Air Show Attendees Treated To Taxi Demonstration

Air show attendees in Hamburg, Germany who hoped to see Airbus' massive A380 take to the skies Sunday, had to content themselves instead with watching the superjumbo lumber back-and-forth along the taxiway, after an unspecified gear malfunction scrubbed a planned demonstration flight.

Deutsche Presse-Agentur reports the prototype jet was scheduled to perform a demonstration at Airport Days in Hamburg, before flying back to Airbus headquarters in Toulouse, France.

Over 150,000 attendees -- and several thousand others peeking through the airport's perimeter fence -- had hoped to watch as MSN001 took to the skies. Those throngs were disappointed... but the ordeal served as a lesson for Airbus, regarding the A380's mechanical limits.

"This is a test flight for it," said Airbus spokesman Tore Prang as technicians worked to fix the problem. "It has been under particularly heavy strain. We are going to take our time checking it out and be on the safe side.

"We have got mechanics and spare parts here in Hamburg," Prang added. "It's not a problem."

MSN001 -- the first-ever A380, and strictly a test aircraft -- first took to the skies in April 2005.

FMI: www.airbus.com