I'm not suggesting that they can't fly in Abu Dhabi, but....
Tuesday, June 30, 2009 at 09:59 Be sure to go all the way to the bottom! Sign these guys up for flying lessons.
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 ( this scenario might have been different with a Boeing. You think?) but it had not been configured properly (flaps/slats, etc..) 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.
Coverage of the story was deemed insulting to Muslim Arabs. I don’t personally know where their religion comes into it, but it definitely might have been embarrassing.
Airbus $200 million aircraft meets retaining wall and the wall wins .
You just can’t fix stupid!