Before the Christmas of 2006 I decided to visit the Airbus Factories at the Blacnac Airport near Toulouse.

I carried out this decision on 2 May 2007. On my way to Toulouse I had visited the eastern part of France with a visit to and a flight at Altiport Courchevel, as you can read about somewhere else on this website. There are 2500 kilometres to Toulouse, and this also goes for the way home, so with less than 1000 kilometres extra and one week’s vacation it was be possible to get a very good experience.

The showing round at Airbus is performed by an external firm with the appropriate name of Taxiway. Last December I sent an email to Taxiway with a request for a visit in late April or early May. I knew that the period of waiting for visiting the A380 line would be at least 2 months whereas the other lines (A330/340 and Beluga) would be able to manage a visit with shorter notice. I ordered both showing rounds, but only the A380 was attainable in English. The A330/340 and the Beluga were only in French, but instead you got an English translation in writing. However, much is not properly explained in the translation, but you can write to Taxiway in English and they will answer you quickly. Already the next day I had 4 dates to choose from and my choice fell on 2 May.

Through my own personal internet I had booked a hotel a couple of kilometres from there, and I arrived the evening ahead. It rained very much when I arrived at Toulouse, and the previous day it had been much worse. It almost was cloudburst, which I had also seen on tv. However, I went for a little drive to the place where I should be the next day. In this way I knew where it was situated. After a good night’s sleep and some breakfast I drove off in due time to the Airbus Visit station, where my first showing round was at 10.45 A.M. Fortunately I arrived in due time, since I began with queuing for 20 minutes in order to be checked in. Then you should keep ready with orderly legitimation such as your passport to prove that you were the right person. You were not allowed to bring your kamera or mobile phone either. You were equipped with an ID-card that contained a letter. In this way everybody on the showing round had the same letter, and this was controlled at the entrance of the factories through a guard coming into the bus and checking each one individually.

The showing round began with a video of app. 20 minutes from the test fligths of the A380, where we for example saw the very first take off seen from inside the cockpit. At first take off the aircraft weighed 417 tons, of which 21 tons was testing equipment. The testing aircraft are eqipped with telemetry in such a way that the information about the aircraft are sent down to Earth. This includes video signals from plenty of cameras that supervised the whole aircraft internally and externally. The telemetry signals were received by several earth stations. In this way the whole area from southern England to Italy was covered with the results that there would be no losses in the signals. Signals from 4 aircraft at a time can be received. For example, we saw videos from stall tests, that went on at only 8000 feet. The aircraft did shake a lot during these tests. Hundreds of stall tests should be made in very different configurations. At the stalls that we saw it stalled at app. 140 knots, as far as I could see since there was much to look after. At the same time the guide told us many things in excellent English by the way, that I afterwards find very difficult to remember. This was also the reason why I stayed in my car after the showing round for a couple of hours up to the next showing round to write everything down that I could remember. If I get to visit the area some other time I will surely bring a writing pad or perhaps even a dictaphone, if this is allowed.

Of course I can remember some numbers of the showing round. For example, the fuel tanks of the aircraft contain 310000 litres which should be enough for a flying time of 14 – 15 hours. The fuel consumption is the up to now lowest at 2.9 litres per 100 kilometres per seat in a standard version, that has 555 seats where the norm of today in an economical aircraft should be at app. 3.5 (according to Airbus). The wings are attached with 3000 pieces of titanium bolts on every side. The fuselage sections are collected with app. 19000 rivets every time two sections were going to be attached. A visitor asked for the price of such an aircraft, but it was impossible to say unequivocally, since all aircraft was tailored especially for each customer, and some customers bought more aircraft than others did. This is also decisive of the price. But it was said that the starting point was app. 290 million $. The engines here amount to one third of the price, so we are speaking of very expensive engines.

The Emirates had at the showing round time ordered maps of 43 pieces. After my return home I heard that they had ordered an extra map, and I believe that they have ordered 6 extra ones so now they are up to a total of 50 maps. Besides, the company has ordered some extra ones that are going to be equpped with extra luxury, where each one has his own room with a personal toilet. I guess that a simple artisan such as myself should not buy a ticket there.

At first the whole idea is that 4 aircraft each month must be produced. Later on, you will reach a number of 8 aircraft each month. The Singapore Airlines is going to get the first delivered specimen, and this will be at October. This aircraft was standing in the test hall. The first ones for the Qantas and the Emirates were also standing there. It was quite evident to understand who was going to get the individual aircraft, since the tail fin will be painted before it is attached to the aircraft. On the day of my visit to Airbus aircraft number 20 was being collected in the collecting hall. Who will have this one I do not know, but it must have been said.

A total of 2600 test hours on the six aircraft have been flown. Airbus will keep one of them: 1F-WWOW. The others have been sold. I do not rember for what purpose.

If you have the time and the wish for something like this, I can really recommed you a visit to the Airbus Factories in Toulouse. You must reckon with app. 4000 kilometres to drive in your car, but you can also make a holiday trip out of it as I always do since there is much to discover in France.

Poul-Jørgen

The entrance of the visit department at Airbus. This should allegedly be a part of the fuselage for a A380, but in my eyes it was more an attempt to copy it. The circle around the entrance door is said to have the same size as the intake of the engines.

Here you see the production site of the A380. The measures are 500 x 250 metres plus 46 metres in the height. When you visit the site you only see a part of it. During the showing round you see the three arches at the left inside where 3 A380 aircraft are standing side by side. The arch at the far right is the collecting hall that you do not get to see. The hall, where the three aircraft are standing, is the one where the aircraft are tested. All of this takes three weeks, including the part of the testing that is performed outdoors. The collecting only takes one week, so in this way the composition of the halls is the way it should be. The complex behind equals this. In this way only 8 aircraft are being constructed at the same time.

These tanks only contain water and is part of the fire preparedness. In this way you are sure to have enough water to put out a potential fire.

Even though three pretty large aircraft are standing next to one another, the hall does not seem very large, und you actually get a bit disappointed when you get in there for the first time. When you think further about it and know that the hall is 24 metres tall, then if you calculate these numbers you must be at the 6^thor perhaps the 7^th floor. There are 46 metres up to the upper edge roof. The aircraft have a span of app. 80 metres. There is some working gap between the aircraft, so there is actually a long way to the other end.

This photo has been scanned from a postcard that I bought at the Airbus shop.

This photo has been taken in the collecting hall, and I cannot tell you further about it since we did not visit it.

This photo has also been scanned from a postcard that I bought at the Airbus shop.

This photo has also been scanned from a postcard, and you see the production halls in the background. Just above the big banner in the top right side of the photo there is a view platform that you will get at during the showing round. It is situated at the same level when you look into the production halls. The dark stripe is the window part with doors, from where you go in to the balcony.

This photo and the next two photos have all been scanned from postcards. Unfortunately, you were not allowed to photograph in the area, but of course this was also very expected. We drove for a very long time in busses, especially at the later showing round of the A330 and A340 and the Beluga production. On these bus rides we saw two A380 aircraft that took off two times. We saw this very closely, but because of the photo ban nobody had any camera so we could not photograph any of it. However, some other time I will set aside at least one extra day for photographing, since there were some public areas where you could stand and photograph, but this was also very close to the runway. Unfortunately, I had to drive homewards already next morning. I had 2300 kilometres ahead of me, and I had determined to visit Ferté- Allais on my home journey.But the museum there was closed so I drove on without any success.

	If nothing else is mentioned photos have been taken by Poul-Jørgen Christensen.