Airbus A380 vs Falcon 9
Airbus A380 (72.7 m) is 1.04× the size of Falcon 9 (70 m).
Falcon 9 is 96% of the height of Airbus A380. The gap between them is 2.7 m (8.86 ft).
The comparison in numbers
| Thing | Size | In feet | Measured as |
|---|---|---|---|
| Airbus A380 | 72.7 m | 239 ft | length |
| Falcon 9 | 70 m | 230 ft | height |
What the scale shows
Airbus A380 (72.7 m) is 1.04× the size of Falcon 9 (70 m). The gap between them is 2.7 m (8.86 ft). Both are vehicles & ships, so the figures describe the same kind of thing.
Draw both on one baseline and the smaller one fills 96% of the frame while the larger one runs to the top. The two are close enough that the difference is easy to see side by side.
Read the rest — 8 more sections
What each figure means
The figure for Airbus A380 is its length (overall length). The figure for Falcon 9 is its height (full vehicle height).
Crossing them
Walking pace is 1.4 m/s, so crossing Airbus A380's 72.7 m takes 52 seconds and Falcon 9's 70 m takes 50 seconds.
In people: Airbus A380 is 43 adults of 1.7 m tall, Falcon 9 is 41.2. By size Airbus A380 is 9th of the 14 vehicles & ships on this site and Falcon 9 is 10th, so 1 place separates them in the ranking.
How to read these two figures
Before trusting any comparison, check what each number measures. The Airbus A380 is given as a length, overall length. The Falcon 9 is given as a height, full vehicle height. One is a length and the other is a height, so the drawing stands them side by side by convention: everything is stood upright on a single baseline so one scale can hold. That is a fair way to compare overall extent, not a claim that the two are oriented the same way in real life.
Vehicles are listed by overall length. Rockets are the exception and are given as full stack height standing on the pad. Everything is drawn standing upright so one scale holds.
Where the pair sits among all the sizes here
Across all 86 things on this site, the Airbus A380 is number 56 from the top and the Falcon 9 is number 57. No other item falls between them, so in this collection they are direct neighbours.
Because the collection spans 13 mm up to 1,392,700 km, a ratio of 107,130,769,231× from smallest to largest, the position of a pair says a lot: the pair sits in the middle of the range rather than at an extreme.
What the length ratio hides
A length ratio of 1.04× is easy to picture, but area and volume grow faster than length. If two objects had exactly the same shape, the Airbus A380 would have about 1.08× the surface or footprint of the Falcon 9, and about 1.12× the volume. These two are not the same shape, so treat the figures as an upper bound for an imaginary scaled copy, not as a measurement of either one.
The drawing above shows length only. The Falcon 9 is drawn 96% as tall as the Airbus A380, but the equivalent share of footprint would be only 92.7%, which is why the smaller one looks even slighter than the numbers alone suggest.
Time to cross each one
A sprinter holding about 10 m/s covers the Airbus A380 in 7.3 seconds and the Falcon 9 in 7 seconds. Sound, at about 343 m/s in air, takes 212 milliseconds for the larger and 204 milliseconds for the smaller. A jet cruising at 900 km/h needs 291 milliseconds and 280 milliseconds.
These times assume a straight line and constant speed, which no real crossing has, but they turn a number in metres into something the body understands. At any fixed speed the travel times keep the same 1.04× ratio as the sizes.
The same figures in other units
The Airbus A380 measures 72.7 m, which is 239 ft or 79.5 yards. The Falcon 9 measures 70 m, which is 230 ft.
The difference between them is 2.7 m (8.86 ft). In metres the smaller one is 70 against 72.7, so the 1.04× ratio holds in every unit; only the numbers on the ruler change.
Questions people ask about this pair
Which is bigger, the Airbus A380 or the Falcon 9?
The Airbus A380 is bigger. At 72.7 m it is 1.04× the size of the Falcon 9, which is 70 m.
How many times does the Falcon 9 fit along the Airbus A380?
Less than twice: the Falcon 9 is 96% of the size of the Airbus A380, so one fits with 2.7 m to spare.
Are the two figures measured the same way?
No. The Airbus A380 is a length (overall length) and the Falcon 9 is a height (full vehicle height), so read the comparison as overall extent.
How does the gap look in people?
Taking an adult of 1.7 m, the Airbus A380 is about 43 people tall and the Falcon 9 is about 41.2. The gap of 2.7 m is 1.6 people.
Where do the numbers come from?
Each item has its own page that names the measurement and links to the Wikipedia article it was taken from. Some figures are rounded, and animals vary from one individual to the next, so treat them as representative values rather than records for every case.
How the sizes are taken. Each figure says what it measures — height, length, diameter or elevation — and for which individual or convention. Everything is drawn standing upright on one baseline so a single scale holds, including things that are long rather than tall. Values come from the linked Wikipedia article for each item.