Woooowwwwww did u lot catch the first flight! :)http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/...light_xbe101.jp ghttp://us.news1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/rid.../r1760997144.jp ghttp://us.news1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/rid.../r1711568514.jp gmod edit - lets not link to external images. Some sites don't like the sucking of bandwidth - FCThe takeoff run was like 30 seconds and he got out of there using hardly any runway...mmm...Rolls power!Apparently the pilots have said that it is a little challenging to land in the simulator so I guess everyones gonna be watching the return very closely.At this time it is over the Pyrenees Mountains at 10,000ft. They said the flight can last upto 5 hours. :)

She was an absolute joy to watch (tv) - beautiful!! :) - when the a/c rotated and so effortlessly lifted off I could not have cared less if it turna a profit or not - its a magnificent piece of engineering - the 'queen' finally has a 'king' worthy of her!regards,MarkXPHomeSP2/FS9.1/3.2HT/1GIG/X700pro256

Well, given the maximum loading it shouldn't come as a surprise that it needs little runway when having no passengers or cargo and only a light fuel load.Is there even a cabin fitted? Stripping/omitting that saves even more weight.

If I recall correctly weight was in the region of 400 tons, consisting of test equipment and loads of barrels of water!Max weight is 560 tons...

I also watched the landing live on TV... It was fascinating to see this giant aircraft gently touching down like any other passenger jet out there. Congrats to Airbus and the test pilots, this is an awesome day for the European aviation!... though I still think the A380 looks ugly from 90% of the camera angles ;-)

The crew was great! Did you see one of the pilots snapping pics from the open cockpit windows! I liked the little speeces they all gave at the end of it all.And what a landing....dont they make it look so easy!