Even an engine fire should not have been fatal to a commercial jet, aviation experts said yesterday.

When the left engine of an American Airlines MD82 caught fire soon after take-off from St Louis, Missouri, last September – in an incident that appears to be very similar to yesterday’s crash – the pilots were able to turn the aircraft round and land without any injuries.

Human error or a series of mechanical failures are the most likely causes of the carnage on board Flight JK5022. One theory is that other flight systems were damaged by debris from the burning engine puncturing the fuselage.

The McDonnell Douglas MD80 series had experienced a difficult year before yesterday’s disaster. In April American Airlines grounded its fleet of MD80s after fears of electrical faults. Last month the Federal Aviation Administration ordered the entire US fleet inspected for potential cracking on overwing frames.

David Learmount, safety editor of Flight International magazine, insisted that the crash in Madrid would have nothing to do with the safety record of this model of aircraft. He suggested that human error was a more likely cause.

“If the crew had the aeroplane under control, it would not have happened. Aeroplanes are not allowed to fly unless they have a good safety record,” he said. Even if one engine failed during take-off, aircraft such as the MD80 would be able to get air-borne and then land safely, Mr Learmount said. “So the question is, what else did they have to contend with?”

Spanair does not have a history of safety problems, he added. “Western European airlines just don’t have bad safety records.”

The MD80, originally built by McDonnell Douglas, is now part of the Boeing fleet. It is a medium-haul aircraft often used for flights within Europe and has a seating capacity of up to 172 passengers and crew.

Spanair said that the aircraft involved in yesterday’s accident was an EC-HFP, a former Korean Air MD82 that flew for the first time in 1993.

Spanish media reports have suggested that the left engine caught fire as the plane tried to take off but Mr Learmount said: “If that was all that happened the pilots would have shut the engine down and put it out. Even if they had been flying at the time, they could have landed safely.

“A simple engine failure would not have done this. There must have been something else as well. Every six months pilots retrain and they practise an engine failure. It’s the one event that they get more training in than any other.”

Even the failure of both engines of a big jet need not necessarily lead to disaster. When both engines failed on a British Airways Boeing 777 coming in to land at Heathrow in January, the pilots were able to perform an emergency landing that led to only minor injuries, most of which were sustained during the evacuation of the aircraft.

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