Many [many] moons ago, 1967 in fact...I was given a "Beverly Replacement Brochure" by a [then] g/f from Hull. It looked quite tasty, but I can't remember owt else..[apart from twin fins].....that's the a/c not the g/f tho' she was tasty too :ok:
watp,iktch

DME MILOS,

A fair point, but the A400M doesn't look particularly stealthy, and it's not particularly fast or manoeuvrable. I wouldn't want to fly either aircraft over hostile territory.

I'm still surprised that the A400M empty weight is about 11 tonnes more than the Belfast given the advances in so many technologies and materials that have taken place over the past 40 years or so. They both carry the same payload, and I'd have thought that the weight of the mission equipment etc in the A400M would be more than offset by technology and materials improvements in other areas. Granted, the A400M has 800nm more range at max payload but at what cost? It needs twice the power and considerably more fuel to carry out its mission because of all the extra weight. Are the TD400-D6 engines and those massive props particularly heavy in both weight and fuel consumption? Is it the weight of all the bureaucracy that accompanies international projects? Or is it something else?

Porrohman.

Airbus Varients
 

Appologies for what may have been asked before. On airbus types that I have travelled on as SLF I have noticed the following. Just after push back and just after arriving at the gate after landing, there is a very loud noise like someone sawing an iron bar with a rusty saw!! or, more appropriately, a sound like an electric motor straining against a heavy clutch mechanism. Is this something to do with locking mechanisms on the baggage hold doors?? Its the only logical thing that I can think of. ( I've already identified the very heavy clunking sounds made by the braking mechanisms!!) I've been noticing this for year, but never really solved the problem!! Thanks in advance to any Airbus Drivers.:)

Meldrew,
It's the PTU or Power Transfer Unit, transferring hydraulic power between the different hydraulic circuits. If only one engine is running then not all circuits are powered and then, when a demand is made on an un-powered circuit, eg. flap/slat deployment or retraction, the PTU will do its stuff and make things happen. 'Tis a bit noisy though.
Saman

UK 'may face Airbus job battle'
 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6239874.stm

Can't see this happening. UK provide the manufacturer with the best wings available.

2 word answer......French protectionism.

Now if HM Govt had invested in the BAC 3-11 project, the UK would now be world leaders in civil aircraft design and supply. Airbus certainly would not have existed. Sadly, and this has been well documented elsewhere, it was Concorde or bust. Airbus soaked up most of the design and build expertise caused by the implosion of our civil airliner business.

The A300 was originally a design concept by none other than the UK aerospace industry and from memory, so was the A320? HM Govt had to go begging to enter the Airbus consortium after the failure of Concorde and did so under French terms.

France and Germany will do whatever it takes to retain its own workforce. After Bae sold off its share of Airbus, wing production within the UK was always going to walk a tightrope. Let us hope history does not repeat itself once again?

West Coast: That was funny. But alas, it would be so much better if a Bonanza went down with a few airline (former) lawyer/CEOs onboard.

An article claimed that Airbus has both a French and a German executive in their upper management.

Isn't it often strange that each topic regarding 'Airbus Gmbh' is never left in Rumours and News?;) Are such topics too hot for Rumours and News?

Does anybody know whether it was true last November etc that Lufthansa ordered the 747-800, as was advertised by Boeing on the back of the newspaper "USA Today"?

First A340 parted out
 

According to a well known spotter site, Lufthansa Technik's D-AEIL will be scrapped at Goodyear in Arizona. The first A340 to be scrapped, therefore. Hands up who feels old?
http://www.planepictures.net/netshow.php?id=613267

13 and 1/2 years of service.
 

Delivered 21 Jan 94. Operated for 10 years by Virgin Atlantic then BWIA for less than 3 years. Painted early this year just for the scrapping, I guess.

After the first 777 chop job recently (engineless and ready for a D check) and now this - one does feel old. :}

would that be the ex vs aircraft that got one wing pushed slightly higher than the other?Didnt realise BWIA had given her up

Would they really scrap her at 13 years old?? Surely A340's arent that unloved.

From another site - yes appears to ex G-VSKY on which I have more than a few hours... and later on did park rather untidily on LHR 27L :eek:

Nigel, are you saying you parked it rather untidyly?

No - but I know a man who did :D [I'd become a Nigel by then..... ;) ]

I have memories of G-VSKY, it was what got me interested in aircraft safety and the whole process of finding out what went wrong and how to stop a repeat. I flew on it to LAX in Nov '97, drove to my hotel and went to sleep. Arriving at the factory I was visiting the next morning, everyone asked me if I'd seen the news about the crash at LHR. I hadn't, but a bit of questioning determined that it was indeed the aircraft I'd flown over on the night before. I still have a copy of an ex-pat newspaper acquired that week with a picture on the front and the headline "Terror on the Tarmac". (I see journalism has maintained its standards over the past ten years...) Reading the accident report a while later and the attention to detail, including finding the small pin on the beach, just caught my interest. OK, I know I should get out more...

must say much respect to the chap who did park it on LHR 27L,fine work

must say much respect to the chap who did park it on LHR 27L,fine work

He's a former Unlimited Aerobatic national competitor, in a SU26, as well as a former A340 captain.

Where are you now, Tim?

TheOddOne

I knew Tim when he was still at school!! Or, rather I knew his Dad quite well at Gatwick and Redhill. Last I saw him was in Gander when I was trying to get a ride to the UK after a CL44 let us down by catching fire!! He was driving a Belfast at the time.

Always good to hear that he is still well thought of and has done well.

Rather a thread bend from a scrapped 340, but!!!

Here's the "parking" job in progress.

Well done, indeed. :D