Airbus Wiring Fixed For First A380 Only

Reuters ^ | January 26th, 2007 | Al Reuters

[smonk]

Airbus on Friday toned down expectations of an immediate solution to the technical glitches which delayed its A380 superjumbo project, saying wiring problems had been solved for the first aircraft only.

A German news report last week said that Airbus had solved the wiring installation problems, which delayed A380 deliveries by an average two years and drove the planemaker into the red.

Aviation watchers and some investors cheered the report, saying it closed the worst chapter in Airbus's 30 year history.

Gerhard Puttfarcken, head of Airbus's German operations, said Airbus had passed a key milestone in completing wiring for the first A380 to be delivered to Singapore Airlines in October and handling the transition to cabin installation.

But work was still going on to solve the long-term issues.

Airbus expects to start building a common design platform in the summer between its main French and German plants. It will be fully operational from the production of the 26th plane onwards.

"We are creating the conditions so that in future there will be one common platform from all the sites," Puttfarcken told a briefing for French journalists when asked to clarify the report.

Engineers found last year that wiring designed in Hamburg could not be fitted into A380s on the assembly line in Toulouse.

Experts blamed Airbus's failure to introduce sophisticated 3D design tools in Hamburg at the same time as Toulouse.

That in part reflected the four nation planemaker's incomplete integration, according to a diagnosis carried out by outside industrialist Christian Streiff, who served briefly as Airbus CEO last year and launched its Power8 restructuring plan.

The A380 backlogs cost the Airbus parent some EUR5 billion euros (USD$6.45 billion) in sacrificed profits over four years and triggered a political storm in both France and Germany, where most of Airbus's 55,000 staff are based. Britain and Spain also have Airbus factories.

[Moose4]

Gerhard Puttfarcken, head of Airbus's German operations

It's a double ping--aerospace AND silly names!

}:-)4

[Red Badger]

So the wiring was Hamburger and Too-Loose?..........

[kinoxi]

I guess they need more duck tape.

[smonk]

airbus is apparently being run by Emily Litella.

"Never Mind".

[spokeshave]

All your ISO 9000 audits belong to US

[Yo-Yo]

Translation: "We hand-wired the first SIA aircraft, but we still haven't gotten the automated wiring harness fabrication perfected yet."

[TommyDale]

Airbus Repair Kit

[finnigan2]

Duct tape - The Airbus secret weapon.

[Puckster]

"Airbus on Friday toned down expectations of an immediate solution to the technical glitches which delayed its A380 superjumbo project, saying wiring problems had been solved for the first aircraft only."

Ho Ho! First you had me then you lost me..........

They must be totally lost on the wiring.

Didn't the EU push for the ISO's? Now they can't make heads nor tails out of it.

Anyway, the A320 family was fraught with problems and I hold no hope for the A380 customers that the headaches won't continue.

[Incorrigible]

It will be fully operational from the production of the 26th plane onwards.

They plan on producing more than 26 A380's?

The gross weight problem never seems to get mentioned in these articles nor do I remember it being resolved. That would be a much more difficult problem than the wiring so I guess that needs to be kept on the down low.

[smonk]

found in the A380 website's Guestbook .

Liam Alagh - Australia - 20 Jan 05 Well done airbus on the new A380s i cant wait to get on one in 2006.

looks like liam is going to have to wait until 2008 ;)

and they only accepted comments for four days, from the looks of things.

[Puckster]

Okay, so this is the scenario for " Liam Alagh - Australia". The first A380 flies and Liam has his ticket to board, however, like the A320 family that would have to block seats at certain airports due to the angle of ascent and air temperatures....etc, Liam is informed that he can't fly due to weight restrictions on the A380.

Yes Liam, you will have to wait.

[par4]

I read an article in the IEEE magazine just last night on this problem. It seems that the Germans and French were using two different versions of the same autocad program for the drawings which were not 100% compatible.

And on a similar related topic, the wiring in the aircraft is alumninum, not copper. I'm not an aerospace engineer, but every house and business is wired with copper, so that's good enough for me.

[smonk]

last I read, it was still 5 tons overweight. and whatever it is they have to do to resolve the wiring problem isn't going to make it any lighter. and they also have a weakness in the wing that I don't recall being yet addressed with a design change. that is certainly going to exacerbate the weight issue.

and in october, they announced that it would be 10 years and 420 units sold (up from 270) before they would break even. that projection is getting nothing but more gloomy with the passage of time.

[smonk]

another adaptation made because of weight; aluminum is lighter than copper. cheaper, too. and arguably more dangerous.

[Puckster]

Aluminum wiring, for a while, was used in housing, however, it is less conductive and more likely to develop resistance at the connection point than copper. There were considerable problems with fires starting at connection points in houses.

http://members.tripod.com/~masterslic/FAQ-2/13.html

With more and more aircraft maintenance being done by third-parties, I can assure you that as critical as the aluminum wiring/connector issue is, third-party maintenance will not be able to address the need for detail. Ergo, when this problem and need for detail is addressed, the cost of maintenance will rise on the A380 fleet.

[Greystoke]

Yep, Airbus has really received a good Puttfarcken in the last couple years. Personally, I wouldn't choose to fly on a Airbus, since they have no stick and rudder pedals. All done by dials and buttons.

[Yo-Yo]

Personally, I wouldn't choose to fly on a Airbus, since they have no stick and rudder pedals.

Why that's the most uninformed, absurd statement I've ever read. Of course the Airbus has a stick and rudder pedals. It's just that you have to ask the flight computer permission to use them!

No offense!

[par4]

Actually, I'm aware of the use of aluminum in houses and its subsequent removal. Aluminum is still used for service entrances in residential installations where the larger gauges allow for greater heat dispersion and the sizing allows for the increased resistance.

My (poorly stated) point was that the consortium was using alumnium instead of copper, which I believe is not what's used everywhere else. Sorry.

PS- I fly > 75K miles per year and have only taken an Airbus once in the last two years.