
You know the Airbus A-380 is so huge it takes 2 hours to load and unload and that is if you are rushing the people on and off like cattle. The aircraft holds more fuel than a Boeing 727 weighs. As a matter of fact it has more water on board for the toilets than the fuel in a Boeing 737. Enormous aircraft indeed, but there are many draw backs some you do not even want to think about; for instance it is a prime target for International Terrorists, if they are able to bring one down, they will be very proud of themselves. Luckily an aircraft that big is not coming down with one little surface to air missile unless it hits in exactly the right spot.
Another huge issue is most airports are to small to take the aircraft. The wingspan is so large it sticks out past the width of the runway and when it rotates for take off the wing tip vortices will dig trenches in the ground. Aircraft taking off behind it will need to wait 5 minutes instead of 3-minute separation due to amount of air it will move from the wing tip vortices, enough to flip a little business get right over in flight. Or put a hell of a scare into a normal size airliner. Remember the crash in NY when the Airbus took off behind the loaded 747 Cargo Plane and lost its tail as it closed the distance gap. Sure there was some pilot error involved, always is, but you see the problem.
The massive aircraft also takes a lot of room to turn around, a lot of runway is needed for safety and can you imagine the congestion out front the terminal when that many folks deplane? Anyway, just because you build a huge aircraft does not mean it is the best choice. We shall see what happens, the gamble by Airbus may pay off, or this could be one of the biggest disasters in aviation history since the Comet or the Concorde a few years back. Think on it, the aviation community is as the world waits for an additional six month delay now.
"Lance Winslow" - If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs
AP - President-elect Barack Obama hailed a rare Oval Office gathering of all U.S. presidents as an extraordinary event on Wednesday as the current occupant, President George W. Bush, reminded his predecessors and successor that the office "transcends the individual."
AP - President-elect Barack Obama said Wednesday that reforming massive government entitlement programs — such as Social Security and Medicare — would be "a central part" of his effort to control federal spending.
AP - Roland Burris said Wednesday he should be able to join the Senate "very shortly," after talking to newly supportive Democratic leaders and working on lingering legal obstacles.
AP - The federal budget deficit will nearly triple to an unprecedented $1.2 trillion for the 2009 budget year, according to grim new Congressional Budget Office figures.
AP - Israeli airstrikes and Hamas rockets resumed after a brief pause Wednesday to allow food and fuel to reach Palestinian civilians in Gaza, where an Israeli warplane dropped leaflets urging some residents to flee because of imminent attacks.
AP - Mississippi now has the nation's highest teen birth rate, displacing Texas and New Mexico for that lamentable title, a new federal report says. Mississippi's rate was more than 60 percent higher than the national average in 2006, according to new state statistics released Wednesday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The teen birth rate for that year in Texas and New Mexico was more than 50 percent higher.
AP - Jay-Z isn't performing at President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration, but he is planning to make a big splash on the eve of the event.
AP - Jason Giambi is returning to his professional baseball roots with the Oakland Athletics. Giambi and the A's finalized a $5.25 million, one-year contract with an option Wednesday, bringing the free-agent designated hitter and first baseman back to the place he began his big league career. The sides had reached a preliminary agreement earlier this week but Giambi still needed to complete the obligatory physical for the deal to get done.
Reuters - The U.S. budget deficit will swell to a record $1.186 trillion in fiscal 2009, congressional forecasters said on Wednesday, presenting President-elect Barack Obama with a daunting economic challenge.
Reuters - Hundreds of embattled Palestinians ventured outside to shop for food on Wednesday during a three-hour Gaza truce, a first step toward an Egyptian-proposed ceasefire under discussion by Israel and Hamas.
Reuters - United Auto Workers bargaining teams are arriving this week in Detroit as the union gears up for negotiations with General Motors Corp and Chrysler LLC, which are mandated to cut labor costs under a $17.4 billion federal bailout.
Reuters - In an abrupt switch, Senate Democratic leaders began talks on Wednesday about swearing in former Illinois attorney general Roland Burris, nominated by embattled Gov. Rod Blagojevich to replace President-elect Barack Obama in the Senate.
Reuters - An outbreak of salmonella food poisoning has made 388 people sick across 42 states, sending 18 percent of them to the hospital, U.S. health officials said on Wednesday.
Reuters - Job losses and plans to lay off workers hammered the struggling U.S. economy in the final month of 2008, according to private reports that could foreshadow surprisingly grim labor market data from the government on Friday.
Reuters - Defense Secretary Robert Gates has told Congress that a planned buildup of U.S. forces in Afghanistan could add $5.5 billion to U.S. war costs in the current federal fiscal year, officials said on Wednesday.
Reuters - One of the packages accused swindler Bernard Madoff sent in violation of a court order contained about 13 watches, a diamond necklace and other valuables worth more than $1 million, prosecutors said in court papers released on Wednesday.
AFP - Israel on Wednesday approved an even tougher war on Hamas, warning residents to flee southern Gaza ahead of planned bombardments of cross-border tunnels, as the Palestinian death toll passed 700.
AFP - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Wednesday laid down terms for a resumption of Russian gas shipments via Ukraine to Europe as tens of thousands of Europeans suffered heating cuts amid freezing weather.
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