Wonder if anyone has seen this pretty impressive plane yet. open the slide show feature. Anyone planning a trip on her.


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21296618/


Lis@~~

[MikeTV]

Originally Posted by lisa burrell

Wonder if anyone has seen this pretty impressive plane yet. open the slide show feature. Anyone planning a trip on her.


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21296618/


Lis@~~

The business section is nicer than my apartment. Obviously it will cost about 10 gazillion pounds per trip, and so I won't ever get the chance, but I live in hope.

[gerabold]

Now, have they tested the new composite materials to lightning strikes, yet

[avinitski]

Yeah been following this monster for some time now, bet its a great journey, just a matter of time before one comes down too, ouch just got into depression mode.

Bet the Air Crash Investigation program on Discovery would be interesting, anyone see that program i find it fascinating, just the smallest of things can bring a plane down, someone not screwing a bolt on properly things like that, utterly brilliant program.

[gerabold]

Originally Posted by avinitski

Bet the Air Crash Investigation program on Discovery would be interesting, anyone see that program i find it fascinating, just the smallest of things can bring a plane down, someone not screwing a bolt on properly things like that, utterly brilliant program.

Yes, some of the reconstructions, in the first half of the show, are incredibly dramatic/moving. Very occasionally wonder how much supposition is used but they do seem to do a fantastic job at determining the cause and preventing it from reoccurring. (the investigators that is, not the program)

[bitofatit]

NOOoooo....You seem to be treating flying as some kind of enjoyable pursuit!!! Don't risk it; only if you have to and then and only then try alcohol and/or valium. And remember - "lets be careful out there". Can you trust the pilot?? see this.....

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=rYfhC9ft_hk

[Simba]

im applying to airbus to get my career off to a start. if i get into the grad scheme hopefully il get the chance to fly in one

[avinitski]

Originally Posted by bitofatit

NOOoooo....You seem to be treating flying as some kind of enjoyable pursuit!!! Don't risk it; only if you have to and then and only then try alcohol and/or valium. And remember - "lets be careful out there". Can you trust the pilot?? see this.....

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=rYfhC9ft_hk

I hate flying, love the take off and sense of speed, love the landing but hate the cruising bit, all i think about when im flying the whole journey is the program i love, Air Crash Investigation, i cant relax or sleep the whole time.

[gerabold]

Originally Posted by avinitski

all i think about when im flying the whole journey is the program i love, Air Crash Investigation

Maybe they should add it to the in-flight entertainment, eh

[bitofatit]

Originally Posted by avinitski

I hate flying, love the take off and sense of speed, love the landing but hate the cruising bit, all i think about when im flying the whole journey is the program i love, Air Crash Investigation, i cant relax or sleep the whole time.

With you on the "I hate flying" comment - those planes are impressive but the thought of it in the air - makes me shudder -I obny ever fly if I absolutely have too. Thakfully I have an understanding GP (OMG God Bless U Sir). Ahhh..... valium now that is the only way to fly!

[avinitski]

but would you be able to help yourself if something terrible happened? are you totally out cold?

[meansizzler]

I went to attended a press conference about this 4 years ago, seems along time now..

[geomuss]

Originally Posted by avinitski

but would you be able to help yourself if something terrible happened? are you totally out cold?

yeah thats the benefit, of a cocktail of alcohol and vallis lol

when everyone is running around in a blind panic, thinking of impending doom.

He will passively, motionless, just enjoying the chaos that ensues around.

not giving a jot. live or die who cares !

medication..... the way to go!

[Phil Hinton]

[youtube]2M9jCjNYfhA[/youtube]

Can you imagine what it would be like with the A380 in place of that A321?

[youtube]Y7Ad4y9hPE4[/youtube]

[bitofatit]

Originally Posted by Phil Hinton

[youtube]2M9jCjNYfhA[/youtube]

Can you imagine what it would be like with the A380 in place of that A321?

[youtube]Y7Ad4y9hPE4[/youtube]

Yep - that's what I'm talkin' about. Totally scarey so don't do it or make sure ur out of it!! Plus its good for Carbon emmissions or something if you cut the flights down - although I suspect there may have been quite a lot of additional methane gas going through the plane at the time!

[avinitski]

[youtube]Xpek0LXDir0[/youtube]

[RMCF]

I was on one such landing a couple of years ago and it scared me senseless.

I honestly thought at the time that there was a good chance we'd not make it.

Approx the last 40 or 50 miles of the journey was very heavy puffeting of the plane - as if it was trying to shake itself to pieces. Then the last 10 miles or so when we got down lower was even worse.

We also had an aborted landing and he got it down on the next approach, but I think there was an element of luck as the winds seemed to die down for about 5secs just as we were above the runway.

I heard afterwards that the airport recorded their highest ever gusts that night. It was fantastic fun for an already nervous flyer !!

But the one thing that I took from it is just how much abuse an aeroplane can actually withstand. Now any little bump or shake doesn't bother me at all, so it had a positive effect.

[pixelated]

Pilots are fantastic. Absolutely fantastic.

[A406 north circ]

My brother flew on the A380 superjumbo recently and has given me permission to post his trip report. Anyhow I think it's a very nice plane.

Trip Report

From: Singapore Changi (SIN)
To: London Heathrow (LHR)
Flight: SQ322
Monday 12th May 2008
Departure time: 23:30
Arrival time: 05:50 (+1)
Distance: 6761 miles
Scheduled flight time: 13hrs 20mins
Aircraft type: A380-800
Seat: 15K
Miles accrued: 10141

After a quick trip to Raffles City and Funan shopping centres I took the MRT back to Changi T2. Before making my way over to the lounge in T2 I stopped by at the check-in desk to ask if I could have my boarding pass re-issued as I wanted the new style ones (I wasn't sure if they had those in the lounge). The business class counters didn't have them so I was directed to the KrisFlyer Gold counters opposite.

New style boarding pass

It was about 21:20 by the time I reached the SilverKris C lounge in T2 and it was nice and quiet. Lovely! At this time of evening I knew it would be, with the majority of long-haul flights scheduled to depart from T3. I spent an hour just catching up with the news, checking my email, having more coffee and, of course, fresh fruit (not as nice as the exotic fruit in the new F lounge in T3) but good enough for me. At approx 22:20 I headed over to T3 via the Skytrain to do some duty free shopping. Then it was off to the new SilverKris C lounge for a quick shower. I just knew it! Look how busy it was! The lounge was as packed as a United RCC! I was so glad I stayed over in T2. After a quick refreshing shower (I always carry my own soap as I'm not too keen on that pink shower gel) I had a quick cappuccino before making a quick exit from the lounge. My second A380 trip was about to begin.

I booked my A380 ticket only 2 weeks prior to my trip and at such a late stage I knew it would be almost impossible to get a seat pre-assigned in the forward cabin. Having flown in the main cabin before (seat 17K) I wanted to try the smaller cabin with only 18 seats as opposed to 42 in the main cabin. To be honest I didn't really like 17K on my SIN-SYD flight. It's too close to the galley and suffers from a lot of noise and traffic. The space and privacy is great but overall it's probably one of the worse seats in the rear cabin if you need to sleep. Good thing I was too excited to sleep much on that flight. The only window seats available at the time I booked my ticket were 11A/K (err, not quite window seats) and the last few rows from 25-27 and I didn't want those. A few days after I booked my ticket and constantly checking seat availability on the seatmap, 15K suddenly opened up and I immediately snapped it up. ^ I was so pleased, especially since that was the seat I wanted to be in. Sweet!

Priority boarding was short but the queue for Y passengers was quite long

Upper deck entrance to airbridge

View of the nose of the A380

Close up photo of the plane right on the airbridge

I was welcomed aboard and my jacket was quickly taken and I was offered a pre take-off drink. Just an orange juice for me. Every single seat in the forward cabin except 16D was occupied on this flight and in the main business cabin it was completely full. Hot towels were given out and drink orders taken for after take-off. I requested a Singapore Sling. Whilst waiting for the boarding process to be completed I began to take pictures around my cabin. I think I was asked 2 or 3 times by different members of the cabin crew if I would like my picture taken but I had to say no thanks. Once all doors were closed the Captain welcomed everyone onboard and advised a flight time estimation of 12hrs 35mins.

Seat 15K

Crew storage right behind seat 15K

Toilet is located behind my seat but not too near for discomfort

View from seat 15K

Flight SQ322 took off into the night sky from SIN Changi at exactly 23:55 local time (16:55 GMT) and headed over the Malaysian Peninsula towards the Andaman Sea, climbing gently to its cruising altitude of 39,911 ft.

Supper was served an hour into the flight. I was hungry as I hadn't eaten properly since lunchtime. So to begin I had a delicious caesar salad with roasted cajun spiced chicken. For the main event there was a choice of either the roasted muscovy duck breast with jus, roasted plum, bean salad and polenta or the Chinese style barbecued pork ribs served with wok fried vegetables and egg noodles. Assorted sushi was also available as an entree.

I chose the ribs but was mistakenly given the duck instead. It looked very nice but I'm not quite a fan of polenta. Besides, I had had enough duck on my flights lately. The ribs were okay, a bit too tender and salty for me - I like my ribs firm and chewy! Halfway through the meal service we encountered some extreme turbulent weather and I could see the cabin crew struggling to serve. Ping! The seat-belt sign came on. One cabin crew member almost bumped into my seat whilst trying to walk through the cabin, it was that bumpy! After a few minutes the Captain advised all cabin crew to suspend service for ten minutes. We were still cruising at 39,912ft. Eventually the turbulence calmed down and the flight smoothed out. For dessert I had a wonderful espresso creme brulee with almond tuile (that's a crunchy biscuit wafer thing). To finish my meal I asked for some fresh fruit but only grapes to go with the cheese were available so I munched on those. I usually have a cup of tea late at night as I don't need so much caffeine so I had a nice freshly brewed cup of Darjeeling tea. Don't you simply love those Givenchy mugs? I do.

Starter

Duck (I didn't order it!)

Pork ribs

Dessert

Fresh grapes with Darjeeling tea

[A406 north circ]

...continued

Throughout the flight a wide range of snacks were available such as noodle soups, sandwiches, savoury munchies, biscuits, cookies, bananas and chocolate. Most of the nibbles were there for you to help yourself at the self-service buffet-bar. I wasn't hungry at any time after the main meal so didn't snack on anything (I only had eyes for the fruit anyway).

To adjust to the six-hour time difference I have been on I stayed up as late as possible. It was about 20:30 GMT somewhere over north-eastern India when I decided sleep beckoned. I converted my seat into a nice bed with fresh linen, changed into my chocolate brown Givenchy pyjamas (not included on this flight) and cleaned my teeth and dozed off...zzz

from this...

...to this

I slept very well until about 02:00 GMT. I wanted to sleep a bit longer but I was still on my time zone, being 8am in Vietnam (09:00 at departure origin). The bed was extremely comfortable and I was able to get some good rest. Now, for my morning caffeine fix. I pressed the call button to ask for a cappuccino.

An hour later, flying over the Ukraine towards Poland, the cabin was awakened with the mood lighting and the cabin crew came round with hot towels. Breakfast in bed was served as we flew over Poland towards Berlin. I had only the continental breakfast as I don't normally eat a full breakfast at 3am in the UK! I couldn't possibly stuff myself! To start some freshly squeezed orange juice followed by a fresh fruit plate. This was followed by a bowl of muesli, a strawberry yoghurt and a croissant (no extra butter needed) from the bread basket. And not forgetting a fresh banana. Lovely and healthy start to the day.

For the main hot breakfast the choices were:

Singapore nasi lemak
Malay style coconut rice with spicy prawns, peanuts, ikan bills, grilled fishcake, egg omelette and fried chicken. A local favourite served with sambal chilli.

Braised egg noodles with prawns, scallops and leafy greens

Omelette with mushrooms and fine herbs, chicken sausage, tomato and potatoes

About 40 mins from LHR the Captain informed us of our expected arrival time and the weather conditions. A cabin crew member converted my bed back to seat mode about 15 mins before landing whilst I was in the loo freshening up. How nice. We landed into LHR at 05:35 (12:35 at departure origin) after a flight time of exactly 12hrs 40mins. Disembarkation was delayed by about ten mins or so so we remained in our seats until the doors opened. When I reached baggage reclaim the belt hadn't even started yet. After a five minute wait my bag was amongst the first to appear and I was out of the airport by quarter past six. The flight crew were excellent throughout the whole flight. Once again Singapore Airlines has delivered the highest levels of onboard service that only other airlines can talk about. To lovely leading stewardess Anidah on my flight to BKK last week, I hope you enjoy reading my trip report. This was one of my best flights, better than my previous A380 experience, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. ^ Can't wait for my next A380 flight...

On approach to LHR. That's the M25.

SQ322 photos in full
SQ221 photos in full

[SeanT]

Originally Posted by Simba

im applying to airbus to get my career off to a start. if i get into the grad scheme hopefully il get the chance to fly in one

It'll take a few years, you have to spend a while just ferrying about in props and driving pilots around before you get to that stage, a mate is a graduate trainee at cov airport.

[Mr Incredible]

Originally Posted by gerabold

Now, have they tested the new composite materials to lightning strikes, yet

Funny you should say that as I have a meeting with Airbus next week to discuss a neater solution to the problem!!

Lightning strike capabilities have been embedded in composites for quite a while, it's just that they add more weight and are not easy to repair if the plane is struck.