Engineers call for grounding of A380 after cracks found in wings

[unhappycamper]

Engineers call for grounding of A380 after cracks found in wings
by Grant Martin (RSS feed) on Jan 9th 2012 at 9:00PM

The Daily Mail reports this evening that cracks found in the wing sections of several Airbus A380 jumbo jets have led to deep concern among a group of Australian aircraft engineers. Calling for the grounding of all A380 aircraft, the group highlighted recent faults uncovered in the wing structures of several Singapore Airlines and Qantas jets in their complaint.

Acknowledging the cracks, the airlines and manufacturer claim that the faults are in non-critical sections of the wings and that an easy detection and repair method has been identified. None of the seven current carriers that operate the aircraft are planning on taking the equipment out of service.

Nevertheless, news of the cracks is a significant concern for Airbus, which has been struggling to compete in a market that's quickly moving towards smaller, more fuel efficient equipment. With the earliest delivery of their next generation aircraft slated for late 2013 2014, they need to rely on sales of the A380 to propel revenue. If technical difficulties keep plaguing the A380, it could significantly impact the future of the company.


http://www.gadling.com/2012/01/09/engineers-call-for-grounding-of-a380-after-cracks-found-in-wings/

[greytdemocrat]

1. Everything is ok.

Lets just wait till a wing falls off before we panic.

[Major Nikon]

2. My plane has cracks all over it

It's 40 years old and has a countless number of cracks that have been stop drilled. However several years ago I got a crack in a bulkhead of the tail section and it had to be replaced. So it very much depends on where the cracks are, how many there are, and how big they are. All planes get cracks and they are dealt with during regular inspections.

[tech3149]

4. I build my planes from wood and glue

They fly for thousands of hours without suffering stress fractures. I don't really fly like a madman but do on occasion try to rip the wings off.

[Major Nikon]

7. Lots of real planes are still made out of wood, glue, and fabric

Many last for several decades and are still going strong.

[leveymg]

8. Including the fastest, highest flying piston-engined warplane to see service in WWII

(the DeHavilland Mosquito actually didn't use canvas, but was a bonded balsa wood composite airframe) Many of the structural principles that are applied to modern composites were tested by this very rugged, lightweight, high-performance aircraft. Don't put down wood.

[Major Nikon]

10. At least one certified aircraft with wooden wings was still in production as of 2005

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bellanca_Viking

[leveymg]

12. Would love to fly in one. Here's a wooden hulled sportscar (not a Morgan)

but a '60s design by Frank Costin, who also designed the Mosquito. You can see the same hand at work:

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

9. Stop-drilling doesn't necessarily work on composites.

And the stresses on the structures of an A380 are of a whole different magnitude than those on your little plane. They claim the cracks are not in structural areas; I agree there's no need for panic, but considering the sheer size and weight of this aircraft and the extraordinary forces working on it, they do need to look into this.

[Major Nikon]

11. The same principles are involved

The wing ribs on the A380 are made out of aluminum, not composite just like my plane. Wing loading is wing loading and an A380 has the same basic wing design as my plane. According to Airbus the cracks were a result of the manufacturing process and not stress.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

13. The article I read didn't mention where the cracks were.

And while the physics of wing loading are the same, your airplane isn't also carrying huge turbine engines, hydraulic lines, and all kinds of other stuff on its wings. My point is that the considerations for a little Cessna or whatever are not necessarily the same as for an enormous transport-category aircraft. Which, if it crashes, kills maybe 800 people.

[Major Nikon]

16. The cracks were found in the wing ribs at the point of attachment to the skin

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/07/uk-singaporeairlines-a-idUSLNE80600G20120107

Obviously a transport category aircraft has to undergo different types of inspection and overhaul schedules to insure airworthiness. Regardless of what a wing must carry, it's still designed the same way. The basic structural components are the spars and the ribs. They are designed to carry whatever load is on the aircraft throughout the certified flight envelope. Wings don't just have to support what's on the wings themselves, but they have to support the entire aircraft in flight. The physics of this doesn't change because the aircraft weighs 600,000 lbs vs 3,000 lbs. My only point was that all aircraft develop cracks in structural elements throughout their useful life, and those cracks are dealt with in a number of different ways.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

17. These are brand-new airplanes.

Shouldn't be any cracks in it this soon. They need to be looked at. If there are cracks at these points there might be others elsewhere.

I understand what you're saying - I've worked in the airline industry for a number of years and I have an A&P certificate as well as pilot ratings. I'm familiar with structures. Cracks anywhere are potentially bad and they need to know where they are and why they developed.

[Blue_Tires]

3. more in-depth discussion

http://www.airliners.net/aviation-forums/general_aviation/read.main/5349403/

http://www.pprune.org/tech-log/473402-cracks-found-a380-wing-ribs.html

[zipplewrath]

5. Cracks are in the ribs

Spars are the structure that "hold the wings on". Ribs are what keep the wing "wing shaped". You could have a catastrophic failure of ONE rib, and no one would really notice. The "really bad" part about this problem is that it's not easy to inspect ribs typically. So you could have progressively worsening damage and it could go unnoticed for quite some time (in part because there'd be no particular external symptoms). They'll need to characterize and fix this problem or it will become a major maintainance problem.

[leveymg]

6. Let's hope they do better with the A380 wings than the A320 tails that snapped off.

[Cestode]

14. A320 tails coming off?

I think that picture is from this crash:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XL_Airways_Germany_A320_Flight_888T
It was painted in Air New Zealand livery as XL was returning it to Air New Zealand after it's lease.

This crash resulted from Pilot Error and maintenance errors, it's tail never came off until impact.

[leveymg]

15. Maybe that photo, but the Air France crash was in a thunderstorm, and the

2002 New York Harbour crash was trailing vortex from a 747; in both the tails snapped off at the root in flight.