The brand spanking new Airbus 340-600, the largest passenger airplane ever built, sat in its hangar in Toulouse, France, without a single hour of airtime. Enter an Arab flight crew of Abu Dhabi Aircraft Technologies (ADAT) to conduct pre-delivery tests on the ground, such as engine run-ups, prior to delivery to Etihad Airways in Abu Dhabi. The ADAT crew taxied the A340-600 to the run-up area. Theyn then took all four engines to takeoff power with a virtually empty aircraft. Not having read the run-up manuals, they had no clue just how light an empty A340-600 is.

The takeoff warning horn was blaring away in the cockpit because they had all 4 engines at full power. The aircraft computers thought they were trying to take off, but the aircraft had not been configured properly (flaps/slats, etc.) Then one of the ADAT crew decided to pull the circuit breaker on the Ground Proximity Sensor to silence the alarm. This fooled the aircraft into thinking it was in the air.

The computers automatically released all the brakes and set the aircraft rocketing forward. The ADAT crew had no idea that this is a safety feature so that pilots can’t land with the brakes on. Not one member of the seven-man Arab crew was quick enough to throttle back the engines from their max power setting, so the $200 million brand-new aircraft crashed into a blast barrier, totaling the airplane.The extent of injuries to the crew is unknown for there has been a news blackout in the major media in France and elsewhere.

Coverage of the story was deemed insulting to Muslim Arabs. Finally, the photos are starting to leak out.

Pictures speak louder then words, but this is pretty shocking, the pilots from Abu Dhabi managed to crash a brand new airplane because they didn’t bother reading the manual. Details aren’t out regarding this crash, and I got the pictures by email. Based on the pictures I wonder how they survived the crash.

Update: Turns out this is a two year old crash, check comments for details