How Safe is the A380 currently?

[puzzled]

I am listening to the Bloomberg news at the moment and they are talking about the A380. I can't help but think that I would be hesitant to fly on an airplane that is currently in delayed production. Specifically, are/were these delays caused by design flaw discoveries or what?

[awalker]

Well, I probably would prefer to hear something delayed than work with something rushed. I watched a couple of shows with that topic and they really were delayed because of some clients backing out and some other adding more to their orders so that will surely set the production back by a lot of time.

And also, they were transporting the pieces only by midnight through the road which should have been done by plane though they were so big they would not fit.

[bangbang]

Delayed products tends to come out better than rushed products. I guess I would implement that sentence with the A380.

[atlmovers]

In the Boeing 787 Dreamliner's first year of service, at least four aircraft suffered from electrical system problems stemming from its lithium-ion batteries. Although teething problems are common within the first year of a new aircraft design's life, after a number of incidents including an electrical fire aboard a All Nippon Airways 787, and a similar fire found by maintenance workers on a landed Japan Airlines 787 at Boston's Logan International Airport, the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ordered a review into the design and manufacture of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, following five incidents in five days involving the aircraft, mostly involved with problems with the batteries and electrical systems. This was followed with a full grounding of the entire Boeing 787 fleet.

Despite the incidents, nobody was hurt. However, extreme caution is used when putting people into the air and the 787's were pulled out of service while Boeing developed safer batteries. On May 11, 1996, ValuJet Flight 592, a DC-9 flying from Miami to Atlanta, plunged into the Florida Everglades killing all 110 persons on board. The crash was caused by an onboard fire triggered by full chemical oxygen generators that were illegally stowed in the cargo hold without their safety caps by a maintenance subcontractor.

[atlmovers]

Boeing, which has Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approval to test its new battery for certification, said Friday (3/16/2013) it will encase the redesigned power pack in a steel box, pack it with added insulation, heat-resistant material and spacers, drill drain holes to remove moisture, and vent any gases from overheating directly to the atmosphere outside the aircraft.

[atlmovers]

3/18/2013

Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary told CNBC on Tuesday that "Boeing makes great aircraft"

The Irish airline purchased 175 737 jets for $15.6 billion. But O'Leary said that he would have been just as happy with the Dreamliner if "Boeing wanted to sell me lot of 787s, cheaply."

"I would have no difficulty ... my passengers would have no trouble getting on [787s]," he added. "You will come back here in 12 months time and everybody will have forgotten there was a lithium battery on the 787."

As for Ryanair's decision to buy U.S.-based Boeing instead of Airbus of Europe, O'Leary said, "Look at the economics of the 737, the 800 [series] has 189 seats. The [Airbus] A320 has 180 seats. And those nine extra seats when you're flying them eight times a day, 365 days a year are a compelling competitive advantage for Boeing."

[atlmovers]

Indonesia handed Airbus a record deal in a market that has always been Boeing territory.

The European company in the past lost contracts to its US rival, but Lion Air's 18.4-billion-euro ($23.8 billion) order for 234 medium-haul Airbus jets is huge. "This is a major deal for Airbus because, generally, Indonesia has been a fortress for Boeing," Ravi Madavaram, an aerospace analyst for Frost & Sullivan in Kuala Lumpur.

The deal seems to be for the Airbus A320.