Compared to 747?
Posted on 01/28/2009 3:49:35 PM PST by decimon
LOS ANGELES — Every time Qantas lands one of its giant Airbus A380s at Los Angeles International Airport, parts of the nation's fourth-busiest airport come to a halt.
Service roads, taxiways and runways must be closed to airfield trucks, cars and other commercial aircraft as the world's largest passenger plane — with wings almost as long as a football field — arrives, departs and taxis with an official escort of operations vehicles.
The plane is so immense that air traffic controllers give it priority so it doesn't have to wait for takeoff at the end of the southern runways in cloudy or foggy weather because it can disrupt radio signals from the airport's instrument-landing system.
(Excerpt) Read more at seattletimes.nwsource.com ...
Ping.
Compared to 747?
I have a large skylight above my bed and most of the flights landing at LAX pass directly over on the way before turning around inland. They are just high enough still that there’s very little noise but they sure are beautiful to watch.
The jumbos are the most fun.
Dulles Hoping to See A380 Service by 2010
Officials at Washington Dulles International Airport say they could begin receiving regular calls from the world’s largest passenger airliner within about 18 months.
“We have had conversations with Air France about having the [Airbus] A380 at Dulles in 2010, but there is no schedule announcement from Air France yet,” said Tara Hamilton, a spokesman for the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, which runs Dulles and Ronald Reagan Washington National airports.
Dulles officials have long been preparing for the arrival of the A380, which can seat more than 500 passengers on two decks, surpassing the passenger capability of the venerable Boeing 747.
Air France has ordered a dozen A380 aircraft, with several additional options. The first delivery of the aircraft is slated to begin later this year. The airline, which has operated a large fleet of 747s, plans to phase out that aircraft, replacing it with A380s and Boeing 777s by 2012.
Currently, Air France flies one daily flight and one four-days-per-week flight between Dulles and Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, using 777s. In the 12 months ending in December, it carried 364,000 passengers through Dulles.
The 3,900-mile trip from Washington to Paris will be a snap for the A380, which has a maximum range of more than twice that distance.
From the early planning stages, both Air France and Lufthansa were seen as possible operators of the superjumbos at Dulles. Lufthansa has ordered 15 A380s, and expects to begin its operation of the aircraft by the end of the year. It has not announced any plans to serve Dulles.
In March 2007, Airbus brought an A380 to Dulles to showcase it to airport officials and the media. No U.S. airlines have yet ordered the aircraft for passenger service.
http://www.sungazette.net/articles/2009/01/28/fairfax/news/fe990.txt
According to your graphic...No, it isn’t.
That's nothing! My wife's so big the S.S. Valdez yields her right of way!
Why, I'm tellin' ya....
My wife and I used to take our kids down to Dockweller Beach. The aircraft would take off overhead, and the kids used to get a kick out of it. I liked seeing them too. On most days, the takeoffs of the large aircraft weren’t too frequent. It seemed like they went off in spells. Then it would be quite for a while, and then a few more would take off.
That’s really cool....
It’s wrong to be French or buy their products.
I guess that extra wing length is the problem. It really doesn’t look all that much bigger, but then the 747 is already a massive aircraft.
“Boeing lays off 10,000 enployees - 2009”
You used to be able to park across a road from JFK to watch them land over your head. A 747 at night was impressive.
That’s cool. During the summer I sometimes lay on the trampoline and watch planes coming in.
That sounds swell! I’m a tad jealous.
I fly out of Dulles (IAD) and am not looking forward to this.
A bunch of 380’s arrive at the same time (or nearly so) and the zoo that is passport control becomes a huge, nasty, hours long nightmare because you can bet the CBP is not planning anymore hires to help process all those extra passengers. Also, the scheduling mess that follows is something no one has considered; i.e., connections from arriving international flights can be close, and now with the impending clog in passport control, this means a lot more missed connections and/or slipping of connection flights, meaning lost time and increased cost.
Yuck.
LOL
In a typical three class international configuration, an A380 carries 525 passengers, while a 747-400 carries 416 passengers.
The arrival of a bunch of either aircraft at the same time is likely to cause long lines.
“The plane is so immense that air traffic controllers give it priority so it doesn’t have to wait for takeoff at the end of the southern runways in cloudy or foggy weather because it can disrupt radio signals from the airport’s instrument-landing system.
Any aircraft can do this, that’s why there is an ILS hold line outside the runway hold line for when the weather is less that 800’ ceiling/2 miles visibility.
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