Flying the Airbus A380
By Robert Mark on July 8th, 2012
Every so often work becomes fun. OK, admittedly, not very often. When the folks at Aviation International News asked me to check out the new Brake-to-Vacate system Airbus had designed, they mentioned I’d have a chance to see it in action since the technology was installed on a new Airbus model … an A380. Did I want to go fly it?
Fly the A380? Hmmmm. I had to think about it of course … for oh, maybe a quarter of a second. Next thing I knew, I was in Toulouse checking out the technology and driving the bus. And for the true airplane geeks, the Airbus A380 brake-to-vacate system allows the flying pilot to determine before landing precisely which taxiway turnoff the aircraft will be able to make using maximum reverse thrust and the most efficient use of wheel braking.
Ryan Dietz and I mixed the videos I shot with some B-roll footage the Airbus folks were nice enough to share and the end result is what you see here.
With AirVenture 2012 just around the corner, it seemed like just the right time to talk about the fun of flying airplanes. Hope you enjoy watching this as much as I did flying the biggest bus. BTW, how was my landing?
Now … I have to get back to work.
Rob Mark
http://youtu.be/2GAhPr9xcS0
(Click the photo or YouTube icon)
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