airbus in 7 mins.
i can't believe the amount of trouble it looks like it took to build this thing!

thats rather cool

Am I the only one who is confused about how hauling all the giant pieces of airplane by giant boat and giant truck is possibly more efficient than building it all in one place... and then flying it to wherever it goes?

But yeah... pretty cool to watch! 6' torque wrench FTW.

For those of us that have been in a military transport plane it's a lot different from being inside an airliner. Everything is exposed inside and even those that went to the air show can vouch for that. Sometimes things make noises, sometimes they shoot off jolts of air and gas, sometimes they leak... all very interesting on how it all comes together.

Cost and expertise of local workforce, availability of raw materials, location of subcontractors, appeasement of local governments, tariffs and regulations, security diversification, etc. It's basically the same reason why auto plants don't build every single part and piece of your car at one site. This is done with a lot of large ships and oil rigs as well.

Been there, done that, got the T-shirt.

C-130s FTL.

I got one of those at work, we use it to torque the bolts that hold the wings on

Yeah, but it's kind of like driving auto parts to the factory one Legacy wagon-full at a time. I understand how mass production works, I just don't see why they didn't assemble all the pieces too big for a semi trailer at the same complex (at least then that half-plane size bits wouldn't have to go so far). But even given that their way really is the most cost efficient, I marvel that the A380 is a money maker for the airlines at al. Just imagine how much the Aerbus factory itself cost... :shudder:

Pfft, just guettenteit them.

You also have to remember that Airbus is a joint effort between several countries. That should explain it...

See? If we'd let Hitler conquer Europe, think how much more efficient their economy would be!

HOT DAMN! that was freakin sweet. i usually dont care about crap like that, but that was tiight! i think it was the music!
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Voyeur Video

Man, I wish I could watch teh video :\

Exactly... and they are subsidized big time by those countries so that they don't really have to compete on a level playing field against Boeing and the other REAL companies. That's the biggest reason they can get away with their ridiculous assembly/transport process.