Not much legroom, sadly

November 20, 2013 8:18 AM

At 5 meters long, the Airbus A380 is one of the biggest airplanes of its kind.
posted by Thing (61 comments total)

Holy cats, that's neat. I'm guessing you have take it apart to transport it.
posted by jquinby at 8:27 AM on November 20, 2013

Incredible. How much money is invested in something like that?
posted by Benny Andajetz at 8:28 AM on November 20, 2013

Way cool. Had no idea there were rc planes like that.
posted by davidmsc at 8:29 AM on November 20, 2013

And there's still more leg-room in this one than on a full-sized 737.
posted by blue_beetle at 8:37 AM on November 20, 2013 [8 favorites]

I was waiting to see them land it. I was impressed.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 8:38 AM on November 20, 2013 [2 favorites]

Incredible. How much money is invested in something like that?

Those engines cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $3400.00. Each.
posted by pjern at 8:39 AM on November 20, 2013 [1 favorite]

That's not a model plane. That's a drone.
posted by overhauser at 8:41 AM on November 20, 2013 [7 favorites]

Can't watch the video as I'm in a meeting a work but just a few days ago a friend flew on an A380 in a "suite class" seat on Emirates Airlines. He took a damn shower on the flight.
posted by neuron at 8:53 AM on November 20, 2013

Whoa! That was cool. I'll have to show my daughter, she's nuts for RC flying things (and horses).
posted by Mister_A at 8:54 AM on November 20, 2013

well, that's interesting. it sounds like a real jet but i had assumed that the engines must be electric... they are real turbines?! tres cool.
posted by joeblough at 8:55 AM on November 20, 2013

Get a few little jet engines and strap them to my cat. Jet Cat.
posted by TheRedArmy at 9:00 AM on November 20, 2013 [1 favorite]

I can't shake the feeling that it would attack me if it saw me, like a giant bird of prey.
posted by Metroid Baby at 9:02 AM on November 20, 2013

TheRedArmy: "Get a few little jet engines and strap them to my cat. Jet Cat."

I think Wile E. Coyote tried that. Epic fail.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 9:02 AM on November 20, 2013 [1 favorite]

she's nuts for RC flying things (and horses)

And Bob's your uncle...
posted by HuronBob at 9:04 AM on November 20, 2013 [2 favorites]

LOL. Thanks Uncle HuronBob.
posted by Mister_A at 9:11 AM on November 20, 2013

How many pounds of high explosives could you put inside? Also: I felt relieved when it landed smooth and on target with all of those people standing around. When they show this stuff on the local news it always seems to include crashes and injuries.
posted by bukvich at 9:11 AM on November 20, 2013

Those engines cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $3400.00. Each.

Possibly less if you design and build one yourself

(I have this book. Apparently you grind the turbine blades into the appropriate shapes. Sounds like a fun time...)
posted by indubitable at 9:11 AM on November 20, 2013 [1 favorite]

I'm spoiled on First-Person-Video from RC planes. Why would you fly something so awesome (and expensive) without strapping a camera on it?

I mean, you can fly over a lava field!

And take amazing landscape shots...
posted by anthill at 9:15 AM on November 20, 2013 [3 favorites]

That is seriously impressive. Thanks for the post.
posted by spiderskull at 9:20 AM on November 20, 2013

Okay, at last a reason to be ridiculously rich.
posted by Devils Rancher at 9:26 AM on November 20, 2013

I find RC planes like this to be fascinating, but unfortunately find the A380 to be hideous. I know that exterior aesthetics are not a major selling point for airplanes, but still. Ugh.
posted by Ickster at 9:30 AM on November 20, 2013

Voonderbar!
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 10:02 AM on November 20, 2013

RC planes, like boats, are expensive in proportion to the cube of their length (where length is generally wingspan for planes). I have a 1.2m slope glider here behind me that cost about $250 all told. I don't bother with planes bigger than 2m because they're too hard to transport and too much money. Also, RC planes are notoriously easy to destroy. They are fun though, and that jet is quite impressive.
posted by tylerkaraszewski at 10:05 AM on November 20, 2013

I just flew in a real A380-800 last week. Holy cow.
posted by spitbull at 10:08 AM on November 20, 2013

By which I mean it was awesome, by the way. So smooth. And the one I flew in had cameras mounted nose, belly, and tail, and you could watch them (and swap between them) on the in-seat monitor, along with detailed route maps etc. Loved it.
posted by spitbull at 10:09 AM on November 20, 2013 [2 favorites]

Cool. Always amazed when model makers use real turbines. This seems pretty close to Lego minifig scale too.
posted by ZeusHumms at 10:14 AM on November 20, 2013

Not much legroom, sadly

Tchoh! Room enough for one leg, surely.
posted by chavenet at 10:16 AM on November 20, 2013

At some point the NTSB will be required to investigate when it crashes.
posted by three blind mice at 10:17 AM on November 20, 2013

The Lego NTSB, you mean. (From this incredibly cool site.)
posted by chavenet at 10:19 AM on November 20, 2013 [3 favorites]

There might be some dogs that would like to fly in one of those. Like when they put their heads out of car windows.
posted by colie at 10:28 AM on November 20, 2013

SR-71 in the related-sidebar, looks like same event.
posted by curious nu at 10:35 AM on November 20, 2013 [1 favorite]

Here's the former world champion, a B-52 built by a fellow in the UK...and sadly crashed. Here's it's last fight.
posted by tgrundke at 10:39 AM on November 20, 2013

Wow, that SR-71 was amazing. Short takeoff then straight up and with afterburners yet!
posted by islander at 10:49 AM on November 20, 2013

Awesome.

That Antonov 225/Buran combination in the sidebar is quite cool too.
posted by MartinWisse at 10:53 AM on November 20, 2013 [1 favorite]

Yeah, down the related videos rabbithole.
posted by Devils Rancher at 10:58 AM on November 20, 2013

How much of the lift on these models is coming from the wings and how much are they just a missile that looks like a plane?

I mean... anything will fly if you give it enough beans.
posted by samworm at 11:06 AM on November 20, 2013

What's eerie abut that model B-52 crash is that the way it falls out the sky is not dissimilar to what happened at Fairchild airbase in 1994 when a B-52 banked too hard and crashed.
posted by MuffinMan at 11:19 AM on November 20, 2013 [1 favorite]

I thought the same thing. There's another crash very like that Fairchild one that I just saw the other day. But, really, even with the model they all look similar because it's the same problem, isn't it? Too low for a tight turn, losing lift and altitude and an unrecoverable stall.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 11:23 AM on November 20, 2013

Why are people in the SR-71 vid standing around with fingers in their ears instead of wearing ear protection?
posted by Mister_A at 11:33 AM on November 20, 2013

How much of the lift on these models is coming from the wings and how much are they just a missile that looks like a plane?

Funny; I sometimes wonder the same thing about jets I am flying in.
posted by aught at 11:38 AM on November 20, 2013 [1 favorite]

If I had a couple of those little turbine engines I'd want to build a Cri Cri. The view from a video camera just wouldn't do. Though it looks like the ones used in the A380 model are a little small for this application...
posted by exogenous at 11:59 AM on November 20, 2013

How much of the lift on these models is coming from the wings

I used to fly regularly on Alitalia and their fleet had loads of these planes where there were two engines at the very far back of the fuselage, 10 feet apart, but none attached to the wings. It was like a pencil with rockets on the eraser tip.
posted by colie at 12:01 PM on November 20, 2013

That Antonov 225/Buran combination in the sidebar is quite cool too.

Yo dawg, I heard you like flying models so we put a flying model on yo flying model. That almost ended badly....
posted by Ogre Lawless at 12:02 PM on November 20, 2013

How much of the lift on these models is coming from the wings and how much are they just a missile that looks like a plane?

Funny; I sometimes wonder the same thing about jets I am flying in.

The distinction between a plane and a missile is really just intent. Most missiles have wings. The only real difference between a missile and a plane is the purpose of the vehicle.

The standard measure of lift is .5 * p * v^2 * A * C(l) where p is air density, v is airspeed, A is wing area (technically planform area) and C(l) is the lift coefficient ( a function of angle of attack, primarily). Since velocity is squared, the faster you go, the less wing you need. That is why air-to-air missiles have tiny wings and jumbo jets have massive ones.

As aircraft go, the A380 has a relatively fast cruising speed, but it also weighs a whole lot more so it needs giant wings, even though it has 4 engines and a bunch more thrust. An A320 has a max cruise speed of 511 mph and a 380 587 mph.
posted by Lame_username at 12:10 PM on November 20, 2013

I hope you need to get a pilot license before you're allowed to operate on of those. Also, at that size, why not just put a cockpit in the thing and ride it around?
posted by bonobothegreat at 12:23 PM on November 20, 2013

My transatlantic A380 flight maintained about 500-515 mph ground speed at 39000 feet. I was nearly over the wing and you could barely hear the engines. The 747 is still the Queen, but if you like airplanes the A380 is an engineering marvel.

I read somewhere that even the remote chance of an A380 accident was projected to entail so much liability (in the billions) that airplane insurance underwriting had to be reorganized to capitalize the policies of Qatar, Air France, Quantas, and the few other lines that have put these beasts in service. Just saying.
posted by spitbull at 12:33 PM on November 20, 2013 [1 favorite]

bonobothegreat: "I hope you need to get a pilot license before you're allowed to operate on of those. Also, at that size, why not just put a cockpit in the thing and ride it around?"

You don't even need a pilot license to fly an ultralight, so I kinda doubt it!
posted by Grither at 12:35 PM on November 20, 2013

You can tell how much of the lift is aerodynamic (as opposed to thrust) by the pitch in level flight. The Airbus one looks pretty flat in the flypast!
posted by Pre-Taped Call In Show at 1:28 PM on November 20, 2013

"...the one I flew in had cameras mounted nose, belly, and tail, and you could watch them (and swap between them) on the in-seat monitor"

Dammit, that was my idea.

Well, back to the drawing board.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 3:41 PM on November 20, 2013

That's neat, but are those guys really hanging around jet engines with no ear protection?
posted by dirigibleman at 3:55 PM on November 20, 2013

Pre-Taped Call In Show: "You can tell how much of the lift is aerodynamic (as opposed to thrust) by the pitch in level flight. The Airbus one looks pretty flat in the flypast!"

I saw a real A380 do a "high-alpha" pass at Oshkosh a few years ago and in this person's video you can see that it was pitched up significantly and looked like it was barely moving (partly an illusion due to it's huge size). I think the announcer touted the Airbus fly-by-wire smarts that prevented stalls. Of course this was prior to Air France 447.
posted by exogenous at 4:07 PM on November 20, 2013 [1 favorite]

A very sweet landing (at about 6'50").
posted by wilful at 4:57 PM on November 20, 2013

I've flown in an A380 and had a great experience. A++++ will fly again.

I love RC flying machines, but pretty much every experience is similar to the most recent:
13:00 purchase RC helicopter
15:00 unbox RC helicopter
15:40 RC helicopter is lifted by a gust of wind into grove of very tall trees
16:40 give up looking for RC helicopter and go home, to return in late autumn when trees have lost their leaves
posted by goo at 6:05 PM on November 20, 2013

R/C is fine, I guess... but as a pilot I would not be satisfied.
Now THIS 1/3 scale B-17 is a project.

True, it's not yet flying. But maybe someday..
posted by sea at 6:59 PM on November 20, 2013 [1 favorite]

OK, this is weird. For some reason, just a couple days ago I remembered that the A380 has started service at my local airport, and I noted on my calendar to go see it sometime. I just needed 30 minutes to go by the airport at midday when it would be taxiing out and taking off -- and of course know exactly where to be and where to look. Well, it didn't take long for me to find the opportunity -- today was the day and it went exactly to plan. First time ever seeing the beast. Synchronicity!
posted by intermod at 8:03 PM on November 20, 2013

That thing goes through 1.2 liters of fuel per minute!
posted by hoca efendi at 11:12 PM on November 20, 2013

That's incredible exogenous... It moves like a giant harrier!!
posted by Pre-Taped Call In Show at 2:51 AM on November 21, 2013

Blow my mind. That video was shot where I ride my bike! I had no idea such things happened up there. I have seen some odd things flying around though. It's just a few miles north of me.
posted by Goofyy at 3:03 AM on November 21, 2013

Damn that was a beautiful landing.
posted by dry white toast at 5:29 AM on November 21, 2013

You don't even need a pilot license to fly an ultralight, so I kinda doubt it!

Huh. I think if I cut down one tree in my yard, this could substatially impact my commute time.
posted by Devils Rancher at 7:21 AM on November 21, 2013

If I had a cool, expensive hobby like this I'd spend the extra $49 and get a tripod for the dude videoing it.
posted by under_petticoat_rule at 8:22 AM on November 21, 2013