About the Airbus A380
The A380 will be the largest passenger jet in the world. Designed to have 15 tot
20% lower operating cost per seat, 49% more floor space and 10 to 15% more
range. Even though its size, the aircraft is designed to use existing airport facilities.
Rollout of the A380 is currently scheduled at 18 January 2005, with the first flight
taking place in March or April of 2005. The first commercial flight will be in the
first quarter of 2006.
Specifications
Weights:
Operating Empty: 606,000 lb
Payload, 555pax + baggage @210lb each: 115,500 lb
Maximum fuel: 540,600 lb
Maximum takeoff weight: 1,235,000 lb
Maximum landing weight: 851,000 lb
Limitations & dimensions:
Passengers: 555
Maximum altitude: 43,000 ft
Maximum range: 8,000 nm
Length: 239.06 ft / 73 m
Wingspan: 261.10 ft / 79.8 m
Height: 79.01 ft / 24.1 m
More detailed information about the A380 performance and specifications is
available in a pdf file, called AC_A380.pdf, from the Airbus website. This
document describes amongst a lot of other things, the range, the runway
requirements, approach speeds, the cabin layout, etc. To download it go to
www.airbus.com, select aircraft families and then A380 -> Introduction. Select
the A380 and download the Airport planning manual. (Direct link:
http://www.airbus.com/product/a380_introduction.asp)
How to open the doors?
The model has three opening doors. These are all on the left side of the aircraft.
The first door on the maindeck (counted from the nose) can be opened by pushing
shift + e, followed by 2. The 2nd door on the maindeck can be opened by
pushing shift + e. Extending the tailhook can open the first door on the upper
deck. There is no default key for this in FS, you will have to set it yourself under
controls -> assignments. A possible setting would be CTRL + /
Suggested panel:
At the moment there are no really high quality A380 panels available. Until one is
released, I would suggest using the A340 panel by Hector Molina. You can
download it at SurClaro, filename hma340v5.zip and hma340fx.zip.
If you want a panel specially designed for the A380, you can also download
panel.a380.zip by Alex Christoff, from SurClaro.com.
