A380 over ICT

Aviation Notable Activity
1

I think an A380 just flew over my airport on its way to ICT. That thing was HUGE!

I am going to watch for it and see if I can get a pic but the area info said B744 is over us right now and a quick search came up with the A380 pic.

Anyone know anything more?

2

False Alarm. It was EIA5747, the Dreamlifter. It landed at McConnell AFB (IAB).

3

See, in the scheme of things…the 380 isn’t THAT big. I’ve seen the Ant 225 flying around and the six engines give it away, but size wise I think it would be tough to tell a 380 from a 747.

Was the 380 supposed to be going to ICT…and why?

4

They did a flyover of ICT a few weeks ago as part of the same tour that brought them to Cincinnati. Airbus operates an engineering office in Wichita that worked on the 380’s wing design.

While they landed @CVG after overflying the GE plant (engines), ICT was unable to handle the 380, so they just got a flyover.

Here is a youtube video of the ICT flyover.

And Here is a local media report of the flyover.

5

I was wrong. I was looking straight up at the thing and saw a very large white aircraft with 4 engines. The first thought that popped into my mind was the 380 since it was here a few weeks ago.

It was the Dreamlifter owned by Evergreen. They were picking up some of the 787 parts out of ICT.

6

Just for the record, the airport could easily have handled the A380 if Airbus had wanted to land it there. The FAA has officially approved A380 operations on runways 150 feet wide which is what ICT has, and Runway 19R is long enough and the weight bearing capacity is adequate for an A380 that is operating at less than gross weight. Naturally, it shouldn’t be done too regularly in order to overstress the pavement. And, it would cause quite a disruption to other aircraft flight and ground operations.

The Antonov AN124 and its larger version routinely operate in Wichita hauling cargo and they are similar in size to the A380.

Airbus never asked the airport authority if the plane could land because it was on a tight flight schedule and they didn’t have time to stop in Wichita.