A380 to JFK/ORD/IAD in Mid-March

[Chris102]

If I am lucky enough to get to the city on Wednesday, where is the best place to spot the A380 from? I'm not familiar with the layout of JFK or my way around the city. I will have a 29-135mm lense, so I can't be too far away. Could someone also give me directions to the best spotting location for Wed.?

[Idlewild]

Meadow Road in Inwood might be a better location than Bayswater. Has anyone been to Meadow Road?

[Matt Molnar]

More video and a couple of interesting tidbits in this story:

http://www.popularmechanics.com/blogs/s ... 13482.html

The interesting tidbits that I haven't seen in the 3,000 other stories on Google News:

-- The media viewing area was originally meant to be on the roof of one of the terminals, but the plan was scrapped due to the ice.

-- The Qantas-sponsored A380 that landed at LAX had only a few passengers because it doesn't have seats yet. I guess this is because LA was a last minute addition to the event.

Amazing how quiet she is even with the reversers on.

[moose135]

-- The media viewing area was originally meant to be on the roof of one of the terminals, but the plan was scrapped due to the ice.

The Port Authority media guy said they put together today's plan at 10am this morning. Sure worked well.

[Tom_Turner]

-- The media viewing area was originally meant to be on the roof of one of the terminals, but the plan was scrapped due to the ice.

The Port Authority media guy said they put together today's plan at 10am this morning. Sure worked well.

A whole two hours for the media and nothing for the public. The usual....
Give them a medal.

Over at LAX a slightly different story...

Expecting "thousands of onlookers to line airport fences," those officials have devoted "hours to meetings about where pedestrians should stand, what streets to shut down and how to provide security and traffic control," the paper said.

[Matt Molnar]

Here's a clip of JFK Ground today, clearing other taxiing traffic to hang out and watch the landing, when she lands controller mentions "she's bigger than you!" to somebody. At 18:30 in Lufthansa 8940 is welcomed to JFK. About 30 seconds later the controller advises 8940 of the ramp control frequency.

LH8940: You want us to switch now?
Ground: You can call them on your other radio, I know you must have about eight of them on that plane by the size of it. :)

http://archive-server.liveatc.net/kjfk/ ... -1600Z.mp3

[VikHathi]

Here's a clip of JFK Ground today, clearing other taxiing traffic to hang out and watch the landing, when she lands controller mentions "she's bigger than you!" to somebody.

Even though I wasnt monitoring ground prior to touchdown - its interesting to note that alot of aircraft activity just paused minutes prior to A380 touchdown. Emirites requested to wait so he can open his window and take out his camera. Northwest requested to hold short to enjoy the show. Even ground said its "Phat!"

On the flip side Liz Cho on ABC tonite said its wingspan is about 10-football fields - even though she is hot, her facts are just a tad off.

[Nonstop2AUH]

Re the ground communication, I found it interesting how much vehicular traffic the controller seemed to have to deal with, and also how the Lufthansa Cargo referred to himself twice as Air Canada, he caught it the first time but didn't correct on the second. Wonder what's up with that.

[mikephotos]

Re the ground communication, I found it interesting how much vehicular traffic the controller seemed to have to deal with, and also how the Lufthansa Cargo referred to himself twice as Air Canada, he caught it the first time but didn't correct on the second. Wonder what's up with that.

It's actually a World aircraft flying for Lufthansa Cargo which they also fly/flew for Air Canada Cargo, hence the confusion of the pilot.

Mike

[VikHathi]

http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?secti ... id=5132965

Here's the LAX landing from KABC7. There was a bit of shimmy after touch down, perhaps an overcorrection of the rudder action. Watching the videos, the media always gets their facts wrong as usual - but atleast they telecasted it like an OJ chase scene from start to end. Also, spectator turnout was awesome.

[Nonstop2AUH]

Just my 2 cents worth, but while the A380 is certainly impressive in size, the mass media is making it sound like it's MUCH bigger than a 747 and other planes in service, when in fact, it's not even the longest commercial jet. From the media, and not to invoke something awful, but you would think this was like the arrival of the Hindenburg or something. Impressive yes, larger than what 's already out there yes, but massively larger not really. Not like 747 vs. 707.

[Art at ISP]

I was at JFK yesterday as well but not with a camera. A friend of mine, Joe Brancatelli (aviation/airline writer) was on board the 380 from Frankfurt. I picked him up for lunch before he went into the city to get home to discuss some FFOCUS issues.

To be honest he was not over impressed with the whole thing, but I will let him tell that part of the story. His column comes out Friday (some are in USA Today).

In any case sorry I missed you guys--next time!!

Best
Art

[mirrodie]

Did anyone catch some chat on the frequency, as the 380 was taxiing, something about a guy asking about his daughter and what color shirt she was wearing? And the controller/dispatch said he basically had no clue. Any idea what that exchange was all about? I only caught a bit of it.

[Winglets747]

Nice blog from LH employees including a video of the interior tour: http://www.touch-down-a380-usa.blogspot.com/

[Chris102]

Does anyone know if the A380 will be doing any type of a low fly-by of Manhattan, or will be visible from Manhattan? It seems like my plans have changed, and there's a small chance I will still be able to get to NY, but only as far as Manhattan. I heard that it would take 2-3 hours to get to JFK from Manhattan..... :cry: