Inspired by the thread on how big passenger aircraft generally can get.
Airbus 380-800 is 73,0 m long. It has 5 door pairs on lower and 3 on upper deck, 538 seats on lower and 315 on upper deck. It has 4 main legs, 20 main wheels and 16 main brakes. The MTOW is 569 t.
Does A380-800 have any inbuilt capacity for making it bigger? Remember, 747 has got somewhat bigger than 747-100, and DC-10 has got somewhat bigger than DC-10-10.
A380 has taken off at 596 t, and landed at only slightly less. The cancelled A380-800F was due to have 590 t MTOW.
Could an A380 have brakes installed on all main wheels?
About the MTOW capacity of A380 wing: compare A380-800 with A340-600HGW.
A340-600HGW MTOW is 380 t. The wing area is barely over half that of A380-800.
With the same wing loading, a 750 t MTOW A380 might be built!
Regarding the passenger capacity: there is that 80x80 m airport box. There always was supposed to be an A380-900, 79,8 m long, though some have mentioned 79,4 m.
But the lower deck seat count is just 12 seats short of 550, and upper deck is just 15 seats short of 330. So, any stretched A380 needs 6 door pairs on lower deck and 4 door pairs on upper deck.
Now, Udvar-Hazy claims that airports can handle planes longer than 80 m, and ILFC wants a longer A380.
How long could A380 be made?
Observe that since B2707, all SST projects seem to be 300 seats and 90...100 m long. JAXA NEXST is 104 m. One might build a decent SST for 150...200 seats and 75...80 m long, but no one is interested.
If a 100 m SST can handle the bending moments in its slim fuselage and be received in an airport, then a doubledecker widebody 100 m long should be far easier matter.
As far as the landing gear is concerned, it is alleged that the body gear of A380 are relatively wide apart, compared to B747. Why? It adds drag.
Could it be possible to add a fifth leg to A380 in the middle?
So...
What could be the maximum number of brakes A380 shall have? 16, 20, 24 or 26?
What could be the maximum length of A380? 73,0 m, 79,8 m, 85 m, 90 m, 100 m?
What could be the maximum MTOW of A380? 569 t, 590 t, 650 t, 750 t?
And what would be the next A380 model? Would Airbus build A380-900, or would A380-800R be built first?
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