“Flying in the air is like swimming in the sea”: in the sky rose a giant plane from Airbus

January 9, the first flight made one of the largest aircraft on the planet – Beluga XL.

The beluga-shaped cargo super-transporter was developed by Airbus to transport air transport components between production sites in Europe and assembly lines in France, Germany and China.

It is unlikely that ordinary passengers will be able to travel on this aircraft, but the Beluga XL will play an important role in the construction of commercial passenger liners, which will fly people in the near future. Airbus considers the aircraft a landmark for the company.

The Beluga XL is the successor to the Beluga or Airbus A300-600ST, which has been flying since 1995. The design of the giant is adapted from the A330 airliner, but Airbus engineers lowered the takeoff deck and built a cargo bay, where the image of the whale originated. The control of the aircraft is identical to the A330.

The Beluga XL is 6m longer and 1m wider than the original. The total length of the aircraft is 63 m, width is 8 m. Flight range up to 4,000 km.

The main feature of the aircraft is the outline of the rear lower part of the cargo compartment. In the Beluga XL raised more than two meters vertical tail plane, so it was removed from the vortex flows and it managed to give acceleration in the horizontal tail plane for stability. Five more Beluga XL aircraft will be built over the next three years.

Source: turizm