airbus and boeing are the heavyweights of aviation and aircraft manufacturing both
together produce more than 90 of the commercial aircraft in
the world to maintain their grip over the market
and meet their production demands they have the length of production units and facilities
which are spread across the globe to meet these
demands boweng and airbus have built their own large cargo
freighter lcf aircraft that are the dreamlifter and beluga respectively want to know about
it well stay tuned to the video and watch the
video till the end hello guys welcome to the aviation
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and in today's video we're going to discuss the battle of the beast boang's dreamlifter
versus airbus beluga xl so without any further ado let's begin airbus vs bowang
has forever been a heated competition with both aircraft manufacturing giants
always competing to have the best aircraft but how do they transport these massive
aircraft parts do they use boats or trucks actually most
of the time they'll end up using planes airbus has their fleet of transporters known
as the beluga and boang as their fleet of dream
lifters but which one is better and what are some of the key differences worth noting about
these engineering spectacles the airbus beluga is beaten by boeing dreamlifter which in turn
is beaten by the beluga xl what we have here is an argument not based on aircraft design
but on time the beluga was introduced in 1995 and the
dreamlifter in 2007 and the latest beluga xl in 2016.
is it fair to compare aircraft that are each 10 years apart from each other we can
expect boeing to come out with their new version in the next 5 to 10 years which is likely
to leave the airbus variants in the dust the beluga
excel performed its maiden flight in 2018 and received
the type certification in november 2019 from the european union aviation safety agency
easa air worthiness authority this paved the way for
the first beluga xl service entry in january 2020.
the dreamlifter is one of the largest cargo planes flying thanks to its oversized fuselage
built to 8787 dreamliner production and part transport
with an estimated program cost of one billion dollars the dreamlifter isn't cheap by any
means however it boasts some impressive specifications
and features that make it an attractive choice for commercial airlines in need of a cargo
jet in terms of size the dream lifter measures
over 235 feet long and 70 feet tall it also has a maximum takeoff weight of over 803 000
pounds as well as a cruising speed of mag 0.82
because of its massive size as well as cost boang has only manufactured 4 room lifter
units thus far 3 of the dream lifters were completed in
2008 whereas the fourth was completed in 2010 boang's dreamlifter was originally intended
to transport parts such as wings and fuselages for the 787 dreamliner the next generation
twin engine wide body produced by boweng that revolutionized air travel when it debuted
if you won't often see them flying around airports
near you the boeing dreamlifter and airbus beluga are very real they're used to transport
oversized plane parts during the aircraft assembly process
seeing how weird they look some might think this
is another april fool's joke the dreamlifter is a very versatile aircraft one of the most
significant innovations of the dreamlifter is the rear opening cargo door most cargo
aircraft like the freight versions of the boeing 777 have
side doors the 747f has a nose cargo door bowing one a
step further with a rear opening door the airbus equivalent to boeing's dreamlifter
is called the beluga it's named after the beluga whale an
endangered species of whale as an aircraft sports a bump similar to that of the whale
the dream lifter was made to transport the fuselage
wings and various components of the boeing 787 from its suppliers spread across the
world to its assembling facilities in charleston and everett
in the united states with a volume of 000 cubic feet
it can hold three times the volume of the regular 747 400f freighter aircraft its
range when fully loaded is 4 200 nautical miles compared to
the 7260 nautical miles of the 747 400f hence it's
more useful for much smaller routes that have high volume cargo the first flight of the
aircraft was in 2007 the beluga xl has a forward cargo
bay door which is similar to that of the freighter version
of the boeing 747 with the exception that in this case the cockpit is below the door
the livery paint scheme of the aircraft is quite eye-catching
to say the least it features a massive display of
xl in a grey shade upon which is painted the name beluga since the aircraft is based
on the beluga whale and eyes painted on either side of the
aircraft along with an extension of the black shade around the cockpit windows giving it
an appearance like the smiling face of the whale
everything else on the aircraft remained the same including the engines wings and wheels
the boeing dreamlifter on the other hand is an almost completely different aircraft
with a body coming from a modified 747-400 freighter the
first aircraft was converted in 2006 with all four of
the aircraft being completed by 2010 boeing built this aircraft in order to transport
the large fuselages of the 787 dreamliner for the antonov
225 was not large enough to transport the parts
when built the aircraft had the largest cargo capacity of any aircraft in the world
like the beluga the dreamlifter has also been used to transport other things besides aircraft
parts these oversized cargo planes almost look fake but they're not the unusual shape
of both the boeing dreamlifter and the airbus beluga
is designed to maximize cargo space for aircraft
parts the dreamlifter belongs to boweng but it's primarily operated by atlas air a cargo
charter airline giant in the united states the crew
is specially trained to fly this aircraft while many
consider the aircraft as an ugly modification of the 747 this plane is truly the epitome
of boang's innovative capabilities the rear opening
door enables easy parking and easy loading of
cargo into the aircraft it also has 21 locks to keep it in place a technological marvel
indeed the replacement for the classic beluga came
in the form of the beluga xl it was announced in
2014 and undertook its first flight on 19 july 2018.
it's based on the newer a33200f aircraft this aircraft features significant improvements
compared to its predecessor the main feature is the 30 increased capacity which has been
possible due to the lowering of the cockpit and highly enlarged cargo bay section its
dimensions have been improved with an increment of seven meters and one meter in length and
width respectively the beluga xl can carry up to two
a350 wings in addition to other cargo as compared to the one wing capacity of the classic beluga
the fly deck in the cockpit has also been improved with the incorporation of the newer
technologies as seen in the a330 it includes an lcd display
fly-by-wire systems and improved handling and
safety systems the dreamlifter is overall a better cargo aircraft than the beluga
because of their large amount of storage and a very large range
airbus has recently started using a new fuselage transporter known as the beluga xl it's larger
than the older beluga and it can also travel farther it was built to handle the fuselage
of the a350 aircraft instead of the aircraft being based
on an old a300 this one is now built from an a330 and also has been built to help
out the current beluga fleet with recent increases in demand
airbus needed an aircraft that could fly more than five times per day and carry more than
the current belugas boeing and airbus have always been
rivals in the industry every aircraft designed aims to topple the other in the market to
meet their wide-ranging needs lcf aircraft like
the dreamlifter and beluga are absolutely essential if
one has to pick the better aircraft then clearly the dreamlifter wins over the classic beluga
however it stands no chance in the path of the beluga xl nevertheless both these aircraft
are magnificent machines that never fail to
surprise anyone overall both the beluga and the dreamlifter are very useful aircraft
whether they're transporting airplane parts or
not both of these companies have a very useful method transport cargo there's no doubt that
these aircraft will be around for years to come and until wide-body aircraft production
comes to an end which it probably never will new types
of these aircraft will be needed in the future and the question is just what super transporter
will we see next now that we've come to the end
of this video i want to thank you for sticking with me and i'd love to know what you think
of it just comment down below also if you like this video make sure you like it and
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a few more fun videos coming soon about everyday aviation technology i'll see you in the next
video