Emirates' A380 ready for take-off

Lights blink, screens flash and engines whirr as Emirates airline’s new wide-bodied A380 double-decker jumbo jet groans to life under the seasoned hands of Emirati Capt Abbas Shaban.

Flanked by Capt Patrick De Roeck, his Belgian co-pilot, Shaban revs up the four engines for take-off as the airplane rolls down the "runway" at Dubai International Airport.

In a flight simulator rehearsal of what will ultimately be the historic inaugural commercial flight from Dubai to New York of the A380 on August 1, the behemoth Airbus lifts gracefully into the air and climbs steadily upward as the desert horizon of Dubai disappears from view on the six large glass panels on the plane’s nose.

Engineering marvel

"One hundred knots," declares Shaban. De Roeck acknowledges with a "Check."

An XPRESS reporter and photographer sit quietly in a dimmed corner of the simulator cockpit, as the 569-tonne engineering marvel climbs higher and faster into the air – within 30 minutes the Airbus can reach a height of 43,000 feet at a speed of Mach .85 (roughly 900km/h).

With 58 years of combined flying experience between them, Chief A380 Pilot Shaban, 48, and A380 Project Pilot De Roeck, 50, have been selected by Emirates to helm the first flight of the A380, often nicknamed "Superjumbo".

Powerful engines

With its powerful engines, the first flight carrying 489 passengers from Dubai to New York City (6,000 nautical miles, one way), should take no more than 13 hours – 45 minutes less than conventional passenger jets.

"I’m excited, honoured and thrilled to be part of this flight," Shaban told XPRESS while giving us an exclusive tour in the ‘cockpit’ of the Canadian-built A380 simulator – one of two – at Emirates Aviation College training centre. It’s been a long journey of consultation, training and preparation, said Shaban, while co-pilot De Roeck calls the first-ever North America run a "fantastic adventure".

Much of their preparation has been spent precisely like this - buckled into the pilot seats of the simulator. The simulation training is part of what’s called cross-crew qualification, upgrading pilots’ skills learned while flying the smaller Airbus A340 and applying them to the new big brother A380.

Though the flight controls of the two jets are very similar, a wide array of new support systems has been engineered into the A380 to make the plane safer and more reliable. Redundancy systems were fully tested when Shaban flew the actual A380 in Hamburg for the very first time in an "acceptance flight", an exercise to ensure all of the equipment ranging from hydraulics to in-flight entertainment systems worked properly.

Several systems were manually switched off in flight to trigger automatic backup systems to satisfy Emirates’ engineers that the first Emirates’ A380 is airworthy and ready for delivery to Dubai on July 29.

"This is the only time that you take the aircraft to this extreme," Shaban said.

Flight plan

• Emirates’ A380s are configured to have 489 seats
• There are two stairways, fore and aft, linking the upper and lower decks
• The A380 is capable of carrying 13 tonnes of cargo
• Emirates expects to take delivery of the first five of its 58 A380s this year

Superjumbo 'a pleasure to fly'

Emirates’ new pride and joy is a sheer pleasure to fly, said the two pilots set to man the Superjumbo’s historic flight.

A much heavier fuselage combined with more powerful engines makes the new A380 a long-distance dream carrier.

"It feels more stable and is more responsive because of its larger engines," said Capt Abbas Shaban, the airline’s chief A380 pilot.

Compared to the 370-tonne A340, the new A380 is 200 tonnes heavier at 569 tonnes.

The double-decker can also climb 2,000 feet higher than the maximum height of 41,000 feet clocked by the A340.

Combined features give the new A380 a competitive edge against other aircraft, allowing it to fly at Mach .85 long range cruising speed compared to Mach .82 of the smaller A340.

The increase in speed can range from 50km/h to 100km/h depending on altitude and weather conditions, said Shaban.

The power boost comes from the four new engines built by Engine Alliance, a joint venture between General Electric and Pratt and Whitney. Each engine produces an average of 70,000 pounds of thrust.

Quiet ride means less stress

Shaban said that extra efforts by Airbus in consultation with airline companies around the world have resulted in an aircraft that is far quieter than its predecessors both inside and out. Due to new construction methods and modern materials, sounds normally associated with air travel such as the dull roar of jet engines as well as wind and structural noise stemming from the fuselage have been cut down by 50 per cent in the A380 compared to its rival aircraft.

"You don’t need earplugs in the A380, it’s much quieter," said Shaban.

Details

For more details on the A380 go to www.emirates.com