Cape Town - Springbok wing Bryan Habana pushed himself to new heights as he went up against British Airways’ brand new superjumbo, the Airbus A380.
VIDEO: Man v Machine: Bryan Habana v British Airways Airbus A380
Habana, who famously raced the cheetah in 2007 to save them from extinction, took on a new challenge racing British Airways' 'new animal' in a 100m race.
Weighing in at 95kg with a height of 1.80m, Habana is pictured preparing to race British Airways’ superjumbo of 366 000kg, with a height of 24m, a wingspan of 80m and 73m in length.
Model, Georgia May Jagger was on hand to start the race.
Habana said: "‘It was a tough test of man versus machine. Once the A380 is on full throttle it picks up speed very rapidly, but you need to tune in to the video to see what happened next..."
Peter Nye, Senior First Officer A380, said: "Habana is fast but had stiff competition with four Trent 900 Rolls-Royce engines, each one producing 70 000 pounds of thrust and accelerating very quickly indeed. We got airborne at 140 miles an hour, where we then flew up to 600 miles an hour.‘'
Since British Airways took delivery of its first superjumbo earlier this month Johannesburg is only the third A380 route to be confirmed after Los Angeles and Hong Kong. Another two aircraft, from a total order of 12, are due to be delivered before the end of the year.
To mark the announcement British Airways is offering discounts of up to 40% from South Africa to London across all cabins. World Traveller fares start from R8 380, World Traveller Plus from R15 380, Club World from R30 380 and First from R53 380.
VIDEO: Man v Machine: Bryan Habana v British Airways Airbus A380
Habana, who famously raced the cheetah in 2007 to save them from extinction, took on a new challenge racing British Airways' 'new animal' in a 100m race.
Weighing in at 95kg with a height of 1.80m, Habana is pictured preparing to race British Airways’ superjumbo of 366 000kg, with a height of 24m, a wingspan of 80m and 73m in length.
Model, Georgia May Jagger was on hand to start the race.
Habana said: "‘It was a tough test of man versus machine. Once the A380 is on full throttle it picks up speed very rapidly, but you need to tune in to the video to see what happened next..."
Peter Nye, Senior First Officer A380, said: "Habana is fast but had stiff competition with four Trent 900 Rolls-Royce engines, each one producing 70 000 pounds of thrust and accelerating very quickly indeed. We got airborne at 140 miles an hour, where we then flew up to 600 miles an hour.‘'
Since British Airways took delivery of its first superjumbo earlier this month Johannesburg is only the third A380 route to be confirmed after Los Angeles and Hong Kong. Another two aircraft, from a total order of 12, are due to be delivered before the end of the year.
To mark the announcement British Airways is offering discounts of up to 40% from South Africa to London across all cabins. World Traveller fares start from R8 380, World Traveller Plus from R15 380, Club World from R30 380 and First from R53 380.