posted on Oct, 2 2006 @ 07:49 PM
One of the recurring debates in regards to the A380 is its ability to operate in smaller airfileds. A recent AWST has shed some light on this:
The aircraft has been tested at a variety of hub airports like Frankfurt, Dubai, Singapore, Sidney, it has also been tested at smaller aircraft such
as Le Bourget and Medellin. The medellin is signifigant as it represent a worst case scenario for aircraft operations, the dreaded high/hot takeoff.
Despite claims to the contrary, even with its Code F runway ranking, an A380 would have plenty of of divert spots to land on. It may not be able to
take off with a full load, but it would get down safely. For that matter on trans-Pacific routes any of the ETOPS divert sites could handle the
aircraft. many are former US military bases with long, hard runways.
The interesting factor in this debate is something I just found out. With its longer wing, the 747-8 also falls in the same category as the A380 aka
Code F and would have to comply with the same airport/runway restrictions and the bigger jet. Boeing has so far not been able to get that changed.