A380 flies

jj said:

I can see big planes for people like Air NZ, Quantas, and hte like who have to go A LONG WAY a lot of the time. I can't see the need in most places in the USA, though, even for transatlantic.
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I can see it being useful for transatlantic and transpacific flights. Mostly for really busy routes, like NYC-Paris or LA-Tokyo. Fewer planes means less overhead; more people on fewer planes = less cost per passenger.
 
The 550 figure is for a fairly loose-packed layout with big first class seats and all
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It's just regular 3 class seating like any other airplane has. There are only around 50 first class seats. The Qantas models will only seat 523, and a short -700 model will only seat 480.

There is also a 747-400D that seats 24 1st class and 544 economy for 568 total.

The A380 "sardine can" version could seat ~850 folks though, which would be hell on arrival at the gate! :D

On a side note, the A380 only has thrust reversers on the inboard engines. This is because the outboard ones would blow too much debris forward because they are over the edge of the pavement.
 
I am an aviation nutcase...from what I have read regarding the A380;

Cleon is correct: The benefits of the A380 is lower fuel burn per seat and lower operating costs per seat.

The customers who have placed orders for the A380 are: Singapore Airlines, Lufthansa, Emirates, Air France, Qantas, Malaysia Airlines, Virgin Atlantic, International Lease Finance, Qatar Airways, Federal Express, Korean Air, Thai Airways, Etihad Airways and China Southern Airlines. It costs between U.S. $263 and $286 million.

The great thing about the A380 is it was designed to meet the Airbus Flight Operational Commonality...that is, it has a similar flight deck to the A320, A330 and A340 which makes for easy crew transition training, cross crew qualification and mixed fleet flying.

Maximum operating speed is Mach 0.89, (most passenger aircraft are .85 or less), and the range is 8000 nautical miles with maximum load. Also, turnaround time at the airport is minimum 90 mins and it has ten fuel tanks carrying 131,000 L of fuel - refuelling in about 40mins.

There are roughly about 20-25 airports worldwide who can handle the A380 currently. The biggest hurdle is the weight and width of the A380...most airports are concerned that they will have to rebuild or widen taxiways and runway bridges to accommodate the 540 tonne weight and 78 metre wingspan.

All in all it is an amazing aircraft, Boeings' answer to it is the 787 "Dreamliner".
 
Final Assembly

The A380 plane is assembled in Toulouse, France and the ground-transportation to that main point, of the various sub-assemblies, is a fabulous story unto itself.

I saw a documentary about it, and what amazed me were the various passageway-clearances along the route.

The body itself passes through the main street of a small French town, with less than a meter to spare (the buildings are so close to the street).

Another part of the jet, the wing, made in the UK, needs to pass under a low bridge (on a barge), again with less than a meter to spare (and it can only go under when the tide is just right).

That same wing then needs to cross a railroad bridge after being unloaded off the river barge, and the tolerances there are similarly minute. When viewing the video, it looked like 40cm.

I can't find a link to the documentary, but this Forum goes into great detail about the technological quantum-leap that this aircraft brought with it.
http://forums.macnn.com/showthread.php?t=239538&page=4
 
My younger brother is currently training QANTAS pilots on the Airbus simulators in Sydney and Melbourne (he is an airframe and flight engineer). They have already started preparation for the A380 delivery, and they have been flying simulated A380 operations here for some time now.
 
Re: Re: Re: A380 flies

Elind said:
...or target.
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Not really if you look at the routs people are talking about most of them are over the sea and those bit which are not are either in siberia or western countries.
 
Cleon said:
I can see it being useful for transatlantic and transpacific flights. Mostly for really busy routes, like NYC-Paris or LA-Tokyo. Fewer planes means less overhead; more people on fewer planes = less cost per passenger.
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A large part of the rationale for it is that the existing airports just don't have the landing 'slots' to cater for increased travel. By using these, you get more people through in the one landing.

QANTAS, for example, has it's major airport landing site at Sydney, which has a very strict curfew. (The PM's seat is right next to it, IIRC). If you can't take off before curfew, even if you are just a few minutes late, you are grounded for the night.

And yes, I had wondered about the 'all your eggs in one basket' aspect of it.
 
Re: Re: Re: A380 flies

Elind said:
...or target.
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'Cos if someone shot down a fully loaded 747 we'd just laugh it off?

Is the fact that someone might bring down a big airliner a reason not to make big airliners? I'm slightly puzzled by this comment I must admit.
 
LTC8K6 said:
The 787 has nothing to do with the A380. The 787 is a much smaller airplane.

Boeing has no firm plans to respond to the A380.
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As far as I understand there would be very little point. There is just about a market for 1 very big plane. There isn't enough of a market for 2.
 
Re: Re: Re: Re: A380 flies

richardm said:
'Cos if someone shot down a fully loaded 747 we'd just laugh it off?

Is the fact that someone might bring down a big airliner a reason not to make big airliners? I'm slightly puzzled by this comment I must admit.
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And should we not also knock down all sports stadiums - bomb the superbowl and you could kill as many as you would get from a hundred A380s. Ditto for cinemas, theatres, tall buildings...

People have been trying to blow me up most of my life (not me personally, but in a general sense). I've never let it change how I lived my life before, and I'm not about to let it do so now.
 
Kerberos said:
According to the Danish news they need to sell 250 to make a profit.
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I think that numer is creeping up and Airbus put it at 300 now.
 
A380 Serial # 001 Reg nbr: F-WWOW just after rotation on her maiden flight! Yeah, the AirBus guys called it right...WOW!

-z

<a href="http://www.airliners.net/open.file?id=825948">
Click Here</a> to view the photo
 
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: A380 flies

Elind said:
Not what I meant. Count the shoes.
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What of them? It is a pathetic targit since the effort to atchivement ratio is going to be so poor.
 
Heathrow has one runway capable of handling the 380. They are constructing new piers to deal with it too.

The fact is that airlines operate on a 'hub and spokes' principal. While the 380 may be the hub we are still going to need spokes.

One thing bothers me- why hasnt BA ordered any?
 
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