OH MY GOSH , AIrbus A380 makes first flight!!

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I believe there will be different versions of that flying cattle wagon. They can actually fit 900 seats. No way I'd set foot on such a prime target.
 
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You guys!!! Airbus is not just a French Company..

its a Italian Company
French Company
Spanish Company
and a British Company!!!

If you start listing participating nations, then you shouldn't miss any.
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Originally posted by moribundman:
I believe there will be different versions of that flying cattle wagon. They can actually fit 900 seats. No way I'd set foot on such a prime target.

You'll feel much safer after the full cavity search that all passengers will have to endure
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quote:

Originally posted by moribundman:

quote:

You guys!!! Airbus is not just a French Company..

its a Italian Company
French Company
Spanish Company
and a British Company!!!

If you start listing participating nations, then you shouldn't miss any.
tongue.gif


as much as I respect the English and Spanish engineers, i don't think they can ovecome the French and Italian engineering....

now, have left anyone un-offended?
 
Sprint maybe the engines failed ?? Can you imagine the sounds when the vert stab or rudder falls off in a few years.......
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737 similar problem

http://www.airlinesafety.com/faq/B-737Rudder.htm

And I bet the sound wont be half as bad as a Boeing 767 tearing itself apart at 24,700ft and at a speed of 0.78 Mach as the left engine goes into reverse thrust unintentionally. Boeing denied design errors but later admitted to such. 223 dead, remember that one? ALL aircraft manufacturers make mistakes, always have and always will.
 
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Originally posted by oilyriser:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/01/0118_050118_airbus.html

"The company says the plane's fuel consumption will be 2.9 liters (0.76 gallon) per passenger per 100 kilometers (60 miles)."

That's 82 mpg/passenger


Yes, with a FULL passenger load. How many times have you been on a plane with EVERY seat loaded, and that was not during the holidays?

I suggest that all should read the book "NUTS!" It's kinda a bio on Herb Kelleher (SP?) and South West AL. A very interesting read, and it was part of one of my undergrad engineering/economics classes.
 
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Airbus's Giant Jet Makes Its First Flight
New York Times 04/27/05
author: Associated Press
c. 2005 New York Times Company


BLAGNAC, France (AP) - The world's largest passenger plane, the Airbus A380, successfully took off on its maiden flight Wednesday, a milestone for aviation and for the European aircraft-maker's battle with American rival Boeing Co.

The giant plane's four engines hauled its double-decked, 308-ton fuselage aloft at 10:29 a.m., an achievement watched by thousands of spectators 101 years after the Wright brothers first mastered controlled, sustained flight.

The plane was carrying a crew of six and 22 tons of on-board test instruments. Its first flight was expected to last between two and four hours.

The plane was likely to stay within 100 miles of the airport in Blagnac, a suburb of Toulouse in southwest France. It was beaming back real-time measurements to Airbus headquarters at Blagnac.

There were cheers and applause as the white jet with a blue tail, its engines surprisingly quiet, picked up speed down the runway and lifted smoothly into the blue skies. Fire trucks were stationed alongside the runway as a precaution.

Airbus chief test pilot Jacques Rosay, flight captain Claude Lelaie and four fellow crew members were taking no chances. Airbus had said they would be wearing parachutes during the first flight, in accordance with company policy. A handrail leads from the cockpit to an escape door that can be jettisoned if the pilots lose control of the plane.

The flight capped 11 years of preparation and $13 billion in spending.

The A380, with a catalogue price of $282 million, represents a huge bet that international airlines will need bigger aircraft to transport passengers between ever-busier hub airports.

But some analysts say signs of a boom in the market for smaller wide-body planes, such as Boeing's long-range 787 ''Dreamliner,'' show that Airbus was wrong to focus so much time and money on its superjumbo.


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Airbus A380 Jet Airplane Takes Off On Maiden Flight
The Wall Street Journal 04/27/05
author: Rod Stone / Dow Jones
(Copyright (c) 2005, Dow Jones & Company, Inc.)


LONDON -- Marking an important milestone for manufacturer Airbus (ABI.YY), a double-decker A380 airliner Wednesday successfully took off on its maiden flight from Airbus' plant near Toulouse, France early Wednesday, television news footage showed.

The plane - able to carry at least 550 passengers and is larger than Boeing Co.'s (BA) best-selling 747 - is key for the fortunes of Airbus as it looks to remain the world's leading airplane maker. The maiden flight was originally expected to take place in the first quarter of 2005.

Airbus has so far received 154 orders and commitments for the plane, which is backed by a $10.7 billion investment program. However, it needs to get 225-275 orders to break even on the project, but this could rise if the dollar remains weak for a long period of time.

Airbus is jointly owned by European Aeronautic Defence & Space Co. (5730.FR) and U.K. defense contractor BAE Systems PLC (BA.LN).

Costing about $280 million each, the A380 is designed to carry passengers between major hub airports such as London's Heathrow, New York's JFK or Singapore's Changi, where they can connect to other regional flights if needed. Boeing is meanwhile developing the 250-300 seat 787 Dreamliner plane which is designed to fly point-to-point and avoid congested hub airports.

The A380 testing program is expected to last over a year with the first A380 scheduled to go into service with customer Singapore Airlines Ltd. (S55.SG) in the second half of 2006.

Company Web site: http://www.airbus.com

 
Wonderful accomplishment, but are the economics there? European govt.'s can take up the slack if it doesn't pay off and it wins some prestige for the engineering, but........how many can they actually sell and at what profit?

Wonderful engineering achievement, but may not be a financial success, imho.

A winged Edsel?
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I'll bet the future problems incurred by this giant Airbus will become evident once it's been in sevice a while. Before it even took off they had to spend millions trying to find a way to save more weight. Why didn't the computer figure this out ahead of time? I read that they went way over budget fixing the weight issue.
I'll take a 737, 747, 767, 777, 787, over flying in that behemoth. Regardless of the former rudder problem (fixed), the 737 has had more succesful cycles than any other passenger aircraft in history. The safety rate is second to none. I'm not so sure I would fly on the A380....especially as they begin to age. No, Boeing isn't perfect....but I still prefer it over Airbus. (And from what I've read, so do most pilots).
 
"Yes, with a FULL passenger load. How many times have you been on a plane with EVERY seat loaded, and that was not during the holidays?"


actually quite often on the flights to/from the far east, in/out of Singapore especially altho it's been a few years since I made that awful trip. DFW-Narita was often full. Narita to Singapore was almost always full. LA- Taiwan was always full.

There may have been a few empties but rarely more than a dozen or so. That's the market, albeit limited, that the A380 is intended for.

It's not for the Atlanta-Greenville hop.
 
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Originally posted by kenw:
"Yes, with a FULL passenger load. How many times have you been on a plane with EVERY seat loaded, and that was not during the holidays?"


actually quite often on the flights to/from the far east, in/out of Singapore especially altho it's been a few years since I made that awful trip. DFW-Narita was often full. Narita to Singapore was almost always full. LA- Taiwan was always full.

There may have been a few empties but rarely more than a dozen or so. That's the market, albeit limited, that the A380 is intended for.

It's not for the Atlanta-Greenville hop.


Exactly. The long distance flights to Asia/Pacific rim are usually totally full; I've heard a few people say with the current infrastructure there is alomst a lack of supply in essence for passenger capacity for Flights from say, LA/NewYork to Hong Kong/Tokyo etc. GLOABALIZATION
 
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A-I deal: Airbus seeks CVC probe
Times of India 04/28/05

NEW DELHI: Air-India's nearly $7-billion aircraft acquisition proposal is fast emerging as the reason for a major war of words between the maharaja and European aircraft maker Airbus Industrie, which lost the deal to US-based rival Boeing.

A day after the deal was finalised in favour of Boeing, blames and counter-blames flew in the domestic skies with Airbus even seeking an independent investigation into the deal by Central Vigilance Commission (CVC).

Accusing the state-owned airline of twisting bidding norms to give Boeing an upper hand in the deal, Airbus V-P sales (India) Nigel Harwood said: "Airbus is writing to CVC requesting that all the documents pertaining to the A-I deal be sent to the CVC for a transparent and independent evaluation."

Stating that the CVC had earlier evaluated the $2-billion Indian Airlines deal - that was awarded to Airbus - and vetted that proposal, Harwood said: "The whole (A-I) deal is skewed and an independent enquiry would prove it."

The European conglomerate has charged A-I with changing the bidding norms after the issuance of request for proposal in order to give Boeing an upper hand in the deal.

A-I, in a statement late on Wednesday evening, rubbished the charges stating that it has not deviated even one bit from the specifications prescribed in the Request For Proposal (RFP), as has been alleged.

"Their (Airbus') contention that A-I has gone for 9 abreast seating cannot be held valid as the prerogative of deciding on the seats, its specifications, etc vests with the airline and not with the manufacturer. This is the standard practice followed by all in the business," an A-I spokesman said.

Airbus also accused A-I of not including its future models A350 and A380 in the deal whole allowing Boeing to pitch with the B787. "We were also never allowed to give presentations on our product, our analysis or even present our facts. On the other hand, Boeing was allowed to make these presentations. So, we are questioning the basis of this deal's evaluation," Harwood said.

A-I, however, termed this allegation untrue saying: "All manufacturers were given an option to make a presentation. This option was exercised by Boeing, GE, etc... However, Airbus sent a letter seeking a meeting with the techno-economic negotiating committee to discuss issues relating to aircraft evaluation process. At no stage did Airbus make use of this opportunity to make a product presentation."

 
The plane will make money for airlines that fly between congested airports like London and Tokyo. Direct operating costs always go down when the flights are longer and there are more (full) seats.

The economic questions are how many airplanes will be sold and how many need to be sold at what price to make a profit for Airbus.

The Boeing 787 will not "wow" the public and media in the same way as the A380. It is a much more interesting plane from an engineering standpoint. The fuselage will be all-composite, a first for a large transport. There will be no air bleed from the engines to power aircraft systems, which is revolutionary and responsible for much of the increased efficiency.
 
The A380 makes sense for one market, China (pacific rim). The other routes are few, of course airlines like to advertize the latest and greatest as their flagship in TV commercials. Boeing may be right on this one, however only time will tell if they made the right choice. Boeing has bet the company on every new airframe they built, but they always had airline commitments before the first tool was built. You are right about the 747 the Gov. wanted a high wing freighter, Boeing said let us build you a low wing plane, the gov. said no thanks so they made it into a cash cow passenger plane that ruled the sky for 30 years. Not bad!
 
Speaking of cargo planes - the reason the 747's cockpit is on the upper deck is so that cargo can pass thru the nose (the nose of the cargo version opens up). I am surprised Airbus did not do the same with the A380.
 
I've been on many jets suprisingly. I found the airbus quieter and nicer. Maybe because they are all newer. When I went to the Philipines in 2002 on Eva Air (VERY VERY GOOD AIRLINE!!) I was on an awesome Boeing 747. Fly the economy deluxe or something like that.. it was one above coach but below business.... personal TV in each seat and seats that reclined to a good angle.
 
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who makes the engines for the A380?

the only engine makesr I know are Rolls Royce, GE (Same as Pratt/Whitney?)

The A380, as I understand it, has engines from a company called CFM. This is a joined cooperative group of Snecma and General Electric.
Rolls Royce is another main jet engine maker (they aquired Allison, a former well known name). Also, BMW and Rolls Royce have teamed up to produce some engines. International Aero Engines is another group company. It combines Pratt and Witney, Rolls, Japan Aero, and Fiat (yikes).
 
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