For there to be any survivors in any crash it suggests to me that the aircraft was under control at impact and that the rate of descent was modest. If you like there was an attempt at landing in open country because height could not be maintained.

TT, mate - terrible news.

If you're reading this, I've left a message on your (new) Spanish cellphone no.

German newspaper "Die Welt" reports three engines failed right after takeoff. Problems likely not related to engine hardware but to fuel control system.

(german language)
A400M-Absturz: Drei von vier Triebwerken ausgefallen - DIE WELT

So in order to show customers that Airbus puts trust in the A400M, the head of the military plane division, Alonso, will join the next test flight as a flight test engineer.

I do hope that they have already isolated the fault to something that could happen only in that one brand new airframe and not in the rest of the fleet. It reminds me too much of the British minister of agriculture who had a hamburger in public to convey his trust in British beef when the BSE crisis was rampant.

Horrible news. RIP to those that have been taken.

Lets just leave it to the investigators before second guessing what decisions Airbus have, or are taking in light of this accident.

JF re your post above. I agree; here is an aerial photo showing what looks like a reasonable ground slide and the burnt out remains of what looks like a fairly intact fuselage/airframe. Without the fire, they perhaps could have got away with it.


https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CEkdO-ZWEAAGtvi.jpg:large
Photo credit AirLive.net


All very sad and my thoughts go to the families of those killed and my best wishes go to the two surviving crew; I hope they are out of danger and in time make good recoveries.


MB

Winerhofer: arriving at your conclusion based on your intro about fuel contamination (do you have inside info nobody else has?) is an example of a flawed logic train. 'Bus bashing may be your hobby, but sometimes it is best to beat that drum in a more tasteful fashion.
That photo from Madbob: ouch. :uhoh:
Glad anyone got out of that alive, sad more didn't.

From The Horse's Mouth
 

Winnerhofer, I suggest you turn your horse through 180 degrees.

Winnerhofer,

You crass, insensitive, trolling idiot. Please don't do that here. Especially not now.

Lonewolf,

Didn't mean to tread on your toes there. Agree with your post totally.

Nice idea, but fat chance here. Notice how all the experts leap up from their sofas with all the answers when disaster strikes? People that have no valid input to this forum until vultures are called in to circle.

Is six the normal crew for first flight of a new production A400M? That sounds like a lot to me (based on my Boeing experience were first flights are 'min crew').:confused:

Who knows, tdracer? Should we guess what that particular flight was? Shall we guess what those people were doing? Do you expect anyone here to be able to answer your question?

Write to Airbus and ask them.

tdracer/Courtney,
No problem: 5 crew would be the absolute minimum - a first-flight profile is typically ~5 hours, with hardly a minute wasted and a high tempo workload throughout the whole aircraft. Even a well coordinated crew would find it difficult to complete the full profile in less time.
6 onboard is not unheard of - acceptable for the extra person for training purposes, but in general, yes, the crew is kept to a minimum, for reasons that are, sadly, obvious.

My sincere condolences to the families involved and those that lost colleagues and friends, on a side note, one does hope those firemen and people attending the site are wearing proper masks etc as burnt carbon fibre is deadly.

Winnerhofer,

Où avez-vous appris le français? Peut-être pas en France, je pense. S'il vous plaît arrêter d'essayer de faire des ennuis.

Si vous regardez mon profil, il devrait être évident que je ne connais personne impliquée dans cet incident. Maintenant, vous travaillez dehors.

A400M crash
 

Sad for the loss of lives - crashworthiness of a composite aircraft is there in a photograph - will have to see if it made any attempt to land which in a rough field it claimed to be able to do - the fire seems to have reduced the whole aircraft to nothing ...... :ugh:

A Sad, Sad Day Indeed..
 

Heartfelt condolences to all affected by this terrible event,

L'image tragique, mais la preuve est évident à voir...

Dartmoorman - early reports stated it struck the pylon and power cables you can see in the background of the early crash photos.

Winnerhofer, take your agenda somewhere else. Thank you.

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.