SATIC (Airbus) A300-600ST Beluga

Type (Muster)
Outsize-load transport aircraft (Spezialtransporter für großvolumige Lasten)

Country (Land)
France and Germany (Deutschland und Frankreich)

Manufacturer (Hersteller)
Special Transport Aircraft International (SATIC)
9 avenue Georges Guynemer
31770 Colomiers
France

Phone: 0033-5/6193-7151
Fax: 0033-5/6193-7333

SATIC is a 50/50 joint venture company formed by Aérospatiale and Dasa (now EADS Airbus GmbH and the French partner EADS Airbus S.A.) especially for the design and manufacture of the Beluga.

General (Allgemeine Angaben)
Crew (Besatzung): 2
Cargo (Nutzlast): Up to 47 tons in the large fuselage. Six Bo 105 helicopters two CH-53s or three Super Puma Mk2 could fit, asl well as Boeing 747 sections , yachts or Ariane stages and satellites.

Power plant (Triebwerke): 2 x General Electric CF6-80C2A8 turbofans
Thrust (Schub): 2 x 262,4 kN (59000 lbs)

Dimensions (Abmessungen)
Length (Länge): 56,16 m
Height (Höhe): 17,25 m
Span (Spannweite): 44,84 m
Wing area (Flügelfläche): 260 sq m

Cargo compartment length (Frachttaumlänge): 37,70 m
Cargo compartment length, cylindrical section: 21,34 m
Cargo compartment height (Frachtraumhöhe): 7,26 m
Cargo compartment diameter (Frachtraumdurchmesser): 7,40 m
Cargo volume (Frachtraumvolumen): 1400 cu m
Bulk cargo compartment below deck: 17,3 cu m

Weights (Massen)
Operating weight empty (Leermasse): 86500 kg
Max. payload (Max. Zuladung): 47300 kg
Max. Fuel (Maximale Kraftstoffzuladung): 49,6 tons, to be raised to 55 tons
Max. zero-fuel weight (max. Masse ohne Kraftstoff): 133500 kg
Max. take-off weight (Max. Startmasse): 155000 kg, to be raised to 160 tons
Max. landing weight (Max. Landemasse): 140000 kg

Performance (Flugleistungen)
Max. cruise speed (Max. Reisegeschwindigkeit): Mach 0.7 / 780 km/h
Service ceiling (Dienstgipfelhöhe): 10700 m
Take-off run (Startrollstrecke): 1950 m
Landing run (Landerollstrecke): 1175 m
Range (Reichweite):
   - 1666 km with maximum payload
   - 2780 km with 40 ton payload
   - 4630 km with 26 ton payload
Fatigue life (Lebensdauer): 63000 hours / 30 years

Customers (Kunden)
Airbus Indusrie has ordered five Belugas. Four were delivered until 1998, and a fifth will follow in the spring of 2001.
Operations are carried out by a new division, Airbus Transport International (formed in October 1996). Around 800 flight hours a year will be available to outside customers. SATIC at one time foresaw a market for 15 to 20 further aircraft of the type.

Costs (Kosten)
Programme costs at one time reported as one billion US-Dollars.
One of the Belugas was sold to the BBV Leasing-Fonds GmbH & Co. Kronos KG at Heidelberg in 1997 for 342 million DM and then leased back to Beluga Leasing I Ltd. in Dublin (which is owned by Airbus).

Remarks (Bemerkungen)
Airbus needed to replace its long-serving Aero Spacelines Super Guppy turboprops employed to ferry subassemblies (wings, fuselages) between the partner factories and elected to use the A300-600R as the basis for a "Super Transporter". The cockpit was lowered and a new upper shell with large front doors designed. The fin was also changed and fitted with endplates to maintain stability margins.
Under SATIC management, over two dozen work packages were let to subcontractors throughout Europe, including

Aerosturcture Hamble: Main cargo door
EADS CASA: cylindrical upper fuselage shells, tailplane modification and endplates
EADS Airbus (Dasa): structural modifications to vertical tail, cargo loading system
Fairchild Dornier: hydraulic systems, structural front fairing
Elbe Flugzeugwerke: conical upper fuselage shell, dorsal fin
Fokker: water drainage and miscellaneous systems, flor panels
Labinal: electrical harness
Latécoère: linings and insulationand underfloor cockpit section
L'Hotelier: air conditioning system
Ratier-Figeac: mechanical flight controls
SOGERMA-SOCEA: final assembly, flight test

History (Geschichte)
Airbus decided on the Dasa/Aerospatiale offer for a "Super Transporter" on 22. August 1991, and SATIC was formed in October 1991. Work on the A300-600ST is carried out at Toulouse.
Roll-out of the first aircraft was in June 1994, with a maiden flight on September 13, 1994. This lasted 4 hours 41 minutes, with Gilbert Defer, Lucien Bernard and test engineers Jean-Pierre Flamant and Didier Ronceray. French DGAC certification was achieved on 25 October 1995, after 335 test hours in 154 flights. Service entry followed in January 1996.
The second aircraft flew on 26 March 1996 and the third on 21 April 1997, with the fourth following on 9. June 1998.
The fifth and last "Beluga" successfully completed its first flight in Toulouse on 12 December 2000. The crew consisted of Chief Test Pilot Lucien Besnard, Co-Pilot Didier Ronceray and Flight Engineer Bruno Bigand. The flight lasted 4 hours and 5 minutes. Delivery of the last "Beluga" to Airbus Industrie is scheduled for later in the month, half a year earlier than originally planned. Regular service shall start at the beginning of 2001.
The Belugas took over the complete transport programme for Airbus major assemblies from October 1996. They can transport cockpits, rear fuselages, wings, and vertical and horizontal stabilizers to the Airbus final assembly centers in Hamburg und Toulouse. Yearly flight hours were something like 2500 in 1997, on 1500 sorties. Airbus Transport International (ATI) also markets the Beluga for outside customers and did sell 270 flying hours in 1999.
Airbus did offer the Beluga to the Royal Air Force in connection with the competition for a new outsize cargo capability. For this purpose, an autonomous ramp was designed for the loading of Helicopters and other bulky equipment.

Last updated 17. December 2000

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