Airbus crashes during training flight

ap ^ | 11/27/08 | ap

[Flavius]

PARIS – An Airbus A320 passenger plane crashed off the coast of southern France during a training flight Thursday, killing at least one of seven people on board, French authorities said.

The plane plunged into the Mediterranean sea 20 kilometers (12.5 miles) east of the French city of Perpignan, near the border with Spain, at around 4:30 p.m. local time (1530 GMT), according to a communications officer at the headquarters of the government representative in the region.

[acoulterfan]

http://www.airbus.com/en/presscentre/pressreleases/pressreleases_items/08_11_12_a320_air_arabia.html

[onedoug]

Computerized aircraft, you know. But what isn't these days? Is it possible these guys were playing around with the limitations?

Adonai, receive their souls.

[kms61]

Radio report said it was an Air New Zealand crew. Sounds like they were taking delivery of a new aircraft.

[vvpete]

There was an incident not long ago with an Air Arabia crew and a new Airbus in which they wrecked it on the ground by running it into the blast shield while doing a full-power test on the engines. It should be easy enough to Google....

[hiho hiho]

“they wrecked it on the ground by running it into the blast shield while doing a full-power test on the engines.”

Forgot to set the parking brake?

[omega4179]

that was described as an airbus crew doing a power test and they had to pay delay reparations to arabair.

[MyTwoCopperCoins]

THE TALE OF THE ARAB FLIGHT CREW

http://www.tothepointnews.com/content/view/3207/85/

Friday, 16 May 2008

The brand spanking new Airbus 340-600, the largest passenger airplane ever built, sat in its hangar in Toulouse, France without a single hour of airtime.  Enter the Arab flight crew of Abu Dhabi Aircraft Technologies (ADAT) to conduct pre-delivery tests on the ground, such as engine runups, prior to delivery to Etihad Airways in Abu Dhabi.  The date was November 15, 2007.

The ADAT crew taxied the A340-600 to the run-up area. Then they took all four engines to takeoff power with a virtually empty aircraft.  Not having read the run-up manuals, they had no clue just how light an empty A340-600 really is.

The takeoff warning horn was blaring away in the cockpit because they had all 4 engines at full power. The aircraft computers thought they were trying to takeoff but it had not been configured properly (flaps/slats, etc.) Then one of the ADAT crew decided to pull the circuit breaker on the Ground Proximity Sensor to silence the alarm.

This fools the aircraft into thinking it is in the air.

The computers automatically released all the brakes and set the aircraft rocketing forward. The ADAT crew had no idea that this is a safety feature so that pilots can't land with the brakes on.

Not one member of the seven-man Arab crew was smart enough to throttle back the engines from their max power setting, so the $80 million brand-new aircraft crashed into a blast barrier, totaling it.

The extent of injuries to the crew is unknown, for there has been a news blackout in the major media in France and elsewhere.  Coverage of the story was deemed insulting to Moslem Arabs.  Finally, the photos are starting to leak out.







 

 
 

[Uriah_lost]

To begin with, I think the author has the A340 confused with the A380.

[MyTwoCopperCoins]

The photos above are of the A340.

An A380 is this:

[Robert A Cook PE]

Airbus lost another aircraft in a training, display, airshow, or show-off flight?

Expensive lesson. Rare that so few are killed in an airliner crash, the survivors are blessed.

[steve86]

Looks like your incredible ground crash photos have disappeared. Arab intervention or just an overloaded server? I know where to find them elsewhere.

[MyTwoCopperCoins]

I guess it’s a server overload. Same stuff here too:

http://tmq2.wordpress.com/2008/07/27/arab-pilots-excell-at-flying-into-water-walls-and-buildings/

[skeeter]

Well whomever was in the nose of that thing is la morte.

[Loud Mime]

Aviation Week and Space Technology has been reporting that some of the Airbus aircraft have had control problems, resulting in wild rides before the pilots are able to regain control.

Anybody know more of this?

[steve86]

Same as pinning the throttle on your new Corvette while picking it up at the dealership and then letting off the brakes.

[Yorlik803]

The Test flight of FAIL was successful......

[Chinstrap61a]

Uhh - does this mean I won’t get my pilot’s license?

[Uriah_lost]

Yep, that’s why I was highlighting his claim that the A340 is the “largest passenger plane in the world”....

[A.A. Cunningham]

The author is talking physical dimensions not capacity.