The latest aircraft of both Airbus and Boeing seem to have some trouble.
1. A380
The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has issued another airworthiness requiring more checks of the wings of all Airbus A380 aircraft in operation for cracks.
The new mandate requires all 68 A380 aircraft which are currently in service to be inspected, following the grounding of one of Qantas' superjumbo after discovering more cracks.
The directive requires all aircraft that have accumulated between 1,216 and 1,384 flights to be inspected within six weeks of February 13, while aircraft that have completed more than 1,384 flights will have to be inspected within three weeks of this date.
The first round of inspections only applied to aircraft that had completed more than 1,300 flights or 1,800 flights.
Airbus has established a repair scheme if cracks are found and is also “working on a long-term fix to be defined by the summer of 2012”.
2. B787
Boeing will have to correct a fuselage problem on some of its 787 dreamliners. The company said it involves delamination — cracking in the lightweight carbon-fibre composite material from which the fuselage is made.
Some aircraft industry analysts suggested this could disrupt Boeing’s effort to boost its production rate to 10 planes per month by the end of next year.
All Nippon Airways, the launch customer for the 787, said it had conducted checks and that its aircraft were still operating as normal.
787 inspections are estimated to take three days per plane, repair looks to be two weeks per plane.
Cracks in the A380 - Delamination in the B787
Moderator: Latest news team
Cracks in the A380 - Delamination in the B787
André
ex Sabena #26567
ex Sabena #26567
Re: Cracks in the A380 - Delamination in the B787
Allow me to say that I predicted delamination years ago on this forum.
There have been problems with autoclaves. And it is a very precise process where all procedures have to be followed. The curing process in the autoclave can be disrupted by known variations ( for example a power brake ) But more worrying is that because of the size of the objects, the parts don't get their bonding as simulated.
What the cracks concerns, well, that is rather basic metallurgy.
The big difference between those cracks and delamination is that the cracks can be much easier be spotted, even with the naked eye.
There exist already automated/robotised control machines that can be programmed to look for cracks. So you avoid the human factor.
There have been problems with autoclaves. And it is a very precise process where all procedures have to be followed. The curing process in the autoclave can be disrupted by known variations ( for example a power brake ) But more worrying is that because of the size of the objects, the parts don't get their bonding as simulated.
What the cracks concerns, well, that is rather basic metallurgy.
The big difference between those cracks and delamination is that the cracks can be much easier be spotted, even with the naked eye.
There exist already automated/robotised control machines that can be programmed to look for cracks. So you avoid the human factor.