On the 1st September 1988, a Sabena Airbus A330-301 was being towed from a gate to a maintenance facility at Brussels’ Zaventeem Airport when the driver of the TUG lost directional control on the slippery ground surface. The aircraft slid out of control and impacted a Sobelair Boeing 737-329, puncturing a large hole in the fuselage of the 737. Apparently both aircraft were repaired and subsequently returned to service.

More information can be seen at AirDisaster.com.

Allegedly, on November 16th 2007, a flight crew boarded a brand new Airbus 340-600 to conduct pre-delivery ground tests, such as engine run-ups, prior to handing the aircraft over to Etihad Airways. The crew taxied the A340-600 to the run-up area, then they took 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 take-off 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 aircraft had not been configured properly (flaps and slats set, etc.).

One of the crew decided to pull the circuit breaker on the Ground Proximity Warning Sensor to silence the alarm. This fools the aircraft into thinking it is in the air. Unfortunately this also caused the flight computers to automatically release all the brakes, a safety feature implemented so that pilots can’t land with the brakes on. No member of the crew thought to throttle back the engines from their maximum power setting, so the £250 million brand-new aircraft rushed forward and crashed into a blast barrier. The blast barrier won.

There is some further information and photos on the Flight Story blog, here. Enjoy!

Bill forwarded on a recent email that has been circulating the Internet with a few pictures attached, purportedly showing newly discovered K-7 photos. One of these images showed a K-7 configuration with naval artillery fitted!

Unfortunately the images included in the mail are computer generated and somewhat exaggerate the actual size of the aircraft, which is a shame as this would have been one bizarre flying tank. There is an explanation of the mail on Hoax Slayer as well as an interesting discussion on the Snopes’ forums. The following photos are of an actual K-7, which is still a crazy plane!