For the A380’s flight control systems, Liebherr has adopted equipment with variable hydraulic control to drive the wing flaps, the first time this principle has been used in aviation. Liebherr will supply twelve conventional hydraulic actuators for each aircraft, and also four such units with an additional electric-motor drive facility, so that their function can be assured even in the event of a hydraulic circuit supply failure. In view of the increased system pressure, the drive control blocks have to be made from titanium, a high-strength, low-weight metal.

Liebherr is equipping this new large-capacity aircraft with a ‘bleed air’ system of its own design, which takes hot air from the engines and supplies it to various on-board consumer systems. Liebherr’s hydraulic cooling air system is used on the A380 to lower the temperature of the hydraulic fluid that is needed to actuate the aircraft’s hydraulic systems. For the oxygen supply system to the masks, which the A380’s passengers can use in an emergency, Liebherr has developed the hard- and software for a monitoring computer and also the integral air supply system from which the oxygen is extracted.