Posted on 04/27/2005 4:25:29 AM PDT by wingblade
BLAGNAC, France - The world's largest passenger plane, the Airbus A380, successfully took off on its maiden flight Wednesday, a milestone for aviation and for the European aircraft-maker's battle with American rival Boeing Co.
The giant plane's four engines hauled its double-decked, 308-ton fuselage aloft at 10:29 a.m., an achievement watched by thousands of spectators 101 years after the Wright brothers' first flight.
The plane was carrying a crew of six and 22 tons of on-board test instruments. Its first flight was expected to last about four hours.
"The takeoff went perfectly," Alain Garcia, an Airbus engineering executive, said on LCI television.
The plane was likely to stay within 100 miles of the airport in Blagnac, a suburb of Toulouse in southwest France. It was beaming back real-time measurements to Airbus headquarters at Blagnac.
There were cheers and applause as the white jet with a blue tail — its engines surprisingly quiet — picked up speed down the runway and lifted smoothly into the blue skies. Fire trucks were stationed alongside the runway as a precaution.
Airbus chief test pilot Jacques Rosay, flight captain Claude Lelaie and four crew members — who all wore orange flight suits — were taking no chances. Airbus had said they would be wearing parachutes during the first flight, in accordance with company policy. A handrail leads from the cockpit to an escape door that can be jettisoned if the pilots lose control of the plane.
The flight capped 11 years of preparation and $13 billion in spending. Spectators camped out by the airport to be there for what some said was Europe's biggest aviation event since the first flight of the supersonic Concorde in 1969.
The A380, with a catalogue price of $282 million, represents a huge bet by Airbus that international airlines will need bigger aircraft to transport passengers between ever-busier hub airports.
But some analysts say signs of a boom in the market for smaller wide-body planes, such as Boeing's long-range 787 "Dreamliner," show that Airbus was wrong to focus so much time and money on its superjumbo.
The president of Boeing's French subsidiary, Yves Galland, said he watched the televised takeoff and "shared the emotion of the people of Airbus."
But, speaking on LCI television, he also reiterated Boeing's argument that Airbus has overestimated the market for jumbo jets, which he called "quite weak."
"We don't have the same analysis of the market as Airbus," he said.
Just this week, Air Canada said it had firm orders for 32 new Boeing jets, including 14 787s, with a list value of about $6 billion, and Air India announced plans to order 50 Boeing jets worth $6.8 billion. Air India wants 27 of the 787s, which will carry up to 257 passengers and have a list price of $120 million, boosting total orders and commitments for the plane to 237. The 787, which was launched a year ago, is scheduled to enter service in 2008.
So far, Airbus has booked 154 orders for the A380, which it says will carry passengers 5 percent farther than Boeing's longest-range 747 jumbo at a per-passenger cost up to one-fifth below its rival's.
But Airbus has yet to prove that it can turn a profit on its superjumbo investment, a third of which came from came from European governments.
Airbus, a unit of European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co., is also planning to bring its own mid-sized jetliner, the A350, into service in 2010 — two years after the Boeing 787.
Aviation experts say risks were very slim on the A380 maiden test flight since a plane's aerodynamic characteristics are already well known before it takes off, thanks to years of computer modeling and wind-tunnel tests.
Problems are more likely, but still very rare, later in the test-flight program, when the pilots deliberately take the plane to its limits. An Airbus A330 prototype crashed here in July 1994, killing chief test pilot Nick Warner and six others as they conducted a simulated engine failure exercise.
The test-flight program is likely to finish before the A380 enters service for Singapore Airlines in mid-2006, Airbus said — about three months behind the previous schedule.
Part of the delay is down to the superjumbo's struggle with a weight problem that consumed months of engineering time and most of the program's $1.88 billion in cost overruns. Competitive pressure on airlines to offer plusher business-class seating tightened the squeeze — compounded by the A380's sheer scale.
Have the wings fallen off yet?
Bigger is better - regardless of what the women are telling you. They are lieing.
"Airbus had said they would be wearing parachutes during the first flight, in accordance with company policy. A handrail leads from the cockpit to an escape door that can be jettisoned if the pilots lose control of the plane."
Good idea!
"So far, Airbus has booked 154 orders for the A380, which it says will carry passengers 5 percent farther than Boeing's longest-range 747 jumbo at a per-passenger cost up to one-fifth below its rival's."
Looks like the 747 is toast.
Is my mind not working correctly this morning?
When you factor in new runway/taxiway/jetway coonstruction, those costs are going to balloon. Besides, I doubt AP has heard of the 747 Advanced.
They should also be standard equipment for the passengers :lol: .
LQ, who nearly lost a friend to a problem with a "Flying Cheesemobile"
Where's the bowling alley and pool? Seriously, I think the deal breaker with this plane is going to be airport infrastructure. One version of this can carry more than 800 passengers.Imagine the strain of baggage, customs, etc. When more than one of these shows up at a given airport at the same time. Concourse gridlock fer sure. When the 747 came along many airports had to modify or expand their infrastructure to accomodate the increased # of passengers. Will the airports be willing to do this for the airbus? Who knows, maybe they will , maybe they won't.
I think it still has a future as a cargo ship, but as a passenger hauler? I'm not sure.
I hope it isn't the same foam that was on the older shuttle fuel tanks.
Ooooooooooooo It has a bar!!
Takeoff and flight were successful, but how was the landing? LOL
"Foam Construction Rudder"????
You fly it!
I'm going Boeing, or I'm not going.
I wonder what it was like for the audience to watch a white elephant fly?
Is that a real picture/diagram or sarcasm?
FedEx has eight of them on order. First delivery in 2008.
Boeing has announced a follow on to the 747-400 and is generating interest from airlines. Meanwhile, the 787 is cleaning up on orders. Boeing is far from toast.
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