Watch Airbus' mad stunt with $1.5 billion worth of airplanes

"I know everything is fine, but why not raise some alarm so that people will click on this article?"

It's sad that, rather than simply reporting on a pretty cool and totally unique occurrence, they have to douche it up with scariness. Thanks, money, for making our world so... Ah, hell with it.

This was anything but a "Stunt" How about a well planned choreographed formation flight flown by some of the best Airbus captains in the world. The media loves to hype crap up. #clickbait

Not an Airbus fan, BUT that was nice.

I would imagine large aircraft flying in formation would elict bad memories in some older Europeans.

CE EST MAGNIFIQUE!!!

Blue Angels or Thunderbirds, they ain't! ;)

but interesting to see a passenger jet pull off some of those maneuvers.

Just watched the video. While it's not unusual for military/government aircraft to fly in formation, seeing 5 passenger planes in similar formations made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. If there was an Emmy award for this kind of video, I would be at the head of the line to nominate it as well as the flight crews and all involved. Wish I was there for the low pass since it must have been deafening, not to mention a terrific photo-op. Definitely a place in my bookmarks folder!

Ok that was pretty awesome

Agreed the photography top shelf
Airbus did a great job

Awesome!!! Imagine different uniforms, different time (WWII), different aircraft (flying fortress).... It was simply awesome to see Airbus execute it so beautifully. Thank you!

I think the whole deal was well done. It's not really fair to compare the pilots' performance flying a 350 to the precision a good pilot can attain with a fighter-type aircraft. There are three large factors at play here:

1. The flight control laws of the 350 are definitely NOT optimized to permit flying. That's a big deal in any fly-by-wire airplane. For instance, when we are testing the F-16 in the 1970's, we finally settled on the need to have the electronics give the pilot three different "flight control systems" One for takeoff-landing, one for air refueling and one for formation. That may have changed in subsequent versions of the airplane) At the same time, while flying the T-38, F-4 and F-104, I was also involved in air refueling tests for the B-52 and C-5. We "practiced" in the B-52G. On the first flight, with no briefing or instruction, the instructor-pilot sat in the right seat and the only sound he made was near continuous laughter as the fighter-types tried to get into a stabilized "slot" position behind a straight-and-level KC-135 flying at 280 KIAS. Talk about inertia! And sore muscles

2. The side-stick controller. A right-handed pilot using his left hand (and vice-versa) requires a good amount of practice to get the fine muscle-motor control needed for formation flying. A whole different set of muscles are used than when flying "regular" maneuvers.


3. The engines: When I first flew the F-111 in formation, it was quickly evident that a fan engine (e.g., TF-30) had a different response to small throttle movement than did a turbojet. And the larger the fan, the bigger the difference. I can't imagine trying to hold position with a couple of Trents or GE90s under my fingers.

As a not aside, when you're the second through the ?? airplane on the wing in an echelon, the more you've got to work to convince your mind that you're not too close. Photos of most formations where there's more than one airplane on the wing will show the succeeding aircraft increasingly wide. The Thunderbirds and Blues usea pilot on the ground during both practice and during a show to watch for this and call a correction over the radio (e.g., "#5, three feet out.") It would take an awful lot of Jet A-1 to tune up 10 pilots to that level of precision.

All in all, a fine job. But "RECKLESS?" Yeah, maybe if they did a diamond barrel roll with 20 feet of wingtip overlap at an altitude of 200 ft at the bottom. All the test pilots I know of who were "Reckless" in any airplane. for even a moment are all dead now. Anyone with reckless tendencies in their approach to flying are washed out of the test pilot school. Allow about a week for the paperwork to clear.

According to this media source a right 50 degree bank is a "mad stunt" apparently only suited for military pilots in "fighters". the author might be speechless to learn that this is a basic maneuver required of every commercial pilot certificate candidate.

Marvelous, mission well planned and accomplished, congrats to all involved making it a success.

What the hell is a "Mad Stunt?" Why does it look reckless? Does this fool think that these guys just grabbed a few airliners and went for a joy ride? I am surprised that he didn't use "epic" or "what happened next will 'blow your mind'!!" And to call it a stunt? Formation flying? really? Whatever.....

How can you call billions of dollars in aircraft, a chase plane and company photographer, and the days of planning that went into it, A MAD STUNT?

"Mad Stunt" - hardly, how about some proper reporting?

That is simply brilliant!!! Well done to the pilots.

That was very cool

Nothing really new here. They've done this sort of thing before with a "one of each model" formation and with multiple A380s. Boeing's done this kind of thing, too.

Yes, absolutely cool. If I had been doing this, I would have been more comfortable if Airbus would have temporarily installed a bubble canopy on these birds...would have made the formation maneuvers a bit easier. :-) (Okay, Preacher, you know I'm kidding!)

I hate to read all the negativity about certain aircraft manufacturers. Why are most of the US carriers flying Airbus a/c in their fleets if they are not safe? As for this video, it was so beautiful, I cried through most of it and I'm a 57-yr old married man and Sport Pilot. It was expertly filmed and everyone knew their assignments. Bravo Airbus for a spectacular achievement!

It is amassing to see the formation the brake from the arrow looks the best

Beautiful!! Very graceful, like elephants dancing :).

I would hardly call it a "Mad Stunt"
The article is a good example of sensationalism at its worst!

Old news, was reported 2 months ago - http://flightaware.com/squawks/view/1/1_year/new/44328/A%20five-Airbus%20formation%20flight%20is%20as%20beautiful%20and%20crazy%20as%20it%20sounds

How much turbulence does the guy in the back of that diamond formation feel?

Great stuff..

Reminds me of the centerfold of a MAD magazine back in the 70's.

There was a picture of a bunch of 707's, 727's, 747's, and DC-9's doing all manner of intricate aerial maneuvers...


The caption at the bottom of the page said:

While waiting to land at O'hare and circling over Pontiac Illinois, the pilots got bored and decided to put on an impromptu air show.

...cool as the other side of the pillow!

I suppose it could have been worse...seem to remember a factory fly by demo at the Paris Air Show back in the day that resulted in "fly by wire" keeping the engines at idle when the throttle levers were pushed up....and a fancy Airbus became a not so fancy chain saw!

Looks like Airbus grasped the concept of the three most important things in aviation are "altitude, altitude, altitude".

The video reminds me of the early days in the KC10 program when we launched an 8 ship formation so we could do heavyweight air refueling training!

Our squadron call sign was "Opec" (We had the gas!)

"Opec flight check"

"Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight"

Back when men were men and sheep were nervous!

You've all overlooked the riskiest aspect of this project as a PR effort: no female pilots nor pilots of color.

"Mad Stunt" Who writes this drivel?

who is this author?? "it still looks reckless." If this was penned by Steve Hinton or Patty Wagstaff, I would give it more weight. It's madness, I tell you, MADNESS those airplanes foolishly ...flying. Boy, is Airbus gonna be pissed when they find out what those pilots did.... <snark filter 'off'> (the aerial videography was stunning, btw)

a cAn of eNergy dRink and a coPy of 'Sploid' plEasE, noW wHere's thaT typeWrIter...blaaah

What is the problem? Pilot can't fly the plane, gonna hit another one? Bullcrap!!!!!!!!!

Stunt? I don't think so

Nice not everyday seen show!

Great job Airbus. Boeing you are up!

Nice... But no one will ever top Tex Johnson.

Professionals at work ! great stuff...

Not Mad at all. Just great. I have a photo of it as wallpaper on my laptop. How sad am I??

The initial ides might have been thought up as a stunt, but it was carried out in a very professional manner from planning to execution. My only worry is that some other manufacturer would try to outdo this, but without the care or detailed planning that was evident in this.

Absolutely exhilerating!!!

GREAT aerial photo work, nice!

fantastic!!!!! that´s all.

Great, awesome and some real entertainment for people stuck on planet Earth!!

It certainly one ups Boeing. I give someone at Airbus credit for realizing this was possible. And tons more credit to his or her boss for having the balls to make this happen.

what took them so long. we did this kind of stuff on armed forces day in 1963, 1964 and 1965, at mcguire afb with boeing c-135b's. (1962 built aircraft)
if airbus wants to play, show us their version of the barrel roll that the original boeing 707 367-80 did in 1955.

This would make AIRBUS number ONE staying on Top and Proud.

That demonstration should put them in the running for a Best Choreogragphy award.

Awesome!

What? No loop?!? =^}

I bet we will see a similar performance at an air show in the near future. Somebody will find e.g. 5 old 707's and put on a show complete with coloured smoke and barrel rolls etc

I LOVED the laptops running Windows XP! And we always think Microsoft doesn't work!!!

Magnificent in execution for my money!

If my pilot couldn't pull that off I don't want him in the cockpit. **BANK RIGHT, NOT TOO FAST**

WOW! ;-)

If I were an Airbus stockholder, I would wonder who's paying for the fuel and pilot time!

Why do this? Anyone in the market to purchase an airliner already knows the airplanes fly well. Why spend the time on fuel and planning? Does anyone remember the XB-70 promotional catastrophe? Anytime aircraft fly close to each other there is increased risk of hitting one another. It is pretty, but when humans are involved things can and do go wrong.

All men. Boys and their expensive toys :)