A400M crash near Seville

A400M crash near Seville
	The identical EC-402
Accident summary
Accident type	still open
place	La Rinconada
date	May 9, 2015
Fatalities	4th
Survivors	2
Injured	2
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Airbus A400M
operator	Airbus Defense and Space
Mark	EC-403
Surname	CASA423
Departure airport	Aeropuerto de Seville
Destination airport	Aeropuerto de Seville
crew	6th
	Lists of aviation accidents

The crash of an Airbus A400M in Seville took place on May 9, 2015. The newly built transport aircraft of the type Airbus A400M crashed on its first test flight shortly after takeoff near Sevilla from which four people died. It was the first total loss of this type of aircraft.

plane

The A400M had the serial number MSN023 and the temporary registration EC-403. It was intended for the Turkish Air Force and should be delivered in June 2015.

Flight history

The plane took off from Seville Airport at 12:45 p.m. local time . A few minutes after the start, an emergency call was made, which was justified with technical problems. While attempting to make an emergency landing in a field, the Airbus A400M collided with a high-voltage line at 1 p.m., caught fire and was completely destroyed.

crew

The crew consisted of six Spanish employees from Airbus Defense and Space , two of whom, an engineer and a mechanic, survived the crash.

consequences

After the crash, the German Armed Forces , the Royal Air Force , the Turkish and Malaysian Air Forces interrupted the test flights of their A400M. France limited operations to important supply flights. In addition, the license to operate an A400M in Spain was withdrawn.

Although the official investigation report from the Spanish authorities was not yet available, the Ministry of Defense lifted the first flight restrictions on June 11, 2015, and Airbus took part in the flight program of the Paris Air Show with the A400M in the following days . The Royal Air Force resumed flights with the A400M on June 16, and after around 10 weeks the Air Force resumed the test flights. On June 18, the Spanish Ministry of Defense lifted the flight ban, so that delivery could be resumed the next day. France followed suit on June 25, removing all restrictions.

examination

Shortly after the crash, the investigation was taken over by the Spanish Ministry of Development and Defense with the help of the French Bureau Enquêtes Accidents Défense Air .

Survivors' interviews revealed that three of the four engines had failed. The Airbus engineers judged contradicting software commands.

Shortly after the accident, Airbus announced that a problem with the engine control software in FADEC was probably responsible for the accident and ruled out a design error. The pilots were not to blame, nor were they able to fix the problem. Further investigation by the manufacturer revealed, according to the manufacturer, that the software had been installed incorrectly during final assembly. There was talk of a “quality problem in final assembly”.

In September 2017, the Technical Commission of Inquiry of the Ministry of Defense, Comisión para la Investigación Técnica de Accidentes Aeronaves Militares (CITAAM), submitted its report to the competent judge in Seville. Without naming a person directly responsible, the investigation report confirms an error in the engine software as the cause of the accident.

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b EC-403 Accident Description .

↑ Spanish air force cargo plane on test flight crashes near Seville airport . In: The Guardian . Retrieved May 10, 2015.

↑ Four killed in A400M military transport crash during a test flight - summary , accessed August 5, 2015.

↑ Spanish Air Force Takes Over Airbus A400M Crash Probe , accessed August 5, 2015.

↑ A400M stay on the ground almost everywhere. Tagesschau, May 10, 2015, archived from the original on May 13, 2015 ; accessed on May 10, 2015 .

↑ ^a ^b Guillaume Belan: A400M: l'armée de l'air lève les restrictions de vol. (No longer available online.) In: Air & Cosmos. June 25, 2015, archived from the original on June 29, 2015 ; Retrieved on June 27, 2015 (French): “Les restrictions décidées sur la flotte d'Atlas français concernaient des vols de personnes civils ou de formations. Les vols de transport logistiques au profit des opérations extérieures (Sahel, Iraq, Afrique) n'ont, eux, jamais cessé. "

↑ After the crash of an A400M Spain, Airbus restricts test flights ( memento from May 14, 2015 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on August 5, 2015

↑ ^a ^b Victoria Bryan: Airbus to resume deliveries of A400M after crash. In: reuters.com. Reuters , June 19, 2015, accessed June 27, 2015 .

^ Sarah White, Emma Pinedo: Airbus can restart A400M test flights in Spain after crash: Defense Ministry. In: reuters.com. Reuters , June 11, 2015, accessed June 27, 2015 .

↑ Airbus A400M flies in Le Bourget. In: Flugrevue.de. Flug Revue, June 15, 2015, accessed June 27, 2015 .

↑ ^a ^b Craig Hoyle: UK clears A400M for training flight resumption. In: Flightglobal.com. June 16, 2015, accessed on June 16, 2015 (English): "The UK Royal Air Force is to resume training flights with its first pair of Airbus A400M tactical transports" with immediate effect ", the service announced on June 16."

↑ German A400M is allowed to fly again , accessed on August 5, 2015.

^ France Flying A400M in 'Essential Operations'. Retrieved August 5, 2015