Late last week, British Airways’ first A380 (MSN095) was briefly visible on the Toulouse flightline, while she was moved into the final assembly hangars.

http://a380production.com/2012/09/95sf/

Wow that’s awesome! 😀

Very interesting to see the underside of the wing opened up… I assume that’s for when Airbus have come up with a stronger wing-root?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/aircrafts/7975838617/

The irony there Matt is that you are making exactly the same mistake that the islamic rioters are. This isnt the Libyan people ranting and raving….this is some people in Libya ranting and raving….the difference is very significant.

I understand where you’re coming from, but on my TV I see streets packed full of rioters – thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of people.
The offensive video in question contained just 10 actors.
I’d say it was therefore a lot easier for me to generalise than the Libyan protesters.

On a side note, this video give me chills… Some of the things he says almost foreshadow his fate. RIP senator 🙁

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwYAT5wxI2E

I totally agree! These nations claim they’ve reformed and they’re now civilised and democratic…

But then they go and kill innocent people. Whilst the video was very offensive, you can’t justify killing the ambassador who had nothing to do with its production.

Threespool also states facts – namely that a sign will not stop a desperate person whether terrorist or fleeing from goodness knows what….

Whilst it might not stop them, it should highlight the fact that gear bays aren’t pressurised or heated… So the fleeing can make informed decisions (and thus hopefully reduce the numbers of these incidents).

I think the problem is, people fleeing a country for whatever reason simply aren’t aware of the dangers. It’s not like a freight train you can simply board and jump off when you reach your destination.

Education is the best form of prevention in this scenario.

It’s easy for frequent flyers to say ‘gear bays are obviously dangerous’, but for those living in poorer nations who have probably never flown before (or have very little understanding of aircraft in general) – nor know of the dangers of high altitude on the human body to think that the gear bay is just like any other part of the internal cabin.

Could they not put signs up on airport perimeter boundaries stating the dangers of climbing on-board aircraft?

On a security note, couldn’t an al-Qaeda terrorist jump on a plane in much the same way and blow it up?

Wow, this is interesting!
We see mergers and tie-ups with the full service carriers but not so much with those airlines at the lower end of the price scale.

It makes sense for TCX, they can offer more destinations and more options for customers and increase their market share in the holiday market – while EZY will see an increase in their own (already impressive) load-factors.

Although I do wonder if this means TCX will start retiring some of their own fleet.

Is the one severly damaged in the uncontained engine failure incident back in service?
Anyone know the final cost of repairs?

Nancy Bird Walton is now back in service, yes.

The final repair bill is thought to have been US$145 million, with RR covering US$100 million of the repairs.

Delayed at least one year..reason ? wing cracks.. sounds familiar.

My God, some of the unfounded comments people on the site come out with!

Firstly, wing-cracks? The wings have yet to be manufactured for the first A350 test/prototype aircraft… How can you have cracks in something that hasn’t been made?

Here, have a read. I think this is what you were referring to?
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/11/us-airshow-idUSBRE8680IU20120711
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-19010202

First flight delay = ~4 Weeks…
EIS delay = ~3 months…

From whom did you hear 1 year delay from?