Airbus at airshows

[c52]

When I see the display by any Airbus, and it flies along the runway silently, no faster than a man on a bicycle, its nose high in the air and its tail almost scraping the ground (that's what I perceive, it may be exaggerated) - is that perfectly safe? Would a pilot ever do that with passengers?

How fast are they actually flying, and what is the angle of attack?

[treadigraph]

I've heard the speed is something a little over 100kts - pretty impressive if that's right! Be even more impressive if I could get my bike going that fast, even downhill with a bad cae of wind.

[JEM60]

I saw the first A.380 display in the States, at Oshkosh in 2009. I believe some of the steep turns were said to have been made at 120 knots, and they were steep!!. I went in the aircraft the next day, and it was pretty light in weight, just being fitted with test equipment.Higher the weight, the greater the speeds must be. Very very impressive at a low speed though.

[c52]

I found this in Flight for 30/8/86:

Pitched 30° nose-up, flying at 300ft
and a mere 95kt, the Airbus banks
25° and begins a gentle climbing
spiral. Why is this particular A300
performing a manoeuvre no other airliner
could safely attempt—and how?
"We are demonstrating the lowairspeed
handling qualities expected of the
fly-by-wire A320," says Airbus Industrie
engineering test pilot Gordon Corps. To
do this, Airbus has programmed one of the
A300's autopilot computers with A320
control laws, and has installed A320 sidestick
controllers for both pilot and copilot.

[chiglet]

When I see the display by any Airbus, and it flies along the runway silently, no faster than a man on a bicycle


The [prototype] Scottish Aviation Twin Pioneer on take off was overtaken by a "man on a bicycle" :ok:
And I've seen one fly backwards in a surface wind of less than 20kts