I know some of you here knew the crew, I am not trying to attribute blame, just mentioning what is in the public domain.
LES ECHOS, saying the crash could have been human error. Rough translation here:
The control software of the engines has been poorly installed just prior to the flight of the aircraft.
A400M, airplane cursed ? The track of a human error at Airbus is confirmed in the fatal accident of May 9 last year in Seville, said of corroborating sources. Specifically, it would seem that the control software of the power of the four motors - turboprop - has been downloaded incorrectly during the phase of so-called "pre-flight ", i.e. the phase which separates the output of the device of the assembly line for its first flight. " IS sure to 99 % ", says a source close to the folder.
On 9 May last, the A400M MSN23 - that is to say, the 23e series - crashed some time after taking off for its first flight. Three of the four engines have suddenly lost power. The accident has cost the lives of four of the six persons on board. The appliance was the third to be delivered to Turkey. The black boxes have been found but the specialized unit of the Spanish Ministry of Defense in charge of the investigation has made no comment since.
5 Billion of additional costs
if the track to a procedural error is confirmed, the design of engines, very complex, is therefore not in issue. " They are the consequence, not the cause of the crash ", is it estimated to source close. Manufactured by EPI, a consortium consisting of the British Rolls-Royce , the French Snecma (Safran group), the Spanish ITP and the German MTU, the engines are at the origin of the previous setbacks of the program who have already cost 5 billion of extra cost to Airbus.
Marwan Lahoud, the responsible for the strategy and marketing of Airbus Group, goes in this direction. " Black boxes the confirm. There is no structural defect.
But we have a serious problem of quality in the final assembly ", he says in an interview to " Handelsblatt " to be issued on Friday. Last May 19, Airbus had recommended to its clients to regularly inspect the ECU, the engine electronic control unit, before the flight and perform additional checks after a possible replacement of engine or the ECU. But without establishing a link with the crash.
At this point, Germany, Great Britain, Turkey and Malaysia have suspended the flights of their A400M. France, she, the continues but only for the operational emergencies. In total, 174 A400M have been ordered by eight countries. Twelve only are in service. Independently of the crash, the program suffers from new delays. The dropping of paratroopers had major problems, and in-flight refueling of helicopters will not see the day, according to the DGA. All these problems have forced Airbus a go a load of EUR 551 million in its accounts 2014 ( " Echoes " of 2 March).