{"id":17444,"date":"2010-11-04T17:18:19","date_gmt":"2010-11-04T21:18:19","guid":{"rendered":"\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/?p=17444"},"modified":"2010-11-04T17:18:19","modified_gmt":"2010-11-04T21:18:19","slug":"quantas-grounds-the-a380-a-pilots-perspective","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/quantas-grounds-the-a380-a-pilots-perspective\/","title":{"rendered":"Quantas Grounds The A380, A Pilot's Perspective"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Airbus A380 is widely regarded in aviation as a technical achievement, yet a financial disaster.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Airbus has successfully built the largest passenger aircraft in the world, yet sold a relatively few number of them.\u00a0\u00a0 Worse, production delays have meant that a precious few are being delivered every year.\u00a0\u00a0 In the last three years since it’s introduction to passenger service, only 38 have been delivered, out of a total of only 234 ordered.\u00a0\u00a0 By comparison, Boeing delivered over 160 747 aircraft in it’s first three years of production.\u00a0\u00a0 If Airbus delivers the remaining 196 aircraft it has on order in the next ten years, it will still have built less than half of the number of Boeing 747s than were built during the first 13 years of it’s production.<\/p>\n

The A380 In Service<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nevertheless, there are five airlines that currently operate the aircraft, Singapore, Qantas, Emirates, Lufthansa, and Air France.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 These airlines seemed pleased with the aircraft and it’s anemic sales have been blamed on a smaller than expected market for aircraft seating over 500 passengers, as well as it’s limited cargo capacity.\u00a0\u00a0 Passengers love the airplane.\u00a0 With it’s spacious aisles and headroom to it’s near silent cabin, people often go out of their way to book a flight on this plane.<\/p>\n

While I have not yet had the privilege of flying on this plane, I was fortunate enough to see a demonstration of it’s capabilities last year at the Airventure gathering in Oshkosh Wisconsin.\u00a0\u00a0 It was an impressive demonstration, despite the hard landing I witnessed during a challenging crosswind.<\/a><\/p>\n

The A380 Out Of Service<\/strong><\/p>\n

On November 4th, 2010, an A380 operated by Qantas experienced an engine failure on departure from Singapore, enroute to Sydney.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 With jet engines, there are two types of failures, contained and contained.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Contained engine failures are the most common as well as the least serious.\u00a0\u00a0 This is when the engine shuts down without any parts protruding from the engine shroud, called a nacelle.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Parts may come loose or be ejected safely from the tail pipe, yet the failure is still considered “contained.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 For example, US Airways flight 1549, the “miracle on the Hudson” experienced the contained engine failure of both of its engines after they ingested birds.<\/p>\n

By contrast, an uncontained engine failure is a very rare and serious event.\u00a0 In an uncontained engine failure, the fan blades or other components come loose at a velocity sufficient\u00a0 to exit the side of the engine, possibly penetrating the cabin or damaging other parts of the aircraft.\u00a0 Aircraft are designed to withstand an uncontained failure as much as is feasible, yet they can still cause enough damage to take down an airplane.\u00a0\u00a0 For example, on July 19, 1989 United flight 232<\/a> experienced an uncontained engine failure that severed the hydraulics that control the aircraft.\u00a0\u00a0 While the pilots used the thrust of the engines to steer the airplane and attempt a landing in Souix City Iowa, a crash occurred, killing 172 of the 285 people on board.<\/p>\n

The A380 incident was an uncontained engine failure, with parts of the engine nacelle falling on a populated area.\u00a0\u00a0 There are even pictures of the wing that appear to have an engine piece protruding through it.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Thankfully, the aircraft landed safely and no one was injured.\u00a0\u00a0 In response, Qantas has grounded its entire fleet of aircraft, snarling its schedule for thousands of passengers.<\/p>\n

Should You Be Concerned?<\/strong><\/p>\n

First, it is important to know that there are essentially two kinds of A380s flying.\u00a0\u00a0 Some have the Rolls Royce Trent engines, and some have powerplants from Engine Alliance, and consortium of General Electric and Pratt & Whitney.\u00a0\u00a0 All Qantas aircraft have the Trent engines, as do the A380s of Singapore and Lufthansa.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 As of this writing, Singapore is temporarily suspending A380 operations, while Lufthansa is performing safety checks, but is still not halting operations.\u00a0\u00a0 Air France and Emirates fly the version with engines from Engine Alliance.<\/p>\n

You can think of a jet engine kind of like the lens on a high end camera.\u00a0\u00a0 Aircraft are ordered from the airframe manufacturer, but the engines, like camera lenses, are considered a separate purchase.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Failure of one manufacturer’s engine is not relevant to the operation of another manufacturer’s engine.\u00a0\u00a0 If you or someone you know is planning on flying an Air France or Emirates, A380, this event is completely inconsequential to the safety of their flight.<\/p>\n

If I was considering flying an A380 of Lufthansa, Singapore, or even Qantas, I still would not give it a second thought.\u00a0\u00a0 It so happens that these three airlines are among the safest in the world.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 For example, Qantas has never had a fatality on a jet aircraft, and it has been nearly sixty years since they have had any fatality at all.\u00a0\u00a0 The fact that the most recent incident, though serious, resulted in no injuries or loss of life is a testament to the safety of the A380 and the professionalism of the crew.\u00a0\u00a0 By grounding their A380 aircraft fleet, Qantas is going out of their way to ensure that their safety record remains immaculate.\u00a0\u00a0 When they decide to restart A380 operations, I would be glad to be a passenger.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Airbus A380 is widely regarded in aviation as a technical achievement, yet a financial disaster.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Airbus has successfully built the largest passenger aircraft in the world, yet sold a relatively few number of them.\u00a0\u00a0 Worse, production delays have meant that a precious few are being delivered every year.\u00a0\u00a0 In the last three years since […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nQuantas Grounds The A380, A Pilot's Perspective<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/quantas-grounds-the-a380-a-pilots-perspective\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta 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