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April 26, 2005
A380 ready for take-off!
Today, Airbus officials announced that A380 should make its first test flight tomorrow in Toulouse Blagnac between 10:00 and 10:30 local time. The super jumbo will take-off from runway 32 Right and thousands of people will be there around the airport to watch the roll-out and initial climb of our metallic bird. This incredible challenge for aerospace industry is about to be won and I guess Alcan team, who participated a lot in the program, will keep his breath too!
I wish I could be there too! Hopefully, it will be shown on TV on major news channels.
The flight will last about 3 hours, if the nice weather on Toulouse continues, there is no reason for History to happen tomorrow.
Posted by Alkaline on April 26, 2005 at 01:30 PM | Permalink
Comments
Hello Aline,
Interesting news! I did not know that it is already officialy finished. I have heard that it should be the biggest aeroplane in the world, do you know if it is true?
Hopefully Alcan has supplied the main material :-) (and the glue is from Henkel :-))
Posted by: Lucie - WAC programm | Apr 26, 2005 9:19:56 PM
Hello Lucie !
A380 introduces a new concept of aircraft! It can transport 800 passengers in the “mono economic class” model. It represents one of the largest European industrial projects ever, and replaces the Boeing 747 as the world's largest airliner.
It’s really fashion inside: colored lights (like blue and violet) to make the flight more pleasant, fashion colored seats, resting areas where you can take a drink and discuss… In these areas, passengers will have big plasma screens which will work like artificial windows! They will transmit the images from the cameras installed outside of the plane!
And to not tell about the business class: free shop, casino, ...! It is amazing!
Thanks to Airbus, Alcan, and all collaborators of this project!
I hope we’ll have one which will do Paris-Rio de Janeiro or Paris-São Paulo flight!
Thank you for posting Lucie!
See you !
Aline
Posted by: Aline (WAC) | Apr 26, 2005 9:58:15 PM
Hey!
You are very well informed! Keen on aeroplanes and flying? Well, I am, so hopefully I will also get chance to fly with this great plane! Maybe we can make a trip together to try it?! :o)
Greetings
Lucie
Posted by: Lucie - WAC programm | Apr 27, 2005 11:34:35 AM
Halli hello Lucie!
I’ve saw the Maiden flight on TV, it was magic! Such a beauty! ;) Pilots will be testing performance limits to verify how fast and how slow they it can flight safely. A lot of data is being collected to study its performance and to compare experimental results with the simulations. The crew announces a perfect flight!
The first commercial flight of A380 will be in 15 months with Singapore Airlines. And sure we can do a trip together to try it! Super idea! Let’s start saving money for our next vacations! ;)
Aline
Posted by: Aline (WAC) | Apr 27, 2005 1:05:29 PM
Greay flight really!
Count on me for a flight all together on this great plane. I hope prizes would'nt be too high ... I hope that in economic class the prize would be acceptable!
However it's really exciting to see how such a big "metallic bird" (As you said! ;-) ) can leave the ground and fly! Really impressive ... and really impressive are all the studies done... aerodynamics, structures, systems, etc. ... really a great result!
My compliments to every single person involved in this project and particularly to Alcan Aerospace Engineers who (as my coach!) have worked to make A380 possible!
Very actual and great post Aline!
See you!
Davide
Posted by: Davide Ferraro WAC Participant | Apr 27, 2005 6:10:09 PM
You’re welcome Davide! Like this maybe we’ll have a discount for Weallcan team members! ;)
I also send my special greetings to your coach who was deeply involved with A380 project and the whole Alcan Aerospace team!
By the way, I loooved A380 landing gears, and you?
Posted by: Aline (WAC) | Apr 27, 2005 7:57:40 PM
Spectators hear in the radio the last instructions of the air traffic controller: cleared for take-off. And I need to rectify something: in fact it took-off from runway take-off 32 Left, instead of 32 Right! In fact, this is a longer runway which is dedicated to test flights from Airbus!
;) Anyway, sunny day, nice visibility!
We’re happy it landed as marvelously as it took-off!
Posted by: Aline (WAC) | Apr 27, 2005 8:07:50 PM
