Aviation history was made today, when the new "Airbus" made it's maiden trans-Atlantic flight. Eight hours after take off, it landed in the United States following the same flight course of Charles Lindbergh. The big "Airbus" is as the name implies. It has the capacity to carry 550 passengers and twenty three crew members. It also has two dining dining areas, including one that serves full course diners. We have all waited in line at airports, waiting to board an airplane, this morning it took 20 minutes to load the capacity of the aircraft. I have waited at Homer International much longer to load four passengers! Keeping in mind the effect this "Airbus" could have on "Global Warming", it only consumes one gallon of gas per passenger every eighty miles. I did the math for you based on 500 passengers, the flight covered 3,500 mile in eight hours. At that rate, it averaged 437.5 miles per hour, burning 21,875 gallons of fuel!
On May 20, 1927 at 7:52 a.m., Charles Lindbergh became airborne in an attempt to complete the first trans-Atlantic solo flight to Paris, France. The "Spirit of St Louis" made aviation history by landing in Paris on May 21st after being airborne for 33.5 hours. Compared to the "Airbus" he traveled at the speed of 104.48 miles per hour. For his flight, Charles Lindberg accomplish the feat on 451 gallons of fuel. For his comfort, he packed three sandwiches and two canteens of water. The "Airbus" has a total of four pilots, Lindbergh did it by himself. He had a compass, no automatic locating device, no GPS, and no communications with the ground, he did not even have a "in flight movie". You be the judge as to the whom the best pilot is, the "new era" pilot driving the "Airbus" or the guy with a lot of guts and will to survive that flew this route by himself eighty years ago.
Sorry, no pictures of this aviation story that was buried in the back pages of your daily news. On the same day of the maiden voyage of the "Airbus" . On a different airline flying the route between Deli to London, a gentleman in the First Class section was surprised when the flight crew seated a passenger next to him while they were in flight. She had an in flight upgrade from Coach to First Class. The only problem and quite upsetting to the gentleman passenger, she was dead! She had passed away in flight and not wanting to cause stress and duress in Coach, the flight crew thought it best to move the body to First Class. Her daughter was then brought forward and seated in First Class Section so she could watch her mother and begin the mourning process. Problems were encountered, although they strapped the lady in and braced her with pillows, she kept falling over on the gentleman passenger. If perhaps, you consider this as one of my prattlings. The name of the gentleman passenger was Paul Trinder, age 54 and flying on British Airways. Although, British Airways has apologized, I think Mr. Trinder will most likely have open tickets to anywhere he wants to fly for the remainder of his life. Stop and think for just a second, what would you do if you were in his position? For me, I think I would be spending the next nine hours locked in the bathroom!
