Airbus to launch at 10am GMT today!

[YT2095]

the biggest passenger jet in the world the Airbus a380, can carry 555 people, is to be unveiled in about 15 mins!

they`ve already sold quite a few also!

 

http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30000-13285547,00.html

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4174729.stm

 

http://www.aerospaceweb.org/aircraft/jetliner/a380/

 

check this out too: http://www.airbus.com/A380/default1.aspx

 

further update: this plane has Never left the ground yet, not even in a test, apparently it`s too heavy at the moment, and when they DO test it in a few months time, all passengers and crew will be wearing parachutes and Crash helmets!

 

I kid you not!

[Dave]

I've read the test flights will be around March/April time from the BBC News link.

 

That aeroplane has gotta be one evil git to fly.

[YT2095]

according to is, it`s 30% larger that a Boing 747, so not that much of a leap in real terms, but there`s problems already, and they`ve sold quite a few even before a test flight!

 

I dunno man, where does the smart money go? Insurance maybe? LOL ))

[Ophiolite]

and they`ve sold quite a few even before a test flight!

That's standard in the industry.

That aeroplane has gotta be one evil git to fly.

I suspect that with advanced avionics, fly-by-wire, etc, it will be one of the easiest craft on the planet to manage.

[YT2095]

I suspect that with advanced avionics' date=' fly-by-wire, etc, it will be one of the easiest craft on the planet to manage.[/quote']

 

yeah, it was stated that it`ll be little more different than flying a standard 747, and that there`s no problems anticipated in that respect, even in bad weather conditions.

 

However, it`s STILL yet to Fly!

[Dave]

I suspect that with advanced avionics, fly-by-wire, etc, it will be one of the easiest craft on the planet to manage.

 

I suspect you're right. However, managing the plane with avionics is a completely different thing to actually flying it manually. Looks like a nice plane though.

[YT2095]

it has roughly 250 CPUs onboard, but manual Motor Skills of the pilot will still be needed in case of wind shear from the side, control is passed automaticaly to them in such a case.

[5614]

... so they'll be riding along auto piolot and suddenly a machine will say "wind sheer, please take control" and they'll have to drop their beers and run for the controls!

 

i think that within reasons planes can keep getting bigger and bigger... more important would be to get faster, so you have rockets which costs millions, we really need a new concorde which is cheap too.

[YT2095]

... so they'll be riding along auto piolot and suddenly a machine will say "wind sheer' date=' please take control" and they'll have to drop their beers and run for the controls!

[/quote']

 

I hardly think THAT is likely to be the case, do you?

[Ophiolite]

Pilot's today are only on board for emergencies. You get more flying in an hour in a Cessna than several transatlantic flights at the controls of a 747. But when that emergency does arrive we can be very pleased the pilots are there.

[YT2095]

sounds about right

[5614]

there's gonna be an on board casino, so i think i'll change the beer to cards

 

also they're gonna run a gym

 

they intend to fly london to sydney, it's a 22 hour flight, but with bars, casinos, gyms and beds it shouldnt be too bad.

 

it'd be interesting to be gambling and having turbulance, cards/chip piles would move around.

 

also the 747 has been nicknamed the 'jumbo jet' what's this gonna be called?

[Dave]

Dunno, but it just wouldn't be right not calling the 747 the jumbo.

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

It could be called the uberjet.

 

What routes would need that many seats? I can't imagine that many.

[5614]

well lets think, if when i went to italy a few months ago there were 5 planes going to italy that day (that i know of) so possibly more in the whole day and you could put that down into just 1 flight, that'd be quite good.

 

especially during the summer period and other peak holiday season i think you could fill one of those up.

[Dave]

Transatlantic flights would benefit considerably. A lot of business people tend to use that route, and there's only a certain number of planes that can carry the fuel required for such a long trip. Likewise, Europe <-> Australia, etc.

[Rasori]

The problem is that airports need to completely reformat (in many cases).

 

Here in the U.S., loading 550 people on a plane would take at least 4 hours, after 9-11 especially. Plus, I heard something (I think on Discovery Wings a little while back) that this plane fully loaded may crack the runway, or else that it was just too big to taxi in most airports. You'd need to include a few gates for this one plane, and board them all at once. It'd be a project.

 

But eventually, I can see it happening easily. What we really need, though, is a fast, quiet, and big VTOL craft that can be the next mass transportation system. Be nice to not need a runway. But that's like asking for mass-produced hydrogen cars within the year; odds are, it won't happen.

[YT2095]

apparently, if they took all the gyms and casinos and bars out and put seats in, 900+ passengers could easily be accomodated.

also the upstairs will be reserved for the "1`st class" people, and will never get to mingle or even see the "Lower Classes" either when boarding or arriving.

[Dave]

Am I the only person that's worried about 1000 lives being wiped out if this huge behemoth of a plane crashes?

[YT2095]

Am I the only person that's worried about 1000 lives being wiped out if this huge behemoth of a plane crashes?

 

well it certainly may alter the "Flying is safer than driving your own car" statistic if enough of them get built and used!

[ecoli]

Why are they spending money on bigger, fuel-guzzling airplanes. Many airlines are having these problems. Due to the current flying situation, They have huge planes that are half-full but they still have to spend the same on fuel. They should take a leaf out of Jet Blue's book. They have smaller planes...that are filled up and eliminated on-board meals. And their making a mint. There flights are cheaper and their geting the passengers.

[whap2005]

Your figure of 550 people is way off. The plane can hold as many as 800 passengers.

[YT2095]

apparently' date=' if they took all the gyms and casinos and bars out and put seats in, 900+ passengers could easily be accomodated.

[/quote']

 

[YT2095]

I`ve just heard that today this airbus has taken its 1`st test flight from Toulouse(sp) in France. all 560 tons of it!

 

here: http://news.google.com/news?q=%22airbus+a380%22&hl=en&lr=&rls=GGLD,GGLD:2004-10,GGLD:en&sa=N&tab=nn&oi=newsr

[Green]

succesful take off.This is a leap forward in the field of engineering and human endeavour.

The amount of effort put into this is tremendous