China's - Orient Aviation

COVER STORYwas over years,” said Thomas. “Each hada different process of validation. First,was it technically reliable? Then, whatwas the cost situation, what was airlineacceptance, what was reparability?”And, on a more basic level: “Is suchan aircraft feasible? Are the airports ashowstopper, or the certification? Is suchan aircraft controllable?”With some, if not all, questionsanswered and only six Letters of Intentreceived, Forgeard went to the Airbusboard in December 2000 and was givenapproval to launch an official programmetwo months later.It was a tight business. Just before thatstage was reached, new take-off noiselimits at London’s Heathrow Airporthad caused hurried changes in enginedesigns and to elements of the A380’saerodynamics.Rapid expansion of productionfacilities followed, culminating in theofficial inauguration of its home, theJean Luc Lagardiere complex, in 2004.Equipment vendors were chosen in anintense exercise running from March 2001to mid-2002. Engine makers Rolls-Royceand the General Electric-Pratt & WhitneyEngine Alliance came on board. And themassive sub-assembly process at sites runby Airbus and related companies acrossEurope got under way.Hamburg was tasked with assemblingforward and aft fuselage sections, a majorcomponent assembly hall was opened therein 2003 and a finishing and delivery facilitywas installed.Giant wing pairs, 845 sq. metres in mass,were to be made in Broughton, Wales; thehorizontal tail plane and belly faringassembled in Getafe and Puerto Real inSpain; the centre wing box was assigned toNantes and extended fuselage assembly wentto Saint Nazaire.Then a mammoth transport system wasput in place to carry the massive parts byA huge section of the A380 fuselagebeing loaded onto a barge at Pauillacbarge on river and canal, by sea in a purposebuilt cargo ship with a 120-metre long,20-metre wide hold. Finally they were totrundle through the French countryside in agiant night-time road convoy to Toulouse.By that time Airbus had taken a cabinmock-up on a hush-hush tour of majorworld cities including Tokyo, Hong Kongand Singapore. Some 1,200 frequent flyersprovided by interested airlines gave theirinput, nine international design teams had asay and, after further surveys, final decisionswere made on the shape and width of thefuselage’s cross section.“It was a crucial decision, because onceyou have decided, that’s it. You are stuckwith it for the life of the aircraft,” saidRichard Carcaillet, A380 director, productmarketing.Then, the airlines began to bite. SingaporeAirlines signed up as launch customer,followed in the Asia-Pacific by QantasAirways, Korean Air, Malaysia Airlines,Thai Airways International, ChinaSouthern Airlines and, later, KingfisherAirways of India. Emirates dwarfedthem all, with 41 orders and two leaseagreements, followed this year by anotherfour orders and eight commitments.Production officially started in June2002. The ramp up came two years laterand, as the giant jumbo began to cometogether, behind the scenes exhaustivetesting of airframe, systems, components,engines, just about everything involvedwith the aircraft got under way.Then, in January 2005, to the pop ofchampagne corks and applause from 5,000VIPs and guests, the A380 showed itself tothe world at the “reveal” when the first testaircraft was rolled out of the final assemblyline building and into public view.It took to the skies for the first timefour months later, creating barely awhisper from its four Rolls-Royce Trentengines as it rose majestically from thetarmac in Toulouse. The test crew took itwith aplomb. “The handling is like riding abicycle. It is very easy to fly,” said chief testpilot, Jacques Rosay.Next came a fly pass at Le Bourget duringthe Paris Air Show at the same time as therigorous test flight campaign involving fiveaircraft moved into full swing, takingthe A380 around the world for photoopportunities in major cities and airportcompatibility tests and to hot and high teststations in Columbia and Ethiopia, as well asthe extreme cold of northern Canada.Its first stop in Asia was in Singaporein late 2005, before going on to Australiaand Malaysia. The first SIA aircraft tookits maiden flight in March 2006 and, with abreak-neck but satisfactory test programmecompleted, type certification came throughlast December.And now the world’s first commercial A380is off the drawing board, out of the assemblyhanger and into service with SIA.A380 quotes‘All parts of the A380 are made indifferent places. The big challengewas to put them altogether in oneplace. Everything is big, even theproblems.’Daniel BoutonnetSenior A380 Transportation Manager‘If I get depressed by the wholedevelopment process and things havegone wrong, I go out and see the aircraftand say to myself ‘bloody hell, how did wemanage that?’Frank OgilvieFormer A380 Design Director26 ORIENT AVIATION NOVEMBER 2007