Airbus Wings Cracked

Weeks ago, an inspection of the wing ribs on several Airbus airplanes detected cracks around small holes inside the airliners' wings. As a result, checks will be performed on the entire worldwide fleet of twin-engine wide-bodied A330s and four-engine wide-bodied A340s. About 600 planes will be affected. Hopefully, the checks will be done expeditiously to determine if there is a generic problem and to identify and correct the cause.

Aviation authorities have issued airworthiness directives to alert all Airbus operators and, according to Lufthansa spokesperson Michael Lamberty, there is no safety risk. That's fairly easy to say for a representative of the air line, however, any normal everyday traveler has to be somewhat troubled when the words 'wing' and 'crack' appear in the same sentence.

Stock price in the Airbus parent company, European Defense & Space (EADS), dipped slightly Wednesday, partly due to news of the wing cracks. There was a blip of concern among investors that the extent of the problem may be more significant than reported.