noistar
Final Assembly Line stage 2
Posts: 388
|
Post by noistar on Mar 12, 2013 11:09:08 GMT 1
As we all know, the construction of the A380 is spread across many locations. It is when the various 'bits' come to Toulouse that I find myself wondering about modern construction methods. When I visited an aircraft museum near Gatwick Airport (UK), I had a chance to explore a Shackleton AEW. I realise it is a mid-wing, but a lasting memory I have is climbing over substantial wing spars when moving along the fuselage. The pictures of the A380 mid-fuselage and the fuselage end of the wings, don't give any impression of a substantial wing-to-body attachment. How are wings attached securely in modern aircraft designs? When looking at the fuselage sections, the panels are a miriad of greens and greys amongst others. Reference is made to unpainted aircraft as being in 'primer'. Is the unpainted aircraft a canvass for aspiring artists to make their mark, or is it more likely to be a representation of the type of material being used? Once again, more confessions of my ignorance of these things. It is a privilege to see the construction process of these and other spectacular aircraft, but it whets the appetite to know more!
|
|
|
Post by eastmids13 on Mar 12, 2013 13:58:56 GMT 1
Wings are attached to fuselage with surprisingly few titanium bolts through the wing box (Alcoa if I remember correctly) - I seem to recall someone telling me at Broughton West that it was 4! I do know that if you strip the skin off you'd be surprised at how relatively simple the spar, rib & stringer structure is. The key technology is the leading & trailing edges which Airbus UK will do their best to retain design capability for (as I'd imagine would the UK government).
On the A380 many of the ribs came from ADI in Valencia, California, Stringers from Triumph Structures LA (TSLA), Pipes from Canadian Magellan (but fabricated in UK) etc. For other models Korean Aerospace International proved to be an exceptional supplier of concession free panels, as did De Havilland in OZ (part supply of stringers) before Boeing bought them & they required the capacity for Boeing themselves. In addition to these overseas suppliers there were also many domestic UK suppliers - the reason I mention this is that all of these suppliers would treat/plate their parts (the green colour) in their own factories or at sub-contractors to prevent corrosion/oxidation, the make up of this would not be 100% the same across the whole supply chain leading to different shades of green.
SPS & Alcoa provide many of the fasteners. I'll see if I have any old photos of A320 wings being prepared for transport - ideally Airbus UK would double stack a pair of A320 wings for transportation (& given the pressure on the Beluga network I would imagine that is required 100% now). Many (if not all) A320 wings used to be painted at Broughton, which seemed slightly odd as personnel at assembly plants would then need to stand on them from time to time during final assembly meaning possible repainting.
In my mind the hardest / worst job in the UK plant was sealing the wings (to make the fuel tanks) - basically guys climbed into the gaps through hatches to do it manually.
|
|
|
Post by addasih on Mar 12, 2013 16:21:04 GMT 1
Not sure if you watched the series (10 parts) but it is useful
Or this one (5 parts series)
|
|
XWB
in service - 11 years
Posts: 16,115
|
Post by XWB on Aug 18, 2013 14:17:01 GMT 1
In the beginning of last year, Airbus had to slow down production from 2.7 to 2.2 frames per month due to the wing cracks. Now the 2013 Q2 report of Spirit AeroSystems reveals that production has been increased again. In the second quarter of this year, Spirit has sent 10 A380 ship sets to Airbus. One ship set equals one aircraft.
|
|
philidor
in service - 6 years
Posts: 8,950
|
Post by philidor on Aug 18, 2013 16:42:40 GMT 1
That is very interesting. Apparently, Airbus either expects A380 demand to pick up soon or believes that reducing the backlog would spur sales.
|
|
noistar
Final Assembly Line stage 2
Posts: 388
|
Post by noistar on Oct 1, 2013 0:49:13 GMT 1
As we witness pictures of the tail being loaded into a Beluga at Hamburg, and I understand it's actually constructed in Spain, am I right to assume it goes to Hamburg to be painted before going to Toulouse?
|
|
noistar
Final Assembly Line stage 2
Posts: 388
|
Post by noistar on Oct 11, 2013 10:34:27 GMT 1
Anybody have any idea of the production rate of the sections? Are convoys dependent on customer requirement/Toulouse capacity? If so, is there a backlog of sections waiting at any one time?
Or, do the convoys just keep pace with production of the sections? This would indicate that MSN sequence is known quite a bit in advance.
Presumably the tail fins can just be painted ad-hoc.
|
|
|
Post by vlafollower on Nov 21, 2013 16:51:05 GMT 1
I am told that the current A380 build schedule in 2016 is 30 aircraft. It will be interesting in January 2014 to see the new build numbers.
|
|
noistar
Final Assembly Line stage 2
Posts: 388
|
Post by noistar on Dec 15, 2013 23:49:00 GMT 1
Having tried to model an A380 in a myriad of ‘primer’ greens, I noticed recently that things are changing. In my ignorance, I thought the colours reflected the materials being used in construction and the location, but this doesn’t seem to be supported by the changes. For want of a better term, the ‘standard’ used to be that the centre fuselage was darker than the fwd and rear sections. The fuselage now seems to be a uniform colour (can’t see the joins!). I realise that convoy sequence and construction sequence are not necessarily the same, but differences are noticeable. This year seems to be the push to the new ‘standard’. Despite a new ‘standard’ developing, there are still differences. For instance look at the left-hand side rear door on MSN149 and compare it to the same section on MSN152. Does anybody know why the pre-FAL frame sections are changing/have changed colour. From the images I’ve found, the changes have appeared gradually but not consistently (as always, Emirates are a good example). A380_TLS_A350 has taken many shots which illustrate -and prompted - my 'investigation'. So, a couple of examples of the old standard RTO msn69 F-WWSO 19/11/2010 by A380_TLS_A350, on Flickr Roll Out msn93 F-WWAN 26/4/2012 by A380_TLS_A350, on Flickr 2013 MSN125 Old standard (for want of a better term – centre fuselage noticeably darker than fwd and rear, but with darker panels appearing on the rear fuselage Roll Out msn125 F-WWSQ 13/5/2013 by A380_TLS, on Flickr F-WWSQ // HS-TUE Thai Airways International Airbus A380-841 - cn 125 by Flox Papa, on Flickr MSN131 Rear fuselage predominantly darker Roll Out msn131 F-WWSU 22/3/2013 by A380_TLS, on Flickr [/url] First Engine Run msn131 F-WWSU 15/4/2013 by A380_TLS, on Flickr MSN134 Getting darker and now with darker panels on the fwd fuselage Roll Out msn134 F-WWSP 4/4/2013 by A380_TLS, on Flickr RTO msn134 F-WWSP 7/5/2013 by A380_TLS, on Flickr MSN135 Colours on the fwd fuselage are reversed compared to MSN134 RTO msn135 F-WWSR 17/5/2013 by A380_TLS, on Flickr MSN136 New ‘standard’ – dark fuselage with pale panels – expect baggage doors and cockpit to be exceptions anyway. Don’t know the significance of the patches around the rear fuselage First Engine Run msn136 F-WWAX 28/5/2013 by A380_TLS, on Flickr MSN137 New ‘standard’ Change of Station msn137 13/5/2013 by A380_TLS, on Flickr This comparison to MSN111 in the MSN137 thread is interesting – the old standard Change of Station msn111 26/4/2012 by A380_TLS, on Flickr Flightline msn137 F-WWST 19/7/2013 by A380_TLS_A350, on Flickr MSN149 Change of station msn149 6/9/2013 by A380_TLS_A350, on Flickr Roll Out msn149 F-WWSX 7/11/2013 by A380_TLS_A350, on Flickr MSN152 Compare the light panel between the 2 rear doors with MSN149. Noticeably shorter, ie doesn’t extend past the rear door. Change of Station msn152 17/10/2013 by A380_TLS_A350, on Flickr Roll Out msn152 F-WWAP 28/11/2013 by A380_TLS_A350, on Flickr F-WWAP / HL7625 / Asiana Airlines / Airbus A380-841 / MSN 152 von insightAVIATION auf Flickr (Many Thanks insightAVIATION – a beautiful shot to end my post)
|
|
|
Post by FabienA380 on Dec 16, 2013 2:15:32 GMT 1
Many thanks for your analysis noistar, it is very interesting!! It seems that now only the cockpit part is of the lighter green... no clue as to why though... Fabien
|
|