Clusterfuck

Here is a pic of air traffic movements from today. Mindboggling how many planes are in the sky at one time. The system is also quite fragile, as today an electronic communication failure prompted delays across the nation.

Big bird

Some people geek out over video games.  Others over comic books.  I geek out over big things that fly painted in pretty colors.  More to the point - airliners.

Today  Emirates brought the biggest bird in passenger aviation ever built - the Airbus A380 - to SFO as part of a cross country demonstration of how badass they are. And I, being an obedient geek, went down and snapped some pics of this incredible machine taxi away from gate A9 and take-off for a 'round-the-Bay observation flight.  

The picture above doesn't do it justice - this is one big ass plane.  Emirates has outfitted theirs to hold 489 passengers but it can carry much more.  First class even has showers.  Emirates has a slew of these on order as they continue their Borg-like domination of global travel.  Based in Dubai, that United Arab Emirate which is on the fast track to out-Las Vegas Las Vegas, Emirates is expanding aggressively connecting dots all around the world with their unimatrix zero at Dubai International Airport.  Emirates launches non-stops from Dubai to SFO  - a 16 hour flight - this autumn with a much smaller 777 and next year will be bringing the A380 to the route.  

It was an awesome sight today.  I was giddy.

To see more pics, click here.

Starfleet

My business hero Sir Richard Branson unveiled White Knight 2 today: the first spacecraft developed for tourism that literally takes one out of this world - 62 miles up in fact. Yep. We are going to space. Pack lightly and don't expect a movie.

Virgin Galactic is a company founded by SRB  in 2004.  Its mission is to be the first private organization to bring the public to suborbital heights.  At a price of $200,000 per person, non-astronauts can catapult to space, experience weighlessness for 6 minutes, vomit, and then come screaming back into the atmosphere for landing two and a half hours later.  That's only $1,333/minute. From a base in New Mexico,  the White Knight 2 booster will take the actual passenger craft, SpaceShipTwo, about 50,000 feet up where a hybrid rocket will separate the two and launch the the craft into space.  How awesome is that!

In spite of my freakish fear of heights, my affinity for outer space saga (read: Star Trek) and my fetish for all things Virgin (huh??!) is compelling enough to put this on my list of Things I must do before I die.  I will do whatever I can to experience this.  How many Virgin America, Virgin Atlantic, Virgin Nigeria flights must I travel on to subsidize this cost with frequent flyer points?  I hear Lagos is just ducky this time of year.  Hell, I'd go back to buying CD's at the Megastore if I thought it would help.  Indeed the $200,000 price tag is steep, but the chance to go into outer space is truly once-in-a-lifetime.  

Who wants to come along?

Hole in the sky

A QANTAS 747-400 enroute to Melbourne from Hong Kong popped a hole at 29,000 feet, decompressing a cargo bay sending suitcases and contraband hurling toward the South China Sea.  The little yellow masks deployed and the pilots immediately executed emergency landing procedures which include pushing the plane into an unsettling but safe dive to get below 10,000 feet where the oxygen level is acceptable to breathe without the use of masks.  No passengers were injured but I am sure there were a lot of soiled seats when the plane touched down in Manila, as if the thought of landing in the Philippines itself wasn't enough to wet oneself out of horror.

Now my twisted ass ' favorite part of this story isn't the dramatic efforts of the pilots to save the jet from catastrophe, rather I'd like to have been present to watch the stupid items people pack  - from the cheap, knock off  Gucci bags, to Aussiebum underwear, to shoddy Chinese electronics bought in a HK market, and to possibly more Mr. Potato Heads filled with esctasy  rain from the sky.  All that secret stuff we don't want our friends and family knowing about all of a sudden being exposed and dropped into the sea - where pirates and other ambitious scavengers can collect.  I'd like to get some of that shit and sell it on eBay - "Dildo recovered from the China Sea from the QANTAS jet incident. Bids start at $200. Paypal accepted."

Most certainly this incident was traumatic for the passengers and crew.  I am not insensitive to that.  I grew up in an airline household and my partner is a flight attendant.  I myself  travel frequently and if this were to happen to me, well, it wouldn't be pretty.  Just my luck some other like-minded blogger would have a field day with what falls out of my suitcase, let alone my shrieking and overly-dramatic "goodbyes" would somehow make it's way onto You Tube.

In all seriousness, I wish the passengers the best and am thankful they arrived safely.  To the crew, damn, you are the heroes and I applaude you.

And to the pirates, what's the opening bid for Mr. Potato Head?