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Airbus whistleblower faces prison. (A380)
Telegraph Online ^ | 15 October 2005 | Ambrose Evans-Pritchard

Posted on 10/15/2005 3:29:42 AM PDT by lowbuck

Ambrose Evans-Pritchard reports on the storm surrounding an aerospace engineer who raised safety fears on the A380

Joseph Mangan thought he was doing Airbus a favour when he warned of a small but potentially lethal fault in the new A380 super-jumbo, the biggest and most costly passenger jet ever built. Airbus A380 The A380 is the world's most ambitious aircraft, a joint effort by the French, Germans, British and Spanish.

Instead, Europe's aviation giant rubbished his claims, and now he faces ruin, a morass of legal problems, and - soon - an Austrian prison. Mr Mangan is counting the days at his Vienna flat across the street from Schonbrünn Palace, wondering whether the bailiffs or the police will knock first.

An American aerospace engineer, he has discovered that Austria offers scant protection to whistleblowers. Bankrupt, he is surviving with his wife and three children on gifts of food from fellow Baptists in Vienna. Having failed to stump up a €150,000 (£100,000) fine for breaching a court gag order, he now faces a year behind bars. His troubles began in September 2004 when he contacted the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), claiming that the cabin pressure system in the A380 might not be safe, and that this had been concealed.

Mr Mangan's message was not one that Europe wanted to hear, least of all from a garrulous American who jabbers aviation techo-babble at machine-gun speed. The A380 is the world's most ambitious aircraft, fruit of a joint effort by the French, Germans, British and Spanish. A double-decker giant, it can carry up to 856 passengers at 42,000 feet. "The symbol of what Europe can achieve," said French President Jacques Chirac as the aircraft completed its faultless maiden flight this April.

Airbus has overtaken Boeing, snatching 57pc of the big jet market. It employs 52,000 staff, a fifth in Britain where the wings are built.

Not everybody is convinced that Airbus is wise to stake so much on a project loaded with new technologies. The A380 uses glass laminates for the plane's fuselage, and questions have arisen as to whether the material might degrade under ultra-violet radiation. Airbus insists not. But any hint of hubris in one area spreads doubts about others, which is why Mr Mangan's saga is so unsettling. His role in the A380 story is no more than a bit part. He was recruited from Kansas in September 2003 to take charge of the aerospace team at TTTech Computertechnik, an Austrian firm supplying Airbus components. He has accused the firm of "intentional non-compliance" with safety rules. Public court documents in Vienna record his allegation that TTTech conspired to "keep certain information secret from the certifying authorities".

Mr Mangan alleged "human lives could be in danger", according to the document - an injunction by a Vienna judge.

TTTech denies the allegations, calling him a disgruntled ex-employee who never fitted into the team, and is now bent on revenge.

Mr Mangan claims a defect in the outflow valve control system could lead to an abrupt loss of cabin pressure, leaving passengers unconscious in as little as 20 seconds. "Normal oxygen masks don't work properly above 33,000 feet. Anybody over forty or over-weight is at a high risk of embolisms," he said.

It would take two and half minutes to bring the aircraft down to the survival altitude of 25,000 feet. Pilots would have little time to act. In the worst case, the plane could crash. "The A380 uses a set of four identical valves that could all go wrong at the same time for the same reason. The typical jet has three different systems to eliminate such a risk," he claimed. Glitches had arisen using the same operating system in February 2004 during a test in Phoenix for the Aermacchi fighter trainer, which he had helped to fix, he claimed. There were 160 cases of emergency loss of cabin pressure in Europe last year. Investigators suspect it played a role in the crash a Helios Boeing 737 flight over Greece in August, killing 121 people.

Airbus dismissed fears about the A380 as baseless. "We have examined this internally and found absolutely no reason to be concerned. The scenario made up by Mr Mangan does not exist," said spokesman David Voskuhl.

But officials at the air safety watchdog EASA said they took the concerns "extremely seriously". An EASA source told the Telegraph that the agency was "able to confirm certain statements by Mr Mangan".

A probe - conducted by the French authorities for EASA - allegedly found that TTTech was "not in conformity" with safety rules and had failed to carry out the proper tests. The key microchip was deemed "not acceptable". EASA instructed Airbus to sort out the problem before the final certification of the A380 next year. It is unclear whether this has now been done. EASA has refused to comment publicly on the details of the dispute, prompting concerns at the European Parliament. Eva Lichtenberger, an Austrian Green MEP, wrote an "urgent" letter to the agency last month demanding "prompt and extensive information on the matter".

"We cannot leave questions open like this when it comes to aircraft safety," she said.

"I have received no reply up to now. Unless I have a proper reply by next week, I will launch a formal complaint with the European Commission," she told the Telegraph.

Rüdiger Haas, a professor of aircraft manufacture at Karlsrühe University, said he "shared the reservations of Mangan" over the safety of the outflow valve controls.

"The system markedly deviates from previous specifications in aircraft construction," he told Germany's ARD television.

Mr Mangan claimed that his employers were under intense pressure to meet deadlines. The A380 venture was already €1.5billion (£850m) over budget and six months behind schedule. He claimed it would have taken two years to carry out the proper certification.

TTTech falsely classified its micro-chip as a simple "off-the-shelf" product already used in car valves in order to except it from elaborate testing rules, he claimed. This would breach both EU and US law on aircraft regulation. "I refused to sign off on the test results, but TTTech went ahead anyway," he claimed. The key papers relate to the TTPOS operating system and were allegedly dated August 24 2004.

Mr Mangan is concerned that his name may have been linked to certification, leaving him with legal liability. "That's why I have to stick it out here in Vienna until my name is cleared, " he said. French prosecutors tracked alleged negligence in the 2000 Concorde crash to an American mechanic, who now faces a manslaughter probe.

Mr Mangan said within days of reporting the alleged abuse he was sacked.

TTTech filed both a civil and criminal defamation suit - possible under Austrian law - securing a gag order on all details regarding the case. Mr Mangan refused to remain silent. "They say I can't even talk to safety officials about a threat to safety. This violates my duty to the public. People could die on that plane if they don't fix the problem," he said.

TTTech is a spin-off from the University of Vienna, specializing in "time-triggered technology".

The firm said it was forced to take action after Mr Mangan had inflicted "severe damage" to its reputation with wild allegations that he had so far been unable to substantiate.

It admits to a routine software glitch, since corrected, but said an external audit found no trace of any abuses. "What he is saying is simply not true. We checked the evidence and found nothing wrong," said the chief executive, Stefan Poledna.

He said TTTech was never informed by EASA of any alleged non-compliance, and insisted that certification was an on-going "iterative process".

"This is all very strange. It was clear the certification bar had been raised after October 2004, and we had to do a lot of double-checking, but we've never been told that anything was fundamentally wrong," he said.

For now, the first A380 is carrying out daily test flights from its base in Toulouse, racking up 350 hours of flying time.

The results are secret. Next month it will take off for its first test trip around the globe, stopping in Frankfurt, Singapore, and Sydney, before gearing up for passenger flights next year. Airbus is clearly confident that the A380 is safe. It will now have to convince prospective buyers.


TOPICS: Business/Economy
KEYWORDS: a380; airbus; boeing; eu; evanspritchard; whistleblower
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To: NaughtiusMaximus
The day they retired the last Superconnie was the death knell of elegant publicly available transportation.

You know the FR rules. If you mention the Superconnie, you must post a picture. We'll let it slide this time.

21 posted on 10/15/2005 8:51:48 AM PDT by Moonman62 (Federal creed: If it moves tax it. If it keeps moving regulate it. If it stops moving subsidize it)
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To: son of caesar
actually, that is easy to believe imo, as americans are way to baby like generally.

Yeah, that explains our winning in Afganistan, Iraq, Panama, Kuwait, our dominance of many industies, (real) football, etc.

Screw you.

22 posted on 10/15/2005 9:01:32 AM PDT by Yossarian
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To: chudogg

Like to see an Airbus(t) do this...

23 posted on 10/15/2005 10:06:41 AM PDT by HolgerDansk ("Oh Bother", said Pooh, as he worked the bolt.)
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To: HolgerDansk

LOL!!!!!


24 posted on 10/15/2005 11:42:47 AM PDT by rlmorel ("Innocence seldom utters outraged shrieks. Guilt does." Whittaker Chambers)
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To: Moonman62

Interesting that you would say that...now that I look at the configuration of the windscreens, I think I know what you mean!


25 posted on 10/15/2005 11:44:29 AM PDT by rlmorel ("Innocence seldom utters outraged shrieks. Guilt does." Whittaker Chambers)
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To: HolgerDansk

WOW!!!!

That is one heck of a pic!

I seem to recall seeing a pic of an F-15 (or was it F-14) with a wing almost completely missing landing on a carrer.


26 posted on 10/15/2005 11:47:57 AM PDT by freedumb2003 (Lord, help me with me, I ask so little of you...really..)
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To: HolgerDansk

Actually a Airbus just lost it's tail "AGAIN" in Cuba and managed to land. Unlike the BUFF it was plain material fatigue in the Airbus case. Fortunately this one was able to land, unlike the one that crashed from a similar structural failure shortly after 9-11.

http://www.airdisaster.com/photos/c-gpat/photo.shtml

The Airbus crash statistics let a lot to be desired, and those airframes tend to have a lower mean age, are used less in third world countries (first hand customers), and fly out of nice paved, long, ILS etc supported airports.

Red6


27 posted on 10/15/2005 11:51:37 AM PDT by Red6
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To: Hillarys Gate Cult; lowbuck

The way I read it, other planes have three systems, this one has four! But the guy is claiming that all four could fail simultaneously via some unknown software 'glitch'. We discuss this all the time in the nuclear industry. Our safety systems are typically four independent systems, of which 2 signals are required to shutdown the reactor. This leaves the ability to take 1 of 4 out for maintenance and 1 to 'fail' at the time of the event but still have 2 that would trip the plant. The concern is that they are all designed using the same components so we have to be concerned about common mode failures. Software is particularly sticky issue in this regard.


28 posted on 10/15/2005 11:57:56 AM PDT by WildTurkey (When will CBS Retract and Apologize?)
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To: lowbuck; safisoft
From 'JetBlue Flight Lands Safely After Reporting Flap Problems':
"... I had insiders in the NTSB investigation of the B737 hard over on the rudder. They knew within a month that the rudder actuator had issues. Boeing argued for 5 years before fixing it. My experience with Airbus is precisely the OPPOSITE. They in fact DO respond before the Government forces them. There is a different relationship in Government in Airbus - plus they do not appear to take things as personal as Boeing has over design issues. I am not sure why. I could point to numerous examples in the A320 where Airbus initiated significant design changes following accidents - whereas any aviation insider will tell you that Boeing will always wait until the NTSB findings to avoid (in their minds) the admission of fault.
Them's the facts."
107 posted on 09/23/2005 10:13:05 AM CDT by safisoft (Give me Torah!)

Hi, safi!!! Thought you'd love this thread...I'm off to the lake.....enjoy! =)

29 posted on 10/29/2005 8:56:20 AM PDT by sam_paine (X .................................)
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To: lowbuck

TTTech falsely classified its micro-chip as a simple "off-the-shelf" product already used in car valves in order to except it from elaborate testing rules, he claimed.


I'm guessing RTCO DO-160D....

Joseph sounds as though he may be a DER, especially in regards to legal concerns. Anyone know where the FAA keeps it's DER database?


30 posted on 10/29/2005 9:16:25 AM PDT by Dead Dog
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