The UK Royal Air Force is to resume training flights with its first pair of Airbus A400M tactical transports “with immediate effect”, the service announced on 16 June.
“Having undertaken and completed a series of thorough checks on the UK’s A400M aircraft and how it is operated, the RAF is now satisfied that the additional processes and procedures introduced means it is now safe to resume flying,” the service says.
Flight operations with the UK’s lead Atlas airlifters had been paused since a fatal accident in Seville, Spain on 9 May, which killed four Airbus flight-test personnel. Shortly after the loss, the manufacturer advised operators of the type to perform electronic control unit checks on each of its Europrop International TP400-D6 engines.
Ground-based training and simulator-based instruction had been performed for RAF personnel at its Brize Norton base in Oxfordshire while flight operations were suspended.
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Meanwhile, the German air force says it expects to resume operations with its one A400M “in the coming weeks”, once it has performed software checks on the aircraft.
Source: FlightGlobal.com
