planes of The series of glitches in the German Government has in no way diminished: foreign Minister Heiko Maas is stranded at the end of his five-day visit to West Africa due to hydraulic damage in Mali.
His machine of the type A319 was able to bring him on Thursday evening as planned by the Malian capital of Bamako back to Berlin. The SPD politician took it well. “I am now more than 300’000 km of puncture-free flown,” he said. Eventually, it will catch everyone.
A larger replacement machine of the type A340 will now start on Friday morning at the airport of Cologne/Bonn, Maas and his Delegation to pick up. The Minister can then fly expected to be back with almost 20 hours late on Friday afternoon to Berlin. Travelling with him are three members of the Bundestag, as well as nearly 40 employees, journalists, and security forces.
The flight readiness of the German armed forces uses the A319 for Short – and medium-range routes. It has 44 seats and has a range of slightly more than 7000 kilometers. A spokesman for the air force told the news Agency DPA, the machine is a hydraulic leak had been found in a size of the order, the “lying outside the tolerance limit”.
Chancellor was late to the summit
In the past few months, there had been breakdowns in the pre-flight readiness. Chancellor Angela Merkel came to late for the G-20 summit in Buenos Aires. Development Minister Gerd Müller remained for a long time in Zambia, hanging, and even had to cancel a visit to Namibia. Federal President of Germany Frank-Walter Steinmeier was caught in November because of an engine defect for hours in South Africa. A further minor glitch caught up with him recently in Ethiopia. And in October, rodents paralysed in Indonesia, the machine of the Finance Minister, Olaf Scholz.
Miller had complained loudly about the glitches. They were a disaster for Germany’s reputation as a High-Tech country, he scolded. The loss of the brand “Made in Germany”. Currently, 14 aircraft from the manufacturer, Airbus, and Bombardier to flight readiness.
defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen has in the meantime given to the procurement of three new long-haul aircraft in order. “This is also necessary, I think, to remember all,” she said at the beginning of February at the announcement of this step. (Dec/sda)
Created: 01.03.2019, 12:17 PM
