That's a big beast! I think you'll see the other manufacturers looking in this direction as well, especially in light of airlines having financial problems. You increase the volume per flight, reduce the number of total flights and you can lower operating costs. Makes sense to me.

As for the 'what if' of it crashing with 800 people on board? Those 800 people are more likely to lose their life DRIVING to the airport than on the flight itself.

Just to keep things in perspective....it is only 7-1/2' longer than a 747 !!

It is not that huge......

Look at the size of the engines and the main gear bay bro!

I like the way the new boing plane looks...



Eddie Weeks

Me to- Most of the air routes are short point to point.. Making big usless. But I would like to have a room on the 380 on the way to paris....

Wonder how long before Skymaster does an ARF A380... sure would make a sweet looking model

Eddie, sorry to bring it up but the 7E7 doesn't look any like that. It will look more like a 767 with a slightly more streamline nose and a different wing aspect ratio.

That awesome shark tail and Concorde nose are long gone.[sm=crying.gif]

Hey Eddie,

I agree!! And it isn't "SUBSIDIZED''

Skeet

You know what really blows me away?...................................That the Spruce Goose (at 320 ft) is still bigger!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

...My desk is only a few feet from where we build the development engines....

Here's a few facts..

Inlet mass flow 2,745 lb/sec.

Fan diameter 116 inches.

Tempratures in the engine core are half those on the surface of the sun.

The tip speed of the fan is nearly 1.5 times the speed of sound.

Air passing through the engine is compressed to over 50 times normal air pressue at sea level.

Eeer,
Which map of the world are you looking at? Perhaps it's out of date but there are big tracts of water on mine
Regardfs,

John.

Hi Reno,
As a US Citizen you will be pleased to know that the R&D work that NASA does for Boeing and others in the US is not an official subsidy. Eer, but if you pay tax, you might want to think a bit harder about that?[:@]
Regards

John.

quite a number of 12hr + sectors in this hemisphere.........

Has the FAA approved 215min ETOPS for UAL B777's ???

Cheers
Ken

It's a long running discussion/argument in the industry; economy versus frequency. Airbus is betting on size/economy and Boeing is betting on frequency/efficiency with the 7E7. In reality there is a market and need for both and I expect both planes will be successful.

Actually, you might want to think a bit harder about that. Any publicly funded research that NASA does is available to the public. That means Airbus can use it too. If there is a specific task done for a manufacturer, US or otherwise - say wind tunnel experiments on a particular design - the company pays for the use of the tunnel. When NASA flew tests on an MD-11 to see if it could be controlled and landed by engine power alone (it could) that was published for all to use, not just US companies. So, no NASA is not a US subsidy.

Hmm, not so much. Uselss only because the current airline management thinks they need to serve every city, every half hour, tieing up the ATC system. Instead of the frequent little planes with bathrooms too small to stand up in, you could have a morning A380 flight, an afternoon A380 flight, and an evening A380 flight. But as we can see by the success of the industry and how well we all think of it, those airline mgmt types are all alot smarter than me.

For example: The Orlando-Atlanta route - a 1 hour flight - is currently served by Delta with either 777 or 767-400s mostly. No reason the big planes can't pickem up and putem down.

No worse than a few 747s arriving at the same time which, happens all the time at big airports.

Exactly...lot of sour grapes -- Boeing are struggling at the moment and the orderbook for the A380 is full!!

Not exactly. Airbus has orders for 129 A-380's but needs closer to 800 to "break even". Boeing has about the same number of orders for the 7E7 and has a larger potential market than the A-380 which is limited to about 50 airports worldwide. Time will tell.

Sorry but the Break-even is more like 400 than 800...

That's what I thought.

the newspaper said in the press release that the break even point was 250 a/c with 8 going to FedEx as cargo haulers with option for 8 more.
tom

That number (250) is as quoted in the Times in London last week on their major A380 article. With a break even of 250 and almost 150 launch orders before the first flight that is an excellent position to be in. And what will follow the A380 ? Well, the Concorde intake control computers (the real heart of the aeroplane and something the Russians never got right on the Tu144) ) appear to have been spirited away, hot tip is to Toulouse, so perhaps a son of Concorde will appear from Airbus , in time, its difficult to know just where, otherwise, Airbus will go with the announcement of the A350 to counter the 7E7.

And as for Concorde economics "sucking" I think its pretty conclusive that they were the absolute best of ANY SST, totally unmatched, after all the aircraft was in commercial service for 25 years and did exactly what the designers intened it to do !

Sorry to hear that some sources rate the 757 and 737 as uncomfortable, must be a US thing (width of American posteriors perhaps ? ) never heard that in Europe.

And anyone who thinks that comfort on shorthaul has become increasingly important, the fantastic growth of the low cost carriers, Easyjet, Ryanair, JetBlue and all the myriad of the such carriers tends to disprove that, price is everything, you can't even recline seats on Ryanair and they have even removed window blinds, and they are doing great business ! Long haul is different and the economics of the 380 should allow more comfort for the same price, it certainly will be interesting to see how the quality Asian carriers (SIA, Thai, and Malaysian) market their premium seats. My guess is that customers will benefit hugely from this aircraft.

Can't undestand what all this fuss and muddled thinking is about boarding delays. When the 747 entered service it more than doubled the capacity of the narrow body long haulers, 707, DC8, VC10, and boarding times were retained at about STD -40. The A380 increase in capacity over the 747 from 400 on a 744 to 550 typically on the 380 , only a 40 % increase so my guess is boarding and disembarkation times for the A380 may even be less than the 744, particularly as its a double decker and appropriate airbridges are being installed at 380 airports.

I'm certainly not anti Boeing (they make superb aircraft) having been a captain on various Boeings for almost 20 years but its great to see Europe giving Boeing a real run for its money, particularly since Boeing no longer have any competion from Lockheed and MacD.

Regards,

David Gladwin

funny , your right skyhawknut.... howard hughes' 60 year old spruce goose is still bigger, with a 320ft wing span...the h-4 may remain the worlds largest a/c forever..

I would say that the A380 is probably best described as the Newest Showpiece of our combined technological might. It just screams out PROGRESS. And I congratulate the europeans for having the guts to move foward. Just as boeing had the guts so many 30 odd yrs ago to bring out the boeing 747. So give the europeans the nod, they deserve it.
And im sure 95% of of us aviation nuts will Jump at the chance to scope it out & take a flight in it!............ the other 5%................ are afraid of flying!!!!!