A380 Wing Cracks Not Affecting Operations
Jan 6, 2012
By Robert Wall [email protected]
LONDON
Airbus says it has already developed a fix to wing cracking found on some Airbus A380s.

The cracks, first reported by the Sydney Morning Herald, have been seen by at least Qantas and Singapore Airlines. The cracks were first found on the Qantas A380 that suffered an uncontained engine failure with one of its four Trent 900 engines two years ago.

Airbus confirms the cracking on “some non-critical wing rib-skin attachments on a limited number of A380 aircraft.” The aircraft maker adds that safe operations of the fleet are not affected and no flight limitations are being put on the A380.

Airbus says a inspection and repair process has been identified, although it would not detail how the fix is made. The repair is being done as part of four-year maintenance checks, it adds.

The approach has been validated by the European Aviation Safety Agency, Airbus says.
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Aren't these A380s ..........New?
Interesting, the cracks apparently are on 'non-critical' areas.......
If they are non critical, they must not be 'load bearing'......
Cracks must be from vibration??

Stay tuned.....
lc

PS Airliners.net forum topic:
http://www.airliners.net/aviation-forum ... n/5349403/

Airbus = Scarbus


If it aint Boeing, I aint going

My dad helped to build B-17s in Seattle during the war until 'Rosie' was trained to do his job, and then he was drafted. I live in Washington state and so am definitely partial to Boeing aircraft. That being said, the 'grounding' comment appears to come out of labor/management friction at Qantas airlines.
The thread on Airliners.net is pretty interesting. Similar to here in that there are typically an abundance of opinions on any given issue, and consensus seems to be the A380 is safe to fly for now as Airbus continues to get a handle on the extent of the problem.

If your at all interested in the topic, the thread on Airliners is worth wading through. IMHO
lc

Airbus must have gotten technical advice from Cessna.

Cracks in the wings, but it is still safe to fly... Hmmm.

Kinda like your daughter telling you she's only a little bit pregnant.

I've flown Boeing, Douglas, Lockheed, and Airbus. They all have cracks. Anyone remember the Southwest 737 fuselage rupture last year?