Airbus so far a success.

Ken_8

The Trip-7?

Jaye and I flew on a 777 to Beijing and a 747 back. Back where the "common folk" stay, the 17 hour flight on the 777 was the far better ride/seat.

The NOVA special on how computer modeling saved a fortune in staged, mock-up designs, creation and manufacturing costs, was impressive. I believe Boeing stated it was the frist time in history that any plane was conceived, designed and tested, built and delivered on time and within budget in the history of aviation - mostly done on computers.

So far, the plane seems to have a stirling record of economy of fuel use, safety and comfort. Time will tell.



<A HREF="http://www.heatinghelp.com/getListed.cfm?id=68&Step=30">To Learn More About This Professional, Click Here to Visit Their Ad in "Find A Professional"</A>

singh

From fuel efficient boilers to fuel efficient GIGANTIC airplanes!
What will those Eurpoeans think of next.

It can carry 555 passengers , uses 13% less fuel than a 747 and can go 8000 miles.

Now if they can only find a airport to land the thing. ; )

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/04/27/airbus.launch/index.html

Gordy

Airports

I watched a show on the build for the airbus monster. Be a few versions of the ship in the air. Any airports will need to upgrade runways to recieve the beast. I wonder how long to board and unboard this plane. Engine testing is quite amazing also they run them through the mill. If that bahemeth would of hit the trade center there would have been no waiting for the building to hit the ground.

Unknown

I saw that show

also. If my memory serves me right, many of the components are being made at other facilities and trucked through the countryside at night to their final assembly point.In one village the trucks and their loads barely fit through the streets with only inches between them and houses. The technology behind it is truly amazing.

Glenn Stanton

Manager of Training

Burnham Hydronics

www.burnham.com

jeff_51

I find it interesting

American companys are going to larger numbers of smaller planes while the Europeans are building huge planes. Wonder who is going to be proven right on this one?

Robert O'Connor_7

Wow!

Thats a big plane.

Robert O'Connor/NJ

Mark Hunt

Big plane is right!


Where they goin?

Mark H

To Learn More About This Professional, Click Here to Visit Their Ad in "Find A Professional"

Gordy

They will come

One thing I recall from the show. Airbus went out on a limb with this baby. They designed,built it, and hopefully sell it. Lots RD dollars spent. Some future versions will have some shops,casinos,spas for the long hops, I presume when they sell enough of them. I believe the show indicated LAX was already going to up grade runways/ terminals for it.

Ever since 9/11 american airline companies have concentrated on the small hops, versus trans continental travel thus smaller and more planes.

Its amazing how far air travel has come since the Wright Bros. I think things we don't know about with govt. RD will blow our minds. The SR71 is still the fastest plane, and it was developed in the early 60's. I'm sure alot of the so called UFO sightings are explainable, just not ready to reveal things yet.

Gordy

Bob_41

>> Now if they can only find a airport to land the thing. <<

Landing is not the problem .... some taxiways are to narrow and there are no "gates" that can handle 4+ jetways to onload/offload passengers. The $$$ cost for airports to upgrade facilities will be very high. These will be used for mostly trans-oceanic flights. Also look at the downstream problems like baggae claim and immigration ... the lines will be longgggggg!

Needless to say they won't be competing with Southwest.

Bob

BillW@honeywell

The next in a series...

The first big plane I remember was the B36, that 6 prop, 4 jet monster from the 1950's, then the grand old BUFF(B52), the whole Galaxy and Starlifter series cargo planes, that Russian behemoth cargo plane, then the 747, now this. Truly amazing technology; that thing looks like Rhode Island with wings!

csmclean

A380

Anyone know if they've done evacuation tests on the thing yet?

It is interestting that Airbus has gone out on a limb with this one; Boeing decided not to get into the megaplane race some years ago. Wonder if they're reconsidering now?

Boeing went out on its own limb in the mid-1960s w/ the 747; some execs predicted it would only sell about 300 copies. Last count that I know of: 1100+, although the 777 is being bought as a 747 replacer in many cases. The new "Dreamliner" is drawing quite a few orders, too...

Craig

EJW

Make that 800 passengers Singh

Dean_7

Question

The technology is truely amazing but what happens if and when one of these monsters crashes. How many lives will be lost on the plane and what kind of damage will be done on the ground? Look at Locherbie Scotland when the Pan AM 747 crashed.Granted that was due to a bomb. And that brings up another question. What kind of target will these planes be for those interested only in killing, mayhem, and destruction. Just wondering.

Joe Brix

With the state that airlines are in now

I wonder how many could afford this plane. Nice having the whole Euro union backing the cost of developmnet while Boeing has to go it alone. The Jet industry has done nothing since the 60's since the 747 and Concorde. Really sad that all the other companies have closed down and there's still no replacement SST project in the works. Other then maybe more fuel efficent engines, there's been no progress.

eleft_4

Gordy

Crash

When she augers in, she augers in. Just like any other plane,cruise ship, air ship, train. Just pray your not on it, or its not your neighbor hood it crashes in!

Gordy

The mind set

I believe the mind set of the airline is to transport as many passengers in one plane, rather than two FUEL being the killer here. Less planes moving the same amount of people.