Airbus A350XWB (partie 2)

Au-delà de ces rendez-vous médiatiques, où en est le programme ? Deux
avions ont déjà été assemblés. Les phases de tests (banc d'essais
statiques) ont commencé début décembre, notamment sur le MSN 01, qui
sera le premier exemplaire à voler. Tout se passerait bien selon Airbus.
Le MSN 02 devrait quant à lui voler fin 2013. Un troisième exemplaire
(MSN 03) doit être assemblé à partir de janvier, selon nos informations.
La mise en service est prévue fin 2014. En outre, l'objectif du poids
de l'appareil semble maîtrisé. Une feuille de route a été actée pour
parvenir à cet objectif. Le moteur Rolls Royce a récemment passé son
test le plus critique "Blade out" - une pâle du réacteur est ingérée par
le moteur sans dégât pour l'appareil après d'être détachée -, a
expliqué Fabrice Brégier. "Nous sommes satisfaits des étapes passées
mais on a plus de risques d'être en retard que d'être en avance", a-t-il
assuré d'une façon générale. Pour l'heure, Airbus la joue modeste.
D'autant que certains des sous-traitants, et non des moindres à l'image
de l'américain Spirit, donnent quelques signes d'inquiétudes (voir par
ailleurs).

The assembly
in the nose section of the forward fuselage at St.Nazaire has been done with a
higher maturity than the previous two aircraft and the lessons learnt have been
applied. The installation of the FTI Flight Test Instrumentation components,
and specially systems with all kind of provisions and fixed supports, has been
the main challenge of last months. The cockpit systems and different modules have
been suscessfully installed.

The arrival
of these two first components in the final assembly was initially planned for
Cristhmas, so the assembly team at the FAL will try to recover this delay. The
aft sections of the fuselage should be in the final stage in Germany to be
shipped to the FAL during February.

Airbus warned about the risks of lithium-ion batteries at a closed meeting of airlines in March 2011, according to a presentation first reported by Reuters this week.
"We
identified this fragility at the start of development and we think we
resolved it about a year ago," Bregier said. "Nothing prevents us from
going back to a classical plan that we have been studying in parallel."
He
did not provide details, but some aerospace industry sources caution
that a redesign of the batteries could require months of engineering work and tests to obtain certification.
"We
have a robust design. If this design has to evolve, we have the time to
do that," Bregier said. "If it has to change in a more drastic way
because the authorities reach the conclusion that the technology is not
mature, then we have all the time we need to do this on the A350 before
first delivery in the second half of 2014."
The
head of the company that makes A350 batteries, France's Saft, told
Reuters earlier on Thursday he did not believe there would be a radical
rethink by aviation regulators on the use of lithium-ion as a result of
the 787's problems.
It is the first time Boeing or Airbus has used the technology in designing commercial passenger jets.

Experts say the 787 relies more heavily than
the A350 on electrical systems instead of traditional hydraulics to
control brakes and other systems, and therefore needs more power
back-up.
The head of the National
Transportation Safety Board said after a press conference last week that
the lack of a fire-fighting system in the 787's battery compartment,
which also contains flight electronics, was one area being examined.
Airbus
has declined to say whether the A350 would include battery fire
extinguishers, but industry sources say burning materials would instead
be expelled outside the plane and that the fire hazard is reduced by electronics also provided by Saft.
Saft declined to comment on the A350 battery design.
Boeing's
787 batteries are supplied by French defence electronics company
Thales, which sub-contracts the lithium-ion cells to Japanese company GS
Yuasa Corp.
A year after intense
global publicity surrounding wing cracks on its A380 superjumbos, Airbus
is keen to avoid a public split with its commercial rival on safety
issues. But after sending a public message of support to Boeing on the
787 this month, Bregier exhibited frustration at growing speculation
over the saga's impact on the A350.
"I'm
not going to give any lessons to Boeing. At the same time, I don't have
to take any either, when I think we have done well and have a plan
which allows me to have aircraft flying with batteries that don't catch
fire," he said.