History at YSSY today

[Nigel C]

The A380 took off from Rwy 25 today with 462 POB plus crew. It apparently rotated at Twy Bravo and was off by the Rwy's intersection.

This is the first use of Rwy 25 for any of the A380 visits we have had.

[Greg McDonald]

Anybody got any pics?

Nigel...do you carry (or are you allowed to carry) a camera with you on shift?

[Sarah C]

It was a surprise to see it from that runway, but impressive. Anyone at the Krispy Kreme would have been impressed about the view!

[Nigel C]

Anybody got any pics?

Nigel...do you carry (or are you allowed to carry) a camera with you on shift?


I'm off sick at the moment, but it was my crew who were on. I don't carry my camera with me on shift, but imagine the magazine and airliners.net entries I could get (including the loss of job)!

We do have an EOS 400D twin lens kit within our section, but it's there for work purposes (recording incidents, accidents, pavement issues, bird identification, special events, new arrivals etc.). Given the 'uniqueness' of todays event, it may have been given a whirl.

[Jethro H]

So would that be wheels up within 5000'?

I see westerly winds today were averaging at 30-50km/h at YSSY.

[Matthew Chisholm]

I'm off sick at the moment

Soft! :)

Maybe a case of HTFU might help you recover Nige ? LOL :p

[Nigel C]

Can you post me a teaspoon of aviation grade cement powder?

:D

[Adam P.]

Is that the special crushable kind?

[James Smith]

I remember taking off on runway 25 in 1992 on a Northwest 744 bound for Osaka which was a great experience. We weren't airborne until well after the 16R intersection. The A380 passengers would have felt tremendous acceleration forces and initial climb performance.

[Tim Bowrey]

Yeah i saw it:) I was on the 400 bus heading to T3 right near Arncliffe Fire Station. Many people on the bus acctually pointed it out saying "Ooo its the airbus". Looked amazing!

So im gussing at hasnt landed on either of the crossing runways yet either?

[Nigel C]

Nope, not yet.

[David O.]

Can an A380 land on rwy 25 if it were fully loaded with passengers?? I would love to see that as I live under the 25 approach

[Erik H. Bakke]

I seem to remember that it did land on 25 once, during the demo flights.

But it's Friday after all, and I wouldn't put it past my mind to play tricks on me by this time of the week...

[Sarah C]

Can an A380 land on rwy 25 if it were fully loaded with passengers?? I would love to see that as I live under the 25 approach

I would be surprised if it could - when it is using 34L/16R, it does roll longer than the other heavies. Maybe the runway is not long enough but I would have thought it would have to be able to land on that runway if 34L/16R is closed (I could be very wrong though)

[Nigel C]

Rwy 07/25 and its associated taxiways are fully capable of taking the A380, and the A380 is more than capable of using Rwy 07/25 if its weights and balances add up.

Erik, I do remember that during the demo flight stage there was talk of it being put on Rwy 07/25 for one of the arrivals, but it was changed to 16R/34L. This caused all sorts of angst for the media that were there to capture the arrival. Other than that I don't recall it ever using 07/25.

Cheers
Nigel

[Nigel C]

I would be surprised if it could - when it is using 34L/16R, it does roll longer than the other heavies. Maybe the runway is not long enough but I would have thought it would have to be able to land on that runway if 34L/16R is closed (I could be very wrong though)

Sarah, it often only uses around 2400-2800m of runway (compared to the 3962m at its disposal), and I dare say it isn't giving its engines absolute max thrust on take-off on 16R/34L.
Also, the straightening of Twy Golf, the removal of Hangars 1 and 2 as well as the old fire station was done primarily to accomodate the A380.

Personally I'm surprised it's taken this long to use 07/25 since its introduction.

[Adrian C]

Having been on the 380 only last month, I can tell you that the early morning arrival basically glides down the approach path and they roll out the flaps as need be, with the engines seemingly not producing much thrust at all.

The long rollouts would be more a convenience thing and not wanting to place unnecessary wear and tear on the braking systems.

I've got no doubt that when an RPT A380 eventually does land on 07/25, pulling up on the available length even with a full load won't be a problem. :)

[Nigel C]

They found that with the quick turn-arounds, the brakes weren't cooling sufficiently if they stopped at either Alpha-2 of Alpha-4, depending on the runway direction in use, hence the longer rollout.

16R landings were going all the way to the end, and 34L were going to Golf or Foxtrot. By the time Alpha-5 got widened, Singapore changed their schedule to have a longer layover.:o


I believe they have had an updated brake cooling system fitted to their 4 A380's since their introduction.

[Andrew McLaughlin]

Rwy 07/25 and its associated taxiways are fully capable of taking the A380, and the A380 is more than capable of using Rwy 07/25 if its weights and balances add up.

Erik, I do remember that during the demo flight stage there was talk of it being put on Rwy 07/25 for one of the arrivals, but it was changed to 16R/34L. This caused all sorts of angst for the media that were there to capture the arrival. Other than that I don't recall it ever using 07/25.

Cheers
Nigel

I remember that well...one minute it was 34L, then it was 16R, then it was 25, then it was back to 16R... I can't actually remember the runway it eventually landed on??? We were on and off those buses several times!

[Andrew McLaughlin]

I believe they have had an updated brake cooling system fitted to their 4 A380's since their introduction.

Correct. SKA had to have a retrofit after SKB arrived. The other three and subsequent aircraft had the mod fitted before delivery.

[Andrew McLaughlin]

I've got no doubt that when an RPT A380 eventually does land on 07/25, pulling up on the available length even with a full load won't be a problem. :)

The A380 was designed from the start to be able to use any runway a 747 can, and when fully loaded, actually has better field performance than a similarly loaded late model 747-400. The main issues have been with the taxiways because the outboard engines on the 380 are about 12ft further out than on the 747 and are therefore susceptible to FOD.

At airports which are categorised as 'A380 ready', the main taxiways have been widened sufficiently, hence the work done on Sydney's Alpha, Tankee and Golf taxiways in recent years.

[Sarah C]

Sarah, it often only uses around 2400-2800m of runway (compared to the 3962m at its disposal), and I dare say it isn't giving its engines absolute max thrust on take-off on 16R/34L.
Also, the straightening of Twy Golf, the removal of Hangars 1 and 2 as well as the old fire station was done primarily to accomodate the A380.

Personally I'm surprised it's taken this long to use 07/25 since its introduction.

Thanks for the explanation Nigel.

[Philip Argy]

Correct. SKA had to have a retrofit after SKB arrived. The other three and subsequent aircraft had the mod fitted before delivery.

What exactly did the brake mod comprise and why wasn't the poor cooling performance discovered during RTO and other flight-proving tests?

[Erik H. Bakke]

Erik, I do remember that during the demo flight stage there was talk of it being put on Rwy 07/25 for one of the arrivals, but it was changed to 16R/34L. This caused all sorts of angst for the media that were there to capture the arrival. Other than that I don't recall it ever using 07/25.

Ah, that's what happened, then. I thought I remembered a crowd waiting over at that end that day. Thanks for the explanation, it's appreciated.

[Brad L.]

I watched it take off from the beach fence...

It did rotate at Bravo! VERY impressive! And much quieter than the B737's that had taken off before it!

Was surprised to see that the A380 wasn't given an overly generous timeframe to line up and depart - was exactly what all of the other aircraft were given (there was arriving traffic on 25 at the same time). Good to see that they have integrated it well into 'normal' airport operations.

[NickN]

Gotta love Taxiway "Tankee", one of my favourites!

[Tsen Tsan]

FYI since we're on this. 5th A380 9V-SKE has been delivered over the weekend.