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    Airbus A380 Fleet To Be Checked For Cracks

    By (c) Sky News 2012 | Sky News – Wed, Feb 8, 2012 13:21 GMT

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    All Airbus A380 superjumbos will be checked for cracks in their wings after the airline Qantas discovered dozens of tiny fractures during a maintenance inspection.

    The Australian carrier revealed workers on one of its A380s found 36 small fissures in the "wing rib feet", the metal brackets that connect the wing's ribs to its skin.

    The airline temporarily grounded the affected jet only, as the fractures posed no threat to safety.

    The jet had hit severe turbulence on a flight from London to Singapore last month.

    Qantas said the cracks were not related to the turbulence, but had been linked to an Airbus (Paris: NL0000235190 - news) manufacturing issue.

    Now, the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has called for checks on the entire fleet of Airbus A380 superjumbo jets.

    Last month Europe (Chicago Options: ^REURUSD - news) 's air safety authority ordered safety checks be carried out on a number of A380 planes after cracks were found inside the British-made wings.

    The 68 planes will not be grounded, but "a detailed visual inspection" of all the superjumbos' wing rib feet will be carried out.

    EASA spokesman Dominique Fouda the authority was "working with Airbus on a long-term fix that should be ready by the summer".

    Cracks have previously been found in the wings of Singapore Airlines (SES: C6L.SI - news) , Emirates and Air France (Paris: FR0000031122 - news) planes.

    Qantas said it was working to repair the cracks in its A380 and it expected the aircraft to be back in the air within a week.

     

    7 comments

    • Hugh
      Hugh  •  3 months ago
      I remember in 1956 one of the first Boeing 707s flying over my school in Greenford on its way to London Airport. It had only 3 engines, because one had fallen off over France. The 707 went on to be one of the most reliable aircraft ever made. A few hairline cracks in non -load-bearing components won't matter.
    • BrummieGirl
      BrummieGirl  •  Birmingham, England  •  3 months ago
      Not a good advert for British manufacturing!
    • Jed
      Jed  •  Brighton, England  •  3 months ago
      "The 68 planes will not be grounded, but "a detailed visual inspection" of all the superjumbos' wing rib feet will be carried out."

      there telling you right there you shouldn't fly with them until they have fixed the problem, but fractures to lightweight aluminum (a98850 ?) don't go away they get worse, ever try'ed welding aluminum ? , who wants to predict the date on when one of these beasts go down and kill thousands ?
    • Bert Nodules
      Bert Nodules  •  London, England  •  3 months ago
      It's a newish plane and things like this are to be expected, I remember similar problems of fatigue with the 747 years ago when that was new. A small redesign and it's fixed for future planes, existing planes can be strengthened, normal practice.
    • A Yahoo! User  •  Manchester, England  •  3 months ago
      thats y personally i would,nt rush to jump on these things till they've been about for 10 years..then u know they are safe...
      • Jed
        Jed 3 months ago
        actually the older the plane is, the more likely it is to have ALOT of structure damage, Ill name a few :

        a, You think how heavy it is alone, then with a few thousand passengers in also including their luggage, then also take in account the planes carry nearly half or more in fuel, and then think how many times its has touched down on on 3 wheels.

        b, Then you have the amount of times it has turned in air (going nearly 600mph - well lets say half that as I think they slow down to turn) but still the plane is tilting left to right via flaps on the wings (which keep you in the air, which also are constantly being pushed up creating more damage in the joints)

        meh I could go on, but you get the idea I presume ;)
    • Steve
      Steve  •  3 months ago
      The problem is they're too big.
    • BRIAN
      BRIAN  •  London, England  •  3 months ago
      How can cracks in wings NOT post a threat to safety, The bloody things may fall off
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