German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock had to suspend a week-long trip to Australia, New Zealand and Fiji after her state plane had to make an emergency landing in Abu Dhabi. According to local media reports, due to a technical malfunction, the pilot had to lighten the plane by throwing about 80 tons of kerosene into the sea. For Baerbock, leader of the Greens, this is the second such incident since he became head of foreign policy in Berlin.
Indeed, in May, the minister was stranded in Qatar due to damage to the tires of his plane while returning to Germany. According to Spiegel weekly, at least five malfunctions have occurred in the German defense fleet of 16 aircraft in recent years. Also among the victims are former chancellor Angela Merkel, her successor Olaf Scholz, and then defense minister (and now EU Commission president) Ursula von der Leyen.
For local media, the underlying theme of all these malfunctions is the same: the Airbus A340 aircraft. Named Konrad Adenauer after the chancellor who once ruled West Germany after the Nazis, this 23-year-old plane will be scrapped next September. The government has assured that there are no maintenance issues, but problems that have arisen over the years have always concerned either Adenauer or its twin, the A340.
According to the pilot on Baerbock’s plane, this time the problem was with the landing wings, one of which was not opening. It was decided to land in the United Arab Emirates to fix the malfunction. But in order to carry out the operation safely, it was necessary to lighten the plane. For this reason, it was decided to dump 80 tons of kerosene into the sea. Mock in mockery for the leader of German ecologists.
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Source: Today IT
Karen Clayton is a seasoned journalist and author at The Nation Update, with a focus on world news and current events. She has a background in international relations, which gives her a deep understanding of the political, economic and social factors that shape the global landscape. She writes about a wide range of topics, including conflicts, political upheavals, and economic trends, as well as humanitarian crisis and human rights issues.
