Wheels and carbon brakes for A31 9/A320 fleet
Keywords: Aircraft industry, Braking systems
Brazil airline TAM, has chosen Messier- Bugatti wheels and carbon brakes for its fleet of Airbus A31 9 and A320 twinjets. This contract will cover up to 75 aircraft, and the first 27 aircraft already delivered to the airline are now being retrofitted.
Six A319s were fitted with Messier- Bugatti's SepCarb III-PLUS carbon brakes back in September 2001 for testing by TAM pilots. They flew trial shuttle flights out of the Santos Dumont airport, which features an ultra-short, and unforgiving 1,100 meter runway that juts out over the sea. Over the four months of testing the brakes won full approval.
Messier-Bugatti wheels and carbon brakes will be fitted on aircraft in service, while this equipment will be directly installed on the remaining aircraft on Airbus's assembly lines.
