Who cares! The Airbus A380 Just took off.

Posspet Boys · Post by **Posspet Boys** » 27 April 05 10:58 pm

I know it is off topic but one of the great milestones in aviation history just happened tonight.
The new Airbus A380 aircraft just took off. This should go down as one of the milestone achievements in history.
To view live airbus footage.
http://www.airbus.com/A380/Seeing/live/video/live.asx

dcr · Post by **dcr** » 27 April 05 11:16 pm

Its going to take some *very* big rubber bands to keep that thing up in the air

Thanks for the link, it was worth watching.

Posspet Boys · Post by **Posspet Boys** » 27 April 05 11:20 pm

It's on approach as I write......
Just did a fly past.

Lt. Sniper · Post by **Lt. Sniper** » 28 April 05 2:24 pm

I dont know if that live video was the same as these shots but anyway

http://www.airbus.com/A380/seeing/indexminisite.aspx

with all sort of shots when making it.

There is a link at the bottom to the A340-600 first flight, it looks like it was a bit windy when he landed

Lt. Sniper · Post by **Lt. Sniper** » 28 April 05 2:44 pm

And another reason why computers are not going to solve everything.

http://silent.auscstrike.com/airbusaccident.mpeg

Thats an Air France Airbus...

Slider & Smurf · Post by **Slider & Smurf** » 28 April 05 4:40 pm

It was also attributed to human error rather than the onboard computers:

On June 26, 1988 Air France A320 crashed into trees during an air show maneuver when the aircraft failed to gain height during a low pass with the gear extended. Three of the 136 passengers were killed. This story is often brought up as one of the tragic cases when the computer overrode the commands of the pilot. As it turns out, this anecdote is not correct at all.
<p>
As it turns out, the crash was in fact caused by human error: the pilots ignored the low altitude warning systems (probably a reasonable action, given that they were doing a low altitude fly-by). They claimed they thought the plane was at a 100 feet; it was flying as low as 30 feet. They claimed that the engines did not respond properly; the official reports claim they did. It is to be expected that there is a delay between pushing the throttle and the thrust delivered by the engines, in A320 this delay is expected to be 8-10 seconds. Finally, the pilots did switch off the automatic flight controls.

<p>
Remember, kids - takeoffs are optional, landings are mandatory

Lt. Sniper · Post by **Lt. Sniper** » 28 April 05 5:01 pm

If you listen carefully you can hear the engines powerup a bit more a few seconds after they hit the trees...maybe thats the delay?

Mmm..Its intresting to hear what really happened.

Slider & Smurf · Post by **Slider & Smurf** » 28 April 05 5:11 pm

Some interesting stats for human factors in aviation - something like 80% of fatal aircraft accidents can be traced to 'deliberate' errors ... such as pilot(s) making a conscious decision to take a risky option (like flying into severe weather, or accepting an aircraft with known defects).
<p>
Errors from a lack of skill or pilot indecision can be _reduced_ by improved avionics and aircraft design - but never eliminated, as long as there is a human between the chair and the stick

swampgecko · Post by **swampgecko** » 28 April 05 5:56 pm

Slider & Smurf wrote:Some interesting stats for human factors in aviation - something like 80% of fatal aircraft accidents can be traced to 'deliberate' errors ... such as pilot(s) making a conscious decision to take a risky option (like flying into severe weather, or accepting an aircraft with known defects).
<p>
Errors from a lack of skill or pilot indecision can be _reduced_ by improved avionics and aircraft design - but never eliminated, as long as there is a human between the chair and the stick

Arrrhh Yes, the old STSIS (Seat to Stick Interface System), been known to break more things than a trained monkey with a wrench....

Posspet Boys · Post by **Posspet Boys** » 29 April 05 12:20 am

The A320 incident is often misreported. The aircraft was in fact configured as if it were to land at the time. The flaps were away from the up position and the undercarriage was in the down position.
The pilot was infact waiting for the automatic protection system called Alpha Floor to activate which automatically spools up the engines and prevents the aircraft from crashing.
Logically the aircraft did exactly as it was designed to do and that is not increase engine thrust when it thinks that it is landing. Think about it. If it did this then it would never ever be able to land. The thrust would always go to full on landing.
The aircraft does not differentiate also as to whether there is a runway in front of it or a forrest.
The other amazing fact about this accident was the minimal loss of life. I cannot exactly recall but I believe that it was only 1 or 2 people and they were handicapped.
I have worked on A320 aircraft for many years and I still believe that they are a wonderful aircraft and dragged aviation technology further into the 21st century than anyone preceding it.