A380...she's almost ready...
 

The first white tail is almost ready for rollout:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1105376039.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1105376066.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1105376086.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1105376108.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1105376125.jpg

What is that??
the replacement for the aging 747?? :)

No,

Its Airbus's mega jumbo. Large than a 747 in pax number terms etc. And so it will be a competitor.

Max up to 900 or so (!).


That's the first flying airframe being prepared for a March rollout.

It is already painted in Airbus's new in-house colours.

My guess is an Airbus.

My big question is how in the world are they going to get all those people out of the plane in the required time in the event of an accident???

May be a nice jet but I do not really want to be cooped up in anything for 18 hours on a non-stop flight, especially in "sardine" config...

JoeA

Airbus is the European, multi-state-sponsored competitor to Boeing.

The Final assembly is done in Toulouse, France.

Aurel

Joe,

There three emergency exits/doors per side per level....plus some damn long slides.

Agreed on the sadines.

Aurel,

Final assembly of the big Airbuses is at Toulouse, the small ones (A318- A321) are assembled in Germany.

This plane and others like it comming soon are a result of the "hub" system being maintained.

NASA is in charge of our hub system and saw problems with it long ago, some of them you guys have already mentioned. Anyway here is a good book on that topic.

Free Flight: James Fallows's Vision of General Aviation's Future
http://www.avweb.com/news/reviews/181837-1.html

This is one of the small planes which might be the better alternative to the super planes.

http://www.eclipseaviation.com/

I bet it is more comfortable than this with wife and two kids and a weeks worth of camping gear for 3 1/2 hrs on a hot day!!

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1105381970.jpg

Possibly so Tim,

But it ain't really flying....

I'd take a ride in Tims bird over the A380 anyday!

That has an ugly line. Bring back the 707!

It is fun for about a half hour, then it gets boring and slow (125 mph). I wish I could afford a twin, but then I would need a bigger twin, then I would need a turbo twin, then I would need... etc etc..

Airspeed is like money and horsepower you always want more!!

When I said ugly, I meant the A380...

A380: Kills more per crash or your money back!!!

Thats a big ass plane!!

You think that's ugly?!?!

Just wait until you lay your eyes on the Large Cargo Freighter I'm working on right now. Picture chopping the top and tail off of a 747 and adding a huge bonnett. Reattach the tail with a couple of gigantic hinges and call it good...the plane will be used to fly 7E7 fuselage sections around the globe.

It's not ugly...it's fugly!:cool:

Big can be beautiful.

http://www.twitt.org/BWBBowers.html
The Blended Wing Body (BWB) is being considered as the next generation commercial airliner. The trend is towards larger aircraft that can carry more people, economically while reducing the number of operations from airports.

http://www.dfrc.nasa.gov/Newsroom/X-Press/2000/Nov30/roundart4.html

http://aero.stanford.edu/BWBProject.html

http://oea.larc.nasa.gov/PAIS/BWB.html

http://oea.larc.nasa.gov/PAIS/bwb1.jpg

how does one land something that big? I mean, the laws of physics must be obeyed right? How does it get off the ground?