Airbus: A380 Passes Key Drill; 33 Injured
By CLAUS-PETER TIEMANN Associated Press Writer
© 2006 The Associated Press
HAMBURG, Germany — Thirty-three people suffered minor injuries Sunday during a crucial evacuation drill for the new Airbus A380 superjumbo jet.
One man broke his leg and 32 other people suffered minor injuries during the exercise in which 853 people and 20 crew members from airline Lufthansa AG exited the plane on slides in a darkened hangar.
Aviation authorities mandate specific evacuation times for jet models, and the drill was a critical test for the jet, which will be the world's largest passenger model when it begins commercial service.
The double-deck A380 can hold as many 873 people, including crew.
Despite the injuries, Airbus said the plane passed its test, with everybody out of the airplane in about 80 seconds. The European Aviation Safety Agency will confirm the test results this week. If the agency decides the test was a failure, the simulation would be repeated next Saturday.
Airbus had said that bringing 650 people out of the plane within 90 seconds would have been sufficient to meet safety requirements.
"That was a very great success," Airbus manager Gustav Humbert said after the test at its factory in the north German city of Hamburg.
Some of the injured suffered friction burns from sliding down the escape ramps, Airbus spokesman Tore Prang said.
Construction problems have delayed the introduction of the A380, the largest passenger plane in the world. So far, 16 customers have ordered 159 of the planes and the first examples were to go to Singapore Airlines at the end of the year.
Of the plane's 16 exits, just eight were used in the drill, which was mandatory for the A380 to receive its safety certification, Prang said.
Though the simulation was conducted inside a hangar, he said Airbus sought to make it as realistic as possible, strewing debris in the aisles.
Singapore Airlines is scheduled to take the first A380 delivery by year's end.
Thirty-three people were injured during a test of the Airbus A380, a double decker superjumbo jet, in Hamburg, Germany. Injuries include friction burns from sliding down the escape ramps and one broken leg. 853 volunteer "passengers" and 20 crew members took about 80 seconds to evacuate the aircraft, beating the test's requirements by 10 seconds and over 200 people "rescued". Only eight of the plane's sixteen exits were used, as required by the test; the crew members were not told in advance which doors would open. The test was carried out in a dark hangar and the plane's aisles were littered with debris to simulate actual emergency conditions.

The A380's first landing on April 27, 2005

The A380 will be the world's largest passenger airliner, almost twice as large as the current largest airliner, the Boeing 747. Airbus has had 159 planes on order by 16 customers, and the first A380s will go to Singapore Airlines towards the end of the year.

This test was important to Airbus, as in August 2005 an Airbus A340 overshot the runway and 300 people escaped before the plane burst into flames. Infrared camera recordings of the test will be analyzed by authorities such as the European Aviation Safety Agency, while the US Federal Aviation Administration was present during the test. The European Aviation Safety Agency will confirm the test results this week; Airbus intends to repeat the test on Saturday if the aviation agency fails this attempt. 

The volunteers, who were paid 60 euros (about US$72) and a meal, were from Airbus staff, sports clubs, and dancing clubs in the Hamburg area where the test took place.  Airbus recruited people from clubs in order to get volunteers in good physical shape.

Two days later, the American and European aviation authorities (the FAA and EASA, respectively) officially certified the A380 to carry 853 passengers. This certification demonstrated that the test procedures use by Airbus met their respective standards.