Two Airbus A380s took off back-to-back at LAX and it went regrettably due to bizarre effect
Published on Oct 01, 2025 at 3:06 AM (UTC+4)
by Molly Davidson
Last updated on Oct 01, 2025 at 6:45 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Kate Bain
In a rare sight filmed at LAX, two Airbus A380s departed almost back-to-back, but it didn’t go smoothly due to wake turbulence.
In footage filmed by LA Flights Live, the first soared out clean, but the second – an Asiana superjumbo – got yanked around by the wake turbulence left behind.
Those swirling vortices are brutal with a jet this size, which is why controllers normally leave extra space.
This time, though, the gap was too tight, and the world’s biggest passenger plane ended up wobbling for the cameras.
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Why air controllers generally don’t allow back-to-back take-offs for Airbus A380s
The problem was that the first Airbus A380 had nothing in front of it other than air.
But the second passenger plane found wake turbulence created by the first Airbus and had to deal with it.
Ordinarily, air controllers don’t allow large planes to take off one after the other like that precisely for this reason.
But, on this occasion, they probably did it because they had to, and also because they still calculated there wouldn’t be a problem anyway.
And, fortunately, there wasn’t.
The plane wobbled a bit, which was probably not great for the passengers, but still safe.
The largest airliner in the world
The A380 is the largest airliner in the world.
It makes its brother, the A320, look like a baby, and it makes other sizable planes like the Boeing 787 Dreamliner appear smaller.
The Airbus A380 is approximately 72.7 meters (238.5 feet) long, and it has a wingspan of about 79.8 meters – equivalent to 261.8 feet.
It is a double-decker, wide-body aircraft, which means it has two aisles and two stories.
As standard, it can seat up to 545 passengers.
However, if you bought one and got rid of first class and business class and only used economy class seats, you’d be able to hold up to 853 in a single-class setup.
Outstanding.
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Molly Davidson is a Junior Content Writer at Supercar Blondie. Based in Melbourne, she holds a double Bachelor’s degree in Arts/Law from Swinburne University and a Master’s of Writing and Publishing from RMIT. Molly has contributed to a range of magazines and journals, developing a strong interest in lifestyle and car news content. When she’s not writing, she’s spending quality time with her rescue English staffy, Boof.
