Planes
« Previous EntriesSingapore A380 interior video
By wattsy | March 28, 2008
The Airbus A380 has not be in the air very long now, in fact it was launched in October 2007 to launch customer Singapore Airlines. To date 3 planes have been delivered meaning Airbus have plenty of work ahead of them as they have around 190 orders for the supersized plane dating back to 2001. We found the above video of the interior layout on youtube and thought we share it, economy looks very much like an economy part of a plane but check out the private suites of first class, do you want have a go in the the A380 let us know your thoughts below.   Â
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Premium Economy or economy at a premium price
By wattsy | February 1, 2008
You may have noticed airlines don’t have too many new and original ideas and Premium Economy may just be one of them. Premium Economy is the latest gimmick that the airlines are jumping on and in theory it’s a good idea. With standard economy seat spaces becoming smaller and business class spaces becoming bigger there is a huge jump between traveling like a king or a pauper. This is where premium economy fits in offering 20% to 30% more space than economy and a bit better menu. Some how the size of these seats remind me of business class seats from the early 80’s and you got to ask yourself if the constant upsizing of business and first class cabins have been worth it, especially when many US airlines are removing first class altogether. Expect to pay double your standard economy fare when traveling Premium Economy but probably half of what business is worth, so what do you recon is it worth it?, let us know below. Read the rest of this entry »
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Remembering Pearl Harbor
By rocky | December 7, 2007
December 7Â marks the 66th anniversary of the attack of the US fleet at Pearl Harbor Hawaii by the Japanese. Today Pearl Harbor has been turned into a moving memorial for those who fought and those who lost their lives in this dark period of the world’s history.
The USS Arizona memorial is one of the most visited war sites on the island. Here a simple floating pavilion sits above the final resting place of the vessel and many of the 1177 crew members that perished.   A shore based museum also has some moving wartime stories and memrobilia and visitors can also choose to visit the USS Missouri battleship which was the scene of the 1945 surrender.
Topics: Americas, Must see, Pacific, Planes, Ships / Boats, USA | No Comments »
World’s largest airport for Beijing
By rocky | November 25, 2007
At over 1 million square metres and able to handle 53 million people a year the new terminal at Beijing Airport promises to be the world’s biggest and most technologically advanced airport facility doubling the all ready huge airport. The brand new terminal three has been designed by British architectural firm Foster and Partners at a cost of over $3.5 billion US dollars. With the 2008 Olympic Games starting in August it is hoped the terminal will be ready for its first visitors around March next year. Nearly a quarter of a billion dollars has been spent on a roller coaster like luggage system which will be able to handle nearly 20000 items an hour from nearly 3oo counters. The system will allow departing passenger to pick up their bags in under 5 minutes of landing even from international flights.
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Singapore Airlines Airbus A380
By rocky | September 14, 2007
Singapore Airlines have announced that the world’s first Airbus A380 route will be a daily flight between London -Singapore and Sydney starting on October 28th this year. The Airbus promises to revolutionise air travel with this huge double decker aircraft dwarfing all other aircraft. The Singapore Airlines configuration will seat 471 people with 399 seats available in economy class as well as business and first class seating. Tickets for first flight between Singapore and Australia were recently auctioned on the eBay website with thousands raised for charity. Singapore Airlines has so far committed to buy 19 of these huge aircraft and are the first company to receive the plane. So far Airbus has over 170 orders for the plane with Emirates having orders for 55, Qantas having orders for 20 and Singapore having ordered 19.
Today’s YouTube video shows some amazing footage of a test Airbus landing in some pretty strong crosswinds.
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Giant factory for giants of the sky
By rocky | September 9, 2007
40km north of Seatle on America’s west coast is the Boeing Factory where their enormous aircraft are assembled. The complex is open to the public and offers an amazing insight into the design and construction of the worlds most popular commercial planes. The assembly building is the largest building by volume in the world and has a perimeter of 3.5km. The company offers a fantastic tour which starts off with the Future of Flight Aviation Centre which is an amazing interactive display with flight simulators, computerised attractions and quite a few full size displays of various parts of the planes. Then its off to the Boeing Everett Factory on a one our guided bus tour where you can see the planes being constructed. Once inside the factory you can see various types of planes in different stages of construction.
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Topics: Americas, Must see, Planes | No Comments »
Friedrichshafen Zeppelin Museum
By rocky | September 8, 2007
Situated on the beautiful Lake Constance with and surrounded by the Alps Fridrichshafen is one of the more senic harbour towns in Germany. It is also home to the Zeppelin Museum which has over 43,000 sq feet of exhibition space and is quite worthy of a visit. The lovely art deco building was once the Harbour Railway Station and now houses a huge array of artifacts, artwork and memrobilia of these magnificent giant flying machines. There is a very faithful reproduction of a 33 metre section of the LZ 129 Hindenburg which is open for exloration. The museum features a very comprehensive history of the airships for both military and civilan use. The centre has a very good archive section, library, speical exhibition space and of course a giftshop where you can buy a multitude of Zepplin souvenirs including publications, models, toys and the like. Friedrichshafen is in easy reach of Stuttgart and Munich being only a few hours drive from both centres and also easily accessble from Zurich or Innsbruck in Austria.
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Airbus A380 woos Hong Kong
By wattsy | September 4, 2007
The Airbus A380 made a rare low flyover across Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbour yesturday. The sight of a passenger jet flying this low over the city was reminiscent of the days when Kai Tak Airport was operating almost 10 years ago, so the event drew a big crowd. Airbus is wooing Chinese airlines with the A380 and is hoping the planes seating capacity of between 525 to 853 people will be just the ticket to win over the Chinese with their booming population and economy. Singapore Airlines is expect to receive the first A380 in October with other Airlines receiving 13 planes throughout 2008. When first shown to the public Airbus touted features like gym’s bars and shopping malls to be optional equipment in the planes, so far no airline has ordered these options instead packing the panes with seating.
Topics: Asia, Planes, Youtube of the week | No Comments »
B52 - It’s as big as a whale
By rocky | August 29, 2007
The Boeing B52 bomber is one of the biggest planes on in the US milatary fleet with a massive wing span of over 56 metres and a payload of nearly 30 tons this plan is an amazing engineering feet.
There are only three other B52 bombers on static display outside the USA, One in Guam, South Korea, England and at the Australian Aviation Heritage Centre in Darwin in the Northern Territory of Australia.
The museum only minutes from Darwin’s city centre and close to the International Airport has a wealth of aviation displays including a very good World War II display with actual wreckages of planes shot down over Darwin during the war. The Museum is open 7 days a week and is well worth a visit.
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Topics: Australia, Must see, Planes | No Comments »
Cape Canaveral -Spaceport USA
By rocky | August 11, 2007
When most people think of holidaying in Florida they think of the theme parks in Orlando but only an hours drive away is the home of the Kennedy Space Centre. This is the place where the missions to the moon and the space shuttle were launched and is an amazing place you shouldn’t miss if visiting Florida. Here you can see first hand some of America’s amazing space technology with an amazing collection of artifacts, spacecraft and information on America’s space exploration but the highlight will be the informative trip through the swamplands to the actual launching grounds of these amazing space vehicles. If you are really lucky you might even see the space shuttle being prepared for its next flight or even see it launch. The tour takes you up close to a full size Apollo and Saturn Rockets. The centre also has Imax theatres a full size space shuttle mock up to explore and is home to the Astronaut Hall of Fame. This attraction will fascinate young and old
Topics: Americas, Must see, Planes, USA, fun parks | No Comments »