John’s own special page!

This was a very special day for me!Before we went on our French adventure I booked a visit to the home of the Airbus and Concord. Only a few of the visits are done in English so I did the booking early so as to understand what was being said. The factory is on the other side of Charles De Gaulle  airport and is a huge complex. They manufacture all the range of Airbus aircraft and have a production line which turns out 10 new A320 each week! It is hard to imagine the care and planning which makes that possible. The A320 is the most popular aircraft in that range and to give you an idea how popular, imagine this.They have 5,460 orders for the A320!They have delivered 3,236 A320’sThere are over 3,300 in operation throughout the world.Other aircraft being produced are the A318/A319 and A321. Not all in Paris as they have factories all overEurope.Now we come to the A380 This is a very large aeroplane, we stood in the largest building in the world and looked down at three A380’s being assembled. It was an amazing sight.  On 15th October the first aircraft was delivered to Singapore Airlines and will make its first run soon.

The most fantastic part of all this is how pieces of partly assembled A380 are shipped from England andGermany via road at night and canal. A special road was built to take the enormous trucks and many bridges had to be altered! All these giant parts finally get put together and six aircraft at a time are assembled. They have 165 firm orders and more being discussed.

We had a simulated maiden flight from taxi to take off and a 30 minute flight to assess how it handled. One aircraft has been tested to breaking point in a special hanger to see how the carbon fibre would stand up to rigorous bending and flexing. Most international airports have been tested to see how the A380 would cope with the runways and taxiways. Being a double deck configuration it requires some different loading ramps but most airports are ready. I would recommend this visit to anyone who is holidaying in this area as it is carried out in a very professional manner and very good value for money. As you can tell, I loved it!We were not allowed any cameras so I do not have any photos but I can honestly say it was a very memorable visit.   

The web site for more information is -  www.airbus.com/en/aircrsftfamilies/a380