Three of the first 400M guests have suspended flights Sunday of the European military transport plane after a fatal accident in Seville, in southern Spain, where authorities have praised the courage of bystanders who identified two survivors.
Landing Attempt
The survivors, flight mechanic and an engineer, seriously injured were in stable condition Sunday, in two hospitals in Seville, according to sources hospital. The other four occupants of the aircraft, to be delivered to Turkey in July, died. All worked for Airbus Defence and Space, said the manufacturer.
The juggernaut crashed in a field north of the airport at 1:00 p.m. Saturday during a test flight after striking a power line, in an apparent attempt a crash landing.
heroic gesture
According to the president of the regional government of Andalusia, Seville is the capital of which, Susana Diaz, two farmers and a passerby rushed even before the arrival of the emergency services to help the flight mechanic and an engineer to come out of the steaming carcass of the machine.
The Spanish Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy , called “hero” One of these volunteers by posting on his twitter account a picture where he shook hands with the farmer identified only as “Manual” . Susana Diaz, quoted in the newspaper Diario de Sevilla, praised “the exemplary gesture of these citizens’
Suspension of flights, except in France
Germany, Britain and Turkey announced the suspension of flights to the A400M, pending the identified causes of the disaster. France, the largest customer for the A400, which already has six, has not grounded its aircraft.
“We have no evidence to force us to stop our A400 fleet “, said Colonel Jean-Pascal Breton, head of press service and the air force communication. The Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian then noted that only “priority flights” A400M would be made.
Malaysia, which took delivery of its first aircraft in March, has not yet announced his position. Twelve A400M’s currently in service.
Discussion Lorient
The accident was to be discussed at a meeting of French ministers, German, Polish, Italian and Spanish Defense gathered Sunday at Lorient in Brittany.
In addition to the manufacturer Airbus, which sent its specialists on site, the Spanish Guardia Civil has opened an investigation while the government formed a joint committee of the Ministries of Defence and Budget. Investigators can rely on black boxes of records from the A400M.
New hard blow
The accident is another blow for the aircraft which was to be a jewel European military cooperation but which accumulates the setbacks since the program began in 2003.
The A400M had to both meet the needs of air forces of the seven launch customers -Germany, Spain, UK, Belgium, Luxembourg and Turkey-and their manufacturers.
So, rather than buying a motor on the market, governments have insisted on making the engine by a European consortium EPI formed Snecma (Safran) the French, the British Rolls Royce, ITP of Spanish and German MTU, which according to Airbus, contributed to delays of four years.
Jet criticized
Already in 2010, Airbus had almost threw in the towel. Tom Enders, Airbus boss had threatened to abandon the program, if the launch countries did not agree to share the additional costs: € 6.2 billion, or 30% of the initial budget
<. p> Since the first deliveries, the A400M has been criticized by its customers, most recently by Germany.
Airbus had already apologized to Britain for delays, announced late January reorganization of its military aviation industry with the departure of its director, Domingo Ureña-Razor, replaced by another Spaniard, Fernando Alonso.
A total of 174 aircraft have been ordered to date, of which 50 for France, 53 for Germany, 27 for Spain and 22 for the United Kingdom.
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