Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Airbus alert its customers about a possible problem with the engines … – Le Figaro

The manufacturer asks operators of the unit “to carry out checks’ electronic engine management system. Without establishing a link between this potential problem and the crash in Seville on 9 May.

Airbus Defence and Space (Airbus DS) transmitted a warning note to clients of its military transport aircraft A400M, demanding controls the electronic engine management system, after the crash of one of these devices that killed four people on May 9 in Seville, southern Spain.

This warning notes “asks operators to perform specific and regular checks of the ECU (electronic control unit, ed) on each aircraft engine before flight and perform additional checks after possible replacement engine or the ECU, “says Airbus DS in a statement.

According to an expert of the sector, quoted by AFP, this could result in loss of control of engine power. “To avoid any potential risk when flying ahead, Airbus DS informed the operators of the actions necessary to perform,” said the manufacturer. But Airbus has not established a link between this problem and the potential A400M accident in Spain, a plane was on a test flight before delivery to Turkey which was scheduled in July.

The note issued by the group “resulting internal analyzes Airbus DS and is part of its ongoing airworthiness, regardless of the official investigation underway,” the company said. “The information has also been sent immediately to the authorities responsible for the investigation” in Spain. The survey is conducted by Spanish military authorities, specifically by the Commission of technical survey of military aircraft accidents (CITAAM) which will present its findings to the investigating judge hearing the case.

At the Following the accident, besides the two dead pilots and engineers, also has two serious injuries, Germany, Britain, Turkey and Malaysia have suspended flights of aircraft in service. Last week, Airbus scored its confidence in the military transport plane by repeating the test with a flight from Toulouse to Sevilla from Tuesday, May 12, three days after the accident. The group announced yesterday that he maintained his testing program and the boss of Airbus Military Fernando Alonso, former director of flight tests at Airbus civil aircraft, was on board the flight test.

The latter was appointed in January to head the military aircraft program in a period of turbulence. For several months, the A400M wiped sharp criticism from its customers. At issue in particular delivery delays and technical problems. The crash and this alert shed new cold on this program, whose cost now reached almost 28 billion euros. 8 billion more than initially expected.

The final assembly line of the A400M is Seville. Twenty cameras are there now. A total of 174 A400M aircraft have been ordered by eight countries: Germany, France, Spain, UK, Belgium, Luxembourg, Turkey and Malaysia. Only twelve are in service today.

(with agencies)

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