it flies!

Watching the A380 take off was just incredible. Though I may be a retired [closet] aeroplane spotter, the beasts are still heart-gripping, and seeing her maiden flight streamed live was enough to make me well up just a little. To answer the reporter's question, they'll have the undercarriage down for pretty much the entire flight bar a high-altitude test of the wheel mechanisms; this appears to be a standard that can be seen in video footage going back to the seventies and beyond... aieee!
Now if I could just pick up some tickets to Singapore for late 2006...
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[EDIT] I missed the landing (mentioned in the comments), alas, but for a cause that many people will approve. Yes indeed, today Kim Cattrall put her hand up my shirt.
Okay, so that part's not true, but she could have had I been more opportunistic.

I knew we could rely on you :)
Alas, I couldn't watch the take off live, being at work and all, but just watching it fly is exciting and hopefully we'll get the landing before I have to go back to the office.
And we did. Woo-hoo! Yay! Huzzah!
That was a thrill :D :D :D
Ooh, you went to the Union. Was she good?
And as for the ice cream, threatening to stop sleeping with you is more my style, but it wouldn't really work so beating you will have to suffice. :)
It was really quite amazing. I've decided to book my next flight on it.
Which is to say that you won't be travelling until 2006, maybe longer if you wait for a sensible route? 'tis a shame, but I totally understand.
Sherry, she was quite a bit more interesting than I'd imagined, and my, her scouse accent is perfect even at conversational level; good enough for me.
I would prefer that you used yew over privet; it's more flexible.
If she can scouse you, she can scouse anyone.
Cute new railings. I know I shouldn't ask, but... No, come to think of it, I won't ask ;)
So amazing to think how much it weighs then see it hanging in the air due to the laws of aerodynamics. One little law does that much heavy lifting.
k
hey, what happened to the staircases that were replacing the poultry?
Yes it is amazing; 70 000 lbs of thrust or no. Physics is great, though it's a shame that the deep and dirty numbers behind it used to bore me to tears; concepts yes, riveting, but turn it into numbers and its magic is lost on me. I wish I weren't innumerate.
Nothing, Sherry; there are a number of embedded scripts in my page, written in php - each time the page is called, the server executes these scripts locally and sends you the result (so the HTML looks normal when it arrives at your computer).
In this case, roughly 1/4 of calls will bring you the stairs. If they're popular, I can change the ratio, but I have no indications as yet.
Kind of ruins the link I had to your picture of a big cock! The moment has passed, though, I admit.
The landing is on the Airbus website for downloading. She certainly is a big bugger x