Airbus A380 to be tested at Oberpfaffenhofen

Starting today through August 11, A 380 will be doing trial flights while the Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (German Center for Aviation and Space Travel) measures the effect of the wake turbulence (aka jetwash). Wake turbulence can influence the flying performance of following planes, either in landing or taking off.

The A 380 will be followed by a Boeing 747 so that the scientists can compare the severity of the Airbus wake turbulence with the known strength of that caused by the Boeing.
According to the Süddeutsche Zeitung an information and complaint hotline has been set up but the number was not included in the article, nor could I find it on the net. Residents of the area, who suffered through similar trial flights in March of this year, fear that this is another step towards opening the airport - which is up to now used for business purposes only - to general air travel.

What a pretty pic

6 flights an hour indicates circuits and bumps rather than individual flights, basically just flying round in circles and touching down but not landing.

If I lived around there I would be pretty pissed off if all that red stuff got on my washing.

Sounds like paradise for Billy Bob Thornton

To my fellow Oberpfaffenhofen possee - anyone seen any Airbus 380s and trailing 747s flying around the area as of late?

I certainly haven't. Damn shame, I want to see crazy red powder stuff swirling in the sky. Would make my workday a lot more interesting.

Dude, I ain't seen shit.

DW in head up own ass shocker!

I said I ain't seen shit.

DW in constipation shocker !

Check out Bild for exclusive photos of unseen shit !

The picture is from Wikipedia - it's from NASA tests done several years back. It's not the A380!

I seriously doubt they will be using red stuff ... so don't worry!

Red powder or not...I wouldn't mind seeing these 2 planes one after the other circling over here...but no such luck so far. Last time the A380 circled it was quite impressive...

I think I saw it last week - big-ass airplane over Olympiapark. It was seriously huge and flying fairly low as well.

Been flying by all morning, at least I think it´s the A380, usually no planes fly over my place, and it´s heading direction Oberpf. Basically been doing circles at different altitudes. Have also heard different pitches from the engines:

There was an announcement on the radio this morning to say that they would be flying over Oberpfaffenhoven this morning and the residents should expect a lot of noise!

Ah...now I know again why its worth working in the middle of nowhere...both the A380 and 747 are circling around each other...quite fun to watch if not in a car

Noise is actually not to bad...the 747 is definately louder though...funny seeing as it is the smaller plane...the A380 kinda sneaks up on you...

The 747 is also way older.

Never thought that could have anything to do with it

the Lufthansa version they are using for the tests isn't THAT old (in aviation terms). And it has pretty modern engines. But it does go to show how much aviation technology changes even when superficially we don't notice anything. The current 747-400 is about 25% more fuel efficient than the 747-100 and about twice as quiet and will be 20 years old soon and is due to be replaced in 2009 by the 747-8 (which has a strange new wing design where they sort of swoop upwards.

Nice to watch this while driving into work this morning, and I suppose it stops people getting bored in the traffic jam.

That A380 really is a big lump, as the actress said to the bishop.

They announced on the radio also this morning that most of your traffic jam was caused by people slowing down to watch the plane.

Makes sense, I thought it might have been because of an accident due to people paying more attention to the Airbus than the road.

I saw it this morning flying over Munich ... quite a sight!

Good, I'm glad I wasn't seeing things this morning.

I live in Aubing, where there is a lot of fuss going on about the extension of Oberpdfaffenhofen - we're right in the landing path thingy, and the planes fly over at a height of about 500m. Was walking to the S-Bahn when the Airbus flew over this morning. Pretty impressive sight, but bloody loud!! Think they may have been performing comparisions as well, as there were non stop planes landing for about an hour at least - all different sorts and sizes. Made me realise what the fuss is all about - sure, watching a low flying airbus is pretty cool once, but I'm guessing thenoise gets old really quickly. Thank god we haven't bought our flat...

It was RIGHT next to me on the S-bahn...could clearly read it's tail fin...

When we saw it just over Seefeld, we weren't sure if it was it...but we were certain it's a weird ass place for a plane of that size to be...I mean, hell...that was really low flyin'...

...didn't notice it being loud, however...

Just thought I'd add this quick clip. It's about turbulence, sort of.

Air France

Sometimes... it's best not... to look... out of... the window...

Talking of big engines.

The people in the west of Munich (Allach etc.) are seriously upset as the planes were flying over them instead of over the fields and villages around Oberpfaffenhofen. They feel guinea-pigged without warning and see this as a trial run for opening the airport there for general aviation.

That reminds me of Twilight Zone - the movie... The nightmares that gave me at the age of 7.

[img]http://www.cgfocus.com/images/article/kevin_kutchaver/TwilightZone_02_sml.jpg[/img]

I saw the A380 last week on its approach to Oberpfaffenhofen, and contrary to some of the comments here, I thought that it was relatively quiet. Admittedly, it was throttled back but it then did a 'missed approach' and throttled up to go round the circuit again. I only saw it after it had flown past me because I had thought that it was one of those little biz jets that regularly land at the airport - it was not noticeably noisier - and hadn't bothered to look up! Mind, after years living near military airfields, I'm probably a. deaf and b. used to noisier aircraft.

Talking of planes buzzing the locals, what's with that old prop driven plane (looks like a Ju-52) that's been flying low and circling over central Munich the last few days ...Is it some sort of sightseeing thing?

This is the one your talking about. Its actually owned and operated by a special group within Lufthansa (Deutsche Lufthansa Berlin Foundation) and is used on up to 4 Sched. flights within Germany every day. Read more Here. It is the only licensed JU-52 allowed to fly in Germany.

Cheers DK, quite an appropriate reg number too, noisy bloody thing

They're going to be testing the wake turbulance again using the 747 this morning. According to the radio they may fly over Munich, so keep your eyes peeled!

When I attended an airshow at Oberschleissheim a few years ago
there was at least one JU52 flying there & it was not the LH one so its
not true about the LH JU52 being the only one allowed to fly in Germany.

I believe there are some registered in Switzerland & it may have been
one of those (maybe "allowed" and "registered" are being mixed up here...)

I myself have seen the IWC JU 52. There is also an Milka one.

Maybe have a look here:

http://www.dachsel.de/JU-52/bilder.htm

Yep...they are at it again...this time it might actually be a real 747 jumbo jet...hard to tell against the light There goes my good intention to do some work today...

Yep, 5 fly-overs in under 20 minutes now out here in Oberpfaffenhofen. It's def. the 380, but I don't see any 747s around.

it comes a few minutes before the A380...should show up again in a couple of minutes...this time they are both very quiet though...

My spy in Schondorf says (and I quote) "The A680 is doing circuits over here in case anyone odds to know. A big bird."

So its flying around over Amersee(sp?) as well?

Must be. Otherwise it would have been an email or PM.

Yep, it's flying over Stegen am Ammersee as well.

Methinks different parts of it would probably be over Stegen and Schondorf at the same instant.

The 380 and 747 have now moved on to simulated landings/takeoffs from Oberpfaffenhofen it seems since now when I see them, they are literally only 40 meters off the ground, recockulously low.

Simulated landings cost a lot less than real ones. No tire wear, no shaking, no stress to the gear, less fuel used, etc. Since these tests are for noise, they're being down to the minimum height the planes would be at over populated areas surrounding airports.

woof.

amazing to watch them so closely...darn my handy camera is just not good enough despite it being so near...I wish I had known about this before so I could have brought my proper camera

That picture is definitely a 747 and not the Airbus