p.s. - Boeing considered stretching the upper deck of the 747 aft to create a similar craft - and decided against it. Boeing also abandoned its SST (the 7007) after the US gov’t refused to subsidize it (as France and UK subsidize the Concorde).
It depends on the paving material. Tanks really tear up asphalt. And BTW, the Atlantic Wall, planned by Germany to keep out the Americans and British in the 40’s and mainly built of concrete, was mostly built by Frenchmen. It lasted about 3 hours.
They better watch out. They being Airbus and France. French farmers have the ability to make themselves incredible thorns in the sides of those who thwart them.
I wonder how high the vandalism bill will end up being?
I see this as a total win-win. First of all you get to pave a whole lot more area (this from a person with a ‘Pave the Planet’ t-shirt ), and second of all, it’s France! Go ahead. It’s got my vote. It’s even for a good cause (a damn big plane).
IMHO when you get a bunch of countries together working to be “the greatest” at one thing, costs be damned, the resulting decisions can seem less than sensible.
Personally I hope they do make a bunch of these planes, they never run at greater than 60% capacity and lose a bazillion Euros in the process.
Why do you think Boeing decided not to make one? They know that this plane is gonna be a flop
Although the EU may subsidize the planes, to keep them flying despite their economic value (or lack thereof). Just like how the Concord exists on subsidies from England and France.
I’m not sure why you’re looking forward to it failing, but you do realise that Airbus has been quite successfully competing in the airliner market for many years now, right?
I’m not sure why you’re looking forward to it failing, but you do realise that Airbus has been quite successfully competing in the airliner market for many years now, right?
Silly buggers. They should just go ahead and build the giant delta wing plane with hardly any seating near the windows that I read about last year.
Of course, when I do searches for it now nothing pops up. Damn.
notice how the tail fell off… about 90 secs after takeoff
for those interested, that is the A300-600 model, of which American has 34 remaining (one had its vertical stabilizer replaced because of damage found after 587 failed)
Airbus doesn’t compete. They are subsidised by the French and British governments. Take away Airbus’ (and Boeing’s) subsidies and it would be no contest.
Blimey. I didn’t realise people had such a problem with Airbus. While subsidies are not my area of expertise one bit, I’m just glad no other aircraft manufacturer has had incidents of mass-produced faults.
When I first heard about this monster plane, my though was “oh, great, now we can kill even more people per accident.” and “the first time one goes down it’s going to blow the “worst aviation disaster” record (Tenerife, Canary Islands) out of the water”
Now, I think things like “it’s an even better “poor man’s cruise missle” than the Boeing 757”. Able to level large buildings in a single hit, etc.
An 800 passenger plane only makes sense if you have 800 people going to the same destination at the same time. Since the current big jets - either Airbus or Boeing - sometimes have a hard time filling up all the seats, it clearly will not be the answer for all routes.
Then there’s the issue of needing to reconfigure airports and runways to accomodate these monsters. Sure, it’s doable - but it won’t be done outside Europe unless it makes economic sense.
About the only place I think 800 seat planes are likely to make a go of it is certain routes in Asia and the Pacific which keep multiple 747’s busy ferring massive numbers of people around. But since some of those routes involve islands, expanding airports and runways may be more difficult than on a continental mainland.
Which reminds me - why are they spending so many euros to transport the components overland? Why not build the assembly factory near the seaport? Would drastically reduce costs. Must be politics, as there is no sound business reason for doing what they’re doing.
), and second of all, it’s France! Go ahead. It’s got my vote. It’s even for a good cause (a damn big plane).