Aerospace Notebook: Expect to see Airbus A380 at Paris show

SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER ^ | Wednesday, March 16, 2005 | JAMES WALLACE

[Chad Fairbanks]

I havn't been on an A330 yet, so I'll withhold judgement on that one, but I agree about the older ones... and the MD-11? Yuck.

I guess I'll wait and see how good of a plane the combined wealth of the european countries can really build ;0)

[Paleo Conservative]

Hopefully it goes better for Airbus than the 1988 one did...

Or Tupolev's appearance in 1974.

[GOP_1900AD]

The problem is, in Asia, there are, for all intents and purposes, mostly JFKs, with DFWs and IAHs (or even smaller places) being the exception. Massive concentration of international operations. Airfields there are either really huge (international) or barely big enough to handle 737s (strictly domestic). Obviously there are excpetions to this rule, however, the way things are here in the US is not the way they are in Asia.

[GOP_1900AD]

Another problem for SFO is that the runway length is marginal for the 380. You can thank green whackos and NIMBYs for that one.

[Centurion2000]

It is flying over its 777-200LR, which Boeing touts as the world's longest-range jetliner

The 777-200LR is doing something that the A380 is not.

I will never understand why there is so much hype for a giant model

[Gunrunner2]

Thanks for the info.

[RayChuang88]

Another problem for SFO is that the runway length is marginal for the 380. You can thank green whackos and NIMBYs for that one.

Actually, SFO just recently finished upgrading their longest runways and associated taxiways (Runway 28 Right/10 Left west-east and Runway 1 Right/19 Left) so it could handle the wider stance and weight of the A380.

[GOP_1900AD]

But the problem is the length (plus the separation, in the case of IFR). There was a grand plan to use landfill to both extend the runways and increase separation. It was shot down by the watermelons (green on the outside, red on the inside). You'll see ... when the time comes for routing, very few if any 380s will actually touch SFO ...

[anonymoussierra]

Thank you!!!!

[Chad Fairbanks]

I thought that was 73? Either way, yeah, that was a minor setback ;0)

[Paleo Conservative]

But the problem is the length (plus the separation, in the case of IFR). There was a grand plan to use landfill to both extend the runways and increase separation.

How do you increase separation of runways that already exist? Doesn't that imply tearing out existing portions of runways?

[GOP_1900AD]

You add a new one, parallel to the two existing ones.

[Psycho_Bunny]

True story: I was never afraid to fly until I moved to Seattle.

I think I was 20 or 21 and had befriended, through my job, a guy who lived a couple blocks from me.  He invites me over to a party one night and at some point someone else who lived in the building started talking to me so I handed him a bong. 

As he's taking a big hit I ask him, "So, what do you do?" and - in that voice that only a stoned person can make when they're trying to hold in their hit and talk at the same time - he says to me, "I'm an engineer at Boeing."

I think I just stared at him. 

I do know that's the only thing I remember about that party.

[GOP_1900AD]

This is the plan that was nixed by the Green Nazis:

[DennisR]

Hey - it will only take an hour to board the plane. So just plan on sitting there for an hour. Read a magazine. Sleep. Play a game.

[DennisR]

So you think all of us Boeing engineers are sitting around at night toking joints? :)

[cmsgop]

I drive by the 777-200LR at Boeing Field everyday :*) Sure is pretty.

On another note the 787 won't be as Swoopy Looking, due to drag I heard.

[Hank Rearden]

What is a winglet?

A little, pink wing.

Like a piglet is a little, pink pig.

Those are winglets on the side of the piglet's head, by the way.

[Gunrunner2]

Yeah. . .and it will take an hour to de-plane as well. Sleep, read a book, play a game, etc.

[Paleo Conservative]

Yeah. . .and it will take an hour to de-plane as well. Sleep, read a book, play a game, etc.

And you'll spend 30-60 minutes waiting in line to take off after the plane leaves the gate.