Big ones, I expect!

747FOCAL... You really can't help yourself, can you??

I heard from a very reliable source in Toulouse that the aircraft will be powered by JET engines... can anyone confirm???

Negative MR8, they're actually attaching an enormous rotor to the top of it and they're going to make it get airborne vertically. They're clever people at airbus, and they figured that if they lose an engine there then it won't be able to continue to fly from LAX to LHR. As a result, they're also fitting 100 small propellers along the wing, just in case

Is it correct that all the A380 engines presently at Toulouse are Rolls Trent 900?

Courtesy: !!!!!!!!!!!!!! post....

"Click on Region "Toulouse" evening news and at the very beginning of the broadcast....
It won't last - so hurry"


http://www.m6.fr/html/info/player/frame_soir.htm


a second thought........
People may also want to bookmark this French TV station link for possible coverage of the first flight

Ground tests VIDEO -

I just posted this in a new thread...but, I guess it wouldn't hurt to put it here as well

Courtesy: !!!!!!!!!!!!!! post....

"Click on Region "Toulouse" evening news and at the very beginning of the broadcast....
It won't last - so hurry"


http://www.m6.fr/html/info/player/frame_soir.htm


a second thought........
People may also want to bookmark this French TV station link for possible coverage of the first flight

Seacue,yes your correct the A380 being tested has the RR Trent 900 donkeys installed, picture here

Useless snippet of info:only the inboard engines have working reverse thrust mechanism installed due to potential of FOD damage on outboard engines.

I think research of the archives will reveal the reason for the lack of outboard thrust reversers was part of the development project to cut down on weight, complexity and cost.

doesn't work in Firefox, worked in Internet Explorer.

It's short, but WOW what an aircraft I would love to see this big giant in real life!

Thanks for that - excellent. Now, is it or is it not true that Airbus want the A380 to be auto-landed as standard and a manual landing as an abnormal? Please tell me that it's just an ugly rumour.

Thanks for that ---it was lovely! Cant wait to see it fly!

Cant see it having to be autolanded at all times - that would mean every airfield it flies into would have to have cat111.

Not quite correct Windshear...Aircraft that are capable of Autoland only need cat1. Perfectly acceptable to autoland on a CAVOK day without cat3 protection. Just have to watch out for LOC/GS deviations as aircraft may still be taxiing within the ILS sensitive area.

3Gs...

Disagree slightly. National & airline rules might vary, but to Autoland at all, we need the airfield to have been surveyed and have eqpt essentially to CAT3 standard. The protections need not be in force, but the eqpt still working. In short, on the BA Airbus, we fly to many airfields / runways (maybe 50%?) where Autoland is not permitted at all...

For the A380 airfields unlikely a great problem, except that doing a "practice Autoland" is, IMHO, more demanding than either a manual land or an Autoland - you have to be ready to intervene at very short notice to "take over", which inevitably demands a high level of experience in manual landing...

The A380 will be distinctly unpopular if it demands the CAT3 protections in force.... Suspect this is just a rumour <G>

The UK's finest are at it again - from today's Sunday Times:

http://tinyurl.com/boxef

AIRBUS’s A380 superjumbo programme will lose more than $8 billion (£4.2 billion) over its commercial life and never pay back the £2 billion-plus in state aid that helped launch it, according to a report from a panel of leading American academics and analysts

The report was funded by Boeing & assumes that the A380 will sell 496 aircraft....which I guess is Boeing's estimate.....

...so if they sell 497 they're screwed! ..

Don't get all worked up boys it's just another piece of Airbus crap at the end of the day, over weight already by 20 tonnes and under performing.

What really makes me laugh is the fact the Emirates have ordered 45 of them. A muslim airline flying a pig!!!!

Sponsored by Boeing.....................