by Lufthansa Flyer | May 21, 2013 | Airlines |
To Celebrate the launch of Austrian’s newest long haul route that connects Chicago and Vienna, Austrian Airlines and the Vienna Tourist Board are bringing the celebration to Chicago’s Navy Pier on Saturday May 25.
The event is called “Vienna From A Different Angle” and will include an afternoon full of Viennese Acrobats and Dancers who will perform vertical dance artistry on a 69-foot wall located on the lawn near the entry to Navy Pier. There will be several shows throughout the afternoon with the first performance scheduled to begin at 1pm.
In between performances, the public will have a chance to try their vertical dancing skills and ‘dance the wall’ as well, so bring sneakers for traction and comfortable clothes that will not create a “wardrobe malfunction” should you hang upside down! 🙂
For those of you who may be in Chicago and are not familiar with it, Navy Pier is located at 600 East Grand Avenue and is a fantastic spot to spend time shopping, eating and walking along the shores of Lake Michigan.
by Lufthansa Flyer | May 20, 2013 | Airlines |
In a bit of a departure from my normal LH-themed posts, I came across an article recently that I thought was entertaining enough to share.
In this month’s issue of Airways magazine (July 2013), they had a great feature article on the relationship between de Havilland and United, specifically about the impact that the Caravelle had on United in the 1960s. It’s a great read and gives insight as to how the Caravelle helped revolutionize jet travel and became the first non-US made jetliner to serve for an US based airline.
As part of the article, there was inset piece that brought back to life United’s exclusive Executive Class that had a short-lived lifespan between 1953 and 1970. For those of you unfamiliar with Executive Class what you are about to read will make you either hate it or pine for it….depending on your gender.
In 1953 United launched a unique route/flight between Chicago and New York that catered specifically to males. The only passengers that were allowed on these flights were men who had the role of Vice-President or higher with their employer. As part of their on-board experience, these gentlemen would be served complete steak dinners (cooked to personal preference) as well as the ability to enjoy their finest pipe or cigar and aperitif. Additionally, passengers would receive a special gift that would range from golf balls, commemorative plates and other unique items. Can you understand why I referenced AMC’s ‘Mad Men’ ?
I’m tempted to brush off my Fedora, bring my business cards and ask when Executive Class boards when I fly UA later this week…..
The article went on to describe what would happen if a female or child was inadvertently booked on an Executive Class flight…..they would be denied boarding and be forced to board a traditional gender neutral flight. Can you imagine the scene that would take place today at a boarding gate should that be attempted??
With the success of the route, United expanded Executive Class to the Los Angeles-San Francisco corridor as well. Initially all of the Executive Class Flights were operated by DC-6 aircraft until the de Havilland Caravelle replaced them in the early 1960s. The fare for these flights was priced higher than standard First Class Tickets.
Out of curiosity, is there anyone reading this that experienced this “boys club” at 30,000 feet?
Note: the image in the header is courtesy of United Airlines.
by Lufthansa Flyer | May 17, 2013 | Airlines |
During my recent trip to Hong Kong, I built in an 18 hour layover in Frankfurt in order to meet up with my friends from Lufthansa as well as to take in some unique Plane Spotting opportunities. In all, I spent about 6 hours walking Frankfurt’s tarmac, visiting 3 Lufthansa Technic Hangars and 2 observation areas.
The visit to Hangar 7 (a.k.a. the A380 Hangar) gave me virtually unlimited access to walk through, around and under Lufthansa’s ‘Tokio’. ‘Tokio’ (D-AIMD) was the 4th Airbus A380 to join Lufthansa’s fleet when it was delivered in October of 2010.
There’s an old saying that states you can say more by saying less so I will take this advice at least for this post and let my pictures do most of the talking. All I can say is that even though I have flown on the A380 a few times, I never appreciated her size and the engineering marvel that she is……until now.
Lufthansa’s Airbus A380 ‘Tokio’ shown in her stall.
To put things in perspective, look at the LH Technic vehicle near the inboard engine on the left wing….That vehicle can be swallowed whole by the engine…..
‘Star Wars’ Character or simply wearing it’s headphones?
Being this close to this behemoth really put things in perspective.
As large as the A380 is, an average height adult can not walk beneath the plane without ducking.
Looking out towards the starboard wing.
Another look at the starboard wing
Sorry Gary, but this is a much better “View From The Wing”! 🙂
An interesting fact about the A380 is that it’s wing span is larger than the length of the fuselage. The A380 is the only airliner that can say that. The wingspan is nearly as wide as a Football Field (261 feet!)
Hidden in this hatch beneath the wing is a turbine fan that drops down in case of electrical system failure. The turbine is efficient enough to generate enough power to run the A380’s critical systems during an emergency.
Its big. Including the vertical stabilizer, the A380 is over 7 stories tall.
A fully digital cockpit, including tablet and laptop ports. Virtually a paperless cockpit. Laptops are used to install flight plans, retrieve aircraft telemetry and “wear and tear” data that help engineers pinpoint problems and maintenance needs…..all without putting pen to paper. Truly helps reduce the human error element.
A closer look at the display panels. Notice the center screen on the lower displays, thats the view from the vertical stabilizer. The A380 has several cameras installed in the fuselage to help the pilot steer the aircraft on the ground as well as to provide views for passengers via the Inflight Entertainment System.
A view from the pilot’s side window. The A380 you see is ‘Peking’, which was delivered to Lufthansa in August 2010, right before ‘Tokio’. Who knew you can see Peking from Tokio…..
To see specific dimensions and capacities of the A380, visit this informative page on Airbus.com.
