Joe Sharkey At Large

The news accounts have settled on a figure of about 145 dead of about 175 on board that Spanair MD80-series plane that crashed today in Madrid.

Here’s a preliminary report on the plane and the accident from AviationSafety.net

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From the invaluable airline-safety Web site Airsafe.com, here is a list of crash fatalities on MD80 -series aircraft. Note the more recent incidents and similarities to what apparently occurred on an MD80 that went off the runway and broke up today in Madrid, with most reports now saying about 150 of the 175 on board were killed.

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From Airsafe.com:

Fatal McDonnell Douglas MD80 Events

Other McDonnell Douglas Models DC9, DC10, MD11, MD90

The following events are those involving at least one passenger death on an MD80 where the aircraft flight had a direct or indirect role. Excluded would be events where the only passengers killed were stowaways, hijackers, or saboteurs.

1. 1 December 1981; Inex Adria MD80; Ajaccio, Corsica: The aircraft collided with high ground in fog during approach. All eight crew and 170 passengers were killed.
2. 16 August 1987; Northwest MD82; Detroit, USA: The crew neglected to properly set flaps for takeoff. The aircraft stalled soon after takeoff and crashed onto a highway. All six crew and 148 of 149 passengers were killed. Two people on the ground were also killed.
3. 12 June 1988; Austral Lineas Aereas MD81; Posadas, Argentina: The aircraft crashed three miles (4.8 km) short of the airport during an approach in poor visibility All 15 passengers and seven crew were killed..
4. 26 October 1993; China Eastern MD82; Fuzhou, China: The aircraft touched down long during a rain storm and went off the end of the runway. Two of the 71 passengers were killed.
5. 13 November 1993; China Northern MD82; Urumqui, China: The aircraft crashed about 2 km short during an approach in dense fog. Eight of the 92 passengers and four of the eight crew were killed.
6. 6 July 1996; Delta MD88; Pensacola, FL: During the takeoff, the left engine sustained an uncontained failure, causing pieces of the engine to penetrate the cabin, killing two of the 137 passengers.
   NTSB Accident Summary
   NTSB Accident Report
7. 1 June 1999; American Airlines MD80; Little Rock, AR: The aircraft ran off the runway, broke up, and caught fire after a night landing. There were thunderstorms in the area at the time of the event. One of the six crewmembers and 10 of the 139 passengers were killed.
   NTSB Accident Summary
   NTSB Accident Report
   Related NTSB Investigation Information
8. 31 January 2000; Alaska Airlines MD83; near Pt. Mugu, CA: The aircraft was on a flight from Puerto Vallarta, Mexico to San Francisco when it crashed into the Pacific Ocean about 20 miles (32 km) northwest of the LAX airport. Reportedly, the aircraft was diverting to Los Angeles and started a rapid descent from about 17,000 feet. All 83 passengers and five crew members were killed.
   NTSB Accident Summary
   NTSB Accident Report
   Additional NTSB Background Information
9. 8 October 2001; SAS MD87; Milan Italy: The aircraft was taking off from Milan’s Linate airport for a flight to Copenhagen when it collided with a Cessna Citation on the fog-shrouded runway. The airliner then crashed into a nearby hanger and caught fire. There was no indication that this event was the result of a hijacking, sabotage, or other act of violence. All six crew members and 104 passengers on the airliner were killed, as were the four occupants of the business jet and four airport workers on the ground.
   Fatal events involving SAS
10. 7 May 2002; China Northern MD82; near Dalian, China: This was a scheduled domestic flight from Beijing to Dalian, China. The aircraft crashed about 20 km (12.5 mi) off the coast of Dalian after the crew reported a fire in the cabin. Investigating authorities claimed that the fire was deliberately started by one of the passengers. All nine crew members and 103 passengers were killed.
    Fatal Events for Airlines of Asia
    Fatal Events for Airlines of the PRC
11. 30 November 2004; LionAir MD82; Solo City, Indonesia: This was a scheduled domestic flight from Jakarta to Solo City, Indonesia. The aircraft skidded off the runway on landing after a flight from Jakarta. The aircraft broke up and came to rest about 100 meters from the runway. The runway was wet and the aircraft was experiencing tailwind during the landing. One of the seven crew members and 24 of the 156 passengers were killed.
    Fatal Events for Airlines of Asia
12. 16 August 2005; West Caribbean Airways MD82; near Machiques, Venezuela: The aircraft was on an international flight from Panama City, Panama to Martinique when the crew reported to air traffic control that the aircraft was experiencing some kind of engine problem and requested a descent from cruising altitude of 33,000 feet down to 14,000 feet. The crew later reported that both engines were experiencing problems and that the aircraft was not controllable. All eight crew members and 152 passengers were killed.
    Fatal Events for Airlines from Latin America and the Caribbean
13. 16 September 2007; One-Two-Go Airlines MD82; Phuket, Thailand: The aircraft was on a scheduled domestic flight from Bangkok (DMK) to Phuket (HKT). After landing, the aircraft skidded off the runway, impacted several trees, and caught fire. There was reportedly heavy rain and poor visibility at the time of the crash. There were at least 89 deaths, including 85 of the 123 passengers and five of the seven crew members.
    Fatal Events Involving Asian Airlines
14. 30 November 2007; Atlasjet MD83; near Keciborlu, Turkey: The plane was on a domestic flight from Istanbul to Isparta when it disappeared from radar screens. The crew had requested permission to land shortly before the aircraft crashed in mountainous terrain near the town of Keciborlu, about 12km (7.5 miles) from the Isparta airport. All seven crew members and 50 passengers were killed.

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… So what else is new, you might ask.

But no, really. Here’s a photo of Frank Schmuck, Southwest Airlines pilot and Air Force veteran, who is running for the state legislature in Arizona. The man would have my vote just based on the chutzpah of his campaign signs.

I was on a business trip in Phoenix recently and blinked twice when I saw the first VOTE SCHMUCK sign beside the road. My initial reaction was it was a rude, bad-attempt-at-humor good-government imperative, with an implied comma after the “Vote.” (I always bristled at the preternaturally annoying James Carvelle’s “It’s the Economy, Stupid” slogan)

“Team Schmuck” (I am not kidding — look) has complained that the opposition is responsible for the rash of disappearances of Schmuck campaign signs from public spots, but I suspect Team Schmuck is fully aware of the potential role of souvenir hunters.

Here is the quite serious bio of this particular political Schmuck, an engineer who notes that he has been referred as the “Father of rubberized asphalt.”

I mean, really, you gotta love Arizona.

–And on a different note, some political schmucks simply don’t know when to shut up and go to bed. Ralph Nader heard from.

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I’ve been unavoidably off the beat for a while, but I need to catch up on what seems to be increasing incidents of airline thuggery.

Here’s an IAGBlog blogcast interview of a 56-year-old Arizona woman who was harassed, threatened, cuffed, manhandled and arrested after she refused a totally out-of-line order by a JetBlue flight attendant to delete some video she had made on board a flight to Las Vegas. The reason for the flight attendant’s order to delete video: It might “end up online.” It’s a shocking report, and I don’t use that word shocking very often.

Kate Hanni, of the passenger rights coalition, is prominently urging passengers to make video recordings of untoward incidents on airplanes. I heartily endorse that idea, but beware: some crazed flight attendant might call the cops. And some half-cocked cops might barrel in and just make things worse, like the ones who responded like Keystone Kops to this ridiculous complaint when the plane landed in Las Vegas.

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