Could this be true about A380

[LUNN]

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-f...home-headlines

[FlyingPhotog]

That's pretty interesting, and kinda scary! I don't see why the guy would be lying, it's not like he's making any personal gain from it. So far he's found nothing but trouble for himself. If the guy's just honestly doing his job I feel sorry for him.

[AA 1818]

WHOA! This is crazy. I guess that I would have given up if it meant that my life would be destroyed like his is, but I commend him for his actions. Because of him and this article more people can know of this and hopefully this will prevent an accident...

[andrew_c]

Wow, this actually scares me a lot. Obviously this is not a publicity stunt for him, just look at what he has gone through. I wonder if airbus has done this with any older models of their fleet? I really want to know more about this...

[MaxPower]

Its only a question of who's right or not. I do hope though that he is the one who is NOT right, otherwise the situation couldnt be any better like where Airbus is on now. But I respect this person for saying this:

. "I don't want to destroy TTTech," he said. "But I still get nightmares of people dying. I just can't let that happen."

He's right on this part, and I hope im not wrong, I HOPE Airbus wont cover over this with something.

[scramjet]

It really doesn't surprise me. Corporations cover stuff up like this all the time. Some companies just don't have any ethics. Two companies have dominated the large transport sector of the aerospace industry too long. Thus, corners are cut often at the expense of safety for more profits. Especially, it seems, Airbus.

[FlyingPhotog]

It really doesn't surprise me. Corporations cover stuff up like this all the time. Some companies just don't have any ethics. Two companies have dominated the large transport sector of the aerospace industry too long. Thus, corners are cut often at the expense of safety for more profits. Especially, it seems, Airbus.

Okay let's not get into the flame war...

[CathayPacific]

From the article:
Mangan's wife, Diana, has been reading a book, "Lord, Where Are You When Bad Things Happen?" to make sense of the family's ordeal. "He's trying to do the right thing. Why are we suffering for it?" she said.

I am not against religion. But when you are a whistle-blower, you don't need Lord at your side, you need a lawyer at your side. It is heroic to be a whistle-blower but realistically, they should have consulted a lawyer and probably have a legal representative with them when they reported the thing to the authority.

I remember watching the Alaska Airlines MD80 crash episode of Air Crash Investigation on National Geographic channel and it talked about an Alaska Airlines mechanics alerted FAA about massive irregularities in maintenance procedures in the airline 18 months before that accident, which were proved later to be the main factor of the crash. He was finally dismissed from the airline. And an aviation attorney interviewed in the program said this: "You have to be ready to leave the industry when you are going to be a whistle-blower, because no company in the industry will hire you, and you will not be able to work in the government".

It may be sad but that's the reality.

From the article:
Airbus has acknowledged that its designers faced challenges as they attempted to reduce the A380's weight. Early on, the company elected to go with four outflow valves on the A380, with only one motor on each valve, which is slightly larger than a cabin window. Each motor uses a TTTech controller chip, and there is no manual override system.

No matter if the chip is really faulty, this alone is scary enough. A system without a built-in redundancy simply does not belong to an aircraft.

From the article:
And investigators believe that an abrupt loss of cabin pressure may have led to the in-flight breakup of a China Airlines 747 in 2002, killing all 225 aboard.

The article obviously is not entirely true. That 747 got its tail broken open due to faulty maintenance of tail-strike damage. Pressure loss was due to the actual integrity failure of the fuselage and thus not the factor of the crash.

If he really thinks he's completely correct, and if he really thinks the Austrian is tempering with his complaints due to financial reasons, may be he should publicize the matter in Australia and Singapore. QANTAS and SQ are major customers of A380 and they are both very conscious about safety. He would probably get some leverage against Airbus by getting the A380's customers' attention on this. But of course, if his claims turn out to be false, this strategy could backfire really badly. And again, he should consult his lawyers, not his fellow church goers, before making such move (or any moves for that matter).

[wannabepilot777]

Its a scary thought on many levels.
First, why are there only a main system for something that important? And why is there no way to stop the automated system if it fails in some way? It seems to be a very serious problem, if true.

Secondly, why dose a developed country with large industry not have whistle-blower protections equal to or better than those in the US? It seems stupid and reckless to me.

[MaxPower]

When the AIRBUS A380 Cabin Pressurization and Control System, a life critical aircraft safety system, fails catastrophically, resulting in a tragic loss of life, the passengers and crew will not have died accidentally, they were in fact killed, sacrificed in the name of profitability by an amoral calculating corporate management, betrayed by those responsible for their safety, their lives ending in tortuous agony of searing pain, as if the entire surface of their bodies were suddenly covered in flames, a result of embolisms caused by tiny bubbles of nitrogen formed in their blood which blocks the capillaries of the skin, larger embolisms cause intense debilitating stabbing chest and back pain, with the result of stimulating a massive release of adrenaline, which rapidly consumes all remaining oxygen in the brain. Hyperventilation quickly ensues from the brain's detection of severe blood oxygen starvation, as the cabin air pressure has now fallen to a deadly level, where the alveoli in the lungs have insufficient pressure to force oxygen provided by the passenger’s yellow emergency oxygen mask, into the bloodstream, as the air pressure and the passengers blood pressure have become equalized. Passengers next begin to experience the horrifying sensation of "choking to death", many becoming violent, believing that their oxygen masks have failed, they struggle with other passengers in a desperate "fight for survival", forcefully stealing the masks of other passengers in a futile attempt to catch a single breath of life saving oxygen, in their final remaining conscious moments of life.

For those interested, here's his blog:

http://www.eaawatch.net/

[Crunk415balla]

WOW! . I really hope this isn't left unchecked.

[expoITHscohen]

This guy is a very good man. I hope the US Government does something to help him out. Some laws are so messed up. How can someone get finned for $180k if they don't have even $300?

[A340_flyer]

It's strange how Austria has no whistleblowing laws as I know they do in a lot of countries, it's very dangerous indeed. You know there's something wrong when a guy is dubbed a criminal for trying to avert a potentially deadly outcome.