Airbus begins installation of A380 wing reinforcements

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

[smonk]

this is getting scary . . . .

[Quark606]

Think twice-buy Boeing!

[Gay State Conservative]

"Trust me,folks,there's no chance that the wings will fall off of this baby.Well.almost no chance."

[TommyDale]

Duct tape prices skyrocket!

[Irish_Thatcherite]

LOL!!

[Banjoguy]

I have no way of really knowing anything for certain except for what I have been reading. This project appears to be getting worse. I think it is turning out to be an engineering quagmire, doomed ultimately to end without success, after it burns everyone out.

It sort of reminds of me of some programming projects I was involved with in another life.

[USNBandit]

Airbus has begun to install a strengthening package on to the wing of a completed A380 as an interim solution

A little more significant than some shifting wiring bundles.

Before this thread goes off the deep end, anybody know of any other instances like this with other commercial airliners?

[Mike-o-Matic]

Nooooooo!
The horror! I use that stuff all the time.

[bmwcyle]

Add some more weight Frogs. Get the museum ready for the ones that are already built.

[smonk]

this can't be helping the A380 with it's widely whispered weight problem.

[Ostlandr]

Sounds like the French aren't any better at building airplanes than they are at building nuclear-powered warships. Sounds like socialist France is having the same problems with it's cradle-to-grave 'workforce' that the USSR had. Why perform well at work when there is neither reward nor punishment?

[dalereed]

By the time they get one of these abortions flying they will have to market low cost airfare to those contemplating suicide.

[Ostlandr]

Yes- the first one, the De Haviland Comet:

http://www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Aerospace/DeHavilland/Aero49.htm

[incredulous joe]

Then this is the engineering equivelant for the term "kluge" - also European in origin.

[USNBandit]

Yeah, that's a good example of not fixing a problem before it starts.

[lmailbvmbipfwedu]

If its not Boeing I'm not going.............

[RoadTest]

"By the time they get one of these abortions flying they will have to market low cost airfare to those contemplating suicide."

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

It's a monstrosity.

[llevrok]

A new engineer has been assigned to the project

[jettester]

Not on commercial, but on military, yes. The reason for for this is because there have been very few to none absolutely all new wings developed in the last few years.

The exception to this, and the one I eye witnessed, was the C-17 wing failing in much the same way as the A380. Not only was the load about similar, but so was the location (between the engine mounts) and also the fix (repaired in-place, long term fix incorporated in future builds). The military was very happy with the fix as it met all of the criteria of the original design except for the added weight.

The machine spars for these massive wings are incredibly complex to fab (and expensive) - incremental minor changes are usually the way to go when incorporating changes as opposed to radical, major design changes. Rest assured that this "fix" has been scrutinized pretty closely by the design authorities.

Having said all that (as if I was defending them), Airbus has always been a rival in my aerospace work and I will do my best to avoid flying airlines that fly their products.

[Ostlandr]

Hey, in 1949 we couldn't do nondestructive testing, or do computer simulation of fatigue effects. The disasters of the Comet helped later aircraft designers develop semi-indestructible aircraft like the B-52.
And we have had our own problems, like the C-141. Of course, that occurs past 45,000 hours flying time. Not with brand-new aircraft.

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