Thursday, October 25, 2007

A commercial A380 flight will take off from Singapore for Sydney The world's largest passenger plane, the Airbus A380, has taken off on its first commercial flight - from Singapore to Sydney, Australia. Singapore Airlines took delivery of the huge plane dubbed the Superjumbo just over a week ago and passengers bought seats in a charity online auction.

It can carry some 850 passengers but is carrying about 450 to Sydney.

The Superjumbo's advent ends a reign of nearly four decades by the Boeing 747 as the world's biggest airliner.

The new aircraft suffered almost two years of delays because of a number of construction problems but took off on time on Wednesday.

The BBC's Rajan Datar reports from aboard the plane that the journey is going smoothly.  

Part of history:

Hundreds of staff and passengers at Singapore's Changi Airport watched it lift into the sky, snapping the moment with pocket cameras and camera phones.

"I'm a big airplane freak and I love everything about planes," passenger Ernest Graaff told Reuters news agency before he boarded the liner.  He had paid $40,000 for two business-class tickets on the jet.

"I'm excited about being a part of history," he added before the seven-hour flight.

Passengers paid between $560 and $100,380 to be on the inaugural flight.

Lern more about Airbus:   www.airbus.com

The Embraer aircraft corporation of Sao Paulo, Brazil has made a name for itself in recent years by designing and manufacturing regional jets. The first of these jets, the Embraer 145 made its first flight in 1995. The ERJ-145 is a 50 passenger jet powered by two rear mounted Rolls Royce turbo fan engines. It has a wing sweep of approximately 22 degrees and has a T-tail configuration. 

The operational success of the ERJ-145 and its similar competitors such as the Canadair Regional Jet and the airlines’ desires for a larger model brought about the “E” series of jets from Embraer. 

The Embraer 170 is the base model “E” jet. It’s a narrow body airliner powered by two General Electric CF-34 turbofan engines. Each engine is FADEC (Full Authority Digital Engine Control) equipped.

The first flight of the Embraer 170 took place in March 2004 and the aircraft passed FAA certification in September of 2005. The EMB -170 features a fully digital flight deck. 

The Honeywell Primus Flight Information Display provides pilots with increased situational awareness, increased information retrieval and better flexibility. The system consists of a total of 5 cathode ray screens and allows pilots to present flight, aircraft performance, terrain, weather and air traffic on the various displays. 

The EMB- 170 cockpit is roomy which is a departure from the E-145. The base aircraft configuration holds 70 passengers in a 2+2 configuration with lavatories forward and aft. 

The EMB-170 is operated with a crew of four. Two pilots and two flight attendants. It has a range of 2100 miles and a maximum speed of 481kt (mach .86). It’s maximum service ceiling is 41,000 ft. 

Currently Republic Airlines, Shuttle America Airlines, LOT Polish Airlines, Egypt Air, Air Canada and Compass Air operate the EMB 170.

Lern more about Embraer:   www.embraer.com