General aviation/airplane news and chat
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T & P
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I must get myself a flight on an A380 before they are retired, which sadly will be within a decade or so. Haven't been on one yet, but it by all accounts the greatest commercial aircraft for passenger experience in aviation history, even in cattle class.
A great feat of engineering but I guess born in the wrong era. Emirates have been clamouring for a next-gen A380, which even with the constantly high fuel prices could be made to work thanks to evolving engine technology. But the development costs are not worth it for Airbus, at least not unless a lot more airlines commited to additional orders.
Still, it is remarkable that several airlines who had mothballed their A380s during Covid and had expected never to reactivate them again are doing just so, even with the higher fuel cost per passenger seat. It might not be a looker from several angles, but still a head turner. And that wing span is just amazing.
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Bahnhof Strasse
Met up with Hannah Courtoy a week next Tuesday
The A380 has fuel tanks in the rear stabilisers as well as in the wings. It holds more fuel in the rear stabilisers than an A320 does in its wings. Epic machine.
A380
How do I change this 'custom title' thing then?
Awww thanks.
T & P
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If you weren’t spoken for…
Dogsauce
I’ve got Skol but I’m not a Scholar
I always thought the point was that by carrying more passengers it would be less fuel per passenger, is that down to them not being configured for maximum occupancy or was that never the intent?
I did get to go on one about eight years ago on a trip to Australia with Malaysian airways. It was nice inside.
T & P
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I’m nothing but a nerd, but according to various articles on the subject and discussions on aviation fora, it’s a combination of factors. The first one is that four engines will always be more uneconomical than two, and as engines have continuously evolved and become ever more powerful, you can now fly 400-seat planes on two engines on ultra long haul routes that used to be possible with 4-engine planes only. So it’s a simple mathematical calculation: despite the A380 carrying more pax, for most routes a large twin-engine plane can do the job cheaper per passenger mile.
The second is capacity vs frequency. Airbus was (again according to aviation websites and message boards) heavily banking airlines choosing fewer flights per day on key busy routes by using larger aircraft, but customers seemed to prefer the flexibility offered by an airline offering, say, four daily flights to a busy destination, than another offering just two or three. I’m only regurgitating what I’ve read, and would be interested to know if Bahnhof Strasse has formed an opinion on that.
Another factor is that the traditional hub and spoke system whereby if you are travelling to a secondary city overseas, traditionally you would fly to a major hub and then connect with a domestic flight, but as you can nowadays fly even a humble A321 for over 4,000 miles, airlines can now offer direct flights between less busy secondary cities that were never financially viable before, removing the need to fly on the major trunk route and connect.
DownwardDog
Riding a Brompton with a power meter.
The metric airlines use is CASK (cost per available seat kilometer). The A380 is considerably more expensive to operate on this metric than the super twins like the 777. One of the reasons for this is the relatively ineffecient wing design which was optimised for the 600t version that never happened. Basically, the A380 ran right into the rise of the super twins and the Middle East hyper connectors which supplanted the legacy carriers on the mega growth routes from Europe to Asia.
teuchter
je suis teuchter
Radio 4 just wasted a significant amount of potential news time interviewing a dozy man whose wedding plans in Italy have been messed up by the current air traffic control problems. It's quite remarkable that during the whole time neither he nor the interviewer mentioned the possibility of travelling overland as a solution.
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T & P
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A Dutch airline is creating an 'adults only' area in the cabin on their long half flights to the Caribbean. For an extra €45, you can sit much further up towards the front of plane, separated from other people's ankle-biters by walls and curtains. Worth every penny if you ask me 
www.cntraveler.com
Bye-Bye, Baby: This Airline Is Creating an Adults-Only Section
The quiet zone will be separated from the rest of the aircraft—and comes at a premium.
Bahnhof Strasse
Met up with Hannah Courtoy a week next Tuesday
A Dutch airline is creating an 'adults only' area in the cabin on their long half flights to the Caribbean. For an extra €45, you can sit much further up towards the front of plane, separated from other people's ankle-biters by walls and curtains. Worth every penny if you ask me
Bye-Bye, Baby: This Airline Is Creating an Adults-Only Section
The quiet zone will be separated from the rest of the aircraft—and comes at a premium.
Jet2 needs a child only/guardian with child zone to escape the adults they seem to attract.
Bahnhof Strasse
Met up with Hannah Courtoy a week next Tuesday
spitfire
Walty McWaltface
I’d probably need a few practice runs in MS Flight Sim 2001 first as well though.
Then a couple more vodkas.
T & P
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A nostalgic look at boarding passes through the ages
BTW, the following article is surprisingly enjoyable to navigate using your mouse wheel
edition.cnn.com
BTW, the following article is surprisingly enjoyable to navigate using your mouse wheel
Final call for paper boarding passes? A visual history of the beloved memento
Fasten your seatbelts and prepare for takeoff as we explore the history of the boarding pass.
edition.cnn.com
A380
How do I change this 'custom title' thing then?
Lovely Hurricane.
mx wcfc
Well-Known Member
Is that a Fokker Jungman, that lives at White Waltham?Just been up in this.
Barrel rolls and loops. Let me “fly” it as well.
Fucking ace.
View attachment 389960
Was the pilot a guy called Pete?
spitfire
Walty McWaltface
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