Ram Posted July 21, 2007 Share Posted July 21, 2007 This has been one of the most interesting corporate tussles between two behemoths. The commercial airline industry has this strange distinction of being the industry to be monopolized by two major players totally. Their rivalry is one of the most keenly followed one , with dominant market share frequently shifting hands once every 2-3 years. Three years ago it was totally Airbus , now its Boeing. Airbus put a lot of stake on the super-Jumbo A-380. But the plane has been dogged by delays and technical problems, affecting delivery schedules.Now Boeing has struck gold with 787-Dreamliner. The ball is firmly now , in Airbus' court to respond. The funny part is , both the companies accuse each other of getting unfair subsidies from the host govt and have filed anti-trade lawsuits against each other. Now , there is even more bad news for Airbus. An Airbus A-320 plane has crashed in the runway in Brazil , killing 200 people. Such kind of news is nightmare to the PR guys of Airbus. Wonder how they are going to handle it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rajiv Posted July 21, 2007 Share Posted July 21, 2007 Actually that crash is due to bad runway and the pilot also tried to take off There is a video on BBC which compares a previously landed flight and this crashed one, this A-320 just zoomed in and it didn't even take 5 seconds to burst into flames Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ram Posted July 21, 2007 Author Share Posted July 21, 2007 Actually that crash is due to bad runway and the pilot also tried to take off There is a video on BBC which compares a previously landed flight and this crashed one, this A-320 just zoomed in and it didn't even take 5 seconds to burst into flames Preliminary investigation into the crash has revealed that the thrust-reversers that were supposed to slow down the plane in the run-way were either de-activated during maintenance or simply didnt work. Anyways , such crashes are never good for the company. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CC1981 Posted July 21, 2007 Share Posted July 21, 2007 Now , there is even more bad news for Airbus. An Airbus A-320 plane has crashed in the runway in Brazil , killing 200 people. Such kind of news is nightmare to the PR guys of Airbus.The crash was due to bad runway condition & pilot error- pilot tried to land, didnt think the plane would stop (the runway drainage there is really horrible) and then accelerated to try & take off (come back for another pass) but couldnt gain take-off velocity fast-enough. Besides, Brazil has one of the worst maintainence record in aviation industry- its flights have been banned from Canadian airspace before. Airbus will brush it off like nothing. On the other hand, I wish someone gave the Antonov ASTC some cash so they could convert the An-225 into a passenger liner and build more of them. That thing is so ridiculously big, its not funny- it makes the A-380 look like a midget. All it needs is jet engines & some slight safety upgrade (it was afterall, designed to carry cargo, not humans, thus its tolerance levels are less stringent according to FAA) and it'd blow both Boeing and Airbus outta the ballpark. And apparently, it is engineered better & is far more cost-efficient to maintain/upkeep. ( One thing about soviet/Russian hardware- if its works, it'll be the most durable plane you can imagine). The 225 comes with six engines that arnt jet engines- and while it needs all six operational to take off, it can apparently fly on just 4 in emergency. Thats pretty mindboggling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ram Posted July 21, 2007 Author Share Posted July 21, 2007 That thing is so ridiculously big, its not funny- it makes the A-380 look like a midget. Nope. Both the planes would stand side by side with each other. The An-225 maybe longer , but the A 380 is taller. They are almost comparable to each other in volume. I would like to think it would be quite difficult to convert a cargo airliner into a commercial one. It would require changes that would change the fundamentals of the plane -- Weight distribution , thrust/weight ratio , fuel consumption Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CC1981 Posted July 21, 2007 Share Posted July 21, 2007 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CC1981 Posted July 21, 2007 Share Posted July 21, 2007 Both the planes would stand side by side with each other. The An-225 maybe longer , but the A 380 is taller. Hey dude, in aviation, 'size' is decieded by only one factor : Tonnage. The Antonov can lift so much more than the A-380 that it isn't funny. And no, the Antonov as i said, would need to just thicken its walls/bulkheads a bit and make the necessary internal changes to turn itself into a passenger jet i think. Its fuel consumption & overall efficiency is far greater than that of the Boeing or Airbus planes (remember- it was originally built for the Soviet military- Soviets/Russians build the best heavy lifters/strategic airlifters in the world. The MilMi, the Il-76, An-225 etc. are all far superior to their American counterparts and in the case of An-225, there isn't a counterpart ! That thing just defies beleif. It is the titanic in proportions- no joke, really. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ram Posted July 21, 2007 Author Share Posted July 21, 2007 CC , Just saw the video... Simply over-awed ! A beast of a machine.Thanks ! And i dont think it is even fair for you to compare the An-225 and A380. They are different class of jets , designed for different purposes.And i still maintain a An-225 cant be converted into a regular passenger airliner. Yes , it could "carry" as much if not more, but surely not be used as a regular airliner , which was what the original point was. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CC1981 Posted July 21, 2007 Share Posted July 21, 2007 And i still maintain a An-225 cant be converted into a regular passenger airliner. Antonov ASTC has said they can do it, provided there is sufficient demand & funding. . Yes , it could "carry" as much if not more, but surely not be used as a regular airliner , which was what the original point was. It can carry far far more than the A-380. As i said, it dwarfs every other military heavy lifters ( the C-130 or Il-76 etc. can carry more than A-380 and the An-225 dwarves all of them) and yes, it will lose 10-15% carrying capacity with the excess bulking up for carrying passengers. But it'd still carry far more than the A-380 would. It is not as hard as you think to use the same main fuselage & chassis design for cargo & passenger jets- Boeing 747 has its cargo versions too and so does the A-380, all the diffrence there is, is that the passenger version has slightly thicker body-structure, slightly bigger fuel store, etc. and thus has 10-15% less carrying capacity than cargo planes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts