A380 Diverts to MUC

Kinda interesting, ut worse case senario is could land at a military base as well. Even then there aren't many good emergency fields to go into. Maybe they will have to have a larger crew which incorperates emergeny medical personel, or even start requiring their FAs to be nurses again.
 
Clearly more regulation is needed. The odds that you're going to have a critical medical event in the 12 hours you're on the airplane are already astronomically high. Add to that the difference between diverting for an hour vs. diverting for TWO hours and you have A HOLOCAUST READY TO HAPPEN. I'm forwarding this to Dateline NBC. :rolleyes:

And yeah. I think the airline industry is going to be turned on its head by Joe Sixpack refusing to fly an airline because he might have to ride on the FLYING COFFIN or the DEATHBUS.
 
What special equipment does an A380 need other than a set of stairs just like any other large airliner??? It seems like a fishing exercise to me more than anything. Also in an emergency that requires evac surely they don't need anything other than what is available at most major airports.
 
What special equipment does an A380 need other than a set of stairs just like any other large airliner??? It seems like a fishing exercise to me more than anything. Also in an emergency that requires evac surely they don't need anything other than what is available at most major airports.

You are correct. The A380 can land at any runway a 747 could, it's the taxiways that could pose a problem. However there are ways to make it work. The only special requirement for an A380 to land at say SAT, would be for them to shut down #1 & #4, and have some ops vehicles to wingwalk.

Deplaneing out of one set of stairs would take forever, however.
 
But if they needed to get off quickly say in an emergency they wouldn't worry about the stairs. Surely worrying about getting it off the runway would be the last thing on the crews mind if there ass is on fire it just seems like worrying for the sake of it. If it needs to be put down somewhere they'll put it down.
 
I've heard of medical emergencies for old or obese people having a heart attack, but what in the world could make a 9yr old girl critically ill on an airplane unless she was already very sick when she got on?
 
Clearly more regulation is needed. The odds that you're going to have a critical medical event in the 12 hours you're on the airplane are already astronomically high. Add to that the difference between diverting for an hour vs. diverting for TWO hours and you have A HOLOCAUST READY TO HAPPEN. I'm forwarding this to Dateline NBC. :rolleyes:

And yeah. I think the airline industry is going to be turned on its head by Joe Sixpack refusing to fly an airline because he might have to ride on the FLYING COFFIN or the DEATHBUS.

:yup:
 
I've heard of medical emergencies for old or obese people having a heart attack, but what in the world could make a 9yr old girl critically ill on an airplane unless she was already very sick when she got on?

Exactly what I was thinking.
 
Clearly more regulation is needed. The odds that you're going to have a critical medical event in the 12 hours you're on the airplane are already astronomically high. Add to that the difference between diverting for an hour vs. diverting for TWO hours and you have A HOLOCAUST READY TO HAPPEN. I'm forwarding this to Dateline NBC. :rolleyes:

Say hello to EMOPS: Extended Medical Operational Performance Standards!!! :laff:
 
What special equipment does an A380 need other than a set of stairs just like any other large airliner??? It seems like a fishing exercise to me more than anything. Also in an emergency that requires evac surely they don't need anything other than what is available at most major airports.

my thoughts exactly
 
Rest easy, America. Joe Sixpack will ride an angry Rhino on Pol-Pot airways if it saves him ten cents. Tempest in a Teapot.
 
It’s a big story here…she died of dehydration.

As for the airports, some had to strengthen runways to accommodate the A380’s weight amongst other things. There are only 200 airports in the world that can handle the 747 but there are even less that can handle the A380 and that’s based on weight not the length of the runway.
 
It’s a big story here…she died of dehydration.

As for the airports, some had to strengthen runways to accommodate the A380’s weight amongst other things. There are only 200 airports in the world that can handle the 747 but there are even less that can handle the A380 and that’s based on weight not the length of the runway.

My understanding is that the A380 has a lower weight footprint than a 747 due to the design of the landing gear, despite the fact that it is actually heavier. The "weight per tire" is less. Also, there is huge difference between routine heavy aircraft ops creating wear and tear on pavement, compared to once in a blue moon landing by a big aircraft. There are a lot more than 200 airports worldwide that a 747, 777, or A380 can possibly land at.

The "problems" with the A380 operating out of an airport are the taxiway widths, and the infastructure to deal with massive amounts of people on a routine basis. An A380 could land in Hono Texas any time it needed to. However it would take hours to unload the airplane with one set of stairs, and no K loader.

In other words, in an emergency the A380 has plenty of options to make an emergency landing. However the PITA factor would be huge at some airports.
 
This is an excellent discussion and one that will need to be clearly thought out as more and more "Super" aircraft are placed in service.

To answer some of the questions the Emirates ultra long haul aircraft are equipped with the latest in airborne medical equipment. In addition to the Defibrilators and Enhanced Emergency Medical Kits they will have the Tempest system which when hooked up to a patient will provide real time telemetry on patient vital signs to the doctors on the ground at Medlink in Phoenix, AZ.

A380s are restricted from many airports because of regulatory requirements for fire fighting capability, runway strentgh, taxiway strength, taxiway width, apron parking, and other reasons. The wingspan is 15 meters longer than a 747, but it's length is only slightly longer. So the wingspan is the biggest issue along with fire fighting requirements.

It's not just a question of the size of the aircraft as the issue of inflight diversions for any ultra long haul aircraft can be similar. When flying polar routes and other long sectors across the south Indian Ocean it's quite easy to be over 3 hours away from the nearest airport. Even in an A340/A330/B767 over the polar routes in the winter it's unlikely that you would want to set down at Yellowknife or Iqaluit just becuase someone has had a heart attack. The risk to the remaining passengers could be too great.

This was a sad and tragic event for the little girl and her family. I have no idea of the details on her sickness, but I do know the crew did the best job possible to get the aircraft on the ground as quickly as they could given the limitations of the A380.

Yesterday I returned from JFK. Halfway across the Atlantic a passenger started having some serious issues. With a well trained crew and the assistance of Medlink doctors we were able to stabilize the passenger and continue the flight to destination. It was stressful for the crew; the passengers around the sick individual, myself, and for the family of the sick passenger.

My personal opinion is that known sick passnegers should not be allowed on any ultra long haul flight. Air travel is just too stressful and the potential for serious inconvenience to the majority of the passnegers due to an airline accepting them far outweight any negative consequences of excluding these type of passengers.

Education of the public needs to occur so that marginal passengers avoid ultra long haul, especially in economy class. Taking two shorter flights with a day's rest in between is less stressful on the body. Also marginal passengers should avoid the aircraft with major landing field limitations as they could very easily be at a much longer diversion time than smaller type aircraft.



Typhoonpilot
 
You are correct. The A380 can land at any runway a 747 could, it's the taxiways that could pose a problem. However there are ways to make it work. The only special requirement for an A380 to land at say SAT, would be for them to shut down #1 & #4, and have some ops vehicles to wingwalk.

Deplaneing out of one set of stairs would take forever, however.

landing is only half the battle. how many people and how much fuel do you think they'll be able to load and still be able to take off at SAT. I wonder how many buses it would take to move all the PAX to AUS/IAH while they ferry the plane somewhere it can take off fully loaded :)

CAL pulled the same issue a year or so ago, 737 diverted to CLL when the long runway was closed. Not sure what happened in the end but i know the pax didnt leave on that plane.
 
landing is only half the battle. how many people and how much fuel do you think they'll be able to load and still be able to take off at SAT. I wonder how many buses it would take to move all the PAX to AUS/IAH while they ferry the plane somewhere it can take off fully loaded :)

Exactly, that is why you won't ever see an A380 schedulaed to fly into SAT. However in an emergency they could land there if they absolutely needed to. Again, it would be a royal PITA, but it could be safely done.

Actually, with 8500 ft, they could probably carry all the pax and cargo with a reduced fuel load. Enough to make it to IAH, or DFW. I've seen loaded 747s take off out of SAT several times.
 
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