Airbus A380 at SFO

[Glavata]

Just saw on the news the big boy was in town And it will be flying over the city tomorrow (friday) before the Blue Angels. Any one got the audio from today?

[cessna157]

It landed in CVG after doing some low level passes of the GE Aircraft Engines plant in Cincinnati, where many parts of the GE90 that powers the ugly beast are made.  It landed at about 815am on Tuesday and was parked on display at the new DHL facility open to tours for GE, local media, etc.  Departed this morning, apparently for SFO

[ChasenSFO]

I'll get it for you. I was down there today. Damn, what a day for spotting! An A380, 2 F-16s, the Blue Angles, and a Qatar A330, all in that order! Its like a dream or something.

[odo]

It landed in CVG after doing some low level passes of the GE Aircraft Engines plant in Cincinnati, where many parts of the GE90 that powers the ugly beast are made.  It landed at about 815am on Tuesday and was parked on display at the new DHL facility open to tours for GE, local media, etc.  Departed this morning, apparently for SFO

Actually A380 isn't powered by GE90, but Engine Alliance(GE & PW joint project) GP7200. GE90 is only used in B777 so far.

[dorishd]

Read an article stating " BA puts in order for 12 A380's, to be powered by rolls royce engines"  Why would airbus go with different engines other than GE/P+W? Is this standard practice?

[odo]

Read an article stating " BA puts in order for 12 A380's, to be powered by rolls royce engines"  Why would airbus go with different engines other than GE/P+W? Is this standard practice?

Because RR makes good jet engines also?

[wayne530]

here's a pic of the A380 at ksfo:

[MathFox]

Niiiiice picture wayne530!

Read an article stating " BA puts in order for 12 A380's, to be powered by rolls royce engines"  Why would airbus go with different engines other than GE/P+W? Is this standard practice?

As far as I know the airlines get 2 or 3 options for the engines to put on their fleet... Would not be surprised if there was a legal reason...

[wayne530]

actually i take no credit for the pic.  a friend that works at the airport sent it to me =)

Niiiiice picture wayne530!

[sunburn]

Niiiiice picture wayne530!

Read an article stating " BA puts in order for 12 A380's, to be powered by rolls royce engines"  Why would airbus go with different engines other than GE/P+W? Is this standard practice?

As far as I know the airlines get 2 or 3 options for the engines to put on their fleet... Would not be surprised if there was a legal reason...

it's also all about costs too... i'm guessing for geographical reasons, like for the maintenance of the engines it may be cheaper for some airlines to go for rolls royce than GE and vice versa.

[nwales]

Read an article stating " BA puts in order for 12 A380's, to be powered by rolls royce engines"  Why would airbus go with different engines other than GE/P+W? Is this standard practice?

I'm not a BA expert but as far as I'm aware all (or most) of their aircraft have RR engines. I could be wrong and I probably am but I always figured that airlines have commitments toward certain companies that provide engines or aircraft. I know Northwest's DC-9's, A319/A320/A333, B752/B753, and B742/B744 all use Pratt & Whitney engines. This is the entire Northwest mainline fleet. The only exception to this is the DC-10's that used GE engines but they're all retired now.

So I figure it comes done to company commitments, fuel economy, maintenance, and environmental issues probably all play a role in how they chose their engines.

[dorishd]

Everyone's input makes sense. I was just surprised that since the 380 is making all these test flights with the P+W engines, that new orders would include engines from a different maker.

[DevilMike]

First post, hi all.  There are several sources out there (multiple Wikipedia pages as well) that make the supported claim that BA is a staunch RR customer.  If nothing else, they keep their business in house - British airline, British power.

[MathFox]

Everyone's input makes sense. I was just surprised that since the 380 is making all these test flights with the P+W engines, that new orders would include engines from a different maker.

Airbus has made most test flights with the A380-841 (which is the model with RR engines). Three A380-861 (with EA engine) have flown, one of them is a converted 380-841.
Ref: http://www.planespotters.net/Production_List/Airbus/A380/index.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Airbus_A380_orders_and_deliveries

Edited: got model numbers wrong.

[Tomato]

That's an awesome picture... how did you get it? 

here's a pic of the A380 at ksfo:

<snip>

[oneup1982]

I don't want anyone to take this the wrong way, but the french should stick to making wine.

[cessna157]

Ha, I think there's only one way that could (and should) be taken.  Except leave the wine to california, the french can have their baguettes and crepes

[Miyridian]

I could be wrong and I probably am but I always figured that airlines have commitments toward certain companies that provide engines or aircraft. I know Northwest's DC-9's, A319/A320/A333, B752/B753, and B742/B744 all use Pratt & Whitney engines.

Almost right. Northwest uses the CFM56 engines on their 319s and 320s, which is a partnership of GE and SNECMA. The other option on the 320 series is the IAE V2500, which is a partnership of five companies including Rolls-Royce and Pratt & Whitney. Northwest is generally loyal to Pratt, so I'm not sure why they decided to go with CFM in that case. United, who is also a Pratt loyalist, chose IAE for their 319s and 320s.

Airbus and Boeing generally offer at least two choices of engines on their planes. The exceptions on the market today are the A340-500/600, which are only available with Rolls-Royce, the 777-200LR/300ER, which are only available with GE, and the 737-600/700/800/900ER, which are only available with CFM.