A380 - Flying in on a wing and a flair

By Geoffrey Thomas
April 02, 2004

SEEING is believing, and the giant 555-seat Airbus A380 jet is awesome
- and it is now coming together.

There are one-piece skin panels that are 35.6m long and a flap-track
fairing that houses the system supporting the landing flaps that would
make a good-sized yacht.

Its colossal size is going to translate into more comfort for
passengers, with a cabin that is 30cm wider than the 747 cabin but
with the same 10 seats across the width.

Everything about the A380 is audacious, reflecting a "can do" attitude
that has been the hallmark of successful designs in aviation for
decades.

Major sections of the A380 are now rolling off production lines around
Europe, and the first aircraft is due for rollout early in 2005 and
will be delivered to Qantas late in 2006.


Incredibly, 50 per cent of the jet is actually being built in the US,
making the aircraft a truly trans-Atlantic effort.
And in an extraordinary twist, Boeing Australia is building wing
components for the A380.

Key to the A380 is its giant wing, measuring 836sqm, compared with
that of a 747 at 520sqm.

The rationale for the giant wing is to ensure that the A380 can be
stretched to carry more passengers, plus it is instrumental in meeting
the requirement of reaching a cruising altitude of 35,000ft (10,668m)
within just 370km or 30 minutes after take-off.

Four A380s will be involved in the flight test program and one will be
tested to destruction in what looks like a medieval torture chamber.

In a typical rig, there are up to 100 hydraulic actuators to apply
stress to the aircraft and 4500 gauges to measure the effect of the
stress. The A380 will be put through 120,000 simulated flights -- or
double the aircraft's expected life cycle.

Each flight lasts about five minutes and the fuselage is pumped with
air to a pressure of 8.6 pounds per square inch. The flight consists
of taxiing, climbing, cabin pressurisation and depressurisation,
descending and landing. For the flight test aircraft one of the most
impressive tests is the rejected take-off test.

The A380 will be loaded to its maximum take-off weight of 560,000kg
and brought up to take-off speed. Without using reverse thrust, the
pilot must bring it to a stop using brakes only.

To add to the difficulty of the test, the A380's carbon brakes will be
degraded to the point of replacement, and after stopping, the brakes
will be so hot they will glow red - but no action can be taken for
five minutes, representing the time taken to get emergency vehicles to
the aircraft.

When the final tests are complete, the fleet of four A380s will
complete more than 7000 flight hours and more than 5000 flight cycles.
The aircraft will have to demonstrate compliance with 4800
regulations.

Typically each aircraft will be fitted with more than 20 racks of
computers that weigh 15,422kg and gather more than 50,000 different
measurements.

"Flying in on a wing and a flair"..... who could it be............believe it
or not it's just me............

The Greatest American Hero..........remember that show and the song?

Kenny

"taqai" wrote in message
m...
By Geoffrey Thomas
April 02, 2004

SEEING is believing, and the giant 555-seat Airbus A380 jet is awesome
- and it is now coming together.
SNIP
Incredibly, 50 per cent of the jet is actually being built in the US,
making the aircraft a truly trans-Atlantic effort.
And in an extraordinary twist, Boeing Australia is building wing
components for the A380.

Is the 50% only the versions with GE/Pratt engines? About half the planes
are expected to have Rolls engines which have far less US content (in
value). The first Rolls engine in now in Toulouse. The GE/Pratt consortium
is not that far along.

taqai wrote:
By Geoffrey Thomas
April 02, 2004

SEEING is believing, and the giant 555-seat Airbus A380 jet is awesome
- and it is now coming together.


snipped

Its colossal size is going to translate into more comfort for
passengers, with a cabin that is 30cm wider than the 747 cabin but
with the same 10 seats across the width.

How long will it be until they cut seat widths and add an 11th seat
accross? That would translate to more passengers, probably well over
600 per flight, and that in turn would translate to more revenue from
ticket sales which in turn means more money for the airlines.

It sure seems that money is all that really matters to airlines, so my
bet is 14 months after the initial release of the plane before the
A380-600 comes out with 11 seats accross and less room per passenger
than a 747.


snipped

Adam Weiss wrote:
How long will it be until they cut seat widths and add an 11th seat
accross?

Airbus had mentioned that they had added just enough width for additional
comfort without giving incentive to add another seat. Also, with current
trends of removing and reducing the upper class (First/Business), my guess is
that they will just need to remove a few rows of first class to add the extra
coach seats they need.

Also, and perhaps more importantly, right now, it is way too early to
speculate since we don't know if the beast will fly like the Spruce Goose, or
if it will truly provide excellent performance. It could very well be that
they just won't be sufficient performance to put more than 555 pax.

bet is 14 months after the initial release of the plane before the
A380-600 comes out with 11 seats accross and less room per passenger
than a 747.

Another issue is that of emergency exits. It will be very interesting to see
how the certification authorities like FAA, JAA, CAA design the evacuation
tests. Will the grand staircase in the front and skmaller staircase in the
back be allowed during emergency exit tests, or only the actual exits on each
deck ? (eg: upper deck pax must exit only from upper deck doors).

Remember that in a crash, the front section of the plane may be damaged, and
the tail may fall off, making both staircases unusable.

One last aspect: For the foreseable future, 550 pax per plane is about the max
an airline could fill anyways, except for special circumstances such as the
Haj in the middle east.

"taqai" wrote in message
m...
Its colossal size is going to translate into more comfort for
passengers, with a cabin that is 30cm wider than the 747 cabin but
with the same 10 seats across the width.

I couldn't help but note that "30 cm" is just a bit under 1 foot -
and when that extra width is split amongst 10 seats (with
who knows how much going in to wider aisles - hopefully
SOME), the best that the passenger can hope for is about
an inch of extra hiproom. That may or may not be better than
what you get in the 747 - it will be up to the design of the
seats. Either way, it is hardly a "colossal" change in size.

Bob M.

Bob Myers wrote:
I couldn't help but note that "30 cm" is just a bit under 1 foot -
and when that extra width is split amongst 10 seats (with
who knows how much going in to wider aisles - hopefully
SOME), the best that the passenger can hope for is about
an inch of extra hiproom.


Well, it is much simpler is you stay metric. 30cm divided between 10 seats is
3cm per seat.
3cm is actuall a significant distance for seat width.

Note however that most of this extra width will be used by having armrests for
each seats (no shared armrests). Although personally, I'd rather have extra
width than armrest.

(taqai) wrote:

Incredibly, 50 per cent of the jet is actually being built in the US,
making the aircraft a truly trans-Atlantic effort.

I hate quotes like this. 50% by cost? 50% by weight? 50% by volume? 50% by area?

I suspect it is by cost and the only way they get numbers like that is to
include GE engines, which will not be the only engine available...

nobody muttered....

Bob Myers wrote:
I couldn't help but note that "30 cm" is just a bit under 1 foot -
and when that extra width is split amongst 10 seats (with
who knows how much going in to wider aisles - hopefully
SOME), the best that the passenger can hope for is about
an inch of extra hiproom.


Well, it is much simpler is you stay metric. 30cm divided between 10
seats is 3cm per seat.
3cm is actuall a significant distance for seat width.

Note however that most of this extra width will be used by having
armrests for each seats (no shared armrests). Although personally, I'd
rather have extra width than armrest.

Let's see the math again....

30 extra cms, 10 seats, 3 extra cms per seat, to those of us unwashed non-
metricalisques, and extra 1.25+/- inches per seat, into which they're going
to cram an individual armrest for each seat....

You've got to be kidding, or the folks at Airbus have been chewing some of
the strange little desert buds again.

Now I know why the Asian airlines are ordering them. Those liddle Asian
pipples will fit in the seats on those 32 hour flights. AA couldn't
possible operate the a/c. There's not enough space in the jetways for that
many Bistro Bag carts.

TMO

On Sat, 03 Apr 2004 08:43:04 -0600, Olivers
wrote:

nobody muttered....

Bob Myers wrote:
I couldn't help but note that "30 cm" is just a bit under 1 foot -
and when that extra width is split amongst 10 seats (with
who knows how much going in to wider aisles - hopefully
SOME), the best that the passenger can hope for is about
an inch of extra hiproom.


Well, it is much simpler is you stay metric. 30cm divided between 10
seats is 3cm per seat.
3cm is actuall a significant distance for seat width.

Note however that most of this extra width will be used by having
armrests for each seats (no shared armrests). Although personally, I'd
rather have extra width than armrest.

Let's see the math again....

30 extra cms, 10 seats, 3 extra cms per seat, to those of us unwashed non-
metricalisques, and extra 1.25+/- inches per seat, into which they're going
to cram an individual armrest for each seat....


Not quite. They don't have an extra 3cm per seat in which to cram an
individual armrest for each seat, they have an extra 3cm per seat in
which to cram 0.7 individual armrests.

The maths is:

30cm / 7 extra armrests = near enough 4.3cm per armrest.
--==++AJC++==--