Posted on 03/18/2007 11:15:23 PM PDT by STARWISE
It may trail the historic impact of Charles Lindbergh's 1927 solo flight across the Atlantic, but the Spirit of St. Louis also did not have a wingspan wider than a football field or space for more than 500 passengers.
For plane builder Airbus and German airline Lufthansa AG, the A380's first flight to North America on Monday is a chance to show off the superjumbo to potential U.S. buyers and to the airports they hope will be flight bases for the double-decker jet.
"We're talking about an airplane that is representing aviation in the 21st century in terms of efficiency," said Jens Bischoff, Lufthansa's vice president for the Americas.
For Airbus, which has been beset by management and financial crises—including a two-year delay to the A380 that wiped more than $6.61 billion off profit forecasts—...
snip
"If I were to compare it to driving, you would think this would be like driving a truck or a bus," he said inside the plane's cockpit. "It's like driving a Ferrari."
The air show Monday begins at Frankfurt International Airport, when the 239-foot-long plane takes off as Lufthansa Flight 8940 at 9 a.m. (4 a.m. EDT) for the eight-hour flight to New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport.
Onboard will be 550 people, including four pilots, four Airbus crew members, 23 Lufthansa cabin crew and 519 passengers, mostly Airbus and Lufthansa employees along with some reporters.
snip
After the inaugural run, Lufthansa and Airbus will operate a demonstration flight to Chicago's O'Hare International Airport on Tuesday before returning to New York and then to Frankfurt.
snip
The A380, which burns about one gallon of gas per passenger every 80 miles and can fly some 8,000 nautical miles, can seat as many as 550 passengers.
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
Has Al Gore approved of this flight? Lufthansa may have to pay his company for carbon offsets...
I am going to watch it come in tomorrow at LAX. It should be fun if it's tail doesn't fall off.
Regards.
That should be fun. Ping me to your report.
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Wings ping!
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I would be glad to.
Regards.
AF or BA? I believe AF's maiden voyage was to Rio.
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You had better have a portable TV with you or some very long range binoculars. As I read it, the two airports to be visited by the flying white elephant on its visit to the US are JFK and ORD.
I was in Iceland in November and I watched this aircraft fly into Kef and land on with a 50 kt crosswind. I had just landed my aircraft in the morning after 3 passes with a 35 kt crosswind (and 2 inches of ice on the runway)and thought I was the cock of the walk. I must admit, I was impressed.
Typical Europeans. I don't see ONE cupholder in the cockpit..
That's why there are copilots. Duh!
How many tons of fuel will it dump before landing wait what smog problem.
After ORD and JFK, it goes back to Europe, then Hong Kong, then LAX from the west sometime next week, IIRC.
2 A380s arriving at their destinations(JFK/LAX)around 12:30pm today.
This plane is a terrorist's best friend.
Let us not mention Titanic or Hindenburg on this solemn occasion.
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