Pilots License from a Kellogg's Cereal Box

Image via Wikipedia

This story has been around for a while about one of those  embarrassing moments any of us may find ourselves in. Anyone who fly's a new Airbus 340-600 that is!!

For someone who has trouble even playing with the flight simulator game on my computer, I can related to what may have happened here. And I an not surprised this test crew involved  found the job a bit awkward.

I am also so glad they could afford the mistake.

Here is the story:

An Abu Dhabi Aircraft Technologies (ADAT) flight crew on November 15, 2007 conducted pre-delivery tests on the ground, such as engine run-ups, prior to delivery to Etihad Airways in Abu Dhabi. The ADAT crew taxied to the run-up area. Then they took all four engines to takeoff power with a virtually empty aircraft.

This brand spanking new Airbus 340-600, the largest passenger airplane ever built, sits just outside it's hangar in Toulouse, France,  without a single hour of airtime on the clock....

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 take-off 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 and ........... oops

The crew did not know this is a safety features that pilots can't land with the brakes on. 

so the $200 million brand-new aircraft crashed into a blast barrier, totaling it.

The extent of injuries to the crew is was not known as the news was was not made too public.

But finally, the photos started to leak out.

That the £200 million aircraft went to the the wall.

The secret is safe as I told al my email friends not to tell anyone