30 November 2009 - 11H37  

Glitch forces super-jumbo to return to New York
An Air France A380 super-jumbo lands at New York's Kennedy Airport on November 20. An Air France A380 super-jumbo was forced to turn around and land in New York due to a computer glitch.
An Air France A380 super-jumbo lands at New York's Kennedy Airport on November 20. An Air France A380 super-jumbo was forced to turn around and land in New York due to a computer glitch.

AFP - An Air France A380 super-jumbo was forced to turn around and land in New York on Friday due to a computer glitch, a spokesman for the airline said.

The A380 was forced to make a U-turn 90 minutes after take-off from New York and landed safely at Kennedy Airport in the early hours on Saturday.

"The plane is new and is still getting into its stride. It was a minor computer problem that made navigation a little imprecise," he said.

The world's largest civilian carrier completed its maiden flight for Air France 10 days ago, taking off from Paris with 538 passengers on board.

Air France is the first European airline to use the super-jumbo, but it made its first test flight in April 2005 and has been in service for paying customers of Singapore Airlines since October 2007.

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