wow, some 'crew'. I don't think they had any business 'testing' an aircraft without sufficient knowledge, training, and experience.

"How contrived", indeed...  

I'm tempted to lock this one, but it's a worthy aviation-related story, so I'd just like to offer some perspective for now.

It really happened, but this popular version adds a bunch of lies to it in order to... well, it's pretty obvious why.  

Believe who you want, but give this a look first:

http://www.snopes.com/photos/airplane/etihad.asp



One might also find French press coverage of the incident... the local aviation authorities did, in fact, release a 30-page report on the accident (there's a link to it in the Snopes article). I'm not going to start searching for Paris Match or Le Monde articles, but I'll bet that if the French press was reluctant to tell about it, it was more out of national embarrassment (French company's test, at a French airport) than out of fear of upsetting Muslim sensibilities.

My gut feeling is that the French press was all over this- they have papers, magazines, and airtime for sponsor's commercials to sell just like journalists everywhere. This titanic blunder was the kind of stuff any journalist dreams about.  The French government does not have total, arbitrary control over the French media. They can't stop french citizens from looking online, either.  I just don't buy any assertion that it was somehow "blacked out" in France, yet was all over the world press- including the Internet- right away.

 The accident, according to the report, was blamed mostly on the actions (and inaction) of the Airbus employee who was in the left seat (and basically in charge). I cannot find details of his nationality, etc.

Maybe he is an Arab, or a Muslim... but he might be a Catholic. Or a Unitarian. Or a Hare Krishna.  Really doesn't matter, nor does race, ethnicity, nationality, faith, sexual orientation, eye color, left or right-handedness, or gender have any direct correlation to intellect or plain old common sense.  And no, talking to cats does not make you a witch (just thought I'd mention that).

I have yet to see anyone prove otherwise. I'm always eager to see the evidence, but I'm not gonna hold my breath waiting for that.  

  These guys just screwed up, as techs and pilots the world over have done since the airplane was invented. No particular group has a monopoly on SNAFU.  

Am I willing to believe somebody, claiming to represent Arabs, or Muslims, or Frenchmen, has tried to block this story? Absolutely! The reason? They think exactly the same way as those who decided to disseminate this story as "proof" that "those people" are inherently stupid, and can't handle the truth... they know that a lie, if you shout it often enough and loudly enough, might eventually block people's view of what's right in front of their noses.

So this is the 2nd time an Airbus Has done this in the test phase, both do to human error.  They really need to not let the people get in the plane until delivery to that country, then they can brake it there.

OVERLORD_CHRIS wrote on May 14^th, 2009 at 4:49am:

This happened in 2007. Have you got details of the other incident?

Quote:

If I remember correctly the aircraft was being ground run by an Airbus technician when the accident happened. I presume that he was properly trained & qualified & that this is normal practice before the customer accepts delivery of a new aircraft.

I have to say whoever has the time to create and circulate these e-mails needs a real job.  It clearly has some biased language and inaccurate information



U4EA wrote on May 14^th, 2009 at 3:05am:


Not so sure it was stupidity that caused the buffalo accident.  Its starting to sound like bad company policy  and enforcement on sleep requirements for pilots.  I read just yesterday that the 2nd in command of the plane made $16,000 last year.  In 2006, I made $17,000 pumping gas.

"Not so sure it was stupidity that caused the buffalo accident."

I said "training or braining".  But it looks like the 'combo-platter', BOTH!

If the first reaction is to pull back on the yoke in a situation like they were presented, as compared to denting the dashboard slamming the throttles forward while pushing for nose down, then I'd say my guesstimation may hold water.

Lack of a vital "something" led to that catastrophically inapropriate response.  The fatigue and pay issues look to me to be rather moot points.  IMHO.

The Ruptured Duck wrote on May 14^th, 2009 at 7:01pm:



Off Topic but Ive always wondered, pilots go through hundreds of training hours and most airline pilots go to college for it and they get paid next to nothing to fly a sophisticated aircraft but somehow your pay moves up several tax brackets when you transfer to a slightly bigger plane like a 737?