Airbus Industrie

The aircraft registered F-WWCJ was tested at a fixed point at Toulouse-Blagnac Airport. The current mission consisted of various test' systems with airline technicians who had ordered the plane. It unfolded engines in operation without chocks wheel. At the end of these tests, after having stopped and inspected the engines, the technicians restarted them for a new fixed point at high power, to find the source of oil seeps. About three minutes after power-up, the aircraft began to moving forward. The technician in the left seat noticed the movement and informed the test technician in the right seat. The latter acted on the brakes located rudder pedals then released the parking brake. The DFDR then shows a release of the brake command with the rudder bar. As the plane continues to advance, he tried to deviate from his course using the steering wheel. The nose gear quickly got in the way as the plane accelerated. The plane struck an inclined blast wall. Its front part broke and flipped over to the other side. Thirteen seconds elapsed between the start of the aircraft's movement and the shock with the wall. The aircraft was destroyed and all nine occupants were injured, four seriously.

An Airbus A330-300 aircraft crashed during a test flight at the Toulouse-Blagnac Airport in France, killing all seven on board. The test flight was part of the preparation required to certify the autopilot, on this Airbus A330 equipped with Pratt and Whitney engines, to category III standards. The first part of the test flight was completed successfully when the aircraft landed on runway 15L. A 180 degree turn was made for takeoff from runway 33R. The second takeoff was to be performed under conditions similar to those of the first takeoff. For this test however, the autopilot would incorporate the modification under study. The takeoff was performed by the co-pilot with TOGA (Takeoff Go Around) power instead of Flex 49, a lower power setting which was specified in the test procedure. Rotation was positive and pitch input was stopped when the attitude changed from 12 to 18 degrees nose-up. Within 5 seconds after takeoff several attempts to engage the autopilot were unsuccessful. After it was engaged, activation was delayed by two seconds because the first officer was exerting a slight nose down input on the side stick. The aircraft, still trimmed at 2.2 degrees nose-up, pitched up to reach 29 degrees and the speed had decreased to 145 knots. The captain meanwhile reduced thrust on the no. 1 engine to idle and cut off the hydraulic system in accordance with the flight test order. Immediately after it activated, the autopilot switched to altitude acquisition mode. The altitude had been set at 2000 feet on the previous flight phase. This caused the pitch attitude to increase to 32 degrees in an attempt to reach 2000 feet. The speed decreased further to 100 knots, whereas the minimum control speed is 118 kts. Roll control was lost and the captain reduced no. 2 engine thrust to idle to recover symmetry on the roll axis. Bank and pitch attitudes had reached 112 degrees left and -43 degrees resp. before the pilot managed to regain control. It was however too late to avoid ground impact at a pitch attitude of around -15 degrees.