Saudi flight crew. Is this real?

[Moses]

I just got this email. Can anybody confirm this?

TALE OF THE ARAB FLIGHT CREW - True Story

Since I started flight school back in '82 stories circulate about how bad
Arab pilots are (Koreans are a far distant second). Regardless of which
Middle east country they're from, the Arab pilot candidate selection process
is based on social standing and wealth, which doesn't equate to "qualified"
for receiving flight training, much less going on to receive aeronautical
ratings (witness JFK Jr, same sort of deal). USAF instructors have been
basically ordered to pass Arabs through pilot training entered in the
internat'l program at Wichita Falls, regardless of incompetence level. One
can only imagine what their "in-house" training programs are like.

TALE OF THE ARAB FLIGHT CREW

The brand spanking new Airbus 340-600, the largest passenger airplane ever
built, sat in its hangar in Toulouse, France without a single hour of
airtime. Enter the Arab flight crew of Abu Dhabi Aircraft Technologies
(ADAT) to conduct pre-delivery tests on the ground, such as engine run-ups,
prior to delivery to Etihad Airways in Abu Dhabi.

The ADAT 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 4 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 Arab 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, totaling it.

The extent of injuries to the crew is unknown, for there has been a news
blackout in the major media in France and elsewhere. Coverage of the story
was deemed insulting to moslem Arabs. Finally, the photos are starting to
leak out.

Airbus $200 million aircraft meets retaining wall and the wall wins....

[Dantilla]

A friend is an instructor/check pilot for Boeing. He tells me that there are great differences in the competency of different nationalities of pilots, and even among different airlines, but being a pretty smart guy, he will not name names.

[M.D. Holloway]

Snope it - I think it was a technical failure considering all the training that goes into the crew prep.

[Porsche virgin]

http://www.snopes.com/photos/airplane/etihad.asp

[gtc]

This is the same kind of formulaic hate spam that my racist uncle sends out.

I'm not saying that the story isn't true, just that the point of the email is to spread resentment of Arabs/muslims.

[charleskieffner]

if it AINT BOEING.............I AINT GOING! fuch me..............what a bunch of freeking RETARDS!

[Moses]

One of my favorites...

[BGCarrera32]

"Coverage of the story was deemed insulting to moslem Arabs."

Just like everything else.

[Seahawk]

One of my biggest foreign military customers when I had Navy/Marine Corps Unmanned Air Systems was Saudi Arabia...in Saudi I had a long discussion with the head of all military aviation about what he perceived to be his biggest problem: training and retaining Saudi pilots.

His exact word to me where, "We are not a culture that produces many qualified to be aviators, and when we do, the qualified ones move quickly to the airlines."

His over-riding concern with my UAS' was that they have the maximum amount of automation to help solve his pilot problems.

[onewhippedpuppy]

My company sells special missions aircraft worldwide, including Iraq. Per a USAF procurement officer, the USAF has been training pilots for the Iraq Air Force and after their flight training is complete, somewhere in the neighborhood of 1/3 of the trainees dissappear. Not sure where they go, but it probably isn't US Air.

[9dreizig]

Originally Posted by gtc

This is the same kind of formulaic hate spam that my racist uncle sends out.

I'm not saying that the story isn't true, just that the point of the email is to spread resentment of Arabs/muslims.

Dude you consider this hate /racist mail ?? I hardly consider it that,, the Arabs/muslims do enough to proliferate their stereotypes on their own, this is just an observation of their Fuched up culture.... Hardly hate mail Heck they didn't even mention the fact that their flight attendants were wearing burkas

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Reminds me of some of the students I used to teach as a CFI...

Lordy, looking back on it, it's a wonder how I have any hair left at all. Most students are/were great, but every once in a while...

[Danimal16]

Its not a slight at the people but how any culture that gives preference to social standing instead of capability (merit) ends up with sillyness such as the case immediate. You see similar things all over the world. But a cultural system based on social standing is going to be more exposed to errors such as this.

[MikeSid]

Snopes is awesome. If Barbara Mikkelson said Santa Claus was real I'd be good all year.

[The Gaijin]

We should see less of this as crude oil drops below $65 a barrel..

[gtc]

Originally Posted by 9dreizig

Dude you consider this hate /racist mail ?? I hardly consider it that,, the Arabs/muslims do enough to proliferate their stereotypes on their own, this is just an observation of their Fuched up culture.... Hardly hate mail Heck they didn't even mention the fact that their flight attendants were wearing burkas

Hey, I don't care for their wacky culture either. I'm just sayin', if you look at who wrote this (tothepointnews.com) it might lend a little perspective to the story.

I find it amusing that they call themselves "The oasis for rational conservatives" when they can't be bothered to cite a single source for the story.