FROM THE ENGINEERS DESK September 13th 1994 – The Airbus Beluga makes its maiden flight. With its maiden flight on September 13, 1994, the popular Beluga cargo aircraft, affectionately named after the white whale because of its remarkable shape, is celebrating this week twenty years of transporting Airbus component parts between Airbus’ European manufacturing sites. Featuring one of the most voluminous cargo holds of any civil or military aircraft flying today, the Airbus Beluga offers a unique way to transport oversized air cargo. Since 1995, the fleet of five Beluga aircraft replaced the ageing Super Guppy transporters in order to supply the Airbus final assembly lines in Toulouse and Hamburg. The Beluga fleet is operated by Airbus Transport International (ATI, an Airbus subsidiary airline). More than sixty flights are performed each week between eleven sites, carrying crucial parts for all of the Airbus programmes, such components as fuselage sections, wings and tails for Airbus’ single-aisle A320 and widebody A330 Families, along with elements for the next-generation A350 XWB jetliner and the A380. In addition to serving the internal transportation needs of Airbus, ATI offers Belugas on a charter basis to third parties. With the production start of the A350 XWB in 2012 and the production ramp-up on other Airbus programmes, the Beluga activities again will substantially increase over the next five years. In order to accompany this challenge, Airbus launched in 2011 the Fly 10 000 project. Flight crew numbers and flight hours have grown and loading procedures have been further optimized, with the opening of new integrated loading facilities in Hamburg and Bremen in Germany and Saint-Nazaire in France. Broughton, UK and Getafe, Spain will follow soon. Fly 10,000 should allow the Beluga fleet to double its activities by 2017 (from 5,000 to 10,000 flight hours). The Beluga is based on the twin-engine A300-600R, appreciated for its reliability and its cost-effectiveness. It is powered by General Electric CF6-80C2 engines. With its impressive dimensions (56 m long, 17 m high, a fuselage diameter of 7.71 m and a main-deck cargo volume of 1,400m3), the Beluga is the champion of its category (compared with the Antonov AN-124 or even the C-17). The Beluga can carry a maximum payload of 47 metric tonnes non-stop over a range of 1,660 km/900 nm. Designing the Beluga wasnt easy. The top section of an Airbus A300-600 was cut off. A wider fuselage section was added, giving the plane its characteristic hump. The cockpit was lowered, allowing cargo to be loaded through the front of the aircraft. Only the cockpit is pressurized, not the cargo hold. A heating module provides a suitable environment for spacecraft and other cargo that requires temperature-controlled conditions. With a diameter of 7.1 meters, the Beluga has an incredibly large cargo hold. Though its maximum payload of 47 tons is surpassed by only a handful of cargo aircraft, the hold makes it good for oversized but not particularly heavy cargo. The A300-600ST Super Transporter is operated by a crew of three: two pilots and a loadmaster. A semi-automated main deck cargo loading system ensures easy and efficient handling of aircraft components. Airbus is looking at a potential replacement for the aging A300-600ST Super Transporter. Though no final decisions have been made, the Beluga XL is expected to have a longer range and ability to carry heavier payloads. General characteristics Crew: Three Capacity: 1,410 m3 (50,000 cu ft) Payload: 47 t (103,616 lb) Length: 56.15 m (184 ft 3 in) Wingspan: 44.84 m (147 ft 1 in) Height: 17.24 m (56 ft 7 in) Wing area: 258.80 m2 (2,786 sq ft) Empty weight: 86 t (189,595 lb) Max. takeoff weight: 155 t (341,713 lb) Powerplant: 2 × General Electric CF6-80C2A8 turbofan, 119 - 120 kN (26,752 - 26,977 lb) each Fuselage diameter: 3.95 m (13 ft 0 in) 7.1 m (23 ft 4 in) in cargo compartment[9] Performance Maximum speed: 0.82 Mach Range: 2,779 km (1,501 nmi) with 40 ton payload 4,632 km (2,501 nmi) with 26 ton payload Source: Airbus, CNN r/Jose
Posted on: Sat, 13 Sep 2014 18:03:43 +0000
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