Airbus remains committed to A400M (Military Transpost) despite crash

BBC ^ | May 11, 2015 | Staff

[C19fan]

Four airbus employees were killed and two seriously injured when an A400M plane crashed on a test flight. Shares in the aerospace and defence firm have fallen 4.5% in Paris to €60.54. All A400M aircraft have been grounded but Airbus says it will press ahead with a test flight on Tuesday. In a letter to staff seen by the Reuters news agency, Tom Enders said testing would go ahead as planned to "demonstrate to our customers, the air forces, that we fully trust this great transport plane and are as committed to the programme and the further ramp-up of deliveries and capabilities as ever". Mr Enders asked staff to observe a minute's silence at midday for the two test pilots and two engineers who lost their lives on Saturday. The A400M was developed at a cost of €20bn ($22.3bn; £14.5bn) to give Europe's NATO partner independent access to heavy aircraft for military and humanitarian operations.

[C19fan]

The A400M has been plagues by delays and massive cost overruns and now this crash. Would of saved a lot of money by buying C-17s or the new C-130 Super Hercules.

[Tijeras_Slim]

I could swear I saw one of these today at Kirtland AFB in Albuquerque. It looked like a C17 with 4 turboprop engines.

[onedoug]

Stealth airlifter.

[Blood of Tyrants]

Sure does.