Forum: Civil and General Aviation

If I recall, Bombardier is producing 25-100 passenger turboprops. The 100 passenger jet just looks funny. I think its similar with Embraer, they produce small jets that both Boeing and Airbus have mostly left. I had to look up a bunch of stuff for my project and I stumbled across the stuff that Bombardier produces.

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An interesting email which came across my desk today. I thought I'd share this.

************** COVER STORY: 78 SECONDS OF FURY ***************

Last weekend, on Sunday, March 26, Airbus successfully completed the passenger evacuation trial for the A380. It was the largest evacuation test ever conducted and the first time a test involved a dual deck passenger aircraft with both decks as part of the test.

The test, which was approved by EASA and the FAA, saw 873 people -- 853 passengers, 18 flight attendants, and two flight crew members -- leave the aircraft within 78 seconds, validating 853 as the maximum passenger seating capacity for the A380-800.

As per regulation, the evacuation test was performed in complete darkness through only half of the 16 exits of the A380. The exits that had been selected by the authorities to be operative were not known to any of the passengers and crew before the test. The evacuation slides are supplied by Goodrich.

One passenger suffered a broken leg.

The A380 is designed to carry an average of 555 passengers in three classes over distances up to 8,000 nm/ 15,000 km. To-date, 159 A380s have been ordered by 16 customers, with the first due to be delivered to Singapore Airlines by the end of 2006.

Quote:

One passenger suffered a broken leg.

I remember seeing on TV a documentary about aviation safety. They said that there was a huge scandal in the US when they test-evacuated a DC-10 or L-1011 (can't remember exactly which one), because an old lady got killed (or paralyzed?) in the process, plus another two were seriously injured. The FAA banned this kind of tests for some time.

elp wrote:

Whiteman_B2 wrote:

Then again, American industry originally came up with the idea around 1990, and then promptly scrapped it. Wink

Lots of the industry is multinational now. There is tech produced right here in the U.S. that goes into an A380. So don't really care either way who has who's jet. I don' think this is such a big issue as there are only so many airports this pig will go into. 747 Cargo isn't going away as a lot of the industry support and method is based on that airframe and of course the wider option of airports it flys into.

I would think where Airbus is going to have trouble is in their "me too _787" product the A350. A large portion of the engineering on the 787 is figured out and is farther along. Assuming we also all know that sales and leases are based on who is providing the financing. However, in its market capacities, the 787 is going to be a huge force to be delt with. It will have a large, large effect on the industry.

Yeah, the escape chutes for the A380 are made by Goodrich and some of the other components come from here. The 787's wings are made in Japan (which has Airbus crying to the WTO). The thing is, I think Airbus has painted themselves into a corner. They spent so much effort on the A380 that they completely neglected the mid-size market. By the time they did address it (a la A350), the 787 was already off to a record-smashing start. In fact, Airbus execs ridiculed the entire idea of the 787 originally, saying it would "never fly". Then you have the success of the 777 line. Airbus' "4 Engines 4 Long Haul" campaign didn't work out that way. The 777 is literally crushing the A340 in almost all aspects and now Airbus is struggling to respond. Don't get me wrong, Airbus builds some fine airplanes, the A320 being an example. I just can't see the logic in many of their business decisions. I think this is definitely a case of "too many eggs in one basket".

Yeah I know. Economics suck. Kinda like the look of the A340-600.

Forum: Civil and General Aviation

A-380 crisis