Airbus 380: First Visit To Oshkosh
Click for larger image Click for video of the landing The arrival of the Airbus 380 at AirVenture on Tuesday afternoon drew huge crowds to the field, under bright blue skies and gusty winds, and even at its first appearance, far in the distance, it was clearly a much different kind of airliner. The airplane is so big that it appears to be moving very slowly, and as it gradually approached the field and grew bigger and bigger, then swept above the runway in a low pass, whisper quiet, the crowd cheered. After several fly-bys, including one with all the gear down, the A380 crabbed into a gusty crosswind, landed and rolled in to Aeroshell Square, the crowds following along behind. EAA President Tom Poberezny said it took three years of planning to bring the big airliner to Oshkosh. He and Jeffrey Skiles, first officer of the Airbus A320 that ditched in the Hudson River early this year, welcomed the crew to the show. Beaming officials from Airbus addressed the crowd, noting that the big airplane is fuel efficient and quiet, and very easy to fly. Tom Anders, chairman of Airbus, said he hopes that one of the A380 operators will begin to offer passenger flights to Oshkosh, like the Concorde used to do.
The arrival of the Airbus 380 at AirVenture on Tuesday afternoon drew huge crowds to the field, under bright blue skies and gusty winds, and even at its first appearance, far in the distance, it was clearly a much different kind of airliner. The airplane is so big that it appears to be moving very slowly, and as it gradually approached the field and grew bigger and bigger, then swept above the runway in a low pass, whisper quiet, the crowd cheered. After several fly-bys, including one with all the gear down, the A380 crabbed into a gusty crosswind, landed and rolled in to Aeroshell Square, the crowds following along behind. EAA President Tom Poberezny said it took three years of planning to bring the big airliner to Oshkosh. He and Jeffrey Skiles, first officer of the Airbus A320 that ditched in the Hudson River early this year, welcomed the crew to the show. Beaming officials from Airbus addressed the crowd, noting that the big airplane is fuel efficient and quiet, and very easy to fly. Tom Anders, chairman of Airbus, said he hopes that one of the A380 operators will begin to offer passenger flights to Oshkosh, like the Concorde used to do.
AVweb was among the media representatives who were given a half-hour tour of the aircraft interior and the cockpit soon after the landing. The interior is fitted out like a test airplane, with banks of computers and wiring, data displays and video monitors, and what flight engineer Martin Marcus called "silent passengers": large plastic vats bolted to the floor that can be filled with water to simulate passenger or cargo weights. The top floor has a small porthole in the top of the fuselage so engineers can use celestial navigation to double-check their instruments -- a feature that the customer copies don't have, Marcus said. The crew flew for nine hours to reach Milwaukee from Toulouse, France, at altitudes up to FL420, and conducted various system tests along the way. Each deck of the two-story cabin interior feels wider and taller than a usual airline cabin, and it's a long walk from nose to tail. The cockpit is fitted out with all the latest in computer avionics and sidestick controls. It's not too different from the cockpits found on smaller Airbus jets, Marcus said, but it's sure high above the ground. The airplane will be open for public tours at AirVenture on Wednesday and Thursday from 10 to 4 and on Friday from 9 till noon. They hope to accommodate up to 18,000 visitors.
