During the first three weeks of July, as part of the 2023 edition of the PEGASE mission [Projection d’un dispositif aérien d’EnverGure en Asie du Sud-Est]the Air & Space Force [AAE] engaged six Rafale fighter-bombers, two A330 MRTT Phénix tankers and two A400M “Atlas” transport planes in a series of combined exercises organized by the US Air Force from the “Andersen” air base, established on the island of Guam [océan Pacifique].
The Royal Canadian Air Force also took part in these maneuvers, deploying two C-130J Hercules and a CC-150T Polaris tanker aircraft. [basé sur l’Airbus A310-300, ndlr] belonging to its 437th Transport Squadron.
Was the tarmac at Andersen’s base too crowded? Still, on July 22, around 10:30 a.m., one of two French A400Ms and the Canadian CC-150T Polaris crashed into the ground, in circumstances that remain to be clarified.
Indeed, French and Canadians have delivered imprecise versions of this incident.
Thus, the Global News television channel suggested that the CC-150T Polaris had been snagged by the A400M.
“There was no one on board the Canadian plane at the time and no casualties were reported,” Daniel Le Bouthillier, the spokesperson for the Canadian Defense Ministry, was quoted as saying in a statement. “As the matter is still under investigation, we cannot comment on the potential cause of the damage,” he added.
On the French side, the AAE explained that the A400M was stopped when it was hit by the CC-150T Polaris. “The engines being cut and no one on board, no injuries are to be deplored. Damage was observed on the elevator of both aircraft. Analyzes are underway to assess the damage and carry out repairs as soon as possible,” she said. And to add that an investigation is “in progress to determine the causes of the incident”.
If the A400M was stationary… and if there was no one on board the CC-150T Polaris, how can we explain that the two planes collided?
However, such an incident is not the first of its kind for the CC-150T Polaris fleet… In October 2019, at Trenton Air Force Base [Ontario] one such aircraft had been badly damaged… after hitting a tow tractor and a hangar, when it was supposed to have been immobilized by chocks.
The investigation determined that the chocks in question did not meet the standards… and that they had not all been installed on the wheels of the aircraft.
The investigators considered that the responsibility of the team of trackers, provided by the company L3Harris, could only be engaged. And they recommended “the use of approved chocks on all wheels and improved training for towing operations.”
Photo: A400M taxiing on the island of Guam / Air & Space Force
