Winnerhofer
Just to be absolutely clear: The flight in question was crewed, and always would be crewed, by ADS personnel exclusively. The fact that all the crew were Spanish nationals is not surprising, seeing that the majority of personnel in ADS Flight Operations are Spanish. On any other day, it could have been a mix of nationalities, depending on who was available on the day - it was the luck of the draw.
To suggest, (if my schoolboy French is correct) that your 'friend' had the opportunity to fly on the fateful flight, and refused, is disingenuous in the extreme, and is grossly disrespectful to those professionals who perished doing their job. In over 6 years working in ADS Flight Operations I have never heard of, or indeed encountered, any Commandant being 'seconded' to ADS or for that matter, Airbus. ALL ADS and Airbus Flight Test crews are full time employees of both companies. For your information, I have flown with customer crew members of all nationalities during various tests and flight trials, and I can assuredly say that your views would be met with incredulous disbelief by those same people.
If you have issues with the A400M, then as others have suggested, please take your narrow minded ramblings elsewhere. This is neither the time, nor indeed the place for such smug grandstanding. If necessary, in the spirit of free speech, start another thread but please stop posting here.
Last edited by Trumpet_trousers; 12th May 2015 at 11:12.