The European plane manufacturer Airbus has denied reports
alleging the A380 model, the world's largest passenger plane, had a
technical problem with its emergency evacuation chute.
All A380 evacuation chutes must be reviewed "after several
flights" only, the German daily newspaper Stern reported
Saturday.
"A review is done after every 70 flights. It was programmed
since the commissioning of the model in October last year, and
approved by the authorities. Everything is working normally, and we
are working on a program in order to increase the interval of
replacing the cartridge which activates the chute," said a company
spokeswoman.
All client airline companies have been informed this change is
done during the normal maintenance programs, she said.
Airbus uses a new system of cartridge trigger which inflates the
chutes, supplied by an American company BF Goodrich. The system
which is replaced after every 70 flights concerns only eight chutes
out of 16, said the spokeswoman.
She emphasized the excellent commissioning of the model and its
technical viability of more than 99 percent.
(Xinhua News Agency February 11, 2008)
