A PERFECT - Orient Aviation

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AIRPORTSAhead of the game,but still work to be doneHong Kong International Airport: well prepared for the A380Anumber of new major airports have been built in the Asia-Pacific in recent years and they are much better preparedto receive the A380 than airports in the West. Still, there issome work to be done. Here are four typical examples.• At Sydney International Airport, A$100 million (US$78.1million) will be spent over the next 12 months widening runwayand taxiway shoulders, building additional pavements,strengthening a tunnel, relocating navigational and visual aidequipment, modifying parking layouts and installing additionalaerobridges.The airport, which was upgraded in time for the 2000Olympics, says the introduction of the A380 was taken intoaccount when its master plan was redrawn.• At Incheon International Airport in Seoul some work is neededon taxiway shoulders, but existing runway shoulders, taxi-ingareas, bridges and stands can all take the A380.Three terminal gates will be merged to handle passenger flowand access will be through two main-deck doors. But in 2008 whenthe airport’s second phase opens, five gates will be designated forA380 operations with upper deck loading included. Planning for theA380 started three years ago.• At Hong Kong International Airport, opened in 1998, stabilisationof taxiway shoulders is being evaluated, while bothrunways comply with Code F requirements. Five passenger terminalstands are already configured to handle the A380.Planes of its size were envisaged during planning, design andconstruction of the airport.• At Singapore Changi International Airport runway shouldersneed to be widened and taxiway junctions broadened. Aircraftstands, passenger loading bridges and gate holding rooms have tobe re-configured. Aerobridge options are under evaluation, withupper deck access being considered. Luggage conveyor belts willbe lengthened.Changi’s new third terminal, scheduled to open in 2008, hasbaggage handling systems and lounges designed with the A380 inmind. Eight gates will be able to handle the Airbus giant.SAFETY1,100 sought for evacuation drillsWhile Airbus is aiming for a 90-minute airport turnaround forthe A380, it must show in latesummer that it can get everyone off thegiant jumbo in 90 seconds under emergencynight-time conditions, writes CharlesAnderson.The aim of the exercise, which will takeplace in a darkened paint hangar at theHamburg Finkenwerder plant, is to certifythe aircraft in Europe and the U.S. to carrymore than 850 passengers.A flight test A380, specially equippedwith an 853-seat interior, will be used, witheach of its two decks treated as independentcabins so no one can take the stairs andslow the process. The upper deck will house315 passengers, with 538 on the lower deck.Eighteen cabin crew and two pilots will alsobe included.That means finding 1,100 volunteerswilling to plunge down one of five illuminatedslides on the main deck, or three onthe upper section. Only one side and eightdoors of the aircraft will be used. Neithercrew nor passengers will be told in advancewhich it will be, but they will be given standardsafety instructions when they board.“We are looking internally first. Wereally need 870 volunteers. But maybe theywon’t all turn up, or the medics say theycan’t do the test. So we must go for 1,100,”said Tore Prang, manager, communications,at Airbus Germany.Sports clubs in Hamburg are also beingcontacted to supply volunteers. But Airbuscan’t just look there. It must provide an ageand gender mix. Of those onboard, 40%must be females and 35% must be males andfemales over 50 years old. They can’t practiseeither. The requirement is they have not gonethrough a similar test in the last six months.Realism is essential. Pillows and baggagewill be strewn on the cabin floors.Participants will not be able to see thehangar interior outside. Only positioninglights will be on view.The slides themselves have changes insurface that allow evacuees to travel sloweras they reach the ground. And those on theupper deck should not be troubled by theheight.Their view will be blocked by the openeddoor on one side and the slides’ rubber wallson the other.Airbus, which first started working onways to evacuate the A380’s predecessor,the A3XX, 10 years ago, said the manytests it has carried out make it confident ofsuccess. If it does not reach its target thistime, it can try again five days later. But notwith the same people. Regulations don’tallow that. They can go home.20 ORIENT AVIATION / A380 Quarterly Update JUNE - AUGUST 2005
COMPONENTSThe Hamburg connectionSpecialising in carbon fibre compositesBy Charles Andersonin HamburgAcoupleof diagrams on thewalls of the Airbus plantin Stade near Hamburg inGermany provide a tellingperspective on the sheer sizeof the vertical tailplanes (VTP) that are puttogether there for the A380.Stade turns out VTPs for all models ofthe Airbus range. It also manufactures pressurebulkheads for many of the company’splanes. Drawings of the latter, for the giantA380, widebody A340 and single-aisleA310 are looped together,in actual size, to show thedifference in their dimensions.But they can’t do thatwhen it comes the tailplane.The super-jumbo’s VTP, at14 metres (46.2 feet) high,is too big. It has to be representedto scale. Even then itdwarfs the others. Its overallsurface of 120 squaremetres makes it five timesas large as the A320, withmore than twice the lengthand twice the height. Eventhe A340, with a 53 squaremetre surface, looks punyby comparison.When mounted onthe fuselage, the top of this mammoth componentreaches up more than 24 metres fromthe ground. Standing at the highest level ofthe final assembly station at the Stade productionline, where an VTP is lifted uprightfor its last fittings and checks, is not advisablefor anyone with vertigo.The A380’s tailplane weighs in at 3,500kgs, more than seven times heavier than theA320’s tailplane. But it would have been alot more, some 20% more in fact, if it hadbeen made of advanced aluminium metalsrather than the Stade speciality, carbon fibrereinforced plastic (CFRP).The German plant, set in one of Europe’slargest fruit-growing areas, began usingAn A380 high pressure bulkhead on the move in the Hamburg plantthis lightweight, tough composite more than20 years ago, on the A310’s rudder. NowStade produces many of the CFRP componentsused on Airbus planes and has extensiveresearch facilities dedicated to furtherdeveloping its applications.That weight saving has an obvious significancefor the super-jumbo – some 22%of the overall plane is made from this particularcomposite, including the VTP, highpressure bulkhead and some flaps. It is alsopresent in the centre wing box and the upperdeck floor beams. But CFRP, a blend ofalternate layers of epoxy resin and carbonfibres both basically derived from petroleum,already had proved its effectivenesslong before the A380’s days.Its usage shaved some 800 kilogramsoff an A319’s overall weight, allowing onelow-cost carrier to add an extra eight seats.Using CFRP for the horizontal tailplanefixture of the A340-500/600 nearly halvedthe weight of that particular component.Even the veteran A300 benefited when itsVTP was switched from metal to CFRP. A22% reduction saves 800 tonnes of fuel inan aircraft’s life cycle.There is no metal in the components thatare now shipped from Stade, unless youcount items like rivets. But even its staunchsupporters in this Airbus centre dedicatedto its use recognise the limitations broughtabout by difficulty of repair. Metal sectionsare much easier to patch over when a fuselageis knocked by, say, a food truck. SoCFRP has so far been reserved for out-ofreachareas where damage is unlikely.It is expensive as well with material costsoften moving close to manufacturing costs,instead of trailing well behind as is the casewith many components. But at six times thestrength, and a sixth of the weight of steel,its efficiency and cost-effectiveness make itworthwhile, especially when its corrosionfreerecord is taken into account.Outside the aviation industry, it has beenadopted by railway and carmanufacturers. The largestof northern Europe’s offshorewindmills use CFRPfor their giant wings becauseof its lightness and strength.The A380’s huge verticaltailplane, which wasalso designed in Hamburg,takes shape along a 450-metre production line thatstarts with just the rawmaterials and ends with acompleted product.As the tailplane proceedsalong the line, itpasses those being madefor others in the Airbusrange. The contrast isstriking, as too are the differencesin the size of the pressure bulkheads.An upturned version of the A380’sbulkhead has been suggested for use as anoval swimming pool - as if anyone couldafford it.Final assembly is in Toulouse, so oncecompleted the tailplane it is loaded on toa truck, put on a barge on the river Elbe,transferred to Airbus’s Hamburg plantwhere the customer’s paint is applied andthen flown by the giant Beluga transportplane to France.That, of course, is not the last Germanysees of the giant tailplane it makes fromscratch. It will return, on a completed A380,for cabin fitting and delivery procedures.JUNE – AUGUST 2005 ORIENT AVIATION / A380 Quarterly Update 21
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Page 10 and 11: CUSTOMER PROFILEto our industry wit
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Page 22: SUPPLIERSGoodrich takes the strain

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