i totally agree re: the smoothest flying experience. the takeoff is so long and smooth you almost don't realize that you're up in the air. it was sad to learn that airlines were trying to get rid of it.
The landing surprised me too. Super soft compared to smaller planes.
I once landed in Johannesburg on a A380 Air France from Paris and the airport was in thick fog. You could not even tell we touched the ground. The captain made the announcement after landing that it was his very first time letting the plane land in itself... you could tell the excitement in his voice :)
Fog basically means no wind or turbulence. So, smooth landings would be expected and easy. More challenging would be lots of cross wind, wind shear, and turbulence. The plane basically has to land at an angle and then yaw to straighten out at the last second all while constantly correcting for changes in lift and vertical speed. So you are shaking around the plane and passengers quite a bit.
A rough landing is actually considered a safe landing when the conditions are not ideal. A smooth landing means flying the plane close to stall speed. So close that it gently touches down with barely any vertical speed left. You don't do that when there's any risk of wind shear causing very sudden and extreme drops in air speed of tens of knots. If that happens you drop below stall speed and basically the plane drops out of the sky. If that happens low enough, you crash and die. It's extremely unsafe to do anything else than plonking it down decisively under such conditions. That means a larger vertical and horizontal speed and eliminating airspeed via the shock absorbers instead of floating over the runway. That's what shock absorbers are for. As long as the plane doesn't bounce off again, it's all good. Bouncing is dangerous though because now you are slow and stalling.
I missed the actual takeoff on my one and only 380 flight. It was truly exceptional. 747 may have more character and history, but 380 may be more comfortable.
If you sit in the forwardmost section of the cabin far ahead of the engines (possible to do in economy on the A380), the pin-drop silence (by airplane standards) combined with the long and slow takeoff makes the moment of lift totally surreal.
I think the guy next to me panicked because he thought there was engine trouble and we were going to overrun.
