Giants of the air
People have been fascinated by aircraft from the beginning of the history of aviation, especially by fast and big aircraft. This website is about big aircraft, in particular the socalled 'widebody' airliners.
What makes an aircraft a widebody aircraft is the number of aisles in the cabin. 'Narrowbody' airliners have only one aisle dividing the starboard and port side sections of the cabin. Examples are the Airbus A320, Boeing 737 and 757 and the McDonnell Douglas MD-80. In the economy class of these airliners there are five or six seats next to each other (two plus three or three plus three), divided by the aisle. 'Widebody' airliners have two aisles and seven up to ten seats next to each other. So widebody aircraft have a wide fuselage diameter. So they are always big aircraft.
The first widebody airliner was the Boeing 747 Jumbo Jet, which flew for the first time in 1969, soon followed by the smaller Lockheed TriStar and DC10 and a little later by the Airbus A300. All subsequent widebody airliners were smaller than the 747: the 767, the 777, the A330 and A340. But in April 2005 the Airbus A380 made its maiden flight, an aircraft even bigger and much heavier than the Jumbo Jet.
This website is a homage to the giants that form the backbone of long-haul air travel, although many of these aircraft are in service for short routes as well.
|
Airbus
|
. .
