Updates

Yesterday's entry with the A380 pix was a bit hurried, as the iBook's battery doesn't seem to have the duration that it once did. If you've already seen it, I've since added captions for the photos. This is Qantas' first A380; they expect to have three by the end of the year. Qantas has configured their A380 for a capacity of 450 passengers, a good deal less than the touted standard three-class seating capacity of 525, and almost half of the maximum density capacity of 853. Here's a link to Qantas' press release:

http://www.qantas.com.au/regions/dyn/au/publicaffairs/details?ArticleID=2008/oct08/3837

Qantas is the third carrier to put the A380 into revenue service; Singapore was the launch customer, and Emirates was the second. The Emirates A380 made a special visit to Los Angeles earlier this year to promote their new service from LA to Dubai, which will begin next week. I've heard, however, that they will initially fly the route using B777's instead of the A380. I'll let you know next week.

Meanwhile, Airbus has confirmed that they're working on a stretched version of the A380 which will be about 20 feet longer and have a three-class seating capacity of 650, or a maximum density capacity of 900. This stretch (to about 260 feet long) would make the A380-900 the longest commercial aircraft in production, a position currently held by the Airbus A340-600, which at 247 feet is about eight feet longer than the current A380-800's 239 feet. In comparison, the B747-400 is a measly 232 feet long, although the upcoming B747-8 will be about 251 feet long.

I haven't changed the museum entry, but will add that while I didn't specify where they were taken, the photos represent three museums: Planes of Fame and the Yanks Air Museum, both at the Chino airport, as well as the Palm Springs Air Museum.

That's all for now -
CV