The Lisa Marie is a Convair 880 jet which was once owned by the King of Rock n Roll Elvis Presley. The plane about the size of a 707 was used by the king and his entourage to travel between Graceland and Elvis’s performances all over the United States. Unfortunately Elvis only owned the jet for a few years before his untimely death in 1977.
There are lots of legendary stories about Elvis and his plane but one of the favorite which gets told time and time again. Elvis was a bit hungry and needed his favorite peanut butter and jelly sandwich to quench his hunger, the only problem was the best sandwiches were in Denver. So Ron Strauss his pilot flew the Lisa Marie from Memphis to Denver to pick up enough sandwiches for Elvis’s snacktime.
The airplane is part of the extensive Elvis collection on exhibition as part of Elvis’s Graceland mansion in Memphis Tennessee. The plane sits next to the Hound Dog II which is a smaller aircraft Elvis also flew in. Nearly quarter of a million people visit Graceland every year to celebrate the life and times of Elvis and the Lisa Marie Convair 880 is one of the more popular attractions.
When opened in 1998 the Hong Kong International Airport was the world’s largest and today 12 years later the airport is the one of the world’s busiest for both passengers and cargo and caters for around 300000 aircraft movements a year. There are more than 70 boarding gates with over 60 jet bridges and is used by around 50 million people a year. The airport was built in the sea, two islands Chek Lap Kok and Lam Chau were flattened and to make the 12 1/2 square kilometre airport. The airport took only six years to construct at a cost of about $20 billion US, replacing the old Kai Tak Airport which was wedged between Hong Kong’s skyscrapers and Victoria Harbour which had become dangerous and too small to handle the enormous growth in traffic Hong Kong required to move forward. Chek Lap Kok has tow huge runways of 3800 metres in length and suitable for the biggest of aircraft including the new Airbus A380. The runways are able to handle over 60 aircraft movements an hour. Passengers are moved around the massive airport by the HKIA Automated People Movement which is a tram like system and an Airport Express rail service which reaches the heart of Hong Kong in just over 20 minutes.
Only a little over an hours drive from Walt Disney World and Universal Studios in Orlando Florida is the Kennedy Space Centre home to the Apollo Missions and the Space Shuttle, it was also the setting for the popular ’60’s comedy I dream of Jeanie. The centre offers an amazing chance to get up close to some of the world’s most amazing technology and for some lucky people even the chance to see a launch. The centre has an incredible visitors centre with many artefacts and even an IMAX cinema but the highlight is catching a bus and going out onto the facility and visiting the launch pads where the space shuttle is launched and to visit a proper Apollo rocket and Saturn V modules. The size of these objects are just staggering and the items on display are breathtaking. The centre offers a great option to escape the hustle and bustle of the theme parks for a day and see up close an important piece of America’s history. Read the rest of this entry »
We have been seeing this story around a fair bit for a new US airline dedicated to pets only and we thought we would share it here. The basic story goes instead of shoving your pet in the cargo hold of the plane you can send your pet on Petairways plane where it lives it up in the normal passenger section of a plane and is cared for by a pet attendant. The airline travels across the states from LA to New York stopping at Denver, Chicago and Washington along the way. It sounds like a good idea if your worried about the stress on fluffy in the cargo hold of a plane but we recon the stress of trying to find a pet flight to match up with a human flight and then collecting the pet will stop us ponying up the 149 bucks for fluffy’s flight. We will collect our pets from baggage carousel no 5 thanks. Read the rest of this entry »
I hope this is not some kind of April fools joke but the Paris Museum of Air and Space is claiming that Concorde will take to the skies again next June at the Le Bourget Air Show. Previously the Concorde last flew in 2003 and has since been only available to be seen at various museums around the world. The museum claims the have a special certificate for demonstration flights and engineers have been over the plane and checked it to be OK. The report sounds a bit fishy to me considering previous statements about the planes ability to fly again and the date of the announcement. What do you recon? hit up our comment form below. Read the rest of this entry »
It’s 40 years since everyone’s favorite supersonic jet first hit the Sky’s, so we found this great British Airways promo video over at youtube that is kind of cool and makes us want to go for a flight in it. Sadly for us I don’t think that is going to happen, but at least you can see them on display at several museums across the world like this one at Shinsheim in Germany we visited a few years back. If you have visited a Concorde at a museum or have been on a flight in one and want to brag about it hit up our comment form below. Read the rest of this entry »
We really shouldnt be making fun of this, but it is just too funny. Check out this wonderful hissing fit by a lady at Hong Kong airport recently. She has thrown an absolute banana after missing her flight. Stamping, shouting and throwing a real wobbly. Turn the sound down a bit before watching this one as the shrieking is just terrible. Where’s the tranquilizer gun when you need it. A good lesson for everyone- get to the airport early.
Heathrow airport is one of the world’s busiest and with its five different terminals it can be a nightmare to navigate with sometimes huge distances to travel between flights and to the carpark.
Well they have come up with a futuristic and novel way to help move people around, with the trial introduction of a pod system which should move travellers easily and swiftly around the complex.
Starting trials in the next few weeks from the brand new terminal five will be a driver-less pod system which runs on a 4 km track. Each pf the pods carry a family and luggage from the terminal to the airport. The system is that smart all the rider needs to do is swipe tickets, or frequent flyer card onto the computer or type in the flight number and the pod will instantly take them there travelling at speeds of about 40kph.
It is hoped the 4km trial will extend to the whole airport and cover the 48km needed to move between all terminals. The pod is a battery powered vehicle which recharges when not in use and it is environmentally friendly emitting no CO2 and uses about 70 percent less energy than that of a modern vehicle, and with much of the system on elevated rails it keeps away from the nasty traffic of the airport.
Called ULTra Personal Transport System the initial investment has cost in the vicinity of 25 million pounds for the 18 pods and tracks. There are also plans underway for Daventry and Norhamptonshire to use similar systems, and if successful we might see them rolled out throughout the world.
Recently in the Taiwanese capital Taipei a novel restaurant opened which has caused a bit of interest around the world. Known as the A380 In Flight Kitchen the restaurant is themed as the giant Airbus A380. There is although a bit square, airline like seating for 84 people and people are served by waitresses dressed as flight attendants and serve their food on plastic trays. People queue up to board with their boarding passes before the ‘flight’ and are welcomed aboard by the head steward before being show to their seats. The restaurant looks and functions just like a aircraft but its really just a clever fit out in a shopping centre and guests never leave the ground. Taiwan has a history of interesting dining experiences, they have one restaurant which is set up as a hospital ward and we did a story a few months back about one which was a giant toilet block where diners sat on toilets- said a lot for their food.
In the oddest case of life imitating art, an Air India Airbus A319 recently had a bit of trouble with a snake who somehow found his way onto the plane. The snake was happily curled up under a seat but got disturbed while checks were done between flights. He then slithered off into an air vent making capture by airline authorities impossible. Air India is playing down the incident but the idea of a snake lost on a plane has stirred the interest of media much like interest Samuel L Jackson’s 2006 film, Snakes on a Plane, caused amongst the Internet community when it was released. So where did the snake come from? Our guess is a snake charmer has lost part of his act, if you got a better explanation hit up our comment form below. Read the rest of this entry »
