Special Report: Technology
A380 cracks: 'safety never an issue'
November 1st 2012
Airbus 380s that include a permanent fix for the tiny cracks found on a large number of the in-service aircraft won’t start coming off the production line until late next year or early 2014. Read More »
 |
| Singapore Airlines: cracks found in all 11 planes in its A380 fleet |
In the meantime, existing jets are gradually being repaired and the European planemaker has learned valuable lessons for the design process of future aircraft, according to Airbus vice-president engineering, Charles Champion.
The cracks found in carbon composite ribs in the wings of the giant A380 brought the European manufacturer a stream of unwelcome publicity. But, said Champion, it is the “type of stuff” found in any new aircraft model after it enters service.
“Despite all the tests you do, when you have an aircraft in service some type of defect can appear,” he said.
It is one of the reasons why there are multiple redundancies in aircraft manufacturing to ensure that when the aircraft is designed there will be several ways to carry the loads involved on the wings and fuselage, he added.
“In this particular case it was not related to the loads on the wing. It was purely a deformation due to certain stresses and also because of low temperatures for long periods of flight. These ribs are not very strong carrying parts. From a safety point of view it was never an issue,” said Champion.
During a visit to Sydney, Champion said the permanent fix for new aircraft will involve replacing the carbon composite ribs with traditional aluminium parts. “We are going back to a metal design, which will be the same weight as the original hybrid carbon design,” he said.
“We are currently at the stage of modifying one of our test aircraft in order to validate the repairs so we can certify the complete repair solution next year. Planes will be delivered with the new modification at the end of 2013 or the beginning of 2014.”
A number of airlines have found the “type two” cracks in the wings. Qantas Airways detected the fault in all six of the A380s it has checked. Another six will not be inspected until they undergo heavy maintenance checks next year.
Singapore Airlines has found the cracks in all 11 of its A380 fleet. Emirates Airline, which has 23 A380s, has declined to comment on whether cracks were found on its A380s.
Airlines had to remove each plane from service for around 10 days for the cracks to be repaired. Airbus, which will compensate carriers, has said the cost will be around $380 million.
The fault has led to lessons being learned and put into practise in the production of the A350.
Champion said many materials were integrated together in an aircraft. Sometimes the unforeseen happens that did not show up when tests were done on the ground.
“We learned there has to be much better modelling of the effects of using these materials. We have rechecked the whole design for the A350 and are using better tools to take that into account and prevent problems on future programmes.
“The net result is we’ll do more testing upstream to understand the potential effects and we will share that information with other manufacturers,” said Champion.
