2nd incident in days with new Belgian Air Force "One"

[BrightCedars]

According to local newspaper websites, our BAF A330 has had a landing retraction gear fault and had to circle the country with dozens of our brave servicemen on their way to Afghanistan to burn fuel before landing back safely at Melsbroek.

Not a winning streak...

[Gliderpilot]

Belgian efficiency at its best... dozens of people in an A330...

[BrightCedars]

Hem, I said dozens because I didn't recall the exact number, they were in the 10-12 dozens so to speak.

Which is not full capicity but may be justifiable.

[sdbelgium]

139 pax on board...

[RoMax]

139 is not that much, but it is justifiable for sure.

[cathay belgium]

Is this just bad luck or just justified..
justified because some s****** belgian politicians made so bad decisions as leasing this plane.
Too big,bad livery,bad technical systems,...

I think we just found the belgian successor of our admirable OO-TUC !

So will again our troops being transported by embraer?
Gonna be cosy inside !

CX-B

[airazurxtror]

In French :

http://www.rtlinfo.be/info/belgique/fai ... force-one-

In Dutch :

http://www.hln.be/hln/nl/957/Belgie/art ... -One.dhtml

[FlightMate]

Might it not be related to the 1st incident?

I mean: landing gear in the grass, landing gear retraction problem... maybe just a coincidence, maybe not

[sdbelgium]

Yes, maybe someone forgot some landing gear locking pins?

[Apuneger]

Could it be that it took off from 25R around 12:35LT? I noticed an A330 that hadn't retracted the landing gear but could not see the operator...

Regards,
Ivan

[Bralo20]

Is this just bad luck or just justified..
justified because some s****** belgian politicians made so bad decisions as leasing this plane.
Too big,bad livery,bad technical systems,...

I think we just found the belgian successor of our admirable OO-TUC !

So will again our troops being transported by embraer?
Gonna be cosy inside !

CX-B

Bad luck I suppose... Although a lot of people are trying to let you believe otherwise the A333 was the best plane in the offers made to the government. And yes I'm saying this as a Boeing lover... First of all this particular A333 was used without any big problems previous being delivered to the BAF. Although it's age it's a very decent plane although you can maybe say it was a bit overpriced but since A333's are currently seriously wanted on the market (few are available) it could be expected. Now regarding being to big... An Airbus A330-300 can seem to big for our tiny country but in fact it isn't. The Belgian government isn't the sole user of this particular aircraft, it's being used for other NATO countries who rely on the Belgian governernment for some movements (which can be troops, cargo or even VIP transport), Belgium is getting paid for this service. It's more efficiently and eco friendly to send one big plane than to send 2 smaller planes like the A310 which were previously used. Not only for the amount of people capable to transport but also for cargocapacity. The A333 isn't to big for the Melsbroek base, Melsbroek is even capable to receive bigger and heavier planes then the A333 used by BAF, in the past multiple bigger and much heavier planes were seen at Melsbroek. Yes, the hangars are to small for the A333 but they were even to small for the A310 previously used, even the B763 would be to big for the hangars...

No matter which plane they would have chosen there would be always some comments... I'm pretty sure when the B763 would have been chosen that a lot of people (including policians) would be yelling that the plane would be to small. Or that an European manufacturar must have been chosen instead of American one. In fact it's typical Belgian to complain about everything...

The only bad decision made was the decision to lease a plane. I'm not a fan of leasing and I will never be a fan of it. They had better ordered a brand new plane, which would be expensive but could be at least used for about 15 to 20 years. Now they leased a plane for a couple of years and they'll be spending a signicant amount of money for a plane they need to be replaced within a couple of years.

Technicals are always possible with any type of plane, even with a brand new one, remember the troubles with the A380's? Also the safety standards for a plane are way higher then for a vehicle so when a particular event happens it can mean that the plane will be grounded untill repairs have been made while with a similar problem in a car, truck, boat, etc... you can probably continue. I wonder who is responsible for the maintenance... If they leased the plane excluding maintenance and doing the maintenance theirself then we could maybe expect a lot of technicals similar with the A310's...

Anyway, Those who think that the A333 is to big or is the wrong plane can probaly cry a bit more in the (far?) future... AFAIK the plan is to get 2 planes in the order of the A333. It's possible that it will arrive in the next couple of years but it's also possible that it will only arrive when the current A333 will be replaced but we can expect it sooner or later...

We've reached a point that armed forces in Europe will focus on some specialisations. So it's possible that Belgium will focus on troop movements and cargo transport, maybe focus on pilot training (we do have top level instructors). Just like the Belgian navy is specialised in minesweeping tasks...

It's a shame that every problem of the A333 is spread out in the media, I'm pretty sure that it won't be any news if a A333 from Jet Airways had the same problem... But then again army bashing is also a national sport...

[fretn]

I'm pretty sure it isn't a330-300 but a a330-200

[cathay belgium]

Hi Bralo,

Bad luck I suppose...

As an air-enthousiast I know maybe the problems of the A330 are 'normal' (incl. TUC ),
and offcourse as an average belgian and peacekeeper I'll like bashing on army and our ***politicians.
( okay,we voted for them (not me),stupid us!! )

But also as a tax-payer I think it's hard reading here,that +-40pax were transported in an A330
and a bit later were transported by an Embraer due to mud-problems of the A330.
Also I'm more Boeing than Airbus and I just like to see that we as tax-payers get value for our money.
Wich means getting the right plane for the job Airbus/Boeing/Sukhoi.. without price-agreements,
compensations and so on.. just the right plane for the job!
Leasing is not part of this,leasing old planes ... and getting these news in so many times is even !
VIP transport with A330 with CO2 emissions and Copenhagen in mind is almost criminal.
I would prefer seeing these VIPS flying around in business/first class in our EU carriers,LH,KL,AF,AZ,IB,BA and
preferable SN!
Nicer,cheaper,more human for everyone!

I like to see a more EU army and if so give our army even more A330's but then paid by everyone and flown by
everyone under EU-flag.
( and drop some of our useless investments such as tanks.. )

But until then ..

But then again army bashing is also a national sport...

if the army wants to come in the news with things like this and parties in NYC for exemple ..
okay we taxpayers pay for it but don't stop us mentioning/laughing with these topics..
.. these are just the seeds of our national army bashing!!!

CX-B

[Gliderpilot]

It's a shame that every problem of the A333 is spread out in the media, I'm pretty sure that it won't be any news if a A333 from Jet Airways had the same problem... But then again army bashing is also a national sport...

Because Jet Airways isn't operated by Belgian taxpayer money...

And I think, in this case, leasing is better for multiple reasons.

2 A330 for Belgian Air Force? Is this serious? Even the French Air Force has only two A340s to do the same job, I can't imagine Belgium need 2 as well...
I thought the idea was to replace the 2 A310 with one A330...

[Bralo20]

I'm pretty sure it isn't a330-300 but a a330-200

It's a A330-332 to be precise

[Bralo20]

Because Jet Airways isn't operated by Belgian taxpayer money...

And I think, in this case, leasing is better for multiple reasons.

2 A330 for Belgian Air Force? Is this serious? Even the French Air Force has only two A340s to do the same job, I can't imagine Belgium need 2 as well...
I thought the idea was to replace the 2 A310 with one A330...

Jet isn't indeed operated by taxpayers money but so what? I rather see the government buy (or lease) a couple of widebodies rather then spending the money on useless equipment... At least the A333 can be used for other NATO countries and will bring some money, something that the executive jets probably won't do (the BAF is also operating luxury business jets for high ranking personnel)...

Regarding the 2 A333's... That's the plan yes... At least that's what some high ranking officers in the airforce disclosed after they confirmed that it was the HiFly plane that was being leased. The longterm plan is to get 2 widebodies (A330 or similar) and while the first one has to be ready for take off within 1 hours (or less) after a call has been made, the second one has to be ready within 5 hours (or less) after a calling. But this is probably not for the first year(s).

[9vsmu]

Note that the a/c is used for troop transport. It might have had only about 30-40 pax on board, but that is for the outbound flight. I can imagine the a/c has a bigger load on the inbound flight, and that would justify the use of the a/c.

[Darjeeling]

It seems the landing gear problem was more serious than expected. So HiFly decided to ferry an A310-300 (CS-TEX with basic old Oman Air scheme) to BRU to try and send the troops but the A313 has suffered a major fuel leak this morning before the soldiers boarded the plane.
Since then: stand-by !! Belgian amateurism at its very very best !!
CS-TMT is ready to join the very closed club of the Belgian "saga planes" like OO-TUC, OO-SFM, OO-VBR...

[Gliderpilot]

This is not funny at all imo.
And you can't blame the Air Force for the technical problems/faults of the aircraft (as they are leased), you can blame them for picking HiFly and what they do with the aircraft.
No doubt that there is a clause in the contract the lessor has to provide a backup aircraft within 24h (or 2 days?) in case of AOG. Operation of this aircraft has nothing to do anymore with the Belgian Air Force.

Btw, there is no need to type a whole message in bold.

[Jipe]

Foe info : CS-TEX is parked at BRU since at least the 27/12. Last week, it was parked at the apron between the Pier B and the sattelite and this week at Melsbroek