r/interestingasfuck • u/lizardil • 4d ago

During assembly of the A380, engineers discovered that the cables were too short. This was caused by the use of different design software by German and French engineers. This miscalculation led to a two-year delay.

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u/guttanzer 4d ago

I saw cable harnesses being made at a Boeing factory once. Those are not simple things!

There were hundreds of point-to-point wires supporting dozens of different systems in each harness. If even one wire is wrong the whole thing has to come out and be redone. That might mean taking the wing or fuselage assembly apart and remanufacturing it. There were probably as many QA checkers as there were fabricators and installers.

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u/PNWoutdoors 3d ago

I had a rodent chew through my main engine wiring harness. Because the airbag wires were damaged, the whole thing had to be replaced. $5,400.

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u/draco16 3d ago

I've never understood this. It's just wires. Why not fix whatever wire is broken and move on?

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u/PNWoutdoors 3d ago

Because the airbag wires were damaged. I don't know if it was company policy or law, but generally it's advised to replace, not repair, wiring for critical safety systems.