The "reinforcements".
Posted on 07/03/2006 10:00:54 AM PDT by smonk
Airbus begins installation of A380 wing reinforcements By Max Kingsley-Jones in Filton
Airbus has begun to install a strengthening package on to the wing of a completed A380 as an interim solution after the static-test specimen suffered a premature rupture during its ultimate load test. Meanwhile, Airbus UK is working on a long-term redesign of components.
“We have devised a small modification package while we go through the analysis to understand [the rupture] in detail and devise a long-term solution, to present that to the European Aviation Safety Agency [EASA],” says Airbus UK head of A380 wing engineering Phil Hamblin. “The interim package is being put into the aircraft on the production line at the moment. Longer term, rather than add on reinforcings, we’ll embody the modifications into the machining of the baseline components at source.”
Airbus UK senior vice-president Brian Fleet says the interim modifications have been incorporated into the wing of MSN003, which is the first A380 for Singapore Airlines and currently in Hamburg for cabin installation.
“The remainder of the wings that have already been delivered will be modified in the next few months,” says Fleet. “Wings delivered from MSN018 onwards will have the modifications incorporated before delivery to the final assembly line.”
Hamblin says that, although the interim modifications have not been approved by EASA, the agency “has been taken through our findings and our analysis of the test, and has approved our approach”. He adds that approval “will be covered in the documentation presented for A380 certification” later this year.
Fleet says discussions are already under way with suppliers about modifying the base designs.
IMHO, we just don't understand the structural properties of composites well enough to try to use them in aircraft of this size and weight.
I also don't believe we understand how these materials degrade as they age, since they are so new.
I wouldn't want to fly on this aircraft, with wiring problems, fly by wire, and composite construction.
Grrr... You only beat me by 29+ minutes :o(
They need to check that center fuel tank thingy while they're at it......and glue the tail on tighter.
ScareBus is more like it.
Hear, hear. Witness the Airbus that lost its vertical stab during takeoff and crashed around New York a few years ago.
LOL! I have always linked "AirBus" to duct tape. It's an automatic laugh.
I've always linked AirBus to lawn darts, myself :o)
Wings fall off and critical wiring is bad - boy those europeans really know how to build a plane. You won't see me on one.
are they even designed to make a profit? It seems they will only make money with parts repairs.
Which is scarry considering there is then an incentive to make parts that wear out sooner than later. (and the contrary effort the the "budget minded" airline to extend partlife beyond recomendations)
So, the plane might depressurized suddenly, collapsing the passenger floor...
The end of it was once the hardware was replaced, (automatic vents for the floor, too) it was too late for the
passenger days of the DC10.
They are now an efficient cargo transporter, though.
"...suffered a premature rupture during its ultimate load test..."
Scary mental image, isn't it?
Another Concorde-type loser, except on a grander scale?
I can still remember the response to a suggestion we incorporate "plastics" into high end Hard Disk Drives in the 70's...
"Plastics are not a sufficiently understood engineering material"....
Semper Fi
This plane is still in the Beta stage.
Hopefully the additions will make it so heavy they won't be able to "cram" more than 400 people into it. (I know, the additions aren't likely to weigh 30 tons.)
I dunno...wasn't thinking straight I guess.
(I think it is turning out to be an engineering quagmire)
I think they should pull out of there, or as Murtha would say, reverse direction!
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