Big, isn't it!

[Heliport]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v140/Rotorheads/A380.jpg

[treadigraph]

Wonder how big a helicopter you could safely land on the stabiliser? :ok:

[Haggis Hunter]

The RAF's Chinook fleet could fit on that thing!

[B Sousa]

"The Bigger they are, the Harder they fall"

or

"Never fly in an "A" model of anything"..........

[TheFlyingSquirrel]

From Rolls site...

At take-off, the A380’s four Trent 900s will deliver thrust equivalent to the power of more than 3,500 family cars. The engine’s hollow, titanium fan blades suck in over 1.25 tons of air every second.

[madman1145]

It's like this one. Big and ugly :rolleyes: ..

http://www.aviation.ru/Mi/12/Mi-12.jpg

Can't be jealous. It's nothing but a scaled up Greyhound bus, it can go from A to B - that's all ..

[inthegreen]

It certainly is impressive. From an aviation fan's point of view, it's a pleasant surprise really, I had thought the age of huge airliners was over. Watching something that massive takeoff and land is surreal. Which begs the question: Isn't the age of huge airliners over? I thought the trend was towards smaller, regional operations. Finding 500 or so people who all want to go to the same place at the same time seems challenging today, especially since the 380 will only service major hubs. Airbus is viewing this as a clear advantage over Boeing. I wonder if Boeing isn't just holding their cards a little better right now.

[2beers]

I saw it live on television and I have to say that I'm also very impressed that Airbus has managed to get it in the air in such a relatively short time. If it's going to be a success is not sure yet, but I think it will. More people in one airframe means lower cost, so when the stretched version shows up in five years or so, the sales will soar.
I've always liked Boeings products better, mostly due to the French cover-ups in a few A320 accidents, but on this one Boeing took a gamble with a bigger 747 that nobody was interested in and then decided to cancel that. So obviously Boing is going to tell anyone who listenes that nobody wants to get into such big airplanes since they don't have anything in that size. The B787 will probably be a great aeroplane, but the A380 is greater :)

Anybody knows when they'll start their hover-trials? :O

/2beers

I just saw something on the picture... Is the registration of the A380 F-WWON ( We won )? In that case I like their sense of humour!

[Pub User]

Finding 500 or so people who all want to go to the same place at the same time seems challenging today, especially since the 380 will only service major hubs

There are 14 flights from Heathrow to New York this afternoon.

[Thomas coupling]

http://onfinite.com/libraries/438417/dfc.jpg

We had to accompany the first couple of wings up river to the docks for onward transport via boat to the continent, because kids were throwing stones from the river bank and causing superficial damage to the wing surfaces!!!

Airbus have built a bloody ginormous hangar, then bought up all the land between them and the river. They re routed the main road, widened it, bought farmland either side of the route. Brought in a huge caterpiller track device to convey the wing to the barge. They then sail it up river approx 5 miles to a small port where the wing gets lifted onto another barge. This then sails to a coastal port nearest to Tolouse where it is driven on a trailer to the factory. Finally it is glued onto the rest of the plane!!!
This happens every month.

Expensive business