Big ol' honkin airplane comes to LAX

[ronnykmarshall]

[Rex]

1. Holy crap!

What is that thing?

[marmar]

6. The Airbus A380....

The much-delayed largest passenger plane on earth that makes its commercial debut later this year, I think.

[Rex]

7. Dam. Do they have a bowling alley on the plane? Or a baseball diamond.

What size relation does it have to something like a C-5?

[marmar]

11. Not sure about a bowling alley, but I think Virgin Atlantic's will have a bar and casino...

It's like no one ever said, "You know, it's a little much."

[Rex]

15. It will be like Vegas with wings.

I hope they have elevators, cause I'm NOT walking 6 miles to find a dam bathroom!

[moggie]

14. Much wider than a C-5, almost as long

A few metres taller than a C-5 too, I think.

[XNASA]

9. It's the Main Terminal at LAX.

I know. It's frightening.

[ContraBass Black]

2. An Airbus A380.

Nice pictures.

[krispos42]

3. Ah, the Airbut 380 boondoggle

Well, maybe one day they'll break even on them.

[hogwyld]

47. Don't laugh yet

I can see this as the death of Boeing in the future. That and the Chinese getting into the aviation industry will kill off another American corporation.

[krispos42]

51. Airbus is laying off 10,000 people and closing down a bunch of plants

Boeing's doing pretty well with it's various 737, 777, and 787 airliners. They have a lot of orders on tap, including that Air Force KC-165 deal and the new Navy P-8 maritine surveillence patrol plane.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing#Product_developments

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airbus#2007_restructuring

I don't know what the Chinese are doing, but I'm not looking forward to flying on any China-made aircraft. Not at all.

[hogwyld]

67. I just read some news that will save Airbus

They just got a 30 billion (with a B) order from Quatar Airways and Aeroflot. Add in the cargo capabilities of their A380, and they can dominate the market again.

[entanglement]

65. OTOH, orders from China amounting to many billions of dollars are important

for both Boeing and Airbus. They are a huge and growing aviation market.

[terrya]

4. My god - that looks like one of those military transport planes...

they use to transport helicopters and such.

Holy shit, that thing is big.

[Ninja Jordan]

5. Smoggy day in LA

[ronnykmarshall]

12. It's not smog ..

it's HAZE!

We renamed it.

Acutally it's overcast today. I was hopeing to get a look at that big ol' mutha flying in ... but it was too cloudy.

[Ninja Jordan]

20. lol true

I don't know what it is really. Cloud cover mixed with smog = haze? I lived in the Sacramento area for about a year and the air quality there was similar.

[ScreamingMeemie]

32. ...and here I thought it was "marine layer"...

:) :hi:

[Neecy]

8. Nice....

I wish I still worked at LAX so I could see it.

The wingspan looks huge. They're going to have to do some major jetway modding to accomodate that thing.

[moggie]

13. 79.8m

That's wider than a Lockheed Galaxy!

[Rex]

19. Amazing...it gives oil tankers a run for their beam money!

I bet it shakes the entire area when it lands and takes off.

[Beelzebud]

10. See it isn't just America that produces big dumb things that waste fuel.

[ContraBass Black]

16. This plane uses significantly less fuel than the two or three smaller planes it would take

To carry the same number of people. How is that dumb and wasteful?

[Beelzebud]

18. LOL I was just talking out my ass. It just looks big and dumb. I know nothing about it.

Not every comment on DU is a scientifically based retort. Sometimes we just talk out our asses. :D

[confludemocrat]

22. It also is less noisy

and over all a more efficient way to move people than any Boeing equipment

[ruiner4u]

33. It looks like a beautiful plane to me..

it carries 500ish people compared to two flights of 250? And better fuel stats? Works for me...


Upthread someone joked about Virgin Atlantic and them having a bar and casino on their plane.. I think its a great idea.. I flew to europe a few years ago and would have loved the chance to get out of my seat for a little while..



who said nattering nabobs of negativity?

[TahitiNut]

24. There's a difference between maximum capacity and average passenger load.

How much to manufacture? How much to retrofit terminals? It's got SIX passenger hatches (three per tier) - how many will be used? What airports have jetways for a two-tiered airplane? How long will it sit at the gate, on airport power, while passengers get on and off?

The insane thing about how we measure the efficiency of mass transportation is that we do so assuming an 80% utilization level ... a utilization level almost unheard-of when it comes to our private vehicles.

[Rex]

26. Okay, now you have me all interested.

What kind of utilization level do we have with our private vehicles? I would hope it would be alot higher than 80%.

[ContraBass Black]

28. Do you ever drive with fewer than one person under every seatbelt in the car?

80% is four people in a five passenger car.

[Rex]

29. Okay, thanks.

Now I understand.

[TahitiNut]

41. Do you own a car?

What's the passenger capacity? What's the average passenger load during its hours of operation? What percentage of the hours in the day is it in operation?

You'll find that public (and private) investment in mass transport has a far, far higher standard for these measures of utilization than the average person does for their own vehicles. Despite the fact that 'convenience' is, by far, the biggest reason people give for not using public transport, it's not a significant factor in the basis for making investments in public transport.

There a kind of schizophrenic idiocy extant in the public regarding expenses. People seem to prefer spending more and getting less - as long as they can have it to themselves instead of sharing it. We see this in the discourses regarding health care and transportation all the time. When universal health care is discussed, the 'tax expense' is never weighed against the out-of-pocket expense of privateered, for-profit 'insurance.' Try to tell someone that a 'single payer' approach will cost them $200 from their left pocket instead of $300 from their right pocket and they don't seem to comprehend the fungible nature of an expense - reactively thinking that the $100 isn't enough of a savings to warrant spending more on taxes.

Same with transportation - public transportation is provably less expensive but folks seem to prefer spending for larger garages, wider driveways, more expensive cars, taxes for highways, and fees for parking ... instead of urban mass transit and regional rail transit. (Even folks in NYC.)

Like children, we seem to always choose that bright, shiny penny today instead of the promise of a dime tomorrow. Immediate gratification is infantile.

[Rex]

44. Ah, thanks for the verbose response.

Never thought about the utilization of transportation! Something new to look at. Thanks TahitiNut. :hi:

[tnlurker]

36. Just to give you an idea

Fedex was supposed to buy 10 configured for cargo. They had about 20 million in runway and taxiway improvements earmarked for the Memphis and Anchorage Airports to accommodate them. FedEx canceled the project last year when Airbus fell behind on the delivery date.

[murloc]

17. I was suprised to read that it gets 80 mpg (per passenger)

Fully loaded that thing gets 80mpg per passenger. Not to bad really. Much better gas mileage that the hybrid I've got my eye on.

Seems very counter intuitive that it would actually save fuel by flying that thing across across country, as compared to driving.

I have no idea if it will usually fly fully loaded or not, or even how it compares to other big aircraft. Just thought that figure was interesting and somewhat counter intuitive.

[originalpckelly]

25. They're probably stretching those numbers by using the full economy config.

which is supposed to fly 853 people at a time. The more likely configuration is about 555 passengers.

Intuition is a suspicion produced by general tendencies in life that one learns. Hopefully, people have learned how flawed people designing aircraft are, and will realize not to fly on it until it has had even more thorough testing.

[murloc]

27. you are proably right.

I've been around enough marketing and engineering teams to know that there are "marketing numbers" and "real world numbers".

The marketing numbers are always technically accurate and legally defensible...but have little real world application.

In any event, the thought of being crammed in metal tube with 852 other people is not a pleasant thought.

[moggie]

30. I do that every day

the thought of being crammed in metal tube with 852 other people is not a pleasant thought

You're right, commuting by train can be pretty unpleasant!

[originalpckelly]

21. I won't be riding on that death trap until they work out the bugs.

555 in standard mixed class configuration and 853 in all economy.

When something is so new, it is bound to be chalked full of human errors, and that's the number of people who could die as a result of the errors.

[Rex]

23. Especially since the thing is so dam big and complex.

Not that I fly alot, but I am in full agreement.

[onenote]

31. its been flying for two years

Maiden flight - April 2005

[originalpckelly]

35. Yes, but not in the same way that it will soon.

Soon it will enter into commercial service, where in a couple of years, all the bell and whistles will be stripped away, both for passengers and the aircraft maintenance. People will be desperate to make money. Pilots and mechanics will become more complacent. Stress on the aircraft will be more frequent.

All of the design flaws will come out about two years from now, if they don't start coming out the day it enters service.

In particular, I believe there is a great opening in the area of design, because Airbus used two different versions of design software. One has to wonder if that was enough to cause some of these delays, if it will not have caused some significant and so far unnoticed errors in design.

[Ghost in the Machine]

38. It's the plane's maiden flight to America...

By RICHARD PYLE, Associated Press Writer
29 minutes ago



NEW YORK - The latest jetliner to claim the title of world's biggest passenger aircraft completed its maiden voyage to America on Monday, flying on football field-length wings and a prayer that the U.S. airline industry will want to buy the double-decker jumbo jet.

The four-engine Airbus A380 touched down at Kennedy International Airport at about 12:10 p.m., to the cheers of onlookers gathered to watch the arrival. As the plane taxied, a pilot waved an American flag. A separate A380 was flying to Los Angeles time but devoid of any passengers.

The eight-hour flight is a chance for plane builder Airbus and German airline Lufthansa AG to show off the jewel of Airbus' offerings to potential American buyers and to the airports they hope to turn into flight bases for the jet. The 239-foot-long A380 can seat as many as 550 passengers, hold 81,890 gallons of fuel, cruise at 560 mph and fly some 8,000 nautical miles.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070319/ap_on_re_us/europe_a380_to_america

[Zywiec]

40. My thought exactly about when the first one goes down.

852 people in one plane seems a little scary.

[RagingInMiami]

34. I wonder how many trigger-happy Air Marshals are needed to secure the plane?

[951-Riverside]

39. If DHS has its say...

1

[WritersBlock]

37. 2 or 3 of those an hour will do wonders for the immigration queues.

Disembark from a transatlantic flight to stand in a line of 800 people instead of 450.

Per airplane.

Boy howdy, that'll make for a fun start to a holiday!

[zappaman]

42. Now That...

is a great point!
Those lines will be awful.

[Catherine Vincent]

43. Link with pics of it's construction...

http://www.dauntless-soft.com/PRODUCTS/Freebies/Airbus380/

[Rex]

45. Wow.

That is a BIG F'n plane!

[guitar man]

46. it's huge

this pic tells the story, those are 747-400's on either side of it. :wow:

[guitar man]

48. this shot gives a good idea

of how honkin' huge it is :wow:

[GreenPartyVoter]

49. I am less concerned with the plane and more with the runway-as-overpass

:wow:

[Clark2008]

60. I'd be like that silver SUV there on the right.

I'd be pulling over waiting for that thing to get off the overpass. No way in HELL I'd drive under that overpass until that monstrosity is past!!

:wow:

[demobabe]

58. They say the wingspan is the size of a football field!

And it looks like you could PLAY football on that plane!

[liberalEd]

50. No matter how big the plane, the seats will still be tiny in coach n/t

[symbolman]

52. After seeing the video of it touching down in LA

the way it LANDED, I wouldn't set foot in that monster.. major correction in the tail flap as it began to skid sideways, may have been due to having no weight in it, article said it was empty..

Naw, gonna wait a few years, like someone else said, next generation, then wait two years after that..

By the time you get to the front of the line you WILL be boarding the Next generation :)

850 people, so how may screaming babies does it hold? :)

Or has anyone created the soundproof clear baby helmet yet? I've been thinking of it..

[HCE SuiGeneris]

53. Any link to the video you speak of?

[symbolman]

55. Saw it on

Keith Olbermann, but I'll bet someone is going to post it at some point..

The LAX landing, sucker turned sideways, the center of gravity rests on a pod of wheels under the belly and then that teensy one in the front, that thing is going to land in SNOW like my 68 Dodge Challenger used to deal with ICE in Illinois.. drove Backwards half the time, all engine :)

Sorry.. someone will post some vid.. :)

[HCE SuiGeneris]

56. Thanks for the reply

I flew in the next biggest Airpig to Cancun from out of Memphis. Absolutely the most miserable ride ever. Perfectly clear day and we bounced around like a rag-doll for the full 3+ hours of the flight. I don't know who designs these planes, but they are truly inferior to Boeing in negotiating their way through the air currents.

[symbolman]

61. I spent many hours in a C5A Galaxy

and had a great time, got the whole tour, someone told me the entire flight of the Kitty Hawk could have taken place inside, and whether it's true or not it sure looked like it in that bay below..

At one point I stood up and unbuckled to use the john, just as the plane dropped and flew 18 feet INTO THE AIR.. I was weightless and looking down at everyone's heads.. then the plane corrected and I fell, crumpled on the deck.. the crew was so impressed that they took me in the galley and made me a steak :)

Yeah, I know a little about big planes :)

[HCE SuiGeneris]

57. Here is one video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIUz3kUeYyk

[Kingshakabobo]

73. This video shows the skid.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fZK_mPM6tw


High crosswind test-flight video. Neat stuff. "Crabbing" in to the wind on landing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHrLB_mlir4

more:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMN26EWioss

put to music:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sldcahRFZKg

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

54. I hope I never have to fly in that

Boarding will start an hour before takeoff. After you land, 600 people will have to get past the same pair of tired immigration officers. Then the mob scene at the luggage area, followed by the mob scene at customs.

Even worse, land in a normal airplane 10 minutes after one of these things hits the gate.

First class may be very nice, but back where I sit, it'll be a cramped dungeon.

[Clark2008]

59. Here's a pic with some proportion - so you can see just how big

this damn thing is!!

[uppityperson]

62. I flew thru LAX yesterday and saw it. Pilot of my plane pointed it out, several times

BIG

[NNN0LHI]

63. A Boeing 757 can hold 7,351,570 ping-pong balls - The Airbus 380 can hold 35 million ping-pong balls

http://www.suntimes.com/news/quicktakes/304355,CST-NWS-QT20.article

Ball-to-ball comfort\Dave Jacque, a Naperville reader, writes:

"As a follow-up to an item I sent you a year or two ago about the Boeing 757 being able to hold 6 million golf balls, it is now being reported that the Airbus 380 can hold 35 million ping-pong balls."

When will the world finally standardize its units of measure?

For the record, the Boeing 757 can hold 6 million golf balls or 7,351,570 ping-pong balls, and the Airbus 380 can hold 35 million ping-pong balls or 28,565,300 golf balls.

Just so we have it straight.

[krispos42]

71. I wonder who pulled that job

And who's CEO's spouse he got caught screwing to land it in the first place!

:-)

[entanglement]

64. The A380's powerplant - 4 x Trent 900 turbofans, each producing 76,500 pounds of thrust!

That's 306,000 pounds of thrust in all to power this monster. :wow:

[berni_mccoy]

69. I like the warning label on the side -- the draft from intake must be massive

:hide:

[Blue_Tires]

66. too bad it ain't easier on the eye

that fat bastard reminds me of a whale

[Initech]

68. Man, that thing is fucking huge!

It looks like it's going to take out the revolving restaurant in that first photo! :wow:

[piesRsquare]

70. Fascinating...

Why does the name "Freud" keep coming to mind? :rofl:

[Hekate]

72. I hope to God I never end up on one by accident

Some years ago I took a tour to Crete, and the Olympic Airlines plane we took out of New York held hundreds of people -- many of whom smoked, btw. No, I don't know what kind of plane it was, though I did ask a flight attendant how many passengers it held and she said 400.

It was like the night passage through the Underworld, for me. There were too many people crammed together and the air was foul. Although I didn't recognize it then, I think everything combined triggered claustrophobia and a low-grade anxiety attack.

I look at this huge new aircraft and all I want is to stay far away from it.

Hekate