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Colleen & Tom's Explorations
Up early this morning and on the road to Toulouse.
First stop was the Airbus factory. We had booked and paid online for a tour done in English, as had a lot of other people for whom English was not the first language. We began the tour in the telemetry room and were shown a film of the first test flight of the Airbus A380 in 2005. The pilots were wearing helmets and parachutes. They also showed us the testing the aircraft has to go through so they can see how it responds, landing in the depths of winter in Canada, in summer in Abu Dhabi, going through puddles of water on the runway, etc etc. When the guide asked our coach load of people, Tom and I were the only people there who had flown on the A380.
The A380 costs 400 million dollars to buy in its standard format, and Emirates have ordered 90 (Air France have ordered 12). They have 2-3 years wait time between ordering and delivery, but they can assemble them in 2-3 weeks. Airbus is a joint venture of the UK, Spain, France and Germany with different parts manufactured in each of those countries but assembled in Toulouse.
After the telemetry room we were bussed over to the assembly plant and taken to an enclosed viewing platform where we were told that we were in the largest airplane assembly hangar in the world. We were shown presentations of the assembly and painting of the A380. There were no planes in the bay nearest us, but the other 2 bays each held planes with Emirates tails. No photos allowed, of course. When we were taken outside the parked planes nearby were pointed out to us - the Concorde, an A300 and some small plane(?). Also there was a "Super Guppy", a plane designed for the transport of A380 parts but now replaced by the Beluga. She also pointed out the buildings where they assemble the A320, A330 and A350. They have 700 hectares and employ 20,000 people in Toulouse alone.
After that we were taken to a mock-up of a partial cabin. We thought we'd see 1st class, but no. I think it was just premium economy and economy. Apparently some of the Emirates planes are having small pools put in them.
After that we were set free in the souvenir shop, which wasn't terribly inspiring. Sorry Pete, I got to the checkout and realised you don't actually have a parking space for any of their aircraft, so I had to put it back!
After finishing at that end of Blagnac airport, we returned to our car hire people down in the public part of the airport and swapped our huge Citroen C4 for a Citroen DS3. Much more compact - Tom is happier - it's petrol, as opposed to the diesel which he found quite irritating, and semiautomatic. Oh, and it's brand new.
We returned home to Caunes (1 1/2 hours away) stopping at Carcassone to top up on some groceries. Tom was pleased to get back - he's coming down with another head cold. The road is lovely when paralleled by the Canal du Midi - but more about that next week.
So we are now relaxing with our glass of muscat, some cheese, fig and nut paste and olives, listening to the bells of the abbey as they peel out on the hour, before I cook us some dinner.
First stop was the Airbus factory. We had booked and paid online for a tour done in English, as had a lot of other people for whom English was not the first language. We began the tour in the telemetry room and were shown a film of the first test flight of the Airbus A380 in 2005. The pilots were wearing helmets and parachutes. They also showed us the testing the aircraft has to go through so they can see how it responds, landing in the depths of winter in Canada, in summer in Abu Dhabi, going through puddles of water on the runway, etc etc. When the guide asked our coach load of people, Tom and I were the only people there who had flown on the A380.
The A380 costs 400 million dollars to buy in its standard format, and Emirates have ordered 90 (Air France have ordered 12). They have 2-3 years wait time between ordering and delivery, but they can assemble them in 2-3 weeks. Airbus is a joint venture of the UK, Spain, France and Germany with different parts manufactured in each of those countries but assembled in Toulouse.
After the telemetry room we were bussed over to the assembly plant and taken to an enclosed viewing platform where we were told that we were in the largest airplane assembly hangar in the world. We were shown presentations of the assembly and painting of the A380. There were no planes in the bay nearest us, but the other 2 bays each held planes with Emirates tails. No photos allowed, of course. When we were taken outside the parked planes nearby were pointed out to us - the Concorde, an A300 and some small plane(?). Also there was a "Super Guppy", a plane designed for the transport of A380 parts but now replaced by the Beluga. She also pointed out the buildings where they assemble the A320, A330 and A350. They have 700 hectares and employ 20,000 people in Toulouse alone.
After that we were taken to a mock-up of a partial cabin. We thought we'd see 1st class, but no. I think it was just premium economy and economy. Apparently some of the Emirates planes are having small pools put in them.
After that we were set free in the souvenir shop, which wasn't terribly inspiring. Sorry Pete, I got to the checkout and realised you don't actually have a parking space for any of their aircraft, so I had to put it back!
After finishing at that end of Blagnac airport, we returned to our car hire people down in the public part of the airport and swapped our huge Citroen C4 for a Citroen DS3. Much more compact - Tom is happier - it's petrol, as opposed to the diesel which he found quite irritating, and semiautomatic. Oh, and it's brand new.
We returned home to Caunes (1 1/2 hours away) stopping at Carcassone to top up on some groceries. Tom was pleased to get back - he's coming down with another head cold. The road is lovely when paralleled by the Canal du Midi - but more about that next week.
So we are now relaxing with our glass of muscat, some cheese, fig and nut paste and olives, listening to the bells of the abbey as they peel out on the hour, before I cook us some dinner.
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