I see the A-380 as part of the ongoing purpose of the EU of having a homebrew alternative to any technological item made anywhere in the world, whether they are attack helicopters, big carrier aircraft, or internet routers.

Much of the EU impetus behind many subsidies policies is keeping the possibility of being autarchical if sorely pressed, specially in technology and food areas.

And I expect an economic conflict between the USA and the EU in the next ten years, and if I am not the only one, it will be sensible to have alternatives outside the USA.

José

"The A380 will be able to seat 600 people with reasonable leg room - depending on whatever is considered 'reasonable' by today's standards." - Quote form some guy interviewed on Ten news.

I know. Christ - I'm average height (5'11") and an eight hour flight to Bangkok under those conditions? Why the hell haven't those bastards in Geneva convened to talk about that?

Casinos, bars, pool halls...I just don't think they'd work on a plane - all the turbulence. Spose that's the idea. You spill your drink, you have to fork for another one, plus the cost of cleaning the carpet.

I love plane rides. Even love the food (Qantas has Neil Perry doing the menus - all that and a safety record admired even by Rainman). But and extra six inches would be nice. At least.

Wouldn't it prevent DVT?

"Sir, our studies have shown that if you give passengers extra leg room, they can move their legs inflight whilst seated and minimise Deep Vein Thrombosis."
"Christ no. We'd have to knock out rows of seats - we'll loose hundreds of thousands. How 'bout we just pay some bullshit physiotherapist five grand once off to record cheesy exercise advice to play over the inflight audio?"
"Touche, sir. Touche."

Everything else I love. But all the snazzy inflight entertainment I'd swap for the ability not to feel like I'm being strapped into a device used to execute Texans.

No, my friends, watch and see. The A380 will have little impact on the cost of a ticket - if anything, it'll go up to cover the cost of new technology, pilot training, runway upgrades.

And anyway, current trends (albeit this is from research from Boeing), indicate that air travel is going from "hub to hub" (EG, Sydney direct to London and then using other transport to get to the final destination) to "point to point" (Sydney, to, say, Bris, then Jakarta, Bali, then Singapore, Paris, Lyon... etc). Instead of having to fly from a small place to a big airport and then to another small place, you simply use a smaller aircraft to go straight there.

EDIT: Hmmm, hot towels. Just got my haircut today a place that, when they finish, wrapped your face in a lemon-scented hot towel. After the first wrap, they then snap the towel in the air to cool it down, and then wrap you again. It's like a delicious sauna for your face.

And I'm glad for European alternatives. We just purchased some brand new Tiger attack choppers from you, in lieu of the secondhand AH-64A's the US was trying to hock to us.

"But an extra six inches would be nice. At least."

You know, Lithos, this is really sig worthy. Especially grossly out of context.

JRE - I also believe that EU versus the US economy will happen although I am optimistic and say that it will happen sooner - I say 4 years minimum. It's the reason I emigrated from Canada to Sweden. I have high hopes of getting EU citizenship in the next 3 years and honestly believe, although maybe crazily, that the future might be Europe.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Crash,

quote:

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Originally posted by lithos:
We just purchased some brand new Tiger attack choppers from you, in lieu of the secondhand AH-64A's the US was trying to hock to us.

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Tigers built by Eurocopter which is a subsidiary of EADS of which Airbus is a part owner. It is funny how the thread came all the way back around. France and Germany have subsidized its development and the Autrailian goverment has agreed to purchase 22 of them. The should be very good helicopters, but Eurocopter only plans to build 20 of them a year, so I wonder how long the Austrailians will have to wait. I assume that since Germany and France footed the bill they will get the first choppers.

We won't have to wait at all. They're assembling them right now, right here in Brissie.

Still, they won't let me test fly one, even if I do intend to buy. Bastards.

With all this crusading we're doing, we might as well have good choppers.

That is something that would never happen if the project wasn't subsidized by the EU. Boeing or McDonnel Douglas would never, I believe, allow their product to be assembled anywhere but in one of their plants.

The US was developing the new Comanche helicopter but killed the project, they will instead spend the money on upgrading the Apache fleet. Which may be better who knows? The Air Force still loves their B52's which are over 50 years old, and the Navy won't replace the 30 year old F-14 for another 10 years almost.

They also killed the Paladin Artillery Program, wanting to focus on drones arcraft to fill the gap. A close friend of mine who was an infantry officer was furious, he says when you need help you don't want to worry about the drone getting shot down or not carrying heavy enough weapons. You want to sky to thunder and rip apart as huge artillery shells fall on the guys shooting at you. Of course you also have to supply, protect, feed, and transport the artillery and their crews. With the new drones they want to use you can sit some kid raised on Playstation in a cubicle in Wichita and he can bomb the crap out of fighters in Fallujah. Wow! I am not sure if that is a good thing or not?

I don't think that the Comanche was designed to replace (at least not yet) the AH-64. The Comanche was design as a scout/light attack helicopter that was meant to replace the OH-6 Kiowa, which is used now for marking targets for AH-64 and recon. The AH-64 is a fairly solid design, and has on been around since the late 70's - early 80's. The Kaman Seasprite has been around since the fifties, and both the US and Australian Navies have paid millions to have them upgraded.

The Comanche won't replace the Apache in tank-busting or spearheading assaults by ground troops (yet) but will be used for long-range precision strikes behind enemy lines, targeting and recon.

Of course, we had alternatives. I think we should've gone Russian - their stuff's so cheap! And the Ka-52 is the only chopper with an ejection seat. Or some South Africa Rooivalks.

In case you didn't notice, I had a book on choppers sitting on my coffee table for a month. Which is why I owe the library twenty bucks.

Lithos - Did you know that its possible to haggle with the library to get your fees reduced? Just tell them all you have on you is 5 bux and see what they say. A lot of times I've been able to get away with that one and right now I'm on Zero fines.

-Chris

That's a good idea, CB. But I'd better check with resident Librarian FashPo and see what she says .

I'll pay, I think. I love libraries, and I know my fees will go toward more books.

Of course, I was thinking about signing up again with a copy of a fake lease, but hey...