Airbus A380 to be delayed another 6-7 months

[CMC Airboss]

Originally posted by Debonair
do TRs need to be operated symetrically, or if #2 is dead, can #3 still be used to slow down the big bus so it can make the high speed exit onto taxiway kilo?

The TRs are normally operated symetrically, especially on anything less than a dry durface.  Although, I suppose TR induced ground loop might slow the plane down really fast if only one thrust reverser was applied when landing on a slick surface.

[Toad]

With one TR out on the RC-135, we used to put the assymetric engine in idle reverse and use full reverse on the symmetrical engines. If things were going to shirt, you pulled the assymetric engine in too and compensated with rudder. That was just sorta the last rabbit you had left to pull out of your hat type of deal though.

[Toad]

BTW, IIRC, SAC did a study on reversers and could not find one runway excursion of an aircraft w/o thrust reversers that could have been avoided if that aircraft had been equipped with t/r's.

That's why most SAC aircraft didn't have reversers.

[CMC Airboss]

Ouch.  Customers are pretty steamed about the delays.   Only 1 airplane will be delivered this year and 9 next year (instead of 25).  Quantas is looking for compensation and interim aircraft to handle the pax load.   Emerites is also looking for compensation.  Singapore has already sold seats on the airplanes they won't be receiving.   I hope Boeing takes heed of this situation and applies the lessons-learned during the launch of the 787.

[Yeager]

747-8 looking better and better

[Ripsnort]

Originally posted by CMC Airboss
Ouch.  Customers are pretty steamed about the delays.   Only 1 airplane will be delivered this year and 9 next year (instead of 25).  Quantas is looking for compensation and interim aircraft to handle the pax load.   Emerites is also looking for compensation.  Singapore has already sold seats on the airplanes they won't be receiving.   I hope Boeing takes heed of this situation and applies the lessons-learned during the launch of the 787.

I can't think of a new Boeing model that was delayed that long, can you? (Dating myself, but I built the Wing-to-Join body tools for the 757 and 767 in 1980-1981)  Of course, we had McDonald Douglas to worry about then, so  we were NEVER late on a new launch. Same with the 777.

[Yeager]

dang rip, another 10 years and you should be able to retire......

Airbus might be suffering from a wee bit of overconfidence as it struggles to wire up the A380 (wiring these things up is indeed a miracle of nature).  

Boeing has been doing this stuff since the early 1900s and has some experience at it.  As usual, Airbus (aka Europe) has had the benifit of a major industrial rebuild (aka UPGRADE) at the massive expense of the United States via the infrastructural destruction caused by WW2 (aka HITLER), and has benifited from simply observing the masters at work all these years.  

Problem is you cant just watch a master do his work and then build a masterpiece yourself.  You have to experience the failures of building your own masterpiece in order to truly make one.  

Airbus is, at a minimum, a solid generation behind Boeing and I think more and more customers will finally come to understand this over the next year and order 787s and 747-8s simply in order to continue doing business into 2020.

The A380 really is the first airplane Airbus has ever truly done, and it shows.

[Holden McGroin]

Originally posted by Toad
There's always delays with new aircraft. No biggie.

EADS lost a quarter of their stock value today. (26%)

Moodys downgraded EADS from 'stable' to 'negative'

[Ripsnort]

Originally posted by Yeager
dang rip, another 10 years and you should be able to retire......

 

That's the plan, but I'm gonna stay until I'm 59 1/2 (Wife is 4 years younger and she will retire at the same time) so I actually have 13 more years. (Hired in at 18 in 1979)

[beet1e]

Ripsnort,

OK, this is a new story, not the original A380 delay story from about a year ago, which was discussed at length in this thread. I've just reread that thread, and it's quite interesting, largely because of my own contributions.

Driving into LHR airport on Sunday to meet Mietla, I could hardly avoid noticing the big signs up all over the place, advertising the Singapore Airlines deployment of A380 services later this year. So this time I did read CMC's article (I was pressed for time earlier - sorry) but even in that article it says

Leahy said the company was still on track to have the plane certified and to deliver its first aircraft to Singapore Airlines Ltd (SIAL.SI: Quote, Profile, Research) by end-2006

which suggests that the signs bearing the SIA advertisement at LHR are indeed correct, and that A380 deployment will take place within 2006 as originally planned, and that maybe the delays are not too serious for the other airlines.

[GRUNHERZ]

I dont think i have bashed the a380 before, it's kinda neat, and even if did I always liked the idea of a big giant plane.

Anyway this worries me, this is a big problem.

26% stock price drop in 1 day
projected 500 million less profits for 2 or 3 years
annual production cut to a fraction of the original estimate
and now reports of outright sabotage on the production line

[Fishu]

Originally posted by GRUNHERZ
and now reports of outright sabotage on the production line

Could happen to everyone. I wouldn't be surprised if it was sponsored by Boeing. At times they seem to be somewhat bitter rivals.

[mora]

Originally posted by Yeager
The A380 really is the first airplane Airbus has ever truly done, and it shows.

The first twin-engined widebody. That's if the Concorde doesn't count.

[Paxil]

2 6-month delays seem easier to announce than a 1-year delay don't they? =)  I think at the first delay the customers might have sensed they were getting the run around and wanted a firm date. They were provided one... only to have it slip again. I can understand their disappointment. Now with the A350 (which is going to be renamed since that name is soiled A370?) it will be interesting to see if customers believe their delivery date... I would imagine it will be moved up as close as possible to when customers could now receive a 787, regardless of when it will really will be delivered.

I'm not exactly neutral... like Rip I work for Boeing, but I still think the A380 is an awesome achievement. The delivery slip and false promises are to blame on the marketing types and people too afraid to see or tell the truth... but the plane itself is a wonder. Will they make a profit on it like they promised? Not sure...  but to anyone who has every looked up in the sky and thought 'COOL!' the A380 is something to behold.

[beet1e]

Yes Paxil! I think it will succeed, but as a hub-to-hub aircraft. It's tailor made for the Asia-Pacific region - South-East Asia, Australia, New Zealand and across the Pacific to the western US - an area where there are vast distances to be covered, but with relatively few airports and therefore no complex labyrinth of routes.