| >There is more than one version of the A380. There is only one version of the A380, the A380-800. >But there was no A380 Airbus with a 550 seat capacity in service at that time. I didn't mean "in service", I meant "in production". You're right that it wasn't in service at the time, but pieces of the plane had already been started to be produced, thus "in production". >The whole point of that wing testing was so this newer, higher capacity A380 could get certification. There was/is no "newer, higher capacity A380". This was the certification for the original (and only) A380. We're just arguing semantics and talking past each other. During the test, the wings 'failed', but this failure was intentional. I see where you're coming from in your statement that it was a "failure", but my point is that the test passed, because the test did exactly what was needed to provide data for the necessary certification, which was achieved based on the test. edit: edited to be less inflammatory |
https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/air-transport/2006-1...
QUOTE: Since manufacture of the initial wingset used in the tests, Airbus has refined the design, which will be slightly different on production rigs as a result of continued development, according to the European manufacturer. One factor may have been that earlier A380 weight-saving exercises had left no margin for error in the formal static load tests.