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The newly updated Boeing 747-8 made its first test flight in Washington state yesterday, and appreciative quotes were recorded by an alert Seattle Times scribe.
That “graceful monster” comment came from Steve Huard – senior project manager for the plane – who also dubbed it, “Queen of the skies.”
Alas, the Queen was late – this plane was supposed to have been delivered about a year ago – but the crowd of Boeing workers seemed to shrug it off in favor of pride in accomplishment (yes it is certainly smaller than the Airbus A380, but the new 747 “has more cargo carrying capability”).
Earlier this year, I showed some video of an old 747 – now, look at the new one below – and note the same old, big-nosed profile:
Talk about sardine tins – very large sardine tins.
It seems Air Austral, a small airline headquartered in Reunion, a French island in the Indian Ocean (just east of Madagascar) has announced plans to buy two of those giant Airbus A380’s – and deck them out in all-economy mode – so these new planes will be able to carry 840 passengers, each.
Can you imagine?
For perspective, most airlines buy these planes configured to seat about 500. Not Air Austral, though – it says it’ll use the planes to ferry folks between Paris and Reuinion Island, which I’m sure would be a terrific tourism boon to that beautiful isle (assuming they can fill the planes).
But – would you feel comfortable on such a plane? With so many people? Yes, the plane can handle that many – and there is more than one entrance/exit on the aircraft, but still – 840 people?
That’s not a plane – that’s a small city. Would you fly it?
Sad story…except for a seemingly miraculous rescue.
A Yemenia Airways flight was nearing Comoros, an island nation in the Indian Ocean (off the coast of Mozambique) when it crashed into the sea yesterday — there had been 153 passengers and crew members aboard the Airbus A310-300 — and no signs of survivors.
Then someone spotted a child – described as a toddler — who was then rescued. No immediate word on the youngster’s medical condition other than the child has been hospitalized.
Our thoughts are with the families of those on board.
UPDATE: The surviving child was 13-years old (as opposed to the toddler of the initial reports) — none the less miraculous, though…
An Air France flight heading from Brazil to Paris disappeared off the radar “somewhere over the Atlantic” and a search is on.
According to various news reports, Air France Flight 447 – an Airbus 330-200 – was carrying 228 passengers and crew when it hit strong turbulence. CNN says the plane reported “electrical problems” and at one point the craft sent automatic messages signaling equipment failure.
It seems unclear at this point exactly where the plane was when last heard from, beyond those grim words, “over the Atlantic”. Meanwhile the CEO of Air France is calling this a “catastrophe”.
We are thinking of all those onboard – and their families.
The European aircraft company is offering roughly $40,000 in prize money for designs from students – the aircraft engineers of the future.
One design, from Spanish university students features a windowless cabin – that could make it “more eco-efficient”. A team of from Australia submitted a design that includes a cabin constructed from natural plant fibers. And a team from the U.S. is calling for a V-formation design – yes, like a flock of geese-for more efficient fuel use.
Will we ever see any of these ideas in action? Well, that’s not really the point – according to one Airbus spokesman, it’s enough that it could lead to “useful ways of thinking about aircraft design and engineering.”
Everyone touted the A380 because, not only was it huge (it can seat 800!) – it was relatively cheap to run. The world’s largest passenger plane is more fuel efficient than most aircraft – plus it was thought that, with slumping demand, routes could be dropped and/or consolidated and those passengers could fill up the Airbus.
Uh…except that “slumping demand” slumped a little too much – which means there’s plenty of room on the A380!
And that’s prompted the Emirates to sideline its A380’s on the Dubai to New York route – and switch to Boeing’s smaller 777 (it has about 150 fewer seats).
Emirates, meanwhile, has 54 – yep, 54 – of the big Airbus planes still on order, according to Bloomberg. It may delay taking possession of some of them.
Difficult days for the world’s second-largest commercial plane manufacturer (after Airbus).
Russia’s airline, S7 – also known as Siberia Airlines – has terminated its contract to buy fifteen Boeing 787 Dreamliners – the plane that was supposed to rival the huge Airbus A380.
The now-dead Russian/Dreamliner deal was reportedly worth $2.4 billion.
The Airbus giant made its first commercial flight in Oct. of 2007 – while the Dreamliner has been plagued with delays. As a result – delivery has been delayed 4 times in the past 15 months. And the soured economy isn’t helping.
According to Boeing’s current schedule, the Dreamliner will be delivered to customers sometime in 2010. Maybe the Russians couldn’t wait…
If you can land an Airbus 320 on water – without breaking up the plane – it’ll float. Well, it’ll float long enough, anyway.
We learned that last week, thanks to the fine efforts of Capt. Chesley B. Sullenberger and crew. But why? Was it the airplane’s “ditch switch” that can be flicked on, sealing vents to make the craft more water tight? We don’t know – according to reports, the pilots didn’t have time to turn this on.
But there are procedures in place to help all planes that help in the event of a water landing – and I talk about those in my latest weekly column for ABCNews.com.
I also make mention of one airline that decided to jettison life vests last summer – since it was a weight issue. Your thoughts?
