Flying may be statistically safer than driving, but I still do not like to put my life in the hands of someone I have never met before.

I'd much rather be in control of my own fate in my truck.

 

same here i dont trust all those other people on the plane anymore i know theres a bunch of strangers driving along side of you on the road but there doing there own thing in there own car away from you

 

So if the A380 stretched version ever comes to be then, at least according to the website Top provided, it will be the world's largest airplane. Cool.

By the way, I think I saw one of those AN-124's take off from DFW Airport one day. It was HUGE and everyone was pulling over to watch it take off. It just about ran out of runway before it got its rear wheels off the ground. I don't know what was in that thing but it must have been HEAVY.

 

I don't think the US has the largest plane in the world. I believe that Russia holds that distinction.

OPPS! Top beat me too it.

The largest wooden plane in the world belongs to the US!...... The Spruce Goose!

 

I saw it in San Diego a number of years ago. Don't remember what it was there for but that thing IS huge!

 

The flying cost per passenger is lower. The more you can get on a plane the cheaper the cost per seat. AND the Euro governments( France, Germany, Spain, Italy, and others) subsidize the building of the plane to keep the cost down to the airlines. The cost of a ticket will hopefully go down also, but I read they will have 3 classes of service.

The largest wooden plane in the world belongs to the US! The Spruce Goose!

 

The Rusians have one nick named The Super Guppy that was supposed to be the largest in the world a while back anyway. It was used to put other planes in and fly them around. My company hired it to fly a brand new 100 ton nuclear reactor vessel head to the US from France. That thing was awsome but I can't find any info on it. I know it was almost an international event when it landed in Richmond first of all being the biggest plane to ever land there and second that it was carrying a nuclear reactor head.
Cool...............

 

The A380 is big but it represents nothing new.

The only airplane to advance the jet age since the 707 was the Concorde, and it's now parked. Everything else has just been a little more efficient, a little bigger, etc. The 707 jumped cruising speed up by about 200 knots over it's competition, the Connie and DC7 and thereby cut flight duration by a big amount. Speed is everything to an airplane--more is always better.

BTW, no US carrier has ordered any, but if they did, they would be crewed by seniority because, being the biggest in the fleet, it would probably pay more to fly it. But only the Captain would be really high seniority--an A380 First Officer would probably have less seniority and experience than a Captain of the smallest airplane in the fleet. Not a hard and fast rule, but it usually works out that way simply because of pay issues.

 

I agree, didn't 2 airlines just file for bankrupcy again?

Personally, if I can afford the time, I will fly instead of drive no matter how far it is. Alaska to Florida, done it. I hate flying commercial airlines. It is just a mess, the whole thing.

 

That big Russian plane taking off from DFW airport a few years ago......I looked at it close up while it was here. I have pictures of it somewhere. That was when the Soviet Union was in deep financial hardship and was renting this plane out. The tires looked worn and the skin looked bad.
The plane had to land in Canada on its way here to pick up faa personel and some electronic equipment to make it legal to fly here.

Now where are those pics

 

Are you sure you said that right? It takes less time to fly than to drive distances over a few hundred miles....

 

I hate flying! But time is precious, so I have to when the distance is far. But if time were no object, (cost is about the same) I'd rather spend 4 days driving 2600 miles than fly for 5 hours.

 

The superguppy was built by Airbus industries to fly parts for Airbus to the assembly line in Toulouse. The Superguppy still is (until a cargo 380 comes) the plane with the biggest payload bay.

On russian planes the tires will always look worn- even when new. They use a kind of nylon reinforcement fiber for the rubber. The tires always look like completely messed up because you can see the nylon sticking out in weird directions. (Can also be seen on Sukhoi fighter planes like the Su27- Russian Knights)

Boeing and Airbus are both getting finacial aids from the respective governments. Airbus directly and Boeing through military contracts, at least that's what I read in the newspapers.

Just my 2c

AlpineRAM

 

I'd rather take three times as longer and drive, than stand in a line waiting for my turn to be treated like a criminal by a barely-trained TSA Security Screener.

Airports,....where you're guilty until proven innocent.
Yeah, strip-search that 70 year old grandmother.
Take her knitting needles......she might knit an Afghan..........but don't stop the Middle Eastern looking guy in the trench coat with the wires poking out of his pockets,.....that would be "Racial Profiling"
And they wonder why the airlines are losing money...............

 

Aerbus has heavy government funding which is making it a sore point in foreign relations with the US. Level the playing field - - make them carry their own weight. The Japenese do the same thing with the US in their autos - - every rice burner that gets shipped out of Japan to the US yields a nice little check in the neighborhood of $900 back the Japanese manufacturer. Then, they put a heavy tax on American cars shipped to them. Yeh - - "FAIR" trade??? HHMMMM

Boeing is placing it's marbles all in the basket (on their own ticket) on their new series plane being the winner. It is highly efficient, very comfortable, has crew quarters in the overhead, long range capabilities. They are banking on the market for the huge Aerbus will be very limited in the total number of planes they could ever sell. Many airports are bucking against the huge dollar investment in runway reinforcement and lengthening required, higher gate facilities, multiple gate loading facilities, more waiting area room to hold the huge number of people sitting waiting for the plane. It is bad enough waiting to get on a 747. Some huge money spent in developing the plane - - huge money investment in airport changes, maybe all to find it wasn't such a good idea after all.

GO BOEING!!! Yeh, an American company doing it the American way. I like that. Narrow minded old buzzard, aren't I??? No, just an American.

YankeeBob