It stands to reason with the high-price of fuel and tough economic times that airlines must find ways to move more passengers, more efficiently – thus, some airline manufacturers and airlines have chosen to make or fly larger aircraft. But how big is big enough and is bigger really better I ask? Okay so, this is a decent question and one in light of recent events must be asked once more, let’s talk about this for a moment.
There was an interesting article recently in Reuters titled; “Factory, Design Flaws Caused A-380 Cracks – Update 5,” which was published on January 26, 2012, by Tim Hepher, which stated:
“Airbus says devised simple repair for wing cracks; Singapore Airlines reports findings on four aircraft; Airbus insists world’s largest jetliner safe to fly, and; Analysts reassured by engineering update. Airbus blamed a combination of manufacturing and design flaws as more examples of wing cracks arose during checks on the A380, while analysts said its bare-all strategy of addressing the problems in public should limit any lasting damage.”
Okay so, Airbus insists the aircraft are safe to fly, but if these so-called minor design flaws exist, one might ask the question; do any major design flaws exist, and if so where, and when will they be discovered?
Another article appeared in Bloomberg over the same weekend titled; “Airbus Understands A380 Wing Cracks, Working With Airlines,” by Lyubov Pronina where apparently Airbus’ CEO was interviewed and stated at the Davos World Economic Forum; “We understand the problem. We are working with airlines to mitigate their fears.” Does this mean Airbus is in denial and wants to calm the “hallucinations” of the industry, that somehow it is perfectly acceptable for brand new aircraft to have cracks in their wings?
Just because an airliner is big, and very expensive does not mean it should be allowed to fly with cracks in its parts, even if those parts are not structurally important, after all, if those parts fall off, over land during let’s say take-off and landing, they could fall to the ground and hurt someone you see.
Having large pieces of aircraft fall off is not the sort of thing that builds confidence in airlines, aviation, or airliner makers if you know what I mean. Suffice it to say that maybe, just maybe bigger isn’t always the best option, or the only option to efficient air travel. And I’d like to leave you with that thought and ask that you please consider all this, seriously, think on it.
