where are they going to park all the planes?

[aeropilot]

Arnie Cunningham said:

Here it is :
https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/a380-hi-fly...

Not a proper cargo config, for sure.

Its what they call a 'combi' configuration. Its hardly used as everything has to be hand loaded through the normal pax doors.........no pallet loading.

[Arnie Cunningham]

I'd be also inclined to call it "what the hell to do with a big aeroplane that's not time expired, but nobody wants"

[surveyor]

Arnie Cunningham said:

I'd be also inclined to call it "what the hell to do with a big aeroplane that's not time expired, but nobody wants"

I believe they were doing quite well with it until Covid destroyed passenger traffic.

Rolls Royce helped them nicely with their 787 fragmenting engine issue causing a lot of them to be parked up and airlines scratching around for capacity solutions.

[Arnie Cunningham]

The thing that always bugged me with it though - it was so damn ugly. I feel like the 747 was designed by an engineer trying to make it look "just right", whereas the A380 looks like it was was designed by an accountant. The cockpit/nose just looks wrong and the short fuselage with large wings makes it look out of proportion. Maybe the 900 version would have looked better.

[aeropilot]

Arnie Cunningham said:

The thing that always bugged me with it though - it was so damn ugly. I feel like the 747 was designed by an engineer trying to make it look "just right", whereas the A380 looks like it was was designed by an accountant. The cockpit/nose just looks wrong and the short fuselage with large wings makes it look out of proportion. Maybe the 900 version would have looked better.

You are correct.

The 747 was designed by an Engineering team led by the legendary Chief Engineer Joe Sutter.

The A380, as with all 'engineering' projects today, was designed by an Engineering committee spread across multiple countries and directed and led by an accountancy team.

[Yertis]

aeropilot said:

Arnie Cunningham said:

The thing that always bugged me with it though - it was so damn ugly. I feel like the 747 was designed by an engineer trying to make it look "just right", whereas the A380 looks like it was was designed by an accountant. The cockpit/nose just looks wrong and the short fuselage with large wings makes it look out of proportion. Maybe the 900 version would have looked better.

You are correct.

The 747 was designed by an Engineering team led by the legendary Chief Engineer Joe Sutter.

The A380, as with all 'engineering' projects today, was designed by an Engineering committee spread across multiple countries and directed and led by an accountancy team.

Also bear in mind that the 747 was designed from outset to be converted to freight, as soon as the Boeing SST was in service. That's why there is the little top deck bit for a nice big clear hold you can access from the front. Boeing explored the double deck configuration but ruled it our for a several reasons, which I guess technology or different priorities enabled Airbus to overcome. The 380 reminds me of the Guppy aircraft used to transport bits of spacecraft around.

[aeropilot]

Yertis said:

Also bear in mind that the 747 was designed from outset to be converted to freight, as soon as the Boeing SST was in service. That's why there is the little top deck bit for a nice big clear hold you can access from the front.

Yep, and this is why the 747 has a long life still ahead of it as a cargo hauler. I suspect, like the DC-3's long life hauling freight, there will be 747F versions still flying after the last A380 has made its last landing.

[FunkyNige]

Not sure if this is a positive sign of things to come but some of the BA planes they've been storing at Norwich airport are on the move - G-LCYE has just taken off and is showing up on Flight Radar as no destination so it's not a scheduled flight. BA planes don't normally operate out of Norwich.
https://globe.adsbexchange.com/?icao=406099

[MonkeyBusiness]

FunkyNige said:

Not sure if this is a positive sign of things to come but some of the BA planes they've been storing at Norwich airport are on the move - G-LCYE has just taken off and is showing up on Flight Radar as no destination so it's not a scheduled flight. BA planes don't normally operate out of Norwich.
https://globe.adsbexchange.com/?icao=406099

Jet2 were repositioning some of their planes last week out of LBA.

[Arnie Cunningham]

I'd be lying if I said I'm looking forward to the old days. Something inbetween the 2 would be nice - freedom to choose, but less people choosing to charge around in cars/planes/trains/whatever quite so much.

The City (of London) is eerie now!

[surveyor]

Mr E said:

Same place they parked them on the 10th September nearly 19 years ago I suspect.

This reminds me of something I was told by ex RAF pilot. The RAF were tasked to find which of their airfields had air stairs capable of handling wide body civilian planes. The civilian airports were not that far from being full and the next stop was landing them at military airfields.

[FunkyNige]

FunkyNige said:

Not sure if this is a positive sign of things to come but some of the BA planes they've been storing at Norwich airport are on the move - G-LCYE has just taken off and is showing up on Flight Radar as no destination so it's not a scheduled flight. BA planes don't normally operate out of Norwich.
https://globe.adsbexchange.com/?icao=406099

Landed in Reykjavík

[towser44]

FunkyNige said:

FunkyNige said:

Not sure if this is a positive sign of things to come but some of the BA planes they've been storing at Norwich airport are on the move - G-LCYE has just taken off and is showing up on Flight Radar as no destination so it's not a scheduled flight. BA planes don't normally operate out of Norwich.
https://globe.adsbexchange.com/?icao=406099

Landed in Reykjavík

One of those BA Cityflyers was carrying Newcastle United to play Aston Villa the other week.

[MiniMan64]

Some of the posts on the first page of the thread are eerie...

[anonymous-user]

MiniMan64 said:

Some of the posts on the first page of the thread are eerie...

How wrong some were? Gatwick and Heathrow to close, The 737 Max never to fly again etc?

[IanH755]

surveyor said:

Mr E said:

Same place they parked them on the 10th September nearly 19 years ago I suspect.

This reminds me of something I was told by ex RAF pilot. The RAF were tasked to find which of their airfields had air stairs capable of handling wide body civilian planes. The civilian airports were not that far from being full and the next stop was landing them at military airfields.

Absolutely true! At RAF Waddington we had to move all our AWACS steps (designed around a 707) from Alpha Hangar to various points on the airfield ready to accept any civilian overflow (IIRC about 15-ish planes expected). As we didn't have enough steps (6 total) or any baggage handling equip at all or enough security to cope with potentially thousands of civilians hanging around post landing we were very relieved when the civvy airports could handle the overflow.