2023-08-14 18:22:00
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock wants to continue flying to her visit to the Pacific region with the aircraft that is ready to fly, despite the breakdown of her government aircraft. The delegation said on Monday evening in Abu Dhabi: “We are pleased that we can continue the interrupted trip to Australia tonight.” According to information from her delegation, Baerbock wanted to leave for Sydney around midnight with a delay of around 22 hours.
The flight readiness had successfully completed a test flight in Abu Dhabi before the decision was made. The previously defective landing flaps worked once more without any problems. The program items planned for Tuesday in the Australian capital Canberra had to be canceled or postponed due to the delay in arrival.
Tons of kerosene sprayed in the sky
The German Foreign Minister was slowed down on her flight to Australia due to a defect in the landing flaps of the Airbus A340-300 on Monday night in the Gulf Emirate. Baerbock was on a week-long trip to Australia, New Zealand and Fiji.
The flight captain said he has been a pilot for 35 years and has been with the Air Mission for 30 years. Such an error had not occurred in the whole time. Accordingly, one of the two rear landing flaps was defective. For this reason, these might not be retracted symmetrically as actually necessary. This increased kerosene consumption. In addition, neither the cruising altitude nor the normal cruising speed might be reached.
Stranded in Doha in mid-May
Similar incidents involving German government aircraft have occurred repeatedly in recent years. It is also not the first time that the current German foreign minister has been delayed on her travels. It was not until mid-May that Baerbock was stranded in Doha in the desert emirate of Qatar due to tire damage on her government Airbus and had to involuntarily extend her trip to the Gulf region.
Merkel and Scholz had to turn back
However, other members of the government have also had to put up with unscheduled stays due to breakdowns on a machine used by the German armed forces. For example, the Luftwaffe Airbus “Konrad Adenauer” had to turn back in November 2018 with Germany’s then Chancellor Angela Merkel and then Finance Minister Olaf Scholz on board en route to the G20 summit in Buenos Aires. Among other things, the radio system was paralyzed. Both flew to Argentina on a scheduled airliner.
Rodents paralyzed “Adenauer”.
In October 2018, rodents also nibbled important cables of the “Adenauer” during a stop in Indonesia. At that time, Scholz returned by scheduled flight from the International Monetary Fund meeting. In December 2016, the then German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen got stranded on her way to Mali. Because of a computer problem with her A340 in the Nigerian capital Abuja, she had to stay there overnight.
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