Airbus A380 in Arizona

I suspect that what he saw was a combination of wry humor and a chunk of the
fuselage of one of those a/c specially rebuilt to haul "Wide Loads" on its
way from the boneyard to scrap, Tucson being the site of the US's largest
boneyard. There's one model built on the "chassis" of the old Boeing
Stratocruiser/C-97 which has an enormous diameter.

Those "Pregnant Guppy" type of planes have been around a while,
actually. The need originated with the space program, which had to
transport bulky (up to 20 foot diam.), albeit not proportionately
heavy, objects without either the delays of sea cargo or the need to
close roads and find a way around every low bridge and power line
between the manufacturers' sites and vehicle assembly -- especially
problematic in when the Interstate highway system was still young and
partial.


Boeing recently turned a used 747 into a "Large Cargo Freighter" that
they say is for in-house use to transport fuselage sections, as well as
wings, for the 787.
(http://www.boeing.com/news/frontiers.../ts_sf05.html).
The Airbus equivalent is nicknamed the "Beluga" for instantly obvious
reasons (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airbus_Beluga)

I don't know whether either of them would be quite up to A380 fuselage
sections, nor whether that would even be needed. They use specialized
ships and barges for the big parts, except some or all of the
empennage, which goes via Beluga, I think. Getting A380 pieces to
look like an airplane involves dizzying logistics and a lot of modes
and miles of surface transport. Probing around on
http://www.airbus.com/en/ gives an idea (hopefully there's a non-Flash,
low-graphics version for those who don't have broadband).

Cheers,
--Joe "Oversize load" Chew

On 5 Dec 2006 16:14:36 -0800, "Ad absurdum per aspera"
wrote:


I suspect that what he saw was a combination of wry humor and a chunk of the
fuselage of one of those a/c specially rebuilt to haul "Wide Loads" on its
way from the boneyard to scrap, Tucson being the site of the US's largest
boneyard. There's one model built on the "chassis" of the old Boeing
Stratocruiser/C-97 which has an enormous diameter.

Those "Pregnant Guppy" type of planes have been around a while,
actually. The need originated with the space program, which had to
transport bulky (up to 20 foot diam.), albeit not proportionately
heavy, objects without either the delays of sea cargo or the need to
close roads and find a way around every low bridge and power line
between the manufacturers' sites and vehicle assembly -- especially
problematic in when the Interstate highway system was still young and
partial.

There's a Super Guppy on static display at the Pima Air and Space
Museum here in Tucson off I-10 on the south edge of Davis-Monthan
Air Force Base and the "Boneyard",
http://www.sarimage.com/Aviation/DavisMonthan/ .

It's grotesquely monstrous.

--
************* DAVE HATUNEN ) *************
* Tucson Arizona, out where the cacti grow *
* My typos & mispellings are intentional copyright traps *

There's a Super Guppy on static display at the Pima Air and Space
Museum here in Tucson off I-10 on the south edge of Davis-Monthan
Air Force Base and the "Boneyard",
http://www.sarimage.com/Aviation/DavisMonthan/ .

It's grotesquely monstrous.

Yes, that was more or less my first thought upon seeing one at El Paso
years ago. There is something just *wrong* about it, less reminscent
of the sleekness of an airplane or even an airship than... I dunno; an
engorged aluminum tick. A giant-brained alien from the cover of an old
sci-fi paperback. Some deep-sea creature that was brought to the
surface too fast. You don't even expect it to be unloaded through
a cargo door so much as split open and spawn its cargo. Yet I
couldn't take my eyes off it -- just stood there recalibrating my
assumptions of what can and can't fly; not just in terms of the shape
but what those seemingly tiny wings and engines might accomplish.
Fascinating in a surreal sort of way.

--Joe

"Ad absurdum per aspera" writes:


I suspect that what he saw was a combination of wry humor and a chunk of the
fuselage of one of those a/c specially rebuilt to haul "Wide Loads" on its
way from the boneyard to scrap, Tucson being the site of the US's largest
boneyard. There's one model built on the "chassis" of the old Boeing
Stratocruiser/C-97 which has an enormous diameter.

Those "Pregnant Guppy" type of planes have been around a while,
actually. The need originated with the space program, which had to
transport bulky (up to 20 foot diam.), albeit not proportionately
heavy, objects without either the delays of sea cargo or the need to
close roads and find a way around every low bridge and power line
between the manufacturers' sites and vehicle assembly -- especially
problematic in when the Interstate highway system was still young and
partial.


How are the airlines moving spare 767/777 style engines around?

In the 707 era, UAL at least had a 707/DC8 with a 3rd pylon to
carry the inbound for repair or outbound for installation engine,
esp. to Hawaii...


--
A host is a host from coast to
& no one will talk to a host that's close........[v].(301) 56-LINUX
Unless the host (that isn't close).........................pob 1433
is busy, hung or dead....................................20915-1433

David Lesher wrote:


How are the airlines moving spare 767/777 style engines around?

I live in the same town as a major P&W rebuild center.

I see many, many, engines come and go on drop-center trailer trucks,
pulled by tractors with massive sleepers, satellite TV, etc... They're
more like tractor trailer campers than trucks. There seems to be a
major specialty industry moving engines. I really doubt these trucks
would be practical for a trip of less than a few hundred miles.

B A R R Y writes:

How are the airlines moving spare 767/777 style engines around?

I live in the same town as a major P&W rebuild center.

I see many, many, engines come and go on drop-center trailer trucks,
pulled by tractors with massive sleepers, satellite TV, etc... They're
more like tractor trailer campers than trucks. There seems to be a
major specialty industry moving engines. I really doubt these trucks
would be practical for a trip of less than a few hundred miles.

And how long does it the truck take to get to HNL?

--
A host is a host from coast to
& no one will talk to a host that's close........[v].(301) 56-LINUX
Unless the host (that isn't close).........................pob 1433
is busy, hung or dead....................................20915-1433

David Lesher wrote:

And how long does it the truck take to get to HNL?

Hawaii has interstate highways, no? G

Look on your map for the intersection of I-80 and H1...

The 747 supposedly still has an underwing hardpoint meant for ferrying
a spare engine. Dunno if this is general purpose or only suitable for
the type(s) of engines used on the 747.

However, I think this has gotten somewhat passe' due to various
factors, including increasing availability of freighter variants of the
widebodies, the low probability of zorching an engine so badly that you
have to replace the whole thing rather than put in parts or
subassemblies, and more engine repair facilities in more places.

--Joe

Ad absurdum per aspera writes:

The 747 supposedly still has an underwing hardpoint meant for
ferrying a spare engine. Dunno if this is general purpose or
only suitable for the type(s) of engines used on the 747.

Good question. I've only ever seen pictures of such planes carrying
spare engines of the same type they use, or at least of the same
shape. But who knows what might be out there?


However, I think this has gotten somewhat passe' due to various
factors, including increasing availability of freighter variants
of the widebodies, the low probability of zorching an engine so
badly that you have to replace the whole thing rather than put in
parts or subassemblies, and more engine repair facilities in more
places.

I suspect that the parts that are both the most likely to fail and
the easiest to replace (generators, pumps, valves, etc.) are readily
available along a given route and pretty much always have been, so
I'd lean toward the freighter-availability explanation.



Geoff

--
"The left has a whole vocabulary devoted to depicting people who
do not meet standards as people who have been denied 'access.'"
-- Thomas Sowell