Much loved memory - Concorde 'Alpha Bravo' in retirement at Heathrow...
Chicken-wired nosewheel bay on 'Alpha Bravo' - while she has been standing, parked out on the airfield, mice shinned up the undercarriage legs and colonised the old lady...since fumigated, and Jerry-proofed...
If flying supersonic is too costly, fly five times the payload less quickly - This is Airbus's second prototype A380, serial 'MSN004' for the spotters - as I was about to find, there is more Formula 1-style technology incorporated into this gigantic baby than we could shake a stick at...
This factory test A380 is almost totally untrimmed, just packed with water-ballast tanks to mimic passenger load and crammed with test equipment. This is the big bird's upper deck.
And here's the lower deck...
Test monitoring station, avec l'inspecteur...
Bus driver's cab...already a long way above the ground.
A380 main undercarriage leg - God bless racer tape. Tyre pressure - 218lbs psi!
And finally - R-R hold a patent on this idea, the engine intake cone tip being in wobbly rubber which vibrates when icing accumulates and induces inbalance - whereupon the vibration cracks off the accretion and so de-ices it. So simple, eh?
All Photos Strictly Copyright: The GP Library
DCN
Edited by Doug Nye, 07 September 2011 - 23:22.