German foreign minister abandons Pacific tour : A 340 had two failures in 24 hours.

[Tartiflette Fan]

Taking off from Abu Dhabi the crew saw there was a flaps problem and they returned to their take-off point. Twenty-four hours later another take-off and same problem. This caused the abandonment of the planned visits to NZ , Australia and some Pacific islands.Baerbock - the Foreign Minister - has had lots of aircraft problems: in May there was a defect in Berlin preventing take-off and a replacement aircraft was necessary , then a new tyre was needed in Quatar , and this had to be flown in from Germany. This apart, many German ministers have suffered aircraft failures over the past 10 years. and modernisation was supposed to have eliminated this embarrassment.

The planes are provided by the Luftwaffe and newspapers commented that the problems are down to the dramatic decline in military expenditure, and not ordering new, necessary equipment on the basis " If you don't have it , then it can't go wrong ".

The two A 340's are going to be sold prematurely ( as soon as possible ) and A 350's in the fleet will be used instead.

https://www.zdf.de/nachrichten/politik/pannen-regierungsflugzeug-chronologie-baerbock-100.html

[RealUlli]

I really wonder why they don't simply send a spare plane as soon as it becomes obvious that there's an issue with the original one. They have at least two A340s and two A350s.

Instead of blundering around and making Germany look bad, just send a second plane (possibly with an additional spare crew as well), just to make double sure that such an embarrassment doesn't happen. Also, possibly invest into maintenance of the aircraft... unless they want a repeat of the Starfighter story. Maybe they should randomly select members of the parliament to come along, this might increase the motivation to vote for the money for actual maintenance instead of just replacing broken parts...

[David SW1]

Wouldn’t chartering a Gulfstream or a Global Express from time to time be easier and cheaper ?

[oceancrosser]

Doesn’t the Luftwaffe carry a fly-away-kit with at least a couple of spare tires on such a trip?

[RealUlli]

Wouldn’t chartering a Gulfstream or a Global Express from time to time be easier and cheaper ?
They even own a couple of GLEXes. Checked Wikipedia: 3x Global 5000 and 3x Global 6000.

Also, my previous info was incorrect: they have 2x A340 and 3x A350. Also, 3x A319 and 3x A321. It's not for lack of planes. IMHO, it's for "we need to be seen as saving money at any cost". I'm also pretty sure it would have been pushed as a serious scandal by our right wing press if they'd just sent a spare plane. "Green minister has empty jets flying around" yada yada yada...

[BRE]

The A350s were bought after a couple of embarrassing failures of the A340 and I believe A310s (not sure when they were phased out).

Lufthansa are running quite a few A340s without the drama. Why do the government A340, which are maintained by LH Technik according to schedules by Airbus, have so many more problems?

[packapoo]

Well I'm happy to see that the Churmans have the same problem as the Kiwis.

[Anilv]

Worked with LH in the 90s. When there was a GAF flight we were usually the ground co-ordinators. It always amazed me that there was such a marked difference in efficiency between how the Air Force and LH worked. If there was a war Germany would be so much better off getting LH to managed their logistics.

Anilv

[Less Hair]

Lufthansa IS doing their maintenance. This seems to be a part of the problem: Schedules and fleet procedures are made for airline operations and not for VVIP aircaft alternating between sitting idle for days and then be on tight schedules far away from their base in the media spotlight. I wonder why they did not schedule their brand new ACJ350 for long distance trips like this, but the oldest birds in the fleet? Those A340 are second hand Lufthansa aircraft converted to VVIP only later on.

What the RAF did was the smartest, most useful and flexible: Get some new MRTTs with a VIP interior.

[Uplinker]

Doesn’t the Luftwaffe carry a fly-away-kit with at least a couple of spare tires on such a trip?

+1 And a "flying spanner" engineer.

[Memphis Hubert]

Any A340-Pilot available here? There were suspects, that the repeated flap failure (flap retraction) was due to the maximum fueled aircraft (flight vom Abu Dhabi to Canberra) which might have bended the wing in an unusal manner. This suspect is nourished by the fact, that a test flight was done after the first failure/fuel dump/return to AUH and subsequent servicing by the Luftwaffe's technicians, supported by LH Technik via Teams. This test flight with only minor fueling was eventless with several flap cycles, but on the second attempt departing to Australia the failure happened again.
Sources say, that usually this A340 was never maximum fueled, even on long distance trip to South America, so there was no chance to detect this "hidden problem".
Additonally these aircraft don't fly regularly, instead being parked on the ground most time. For anybody knowing that an aircraft has either to fly or to be in a technical check this appears plausible too.

Political concerns are now raised as the foreign minister is from the Green Party in Germany, being opposed to flying and any vehicle using combustion engines. When this minister (Mrs. Baerbock) was nominated foreign minister, she promised using more scheduled flights instead of Luftwaffe. But this party promised to be the most lying party - trying to prohibit anything in order to stop climate change, but not applying that to themselves. Another example is an unfinished act, they want to prohibit any gas/oil fueled heating to be replaced by heat pumps (even were they are not suitable) but fail to equip their head office in Berlin with a heat pump for years already.

[thf]

Wouldn’t chartering a Gulfstream or a Global Express from time to time be easier and cheaper ?
You must take the dozens journalists with you, otherwise they will write bad things about having been left behind by those arrogant politicians.

[thf]

(...) But this party promised to be the most lying party (...)
You can bet your hypocritical a** that they examined the options and decided that taking the A340 was the only possible solution taking into account the number of persons traveling, further goods to be transported, the schedule and the destinations.

[DaveReidUK]

might have bended the wing in an unusual manner

There's not enough of that kind of incisive analysis on PPRuNe nowadays.

[Memphis Hubert]

You can bet your hypocritical a** that they examined the options and decided that taking the A340 was the only possible solution taking into account the number of persons traveling, further goods to be transported, the schedule and the destinations.

I'm living here and I can assure you, that they even didn't take scheduled flights into account. But no one would bother about this, but a "green" party, promising not to use Luftwaffe's planes whenever there is a scheduled option raises concerns. The green party lost already 30% in the surveys, this will accelerate now.
Guess, how many px seats are available each day from Germany via XYZ to Canberra (initial destination). Aren't there countless of airlines from Europe, Middle East and Asia incl. Australia with services on these routes? The delegation was 120 people incl. journalists and others, so no harm would have occured, it this group would have been split on several aircraft? Also this journey wasn't spontaneous, but planned months in advance, so enough time to book everyone.
So this women wasted a total of estimated 250 to of fuel (the flights from Berlin to AUH and back included), but each houseowner has to justify why using gas or oil for heating. This is what makes people here upset.

[605carsten]

They almost also lost a GLEX a few years ago due to mtx screwing up the MFS riggings 180 degrees the wrong way.. only ended with dual wing strikes due to awsome flying by the crew
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/2000x995/6ac242da_2ced_43a7_8fbf_8b2125ba0e85_2480c07b7683de02a3da8de b1e18158c2cc3d2ab.jpeg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/1024x576/92cb755e_96d3_45ea_a2fd_6b4375407354_df866b222fc41cbad4ccd87 0496456abca721b2a.jpeg

[West Coast]

Bring me my brown shorts moment.

[Klauss]

Wouldn’t chartering a Gulfstream or a Global Express from time to time be easier and cheaper ?

That seems sensible; however, we are dealing with a Government Flight Department, and travel-crazy politicians.
They could charter one of those jets - but they don´t travel alone. They need their advisors, a couple of business people plus many journalists.

[Trinity 09L]

That seems sensible; however, we are dealing with a Government Flight Department, and travel-crazy politicians.
They could charter one of those jets - but they don´t travel alone. They need their advisors, a couple of business people plus many journalists.
Do not forget media advisers, wardrobe stylists, hairdressers, make up artists and script writers 🤣.

[Bug]

&amp;lt;br /&amp;gt;.....&amp;lt;br /&amp;gt;Political concerns are now raised as the foreign minister is from the Green Party in Germany, being opposed to flying and any vehicle using combustion engines. When this minister (Mrs. Baerbock) was nominated foreign minister, she promised using more scheduled flights instead of Luftwaffe. But this party promised to be the most lying party - trying to prohibit anything in order to stop climate change, but not applying that to themselves. Another example is an unfinished act, they want to prohibit any gas/oil fueled heating to be replaced by heat pumps (even were they are not suitable) but fail to equip their head office in Berlin with a heat pump for years already.&amp;lt;br /&amp;gt;<br />Almost a classic example of the almost universal sentiment of saying "we must....', but never "I will.....", although in this case she apparently said I will but didn't mean it.

[Tartiflette Fan]

https://www.focus.de/politik/deutschland/faeser-hatte-vorrang-wegen-flieger-rangliste-der-regierung-musste-baerbock-den-pannen-jet-nehmen_id_202049835.html

Interesting article here. The A350 was not available because it had been pre-booked by the Interior Minister - Nancy Faeser - to fly to Australia to see the German women's football.team in the World Cup. Although they were eliminated, it seems it was not possible to switch the reservation to Baerbock. The other interesting fact is that there is an established order of seniority of use and she is no 8, however the Chancellor, Scholz is only no 3 ! This pecking-order is based on constitutional rank, so the Federal president and the Leader of the Federal parliament both rank higher than the Chancellor

.1. Bundespräsident Frank-Walter Steinmeier

2. Bundestagspräsidentin Bärbel Bas (SPD)

3. Bundeskanzler Olaf Scholz (SPD)

4. Bundesratspräsident, derzeit Hamburgs Erster Bürgermeister Peter Tschentscher (SPD)

5. Bundesverfassungsgerichtspräsident Stephan Harbarth (CDU)

6. Vize-Kanzler und Wirtschaftsminister Robert Habeck (Grüne)

7. Stellvertretender Kanzler und Finanzminister Christian Lindner (FDP)

8. Innenministerin Nancy Faeser (SPD)

9. Außenministerin Annalena Baerbock (Grüne)

10. Justizminister Marco Buschmann (46, FDP)

11. Arbeitsminister Hubertus Heil (50, SPD)

12. Verteidigungsminister Boris Pistorius (63, SPD)

[WillowRun 6-3]

On the GLEX incident, this Aerossurance item appears quite informative.
https://aerossurance.com/safety-management/g5000-maintenance-error/

[Auxtank]

Thttps://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/2000x995/6ac242da_2ced_43a7_8fbf_8b2125ba0e85_2480c07b7683de02a3da8de b1e18158c2cc3d2ab.jpeg



Jeeeeeeeezzzzzzuuusssss.

[EDMJ]

Ms Baerbock and Mr Habeck - most enthusiastic users of this exclusive flying club - are from the German Green Party which

plans to abolish domestic gas and oil heating, requiring replacement by (e.g.) heat pumps at consumers' expense
most enthusiastically supported the ban on the vehicle combustion engine in the EU
wants you to travel by train for longer distances instead of going by car or airliner
wants you to do a week's shopping for a family of four using a bicycle
closes its eyes to the fact that the Flugbereitschaft is still based in Kölln-Bonn while their "customers" fly to and from Berlin, so every "official" flight involves two, empty positioning flights.

[tdracer]

Ms Baerbock and Mr Habeck - most enthusiastic users of this exclusive flying club - are from the German Green Party which:

To quote a blogger that I sometimes follow:
I'll start believing that climate change is an emergency when the people telling me it's an emergency start acting like it's an emergency.
:ugh:​​​​​​​

[GrahamO]

.......which are maintained by LH Technik according to schedules by Airbus, have so many more problems?

You answered your own question there.

The LHT guys in the ME are most certainly NOT upo to the standard of the LHT guys in Europe. I had the (dis)pleasure dealing with them pre-pandemic and while they were a lovely bunch of guys, I seem to recall the whole contract going into suspension when an audit found they failed just about every check on their business certifications for safety, security etc etc. Everyone in the home office (who placed the contract) was shocked, but nobody locally (who actually dealt with them) was surprised in the slightest.