Quote:
Originally Posted by Ironhorse
Interesting. Calgary is designated as an alternative (emergency?) landingsite for the Spaceshuttle, which weighs on average 4.5 million pounds. The A380s max takeoff weight is about 1.2 million. Take out the payload of the shuttle, and I imagine they're at least equal in weight.
I imagine the problem in Calgary would either be the aforementioned runway width issue, or the fact that Calgary's gates can not accomodate it.
|
You're looking at gross takeoff weight including boosters and fuel. The orbiter itself is only about 150,000 pounds, or 200,000 with max payload.