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Cracks put Qantas A380 out of action

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QANTAS has taken one of its flagship A380 aircraft out of service for up to a week after engineers discovered 36 hairline cracks in its wings during detailed inspections. (www.smh.com.au) More...

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sparkie624
sparkie624 5
36 Hairline Cracks.. Minor, yeah right.... manufacturing screw up. If they found 36, I wonder how many they have not found!!!
thunderland2
al fredericks 4
O.K. GENTLEMEN - ENOUGH WITH THE WISE CRACKS.
WALLACE24
WALLACE24 1
Al, don't take anything written on this website personally. A lot of us been around long before there was a term "political correctness". I grew up in Chicago and we had a slur for everyone and everything and never missed a chance to crack wise.Grown ups were the same way. Guess what? We all grew up and became doctors, lawyers, pilots, bums, alcoholics, druggies, etc. Just like the rest of the world. Lots of the wise cracks here are lame attempts at humor. I know mine are.
Wingscrubber
Wingscrubber 2
Seems all airplanes go through this at some point in their lives, says the older, wiser 747.
http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archive.mpl/1985_26531/airlines-told-to-check-for-cracks-in-747-jets.html
preacher1
preacher1 1
That link & report was dated in 1985, and even in the article, it noted that the 747's had been in service for 15years.
jhakunti
jhakunti 3
funny the 787 delamination issues article had absolutely no comments. all manufacterers have their problems. when they become those of tupolev or ilyushin then maybe the hate is justified.
preacher1
preacher1 1
With this screwed up website, you may not have seen them but there were comments on the DeLam problem. As one said here below, we are equal opportunity bashers but AB has not been as forthcoming until here lately, causing some of the problems themselves. In addition as another comment says, 30 years ago we were talking 40-60 pax, now we are talking 400+. That's one reason it's so serious.
alistairm
alistairm 0
lol, that is the usual MO around here. Bash Airbus every chance there is. But when Boeing has issues, everyone becomes an instant PR officer for Boeing and tries to play it down as best as possible. If they didn't, that would be un-American... don't you know how it works around here??
WALLACE24
WALLACE24 1
Some of us are equal opportunity bashers.......
canuck44
canuck44 3
I have no clue as to how serious this on an engineering basis is but it is becoming a nationalistic thing as the wings are made in England and the design and final assembly in France. Mutterings of blame the Brits or blame the French are appearing in comments. There is a long tradition of this dating to the 1500s where Syphilis in Europe was called the French disease or English disease depending on which side of the channel one resided.
THRUSTT
THRUSTT 2
Syphilis caused the crack, or crack caused the syphilis...
WALLACE24
WALLACE24 -1
LOL! Crack and syphilis caused by Europe

chalet
chalet 2
It is George Bush´s fault
sparkie624
sparkie624 2
LOL, you may be right...
alistairm
alistairm 1
I don't even know who is responding to who anymore. Everytime i come back, the posts are in different order. So much for this being a forum.
preacher1
preacher1 1
i have noticed that too and about half the profiles are blank
WALLACE24
WALLACE24 1
I think it's all tied to the thumbs up/down contest. If you actually play it messes with you.lol
WALLACE24
WALLACE24 1
They try and make it sound minor. Seems Boeing and AB are having a few glitches with the big birds.
yar555
mike ray 1
Wingscrubber
Wingscrubber 1
They found cracks on 747s too in younger days...
http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1986-02-04/news/8601080195_1_adjacent-frames-cracks-rapid-decompression
tailwheelman
tailwheelman 1
All aircraft go through a "teething" process once they enter service. But thats where the old saying "Never fly the "A" model of anything" came from.
WALLACE24
WALLACE24 1
I think I see a pattern. Duh
thunderland2
al fredericks 1
JAMES - very, very true
thunderland2
al fredericks 1
no one is blasting airbus as such. any a/c manufacturer with design problems is open to critisium.we just do not want 400+souls meet their maker over a few cracks.which, by the way can tear away an airfiol, weaken a rib, secome to loading failure. that leads to diaster. we all KNOW that costs, early production rush, air show schedules have many times led to diasters.
preacher1
preacher1 1
Yeah, remember Airbus's big splash several years ago at the Paris Air Show with the first FLY BY WIRE and remember the crash off the end of the runway. Rush to service.
thunderland2
al fredericks 1
JAMES - I AM TOO OLD TO TAKE THINGS PERSONALLY. sometimes it helps (wise cracking) to make a point. minor engineering faults seem to be taken too lightly. minor this, minor that. any excuse to deflect the the problem. i am olde fashion. if my mechanic will not fly with me after a repair, i will walk away not go near the airplane. minor hell, 1 in a million is 1 to 1 if it is you.
WALLACE24
WALLACE24 1
PR and spin have grown to monumental proportions. Truth is ebbing.
thunderland2
al fredericks 1
YES, all a/c have teething problems. i life is a life. years ago we were talking about 50 - 60 pass. now we are talking about 300 - 400+ pass. these "problems" should be worked out before a/c certification. real life testing, not accelerated life cycles. RUSH TO PRODUCTION when the population of a small town is at stake for GODS sake!
WALLACE24
WALLACE24 3
How's the saying go???? "Never enough time to do it right, but always enough time to do it over".
alistairm
alistairm 0
Boeing got the 747/8 certified without the rear fuel tank and now they are trying to figure out how to make it work. It's funny how people jumped all over Airbus when delays happened on the A380 production. Now people are saying they rushed the production?? Which one is it people!?? Would you also say that the 787 was rushed into production and was to quick to be certified now that delamination is happening?? Just because Qantas grounded one A380, it does not mean that it is not airworthy or that wings will fall off. Why is everyone so keen on bashing Airbus every chance they get?
preacher1
preacher1 1
Alistair: I think both of them will have their teething problems, but as I said in an earlier comment, Airbus has brought a lot of the bad PR on themselves by trying to hide or be less than forthcoming about some of their problems over the years and while Boeing, by virtue of more experience, has not had as many, they have been transparent with them.
alistairm
alistairm 1
Here is more proof that Boeing is not "transparent":
http://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2012/02/08/boeing-tormented-by-additional-787-dreamliner-delays/
Read the second paragraph.
alistairm
alistairm 0
Oh, really?? Remember this:
http://abcnews.go.com/US/southwest-airlines-boeing-knew-737-flaw-expect-problem/story?id=13300089#.TzMbYsXwtVU

Boeing knew about the manufacturing problem that affected over 500 737's, but never admitted to it only because they did not think such an incident would happen. But such an incident did happen and they had to finally admit that they knew about the manufacturing issue. Yeah, real "transparent" Wayne. Sure, they are forthcoming about the 787 issues only because they are taking advantage of the fact that Airbus may not have been "transparent" about the A380 issues. Personally, i think Airbus has done fine in regards to the a380 matter. None of us one here are metalurgist's or airframe engineers. Despite that, all i have seen is mass paranoia and Airbus bashing because Airbus comes out and says it is a minor issue and the plane is perfectly safe. But many people seem to give themselves PHDs and disagree with them and say that they are full of it. Give me some hard scientific facts to prove Airbus wrong in what they are saying and i will buy it. Refering back to the article about the 737, even Boeing at the time said not to jump to conclusions and make unfounded speculation. Yet, a a part of one of their 737's just ripped apart!! Has a wing from an a380 fallen off yet or ripped open? NO. Let's all use common sense here and listen to the experts, not the pseudo experts that lurk around here.
phab4
Steven Arnold 1
You talk about Airbus bashers, but all YOU do is bash Boeing! How Hypocritical can one get? Have you not read any comments on other websites and blogs? Most are trashing Boeing all the time. Learn to live with it!
N631AD
Marcus Adolf 1
How many things have gone wrong with the A380 so far?
sparkie624
sparkie624 3
I hate to say it, but I think we are in the early days of a very long list... As the "Carpenters" would put it. "We've only just begun". I know I will not be flying on one of those until they are all the way debugged.

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