Airbus' whale-sized plane made an oversized maiden flight
That's not a bird or a plane, it's a ... whale.
This is what it looks like when a massive oversized plane takes to the sky: Airbus' aptly named BelugaXL plane took off on a test flight Thursday morning at the Toulouse-Blagnac Airport in France.
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The 4-hour, 11-minute flight, which took place with three crew members aboard, was the BelugaXL's first flight before it takes off in 2019 to transport large aircraft parts to assembly lines in France and Germany. Crew members on the ground helped to make sure the test flight went smoothly after dozens of ground tests before Thursday's flight.
Five of these giant planes will be built over the next five years and will replace five of the older version, the BelugaST. The new craft has Rolls Royce Trent 700 engines and a lowered cockpit. Its cargo hold is one of the largest ever on a civilian or military craft.
The massive craft is the length of two whales and can carry up to 51 tons. Playing along with the whale theme, the nose of the plane is designed to look like — you guessed it! — a whale.
The craft will fly from different production sites in Europe to make sure Airbus keeps up with its plane production.
When whales fly. But really.
Sasha is a news writer at Mashable's San Francisco office. She's an SF native who went to UC Davis and later received her master's from the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. She's been reporting out of her hometown over the years at Bay City News (news wire), SFGate (the San Francisco Chronicle website), and even made it out of California to write for the Chicago Tribune. She's been described as a bookworm and a gym rat.
