. The discovery might have pointed to a currency theft, as at the time of the crash only 800 pesetas were allowed to be brought out from Spain.