What do you think about the new airbus A380, its gonna be the worlds largest jumb jet (850 passengers)?

Question

its not come into service yet, i don't think, but will soon. It'll have space for over 800 people and room for a bar hopefully. Hopefully it'll be super safe as well as super big.

Hopefully airport security will have improved by the time this baby comes into service and we can finally get security guards on planes so sick f#ck ups can't try to crash them. Otherwise I'm taking the boat!

This plane, as far as I gather, is for use ONLY at major 'hub' airports of the world. For trans world flying, so airports like; london heathrow, Charles de gaulle, Kuala lumpur, JFK, LAX, Sydney etc so airports not involved on trans world flights would not be used. This also means that many people will not get to travel on the areoplane.

Answer 1

It can be an advantage and an inconvenience. Very busy airport may be able to handle more arrivals and departures, as airplane have a minimum separations in take-off and landing. Two 200 passenger airplanes taking off take two slots. The A380 would take only one slot with 500+ passengers (although the slots may have to be made more than 2 minutes apart initially when an A380 is involved)

The downside is that runways need reinforcing, that the boarding gates have to be revised to allow two decks to loads at the same time, that taxiway would have to be made wider to avoid misshaps between planes, etc.

But bigger is better from a cost point of view, and with the raising price of fuel... Let's just hope cash strapped airlines will not try to cram more people in to reduce cost.

Finally, the A380 is perhaps pretty close to the biggest an airplane with a classic configuration can be. Bigger planes are possible, but may have to be made with a totally different configuration, like lifting body, or blended wing.

Now, will it attract more attention from terrorists? Perhaps not. On September 11 2001, the dirtbags commandered Boeing 767 and 757, which are a lot smaller than B-777 and B747. If the scum wanted to go for maximum passengers, they could have gone for bigger planes.

Safety wise, it may be worthwile to note that the A380 is the first new design to come out since Sept 11 2001, so it was designed with all the possible safety features that may be required. All we need now are vigilant safety people on the ground (and also vigilant fellow passengers) to note suspect behavior, without going all out in paranoia. Should it be reminded that, as far as I can remember, not a single life was lost though terrorist acts in aircraft since September 11 2001?

Answer 2

This project has been a complete disaster for Airbus. They are way behind schedule and are running into problems all the time. A number of airlines have cancelled orders because of all of the problems with delivery.

The last I heard is that Airbus did not make the main landing gear articulate. This little oversight is causing the tires to peel off the rims during taxi. How long is that going to take to fix?

These monsters are also not so convenient for airports. Airports must undergo major modifications just to accept the A380. So far there are only about 5 or 6 airports in the U.S. that have even agreed to do the upgrades. Hart's Field in Atlanta, one of the busiest airports in the country, decided against the modifications necessary to accomodate the 380. What a laugher.

Answer 3

850 passengers is pretty remarkable for today, but we all know eventually the A380 will be surpassed as far as size. Anyways, I don't think it will do that great as far as selling. The cost of an A380 is around $270 million, I believe. Most airlines today have enough planes for the average amount of passengers transported on their airline daily. Some of the airports that 737s and 777s fly in and out of with no problem may not be able to handle the A380. Now the Boeing 7E7 Dreamliner is one cool plane. It may not be the biggest, but it seems very interesting.
It's more enviromentally-friendly, can seat about 300 passengers (lots for it's size) and probably will have a reasonable sale price.

Answer 4

The A380 is the main important passenger airline, the 787 isn't even close and the Spruce Goose has the main important wingspan yet its shorter than the 747. So for passenger airplane, A380, non passenger Antonov An-225 Mriya.

Answer 5

I think it is going to be a gigantic flop. There are very few routes that can accommodate 800 passengers. With rising fuel prices airlines will have to scape together every penny from beneath those 800 seat cushions just to pay the gas for a minute. Plus there is the insane liability of loosing one fully loaded and having to deal with that many multi million dollar lawsuits. That would bankrupt an airline easy. Just imagine the maintenance on one of them. That's a lot of duct tape. Already the design is prooving to be problematic. Fuel burn is already 10% higher than projected and because of wiring problems and other issues it has been delayed far to long to inspire confidence. Heck, Quantas just won a huge lawsuit against Airbus over the delays. Not good.

Answer 6

To start with the definition of terrorism in a nut shell is to Terrorize. There will always be sick f@#$%ups no matter where you go and no amount of security will ever completely eliminate this. So with that in mind, it just so happens that I work for an aerospace company thatwill be working on the new AB's. I also know that EVERY airplan produced is made 10 times stronger than is called for in the specifications so that theycan withstand serious impacts both in the air as well as on the ground. So rest assured that this new plane will be the safeston built yet and the industry is always improving.

Answer 7

So I acutally have an A380 poster-- is that weird? Well, I *am* an aerospace engineer.

Anyway, yeah, I have been looking forward to it. And I know a whole bunch of airlines have ordered them (Singapore Airlines, Air France, Virgin Atlantic and the like) but I doubt whether many american airlines are going for it. Mostly because of this Boeing-Airbus thing.

As for safety, the aircraft design industry puts in an amazing amount of effort to insure that the planes are safe. We can't control the airports, though.

Answer 8

Having worked on it(parts for wings) and visted the factory near Chester that produces the wings,I am very impressed with how such a massive project is being managed so sucsessfully.
I honestly think it will be a huge move forward in flying.
It will be as safe as any other plane.If people knew all the standards and procedures that have to be adhered to when making even the smallest non critical part they wouldn't be half as afraid of flying.
I think Singapore Airlines will have the first one in service,not sure exactly when,maybe sometime next year.
I look forward to flying on it!

Answer 9

Big yes. Safe, I'm not so sure. Planes need an extensive safety check every time they're turned around. The bigger the plane, the more there is to miss.
And how long will it be before one crashes into the passenger bridge over the taxiway at Gatwick.

Answer 10

That is just an exaggerated awful plane that the f*cking Airbus Company launched to compete with the 747! That airplane is scary and I wouldn't want to travel on it or else if it crashes image how many people will die! Just scary! I rather fly the new Boeing 747-8.