CH4 tonight 7pm!!

[Mark Noble]

Documentary charting the story behind the construction of the world's largest airliner, the Airbus A380, which is nearly 50 percent bigger than its nearest rival. The project took 10 years to come to fruition at a cost of £6billion, and the scale of the task has meant builders and designers have had to overcome a unique set of challenges, not least of which has been how to transport the component parts from all over Europe to the company's headquarters in Toulouse.

Sounds good...:ok:

[Mick Stability]

Yeah, but what about Dr Who?

[BOZZATO]

I'll be watching it too:ok:

From what i've seen it looks really interesting!

It is likely to be a good program going off their past productions especially if the aircrash series, black box is anything to go by! Although i think tonight's program is not a series.

PS does anyone know where you can purchase the full black box series:confused:

Whats even better is that big brother starts after A380 program as finished:\

[Mark Noble]

I was with you all the way until the Big Bro comment :ooh:

[acbus1]

Yeah, but what about Dr Who?
You don't need a Tardis to sort that, just a VCR or DVD Recorder!

(though the current Dr Who series doesn't merit the effort, IMHO)

[christn]

I suppose I am just becoming another 'grumpy old man'. If we compare the eloquent posts by Flying Lawyer, for example, with the inane posts with appalling spelling and grammar that are the majority on PPRuNe is it surprising that we are no longer considered true 'professionals'?

[akerosid]

As if I weren't looking forward to it enough, this has certainly whetted my appetite. It's going to be great.

Great show, too. The landing gear footage from dear old Kai Tak brought back a few memories. Pity we'll never see this machine there.

[Evening Star]

... and it was good.

However, quick change to C4 and it was very good as well. Loved the comment about testing the A380 engine on a smaller aircraft, showing an A340 :oh:.

[Trinity 09L]

An excellent programme - should be shown to schools as an inspiration to become engineers of many skills, and aviators.:ok:

[JB007]

Yep, very impressed! :ok:

[Capn Notarious]

Well achieved Channel Four.
The combination and collection of video, gave witness to the determination of people en massé; to create a fine machine.
How long before one of the large model fraternity, build and fly one of these.

[BOZZATO]

Fantastic, awesome and that was just big brother:ok:

Only joking, a well documented and extremely interesting documentary, well done channel 4:ok:

[Oshkosh George]

For the WOW factor,what about the 130 MPH loo flush! Holy s--t!!!!!!!!:E

[GroundLevel]

Excellent Program !

[Barnaby the Bear]

Whether you like aircraft or not, an amazing piece of engineering.
Not overly happy about the undercarriage problem sorted out by Tefal!!!
Some bloody intelligent people out there.....:}

Managed to catch Omnibus Dr Who.......:E

[No_Speed_Restriction]

Missed it! Was too busy having a good time at the Motley Crue concert in Cardiff. :ok:

[Mark Noble]

Yeh I was a bit surprised at the landing gear "issue" too!! They said the flow of air would probably help it along too but what if it didn't?! Surely Airbus don't want even a minor incident with one carrying out an emergency landing with only half the wheels down and making it look like an unreliable aircraft? I'm sure they'll address it by the time it goes into production.

I wonder how many Virgin pilots are currently sim training for the 380?

[Konkordski]

Programme was ok, a bit of an advert for Airbus though. No independent analysis, just plenty of camera-time for the chief salesman.

[piper pervert]

I think im the only person i know who didn't actually see it! Problem is everybody thought everybody else was recording it and nobody did.

Does anyone know if it is due to be shown again anywhere soon?

PP

[Maude Charlee]

An enjoyable documentary for once, without all the sensational repetition that usually passes for narrative comment on this kind of programme. Yes, a bit of an advert for Airbus, but not always overly complimentary as it did show us some of the problems encountered. About as balanced as you could expect it to be, given the makers were granted 'exclusive access' to the development for a number of years, and Airbus might quite rightly expect some payback.

Highlights for me; the amazingly convoluted logistical process leading to final assembly (I never realised it was quite so fraught with obvious problems), the 'punching' scene prior to the flight test where one engineer was assisting the other with the securing of his helmet, the RR blade failure test and the panic after bird s##t was found in the intake of one of the engines on the flight test a/c.

[PAXboy]

The visuals were reasonable but the sequence of the work on the gear was very poor. In showing the gear extending, they cut back and forth so many times between so many angles that you had to rewind the video to try and understand the actual sequence of events. Even then, it was not quite clear how convoluted it was.

Television people cannot resisit 'improving' a shot by cutting it up. If they had just let the camera watch what was happeing, then it woul dhave been far better. There were other examples of this too.

The commentary was unpleasant to listen to. The man's voice was hard and pushy, it felt intrusive and a copy cat of the style of the bloke that does the Big Brother commentary. I found it harsh to listen to and did not encourage me to watch more.

[frostbite]

Great programme - CH4 are really good at this type of documentary.

Only thing that left me puzzled - when they were doing that engine destruct test - what size constitutes 'large' debris?

[Mr_Grubby]

piper pervert.

I have it on VHS Long Play.
It is well worth watching. PM me your address and I will lend it to you.

Clint.