About 150 died while taking off in Madrid

A Spanair flight crashed shortly after take off this morning, resulting in a horrific mess and nearly 150 dead so far. The flight was carrying 175 passengers to the Spanish Canary Islands, off the West African coast. The struggling airline already had to cancel 3,300 flights earlier this year due to a maintenance problem with its fleet.

Barajas International Airport in Madrid is the fourth-busiest in Europe. The same airport was the location of the 30 December 2006 carpark bombing that left two Ecuadorians dead[a day or so before I came back to the US via Barajas].

An airplane accident of this magnitude hasn't been seen in quite a while and it's a stunning reminder of that, while incredibly rare in the airline industry, when todo va a mierda, va por seguro.