A380 first flight on Wednesday!

[Steveair]

True... there is no seperation of those stats between mechanical failure and human error but there's no arguement out there that Airbus isn't a quality aircraft. My uncle works for NWA Mx in Duluth and never has anything nice to say about the 320. The Jurrassic Jet (dc9), has fewer mx issues than the at the oldest 12 year old 320.

 

[coolyokeluke]

PS - No there not moron... they're going out of business; just like Airbus would if it weren't subsidized so heavely.

A spelling and grammar error in a sentence where you accuse somebody of being a moron. Priceless.

Sure Airbus was subsidized and still is. It's not a completely baseless argument to say that some of the government defense contracts act as somewhat of a subsidy to Boeing. The A380 has what 150-200 orders? I think that will pay back their investment. There is a lot of content in the A380 that comes from the United States. Do you know how many jobs the 787 is going to keep in Everett? About 1200. That's chump change when you look at the scale of the overall project. A very large percentage of the 787's content is coming from other countries. Japan is a very big player, they make the wings.

The design and manufacturing of an aircraft of this scale is quite an accomplishment and it's no suprise there are delays. If I were given a choice I'd rather fly a Boeing but I'd never look down my nose at an opportunity to fly a Bus.

 

[uba757]

Buck, budy are you talking about the AA Boeing 757 in Cali Colombia? If you are that was pilot error. Nothing to do with the airplane all pilot error.
Uba757

 

[Midnight Flyer]

You tell the airplane to do something and it should. Pilots should have the ability to overpower the autopilot at any time / any place. I think you'll agree that time, in many aspects of flight, is critical. I don't think that I should have to program a computer to initiate a go around.
I believe Airbus has since fixed this "programming glitch" and installed some kind of cockpit switch so that the pilot has the final say.
What concerns me is the other "bugs" that have yet to be discovered and how many lives it will cost to find them.

I've been lucky enough to say that all I've flown are steam-guage aircraft. Furthermore, I probably couldn't even fly one of those new C182's that come with the fancy glass cockpits.

Computers crash all the time. Computers are the backbone of fly by wire and glass cockpit technology. I just hope the next time I'm a passenger on an Airbus, the computer system doesn't decide to have a problem. I agree with SteveAir, you should be able to manually overtake the computer inputs. I don't like planes that are so overly automated that they pretty much think for me. This limits me to simply being a babysitter for the aircraft.

I'm not a fan of the French and I don't like Airbus all that much, however, I have to be honest, I am mesmerized by this new Airbus A380. It's amazing how something this large can fly.

I don't understand how some people on here who obviously have the love of aviation in their blood can't find it in them to be interested in the A380 just because the French are one of the many countries that make up Airbus. Get over it, guys, cause this country is continuing to buy foreign made aircraft.
How many American made planes do the regionals fly? heh heh. Some of them don't fly any. For instance:
1. CRJ is a Canadian made aircraft. (Canadiar, Bombardier; whatever they're calling themselves),
2. ATR is in Toulouse, France.
3. Embraer is a Brazilian company.
4. Ba-146 British Aerospace is in the United Kingdom.
5. SAAB 340, Sweedish company.
4. DeHavilland Dashes, Canadian company.
I'm sure there's more.
I know the United States play a large part in the manufacture of these aircraft (engines, parts, etc), but for the most part, these are all foreign made aircraft. Some of the pilots on here who are so opposed to French made aircraft are the same ones who currently fly foreign made aircraft!

If the regionals continue buying foreign aircraft and taking routes from the majors, eventually the majority of the Boeings left will probably be operated by the cargo companies. Unfortunately, IMO, the Legacy carriers will probably be reduced to International & long haul and will keep thier Boeings (777's, 767's, 737's) for those routes.

 

[uba757]

Cool they need to sell 300 A380 just to be brake even. Uba757

 

[cforst513]

someone should go back through this thread and count how many times someone was called "stupid" or a "moron". you are adults, act like it.

 

[Steveair]

How many?

I see only 139 orders as of 3/31/05. Still have a long way to go.

http://www.airbus.com/media/orders_n_deliveries.asp

 

[cforst513]

Read the full report, and get the full story, moron...

What a stupid, uniformed statement..

and he had the nerve to call someone else a moron...

 

[mynameisjim]

Cool they need to sell 300 A380 just to be brake even. Uba757

Say again?

I was on the land line.

----

On another note, saying that you don't like airplane protections or stabilities is like saying you don't want a rev limiter in your car. Why would you want to overspeed your car's engine?

Why do I need to exceed 30 degrees nose up, or 15 degrees nose down? Why do I need to exceed VMO by more than 15 knots? Keep in mind we're bus drivers here.

Edit: If you need more than 30 degrees nose up, you messed up. The last thing the passengers need is to be scared before they die. You could just let them die peacefully.

 

[uba757]

Because of the value of the Dollar against the Euro. The weaker the Dollar the more airplanes Airbus has to sell to make a profit on tha particular aircraft. Is like an airline predicting costs with the price of oil at $40 instead of at $55 dollars a barrel. They sell their airplanes in Dollars just like Boeing so there is an equal price comparison. Uba757

 

[uba757]

Myna sorry I added that "be". It is suppossed to say just to brake even.
Uba757

 

[buckdanny]

Buck, budy are you talking about the AA Boeing 757 in Cali Colombia? If you are that was pilot error. Nothing to do with the airplane all pilot error.
Uba757

I am not sure exactly where it was, that's why I was calling on someone else's expertise. All I remember was that yes, it was eventually pilot error for not paying attention to what the plane was doing. It was something like the mountain was on the left side of the approach, and the missed called for a climbing right turn back to the beacon and hold. The pilot commanded the 180 on the heading bug and somehow the plane initiated a turn to the left (bug went past 180 degrees?) Since your profile says you have boeing experience, I really would appreciate it if you could elaborate on the subject? Thanks.

buck

 

[WMUSIGPI]

Well Flyer, there is still the trusty old Beech 1900 (well I guess it's Raytheon these days)

 

[CurlyD777]

Hey, with all this bashing, remember we are all in regional forum right now...and look at the post where all the regional's are made...I didn't see any from US. Boeing has a 717, but not quite regional size.

I think that any company or group that creates new aircraft doesn't need to be bashed. Remember, Airbus isn't just french...it's 80% owned by EADS, or European Aeronautical Defense and Space, or like our NASA. The other 20% is BAE. So if you are going to bash the french, you better be ready to bash Europe.

As for taking a stab at creating new aircraft, look back at Boeing's history when Douglas and McDonald aircraft were around. The 727 had the company's bank role at stake, and then the 747 also gambled the company's bank. Who would want to fly on a Jet? Who would want to fly on a aircraft with 300+ seats? How things have changed. I think Airbus will make it. They need 300 to break even, and 130+ ordered...The aircraft hasn't even started flying yet.


PS. STEVEAIR, if you want to keep flying american aircraft, you may want to stay with your Cessna's and Piper's

 

[uba757]

Buck the captin made a mistake selecting the navaid in the FMS so the airplane turned to the identifier he had selected by error which was in the opposite direction in a Mountain Valley. Also they accepted a clearence for a straight-in approach but were too high so the FO who was flying used the spoilers to descend. When they got the GPWS warning and tried to climb they were trying to climb with the spoilers extended. They diviated from atleast 3 or 4 AA regulations during the approach into Cali. I wrote a term paper in Aviation Safety class on this accident. The NTSB faulted the pilots, AA and the FMS manufacturer or the FMS program supplier for the accident I dont remember which. This is one of the reasons why we have the EGPWS now. Uba757

 

[328dude]

Buck the captin made a mistake selecting the navaid in the FMS so the airplane turned to the identifier he had selected by error which was in the opposite direction in a Mountain Valley. Also they accepted a clearence for a straight-in approach but were too high so the FO who was flying used the spoilers to descend. When they got the GPWS warning and tried to climb they were trying to climb with the spoilers extended. They diviated from atleast 3 or 4 AA regulations during the approach into Cali. I wrote a term paper in Aviation Safety class on this accident. The NTSB faulted the pilots, AA and the FMS manufacturer or the FMS program supplier for the accident I dont remember which. This is one of the reasons why we have the EGPWS now. Uba757

Also, didn't ATC have a hand in this? I thought I read something about some sort of confusion with ATC about exactly which fix they were cleared to. Is this the same accident?

 

[Whale Rider]

When they drop the last A380 off at the bone yard....that crew is going to dead-head home on a 74.......

 

[uba757]

328dude you are right. The Tower controler spoke only enough English to give basic instructions and to reply Roger to all other communications from the aircraft. The Radar at the airport had been blown-up by the Leftist Rebels. Everything that could go wrong went wrong. Uba757

 

[cforst513]

blown up by leftist rebels? where did this crash occur again? i thought it was in France, but apparently I am WAAAAAAAAY off.

 

[uba757]

Cali, Colombia.