SAA aircraft

[upup]

I was watching planes today, and realized that the SAA aircraft, there was 3 airbus one's, got a grey spot on the body where the back wing fits, as if the were modified, but the other planes look normal, I hope you can see it on my pic

 

[HumanShield]

That's a brand spanking new plane. It's quite normal for a plane to have that.


ZS-SZE
Serial number 6147
Type 320-232
First flight date 06/06/2014
Test registration F-WWBD
Plane age 3.1 years

 

[Nicholas Lisse]

Common on all newer Airbus planes. When the elevators (the back parts) are trimmed, they pitch up and down and to prevent the paint from scratching they just leave them unpainted.

 

[bromster]

M Pack

 

[Hemi300c]

It's sweat wondering if it'll have a job tomorrow or be paid.

 

[bromster]

That whole fin in the pic is called a horizontal stabiliser.

When you come in for landing, the pilots change the shape of the main wings to help the plane slow down. As a result, the plane starts to tip either forwards or backwards a little.

The pilot then continuously tilts the horizontal stabiliser in your pic to compensate for this and keep the plane in balance. This process is called 'stab trim'.

The idea is that if the pilot lets go of the control stick, the plane should keep flying straight and not go into a dive or a climb.

All planes have it.

 

[Colin62]

That's a brand spanking new plane.
...
Plane age 3.1 years

Make up your mind.

 

[kripstoe]

Make up your mind.

That is pretty new for an aircraft

 

[Colin62]

That is pretty new for an aircraft

Pretty new <> brand spanking new

 

[HumanShield]

Pretty new <> brand spanking new

Fair point.

 

[Ockie]

Pretty common on the A330's. If you do a search for Air Namibia and Lufthansa A330 pics, you will see they have it also.

 

[pinball wizard]

That whole fin in the pic is called a horizontal stabiliser.

When you come in for landing, the pilots change the shape of the main wings to help the plane slow down. As a result, the plane starts to tip either forwards or backwards a little.

The pilot then continuously tilts the horizontal stabiliser in your pic to compensate for this and keep the plane in balance. This process is called 'stab trim'.

The idea is that if the pilot lets go of the control stick, the plane should keep flying straight and not go into a dive or a climb.

All planes have it.

Yeah, the OP is talking about the fact of the missing/discoloured paint. Makes it look like a bodged repair.

 

[f2wohf]

Here's the answer, it also occurs on some Boeing:

http://www.airliners.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1355671

This is where the HF antenna usually is located.

At the leading edges you see the most abrasion due to particles in the air. They would look very ugly pretty soon. That's also one of the reasons why they are usually not painted.

 

[upup]

I show the pic to someone, his comment was, it look like a bad panel beating job