Aircraft
Engine Problem Solved, but A400M Deliveries Delayed
German Chancellor Angela Merkel toured the A400M airlifter on display at the Berlin Air Show last week. (Photo: Airbus Military)
German Chancellor Angela Merkel toured the A400M airlifter on display at the Berlin Air Show last week. (Photo: Airbus Military)

Airbus Military says it hopes to resume, in November, the remaining 140 hours of function and reliability flight-testing that is required before its A400M airlifter can be granted a full type certificate. The flights with MSN6, the first production-representative aircraft, were suspended in July because of the repeated detection of metallic chips in the oil system of one of the TP400 engines. Europrop International (EPI) has traced the problem to a cracked cover plate within the propeller gearbox. It is being redesigned, but all the series engines produced so far must be modified.