Saturday, March 20
GIVE A SHOUT TO WORD UP! wordup@papermag.com
Posted Mar. 20, 2007, 9:45 p.m. PT
No Way I'm Getting On That Big-Ass Airbus
By Ann Magnuson
Monday was a historic day for L.A.! The first landing of the humongous Airbus A-380 on U.S. soil took place at LAX and shutterbugs by the score were gathered for the touchdown. Video of the wobbly landing can be seen here at the L.A.Times website. "That's not uncommon," said the commentator. Yeah, maybe. But all I can see is the future headline "All 555 Dead In Worst Aviation Disaster in History." Then again, I don't like to fly in any size plane... but certainly not in one eight stories high!
From the L.A. Times:
The Airbus A380, the largest passenger plane in history, lumbered out of the fog this morning, landing at LAX on a maiden voyage to the United States... The eight-story-tall Airbus touched down at 9:30 a.m. and taxied toward the specially designed gate built to accommodate the 1.2-million-pound jet. The airplane, which can carry 555 passengers and has a 261-foot wingspan, was making its inaugural test flight from the Airbus headquarters in Toulouse, France.
Is this the aviation industry's way of finally turning a profit after 9/11? Or a modern equivalent of a slave ship? We're already packed in like sardines as it is! Sigh. Remember the days when you could stretch out on four empty seats in the back of a 'lite' flight? Those days are gone with the wind (shear).
"It looks like the Queen Mary!" another commentator on the news video said. Or the Spruce Goose, you mean! DAMN, that thing is BIG! There's not enough Xanax or Ativan in the world to get me on that plane. Unless of course it becomes the ONLY plane they end up using for transcontinental or international air travel. Just one more incentive to become a bazillionaire and have your own private, comfortably small and easy-to-maneuver private Lear jet!
Shit. Guess I better ask my doctor for something stronger.
Comments
I have learned to embrace flying....up until you start shaking uncontollably about 10,000 feet up and death becomes a real possibility....( geez are night flights not the worst sometimes..)I always look around and think ...my last moments may be spent with these complete strangers.., and I never get seated next to the pretty girl going out ofton for the week... but I must say that moment when everything on the ground looks like miniatures in a movie it is quite surreal and fantastique....its like we are internally programmed to somehow accept our fate at a certain time while up there....but yeah that thing is too big.... heh when I fly home to florida and get there i think to myself now all I have to do is make it back ....I am anxiously awaiting transporter technology.
Posted at 12:31 a.m. PT on Mar 21, 2007 by randy focazio
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