The Airbus A380, the biggest airliner ever built, completed a momentous maiden flight, winning praise from one of the pilots as a “magnificent machine” and opening a new era in aviation history. Click on Read More for the full story.
“We had a very successful first flight and thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it,” said Claude Lelaie, one of the two pilots and the head of the Airbus flight division.
The Airbus prototype took off and landed on runway 32, dubbed the Concorde, from where the world’s only supersonic jetliner made its maiden flight in 1969. The plane lifted off the ground for the first time at 10:29am, Airbus said, preceded by a small “chase” aircraft that scouted conditions for the six-man crew aboard the A380.
The superjumbo headed northwest, turning its back on Toulouse and its 700,000 inhabitants, as required for a test flight. At takeoff, the prototype plane weighed 421 tonnes, the heaviest civil airliner to date, the company said. Its maximum takeoff weight is 560 tonnes.
The A380 carried a crew of six. “The takeoff was absolutely perfect,” chief test pilot Jacques Rosay told reporters by radio from the cockpit as he flew at 10,000 feet just north of the Pyrenees about an hour into the flight. He said flying the plane was as easy as “riding a bicycle”. “It’s as big as a building,” one observer said as the crowd applauded the fly-by some 300 feet overhead.
Around 30,000 spectators cheered as the A380 double-decker touched down at 2:23pm (1223 GMT) at Toulouse-Blagnac airport in southwestern after a successful flight of three hours and 54 minutes. The crew, dressed in orange suits, waved happily when they threw open the door and descended the steps.
While the plane was still airborne, Airbus chief executive Noel Forgeard expressed “pride” in its successful and punctual takeoff. The gleaming white prototype, sporting the new Airbus trademark blues on its tail, was powered by four Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines. It is designed to fly 15,000km non-stop.
“A new page in aviation history has been written,” French President Jacques Chirac said in Paris. “It is a magnificent result of European industrial cooperation.”
The airliner, which can carry between 550 and 840 passengers, is due to enter commercial service in mid-2006, debuting with Singapore Airlines
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