Tag Archives: Airbus

“I could never handle crosswinds,” Pt II

Posted on by

Just as last week I featured a series of harrowing crosswind landings of commercial aircraft at Dusseldorf Airport in Deutschland, here I present something quite equally harrowing for the five hundred persons inside that thin aluminum tube.

The crosswind landing of an Emirates Airbus A380-800 at, again, Dusseldorf.

Remember folks, the pilot in an A380 doesn’t have the advantage of a yoke to grasp as on a Boeing; he’s holding your life in his left hand via a side joystick.  Even worse if he’s right-handed.  Plus, the pilot landed late on a soaked runway, hence the clouds of mist from the thrust reversers.

BZ

 

 Share

Where is the airport?

Posted on by

Paro Bhutan Airport Landing, Cockpit Interior

Video from the interior of an Airbus A319, the craft is going to land at Paro, Bhutan.  Early in the video you can see the Jeppesen chart for Paro clipped to the window ledge of the pilot.  Final approach includes a very low hard right, then an even lower hard left.  All planes must perform a 180-degree pivot at the end of the runway to acquire the terminal.

My question early on: where is the airport?

BZ

 Share

An incredible A380 video:

Posted on by

It doesn’t get any better than this:

For those unfamiliar, the Airbus A380 is the world’s largest commercial airliner.  It can seat 525 people in an extended seating format, or 853 people in an “economy seating” format.  It costs roughly $404 million dollars, variant-dependent.

Airbus_A380_cockpitThe Airbus A380 cockpit is “all glass” and is flown by sidestick controllers seen above, far left and far right adjacent the seats.  Laptops are located directly in front of the pilots for input and communications.  The plane is more controlled by information input than by physical manipulation of a pilot.

The A380 is the Airbus answer to the Boeing 747 and 747-8.

BZ

 

 

 Share