The competitive spirit will never leave humanity. In any area of life, people are trying to surpass previous achievements, become the first, win the podium. No exception - and the aircraft industry. The title of "largest aircraft in the world" is one of those goals that was driven by more than one aircraft builder. Today this place of honor among passenger liners is occupied by the development of European aircraft manufacturers - Airbus A380.
Its development took more than 10 years, but the work of aircraft designers was not in vain, the largest aircraft is also one of the most economical, fuel consumption - 3 liters per 100 km per passenger. He owes this to his small specific gravity due to the use of
composite materials in construction. The proportion of carbon fiber in the A380 is 40%, wings and fuselage are made of it.
The largest aircraft in the world used for passenger traffic, its dimensions are impressive: the length of the aircraft is 73 m, the height is 24 m, the wingspan of the giant is 79.8 m. The liner consists of two decks. The lower one is for economy class passengers, the upper one is for business and first class travelers. The crew is 27 people for a seven-hour flight and 30 people for a 14-hour flight.
Due to its gigantic size, only very large airports in the world can accept Airbus A380 , and in our country only two - Domodedovo and Novosibirsk Tolmachevo. The range of non-stop flights is 15.2 thousand km. At one time, the largest passenger aircraft can carry from 525 to 853 passengers, depending on the comfort of their placement in the cabin. And in terms of comfort, a lot has been done in it. The liner has two bars, 15 toilet rooms, two showers for first-class passengers. Armchairs can be transformed into horizontal beds, they provide the possibility of massage. In addition, at all places, the largest aircraft in the world can offer a refrigerator for drinks, a multimedia system with a 17 "screen, access to satellite communications. To view the surrounding area, any passenger can receive a picture on the screen broadcasted from external video cameras mounted on the largest airplane in the world.
The Airbus A380 completed its first flight in 2005, and in January 2006, the liner made a transatlantic flight. Commercial use of this aircraft began in October 2007 after passing through a set of acceptance tests. In order to reimburse all the funds spent since 1994 on the development of the liner, the aircraft manufacturer - the Airbus SAS concern - will need to sell at least 420 aircraft. However, as some experts estimate, the number of airliners sold in order to recoup the spent 12 billion euros should be more.
In addition to the main modification of the A380-800, plowing airspace today, it is planned to produce 5 more modifications of the airliner: the A380-900 with a length of 79.4 m (will be introduced to the world in 2015); A380-1000, which will become the longest aircraft (87 m) and will be able to carry more than 1000 passengers at the same time, (A380-800F - cargo modification); A380-800ER - aircraft with increased flight range; A380-700 - shortened version (67.9 m).