Another Airbus problem-

[Normy]

My friend Lucy, who is a United Airlines pilot who flies the Airbus 320 sent me a link to this last story. Apparenly, Airbusses are now braking when they feel like it. Even if they wind up going off the end of the ruway and plowing through snow.....irregardless of what the pilots were doing to the brake pedals.

[If my parents were climbing aboard an A320 tomorrow morning, I wouldn't stop them. I have 9000 hours in airplanes, 5100 hours in Boeing jets, and I've flown 727's and 747's extensively.]

At the same time...it occurs to me that EADS needs to pay attention right now. Something happened that shouldn't have~

Here's the article:

By ANDY PASZTOR
March 30, 2008 11:48 a.m.

LOS ANGELES -- United Airlines has found improper wiring connected to the main landing gears of two of its Airbus A320 jetliners since October, according to company and government officials, apparently causing a pair of runway accidents and prompting an industry debate over the cause of the problem.

U.S. accident investigators and airline officials are trying to determine if mistakes by mechanics, or inadequate test procedures developed years ago by the manufacturer itself, are primarily at fault. The debate also has raised questions about whether outsourced maintenance, performed by mechanics working for other companies, contributed to United's troubles.

The issue heated up after a United A320 skidded of the runway while landing at the Jackson Hole, Wyo., airport in late February, smashing into a snow bank but causing no injuries. United had a similar landing accident four months earlier, with two minor injuries, when one of its A320s briefly veered off a runway at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport and destroyed some runway lights.

The February accident sparked industry interest once it was discovered that improperly connected wiring most likely caused the jetliner's antiskid system to malfunction. The plane slid off the runway the same month maintenance had been performed on its landing gear by outside mechanics, according to company officials. The airline has since done multiple inspections of its A320 landing-gear wiring, using methods that are more-extensive than those developed previously by Airbus, according to people familiar with the details

A United spokeswoman said Sunday that "all of our maintenance work, whether performed in the U.S. or abroad, by United employees or partners, follows our FAA-approved maintenance program." She added that the airline officials are working directly with federal investigators, are "evaluating" the effectiveness of the "antiskid functional test" developed by Airbus and have "informed our mechanics, pilots and flight attendants of the incidents and the corrective steps we are taking." The airline's response was first reported by The Chicago Tribune.

In the wake of the Wyoming accident, follow-up inspections around the world revealed that at least three foreign A320 operators had aircraft with crossed wiring on landing-gear brake switch can cause the planes to veer off runways, according to industry officials. It's not clear whether they resulted in accidents.

The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, which is looking into the wiring mix-ups, has said both parts of the main landings gear on the United aircraft that ran into trouble in Wyoming were replaced earlier that same month. Such a configuration, according to the board, likely meant that "when the inboard tire began to skid," the antiskid system mistakenly "would release the pressure" on the brakes on the opposite side of the gear. It isn't clear what company performed the maintenance.

According to industry safety experts, United's safety officials are now questioning the adequacy of maintenance tests designed by Airbus specifically to catch such wiring mistakes. The plane that veered off the runway in Wyoming, for example, earlier that month had passed the Airbus-desigened test, according to people familiar with the matter.

At this point, Airbus hasn't recommended any safety fixes or special inspections of landing gears or their anti-skid systems An Airbus spokesman said on Saturday "there is a test that's part of the maintenance procedure" to verify that wiring is properly replaced after maintenance. "There are no plans to change that."

The serious hazards stemming from crossed wiring have been recognized in commercial aviation for decades, affecting everything from engine systems to airborne collision-avoidance devices.

In 2001, an Airbus A320's control system went haywire shortly after takeoff from Frankfurt because mechanics had reversed certain wiring to the plane's fly-by-wire computers. German air-safety officials subsequently said tougher post-maintenance testing was required to identify and correct such wiring mistakes.


N!