Enter
the 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
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 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 ADAT.
The
photos are starting to leak
out.
Airbus
$200,000,000.00
Nice. | 
