Did malware cause Spanair’s McDonnell Douglas DC-9-82 (MD-82) EC-HFP to crash?http://worldairlinenews.wordpress.com/2010/08/22/did-malware-cause-spanairs-mcdonnell-douglas-dc-9-82-md-82-ec-hfp-to-crash/Posted by: brucedrum | August 22, 2010
Spanair’s (Barcelona) flight JKK 5022 on August 20, 2008 operating from Madrid to Gran Canaria, crashed on takeoff. The airliner veered off to the right and into the ground while climbing immediately after lifting off from runway 36L at 1445 local time. The McDonnell Douglas DC-9-82 MD-82 with the registration of EC-HFP (msn 53148) was carrying 162 passengers and 10 crew. In the accident 154 people were killed, two were seriously injured and 12 were slightly injured.
The on-going investigation has discovered the central computer system used to monitor technical problems in the aircraft was infected with malware.According to the linked article, an internal report issued by Spanair revealed the infected computer failed to detect three technical problems with the aircraft, which if detected, may have prevented the plane from taking off, according to reports in the Spanish newspaper, El Pais.
