You have commented 339 times on Rantburg.

Your Name
Your e-mail (optional)
Website (optional)
My Original Nic        Pic-a-Nic        Sorry. Comments have been closed on this article.
Bold Italic Underline Strike Bullet Blockquote Small Big Link Squish Foto Photo
Submit your comments on this article
Europe
Airbus A380 sumo jet hit by new problems on fuselage
2006-07-23
BERLIN (AFP) - New problems have been detected on Airbus's giant A380 super jumbo jet, adding to the woes of the fledging aircraft which is already afflicted with wiring problems. Problems with section 19 of the fuselage were detected during trial flights in Toulouse, southern France, according to an internal Airbus document, the weekly Der Spiegel reported in its edition which goes on sale Monday.

The European aircraft manufacturer decided in early March to reinforce section 19, the aft cone of the fuselage, Der Spiegel reported.

The European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS), which owns 80 percent of Airbus announced in June that deliveries would be delayed by six to seven months because of a production problem involving wiring connections. Only nine of the aircraft would be delivered in 2007, seriously affecting the EADS's financial results.

The double-decker plane is designed to carry 555 to 840 passengers, about 35 percent more than the Boeing B747. To date, 16 airline companies have ordered 168 of the super jumbo jets.
Posted by:anonymous2u

#9  Likely false alarm from Der Spiegel.
Airbus says A380 fuselage fault long since resolved
Airbus said that a fault discovered in the fuselage of its A380 super jumbo in the spring has been long since resolved, saying it was "astonished" at how the issue was "blown up" in a German magazine article.

The fault is an "old issue which has been fixed", with the company carrying out "reinforcements on the structure, and there is absolutely nothing abnormal about that," a spokeswoman for the European aerospace group said.
Posted by: ed   2006-07-23 10:48  

#8  We can't expect their brave pilots to fly in a plane that's not properly armored, now can we?
Posted by: Seafarious   2006-07-23 10:41  

#7  There were reports in March that Airbus was reinforcing section 19. If it is the second go around, then not good at all. BTW, section 19 contains the tail actuators (and therefore takes the strain of vertical and horizontal control surface movements), pressure bulkhead and APU. Kinda important.

The other big issue I haven't heard much of was a wing failure test that only stood up to 147% of max load. I think the FAA requires 150%. So Airbus must design extra support to an already overweight plane or reduce payload by about 5%.
Posted by: ed   2006-07-23 10:04  

#6  Ah...turkey. So it is... And I suppose that makes me one too.
Posted by: 2b   2006-07-23 06:02  

#5  It's a turkey, I clipped it from a web site I found via Google. Useful for any Airbus story, I think. Fred's the one who calls the A380 the 'sumo' jet; the original story calls it the 'super' jet.
Posted by: Steve White   2006-07-23 03:11  

#4  Um, so what exactly is the news here? That there are (or were, because it's not clear) problems during flight trials of a new aircraft? Whoopee.
Posted by: Slemble Glirt6389   2006-07-23 02:38  

#3  I thought it was a turkey.
Posted by: phil_b   2006-07-23 01:55  

#2  no, because there are "lemon laws" which imply that there are lemons. Thus the term lemon implies that you have received a car that is malfunctioning contrary to the way it is expected to function.

Thus the vulture graphic is dead on.
Posted by: 2b   2006-07-23 01:07  

#1  Sometimes I wonder if the Airbus graphic should be a lemon......
Posted by: anonymous2u   2006-07-23 00:59  

00:00