Any aircraft can have mechanical issues, but this is pretty bad…
German foreign minister stranded in Abu Dhabi
German Foreign Minister Annalena Burbock was due to travel to the South Pacific, visiting Australia, New Zealand and Fiji. She was to fly there in one of two Airbus A340-300s owned by the German government.
Specifically, she planned to travel the next day. German 16+01 aircraft (Yes, Germany has a strange naming system for government planes). This approximately 24-year-old jet was delivered to Lufthansa in 1999 and handed over to the German government in 2011.
The plane has had a series of mechanical issues over time, but nothing is more embarrassing than what happened this week.
On Sunday, the plane was scheduled to fly from Berlin (BER) to Abu Dhabi (AUH) to Canberra (CBR), with a stop at Abu Dhabi simply for refueling. The 6 hour and 24 minute flight from Berlin to Abu Dhabi was on time and arrived in the United Arab Emirates at 12:45 on Monday morning.
At 3:33 a.m., the aircraft took off for Canberra. Unfortunately, shortly after takeoff, we had a problem with the flaps retracting. As a result, the aircraft was too heavy to land and had to return to Abu Dhabi, although it had to dump about 80 tons of fuel. The plane landed in Abu Dhabi at 5:33 am, two hours after departure.
The entire delegation spent the night (in this case, day) in Abu Dhabi as maintenance work had to be done on the aircraft at that time. Finally, at 1am on Tuesday, about 19 hours after the aircraft returned to Abu Dhabi, the flight continued to Canberra.
Well, at least that was the plan. The plane took off and ran into exactly the same problem as the first time. About 80 tonnes of fuel had to be dumped again and returned to Abu Dhabi about two hours after departure.
Below is a video of the pilot announcing (in German) that the aircraft will return to Abu Dhabi again.
At the moment, the plane is still on the ground in Abu Dhabi, and trips to the South Pacific are reportedly cancelled.
Germany to immediately retire two Airbus A340s
Spiegel The German government is reportedly retiring two Airbus A340-300s after the incident. They were supposed to be deprecated later this year or early next year, but will instead be deprecated within the next few weeks.
These issues were just the latest in a string of maintenance issues for these planes.
Note that the German government has purchased three Airbus A350-900s to replace older A340s as new aircraft for German government officials. These now work more reliably.
Conclusion
Two similar mechanical problems with the German government’s A340-300 aircraft forced the German foreign minister to cancel a trip to the South Pacific. After refueling in Abu Dhabi, the plane experienced flap problems on departure. Less than a day later, presumably after some maintenance work, the same problem reappeared. Germany plans to retire the A340-300. Because the A340-300 is too unreliable.
What are your thoughts on the German government’s A340 situation?
(Featured image provided N509FZ)