Airbus A380 grounded during air show in Hamburg (Roundup)

Sep 16, 2007, 16:38 GMT

Hamburg - The new A380 jumbo jet was grounded by technical problems in front of 150,000 people at an air show in the northern German city of Hamburg on Sunday.

The Airbus company said the prototype jet was unable to take off from Hamburg Airport for a demonstration flight and return to Toulouse in France because of a defect in its undercarriage.

The first of the twin-deck A380 planes is to be delivered soon to Singapore Airlines after two years of industrial hiccups at the European aerospace company, mainly blamed on manufacturing software.

The jet in Hamburg had been the star turn of the Airport Days - a weekend air show in Hamburg.

Some 150,000 paying guests and tens of thousands more people staring through the airport perimeter fence were waiting at the scheduled take-off time to see the jet lumber into the air.

A witness said the jet, serial number MSN 001, which is for tests only and will not be sold to customers, taxied away, then stopped, and after a long delay returned to the apron, disappointing the crowd.

Airbus spokesman Tore Prang said as mechanics worked on the jet, 'This is a test flight for it. It has been under particularly heavy strain. We're going to take our time checking it out and be on the safe side.

'We've got mechanics and spare parts here in Hamburg. It's not a problem.'

Earlier Sunday, a squadron of 15 classic transport planes rumbled across the Hamburg skies and their collective age established a record in formation flights, organizers said.

Organizer Wolfgang Borgmann said the Lockheed Superconstellation, Douglas DC-3 and other planes were all more than 30 years old and their total age exceeded 600 years.

The engines of the restored planes created a huge din as they proceeded at low altitude across residential areas of the city after taking off from Hamburg Airport for the flypast.