Air France A380 Flies...AgainLast Friday in Hamburg, Air France's first freshly painted A380 (MSN033) took to the skies for a five-hour cabin test flight. The aircraft lifted off without the new Premium Voyageur economy class aboard which will be first introduced in October aboard the airline's 777 fleet. The Wall Street Journal detailed the spat between Airbus and Air France on the A380 cabin modifications. Air France should take delivery of F-HPJA in late October, with two more expected to follow before the end of the year (MSN040 & 043).
G650 Rollout
Tomorrow morning, I'll be hopping a quick flight down to Savannah, Georgia for Gulfstream's roll-out of the new large-cabin G650. It feels like just yesterday that Gulfstrean announced the program. How quickly they grow up. Word on the street is that the aircraft has already has first engine start. Perhaps Gulfstream has a treat for us tomorrow with a surprise first flight too? I'll be tweeting live all morning tomorrow.
WAEA
Starting early next week, I'll be heading west for a week of In-Flight Entertainment and Connectivity at the World Airline Entertainment Association conference in lovely Palm Springs. Mary Kirby (Runway Girl) and I will have the show covered wall to wall bringing you the latest innovations on what we may see in the cabin of the not-so-distant future.
Photo Credit P. Gallerand
on September 28, 2009 5:26 PM | Reply
It's pretty - I think the prettiest of the A380 airline liveries so far - plain white. :) Not it's biggest fan - but that is an incredibly impressive wing.
on September 29, 2009 6:34 AM | Reply
"Boeing plans significant wiring change to 787" posted elsewhere.
Hey Jon, a question:
Is that the wiring change that had been mentioned elsewhere
or some further changes?
Problems with excessive crosstalk wasn't mentioned before, was it ??
tia
uwe
on September 29, 2009 4:08 PM | Reply
wait... wiring change?
...
...
wasn't (isn't) there an other manufacturer who had some minor blocking points with wiring on new double decker?
déjà vu all over the place..
If this turns out right...
Why isn't that bigger news????
on September 30, 2009 4:42 AM | Reply
"Bigger News" ?
Until recently the announced wiring change was connected to
"removing dedicated flighttest wiring" and
"improved routing stategy for shorter connections".
This is nothing to hold your breath for.
New imho is mention of "reduced isolation thickness for lighter wiring" and problems with "excessive crosstalk" ( my Q. from top )
Q++ : is this connected to "aerofunctional" wiring or to
"PAX connectivity".
uwe
on September 30, 2009 8:46 AM | Reply
"This is nothing to hold your breath for"
??
Ask the A380 people how many brackets need to be removed and how many new ones have be installed to change one bundle...
How many holes in CFK have to be "repaired"...`?
I hold my breath.
on September 30, 2009 10:48 AM | Reply
AF#3 will not deliver this year. MSN043 is a January 2010 delivery.