Angela Merkel misses G20 take-off: plane crash due to complete failure of radio system

Chancellor Angela Merkel will miss the coup of sending the G20 summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina, due to a technical failure of the government aircraft "Konrad Adenauer". According to information from SPIEGEL, the breakdown was more dramatic than we knew: an hour after the start in Berlin, the entire ground communication system had failed in the A340 Air Force. Such an incident is considered a dangerous emergency in aviation. As a result, the pilots immediately decided to stop the flight in Argentina. At the time, the aircraft was in the airspace above the Netherlands.

Only a satellite phone on board, the government aircraft crew managed to contact the flight control center and to plan the landing at the Cologne-Bonn airport. Such a failure of the complete communication system, which is secured by several alternative systems, is extremely rare. The reason for this failure was unclear until late Thursday night, he said in Bundeswehr circles.

At the first breakdown followed more

After this initial failure, several factors prevented Merkel from traveling back in time for the start of the G20 summit.

• Although the Chancellor and the Federal President systematically have a replacement machine for the case of technical breakdowns available. This jet was at the time of the radio failure in Berlin – and not in Cologne. A flight to Berlin without radio contact with the ground seemed too dangerous for the pilots.
• When the A340 finally arrived in Cologne, another unfortunate breakdown occurred. Since the airport is currently under construction, only the shortest runway was available at that time. As a result, long-haul aircraft had to slow down very quickly. Since he had consumed a bit of kerosene since Berlin and could not drain enough fuel in the approach of Cologne, his landing weight was still high. Result: the braking system became very hot – and the fire department had to go up.

According to SPIEGEL, the overall situation was so critical that the Minister of Defense, Ursula von der Leyen, had already been informed after the total failure of the radio system. For several hours, she tried to organize a replacement machine for the Chancellor among the European partner countries. However, long-haul jets equipped with VIP equipment in the EU are rare.

Merkel spent the night in a hotel in Bonn. She said about the incident: "I can say that after the events, there has been a serious disturbance." Fortunately, there was an excellent crew on board and the most experienced captain of the flight readiness.

Merkel will now be brought Friday morning with another air force plane from Cologne to Madrid. From there, he flies at 9 am on a scheduled flight between Iberia and Buenos Aires – but he arrives at 17:55 local time. More basic information about the summit program can be found here.