The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has this week released an Airworthiness Directive (AD) pertinent to cracks on the wings of the Airbus A380.
Such a warning will help operators make the relevant corrective actions needed to their superjumbos.
Without further ado, let’s get into it…
What Action Is Needed for the Airbus A380?
The AD on the Airbus A380 from EASA has been released because of the following:
“A trend of an increasing number of unexpected finding of damage (cracking) of rib feet was
observed during the inspections of the (24) metallic 7449 alloy main wing ribs of both wings in accordance with the instructions of the Airworthiness Limitations Section (ALS) document for A380 aeroplanes”.
The regulator listed this issue as a “potential unsafe condition” that the aircraft could be in.
It is a trend seen on aircraft both parked up or in storage as well as actually in commercial service.
EASA has advised the following on this for Airbus A380 aircraft still in existance:
- For aircraft parked or stored more than one year: Inspections and fixes to the rib feet.
- For in-service aircraft: Before exceeding 84 months since last inspection.
- For aircraft parked or stored more than seven years: Within nine months.
- For aircraft parked or stored more than or equal to 5-7 years: Within 18 months.
- For aircraft parked or stored more than 5 years: Within 18 months or before exceeding 84 months since last inspection.
The AD on the Airbus A380 has also given guidance on whether mechanical damage to the ribs have been found or whether corrosion has been identified.
Not The First Time This Issue Has Arose…
As commentated on by Richard Schuurman, this isn’t the first time that this issue has happened.
After what happened with Qantas flight QF32 in November 2010, cracks of this nature were found.
Furthermore, in 2022, Emirates also found the same issue on their stores Airbus A380s post-pandemic.
This means that such an issue will have to be constantly monitored on by operators of the aircraft.
All eyes will be on whether this will develop into a larger scale problem later down the line.
Overall…
Overall, whilst this is a concerning issue, it is a problem that can be fixed on the Airbus A380.
All eyes will now be on operators to conduct the necessary works to provide the highest level of safety possible.
Whether anymore ADs will be published pertinent to this issue is unclear at this present time.
But for now, this situation will no doubt be monitored closely by everyone in the industry.
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