Passengers race against monster aircraft

Man took to the track against machine on Monday in an unusual race of epic proportions.
The machine, the largest passenger plane in the world, the Airbus A380, sported four Rolls Royce Trent-900 engines, each generating almost 32 tons of thrust, while the men and women racing against it had only takkies and good old muscle power.
The press were also invited to take a tour of British Airways’ newest toy, while four lucky people got the chance to race it.
Last year, South African rugby star Brian Habana raced against the A380 for 200 meters and won, in the popular “man vs. plane” challenge. British Airways then held a competition on their website which saw thousands of people enter from around the world for a chance to race the plane themselves. The four competitors chosen from the United Kingdom, Israel, France and South Africa were brought to King Shaka International Airport on Monday to have their chance to race against the A380.
This year the winner of the race was without out a doubt the fine flying machine. Hot on its tail was Cape Town’s Rudolf Raath, who won himself two Club World (business class) return tickets on one of British Airways’ A380 direct flights to London, Los Angeles, Hong Kong or Johannesburg.
“I am absolutely thrilled to be racing against British Airways’ new A380 super-jumbo,” said Raath before the race. “It’s so unreal – bring it on!”
The Airbus A380 was based at King Shaka international from January 27 until Tuesday, February 4 for flight crew training and is just about ready to take to the skies for commercial flights.
The aircraft, one of an eventual 12 that have been commissioned, can seat 469 people in the three class configuration, or up to a whopping 853 people in a single class (all economy) configuration, offering more than 200 more seats than the next largest airliner, the Boeing 747, which had a max capacity of 660 seats.
It has a much quieter take off and landing compared to other aircraft, and an air conditioning system that changes the air in the cabin every three minutes, contributing to reduced noise levels.
On a long flight, the plane can have up to four pilots, who have small bunk beds and a living area just behind the cockpit so they can rotate shifts.
Although this behemoth has been at King Shaka International for training, Durban’s airport will not be included in the original flight routes of the plane, and flights will commence on February 12 from London Heathrow to Johannesburg’s O.R. Tambo International airport.