The Airbus A380 completed its first flight successfully on April 27, 2005. The systems developed by Liebherr-Aerospace for parts of the flight controls and air management system worked excellently during this flight.

Thise new flagship of the passenger aircraft scene, which has a maximum weight of 560 metric tons, takes off and lands with the help of Liebherr technologies: Liebherr-Aerospace Lindenberg GmbH developed and supplies the spoiler and high lift system actuators, which are part of the flight control system, while Liebherr-Aerospace Toulouse SAS is responsible for developing and manufacturing the bleed air system. In addition, the Lindenberg and Toulouse development teams designed the hydraulic cooling system together.

The Airbus A380’s vast dimensions are a great challenge and require tailor-made system solutions. EHA (electro-hydrostatic actuator) technology, a combination of electronic and hydraulic systems, is used here for the first time on a commercial aircraft. In the event of a hydraulic system failure, Liebherr’s actuators switch to the electric mode automatically so that the aircraft’s controls and brakes remain operational and fully reliable.

The high lift system’s controls permits safe take-offs and landings of the aircraft, which has a wingspan of 80 meters – larger than any other series-production aircraft. The engines have to be tremendously powerful yet light in weight. For this reason, heavy-duty steels, titanium and composite materials were used.

The bleed air system with integrated valves and controls located directly on the unit has twice the throughput of its predecessor in the Airbus A330, the most powerful air management system produced by Liebherr-Aerospace Toulouse so far.

The hydraulic systems were designed for an operating pressure of 5,000 psi (345 bar), which presented a particular challenge, as the maximum operating pressure in the past has been 3,000 psi (206 bar).

Cooling is required due to the heat being generated by this huge power, and it is provided by a new hydraulic cooling system from Liebherr-Aerospace, which proves the efficiency and technological competence in the hydraulics and thermodynamics areas.

Liebherr-Aerospace supplies a total of 400 individual components and assemblies for every A380.