This week’s featured link:
Airbus Corruption Scandal May Lead Straight to the Top – Der Spiegel
The language is a bit stilted, but this very lengthy exposé dives into the messy world of bribery and corruption at Airbus. It’s an ugly picture and one that I don’t fully understand. This does appear to be pretty damning with Airbus undoubtedly going to get some kind of punishment. It just goes to show that all these manufacturers are corrupt in one way or another.
Two for the road:
As the 747 Begins Its Final Approach, a Pilot Takes a Flight Down Memory Lane – The New York Times
I’m a sucker for any kind of tribute to the 747. As this pilot notes, the airplane itself won’t be gone completely anytime soon, but the number of 747s is dwindling quickly. It’s going to get much harder to fly on what was truly one of the most important inventions in aviation history.
Frontier Airlines’ route droppings revealed; 23 airport pairs no longer served with O’Hare and Atlanta seeing biggest changes – Anna.aero
Remember that massive new route launch that Frontier did earlier this year? Well the schedules weren’t out until relatively recently. And now a comparison of this summer and next shows a bunch of routes are going away as well.
9 comments on “3 Links I Love: Airbus and the Bullshit Castle, Ode to the 747, Frontier Cuts”
“It just goes to show that all these manufacturers are corrupt in one way or another.” Who let Gary Leff guest blog this morning? Please leave the broad-brush, ad hominem crap to the credit card hucksters, CF is better than that.
Please to us a big favor and list all of the aircraft manufacturers that have not been embroiled in financial irregularities and nefarious scandals.
My first airplane trip was a Northwest 747 SFO-HNL back in the mid 70s. I will miss seeing so many of them flying around.
The A380 is a big ugly thing I would never want to fly on, and they may not be around that much longer anyway.
David, you’re missing a trick – the A380 is a beautiful aeroplane to be a passenger on (particularly with Singapore); I love the 747 for what it stood for, and the rare times I got to fly ‘upstairs’ were totally cool (I’ve written before about it feeling like a private jet). But I’ve done many long-haul flights on the A380 (all in economy) and I just feel so much more refreshed flying on that than a 747 – you should give it go :)
People should know, when an airline announces a large amount of new service that it also means a large amount of cut services some where else. I’ve always said, they should have to list both new and cut service at the same time.
I highly recommend Mark Vanhoenacker’s book, Skyfaring, to any avgeek. He wrote the second article above. He does a very nice job of the technical aspect of being a pilot as well as the experience of seeing the world from his office in the 747. His Twitter account is a good follow as well.
If you love the 747 sign up to fly the Qantas full motion 747-400 simulator in Sydney at the Kingsford airport. Huge fun but not real cheap. You can do it at the PanAm academy in Miami as well but it is more expensive I believe. BA in London also has it I think. I did Qantas three times and loved every minute plus you get a tour of the facility there at Qantas JetBase.
Any story that involves someone committing crimes to buy a Dacia has to be a very sad story.
… the arrival of the regular 747 Speedbird 289 non stop from London at PHX is spectacularly on time, month after month … the best 747 gateway to the heart of the country …