The best of Paris Air Show's civilian planes (photos)
Road Trip 2011: The Paris Air Show is a place to check out the latest and greatest, as well as some classic civilian airplanes.
Russian plane over A380 tail
PARIS--The Paris Air Show, held every two years at the Le Bourget airport here, is the world's biggest aviation display. Hundreds of exhibitors come to showcase their wares, and there are dozens of hot airplanes on display. Many are military, and for those, please see this gallery.
But the air show is also a celebration of commercial and civilian aviation, and some of the most famous planes on the planet are here. There is also a daily exhibition of flying exploits. Here, we see a Russian fire tanker--used for dropping water on forest fires--doing its exhibition. Its flight makes it look like it flew just over the top of the massive tail of this Korean Air Airbus A380, the world's largest passenger plane.
A380 straight on
Avanti II
747-8 underside
747-8 engine
Cri-Cri and A380
In the background is the Airbus A380, the world's largest passenger aircraft.