All About Airbus A380

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The Airbus A380 is a double-deck, four-engined airliner manufactured by Airbus S.A.S. It first flew on 27 April 2005 from Toulouse in France. Commercial flights should begin in early 2007 after 15 months of testing, with the delivery of the first aircraft for launch customer Singapore Airlines. During much of its development phase, the aircraft was known as the Airbus A3XX, and the nickname Superjumbo has become associated with the A380.

The A380 is double decked, with the upper deck extending along the entire length of the fuselage. This allows for a spacious cabin with 50% more floor space than the next largest airliner, providing seating for 555 people in standard three-class configuration or up to 853 people in full economy class configuration [1]. Two models of the A380 are currently available. The A380-800, the passenger model, is the largest passenger airliner in the world,[2] superseding the Boeing 747. The other launch model, the A380-800F, is a freight aircraft and will be one of the largest freighters after the Antonov An-225, An-124, and the C-5 Galaxy [3].

The A380-800 has a maximum range of 15,000 km (8,000 nmi, sufficient to fly from Chicago to Sydney nonstop), and a cruising speed of Mach 0.85 (1,050 km/h)[2], similar to that of the Boeing 747.[4]

Before the A380 project was launched, both Airbus and Boeing had focused on cornering the very-large-airliner market. Airbus and Boeing had worked together on a study investigating a 600+ seat aircraft called the Very Large Commercial Transport. Although both manufacturers issued various statements, they had a tacit understanding that there was probably room for only one maker to be profitable in the 600 to 800 seat market segment. Both knew the risk of splitting a niche market; the simultaneous debut of the Lockheed L-1011 and the McDonnell Douglas DC-10 had demonstrated this: either aircraft responded to the market demand, but the market could only sustain one of the two, eventually resulting in Lockheed's departure from the civil airliner market. However, Airbus and Boeing decided to enter the new 600 seat market each in their own ways.

Boeing initially had the upper hand. The 747, though designed in the 1960s, was popular and larger than Airbus' largest jet, the A340. For many airlines, the extra size of the 747 made it a "must buy" for their highest density routes, and the lower costs of a common fleet led carriers to buy additional Boeing aircraft. Boeing was considering a New Large Aircraft to replace the 747, and acquired McDonnell Douglas and their cancelled MD-12 design. Boeing also studied the concept of the 747X, a version of the 747 with the forebody "hump" extended towards the rear for more passenger room, before dropping the concept in favour of the 747 Advanced. This design was similar to the 747X and was finally announced as the 747-8 Intercontinental on in November 2005, well after the A380 had been launched.

Development of the "A3XX" began in June 1994. After years of research and development, Airbus decided to proceed with the € 8.8 billion project in 1999, with the final budget settling at about € 12 billion. The double-decker layout would provide higher seat capacities, and hence lower costs, than a traditional design. On 19 December 2000, the Airbus supervisory board voted to launch the A3XX, re-christened as the "A380," with the 55 orders from six launch customers.

The A380's wing has been designed to cope with a Maximum Take-Off Weight (MTOW) of 590 metric tonnes, albeit with some strengthening required, allowing for a future stretch. The stronger wing (and structure) is used on today's freighter model, the A380-800F. This approach sacrifices some fuel efficiency on the initial passenger model but the sheer size of the aircraft coupled with the significant advances in technology over the years should provide lower operating costs per passenger than all currently produced 747 variants.

The first A380 prototype, serial number 001 and registration F-WWOW, was unveiled at a ceremony in Toulouse on 18 January 2005. Its maiden flight took place at 8:29 UTC (10:29 a.m. local time) 27 April 2005. The prototype departed runway 32L of Blagnac International Airport in Toulouse with a flight crew of six headed by test pilot Jacques Rosay, carrying 22 short tons (20 metric tons) of flight test instrumentation and water ballasts. The take-off weight of the aircraft was 421 tonnes (464 short tons); although this was only 75% of its maximum take-off weight, it was the heaviest take-off weight of any passenger airliner ever flown.

Airbus initially planned about 15 months of flight testing, but shortly after the first flight they acknowledged that the airplane would not be ready for formal certification and commercial service until the end of 2006, resulting in delays of 6 months or more for initial deliveries.

In mid-November 2005 the A380 embarked on a tour of Southeast Asia and Australia for both promotional and long-haul flight testing purposes, visiting Singapore, Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Kuala Lumpur. During this tour, the colors of Singapore Airlines, Qantas and Malaysia Airlines were applied in addition to the Airbus house colors. On 19 November an A380 flew in full Emirates colors at the Dubai Air Show.

On 10 January 2006, the A380 made its first transatlantic flight to Medellín in Colombia, to test engine performance at a high altitude airport. Its first arrival in North America came on 6 February, when an A380 landed in Iqaluit, Nunavut in Canada for cold-weather testing. (CBC) The same A380 then flew to Singapore to participate in the Asian Aerospace 2006 exhibition, in full Singapore Airlines livery.

On 26 March 2006, the A380 underwent evacuation certification in Hamburg in Germany. The test, performed to meet regulatory requirements, involved evacuating 853 passengers and 20 crew from the aircraft within 90 seconds, with 8 of the 16 exits blocked. The evacuation was successfully completed in just under 80 seconds[5]. Three days later, the A380 received European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approval to carry up to 853 passengers, indicating that the evacuation trial had met their certification standards.[6]

Four A380s have been built for testing and demonstration purposes. The first A380 slated for delivery to a customer, serial number 003 and registration F-WWSA, took to the air in May 2006. As of July 2006, six A380s have flown over 1,400 hours during 430 flights. The maiden flight for the A380 with GP7200 engines (F-WWEA) is planned for August 2006.

The new Airbus is currently sold in two models. The A380-800 can carry 555 passengers in a three-class configuration or up to 853 passengers in a single-class economy configuration. The range for the -800 model is 15,000 kilometres (about 8,000 nmi) [2]. The second model, the A380-800F freighter, will carry 150 tonnes of cargo 10,400 km (about 5,600 nmi).[3] Future variants may include an A380-900 stretch seating about 650 passengers, a shortened A380-700 seating about 455 passengers, and an extended range version with the same passenger capacity as the A380-800.

Airbus made the cockpit layout, procedures and handling characteristics similar to those of other Airbus aircraft to reduce crew training costs. Accordingly, the A380 features an improved glass cockpit, and fly-by-wire flight controls linked to side-sticks.

The improved cockpit displays feature eight 15-by-20 cm (6-by-8-inch) liquid crystal displays, all of which are physically identical and interchangeable. These comprise two Primary Flight Displays, two navigation displays, one engine parameter display, one system display and two Multi-Function Displays. These MFDs are new with the A380, and provide an easy-to-use interface to the flight management system—replacing three multifunction control and display units. They include QWERTY keyboards and trackballs, interfacing with a graphical "point-and-click" display navigation system.[7]

Either the Rolls-Royce Trent 900 or Engine Alliance GP7200 turbofans may power the A380. Both are derived from predecessors available on the Boeing 777. The Trent 900 is the scaled version of the Trent 800 but incorporating sweptback fan and counter-rotating spools of the stillborn Trent 8107.[8] The GP7200 has GE90 derived core and PW4090 derived fan and low-pressure turbo-machinery.[9] The Trent 900, the launch engine, initially gained most sales. However, the Engine Alliance GP7201 sales have grown substantially, currently outselling the Trent 900 by a sizable margin.

Composite materials make up 25% of the A380's airframe, by weight. Carbon-fibre reinforced plastic, glass-fibre reinforced plastic and quartz-fibre reinforced plastic are used extensively in wings, fuselage sections, tail surfaces, and doors. The A380 is the first commercial airliner with a central wing box made of carbon fibre reinforced plastic. Thermoplastics are used in the leading edges of the slats. The new material GLARE (GLAss-REinforced fibre metal laminate) is used in the upper fuselage and on the stabilizers' leading edges. This aluminium-glass-fibre laminate is lighter and has better corrosion and impact resistance than conventional aluminium alloys used in aviation. Unlike earlier composite materials, it can be repaired using conventional aluminium repair techniques.[10]

Newer weldable aluminium alloys are also used. This enables the widespread use of laser welding manufacturing techniques - eliminating rows of rivets and resulting in a lighter, stronger structure.[10]

The A380 employs Integrated Modular Avionics (IMA) architecture, first used in advanced military aircraft such as F-22 Raptor and Eurofighter Typhoon. It is based on commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) design. Many previous dedicated single-purpose avionics computers are replaced by dedicated software housed in onboard processor modules and servers. This cuts the number of parts as well as providing increased flexibility without resorting to customised avionics. This reduces costs, and benefits from the cheap, commercially available computing power.[7]

The avionics data communication networks employed is switched-Ethernet based AFDX following the ARINC 664 specifications. Together with IMA, the A380 avionics is very highly networked. The data networks are switched full-duplexed star-topology and based on 100baseTX fast-Ethernet. This reduces wires required as well as eliminating latency. The standard is based on widely approved and adopted standards like Ethernet (IEEE 802.3) and UDP/IP (Internet Protocols). [11]

The Network Systems Server (NSS) is the heart of A380 paperless cockpit. It eliminates the bulky manuals and charts traditionally carried by the pilots. The NSS has enough inbuilt robustness to do away with onboard backup paper documents. The A380's network and server system stores data and offers electronic documentation, providing a required equipment list, navigation charts, performance calculations, and an aircraft logbook. All will be accessible to the pilot from two additional 27 cm (11 inch) diagonal LCDs. Each is controlled by its own keyboard and control cursor device mounted in the foldable table in front of each pilot.[11]

Power-by-wire flight controls actuators are used for the first time in civil service. They function as ultimate flight control backups for the A380. In some conditions they help the primary flight controls during certain manoeuvres. They have self-contained hydraulic and electrical power supplies. They are used as electro-hydrostatic actuators (EHA); used in the aileron and elevator and as electrical backup hydrostatic actuators (EBHA) for the rudder and some spoilers.[12]

The aircraft's 350 bar (35 MPa) hydraulic system is an improvement over the typical 207 bar (20.7 MPa or 3,000 psi) system found in other commercial aircraft since the DC4 Skymaster in 1942. First used in military aircraft, the use of a higher pressure reduces the size of pipelines, actuators and other components for overall weight reduction. The 350 bar (35 MPa or 5,080 psi) pressure is generated by 8 de-clutchable hydraulic pumps. Pipelines are typically made from titanium and the system features both fuel and air-cooled heat exchangers. The hydraulics system architecture also differs significantly from other airliners. Self-contained electrically-powered hydraulic power packs, instead of secondary hydraulic system, are the backups for the primary systems. This saves weight and reduces maintenance.[13]

The A380 uses four 150 kVA variable-frequency electrical generators eliminating the constant speed drives for better reliability. The A380 uses aluminium power cables instead of copper for greater weight savings due to the number of cables used for aircraft of this size and complexity. The electrical power system is fully computerized and many contactors and breakers have been replaced by solid-state devices for better performance and increased reliability.[12]

The A380 features a bulbless illumination system. LEDs are employed in the cabin, cockpit, cargo and other fuselage areas. The cabin lighting features programmable multi-spectral LEDs capable of simulating the cabin ambience illumination from daylight to night and various shades in between. HID lighting is used externally giving brighter, whiter and better quality lights. The two technologies used are far superior to the incandescent light bulb in terms of brightness and service life.[14]

Thrust reversers are one of the items that are often faulty in service. The A380 was initially planned to do away with thrust reversers as it has more than enough braking capacity. The FAA disagreed and Airbus elected to fit the 2 inboard engines with them. The A380 features electrically actuated thrust reversers. This gives better reliability than their pneumatic or hydraulic equivalents besides saving considerable weight.[15] Additionally, this reduces the amount of debris blown up during landing, as only the inner two engines go into reverse.

Initial publicity stressed the A380's comfort and space, which offers room for such installations as relaxation areas, bars, duty-free shops, and beauty salons. The A380 customer most likely to use this configuration is Virgin Atlantic Airways, which has a bar in Business Class on its aircraft, and has announced plans to include casinos on its A380s.

Given the history of the airline industry, the A380 will significantly expand the improvements that the 747 made — more seats and lower seat-distance costs — while providing wider seats and better amenities. With 555 passengers, the A380 represents a 35% increase over the 747-400 in standard three-class configuration, along with a nearly 50% larger cabin volume — meaning much more space per passenger. If, however, the plane is ordered in an all-economy-class configuration, it can hold up to 853 passengers, its maximum certified carrying capacity.[5]

The A380 was designed to fit within an 80 x 80 m airport gate, and can land or take off on any runway that can take a Boeing 747. However, the airports to be served by the A380 in regular commercial service may undertake certain infrastructure preparations in order to efficiently accommodate the A380. Its large wingspan can require some taxiway and apron reconfigurations, to maintain safe separation margins when two of the aircraft pass each other. Taxiway shoulders may be required to be paved to reduce the likelihood of foreign object damage caused to (or by) the outboard engines, which overhang more than 25 m (80 ft) from the center line of the aircraft. Any taxiway or runway bridges must be capable of supporting the A380's maximum weight. The terminal gate must be sized such that the A380's wings do not block adjacent gates, and may also provide multiple jetway bridges for simultaneous boarding on both decks. Service vehicles with lifts capable of reaching the upper deck must be procured, as well as tractors capable of handling the A380's maximum ramp weight.

The A380 test aircraft have begun a campaign of airport compatibility testing, to verify the modifications already made at several large airports. To date, the airports visited for compatibility testing include Brisbane, Frankfurt, Kuala Lumpur, London[16], Melbourne, Singapore, and Sydney.

During construction, the front and rear sections of the fuselage are loaded on an Airbus RORO ship, Ville de Bordeaux, in Hamburg in northern Germany, whence they are shipped to the United Kingdom.[10] There the huge wings, which are manufactured at Filton in Bristol and Broughton in north Wales, are transported by barge to Mostyn docks, where the ship adds them to its cargo. In Saint-Nazaire in western France, the ship trades the fuselage sections from Hamburg for larger, assembled sections, some of which include the nose. The ship unloads in Bordeaux. Afterwards, the ship picks up the belly and tail sections by Construcciones Aeronáuticas SA in Cadiz in southern Spain, and delivers them to Bordeaux. Doors were specially made by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited in Bangalore in India.[10]

From there, the A380 parts are transported by barge to Langon, and by road to an assembly hall in Toulouse in France. New wider roads, extra canal systems and barges were developed to deliver the massive A380 parts. After assembly, the aircraft are flown to Hamburg to be furnished and painted. Final assembly began in 2004, with first aircraft (MSN001) displayed in January 2005.[10]

Sixteen airlines have ordered the A380 as of 6 April 2006 including an order from AIG's aircraft leasing unit, ILFC. Currently, A380 orders stand at 168, including 27 freighter models. Break-even is estimated to be at 250 to 300 units. Former Airbus CEO Noël Forgeard stated he expects to sell 750 of the aircraft. As of 2006, the unit cost of the A380 is US$ 295 million. [17] [18]

Entries shaded in pink have been announced, but have not yet signed a firm contract.

Airbus has not publicly announced delivery dates, though they notified airlines in June 2005 that delivery would be delayed by up to six months, which meant Singapore Airlines would receive the first A380 aircraft in the last quarter of 2006, with Qantas getting its first delivery in April 2007 and Emirates receiving aircraft before 2008.[19] A subsequent announcement in a June 2006 press release [14] warned that the initial rate of deliveries would be slower than anticipated, leading to further delays for some airlines, although this would not affect the first production models, already built, flown and well into fitout. Delays in testing and certification of full passenger loads in flight mean that Singapore airlines will not receive its first A380 until the final few days of 2006 or very early in 2007.

Singapore Airlines will use the plane on its Sydney and Singapore routes from late 2006 in a 485 passenger configuration. Subsequent routes by Singapore Airlines may include the Singapore - San Francisco route via Hong Kong, as well as direct flights to Paris and Frankfurt. Qantas has also announced it will use the A380 on its Los Angeles to Sydney to Melbourne route in a 501 seat configuration. Air France's order will arrive in 2007 and be used on the Paris to Montreal and New York routes.

On 13 June 2006 Airbus announced in a press release that the A380 delivery schedule will undergo an additional "shift of six to seven months due to production ramp up issues." Although the first aircraft will be delivered before the end of 2006, 2007 deliveries will be limited to only 9 aircraft. Overall the initial (pre-2005) plan was to deliver about 120 A380s by the end of 2009; this was reduced to around 90-100 by the first delay, and is now cut to a plan for roughly 70-80 deliveries by 2009. This caused a 26% drop in the share price of Airbus's parent, EADS, as shareholders speculated on the financial burden this puts on the organization. [15] It also affected the put valuation given to BAE Systems' 20% share. [16]

Singapore Airlines, Emirates and Qantas were reported to be angry at the delays and to be considering compensation.[20] However on 21 July 2006 Singapore Airlines ordered a further 9 A380s and stated that Airbus had "demonstrated to our satisfaction that the engineering design for the A380 is sound [and that] it has performed well in flight and certification tests and the delays in its delivery have been caused more by production, rather than technical, issues." .[21]

On 20 June and 21 June 2006, Air Transport World reported Malaysia Airlines and ILFC were investigating cancelling their orders for the aircraft in the wake of the production delays.[22][23]

Several technical concerns about the A380 have arisen, fuelling criticism of the aircraft and its safety. As type certificate requirements for A380 are laid down by both EASA and FAA, Airbus has said that it will address these concerns as required.

Joseph Mangan, a former employee of TTTech, has claimed the microprocessors produced by TTTech for the A380 are severely flawed.[24] The microchips control the A380's cabin-pressurization system; Mangan has stated that the combination of TTTech's microprocessor and a new architecture of valves could cause the A380 to undergo rapid decompression. This sudden drop in cabin pressure could cause the flight crew to lose consciousness and pose a major hurdle to safe flight.

This allegation has been strongly rejected by both TTTech[25] and EADS. Additionally, Boeing has said they are unaware of any problems with TTTech's chips.[26] An Austrian court has fined Mr. Mangan for violating the court's preliminary injunction regarding discussion of his allegation pending court cases.

Early critics claimed that the A380 would damage taxiways and other airport surfaces. However, the pressure exerted by its wheels is lower than that of a 747 because the A380 has more wheels than the 747 (22 wheels in the A380 compared to 18 wheels in the 747). Airbus tested this using a special ballasted rig, designed to replicate the landing gear of the A380. The rig, weighing 540 tonnes (595 short tons), was towed up and down at Airbus' facilities at Toulouse and after each pass the ground was carefully inspected.

As of late 2005 there are concerns that the jet blast from the A380's engines could be dangerous to ground vehicles and airport terminal buildings, as more thrust is required to move its greater mass (590 t compared to 412.8 t for a 747). The American FAA has established a commission[27] to determine if new safety regulations seem necessary, and will make appropriate recommendations to the ICAO. According to The Wall Street Journal 'The debate is supposed to be entirely about safety, but industry officials and even some participants acknowledge that, at the very least, an overlay of diplomatic and trade tensions complicates matters.' The FAA commission has stated they will not enact unilateral safeguards for the A380, only those imposed by the ICAO.[28]

All aircraft produce wingtip vortices during flight, contributing to wake turbulence, which are strongest during flight envelopes involving high thrust, high angles of attack, and under-clean configurations, such as departures. Many airliners already in service produce extremely large and powerful wakes, which are dangerous to lighter following aircraft. Airspeed, weight, wingspan, and flap and gear deployment all affect the strength of these vortices, which is "proportional to aircraft weight and inversely to aircraft speed and wing span".[29] Aircraft operating below 10,000 feet are limited to 460 km/h (250 knots), and until just before landing are in a clean configuration (flaps and gear retracted). Weight and wingspan are therefore the primary factors affecting vortex strength. The A380, at 560,000 kg, is 36% heavier than the 747-400ER's 412,000 kg[30], but its 79.8 m span is 24% wider than the 747ER's 64.4 m. At weights equal to the 747, the A380 will therefore produce weaker vortices. However, at Maximum Take-Off Weight, notwithstanding other aerodynamic improvements, which Airbus claims to have implemented[31], the turbulence will be stronger.

Modern aerodynamics can potentially reduce the effect. Research in the 1970s demonstrated that using wingtip vortex control concepts such as winglets, while reducing cruise vortices and drag, did not have a significant effect on vortex strength during the landing phase. Though it is not clear whether wingtip fences were ever tested, this research (and more recent studies) did identify several promising alternatives.[32]

In 2005 ICAO recommended that operational separation criteria for the A380 be substantially greater than for the 747 because “Flight test data has raised concerns about horizontal and vertical wake turbulence spacing criteria for approach, landing, departure and en route A380 operations.” and “Analysis indicates that A380 wake vortices will descend further and be significantly stronger at 1,000 feet below the generation altitude than for other aircraft in the heavy wake turbulence category.” Greater aircraft separation on approach would reduce the frequency of aircraft landings, which would reduce the efficiency of the aircraft. Further flight testing will be required in order to determine whether the vortices produced are substantially larger than existing aircraft vortices.

Following the tsunami disaster in December 2004, the European Commission pressured Thailand to maintain Thai Airways International's order for six A380s, reportedly as part of a trade deal in exchange for Thailand avoiding EU fishing tariffs.[33]

During the destructive wing strength certification test, the test wing of the A380 failed to meet the certification requirements.[34] The test wing buckled somewhere between the inboard and outboard engine at 147% of limit load. Limit load is the maximum load expected to occur during operations in the design life of an aircraft. For strength certification, an aircraft structure must not fail below 150% of limit load. This means that the test wing failed below its design load. Airbus initially indicated that the test article represented an early design and that the requirements would be met by analysis of results and changes already made. Subsequently, however, Airbus announced that modifications adding 30kg to the design would be made to the wing to provide the required strength.

(800F Freighter in brown)[2][3]

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