45 dead as jet swerves off Madrid airport runway

[granlistillo]

On the MD-82, the only hydraulic controls the aircraft has is a hydraulically boosted (not necessarily controlled) rudder and flight/ground spoilers. Argh, I should know this stuff off of the top of my head having flown it for a billion years, but I think I'm going to have to resort to my manuals again... Whereeverinthehell those things are.

Then it would seem that they would have redundant cable runs, and it would take a really bad uncontained failure to take out the rudder since it could lose all hydraulics and still be operated in a degraded mode.

According to this report sources inside the Aviacion Civil (Spanish FAA) are "discarding pilot error" because pilot error can only be if they havent followed the emergency procedure and if the Rudder or right engine was damaged that there doesnt exist an emergency procedure. The working hypothesis that the left engine took out either the right engine or the Rudder.
http://www.diariodemallorca.es/secc...a-Spanair-niega-avion-cayera-averia-detectada