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AIRCRAFT

World’s biggest aircraft performs Christmas stunt over Denmark and Germany

There was something festive in the skies over Germany and Denmark on Wednesday, and it wasn't Santa's sleigh.

Published: 14 December 2017 10:52 CET
World’s biggest aircraft performs Christmas stunt over Denmark and Germany
Photo: zhukovsky/Depositphotos

An Airbus A380 flew in a seasonal pattern, pulling off an unusual Christmas flight route over the two countries.

The A380 – the world’s biggest passenger airliner – took off around midday on Wednesday from the Airbus factory near Hamburg.

The test aircraft, owned by airline Emirates, flew over the Ruhr district and Luxembourg, turned towards Nuremburg and then continued towards eastern Germany and Denmark.

After a series of sharp turns and circles, a pattern began to emerge for those tracking the aircraft’s route – and there was a theme to make yuletide navigator Santa proud.

Radar tracking website Flightradar24 tweeted its record of the route, leaving no doubt as to the festive feel of the test flight.

Over the course of five hours and at an altitude of 12,000 metres, the A380 drew a Christmas tree over Europe as it safely navigated its way through busy aviation traffic.

The star at the top of the tree was drawn over Aalborg, where the aircraft circled several times – although that part of the drawing is, unfortunately, not its crowning glory, with the ‘star’ closer to resembling a series of scribbles.

READ ALSO: VIDEO: Plane makes terrifying landing in Düsseldorf during storm

AIRCRAFT

Has a Lancaster bomber been discovered under Denmark’s seas?

A World War 2 aircraft may have been found at the bottom of the sea near the Danish island of Langeland.

Published: 16 September 2019 12:25 CEST
Has a Lancaster bomber been discovered under Denmark’s seas?
Photo: Foto-VDW/Depositphotos

The aircraft, discovered in waters off the southern tip of the island, could be a Lancaster, a British bomber used during the 1939-45 war.

Denmark’s Navy has issued a temporary ban on diving, fishing, sailing or anchoring in the area due to the possibility of live ammunition being amongst the wreckage, vice commander of the Royal Danish Navy’s diving unit Bo Petersen told Ritzau.

“We received a civilian report that a diver had seen what looked like the wreckage of an old aircraft. It is probably a Lancaster bomber down there. The diver said there were also objects that could be bombs. We are responding to that,” Petersen said.

The vice commander stressed that the identity of the airplane was yet to be confirmed.

“We can’t go out and check what we’ve been told because there is too much wind and high waves,” he said on Sunday.

But a Navy diving team would be despatched at the earliest possible juncture, he added.

In a tweet, the Danish military confirmed investigation would take place “in the coming days”.

“We’ll dive down to the wreckage and conduct a thorough investigation of the surrounding area for ammunition. We will thereby be able to state whether the area can be re-opened or whether we need to remove the ammunition to make the area secure,” Petersen said.

The Lancaster, a four-engine British bomber, was first produced in 1941.

According to British Royal Air Force figures, 7,377 Lancasters in total were made. After the war, they were used as reconnaissance aircraft until 1956.

There are now only two airworthy examples of the aircraft in the world – one in Canada and one in the UK.

Although the discovery in Danish waters is highly unusual, Petersen noted that a bomber aircraft was also found in the area during the construction of the Great Belt Bridge in the late 1990s.

READ ALSO: Danish schoolboy finds buried German WW2 aircraft and pilot

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