The second occurrence of an Airbus A380 leaking fuel has sparked alarms at Qantas and Airbus, as well as other operators of the aircraft. Within 36 hours, passengers on-board two L.A. bound flights were moved onto Boeing 747s after two A380s were declared unserviceable. After the third A380 was grounded, Qantas said that the aircraft have been experiencing problems with the probes inside the fuel tanks. Contamination has reportedly built up around the probes, causing the gauges to receive an inaccurate reading.
Lyell Strambi, the airline’s executive general manager of operations, has said that this event has not caused Qantas to rethink their decision to purchase 20 new A380s from Airbus. He has neither confirmed nor denied whether this was a problem with the aircraft’s design.
Airbus said that they have sent out notices to the other operators of the A380s, Singapore Airlines and Emirates, to make adjustments to correct the issue; A.K.A be on the lookout for this problem.
The only problems that the A380 has suffered from, so far, relate to fuel management issues. If you recall when the 747 came out, it had its bugs here and there; Singapore Airlines and Qantas kindly reminded everyone recently. “This aircraft has had a better entry than the 747 program and it’s gone on to become a fantastic workhorse. You do have teething problems with new aircraft,” said Mr. Strambi.
Enough of pointing the finger – At the end of the day, passengers waited more than 12 hours just to get on their flight. A380 issues aside, it bothers me that it took Qantas 12+ hours to find another aircraft suitable. I’m aware that not all airlines can afford to have spare 747s laying around, but 12 hours is really bad. I’m surprised the flight wasn’t canceled.
Hopefully the A380 fuel leak issues will be quickly resolved by the folks over at Airbus.
Special thanks over to Pilot Buzz – where I got word of this issue. Pilot Buzz is a relatively new growing forum for pilots and enthusiasts to discuss aviation.
Quite a serious issue, I might add.
And for the brave words comparing the EIS of the 747 with the A380…..they really can’t be compared since (a) The 747 was a quantum leap in size, technology, engines and was the first wide bodied aircraft to enter commercial service (b) It did not have the kind of technology which is available today (c) It did not have the benefit of past experience with widebodies or huge engines and (d) it probably did not go thru such a rigorous testing regimen which today’s aircraft have to go thru pre-certification.
That having been said, I have no doubt that the A380 is an extremely well engineered and very capable airplane. But such problems leading to grounding only underscore the facts that either design has been defective, testing inadquate or a combination of both these.
We all remember the massive delays to the A380 program, the biggest one caused by wiring issues. Not that the 787 has not had its share of problems, but till it flies and enters service we won’t know whether the 900 orders have been worth their salt.
I also believe that Airbus’s projections with the 380 have gone horribly wrong. So far the orders haven’t even crossed 200 units, and though there are few in service, I seriously doubt if it will ever emulate the 747′s sales figures.
The dynamics of air travel have changed. When the 747 came, it was NEEDED. Airlines don’t really need the A380 when they have more capable and efficient aircraft (except size-wise). The 777 changed the rules of the game as far as twin engined travel was concerned, and as hard as Airbus tried with their “4 engines” on the A340, the jury is out as to which is a more successful aircraft. In fact it could arguably be said, that the A350XWB is not really a competitor to the 787 but it’s more like a future replacement for the 777.
Amen!
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