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This is my virgin sighting of the new Airbus A380 as it waltzed around at low level during Asian Aerospace 2006 today. The show organisers have no regard for photographers as they chose to schedule the flying displays at the worst possible time of day, high noon. The sun angle is way too high, casting unwanted shadows and not lighting up the subjects properly. I do apologise for the quality of the shots but I thought this particular subject was special enough to be shown, regardless of the lighting conditions I had to work with. So, I present the one and only opportunity you'd be able to see an aircraft in Singapore Airlines livery doing low level aerobatics.



After a lively takeoff roll and rotation off Runway 02C, the aircraft banked to the left towards show center. It left its landing gear down as it passed the showline and began its retraction process then. That's a lot of wheels on this big fella, 22 of them to be exact.



In a right turn, pulling away from show center. The agility of this massive airplane is impressive, especially at such slow speeds and low altitude. The pilots put up a fancy show.



Coming for its final pass overhead show center. The A380 seemed to take up the entire bit of sky over the show grounds. Amazing...



During its 10 min routine, the aircraft entered a series of steep turns, with bank angles of 60 degrees or more. Following up with rapid climbs and descents. Its size belies its excellent maneuverability and the crowds were thoroughly impressed, I know I was.



A final glimpse of the giant before it leaves the show grounds. Singapore Airlines will be the launch customer of this airplane when it takes delivery of the first aircraft in Nov 2006. This particular display aircraft was specially painted in the airline livery for Asian Aerospace only.