Airbus A380 Super Jumbo Flying Titanic Set For Maiden Flight (10:30 AM Paris Time)

ATS Swiss News Agency | April 27, 2005

[HAL9000]

France: first take-off for the A380 Airbus

Toulouse-blagnac - the Airbus A380, the giant plane of the European manufacturer, should take its first take-off of Toulouse-Blagnac this morning. Larger apparatus of line of the world, it is able to transport between 555 and 800 passengers according to the versions.

The flight will not take place, towards 10h30, only if the visibility is perfect and that if the wind is not violent. The takeoff of A380, the most critical phase of the flight, is in addition interdict in direction of the town of Toulouse.

The Toulouse factories of Airbus and the registered office of the European manufacturer will stop their activities to allow the some 12 000 paid present to be pilot takeoff of their "child". Elsewhere in France and Europe, the teams of Airbus will be able to observe the flight on screens or Internet site of the manufacturer.

With the accesses of the airport one counted already Tuesday evening of the hundreds of vehicles, in particular of the camp-site bus sometimes come by far, parked with the accesses of the tracks not to lose a crumb of the spectacle. Nearly 50 000 people on the whole are waited around the site to admire takeoff. The flight should last a few hours, in direction of the Pyrenees.

[Central Scrutiniser]

Well, no one in the US flies DC10's anymore, save for a few charter companies, NW and HA have a bunch being chopped up. ATA still has a few L1011's for military charters, but they are very rare now. A new airline in Thailand has two of Delta's.

NW is retiring their DC9's like crazy, and HA got rid of theirs , Air Tran has dumped theirs and Midwest will soon. My old airline got rid of the 737-200.

Lots of plane types are disapearing! Even the 747-200 and -300 are rare sights.

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

Also the gear may not be ready. Raising and lowering the gear for alignment is one of the most intensive production steps, but as long as it's locked down it's OK for a test flight.

[BigSkyFreeper]

747-300's used to be commonplace! The 747 of course was the standardbearer and workhorse of the skies for decades.

[Central Scrutiniser]

Never flew Aeroflot! I did it on Czechoslovak, and Malev Hungarian, no way I would fly Aeroflot back in the 80's! But I did fly EgyptAir 6 months before the dive on the same route, crappy airline, no beer! (I took TWA home, they gave me lots of beer!)

[boris]

They make damned fine airplanes...while the tail fins stay on...

[BigSkyFreeper]

Yep. This is true. They did retract the nosegear, if only momentarily on roll during takeoff, but I noticed once they left the vicinity of the airport they dropped the nosegear back down, which was probably part of the test process.

[Central Scrutiniser]

I posted a thread a few weeks ago about a very unsafe airline that is flying the -200, and may end up crashing one, there are some startups in Asia now that are a bit dodgy (Orient Thai, Thai Sky, Phuket Air).

[BigSkyFreeper]

I had a can of beer on a PHX to MSP flight one time, savored it, as it was $5. LOL!

[onyx]

Good night, Sky Pilots.

The 7 minute 30 second rendition.
It's the best.

[Bon mots]

I wouldn't fly on one. Every sicko wackjob Islamist will have this albatross in his sights. Fly something smaller.

Besides, I already feel like a sardine on an aircraft, I can't imagine cramming into one of these giant monstrosities.

I'm sorry Boeing dropped its plans for the high speed plane. That business case makes a lot more sense. I can spend less time on a plane, and not spend the same amount of time on a bigger one.

[BigSkyFreeper]

Three years ago, I flew out of Minot on a DC-9 that only got about 15 minutes out, when they had to turn it around to land because part of the tail wing had fallen off. Spent the night in a hotel next to the airport for a 4:30am flight out on another DC-9 for a 4 week vacation in PHX visiting my brother. Came back to Minot and that plane that lost part of the tail wing was still sitting on the ramp.

[BigSkyFreeper]

LOL! Good night! Just don't start dancing on the drink cart!

[KneelBeforeZod]

I flew Egypt Air from Luxor to Cairo. They had two flights going out on 737s or something... but at the last minute reticked everyone and stuffed us on a 747.

Airport shared space with a military base...so of course I had to take a picture of the sign that said "PHOTOGRAPHY STRICTLY FORBIDDEN"

Without FAA rules about--anything, I'd guess-- the pilot took off and then pulled a HUGE banked turn within what seemed like 60 seconds of taking off. It was a pretty good thrill, we were still low enough that your average house would have completely filled up the view from the window.

Not much out there, namely cranky residents with houses 200 yards from the runway to complain about noise...

Good times...

[BigSkyFreeper]

Steep turns and the roar of the speed brakes are the biggest thrills for me! I love take off and landings and a window seat right on the wing.

[onyx]

No, no, no.
NO dancing. I't s a SAD song of loss.
SAD is what I want right now.

[ProudVet77]

Toulouse - that's not a location, it's how tight the bolts and rivets are.

[BigSkyFreeper]

Oh! Of course! I have the song also! :)

[BigSkyFreeper]

I wonder why they flew out of Toulouse instead of de Gaulle. My first thought was that Charles de Gaulle Airport must not have been adequately equipped for the A380.

[Finalapproach29er]

Was in a DC-3 at a airshow last year. Unbelievable how small it is. But, it did have an aisle for stewardesses!

At the same airshow, I met one of Doolittles raiders- the honor of my life.

[Moose4]

Toulouse is where Airbus's final assembly plant for the 380 is. So that's why they're using it; it's like Boeing flying maiden flights out of Everett.

I'm no huge fan of Airbus, but I think it's great that this beast is finally flying. It's a huge technological achievement if nothing else. And I'd love to be there in person to see the monster fly.

}:-)4