The Airbus HQ is in Toulouse, France.
The runway of TLS runs roughly perpendicular to the ring road, and it's
common to see the Belugas at very low altitudes crossing above.
The first time I saw one cross, I nearly drove off the road - the scale and form of these things is quite spectacular.
Yep, I see Belugas flying over Hamburg nearly every week, as they deliver or take away parts from the assembly in Finkenwerder. It's great to see those planes gliding across the Elbe river, always looks amazing.
> The smiling whale design was chosen by Airbus staff following a poll in which 20,000 employees were given six options and asked to choose their favorite. With 40% of the vote, it was the clear winner.
Have we learned nothing from Boaty McBoatface? Lol!
I think it's a bit different when sending a survey out to your own employees - if the internet was asked to pick we'd end up with a flying hentai theme or something.
There was a proposal to build a freighter version of the A380, but no buyers.
Proximate reasons: the A380 is a triple-decker, with two floors designed to support the weight of seats and passengers, not cargo containers. Some reinforcement would have been needed, adding to the airframe weight. Additionally, the flight deck is on a mezzanine level in front of and between the two passenger decks -- right where the 747 freighter has a lifting nose door. So the A380 cargo mod would have required side-doors (which is okay, that's how most freight airliners work), and at least three of them -- one per deck -- which would have entailed cutting big structurally reinforced holes in the fuselage, adding more airframe weight, which was not okay.
By the time they'd done the sums, the design compromises would have made the A380 freighter less efficient than buying a pair of A330 freighters, or using the barely-smaller 747-8 (which snapped up the next-generation jumbo-sized freight market but sold very few passenger aircraft because the A380 got there first).
There are several problems quite big ones in fact involved with: the A380 has four engines, weak floors, designed for passengers, no large loading door, and it’s not the most efficient aircraft.
A few months ago I heard a louder than usual plane fly over, I checked online, it was one of them, flying to Hamburg but taking a different route than the routes I could see on fr24.
[+] [-] kweks|4 years ago|reply
The first time I saw one cross, I nearly drove off the road - the scale and form of these things is quite spectacular.
[+] [-] neuronic|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] LargoLasskhyfv|4 years ago|reply
wherein mostly older people crash their cars into the windows of shops in a small shopping street.
Like nowhere else.
Thing is, this is exactly in the glide path of them on landing approach to Hamburg-Finkenwerder,
where they are already 300 to 200meters down, maybe even just 150.
There is nothing special to the street, just some small shops, banks, one-way, speed limited, some 'Metro-Station' nearby.
OTOH, I don't really get the 'scale' thing. Compare
[1] https://www.schiffbilder.de/1200/hamburg-am-2142015-fix-was-...
[2] https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Airbus_Beluga_%C3%BC...
[3] https://bildarchiv-hamburg.com/photo/eine-airbus-beluga-land...
with
[4] https://www.flickr.com/photos/158928162@N07/50522989532/
[5] https://www.flickr.com/photos/100322148@N02/47244267731/
all about the same place from different directions at similar altitude.
And both are nothing against an Antonov-225, also sound-wise :-)
[+] [-] me_me_me|4 years ago|reply
Its my favourite plane now.
Props to airbus for going with a funky design on those.
[+] [-] 404mm|4 years ago|reply
Have we learned nothing from Boaty McBoatface? Lol!
[+] [-] pintxo|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] gambiting|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mrtksn|4 years ago|reply
On a serious note, I never understood why A380s can’t be cargo planes like the 747s.
[+] [-] cstross|4 years ago|reply
Proximate reasons: the A380 is a triple-decker, with two floors designed to support the weight of seats and passengers, not cargo containers. Some reinforcement would have been needed, adding to the airframe weight. Additionally, the flight deck is on a mezzanine level in front of and between the two passenger decks -- right where the 747 freighter has a lifting nose door. So the A380 cargo mod would have required side-doors (which is okay, that's how most freight airliners work), and at least three of them -- one per deck -- which would have entailed cutting big structurally reinforced holes in the fuselage, adding more airframe weight, which was not okay.
By the time they'd done the sums, the design compromises would have made the A380 freighter less efficient than buying a pair of A330 freighters, or using the barely-smaller 747-8 (which snapped up the next-generation jumbo-sized freight market but sold very few passenger aircraft because the A380 got there first).
[+] [-] nigerian1981|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] eCa|4 years ago|reply
To answer your question: Mostly several design issues[1]
[1] https://simpleflying.com/airbus-cargo-airbus-a380/
[+] [-] robtaylor|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] aerodog|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bellyfullofbac|4 years ago|reply
and flightradar24 has a list of recent flights for 2 of them:
https://www.flightradar24.com/data/aircraft/f-gxlh
https://www.flightradar24.com/data/aircraft/f-gxli
A few months ago I heard a louder than usual plane fly over, I checked online, it was one of them, flying to Hamburg but taking a different route than the routes I could see on fr24.
[+] [-] sofixa|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] oliv__|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] williamsharris|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] SwiftyBug|4 years ago|reply