Japan Airlines crash: How the Airbus A350’s fireproofing helped all 379 passengers survive

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A light-weight carbon-composite fibre was dubbed a “game changer” for the Airbus A350 when it first entered the sector in the 2010s. Airbus referred to as the carbon-fibre pores and skin “more burn-through resistant than a metallic equivalent”.

But dramatic photos of a Japan Airlines Airbus burning from nostril to tail instantly after it collided with a coast guard jet on a Japanese runway has aviation specialists each shocked and apprehensive about the security challenges of latest composite supplies.

This is the first time the most fashionable passenger jet recognized to humankind was examined in an accident, demonstrating the endurance of its physique manufactured from carbon fibre strengthened polymers (CFRPs) and probably offering important technological insights into the aviation trade’s favorite jet.

Six specialists from the Japan Transport Safety Board reached the spot at Haneda airport in Tokyo to look at what remained of the plane on Wednesday as pictures confirmed the severely broken A350’s wings as the solely identifiable items remaining of the aircraft’s charred and damaged fuselage.

It’s a stark picture, however Airbus suggests the endurance of the fuselage may very well be to thank for giving the Japan Airlines cabin crew treasured time to evacuate all passengers.

Jon Ostrower, the editor-in-chief of The Air Current, an aviation evaluation and reporting service, calls the huge collision the “first real test for [this] modern aircraft”. He says the incident is the first in industrial aviation historical past the place an plane physique made out of carbon fibre has been subjected to a significant real-world hearth.

The accident will present “a massive trove of data” on how the materials can stand up to flames, he says.

The premier industrial passenger plane is assembled at Airbus’s last meeting line in Toulouse and its sections are manufactured at totally different websites round Europe, officers from the top-tier aerospace company mentioned.

Over 70 per cent of the whole airframe, which was left uncovered on the Haneda tarmac on Monday, is created from superior supplies together with composite supplies, titanium and fashionable aluminium alloy, an Airbus spokesperson tells The Independent.

Officials at Airbus say they don’t seem to be evaluating the endurance and efficiency of various plane designs at the second when an investigation is underway. But intensive checks have proven that composite buildings provide an analogous degree of fireplace resistance and safety as aluminium, they mentioned.

“The materials are significantly lighter, but just as robust as previously used metals. The aircraft has brought a step-change to the long-laul market, with a reduction in fuel consumption and carbon emissions of around 25 per cent compared to similar sized previous generation types,” the spokesperson says.

Tests by Airbus present the fuselage may also endure lightning strikes, hen hits, in-flight hail, uncontained engine failure, corrosion, fatigue of aircraft and naturally hearth.

Aviation specialists like Ostrower additionally level to how the plane’s carbon fibre construction was reacting to fireplace. “This is really something. Look at how the A350’s structure is reacting to fire. We haven’t seen anything like this with carbon fibre since the B-2 crash in Guam in 2008 – and the first time in modern commercial aviation,” he says on social media platform Twitter/X.

In a separate put up, he added that “it’s hard to overstate how important of a moment this is in modern aircraft design”.

“Almost 400 people aboard that A350 and all got out safely after sustaining heavy damage. A lot of analyses and small scale tests on carbon fibre just got a massive trove of new data,” he mentioned.

Alex Macheras, an impartial aviation skilled and advisor, mentioned the truth the accident noticed the full lack of an Airbus A350 but not a single dying amongst these on board was “extraordinary”.

“Crucially, in the immediate aftermath of the collision, the fire seemed to be contained in the left wing area due to firewalls made of materials which become combustible at much higher temperatures to prevent flames spreading, long enough for the almost 400 people on board to safely evacuate the aircraft,” he says.

The plane, produced amid bitter competitors from rival Boeing and its 787, entered industrial service in 2015. Airbus, which has despatched specialists to assist Japanese and French officers investigating the accident, mentioned the aircraft in query was delivered to Japan Airlines in late 2021.