The whale of the skies!
Take-off for new Airbus cargo plane that looks like giant beluga
IT’S not hard to fathom how this new aircraft got its name.
Airbus’s Beluga XL looks just like a beluga whale – especially after it has had the face painted on.
The cargo plane, nicknamed the ‘whale in the sky’, looks as though it might struggle to get off the ground. But it completed its maiden flight yesterday morning to applause from a crowd of more than 10,000 at Toulouse Airport in France.
Shortly before take-off, Airbus jokingly tweeted: ‘Whale, whale, whale… That’s a lovely day for a maiden flight, don’t you think?’ Following the Beluga XL’s safe landing they stretched the pun even further, adding: ‘Whale done!’ and ‘Whalecome back!’
Weighing 125 tons – the equivalent of nearly 90 adult beluga whales – the new model is 20ft longer and 3ft wider than the Beluga ST it is replacing and has 30 per cent extra capacity.
Space has been created in the ‘ bubble section’ and lowered cockpit, giving the plane its unique appearance. Airbus staff voted for a whale’s mouth and eyes to be painted on the front a nod to its marine inspiration.
The XL, the first of five that will come into service, will transport major aircraft components from the factories where they are built to assembly lines in Germany, France and China. It will fly wings for the new A350 from Broughton in North Wales, where they are made, to Airbus HQ in Toulouse for assembly.