A380 takes another hit -- UPS Cancels

UPS Inc., the world's largest shipping carrier, said Friday it will cancel its order for 10 Airbus A380 freighters, following delivery delays. The decision will leave the European aircraft manufacturer with no firm orders for its jumbo freighter. The news follows an earlier decision by Memphis, Tenn.-based FedEx Corp. to cancel its order for the freight version of the A380 .... UPS now understands Airbus is diverting employees from the A380 freighter program to work on the passenger version of the plane. "Based on our previous discussions, we had felt that 2012 was a reasonable estimate of when Airbus could supply this plane," David Abney, UPS COO, said in a statement. "We no longer are confident that Airbus can adhere to that schedule."

I really don't have much to add except to say that HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. This just pleases me to no end. My derision for Airbus is well known, but this is just funny. It couldn't happen to a nicer company. It's like the kid nobody likes but the kid is too thick to understand why. Yes, the ever popular return of schadenfreude.

Airbus A380 -- Explosions in the Sky

Airbus and the FAA are at odds. The FAA (after the crash of TWA 800) mandated special fuel tanks to eliminate in-sky explosions, a good idea in theory. Airbus are complaining that this ought not apply to them in an article in today's USA Today. Obviously, that's a ploy by Airbus to save weight, which will in turn save money. There are many ways to cut corners on an aircraft -- some good, some bad. The fuel tank is not a great place to cut corners. Obviously Airbus has no concerns about the safety of their planes: okay, that isn't true. They are worried about more delays, more cost overruns, and more embarrassment. However this is not a good idea. Don't fly Airbus and especially not the A380.

Schadenfreude Part Trois (Airbus)

I had previously blogged this: More on Airbus Crashes: Schadenfreude and also in Schadenfreude and Airbus re-unite yet again -- well I can never have too much of a good thing. And the spectacular failure of this aircraft, already delayed over a year looks to be as much as another year late.

The report is here: http://msnbc.msn.com/id/14939412/

And it looks as if Emirates may cancel their order. I hope they do. It'd be the smart thing, the fiscally prudent thing, and make me smile. What more could you want? I hate Airbus for many reasons, and I hated them before they killed Concorde, but that certainly was the final nail in the coffin, so to speak.

I never want a commercial aircraft to crash, but as I've said before Airbus has a less than stellar safety record. And they're having some serious teething problems with the A380 and they'll end up cutting corners and one will end up crashing -- guaranteeing a new record will be set for a single aircraft fatality count: not a record one will be proud of.

I just thought I'd share the news, share the love, and share the joy.

Schadenfreude and Airbus re-unite yet again

I had previously blogged this: More on Airbus Crashes: Schadenfreude

Life is good if you hate Airbus. Now they're having fuselage problems. They're trying to minimize the publicity but a fuselage problem is a very serious problem. Anyone who gets on one of these planes is nuts. They're going to force that thing out the door to minimize any further embarrassment and then they'll be forced to ground the fleet when they start falling out the sky. Boeing is dusting their pants and rightfully so.



Airbus Admits A380 Fuselage Problems
By ANGELA CHARLTON (Associated Press Writer)
July 24, 2006 7:08 AM EDT

PARIS - Airbus acknowledged Monday it had reinforced the rear fuselage of its superjumbo A380 after problems were detected, but insisted the issue did not cause any further delays in the plane's production timetable.

Airbus spokeswoman Barbara Kracht sought to play down a report in German weekly Der Spiegel on Monday describing troubles with a section of fuselage in the rear cone of the world's biggest passenger plane.

A "minor" problem was discovered with a section of the fuselage during a trial flight in Toulouse, Kracht said. The fault was fixed in April, she said. She would not reveal estimates of how much the reinforcement cost or give any other details. Kracht said it did not cause any adjustments in the double-decker plane's production schedule, which has already been pushed back more than a year.

Der Spiegel said internal Airbus documents showed that at the beginning of March, the company decided to strengthen the problematic fuselage - resulting in extra costs and extra weight. The report did not elaborate on the problems.

More on Airbus Crashes: Schadenfreude

In a previous blog entry (Airbus Crashes -- Boeing Soars) I made fun of Airbus. That's always good sport.

I now have a follow up to the above post. It's gotten worse for Airbus. Much, much, much worse. I direct my reader(s) to http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/5103642.stm to read the latest. BAE is bailing on Airbus, the French Government wants to rework the accord that prevents government interference because the feel the need to interfere, the stock has dropped another 26% -- though soon it won't much matter as 26% of zero is still zero. (Here's more on Airbus thanks to D. Higgins: Misery at Airbus)

I gloat at the misery of Airbus. Schadenfreude at its finest. I've never had the need to use that word in a sentence until now.

Yeah, go ahead, order an A380. You want to know what's going to happen now? They're going to want that plane out on-time without any more delays. So they're going to rush it. The government will be involved. They will cut corners to deliver on time. There will be flaws. Deadly, fatal flaws. Think it won't happen? Airbus had similar situations with the A320.

From Wikipedia: early crashes, including the Air France A320 crash during an airshow in Habsheim, France, on 26 June 1988, dented the image of the A320 and its new computer controlled fly-by-wire technologies. The cause of the crash remains in dispute, as the investigation was hindered by the tampering of essential evidence. Officially, the crash was attributed to pilot error. However, some suggest that the new computer systems and previously known deficiencies of the aircraft were the actual cause of the accident.

I'm always reassured to fly on a plane where the manufacturer tampers with evidence. I bet you are too. I go out of my way to avoid Airbus planes. It's not just the shady company making the planes, but it's the whole idea of fly-by-wire where there's no actual wire. If the computer on an Airbus fails there is no backup and the plane will crash. Always. Boeing doesn't have this stupidity in design. In an emergency, the pilot can actually fly the plane. I like when the pilot can override the computer.

Airbus Crashes -- Boeing Soars

http://tinyurl.com/medrl <-- Okay, there's the link. Read it first. As I said to everyone who would listen, the A-380 may be an engineering masterpiece, but it's not what people want. And, Airbus, as always, made promises it just couldn't deliver on in order to try and show up Boeing. Boeing on the other hand, came out with a plane to fill a need -- instead of trying to create a need -- and has come up a winner. And now, this. Airbus is being pummelled, beat, kicked, and otherwise attacked. Airlines want their money back, and who can blame them. Airbus plans to deliver a gas-guzzling behemoth and to deliver it late. This after many airports have spent hundred of millions of dollars retrofitting to accept this plane. I believe there is a market for this plane, but Airbus has vastly overestimated it. And the real kicker is, Airbus is famous for delivering planes that do not perform to the promised specifications when originally designed. More will follow, I am sure.