World's Biggest Airliner: The Airbus A380

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1 General Information
2 Cover
3 Information
4 Screenshots
5 Technical Specs
6 Links

[edit] General Information

Technology Documentary hosted by John Travolta and Glenn Wrage, published by Discovery Channel in 2005 - English narration

[edit] Cover

[edit] Information

It's the most ambitious project ever in civil aviation – building the world's biggest airliner. In 2006, the 240-foot triple-decker Airbus A380 is due to enter into commercial service carrying more than 550 passengers distances of over 8,000 nautical miles. The most progressive aircraft idea in history was introduced in 2000 as the new alternative to Boeing's 747. When completed, the Airbus A380 will be able to ferry more passengers over a longer distance than any other airliner in existence. Constructing a plane on this unprecedented scale poses huge challenges, particularly when constricted by tight deadlines and especially because Airbus's main production plants are spread across France, Spain, Germany and the UK. Each component is so big that new factories have to be built before work can begin on the plane. The gigantic wings are just one of the components that must make a huge and difficult journey to Airbus headquarters in Toulouse, from the factory in north Wales. The enormous fuselage travels from Hamburg. Each journey is a nightmare, by barge on unpredictable rivers, by sea, and finally by road, squeezing through the tiny village of Levignac with inches to spare before reaching the final assembly line. The series provides an incredible insight into the unique challenges of building an airliner on this unprecedented scale, before its grand unveiling in front of thousands, and its awe-inspiring maiden voyage in the hands of Airbus's test pilots. A Darlow Smithson Production for TLC and Channel 4

[edit] The Race to Build

The Airbus A380 pushes the boundaries of flight – it is bigger, heavier and more advanced than any airliner that has ever flown before. The first episode of this amazing challenge follows the people behind the race to build the enormous wings, fuselages and other oversize parts for the new machine. Tens of thousands of people are involved. From giant factories in the UK, Germany, France and Spain, each vast component must make an incredible journey over thousands of miles. They must travel by road, river and sea to the final assembly line in Toulouse, where the parts will be assembled. There is no margin for error in this ambitious plan.

[edit] Coming Together

The Airbus A380 has to be ready for its first flight in less than 12 months. It's a huge undertaking and, in Toulouse, France, where the massive fuselage sections and giant wings have just arrived, the pressure faced by the team is beginning to show. As the pieces are joined together like a giant jigsaw, dramatic tests are carried out on the Rolls Royce engines that will power the A380 and the landing gear that must support its enormous weight. Delays creep in, but the day for revealing the plane to the world is now set. The press is waiting. Heads of State, major airlines and 10,000 VIPs are just about to arrive in Toulouse. But will the A380 be ready?

[edit] Getting Off the Ground

After months of preparation, the Airbus A380 thundered down the runway and into the air for the very first time. And in doing so it flew into the record books as the world's biggest airliner. Now, with unprecedented access to Airbus, this episode tells the story of the people who have pulled off this incredible feat. It is a story of a race against time as engineers struggle to ready the plane; extreme pressure as last minute glitches threaten to ruin the big day; and of the test pilots who are flying into the unknown. Soon the A380 will be a familiar sight in the skies over America.

[edit] Screenshots

[edit] Technical Specs

Video Codec: x264 CABAC High@L3.1
Video Bitrate: CRF 20 / 3 427 Kbps
Video Resolution: 1280x720
Video Aspect Ratio: 16:9
Frames Per Second: 29.970
Audio Codec: AC3
Audio Bitrate: 384kb/s CBR 48000 Hz
Audio Streams: 6
Audio Languages: english
RunTime Per Part: 43mn 56s
Number Of Parts: 3
Part Size: 1.05 GB
Source: HDTV
Encoded by: DocFreak08