A380 FOD

[megan]

Aircraft hit what is believed to be a drone at Nice 18 August during approach, tore up the slat some what.

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/1024x524/f4ewpx5xwamoy2v_1_7c683901124611217df161941f0cea1fb07fa622.j pg

[fdr]

that is one serious size drone then it hit. That's, what... 8' in damage length?

[pattern_is_full]

Well, whatever it was (and however large), it could have simply slid outboard along the swept wing leading edge (like a finger along a carving knife - OUCH!), ripping stuff up as it went thataway>>>>>.

Interesting that the damage is on the back edge of the slat, so presumably the slats were deployed "on approach," with the slat leading edge pointing downwards, and the collision was with the aft edge.

[DaveReidUK]

French press reporting that the pilot radioed ATC on pushback to report the problem. Hmmm.

Après un incident technique, un A380 cloué ce week-end au sol sur le tarmac de l'aéroport de Nice (https://www.varmatin.com/faits-divers/apres-un-incident-technique-un-a380-cloue-ce-week-end-au-sol-sur-le-tarmac-de-laeroport-de-nice-868074)

[pattern_is_full]

Hmmm, indeed. Damaged on slat retraction after a previous landing?

There was a 738 that caught fire due to a retracting slat punching a loose bolt into the fuel tank behind, dripping fuel onto a hot engine after parking. (China Air 120, Naha, 2007).

[megan]

https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/344753Emirates flight EK077, an Airbus A380, collided with a large drone on the approach to runway 04L at Nice Airport, France, according to unconfirmed reports.
The aircraft sustained damage to a section of the leading edge. The aircraft was grounded and the leading edge slat was replaced Sunday 20 August ‘23.

Drone involved in the incident: "There's nothing proven about this information", says Bruno Boulay, Head of the Air Navigation Department at the DGAC Sud Est. According to him, the incident, whatever it was, was declared on the ground, "at the time of the push-back". "The pilot alerted the control tower, indicating that he was encountering a problem that was preventing him from taking off again."

The French investigation board BEA confirmed they were looking into this occurrence, but could not yet confirm if a drone was indeed involved.