Posted: 3/1/2010 12:57:01 PM EDT
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This brand spanking new Airbus 340-600, the largest passenger airplane ever built, sits just outside 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 run-ups prior to delivery to Etihad Airways in Abu Dhabi. 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 take off, 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 $200 million brand-new Aircraft crashed into a blast barrier, totaling it.  The extent of injuries to the crew is unknown due to the news blackout in the major media in France and elsewhere.  Coverage of the story was deemed insulting to Muslim Arabs.  Finally, the photos are starting to leak out.  A French Airbus: $200 million dollars Untrained Arab Flight Crew: $300,000 Yearly Salary Unread Operating Manual: $300 aircraft meets retaining wall and the wall wins. PRICELESS!!! "that's why God gave them camels"! |
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having had to teach troops from that part of the world nothing surprises me! An ex- colleague who was a Royal Marine/helicopter flight instructor once related a tale of a Middle Eastern student who got it all wrong at 2000' and simply let go of the controls and sat back. Obliged to take over and after he had untangled it all and got them back right side up and at a sensible height, my Marine friend enquired as to WTF he thought he was doing. The reply was that if they were meant to live, Allah would save them........................ ....and it has only just occurred to me that under that philosophy, Allah is a Royal Marine...................... 
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having had to teach troops from that part of the world nothing surprises me! Puts me in mind of this............. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfSwS4OO51w |
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having had to teach troops from that part of the world nothing surprises me! Puts me in mind of this............. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfSwS4OO51w No even worse than that these guys have an idea of the aim of the lesson are actively taking part and show some hope of improvement 
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Sorry to spoil it,full power trial gone wrong. A French technician may have been involved as well. Can someone do the link and then tell me how to. http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2008/12/10/319969/violation-of-test-procedures-led-to-toulouse-a340-600.htm |
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"Surprise led the ground-test technician to focus on the braking system, so he did not think about reducing the engines' thrust," it adds. Only after the collision with the wall were the throttle levers retarded to the idle position.
A bit like all those Toyota stuck accelerator problems, shutting off the power always helps 
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"Surprise led the ground-test technician to focus on the braking system, so he did not think about reducing the engines' thrust," it adds. Only after the collision with the wall were the throttle levers retarded to the idle position. A bit like all those Toyota stuck accelerator problems, shutting off the power always helps Thats exactly I thought - especially in the case of the Highway Patrolman - one would have thought he would have just cut the engine ?? |