Posted on 07/29/2009 3:02:53 PM PDT by Nachum
Paris - The top pilots' union at Air France demanded on Wednesday that European airspeed monitors be replaced by US-made models across the airline's fleet after a new malfunction was reported this month.
An Airbus 320 equipped with new speed probes made by European electronics giant Thales was flying from Rome to Paris on July 13 when the sensors, known as pitot tubes, broke down, Air France said late on Tuesday.
(Excerpt) Read more at news24.com ...
Hey, the pilot tubes are good enought for government work.
Only with a Boeing as an attachment.
Well who can blame them for wanting to make it through the Flight without any “excitement”
I wonder if this is related to the jet that was lost a couple months ago.
So what if you don’t know your speed? Look at the nosedive the US economy’s in, nobody knows how fast it’s going to be going when it hits the ground, and nobody here is worried about it....
Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow, Obamacare kills you.
UAL pilot buddy says: “If it ain’t Boeing, I ain’t going”.
The list is too long to describe just how cheaply they built this family of aircraft.
Suffice it to say that Airbus builds with subsidization taken to the max. Compare it to buying a printer, it's practically given away, yet, money is made on the ink. Vendors wanting to place their product on the aircraft are selling it at almost cost to Airbus. However, there is planned entropy in the design that feeds the vendor with a steady stream of equipment needing repair, which is were they make their money.
Team, a audio control panel vendor for the A320 family, designs their panels with tin/lead pins on their board interconnections. Galvanic corrosion allows them to last only about 3500 hours mtbr (mean time between repair), thus ensuring this said steady supply, which when asked to go to a gold standard, which is the norm in avionics, they declined to do so.
The point is, in their socialist system, quality isn't what makes the grade in the Airbus, marketing does.
The yanks always make the best products if the government would just get out of the way.
If it ain’t Boeing I ain’t going!
As I stated earlier: Doomed Air France plane was not destroyed in flight
Thursday, July 02, 2009 11:06:52 AM · 28 of 35 Huebolt to Jewbacca
All this reminds me of the airliner that crashed because pitot-heat had not been turned on. (Causes ram-air pressure to increase with altitude, not airspeed)
The following occured: Higher altitude=Higher Indicated airspeed (IAS)
Higher IAS = Lower throttle settings
Lower throttle = lower true airspeed (TAS)
lower TAS = stall (stick shaker stall warning)
High IAS + stick shaker = “Must be Mach overspeed warning”
Above = Lower throttle
All leading to unrecoverable spin into the ocean at night with no visual horizon.
Everything about Airbus is subsidized. The A380 will never make money, it's their for the French nationalistic sense of elan, much to the more practical Germans that actually want to make a profit. All of EU subsidizes this industry.
Another example of cheapness, the pintle mounts, that which interfaces the landing gear with the airframe, are titanium and some mount to the rear spar which is part of the wet wing (fuel), and in Airbuses errant wisdom, they used close tolerant fasteners. These are typically about a thousandths smaller than the hole. Any reputable aircraft manufacturer would have used interference fit fasteners that are typically a thousandths larger that the hole and are inserted by shrinking them with liquid nitrogen. The close tolerance fasteners would worry the hole enough that when they came in for a heavy check, we could lay our fingers upon the fastener and move it because it had enlarged the original hole, sometimes causing fuel leakage. This whole mess was once again subsidized by the EU under warranty. The true cost of ownership of this particular A320 family has got to be expensive.
“much to the more practical Germans that actually”
“much to the more practical Germans chagrin that actually...”
pilot tubes? ;-P
Pilots got umbilicals!
This sounds much worst than all the Lucas parts on the Concord.
I have live time flying benefits with NWA, I would only use them in an emergency, or any other airline for that matter save a couple that maintenance still matters.
Happy flying.
I subcontracted for Northrop Grumman in Ma. in the late 80’s.I have to tell you,the source inspectors were so strict on anything that was manufactured it was past ridiculous.Nothing left that factory unless it was perfect.I knew anything we made you could almost bet your life on.
Can’t disagree with your account, but, the 80’s, was a turning point.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.