[safisoft]

Hmm. I don't know why we should be kinder to Airbus just because it's a French company.

First, Airbus is not a French company. It is a consortium made up of British, French, German, and Spanish companies.

Second, the A320 has a huge percentage of parts manufactured by U.S. companies.

It sounds as if, once again, they chose to use questionable technology, as they did with the laminated tail assembly.

You are making it sound as if composite vertical stabilizers are an Airbus thing. They are not. All Boeing 757, 767, and 777 have the composite vertical stabilizer. When you get the Boeing 787 it will be the most 'laminated' aircraft in history.

[Dark Knight]

A few years ago I subscribed to Risks email. The safety of different airframes was a constant discussion. They consistantly rated under 25 year old 747's the safest. Safest by number of landing, passenger mile, plane mile, hours of flight, etc.

Anyone know if that is still true?

DK

[Leo Carpathian]

It is a consortium made up of British, French, German, and Spanish companies.

It wuz one of'em multilingual signs that the gear got stuck to. It's not their fault, it's their fault. So much for con-snortium!

[Cicero]

Yes, Airbus is a European consortium, but there's not much doubt about which country is the 800 pound gorilla that makes the decisions.

[calex59]

Actually I think the Mosquito was the most laminated aircraft in history or maybe the spruce goose, both being made of plywood.