EASA: New cracks on 20 A380s ‘more significant’

When a wing falls off they will ground the plane!!
In the meantime the dollar overseas safety !!

It means that the QF spokeswoman who made the media annoncement that the cracks were insignificant was telling porkie pies. There is no such thing as a crack that doesn't have some sort of safety implication.

These developments are worrying at the very young age of the fleet of aircraft. Airbus are clearly taking a defensive position while EASA expresses caution to all. Let us wait and see what frequency of inspection comes out of this.

As our trust in the A330-200 is not on the level it should be it was no big surprise to see Airbus fails again in the production of an aircraft which can be trusted after being in use of several companies. Can money be the only reason for customers buying Airbus aircrafts? I wonder at which stage quality and safety comes in. As you will understand it is important to see which aircraft you will fly during the booking proces of a ticket. Price doesn't matter, quality and safety does. Still feel comfortable on any Boeing aircraft but start avoiding Airbus aircraft. The idea of flying with an aircraft which has cracks in it's wings or brackets inside the wings is not really the way an aircaft should fly around. Bigger is not always better as you can see!

This comment is ridiculous! First, the issue of subsidies has a) been argued long for and against BOTH Airbus and Boeing and b) has nothing to do with a company's ability to deliver sound structural engineering. Second, I do remember the FAA ordering,e.g., emergency inspections of 600 B737s due to faulty design of elevator mounting lugs - without anyone seriously thinking that Boeing should be shut down. These things happen, and that's why the FAA/EASA issue ADs to fix them.

Well said! If anyone remembers, Airbus A380 wings were failing earlier than expected during testing, and Airbus was able to get away with certifying the aircraft anyhow.

So -- fuselage skins stripping off B737s, not to mention rudders locking over, are proof that Boeing is a government-subsidized company?

The wing load test failed a couple of % below the 150% requirement and the wings were strenghtened to meet the goal. All aircraft are designed based on previous experience of loads, stresses, endurance and co mputer modelling.

In turn, ALL new aircraft are modifiied to 'design-out' in-service discoverables. This is one of those, and will show up on the 787, 747 and in turn the A350 etc. as they gothrough the rigors of intended life and function. It's part of the design process.

This was in 1970 ,the technology has improved in 40 years, there are no excuse for the A-380 problems

The significance of these statements is lost in the emotional arguments of Airbus vs Boeing.

The sorry state of affairs is that Airbus claimed it was not an airworthiness issue, yet EASA mandates an AD. That is surely a sign that Airbus was attempting to mitigate the public relations damage, at the expense of air safety?

That is really sad, as it reminds me of AF447 A330-200 falling out of the sky, and they want to blame the pilots!

Why are people jumping up and down for such a small issue? There are few thousands of ribs on the A380 and only a few are cracking, and besides that there are redundancies in airframe that will prevent a wing from just breaking off.

The A380 is still the biggest technological achievement in aviation history and will remain the biggest passenger airliner in history of aviaton.

Building an aircraft of that size and efficiency is still not withing boeing's possibility. Just look at how poor the economics of the 747-8 are.
Last but not least, before the turn of the century, the A320NEO will become the best selling aircraft of all times by virtue of its superiority to the 737.

Maybe that is what makes the american public jumping up and down about such a small issue.

Biggest achievement in the history of aviation? It's amazing how quickly the Concorde has faded from people's memories.

As for myself, I have flown th A380 several times already and I definately will keep flying this extraordinary aircraft!! The best, that the aviation industry has to offer right now!!! And for those, who like to panic and make people scared with their stupid comments, I have to say...get a life!!!! Does really think somebody, they would keep flying with it, if there would be a real danger for the passengers????