Er, a search on the Airliner website still have pictures of it having a rudder. The only plane I know that don't have a rudder is the B2 and but I don't exactly know how that thing manages to yaw.

Well I've got a big piccie on my desktop taken from about the 5 o'clock position showing an RTO test (with the two engine reverses open) and the beast looks as if it's got a rudder to me.

There are definate lines in the vertical tail at the location a rudder would hinge...

The picture is http://www.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!/open.file/817619/L/

My Toulouse mole says planned first flight for 0800Z this morning (18th) was postponed due to low cloud base.

No rudder.....bull!!!!.

Heres a pic
www.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!/open.file/744760/M

Thanks guys...

It did sound a bit fantastical. Perhaps I should have looked at !!!!!!!!!!!!!! before taking the word of a parisian taxi driver!

As for my name ... it shall remain now i'm convinced it can land in a crosswind!

:-)

Lol..is that you 747focal?

if not another boeing as*h*l*

The rudder is built in Spain in Puerto Real and transported to Stade in Germany to be joined to the rest of the vertical tailplane. Built from CFRP, it comprises an upper and a lower rudder. The upper rudder is 12 metres long, more than half a metre wide and weighs 350 kg/ 771 lb. The lower rudder is around seven metres long, almost one metre wide and weighs more than 250 kg/551 lbs.

dreamingA380,

Maybe a bus driver would be a better source

Just kidding, it is B/S, the rudder is made in spain, and mated to the rest of the vertical stab in Germany.

There was never -ever in aviation history more false rumours floating arround then currently ,associated with the first flights of A380.
Any project of this size obviously calls for problems and un-predicable last minute hick-ups.But I would love to see a fraction of these negative gossip associated with the 7E7 dreamliner project.
Not that I am against Boeing or particularly pro -Airbus. But as most people crowding aviation forums ,we are supposed to be aviation freaks and supportive of any major development in civil aviation.Some threads are so full of hate or non-aviation related B.S. that I wonder why people take time to participate in forums.
The A380 has probabely it's fair share of issues -shall it be weight,cost-overrun or infrastructure related issues with airports refusing to accomodate the plane - but it still is a massive job-creator not only for europeans but also for americans. 30-40% of any A380 value is manufactured in the USA !
I do look forward to see the A 380 and the Dreamliner take off successfully ....

Good old Boeing!

A bit like the presedential ellections lets rubbish the competion!

I seem to remeber they said all these things about the Jumbo when it was first conceived!

how long has it been flying?

Mind you I beleive the guys have had a tough time landing the beast on the simulator!

Now come on! a taxidriver? Does he think he knows because it is doing taxi tests?
Or because he overheard a conversation in his taxi? (in French ofcourse)

Smells a litle of a wind-up...............

Jodiekeyz, Nope was not me....... and for your info, I don't work for Boeing.

FEYCS - would that be pronounced "fakes"? That taxi ride wasn't on April 1st was it?

One must question why the report was not published in 2002 at the time it was completed.

First flight has now been postponed until next week due to poor weather.

Slightly off topic, but this image should explain how it yaw's. Look at the ailerons...

weather in Toulouse is not looking to bad, no clouds, no fog at the time of posting.
(You can continuously check in this automatically updated picture)

On the B2 the control surfaces at the wing tips are not just the ailerons, they are the split rudders whic work to increase the drag of that wing to yaw the plane...hence the deflection both above and below the wing..

They may also work as ailerons I'm not certain they do tho...

Aren't those flaperons on the B2?

Faced with the above, and the blizzard of other garbage it is accused of, I can understand Airbus' reticence to comment and fight all this unsubstantiated rubbish! Better to rise above it all and let the aeroplane prove itself! It is more economical than anything else, and the B747, great though it is cannot be flogged on another 40 years. Hail the new Queen of the Air!