The Airbus Beluga landed in Fortaleza, this Sunday afternoon (24/07), which is making its first visit to Brazil. The aircraft visited the capital of Ceará on a technical stopover, and will travel this Monday (25) to Campinas, landing at Viracopos Airport.
The Airbus A300ST Beluga landed for the first time in South America bringing a modern H160 helicopter for a Brazilian customer. Taking advantage of the trip, the manufacturer will demonstrate tomorrow the freighter that will soon enter the cargo market.
The plane will spend the night at Fortaleza Airport and will take off at 13:25 tomorrow (07/XNUMX) bound for Viracopos airport (Campinas/SP), where the ACH160 helicopter will be transported.
The flight is just for testing the new operation, but already carrying a real cargo. You can check out the landing of the aircraft in the video below.
The aircraft will be officially presented by Airbus in the Azul hangar, the helicopter will be unloaded and then it will return to Toulouse, on Tuesday (26), landing in Fortaleza and Dakar for technical stopovers for refueling and crew rest.
Capable of carrying loads of 1.500 m³ or 47 tons, the Airbus Beluga has a cargo compartment 7,08 m high and 38 m long, enough space to transport fuselage sections or up to two helicopters, depending on the model.
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Airbus presents the Beluga as an alternative to the Antonov An-225
One of the great advantages of the Antonov An-225, when it was in operation, was the large internal capacity for transporting components, in addition to ing up to 250 tons. ANDh an article of trivia we talk about large loads that have already been transported by the Ukrainian plane.
With the tragedy of the destruction of the Antonov An-225 Myria, the market opened up space for the transport of large goods, considering that not all An-124s are in operation.
To enter the heavy cargo and logistics market once and for all, the company created Airbus Beluga Transport with all the A300-600ST available to make up the fleet.
An Airbus executive said the Beluga has a fuselage that is 50% larger than the Antonov An-124, as well as 10% wider. The aircraft was not designed for tactical transport, but for certain loads on long-haul flights.
Certification of the cargo airline should take place in mid-2023, with the first aircraft certified only in early 2024. Pilot training will also be included in the adaptations that the company will carry out.
The Airbus A300-600ST Beluga
Since 1997, the Beluga program has come into operation in place of the Super Guppies.
Since then, five A300-600STs have been built to transport fuselage sections to Airbus assembly lines in Toulouse and Hamburg from production facilities in , , Spain and the UK.
The Airbus A300-600ST Beluga is 56,16m long, 17,44m high and has a wingspan of 44,84m. Its fuselage is 7,7 m wide, allowing it to take off with a maximum weight of 155 tons.
The plane was mainly responsible for transporting large parts for the assembly of several Airbus aircraft, such as the A320 and A380 families. The wings of the A330 and A350 are assembled and shipped to another location before heading to Toulouse with Beluga as well.
Belugas transport sections of airframe from Airbus facilities in , , Spain and the UK to commercial aircraft assembly lines in Toulouse and Hamburg and to the A400M assembly line in Seville. The most distant destination on the network is Ankara, the Turkish capital, where A400M components are collected.
Components from Airbus' A320 family final assembly lines in Mobile, USA, and the Chinese city of Tianjin are transported from Europe by sea, says Tahiri.
In 2019 the Airbus opened a new facility in Toulouse to unload and load two Belugas at once, having previously operated from a single-bay facility. It is the only two-compartment charging dock in the Airbus network, points out Tahiri.
The docks fully enclose the forward section of the Beluga with specially adapted hangar doors to accommodate the fuselage shape of the external transport. This allows opening the large cargo door and loading the aircraft in adverse weather conditions.
While outdoor loading of a Beluga is limited to wind speeds of 25 kt, Tahiri says the new dock in Toulouse can be used with wind speeds of up to 42 kt, withstanding the most severe storms.
An added advantage is that the Belugas can be reversed in 1h20, while charging outdoors requires 2h30, says Tahiri. The aircraft can also be fueled during the loading process.
Toulouse's two docks are equipped with an automated roll-on/roll-off loading system that can receive cargo from the first flight, while shipments for the next are ready for loading.
For loading, the aircraft is raised with a central jack attached to the stern of the cockpit. The Beluga's cargo deck is fitted to the building's fixed-height cargo ramp using a laser-based alignment procedure.
Beluga planes generally do not transport sections of structures from Toulouse, as the location is focused on final assembly rather than component production.
