Following the accident to an Airbus A400M on Saturday 9 May, Airbus Defence and Space technical advisors are providing full assistance to the official committee that is in charge of the investigation. The investigating authority is the Spanish Ministry of Defence.
At the same time the company is providing all appropriate care and support to the families of the four employees who lost their lives and two who were injured, as well as to the two injured survivors themselves who remain in hospital.
The Spanish authorities have confirmed that both black boxes have been found. Airbus and other suppliers are in a support role and will provide all necessary expertise and information to help the investigation.
The A400M flight test programme continues unless or until any evidence is found which would suggest that it is not safe to fly. So far no such evidence has emerged.
The first test flight since the accident took place on Tuesday 12 May. Development aircraft MSN4 took off from Toulouse at 14:45 and landed at Seville 1hr 50min later. This was a regular test flight which was scheduled before the accident. Fernando Alonso, Head of Airbus Defence and Space Military Aircraft was on board acting as flight test engineer.
The Spanish military authorities informed Airbus Defence and Space on 12 May that, as a precautionary measure and pending the accident investigation, they have temporarily suspended the licence to undertake flights with the production aircraft that are in preparation for delivery. We are working closely with the military authorities as well as our customers to manage this situation.
Assembly of the A400M for customers continues as planned at the Seville Final Assembly Line. This also applies to other plants such as the wing line at Filton, UK and the fuselage productionline at Bremen, Germany.
Facts about the accident aircraft
- Known as MSN23
- Assembly started in Seville in November 2014
- 3rd aircraft for Turkey
- The delivery process was planned to start later this month with delivery scheduled for end of June
Airbus Defence and Space owns five A400M test aircraft of which three are currently in service and the other two have been retired. These five aircraft have accumulated more than 2700 flights and over 7500 flight hours. Customers have additionally accumulated more 2,000 hours on aircraft in service.
