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ENGINEERINGINNOVATIONThe A380 senior vice-president engineering, Robert Lafontan, talks aboutthe advanced technology aboard the double-deck jetBy Charles Anderson‘We are not incorporating technology onthe A380 just for the sake of technology.It is for obtaining a business advantage’Robert LafontanA380 senior vice-president engineering, AirbusRobert Lafontan is a bigman working on a bigproject. Crammedbehind his desk inToulouse, this imposingFrenchman with his collar a littletoo tight, looks every inch the rightchoice to head the A380’s engineeringteam.And when he talks about the innovationsdeveloped for the super jumbo,he does it in an expansive manner. Butfirst, he has a point to make.“We are not incorporating technologyon the A380 just for the sakeof technology,” said the programme’ssenior vice-president, engineering.“First, it is for obtaining a businessadvantage. It’s very simple. You haveto design an aircraft capable of flyingtrans-Pacific and European routesfrom Asia, whatever the conditionsare – wind, winter, whatever – takinginto account that your competitor, the747, was well placed at the time. If youdon’t surpass the 747’s technology,clearly you will be the loser.”Lafontan was chief engineer forthe A3XX development project,which later grew into the A380. In thefast-changing world of aircraft engineering,many of the advances planned atthat time are not good enough for today’splane. “For one simple reason,” he said, listingfour. “We have more stringent environmentalrequirements. We have more stringentpassenger comfort, more stringent certificationrequirements. We need to haveoperating costs much lower than the 747’s.“For lower operating costs, we need tohave less fuel burn. We need less maintenancecosts. It is the only way.”Configuration is an obvious key to transporting555 passengers in a cost-effectivemanner, while conforming with airport regulationson size. A double-decker was inevitable,said Lafontan, dismissing flyingwingstyle planes as impractical because ofevacuation and layout concerns.One Asian city provided a little inspiration,it seems. “Double-deckers are not amystery. You see this kind of operation inHong Kong. The buses are double-deckers,the boats are double-deckers. The first timeI went to Hong Kong for the A3XX, I tookpictures and used them for presentations. Igave a nice presentation of Hong Kong toexplain the A380’s configuration,” he said.When it came to the landing gear, Airbus14 ORIENT AVIATION / A380 Quarterly Update JUNE – AUGUST 2005stipulated that it should operate withinexisting aircraft characteristics. “Thatmeans, for example, it must have apavement loading smaller, or equal to,a 747 or an MD-11,” said Lafontan.This involved building a runwayin Toulouse with four sectionsto meet International Civil AviationOrganisation (ICAO) runway requirements.Landings were simulatedusing a vehicle with movable legs andwheels, capable of being loaded up to650 tonnes, travelling at low speeds offive to 10 knots.Stress on the concrete layers similarto that produced by a B747, B777or MD-11 was measured. Then areal B777 and B747 were brought into back up the findings. After that,6,000 passes were performed usingthe A380’s own new landing gear tocheck that it was less heavy than, orat least equal to, its rivals. “This wasvery important to use,” said Lafontan.“We wanted to be within 2%-3%accuracy.”Much work was also undertakenon ensuring the A380 was able to performa U-turn in the 56 metres it takesa B777 to make the same manoeuvre.“What drives that characteristic is thepattern – the track and the distancebetween the nose wheel and the runway.Every time we took values that werewithin existing aircraft,” he said.While better aerodynamics and weightsaving are the general answers to improvedfuel burn, Lafontan can pinpoint specificsthat have helped the A380 reach that goal.First, he listed the super jumbo’s giantwing, at 845 sq. metres a huge constructionin its own right, but still capable of meetingairport requirements on width. Weightvortex was used as criteria for its configurationfreeze, the first time ever in aircraftdesign. It was important, too, that the wingdesign allowed the A380 to land on a run-