As the sun set on the first day of the mechanics strike at
Northwest Airlines, the beleaguered carrier reassured its customers
that all efforts were being made so their travel plans would be
unaffected by what the company is calling a "union slowdown" - in
spite of quietly reducing its scheduled service by approximately 17
percent.
These pictures, copyright Airbus France, show one of the more
hairy-looking performance flight tests carried out on the new King
of Airliners, the Airbus 380.