Airbus Beluga XL - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: soldar
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 30, 2019, 02:20:50 pm
content: I have a second home about an hour south of Madrid and I often see the Airbus Beluga fly over on their way to Getafe air base. The plane is enormous and magnificent. It is made to carry parts of Airbus arplanes from one place to another.Today they presented the new Beluga XL version which is even bigger. And cuterhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airbus_Beluga_XL

author: Arjunan M R
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: May 30, 2019, 02:55:32 pm
content: wow, that's amazing

author: Arjunan M R
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: May 30, 2019, 02:57:14 pm
content: How does this aircraft fly with only 2 small engines(compared to aircraft)??

author: Arjunan M R
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: May 30, 2019, 03:00:01 pm
content: I have heard about this aircraft before, but i thought it was fake, because of it's unaerodynamic body.

author: wraper
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: May 30, 2019, 03:08:52 pm
content: It's sort of cute but I wouldn't say it's enormous. It's made to carry oversized stuff but total capacity by weight is not extreme. It's based on A330 and total capacity by weight actually is smaller.

author: soldar
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 30, 2019, 03:48:38 pm
content: I see the Beluga very often flying very low over my house as it approaches Getafe air base. It seems they have plenty activity to keep it busy.I have that condition where you forget the names of things just as you need to recall them so I often go "oh, look, there's that huge plane, the... what's the name of that fish that looks like a dolphin, no, not that one..." and the conversation turns to fish.The current/old Beluga .https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airbus_Beluga. can carry 47 tons and the new one 54 tons which is not huge for that size but it is made to carry airplane parts which are bulky but quite light.The Wikipedia page about the old Beluga has some good pictures of loading, etc.The main deck cargo volume of the Beluga is greater than that of the C-5 Galaxy or the Antonov An-124 but still smaller than Antonov An-225

author: NiHaoMike
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 30, 2019, 04:14:07 pm
content: I remember reading about "hybrid" aircraft that use helium for a large portion of the lift in order to save on fuel, was the idea found to be not economical?

author: Kleinstein
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 30, 2019, 04:37:43 pm
content: That hybrid with some lift from helium has the problem that for lift from helium it has to be large and light weight, so it can't go very fast, not much faster than old days zeppelins. Thus wind would be a big issue and the installations on the ground will be big. They build a hangar for such a thing (called 'cargo lifter') in eastern Germany. They now use this for a large indoor pool after the project was canceled.

author: apis
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 30, 2019, 04:43:08 pm
content: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tropical_Islands_Resort

author: tom66
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 30, 2019, 05:32:15 pm
content: I saw the Beluga (XL, I think!) take off from Hawarden Airport when I was down at the CSA test lab there a few weeks ago.Amazing sight. Just caught it as I was parking so had to take a terrible photo.

author: Simon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: May 30, 2019, 06:39:39 pm
content: The wings look disproportionately small but i guess that is why the weight capacity is no large.

author: bloguetronica
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 30, 2019, 06:48:39 pm
content: I don't understand why Airbus didn't opted for the more elegant oval cutaway profile design, like in the jumbo, or just a plain circular one. The profile of the cabin doesn't justify the awkward and, IMHO, ugly design.Kind regards, Samuel Lourenço

author: soldar
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 30, 2019, 08:07:14 pm
content: Quote from: Simon on May 30, 2019, 06:39:39 pmIt is a modified A300. Basically they take an A300 and a can opener and cut the top of the plane off. Then a guy named Tony builds the larger bubble body and fits it in his back yard.If they modified the wings and jet engines they'd have to do an MCAS and that costs money.Yeah, they just needed extra volume for big parts, not extra weight capacity.I just read one flight took three military helicopters from Europe to Australia.

author: ajb
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 30, 2019, 08:35:29 pm
content: Quote from: soldar on May 30, 2019, 03:48:38 pmJust for the sake of comparison, the stated payload capacities in terms of weight and volume:Code:Empty MTOW PayloadBeluga XL: 128t 227t 54t 2209m^3C-5: 172t 418t 130t 963m^3747-8F: 197t 442t 140t 693+151 m^3 (main deck plus belly compartments)AN-124: 175t 405t 150t 1014m^3Obviously the design priorities for these aircraft are all different, so not necessarily apples to apples.

author: mathsquid
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 31, 2019, 01:22:16 am
content: It's reminiscent of the Super Guppy.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aero_Spacelines_Super_Guppy

author: Simon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: May 31, 2019, 06:23:26 am
content: Well the bigger fuselage will have added weight taking capacity away from the original design it was based on.