The 20111 Paris air show is offering some valuable lessons in aircraft parking skills.
First on Sunday was the now infamous incident of Airbus's demonstration A380 that hit a building while taxiing at Le Bourget and subsequently lost its starboard wingtip fence, and became an Airbust. Korean Air permitted Airbus to perform with its A380, in town to show off its interior, saving the air show from lacking an A380 flying display.
Later that day Boeing demonstrated parking prowess when a Qatar 777-200LR cosied up on the static display to its big sister, the 747-8 Intercontinental, leaving less than two feet of clearance between its raked winglet and the 747's forward fuselage. As a bonus, the 777's wing has been providing rain cover to 747 visitors. (Rain at an air show? Sacré bleu!)
Not to be outdone, yesterday Airbus showed an A380 can, in fact, taxi without hitting a building or CRJ. The Korean Air A380 traversed along a taxiway so narrow its outer wing barely cleared an observation tower after passing over our very own Mary "Runway Girl" Kirby who happened to be in the area recording a video.
One question: when Korean Air permitted Airbus to perform the flying demonstration with its A380, did Korean stipulate its pilots would be doing the parking?
First on Sunday was the now infamous incident of Airbus's demonstration A380 that hit a building while taxiing at Le Bourget and subsequently lost its starboard wingtip fence, and became an Airbust. Korean Air permitted Airbus to perform with its A380, in town to show off its interior, saving the air show from lacking an A380 flying display.
Later that day Boeing demonstrated parking prowess when a Qatar 777-200LR cosied up on the static display to its big sister, the 747-8 Intercontinental, leaving less than two feet of clearance between its raked winglet and the 747's forward fuselage. As a bonus, the 777's wing has been providing rain cover to 747 visitors. (Rain at an air show? Sacré bleu!)Not to be outdone, yesterday Airbus showed an A380 can, in fact, taxi without hitting a building or CRJ. The Korean Air A380 traversed along a taxiway so narrow its outer wing barely cleared an observation tower after passing over our very own Mary "Runway Girl" Kirby who happened to be in the area recording a video.One question: when Korean Air permitted Airbus to perform the flying demonstration with its A380, did Korean stipulate its pilots would be doing the parking?
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