The captain aborted a previous takeoff attempt due to "excessive heating of an engine air intake" and the decision was taken to take off after consulting with the maintenance ground staff.

Spanair was finalising a plan to get rid of the older planes in their fleet, including some MD82s, but it is unclear whether the crashed plane (15 years old, 9 with Spanair) was going to be retired.

There are two young children with relatively light injuries, and a third one seriously injured. Of the 20 survivors one died yesterday and four remain in "very serious" condition.

A vivid image of what should exist acts as a surrogate for reality. Pursuit of the image then prevents pursuit of the reality -- John K. Galbraith