#33, Dysag: screwing up the A340-600 wing, trying to do it on the cheap by keeping a lot of the 1990 design inside. It was far too heavy
Unfair, I suggest. Airbus Industrie has a Committee/consensus approach to decision-making. BAe., a UK plc, raised much of the money on market terms to launch A330/340-200 wing design in June,1987, to a Spec. accepted by the team, inc. DASA (a for-profit business) and Aerospatiale (a State welfare/"National Interest" employer). In February,1998 BAe., a UK plc, raised much...terms to launch A340-500/600 wing to a Spec...inc (from 2000: EADS, a for-profit business with State Directors in a subordinate role). If anyone screwed up, it was the team. But it cost us, UK taxpayer, £123Mn. in Launch Aid contribution merely for the adapted, 1987-derived -600 wing: whatever would have been the cost, and Certification timescale, for an all-new wing? Unrecoverable, I submit, from the niche target market. AI chose a sub-optimal design over no design. See: 777SP, L.1011-500, MD11.