Fri, Jan 06, 2012
Engineers' Union Says All Aircraft Should Be Checked
Quickly, Airbus And Airlines Downplay Safety Risks
The Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association (ALAEA)
has called for the inspection of all A380s flying for Qantas and
other carriers after small cracks were found in the wing-rib
attachments in some airplanes. The online news site
Stuff.nz.co reports that Qantas discovered the cracks on
one of its airplanes undergoing "extensive repair," and Airbus
confirmed that the problem has cropped up in five superjumbos.
Along with the Qantas airplane, one Emirates aircraft and two
belonging to Singapore Airlines have wing-rib attachment cracks.
The fifth airplane is a development platform belonging to
Airbus.
Airbus and the airlines all say their
flagship airplanes are completely safe to fly. Airbus said it
will be issuing a service bulletin later this month requiring
airlines to check the jets for the problem during their scheduled
four-year heavy maintenance. The ALAEA, however, said the
inspections should be done "as soon as possible."
The Associated Press reports that Singapore Airlines says its
two A380s have already been repaired, though no specifics of the
procedure were given. The airline said the cracks were found on "a
small number of wing rib feet," which are the attachment points for
the wing skin to the substructure. The ALAEA called the repairs a
"band-aid" approach to the problem.
The Sydney Morning Herald reports that
Airbus' chief engineer Charles Champion said the
cracks were less than a centimeter in length, and told the
paper that safety was not an issue because "there are so many ways
for the loads to travel within the structure of the wing." He said
that all A380s would be inspected "over time ... within the next
four years. Some of them before."
Champion said that the cracks have nothing to do with the loads
placed on the wings. He said the cracks were "very random." He said
some airplanes had several cracks along both wings, while some had
almost none.
EASA reportedly has no plans to issue an AD for the cracks,
which Champion said shows that it is a "non-event."
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