Tri-Service

Airbus A400M Atlas Crash Caused By "Multiple Engine Problems"

Airbus has confirmed that the A400M Atlas transporter aircraft that crashed last month suffered multiple engine problems.

Four people died when the brand new airplane came down in Seville on its maiden flight.

Spanish military air accident investigators say the crew lost control of three of the plane’s four engines.

The manufacturer has issued urgent advice to the RAF and other air forces to check engine control systems, suggesting that a software bug may have caused the engines to shut down.

The Electronic Control Units (ECUs) act to take the pilot's inputs on the controls and then make the engines perform in the optimum way in order to achieve what the pilot needs the aircraft to do.

According to the German news organisation Spiegel the Seville crash occured after three engines shut down upon receiving "contradictory instructions" from the flight control system.

The crew attempted to nurse the aircraft, which was undergoing testing ahead of delivery to the Turkish military, back to the airport but collided with a pylon.

The Ministry of Defence suspended flights of the RAF's A400M Atlas aircraft following the disaster.

The A400M is the RAF's newest aircraft, having taken delivery of the first plane 'The City of Bristol' in 2014. It didn't however carry its first operational payload until March of this year.

A further 21 of the tactical airlifters are scheduled for delivery by 2019. They'll operate out of RAF Brize Norton and replace the ageing C-130 Hercules fleet which is due to be retired in 2022.