^^

What's with this new idea that the A380 is "clean", "green", "fuel efficient" and "recyclable?" It's not composite like a Boeing 787 and back in 2006 I don't think people truly cared about fuel efficiency as much as today. Maybe they could wash the engines of an MD80 and slap a clean, green livery on it as well.

What's with this new idea that the A380 is "clean", "green", "fuel efficient" and "recyclable?" It's not composite like a Boeing 787 and back in 2006 I don't think people truly cared about fuel efficiency as much as today. Maybe they could wash the engines of an MD80 and slap a clean, green livery on it as well.

Fuel (energy-) efficiency is a main topic in Europe since the 80´s. And this goes for the whole industry: cars, airplanes, public transport, power plants...:yes:

It´s just something new for Americans who didn´t have to care about energy costs in the past until the oil price begun to skyrocket.

i think its good to see airbus making an effort at least

its well known in the industry that the A380 is NOT the new generation of aircraft. the A380 mainly makes itself efficient through its size and not so much through its technology.

the 787 and A350 are the real new generation aircraft. now if only they could make an aircraft as big as the A380 with 787 or A350 technology, we'd have a real winner.

Fuel (energy-) efficiency is a main topic in Europe since the 80´s. And this goes for the whole industry: cars, airplanes, public transport, power plants...:yes:

It´s just something new for Americans who didn´t have to care about energy costs in the past until the oil price begun to skyrocket.

Yeah you have a good point. That's why we have so many big trucks and SUV's on our highways because when gasoline was $1.29 per gallon we hardly ever thought of the fuel we were burning. Now that it's hitting our wallets at $3.94 per gallon (for my area) is when we start taking a second look at our fuel consumption. Maybe all these regional jets are like the SUV's and "trucks" of the skies. I'm glad we'll see more turboprops in the future and more efficient planes though.



its well known in the industry that the A380 is NOT the new generation of aircraft. the A380 mainly makes itself efficient through its size and not so much through its technology.

the 787 and A350 are the real new generation aircraft. now if only they could make an aircraft as big as the A380 with 787 or A350 technology, we'd have a real winner.


I see. I can't wait to ride on the 787 and the A350. From what it looks like I can easily imagine a fully composite shell A380. Is it made out of aluminum like the Boeing 777 or MD-80? It has been discussed before but I forgot why a non-painted A380 looks like it's made from plastic.


It also looks like with each new A380 they're making minor improvements with weight so I'm glad to see that they're still tinkering with the aircraft rather than just throwing them out of the factory. With all that said this plane is such a gorgeous looking aircraft:

http://i33.tinypic.com/2mpl6c5.jpg

I see. I can't wait to ride on the 787 and the A350. From what it looks like I can easily imagine a fully composite shell A380. Is it made out of aluminum like the Boeing 777 or MD-80? It has been discussed before but I forgot why a non-painted A380 looks like it's made from plastic.

http://i33.tinypic.com/2mpl6c5.jpg

the a380 is mostly made from aluminium. the green colour of unpainted a380's is primer to protect the fuselage. (boeing seem to leave their planes as bare metal until they are ready for final painting for some reason)

however, the a380 contains a lot of advanced materials:
the centre wing box (large structural part which joins the wings to the fuselage) is carbon fibre, as are the horizontal and vertial stabilizers and the tailcone. carbon fibre is also used in the doors.
also, various parts of the fuselage are made from a lamiate of glass fibre and aluminum.
and various other parts like the spoilers, slats, flaps ect are made from 'advanced materials'

its well known in the industry that the A380 is NOT the new generation of aircraft. the A380 mainly makes itself efficient through its size and not so much through its technology.

Dude, what are you smoking?:nuts:

Your description fits perfectly for the B747-8I which is a refreshed product of the 1960´s but not for the all new A380.

Do you really think that the result of a multi billion $ development program isn´t a state of the art airplane?
The A380 IS THE next generation aircraft for the 21st century beside the B787 and the A350 of course.


Here are some new technologies used in the A380:

Advanced materials
-It is the first commercial airliner with a central wing box made of carbon fibre reinforced plastic, and it is the first to have a wing cross-section that is smoothly contoured.

-The new material GLARE (GLAss-REinforced fibre metal laminate) is used in the upper fuselage and on the stabilizers' leading edges.

- Carbon-fibre reinforced plastic, glass-fibre reinforced plastic and quartz-fibre reinforced plastic are used extensively in wings, fuselage sections (such as the undercarriage and rear end of fuselage), tail surfaces, and doors.



Avionics architecture
-The A380 employs an Integrated Modular Avionics (IMA) architecture, first used in advanced military aircraft such as the F-22 Raptor and the Eurofighter Typhoon.

-The Network Systems Server (NSS) is the heart of A380 paperless cockpit. It eliminates the bulky manuals and charts traditionally carried by the pilots.



Systems
-Power-by-wire flight control actuators are used for the first time in civil service, backing up the primary hydraulic flight control actuators. During certain maneuvers, they augment the primary actuators.

-The aircraft's 350 bar (35 MPa or 5,000 psi) hydraulic system is an improvement over the typical 210 bar (21 MPa or 3,000 psi) system found in other commercial aircraft since the 1940s. First used in military aircraft, higher pressure hydraulics reduce the size of pipelines, actuators and other components for overall weight reduction.

-The A380 features electrically actuated thrust reversers, giving them better reliability than their pneumatic or hydraulic equivalents, in addition to saving weight.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airbus_A380#Design

it is a GREAT plane, don't get jealous boysss.

it is a GREAT plane, don't get jealous boysss.

I'm only jealous because I want one. :cheers:

First Emirates delivery (Hamburg):

http://www.spiegel.de/img/0,1020,1253983,00.jpg

http://www.spiegel.de/img/0,1020,1254219,00.jpg

http://www.spiegel.de/img/0,1020,1254222,00.jpg

http://www.spiegel.de/img/0,1020,1254225,00.jpg

http://www.spiegel.de/img/0,1020,1254048,00.jpg

http://www.spiegel.de/img/0,1020,1254060,00.jpg

http://www.spiegel.de/img/0,1020,1254062,00.jpg

HAMBURG, Germany -- Emirates Airlines took delivery Monday of the first of 58 Airbus A380 superjumbo planes it has ordered and announced it had signed up to buy another 60 aircraft from the European plane builder.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121724182633389569.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

a 5stars-flying luxury hotel

Dude, what are you smoking?:nuts:

Your description fits perfectly for the B747-8I which is a refreshed product of the 1960´s but not for the all new A380.

Do you really think that the result of a multi billion $ development program isn´t a state of the art airplane?
The A380 IS THE next generation aircraft for the 21st century beside the B787 and the A350 of course.
]

the all new A380 does not provide enough of a revolutionary design to be considered true next generation. sure just because it happens to be the latest plane to enter service makes it a next generation aircraft but it comes nowhere near to matching the true "next generation" technology of the A350 and 787. its main caveat is its size - thats the appeal. airlines can increase capacity without increasing frequency which is a big plus for airlines who have been assigned only limited landing rights for certain destinations.

airlines buy the A380 for capacity. the fact that it is more efficient than other aircraft is a useful byproduct - whereby they buy the 787 and A350 purely for technology/efficiency. when the A350s and A380s are flying together at the same time in several years, it would be a sham to consider them both on the same technological level.

The EK cabin design in the A380 is identical to their A340-500s except for the first class shower bathrooms.

a 5stars-flying luxury hotel

I also thought that, when I saw the pictures.

Hope I won't be in the shower when there is turbulence!

^^ But you wouldn't mind being in the lounge bar ... right? :D

BTW the plane will leave for JFK on Friday, on it's first commercial flight. A first not only for Emirates, but also for North America.

They also said on August 4th, the plane will tour Sans Francisco and Los Angeles, that will start being served by Emirates within this year.

HAMBURG, Germany -- Emirates Airlines took delivery Monday of the first of 58 Airbus A380 superjumbo planes it has ordered and announced it had signed up to buy another 60 aircraft from the European plane builder.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121724182633389569.html?mod=googlenews_wsj


I almost thought this was talking about 60 more A380's....haha. Thanks for the article link and pictures.

Here are some pictures taken on July 29, 2008 from Jetphotos.net:

http://i37.tinypic.com/o02qts.jpg
http://i34.tinypic.com/2qbvgag.jpg
http://i36.tinypic.com/xoii6h.jpg
http://i38.tinypic.com/1588rdd.jpg


Too bad it isn't even close to Singapore Airlines first class. I thought Emirates would be better. They should have included double bed suites so people could have sex from JFK to DXB.

Here's a runup of the airframes/aircraft rolling off the production lines...

• c/n 35: A380F for Federal Express

Didn't FedEx cancel it's order? Or is this an old post?

Too bad it isn't even close to Singapore Airlines first class. I thought Emirates would be better. They should have included double bed suites so people could have sex from JFK to DXB.

thats probably a good sign. i assumed emirates wold try to outdo SQ just for the sake of it. but it probably makes more sense for them to sell 12 x $10,000 first class seats instead of 1 x $50,000 first class double bed suites.

Didn't FedEx cancel it's order? Or is this an old post?

Both Fed Ex and UPS canceled their orders! They went with the 777 instead. I think because of the delays in the freighter version.

Why does the table take up most of the space? It's almost bigger than the seat.

http://i36.tinypic.com/xoii6h.jpg

Wooooooooooow beautiful plane!!

Both Fed Ex and UPS canceled their orders! They went with the 777 instead. I think because of the delays in the freighter version.

Actually, they did not cancel their orders. It was Airbus which put the development of the A380-800F on ice with no new EIS date in mind. This forced Fed Ex and UPS to go with the B777-F instead, which is also a very nice plane btw.
They received damage compensations from Airbus for this. If Fed Ex and UPS would have cancelled, they would have to pay for cancelling a firm order. This of course did not happen, sad as it is.

But the A380 is gaining momentum. Even Boeing has revised its long-term outlook for VLA upwards to almost a 1,000 pieces. I am sure many of those will be A380's, possibly the -900 version of it. But I also hope to see some more B747-8i's. Even if we have now a King of the Skies, the Queen of the Skies deserves some more orders!

But the A380 is gaining momentum. Even Boeing has revised its long-term outlook for VLA upwards to almost a 1,000 pieces. I am sure many of those will be A380's, possibly the -900 version of it. But I also hope to see some more B747-8i's. Even if we have now a King of the Skies, the Queen of the Skies deserves some more orders!

with the ongoing improvements to the a380, it will outperform the 747-8 in almost every area by about 2012. (it already outperforms the 747-8 in some ares now) improvements include reducing the weight by 3 tonnes.

and yes, even boeing are staring to realise that their customers want bigger planes

The 747's days could very well be numbered. There are only two front line passenger carriers in the US that fly them. United and Northwest. If the A380 does indeed get the upper hand, then Boeing should concentrate on continuing development of their 777's and 787's. It'll be interesting what the 797 will be like. There should be one of those, also in just a matter of time.