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Cleared Visual
27th Feb 2010, 12:03
Spied an unusual visitor to Darwin this afternoon, an A340-300 in Airbus House colours parked infront of the Tower. I couldn't get close enough to get the rego. I was wondering if anybody in the know could provide some details as to what it was doing there.

I have a theory, pure speculation, based on a few observations. Firstly, covered airstairs were in place leading to the radome in the nose, and there was a lot of activity with ground crew moving up and down. There was also an Australian Federal Police presence, as well as several other official looking vehicles.

For the past few days, Darwin and the Northern Territory have experienced a monsoonal rain depression and lots of thunderstorm activity, which leads me to wonder if this has anything to do with ongoing investigations into the unpredictable behaviour of the autopilot noted in the AF447 investigation, and the Qantas incident near Learmonth.

Anybody know anything?

leewan
27th Feb 2010, 14:36
Did it have a black nose radome with special probes up front ?

Cleared Visual
28th Feb 2010, 01:52
Thanks for the reply.

Went back for another look today, and watched the aircraft make a turn at low altitude for short finals on a visual approach to 29 and pass over my head at the perimeter fence. It certainly does have a black radome, though i didn't notice any probes.