Airbus 380 not that big!

[Mauifish]

I am at LAX in Los Angeles about to fly to Koh Samui Thailand and the Airbus380 just made it's big arrival here for the first time as I am sure you have all heard in the news. Thousands of curious people looking and taking pictures, news crews everywhere. The A380 is parked not to far from a Boeing 747 and I don't see much difference in size. I heard on the news yesterday that the A380 is the biggest airplane in the world, they must be refering to passenger planes. I have flown on a bigger airplane, a USA military airplane called the C-5 and the Russkies have one bigger than ours, I believe it's called the Anatove, anyway if the A380 is bigger than the B747 it's not by much!

 

[daniel f aleman]

The A380 hauls 555 passengers, flies 15,000 kilometres (8,000 miles - Chicago to Sydney nonstop), and cruises at Mach 0.85 (about 900 km/h or 560 mph). The difference between that and the 747? The 747 hauls 416 passengers, has a 1/4 lower range than the A380 and uses more fuel (at the same speed).

 

[rakkis]

Comparison:
http://larsholst.info/blog/2005/01/20/airbus-a380-vs-boeing-747/

 

[Mauifish]

The A380 hauls 555 passengers, flies 15,000 kilometres (8,000 miles - Chicago to Sydney nonstop), and cruises at Mach 0.85 (about 900 km/h or 560 mph). The difference between that and the 747? The 747 hauls 416 passengers, has a 1/4 lower range than the A380 and use more fuel (at the same speed).

I see you have the specs down and I know you are right and that does make it a great aircraft, never said it wasn't. I am talking about size, the news has been making it sound like the thing is gigantuous!!!

 

[Mauifish]

Comparison:
http://larsholst.info/blog/2005/01/20/airbus-a380-vs-boeing-747/

thanks Rakkis, you are a good man

 

[daniel f aleman]

The A380 does take a longer runway - a 10,000 feet minimum prefered.

 

[Mauifish]

The A380 does take a longer runway - a 10,000 feet minimum prefered.

I can see where that will be a problem in a lot of airports, hope I am not on one if they have to do a dead stick run on landing with a short runway!!

 

[santafejoe]

Sorry folks i am a Boeing Fan they make a better plane anyway. BTW the A 380 is now behind 2 year s in delivery s and they have lost a lot of Order s for the A380 and i hate to say it but they may lose some more,the latest one being from UPS.Dont get me wrong about the 380 but do we really need two huge Jumbo Jet s. The 747 has been around since the mid 60 s and now boeing is starting to produce the new 747 - 8 plus there still making the 747-400.I think Air Bus should of tried to build a Model to compete against the Boeing 787 Dreamliner instead of the 747.

 

[Hoosier]

I don't who is making what.

Cheap airfare, quick, and more leg rooms. That's it....

 

[mike_s]

I can see where that will be a problem in a lot of airports, hope I am not on one if they have to do a dead stick run on landing with a short runway!!

The major advantage of the A380 is that 2nd deck. You can pack a lot more people into that plane.


but back to airports. 10,000 foot or longer runways are not the only problem.

The A380 uses double-decker jetways to load it. Not that many (if any) airports have that yet. So it means upgrades for the airports/airlines.

The MTOW is about 50% higher than the 747. An extra couple hundres thousand pounds might max out the max weight a ramp can handle.


DFW already has a problem with the Boeing 777. it takes up 3 gates because of the wide wingspan. I'm sure the A380 also causes a similar problem many places.


But here's my major concern, in the event of an emergency,
#1. can they control a plane that large and heavy in an inflight emergency?
#2. Can they evacuate 570+ people out of it, assuming it lands safely?

I'm leary to say no on both of these.


BTW... UPS just canceled their A380 orders.