A340-600 rejected takeoff test . . . video . . .

YouTube Video

They do their run, then stop, then at the 6 minute mark
it starts getting interesting.

YouTube Video 2nd video shows the aircraft itself, as it ‘rejetcts’ the departure.

Where’s Beech? Those guys didn’t look prepared for that at all!

More hose please!!!

Was this a test? Because they got to V1 and then he said “IT’S Breaking” not “I’m breaking” then he called for spoilers. Sounds like an KillBus typical problem and not a test

Description of video; (by the poster of the video?)

One of the tests to be undertaken for the certification of a new aircraft is the accelerate-stop with “maximum energy braking” test. This was undertaken for the A340-500/600 on February 12, 2002 in Istres using MSN360, the prototype aircraft.
This test, which is based on brakes already close to their wear limit, is always one of the last to be performed and it is not unusual for unexpected events to occur.

The test is in general a destructive test for the brakes, wheels and tyres, with occasionally some risk of local damage to the airplane.

In this particular instance the test proceded normally, with the target braking distance and brake energy levels being obtained during the deceleration.
However, several minutes after the aircraft had come to a stand, damage occurred to a number of wheels.

The cause of the wheel damage, which is consistent across affected wheels, has been identified as an insufficient margin in the design of the wheels to withstand the extreme heat transfer from the brakes and the associated increase in tyre pressure after the aircraft had stopped.

The results were reviewed with the component manufacturer and modifications defined. They consist in local reinforcement of the wheels and modifications to the thermal shield between the brake assembly and the wheel.

I’ve seen the video of the 777 cert and they did the same thing except the crew didn’t panic.

If I remember correctly they had to taxi for x minutes unaided to clear the runway to satisfy the FAA. Like this video fire trucks we following with visible flame coming from the tires as they taxied. The tires, wheels and brakes were destroyed. Part of the process.

As an airport firefighter, we train for just this type of situation. Hot brakes can occur anytime an aircraft lands a little fast, or has problems with flaps, spoilers, or thrust reversers. In these tests, the brakes are having to absorb all the energy of a 500,000 lb airplane stopping from 140 kts, that is a lot of kinetic energy, which the brakes turn into heat. It is not uncommon for the brakes to start to smoke, or even start to burn, which can turn into the whole wheel assembly. The tires on all large aircraft are equipped with fusable plugs, devices designed to melt at a certain temperature and let the air pressure out, before the tire itself explodes.

So did the plugs fail to melt in this video? Looked to my untrained eyes a couple of tires did explode?

Watching the video again (its been a while, but we do use it for training), it does seem the plugs failed, and the tires did burst. During our classes, there was always debate on how well the fire service performed. You will notice the first crash truck behind the aircraft parks facing away from the aircraft, which means its turrets can not be used. You have one firefighter with one hoseline attempting to put out a lot of fire. Optimum would be to use the turret on the crash truck, to put mass quanities of water to cool the brakes. The smoke you see coming from the hubs while the aircraft is still rolling, is the grease in the bearings started to cook off. In situations such as this, the temperature can continue to climb for up to 20 minutes. This test is supposed to show that the aircraft can do an emergency stop, using only brakes, from V1, then still be able to taxi for five minutes without intervention. That is why the engineers did not want the fire department to intervene, the test fails the second the fire department uses water.

The whole story behind the test and these videos, is that they were leaked by an employee, then Airbus tried to prevent the videos from being public. They did not want the public to see a failed test and a test aircraft on fire. But as we all know, once a video is on the internet, there is no stopping it.

Looks like the hose is short too. He needs another 10 feet.

Guess the same fire guys showed up for this;

sleetapawang.spaces.live.com/blo … =205113535

Not really sure what that accident has to do with the airport fire department response. That was caused by human error on the part of the engineers/mechanics.

Davysims, nice response and great information. Thanks for a different point of view.

davysims got it right. First trk on scene turned its ass around . I’m still figuing it out why. Along with some other points. This all couldve been easily avoided by a couple of sweeps with the roof turret, using a fog pattern for initial cool down of the mains and any small flames from grease and general collected dirt. Those rims blew just like in the text books. Thats just a few of the errors I picked up from the many. Hopefully its being used for training! :smiley:

It is, I have used it repeatedly in our required recurrent training. Some other things, when the handline was first deployed, there was little pressure on it (possibly by order of the engineer overseeing the test). They did let it get away from them before really making an effort to stop it. I have some photos somewhere showing the aftermath, the fuse and wings experienced a lot of thermal damage.

If this was an actual aircraft, it would be treated much differently. Most SOPs call for the aircraft to be parked away from the gate. The fire department would use gas powered fans to blow air over the brakes and help cool. Remember, the temperature can continue to rise for up to 20 minutes AFTER the brakes were used, so it can be a delayed reaction. If we start to see fire, we then use water with a fog pattern to try to cool the wheel assembly. Most SOPs do not allow for use of water until fire is present, as spraying cold water on hot metal could cause the rims to fracture. Once it is burning, fire is considered a bigger risk than ruining a rim.