Technical problems with Germany’s military aircraft have left 150 troops stranded in Afghanistan and forced commanders to consider using Chancellor Angela Merkel
...current chancellor of Germany. She was educated in East Germany when is was still run by commies, but in 1989 got involved with the growing democracy movement when the Berlin Wall fell. Merkel is sometimes referred to by Germans as Mom ...
’s jet to fly the soldiers home.
Der Spiegel online reported that the Bundeswehr soldiers had expected to be flown home from a tour of duty in Afghansitan, but had become stuck in the town of Masar-e-Sharif on Tuesday because their Airbus 310 transport plane’s emergency oxygen masks were defective.
The equipment breakdown was the fourth consecutive German military aircraft failure in recent weeks and comes as aid destined to help fight Ebola in west Africa was left stranded after another plane malfunction.
Der Spiegel quoted German military sources who said that commanders were considering using a military VIP jet “normally reserved for Chancellor Merkel” to bring the soldiers home.
The decision to ground the military Airbus 130 follows similar oxygen mask problems with civilian aircraft of the same type, which has restricted their flying altitude to a maximum of 7,500 metres. |