The aircraft

The aircraft used for the trial is A380 MSN002 and is powered by four Rolls Royce Trent 900 engines. From its start in Toulouse, France, on November 13th, the current technical route proving exercise will see ten different airports visited in four trips by the time the testing is complete: Singapore and Seoul, and Hong Kong and Narita being trips one and two respectively. The third trip will take the aircraft to Guangzhou (22nd November), and Beijing and Shanghai (23rd November).

The fourth and final trip will take the A380 around the globe, via both poles. It will depart Toulouse to reach Johannesburg on 26th November, and then fly over the South Pole en-route to Sydney where it will arrive on 28th November. From Sydney, it will fly across the Pacific to Vancouver (29th November) prior to returning to Toulouse via the North Pole.

During this technical route proving exercise, the A380 will have to demonstrate that it can be turned around as per normal airline operations. Tests will cover, amongst other things, checks on standard aircraft maintenance and behaviour, as well as typical airport operations and compatibility. These will include monitoring functions such as bridge docking, cleaning and catering, refuelling and boarding procedures.

Five development A380s have now flown. Four aircraft, one of which is powered by the Engine Alliance GP7200 engine, are now actively involved in the intensive flight test programme, which has already reached over 730 flights and 2,300 flight hours. The fifth aircraft is undergoing cabin installation in Hamburg. Firm orders and commitments for the A380 currently stand at 166 aircraft for 15 customers.

World Record Attempts

World Record Attempts

Sir Richard Branson has been involved in many world record breaking activities;

1986 His boat Virgin Atlantic Challenger II crossed the Atlantic Ocean in record breaking time.

1987 Virgin Atlantic Flyer was the first air balloon to ever cross the Atlantic.

1991 The Virgin Atlantic Flyer crossed the Pacific Ocean from Japan to Artic Canada at record speeds of up to 245 miles an hour! Now that’s fast.

1995 – 1998 Richard Branson made various attempts to circumnavigate the world in a hot air balloon however the weather never prevented him from seeing this dream come into life. They were in fact beaten by a Swiss firm in 1999.

Innovations

‘Flying without Fear’ program was established on 4 April 1998. It helps people overcome their fear of flying.

It is a one day program that is aimed at conquering a person’s fear of flying. The program consists of a session run by a VS pilot in the morning that discusses safety but also teaches people about things such as what are the normal sounds that would be heard during a flight and why they occur. This is then followed by a session on relaxation techniques.

At the end of the day session, participants are given the opportunity to conquer their fear and participate in a short flight.

As recently seen on The View, where Whoopi Goldberg went through the program live on air on the April 01 2009 to conquer her fear of flying.