A simple reply to your question Sunfish. My brother was a QF Flight Engineer. He came up thru the hangar floor to this job. When QF purchased the 747/200 he and a couple of other engineers were sent to the Boeing factory, where they stayed for 6 months, and watched and checked just about every bolt and nut on the growing hull which was to become the first 747 that QF purchased. Ditto for the donks. There were times they disagreed with Boeing engineers, and wanted alterations to suit the long haul flying these aircraft were being prepared for, mostly Boeing bowed to their wishes though not always gracefully. The enormous amount of infomation learnt was of great benefit to QF, who at that time ran a really tight engineering outfit, in fact probably one of the best in the world, with outstanding engineers, unencumbered by bean counters, and the result was aircraft beautifully engineered for the job, engineers with a huge bank of infomation behind them, Flight Engineers more than happy with performance, and pilots confident with their training and a delight in the aircraft they were flying. Of course there were gliches, but nothing serious, and the best part was engineering was seamless, parts very seldom left the base, and QF had a great product. Now I am not privy to what engineering does now or what it did whilst the A380 was being built, but what I do know engineering is only a shell of its former self, almost destroyed by lack of knowledge, stupidity, and greed from people who simply have no idea other than profit, and this must have had a flow on effect on the engineers who oversaw the production of this aircraft. No blame on them, they are working under conditions imposed on them by beancounters, not by experienced manager engineers. My brother is gobsmacked this problem was not picked up on the factory floor, in the test pads, and will not have it that the engineers of the 70's and 80's would have not seen it coming, his opinion, not necessarily mine. There it is from the horses mouth, so to speak Sunfish, I don't know the answer, other than back to basics, and to hell with costs.
