Airbus A380 Pirep

[Joe Zuffoletto]

Flew upstairs on an Air France A380 today from Paris to NYC. First time I've seen one in the flesh, much less ridden in one. Wow, what a beast. Acceleration and climb rate were incredible. Cabin was very quiet. Definitely felt like the big plane that it is during taxi, takeoff and landing... but otherwise it was like floating on a cloud. What an experience.

[231flyer]

I concur, one of the quietest cabins in the air (better than 1st on AA maddogs).  You should try first class on an Emirates A380.....private enclosed personal cabin plus a shower at FL380. Truly one-of-kind product.

I can't wait to fly the new 747-8i.  Lufthansa is scheduled to start JFK-FRA in July.

[jetdriven]

I bet you could field overhaul a Lycoming IO-360 cheaper than a first-class ticket on an A380.

[231flyer]

I think it was $14k rack-rate (LHR-DXB-SYD, SYD-DFW(QF 747)). It was a business trip and my client has contracts with the carriers.

Btw I believe 1st on AA maddogs is the quietest cabin in the US.  With the PW engines way back on the MD80, the cabin upfront has absolutely no engine noise.  Just the rush of the airstream at 500 mph.  Always amaizing! 

[jetdriven]

CRJ-900 and 727 were also really quiet up in front. A lot of these Airbus and all the Boeings have this really annoying "buzz saw" noise up in front.

[KSMooniac]

Byron, have you been up front in a 777 or 737NG?  I worked many years on Boeing nacelles (and for the G650) and the stuff designed in the 90s should be noticeably quieter than the legacy planes.  We specifically tailored inlet noise tech to blunt that buzz saw frequency, which is irritating!  We did some cool research on the chevrons at the back end too, including flying some that were "powered" with shape memory alloys that would dip into the fan exhaust during takeoff and climb, and then reflex at cruise.  I'm anxious to get a ride in a 787 and expect that to be very quiet inside.

I bet the CRJ's are quiet up front.  I'm now at Bombardier and we have a couple CRJ1000's in the flight test hangar at work.  You almost need a bicycle to get from the cockpit to the engines!  

I still prefer flying the J anywhere over all of those choices, though!

[Seth]

Yes, the A380 is quiet.  I flew on one last June from IAD to Paris.  I was in a seat over the wings in coach and was amazed at the sheer size of the aircraft.  It didn't really rotate on takeoff but simply levitated off the runway.  It has built in cameras so you can see the outside of the aircraft from multiple positions that cycle through including a small camera on the tail. 

This was the 5th or 6th flight for the particular A380 I was a guest of, and there was a big delay due to losing power twice and having to recycle the computers, twice on the ground for the long overwater, cross country flight.  I of course was thinking where can this land if in trouble?

The biggest issue with the "quiet" was that now the screeming babies can be heard all over the cabin as opposed to being muffled by the engine drone.  Didn't even think that would be an issue.

Very cool experience, very much looking forward to flying on a 787 at some point.

Take care

-Seth

[201er]

Yes, the cabin is definitely quieter. But it doesn't matter cause people are loud anyway. So I always fly with noise attenuating in-ear phones with music playing even if sleeping to block it all out. As for the cabin, honestly it looks/feels about the same as a 747, it's just there is another one of those on top of you. The windows are pretty big and the overhead bins are sizable. I think economy seats are wider too. This was coming back to NY from Seoul.