It’s not just the Airbus A350 that has problems with peeling paint (leading to a fierce fight between the planemaker and Qatar Airways). Also the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
The aircraft has scaling on the wings and horizontal stabilizers due to prolonged exposure to ultraviolet rays.
But the aircraft manufacturer has a (temporary) solution: stick masking tape on the affected areas. Boeing has also made an official request to the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) to that effect.
An increasingly common problem
In its application, Boeing acknowledges that while “the use of duct tape has no effect on aircraft safety, the public may not be reassured by the sight of duct tape on wing surfaces.”
Furthermore, it appears that the manufacturer has already applied this method on certain planes, as previous tweets from concerned passengers from Kenya Airways and Air New Zeeland show.
The American giant also offers to paint the chipped areas with a layer of black paint that blocks certain ultraviolet rays.
The regulator has yet to provide an answer, but Boeing notes that this problem is now becoming more prevalent on its 787. It therefore needs to be resolved “urgently.”
Source: BFM TV
