The A400M military transport plane that crashed in Spain last May went down due to triple engine failures, according to a new report issued by Europe-based Airbus.
Four Airbus employees were killed and two critically injured when the A400M crashed shortly after take-off from Seville, Spain on May 9, The Wall Street Journal reported. In statement, Airbus revealed that "that engines 1, 2 and 3 experienced power frozen after lift-off and did not respond to the crew's attempts to control the power setting in the normal way, whilst engine 4 responded to throttle demands."
The crew on board attempted to regain control of the plane by first reducing power but the three engines remained unresponsive, which led to the disastrous accident. Airbus based its latest findings on the analyses conducted on the recovered flight data and voice cockpit recorders, the Financial Times said in a report.
The investigation on the matter is ongoing and Airbus has committed to issue updates once they become available, the publication added.
Troubled military beast
Prior to the tragic crash, which happened as the A400M was being delivered to Turkey, the Airbus plane has been already plagued by technical issues and delayed deliveries to customers. In the aftermath of the accident, countries with existing A400Ms immediately grounded their units.
The incident, the Financial Times said, further eroded the integrity of the decade-old program that eventually could cost Airbus some 20 billion euros.
Likely exodus of clients
Per The Journal, customers are becoming restless and could turn to alternatives soon, likely leading to cancellation of orders. France has already indicated that it is considering getting four C-130 long haul transport planes from American firm Lockheed Martin. Paris is anticipating that more issues will hound the A400M in light of the recent crash in Spain.
Germany is also preparing for the worst as the country hinted that it will simple extend for another three years the services of its current fleet of military transport plane - the Transall C-160.
The Germans are supposed to accept 16 A400Ms by 2016 but the incident in Spain last month will likely prompt another push back in scheduled delivery, The Journal said.
