San Francisco welcomes the A380
The A380 at SFO
(Credit: Charles Perl)The giant Airbus A380 completed its second U.S. tour today when it landed at San Francisco International Airport. The largest airliner in the skies landed at about 9:30 a.m. this morning after completing a flight from Cincinnati and Bradley International Airport in Connecticut. We weren't on hand to document the arrival--though I would have paid good money to do so--but you can catch video of the arrival from NBC 11.
The A380's visit to San Francisco is significant as SFO was the first U.S. airport to be ready to accommodate the plane's immense size. SFO's seven-year-old international terminal was designed specifically for planes like the A380 in mind. Those improvements included extra-large gate and check-in areas, expanded baggage carousels, and gates with multiple Jetways on two levels to board the A380's two decks simultaneously. Remember that the Airbus holds about 525 people (or more), which makes it quite a bit larger than the already big 747.
The A380 made its first stateside visit earlier this year when it flew to New York's JFK airport and Los Angeles Airport. While those trips were designed mostly to show the plane off to the public and the media, Airbus is describing the plane's SFO stop as a "working visit." It will spend tonight at SFO before flying back to Toulouse, France, tomorrow at 2:30 p.m. San Francisco is not likely to see the plane again until 2008 when the first commercial flights to the airport should begin. Though Singapore Airlines will be the first airline to fly passengers on the A380 later this month, San Francisco is not yet on the schedule for flights.
But according to Airliners.net the A380 will overfly San Francisco on its way out of town. Since the Blue Angles are already buzzing the Bay Area you can bet that my head will be craned skyward.
Kent German is a senior editor for cell phone reviews at CNET. When he's not testing the newest handsets on the market, he's blogging about cell phone news for Crave. In his On Call column, he answers reader questions and gives his take on the rapidly changing mobile industry. E-mail Kent.
just south of Springfield, MA. The likely reason it landed here is NY and
Boston are too busy for a publicity stunt, and their terminals are not ready to
handle the plane. Hartford's runways can handle any civilian aircraft in the
world. It's the midpoint between NY and Boston, so it has to be able to take
anything diverted from Logan or the 3 NY airports.
The Airbus is not the largest plane to land at Bradley. We've seen the
Antonov An-225 Mriya a number of times, hauling supplies for locally-based
AmeriCare, I believe. It's a twin-tailed behemoth that's 10 meters wider and
longer than the Airbus. It also has 6 engines and about 437 wheels (that may
be an exaggeration). The Concorde would make the occasional stop at
Bradley, too.
As the final bit of trivia, it started out life as a secret Army training and
debarkment center. It was situated in the middle of Connecticut's tobacco
region (the best wrapper in the world), so when the runways were not in use
they were covered with shade tobacco nets, looking exactly like the actual
surrounding fields. It's named for Lt. Eugene M. Bradley, who was the first
fatality when his P-40 crashed in 1941. Five months later it was named in
his memory.