To: Dagger Dirk
I feel for this gentleman (Mr. Philip Coombes). He did what was required of him and he got sacked for doing it. It seems that the Airbus mentality and that of BAe have not changed since the A-310 design program.
I discovered a major design flaw on the A-310 wing and I brought it to the attention of my German superiors. They refused to take any design action because they did not want to absorb the redesign costs. They wanted to wait until Airbus discovered the fault and issued a change order that would cover the cost of the redesign. They told me to bring the problem to the attention of the integration contractor. I did and got the same rejection and for the same reasoning. Not wanting to pay for the redesign costs. I took it one step higher to BAe and they told me that they were sympathetic to my concerns but they could not help. This was the same firm that employed Mr. Coombes and they were the designers of the wing and also responsible for the certification of the wing.
The problem was the electrical bonding of the secondary flight controls (flaps and slats) which were not bonded to the wing structure. My firm and the integration contractor were waiting for Airbus to discover the problem and they never did. I believe that they did not follow the requirements of their own technical directive dealing with lightning protection and electrical bonding. If they did they would have discovered the lack of electrical bonding.
I felt that I had done everything required of me and that I would only take action if the A-310 were certified in the USA. About a year after leaving the program the A-310 was certified in the USA and I contacted the FAA. It took two letters to get their attention. The FAA contacted the DGCA and they told the FAA that the problem had been taken care of, which was not true.
I specifically asked the FAA to keep my name out of it. They not only revealed my name but they also circulated my two letters throughout Boeing. The VP and the Chief program manager were fired however the design was never changed.
Upon returning to the States I started to contact operators of the A-310 telling them of the bonding problem as well as another problem that could lead to flap runaway. I contacted several operators and one day I was contacted by a lawyer representing Airbus. They asked me to stop contacting the operators and I told them that I would if they would arrange a conference with Airbus designers. They agreed but the conference never took place.
I have not given up though thanks to PPRuNe.
The more things change the more they stay the same.
