I have no idea if there is any truth to the stories behind the pics but the pics are impressive.
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 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. Thecomputers 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 flight 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.
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 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. Thecomputers 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 flight 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.