Airbus A380 a bit too superjumbo

Seattle Post-Intelligencer ^ | Saturday, October 28, 2006 | JAMES WALLACE

[TheBattman]

and building the biggest plane in the universe, despite the fact that there just isn't a market for it.

Actually, there is a market for the super-mega-jumbo plane. The market just isn't big enough to ever result in a tangible profit (or maybe even to pay the development costs).

[Centurion2000]

To make it cheap, a fiber to gigabit Ethernet bridge at each aisle, and do gigabit through the whole row of seats (otherwise you're essentially putting a fiber card in each seat, very expensive).

SWEET .... hackers will OWN that all the passengers' data as it moves around that bus environment :)

Hope your VPN client is strong.

[nickcarraway]

How many planes is Emirates still ordering from Airbus, after they cancelled that huge order?

[Central Scrutiniser]

Just ignorance from folks that probably have never even had a passport.

[Diplomat]

Another bitter evolutionist coming to tell us that our exercise in free speech is "typical crap." Wyle E. Coyote, is that you?

If only I were as smart as you, then I too might be amazed that FreeRepublicans are bashing Euros on an Airbus thread. But alas, I am not, so I expected it.

It's not like a dozen or so of us haven't been predicting all along that this bird was coming in way overweight; and that this is the true reason they are having so much trouble delivering this plane.

We shall see if Airbus or a customer confirms this report.

[Central Scrutiniser]

Oh, so you bring evolution into it?

Geezzzz get a life.

Just noting that the discourse here regarding Airbus vs Boeing is downright silly, and usually ignorant.

[antiRepublicrat]

SWEET .... hackers will OWN

This is just for the in-flight entertainment. OTOH, if they decide to bill your credit card to watch any decent movies, you bet there'll be a hack for free stuff.

[CodeMasterPhilzar]

It has been a while since my material science courses but... Doesn't Al have a higher coefficient of thermal expansion? Not good for something that is going to be thermally cycled a lot. Could end up with fatigue in the wires, resulting in cracks. That means a choke point for current...localized heating... etc.

Also, if I remember correctly, a big part of the problem with house wiring was corrosion and electrolytic effects where Al met dissimilar metals. (eg. copper/steel) Here again, corrosion reduces the current carrying capacity resulting in heating...

Seems to me that they went the wrong way. You can move the same (or more) power down a wire, or reduce the wire size, by upping the voltage. Volts x amps = watts... Bump up the voltage, put your copper wires on a diet. Sure, it means extra insulation (insulation is light by comparison though) and redesigning some of the downstream circuitry to deal with the higher voltage... But that sounds better to me than risky Al wiring...

[CodeMasterPhilzar]

Ha! Even if they rip out 55 seats and re-distribute the space I'll bet it is still far more cramped than a Boeing. I'm an average sized guy, only 5-9 and not overweight. Yet I have never been comfortable in an Airbus. I don't plan on ever flying in one again.