Qatar Airways grounds 13 Airbus A350s as fuselage degrading
1–10 of 69 posts
Re: Qatar Airways grounds 13 Airbus A350s as fuselage degrading
#2Given that the Qatari regulator ordered the grounding and that Qatar Airways is state owned that seems like a pretty big conflict of interest. Especially with Qatar Airways refusing delivery of any more a350s until the problem is fixed (in a time of extremely low levels of international air travel).
Re: Qatar Airways grounds 13 Airbus A350s as fuselage degrading
#3Given that the Qatari regulator ordered the grounding and that Qatar Airways is state owned that seems like a pretty big conflict of interest. Especially with Qatar Airways refusing delivery of any more a350s until the problem is fixed (in a time of extremely low levels of international air travel).
Well, a good time to say Bravo to their regulator then.
Imagine if the regulator, and the state airline was ran by people half of whom shared the same surname, and it happened, say, in USA.
Re: Qatar Airways grounds 13 Airbus A350s as fuselage degrading
#4[deleted]
Re: Qatar Airways grounds 13 Airbus A350s as fuselage degrading
#5This was first reported back in January when a Qatar Airways Airbus A350 was in Shannon for a repaint. When the paint was stripped they found surface coating irregularities. This is apparently cosmetic and not structural.
This was one of the first A350s to be repainted.
Qatar has 53 Airbus A350 aircraft, so why these particular 13 is the question now.
Re: Qatar Airways grounds 13 Airbus A350s as fuselage degrading
#6I've been a long time carbon-fiber skeptic.
Only an armchair materials enthusiast but carbon fiber construction seems to lack the margin for fatigue that aluminum has. It seems to me that when carbon fails it fails catastrophically, while aluminum allows some "give".
Now it seems carbon fiber doesn't have the longevity either? I am aware the aluminum can "work harden" over time and become more brittle as well. No material appears to be perfect but carbon has always felt to me to not be going in the right direction.
Re: Qatar Airways grounds 13 Airbus A350s as fuselage degrading
#7Given that the Qatari regulator ordered the grounding and that Qatar Airways is state owned that seems like a pretty big conflict of interest. Especially with Qatar Airways refusing delivery of any more a350s until the problem is fixed (in a time of extremely low levels of international air travel).
[deleted]
Re: Qatar Airways grounds 13 Airbus A350s as fuselage degrading
#8I've been a long time carbon-fiber skeptic. Only an armchair materials enthusiast but carbon fiber construction seems to lack the margin for fatigue that aluminum has. It seems to me that when carbon fails it fails catastrophically, while aluminum allows some "give". Now it seems carbon fiber doesn't have the longevity either? I am aware the aluminum can "work harden" over time and become more brittle as well. No mat…
Keep in mind we have 30-year old A320s flying around using carbon-fiber, so we would seem to be out of the trial-period phase.
This issue appears to be a cosmetic one with regards to the paint layers, not structural (see my other comment).
Re: Qatar Airways grounds 13 Airbus A350s as fuselage degrading
#9I've been a long time carbon-fiber skeptic. Only an armchair materials enthusiast but carbon fiber construction seems to lack the margin for fatigue that aluminum has. It seems to me that when carbon fails it fails catastrophically, while aluminum allows some "give". Now it seems carbon fiber doesn't have the longevity either? I am aware the aluminum can "work harden" over time and become more brittle as well. No mat…
It's way to early to speculate about this, as we don't really have information from either side.
The fact that only Qatar Airways seem to have such problems (for now) is also interesting.
The reason could be anything from manufacturing errors with a specific batch of them which happened to have been bought by Qatar Airways to wrong maintenance by Qatar Airways or the planes having been to often exposed to to extreme weather conditions as they are not that unusual in Qatar. And even this "wide range" speculation is not really usable given the facts we (don't) have.
Re: Qatar Airways grounds 13 Airbus A350s as fuselage degrading
#10Given that the Qatari regulator ordered the grounding and that Qatar Airways is state owned that seems like a pretty big conflict of interest. Especially with Qatar Airways refusing delivery of any more a350s until the problem is fixed (in a time of extremely low levels of international air travel).
Well, a good time to say Bravo to their regulator then. Imagine if the regulator, and the state airline was ran by people half of whom shared the same surname, and it happened, say, in USA.
Except that imagine the issue is non-safety related and the regulator which happens to be related to the Airline company grounded them on requests of the Airline during low traffic times to put more pressure on the manufacturer and maybe profit from higher damage payments.... (Purely speculative to give a point for the next argument.)
I.e. we can't say if the regulator acted correct with safety concern or corrupt until we know what is actually going one. Just because something seems to be "proper safety orientated acting" on the first sight doesn't mean it is and neither mean it's not corrupt...