1972 Spantax Douglas DC-3 accident in Madrid
Douglas C-47B-1-DK · The 1972 accident of a Spantax Douglas DC-3 in Madrid occurred on 30 September 1972
From Adolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport (MAD) to Adolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport (MAD)
Event
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- Event fatalities
- 1 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- Unknown
- Survivors
- 5
- InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
- 5
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- Airline
Douglas C-47B-1-DK
- Aircraft type
- Douglas C-47
- Category
- Airplane · from aircraft type
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- EC-AQE
- Operator
- Spantax
- Onboard fatalities
- 1
- Route
- From Adolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport (MAD)To Adolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport (MAD)
Cause areas
- Personnel issues › Task performance
- Aircraft › Aircraft oper/perf/capability
From the investigation findings the Wikipedia article reports, sorted into the NTSB's cause areas with AI assistance.
Approximate · Estimated position: Adolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport, the airport the Wikipedia article names as the site. Where on or near it is not known.
From the Wikipedia article
The 1972 accident of a Spantax Douglas DC-3 in Madrid occurred on 30 September 1972. On that day, a Spantax Douglas C-47B-1-DK crashed immediately after takeoff due to a stall. One crew member was killed in the accident.
Accident sequence
On that day the aircraft was used for a training flight departing from and returning to Madrid-Barajas Airport. Immediately after takeoff a stall occurred; the aircraft lost altitude and crashed to the ground to the left of the runway. One of the pilots was killed; the other five occupants survived with various injuries.
Investigation and cause
Cause
It was established that the pilot in training, who had been the pilot flying at the time of the accident, had pulled abruptly on the control column during takeoff and thereby initiated the rotation prematurely. At that moment the aircraft was rolling down the runway at a speed of 65 to 70 knots. As a result, the aircraft was in an incorrect takeoff configuration and crashed to the ground after a stall.
Translated into English with AI assistance from the German Wikipedia article “Flugunfall einer Douglas DC-3 der Spantax in Madrid 1972” (revision 257127799, retrieved 2026-09-19) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out; the translation may contain errors, and long articles were cut to their first 700 words. Read the article
Sources
German Wikipedia article: Flugunfall einer Douglas DC-3 der Spantax in Madrid 1972
- Translation
- Into English with AI assistance; names of linked operators and aircraft types from Wikidata. It may contain errors.
- Revision
- 257127799 · 2025-06-17 · retrieved 2026-09-19
- Wikidata
- Q110368098
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
Where each value comes from
- Record
- de Wikipedia article "Flugunfall einer Douglas DC-3 der Spantax in Madrid 1972" (page 12046254, revision 257127799), translated into English with AI assistance
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- airport the Wikipedia infobox site links (Wikidata code, OurAirports)
- Aircraft, operator and route
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
- Operation
- Reviewed correction (2026-09-26): A Spantax airline DC-3 on a training flight at Madrid: an airline's own training flight. The article: "On that day the aircraft was used for a training flight departing from and returning to Madrid-Barajas Airport."
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- Summary
- Wikipedia article lead
Source notes (1)
- Wikipedia · Facts from the German Wikipedia article's infobox, translated into English with AI assistance, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.