All 19 Virgin Atlantic A340-600 feature in this Plane Spotting flight documentary!
The A340-600 entered service with launch customer Virgin Atlantic in
July 2002. The inaugural flight took place at the 2002 Farnborough Air Show.
The -600 series retains the same fuselage cross section as the -300, but is
some 11.6m longer, at 75.3m making it the longest civil aircraft in the world.
The aircraft is powered by four Rolls Royce Trent 500 engines each
delivering 56,000lb of thrust. The aircraft is almost precisely 50% British
built. The engines are built by Rolls Royce in Derby and the wings
manufactured by Airbus-UK, Broughton. The final assembly takes place at
Toulouse.
The footage was filmed during 2012 and 2013 and represents some of the finest A340-600 footage ever filmed. I make no apologies for the length of the video, in the years to come the sight of a four engined aircraft on approach to London Heathrow will be as rare as the sight of a Boeing 747, four engined jetliner travel will be ruled by just one plane - the Airbus A380.
Its hard to believe that in 2002, the future of Airbus lay with the A340-600 and the A380.
The Power of Four and 4 Engines 4 Long Haul were the catchphrases that Airbus staked its future on, but rising fuel prices and Twin engined competition from Boeing has put an end to the A340 programme. The aircraft is now out of production and as I write (Feb 2014) 5 of the 6 retired Virgin A340-600s sit idle, with no buyers to be found.
If the future of this plane is no longer bright, dont worry!, enjoy them while you can, beginning right now!
G-VSHY 0:19
G-VMEG 3:37
G-VOGE 4:42
G-VFOX 8:14
G-VGOA 11:26
G-VATL 13:29
G-VEIL 17:35
G-VSSH 20:00
G-VNAP 22:22
G-VGAS 24:24
G-VWKD 25:37
G-VBLU 26:50
G-VWIN 29:07
G-VFIT 32:30
G-VFIZ 35:20
G-VYOU 38:25
G-VRED 41:35
G-VWEB 42:32
G-VBUG 44:59
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