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A380


Simon Chaddock
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Posted by Jon Laughton on 14/09/2012 14:19:00:

I've had the good fortune to fly out of Manchester on an Emirates A380 flight to Dubai and return about six times on business and it is a wonderfully smooth aeroplane to fly in. I was flying business but I am sure those who were not would say the same.

Was there any evidence of cabin odour (slight smell of oil) from the air vents during the flight at any time? Just curious as to how clean the Engine Alliance engine is.

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Posted by Kevin J Lloyd on 19/09/2012 15:16:24:

If you want to check the airspeed, altitude etc over your particular part of the UK of the A380 download the free edition of FlightRadar24 which can be found at http://www.flightradar24.com/ I use this regulary on my Android it also helps pass a good couple of hours when its unsuitable for flying models

Wow Much better that FlightGlobal.Just Spotted TCX31RE from belfast to larnaca get to the french coast, turn back, circle over |BUxton and is now on approach. Something going on I think.

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Posted by John Privett on 20/09/2012 01:00:08:
Posted by Ian Jones on 19/09/2012 23:24:20:

Wow Much better that FlightGlobal.Just Spotted TCX31RE from belfast to larnaca get to the french coast, turn back, circle over |BUxton and is now on approach. Something going on I think.

Your answer is on the BBC News website.

Well there we are, first for news as it happens smile

Thanks Kevin

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Posted by Erfolg on 10/09/2012 20:59:11:

I thought they were daily out of Manchester at about 14:30 in Emirates colours.

That is correct. There are odd occasions when it doesn't operate for operational reasons but a 380 is scheduled to operate the EK018 each day, that's the 2-3pm (ish) departure.

When I'm working from home I see it most days, living just 2 miles from from the Manchester 23R threshold I always get a good view. It is also a great sight when the winds are in the east and traffic is departing from runway 05L, it means I get to see it early on the climb out. It is not noisy but does have a distinctive sound, I can tell from the noise when it is going over.

Just following up on the mention about Beluga and it's predecessor the Guppy. In the early years of Airbus wing production at Broughton (Hawarden) the Guppy wasn't able to operate from there directly. It operated into Manchester and the wings were transported by road from Chester across to Manchester. I spent many a happy hour refuelling the Guppy when it operated from Manchester.

One of many reasons the Beluga was built was to provide improved performance so the aircraft could operate directly out of Hawarden and save the need for road transport. The Beluga operates at least daily into Hawarden and often twice daily to meet current Airbus production demands. The A350 wing should add to the traffic in the not too distant future.

Watching the loading operation as the wing sections are loaded into Beluga is fascinating. Huge pieces of mobile equipment being manoeuvred into position to 'millimetre' accuracy with the aid of laser guidance. I have also fuelled Beluga which is how I get to see the loading operation; fuelling is not allowed during the wing loading operation because the addition of fuel would effect the position of the aircraft.

Going back to the A380, I have had the good fortune to fuel that as well, a magnificent aircraft to be alongside. According to the narrative on a documentary on 'Quest' (Freeview channel) the wing area of an A380 is 850 square meters; and it has the best power to weight ratio of any passenger or freight aircraft in the world.

Everything about the aircraft is extreme, from a fuelling perspective it has a capacity in excess of 320,000 litres, someone has commented on the depth of the wing route, it is this depth that helps create the large tanks needed to hold all this fuel; although the 'hop' from Manchester to Dubai doesn't use anything like this amount of fuel. Fuelling for Dubai we would use one vehicle and the fuel would flow at a rate of approx 2,500 litres per minute, think about that next time you're filling your car up and spend couple minutes putting 50 litres!

I also have another link to the A380 because I deal with the fuel system at Rolls Royce Derby where the Trent Engines are built and tested, the engine test bays are another fascinating place I get to visit. All I need to do now is get to fly on a 380!

I guess that I am very lucky that my day job brings me into contact with the A380 and many other aircraft related interesting situations.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Posted by ConcordeSpeedbird on 10/09/2012 16:46:30:

The A380 has the same tyres as Concorde by the way (had to pop that in!).

CS

No it doesn't.

Concorde had 47x15.75 - 22 main tyres, while the A380 has 1400 x 530 R23. The nose tyres are different sizes too.

The Michelin option on A380 is NZG (near zero growth) radials, which are the same basic design as the Michelin NZG's fitted to Concorde...so similar, but not the same.

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