image: Wikimedia
The loss of an Airbus A400M and four crew on a test flight on May 9 was caused by incorrectly installed software, an Airbus official told a German newspaper last week. “The black boxes attest … that there are no structural defects, but we have a serious quality problem in the final assembly,” Marwan Lahoud, Airbus’ chief strategy officer, told Handelsblatt. No problems were found with the software itself, which controls the airplane’s four turboprop engines. In a statement to AFP, Airbus said the investigation is still continuing and “it is too early to draw any conclusions … like all accidents, it will certainly be a combination of issues and not one single cause.” The company also said the A400M aircraft in service have already been checked and are “100 percent protected from this failure.”
The A400M that crashed in Seville, Spain, about 15 minutes after takeoff, was undergoing its first test flight, with six Airbus employees on board. The airplane hit an electrical tower and crashed into a field during an emergency landing attempt. The two people who survived were seriously injured. According to Der Spiegel, one of the survivors told investigators the airplane suffered multiple engine failures. The turboprop, which has been in service since 2013, was produced as part of Europe’s biggest defense project, costing $22 billion. The airplane was designed to be a military airlifter to replace the C-130 Hercules and similar aircraft. Twelve of the airplanes have been delivered to the air forces in Germany, Malaysia, Turkey and the UK; they have been grounded until the accident investigation is complete.
