ANSWERS: 2
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I looked up the A340 and it's massive. # http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airbus_A340 I couldn't find any pictures of the landing pop-pom but I suspect that it is a little parachute designed to create drag and slow down the air-craft.
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What you saw is probably a trailing drogue mounted on the vertical fin used to gather free air data from the disturbed airflow. A trailing drogue helps ensure that test data being collected (temperature, air density and flow direction among many criteria) is free from the disturbed airflow around the aircraft.
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