Airbus A380 Completes Maiden Test Flight

crazy blade writes "The much anticipated maiden test flight of the Airbus A380 jumbo jet is underway. The aircraft left Blagnac International Airport in Toulouse, France at 10.29 hours local time (08.29 UTC) from runway 32L. Here are some photos if you're interested."

Comments

Re:I'm so confused....

[SenorPez]

It's completed the maiden test flight. The maiden test landing, however, remains to occur. :)

Wow. That's a BIG plane.

[ubuntu]

That reminds me -- I just saw a wicked movie.

P-Ditty

[millahtime]

What other plane out there is big enough to hold all of the P-Ditty enturage for a flight.

Re:Airbus

[TheKidWho]

That's why I love my $45 flights from school to home with Jetblue =) Thank you European Taxpayers!

Re:Finally

[herberts]

Indeed, that's why ETOPS is said to mean

Engines Turn Or Passengers Swim...

Re:I'm so confused....

[0x461FAB0BD7D2]

As the article was written before it was posted on Slashdot, we can safely assume that it was underway (at the time the article was written) before it was completed (now). This is the expected behavior of most flights.

This is, of course, barring any recent technological advancement which allows jets to complete flights before getting them underway. If it were so, that'd be real news for nerds. Of course, then, the article would be posted on Slashdot before it was written.

So to answer your question, the answer is yes.

Check out the photo credits

[tomhudson]

YOu can either click on the link picture, then select "medium",
or click directly here: http://www.airliners.net/open.file?id=812064&size= L&width=1600&height=1154&sok=&photo_nr=&prev_id=&n ext_id=
and scroll down to the lower left of the picture.

It says:

Photo copyright French Frogs AirSlides

Here's more of their work: http://www.planepictures.net/netsearch4.cgi?stype= name&srng=2&srch=French%20Frogs%20AirSlides

Talk about a good marketing name ...

Yes! Finally it's official

[Anonymous Coward]

We Europeans do have the biggest and we can still get it up! :-D

Obligatory Monty Python reference

[gorim]

What is the air-speed velocity of an unladen A380 ?

(hint: you can't waffle on this since there is only one type!)

Yeah... but

[DoorFrame]

Sure it's big, but how many milk bottles full of urine can carry at one time? That's what Howard Hughes would really be dreaming of.

Re:Airbus

[91degrees]

Speaking as a European taxpayer, European taxpayers often pay 100% of my ticket.

Mandatory "your mom" joke

[COMON$]

Finally a plane your mom can fit on...

And the headline from Foxnews.com

[PenguinBoyDave]

"Airbus A380 Lands Successfully..." When I saw this I was thinking that as a business traveler I like to think that every plane that I might travel on will land successfully. I'm sure Airbus appreciates Fox's optimism.

Re:Finally

[British]

QANTAS wants to fly the plane on the Sydney-Los Angeles route,

I really hope the in-flight movie doesn't consist of the 1st season of Lost. That just wouldn't fare well at all.

Just shows how nice Airbus are

[Anonymous Coward]

"I heard the bathrooms on the A380 will be big enough to sit down in, and you will now get a 4 oz. bag of peanuts instead of the usual 0.5 oz bag."

They even think about their US costumers.

Ebay

[Anonymous Coward]

Did anyone else notice the ads on the left
apparently it's possible to get one on Ebay

Ads by Goooooogle
Airbus A380
Airbus A380 for sale. aff Check out the deals now!
www.eBay.com

Re:Ebay

[wwwillem]

When I viewed that page a few hours later the error got corrected .... it said "Ads by Google, Airbus A320 for sale". So it seems that the guy that bought his A380 on eBay, traded in an A320, which is now for sale. :-)

Re:Ebay

[BobofBobs]

You know, Ebay also sells leprosy. At low, low prices, too! Just google leprosy and check out da contextual ads.

Re:Ebay

[Anonymous Coward]

If I googled for the Brooklyn Bridge, do you think I'd get an ad like that?

Re:Bigger than Howard Hughes' dream

[whimdot]

And it's flown exactly the same number of times too.

Re: Link already /.ed :)

[maxwell demon]

Well, fortunately slashdot didn't link to the plane's bord computer ;-)

Re:When will India/China/Brazil/Russia enter the r

[Anonymous Coward]

instead of radar - russian planes but a midget in the nose cone

Quiet

[RealProgrammer]

• ... made hardly any noise compared to the little Corvette which was the chase plane.

That's because of the four Rolls-Royce engines. Everybody knows a Rolls is more quiet than a Corvette.

* ducks *

Re:When will India/China/Brazil/Russia enter the r

[Fred_A]

Well, apparently Airbus and Boeing have realized that some people fly elsewhere than just in the US.

It could be that they have done some research on the subject (while travelling by boat, or by cart maybe), or possibly they made up their mind after looking at Fox News while waiting for their plane between DC and New York.

I find myself in 747s all the time but then I go to countries that don't really exist. ;)

Re:Excuse me?

[Rimbo]

I think by "space station" he meant "space station that didn't subsequently drop out of the sky like a brick"

Heh

[Veinor]

I've seen eBay trying to sell me zeta functions.

Re:When will India/China/Brazil/Russia enter the r

[Moofie]

Why would you let something so insignificant as history get in the way of some good old-fashioned flag waving jingoism?

And it's such a shiny new flag!

Re:Excuse me?

[Anonymous Coward]

You're all wrong. The first space station was the Moon. It just got a little dusty after it was abandoned by the Atlanteans millinia ago.