Technical problem on Airbus A400M maiden flight

Monday, January 25, 2010

Airbus has confirmed that there was a software glitch on its Airbus A400M military transplort plane's maiden flight. The problem was relatively minor, and affected the software controlling its engines.

The glitch was not reported when the plane made its maiden flight on 11 December—four years behind schedule and $7.3 billion over budget, due to what the manufacturers call "political interference"—and only became public attention this weekend, when German magazine Der Spiegel cited confidential documents from engine maker Europrop in a report. The steering computer and backup system failed after thirty minutes.

The issue has been resolved, according to Airbus spokesman Jaime Perez-Guerra. Apparently, the glitch led the pilots to disengage an engine, allowing its blades to turn freely. Since then, he says, the plane has flown for nearly thirty hours and is exceeding expectations.

However, additional costs were involved, and European aerospace contractor EADS wants this cost to be shouldered by the seven customer nations: Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Spain, Turkey, and the United Kingdom. Airbus has asked that a decision on how the project is to procced be made before the end of the month.

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Sources

Brian Rohan. "Engine had problem on A400M maiden flight: report" — Reuters, January 25, 2010
"Airbus confirms minor technical glitch on A400M maiden flight" — The Canadian Press, January 25, 2010

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Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication.

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Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.

Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.

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