Campinas Receives Today the Huge Beluga Plane that is in Fortaleza and for the First Time in Brazil

Campinas Receives Today the Huge Beluga Plane that is in Fortaleza and for the First Time in Brazil

Foto © Airbus - Disclosure.

 

 

After a huge delay and some schedule changes, the Airbus Beluga ST plane (ST for 'Super-Transporter'), registration F-GSTB (Beluga number #2) landed for the first time in Fortaleza, Brazil at 3:24 pm (local time).

 

The marine animal-like aircraft (foto above) as part of a mission to transport the first ACH160 executive helicopter to a Brazilian operator. The helicopter has advanced technology and will be assembled at the MRO facilities of Azul Linhas Aéreas, located at Viracopos airport, in São Paulo, where the Beluga had early takeoff at 10:21 (local time) from Fortaleza this Monday, July 25, 2022 with scheduled landing at 14:00 (local time)Beluga is in Campinas, at Viracopos Airport, in São Paulo before returning to Europe.

 

In January of this year, Airbus launched a new service to offer special cargo transportation to customers around the world with the Beluga ST. These cargo planes, based on the A300-600 project, have expanded their scope beyond intra-Airbus transfers to worldwide flight missions carrying oversized cargo.

With the new service, up to five Beluga STs will be able to fly unusual-sized payloads for commercial contract customers, serving industries such as engine manufacturers, space, helicopter and machine manufacturing, oil, gas and power, land vehicles and other military equipment, humanitarian supplies, among others.

 

In Latin America and the Caribbean, Airbus has sold more than 1,100 aircraft and has a backlog of more than 500, with more than 700 in operation across the region, representing nearly 60 percent of the in-service fleet market share. Since 1994, Airbus has secured approximately 70 percent of net orders in the region.

 

Air Cargo on Board the Beluga

 

The aircraft will be carrying a cargo valued at an average of US$ 16 million on board. It is an ACH160 helicopter (photo below), it is the newest version of the H160, a version configured with a luxurious interior offering the passenger better lighting, larger windows, in addition to volume of space and comfort compared to previous generations of helicopters. of the category. The prototype received certification by EASA on July 1, 2020.

 

Foto © Airbus Helicopters - Disclosure.

“Since the beginning of the year, this plane has been available to transport special cargo, it is the first time that it will come to Latin America, and inside it will be an ACH-160 helicopter, purchased by a Brazilian customer, we will receive this plane in Campinas , in the Azul hangar, for Brazil will be an interesting fact, and we at Airbus will be very happy to be receiving this plane here in Brazil”, said Gilberto Peralta, President of Airbus Brazil.

 

It is estimated that the helicopter itself will also be present for the first time at the largest executive and business aviation fair in Latin America – LABACE 2022 (Latin America Business Aviation Conference & Exhibition) which takes place between August 9-11 in São Paulo. . In other words, the two aircraft – Beluga and the ACH160 helicopter – will be in the country and in the Latin American region for the first time.

 

 

The Beluga in Summary

 

The Belula was initially developed in August 1991, based on the Airbus A300, capable of transporting fuselage sections of other aircraft and large loads for the manufacturer Airbus located in Germany, France, the United Kingdom and Spain. However, since its maximum load capacity is only 47 tons, it takes loads that are large in volume, not so much in weight.

 

Just three years later, in 1994, the first prototype rolled out in Toulouse. The first flight took place on September 13, 1994 and started the approval process, received in mid-1995 after 400 test flights. The first unit, the old prototype, went into operation at Airbus in January 1996. Delivery of the fourth unit took place in June 1998.

 

The Beluga has the same wing, engines, lower fuselage, main landing gear and cockpit as the A300. The main change is the huge fuselage, equipped with a clamshell door at the front, which forced a repositioning of the cockpit. The tail was also modified, with the use of small vertical stabilizers installed on the horizontal ones. However, the original vertical stabilizer was retained. The rudder was only on the main vertical stabilizer.

 

The Beluga fleet is controlled and managed by SATIC, a company formed in partnership between Aérospatiale and DASA. In addition to transporting parts for Airbus, SATIC also offers the plane's large volumetric capacity (1400m³) for the transport of bulky loads, which ended up justifying the introduction into service of a fifth aircraft, incorporated into the fleet in 2000.

 

A total of 5 Airbus A300-600ST Beluga were built which are already considered as old versions. Currently, Airbus has launched the newest version of the Beluga, called the XL version, based on the A330 with new technologies, innovation and fuel efficiency. These Belugas XL are already in operation which will replace the Belugas ST in the coming years.

 

*DISCLAMER:

The aviation news website MAIS QUE VOAR (MORE THAN FLY) does not agree with Fakenews. This publication contains content with sources from Airbus press.

 

This publication was written in Portuguese (Brazil) and automatically translated by Google robots to English. MORE THAN FLY, adopted Google technology for everyone around the world to have access to information and optimize our time and budget with translations. We ask for common sense to take into account translation errors. After all, every robot is limited and is never compared to the superiority of a human intelligence.