Airbus A380

The Airbus A380 is a double-decker, four-engined airliner manufactured by Airbus S.A.S. It first flew on April 27 2005 from Toulouse, France. Commercial flights should begin in late 2006 after 15 months of testing, with the delivery of the first aircraft to 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 will become the largest passenger airliner in the world with its service entry in late 2006, topping the Boeing 747, which was the largest for 35 years. The Antonov An-225 retains the record of being the world's largest commercial aircraft (though its passenger capacity is about 80, and only one flying aircraft currently exists). The Spruce Goose holds the record for the aircraft with the largest wingspan ever.

Design

The new Airbus is currently sold in two versions. 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 km (8,000 nautical miles) . The second model, the A380-800F freighter, will carry 150 tonnes of cargo 10,400 km (5,600 nautical miles) . The A380-900 is a proposed stretch variant, for which the A380's wing was originally designed . As well as the "A380-900" variant, a shorter version called the "A380-700" is also planned, that will only carry 455 passengers on 2 decks.

Cockpit

File:A380.flightdeck.750pix.jpg

Mockup of the flight deck.

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.

Engines

Either the Rolls-Royce Trent 900 or Engine Alliance GP7200 turbofans may power the A380. Both are derived from predecessors available on the 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 . The GP7200 has GE90 derived core and PW4090 derived fan and low-pressure turbo-machinery . The Trent 900, the launch engine, initially gained most sales. However, the Engine Alliance GP7201 sales have grown, and now roughly match those of the Trent 900.

Technological features

Materials 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 .

Carbon-fibre reinforced plastics, glass-fibre reinforced plastic and quartz-fibre reinforced plastic are also used extensively in wings, fuselage sections and on doors. The A380 is the first time that carbon fibre has been used to make the central wing box of a commercial airliner. Thermoplastics are used in the leading edges of the slats.

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.

Advanced avionics architecture

Integrated Modular Avionics (IMA) IMA, first used in advanced military aircraft such as F-22 Raptor and Eurofighter Typhoon, is the main avionics architecture. 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.

Avionics Full Duplex Switched Ethernet (AFDX) / ARINC 664 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 IP/UDP (Internet Protocols). This architecture is significantly more advanced than the bus-topology based ARINC 629 used in Boeing 777.

Network Systems Server (NSS) The 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.

Power-by-wire flight controls 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.

350 bar (35 MPa) hydraulic system This 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.

Electrical generation The A380 uses four 150 kVA variable-frequency 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.

LED and High Intensity Discharge (HID) lighting 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.

Electrical thrust reversers 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 beside saving considerable weight.

Amenities

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.

Some airports have planned terminal reconfigurations to facilitate loading and unloading with the A380's double-decker design. Heathrow has spent £105million on a gantry that can unload and load on 2 decks, and was used when the airliner recently landed at the airport.

Construction

Airbus operates 16 manufacturing sites all in Europe except for some wing component manufacture by IPTN, an Indonesian aircraft manufacturer. The European manufacturer will produce most of parts for the new A380 airliner.

First, the front and rear sections of the fuselage are loaded on an Airbus RORO ship, Ville de Bordeaux, in Hamburg, northern Germany, whence they are shipped to the United Kingdom. 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, 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, southern Spain, and delivers them to Bordeaux. Doors were specially made by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited in Bangalore, India.

From there, the A380 parts are transported by barge to Langon, and by road to an assembly hall in Toulouse, 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.

History

Development

The first completed A380 at the "A380 Reveal" event in Toulouse

Side view of the first completed A380

Before starting the A380 project, 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, the unspoken consensus was 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 could technically fill the gap between the Douglas DC-8 and the Boeing 747, but the market could only sustain one of the two and eventually Lockheed left the civil airliner market. However, Airbus and Boeing decided to enter the new 600 seat market each in their own ways.

Boeing 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, a similar design to the 747X that was announced as the 747-8 Intercontinental on November 14, 2005 with a seating capacity of around 450 passengers to compete with the A380.

Development of the "A3XX" began in June 1994. After years of research, Airbus decided to proceed with the € 8.8 billion project in 1999, the final budget settling at about € 12 billion. The double-decker layout would provide higher seat capacities, and hence cost savings, than a traditional design. In 2001 it was re-christened as the "A380," with the announcement of Singapore Airlines as the launch customer.

The A380's wing has been designed to cope with a Maximum Take-Off Weight (MTOW) of 590 t, albeit with some strengthening required, allowing for a future stretch. The stronger wing (and structure) is used on today's freighter version, 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.

While the A380 is often touted as being a success of a European aerospace company over an American one, the A380 actually employs more parts sourced from the United States, including a majority of the engines, than any other country. Additionally, extensive design work of the A380's wing structures was done at Airbus North America Engineering in Wichita, Kansas, USA, a move intended to take advantage of the number of highly trained aerospace engineers in the area.

Testing

The first A380 prototype, serial number 001 and registration F-WWOW, was unveiled in a ceremony in Toulouse on January 18 2005.

Its maiden flight took place at 8:29 UTC (10:29 a.m. local time), April 27 2005. The prototype departed runway 32L of Blagnac International Airport in Toulouse with a flight crew of six, 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 for commercial flights, it was the heaviest take-off weight of any passenger airliner ever created.

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 use until near the end of 2006, resulting in delays of 6 months or more for initial contracted deliveries.

File:AirbusA380SIA.JPG

A380 in Singapore Airlines livery at the Asian Aerospace exhibition, February 2006

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 and Kuala Lumpur. During this tour, the colours of Singapore Airlines, Qantas and Malaysia Airlines were applied in addition to the house colours, and John Travolta flew the A380 on a joy ride from Brisbane over the Gold Coast. On November 19 an A380 flew in full Emirates colors at the Dubai Air Show.

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

On March 26, the A380 underwent evacuation certification in Hamburg, Germany. The test, which was done to meet regulatory requirements, involved evacuating 853 passengers and 20 crew from the aircraft with 8 of the 16 exits blocked within 90 seconds." On March 29, the A380 received European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approval to carry 853 passengers, indicating that the evacuation trial had met their certification standards.

A380 executing low pass over Airbus plant at Filton, Bristol before heading to Heathrow on May 18th, 2006

On May 18, the A380 landed in the UK for the first time, arriving at London Heathrow Airport to prove that the airport’s congested taxiways and terminals are big enough to take it.

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.

Orders

Sixteen airlines have ordered the A380 as of April 6 2006, including an order from AIG's aircraft leasing unit, ILFC. Currently, A380 orders stand at 159, including 27 freighter versions. 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. Official list price stands at US$295 million per unit. Carriers often receive large discounts for volume or early purchases.

Airline	Entry into service	Type			Engine
		A380-800	A380-800F	Options	EA	RR
Air France	2008	10		4	*
China Southern Airlines	2007	5				*
Emirates	2007	43			*
Etihad Airways	2008	4				*
FedEx	2009		10	10	*
ILFC		5	5		4
Kingfisher Airlines	2010	5
Korean Air	2008	5		3	*
Lufthansa	2008	15		10		*
Malaysia Airlines	2007	6				*
Qantas	2007	12		10		*
Qatar Airways	2009	2		2
Singapore Airlines	2006	10		15		*
Thai Airways International		6
UPS	2009		10	10
Virgin Atlantic	2008	6		6		*
Sub-totals:		134	25	70	72	58
Total:		159			130

Delivery

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 means Singapore Airlines will receive the first A380 in the fourth quarter of 2006, with Qantas getting its first delivery in April 2007 and Emirates receiving aircraft before 2008. The new plane's entry into service, first with Singapore Airlines, will take place between London Heathrow and Sydney via Singapore from late 2006. 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 Airways 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 with a flight from Paris to Montreal and also New York

Airbus says it will eventually deliver four planes a month.

Criticism

Several technical concerns about the A380 have arisen, fueling 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.

Cabin pressurization

Joseph Mangan, a former employee of TTTech, has claimed the microprocessors produced by TTTech for the A380 is severely flawed. 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 and EADS. Additionally, Boeing has said they are unaware of any problems with TTTech's chips. An Austrian court has fined Mr. Mangan for violating the court's preliminary injunction regarding discussion of his allegation pending court cases.

Ground operations

Early critics claimed that the A380 would damage taxiways and other airport surfaces. However, the pressure exerted by its wheels was 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 which included as many wheels as the A380 would use, in the same position as those from the landing gear. The rig, weighing 540,000 kg (540 metric tons), was towed up and down of Airbus' facilities at Toulouse and after each pass the ground was carefully inspected.

Another criticism is that the A380, with a longer wingspan than a 747, will require the repositioning of taxiways so as to allow two of these aircraft to maintain safety distances when passing each other on, for example, a runway and an adjacent taxiway.

Current FAA regulations for Group 6 aircraft (including the A380) require 60 meter (200 foot) wide runways while the large majority of the airports they are expected to operate from have 45 meter (150 foot) wide runways. Airbus expects that this requirement will be waived prior to the entry of the A380 into service.

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 substantial bulk. The American FAA has established a commission 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.

Wake turbulence

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". 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, 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), the turbulence will be stronger.

Modern aerodynamics can potentially reduce the effect. Research in the 1970s demonstrated that some wingtip vortex control concepts (winglets, for example), 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.

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 show how powerful the vortices created by the A380 really are; if they are larger than existing aircraft vortices (notably by the Boeing 747).

Orders connected to non-aviation business

Airbus gained an order from Thai Airways International to buy 6 A380s, reportedly as part of a trade deal in exchange for Thailand avoiding EU fishing tariffs. This was following the tsunami disaster in December 2004. The unconfirmed story brought outrage and embarrassed the European Trade Commissioner.

Wing strength

During the destructive wing strength certification test, the test wing of the A380 broke at 145% of the predicted load, short of the required 150%. Whether or not the test will have to be re-run or the wing strengthened has not yet been determined or publicly announced by Airbus or the certifying agencies.

Specifications

A size comparison between four of the largest aircraft. Click to enlarge.

(800F Freighter in brown)

General characteristics

• Flight crew: 2
• Capacity: 555 in 3 classes or 853 passengers in 1 class, with up to 66.4 tonnes (146,400 lb) of cargo in 38 LD3s or 13 pallets
  • 152.4 tonnes (336,000 lb) of cargo (158 t option)
• Powerplant: 4×311 kN (70,000 lb_f) turbofans. Either Rolls-Royce Trent 900 or Engine Alliance GP7200
  • 4×340 kN (76,500 lb_f)

Dimensions

• Length: 73 m (239 ft 6 in
• Wingspan: 79.8 m (261 ft 10 in
• Height: 24.1 m (79 ft 1 in
• Wing area: 845 m² (9,100 ft²)

Weights and fuel capacity

• Typical Operating Empty Weight: 276,800 kg (610,200 lb)
  • 252,200 kg (556,000 lb)
• Maximum takeoff: 560,000 kg (1,235,000 lb)
  • 590,000 kg (1,300,000 lb)
• Maximum fuel: 310,000 litres (81,890 US gal)
  • 310,000 l (352,000 l option)

Performance

• Normal cruise speed: 0.85 M (approx 902 km/h, 560 mph or 487 kt)
• Maximum cruise speed: 0.89 M
• Range: 15,000 km (8,000 nautical miles)
  • 10,400 km (5,600 nmi)
• Service ceiling: 13,100 m (43,000 ft)

References

Media

Airbus A380 rolling to runway

External links

• Official A380 site
  • Official A380 specifications
  • The Airbus A380 Navigator
• Airbusa380.com - Airbus A380
• Airliners.net - Airbus A380
• Aircraft-Info.net - Airbus A380
• Airbus and WTO
• How the Airbus A380 Works
• An article on the A380 at Aerospaceweb.org
• An article on the A380 at Aerospace-Techonology.com
• Airbus North America site

Photos

• A380 Pictures on Airliners.net
• Photo Gallery of the A380 in flight
• Photo Gallery of the A380 adventure (In French)
• The A380 at the Paris Air Show

Videos

• A 380 video on flight
• The development of the A380
• The A380 first flight
• The A380 being assembled in seven minutes
• First flight video (GFDL CC-BY-SA)
• RTÉ News report on the A380 reveal (REAL video)

Related content

Related development

• Airbus A350

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era

• Boeing 747
• Antonov An-124
• Antonov An-225
• C-5 Galaxy

Related lists

• List of airliners
• List of civil aircraft