July 2009Monthly Archives

I attended a press conference today on the Airbus A380 visit and demonstration at AirVenture Oshkosh. The plane will arrive on Tuesday July 28, and leave on Friday July 31.

EAA President and AirVenture Chairman Ton Poberezny says ticket sales & vendor spaces ahead of projections

T. Allan McArtor Airbus Americas president was on the call.  Thomas Enders CEO of Airbus will be at Oshkosh.

This year is Airbus’ 40^th anniversary. Their major accomplishments have been the 1^st wide body twin engine – A300B. Technical advances were introduced in the A320 with efficiency, comfort, and systems. The first commercial plane with fly-by-wire side stick controls

The A380 brings new passenger comfort, environmental system and performance.

Bringing it to OSH is a thank you to the aviation community.

Capt. Terry Lutz championed the process of bringing the plane to OSH.

The main question was: ‘Can it operate at Wittman?’ The biggest concern was that the taxiways there are narrow except for P2 at the center which leads to AeroShell square.

They will land on runway 36 which is 8000’. They need to stop in 5500’ to turn off at P2. When it leaves on Friday, it will be pushed back north along part of RWY 18 to depart.

A towbarless tug will maneuver plane. On landing, it will lift the nose wheel and attach to the plane. It will pull into AeroShell Square (ASQ) and will turn south. The plane will then be pushed back to the north end. The unusual tug was shipped from JFK.

Wingspan of the A380 is within 1’ of width of ASQ apron.

EAA volunteers will be stationed in the plane who will keep people moving along. Some informational panels will be provided. They expect to be able to handle 1200 people/hour.

The visitors on the tour will come in at door 4 Right behind the wing and head aft. They will go up rear stairs, and walk through length of upper deck to main foreword stairs. Then down back to main deck to exit at door 2 Right.

Visits to the cockpit won’t be available due to the number of people that will be touring. There will be a large screen monitor with cockpit views and information.

As far as operating the A380, airports were concerned about taxiway wing tip clearance, but so far it hasn’t been much of a problem.

Turnaround time about the same about as a 747 (1 hour). Catering is the bottleneck.

I mentioned how quiet the plane was during its visit to Bradley in October, 2007, and Mr. McArtor replied that the plane has high left devices on the wing to land at a very slow speed for such a large aircraft. It makes less noise partially due to the interface between the wing and the fuselage. There is a new design of interior insulation for an extremely quiet cabin. They have even adjusted the galley configuration because it had become a prominent source of sound in the plane.

The plane’s maximum weight is 565 metric tons, or about 1.25 million lbs. At Oshkosh it will weigh about 330 Metric tons, or 725,000 lbs. in order to take off and land in the required distances. The runway load factor is no higher than other wide-body planes since it has 20 wheels to distribute the load. Turn radius is also similar to other wide-body planes

At arrival and departure there will be a flight demo lasting 7 minutes. It will demonstrate agility, speed, and acceleration.

The reason the plane is being displayed is that AirVenture is a global event. It is the home of aviation innovation. Airbus has been generous showing the test aircraft that is unique at OSH.

This particular aircraft is the 2^nd A380 to fly – S/N 004. Is equipped with GE/Pratt joint venture engines, and is in a testing configuration. It has ballast tanks and test instrumentation on both decks and very little interior seating and interior panels. Visitors will see some structure all regular wiring and test wiring. It looks like a micro-brewery with all the ballast tanks.

Mr. Lutz didn’t commit to what colored runway dot will they land on.

Airbus is doing this because they want to support all aviation. AirVenture is an outstanding place to meet people with the same passion. It’s not surprising to want to show off the product of the engineers & flight test group.

After the plane leaves, a recently renovated C-5M transport plane will take the place of the A380 on AeroShell Square.

For further information visit http://www.airventure.org

We all know that there’s an incredible variety of aircraft attending the EAA convention each year, but this year there promises to be several that you may not be able to get this close to again.

• Virgin Galactic VMS Mothership “Eve” (July 27-August 1): Born as “WhiteKnightTwo,” VMS Eve is the next generation of civilian space carrier vehicles

• Airbus A380 (July 28-31): The world’s largest passenger airliner, which will also be open for public tours during its stay in Oshkosh

• Erickson S-64F Aircrane Helitanker “Elvis”: A heavy-duty, twin-engine firefighting helicopter that will make aerial displays

• 1934 Klemm mission aircraft and Comper Swift (all week): Shipped from Australia, these airplanes are associated with the “Fly4Life” public-benefit aviation program

• U.S. Customs/Border Protection Predator B (all week): The latest unmanned aerial platform technology that will be on display at the Federal Pavilion all week
• U.S Air Force C-5M (July 31-August 2): The newest upgrade of the USAF’s huge cargo aircraft
• Avro Lancaster bomber (July 27-31): A classic World War II bomber in Oshkosh to help celebrate the 100th anniversary of flight in Canada

• Silver Dart replica (all week): A faithful re-creation of the aircraft that made the first flight in Canada back in 1909

• 1909 Wright B Flyer replica (all week): A flying example of the Wright brothers’ second-generation aircraft, direct from Dayton, Ohio

• U.S. Air Force “Thunderbirds” F-16 (July 26-27): One of many current military fighters expected to attend Oshkosh this year
• Lockheed P-38 “Ruff Stuff”: A rare flying example of the World War II aircraft that changed the tide of the war in the Pacific Theater
• Japanese “Zero” and German Messerschmitt ME109: Vintage warbirds rarely seen in the U.S.
• 1932 Pitcairn PA-18 Autogiro: The world’s only flying example of this forerunner of the modern helicopter
• Electric aircraft/”Flying Cars”: The latest technologies from a variety of companies showcasing what’s ahead
• Grimes Flying Lab: One-of-a-kind airplane that played a key role in aircraft lighting development

There are also anniversaries for the Pietenpol homebuilt (80th),
T-28 warbirds (60th), Cessna 150 (50th) and others, with a comprehensive
listing at www.airventure.org/attractions/aircraft.html.

* Virgin Galactic VMS Mothership "Eve" (July 27-August 1): Born as
"WhiteKnightTwo," VMS Eve is the next generation of civilian space
carrier vehicles
* Airbus A380 (July 28-31):  The world's largest passenger airliner,
which will also be open for public tours during its stay in Oshkosh
* Erickson S-64F Aircrane Helitanker "Elvis": A heavy-duty, twin-engine
firefighting helicopter that will make aerial displays
* 1934 Klemm mission aircraft and Comper Swift (all week): Shipped from
Australia, these airplanes are associated with the "Fly4Life"
public-benefit aviation program 
* U.S. Customs/Border Protection Predator B (all week): The latest
unmanned aerial platform technology that will be on display at the
Federal Pavilion all week
* U.S Air Force C-5M (July 31-August 2): The newest upgrade of the
USAF's huge cargo aircraft
* Avro Lancaster bomber (July 27-31): A classic World War II bomber in
Oshkosh to help celebrate the 100th anniversary of flight in Canada
* Silver Dart replica (all week): A faithful re-creation of the aircraft
that made the first flight in Canada back in 1909
* 1909 Wright B Flyer replica (all week): A flying example of the Wright
brothers' second-generation aircraft, direct from Dayton, Ohio
* U.S. Air Force "Thunderbirds" F-16 (July 26-27): One of many current
military fighters expected to attend Oshkosh this year
* Lockheed P-38 "Ruff Stuff": A rare flying example of the World War II
aircraft that changed the tide of the war in the Pacific Theater
* Japanese "Zero" and German Messerschmitt ME109: Vintage warbirds
rarely seen in the U.S.
* 1932 Pitcairn PA-18 Autogiro: The world's only flying example of this
forerunner of the modern helicopter
* Electric aircraft/"Flying Cars": The latest technologies from a
variety of companies showcasing what's ahead
* Grimes Flying Lab: One-of-a-kind airplane that played a key role in
aircraft lighting development

	There are also anniversaries for the Pietenpol homebuilt (80th),
T-28 warbirds (60th), Cessna 150 (50th) and others, with a comprehensive
* Virgin Galactic VMS Mothership "Eve" (July 27-August 1): Born as
"WhiteKnightTwo," VMS Eve is the next generation of civilian space
carrier vehicles
* Airbus A380 (July 28-31):  The world's largest passenger airliner,
which will also be open for public tours during its stay in Oshkosh
* Erickson S-64F Aircrane Helitanker "Elvis": A heavy-duty, twin-engine
firefighting helicopter that will make aerial displays
* 1934 Klemm mission aircraft and Comper Swift (all week): Shipped from
Australia, these airplanes are associated with the "Fly4Life"
public-benefit aviation program 
* U.S. Customs/Border Protection Predator B (all week): The latest
unmanned aerial platform technology that will be on display at the
Federal Pavilion all week
* U.S Air Force C-5M (July 31-August 2): The newest upgrade of the
USAF's huge cargo aircraft
* Avro Lancaster bomber (July 27-31): A classic World War II bomber in
Oshkosh to help celebrate the 100th anniversary of flight in Canada
* Silver Dart replica (all week): A faithful re-creation of the aircraft
that made the first flight in Canada back in 1909
* 1909 Wright B Flyer replica (all week): A flying example of the Wright
brothers' second-generation aircraft, direct from Dayton, Ohio
* U.S. Air Force "Thunderbirds" F-16 (July 26-27): One of many current
military fighters expected to attend Oshkosh this year
* Lockheed P-38 "Ruff Stuff": A rare flying example of the World War II
aircraft that changed the tide of the war in the Pacific Theater
* Japanese "Zero" and German Messerschmitt ME109: Vintage warbirds
rarely seen in the U.S.
* 1932 Pitcairn PA-18 Autogiro: The world's only flying example of this
forerunner of the modern helicopter
* Electric aircraft/"Flying Cars": The latest technologies from a
variety of companies showcasing what's ahead
* Grimes Flying Lab: One-of-a-kind airplane that played a key role in
aircraft lighting development

	There are also anniversaries for the Pietenpol homebuilt (80th),
T-28 warbirds (60th), Cessna 150 (50th) and others, with a comprehensive
listing at www.airventure.org/attractions/aircraft.html.listing at www.airventure.org/attractions/aircraft.html.

For further information, visit http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/participate/sendyourname/
NASA web servers seem to be somewhat slow today. I’m guessing it’s because of all the Apollo 11 40th anniversary multimedia files they’re serving this week.