flying titanic

do icebergs fly?

gambling? bedrooms? gyms? what happens to barbells when sudden altitude changes occur?

That A380 sure is butt-ash ugly. The 747 looks svelte by comparison, and the 7E7 (although in a different size class) is real nice looking. Looks don't matter that much I guess, but I'd hate to dump that much money into an ugly plane though. Airbus still has to hope it's test program goes OK, I know they've had problems in the past (such as with fly-by-wire, etc). One crash during flight testing, uh-huh-huh, I can tell you what's gonna happen to the A380 program! Has one even flown yet?
One problem I do have with the 7E7 is that it's a "plastic" airplane, that kinda bothers me, reminds me of the Comet back in the 50's, I hope a big plastic airplane can take all the pressurizations (I know I know, it's not entirely correct to call it plastic, but still . REAL airplanes are made out of aluminum!
Gilly

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sounds really titanicish to me....you wouldnt catch my butt on it....i bet that thing is so over-engineered it dont even get off the ground

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1985 300SD 192,000miles...Astral silver/ Grey MbTex

1983 300D 194,000miles...White/Tan MbTex...my newest addiction

I'll bet the French said the same thing about the first 747.

Heh, and all this time I thought the euros didn't like big vehicles.

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1985 CA 300D Turbo , 213K mi

i can see OBL rubbing his hands together now......

Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said Europe was "unstoppable" when it pooled its efforts.

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Enough about me, how are you doing?

unstoppable that is apart from when the Spanish have a nice sleep in the middle of the day

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1993 320TE M104
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past:

1983 230E W123 M102
1994 E300D S124 OM606 (x2)
1967 250SE W108 M129
1972 280se 3.5 W108 M116
1980 280SE W116 M110
1980 350SE W116 M116
1992 300E W124 M103
1994 E280 W124 M104
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"music and women I cannot but give way to, whatever my business" -Pepys

With events of late, screw the gym, is there no anti-missile protection on that plane of 840 people??

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The internet is over-rated.

No commercial airliners (other than those flown by ElAl) have anti-missile protection, AFAIK.

If one of our friends wants to take out an airliner during landing or takeoff, they are basically sitting ducks. Our senator, Mr. Chuck Shumer, has pressured the administration to provide funds to equip all U.S. commercial airliners with suitable devices to protect against these missiles (about 1M per aircraft). So far, his words have fallen on deaf ears in the administration. They are much too busy trying to prevent older women from carrying toenail clippers onto aircraft.

Unfortunately, it's going to take a shoulder fired missle to bring an airliner down in the U.S. before the administration wakes up to the threat. This administration is good at that.

what was all this I read about lasers? was that real or just media hype?

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1993 320TE M104
---------------------------------------------------
past:

1983 230E W123 M102
1994 E300D S124 OM606 (x2)
1967 250SE W108 M129
1972 280se 3.5 W108 M116
1980 280SE W116 M110
1980 350SE W116 M116
1992 300E W124 M103
1994 E280 W124 M104
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"music and women I cannot but give way to, whatever my business" -Pepys

you nailed it Brian, they are big sluggish targets. not hard to hit, were one so inclined. too bad our boarders are so pourous, allowing for ample opportunity.......

aren't those new EU built planes kinda big?

The thing you have to remember about the current shoulder fire missle that are available on the black market is that the charge at the front of the missle is about the size of a hand grenade. This is not a very large charge and Vietnam showed that it takes more than that to down an large aircraft. If you hit a fuel tank directly it could present a problem. But they are targeting to the engines. And to be honest and catastrofic (sp) engine explosion just due to a bad turbine section will produce more force.
In Africa the rebels, can't remenber which ones, tried to shoot down a 757, it damaged the engine but the 757 was able to return to the airport. So I'm not sure this will be an effective attack. I personally don't want anyone to have to go thru this to find out.

Yes I would like to have the defense system available on board.

Dave

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1970 220D, owned 1980-1990
1980 240D, owned 1990-1992
1982 300TD, owned 1992-1993
1986 300SDL, owned 1993-2004
1999 E300, owned 1999-2003
1982 300TD, 213,880mi, owned since Nov 18, 1991- Aug 4, 2010 SOLD
1988 560SL, 100,000mi, owned since 1995
1965 Mustang Fastback Mileage Unknown(My sons)
1983 240D, 176,000mi (My daughers) owned since 2004
2007 Honda Accord EX-L I4 auto, the new daily driver
1985 300D 264,000mi Son's new daily driver.(sold)
2008 Hyundai Tiberon. Daughters new car