Airbus begins installation of A380 wing reinforcements

flightglobal.com ^ | July 4, 2006 | Max Kingsley-Jones

[Banjoguy]

Then this is the engineering equivelant for the term "kluge"

The more shopworn it gets with patches and retrofits, the more "klugey" it becomes...just like old software.

[HighWheeler]

This is now the Airbus enemy, the Boeing 747-8.

[jimbo123]

[mad_as_he$$]

The 777 has a lot of composites and has been flying for about 10 years. Seems to be a solid aircraft. I saw the video of Boeing testing the wing. They bent that sucker about 30 feet at the end before it popped.

[skeptoid]

It has flown, though without a passenger load. Just the flight crew.

It has the LOAD, just not many passengers. From this Airbus webpage third paragraph:

"For its first flight, Airbus’ 21st century flagship, carrying the registration F-WW0W, took off at a weight of 421 tonnes / 928,300 lbs, the highest ever of any civil airliner at take-off to date. It is powered by four Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines. In addition to water ballasts, the equipment on board the A380 comprises a full set of flight-test instrumentation to record the thousands of parameters necessary to enable in-flight performance analysis." (bold by me)

The water is carried in plastic containers arranged like seats.

[yankeedame]

LOL!!

[Kirkwood]

[yankeedame]

New engineer:

Old engineer:

Boeing engineer:

[Moonman62]

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.

Actually, I think they do, but the A380 has been a political project with lots of political noses sticking in it. I don't see it as any different than the numerous NASA failures due to the same cause.

[COEXERJ145]

I wouldn't want to fly on... aircraft with... fly by wire, and composite construction.

Then you won't be flying much. All newly designed aircraft (A320/330/340/380 and the 777/787) are fly-by-wire and composites are already in wide use on many aircraft. The Boeing 787 will be nearly all composites.

[COEXERJ145]

The end of the DC-10 in passenger service had nothing to do with the cargo door problems. The aircraft simply reached the end of its service life and coupled with their higher fuel burn made them uneconomical to operate as passenger aircraft.

However, you can still find DC-10's flying passengers including with Northwest Airlines. Although this is true for only a few more months as the last DC-10's are heading out of the fleet fairly soon.

[RoadTest]

I stand corrected. I need all the correction I can get, when the corrector is qualified, as you are.

[Jameison]

Didn't we have some news a few weeks back , saying Boeing has had the first order/s for a passenger version of the Boeing 747-8 in addition to the cargo version they had already sold?
I sure hope so.
We need orders for the Boeing 747-8 to take off.

[Energy Alley]

The 747-8 is not being well received, even at a significant discount it is far too expensive for a retread. It is an especially tough sell when you can have a new-built 747-400 today at an incredible price.

[Jameison]

"It is an especially tough sell when you can have a new-built 747-400 today at an incredible price."

They are still making the 747-400's?
Why they selling the 747-8's so high then?
It's only an upgrade to the 747-400's isn't it? Plus I heard they were using similar engines to those for the 787's.

[Jameison]

According to this link:

http://www.aviationnow.com/avnow/news/channel_comm_story.jsp?id=news/747806026.xml

They have sold 18 747-8's so far.

[EEDUDE]

You're right. I won't be flying much.

At least not commercial.

I will however, continue to fly in my sailplane, which IS composite.

But the wing loading characteristics of sailplanes are a lot lower than an Airbus 380.

Cheers.

[VOA]

bump

[Energy Alley]

that is the freighter version, not the "Intercontinental" passenger version. The 747 freighter has some unique advantages that make it worth the price.

[snowman1]

When this POS finally goes in the toilet the EU will have to pick up the bills for the losses. Airbus skates.