AIRCRAFT
The A300-600ST Super Transporter is a highly modified A300-600 with an enormous cargo space 7.4 metres internal diameter (7.7 metres external diameter) grafted on top of the lower half of the fuselage.In order to access the resulting cargo space from the front of the airplane, the whole of the cockpit (including the nose-wheel well) is lowered to below the level of the floor of this space, which is closed off by a huge upward-opening door, built by DASA subsidiary Dornier.
To maintain good flying characteristics, the tail was considerably changed, with a raised, strengthened and enlarged fin and rudder, and with additional vertical fins on the tailplane to compensate for the increased fuselage width.
The wings, engines, and landing gear are the same as on the standard A300-600.
Early in the program, the ST had two nicknames: Super Flipper and Beluga. The latter one stuck and became the official name of the airplane.
The Beluga was built to transport large structures for Airbus aircraft from the consortium‚s manufacturing plants in the UK, Germany, France and Spain, to its assembly facilities in Toulouse, France and Hamburg, Germany. Although the exact distribution of the components that each country produces varies from model to model, basically Spain produces the tail, France the nose and center-section, Germany the fuselage, and the UK the wings.
When Airbus first started in 1970, aircraft components were transported by road to the assembly factory in Toulouse, but with increasing production rates and locations, air transport was needed.
Initially this was done with four Super Guppy aircraft. These were highly modified Boeing Stratocruisers from the 1940s, also with the upper fuselage replaced by an oversize cylindrical cargo space. These airplanes were originally created in the 1960s for the American space agency NASA to transport large loads for their space program. Airbus‚s use of them unfortunately led to the circulation of such sarcastic comments as „every Airbus is delivered on the wings of a Boeing.‰
To make a replacement for the Super Guppies, a new grouping was created inside Airbus in 1991. Aérospatiale and Deutsch Airbus formed a 50/50 venture called the Special Aircraft Transport International Company (SATIC). Other European companies were also involved in the program.
Construction began in September 1992, roll-out was in June 1994, and the first flight was on September 13, 1994. After 335 hours of test flying, certification was awarded in September 1995 and the plane entered service with Airbus in January 1996. Four more were produced at a rate of about one a year, allowing the Super Guppies to be retired in October 1997. All five Belugas remain in service.
The model‚s cavernous unpressurized cargo space is 1,520 m3 in volume and 37.7 metres long. It can accommodate, for example, an A330/340 central fuselage section or a set of A320 series wings. The cargo volume is greater than that of the C5 Galaxy, the An-124 or the C-17 airlifters.
Max. take-off weight is 153.9 tonnes, and the maximum payload is 47 tonnes. Range with this payload is 920 nm (1,705 km).
As well as being used for their primary Airbus purposes, they are also available for charter, and have been used for transporting space station components, large, very delicate artworks, industrial machinery, and entire helicopters.
A design study of a similarly configured A340, the A340ST Mega Transporter, that would carry A380 components was written about some years ago, but nothing appears to have come of it.
As of November 2006, total deliveries of the A300-600ST Beluga stood at 5. They were all still in service.
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