If they stretch that thing much more, you'll be able to get on at the front, walk down the cabin, and then get off at the back at a different destination.

 

Al

I can't see how they are pushing the size a bit far, if it cannot fly they wont make it but planes are going to get bigger eventually and one day this will be the new baby bus compared to the others.

 

The A380-900 idea has been around for a while as it was in the abacus add-on (shudders) and I think it would actually make the aircraft look a bit more proportionate laterally compared to its extreme height.

 

I just can't believe they are going to be breaking their first A350!

Wow that's going to be massive.

 

Also, they're not that ugly, are they?

The reason for the 800 looking so ugly is simply that it's fuselage is way too short in relation to it's height and the size of the wingbox. No doubt that the stretched variants will please the eye a lot more.

 

As long as the aircraft is performing well economically (and of course structurally), I don't see any reasons why they should stop increasing the size. Ground handling just has to adapt, it's always been that way. They had to adapt to the massive number of passengers an original 747 could carry and they managed to do that as well.

If the political or geographical environment doesn't allow this, then either those big planes won't perform economically (which leads to airlines not ordering them) or airlines will move their operation to other airports who are able and willing to adapt (again, if economically feasible).

 

And seriously, I think we all would kill to see a 200mx200m man made structure taking off and slowly climbing towards the sky one day ;-)

I spent a bit of time touring the A380 when I was based in Singapore, the flightdeck and systems are a work of art.

 

What worrys me is eventually one of them will go down, having that many people on a single aircraft makes me feel kinda uneasy.

 

Regards

This has been planed since the A380 was on the drawing board. Just do an Airliners.net search for A380-900 and see how far back the threads go.

 

As mentionned correctly by previous posters :

 

- the size increase was planned from the beginning by Airbus for future versions.

 

- to my knowledge, no decision to produce the future, longer versions (-900, -1000 etc.) has been made yet.

 

- ALL planes in production develop cracks, at one stage or another during their service life.

 

- in the early seventies, Boeing also had a hard time marketing the 747 because of its size and perceived over-capacity. One can assume the same is true for Airbus, hence the decision to stay with the -800 for the time beeing.

 

Finally, yes, the A380 is probably not the sleekest - or best looking - plane around (and, as a matter or personal opinion, I never considered the 747 to be that nice either...). But I agree that the longer fuselage lenght in future versions will improve the looks.

 

In the meantime, do take a closer look at the 380 wing and you'll see there's beauty in this beast.

 

Bruno

I've always said that if Airbus do one thing better than anybody else, it's make aircraft wings, and the 380 is a fine example of that. Both the 330 and 380 have the nicest wings of any commercial aircraft out there. The 380 in it's current form, can be described as a pregnant hippo, wandering around airports, though you could see from the start with the design that a stretched version was in the pipeline. The stretch will look a lot more in proportion than the current version.

 

The only issue I have is as FLEX mentions, with 600-700 pax aboard, when things go drastically wrong, and they will, Murphy's Law if you must, then we will seriously have to look at whether the economics of it is worth the PR risk of carrying 2 to 3 times as many people in what effectively are, giant flammable containers. Personally, I don't have a problem with the idea, but the flying public may not see it that way when one goes down...

 

And with regard to the wing spar cracks, that's nothing in the slightest to be concerned about, happens all the time, and can be fixed in scheduled MX.

 

Capt. Rónán O Cadhain.

And seriously, I think we all would kill to see a 200mx200m man made structure taking off and slowly climbing towards the sky one day ;-)

 

refer to

 

That thing will be like a flying Titanic!

 

Muahahaha...

I spent a bit of time touring the A380 when I was based in Singapore, the flightdeck and systems are a work of art.

 

What worrys me is eventually one of them will go down, having that many people on a single aircraft makes me feel kinda uneasy.

 

Regards

That's right. Reminds me of an accident of an domestic flight in Japan with a 747 carrying around 600 pax.

That's right. Reminds me of an accident of an domestic flight in Japan with a 747 carrying around 600 pax.

 

Japan Airlines flight 123 on August 12th, 1985; 520 fatalities, 4 survivors. I personally don't wanna hear any bad news about the A380 (even though I hate its external looks) but let's face it, after all no matter how well designed it is, it's still flown by humans, and eventually one of them will go down. Hope I'm wrong seeing the 777's record, for example, though.

 

And with regard to the wing spar cracks, that's nothing in the slightest to be concerned about, happens all the time, and can be fixed in scheduled MX.

 

Capt. Rónán O Cadhain.

 

I'm curious for your opinion on this as you're a 330 captain. Why will this not go away if it's not that big of a deal. Qatar just deferred their deliveries until they figure out what's going on with the wings.

 

Not shooting you down at all just curious!

God, Airbus.. First you make the A320 even uglier than it already is with those ''things'' on the wings and now this with your fugy beast? Just let the 777 do it's magic ta ;)

God, Airbus.. First you make the A320 even uglier than it already is with those ''things'' on the wings and now this with your fugy beast? Just let the 777 do it's magic ta ;)

 

Quite ugly indeed! I don't see demand for an A380-900, the current A380 is still to big for most international airports. In Paris, its outboard engines hang out over the taxiway...

;;;the current A380 is still to big for most international airports. In Paris, its outboard engines hang out over the taxiway...

 

Assuming you mean "hang out outside of the taxiway", for your information, this is also true for the 747. And it has been so at most airports for the past 40+ years...

 

Bruno

refer to

 

 

 

Muahahaha...

 

Disgusting