Safety Group Urges Airbus Fixes (Nota Bene: for Airbus A319/A320 cockpit displays that go BLANK)

The Wall Street Journal ^ | 07/23/08 | ANDY PASZTOR

[VOA]

Safety Group Urges Airbus Fixes

LOS ANGELES -- U.S. aviation safety watchdogs, concerned
about severe electrical problems that have blacked out cockpit
displays on dozens of Airbus jetliners over the years,
urged regulators on both sides of the Atlantic to mandate aircraft
fixes and enhanced pilot training to alleviate such hazards.

Recommendations released by the National Transportation Safety
Board Wednesday cite 49 incidents over the years in which electrical
problems caused various cockpit displays on widely-used
Airbus A319 and A320 to suddenly stop functioning and temporarily
go blank during flight. According to the board, seven of
those incidents resulted in the simultaneous loss of all six
electric cockpit displays -- something that safety experts originally
believed was virtually impossible......

[VOA]

Via "Google News" here is an expanded version of the article that
that appeared as a buried article in print version of The
Wall Street Journal.

Aside from my INCREDULITY that this is not a FRONT-PAGE
paper-media article...
I'm not sure who to be more p-ssed with...Airbus...
or the limp-wristed regulatory agencies that "urge" that this
problem be fixed.

[VOA]

in case the Admin/Mod has any copyright with this thread, here are
links to the online sources:

Safety Group Urges Airbus Fixes
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121684995725478651.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

U.S. air regulator urges mandatory fixes to Airbus cockpit display bugs - report
http://www.forbes.com/afxnewslimited/feeds/afx/2008/07/24/afx5248089.html

[VOA]

Here is documentation of “due diligence” by VOA to see if there was
a previous post of this article/topic.
VOA got no listing of this article/topic after searching KEYWORDS:

AIRBUS
AIRLINER
AIRLINERS
AVIATION
BOEING
COMMERCIALAVIATION
NTSB

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

["When an EasyJet A319 suffered a major electrical failure over Great Britain, the captain used his personal mobile phone to contact air-traffic controllers and advise them where he planned to land."]

Thaaaaaat's nice...

[mad_as_he$$]

If it ain’t Boeing I ain’t going.

[VOA]

If it ain’t Boeing I ain’t going.

That aphorism does come to mind.

In the interest of "full disclosure", I do admit to being more
a fan of Boeing than Airbus.
But I do appreciate Airbus as a competitor that spurs Boeing to
fight to "stay in the game".

And fully admit that Boeing ain't always perfect...e.g.,
the problem with rudder control on Boeing 737s, losing the
Joint Strike Fighter competition.

But having found this article just about "buried" in my Wall Street
Journal...I had to post it.

In general, this article made me happy that I rarely travel by
air (mostly due to the mess at the airport necessitated by
radical Muslims since 9-11).

But it gave me pause about the recent US Military Air-Tanker
competition.

And wonder if Airbus/Northrup/Grumman assured the US Military
that cockpit displays would NOT GO DARK during NON-COMBAT CONDITIONS.
(not to mention WARTIME Operations!!!!!)

[WellyP]

My buddy, I’ll call him “John” is a senior capt. on a A-320. Tuesday night over a great dinner he said and I quote, “After about 8 to 10 years the 320’s become an electrical nightmare to maintain”. “I will be so glad when the damn things are no longer in the fleet”.

You can take it from there!

[VOA]

Thaaaaaat's nice...

Well, I'll definitely make sure my cell-phone is charged up
when I'm scheduled to fly.

In case I'm on an Airbus 319/320 and the pilot announces on
the intercom:
"Our cockpit displays have gone dark. Well, really they've totally
gone out and we're flying BLIND. Would a passenger please let
the co/pilot borrow their cell-phone so that your flight
DOES NOT CRASH AND BURN!?!?"

[VOA]

My buddy, I’ll call him “John” is a senior capt. on a A-320.

Did "John" express any opinion about Airbus Tankers for the
US Military?

That would be the question I'd be asking the Department of Defense
if I were a US Senator/Representative after seeing this article.

(Granted this article is just about putting some civilians at
risk...)
(/sarc)

[VOA]

...seven of those incidents resulted in the simultaneous loss of
all six electric cockpit displays -- something that
safety experts originally believed was virtually impossible......

IIRC, Harry S. Truman said something to the effect that
"an expert is someone that can't admit he doesn't know everything".

OK, maybe an unfair comment by a Show-Me-State guy.

But these Airbus events should at least be a decent serving of
"humble pie" for those "experts".

[mad_as_he$$]

Agree with you completely!!

[Chode]

the Black Screen of Death... really is

[SkyDancer]

There are analog backups for just such an occasion. It happened on a Boeing 767 once.

[VOA]

There are analog backups for just such an occasion.
It happened on a Boeing 767 once.

I admitted my pro-Boeing bias.
And wouldn't be suprised that the problem hasn't occurred
in Boeing products.
But what grabbed me was the number of incidents cited in the
excerpt below (failure of the WSJ to quantify "over the years" is shoddy journalism!).

And as I admitted...I don't know if I should be more concerned
about Airbus...or the regulatory agencies that merely "urge"
the situation be fixed after this copious numbers of warnings
(even if temporary failures) that something ain't quite right!

Recommendations released by the National Transportation Safety Board Wednesday cite 49 incidents over the years
in which electrical problems caused various cockpit displays on
widely-used Airbus A319 and A320 to suddenly stop functioning
and temporarily go blank during flight.

[SkyDancer]

Thanks for that info. I subscribe to the NTSB Reporter.

Regards,
Jane

[Eagles2003]

I preferred Boeing or McD planes when I flew. I didn’t even mind the old MD-80s.

United was owned by Boeing way back when. I would think they’d stick with Boeing whenever possible. But I also didn’t fly back in the days of the old DC-3 workhorses.