BOEING all the way. On another note. I read somewhere that during a 2 or 3 computer landing, below 100 feet on an engine failure, landing is comitted. That makes sence as we are only seconds from touchdown. What would be the pilots input or in this case is it hands off?JimCYWG

Re: Niche aircraftSimply, if airlines can make money flying them, the plane will do fine. If the airlines can't, they won't.I'm not sure I'd call over 100 orders a niche aircraft. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I think only 12 concordes were produced. Also, I don't think the comparison is a strong one. The concorde was severly limited by noise and economics. You couldn't fly the thing over land at Mach+ speeds because of the sonic booms. Neither of these are going to be a problem for the 380. With regard to being "380 capable," there are a lot of 10,000 foot runways out there, and one three miles long at KDEN. Sure, it will take a bit of time to make a few gates wide enough for the beasts, but I don't think that will make or break the plane. Finally, I don't think the passenger experience will be any better or worse in the 380 than other planes. A 747 is still a flying greyhoud bus in coach - I can't think of a worse seat than in the middle for 12 hours from SFO to DeGaule, airbus or boeing.

IMHO,This is like comparing a 1968 Color television to a 2005 Plasma Screen Television.You folks do realize that the 747 rolled out in 1968, which is 37 years ago.To me there is no comparison as the designs are totally different and have no real relevance to each other IMHO, unless one would be worried about upping a 37 Year Old design. ;-)The A380 is an interesting aircraft to be sure, but I would not be interested in having to travel on one, but I would like an up close tour some time.I wonder if it will take Boeing 37 years to come up with another design to replace the 747 though? I think the 777 is a very advanced fine aircraft and I expect the same might be said of the A380 if it comes into service.Regards,Joe JOIN The AVSIM RTW RACE FLIGHT TEAM****************Grab My FREEWARE Voice recognition Profiles here:[a href=http://library.avsim.net/esearch.php?CatID=fs2004misc&DLID=58334]Cessna 172 Voice Profile[/a][a href=http://library.avsim.net/esearch.php?CatID=fs2004misc&DLID=60740]FSD Avanti Voice Profile[/a].You will need the main FREEWARE Flight Assistant program to use it, get it here:[a href=http://library.avsim.net/esearch.php?CatID=genutils&DLID=39661]Flight Assistant 2.2[/a]

Joethe 787 are in on the radar.

>Re: Niche aircraft>>Simply, if airlines can make money flying them, the plane will>do fine. If the airlines can't, they won't.yep. That's the point that I made too.The A380 is most definitely NOT a niche aircraft. It might be a little too big to be most numerous plane of anyone's fleet, but it's definitely going to be mainstream.It will be successful unless there is some major, unfixable engineering fault that results in the loss of two or three aircraft in one year, and I just can't see that happening. I guess it would also fail if there was a severe, worldwide economic depression, but otherwise it will be popular and a lot will be sold.Also, it occupies the upper end of the civil aircraft ecosystem so there won't be a need for a competing aircraft for a long time. Don't expect to see Boeing make a plane this big at least until the A380 starts to show its age - say, in 50 years time - unless of course there is some major technological advance. Boeing had a neat idea for a flying wing airliner. Supposedly, it would have been very fuel efficient. One of the problems though is that there weren't very many window seats. Who knows, maybe in the future that wont seem like such a major issue and Boeing will put something like that into production. But like I said, baring a change of some kind, Boeing wont be producing a direct A380 competitor.I can't understand why people get so caught up in the Airbus vs. Boeing thing anyway. No matter what country you're from, you should feel proud that you're part of a species and a civilization that can build machines like this. They are pretty #### cool. If we end up destroying ourselves with nuclear war or environmental destruction, the survivors will talk about us and the things we achieved for thousands and thousands of years.

>economic depression, but otherwise it will be popular and a>lot will be sold.well, you are making a statement that is anything but certain. There are people who monitor this industry for living and say something quite opposite, in fact they are saying not enough may be sold to recoupe original costs. Yes, and there are others of a different opinion. But to make it sound like a mathematical certainty is just plain wrong. Only time will tell.Michael J.WinXP-Home SP2,AMD64 3500+,Abit AV8,Radeon X800Pro,36GB Raptor,1GB PC3200,Audigy 2

>To me there is no comparison as the designs are totally>different and have no real relevance to each other IMHO,>unless one would be worried about upping a 37 Year Old design.>;-)Hi,I agree ! :-)Personally I prefer a 37 years tested and reliable "old" metal design when I fly, instead of some glued plastic parts. ;-)Fly safe, Staffan AhlbergSweden/Stockholm/ESSAPMDG MD-11 Team - Beta testerhttp://www.scandicair.com/images/dc9_banner.jpg"I will come and cut your lawn for a high quality DC8-63 system"[/color]My specs are:Dell Dimension 4600 P4/3.0 Ghz1024 Mb DDR333 Dual channel memory (2x256,1x512)128 Mb ATI Radeon 9800 ProOmega 2590DirectX 9.0cW XP Home with SP1E171FPb Flat panel monitor 17"240Gb (2x120) 7200rpm HD

>Personally I prefer a 37 years tested and reliable "old" metal>design when I fly, instead of some glued plastic parts. ;-)>>Especially parts glued by people educated in the same system that educated the people who put together CDG Terminal 5 :)

next variant will carry between 800 and 900 passengers.

That's my experience with KLM and NWA over the last several years. Maybe other airlines and/or airports are faster.

>You folks do realize that the 747 rolled out in 1968, which is>37 years ago.>>To me there is no comparison as the designs are totally>different and have no real relevance to each other IMHO,>unless one would be worried about upping a 37 Year Old design.>;-)You've really depressed me. I had my 37th birthday last week :(I do love the lines of the B747 but haven't really studied the A380 much so far. I would really love to see one land & take off, so will try to visit EGLL once they're flying regular schedules. :)