How Stupid Can You Get?

[Crossy]

How stupid can you get? Well, this Arab flight crew will show you. Hard to believe the French just handed them the keys and let them go at it. Photos show total destruction of a $200 million aircraft, brand new off the assembly line. And check out the French reaction to this.

- - - - - -

THE TALE OF THE ARAB FLIGHT CREW

Written by: To The Point News

Friday, 16 May 2008

The brand spanking new Airbus 340-600 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 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 $200 million brand-new aircraft crashed into a blast barrier, totalling 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. Airbus $200 million aircraft meets retaining wall and the wall wins....

[Pushit]

IMMSHALLAH

[Crossy]

This site suggests that there is at least a modicum of truth in this report http://www.aviation.com/safety/071116-etih...0-incident.html

And the actual Airbus press release http://www.airbus.com/en/presscentre/press...s_facility.html

Edited August 4, 2008 by Crossy

[lampard10]

Another incident like that happened at RAF Lynham years ago. Report below.

I well remember the Wg Cdr Spry version of Wg Cdr Walter Holden's ‘flight’ without canopy or flying equipment when, on testing the engines at the end of the runway at Lyneham, he found himself in full reheat and airborne. Managing to control what must have been a very difficult aircraft to fly in that configuration and after four attempts, he put it down safely with only slight damage to the tail end. The aircraft, XM135, is a Mk1 - the first Lightning to go into service. Its proud record before retirement following its last flight into the Imperial War Museum at Duxford on 24 November 1974 was 1,634 flights. I wonder whether they included Wg Cdr Holden's trip?

The wing Commander in this story was Court Marshalled I believe and also got a green endorsment ( Exeptional flying skills)

[bachelor]

How many other trips had they done before this ??