What are some lesser known facts about the Airbus A380?

Wow. Where to be begin. Perhaps the “hugeness” numbers and facts:

Takeoff weight. The takeoff weight of the A380 is a positively unimaginable 1.2million pounds. That sounds impressive, but is rather meaningless without a more familiar reference frame: to put it in perspective then, the previous Queen of the Skies, the beautiful and famous Boeing 747-400 has a maximum takeoff weight of “only” 810,000 pounds. Put another way then, the A380 has a takeoff weight fifty percent higher than the 747. And that is simply staggering.

Only two engines used for taxi and reverse thrust. During taxi and reverse thrust application, only the innermost engines are utilized, while the outermost engines remain at idle. The wingspan of the A380 is so huge that the outbound engines typically hang above the grass/dirt shoulder of runways and especially taxiways, and would thus produce massive amounts of debris. Fortunately, 50% power provided by the innermost engines is more than adequate for taxi and landing operations.

A380 is just 100 miles short on range for the DXB-SFO flight. The A380-800 — the present incarnation of the A380, with -900 on the drawing board — does not yet serve Emirates Airlines’ Dubai to San Francisco route despite Emirates being one of — if not the — largest operators of A380. Why? The A380-800 doesn’t quite after the range to make it, falling approximately 100 mi short. This is why the 777-300ER is still used for the journey until the so-called “improved A380-800” is released, presumably, some time in 2013. UPDATE: Emirates just began flying on Dec 2, 2013, A380 service from DXB-LAX.

Onboard video cameras. The A380 is fitted with some awesome onboard entertainment: there are video cameras mounted in the nose wheel and at the top of the tail producing footage you can view from your in-flight entertainment system at your seat. (Cf. Marc Hoag’s answer to Could an airline install a front-facing camera on the plane so passengers can see what the pilots see?)

Origins of the A380. The origins of the A380 development can be traced back as far as the late 1980s, under the code-name A3XX, and the first passenger flight wasn’t until 2008 when Singapore flew the first revenue services. So it’s been quite a long gestation period indeed.

Blank slate production. This lengthy gestation period is due in large part to the fact that the plane was pretty much built from a blank slate, rather than any sort of iterative evolution from prior models, not unlike Boeing’s new 787. Contrast this with the 767 (from 757), or the A340/330/320, for example.

Multi-national construction. Speaking of construction, the aircraft parts and various sections of fuselage are built all over Europe and assembled in Toulouse, France.

Composite materials. The A380 preceded the 787 in its use of extensive composite components, though not nearly to the degree of the 787. To wit, the cabin windows are larger (especially the inside portion of the windows) than any other aircraft save the 787, and the cabin is (marginally) more pressurized to allow for (marginally) more atmospheric comfort.

Winglets are required, not just nice to have. Winglets at the end of airplane wing tips are usually for the purpose of reducing drag and thus increasing efficiency. On the A380, they’re a necessity: without the winglets and the unique shape of the wing, the A380 would require five or six more feet of wing-span in order for normal takeoff and landing performance at today’s airports, exceeding airport wingspan limitations. Modeled after the gentle upward sweep of birds’ wings, the sloping wings and their winglets ever so marginally decrease drag and help increase lift so the plane can sufficiently function despite being several feet shorter than (otherwise) necessary. Put another way, the A380 is at the absolute limit of what a modern airplane wing design can handle for its weight, at least for civilian airport operations.

Almost too big for LAX. Speaking of size, Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) can only barely cope with the size of the airplane: there is ongoing debate over moving the northern-most runway (24R) about 200 feet north to create an additional taxi lane to facilitate ground maneuvering of the A380.

So large it blinds ILS systems. Also, the plane always receives priority takeoff clearance as its size is sufficiently large to block the ILS beacon, effectively blinding incoming aircraft navigation radios which are used for auto-land.

Unbelievably quiet. Inside, the airplane is unbelievably quiet. Not just relative to other aircraft, but absolutely: you simply do not need noise canceling headphones to enjoy movies or music.

Vertical walls on main deck, not curved. The walls on the main deck are pretty much vertical: the usual characteristic curving due to the fuselage with which you are accustomed on other single-deck aircraft is nowhere to be found.

Emergency slides from the top deck an engineering marvel. Engineering inflatable slides to safely evacuate passengers from main deck heights is one thing; doing so from the upper deck required a totally new approach, not to mention, ensuring no interference with the lower deck, especially to ensure evacuation in the required time frame.

No on-board video in exit rows: do not sit in the exit rows if you want to enjoy the onboard camera views during landing and take-off: your video screen will have to stow in your armrest, rather than being on the seat in front of you, and you will not get to enjoy the view!

Seasonal service from SFO: if you want to fly — or even see — the A380, SFO gets not one, not two, but three! Well, depending on time of year: Lufthansa operates its A380 roughly Spring-Fall between SFO and Frankfurt (454 inbound; 455 outbound); Air France used to do so Spring-Fall to Paris CDG (but seems to have ceased service[2]; and Singapore is now serving SFO with A380 service for a limited time as well. Meanwhile, Dubai will begin service once the aforementioned “improved A380-800” goes into service, possibly later in 2013.

There is so much carbon fiber involved in the Airbus A380 that its initial production caused a worlwide shortage.

Airbus is using it all for the new A380’s. Airbus has led the industry in the use of composites and the A380 embodies this innovating tradition. Some 25 per cent of the aircraft is built using composite material – 22 per cent carbon fibre reinforced plastic and three per cent GLARE (a glass fibre-aluminium laminate, which is used for the first time on a civil airliner). Weight saving is one of the greatest advantages of composites, leading to less fuel burn, fewer emissions and lower operating costs.

Airbus outbid everyone on the materials. They helped support the carbon fiber manufacturer to keep them from going bankrupt. They are basically paying to keep them in business just so they can be supplied with the product they need. This is so they can fulfill their a380 orders. As an effect, all the smaller fish (car parts, bicycles, boat makers..etc) are facing a major shortage.

Estimates are about a 40% increase in price, if the product is even available.