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major_clangerLast weekend I made the trip to Farnborough to go to the biennial Air Show. In large part this was to see the newly-restored Avro Vulcan (more pics to come) but I'll readily confess an enthusiasm for airshows that I've been indulging since I first went to Farnborough in 1978.
At this point some of you might note that I've committed to trying to minimise my flying and ask how this squares with attending air shows. My views on this are:
1) I'm not anti-aviation, I am just seeking to avoid unnecessary carbon expenditure, and I have decided that by my own standards, many of the flights I might make are not really necessary.
2) Given that aviation will continue (and it would be a bad world where it went away) it should be as environmentally friendly as possible. That means continued R&D, and so ongoing efforts by the aerospace industry to sell new, more efficient aircraft. It was very noticeable that the most prominent theme of manufacturers' display stands this year was environmental efficiency.
3) Even viewed as a spectacle, air displays divide their carbon footprint amongst an awfully large audience.
I arrived in time to go around the trade exhibition, and although many of the stands were closed for the public days there was some very interesting stuff on display. In particular, I got to talk to the representatives of a rapid-prototyping firm, so got some more useful discussion points for my dissertation. Then it was out to the crowd line to get a place near the front for some photography.
To say that I took a lot of pictures would be putting it mildly. By the time I was done I had 650 to download, hence the delay whilst I've sorted and prepared them. I'll be putting them up in batches, so let's start with the aircraft that opened the show: the new Airbus A380.
It's very big, and it makes an incredibly efficient grass-clippings remover on takeoff! But it's not very loud for its size, thanks to large but high-bypass fanjets. It's also very nimble in the air, although that's in large part because it's not loaded with 600+ passengers, all their luggage, and the fuel to get all that across the Pacific.
The weather was very changeable, with lots of low, fast-moving cloud. However, this did make for some nice backdrops.
The A380 is somewhat deceptive in appearance; being rather dumpy, it can look smaller than it is, until you see the two rows of windows and realise its true size. It isn't the biggest aircraft I've ever seen airborne - that was the Antonov 225 - but it is an amazing sight, nonetheless.
From below and behind, it looks relatively conventional...
...and then you see it side-on.
On the ground, you get a better impression of its size, and indeed how big the engines are.
Or, indeed, the tail.
At this point some of you might note that I've committed to trying to minimise my flying and ask how this squares with attending air shows. My views on this are:
1) I'm not anti-aviation, I am just seeking to avoid unnecessary carbon expenditure, and I have decided that by my own standards, many of the flights I might make are not really necessary.
2) Given that aviation will continue (and it would be a bad world where it went away) it should be as environmentally friendly as possible. That means continued R&D, and so ongoing efforts by the aerospace industry to sell new, more efficient aircraft. It was very noticeable that the most prominent theme of manufacturers' display stands this year was environmental efficiency.
3) Even viewed as a spectacle, air displays divide their carbon footprint amongst an awfully large audience.
I arrived in time to go around the trade exhibition, and although many of the stands were closed for the public days there was some very interesting stuff on display. In particular, I got to talk to the representatives of a rapid-prototyping firm, so got some more useful discussion points for my dissertation. Then it was out to the crowd line to get a place near the front for some photography.
To say that I took a lot of pictures would be putting it mildly. By the time I was done I had 650 to download, hence the delay whilst I've sorted and prepared them. I'll be putting them up in batches, so let's start with the aircraft that opened the show: the new Airbus A380.
It's very big, and it makes an incredibly efficient grass-clippings remover on takeoff! But it's not very loud for its size, thanks to large but high-bypass fanjets. It's also very nimble in the air, although that's in large part because it's not loaded with 600+ passengers, all their luggage, and the fuel to get all that across the Pacific.
The weather was very changeable, with lots of low, fast-moving cloud. However, this did make for some nice backdrops.
The A380 is somewhat deceptive in appearance; being rather dumpy, it can look smaller than it is, until you see the two rows of windows and realise its true size. It isn't the biggest aircraft I've ever seen airborne - that was the Antonov 225 - but it is an amazing sight, nonetheless.
From below and behind, it looks relatively conventional...
...and then you see it side-on.
On the ground, you get a better impression of its size, and indeed how big the engines are.
Or, indeed, the tail.
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no subject
Date: 2008-07-28 03:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-07-28 05:08 pm (UTC)