Airbus - safe or not?

[munitalP]

Airlines round the world are worried that the Air NZ plane crash in France may have been the third incident in as many months to be caused by a defective flight-control computer.

Air NZ plane crash worries airlines - National - NZ Herald News

Mr!

 

[straitman]

Di*k Smith started this years ago with his comments about affordable safety.

Everything we do in life has some risk attached :!:

It's only when we do the risk analysis that we decide whether this risk is acceptable or not.

Should we stop driving cars because there are an unreasonable number of accidents where people are killed or injured :?:

Now to answer the question from munitalP. I believe that the Airbus fleet are safe however this is probably an issue that should and will be considered. From the information at hand it is quite possible that the three incidents are or are not related. ie who knows at this time. If they are related then Airbus certainly have a problem that needs sorting out quickly. If they are not related then where and when do we allow the string of coincidence to stop :?:

ps The filters on this work computer won't allow me to put in Di*k Smith's name completely :!:

 

[Evan]

As i understand the company also makes parts for Boeing, sue they may have different control computers but i believe the same type of units could just as easily be in a Boeing plane.
Keep your seat belt on when seated as you should anyway on any plane.

E

 

[Soundguy]

As i understand the company also makes parts for Boeing, sue they may have different control computers but i believe the same type of units could just as easily be in a Boeing plane....

Isn't the entire flight control philosophy different between the two manufacturers?

I understood the Airbus error default mode was to the flight computer and the Boeing system is to the pilot, put in simplistic terms. I think there was a Popular Mechanics article about this a while back.

 

[Evan]

Isn't the entire flight control philosophy different between the two manufacturers?

I understood the Airbus error default mode was to the flight computer and the Boeing system is to the pilot, put in simplistic terms. I think there was a Popular Mechanics article about this a while back.

Flight control yes, but the honeywell sensors i thought were common.
So i would presume that you could still have a similar error, just a different outcome.
E

 

[Alanslegal]

How slow am I? I haven't read/heard about this Air NZ incident till today!!

Anyway (despite my weakness at flying) I still feel quite content flying an Airbus or a Boeing, but lately, I'm feeling worried about travelling in those MD80's.

 

[straitman]

How slow am I? I haven't read/heard about this Air NZ incident till today!!

Anyway (despite my weakness at flying) I still feel quite content flying an Airbus or a Boeing, but lately, I'm feeling worried about travelling in those MD80's.

Alanslegal,

I agree with you on the MD80's. They are now getting really long in the tooth and I have to say I was never really a fan when they were relatively new. They are however still safer than driving to/from the airport :!:

 

[Febs]

Have heard from pilots in the past that they don't feel safe flying Airbus planes.

Having said that, I feel perfectly safe in everything I've ever flown. I guess the trick is "just don't think about it". Ignorance is bliss? Perhaps, but I'll pretty much travel in anything (as long as it doesn't bear the words "Aeroflot" on the fuselage.

Cheers,
- FEbs.

 

[2muchplastic]

I've never felt unsafe in any aeroplane, of any brand. I guess we're sitting here discussing safety in aircraft terms, which, according to this site, gives you a 1 in 10.46million chance of being involved in a fatal incident on any one flight with one of the 25 best airlines. Or overall, one death on any flight flown by an airliner every 1.1million hours of flight.

So although the accident is tragic, statistically speaking it is insignificant compared to the mayhem and carnage that happens routinely on the roads around the world every day.

I probably spend two thirds of my flying on Airbuses rather than Boeings, and have never experienced a moment's doubt, even after the three recent incidents.

 

[pauly7]

I'll pretty much travel in anything (as long as it doesn't bear the words "Aeroflot" on the fuselage.

Cheers,
- FEbs.

For me as long as the word Garuda is missing as well

 

[straitman]

I'll pretty much travel in anything (as long as it doesn't bear the words "Aeroflot" on the fuselage.

Cheers,
- FEbs.

For me as long as the word Garuda is missing as well

In recent history and by various rankings I'd put Aeroflot well above Garuda :!:

 

[2muchplastic]

So Aeroflot and Garuda are out, but Air Zimbabwe is ok?

 

[straitman]

So Aeroflot and Garuda are out, but Air Zimbabwe is ok?

Of course they are (not) :!:

I'll try and have a look at a more extensive list from my company intranet site tomorrow.

 

[2muchplastic]

Of course they are (not) :!:

I'll try and have a look at a more extensive list from my company intranet site tomorrow.

I was fairly sure that I'd heard that Air Zimbabwe was banned from EU airspace for dodgy maintenance, but it seems that they still have a route into LGW.
Is my memory dodgier than I thought? Or were they banned but are now back on the good boys list? Or am I mixing them up with a different airline?

 

[pauly7]

I was fairly sure that I'd heard that Air Zimbabwe was banned from EU airspace for dodgy maintenance, but it seems that they still have a route into LGW.
Is my memory dodgier than I thought? Or were they banned but are now back on the good boys list? Or am I mixing them up with a different airline?

I think you'll find 'straitman' was being sarcastic and agreeing with your point....

 

[2muchplastic]

I think you'll find 'straitman' was being sarcastic and agreeing with your point....

Yes. I did get that thanks, but I was attempting to ask a similar and related(ish) question after doing a quick google and finding that Air Zimbabwe weren't the lepers that I thought they were. I was sure that it was a BBC News article, but a search on there doesn't show anything

 

[Mal]

The EU 'bad boys' list is here: http://ec.europa.eu/transport/air-ban/pdf/list_en.pdf , althought it doesn't list a number of airlines that frequent flyers tend to think are bad.

Regarding Glitches with computers onboard Airbusses, considering the number of flights per day that they are flying, the reported number sounds like a statistical anomaly.

 

[munitalP]

Here's another good list...

1. 
   [*]Africa Lines (Central African Republic) Read here
   [*]Air Bosna (Bosnia) Read here
   [*]Air Koryo (North Korea) Read here
   [*]Air Mauritanie (Mauritania) Read here
   [*]Air Memphis (Egypt) Read here
   [*]Air St.Thomas (USA) Read here
   [*]Air Universal (Sierra Leone) Read here
   [*]Air Van Lines (Armenia) Read here
   [*]Albanian Airlines (Albania) Read here
   [*]Cameroon Airlines (Cameroon) Read here
   [*]Central Air Express (Congo) Read here
   [*]Dniproavia (Ukraine) Read here
   [*]Enimex (Estonia) Read here
   [*]Equatorial Guinea (Any airline!) Read here
   [*]Flash Airlines (Egypt) Read here
   [*]Fly Air (Turkey) Read here
   [*]Gambia (Any airline!) Read here
   [*]Ghana Airways DC 10 registration 9G-AND (Ghana) Read here
   [*]GIR Jet (Spain) Read here
   [*]Hemus Air (Bulgaria) Read here
   [*]I.C.T.T.P.W (Libya) Read here
   [*]International Air Tours (Nigeria) Read here
   [*]Inter Trans Air (Bulgaria) Read here
   [*]Johnson Air (Ghana) Read here
   [*]Jr Executive (Lebanon / USA) Read here
   [*]Kyrgyzstan Airlines (Kyrgyzstan) Read here
   [*]Liberia (Any airline!) Read here
   [*]Linhas Aereas de Mozambique (Mozambique) Read here
   [*]Luxor Air (Egypt) Read here
   [*]coughet Airlines (Thailand) Read here
   [*]Premium Air Shuttle (Nigeria) Read here
   [*]Rav-Avia (Latvia) Read here
   [*]Silk Way (Belgium / Azerbaijan) Read here
   [*]Silverback Cargo Freighters (Rwanda) Read here
   [*]South Airlines (Ukraine) Read here
   [*]Star Air (Sierra Leone) Read here
   [*]Tajikistan (Any airline!) Read here
   [*]Transairways (Mozambique) Read here
   

Mr!

 

[JohnK]

Not that long ago the focus was on the Bombardier Q400s but only SAS had issues.

The focus then shifted to some of the older Boeing 747s with QF having a few issues with electrical fault in the galley and oxygen tank blowing a hole in the fuselage.

Now the focus is on Airbus 320s since the Air New Zealand incident in November.

I do not believe there is a trend here that will change my decision to continue flying. One needs to factor in how many aircraft of each type is currently in service, how many years they have been flying, how many flights they have had collectively and how many incidents have occurred in that time.

So Aeroflot and Garuda are out, but Air Zimbabwe is ok?

At the moment all African carriers and most Central Asian and Middle Eastern carriers are on my no fly list. I try to avoid most LCCs as well unless they have a high profile decent reputation....

 

[dot]

Not sure if anyone else knew about this, but there was a second ARIDU failure on a QF A330 which was flying PER-SIN in December 2008.

QANTAS RECORDS SECOND A330 ADIRU FAILURE: A second Qantas Airbus A330-300 has suffered an inflight failure of an Aircraft Data Inertial Reference Unit (ADIRU) while flying between Perth and Singapore on December 27, forcing the aircraft to make a precautionary return to Perth.
The crew of the A330 received a message from the Electronic Centralized Aircraft Monitor that ADIRU number 1 had failed. They then initiated new procedures from Airbus and disconnected the faulty ADIRU before returning to Perth and completing an uneventful overweight landing.
The failure of an ADIRU has been attributed as the most likely cause of a massive drop in altitude of a Qantas A330 in October 2008 while operating in the same region. “As it appears to be a similar event to a previous event involving an A330 aircraft (AO-2008-070 on 7 Oct 2008) it will be included as part of the earlier investigation,” the ATSB said in a statement on January 2. “The ATSB investigation will explore all aspects of the operation of the aircraft, including examination of recorded data, and any commonalities with past occurrences.”

The article goes on to mention that there was a similar ARDIU failure on a MH B777-200 from PER-KLA back in 2005.

It certainly does seem odd that so many failures of ARDIUs should occur in that part of the world - I wonder how often these things fail in other airspace and if it is disproportionaly high for the airspace north of PER or not...?