Airbus stops A380 evacuation test after incident

Reuters/Business ^ | 3/26/06 | Jambe

[Jambe]

PARIS (Reuters) - European plane maker Airbus said on Sunday it had interrupted an evacuation test for its new A380 double-decker plane after an incident in which several people were injured as an evacuation slide dis-inflated.

The test took place in a hangar at its Hamburg site in Germany under supervision of the European certification authority and in the presence of a representative from the U.S. Federal Aviation Authority, as it is part of the certification procedure.

"Such an incident during such a trail is not unprecedented," said Airbus chief operating officer and head of the A380 programme, Charles Champion, in a statement.

There were 873 people involved in the evacuation test. Some 31 had minor injuries and one broke a leg.

The test was aimed at evacuating the plane within 90 second by using only half of the 16 doors. Airbus is part of the EADS group.

[cmsgop]

Oh Man.........

[BeHoldAPaleHorse]

Yeah, this really worked well...

[STARWISE]

The thought of any plane carrying over 800 people is frightening to me, all by itself.

[Gay State Conservative]

"Such an incident during such a trail is not unprecedented," said Airbus chief operating officer..Charles Champion

You mean it's happened with other Airbus products,Chuck?

[rickmichaels]

There were 873 people involved in the evacuation test.

They must have all been French for them to evacuate the plane so quickly. Was it an Air Mohammed plane?

[Cagey]

It is quite a bit larger than a bread box, that's for sure.

[adorno]

Airbus stops A380 evacuation test after incident

And this was only a test. Imagine how many more casualties there would be in a real disaster situation withe 800 people trying to evacuate a small area. If the disaster doesn't get you, that panic and chaos will.

[Gamecock]

***Such an incident during such a trail is not unprecedented***

But it is not common either, is it?

[Jambe]

This does not sound good at all for Airbus. They have been worried about this test for over a year.

Watch Boeing stock on Monday for a bump upwards.

[rickmichaels]

You mean it's happened with other Airbus products,Chuck?

Yup...

[ARCADIA]

Well so far totally screwed up. I wonder how many people these idiots plan to kill every year.

[Jotmo]

The test was aimed at evacuating the plane within 90 second by using only half of the 16 doors

Yea right. If they practice enough, they might do it. But in real world situations, simply not going to happen.

In order for the test to be somewhat realistic, they'd need a fresh batch of "passengers" each test, and the none functioning doors would have to be completely random and unknown before the start of each test.

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

I wouldn't be looking forward to the first test flight.

[ncountylee]

A flight with 873 people runs this risk of assault, robbery and Jihad, if any insults are perceived by the death cultists.

Heads could be rolling in the aisles if the wrong cartoon is shown or a Koran is thought to have been mishandled.

[kylaka]

That's 110 people through each of 8 doors in 90 seconds. That is more than 1 per second. I don't think it can be done.

[null and void]

They are just building a bigger terrorist target...

[SamAdams76]

Why don't they just allow the A380 to open the entire top of the cabin like a clamshell? That way, all 873 people could jump out at once.

[H. Paul Pressler IV]

the A380 has already had several test flights.

[ARCADIA]

And, at least 100 of those passengers should be ordered to retrieve part of their luggage during the evacuation. Real world passengers aren't so enthusiastic about leaving rare heirlooms or valuables behind.