FLUG REVUE May 2004: A380 progresses

AIRBUS AT ILA

By Sebastian Steinke

At this year's ILA there will be an opportunity to see them flying together: the smallest Airbus, Hamburg's A318, and the longest airliner in the world, at 75.3 metres, the A340-600, from Toulouse, which recently entered into service in Germany with Lufthansa. While the A318 is a shorter version of the A319, which in turn goes back to the A320, the record-holding A340-600 grew out of the previously lengthened A340-300, which has its origins in the A340-200. By using this family concept and a strict modular system, Airbus keeps its development costs under control and at the same time reduces the costs of spare parts and training for its customers.

Soon the A320 family for short and medium haul services as well as the closely related twin-engine A330 and four-engine A340 families for medium and long haul routes will be joined by an aircraft for which only superlatives will suffice: the world's largest commercial airliner, the twin-deck A380 with seating for 555 passengers. This finally completes the top end of the Airbus product range, giving the company an aircraft to compete in the 747 size class previously dominated by Boeing.

At ILA it will be possible to admire some of the components of this colossal machine at numerous exhibitors' stands, as the countdown to its final assembly is now under way. The first full prototype's maiden flight is scheduled for the first quarter of 2005. Meanwhile, the structural stability of the new design is soon to undergo testing with prototype aircraft or assemblies in Dresden, Broughton in Wales and Toulouse, among other places. How will the pressurised cabin cope with the stress cycles involved? And will the huge but elastic wings suffer fatigue prematurely when subjected to severe simulated turbulence?

With the tests in preparation, production has already started: in Germany, the Airbus plant in Bremen kicked things off in 2002, where the flaps and associated complex suspension systems of the A380 are being produced, as well as special metal parts and test equipment.

Airbus A340

Some parts of the A380 are also being made in neighbouring Nordenham. In the two new halls there, the fairing for the front and rear sections of the fuselage and the upper side of the middle section of the fuselage are being produced, using the latest laser welding and riveting processes.

Since June 2003, Stade has also been making a contribution to A380 production. The rudder unit, flaps and advanced pressure bulkhead are being manufactured here from ultra-light yet extremely strong, textile-type carbon fibre mats, which are joined together in a computer-controlled machine and then “baked”. Fuji Heavy Industries in Tokyo is supplying Stade with the front and rear edges of the rudder unit, while Airbus Espana is also involved, and has already sent the first rudder to Stade from Puerto Real. The rudder's two carbon fibre segments are twelve and seven metres long and weigh in at 350 kg and 250 kg. Most of the tools and equipment for the production of the A380 in Germany, on the other hand, are coming from the Varel plant, where all the metal parts are also being manufactured.

Buxtehude should not be forgotten here either. This is where parts for the passenger entertainment and communication system are being manufactured, as well as the cabin lighting and the on-board water systems.

Finally, Airbus Aircabin in Laupheim has been producing low-pressure lines for the ventilation of the A380 cabin and its interior cladding since November 2003, for which a separate hall with a computer-controlled stock management and inventory control system has been built.

All the various threads of production in Germany lead in the end to Hamburg-Finkenwerder. Hamburg is producing the front and rear fuselage sections and is responsible for fitting out the front and rear parts of the fuselage. The finished sections are then sent to Toulouse for final assembly, where they join up with the wings from Wales, for example, and the parts of the fuselage made in Toulouse. For the first time, the parts are being transported by sea, river and road, because the huge assemblies and sections of the A380 are too big even for the Airbus transporter Beluga, which can also be seen at the ILA. In mid-March the first finished A380 front fuselage section made its way by ship from Hamburg-Finkenwerder to France, where the cockpit will be joined on. This part is to be used in the first prototype. Hamburg will shortly also be delivering a rear fuselage section and an upper fuselage section for structural and dynamic testing in Toulouse and Dresden.

Once the A380 has been made airworthy in Toulouse, it will fly back to Hamburg with an empty cabin to receive its interior fittings and exterior finish. European and Middle Eastern customers, including Emirates, which has ordered 45 aircraft, will take final delivery from Hamburg, while other regions of the world will be supplied from Toulouse. Airbus will be moving on from the commercial airliner A380-800 to develop the 150-tonne A380-800F freighter, whose further developed wings will offer improved performance and also be used for the planned A380-900, which is longer still.

Airbus rival Boeing will not have its own stand at the ILA – although a US Air Force C-17, the “Spirit of Berlin”, will be there – since the company's next big step, the official launch of the 7E7 programme, is still a little way off. Boeing believes there will be particularly strong growth in the market for mid-sized aircraft, so it is planning to give the production go-ahead for this two-engine plane by the summer. The idea is for the 7E7 to supersede both the 757 and the 767. Three 7E7 versions are planned, for 210, 250 and 300 passengers.

The new aircraft, which is essentially comparable to the Boeing 767 or A330, will save costs due to its two innovative engines, the widespread use of very light composite materials and the fact that it will be largely produced in Asia. To reduce kerosene consumption by up to 20 percent compared to its predecessor, the 767, an entirely new generation of very quiet, fuel-efficient engines is to be used. Instead of bleed air being taken from them, as previously, to supply the pressurised cabin and air conditioning and de-icing systems, the internal systems are to be supplied electrically in future (see also FLUG REVUE 2/2004). The only problem with this is that the engines do not yet exist. The decision on who is to supply the engines, which is to be made by the summer, is therefore critical to the very ambitious production schedule. If everything works out, Boeing wants to deliver the first 7E7 production aircraft by 2008. The Boeing 747 jumbo jet could also be modernised with the 7E7's engines. At the next ILA in 2006 it may already be possible to admire the A380 in flight, while the fate of the 7E7 will also be decided. Whatever happens, the competition between the rival manufacturers is sure to be worth following.

From page 46 of FLUG REVUE 5/2004

Last updated 15 April 2004

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