title: Holmenkollbakken content: and the off-run was . The new hill has a hill size of 134 meteres and K-spot of 120 meteres. The steepest part of the landings slope is 35.7 degrees, which is from the take-off. The angle at the hill size point is 30.8 degrees, while the width of the landing slope is . The in-run, built of steel, is long, which is 36 degrees at the steepest. The take-off is tall. The height distance from take-off to the K-point is . The grandstands are made of steel and concrete, and include VIP facilities. It is the only hill in


title: Holmenkollbakken content: the world with a permanent wind screen built as part of the designed construction, and the only steel jump in the world. The hill is above mean sea level. The venue is owned by Oslo Municipality and operated by the Association for the Promotion of Skiing. Transport is based on that no spectators will use private cars to the venue. Instead, all spectators must use the Holmenkollen Line of the Oslo Metro. Holmenkollen Station is located within walking distance of the large hill and cross-country stadium. Holmenkollen Station is the only one the line with platforms long enough for six


title: Holmenkollbakken content: cars, which allows a capacity of 9,000 people per hour. In 1896 the cross-country part of Nordic combined was cancelled and ski jumping counted as final result. Ski jumping events listed only: The Holmenkollen Ski Festival is an annual Nordic skiing event which takes places at Holmenkollen. Until 1932, jumping was part of Nordic combined, and the events were completely dominated by Norwegians. In 1903, Oslo hosted its only version of the Nordic Games, dubbed the Winter Sports Week. Regarded as the precursor of the Winter Olympics, the event featured among other things ski jumping in Holmenkollbakken. The Ski Festival


title: Holmenkollbakken content: was first held on a Sunday in 1926. Starting in 1933, there was a pure ski jumping competition, which made it easier for foreign jumping specialists to compete for the top positions. Originally, the style scores were secret, creating public discussions about the fairness of judges in even races. This was changed in 1951, when the style scores started being announced over the PA system. The Holmenkollen Ski Festival has been regarded as the "de facto" World Championships prior to the 1924 Winter Olympics. The Norwegian Ski Federation had been an opponent of establishing World Championships and Winter Olympics because


title: Holmenkollbakken content: they felt it would take away the prestige of the Ski Festival. Oslo was awarded the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 1930; with exception of Sweden's Erik Rylandet who finished fifth, Norway had the top ten positions. Holmenkollen was the venue of the Nordic skiing during the 1952 Winter Olympics. Two events were held at Holmenkollbakken: ski jumping and the jumping part of Nordic combined. The exact number of people attending the ski jumping event on 24 February is not known, but it somewhere between 120,000 and 150,000, with the official report stating 143,000. The event was won by Arnfinn


title: Holmenkollbakken content: Bergmann ahead of Torbjørn Falkanger, both from Norway, and Karl Holmström of Sweden. The next World Championship was held in 1966. By then both normal and large hill competitions had been introduced, and the normal hill competition would be held at Midtstubakken, as they would later also be done in 1982 and 2011. The 1966 large hill competition was won by Norway's Bjørn Wirkola, while the 1982 event was won by Matti Nykänen of Finland. From the 1979–80 season, FIS introduced the Ski Jumping World Cup. The FIS Nordic Combined World Cup was first held in the 1983–84 season. By


title: Holmenkollbakken content: 1990, a conflict had arisen between the ski jumpers and the International Ski Federation. On the day of the Ski Festival, the jumpers collectively demanded NOK 150,000 in increased prize money, or threatened to not jump. It was stated that the money would be used for charity, such as resurrecting Romanian ski jumping. The demand was rejected by the organizers, who stated that they would have to disqualify the jumpers, as they would be regarded as professionals, rather than amateurs. Since 1997, the World Cup jumps in Holmenkollen have been part of the Nordic Tournament, which includes four successive jumps


title: Holmenkollbakken content: in four Norwegian, Swedish and Finnish ski jumps, inspired by the Four Hills Tournament. During summer, the old hill had a lake, which made it possible to use the amphitheater for concerts, plays and entertainment. The venue was then often referred to as Sommerkollen. From 1963, a temporary, small in-run was built down the southern grandstand, which allowed skiers and divers to make a jump and land in the water. Between 1963 and 1983, a competition was held nine times. Starting in 1983 was "Ta sjansen", which was televised annually by the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation and became Sommerkollen's most popular


title: Holmenkollbakken content: show. It was an informal competition with two main events: one where a home-made craft was to first slide down a short in-run and then slide along the water surface to hit a mounted bell in the shortest possible time. The other was a cycling competition where the cyclist had to complete a track on a wobbly floating wharf. Holmenkollbakken Holmenkollbakken is a large ski jumping hill located at Holmenkollen in Oslo, Norway. It has a hill size of HS134, a construction point of K-120, and a capacity for 70,000 spectators. Holmenkollen has hosted the Holmenkollen Ski Festival since 1892,


title: Holstein content: Holstein Holstein (; ; ; Latin and historical ) is the region between the rivers Elbe and Eider. It is the southern half of Schleswig-Holstein, the northernmost state of Germany. Holstein once existed as the German County of Holstein (; 811–1474), the later Duchy of Holstein (; 1474–1866), and was the northernmost territory of the Holy Roman Empire. The history of Holstein is closely intertwined with the history of the Danish Duchy of Schleswig (). The capital of Holstein is Kiel. Holstein's name comes from the Holcetae, a Saxon tribe mentioned by Adam of Bremen as living on the north


title: Holstein content: bank of the Elbe, to the west of Hamburg. The name means "dwellers in the wood" (Northern Low Saxon: ; ). After the Migration Period of the Early Middle Ages, Holstein was adjacent to the Obotrites on the coast of the Baltic Sea and the land of the Danes in Jutland. With the conquest of Old Saxony by Charlemagne "circa" 800, he granted the land north of the Eider River (Schleswig) to the Danes by the Treaty of Heiligen signed in 811. The ownership of what would late become eastern Holstein (districts of Plön and Ostholstein) was given to the


title: Holstein content: Obotrites, namely the Wagrians, and the Saxon elite was deported to various areas of the empire. After 814, however,the Saxons were restored to Western Holstein. The Wagrians were pushed out of the Limes Saxoniae - the new border running from the Elbe River near Boizenburg northwards along the Bille River to the mouth of the Schwentine at the Kiel Fjord and the Baltic Sea. For the following 300 years, Holstein continued to be a part of Saxony. The new county of Holstein was established in 1111; it was first a fief of the Duchy of Saxony, then of the Duchy


title: Holstein content: of Saxe-Lauenburg, and finally of the Prince-Bishopric of Lübeck. With the establishment of the new territorial unit, expansion to the East began and the Wagrians were finally defeated in 1138. The County of Holstein was ruled by the House of Schaumburg; the first count was Adolf I, Count of Holstein. Holstein was temporarily occupied by Denmark after the Battle of Stellau (1201), but was reconquered by the Count of Schauenburg and his allies in the Battle of Bornhöved (1227). The Counts of Schauenburg and Holstein partitioned Holstein several times among the inheriting sons into up to six lines, named after


title: Holstein content: their towns of residence: In 1386 King Oluf II of Denmark and his mother-regent, Queen Margaret I, enfeoffed in Nyborg Gerhard VI, Count of Holstein-Rendsburg and his cognatic successors with the Duchy of Schleswig. He thus became as Gerhard II duke of Schleswig. Until 1390 the Rendsburg branch united by inheritance all branches except of that of Holstein-Pinneberg. When the Holstein-Rendsburg line of the Schauenburg counts became extinct with the death of Adolf VIII of Holstein-Rendsburg (and in personal union as Adolf I Duke of Schleswig) in 1459, Christian I of Denmark inherited – from his maternal uncle Adolf I


title: Holstein content: – the Duchy of Schleswig, a Danish fief. Through the Treaty of Ribe (1460) Christian was elected Count of Holstein-Rendsburg, then still a Saxe-Lauenburgian subfief within the Holy Roman Empire. In 1474 Lauenburg's liege lord, the German Emperor Frederick III, elevated Christian I as Count of Holstein-Rendsburg to Duke of Holstein, thus becoming an immediate imperial ("reichsunmittelbar") vassal (see imperial immediacy). The Duchy of Holstein retained that status until the dissolution of the Empire in 1806. In 1490, the Duchy of Holstein was divided into Holstein-Segeberg and Holstein-Gottorp. Holstein-Segeberg remained with the Danish king and was also known as Royal


title: Holstein content: Holstein; later it came to be known as Holstein-Glückstadt. Holstein-Gottorp, also known as Ducal Holstein, was given to a cadet branch of the House of Oldenburg, to which the kings of Denmark belonged. Between 1533 and 1544 King Christian III of Denmark ruled the entire Duchies of Holstein and of Schleswig also in the name of his then still minor half-brothers John the Elder and Adolf. In 1544 they partitioned the Duchies of Holstein (a fief of the Holy Roman Empire) and of Schleswig (a Danish fief) in an unusual way, following negotiations between the brothers and the Estates of


title: Holstein content: the Realm of the duchies, which had constituted in 1460 by the Treaty of Ribe and strictly opposed a factual partition. The elder three brothers determined their youngest brother Frederick for a career as Lutheran administrator of an ecclesiastical state within the Holy Roman Empire. So the revenues of the duchies were divided in three equal shares by assigning the revenues of particular areas and landed estates to each of the elder brothers, while other general revenues, such as taxes from towns and customs dues, were levied together but then shared among the brothers. The estates, whose revenues were assigned


title: Holstein content: to the parties, made Holstein and Schleswig look like patchworks, technically inhibiting the emergence of separate new duchies, as intended by the estates of the duchies. The secular rule in the fiscally divided duchies thus became a condominium of the parties. As dukes of Holstein and Schleswig the rulers of both houses bore the formal title of "Duke of Schleswig, Holstein, Ditmarsh and Stormarn". The three shares are usually called: The dynastic name Holstein-Gottorp comes as convenient usage from the technically more correct Duke of Schleswig and Holstein at Gottorp. Adolf, the third son of Duke and King Frederick I


title: Holstein content: and the second youngest half-brother of King Christian III, founded the dynastic branch called House of Holstein-Gottorp, which is a cadet branch of the then royal Danish House of Oldenburg. The Danish monarchs and the Dukes of Holstein-Gottorp ruled both duchies together as to general government, however, collected their revenues in their separate estates. John the Elder conveniently called Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Haderslev produced no issue, so no branch emerged from his side. Similar to the above-mentioned agreement Christian III's youngest son John the Younger gained for him and his heirs a share in Holstein's and Schleswig's revenues in 1564, comprising


title: Holstein content: a third of the royal share, thus a ninth of Holstein and Schleswig as to the fiscal point of view. John the Younger and his heirs, however, had no share in the condominial rule, so they were not ruling but mere titular dukes. The share of John the Elder, who died in 1581, was halved between Adolf and Frederick II, thus increasing again the royal share by a fiscal sixth of Holstein and Schleswig. As an effect the complicated fiscal division of both separate duchies, Holstein and Schleswig, with shares of each party scattered in both duchies, provided them with


title: Holstein content: a condominial government binding both together, partially superseding their legally different affiliation as Holy Roman and Danish fiefs. The County of Holstein-Pinneberg, which had remained a separately ruled territory in Holstein until its line was extinct in 1640, was merged into the then royal share of the Duchy of Holstein. The Duke of Holstein-Gottorp became emperor of Russia in 1762 as Peter III and was planning an attack on Denmark to recover the Holstein-Gottorp lands possessions in Schleswig, which were seized by the Danish king in 1713. Although Peter was soon overthrown by his wife, Catherine the Great, the Danes


title: Holstein content: determined to rid themselves of this problem. In 1773, they exchanged the County of Oldenburg for the Gottorp lands in Holstein, bringing all of Holstein under their control. Thus, Holstein was again united in one state. The territory of Holstein was enlarged by the conquest of the independent Republic of Dithmarschen in 1559, which was divided among the three ducal houses. After 1581 the southern part remained to the Danish Crown, the northern part was ruled by the House of Gottorp until 1773. With the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806 Holstein's imperial vassal status turned void. It


title: Holstein content: thus became a sovereign state. Because of its personal union with Denmark, the Duchy of Holstein did not come under French occupation during the Napoleonic era (however, the neighboring duchy of Lauenburg was annexed by France in 1811 and became a part of Bouches-de-l'Elbe). From 1815 to 1864 it was a member of the German Confederation, though still in personal union with Denmark (the King of Denmark being also Duke of Holstein). However, the duchies were not given to the Duke of Augustenborg. In 1865 an arrangement was worked out between Prussia and Austria where the Austrians occupied and administered


title: Holstein content: Holstein, while the Prussians did the same in Schleswig. This arrangement came to an end with the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, which resulted in Schleswig and Holstein both being incorporated into Prussia as the Province of Schleswig-Holstein. Holstein, meanwhile including former Saxe-Lauenburg (as of 1876) and the former Free and Hanseatic City of Lübeck and Region of Lübeck (both as of 1937) regained statehood, now united with Schleswig, in 1946, when the British occupation government elevated the province to the State of Schleswig-Holstein, followed by the official dissolution of Prussia in 1947. For a list of rulers, see "Counts of


title: Holstein content: Schauenburg and Holstein" and "List of rulers of Schleswig-Holstein". As of 1864, Holstein bordered Denmark in the north, the Principality of Lübeck (formerly the Prince-Bishopric of Lübeck, an exclave of the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg), the Free and Hanseatic City of Lübeck, and the Duchy of Saxe-Lauenburg in the east, and the Kingdom of Hanover and the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg in the south. It also borders the North Sea in the west and the Baltic Sea in the east. Its only major island is Fehmarn, originally a part of the Duchy of Schleswig until 1867. Cities in


title: Holstein content: Holstein included Kiel, Altona, Glückstadt, Rendsburg, Segeberg, Heiligenhafen, Oldenburg in Holstein, and Plön. It had an area of 8,385 km. Holstein Holstein (; ; ; Latin and historical ) is the region between the rivers Elbe and Eider. It is the southern half of Schleswig-Holstein, the northernmost state of Germany. Holstein once existed as the German County of Holstein (; 811–1474), the later Duchy of Holstein (; 1474–1866), and was the northernmost territory of the Holy Roman Empire. The history of Holstein is closely intertwined with the history of the Danish Duchy of Schleswig (). The capital of Holstein is


title: "London congestion charge" content: half years had been £677.4 million, with TfL reporting a surplus over operating costs of £189.7 million. The Bow Group, compiled from TfL data estimated that by 2007 the project had only returned a modest £10 million profit. Although Parliament has limited the amount that authorities can borrow, for some time it had been speculated that the regular income obtained from the congestion charge and other revenues could be used to securitise a bond issue that finances other transport projects across London. TfL issued their first bond for £200 million in 2005, to be repaid at 5% interest over 30


title: "Ulster Defence Association" content: of its own members), three were members of the security forces and 11 were republican paramilitaries. A number of these attacks were carried out with the assistance or complicity of the British Army, the RUC, or both, according to the Stevens Enquiry, although the exact number of people killed as a result of collusion has not been revealed. The preferred modus operandi of the UDA was individual killings of civilian targets in nationalist areas, rather than large-scale bomb or mortar attacks. The UDA employed various codewords whenever they claimed their attacks. These included: "The Crucible", "Titanic", "Ulster Troubles" and "Captain


title: "Santiago Metropolitan Region" content: drops below . The summer months are usually dry and hot. The Cordillera de la Costa acts as a climate screen and reduces marine influence, which makes the climate more continental. This situation becomes apparent when comparing precipitation from a coastal location such as Valparaíso (460 mm) with that of Santiago de Chile (360 mm). The annual median precipitation reaches 367 mm on average. The annual median temperature comes out to , with a median high of and a median low of in urban areas. Rural areas tend to be colder, as temperature reaches in the coldest months (July, August)


title: Takoyaki content: Takoyaki "Yaki" is derived from which is one of the cooking methods in Japanese cuisine, meaning "to fry or grill", and can be found in the names of other Japanese cuisine items such as "okonomiyaki" and "ikayaki" (other famous Osakan dishes). Takoyaki was first popularized in Osaka, where a street vendor named Tomekichi Endo is credited with its invention in 1935. Takoyaki was inspired by akashiyaki, a small round dumpling from the city of Akashi in Hyōgo Prefecture made of an egg-rich batter and octopus. Takoyaki was initially popular in the Kansai region, and later spread to the Kantō region


title: Takoyaki content: and other areas of Japan. Takoyaki is associated with "yatai" street food stalls, and there are many well-established takoyaki specialty restaurants, particularly in the Kansai region. Takoyaki is now sold at commercial outlets, such as supermarkets and 24-hour convenience stores. It is also very popular in Taiwanese cuisine due to the historical influence of Japanese culture. A or—much more rarely— is typically a griddle made of cast iron with half-spherical molds. The heavy iron evenly heats the takoyaki, which are turned with a pick during the cooking process to pull the uncooked batter to the base of the rounded cavity.


title: Takoyaki content: Commercial gas-fueled takoyaki cookers are used at Japanese festivals or by street vendors. For home use, electric versions resemble a hotplate; stovetop versions are also available. Takoyaki "Yaki" is derived from which is one of the cooking methods in Japanese cuisine, meaning "to fry or grill", and can be found in the names of other Japanese cuisine items such as "okonomiyaki" and "ikayaki" (other famous Osakan dishes). Takoyaki was first popularized in Osaka, where a street vendor named Tomekichi Endo is credited with its invention in 1935. Takoyaki was inspired by akashiyaki, a small round dumpling from the city of


title: "ITV Granada" content: labour. "World in Action" was axed in 1998 and replaced by the "Tonight" programme in 1999 but it too was criticised, but this time, for dumbing down as the "Tonight" programme is markedly less hard-hitting. Nevertheless, "Tonight" had occasionally stirred controversy like its predecessor. An example is the 2003 documentary "Living with Michael Jackson" (a "Tonight" special). Its airing resulted in the threat of legal action by Michael Jackson. The documentary gained a large audience, 15 million in the United Kingdom, and newspapers depicted Jackson in a negative light following the documentary. Jackson did not, ultimately, bring any case to


title: "Newmarket, Ontario" content: Ridges Moraine to the Rouge River and into Lake Ontario. A more widely used route ran down the western branch of the Holland River, over the moraine, and down the Humber River. In 1793, John Graves Simcoe travelled the trail, northward along the main route to the west, and south to York (now Toronto) along the lesser used eastern route though Newmarket. Selecting the eastern route as the better of the two, Simcoe started construction of Yonge Street along the former trail in late 1795, starting in York in Toronto Bay, and ending at the newly named St. Albans (Holland


title: "Michael Anthony (musician)" content: the rift that ultimately separated Hagar and Anthony from the band. Anthony spent the summer of 2006 touring as a member of The Other Half during a segment of the Sammy Hagar and the Waboritas tour. The Other Half featured Anthony and Hagar performing classic Van Halen songs from both the Roth and Hagar periods. On September 8, 2006, Eddie Van Halen announced that his son Wolfgang was replacing Anthony as Van Halen's bass player. On February 2, 2007, Van Halen announced that they were reuniting for a tour with original vocalist David Lee Roth. Their tour began on September


title: Kukri content: Kukri The kukri or khukuri ( "khukuri") is a knife, originating from the Indian subcontinent, associated with the Nepali speaking Gurkhas of Nepal and India. The knife has an inwardly curved blade, similar to a machete, used as both a tool and as a weapon in the Indian subcontinent. Traditionally, it was, and in many cases still is, the basic utility knife of the Gurkha. It is a characteristic weapon of the Nepalese Army, the Royal Gurkha Rifles of the British Army, the Assam Rifles, the Assam Regiment, the Garhwal Rifles, the Gorkha regiments of the Indian Army, and of


title: Kukri content: all Gurkha regiments throughout the world, so much so that some English-speakers refer to the weapon as a "Gurkha blade" or "Gurkha knife". The kukri often appears in Nepalese and Indian Gorkha heraldry and is used in many traditional rituals such as wedding ceremonies. The "kukri", "khukri", and "kukkri" spellings are of Indian origin, the original Nepali form being "khukuri". Researchers trace the origins of the blade back to the domestic sickle and the prehistoric bent stick used for hunting and later in hand-to-hand combat. Similar implements have existed in several forms throughout South Asia and were used both as


title: Kukri content: weapons and as tools, such as for sacrificial rituals. Burton (1884) writes that the British Museum housed a large kukri-like falchion inscribed with writing in Pali. Among the oldest existing kukri are those belonging to Drabya Shah (c. 1559), housed in the National Museum of Nepal in Kathmandu. The kukri came to be known to the Western world when the East India Company came into conflict with the growing Gorkha Kingdom, culminating in the Gurkha War of 1814–1816. It gained literary attention in the 1897 novel "Dracula" by Irish author Bram Stoker. Despite the popular image of Dracula having a


title: Kukri content: stake driven through his heart at the conclusion of a climactic battle between Dracula's bodyguards and the heroes, Mina's narrative describes his throat being sliced through by Jonathan Harker's kukri and his heart pierced by Quincey Morris's Bowie knife. All Gurkha troops are issued with two kukri, a Service No.1 (ceremonial) and a Service No.2 (exercise); in modern times members of the Brigade of Gurkhas receive training in its use. The weapon gained fame in the Gurkha War and its continued use through both World War I and World War II enhanced its reputation among both Allied troops and enemy


title: Kukri content: forces. Its acclaim was demonstrated in North Africa by one unit's situation report. It reads: "Enemy losses: ten killed, ours nil. Ammunition expenditure nil." Elsewhere during the Second World War, the kukri was purchased and used by other British, Commonwealth and US troops training in India, including the Chindits and Merrill's Marauders. The notion of the Gurkha with his kukri carried on through to the Falklands War. On 2 September 2010, Bishnu Shrestha, a retired Indian Army Gurkha soldier, alone and armed only with a khukri, defeated thirty bandits who attacked a passenger train he was on in India. He


title: Kukri content: was reported to have killed three of the bandits, wounded eight more and forced the rest of the band to flee. A contemporaneous report in the "Times of India", that includes an interview with Shrestha, indicates he was less successful. The kukri is designed primarily for chopping. The shape varies a great deal from being quite straight to highly curved with angled or smooth spines. There are substantial variations in dimensions and blade thickness depending on intended tasks as well as the region of origin and the smith that produced it. As a general guide the spines vary from 5–10


title: Kukri content: mm at the handle, and can taper to 2 mm by the point while the blade lengths can vary from 26–38 cm for general use. A kukri designed for general purpose is commonly 40–45 cm (16–18 in) in overall length and weighs approximately 450–900 grams (1–2 lbs). Larger examples are impractical for everyday use and are rarely found except in collections or as ceremonial weapons. Smaller ones are of more limited utility, but very easy to carry. Another factor that affects its weight and balance is the construction of the blade. To reduce weight while keeping strength the blade might


title: Kukri content: be hollow forged, or a fuller is created. Kukris are made with several different types of fuller including: "tin chira" (triple fuller), "dui chira" (double fuller), "angkhola" (single fuller), or basic non-tapered spines with a large beveled edge. Kukri blades usually have a notch ("karda", "kauda", "kaudi", "kaura", or "cho") at the base of the blade. Various reasons are given for this, both practical and ceremonial: that it makes blood and sap drop off the blade rather than running onto the handle and thereby prevent the handle from becoming slippery; that it delineates the end of the blade whilst sharpening;


title: Kukri content: that it is a symbol representing a cows' foot, or Shiva; that it can catch another blade, or kukri in combat. The notch may also represent the teats of a cow, a reminder that the kukri should not be used to kill a cow, an animal revered and worshipped by Hindus. The notch may also be used as a catch, to hold tight against a belt, or to bite onto twine to be suspended. The handles are most often made of hardwood or water buffalo horn, but ivory, bone, and metal handles have also been produced. The handle quite often


title: Kukri content: has a flared butt that allows better retention in draw cuts and chopping. Most handles have metal bolsters and butt plates which are generally made of brass or steel. The traditional handle attachment in Nepal is the partial tang, although the more modern versions have the stick tang which has become popular. The full tang is mainly used on some military models, but has not caught-on in Nepal itself. The kukri typically comes in either a decorated wooden scabbard or one which is wrapped in leather. Traditionally, the scabbard also holds two smaller blades: an unsharpened "chakmak" to burnish the


title: Kukri content: blade, and another accessory blade called a "karda". Some older style scabbards include a pouch for carrying flint or dry tinder. The Biswakarma Kami (caste) are the traditional inheritors of the art of kukri-making. Modern kukri blades are often forged from spring steel, sometimes collected from recycled truck suspension units. The tang of the blade usually extends all the way through to the end of the handle; the small portion of the tang that projects through the end of the handle is hammered flat to secure the blade. Kukri blades have a hard, tempered edge and a softer spine. This


title: Kukri content: enables them to maintain a sharp edge, yet tolerate impacts. Kukri handles, usually made from hardwood or buffalo horn, are often fastened with a kind of tree sap called "laha" (also known as "Himalayan epoxy"). With a wood or horn handle, the tang may be heated and burned into the handle to ensure a tight fit, since only the section of handle which touches the blade is burned away. In more modern kukri, handles of cast aluminium or brass are press-fitted to the tang; as the hot metal cools it shrinks, locking onto the blade. Some kukri (such as the


title: Kukri content: ones made by contractors for the modern Indian Army), have a very wide tang with handle slabs fastened on by two or more rivets, commonly called a full tang ("panawal") configuration. Traditional profiling of the blade edge is performed by a two-man team; one spins a grinding wheel forwards and backwards by means of a rope wound several times around an axle while the sharpener applies the blade. The wheel is made by hand from fine river sand bound by "laha", the same adhesive used to affix the handle to the blade. Routine sharpening is traditionally accomplished by passing a


title: Kukri content: "chakmak" over the edge in a manner similar to that used by chefs to steel their knives. Kukri scabbards are usually made of wood or metal with an animal skin or metal or wood covering. The leather work is often done by a "Sarki". The kukri is effective as a chopping weapon, due to its weight, and slashing weapon, because the curved shape creates a "wedge" effect which causes the blade to cut effectively and deeper. Because the blade bends towards the opponent, the user need not angle the wrist while executing a chopping motion. Unlike a straight-edged sword, the


title: Kukri content: center of mass combined with the angle of the blade allow the kukri to slice as it chops. The edge slides across the target's surface while the center of mass maintains momentum as the blade moves through the target's cross-section. This gives the kukri a penetrative force disproportional to its length. The design enables the user to inflict deep wounds and to penetrate bone. While most famed from use in the military, the kukri is the most commonly used multipurpose tool in the fields and homes in Nepal. Its use has varied from building, clearing, chopping firewood, digging, slaughtering animals


title: Kukri content: for food, cutting meat and vegetables, skinning animals, and opening cans. Its use as a general farm and household tool disproves the often stated "taboo" that the weapon cannot be sheathed "until it has drawn blood". The kukri is versatile. It can function as a smaller knife by using the narrower part of the blade, closest to the handle. The heavier and wider end of the blade, towards the tip, functions as an axe or a small shovel. Kukris can be broadly classified into two types: Eastern and Western. The Eastern blades are originate and named according to the towns


title: Kukri content: and villages of Eastern Nepal. The Eastern Khukuris are Angkhola Khukuri, Bhojpure Khukuri, Chainpure Khukuri, Cheetlange (Chitlange) Khukuri, Chirwa (Chiruwa) Khukuri, Dhankute Khukuri, Ganjawla Khukuri, Panawala Khukuri, Sirupate Khukuri translates as "Siru" grass leaf like. Sirupate is also known as one of Chainpure Khukuri. Khukuris made in locations like Chainpur, Bhojpur, and Dhankuta in Eastern Nepal are excellent and ornate knives. Western blades are generally more broad. Occasionally the Western style is called "Budhuna", (referring to a fish with a large head), or "baspate" (bamboo leaf) which refers to blades just outside the proportions of the normal "Sirupate" blade. Despite


title: Kukri content: the classification of Eastern and Western, both styles of kukri appear to be used in all areas of Nepal. There is Khukuri named after Gorkhali General Amar Singh Thapa called Amar Singh Thapa Khukuri. This Khukuri is modeled on the real Khukuri used by the Gorkhali General. The real Khukuri used by Amar Singh Thapa is archived at National Museum of Nepal and is more curvy in nature than other traditionals. There is a popular proverb in Nepali as follows: Kukri The kukri or khukuri ( "khukuri") is a knife, originating from the Indian subcontinent, associated with the Nepali speaking


title: "Gaëtan Dugas" content: Gaëtan Dugas Gaëtan Dugas (; February 20, 1953 – March 30, 1984), a Canadian flight attendant, was a relatively early HIV patient who once was widely regarded as "patient zero" or the primary case for AIDS in the United States; his case was later found to have been only one of many that began in the 1970s, according to a September 2016 study published in "Nature". In March 1984, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) study tracked the sexual liaisons and practices of gay and bisexual men, especially in California and New York. Dugas was code-named as "patient


title: "Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills)" content: sunshine is unlike darkness." He envisioned Forest Lawn to be "a great park devoid of misshapen monuments and other signs of earthly death, but filled with towering trees, sweeping lawns, splashing fountains, beautiful statuary, and... memorial architecture". Before it was a cemetery, Forest Lawn was a filming location used by directors such as Carl Laemmle and Cecil B. DeMille. The climactic battle scenes for D. W. Griffith's "The Birth of a Nation" were filmed there. The alternate names of the filming site are Providencia Flats, Nestor Ranch, Oak Ranch, Oak Crest Ranch, Universal Ranch/Universal City, Lasky Ranch, and Paramount Ranch


title: "Symbolic link" content: storing the link value inside the inode saves a disk block and a disk read, the operating system still needs to parse the path name in the link, which always requires reading additional inodes and generally requires reading other, and potentially many, directories, processing both the list of files and the inodes of each of them until it finds a match with the link's path components. Only when a link points to a file in the same directory do "fast symlinks" provide significantly better performance than other symlinks. The vast majority of POSIX-compliant implementations use fast symlinks. However, the POSIX


title: Oshawa content: downtown is a prominent centre for entertainment and sporting events (Regent Theatre and Tribute Communities Centre), food (50+ restaurants and cafes ) and culture (The Robert McLaughlin Gallery and Canadian Automotive Museum). Oshawa is home to a Regional Innovation Centre and offers start-up facilities for entrepreneurs and small businesses. Co-working offices are also located in the downtown. Historians believe that the area that would become Oshawa began as a transfer point for the fur trade. Beaver and other animals trapped for their pelts by local natives were traded with the Coureurs des bois (voyagers). Furs were loaded onto canoes by


title: "Himeji Castle" content: Himeji Castle Himeji Castle dates to 1333, when Akamatsu Norimura built a fort on top of Himeyama hill. The fort was dismantled and rebuilt as Himeyama Castle in 1346, and then remodeled into Himeji Castle two centuries later. Himeji Castle was then significantly remodeled in 1581 by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who added a three-story castle keep. In 1600, Tokugawa Ieyasu awarded the castle to Ikeda Terumasa for his help in the Battle of Sekigahara, and Ikeda completely rebuilt the castle from 1601 to 1609, expanding it into a large castle complex. Several buildings were later added to the castle complex by


title: "Himeji Castle" content: Honda Tadamasa from 1617 to 1618. For over 400 years, Himeji Castle has remained intact, even throughout the extensive bombing of Himeji in World War II, and natural disasters such as the 1995 Great Hanshin earthquake. Himeji Castle is the largest and most visited castle in Japan, and it was registered in 1993 as one of the first UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the country. The area within the middle moat of the castle complex is a designated Special Historic Site and five structures of the castle are also designated National Treasures. Along with Matsumoto Castle and Kumamoto Castle, Himeji


title: "Himeji Castle" content: Castle is considered one of Japan's three premier castles. In order to preserve the castle buildings, it underwent restoration work for several years and reopened to the public on March 27, 2015. The works also removed decades of dirt and grime, restoring the formerly grey roof to its original brilliant white color. Himeji Castle's construction dates to 1333, when a fort was constructed on Himeyama hill by Akamatsu Norimura, the ruler of the ancient Harima Province. In 1346, his son Sadanori demolished this fort and built Himeyama Castle in its place. In 1545, the Kuroda clan was stationed here by


title: "Himeji Castle" content: order of the Kodera clan, and feudal ruler Kuroda Shigetaka remodeled the castle into Himeji Castle, completing the work in 1561. In 1580, Kuroda Yoshitaka presented the castle to Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and in 1581 Hideyoshi significantly remodeled the castle, building a three-story keep with an area of about . Following the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600, Tokugawa Ieyasu granted Himeji Castle to his son-in-law, Ikeda Terumasa, as a reward for his help in battle. Ikeda demolished the three-story keep that had been created by Hideyoshi, and completely rebuilt and expanded the castle from 1601 to 1609, adding three moats and


title: "Himeji Castle" content: transforming it into the castle complex that is seen today. The expenditure of labor involved in this expansion is believed to have totaled 2.5 million man-days. Ikeda died in 1613, passing the castle to his son, who also died three years later. In 1617, Honda Tadamasa and his family inherited the castle, and Honda added several buildings to the castle complex, including a special tower for his daughter-in-law, . In the Meiji Period (1868 to 1912), many Japanese castles were destroyed. Himeji Castle was abandoned in 1871 and some of the castle corridors and gates were destroyed to make room


title: "Himeji Castle" content: for Japanese army barracks. The entirety of the castle complex was slated to be demolished by government policy, but it was spared by the efforts of Nakamura Shigeto, an army colonel. A stone monument honoring Nakamura was placed in the castle complex within the first gate, the . Although Himeji Castle was spared, Japanese castles had become obsolete and their preservation was costly. When the han feudal system was abolished in 1871, Himeji Castle was put up for auction. The castle was purchased by a Himeji resident for 23 Japanese yen (about 200,000 yen or US$2,258 today). The buyer wanted


title: "Himeji Castle" content: to demolish the castle complex and develop the land, but the cost of destroying the castle was estimated to be too great, and it was again spared. Himeji was heavily bombed in 1945, at the end of World War II, and although most of the surrounding area was burned to the ground, the castle survived intact. One firebomb was dropped on the top floor of the castle but failed to explode. In order to preserve the castle complex, substantial repair work was undertaken starting in 1956, with a labor expenditure of 250,000 man-days and a cost of 550 million yen.


title: "Himeji Castle" content: In January 1995, the city of Himeji was substantially damaged by the Great Hanshin earthquake, but Himeji Castle again survived virtually undamaged, demonstrating remarkable earthquake resistance. Even the bottle of sake placed on the altar at the top floor of the keep remained in place. Himeji Castle was registered on 11 December 1993 as one of the first UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Japan. Five structures of the castle are also designated National Treasures: The , , , , and . The area within the middle moat of the castle complex is a designated Special Historic Site. Along with Matsumoto


title: "Himeji Castle" content: Castle and Kumamoto Castle, Himeji Castle is considered one of Japan's three premier castles. It is the most visited castle in Japan, receiving over 2,860,000 visitors in 2015. Starting in April 2010, Himeji Castle underwent restoration work to preserve the castle buildings, and reopened to the public on March 27, 2015. Himeji Castle is the largest castle in Japan. It serves as an excellent example of prototypical Japanese castle architecture, containing many of the defensive and architectural features associated with Japanese castles. The curved walls of Himeji Castle are sometimes said to resemble giant , but the principal materials used


title: "Himeji Castle" content: in the structures are stone and wood. Feudal are installed throughout the architecture of the building, signifying the various lords that inhabited the castle throughout its history. The Himeji Castle complex is located in the centre of Himeji, Hyōgo on top of a hill called Himeyama, which is above sea level. The castle complex comprises a network of 83 buildings such as storehouses, gates, corridors, and . Of these 83 buildings, 74 are designated as Important Cultural Assets: 11 corridors, 16 turrets, 15 gates, and 32 earthen walls. The highest walls in the castle complex have a height of .


title: "Himeji Castle" content: Joining the castle complex is , a Japanese garden created in 1992 to commemorate Himeji city's 100th anniversary. From east to west, the Himeji Castle complex has a length of , and from north to south, it has a length of . The castle complex has a circumference of . It covers an area of 233 hectares (2,330,000 m or 576 acres), making it roughly 50 times as large as the Tokyo Dome or 60 times as large as Koshien Stadium. The at the center of the complex is high, standing above sea level. Together with the main keep, three


title: "Himeji Castle" content: form a cluster of towers. Externally, the keep appears to have five floors, because the second and third floors from the top appear to be a single floor; however, it actually has six floors and a basement. The basement of the main keep has an area of , and its interior contains special facilities that are not seen in other castles, including lavatories, a drain board, and a kitchen corridor. The main keep has two pillars, with one standing in the east and one standing in the west. The east pillar, which has a base diameter of , was originally


title: "Himeji Castle" content: a single fir tree, but it has since been mostly original. The first floor of the main keep has an area of and is often called the "thousand-mat room" because it has over 330 Tatami mats. The walls of the first floor have for holding matchlocks and spears, and at one point, the castle contained as many as 280 guns and 90 spears. The second floor has an area of roughly . The third floor has an area of and the fourth floor has an area of . Both the third and fourth floors have platforms situated at the north


title: "Himeji Castle" content: and south windows called , where defenders could observe or throw objects at attackers. They also have small enclosed rooms called , where defenders could hide themselves and kill attackers by surprise as they entered the keep. The final floor, the sixth floor, has an area of only . The sixth floor windows now have iron bars in place, but in the feudal period the panoramic view from the windows was unobstructed. Himeji Castle contains advanced defensive systems from the feudal period. in the shape of circles, triangles, squares, and rectangles are located throughout Himeji Castle, intended to allow defenders


title: "Himeji Castle" content: armed with tanegashima or archers to fire on attackers without exposing themselves. Roughly 1,000 loopholes exist in the castle buildings remaining today. Angled chutes called were also set at numerous points in the castle walls, enabling stones or boiling oil to be poured on the heads of attackers passing by underneath, and white plaster was used in the castle's construction for its resistance to fire. The castle complex included three moats, one of which—the outer moat—is now buried. Parts of the central moat and all of the inner moats survive. The moats have an average width of , a maximum


title: "Himeji Castle" content: width of , and a depth of about . The is a pond which exists inside the castle; one of the purposes of this moat was to store water for use in fire prevention. The castle complex, particularly the , contains numerous warehouses that were used to store rice, salt and water in case of a siege. A building known as the was used specifically to store salt, and it is estimated that it contained as many as 3,000 bags of salt when the castle complex was in use. The castle complex also contained 33 wells within the inner moat,


title: "Himeji Castle" content: 13 of which remain; the deepest of these has a depth of . One of the castle's most important defensive elements is the confusing maze of paths leading to the castle's keep. The gates, baileys, and outer walls of the complex are organized so as to confuse an approaching force, causing it to travel in a spiral pattern around the complex on its way to the keep. The castle complex originally contained 84 gates, 15 of which were named according to the Japanese syllabary ("I", "Ro", "Ha", "Ni", "Ho", "He", "To", etc.). At present, 21 gates from the castle complex


title: "Himeji Castle" content: remain intact, 13 of which are named according to the Japanese syllabary. In many cases, the castle walkways even turn back on themselves, greatly inhibiting navigation. For example, the straight distance from the to the is only , but the path itself is a much longer . The passages are also steep and narrow, further inhibiting entry. This system allowed the intruders to be watched and fired upon from the keep during their lengthy approach, but Himeji Castle was never attacked in this manner so the system remains untested. However, even today with the route clearly marked, many visitors have


title: "Himeji Castle" content: trouble navigating the castle complex. Himeji Castle is frequently known as "Hakuro-jō" or "Shirasagi-jō" ("White Egret Castle" or "White Heron Castle") because of its brilliant white exterior and supposed resemblance to a bird taking flight. The castle has been featured extensively in foreign and Japanese films, including the James Bond movie "You Only Live Twice" (1967), and Akira Kurosawa's "Kagemusha" (1980) and "Ran" (1985). In the television miniseries "Shōgun" (1980) it served as a stand-in for feudal-era Osaka castle. In the video games Civilization Revolution and Civilization V, Himeji Castle is available to build as a world wonder. Himeji Castle


title: "Himeji Castle" content: is associated with a number of local legends. The well-known "kaidan" (or Japanese ghost story) of is set in Edo (Tokyo), but a variant called is set in Himeji Castle. There is a disputed claim that the castle is the "bona fide" location of the entire legend, and the alleged Okiku's Well remains in the castle to this day. According to the legend, Okiku was falsely accused of losing dishes that were valuable family treasures, and then killed and thrown into the well. Her ghost remained to haunt the well at night, counting dishes in a despondent tone. The legend


title: "Himeji Castle" content: of the is another folklore story associated with the castle. According to the legend, Toyotomi Hideyoshi ran out of stones when building the original three-story keep, and an old woman heard about his trouble. She gave him her hand millstone even though she needed it for her trade. It was said that people who heard the story were inspired and also offered stones to Hideyoshi, speeding up construction of the castle. To this day, the supposed stone can be seen covered with a wire net in the middle of one of the stone walls in the castle complex. A folklore


title: "Himeji Castle" content: story is also associated with Sakurai Genbei, who was Ikeda Terumasa's master carpenter in the construction of the keep. According to the legend, Sakurai was dissatisfied with his construction, feeling that the keep leaned a little to the southeast. Eventually, he became distraught and climbed to the top of the keep, where he jumped to his death with a chisel in his mouth. Other national treasures (castles) besides Himeji Castle include Matsumoto Castle, Inuyama Castle, Matsue Castle, and Hikone Castle. The sister castle of Himeji Castle is Château de Chantilly in France. Matsumoto Castle (松本城 "Matsumoto-jō") is one of Japan's


title: "Himeji Castle" content: oldest castles and is situated in Matsumoto, in Nagano Prefecture. The main donjon (天守閣 tenshukaku) was constructed by the Ishikawa family from 1593 to 1594 when the family was put in charge of the castle. The donjon of Matsumoto Castle is one of Japan's oldest existing five stories Tenshu. Inuyama Castle (犬山城 "Inuyama-jō") is located in the southern coast of Kiso river in the city of Inuyama, in Aichi Prefecture. In 1537, Oda Nobunaga's uncle, Oda Nobuyasu strengthened the castle. Inuyama Castle is claimed to be one of Japan's oldest castles and one of the castles that managed to retain


title: "Himeji Castle" content: its original structure. Hikone Castle (彦根城 "Hikone-jō)" is located in the eastern coast of Lake Biwa, in Shiga Prefecture. The castle was completed in 1622 by Ii Naokatsu, after 20 years of construction. Château de Chantilly is a sister castle of Himeji Castle, and it is said to be the most beautiful castle in France. It is located 40 kilometres north of Paris. The castle is a representation of the magnificent architectural style of the Renaissance period. The partnership between Himeji Castle and Chantilly castle began in 1989. Panoramic overview Views from afar Views from below Views at night Views


title: "Himeji Castle" content: from above Views from the interior Views with cherry blossoms Views of the restoration Views of pictures Himeji Castle Himeji Castle dates to 1333, when Akamatsu Norimura built a fort on top of Himeyama hill. The fort was dismantled and rebuilt as Himeyama Castle in 1346, and then remodeled into Himeji Castle two centuries later. Himeji Castle was then significantly remodeled in 1581 by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who added a three-story castle keep. In 1600, Tokugawa Ieyasu awarded the castle to Ikeda Terumasa for his help in the Battle of Sekigahara, and Ikeda completely rebuilt the castle from 1601 to 1609,


title: "Kalman filter" content: not necessary; if an observation is unavailable for some reason, the update may be skipped and multiple prediction steps performed. Likewise, if multiple independent observations are available at the same time, multiple update steps may be performed (typically with different observation matrices H). The formula for the updated ("a posteriori") estimate covariance above is valid for any gain K and is sometimes called the Joseph form. For the optimal Kalman gain the formula further simplifies to formula_10, in which form it is most widely used in applications. However, one must keep in mind, that it is valid only for the


title: "Colorado River" content: of the 20th century, and in most years after 1960 the Colorado River has run dry before reaching the Pacific Ocean. Irrigation, industrial, and municipal diversions, evaporation from reservoirs, natural runoff, and likely climate change, have all contributed to this substantial reduction in flow, threatening the water supply for the future. For example, the Gila River – formerly one of the Colorado's largest tributaries – contributes little more than a trickle in most years due to use of its water by cities and farms in central Arizona. The average flow rate of the Colorado at the northernmost point of the


title: "Joseph Joffre" content: attack near Amiens failed. On 30 August Joffre recommended that the French government evacuate Paris and learned of the Russian disaster at Tannenberg, although he was aware that two German corps were still headed east as reinforcements for East Prussia. On 1 September the Fifth Army retreated across the Aisne in some confusion, and Joffre issued his "Instruction Generale No 4", placing Maunoury's Sixth Army under the command of Joseph Gallieni as military governor of Paris and forming a new cavalry corps under Louis Conneau to fill the gap between the Fifth Army and the British Expeditionary Force (BEF). At


title: Epistle content: Epistle An epistle (; , "epistolē," "letter") is a writing directed or sent to a person or group of people, usually an elegant and formal didactic letter. The epistle genre of letter-writing was common in ancient Egypt as part of the scribal-school writing curriculum. The letters in the New Testament from Apostles to Christians are usually referred to as epistles. Those traditionally attributed to Paul are known as Pauline epistles and the others as catholic (i.e., "general") epistles. The ancient Egyptians wrote epistles, most often for pedagogical reasons. Egyptologist Edward Wente (1990) speculates that the Fifth-dynasty Pharaoh Djedkare Isesi—in his


title: "Airbus A380" content: Airbus A380 The Airbus A380 is a double-deck, wide-body, four-engine jet airliner manufactured by Airbus. It is the world's largest passenger airliner, and the airports at which it operates have upgraded facilities to accommodate it. It was initially named Airbus A3XX and designed to challenge Boeing's monopoly in the large-aircraft market. The A380 made its first flight on 27 April 2005 and entered commercial service on 25 October 2007 with Singapore Airlines. An improved version, the A380plus, is under development. The A380's upper deck extends along the entire length of the fuselage; it is narrower than the lower deck but


title: "Airbus A380" content: remains comparable to the width of other wide-body aircraft. This gives the A380-800's cabin of usable floor space, 40% more than the next largest airliner, the Boeing 747-8, and provides seating for 525 people in a typical three-class configuration or up to 853 people in an all-economy class configuration. The A380-800 has a design range of , serving the fourth- and seventh-longest non-stop scheduled flights in the world, and a cruising speed of at cruising altitude. , Airbus had received 331 firm orders and delivered 232 aircraft; Emirates is the biggest A380 customer with 162 ordered of which 107 have


title: "Airbus A380" content: been delivered. In mid-1988, Airbus engineers led by Jean Roeder began work in secret on the development of an ultra-high-capacity airliner (UHCA), both to complete its own range of products and to break the dominance that Boeing had enjoyed in this market segment since the early 1970s with its 747. McDonnell Douglas unsuccessfully offered its smaller, double-deck MD-12 concept for sale. Lockheed was exploring a Very Large Subsonic Transport. Roeder was given approval for further evaluations of the UHCA after a formal presentation to the President and CEO in June 1990. The megaproject was announced at the 1990 Farnborough Airshow,


title: "Airbus A380" content: with the stated goal of 15% lower operating costs than the 747-400. Airbus organised four teams of designers, one from each of its partners (Aérospatiale, British Aerospace, Deutsche Aerospace AG, CASA) to propose new technologies for its future aircraft designs. The designs were presented in 1992 and the most competitive designs were used. In January 1993, Boeing and several companies in the Airbus consortium started a joint feasibility study of a Very Large Commercial Transport (VLCT), aiming to form a partnership to share the limited market. This joint study was abandoned two years later, Boeing's interest having declined because analysts


title: "Airbus A380" content: thought that such a product was unlikely to cover the projected $15 billion development cost. Despite the fact that only two airlines had expressed public interest in purchasing such a plane, Airbus was already pursuing its own large-plane project. Analysts suggested that Boeing would instead pursue stretching its 747 design, and that air travel was already moving away from the hub-and-spoke system that consolidated traffic into large planes, and toward more non-stop routes that could be served by smaller planes. In June 1994, Airbus announced its plan to develop its own very large airliner, designated as A3XX. Airbus considered several


title: "Airbus A380" content: designs, including an unusual side-by-side combination of two fuselages from its A340, the largest Airbus jet at the time. The A3XX was pitted against the VLCT study and Boeing's own New Large Aircraft successor to the 747. From 1997 to 2000, as the East Asian financial crisis darkened the market outlook, Airbus refined its design, targeting a 15–20% reduction in operating costs over the existing Boeing 747–400. The A3XX design converged on a double-decker layout that provided more passenger volume than a traditional single-deck design, in line with traditional hub-and-spoke theory as opposed to the point-to-point theory with the Boeing


title: "Airbus A380" content: 777, after conducting an extensive market analysis with over 200 focus groups. Although early marketing of the huge cross-section touted the possibility of duty-free shops, restaurant-like dining, gyms, casinos and beauty parlours on board, the realities of airline economics have kept such dreams grounded. On 19 December 2000, the supervisory board of newly restructured Airbus voted to launch an €8.8-billion programme to build the A3XX, re-designated as the A380, with 50 firm orders from six launch customers. The A380 designation was a break from previous Airbus families, which had progressed sequentially from A300 to A340. It was chosen because the


title: "Airbus A380" content: number 8 resembles the double-deck cross section, and is a lucky number in some Asian countries where the aircraft was being marketed. The aircraft configuration was finalised in early 2001, and manufacturing of the first A380 wing-box component started on 23 January 2002. The development cost of the A380 had grown to €11–14 billion when the first aircraft was completed. In 2000, the originally projected development cost was €9.5 billion. In 2004 Airbus estimated 1.5 billion euros ($2 billion) would be added for a €10.3 Bn ($12.7 Bn) total. In 2006 at €10.2 Billion, Airbus stopped publishing its reported cost


title: "Airbus A380" content: and then provisioned €4.9 Bn after the difficulties in electric cabling and two years delay for an estimated total of €18 Bn. In 2014, the aircraft was estimated to have cost $25bn (£16bn – €25*0.754round1bn) to develop. In 2015, Airbus said development costs were €15bn (£11.4bn – $ Bn), though analysts believe the figure is likely to be at least €5bn ($ Bn) more for a €20 Bn ($ Bn) total. In 2016, The A380 development costs were estimated at $25 billion for 15 years, $25–30 billion, or 25 billion euros ($28 billion). To start the program in 2000, Germany,


title: "Airbus A380" content: France and the U.K. loaned Airbus 3.5 billion euros and refundable advances reached 5.9 billion euros ($7.3 billion). In February 2018, after an Emirates order secured production of the unprofitable program for ten years, Airbus revised its deal with these countries to save $1.4 billion (17%): restructured terms allow to lower the production rate from eight in 2019 to six per year. Major structural sections of the A380 are built in France, Germany, Spain, and the United Kingdom. Due to the sections' large size, traditional transportation methods proved unfeasible, so they are brought to the "Jean-Luc Lagardère Plant" assembly hall


title: "Airbus A380" content: in Toulouse, France, by specialised road and water transportation, though some parts are moved by the A300-600ST "Beluga" transport aircraft. A380 components are provided by suppliers from around the world; the four largest contributors, by value, are Rolls-Royce, Safran, United Technologies and General Electric. For the surface movement of large A380 structural components, a complex route known as the Itinéraire à Grand Gabarit was developed. This involved the construction of a fleet of roll-on/roll-off (RORO) ships and barges, the construction of port facilities and the development of new and modified roads to accommodate oversized road convoys. The front and rear


title: "Airbus A380" content: fuselage sections are shipped on one of three RORO ships from Hamburg in northern Germany to the United Kingdom. The wings are manufactured at Broughton in North Wales, then transported by barge to Mostyn docks for ship transport. In Saint-Nazaire in western France, the ship exchanges the fuselage sections from Hamburg for larger, assembled sections, some of which include the nose. The ship unloads in Bordeaux. The ship then picks up the belly and tail sections from Construcciones Aeronáuticas SA in Cádiz in southern Spain, and delivers them to Bordeaux. From there, the A380 parts are transported by barge to


title: "Airbus A380" content: Langon, and by oversize road convoys to the assembly hall in Toulouse. In order to avoid damage from direct handling, parts are secured in custom jigs carried on self-powered wheeled vehicles. After assembly, the aircraft are flown to Hamburg Finkenwerder Airport (XFW) to be furnished and painted. Airbus sized the production facilities and supply chain for a production rate of four A380s per month. Five A380s were built for testing and demonstration purposes. The first A380, registered "F-WWOW", was unveiled in Toulouse 18 January 2005. It first flew on 27 April 2005. This plane, equipped with Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines,


title: "Airbus A380" content: flew from Toulouse–Blagnac Airport with a crew of six headed by chief test pilot Jacques Rosay. Rosay said flying the A380 had been "like handling a bicycle". On 1 December 2005, the A380 achieved its maximum design speed of Mach 0.96, (its design cruise speed is Mach 0.85) in a shallow dive. In 2006, the A380 flew its first high-altitude test at Addis Ababa Bole International Airport. It conducted its second high-altitude test at the same airport in 2009. On 10 January 2006, it flew to José María Córdova International Airport in Colombia, accomplishing the transatlantic testing, and then it


title: "Airbus A380" content: went to El Dorado International Airport to test the engine operation in high-altitude airports. It arrived in North America on 6 February 2006, landing in Iqaluit, Nunavut in Canada for cold-weather testing. On 14 February 2006, during the destructive wing strength certification test on MSN5000, the test wing of the A380 failed at 145% of the limit load, short of the required 150% level. Airbus announced modifications adding 30 kg (66 lb) to the wing to provide the required strength. On 26 March 2006, the A380 underwent evacuation certification in Hamburg. With 8 of the 16 exits arbitrarily blocked, 853


title: "Airbus A380" content: mixed passengers and 20 crew exited the darkened aircraft in 78 seconds, less than the 90 seconds required for certification. Three days later, the A380 received European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approval to carry up to 853 passengers. The first A380 using GP7200 engines—serial number MSN009 and registration F-WWEA—flew on 25 August 2006. On 4 September 2006, the first full passenger-carrying flight test took place. The aircraft flew from Toulouse with 474 Airbus employees on board, in a test of passenger facilities and comfort. In November 2006, a further series of route-proving flights


title: "Airbus A380" content: demonstrated the aircraft's performance for 150 flight hours under typical airline operating conditions. , the A380 test aircraft continue to perform test procedures. Airbus obtained type certificates for the A380-841 and A380-842 model from the EASA and FAA on 12 December 2006 in a joint ceremony at the company's French headquarters, receiving the ICAO code A388. The A380-861 model obtained its type certificate on 14 December 2007. Initial production of the A380 was troubled by delays attributed to the of wiring in each aircraft. Airbus cited as underlying causes the complexity of the cabin wiring (98,000 wires and 40,000 connectors),


title: "Airbus A380" content: its concurrent design and production, the high degree of customisation for each airline, and failures of configuration management and change control. The German and Spanish Airbus facilities continued to use CATIA version 4, while British and French sites migrated to version 5. This caused overall configuration management problems, at least in part because wire harnesses manufactured using aluminium rather than copper conductors necessitated special design rules including non-standard dimensions and bend radii; these were not easily transferred between versions of the software. Airbus announced the first delay in June 2005 and notified airlines that deliveries would be delayed by six


title: "Airbus A380" content: months. This reduced the total number of planned deliveries by the end of 2009 from about 120 to 90–100. On 13 June 2006, Airbus announced a second delay, with the delivery schedule slipping an additional six to seven months. Although the first delivery was still planned before the end of 2006, deliveries in 2007 would drop to only 9 aircraft, and deliveries by the end of 2009 would be cut to 70–80 aircraft. The announcement caused a 26% drop in the share price of Airbus' parent, EADS, and led to the departure of EADS CEO Noël Forgeard, Airbus CEO Gustav


title: "Airbus A380" content: Humbert, and A380 programme manager Charles Champion. On 3 October 2006, upon completion of a review of the A380 programme, Airbus CEO Christian Streiff announced a third delay, pushing the first delivery to October 2007, to be followed by 13 deliveries in 2008, 25 in 2009, and the full production rate of 45 aircraft per year in 2010. The delay also increased the earnings shortfall projected by Airbus through 2010 to €4.8 billion. As Airbus prioritised the work on the A380-800 over the A380F, freighter orders were cancelled by FedEx and United Parcel Service, or converted to A380-800 by Emirates


title: "Airbus A380" content: and ILFC. Airbus suspended work on the freighter version, but said it remained on offer, albeit without a service entry date. For the passenger version Airbus negotiated a revised delivery schedule and compensation with the 13 customers, all of which retained their orders with some placing subsequent orders, including Emirates, Singapore Airlines, Qantas, Air France, Qatar Airways, and Korean Air. Beginning in 2007 the A380 was considered as a potential replacement for the existing Boeing VC-25 serving as Air Force One presidential transport, but in January 2009 EADS declared that they were not going to bid for the contract, as


title: "Airbus A380" content: assembling only three planes in the US would not make financial sense. On 13 May 2008, Airbus announced reduced deliveries for the years 2008 (12) and 2009 (21). After further manufacturing setbacks, Airbus announced its plan to deliver 14 A380s in 2009, down from the previously revised target of 18. A total of 10 A380s were delivered in 2009. In 2010 Airbus delivered 18 of the expected 20 A380s, due to Rolls-Royce engine availability problems. Airbus planned to deliver "between 20 and 25" A380s in 2011 before ramping up to three a month in 2012. In fact, Airbus delivered 26


title: "Airbus A380" content: units, thus outdoing its predicted output for the first time. , production was 3 aircraft per month. Among the production problems are challenging interiors, interiors being installed sequentially rather than concurrently as in smaller planes, and union/government objections to streamlining. At the July 2016 Farnborough Airshow Airbus announced that in a "prudent, proactive step," starting in 2018 it expects to deliver 12 A380 aircraft per year, down from 27 deliveries in 2015. The firm also warned production might slip back into red ink on each aircraft produced at that time, though it anticipates production will remain in the black for


title: "Airbus A380" content: 2016 and 2017. "The company will continue to improve the efficiency of its industrial system to achieve breakeven at 20 aircraft in 2017 and targets additional cost reduction initiatives to lower breakeven further." Airbus expects that healthy demand for its other aircraft would allow it to avoid job losses from the cuts. As Airbus expects to build 15 airliners in 2017 and 12 in 2018, Airbus Commercial Aircraft president Fabrice Brégier said without orders in 2017 production should be reduced below one per month while remaining profitable per unit and have the program continue for 20 to 30 years. Within


title: "Airbus A380" content: its 2017 half-year report, Airbus adjusted 2019 deliveries to eight aircraft. In November 2017, its chief executive Tom Enders was confident Airbus will still produce A380s in 2027 with more sales to come, and to further develop it to keep it competitive beyond 2030. Airbus was profitable at a rate of 15 per year and is trying to drive breakeven down further but will take losses at eight per year. An Emirates order for 36 could be finalised to keep it produced beyond 2020, but the airline wants guarantees that production will be maintained for 10 years, until 2028: reducing


title: "Airbus A380" content: output to six a year would help to bridge that period and would support second-hand values while other buyers are approached, but the programme would still be unprofitable. If it had failed to win the Emirates order, Airbus claimed that it was ready to phase out its production gradually as it went through its remaining orders until early 2020s. In January 2018, Emirates confirmed the order for 36 A380s, but the deal was thrown back into question in October 2018 over a disagreement regarding engine fuel burn. To extend the program, Airbus offered China a production role in early 2018.


title: "Airbus A380" content: While state owned airlines could order A380s, it would not help their low yield as it lowers frequency, they do not need more volume as widebody aircraft are already used on domestic routes and using the A380 on its intended long haul missions would free only a few airport slots. After realising efficiencies to sustain production at a lower level, in 2017 Airbus delivered 15 "very close" to production breakeven while additional savings could continue as production is being further reduced: 12 should be delivered in 2018, eight in 2019 and six per year from 2020 with "digestible" losses. Enders


title: "Airbus A380" content: is confident the A380 will gain additional orders from existing or new operators, and sees opportunities in Asia and particularly in China where it is "under-represented". Nicknamed "Superjumbo", the first A380, MSN003 (registered as 9V-SKA), was delivered to Singapore Airlines on 15 October 2007 and entered service on 25 October 2007 with flight number SQ380 between Singapore and Sydney. Passengers bought seats in a charity online auction paying between $560 and $100,380. Two months later, Singapore Airlines CEO Chew Choong Seng stated the A380 was performing better than either the airline or Airbus had anticipated, burning 20% less fuel per


title: "Airbus A380" content: seat-mile than the airline's 747–400 fleet. Emirates' Tim Clark claimed that the A380 has better fuel economy at Mach 0.86 than at 0.83, and that its technical dispatch reliability is at 97%, the same as Singapore Airlines. Airbus is committed to reach the industry standard of 98.5%. Emirates was the second airline to receive the A380 and commenced service between Dubai and New York in August 2008. Qantas followed, with flights between Melbourne and Los Angeles in October 2008. By the end of 2008, 890,000 passengers had flown on 2,200 flights. In February 2009, the one millionth passenger was flown


title: "Airbus A380" content: with Singapore Airlines and by May of that year 1,500,000 passengers had flown on 4,200 flights. Air France received its first A380 in October 2009. Lufthansa received its first A380 in May 2010. By July 2010, the 31 A380s then in service had transported 6 million passengers on 17,000 flights between 20 international destinations. Airbus delivered the 100th A380 on 14 March 2013 to Malaysia Airlines. In June 2014, over 65 million passengers had flown the A380, and more than 100 million passengers (averaging 375 per flight) by September 2015, with an availability of 98.5%. In 2014, Emirates stated that


title: "Airbus A380" content: their A380 fleet had load factors of 90–100%, and that the popularity of the aircraft with its passengers had not decreased in the past year. In 2010, Airbus announced a new A380 build standard, incorporating a strengthened airframe structure and a 1.5° increase in wing twist. Airbus will also offer, as an option, an improved maximum take-off weight, thus providing a better payload/range performance. Maximum take-off weight is increased by , to and the range is extended by ; this is achieved by reducing flight loads, partly from optimising the fly-by-wire control laws. British Airways and Emirates are the first


title: "Airbus A380" content: two customers to have received this new option in 2013. Emirates has asked for an update with new engines for the A380 to be competitive with the 777X around 2020, and Airbus is studying 11-abreast seating. In 2012, Airbus announced another increase in the A380's maximum take-off weight to , a 6 t increase from the initial A380 variant and 2 t higher than the increased-weight proposal of 2010. Its range will increase by some , taking its capability to around at current payloads. The higher-weight version was offered for introduction to service early in 2013. During repairs following the


title: "Airbus A380" content: Qantas Flight 32 engine failure incident, cracks were discovered in wing fittings. As a result, the European Aviation Safety Agency issued an Airworthiness Directive in January 2012 which affected 20 A380 aircraft that had accumulated over 1,300 flights. A380s with under 1,800 flight hours were to be inspected within 6 weeks or 84 flights; aircraft with over 1,800 flight hours were to be examined within four days or 14 flights. Fittings found to be cracked were replaced. On 8 February 2012, the checks were extended to cover all 68 A380 aircraft in operation. The problem is considered to be minor


title: "Airbus A380" content: and is not expected to affect operations. EADS acknowledged that the cost of repairs would be over $130 million, to be borne by Airbus. The company said the problem was traced to stress and material used for the fittings. Additionally, major airlines are seeking compensation from Airbus for revenue lost as a result of the cracks and subsequent grounding of fleets. Airbus has switched to a different type of aluminium alloy so aircraft delivered from 2014 onwards should not have this problem. Airbus is changing about 10% of all doors, as some leak during flight. One occurrence resulted in dropped


title: "Airbus A380" content: oxygen masks and an emergency landing. The switch is expected to cost over €100 million. Airbus states that safety is sufficient, as the air pressure pushes the door into the frame. The A380 was initially offered in two models: the "A380-800" and the "A380F". The A380-800's original configuration carried 555 passengers in a three-class configuration or 853 passengers (538 on the main deck and 315 on the upper deck) in a single-class economy configuration. Then in May 2007, Airbus began marketing a configuration with 30 fewer passengers (525 total in three classes)—traded for more range—to better reflect trends in premium-class


title: "Airbus A380" content: accommodation. The design range for the 380−800 model is ; capable of flying from Hong Kong to New York or from Sydney to Istanbul non-stop. The second model, the "A380F" freighter, would carry 150 tonnes of cargo with a range of . The freighter development was put on hold as Airbus prioritised the passenger version, and all cargo orders were cancelled. Future variants may include an "A380-900" stretch–seating about 656 passengers (or up to 960 passengers in an all-economy configuration)–and an extended-range version with the same passenger capacity as the A380-800. The A380 is offered with the Rolls-Royce Trent 900


title: "Airbus A380" content: (A380-841/-842) or the Engine Alliance GP7000 (A380-861) turbofan engines. The Trent 900 is a combination of the fan and scaled compressor of the 777-200X/300X Trent 8104 technology demonstrator derived from the Boeing 777's Trent 800, and the Airbus A340-500/600's Trent 500 core. The GP7200 core technology is derived from GE's GE90 and its sections are based on the PW4000 expertise. At its launch in 2000, engine makers assured Airbus it was getting the best level of technology and they would be state of the art for the next decade, but three years later Boeing launched the 787 with game-changing technology


title: "Airbus A380" content: and 10% lower fuel burn than the previous generation, to the dismay of John Leahy. Thanks to its modern engines and aerodynamic improvements, Lufthansa's A380s produce half the noise of the Boeing 747-200 while carrying 160 more passengers. In 2012, the A380 received an award from the Noise Abatement Society. London Heathrow is a key destination for the A380. The aircraft is below the QC/2 departure and QC/0.5 arrival noise limits under the Quota Count system set by the airport. Field measurements suggest the approach quota allocation for the A380 may be overly generous compared to the older Boeing 747,


title: "Airbus A380" content: but still quieter. Rolls-Royce is supporting the CAA in understanding the relatively high A380/Trent 900 monitored noise levels. Heathrow's landing charges having a noise component, the A380 is cheaper to land there than a Boeing 777-200 and -300 and it saves $4,300 to $5,200 per landing, or $15.3M to $18.8M of present value over 15 years. Tokyo Narita has a similar noise charge. Sufficient braking capacity allowed for thrust reversers to be installed on only the inboard engines. The outboard engines lack them, reducing the amount of debris stirred up during landing. They are electrically actuated to save weight and


title: "Airbus A380" content: for better reliability than pneumatic or hydraulic equivalents. The A380's wing is sized for a maximum takeoff weight (MTOW) over 650 tonnes to accommodate these future versions, albeit with some internal strengthening required on the A380F freighter. The optimal wingspan for this weight is about , but airport restrictions limited it to less than , lowering aspect ratio to 7.8 which reduces fuel efficiency about 10% and increases operating costs a few percent, given that fuel costs constitute about 50% of the cost of long-haul airplane operation. The common wing design approach sacrifices fuel efficiency on the A380-800 passenger model


title: "Airbus A380" content: because of its weight but Airbus estimates that the aircraft's size and advanced technology will provide lower operating costs per passenger than the 747-400. The wings incorporate wingtip fences that extend above and below the wing surface, similar to those on the A310 and A320. These increase fuel efficiency and range by reducing induced drag. The wingtip fences also reduce wake turbulence, which endangers following aircraft. While most of the fuselage is made of aluminium alloys, composite materials comprise more than 20% of the A380's airframe. Carbon-fibre reinforced plastic, glass-fibre reinforced plastic and quartz-fibre reinforced plastic are used extensively in


title: "Airbus A380" content: wings, fuselage sections (such as the undercarriage and rear end of fuselage), tail surfaces, and doors. The A380 is the first commercial airliner to have a central wing box made of carbon fibre reinforced plastic. It is also the first to have a smoothly contoured wing cross section. The wings of other commercial airliners are partitioned span-wise into sections. This flowing continuous cross section reduces aerodynamic drag. Thermoplastics are used in the leading edges of the slats. The hybrid fibre metal laminate material GLARE (glass laminate aluminium reinforced epoxy) is used in the upper fuselage and on the stabilisers' leading


title: "Airbus A380" content: edges. This aluminium-glass-fibre laminate is lighter and has better corrosion and impact resistance than conventional aluminium alloys used in aviation. Unlike earlier composite materials, GLARE can be repaired using conventional aluminium repair techniques. The application of GLARE on the A380 has a long history, which shows the complex nature of innovations in the aircraft industry. Newer weldable aluminium alloys are used in the A380's airframe. This enables the widespread use of laser beam welding manufacturing techniques, eliminating rows of rivets and resulting in a lighter, stronger structure. High-strength aluminium (type 7449) reinforced with carbon fibre was used in the wing


title: "Airbus A380" content: brackets of the first 120 A380s to reduce weight, but cracks have been discovered and new sets of the more critical brackets will be made of standard aluminium 7010, increasing weight by 90 kg (198 lb). Repair costs for earlier aircraft are expected to be around €500 million (US$629 million). It takes of paint to cover the exterior of an A380. The paint is five layers thick and weighs about 650 kg (1,433 lb). The A380 employs an integrated modular avionics (IMA) architecture, first used in advanced military aircraft, such as the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor, Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning


title: "Airbus A380" content: II, and Dassault Rafale. The main IMA systems on the A380 were developed by the Thales Group. Designed and developed by Airbus, Thales and Diehl Aerospace, the IMA suite was first used on the A380. The suite is a technological innovation, with networked computing modules to support different applications. The data networks use Avionics Full-Duplex Switched Ethernet, an implementation of ARINC 664. These are switched, full-duplex, star-topology and based on 100baseTX fast-Ethernet. This reduces the amount of wiring required and minimises latency. Airbus used similar cockpit layout, procedures and handling characteristics to other Airbus aircraft, reducing crew training costs. The


title: "Airbus A380" content: A380 has an improved glass cockpit, using fly-by-wire flight controls linked to side-sticks. The cockpit has eight liquid crystal displays, all physically identical and interchangeable; comprising two primary flight displays, two navigation displays, one engine parameter display, one system display and two multi-function displays. The MFDs were introduced on the A380 to provide an easy-to-use interface to the flight management system—replacing three multifunction control and display units. They include QWERTY keyboards and trackballs, interfacing with a graphical "point-and-click" display system. The Network Systems Server (NSS) is the heart of A380's paperless cockpit; it eliminates bulky manuals and traditional charts. The


title: "Airbus A380" content: NSS has enough inbuilt robustness to eliminate onboard backup paper documents. The A380's network and server system stores data and offers electronic documentation, providing a required equipment list, navigation charts, performance calculations, and an aircraft logbook. This is accessed through the MFDs and controlled via the keyboard interface. Power-by-wire flight control actuators have been used for the first time in civil aviation to back up primary hydraulic actuators. Also, during certain manoeuvres they augment the primary actuators. They have self-contained hydraulic and electrical power supplies. Electro-hydrostatic actuators (EHA) are used in the aileron and elevator, electric and hydraulic motors to


title: "Airbus A380" content: drive the slats as well as electrical backup hydrostatic actuators (EBHA) for the rudder and some spoilers. The A380's 350 bar (35 MPa or 5,000 psi) hydraulic system is a significant difference from the typical 210 bar (21 MPa or 3,000 psi) hydraulics used on most commercial aircraft since the 1940s. First used in military aircraft, high-pressure hydraulics reduce the weight and size of pipelines, actuators and related components. The 350 bar pressure is generated by eight de-clutchable hydraulic pumps. The hydraulic lines are typically made from titanium; the system features both fuel- and air-cooled heat exchangers. Self-contained electrically powered


title: "Airbus A380" content: hydraulic power packs serve as backups for the primary systems, instead of a secondary hydraulic system, saving weight and reducing maintenance. The A380 uses four 150 kVA variable-frequency electrical generators, eliminating constant-speed drives and improving reliability. The A380 uses aluminium power cables instead of copper for weight reduction. The electrical power system is fully computerised and many contactors and breakers have been replaced by solid-state devices for better performance and increased reliability. The auxiliary power comprises the Auxiliary Power Unit (APU), the electronic control box (ECB), and mounting hardware. The APU in use on the A380 is the PW 980A


title: "Airbus A380" content: APU. The APU primarily provides air to power the Analysis Ground Station (AGS) on the ground and to start the engines. The AGS is a semi-automatic analysis system of flight data that helps to optimise management of maintenance and reduce costs. The APU also powers electric generators that provide auxiliary electric power to the aircraft. The cabin has features to reduce traveller fatigue such as a quieter interior and higher pressurisation than previous generations of aircraft; the A380 is pressurised to the equivalent altitude of up to . It has 50% less cabin noise, 50% more cabin area and volume,


title: "Airbus A380" content: larger windows, bigger overhead bins, and extra headroom versus the 747-400. Seating options range from 3-room "residence" in first class to 11-across in economy. A380 economy seats are up to wide in a 10-abreast configuration, compared with the 10-abreast configuration on the 747-400 that typically has seats wide. On other aircraft, economy seats range from in width. The A380's upper and lower decks are connected by two stairways, fore and aft, wide enough to accommodate two passengers side-by-side; this cabin arrangement allows multiple seat configurations. The maximum certified carrying capacity is 853 passengers in an all-economy-class layout, Airbus lists the


title: "Airbus A380" content: "typical" three-class layout as accommodating 525 passengers, with 10 first, 76 business, and 439 economy class seats. Airline configurations range from Korean Air's 407 passengers to Emirates' two-class 615 seats and average around 480–490 seats. The Air Austral's proposed 840 passenger layout has not come to fruition. The A380's interior illumination system uses bulbless LEDs in the cabin, cockpit, and cargo decks. The LEDs in the cabin can be altered to create an ambience simulating daylight, night, or intermediate levels. On the outside of the aircraft, HID lighting is used for brighter illumination. Airbus's publicity has stressed the comfort and


title: "Airbus A380" content: space of the A380 cabin, and advertised onboard relaxation areas such as bars, beauty salons, duty-free shops, and restaurants. Proposed amenities resembled those installed on earlier airliners, particularly 1970s wide-body jets, which largely gave way to regular seats for more passenger capacity. Airbus has acknowledged that some cabin proposals were unlikely to be installed, and that it was ultimately the airlines' decision how to configure the interior. Industry analysts suggested that implementing customisation has slowed the production speeds, and raised costs. Due to delivery delays, Singapore Airlines and Air France debuted their seat designs on different aircraft prior to the


title: "Airbus A380" content: A380. Initial operators typically configured their A380s for three-class service, while adding extra features for passengers in premium cabins. Launch customer Singapore Airlines introduced partly enclosed first class suites on its A380s in 2007, each featuring a leather seat with a separate bed; center suites could be joined to create a double bed. A year later, Qantas debuted a new first class seat-bed and a sofa lounge at the front of the upper deck on its A380s, and in 2009 Air France unveiled an upper deck electronic art gallery. In late 2008, Emirates introduced "shower spas" in first class on


title: "Airbus A380" content: its A380s allowing each first class passenger five minutes of hot water, drawing on 2.5 tonnes of water although only 60% of it was used. Emirates, Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways also have a bar lounge and seating area on the upper deck, while Etihad has enclosed areas for two people each. In addition to lounge areas, some A380 operators have installed amenities consistent with other aircraft in their respective fleets, including self-serve snack bars, premium economy sections, and redesigned business class seating. The Hamburg Aircraft Interiors Expo in April 2015 saw the presentation of an 11-seat row economy cabin


title: "Airbus A380" content: for the A380. Airbus is reacting to a changing economy; the recession which began in 2008 saw a drop in market percentage of first class and business seats to six percent and an increase in budget economy travelers. Among other causes is the reluctance of employers to pay for executives to travel in First or Business Class. Airbus' chief of cabin marketing, Ingo Wuggestzer, told Aviation Week and Space Technology that the standard three class cabin no longer reflected market conditions. The 11 seat row on the A380 is accompanied by similar options on other widebodies: nine across on the


title: "Airbus A380" content: Airbus A330 and ten across on the A350. In the 1990s, aircraft manufacturers were planning to introduce larger planes than the Boeing 747. In a common effort of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) with manufacturers, airports and its member agencies, the "80-metre box" was created, the airport gates allowing planes up to wingspan and length to be accommodated. Airbus designed the A380 according to these guidelines, and to operate safely on Group V runways and taxiways with a loadbearing width. The US FAA initially opposed this, then in July 2007, the FAA and EASA agreed to let the A380


title: "Airbus A380" content: operate on runways without restrictions. The A380-800 is approximately 30% larger in overall size than the 747-400. Runway lighting and signage may need changes to provide clearance to the wings and avoid blast damage from the engines. Runways, runway shoulders and taxiway shoulders may be required to be stabilised to reduce the likelihood of foreign object damage caused to (or by) the outboard engines, which are more than from the centre line of the aircraft, compared to for the 747–400, and 747–8. Airbus measured pavement loads using a 540-tonne (595 short tons) ballasted test rig, designed to replicate the landing


title: "Airbus A380" content: gear of the A380. The rig was towed over a section of pavement at Airbus' facilities that had been instrumented with embedded load sensors. It was determined that the pavement of most runways will not need to be reinforced despite the higher weight, as it is distributed on more wheels than in other passenger aircraft with a total of 22 wheels (that is, its ground pressure is lower). The A380 undercarriage consists of four main landing gear legs and one noseleg (a similar layout to the 747), with the two inboard landing gear legs each supporting six wheels. The A380


title: "Airbus A380" content: requires service vehicles with lifts capable of reaching the upper deck, as well as tractors capable of handling the A380's maximum ramp weight. When using two jetway bridges the boarding time is 45 min, and when using an extra jetway to the upper deck it is reduced to 34 min. The A380 has an airport turnaround time of 90–110 minutes. In 2008 the A380 test aircraft were used to trial the modifications made to several airports to accommodate the type. In 2005, the ICAO recommended that provisional separation criteria for the A380 on takeoff and landing be substantially greater than


title: "Airbus A380" content: for the 747 because preliminary flight test data suggested a stronger wake turbulence. These criteria were in effect while the ICAO's wake vortex steering group, with representatives from the JAA, Eurocontrol, the FAA, and Airbus, refined its 3-year study of the issue with additional flight testing. In September 2006, the working group presented its first conclusions to the ICAO. In November 2006, the ICAO issued new interim recommendations. Replacing a blanket separation for aircraft trailing an A380 during approach, the new distances were , and respectively for non-A380 "Heavy", "Medium", and "Light" ICAO aircraft categories. These compared with the ,


title: "Airbus A380" content: and spacing applicable to other "Heavy" aircraft. Another A380 following an A380 should maintain a separation of . On departure behind an A380, non-A380 "Heavy" aircraft are required to wait two minutes, and "Medium"/"Light" aircraft three minutes for time based operations. The ICAO also recommends that pilots append the term "Super" to the aircraft's callsign when initiating communication with air traffic control, to distinguish the A380 from "Heavy" aircraft. In August 2008, the ICAO issued revised approach separations of for Super (another A380), for Heavy, for medium/small, and for light. In November 2008, an incident on a parallel runway during


title: "Airbus A380" content: crosswinds made the Australian authorities change procedures for those conditions. Singapore Airlines describe the A380's landing speed of as "impressively slow". As the A380 fleet grows older, airworthiness authority rules require certain scheduled inspections from approved aircraft tool shops. The increasing fleet size (to about 286 in 2020) cause expected maintenance and modification to cost $6.8 billion for 2015–2020, of which $2.1 billion are for engines. Emirates performed its first 3C-check for 55 days in 2014. During lengthy shop stays, some airlines will use the opportunity to install new interiors. Airbus originally accepted orders for the freighter variant, offering the


title: "Airbus A380" content: largest payload capacity of any cargo aircraft in production, exceeded only by the single Antonov An-225 "Mriya" in service. An aerospace consultant has estimated that the A380F would have 7% better payload and better range than the Boeing 747-8F, but also higher trip costs. However, production was suspended until the A380 production lines have settled, with no firm availability date. In 2015, Airbus removed A380F from the range of freighters on its corporate website. The maximum payload would have been , with a range. A patent for "combi" version was applied for. This version would offer the flexibility of carrying


title: "Airbus A380" content: both passengers and cargo, along with being rapidly reconfigurable to expand or contract the cargo area and passenger area as needed for a given flight. In November 2007, Airbus top sales executive and chief operating officer John Leahy confirmed plans for an enlarged variant—the A380-900—with more seating space than the A380-800. The A380-900 would have a seating capacity for 650 passengers in standard configuration and for approximately 900 passengers in an economy-only configuration. Airlines that expressed an interest in the A380-900 included Emirates, Virgin Atlantic, Cathay Pacific, Air France, KLM, Lufthansa, Kingfisher Airlines, and leasing company ILFC. In May 2010,


title: "Airbus A380" content: Airbus announced that A380-900 development would be postponed until production of the A380-800 stabilised. On 11 December 2014, at the annual Airbus Investor Day forum, Airbus CEO controversially announced, "We will one day launch an A380neo and one day launch a stretched A380". This statement followed speculation sparked by Airbus CFO Harald Wilhelm that Airbus could possibly axe the A380 ahead of its time due to softening demand. On 15 June 2015, John Leahy, Airbus's chief operating officer for customers, stated that Airbus was again looking at the A380-900 programme. Airbus's newest concept would be a stretch of the A380-800


title: "Airbus A380" content: offering 50 seats more—not 100 seats as originally envisaged. This stretch would be tied to a potential re-engining of the A380-800. According to Flight Global, an A380-900 would make better use of the A380's existing wing. On 15 June 2015, Reuters reported that Airbus was discussing a stretched version of the A380 with a half dozen customers. This aircraft, which could also feature new engines, would accommodate an additional fifty passengers. Deliveries to customers were planned for sometime in 2020 or 2021. On 19 July 2015, Airbus CEO Fabrice Brégier stated that the company will build a new version of


title: "Airbus A380" content: the A380 featuring new improved wings and new engines. Speculation about the development of a so-called A380neo ("neo" for "new engine option") had been going on for a few months after earlier press releases in 2014, and in 2015 the company was considering whether to end production of the type prior to 2018 or develop a new A380 variant. Later it was revealed that Airbus was looking at both the possibility of a longer A380 in line of the previously planned A380-900 and a new engine version, i.e. A380neo. Brégier also revealed that the new variant would be ready to