Airbus Beluga | Hacker News Reader

Airbus Beluga

en.wikipedia.org

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Greetings weary web traveler. Before you leave this comments section you must behold the majesty of the ‘Beluga Livery’ displayed on the Beluga XL:

https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%22Beluga_XL%22_A3...

It's amazing how small other planes look like when being loaded inside:

https://simpleflying.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/1280px-F...

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8c/Airbus_b...

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6f/F-GSTD_B...

A plane that can transport other planes. I call that - plane inception. A plane within a plane.

What if the plane inside also had a small plane? It would be a plane inside a plane inside a plane.

It's planes all the way down!

Yo dawg, I heard you like planes.

Well, now at least we know what it eats.

I wonder if pilots needs a complete retrain to handle this kind of beast.

I saw this plane once in person, no picture will ever do it justice. That something that size can fly at all without being a dirigible is absolutely amazing.

Saw it both in flight and on the ground in Toulouse and it was oddly majestic.

That's the right term.

The A380 on final has that quality too.

I too saw one in Toulouse, very good way to describe it.

Yep! I saw it overhead, and the Beluga smile/eye is just wonderful; it was on it's way to Chester, UK (BAE???) from Hamburg.

This must be because you haven't seen the AN-225!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonov_An-225_Mriya

I occasionally visits NL, but I've always missed it. I would be happy to drive out for that.

Too late to edit, I->It

If I'm not mistaken I saw that beast at Boeing Field in Seattle a couple of times during the 90s or early 'Oughts.

At least that thing looks proportional

I saw it a couple of times from the mountains near Toulouse, and this was my impression as well. It is fascinating to watch; it does not look like it should be able to fly, with its oversized belly and (relatively) tiny wings. It really looks more like a zeppelin than an aircraft.

Also, and this is probably an optical illusion, it appears to move so slow.

Yes, I noticed that as well. I assume that this was because it was so big and I was seeing it from quite a long way away (it was in the mountains, and the atmosphere was very clear). Though I have no idea how fast it actually is.

Still, it made the whole thing surreal.

Living near Hamburg, Germany and working in the city (pre Covid) I saw it quite often when it approached for landing at the Airbus facility.

Compared to all other air traffic going to the regular airport it definitely looks quite interesting, when in flight. I actually enjoy seeing it as something of engineering ingenuity.

When my SO and me bought our house the seller was working at Airbus and told me that he found it pleasant to fly in as a passenger when he needed to visit the French facility for work.

I saw it one afternoon coming in to land at Hamburg, and I initially thought I'd had one too many Astra beers. It's definitely unique looking, but the roll rate and noise don't appear too unusual.

If anything it moves very stately simply because of it's geometry. It's not exactly a sports plane or a fighter. But it flies and quite reliably so.

> he found it pleasant to fly in as a passenger when he needed to visit the French facility for work

He must have worked there a long time, Airbus haven’t done that for decades.

I am not absolutely sure if he flew to the French site with the Beluga or if this were different situations I mixed up. He told both. Him flying to France and him finding the Beluga experience pleasant.

So maybe it was me mixing things up.

Boeing has a similar aircraft as well: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_Dreamlifter

Not quite as bulbous, though.

And then of course there's the Super Guppy, which I'm pretty sure is how the Cylons came down to earth undetected...

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aero_Spacelines_Super_Guppy

This boeing is chonk!

Does anyone know what kind of payloads this plane is used for? Something relatively light but requiring a large volume?

As there are only 5 of those built, there doesn’t seem to be a big demand for these, and the payload capacity is the same as the standard body version.

The linked article goes into quite a bit of detail on why these planes were developed and what they’re used for.

article said

Aircraft parts such as wings etc. Airbus facilites are split across several countries, so it's simpler to move oversize parts like this.

The payload capacity is more based on volume/dimensions and not strictly weight.

There are also now 6 Beluga XLs with approx 30% larger cargo hold than original Beluga.

I'm curious if Airbus ever lease them out to others for transporting big things other than wings.

You might consider reading the linked article, or the one for the Beluga XL, which would answer your question.

Thanks so much for the tip. I looked at it but it's all folded on the mobile view and I totally missed it. However, the beluga xl article holds no information regarding this that I can see.

Other than other vehicles and containers, this is pretty cool:

> In 1999, a Beluga carried a large painting, Liberty Leading the People by Eugène Delacroix,[20] which had hung in the Louvre in Paris since 1874

> I'm curious if Airbus ever lease them out to others for transporting big things other than wings.

There are multiple airlines specialising in that business, like Antonov Airlines, who use huge An-225(largest plane in the world by most metrics) and An-124(second or third largest by most metrics) for outsized cargo.

The Wikipedia article has a likely error. Airbus constructed SuperGuppies under license. The final operating aircraft is one made by Airbus.

https://flightaware.com/resources/registration/N941NA

Yup. For a long time there was a saying that every Airbus made was transported by a Boeing.

Planes are weird. Sometimes I look at like 747 or a monster like the beluga, and think - how the fuck does something that big and heavy even move on the ground, and then fly across the ocean?

A plane transporting another plane inside is almost too much process.

lift

Do you even lift, bro? :P

I live near the Airbus factory in Broughton, Wales (near Chester) and you used to see the previous generation Beluga flying over once or twice a day as they picked up new wings.

I still occasionally get to see the new XL variant coming in to land and they are absolutely gigantic, especially as they pass by roughly a mile or so from my house.

Such a weird and wonderful sight, I get excited every single time.

The 100K lb capacity is interesting. An 18 wheeler truck has 80K lb capacity, I would have thought it could carry multiple full capacity containers.

That you can fit something inside a plane doesn't mean the plane will be able to lift off the ground.

Beluga is meant to carry oversize cargo, but not overweight cargo -- it's based on an Airbus A300 with a roughly 100k lb cargo capacity, but with a huge fuselage. Same wings, and worse aerodynamics.

Right, a fuselage and other things the plane is likely to be carrying are big, but also hollow (they are meant to fly in the end)

Yes, but even an 18 wheeler truck could not load a container full of steel.

Max weight and max size are upper limits, reach one and the other no longer matters.

Its primary use is to transport airplane components between Airbus facilities, as Airbus has manufacturing facilities producing various components (wings, fuselages, etc.) across multiple countries. These things are not easy to move on roads.

And that is why I always roll my eyes when a journalist uses the weight of a jet airplane to "translate" the weight of some heavy object. Airplanes are surprisingly light compared to their size. One cannot pick up an airplane[1] just like that so most doesn't realise this.

1: Notable exception :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9x1TRbeC_0

Lol at that exception. That guy must have had the time of his life there.

I would imagine this aircraft has some pretty bespoke aerodynamics with a lot of extra training required.

I got to see NASA's Super Guppy land and unload a T-38 (I think) at Ellington Field 15 years ago while prepping for a flight on the Vomit Comet. It's pretty absurd to see a plane come out of a plane.

I love a few miles from the Hawarden airport and see these things fly over ever couple of days. I love to watch them slowly fly over, they are beautiful and ugly at the same time

One of my favorite weird plane. I saw it multiple times at the ILA in Berlin. Last time it was positioned between an A380 and the AN-225 (if I was not mistaken).

This guy ponders whether the Beluga can be converted to a huge passenger plane.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AySkO26_PR4

It actually can't lift the huge load. The Boeing dreamlifeter is better at it

Careful not to get it caught in the mail slot.

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