[LibFreeOrDie]

There's a TV documentary about how they build this thing. Freakin' unbelievable! They built big sections in different countries, then have to haul huge chunks from country A to country B on ships, river barges, and trucks. (The barge just cleared the bridges.) No wonder they can't get any built on time!

http://www.aerospace-technology.com/projects/a380/ :

"A380 aircraft sections will be transported from sites in Broughton (UK), Hamburg (Germany), Puerto Real (Spain) and St Nazaire (France) in a specially constructed huge roll-on/roll-off vessel, the "Ville de Bordeaux", built by Jinling Shipyard in Nanjing, China. The vessel was launched in July 2003 and has the largest water stern door (22m x 14m) ever built on a ro-ro vessel. The vessel will take the components to Bordeaux. From there they will be transported via specially constructed barges up the Garonne River and then transferred by road trailer to the final assembly line in Toulouse."

[flashbunny]

"No wonder they can't get any built on time! "

The main reason would be that it's built by a bunch of socialist weasels.

[monkapotamus]

[hinckley buzzard]

Good grief. How can they pretend to maintain an efficient production schedule when major components are arriving by barge?

[appeal2]

Contrast that to the way boeing is building the 787. They have outfitted special 747's to schlep the sections from country to country and state to state. Much more efficient and fast.