The Making Of The $10 Billion Airbus A380 | The Giant Of The SkyAirbus | Spark

The Airbus A380 is more advanced than any airliner that has flown before and can fly non-stop a third of the way around the world. This series follows the story of the construction of the world's biggest and heaviest airliner, told through the people who made it happen.
---
Subscribe to Spark for more amazing science, tech & engineering videos: goo.gl/LIrlur 🚀
Join the Spark Channel Membership to get access to perks:
/ @sparkdocs
Find us on:
Facebook: / sparkdocs
Instagram: / spark_channel
Any queries, please contact us at: [e-mail]
#Spark #Airbus #A380 #behindthescenes

[@mickeyfilmer5551]

I was an HGV driver for Castle Cement during the construction of the Factory in Broughton, North wales, that made the wings for the A380, Daily for several weeks I would bring Cement powder and blow it into the silos on site so that they could make concrete on a continuos basis, and even now the Beluga flies right over the top of my house on it's way to land at Broughton to collect more wings for Airbus. It is a good feeling to know I was just a small cog in this massive gearbox that made the biggest airliner of all time.

[@melchurmoreau5677]

That's brilliant stuff,

[@KOTalk]

Amazing!

[@vajidalishah3595]

Congratulations on being a part of it 🎉

[@kevinfairclough4619]

I grew up very near the Broughton facility, my brother did his first work experience placement there. It’s great how the Airbus company utilises different countries and facilities to manufacture their planes. I think it’s one of the reasons they have been resilient. Also, seeing the “beluga” flying in and out of Hawarden when at school was something I always noticed but took for granted, but now wish I still lived there to see it.

[@azzamfs]

The stress for these people was crazy! Congratulations to the team for making this historic plane! 🎉

[@blameyourself4489]

Thank you!

[@stunter2875]

Amazing to get a glimpse of what it takes to bring a plane like this to life. Everyone that had a hand in it no matter how small should definitely be proud

[@daltoid9150]

The passion airplanes engineers and everyone that work in the aircraft sector is incredible. This documentary really shows how much they care and how safe planes are. I will fly on a plane on july and August and this really helps me overcome my fear of flying.

[@wuciwucci4374]

I would love to see the double-decker Airbus A380 and its newer future variants continuing in the aviation world for at least another 30 years. Such a breathtaking piece of engineering, human ingenuity, and bold endeavour to be marvelled at!

[@mx338]

The amount of coordination and nerves to finalise such a huge project without big issues, already makes me feel so much secondhand stress.

[@jacksonm.6549]

I wish there was a part 2 to this documentary. To think this plane failed not because of engineering problems, but due to finances. Not everybody was able to make a profit out of flying them. Emirates did a great job of acquiring them (my first time on an A380 was EK). My favourite plane to fly as a passenger and given the option I always choose the king of the sky. Back then I was more interested in the advancement of cellphone technology, and completely missed all of this. Thank you for the throwback and behind the scenes stuff.

[@danielmarcusaurelius3835]

In comparison to the ''Queen of the skies'' the Boeing 747...sad to see the Airbus A380 wont outlive its contemporary to to the ever increasing point to point airport model. Together with the 747,the A380 will remain as one of the greatest engineering marvels of the century.

[@kirilmihaylov1934]

True

[@agems56]

I was 9 years old when Boing was building and designing the 747 with slide rules and survey markers! This plane has the help of decades of learning , experience and lasers! Much like how Sir Edmund Hillary climbing Mount Everest was way more of an achievement than today's climbers with more modern technical assistance and equipment 1967 was a hell of a long time ago!

[@roshjam4984]

Emirates flight from London to Dubai on an A380. Six hours went by in a jiffy and I was not tired at all. My best flying experience, EVER!

[@nethumwijerathna6652]

Me too

[@nethumwijerathna6652]

Me too

[@DevashishRamdath]

An aviation masterpiece!

[@rgalonso3]

The A380 is making a come back and the resumption of production would be great even on a limited scale.

[@grownmantravels]

I flew on the A380 from LHR TO DBX last year, en route to Nepal…..it’s a superb flight with equally superb in flight entertainment and service. I’ll be on it again in May travelling to Japan. Well done to all those involved in building this engineering marvel ✈️👍

[@pmarmify]

I travelled on the A380 4 times & it is a super plane! Hope they bring it back

[@Dan_the_Great_]

Yeah right

[@jacksonm.6549]

Emirates will continue flying it for years to come

[@nirbhay_raghav]

Airbus is top quality❤

[@simonac688.]

This Sir was a excelent reportage Thank you 👍👍

[@adriantschanz]

Very impressive Doc...I like the collaboration vibe of european contributors. One thing I cant get out of my head...the Quantas People where visiting..and wasnt it exactly on Flight QF 32 where the blade of the Rolls Royce Trent engine wasnt stopped by the casiing like shown in the experiment?? (It ripped a couple wholes in the wing! I must say too, it was the smoothest ride I ever had on a plane when I took the A380 from Zürich all the way to Sydney Australia....and I'm glad its coming back to service more again!

[@oldschoolguy80s]

Another Great video! 👍

[@d.b.cooper1]

Amazing plane & great to fly on. By far the quietest & smooth long haul flights I've ever been on. Good to see them going strong post covid, Emirates need to scrap their silly old 'we don't fly planes older than 12/14 years' rule & keep these long as it's viable. With growing travel demand & limited airport slots these are perfect re capacity

[@julesschollum5641]

Emirates is pushing Airbus hard for an A380neo and all reports suggest negotiations are ongoing, would be great to see production started back up

[@d.b.cooper1]

@@julesschollum5641 Personally can't see it, Airbus seems more focussed on the a350s as long haul & the a320/21 neo's is where all the resources are flowing with huge backlog. The A380 project whilst it did ok was never truly profitable overall it seems. It would be shame however & push up airfares in the 2030s onwards if there's no replacement, too much demand, little supply

[@Bsssssssssssss]

Wonderful history

[@amilaherath4517]

Amazing engineering ❤

[@lil.dark.one.]

The explosion at 5:17 caught me off guard so bad 😂😂😂

[@jobangharekhan2601]

I love the A380. It is really comfortable ❤❤❤

[@65gtotrips]

What’s interesting is that as of 2023, after the pandemic, and less than 20 years after its introduction, the A380 is not being reinstated by many airlines; In lieu of other aircraft platforms which are easier to integrate into airports/aerodromes.

[@KendjiDimitri]

Not so many airlines have it, but it is not correct is not getting reinstated, Lufthansa, Qantas and BA is flying them back from the "aircraft graveyards"

[@Bijon-Roy]

Plus it made 251 sales as of 2023, Meeting the original target!

[@martijn9568]

Jup. There is a market for the A380, but it isn't unlimited.

[@michaelciccone2194]

The executive guy with a wrench doing actual work !

[@biguncle554]

That was just a photo op, he looked like he was in the way most of the time 😂

[@glorynjeri421]

Beautiful beautiful

[@MorfoAtari]

Looks like Fernando Alonso has a second job...

[@deliciousfoodranger]

Good journey and good job…wow,, nice plane

[@Thatkid1988]

What a monster plane! The type first flew on 27 April 2005 and as of December 2021, 254 aircraft have been manufactured. However, due to poor sales, Airbus announced the retirement of the A380-800 in 2021.

[@autismdadphotography6882]

I wonder if we'll see the rest of the documentary? There's another 4 parts to this.

[@twinchantillytiffanysbenny8852]

It’s too bad the A380 didn’t come out sooner. That way it can enjoy the success the Boeing 747 enjoyed for over 50 years! The Boeing 747-8 is, and will always be my favorite airplane. The “Queen of the skies” is an amazing aircraft with its diversity as a passenger plane and a cargo plane. I would love to fly on the A380 before they disappear. It’s too bad they couldn’t make a cargo a380. Long live the A380 AND the Boeing 747!!🥂

[@michealbeers777]

Boeing told Airbus that this project was going to be a joke.....Airbus just laughed it off. Who's laughing now?

[@AdityaKumar-lt5vu]

So, those were the scenes of stress and milestones achieved in the making of the revolution in the Aviation industry, the Airbus A380! ✈️

[@ghaziabbas472]

Super ✈️✈️✈️✈️

[@louiem5654]

What is the SkyAirbus? In the aviation world, it’s just known as the A380

[@rossnolan2883]

Super 😊😊😊😊

[@karloimmanoel]

Nice❤

[@coldcoffee6951]

where do i find the documentary's

[@JimmyKartounii]

nice seats

[@adriancojocaru7446]

Mind boggling what humans can achieve.

[@terryp.luvsjenifer.winklem1314]

Wow

[@ajmedeiros77]

Best plane ever built hands down. Yes the 747 was the best and will always be the queen of the sky, especially how long it has been in service

[@NikanDragosysSerpenDra]

yes but the A380 is the sexier king of the Sky

[@antoniokastrocarlisledemel6617]

Besides being a Pilot the thing I'd want to be most in the airline industry is the mechanics and people that build these amazing Marvel's of machines...I love the A380 but I don't think anything will ever take the place of the 747 for me and usually I go for the more underground unknown of whatever I like in a certain area of media,books,actors, etc but when it comes to planes the 747 is still the Mother for me and if I ever make it to Pilot it's almost certainly going to be my apex..the goal I'm shooting for almost like the Enterprise in Star Trek but the A380 is most definitely in my top 10 ..ive never been on one but much like the 747(which I have been on) it's hard to believe so many people can fit on it ..even after riding on the 747 it's still a little hard but the A380 looks smaller than the 747 and can carry over 800?..it's crazy and aviation is something that will never ever cease to amaze me even though I'm 37 and doesn't know a world without planes so I think if someone from ancient times was brought to the present they'd probably freak out and think it's witchcraft or magic which also makes me think of the First Contact episode of TNG where Picard tells the alien lady basically "any technology advanced enough will seem like magic" and I gotta say Aviation remains magic for me and also it's sad to see now that their gamble didn't pay off but it's not not so surprising as by 2004 the jumbo jet was already 35 years old and passenger counts on flights haven't been increasing as much as you'd expect with a population of billions more compared to the 60s and by 2004 that was pretty clear and I'd argue if 1994 was as low as 2004 they probably would've never begun the project in the first place...it's sad to see such an amazing piece of technology fail to reach its potential

[@KABIR505]

Nyc😮😮😮

[@PS-Straya_M8]

QF32 enters the chat! ..

[@nikolaospeterson2495]

I shall be flzing in the upper deck of BA (Speedbird) in five weeks time from SFO to HRL!

[@jon14tv]

This is my favorite airplane, hope one day I can fly with it :)

[@user-pt9dl1rk9s]

Pandemic experience airlines don 't seem to need her. More than a beluga, nice replacement for Antonov 225.

[@frankservant5754]

Why they decided to manufacture such a giant aircraft in 3 countries is beyond me obviously drove up the costs. Had they installed a large cargo door like the C17 they could have saved the A380 project. Nevertheless another huge marvel way ahead of its time

[@mikeymike1001]

In the first 30 seconds a guy say "this aircraft cannot be a failure" ? But it was!! Airbus failed dramatically! Blame marketing!

[@u-know-this]

I feel for that tail fin engineer. I would just say F that no tail Camera!

[@balamohammedsaidu7734]

PLEASANT PLANET PIECE 🇫🇷🌹💕

[@louisdebruyn4395]

Between A380 and 747 the most beutiful planes for me just a question is the engine destruction test not supposed to be done long before fitted to a plane to be tested to do necessary changes if needed

[@pnutbtur17]

3:33 This didnt age so well...

[@JakeSoulFreeTravels]

This video is 18 years old.

[@johniii8147]

Yep. It's considered a big failure by Airbus now in the reading the market.

[@kirilmihaylov1934]

​@@johniii8147 not more than Boeing 737MAX debacle

[@johniii8147]

@@kirilmihaylov1934 Not the same thing. While it was indeed a debacle, their aircraft is selling very well again. Can't even keep up with the demand for it again.

[@kirilmihaylov1934]

@@johniii8147 it is selling because there is no alternative . Still Boeing has huge problems last few years

[@biguncle554]

Boeing rules and Airbus drools 😂

[@josephjasem7926]

If it weren’t for Dubai, this plane ✈️ wouldn’t have flown.

[@lil.dark.one.]

Middle eastern people and their planes lol. 😂

[@emiellius]

I see where you are coming from but I believe you are wrong. There are many different airlines who bought it and Emirates wasnt even the launch customer

[@albertchehade9916]

what an elephant of an aircraft....

[@BigDukeX]

The Airbus A380 never was the “Flagship of the 21 Century... nor a disaster”. Unfortunately, this airframe, simply was unsuitable for its timeframe. Aircraft manufacturers, air carriers and airports worldwide learned quite a lot from this endeavor.

[@gledatelj1979]

what did they learn?

[@biguncle554]

@@gledatelj1979it was to big for most airports so not many were ordered/built so in the end airbus lost a lot of money on the a380 project.

[@gledatelj1979]

@@biguncle554 A380 flew to over 80 airports and airports are not ordering aircraft.

[@SentimentalMo]

$6b only? I expected much more, like 3x more. 6b is a bargain just for learning only as they used what is done one this to the A350. So this thing is a great success. In some soonish future, maybe Airbus should make an even bigger one that can fit in A380 landing slot.

[@blissy1]

I live in the flight path of CHC airport New Zealand north of Christchurch out of all the aircraft that fly over my place Emirates EK 412 from SYD/CHC with their 4 RR Trent 900 engines is the biggest and quietest aircraft of the them all

[@cocNaluk-qr4sg]

Wow Boeing 747-800🇺🇸🇪🇺🇨🇳🇷🇺🇫🇷

[@davidplowie4670]

Narrated by Andrew Lincoln..... As in Rick Grimes!?!

[@karloimmanoel]

❤❤❤

[@umanovalugama1974]

What if covid 19 emergency never happened... 😪

[@tanthiennguyen9308]

Ich bin nicht der Egoistischen Gründen Geschmeckthaft ...................................! Perfekte Plannung für Gemütliche Frühstück haben.....

[@SliceofLife7777]

Amazing. Time to finally make another "Airport" movie? 😜 jk. Beautiful.

[@tmcb_]

Airbus misread the needs of a changing industry. Production ended with the last A380 in September, 2020. While many of the 237+ A380's produced will remain in service for years to come. Its impact on the airline industry will be minor in comparison to many other more famous models.

[@JimmyKartounii]

work fast means mess ups

[@GrrMeister]

39:20 *Rolls Royce A380 Trent Engine a Gallon (UK) 4.54 Litres every FOR SECONDS = why I sold my RR Silver Shadow in '84 when UK Prices got over £1 a Gallon (22p a Litre) !*

[@tanthiennguyen9308]

Vielen Dank allen Mitarbeitern an Kompetenz Arbeitsplätzen Jugends Weltweiten Digitalen haben bitteschön

[@user-bw2ts4fz9x]

Good evening everyone, French Facebook page.

[@mehtaNutrition]

Is there any engineering reason for having these strict deadlines for delivery along with the penalties if they miss it? Or is it all business? If I were in charge of ordering these planes for my airline, I'd go easy on those timelines to ensure I get a quality plane with minimal potential for oversights. No?

[@kinggill3982]

I had a bid for the Airbus 380. I guess my questionable staff and Paper Airplane ✈️ presentation wasn't going to suffice

[@snickerinmuttley1204]

a yuck yuck yuck yuck..😆

[@EnglishLawyer]

Well @43:40 they got that wrong didn't they when you consider Qantas 32

[@MrSchwabentier]

no, QF32 was a failure of the intermediate pressure turbine disc. This one simulated here is a failure of a fan-blade.

[@phillipstrait9387]

Mrs Burton drives a 5 speed BMW atta girl

[@itsdee594]

Humans are incredible.

[@balamohammedsaidu7734]

PLEASANT PLANET PROPERTY 🍍🌍🌎🌏🇫🇷💛

[@SomeRandom6uy]

the cost almost equals to JWST ? cmiiw.

[@NikanDragosysSerpenDra]

fan blade. What about QF32's Turbine and Rolls Royce manufacture error of the oil stub pipe causing an uncontainainted engine failure... im not afaid of the fan blades,, those turbines though.

[@biguncle554]

This was filmed way before both those accidents!

[@ipattison]

3:31 well yes it turned out to be 'so-so' not a failure but not a success.

[@NikanDragosysSerpenDra]

Rolls Royce, Check your stub pipes before certifieing an engine

[@helmuthj.zotter7272]

All the parts of the aircraft fit from all the involved countries. Except ...............SPAIN. Wonder why.....hmmmmmm LOL

[@Rotebuehl1]

Cannot be a failure? Aren't airlines getting rid of it?

[@VisalKrish]

Fernando Alonso is a pilot now?

[@carlgarcia0716]

they can sell it to the multi billionnaire to be their private jet

[@ParissaKhoury]

This documentary overexaggerates everything. If an Airport can handle the Antonov cargo planes then the A380 is a piece of cake

[@Bestruction]

Cool plane. Wrong plane for the time

[@antoniowood8119]

8:35 and Air France already retired them 😑

[@brandonelam4284]

really?

[@InservioLetum]

28:54 "state of the art" CRT monitor from the previous century

[@tanthiennguyen9308]

Wollen Sie Airport auf dem Boden Fläche bauen.......................?

[@nolanohana]

251 ever built, limited success for sure.

[@Dan_the_Great_]

Flagship 21 century didn’t age well

[@drivebuss8079]

but the tail is broken! @ 48:30

[@ethanellis1881]

Just to correct you that was part of the rudder so it is not broken

[@ARQtoBR]

Absolutly scary !!! GOD BLESS ÁUSTRALIA!!!🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺❤❤❤

[@auser5275]

The Spanish have never been known for good engineering. especially precision works. So, they built the tail end 6 mm off spec was normal to them, but apparent was not for Air Bus. It was a bad idea to involve the Spanish in the first place!

[@Vedurin]

Designing and building a plane for billions of dollars and then not even have it fly at least one time (and if i didn't misunderstand - not even switching on the systems on board even one time) before presenting it to potential customers just sounds to me like a bunch of people being overly dramatic. Because if you don't even think to do these things before saying your design and build are done is utterly naive to me. In other words: yes, the people were under stress, but self made / unnessecary stress.

[@stargazeronesixseven]

While Boeing have their Queen of the Sky >>> The B747 ... Airbus Industries have their A380 as their Queen! 🙏 Happy many Airliners are still using their A380 for their popular long haul routes in 2023 & beyond! Thank You So Much for All those who've made this possible! 🌷🌿🌍💜🕊

[@NickyMitchell85]

It was such a shame that the Airbus A380 was a flop.

[@hanssolos3699]

quite impressive with zero crash in its history 💋 but its also the biggest aviation scam where major airports were forced to upgrade its passengers' aerobridges only to be told a decade later that A380 no longer needed 😂😂😂

[@EdOeuna]

And it still struggles to make money.

[@aeromtb2468]

did they ever make money let alone break even?