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At least Airbus seems to be competent in building safe aircraft. I would not be surprised though if Boeing's sales drop if the US government brings in tariffs

At least Airbus seems to be competent in building safe aircraft. I would not be surprised though if Boeing's sales drop if the US government brings in tariffs or etc to try and force companies to buy their flying coffins.

asylteltine 3y ago
The A380 is the best plane ever made in the entirety of human history. It’s a damn shame it’s not used more. I’m hoping new fuel efficient engines make it viable again because there simply is NOTHING like first class on an A380.
- thecosmicfrog 3y ago
  It's interesting how so many people sounded the death knell on the A380 during the COVID-19 pandemic. Production of new A380s even ceased around this time. Now it seems demand for that size of aircraft is only increasing (at least for specific hub and spoke models).
  - icegreentea2 3y ago
    A380s were scheduled to end production in 2021 even before COVID. Airbus may have mistimed the A380 versus industry trends - though this is certainly up to debate and is still up in the air. The first A380 deliveries were back in 2007, so the also had to eat the impact of the 09 financial crisis.
- rootusrootus 3y ago
  What makes it the best? I've flown on it, and it seems nice enough, though it isn't the most comfortable airliner I've flown on. It's certainly the biggest! But there are only what, 250 or so that were put into service? It's hard to have a strong opinion about a plane in such a small niche.
  - CaptainZapp 3y ago
    If the engineering of this plane wouldn't have been that great disaster would have loomed.[0] No question about that. [0] https://admiralcloudberg.medium.com/a-matter-of-millimeters-the-story-of-qantas-flight-32-bdaa62dc98e7 https://admiralcloudberg.medium.com/a-matter-of-millimeters-...
    - brohee 3y ago
      That was an excellent read. Thanks for that.
  - algesten 3y ago
    For me the A380 is the most comfortable. I'm slightly scared of flying, and turbulence making the entire plane jump around makes it that much worse. I'm only speculating, but I think it might be the sheer bulk of the A380 making it the smoothest rides I've ever been on.
    - VBprogrammer 3y ago
      Flying the A380 doesn't even feel like flying. Even the takeoff roll is sedate.
    - danpalmer 3y ago
      Agreed, I fly long haul a lot and the A380 is the best. A350 is pretty good. 787 is fine, and 777 is crap.
  - asylteltine 3y ago
    It’s resistant to turbulence. It has the nicest cabins for business class and up. It has many entrances which is nice because then economy doesn’t need to walk past you in contempt. It also has more safety features than I can list which makes it very hard to crash even intentionally.
- cm2187 3y ago
  It will inevitably come back in some form in the long term as air traffic keeps increasing. It's much harder to build a new runway and a new terminal in busy airports (ask Heathrow) than to add a floor to a plane.
makestuff 3y ago
Turns out when you care about R&D and not just profits you can build safe/reliable aircraft. With how thin the airline industry is right now post covid though we knew stuff was going to start happening. FAA is short staffed, airline maintenance had a ton of people retire during covid, etc. Here is to hoping things will change before more people lose their lives.
mrandish 3y ago
> At least Airbus seems to be competent in building safe aircraft. Prior to new models released in the last ~10yrs-ish, Boeing made the safest planes in the sky (as measured by passenger miles). Many of those planes are still flying and still doing great. For me the interesting question is what changed in Boeing's design, testing and/or manufacturing processes which is apparently resulting in worse safety performance.
- sp332 3y ago
  Some corporate history https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21304277 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21304277
- intunderflow 3y ago
  I've heard that when they merged with McDonnell Douglas their new (McDonnell) management pushed out the good engineering culture and dropped their quality standards in a chase for more profit, leading to engineering experiencing the dead sea effect.
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
  - jdksmdbtbdnmsm 3y ago
    in other words: capitalism, the system we've designed our whole society around
    - crisdux 3y ago
      No, this isn't a well-functioning capitalist system. Competition is a core principle of capitalism. What occurred in the aerospace industry represents a government-sanctioned monopoly.
      - windowsrookie 3y ago
        In the last 20 years nearly every industry has seen major consolidation between just a few large companies. Is any part of the capitalist system "well functioning" anymore?
callamdelaney 3y ago
The control stick on the airbus is pretty bad, the fact that neither pilot knows what inputs the other is giving makes them far inferior to the system in boeing aircraft, even with warnings.

asylteltine 3y ago

The A380 is the best plane ever made in the entirety of human history. It’s a damn shame it’s not used more. I’m hoping new fuel efficient engines make it viable again because there simply is NOTHING like first class on an A380.

thecosmicfrog 3y ago
It's interesting how so many people sounded the death knell on the A380 during the COVID-19 pandemic. Production of new A380s even ceased around this time. Now it seems demand for that size of aircraft is only increasing (at least for specific hub and spoke models).
- icegreentea2 3y ago
  A380s were scheduled to end production in 2021 even before COVID. Airbus may have mistimed the A380 versus industry trends - though this is certainly up to debate and is still up in the air. The first A380 deliveries were back in 2007, so the also had to eat the impact of the 09 financial crisis.
rootusrootus 3y ago
What makes it the best? I've flown on it, and it seems nice enough, though it isn't the most comfortable airliner I've flown on. It's certainly the biggest! But there are only what, 250 or so that were put into service? It's hard to have a strong opinion about a plane in such a small niche.
- CaptainZapp 3y ago
  If the engineering of this plane wouldn't have been that great disaster would have loomed.[0] No question about that. [0] https://admiralcloudberg.medium.com/a-matter-of-millimeters-the-story-of-qantas-flight-32-bdaa62dc98e7 https://admiralcloudberg.medium.com/a-matter-of-millimeters-...
  - brohee 3y ago
    That was an excellent read. Thanks for that.
- algesten 3y ago
  For me the A380 is the most comfortable. I'm slightly scared of flying, and turbulence making the entire plane jump around makes it that much worse. I'm only speculating, but I think it might be the sheer bulk of the A380 making it the smoothest rides I've ever been on.
  - VBprogrammer 3y ago
    Flying the A380 doesn't even feel like flying. Even the takeoff roll is sedate.
  - danpalmer 3y ago
    Agreed, I fly long haul a lot and the A380 is the best. A350 is pretty good. 787 is fine, and 777 is crap.
- asylteltine 3y ago
  It’s resistant to turbulence. It has the nicest cabins for business class and up. It has many entrances which is nice because then economy doesn’t need to walk past you in contempt. It also has more safety features than I can list which makes it very hard to crash even intentionally.
cm2187 3y ago
It will inevitably come back in some form in the long term as air traffic keeps increasing. It's much harder to build a new runway and a new terminal in busy airports (ask Heathrow) than to add a floor to a plane.

makestuff 3y ago

Turns out when you care about R&D and not just profits you can build safe/reliable aircraft. With how thin the airline industry is right now post covid though we knew stuff was going to start happening. FAA is short staffed, airline maintenance had a ton of people retire during covid, etc. Here is to hoping things will change before more people lose their lives.

mrandish 3y ago

> At least Airbus seems to be competent in building safe aircraft. Prior to new models released in the last ~10yrs-ish, Boeing made the safest planes in the sky (as measured by passenger miles). Many of those planes are still flying and still doing great. For me the interesting question is what changed in Boeing's design, testing and/or manufacturing processes which is apparently resulting in worse safety performance.

sp332 3y ago
Some corporate history https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21304277 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21304277
intunderflow 3y ago
I've heard that when they merged with McDonnell Douglas their new (McDonnell) management pushed out the good engineering culture and dropped their quality standards in a chase for more profit, leading to engineering experiencing the dead sea effect.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- jdksmdbtbdnmsm 3y ago
  in other words: capitalism, the system we've designed our whole society around
  - crisdux 3y ago
    No, this isn't a well-functioning capitalist system. Competition is a core principle of capitalism. What occurred in the aerospace industry represents a government-sanctioned monopoly.
    - windowsrookie 3y ago
      In the last 20 years nearly every industry has seen major consolidation between just a few large companies. Is any part of the capitalist system "well functioning" anymore?

callamdelaney 3y ago

The control stick on the airbus is pretty bad, the fact that neither pilot knows what inputs the other is giving makes them far inferior to the system in boeing aircraft, even with warnings.