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Home | Update | LATEST ISSUE | Gallery | FR Profile | Datafiles | FR 3/98 AIRBUS "BELUGA" - THE WORLDS MOST VOLUMINOUS TRANSPORT by Norbert Burgner Since October 1996 four A300-600ST "Beluga" connect the Airbus production plants in Germany, France, Great Britain and Spain. The biggest transporters in the world, as far as their cargo-volume is concerned, form the logical backbone of the European plane building consortium. The "white whales" transport cockpits, fuselage sections, wings and tail units to the final assembly centres of the Airbus in Hamburg and Toulouse. What might sound like a scene from a fairy tale is an every day occurrence in the skies above Europe. Four type A300-600ST high capacity air transporters guarantee supply to the European plane building consortium. Whether we are dealing with components for the A320-family or the 42 ton wing pairs of the A330/340 wide bodies or the rear fuselage section of the A300-600 airline-version which is 4.6 meters in diameter and 22 meters long, the "Beluga" which derives its name from its unusual shape, swallows these goods in one piece. This was the exact reason for its development. In the early stages of Airbus industries, big components were transported by road, however, since 1972 four "Super Guppies" have been commuting between the AI plants. The transporters which are powered by four Allison-501 propeller turbines, were derived from the Boeing model B-377, known also as Stratocruiser. The transporters were refurbished in California by Aero Spacelines Incorporated in Santa Barbara and were used predominantly in the 60's and 70's by various NASA space flight programs to transport unwieldy rocket components. The name "Guppy" originates from the animal kingdom and describes a tropical fish that carries its young in its belly. Through the growth of Airbus Industries and the rising production rates, the Guppies eventually arrived at the limit of their capacity. Furthermore the planes were getting older and the maintenance costs were rising accordingly. Since using the Super Guppies became uneconomical the two biggest airbus partners Dasa and Aérospatiale formed the Special Aircraft Transport International Company (SATIC) in October 1991 with the task to develop a successor. The development engineers used the twin jet propelled Airbus-wide-body A300-600R as a base for the new super transporter. The SATIC version has the lower half of the fuselage, the wings, the propulsion, the landing gear and the cockpit in common. In order to achieve the necessary freight volume, the upper fuselage was severed at floor height and replaced by the characteristic and bulkier horseshoe structure. In order to make unhindered loading and unloading of the most bulky components possible, the cockpit was transferred below floor level. Thus the plane's giant loading hatch could be accommodated. The hatch, which is approximately 100 square meters and 17.3 meters high when open, is roughly the height of a five storey building. The radius of the upper fuselage measures 3.7 meters, the diameter of the fuselage that can be used for cargo is 7.4 meters and the floor width is 5.43 meters. The length of the freight space is 37.7 meters. All these data secure a volume of 1400 cubic meters, which make the Beluga, as far as the volume is concerned, the worlds biggest transporter. To make this giant stable around the pitch and yaw axis the horizontal tail was strengthened and the vertical tail was attached higher. In order to improve the effectiveness of the fin additional stabilizers were added to the tail unit. Compared with the Super Guppies the A300-600ST offers an increase of around 30 percent in cargo volume, and the payload is doubled from 24.1 tons to 45.5 tons. The appropriate name was supposed to illustrate this difference in size, and as the first two planes were painted white, apart from the tail, Beluga seemed to be a fitting name. In September 1992 construction began on the "white whales". As well as the French subcontractors Latécoere, Sogerma-Socea Rochefort, Hurel Dubois and Socata, the Spanish Airbus partner Casa and the Dasa daughter Elbe Flugzeugwerke in Dresden were involved. The maiden flight on September 13th 1994 initiated the test flight program. In September 1995 certification was awarded after 335 test hours flown during the testprogram. The second Beluga was airborn on March 26th 1996 and the third followed on April 21st 1997. In February of last year final assembly of the fourth A300-600ST was started with hand-over planned for June. Dispatch took 2-3 hours with the Guppy, this was reduced to 45 minutes with the Beluga. It took a Guppy 54 hours to ferry big components for assembly of an Airbus, the white whales manage it in only 19 hours. The Airbus partners are able to save two thirds in transport costs, because the Belugas run far more economically. However, not only the Airbus enterprise should profit from this. With their enormous diameter of their upper fuselage these transporters could also carry satellites, up to three complete GE90-engines or the first stage of the European launch system Ariane. However, business with third party customers has not been as successful as the SATIC management would have liked. Early in September 1995 the former SAIC president Udo Dräger explained during the "9th International Airfreight Convention" in Frankfurt where a Beluga demonstrated its capabilities by transporting two Sikorsky CH-53 helicopters from Larnaka Cyprus: "We can forsee for our product marketing opportunities in various civil aviation areas for between 15 to 20 aircraft". Up to now not much has come of it. On 24 November 1996 a Beluga was used to transport a 40 ton section of the international space station Alpha, the only commercial and profitable use so far. Despite this Dräger still has ambitious plans. Towards the end of last year, even a short time before he was due to retire from his SATIC job, the former MBB-plant director planned to attack the established cargo-types like the Boeing MD-11 and Boeing 747 with front-loading Versions of the A340. And in case the mega liner A3XX was to be developed, a "Mega-Beluga" based on the four-engined A340 should be created - with twice the freight capacity of the actual model. However, because of the necessary "modifications" and the resulting aerodynamic compromise, the range of these aircraft would be very much restricted. It remains to be seen whether the anticipated maximum range of 3000 nautical miles (5,556km) will excite international cargo carriers like FedEx or UPS. Dräger claimed that potential customers had identified a need for up to 100 planes in the wide-body freight category - a similarly reliable prognosis as for the current models? The question remains as to whether the Airbus partners would have had the will and indeed the finances, to support the high ambitions of the former SATIC boss. Considering the actual challenges the consortium is faced with doubts are justified. Daimler-Benz-manager Heinz Holger Hahn, who succeeded Dräger, was not prepared to comment on this topic. All this does not concern today's "white wales". They fly, - between Hamburg, St. Nazaire, Madrid, Chester and Toulouse - almost(!) like a scene from a fairy tale. From page 12 of FLUG REVUE 3/98 Home | Update | LATEST ISSUE | Gallery | FR Profile | Datafiles | FR 3/98 Copyright 1998 by Motor-Presse Stuttgart. All rights reserved. Last updated February 5, 1998 FLUG REVUE, Ubierstr. 83, 53173 Bonn, Germany