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German Chancellor's A-340 Diverts to CGN enroute G-20

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German Chancellor's A-340 Diverts to CGN enroute G-20

Old 29th Nov 2018, 20:20
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German Chancellor's A-340 Diverts to CGN enroute G-20

From Deutsche Welle:

Angela Merkel's plane experiences technical defect en route to G20 summit

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's plane had to turn around and land in Cologne after only an hour in the air due to a defect. The plane has experienced several issues in the past few months. German Chancellor Angela Merkel's journey to Buenos Aires for this weekend's G20 summit was interrupted on Thursday after the government's "Konrad Adenauer" Airbus experienced technological difficulties in the air.

Issues with the government's A340 jets also caused travel problems for German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier during several of his diplomatic trips this year.

Shortly after departing from Berlin on Thursday evening, the plane circled over the Netherlands and landed at the Cologne/Bonn airport in western Germany — which is also home base for the German government's aircraft.

Merkel, who is also traveling with Finance Minister Olaf Scholz and a pool of journalists, hoped to switch into a replacement plane at the airport, but it is unclear how the travel interruption will affect the chancellor's attendance at the G20 summit — which is due to start tomorrow.

The pilot informed the chancellor and other passengers that a technical defect had caused several electronic systems on the Airbus A340-300 to fail, reported news agency DPA.


https://www.dw.com/en/angela-merkels-plane-experiences-technical-defect-en-route-to-g20-summit/a-46514663

She normally travels on A340 16+01 Konrad Adenauer.
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Old 29th Nov 2018, 20:24
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Very old A340 operated by a military that she has starved of funding. A shame that it didn’t happen somwhere very remote
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Old 29th Nov 2018, 20:31
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The plane departed TXL and indeed turned around near AMS.

From adsbexchange.com:

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Old 29th Nov 2018, 20:38
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Not a Bonn voyage, then ?
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Old 29th Nov 2018, 20:41
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A social media update:

#Merkel’s plane stranded in Cologne on the way to #G20 due to a technical issue with the “German Air Force One”. She’ll fly commercial on Friday morning via Madrid, but miss part of the first summit day, according to journalists who accompanied her
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Old 29th Nov 2018, 20:52
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This incident is characteristic for German Military and Government.
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Old 29th Nov 2018, 23:32
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I understand there was some embarrassment last year when the same aircraft was grounded at an IMF meeting because mice had damaged the wiring.
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Old 29th Nov 2018, 23:58
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Be real - airplanes are having problems every now and then. We may question why Luftwaffe do not have a spare aircraft for her immediately available but otherwise there is no drama. It is not a combat mission, it is a largely civil aircraft which (I believe) operated to the same manuals as Air France or Lufthansa - what is the fuzz about?
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Old 30th Nov 2018, 00:11
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Originally Posted by CargoOne
Be real - airplanes are having problems every now and then. We may question why Luftwaffe do not have a spare aircraft for her immediately available but otherwise there is no drama. It is not a combat mission, it is a largely civil aircraft which (I believe) operated to the same manuals as Air France or Lufthansa - what is the fuzz about?
it could have been a close shave. Nein? Sorry I’ll get my coat.
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Old 30th Nov 2018, 01:09
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Originally Posted by Starbear


it could have been a close shave. Nein? Sorry I’ll get my coat.
i haven’t searched internet so I have no idea what has happened - do you know? Could be engine problem, hydraulics, pressurisation, avionics or galley smoke - while not nice, it happens every day will all kind of aircraft and nobody treats it as close shave. Unless there was something really serious - please share.
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Old 30th Nov 2018, 02:55
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Originally Posted by tubby linton
Very old A340 operated by a military that she has starved of funding. A shame that it didn’t happen somwhere very remote
Originally Posted by gearlever
This incident is characteristic for German Military and Government.
And since this is PPRuNe here, some experts not only do already know what happened, but those experts also know the root cause (maintenance and age) and who was responsible for that in the QMS.
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Old 30th Nov 2018, 03:00
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Dear Cargo,

The reference to "close shave" was clearly prompted by your reference to "fuzz". Starbear was trying to amuse us all, and in my case he succeeded.

Bull at a Gate
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Old 30th Nov 2018, 04:13
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Originally Posted by AndiKunzi
And since this is PPRuNe here, some experts not only do already know what happened, but those experts also know the root cause (maintenance and age) and who was responsible for that in the QMS.


From the article linked above:

The pilot informed the chancellor and other passengers that a technical defect had caused the "malfunction of several electronic systems" on the Airbus A340-300.

According to multiple German media outlets, the aircraft experienced problems with its radio equipment, but the pilot said there had been no safety risks. German news magazine Der Spiegel reported the crew had to use an onboard satellite phone in order to plan the landing.
They were squawking 7600 inbound to Cologne according to ADS-B tracking logs. Latest reports seem to indicate that they had a massive failure in their comm radios.

According to Der Spiegel there was a backup plane in Berlin but it was decided to be too risky to fly all the way to TXL lost comm and the decision was made to land overweight in CGN on 14L. Fire trucks were rolled to spray the hot brakes.

The Chancellor and her entourage were bussed to an official residence in Bonn to spend the night. Another Luftwaffe plane is scheduled to fly out in the morning to MAD to put the VIP's on Iberia 6849 MAD-EZE. Perhaps the backup plane has its own problems and they trust a scheduled airline more for the long trip.

The Luftwaffe's problems with aircraft readiness even in the VIP fleet are nothing new as others have observed here.
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Old 30th Nov 2018, 04:15
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Complete failure of comms with ground

Gernan magazine Der Spiegel report the a/c lost the ability to communicate with the ground and the crew had to use satellite telephones to effect the diversion. On landing at CGN they were given a very short rwy, the a/c was full of fuel, and the effort required to come to a stop then stuffed up the brake systems.
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Old 30th Nov 2018, 08:13
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Not exactly the greenest of airliners, you would have thought they would have had some A330's in the fleet.
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Old 30th Nov 2018, 08:35
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Interestingly they took the shorter runway for their overweight landing to keep the longer one open for the UPS night hub. That's german pragmatism.
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Old 30th Nov 2018, 08:46
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Less Hair,
Do you know for sure if they were landing overweight? And if so do you even remotely think there was a performance issue in relation to the chosen runway?
Or do you always land on the longest available runway, never do intersection, flex or derated takeoffs?
No need to answer the question.
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Old 30th Nov 2018, 08:56
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They were fueled up for Buenos Aires and landed after one hour - without any problems. Fire brigade was in place to cool those hot brakes.
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Old 30th Nov 2018, 09:26
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Originally Posted by judebrad
Not exactly the greenest of airliners, you would have thought they would have had some A330's in the fleet.
This aircraft is a former Lufthansa A343 which was completely overhauled by LHT in Hamburg. I don't see where it's age plays any role. This aircraft is maintained by Lufthansa Technik so the usual comments about German military comments probably shouldn't apply.
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Old 30th Nov 2018, 09:36
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2nd A340 also in EDDK, but no crew.....
Kanzlerin gestrandet trotz Ersatzmaschine
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