Originally Posted by
atakacs
Very interesting and fascinating read... if somewhat scary.
In your opinion what is the root issues here ? did Airbus publish significantly too optimistic figures or is are some specific airframes not performing (both not being mutually exclusive of course) ?
Anything that affects thrust output, which is engine N1, PT2.... anything that gives errors in weight, or affects drag, or energy required to achieve the rotate IAS. Simply, humidity, temperature, rolling friction, and to an extent aerodynamic drag from control inputs.
I don't think scary is the right adjective, the issue is one of awareness or more importantly lack of awareness, and the assumption of risk without knowledge. The 340 has been around for... a looooong time, and the performance issues have been observable form day one, yet it is a headline that in 2019 an operator adds a margin for questionable performance. How many passengers have done limit takeoffs that the crew have not reported, and which result in compromised safety? How great is our industry that this remains the case. What has been the exposure that has needlessly resulted as collectively we either don't care, or don't recognise, or are unable to confidently report issues. The 340 is a quite glaring example, but not the only one that has existed. There is one that has a 40 year history that has been denied, and the gold plated airlines that tout their excellence behaved in a manner that is unbecoming, and caused irreparable harm to those that attempted to rectify the problem, to reduce the risk to the very officers that behaved in unconscionable ways.
Performance issues will arise, that is the way of a dynamic system, but habitual underperforming is not something that passengers are expected to be exposed to. The industry reminds me of the emperor with no clothes; we hear the words Safety, Compliance, Just Culture, from the same groups that have used gag orders to conceal issues. We will have turned a corner when a QA engineer finding parts being fabricated by hand when the design requires that they be CNC milled is not victimised by the worlds greatest OEM, when crew reporting issues don't lose their jobs as a result of compliance with the underlying law of the land, when managers discharge their duty of care in a manner reflecting integrity. The military generally had a better safety culture, however it is certainly not immune to issues of integrity, My Lai, killing of Namir Noor-Eldeen and Saeed Chmagh, the Reuters photographers, 12 July 2007, Baghdad, where the cover story sold to the US Public was that they were insurgents. Joe Biden calling thereafter for the extrajudicial punishment of Assange for releasing the leaked AH64 gun tapes just topped off the integrity of the system, so much for the Constitution.
Aerospace relies on integrity, but the system observably and routinely acts against it's own interests.
4 pot planes are most obvious in general problems, but the 380 seems to perform admirably. All the others are not so much... 2 holers should have lots of spare on a normal day, yet that is not always the case, and when it is obvious from the cockpit, you probably have had a severe failure of performance. Don't build markets off the end of runways where former CIS aircraft depart, it can end in tears.