News Le Bourget airshow : A380 will not fly because of a ground collision

N_Molson

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The A380 that was supposed to perform at the airshow collided a building with the right wing tip during towing. The wing is damaged and the plane with not fly.

Someone will get fired, I guess :facepalm:

---------- Post added at 08:04 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:55 PM ----------

9 June 2011 - 19H47

No A380 demo at Paris air show after incident: Airbus

AFP - Airbus will not hold a demonstration of its A380 superjumbo at the Paris International Air Show after the wing-tip of its test aircraft was damaged in an incident Sunday, the company said.

"During ground maneuvers with the Airbus A380 flight test aircraft MSN 004, the aircraft's right hand wing-tip touched a structure near the taxiway," at Le Bourget airport on Sunday afternoon, Airbus said in a statement.

"Airbus experts are currently inspecting the aircraft, but it is already confirmed that the A380 MSN 004 will not perform the flying display at the Le Bourget Air Show 2011," it said.

It was the second setback for Airbus ahead of the show, which starts Monday, after it announced earlier Sunday that its A400M military transport plane will not make any flight demonstrations because of a problem with its engines.

The A380 -- the world's largest passenger jet with capacity for up to 853 passengers -- entered into service in 2007, breaking US rival Boeing's more than three decades of dominance of the jumbo jet market with the 747.
 

FADEC

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So this is the second A380 ground crash within two month with one wingtip involved. Maybe that bird just is a little too big? :lol:
 

Turbinator

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No pictures in news articles, in today's day and age makes me sad.

sad_face-normal.jpg
 

N_Molson

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They showed one at the TV, it isn't spectacular and the wingtip doesn't look damaged, but they probably have to check all the structure of the wing or even replace it.
 
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FADEC

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No pictures in news articles, in today's day and age makes me sad.

sad_face-normal.jpg

Nice picture though :)

But the most modern age and best technology doesn't help if there is nobody on site who took a picture or film of the accident at the right moment.
 

N_Molson

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Even worse, the A400M (Airbus military transport) had an engine failure yesterday during the tests, and it will fly only one time over the airfield during the airshow opening, and then will be grounded ; which is bad because proving the ability to perform tight manoeuvers is important for any military aircraft in an airshow.

Very bad year for Airbus ; during this time everything is running smoothly on Boeing's side.
 

C3PO

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Time for the Airbus A380-B (B for biplane) ;)
 

N_Molson

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Here's a pic. The stabilizer is completely destroyed. :facepalm:

882e510c-9afb-11e0-b9f9-d97b92d27ed6.jpg


Airbus will borrow an Airbus to Korean Airlines for 2 days to perform the demonstrations.
 

ky

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Dam that thing looks like it got chopped by a giant blade or something.
 

ky

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I know just saying.Pilots error I suspect.Pilots these days..... :facepalm:
 

FADEC

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The stabilizer is completely destroyed.

It's called winglet actually. It doesn't really stabilize something. It reduces induced drag and increases lift. The horizontal tail is called stabilizer since it stabilizes the aircraft along the longitduinal axis.

A complete destruction of the stabilizer would have been quite expensive. Luckily it was "just" a winglet. But still expensive though.
 

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Wow, planes go trough their entire service carriers with their wings untouched. And these are brand new machines, with broken wings!

Seems appropriate:
 

N_Molson

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It's called winglet actually. It doesn't really stabilize something. It reduces induced drag and increases lift. The horizontal tail is called stabilizer since it stabilizes the aircraft along the longitduinal axis.

I know. Just a lack of vocabulary. The point of winglets is to greatly reduce the "vortex" perturbations that happen at the edge of the wings. Those vortexes make the last meters of the wing inefficient because the airflow makes some spiral around. The winglets correct this and allow to gain lift by making the wing tip efficient.

I saw a documentary about this. The other option was to make the wing longer. But that wasn't possible because of FAA norms. The Airbus A380 is very close from those limits ; hence the accident.

Also "Le Bourget" is an airport that receives heavy lifters only for airshows. It's usually more a buisness airport. So the infrastructures are not appropriated.

Since it was during towing the pilot is not guilty. The tug driver is going to have big troubles however :shifty:

Vortex2.jpg

A Boeing 757 (no winglets)

Vortex3.jpg

A Boeing 767. Those vortexes are pretty.
 
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That A380 grounding reminds me of a mission in FSX where you have to fly an A330 for an airshow... if you fail the mission you get fired.
 

FADEC

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I know. Just a lack of vocabulary.

Okay. It was just a hint :)

The point of winglets is to greatly reduce the "vortex" perturbations that happen at the edge of the wings.

That's a part of the induced drag, or in another vocabulary: wake turbulences. There are also lots of smaller vortex perturbations behind the wings trailing edges (vortex sheet).

I saw a documentary about this. The other option was to make the wing longer. But that wasn't possible because of FAA norms. The Airbus A380 is very close from those limits ; hence the accident.

In fact a few types of winglets actually do make the wing longer (blended winglets). But just upwards, in case of the 737-800 for example. But even the 757 and 767 also has got massive winglets meanwhile (and also older models of the 737 family) which actually looks pretty cool:

4188006740_637ab725a2_o.jpg
 

N_Molson

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BBC News

23 June 2011 Last updated at 08:21 GMT

Airbus and IndiGo confirm record deal for 180 aircraft


_53632803_117030836.jpg

The IndiGo order is the biggest ever in terms of aircraft numbers - but may soon be topped


Airbus piled up the orders at the Paris Air Show as it confirmed the largest single order of aircraft in aviation history.

Indian budget airline IndiGo is buying 180 planes from Airbus worth about $15.6bn (£9.7bn) at list prices.

The deal is for 150 of Airbus' new fuel efficient A320neo jets and 30 A320s.

It follows a memorandum of understanding between the two companies signed in January this year.

More deals are expected for Airbus at the air show, one of them being from Malaysia's AirAsia.

AirAsia is expected to top IndiGo's deal with an order for 200 revamped A320neos and options to buy 100 more.

Airbus, owned by EADS, has left rival Boeing far behind in terms of orders at the event, as high fuel costs increase the demand for fuel efficient aircraft.

The company estimates it has sold more than 700 A320neo jets so far.
"There is a possibility that we will be at 1,000 by the end of the show," said Airbus sales chief John Leahy.

According to the BBC's aerospace industry specialist, Jorn Madslien, the A320neos are proving popular because their two new engines are 15% more fuel efficient and 30% cheaper to maintain than current models.

But Airbus' success leaves Boeing with a very tough dilemma, our correspondent at the air show says.

The US planemaker's A320 rival is the 737, but the plane is very low, so fitting modern, fuel-efficient engines under its wings would be a tight squeeze.

Making it happen would require a new undercarriage, which is costly and difficult, as well as time-consuming, he says.
 

RisingFury

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I know just saying.Pilots error I suspect.Pilots these days..... :facepalm:


It's to be expected. Any time a new plane comes out it takes a while for the pilots to get enough experience. The A380 is unlike anything those airline pilots have ever flown before...
 

Fabri91

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And wait for the 747-8i, which is a bit longer and even 1 meter wider! It's stuff that happens when a new "largest" plane enters service, I bet it happened also when the 747 entered service many moons ago.
 

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About the winglets.. [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wingtip_device"]Wingtip device - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]

Basically they prevent the airflow from leaking from the bottom of the wing to the top; at the tip area. When the wing passes through the air, the high-pressure underneath likes to sneak around the corner and crash into the topside and dissipate. When it does that, it makes all sorts of localized turbulence near the tip.

It makes a sharp U-turn around the edge and ends up on top. Problem is the air has a lot of momentum - and as the wing flies on forwards some of that air is left spinning! That is the swirly vortex you see!

Now, that U vortex is also enhanced and protected by the general downward compression of the air beneath the lower surfaces, and the sucking of the upper surfaces as the plane zooms through. Yeh, think of the plane sucking itself upward.

But with no wing to interrupt it, it continues to have energy and it now swirls in a circular tube pattern.

Once the plane is past, your magical camera that can see airflow, sees a low pressure area up-top, that fills itself from air higher up. And a high pressure area below the flight path that already has taken up considerable downward momentum.

Much of the energy from the downward moving air-hammer is fed into those vortices.

A winglet stops that swirl. The air can crash into the side of an angled winglet to get an upward push, or forward push.. Depending how it is configured and angled, you can get additional stability, or some "extra" thrust, or some more lift.

Note that Boeing is using raked tips on the 777-200LR and 787. This has a similar effect, with focus on extra lift at high alpha. Boeing did extensive laminar flow calculations near the tip. And I believe, though not sure, they are using micro-textured surfaces that can do other flow tricks.

Fascinating stuff!
 
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