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Price of an Unread Manual

A brand new Airbus 40-600 sits outside its hangar in Toulouse, France. Not a single hour of flying time yet.

 The flight crew from Abu Dhabi Aircraft Technologies (ADAT) enter to conduct pre-deliver tests such as engine run-ups before taking delivery for Etihad Airways, Abu Dhabi.
 The ADAT crew taxi to the A340-600 to the run-up area. Then they set all four engines to take-off power with a virtually empty aircraft. Not having read the run-up manuals, they had no clue just how light an empty A340-600 really is.
The takeoff warning horn was blaring away in the cockpit because they had ALL FOUR engines at full power. The aircraft computers thought they were trying to take off, but it 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 fools the aircraft into thinking it is 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 crew was smart enough to throttle back the engines from their max power setting, so the $200 million brand-new aircraft crashed into a blast barrier, totalling it.
The extent of injuries to the crew is unknown due to the news blackout in the major media in France and elsewhere.


One French Airbus: $200 Million
Untrained Flight Crew: $300,000 Annual Salary
Unread Operating Manual: $300
Aircraft meets retaining wall and the wall wins. PRICELESS!!!

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