How often are Boeing 747-800 and Airbus A380 aircraft brake pads changed?
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asked Dec 14 '16 at 13:22
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1$\begingroup$ A technical question: Are they actually brake shoes, or are they brake pads? The difference being shoes are used in drum brakes, while pads are used on disk brakes. I can't imagine an aircraft (especially a heavy/super) using drum brakes since disk are much more effective. (Witness all modern cars using (at least) front disk brakes (since the fronts do about 75% of the braking), and the terrifying lack of braking available in muscle cars from the '60s-'70s where 4-wheel drums were standard.) $\endgroup$ – FreeMan Dec 14 '16 at 16:17
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2$\begingroup$ @FreeMan pretty sure they're all disc brakes on modern airliners. $\endgroup$ – Notts90 Dec 14 '16 at 21:14
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$\begingroup$ It's more like "brake plates" like clutch plates. $\endgroup$ – user3528438 May 3 '17 at 0:26
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The 747-800 uses carbon brakes made by the Goodrich company and according to this article,
The entire industry is leaning towards carbon brakes, Honeywell executives assert. Lufthansa Technik also sees a trend towards carbon brakes, as the mean time between repairs (MTBR) for carbon brakes is 1,500-2,000 cycles, compared with some 1,100 cycles for steel brakes.
Also of note, take a look at this video on the testing of the brakes.
