View Full Version : A400M Wing news .....
The first wing set for the Airbus Military (http://www.airbusmilitary.com/)A400M transport aircraft (http://www.airbusmilitary.com/press.html#)was removed from its jig in Airbus Filton, near Bristol yesterday, making it the largest wing ever to have been constructed from composite materials
http://www.flightglobal.com/Articles/2006/11/29/Navigation/177/210856/Pictures+Airbus+Miltary+A400M+transport+aircraft+wing+comple ted%2c+making+it+largest+composite+wing.html
enginesuck
2nd Dec 2006, 16:07
I see A/C manufacturers are still making access panels small, no fuel tank work for us fattys.....:}
Sospan
2nd Dec 2006, 16:36
75ft long composite wingbox :eek:
paddyfactor
2nd Dec 2006, 18:58
Very interesting but will it have suppressant foam in the wing tanks or do we have to lose one before they enact that particular budget?
r supwoods
2nd Dec 2006, 18:58
Phewwww... going out by Beluga ... I was anticipating it going by road to the docks at 4.00pm on a Friday
dodgysootie
2nd Dec 2006, 19:43
I see A/C manufacturers are still making access panels small, no fuel tank work for us fattys.....:}
Apparently the wing design is based on a old airliner called the Comet or something like that, I cant seem to remember! Never mind ES, as far as access is concerned, You could always get one of the 'skinnier' members of the team to go in. Failing that, a shoehorn and some OX 7 may be required!!
DS
Been There...
2nd Dec 2006, 19:51
Very interesting but will it have suppressant foam in the wing tanks or do we have to lose one before they enact that particular budget?
Yes :) AFAIK from the emails I have seen.
Fantastic technology, but it is a pity it goes to a soon to fail aviation company. No wait! Europe cannot let its Airbus company fail. Then it is OK then. European co-operation will prevail.
Look forward to the A-400M Mil transport to compete with the C-130J - 10 years late!
flipster
3rd Dec 2006, 08:12
LJR
If the A400 is only half as good the advertising, then it will wipe the floor with all versions of Herc.
The only sad thing will be that it will not arrive with all the drop clearances in place and it will probably be late due multi-national wrangling, c'est la vie!
flip
BEagle
3rd Dec 2006, 12:06
The LoadMaster will indeed wipe the floor with the C130!
Foam. That's sooo yesterday (well, except as far as the MoD are concerned since they haven't even reached yesterday yet. :mad:). The A400M has present day fuel tank inerting system.
The main fuselage is currently assembled in Bremen - and looking good!
MrBernoulli
3rd Dec 2006, 15:42
Given the recent history of Airbus manufacturing my money is STILL on this aircraft coming nowhere near the promises made for it ...... nowhere near! Expensive flying shed.
Twopack
3rd Dec 2006, 17:38
The LoadMaster will indeed wipe the floor with the C130!
LMAO :}
Easy to say about an unproven aircraft that's lying in bits on a hangar floor! :p
Jackonicko
3rd Dec 2006, 18:17
".....an unproven aircraft that's lying in bits on a hangar floor!"
Serviceability of the J's is a function of the poor spares buy, and you shouldn't risk starting a J/K pis$ing match here.
(Beags: I say I say I say, my A400M's still got no nose, surely?)
Hope there's no A380-style wing stress issues this time.
Saw this while reading the other one.
Airbus Military A400M faces future 'challenges' as fuselage emerges, on eve of major review (http://www.flightglobal.com/Articles/2006/10/31/210312/Airbus+Military+A400M+faces+future+'challenges'+as+fuselage+ emerges%2c+on+eve+of+major.html)
31Oct06
In early October, Christian Streiff, then Airbus chief executive, told UK daily newspaper the Financial Times that the A400M timetable was “exactly on the edge. It is a tense situation with a number of suppliers internally and externally. We are exactly on track, but without any reserves.”
Lyneham Lad
13th Dec 2006, 20:30
EADS clears A400M but outlines risks
Latest news in Flight International (http://www.flightglobal.com/Articles/2006/12/12/Navigation/190/211014/EADS+clears+A400M+but+outlines+risks.html)
"Airbus Military's A400M programme has been given a clean bill of health after a two-month audit by lead stakeholder EADS, although "significant programme challenges" must be overcome if the transport is to make its first delivery in 2009.
"The review validated that the A400M programme is progressing according to the contractually agreed schedule," says EADS, which also outlines several programme elements that it views as "critical risks". These include system design on the electrical harnesses and mission systems, plus unspecified modifications to its Europrop International TP400-D6 engines. The study also cited work required to complete the A400M's final assembly line at Seville, Spain as a potential area of concern.
"We have seen some weaknesses in organisation and technical challenges," says Airbus chief operating officer Fabrice Brégier.
EADS used engineers from its previous Airbus A380 audit team to take part in the A400M assessment process, and says the latest study was "the most comprehensive review ever done on an EADS development programme". The findings were approved by the EADS directors."
Almost_done
18th Apr 2007, 15:12
Thought I'd add a little more to this with the news that the construction (http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2007/04/18/213333/picture-first-airbus-a400m-vertical-tailplane-arrives-at-eads-casa-facilities-in.html)is continuing apace in Madrid.
RETDPI
18th Apr 2007, 16:08
Vertical Tailplane.
I suppose that would be a fin from the days in which we spoke English.
Just out of interest, have they a fully worked BDR technique for CFRP components like the fin for when they get bullet holes and the like through them?
Confucius
18th Apr 2007, 22:16
Will we still need a transport a/c capable of lifting more than 1 prescott once prescott's no longer entitled to flights at 'er majesty's pleasure? When the ChiComs, sorry - labour - get voted out next time it'll be a white elephant.
A bit like prescott.
mojocvh
19th Apr 2007, 00:58
..being doing cfrp repairs for DECADES on the jump jet..............wake up!
Yeah, I remember the GR5 wing. But we are talking differences in scale - and in design and construction, and in DA attention to the problem and instructions on how to deal with it, not issues previously in Airbus's remit.
Its a simple question - yes or no. No need to evade the answer - which you managed to miss giving....
Pontius Navigator
19th Apr 2007, 06:44
I thought a Prescott was a functional SI unit incorporating mass as well as bulk.
That way the capacity could be expressed in milliPrescotsts, MP for short, and thus ensure that load weight and load volume are always maximum.
philrigger
19th Apr 2007, 07:19
" ...talking differences in scale - and in design and construction, and in DA attention to the problem and instructions on how to deal with it, ..."
This is not the first airbus to have plastic components. Agreed, they have not been as large as a A400M wing. But there will be repair procedures in place for the other components. And as you say it is just a matter of scale. Despite recent problems within the company they are a professional outfit.
'We knew how to whinge but we kept it in the NAAFI bar.'
Jack Aubrey
19th Apr 2007, 08:03
PN - I think that you might have identified an important scientific breakthrough. Perhaps a paper to a refereed journal - perhaps the Inst of Physics?
The Prescott could be a useful unit to apply to functionless dunnage spread thinly so as to minimise its effect on anything important. It could be represented by a voluminous sack of sh1te whose mass will vary but generally progress to greater mass and volume whilst remaining functionless and unappealing. I would suggest an initial mass of around the 300 kg mark. It would be important to ensure that the sh1te load of Prescott should be evenly distributed since the Prescott would be unable to get to, or appreciate, the point.
In using the Prescott to faciliatationise the applicabilitisation of important matters previously brought to embear upon announcements soon to be made in another place, the Prescott should be applied with a sub-unit of verbal randomisationality that springs to work on the observer renderising him or her, because let us never forget that diversity is a key issue, helpless with mirth or depressive catatonia. It would be essential, of course, that the use of this unit must never involve punctuation.
Should you wish to co-author such a paper, I would like to name this sub-unit 'Verbal Diarrhoea' whilst stressing that it should remain strictly dimensionless since it only serves as an empty place holder.
GlosMikeP
19th Apr 2007, 08:17
I thought a Prescott was a functional SI unit incorporating mass as well as bulk....
Ah! The old Imperial units' Slug!:eek:
Like This - Do That
19th Apr 2007, 10:37
"The next step is to carry out comprehensive measurements of the wing before the fitting ..."
Ummmm ... pardon me (failed engineering at uni) but shouldn't measurements have been considered BEFORE construction?
mojocvh
19th Apr 2007, 12:00
.....Just out of interest, have they a fully worked BDR technique for CFRP components like the fin for when they get bullet holes and the like through them?
Changes to
Yeah, I remember the GR5 wing. But we are talking differences in scale - and in design and construction, and in DA attention to the problem and instructions on how to deal with it, not issues previously in Airbus's remit
??:D
Anyway who's talking about GR5 wings?
Its a simple question - yes or no. No need to evade the answer - which you managed to miss giving....:sad: on.
Anyway who's talking about GR5 wings? You said:
being doing cfrp repairs for DECADES on the jump jet.........
In response, I was referencing a wing which I believe sat in a hangar in Germany for several years after a ricochet on the range.