Airbus A380 Takes It's First Flight Okay, i've been training myself for this day to stay up and watch a historic first flight... The Airbus A380 makes its historic first flight....right now So who's watching?
Missed it, Josh. Had to be out this morning. Are you some kinda airplane geek then? It should be a good plane but its bits are assembled in Toulouse from parts flown in from all over Euroland ... surely this can't be cost effective? (And you may answer in the time honored Leslie Nielson way )
Airbus is the name of the European plane maker it is wholly owned by European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (80%) and BAE Systems (20%) Airbus has been building fabulous planes for 30 years, it turns over 20 billion euros a year, and has received more than 5,200 orders from more than 200 customers. The A380 is it newest plane. Larger than a 747, a full double-decker carrying up to 800 passengers or flying very long-haul non-stop (eg London to Syndey).
I wouldn't call Josh an airplane geek... remember, he likes ships too! (Just like me, actually... actually I'm a transport geek--I've done model trains, now I'm interested in real ships!) That's OK... I suppose I'm in the same boat. I heard about A380, seems like a really fascinating thing. I just hope they don't get in any fatal accidents anytime soon-that could be truly disastrous. Though.. for a while, I was still calling A380 "A3XX." I didn't realize they chose a number for it
Don't get interested in real ships as much as an old aquaintance of mine did, John. His Europe-based shipping company got into difficulties in 03 and (sneakily) they filed for Chapter 11 protection in the US presumably in the hope of trading their way out of it. Unfortunatetly the main creditor, a UK bank, defied the US judge and put the company into bankruptcy administration under UK law ... when the US judge tried to fine the UK bank for contempt he discovered the bank had no US-based assets to sequester and a lot of lawyers didn't get paid ... $900,000 worth accodring to what I read. I was so sad that I laughed till I cried. My 'friend'? I suspect he's not hurting though I'm guessing he'll miss the champagne-smashing trips to Korean shipyards ....
LOL Well I'm not quite that interested in ships as to open a shipping line... I'm just crazy enough to plan to go to school to learn how to design them I have a great deal of respect for classic liners. My two favorite ships are Queen Elizabeth (which can be seen in my avatar) and Titanic. Today's cruise ships are worse than boxes on barges... I commented once that I thought one looked more like an office building than a ship.
Agree that those classic ships look so much better than the half-melted shapes of the modern travesties. If you come over to the UK be sure to pay a visit to the ss Great Britain, she is a real beauty. Incidentally regarding the Q Elizabeth's sister ship Mary did you know the story behind the name. It seems it was planned to name her Victoria but the news was given to King George V too obliquely: "England's most illustrious queen" must obviously mean his wife. Mary Teck was a right bloater.
Yeah, I heard it--I always thought that was a funny story, actually. The even funnier thing is that Cunard is currently building their Queen Victoria... 70 years later, but better late than never, right? I will come over to the UK eventually (in at least 8-9 years, mind you). Just a matter of when If I'm lucky it'll be aboard a Cunard Queen
Well it would be if it wasn't (a) a cast off and (b) a super-attenuated yacht ... meaning a large ice-cube could send it to ground off the Grand Banks ... but apart from those slight faults ...
LOL True. I did fail to mention that QV is based on the hideous Vista Class ships... it's unfortunate. :(
Yeah but a Queen is supposed to be capable of holding The Blue Riband ... the putative Vicky doesn't have a cat in hell's chance of ever holding that, being not designed for the heavy seas and weather of the North Atlantic. I wonder if it could survive the Bermuda Triangle ...? I saw a documentary t'other day investigating the theory that those waters are subject to massive relases of methane from the sea bed that cause a catastrophic drop in sea water density thus causing ships to to sucked under in seconds. Yikes!
Well if you put it that way, neither do QE2 or QM2--though they can handle the seas well, they can only do 30 knots. On the other hand, the SS United States could do 35 knots! QV was designed as a replacement for the QE2 when the new SOLAS regulations take effect, I think. I don't believe Cunard will hold on to QE2 much longer after QV's delivery. I could be wrong though (I hope I am)
