USAToday:
The airplane is one that turns heads.
Aviation enthusiasts instinctively know it is the “Beluga,” a nickname stemming from the aircraft’s uncanny resemblance to the whale of the same name.
But nearly all who see it tend to agree that regardless of its name, it’s one of the world’s strangest-looking aircraft.
I have a fascination and appreciation for the magic of flight and those crafts that are able to achieve it but this thing? Sorry. It’s one butt ugly airplane.
Apple needs to buy a fleet of these to get their iPhones to China!
IT reminds me of the Pregnant Guppy plane that used to carry – I believe – the Saturn V rockets that took us to the moon.
It’s not ugly. It’s a plane that carries bits of other planes https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fc/F-GSTB_-2_Airbus_A.300B4-608ST_Beluga_Airbus%288634655670%29.jpg. That’s awesome.
It looks like it was designed to appear in the 1994 Batman animated series, alongside all those odd Art-Deco vehicles.
Airbus’ response to AMC’s Pacer/Gremlin
Ugly though it may be, it would carry a LOT of iPhones.
Sorry Shawn, it wasn´t built to appeal to your gousto.
As the article discribes, it´s a transportation plane. Because Airbus builds their aircrafts in the two cities: Toulouse (France) and Hamburg – wehre I live (Germany), it has to transport parts of the aircrafts bodies between those cities. As I live not so far from Hamburg Airport (which sucks somtimes), I can regularly see the Beluga floating down. It´s gigantic.
From the article, you linked:
“The plane is used by European jetmaker Airbus to ferry aircraft and extra-large cargo. It’s especially useful for the company in moving large plane parts from its production facilities to its assembly lines.
The Airbus Beluga, also known as the A300-600ST Super Transporter, was developed to carry complete sections of Airbus aircraft from different production sites around Europe to the final assembly lines in Toulouse, France, and Hamburg. Airbus
The Beluga is capable of holding the wings of an A340 widebody. It also is capable of transporting the fuselage section of Airbus’ newest widebody jet, the A350.
Such oversized parts would otherwise be difficult or impossible to fit into typical transport aircraft.
Airbus also offers Belugas to third parties on a charter basis via the company’s transport subsidiary.”
“Sorry Shawn, it wasn´t built to appeal to your gousto”
I’m pretty sure I didn’t say I expected it to be. I was simply offering an opinion.
I know you did. It was a tongue in cheek remark. Please take it with a smile. 😉