Date in year · 2008 · The 2000s

August 20, 2008

On August 20, 2008, spanair Flight 5022, from Madrid, Spain to Gran Canaria, skids off the runway and crashes at Barajas Airport. Of the 172 people on board, 146 die immediately, and eight more later die of injuries sustained in the crash. The year's #1 song was "Low" by Flo Rida featuring T-Pain. Hyein, Rio Ngumoha, Hudson Meek would arrive in the same year.

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Births

0

Deaths

4

Year

2008

2000s

Around 2008

The year in brief

2008 (MMVIII) was a leap year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 2008th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 8th year of the 3rd millennium and the 21st century, and the 9th year of the 2000s decade.

Read the full year of 2008 →

What happened

On August 20, 2008

  1. 2008 Spanair Flight 5022, from Madrid, Spain to Gran Canaria, skids off the runway and crashes at Barajas Airport. Of the 172 people on board, 146 die immediately, and eight more later die of injuries sustained in the crash.

    2008 aviation accident in Spain

    Spanair Flight 5022 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Barcelona–El Prat Airport to Gran Canaria Airport, Spain, with a stopover in Madrid–Barajas Airport that crashed just after take-off from runway 36L at Madrid-Barajas Airport at 14:24 CEST (12:24 UTC) on 20 August 2008. The aircraft was a McDonnell Douglas MD-82, registration EC-HFP. Of the 172 passengers and crew on board, 154 died and 18 survived.

Farewells

Died on August 20, 2008

Ed Freeman United States Army Medal of Honor recipient
Hua Guofeng Leader of China from 1976 to 1978
Stephanie Tubbs Jones American politician (1949–2008)
Gene Upshaw American football player and labor leader (1945–2008)

Elsewhere that year

Other moments from 2008

The class of 2008

Others born in 2008

Hyein 2008– South Korean singer
Rio Ngumoha 2008– English footballer
Hudson Meek 2008– American actor (died 2024)
Ella Gross 2008– American singer, model and actress
Ediz Gürel 2008– Turkish chess grandmaster
Rémi Himbert 2008– French footballer

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