To: lomapaseo
As one who has been involved in the certification and continued airworthiness side of the business, my experience is that lots of testing goes on past the roll out, past the first flight and indeed way past the first delivery.
Some of the testing is certification critical and may have to be updated (read completed satisfactorily) before delivery. While other testing (cyclic fatigue) may take some time to accumulate even past delivery.
Airbus and the certification authorities including the FAA are not totally clean in this area. After the FAA was notified (by me) of major design deficiencies (in an Airbus aircraft) they took action by getting the vice president of a major subcontractor and his program manager fired however the design was not changed.
The major contractors on the wing of this aircraft failed to notify Airbus per the contract of deficiencies relative to reliability and safety because they did not want to absorb the costs of any design changes. The secondary flight controls on the wing are not bonded to the airframe structure and are not adequately protected from a lightning strike.
The flap system was inadequately tested but was certified. Airbus did not perform specified tests because if they did they would have discovered the lack of electrical bonding.
The FAA, DGCA and the CAA were made aware of the problems yet the design was never changed.
This aircraft is still flying but if you believe that “Fate is the hunter” then one of these days a lightning strike in the right place will blow the wing off.
