Would you trust American Boeing 747 or the European A380?

Question

based on experience and reliability.. I will only trust the 747 and 777 for long-range traveling

Answer 1

Both are very safe makes, the 747 is an old design with lots of upgrades, I would favor the 380 as it encompasses all the latest safety and technology we have right now. Just flew on a new 330 to Europe, very quiet smooth plane.

Answer 2

Both have good safety records(with Airbus being better cus they started off later), so i'd trust the 747 and the A380

Answer 3

well, you have to account for the fact that the 380 has not been tested in service yet. A few airlines just isn't enough to test all aspects of what the 380 has to offer, or lack of it.

So right now, until the 380 has been in service for a long enough time and with more than a few airlines, I'll stick with the 747 seeing as it is an old, but reliable design, and it has countless times proven itself in every aspect of aviation, whether it be speed, reliability, airframe resistance, damage resistance, range, payload, etc.etc.

Sure, the 747 is developing metal fatigue but there are still new versions of it coming out, incorporating just as many technological and safety advancements as the A380.

So, to sum up, I would trust the 747 only, on any type of route, until the A380 has been extensively tested by time: the destroyer of all things, thousands of cycles (takeoffs and landings), bad maintenance, lightning strikes, bird strikes, near supersonic speeds, storm and icing conditions, and every other bad thing the 747 has experienced at some point.

Answer 4

It isn't the airplane that you need to trust, of course.  It's the people who designed and built it, trained the crews, and support the airplane in the field.

The A380 is a bit over-done.  There is no real reason for a flying Noah's Ark like that.  It seems unlikely that the A380 will be the large scale commercial success the 747 has been, and they may not survive in large numbers.  But they are designed and built by competent people and flown by good crews.

So if it really is a matter of "trust," then both the 747 family and the A380 are fine airplanes, and you can take a nap aboard either one.

Have a pleasant flight.

Answer 5

747.  The A380 is built in France.  It is bound to fall apart and surrender to the first dark cloud that it sees. LOL.  Buy American.

Answer 6

boeing 747 because its been alive for almost 40 years. I will trust the a380 once i know its safe.

Answer 7

I would prefer the 747.  It has been flying for forty years, and its limitations and flying characteristics are well known, and it has shown no serious design problems.  Forty years isn't a long time for an aircraft, so as long as the airplane is properly maintained, there's no reason not to continue flying it.

The A380 is brand new, and thus somewhat of an unknown quantity.  The disorganization of the design process (wires that didn't match up because different teams didn't communicate, etc.) worries me.  The fact that the wings snapped off prematurely during testing worries me.  Airbus' history of covering up software problems (as at Habsheim) makes me wonder about their priorities, as does the fact that Airbus is more of a political organization than an aviation company, with objectives that have nothing to do with safety.

The A380 also is not the very latest in technology.  It uses much of the same technology as the 747 in structural terms, so it isn't really gaining much there.  It also turns out that it's quite difficult to accommodate at many airports, contrary to initial claims.

The Airbus policy of making pilots mere attendants in the cockpit, forbidden to do what they consider correct by the computers, also worries me.  In an Airbus, if a pilot tries something that the engineers didn't approve, the airplane refuses to obey.  In a Boeing, if a pilot tries something that the engineers didn't approve, it warns the pilot, but it still does what it is told.

Altogether, if it's not Boeing, I'm not going.

Answer 8

747 is older and has been tested more but the 380 has better technology and is tested less  

Answer 9

That is a really dumb question. Do you honestly think they would be allowed to make a product they didn't "trust"? There are criteria that must be met in designing and building aricraft. Your ignorance makes you seem like you are a moron.  

Answer 10

The 747 has time on its side, in that it's been heavily tested in real conditions. The A380 has all of new-science on its side, but people have to remember that all that science is applied to the 747 as well.

I think it'd be good to differentiate which versions of the plane you're flying in. I'd trust an A380 over a 747-100 (earlier version of the 747) because the 747-100 is far older, and Boeing has made newer versions since. However, I'd trust the 747-400 either equally or more than the A380, as the 400 has much of today's modern science incorporated into it.

A similar question to ask yourself, though, is what are you concerned with? Brand name? If that's the case, the new Boeing 747-8 or 787 would be perfectly fine for you when they're released.

In the end, though, all new airplanes are far, far safer than the planes that meandered their way through the sky in the 60s. I'd fly in just about any of the "newer", larger planes, including the 747-400, 747-8, 787, 777, and the A380.

Disclaimer: to date, I've only actually ever ridden Boeing's aircraft; none of the routes I've traveled have been serviced by the Airbus.

PS: Keep in mind that the pilots on your plane aren't going to fly it if they think it puts their life in danger. The pilots in your plane have the best knowledge and ability to judge whether the plane should be used, and if they're confident in flying it, well, I'd be confident in their confidence, as they know far more about the plane I'd be flying in than I would.

Answer 11

Well, I see no reason to shun the A380, but if I had to really put odds on, I'd go with a proven winner over an upstart until there was enough data.

Answer 12

I will always trust the 747 more. I can't think of a single fatal crash of the -400 series, except for that one that took off on a runway under construction.