LONDON (Dow Jones) -- It will be months before the investigation determines exactly what caused a Spanair flight to crash at Madrid's international airport on Wednesday, killing 153 people aboard, but the impact of the accident on the airline and the aircraft type could be felt sooner, industry observers said.
In one of the deadliest European commercial jet accidents of the decade, Spanair flight 5022 caught fire shortly after takeoff and crashed just meters from the end of the runway at Barajas airport in Madrid. The plane was full of Spanish holidaymakers headed to the Canary Islands.
Although the details of the chain of events that led to the crash were still sketchy Friday, as investigators continued to sift through the remains of the aircraft a rough picture emerged.
The plane, originally scheduled to take off at 1 p.m., aborted its first attempt and returned to its stand after the pilots noticed a temperature gauge signaling that overheated air was entering the jet liner. Technicians corrected the problem and the plane was eventually cleared to try and take off again, Spanair said. It crashed at 2.45 p.m. and burnt to pieces.
