Two hours just to sort through the error messages. What happened to that Airbus A380 (Qantas flight QF32) whose engine caught fire in mid-air between Singapore and Sydney in November 2010? One of the
five crewmembers on the flight deck recounts the story, which centres on airplane computer systems as much as on keeping tons of metal in the air.
[more inside]
posted by joeclark
on Dec 12, 2010 -
40 comments
Mark takes us on the A380 (warning: image heavy) from Dubai to New York with meticulous photographic detail. For $7300 you can fly the
A380 with access to amenities like
showers and a full-service
bar, and stroll down to see the plebs in
steerage. Arguably the last time a flying hotel was tried in earnest was the post-WWII Boeing 377
Stratocruiser, a staple of Pacific routes until jet-powered 707s appeared on the scene.
posted by crapmatic
on Nov 20, 2008 -
90 comments
Bunny versus Airbus A380. The bunny was on the runway as the A380 came in for a landing, but managed to avoid getting pancaked by bolting as the behemoth decelerated. We salute you, Runway Bunny.
posted by brownpau
on Jun 19, 2006 -
146 comments
Everything's bigger in Toulouse. The
world's biggest plane has started rolling off assembly lines and is expected to take its first flight in March 2005. The quarter-billion-dollar, twin-deck, four-aisle plane can carry 555 passengers. Thanks to its design's outsized wings, future versions of the
economical plane may carry as many as 800 passengers.
With the A380,
Airbus hopes to do to Boeing what Boeing did to its competitors over 30 years ago with the 747. Already, Airbus Industrie has
outsold and out-delivered Boeing for the last two years. But don't boycott just yet! It turns out the A380 is
51% American-made. Parts are so big they don't fit in this
whale-like record-size
transporter (though this
Russian monster may have a
claim); they are transported to Toulouse on a
barge.
More pics. Let's hope this latest high-tech aerospace gamble does better than
the last one.
Europe, of course (troll alert), already makes the world's
biggest truck, the
fastest trains, the
best cars (sorry Japan), and the
most successful rocket launchers.
On a darker topic,
10 years ago, French commandos boarded an Airbus and killed Islamic terrorists planning to fly it into the Eiffel Tower.
posted by Turtle
on Dec 26, 2004 -
63 comments