THE TALE OF THE ARAB FLIGHT CREW

To The Point News ^ | May 16th, 2008 | To The Point News

[shield]

The brand spanking new Airbus 340-600, the largest passenger airplane ever built, sat in 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 runups, prior to delivery to Etihad Airways in Abu Dhabi. The date was November 15, 2007.

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.

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 $80 million brand-new aircraft crashed into a blast barrier, totaling it.

The extent of injuries to the crew is unknown, for there has been a news blackout in the major media in France and elsewhere. Coverage of the story was deemed insulting to Moslem Arabs. Finally, the photos are starting to leak out.

[shield]

Click the link for the pictures.

[neodad]

Allah Fubar!

[irishtenor]

Good grief, this is old news. I saw this about 4 months ago.

[irishtenor]

Now that’s funny!!!!!!

[ErnBatavia]

Allah Akbhar, or whatever they chant....

[doc1019]

Yesterday camels, today an Airbus … learning curve problems?

[txflake]

Not to us! Ha ha ha ha ha

[indcons]

“Muslims at Work” ping

[shield]

Yes, but Jack Wheeler’s website posted it today...and it’s an open article. I had not seen it and felt other’s may not have seen it either.

[Onelifetogive]

"That'll buff out..."

[MtnClimber]

The constituents of the left...THE STUPID!

[RouxStir]

Precisely why muslims should not have access to nukes.

[Vigilanteman]

I hope Airbus collected progress payments. I suppose they will have to kiss the final payment bye-bye.

[txflake]

You posted this ten minutes ago and:

THE TALE OF THE ARAB FLIGHT CREW
Friday, May 16, 2008 10:02:23 PM · by shield · 9 replies · 271+ views

That ratio has GOT to be a record.

[IrishCatholic]

Without a doubt the best caption this week!

[doc1019]

To heck with the naysayers. I thought it was extremely funny, and never caught it on its first go around. Thanks for posting. ;-)

[Bender2]

Karl Rove discovered it was to have been the A-Rabs gift to nObama as an election day replacement for that nasty, no good Air Force One.

Karl took care of it, once more proving you are a magnificent bastard!!!!

[wrench]

Damaged, yes. Totalled, no. It will be repaired and will fly one day, not cheap, though.

[woofie]

Hey it was only $

[Bender2]

Isn't “ETIHAD” the A-Rab word for “Friend of nObama?”

[pgkdan]

It’s news to me...hilarious too!

[HereInTheHeartland]

Lets back up and try that again

[txflake]

And it will have that irrating 3rd jet wobbling and shaking between 110-130mph forever. lol

[kalee]

ping

[B4Ranch]

I’ll vote that for Best Comment.

[MindBender26]

"Give me about 2000 gallons on each side and I'll be ready to go as soon as I file the flight plan"

[SW6906]

"Good grief, this is old news. I saw this about 4 months ago."

Yes, but at the time, it was attributed to an Airbus flight test crew, not the customer. And nothing was said about them being Arab idiots. This is new news.

[Cicero]

Funny, all right. The photos are classic.

[300winmag]

Ping for more info and pictures of that little Airbus “oopsie”. Not even AvLeak dared more than print the one picture, and there was no editorial commentary.

[Republican Party Reptile]

Although the thing is ... how do you know the crews are Arabs? Sure it’s an Arabian airline, but Abu Dhabi, heck, even counting the whole of UAE is so small that there aren’t enough qualified native flight crews. I have flown a number of times on both Emirate Airway as well as Etihed and the long hual cockpit crew (Captain + pilot + spare) on my flights have always been foreign hired hands - Brits, Aussies, Greek, Italian, the odd Russian, ... but so far no Arabs.

[txflake]

lyfao ping

[processing please hold]

I missed it four months ago.

Thanks for posting it, Shield. If someone had been in first class, they'd probably be dead. What maroons the flight crew are.

[Ramius]

I’m pretty sure I saw those pics a few months ago, but with a different story behind it.

[SW6906]

good point - most every crew I’ve flown with in Asia has been ex-pat.

[MindBender26]

So what are we talking here, $20, $30 of Bondo and an hour on the frame machine?

[The Spirit Of Allegiance]

The World’s Spookiest Weapons
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2017185/posts

...besides Flight 93.

[txflake]

Yeah, but you and your crew took off and/or landed!

lol

[hosepipe]

DOH!...

[cynwoody]

[Right Wing Assault]

It is Allah's will! Praised be his name!

Man was not meant to fly. Mohammed, praised be his name, did not have a plane so we muzzl'ems should not have planes either. Crash the planes, tool of the Jewish pigs and sons of the devil!

[Enterprise]

Don’t know if you’ve seen this one yet.

[Onelifetogive]

So what are we talking here, $20, $30 of Bondo and an hour on the frame machine?

And a new roll of pin stripe tape...

[Ramius]

If this is indeed the true story behind this... Gotta admit, it’s hysterical.

[cynwoody]

[Onelifetogive]

Damaged, yes. Totalled, no. It will be repaired and will fly one day, not cheap, though.

Damn...Better check the "Planefax" report...

[river rat]

That’s gonna be on hell of an expensive “mulligan”...

[Eric Blair 2084]

Just a tad unrelated..back in the 80’s the crack Egyptian special forces tried to rescue hostages aboard a flight that was hijacked by the PLO. Everyone died in a scorched earth blaze of gunfire.

The joke was...What’s worse than being hijacked by the PLO? Being rescued by the Egyptians.

[The Electrician]

Wonder what this switch does...

[river rat]

Perhaps sheetheads should stick to 7th century modes of transportation and leave the flying to the Crusaders....

[SW6906]

Just had to comment on this:

"The brand spanking new Airbus 340-600, the largest passenger airplane ever built"

Largest? Hardly. I believe the 747-400 is larger and the A380 is definitely larger. There are also many number of other aircraft that are larger......