Airbus Beluga A300-600ST Super Transporter

Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird... it's a plane... it's a whale... it's an Airbus Beluga!

What's an Airbus Beluga? It's a funny-looking airborne heavy lifter. Here's what it says on the Airbus website:

Featuring one of the most voluminous cargo holds of any civil or military aircraft flying today, the Airbus Beluga offers a unique way to transport oversized air cargo.

The Beluga (also known as the A300-600ST Super Transporter) was developed to carry complete sections of Airbus aircraft from different production sites around Europe to the final assembly lines in Toulouse or Hamburg. Its main-deck cargo volume is greater than the C5 Galaxy, the An-124 or the C-17 airlifters.

The five-aircraft fleet of Belugas is operated by Airbus Transport International (ATI). In addition to serving the internal transportation needs of Airbus, ATI offers Belugas on a charter basis to third parties. ATI ensures a high level of customer satisfaction with loading, unloading, and delivery designed to be fast, safe, flexible, and reliable – as demonstrated by years of successful operations throughout the world.

Still don't quite know what an Airbus Beluga is? Have a look at this new video, posted today on YouTube, showing a demonstration flight of the Airbus Beluga.



Tip of the hat to YouTube user segelflugzeugbau, who posted the video.