Airbus A380 in Arizona

Spotted on Interstate 10 about 75 miles east of Tucscon, Arizona, on
the afternoon of 11/17:

A large convoy of trucks guiding an oversized load. The oversized
load appeared to be a fuselage section about 75 feet long, and
significantly larger in diameter than a 747. And the whole package
was labeled "Airbus A380". (Sorry I don't have more detail. It was
my brother who saw this. Briefly. From the opposite lanes of
traffic. And since I work in the commercial aircraft industry he
called me to see if I knew what it was.)

Any idea what this could have been? I thought all the big parts of
the 380 were being manufactured in Europe and Great Britain.

User writes:

Spotted on Interstate 10 about 75 miles east of Tucscon, Arizona, on
the afternoon of 11/17:

A large convoy of trucks guiding an oversized load. The oversized
load appeared to be a fuselage section about 75 feet long, and
significantly larger in diameter than a 747. And the whole package
was labeled "Airbus A380". (Sorry I don't have more detail. It was
my brother who saw this. Briefly. From the opposite lanes of
traffic. And since I work in the commercial aircraft industry he
called me to see if I knew what it was.)

Any idea what this could have been?

Maybe the A380s are being mothballed at Davis-Monthan.

--
Transpose mxsmanic and gmail to reach me by e-mail.

User wrote:
Spotted on Interstate 10 about 75 miles east of Tucscon, Arizona, on
the afternoon of 11/17:

A large convoy of trucks guiding an oversized load. The oversized
load appeared to be a fuselage section about 75 feet long, and
significantly larger in diameter than a 747. And the whole package
was labeled "Airbus A380". (Sorry I don't have more detail. It was
my brother who saw this. Briefly. From the opposite lanes of
traffic. And since I work in the commercial aircraft industry he
called me to see if I knew what it was.)

Any idea what this could have been? I thought all the big parts of
the 380 were being manufactured in Europe and Great Britain.

In France.

An Airbus A380 had a test flight (with a crew of 78) that landed in
Kowloon (Hong Kong) HKG yesterday. It was front page news
here in Hong Kong. :=)

-- Reef Fish Bob.

Reef Fish wrote:
User wrote:
Spotted on Interstate 10 about 75 miles east of Tucscon, Arizona, on
the afternoon of 11/17:

A large convoy of trucks guiding an oversized load. The oversized
load appeared to be a fuselage section about 75 feet long, and
significantly larger in diameter than a 747. And the whole package
was labeled "Airbus A380". (Sorry I don't have more detail. It was
my brother who saw this. Briefly. From the opposite lanes of
traffic. And since I work in the commercial aircraft industry he
called me to see if I knew what it was.)

Any idea what this could have been? I thought all the big parts of
the 380 were being manufactured in Europe and Great Britain.

In France.

An Airbus A380 had a test flight (with a crew of 78) that landed in
Kowloon (Hong Kong) HKG yesterday. It was front page news
here in Hong Kong. :=)

It was front page headline "RUNWAY MONSTER World's biggest
passenger jet lands at Chek Lap Kok" but page 3 news in Sunday
Morning Post (South China publication).

"The aircraft - the third unit to roll off the production line in
Toulouse,
France -- flew to Hong Kong on a stringent flight testing routing that
will see five of the planes circle the world three times in 18 days
before the A380's expected certification for commercial use next
month."

-- Reef Fish Bob.

Reef,

Any idea what this could have been? I thought all the big parts of
the 380 were being manufactured in Europe and Great Britain.

In France.


No. In Europe (Hamburg, Germany, for example).

--
Thomas Borchert (EDDH)

In article ,
User wrote:
Spotted on Interstate 10 about 75 miles east of Tucscon, Arizona, on
the afternoon of 11/17:

A large convoy of trucks guiding an oversized load. The oversized
load appeared to be a fuselage section about 75 feet long, and
significantly larger in diameter than a 747. And the whole package
was labeled "Airbus A380". (Sorry I don't have more detail. It was
my brother who saw this. Briefly. From the opposite lanes of
traffic. And since I work in the commercial aircraft industry he
called me to see if I knew what it was.)

Probably parts for the Boeing 787. That's wider than anything
currently in commercial service (and many of the newer jets are
already noticeably wider than a mere 747).

When I was up in Seattle a few weeks ago on a visit to Boeing
I got to look around the passenger cabin mockup they use to show
prospective customers. I also saw, sitting on the runway, one
of the custom-built freighters they have made to ferry 787 parts.

In article ,
John Francis wrote:
* In article ,
* User wrote:
* Spotted on Interstate 10 about 75 miles east of Tucscon, Arizona, on
* the afternoon of 11/17:
*
* A large convoy of trucks guiding an oversized load. The oversized
* load appeared to be a fuselage section about 75 feet long, and
* significantly larger in diameter than a 747. And the whole package
* was labeled "Airbus A380". (Sorry I don't have more detail. It was
* my brother who saw this. Briefly. From the opposite lanes of
* traffic. And since I work in the commercial aircraft industry he
* called me to see if I knew what it was.)
*
* Probably parts for the Boeing 787. That's wider than anything
* currently in commercial service (and many of the newer jets are
* already noticeably wider than a mere 747).

That's factually incorrect. The 787 will probably be deployed in a 2-4-2
configuration in economy, which is somewhat narrower than the 2-5-2 (or
3-3-3) configuration in use on the DC-10 (and derivatives) and the 777, not
to mention the 747's 3-4-3 configuration.

Boeing's site lists the width of the 787 at 18 feet, 11 inches; the 747 is
21 feet, 4 inches. The 777 is listed as being 20 ft 4 in wide.

By comparison, it appears that the A380 will have a 2-4-2 configuration on
the upper deck and a 3-4-3 configuration on the lower deck. Wikipedia says
that the width of the A380 will be 23 ft 6 in.

p
--
paulf | Some days you're the bug;
@ | Some days you're the windshield.
panix | ------------------------------
.com | http://paulfrankenstein.org/

In article ,
John Francis wrote:
* Probably parts for the Boeing 787. That's wider than anything
* currently in commercial service (and many of the newer jets are
* already noticeably wider than a mere 747).
*
* When I was up in Seattle a few weeks ago on a visit to Boeing
* I got to look around the passenger cabin mockup they use to show
* prospective customers. I also saw, sitting on the runway, one
* of the custom-built freighters they have made to ferry 787 parts.

That's factually incorrect. The 787 will probably be deployed in a 2-4-2
configuration in economy, which is somewhat narrower than the 2-5-2 (or
3-3-3) configuration in use on the DC-10 (and derivatives) and the 777, not
to mention the 747's 3-4-3 configuration.

Boeing's site lists the width of the 787 at 18 feet, 11 inches; the 747 is
21 feet, 4 inches. The 777 is listed as being 20 ft 4 in wide.

By comparison, it appears that the A380 will have a 2-4-2 configuration on
the upper deck and a 3-4-3 configuration on the lower deck. Wikipedia says
that the width of the A380 will be 23 ft 6 in.



--
paulf | Some days you're the bug;
@ | Some days you're the windshield.
panix | ------------------------------
.com | http://paulfrankenstein.org/

Paul Frankenstein wrote:
That's factually incorrect. The 787 will probably be deployed in a 2-4-2
configuration in economy,

Boeing admitted that most 787 customers will outfit their planes with 9
across. So 2-5-2, 3-3-3- or 2-4-3

To answer the original poster, the fuselage sections for the A380 are all
built in Europe.

There is no aircraft capable of transporting a fuselage setion for the
A380. There are special barges used to transport such sections, and one
ship capable of transporting sections from england and spain to france (and
barged up the river and then trucked to toulouse).

At this point in time, one would expect Airbus to have stopped producing
A380 parts, and it is conceivable that many parts would be available for a
tour to demo/showcase them. However, if that had been the case, there would
have been publicity about it. And the logistics to transport those parts
are huge and costly.

A simulator may require oversized transport trucks. Or some machines used
to build some A380 parts (there are many A380 parts built in the USA) might
also require special transport arrangements.

"John Francis" wrote....

Probably parts for the Boeing 787. That's wider than anything
currently in commercial service (and many of the newer jets are
already noticeably wider than a mere 747).

When I was up in Seattle a few weeks ago on a visit to Boeing
I got to look around the passenger cabin mockup they use to show
prospective customers. I also saw, sitting on the runway, one
of the custom-built freighters they have made to ferry 787 parts.


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.

TMO