Why does the problem always come down to CABLE?

Taken from today's papers, Airbus website, ChannelNewsAsia and various other sources:



TOULOUSE, France - The Airbus A380 starts a global journey Saturday which will take in the North and South Poles on the last of a series of test flights before it applies for its air safety certificate.

The plane, which is being tested under commercial conditions, is seeking to gain its airworthiness certificate by mid-December from European and United States aviation safety authorities.

It will fly from Toulouse, France, where it is assembled, over the two poles and is set to stop in Johannesburg, Sydney and Vancouver in Canada before returning to France on November 30.

It was due to leave at 9:00 pm (2000 GMT).

On Friday, the giant plane returned from 18 days of testing which took it to Asia, with stop-offs at major airports including Singapore, home of Singapore Airlines (SIA).

This airline which should take delivery of the first A380 next October -- deliveries are around two years behind schedule because of electrical cabling problems.

"During these three flights, the plane performed remarkably well.

"There were no major breakdowns, only some faults which we were already aware of.

"Each flight and each landing were on time," Fernando Alonso, vice-president of Airbus's flight testing division told AFP.

"Overall, at the moment, you could say 'move along, there's nothing to see,'" he added, indicating that, during tests, the plane was set to notch up 150 hours' flying time.

"We are a month ahead of the programme schedule," Gilles Robert, former director of testing at Airbus, added.

The plane's first flight took place in April 2005.

The Asian leg took the world's biggest plane, which can carry up to 840 passengers, to Seoul, Hong Kong and Tokyo as well as the Chinese cities of Guangzhou, Peking and Shanghai.

Those on board included pilots from the European regulatory authorities.

At all the destinations, "the welcome was enthusiastic", particularly from clients and members of the public who often "overran terminals to see the plane", Alonso said.

When asked about clients' concerns over late delivery, he simply said that "people were so happy to see the plane that they did not raise the subject with us members of the technical team".

Highlighting the plane's qualities, Claude Lelaie, an A380 test pilot, revealed that in Ireland 15 days ago, the plane took off and landed in 56 knot crosswinds.

Companies in Asia and the Pacific area represent around 30 percent of orders placed -- 44 out of a total 149.

At the end of this latest flight, the giant plane will have completed 17 days of tests in a normal operational environment.

Asked of its chances of gaining certification, Alonso replied that "until the ticket is delivered, you never know, but we are beginning to see the light very clearly".

- AFP /ls

With the grossly large amount of time that passes from the design phase to production, manufacturing and certification, how do designers ensure that the technical aspects of the design keeps up with the advancement made in other fields? Like the wiring/cabling mentioned in this case, vast improvments in optic fibres have led to the phasing out of old fashioned copper wires in view of the data transfer speeds and, more importantly, safety improvements in term of fire regulations. As they scramble now to "upgrade" this plane that isn't even operating commercially yet, the time scale and effort of coming up with a new aeroplane is just mind boggling.