Airbus A350 - why do we never hear about it?

[MitchT]

Late last year Qatar took delivery of their first Airbus A350. It flew its first commercial flight on 15 January and since then they've taken delivery of another. Since the A350 started flying there has been NOTHING in the media about it. Is Airbus's 'Dreamliner' so reliable that the press have nothing to write about it? It seems as though the plane is just getting on with its job and causing no hassle to no one. Has anyone here flown on one? How does it compare with the 787 from a PAX perspective?

[ecsrobin]

Any things better than the screamliner http://www.engadget.com/2015/05/01/boeing-787-drea...
To keep a Boeing Dreamliner flying, reboot once every 248 days

[Blaster72]

There are only 2 flying and they only spend their days slogging between Doha and Frankfurt.

It's not the revolution the 787 was, systems very similar in design to the A380 with a plastic/carbon fuselage for novelty.

Overall, not that interesting - seems to be operating reliably so far.

If it hadn't been for the battery issues on the 787 it also wouldn't have been noticed much by the press or general public.

[Mojocvh]

All aircraft have teething problems. Airbus or Boeing or whomever.
All aircraft.
However the complacency shown by Boeing management to the 787's problems cost them dear.
Let's all wish that the issues, past, present and future remain "contained".

[ndtman]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-32597809

Just to keep op happy

Composite airframe wing etc. and 3D printed parts.

New ground I think.

Edited by ndtman on Wednesday 6th May 12:19

Edited by ndtman on Wednesday 6th May 12:55

Edited by ndtman on Wednesday 6th May 12:56

[MitchT]

I was reading about the 3D printed parts over breakfast this morning and thinking what a coincidence it was.

[C0ffin D0dger]

I hear about it a lot but then the company I work for supplies some of the communication equipment for it which has been a "troubled" development to put it mildly. Not my fault I might add

[onyx39]

radio 2 tonight talking about the 3d printing of bits for it.

[Chuck328]

Blimey, planes made from a printer. Ask me that 10 years ago and I'd have laughed. "More likely to do away with me and use computers to for everything" would be my likely response.

Good on them though.

[sneijder]

Finnair are starting to rev up the PR machine for theirs, It'll be at LHR in October, it'll be popping up all over Europe on familiarisation trips :

http://www.finnair.com/no/gb/a350

[Trevatanus]

sneijder said:

Finnair are starting to rev up the PR machine for theirs, It'll be at LHR in October, it'll be popping up all over Europe on familiarisation trips :

http://www.finnair.com/no/gb/a350

En-route now....

http://www.flightradar24.com/data/airplanes/oh-lwa...

[Moose.]

MitchT said:

Has anyone here flown on one? How does it compare with the 787 from a PAX perspective?

I've flown on both B787 and A350, both with Qatar. From a pax perspective I found the B787 a bit nicer all round. Whilst I know it's airline specific, the seats (in economy at least) were much nicer on the Dreamliner and the cabin felt a more pleasant place; more airy somehow. Wasn't keen on the LCD window shades on the B787 though as you can never fully stop all the light coming in.

All in all, B787 was nicer than the A350 from a pax perspective which surprised me as I've always favoured Airbus over Boeing.

Edited by Moose. on Saturday 17th October 21:24

[anonymous-user]

kapiteinlangzaam said:

I was working a Vietnam Airlines A350 this morning inbound to Paris.

They are slowly becoming more common.

Looks great.

[AlexS]

Blaster72 said:

There are only 2 flying and they only spend their days slogging between Doha and Frankfurt.

It's not the revolution the 787 was, systems very similar in design to the A380 with a plastic/carbon fuselage for novelty.

Overall, not that interesting - seems to be operating reliably so far.

If it hadn't been for the battery issues on the 787 it also wouldn't have been noticed much by the press or general public.

I think the wings failing during stress testing created more than a few pages in the press as well, plus contributing to it being delayed into service.

[ndtman]

AlexS said:

I think the wings failing during stress testing created more than a few pages in the press as well, plus contributing to it being delayed into service.

Do you have a link to that? I thought the A350 flew through wing test unlike the A380?

[AlexS]

ndtman said:

AlexS said:

I think the wings failing during stress testing created more than a few pages in the press as well, plus contributing to it being delayed into service.

Do you have a link to that? I thought the A350 flew through wing test unlike the A380?

I was refering to the 787 where the wings failed at too low a load during the testing cycle and delayed the entry into service by a couple of years. The battery issues then compounded the problems.

[ndtman]

AlexS said:

I was refering to the 787 where the wings failed at too low a load during the testing cycle and delayed the entry into service by a couple of years. The battery issues then compounded the problems.

I see. Thanks for the clarification.

[anonymous-user]

AlexS said:

ndtman said:

AlexS said:

I think the wings failing during stress testing created more than a few pages in the press as well, plus contributing to it being delayed into service.

Do you have a link to that? I thought the A350 flew through wing test unlike the A380?

I was refering to the 787 where the wings failed at too low a load during the testing cycle and delayed the entry into service by a couple of years. The battery issues then compounded the problems.

Do you have a link to that?

[AlexIT]

el stovey said:

Do you have a link to that?

Could be this, he's referring to (dating back to 2009):
http://www.dailytech.com/Boeing+Dreamliner+Wing+Bo...

[RoverP6B]

The problem the A350 has is that it's essentially a redesigned A330 with some composite bits, whereas the 787 is a brand-new design from the wheels up, setting out from the start to do something fairly radical within the basic layout of the 767...