Patrick,
When I first saw the A380 photographs, my reaction was, "ugh." I was certain this was the ugliest plane ever, outside the "Spruce Goose." But, not unlike a seal in its element, I saw a 380 aloft, and thought it was lovely. On the ground, the plane is bulky, unwieldy, almost stupid looking. In the air, well, it is downright pretty.
Maria
P.S. The 747 is still the beauty queen of the skies.
My feelings were similar to those of Maria4616. I thought it was an ugly squat of a monster at first.
'is that your response to the 747?' I thought. The question is, just HOW do you respond to the 747?
I think that the A380 has answered the challenge of the 747 admirably. How else can you answer the upstairs compartment in the 747? By having a full upper floor running the length of the plane, obviously. It was the next logical step................
Getting back to what pilots had to say about the A380 I came across a Mr Patrick Smith, an airline pilot of over 20 years, who has flown nearly all of the modern aircrafts made today. His website gives
ratings for all the commercial planes flying today.......infact Mr Patrick Smith gives the ratings himself - from his perspective as a currently serving airline pilot.
''A380 This ungainly behemoth — the biggest and ugliest jetliner ever constructed — has been flying for a few years now in the colors of Emirates, Singapore Airlines, Qantas, Lufthansa and Air France. The order book stands at around 200. (Patrick Smith’s aesthetic ruling: F. This, from the people who gave us Concorde!''
He goes on.......''The A380 is one of those bulky new cruise ships that looks like a floating wedding cake — oversize, ungainly and vulgar.)''
Well Mr Smith, thanks for that!
He's a harsh man who clearly doesn't have a good word to say about the A380! But getting back to the A380 and the point that Maria4616 makes about the airbourne Mega sky bus, she calls the flying A380 'downright pretty' and I have to agree.
A previous entry to this blog is a video of the A380 at an airshow in Russia. For starters, I just LOVE watching this plane take off, but in this video the A380 seems to leap into the air with an angle of attack that I found alarming really. It manoeuvered with great agility - a monster so large. I found it breathtaking watching it - and was a bit concerned that the pilots were 'stressing the plane out' too much
just for show - but OMG, what a show! Watching it in flight, I forgot how unwieldy it looks on the ground. It is clearly a magnificent bird, made to be in the air, and I just LOVE watching it take off, fly and land.
The glory of the A380 is in it's wings, with the tail fin setting the piece off beautifully. From this perspective(image above) it is difficult to see the monster that people speak of. All I can see is spell binding beauty;but that's just me. But What do YOU think?
Whatever you do think about this 'baby' it stirs some very strong emotions from who ever is tasked to commenting on it - Mr Patrick Smith for one......................
Patrick,
When I first saw the A380 photographs, my reaction was, "ugh." I was certain this was the ugliest plane ever, outside the "Spruce Goose." But, not unlike a seal in its element, I saw a 380 aloft, and thought it was lovely. On the ground, the plane is bulky, unwieldy, almost stupid looking. In the air, well, it is downright pretty.
Maria
P.S. The 747 is still the beauty queen of the skies.
My feelings were similar to those of Maria4616. I thought it was an ugly squat of a monster at first.
'is that your response to the 747?' I thought. The question is, just HOW do you respond to the 747?
I think that the A380 has answered the challenge of the 747 admirably. How else can you answer the upstairs compartment in the 747? By having a full upper floor running the length of the plane, obviously. It was the next logical step................
Getting back to what pilots had to say about the A380 I came across a Mr Patrick Smith, an airline pilot of over 20 years, who has flown nearly all of the modern aircrafts made today. His website gives
ratings for all the commercial planes flying today.......infact Mr Patrick Smith gives the ratings himself - from his perspective as a currently serving airline pilot.
''A380 This ungainly behemoth — the biggest and ugliest jetliner ever constructed — has been flying for a few years now in the colors of Emirates, Singapore Airlines, Qantas, Lufthansa and Air France. The order book stands at around 200. (Patrick Smith’s aesthetic ruling: F. This, from the people who gave us Concorde!''
He goes on.......''The A380 is one of those bulky new cruise ships that looks like a floating wedding cake — oversize, ungainly and vulgar.)''
Well Mr Smith, thanks for that!
He's a harsh man who clearly doesn't have a good word to say about the A380! But getting back to the A380 and the point that Maria4616 makes about the airbourne Mega sky bus, she calls the flying A380 'downright pretty' and I have to agree.
A previous entry to this blog is a video of the A380 at an airshow in Russia. For starters, I just LOVE watching this plane take off, but in this video the A380 seems to leap into the air with an angle of attack that I found alarming really. It manoeuvered with great agility - a monster so large. I found it breathtaking watching it - and was a bit concerned that the pilots were 'stressing the plane out' too much
just for show - but OMG, what a show! Watching it in flight, I forgot how unwieldy it looks on the ground. It is clearly a magnificent bird, made to be in the air, and I just LOVE watching it take off, fly and land.
The glory of the A380 is in it's wings, with the tail fin setting the piece off beautifully. From this perspective(image above) it is difficult to see the monster that people speak of. All I can see is spell binding beauty;but that's just me. But What do YOU think?
Whatever you do think about this 'baby' it stirs some very strong emotions from who ever is tasked to commenting on it - Mr Patrick Smith for one......................