More Big Airbus Pics

It seems I only ever get enough sleep on weekends...

More photos!

Having seen the impressive exterior it was now time for our very rapid tour of the inside. As can be seen, this is very much a test aircraft, with no real interior or even sidewalls and ceilings. The large blue bottles are ballast tanks to allow the aircrafts weight and centre of gravity to be easily changed.

On the left is the forward stairway leading to the upper deck. On the right is Phil's arm, and behind that some of the test equipment.

Moving further into the cabin you can get a pretty good idea of the amount of wiring, plumbing and ducting on a large aircraft.


Lighting is improvised by fluorescent tubes stuck to the ceiling. Insulation blankets are thankfully present on the structure, preventing careless personnel from being frozen to the walls during long flights.

Around the middle of the main deck we get to the interesting bit.

The flight test engineers' station looks pretty slick, excepting perhaps the rather quaint paper data plotters. Our guide mentioned that from this station it possible to reprogram the flight control software in flight, an impressive if scary thought.. The screen at top left displays the output from cameras observing the undercarriage, one of the top of the tail, and one on the flightdeck (to make sure the crew haven't fallen asleep).

Moving to the rear of the main deck we find...

...just what you'd expect on a flight test aircraft. Well, I guess if you were flying out from France and had an unlimited baggage allowance... But, to quote a famous Australian chef: "Where's the cheese?"

Up here maybe?

I must say for a test aircraft the stairs are pretty fancy, with stylish LED lighting. Moving to the upper deck we find...

..more ballast tanks. Apart from that it looks a lot like the inside of an A330/340. That and the walls curving inwards more steeply. Not surprisingly it's a lot like a 747 upper deck only bigger.

Up the front of the uper deck is a rather rough passenger zone, obviously intended just to carry a few people, not as a showcase for the latest in interior technology. It looks a bit like it was nicked from on old A340 and doesn't quite fit properly, but I guess it does the job.

The main stairway looks far more grand than the pokey one on the 747. The bright orange bars in the centre are to assist the crew in moving around the cabin during unusual manoeuvers or attitudes, or to help get to a door if things go horribly wrong. Obscured by my two colleagues are a few steps leading up to the flightdeck.

And that's about it for the inside really. I took a few more exterior shots the next morning when the light was better. The panoramas worked ok, a bit of distortion where the frames join but not too bad. Click on them for larger versions..

As big as it looks on the ground, it's not until it flies over that you realise just how big the thing is. That wing is simply huge. Hopefully we'll get to see another in the not too distant future, next year one should be out here for route proving flights which will entail a longer stay and the possibility of getting to actually fly on one..