A380

[khiemtran]

A Singapore Airlines A380 is in town, having just made the first commercial A380 flight to Australia. SIA has been running multi-page ads in the papers showcasing their new first class suites and the media has been gushing over the plane's size and statistics. Qantas, after a concerted campaign to sell its business class a while ago, is laying low with just a one page ad advertising movies on demand (finally!). "Just like like at home, only without the phone ringing..." Oh, and with four jet engines going full blast next door and a screaming baby behind you.

At work, my friends and I have been poring whistfully over the SIA ads, knowing the best we're ever likely to get is a glimpse of their new business class on our way back to join the other 400 odd (and usually very odd) economy class passengers. Personally, I'm both secretly pleased that a bit of romance has returned to air travel (even if it is unattainable), and unsettled at the nagging thought of being shovelled into an A380 in the 850 seat configuration that Emirates is planning to run with. Not to mention the thought of what it would mean to lose 800 souls in a single aircrash or act of terrorism.

Comments

[green-knight.livejournal.com]

The picture makes me wonder just what beast I saw at Broughton - I'd assumed it was the A380, but it didn't quite look like the picture. The one I saw at Broughton (factory that makes the wings, they have their own little airfield and the plane, on its testflight, went down there so all the workers could admire it). I happened to go past on a bus at that moment.

Back then, I was struck by how alien it looked; the shape was all wrong.

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

It does look quite strange from some angles, because some of its features are out of proportion from what you'd normally expect. Not a graceful bird, but it is nice to have a bit of variety. These days, if it's not a 747, it's pretty hard to tell a Boeing from an Airbus.

Incidentally, if you've ever wondered, there's a simple trick to doing just that. Look at the fuselage just below the tail. If it tapers from both top and bottom, it's an Airbus. If it tapers up from the bottom but stays level on top, it's a Boeing. This observation brought to you by 18 hours with nothing to read but an inflight magazine and a safety card.

[carl-allery.livejournal.com]

Oh, and with four jet engines going full blast next door and a screaming baby behind you.

The trick is to take your own earphones of the in-the-ear-canal variety (I have very nice sennheisers) with the little rubber plugs to make them fit just so. They really do cut out the background noise nicely, but you have to be alert for the high volume announcements, because they'll blow your eardrums *g*.

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

Yes, I have a pair of Solitude V3s (over the ear noise active noise cancellers) that do a good job of cutting the engine noise, but they do tend to make conversations and babies more pronounced. I'm also leaning towards the ear canal earphones from a space perspective. On the other hand, I'm not so keen on the need to keep buying replacement inserts as some of them require.