Airbus A380
Singapore Airlines Inaugural Flight
October 25th, 2007
….Flying in the World’s Largest Commercial Jet Ever Built….
SQ380, 9V-SKA MSN 0013
“Welcome onboard aviation history. Fly with me from Singapore
to Sydney on the first commercial service of the one and
only passenger airliner in history to enter the 1,000,000+
pounds of takeoff weight… a maximum of 1,235,000 pounds
to be precise. Propelled by 280,000 pounds of “smooth as
silk” thrust from four gigantic Rolls Royce Trent 900 engines,
Singapore Airlines flight SQ380, its first of 19 A380’s
on order plus 6 options, will quietly and “cleanly” take
us through the South East Asian and Australian skies at
37,000 feet, Mach .085, in the company of 455 privileged
travel companions, 21 flight attendants, four ultra experienced
Captains, including Airbus Chief A 380 test pilot and Singapore
airlines Chairman and CEO”
It is still dark at 4:30 am in Singapore. An impossibly
clean Mercedes Benz Taxi whisks my friend Chris Sloan and
I to Changi International Airport’s dated but impeccably
kept Singapore Airlines Terminal. Singapore impresses everyone,
a tiny island country clean as a whistle and tropically
beautiful, with the financial strength, technological creativity
and economic muscle of a first world power. It is no surprise
that Singapore Airlines is rated as the world’s most profitable,
best in service and innovation, year after year.
I am surprisingly wide awake, after flying 22 hours the
day before to get here from Miami. I always liked Singapore.
As a former Boeing 747-400 and 777-200/300 pilot for another
Asian carrier, I had spent many layovers days and nights
here and attended the superb bi-annual (an also very hot
and humid) Airshow. However, what is keeping me up today,
really, is the excitement and anticipation of being part
of aviation history as one of the passengers of SQ380, the
world’s first A380 commercial scheduled flight!
My friend Chris, owner of a top TV production company (www.2cmedia.com
) with ample experience in aviation programs is also the
owner of Airchive, one of the world’s largest airline memorabilia
collections, which he curates online at www.airchive.com
. Chris and I met in the cockpit of a 747-400 on a flight
from LA to Hong Kong, well before September 11th , when
passengers were allowed to visit the cockpit on very long
haul flights. Chris passion for and knowledge of commercial
aviation are impressive. I will be thankful to him forever
as he initiated the adventure and “surgically” bid on EBay’s
most complex charity auction ever and a few thousand dollars
later, we were set to be part of aviation history…I also
knew that someone paid over $100,000 for a first class “suite”
on this flight. The trip ahead would surely be an unforgettable
one. Singapore Airline’s Ramona Donan for the LAX office
was instrumental in setting up our itineraries and discounted
fares to and from Miami, which was no easy feat considering
I had business commitments on the way to and from the inaugural
flight.
The terminal was quiet at 5:00AM, except for an oasis of
spotlights illuminating giant A380 banners with photos pf
the exterior and interior, Singapore Airlines Logos, the
slogan “First to Fly A30” and a trademark double row of
windows sandwiching the words which I believe Singapore
will use for a long time. As we cross the gate doors, surprise,
cameras, flashes, photographers, people talking to reporters….the
scene reminds me of The Oscar’s (no pun intended) red carpet
night, Chris and I suddenly were caught in the middle of
the hyped up crowd and before we knew it we were taken to
a Stage like back drop where a photographer flashed our
photos as press agent took our names and addresses to ensure
we receive our shots formatted as minted as limited series
of “SQ A380 Stamps”.
For the first time ever, an airline check-in was exciting,
friendly with everyone buzzing with excitement and anticipation.
We felt like true “pioneers jet-setters” and the only other
two events that could compare were Pan Am’s Boeing 747 first
commercial service between JFK and Heathrow on January 22nd,
1970 and January 21st ,1976 Concorde simultaneous first
commercial supersonic services. British Airways from Heathrow
to Bahrain and Air France from Paris to Rio. Historically
speaking, it seems like aircraft size yielded briefly to
high speed and now it was now size to make history again!
At 6:00 AM we passed immigration and walked to Gate F31.
All of us gladly went through thorough individual security
checks (no, we did not have to take off our shoes!). Once
inside, the scene reminded me of the boarding gates of Pan
American Airways Clippers in the 1920’s at Dinner Key, in
Miami, A full breakfast buffet full with French and tropical
delicacies was laid out with waiters and waitresses serving
champagne and fresh exotic juices. A classical string quartet
played and beautiful Singapore Airlines Flight Attendants,
worldwide renowned in the industry as “Singapore girls”
lined the room and guarded the jetway door under a large
SQ A380 banner and next to a Gala like stage and lectern
and “First to Fly A380” backdrop.
A local Singaporean TV celebrity served as Master of ceremonies
and gracefully articulated the passengers’ thoughts and
feelings. We all happily cheered, applauded and chatted
non stop. At 7:00 AM and as the mighty A380 silhouette started
to reveal behind the glass walls of the boarding lounge,
Singapore Airlines Chew Choon Seng took the stage and thanked
all present for gracefully donating their US$1.3 million
dollar ticket bids charity. The proceeds were to be donated
in full and split evenly amongst three charities, Singapore’s
Community Chest, Sydney’s Children Hospitals at Randwick
and Westmead and the Global medical charity Doctors Without
Borders. Charities chairmen spoke to thank everyone on behalf
of the less fortunate. Exxon Mobile Corp CEO for Asia, representing
a couple of dozen of sponsors amongst them Google, gave
his speech, more cheering and applause…….the anticipation
was reaching the highest levels at this time.
The room roared and the press went crazy as the flight
crew of four arrived. They received movie star celebrity
treatment from all present. Captain Robert Ting, A380 chief
Fleet Captain and a 36 year SQ veteran, previously Airbus
A340-500 “Leadership” fleet chief Captain led the crew.
One of the Captains, was wearing a different uniform, he
was Claude Lelaie Airbus Chief Test Pilot and first to fly
the A 380 prototype during the test program.
The ribbon cutting ceremony took place at 7:20 and finally
unleashed everyone’s pent up cheers, enthusiasm and anticipation
when Mr. Chew announced that the flight was officially open
for boarding. First onboard was Australian resident Briton
Julian Hayward who truly deserved a guided tour of the empty
aircraft, including the cockpit, by Captain Ting himself.
Mr. Hayward was the one who paid the highest bid of all
passengers; US$100,380 for the privilege of occupying suite
A1.
Singapore is one of the 20 or so airports worldwide (Miami
will be ready in early 2009) that will service the A 380.
There were three standard sized jet ways plugged to the
aircraft two to the lower deck and one to the upper deck.
As Chris and I walked in, we shook hands with Chairman Chew
who wished us a good flight, we had already received a FedEx
letter from him a week prior to the flight looking forward
to meeting and flying with us. I call that personalized
care and attention to detail! For the first time ever, I
climbed “up” a jetway to get to the airplane as our seats
77K-H were located on the right rear section of the upper
deck.
Entering the airplane felt like we were boarding a new
generation A340 and a “new airplane” smell of leather and
fine woods and carpets permeated the air. The front of the
cabin hosted a 1-2-1 Business class seats, at 34 inches
wide and 55 inches of pitch , the largest in their class
and already in service on SQ’s 777-300ER’s due to the A380
delays. The rear economy cabin was configured 2-4-2 and
the Weber seats at 19 inches wide and 32 inches of pitch
(the seat back reclines and the bottom slides forward) were
the largest I have ever seen in economy. Each seat greeted
us with a Givenchy blanket and a SQ380 commemorative “Goodie
Bag” with a 1:400 limited series A380 model, Cerrutti Pens
and other gifts by Montblanc, Travelsentry and Singapore
Airlines items, all very classy! To top it off, as the upper
cabin fuselage walls slant outwards (the “upper bubble”
shape) each seat has a personal stowage space next to it
similar to that found on the upper deck of B 747-400’s.
I easily stowed all my personal belongings with room to
spare. The windows are sized as in other airbus aircraft
and have manual shades (as opposed t the new generation
B 787 oversized with automatic window tinting ,optional
on Airbus’s new A350XWB).
I checked out the lavatories, closets, galleys and their
furnishings, chromes and other trimmings were reminiscent
of an Airbus corporate Jet (ACJ). To get a true sense of
the airplane size, one must remember that there is an even
wider 747 cabin underneath!. I made my way through the crowd
and the galleys and descended the rear spiraling full size
stairway to the lower deck. As I emerged on the lower deck
and looked ahead, the A380 size and its airborne “monumentality”
become real; wider, taller than a 747 main cabin, the A380
is closer to a cruise ship than an airplane. This is it,
I thought, possibly, there will not be a larger passenger
airliner ever.
By now it was 7:45 AM and everyone was still up, talking,
roaming the cabins as SQ trademark sarongs clad “girls”
politely tried to have everyone seated for what it seemed
an unlikely on time departure. Somehow their assertive charm
prevailed and exactly at 8:00am, SQ380 pushed back to the
taxiway and literally seconds later while I was waiting
to hear the engines start, the aircraft started moving.
I supposed we were being towed but we were not. The A380
Rolls Royce Trent 900 engines would prove to be the surprise
of the flight as they were so quiet we barely heard them
at all, including the take off.
The view from the window is always above any other airplane
on the ramp. The massive dihedral wing is designed to carry
the stretched versions of the A380 (900-1000 planned versions)
and it does looks like a mountain of aluminum. It has a
50% wider chord than a 747-400 and at 9,100 sq ft it is
40% more expansive. At each wing tip, the wing fences are
similar to those on older A300/310’s and although they looked
small from my seat, they are close to 7 feet high. I also
noticed a three paneled outboard aileron set (no inboards)
and two double slotted inboard and outboard flaps with immense
hinge fairings or “canoes”.
The plane taxied slowly, its four main landing gears, outboards
with four wheels and inboards with six, for a total of 20
wheels steered by two massive nose tires yielding crisp
and vibration less maneuvering. I felt no braking or acceleration,
no wheel scrubbing and again no sign of engine noise at
all! Captain Ting’s skillful inputs coupled to the wheel
cameras and “steer by wire” system worked flawlessly.
The PA announcements and safety briefings were standard,
we estimated 7 hours and 6 minutes flight time. We were
the first paying passengers to use the safety cards, listen
and watch the A380 specific emergency videos. Eight doors
on the lower deck and six on the upper deck (the ramps coming
down seemed impressively steep!). I knew 873 people evacuated
the aircraft during flight tests within 90 seconds, impressive!
Exactly at 8:15 with a derated or “flex” thrust setting
of 76% of Max Take Off and a planned rotation speed of 154
Knots, the plane slowly rolled down the runway….. no perceptible
acceleration and virtually no engine sound. As a pilot,
I expected both. Taking off on 747-400’s the sensation of
speed is deceptively slow, in the A380 it was even more
so. As a pilot, I know Changi’s runways well, their length
and reference points so as we approached the last third
the airplane finally started rotating at a speed that felt
too slow for its size and weight and quickly leapt into
the air with an unusually low deck angle……..thanks to those
“oversized” wide chord wings, the 280,000 pounds of thrust
Trent 900’s quads and our approximately 74% of maximum gross
take off weight, as this airplane was not carrying cargo.
Everyone started cheering, applauding, screaming, talking,
even singing………..this takeoff will go as the one in history
in which the noise inside the cabin was much higher than
the noise footprint outside of the airplane! I am sure Captain
Ting and his crew in the cockpit heard it loud and clear!
The seat belt sign came off and never came on until descent
into Sydney. The pressurization rate seemed slow and I felt
a little bit of ear popping. It did not deter at all any
of the 455 passengers who interpreted the chime as the bell
to start the world’s largest airborne party ever recorded!
Fine Charles-Heidsieck champagne, cocktails and fine first
class wines started flowing, cameras filming, air phones
dialing and reporters writing and interviewing. The entertainment
system is an eX2 branded upgrade version of SQ’s award winning
Krisworld running on a Panasonic S3000i platform. It has
an almost unlimited selection of more than 100 movies, 180
TV shows, 20 radio channels, over 700 CD’s, language learning
programs, video games, and the list goes on and on…all displayed
on flat LCD screens in all seats sizes ranging from 10.6
inches in economy, 15.4 in business and 23 in the Suites.
Even the economy seats have details such as coat hangers,
back rest cup holders, individual reading lights under the
screens, computer power outlets, airphones, seat to seat
intercoms and an interactive command console that doubles
up as a computer key board. There are USB ports for thumb
drives with access to Microsystems StarOffice window applications,
so each seat in the airplane can virtually convert to a
workstation. The Flight tracking system is Google based
and it is an impressive satellite view of the world, aircraft
position-speed and it is zoom-able for more or less detail,
another first in the industry.
Nevertheless, most of us stood up and spent the flight
chatting, exchanging views, business cards and email addresses
and exploring the aircraft nooks and crannies. As the flight
progressed, thousands of photos and hours of videos were
taken, friendships and business relationships were made.
We all had a common aviation bond, one that we would all
share for life. Walking along the cabin I noticed a pronounced
upslope deck angle, equal to that on the much longer B777-300.
All of a sudden, in full uniform Captain Ting walked down
the aisle shaking hands, sharing short talk and signing
autographs with the passengers. At the same time, CEO Chew
roamed the lower deck doing the same and personally thanking
and sharing with everyone on board. The atmosphere was that
of a Gala/Party/Awards ceremony. Ting and Chew would have
never predicted the reaction from passengers and at times
they were circled by over 20-30 people. At some point I
could see captain Ting thinking ‘How do I get back to the
cockpit in a hurry if I have to?”. Someone asked him who
was flying the plane and he pulled up his cell phone and
holding it with two hands said in a charming broken English
“me flying , which way you want, right or left?”
Flight attendants charms and smiles persuaded us to sit
down and lunch service started. Together with the menu,
each one of us was personally addressed and given an official
SQ First A 380 Certificate, Chew and Ting and delivered
framed versions personally to each business class and suites
passengers.
The menus on each cabin varied, as you can imagine. I will
let you know that the food in economy was better than in
some business class flights I have taken, the first class
was the “usual” caviar, lobster and some of the best wines
ever served in flight before. The uniqueness of this flights
was that all menus were prepared by two renowned chefs who
were onboard an fully dressed up, Mathew Moran from Australia
(Aria restaurant) and Sam Leong from Singapore (Tun Lok
Group).They both supervised the service and gracefully chatted
with passengers to ensure the meals were as extraordinary
as the flight. They said the hardest part was preparing
the food before the flight and then rearranging it and heating
it up again to perfection.
Lunch was the only quiet period in this flight, by now,
we were flying over Indonesia, close to the island of Bali.
Some slight clear air turbulence patches gave a hint of
movement and I found the ride smoother than in a A340/300
category aircraft under the same conditions. The smooth
ride was in part due to the massive size/weight of the airplane,
the fly by wire triple panel ailerons (each piece working
individually and sometimes in opposite directions!) and
in part, I believe, due to an extremely long wing and a
wide wing box coupling.
After lunch, we all stood up again and went around the
cabin once more, I then went to visit the lower deck and
looked for the cabin crew rest area, which is in the middle
and underneath of the lower deck. A large door leads to
a spiraling staircase and into a stand up area with ample
space for 10 double bunk beds and a couple of double seats,
as I was told by a friendly but watchful flight attendant
who saw me fumbling with the door.
I walked back through the main deck’s economy section making
my way between groups of people talking and celebrating
and noticed how the fuselage sidewalls and windows are slightly
slanted down as the curvature of the fuselage main “bubble
“ arches down to close its massive circumference. The view
form the windows on those sections is slightly down and
directly underneath which is quite unusual in an airliner.
I had only seen that effect on the last 5 or so windows
of the main deck of B 747-400’s.
Next on my list was a visit to the Suites, so I walked
upstairs and all the way to the front of business class,
an oasis of peace and quiet compared to economy as the seat
partitions are so large that even when there are two people
in each seat (guest chairs for face to face dining or talking
are standard in each seat) you cannot see heads resulting
in a very quiet and orderly environment. But truth be told,
most business class passengers had joined the party in the
economy cabins!
The forward stairway is wide and regal, it reminded me
of cruise ship stairways leading to the grand salon. At
the bottom, the look and smell of fine wood trimmings, supple
leathers, cashmeres and other exotic materials were closer
to Gulfstream and luxury yachts than an airliner. The suites
are designed by luxury yacht interior guru Jean-Jacques
Coste. The eight individual suites and four center double
suites are fully enclosed with full size doors and rolling
drapes that make them true, dining rooms, bedrooms, cinemas,
offices or simply sanctuaries of peace and relaxation. The
center suites can be opened up to create a double bed environment,
As opposed to Virgin Atlantic, we were told Singapore Airlines
frowns upon and discourages any behavior other than proper
sleep in the double suites!
The details are mind boggling. A seat belt light panel
allows flight attendants to confirm seat belts are buckled
without entering the suite. The seats are 35 inches wide
and with 81 inches of pitch they allow the largest sized
“rooms” in any airline in the world. The bedrooms are complete
with coat closets, office organizing space, personal luggage
areas, a guest chaise lounge and a bed which is separate
from the seat and has a 6 2’ proper mattress. The upholstery
is handmade by Italian luxury upholsterer Poltrona Frau,
Chinas and linens are from Ferragamo and the list goes on
and on.
Behind the suites, hallways lined up with yacht like appointments
such as orchid vases in wall nooks are oversize toilets
complete with powder rooms and changing rooms. Behind, the
first class galleys make a physical and psychological border
with the economy class cabin directly behind. The contrast
between the Suites and the economy cabin is abysmal and
symbolic of the global growing divide between middle class
and the very rich.
I walked to the front and noticed two steps leading up
to the cockpit and the pilots’ toilets and rest area entrance
door which leads to the over the ceiling bunk rooms for
ultra long flights.
As I made my way back on the upper deck, I sat down next
to CEO Chew and listened to a couple of reporters from Australia
and the US interviewing him and asking some pointed questions
regarding the future of Airbus, the A380 program delays
and SQ’s bet on the aircraft. He gracefully answered in
general terms and then politely suggested that the conversation
be directed towards celebrating and reminding everyone how
this flight was a tribute to of mankind working together
to reach better, farther and higher. I agreed with him and
we shared optimistic thoughts regarding the future of A380
long haul travel. He gracefully signed on the wing of my
A 380 model gift and with a handshake I wished Chew, and
all his Singapore airlines employees success and best of
luck in the future.
Back in the lively economy cabin, or according to my friend
Chris Sloan the “Riff-Raffles” section, the spirits were
high and even though we were approaching the descent point
into Sydney, everyone seemed ready to turn around and do
another seven hours back to Singapore! The flight attendants
started serving the arrival snack as Captain Ting announced
that Sydney ATC had authorized a fly by the Opera House
and Harbor to silver line the inaugural flight. The thunder
of cheering and applause was even greater than the ones
before as it was now fueled by jet lag, low cabin pressure
and copious amounts of good food. alcohol and liquor.
As we approached 3000 feet (as per the Airshow display),
we were in the clouds, the plane leveled off and a disappointed
Ting told us that showers and low ceilings would make the
fly by impossible and that we would head directly for landing
at Sydney’s Kingsford smith International airport. The ILS
approach was flown in instrument meteorological conditions
and maneuvering and speed changes felt no different from
any other wide body. The descent pressurization rates changes
were normal and again the remarkably quiet cabin made it
difficult to judge engine power applications. The triple
panel ailerons worked their movement ballet yielding a perfectly
smooth ride and from the upper cabin landing gear deployment
was almost imperceptible, flaps came down to the landing
configuration and we broke out of clouds at approximately
1000 feet above the ground and 150 knots according to the
Airshow. Captain Ting later told me Vref speed for the approach
was 138 Knots. Over the fence, the runway was lined up with
photographers, safety and airport cars and with an almost
imperceptible flare the A380 forward titled bogeys delivered
a “smooth as silk” landing. Time was 17:21 PM, four minutes
ahead of scheduled, on the runway the plane tracked straight
forward rolling out with extremely smooth braking action.
I am told the aircraft has only reversers on the inboard
engines and it they were used we did not hear them in the
cabin.
A caravan of vehicles and helicopters tracked the aircraft
to its parking gate. One of the Captains made a “canned”
farewell PA which I found dry and standardized considering
that the audience was coming to grips with the anti-climactic
sense that this historical flight was almost over. We all
wanted to hear the charismatic yet quirky, in a very pleasant
way, Captain Ting talk to us and were committed to hear
from him after the flight. We succeeded and later at the
airport terminal Ting would get multiple request for flight
encores, interviews, more autographs, photos and videos.
Someone even asked him to go be David Letterman’s guest
or to start a reality show; something like “Where in the
World is Captain Ting today?
Deplaning took no longer than in any other widebody, even
considering that the upper deck jet bridge had a glitch
which delayed deplaning by ten minutes. Nobody minded, everyone
wanted to stay onboard and keep celebrating. Some passengers
would be back on the same aircraft tin less than 24 hours
for the journey to Singapore and there were jokes about
camping onboard, if SQ allowed doing it.
Chris and I stayed behind chatting with the cabin crew
and asked for a cockpit tour. To our surprise, we were granted
the tour and Captain Ting himself was there finishing up
paperwork and securing the cockpit switches as the plane
would be towed to a remote parking for the night. The cockpit
is basically the same as in the test prototypes I had the
chance to see at airshows, the usual Airbus dark blue trimmings,
large LCD PFD’s, ND’s and ECAM’s screens. The center console
and overhead panels seem no different than an A340 other
than the cursor control devices and oversized FMS keyboards
and screens. The cockpit dimensions have very wide lateral
space due to the body rapidly increasing radius behind the
radome. However it is quite short for an airplane this size,
no longer than an A330/340, two seats in front and two in
the back for observers. The reason could that the bulkhead
had to be moved forward to accommodate the Suites immense
passenger space.
All Captains signed Chris' A 380 books and we followed
them out of the airplane into the customs and immigration
areas. The pilots looked tired, not because of the flight
or operational challenges, but because of the psychological
strain they were subjected to by 450+ aviation enthusiasts,
bidding for their attention, photos, autographs and commentary.
Little did they know that their best stardom status was
yet to come in Sydney.
The bags arrived within 20 minutes of doors opening at the
business and suites special carousels and ten minutes later
to the economy belt. We all kept our SQ380 luggage tags
as another flight memento.
Leaving customs and stepping into the arrivals lounge
was yet another surprise, night turned into day and TV and
media crews assaulted Captain Ting, his crew, Chairman Chew
and anyone who cared to talk to them. We might as well have
been the first group of humans having returned from Mars.
By now, the world had watched the A380 land over and over
in all TV channels and again emails, faxes and phone calls
were flowing to all media rooms worldwide. An hour after
we entered the arrivals lounge, Captain Ting and Chairman
Chew were still there talking and greeting and signing………A
daily newspaper front page announced in huge bold letters:
The Future Lands in Sydney Today!
Chris and I were happily tired and took a cab to our hotel,
after a shower we headed straight to a SQ380 first flight
“after party” atop the Hilton hotel in downtown Sydney.
This party was organized by aviation consultant Timothy
Spahr and it was “secretly” advertised a couple of weeks
before the flight on the website www.sq380.net . The party
was intended to be SQ380 flight aftermath, a social wrap
up. All of us would have a chance to unwind, have a few
drinks (as if did not had enough in flight) and farewell
each other. Unbeknownst to us, there would also be a surreal
“ceremony” I was not prepared for. There was going to be
a symbolic “beheading’ of a 747-400 to officially proclaim
the A380 the new “Queen of the Skies” . Having flown 747-400’s
and being a Boeing fan, I felt uneasy and weak all of a
sudden, after crossing 15 time zones in the lat 48 hours,
enjoying SQ’s hospitality and alcohol generosity did not
help me then. A waiter clad in black walked ceremoniously
towards the “execution” table with a hack saw . Tim Spahr
produced a UAL 747-400 scale model and proceeded to spray
its nose section with Ketchup. After a short scripted prayer
dethroning the 747 as Queen of the Skies, he ordered the
executioner to proceed…….. I walked out to of the room and
into the terrace and decided not to watch. Looking at the
Sydney lit skyline a thought crossed my mind giving me a
sudden burst of energy and a jolt of joy. Who said the B
747 was the Queen of the Skies? All along I have known the
747 as the King of the Skies. Let the A380 be the Queen
and the 747 be the King. That is a compromise that I can
live with and looking at it that way, the best 747 the -8
is yet to come.
Back in the room, we wound up the night talking, toasting,
sharing and looking at the photos of the day in which we
all made flying history.
-End-
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