diff --git a/rust/operator-binary/src/env_vars.rs b/rust/operator-binary/src/env_vars.rs
index e1e77a5b..394183e3 100644
--- a/rust/operator-binary/src/env_vars.rs
+++ b/rust/operator-binary/src/env_vars.rs
@@ -217,6 +217,16 @@ pub fn build_airflow_statefulset_envs(
         }
     }
 
+    // Needed for the `containerdebug` process to log it's tracing information to.
+    env.insert(
+        "CONTAINERDEBUG_LOG_DIRECTORY".to_string(),
+        EnvVar {
+            name: "CONTAINERDEBUG_LOG_DIRECTORY".to_string(),
+            value: Some(format!("{STACKABLE_LOG_DIR}/containerdebug")),
+            value_from: None,
+        },
+    );
+
     tracing::debug!("Env-var set [{:?}]", env);
     transform_map_to_vec(env)
 }
diff --git a/tests/templates/kuttl/smoke/40-assert.yaml.j2 b/tests/templates/kuttl/smoke/40-assert.yaml.j2
index ac428045..81337261 100644
--- a/tests/templates/kuttl/smoke/40-assert.yaml.j2
+++ b/tests/templates/kuttl/smoke/40-assert.yaml.j2
@@ -79,11 +79,3 @@ status:
   expectedPods: 1
   currentHealthy: 1
   disruptionsAllowed: 1
----
-# This test checks if the containerdebug-state.json file is present and valid
-apiVersion: kuttl.dev/v1beta1
-kind: TestAssert
-timeout: 600
-commands:
-  - script: kubectl exec -n $NAMESPACE --container airflow airflow-scheduler-default-0 -- cat /stackable/log/containerdebug-state.json | jq --exit-status
-  - script: kubectl exec -n $NAMESPACE --container airflow airflow-webserver-default-0 -- cat /stackable/log/containerdebug-state.json | jq --exit-status
diff --git a/tests/templates/kuttl/smoke/42-assert.yaml b/tests/templates/kuttl/smoke/42-assert.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..46ced0d2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/templates/kuttl/smoke/42-assert.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+---
+# This test checks if the containerdebug-state.json file is present and valid
+apiVersion: kuttl.dev/v1beta1
+kind: TestAssert
+timeout: 600
+commands:
+  - script: kubectl exec -n $NAMESPACE --container airflow airflow-scheduler-default-0 -- cat /stackable/log/containerdebug-state.json | jq --exit-status '"valid JSON"'
+  - script: kubectl exec -n $NAMESPACE --container airflow airflow-webserver-default-0 -- cat /stackable/log/containerdebug-state.json | jq --exit-status '"valid JSON"'