Airbus A380 a bit too superjumbo

Seattle Post-Intelligencer ^ | Saturday, October 28, 2006 | JAMES WALLACE

[reg45]

Airbus needs a new marketing strategy and a new name for their airliner. May I suggest:

The A380 - Dumbo.

[Yossarian]

Not really a shock, but one wonders if this will truely sink the whole program. Admitting a weight gain before assembly is one thing, having it leak out after four of the suckers have been made and flown is something else entirely.

Will Airbus' solution be more GLARE all around?

Another question: it barely failed its wingloading test before. Will reducing its weight help or hinder the next wingloading test? I guess it all depends on if the wing actually had to bear the weight of the entire plane body during the test.

[norton]

There are four prototypes.
There is an acknowledged wiring problem and an emerging weight problem.
Does anyone know how many partial assemblies they have on line at the moment?

I'd guess that no one would take delivery of any airframe already in planning &/or there's going to be a hell of a lot of scrappage (added cost) and delay for replacements before anything actually gets a logo painted on it.

[antiRepublicrat]

Another question: it barely failed its wingloading test before. Will reducing its weight help or hinder the next wingloading test?

I'm betting that some of the extra weight is from having strengthened the wings after they failed the wingload test. I guess they just didn't bother shaving weight somewhere else to make up for it.

Boeing says some of their extra weight is from strengthening the wings against lightning strikes -- but at least they have a solid plan (and eight contingency plans) to still get the plane out on time and at weight.

[Moose4]

You make a great point. Boeing's gotten out in front and admitted that the 787 is coming in about 1% to 1.5% overweight, same as the A380. The difference is, like you said, there *aren't* any 787's yet. Boeing can go back and fix the problem behind the scenes instead of under the public scrutiny that Airbus is facing.

There's going to be screwups in any huge program like the 787 or A380, that's the nature of the beast. They'll never run 100% smoothly. But these announcements from Airbus are coming way, way too late in the game. Boeing seems to be on top of their problems, Airbus either shoved them off or didn't know about them until far too late.

}:-)4

[Jeff Chandler]

55 passengers who weigh 200 pounds

Or about 30 American passengers.

[BulletBobCo]

55 passengers who weigh 200 pounds

Or about 30 American passengers.

Or 1 Rosie O'Donnell.

Or 1/2 Michael Moore.

[Yossarian]

I'm betting that some of the extra weight is from having strengthened the wings after they failed the wingload test. I guess they just didn't bother shaving weight somewhere else to make up for it.

For me, the key question is who knew what when:

• If Airbus management WASN'T aware of the weight gain, this speaks to fundamental dysfunction in their engineering management process, and could indicate other, possibly deadly, surprises down the road in the A380 product;
• If Airbus management WAS aware of the problem and didn't tell anyone, this speaks to fundamental dysfunction in their business practices and will severely impact their customer relations;
• If Airbus management KNEW of the weight gain, AND they let the customers KNOW (under the table), they might be able to get away with this problem, provided they put together (and execute!) the industry's most amazing recovery plan ever.

It is interesting that this comes out as Emerates is sending over a team to France try to ascertain just what the hell is going on with the plane that they've based a lot of their business plans on. I'm willing to bet this news have something to do with that.

[Westlander]

If the Swimmer is not allowed to board, all will be well.

[SampleMan]

The A380 - Airbusopotamus

[Investment Biker]

The dreamliner is target to weight about 216,000 pounds empty according to the Seattle newspaper. 2-3% means 4,300 to 6,500 pounds overweight. Some of the is due to wing redesign for added fuel tank antistatic. GE and Rolls are each about 6,500 pounds over in their engine design. All believe that these weight problems can be solved. Even at 3% the plane about 3 tons over weight.

[USFRIENDINVICTORIA]

They simply need to use a lot more unobtainium in the structure -- twice the strength, half the weight, and no additional charge. Just send Boeing and Airbus a bunch of this unobtanium, and all their problems will be solved.

[smonk]

reinforcing the wing will only make it heavier. and the aluminum wiring that is at the heart of the delays (so they say) was chosen because it was lighter.

meanwhile, they have nothing to compete with the dreamliner.

this thing just gets worse and worse.

[sionnsar]

The double-decker A380...is about 5.5 tons overweight,

Lessee... if we take the average weight of a passenger (+luggage) to be 200 lbs, that's about 55 seats less than the maximum the beancounters would force the airlines to outfit the planes with.

Not a bad deal...

[sionnsar]

Airbus A380: The BIG Pig

[VOA]

The A380 - Dumbo.

Don't be cruel like the "lady's circle" of elephants in the movie.

Dumbo didn't have trouble finding a sufficiently large stall at an airport.
And he was not 5.5 TONS overweight!

Also, he was only a day late in arriving (via tipsy pelican)!

[BubbaHeel]

and the aluminum wiring that is at the heart of the delays (so they say) was chosen because it was lighter

I guess they've got a bunch of analog data travelling down analog lines - because if they digitized everything, they could send their data over fiber optic lines [which weigh next to nothing] or even go wireless.

[smonk]

I wondered why they didn't choose fiber myself. and the whole wiring problem is all about the entertainment system, of all things.

[adorno]

Passenger plane is 5.5 tons overweight, customer reports

I really don't know what the big fuss is all about.

All that Airbus has to do is change its marketing strategy.

The plane can supposedly fly some 555 passengers. What Airbus needs to do is to require than all passengers weigh 20 pounds less than whatever average weight they were expecting previously. 555 x 20 = 11,100 lbs. Problem solved!