By Dani Alonso
As you probably know, the new flying monster has been recently released. This sweet baby has gone through some troubles in the creative process, and it has specially made some engineers spend non-sleep nights trying to solve the problem with the landing gear. Why? Well, because the new Airbus A380 is not exactly a little flying mosquito.
Giving numbers is absolutely nonsense, but comparing the dimensions of the plane with some easy to understand comparisons can bring a lot of light to your minds when it comes to imagine the size of this flying machine. At least until you take your first flight inside!
Can you imagine a giraffe? Good that you can. Imagine it standing up, raising the neck up to the sky. Now, with a stronger imagination than before, imagine another giraffe that climbs on the head of the last one and stands in the same position. Repeat the process with a third giraffe, a forth one and finally a fifth one. Good job! Now you have managed to place the head of the fifth giraffe standing just by the exact height of the Airbus. That is also the equivalent to the height of an eight-storey building
Another one? Let's go for it. Now you can imagine a group of people lost in a desert in Africa with 50 Celsius degrees at the sun, looking for some place where to hide from those killing rays. By luck, they find a runway with an Airbus A380 standing there and they run to find cover under its wings. Do you know how many people will be able to avoid the sun rays under the wings of the Airbus? 5,600 people. Lucky ones!
Oh, you say that you are a kiwi lover? OK, that one is for New Zealand guys. Let's take this people out of the wings, and place your dear nearly extincted kiwis instead. Wow! You have just saved 8400 kiwis from dying under the sun!
And I don't think you have enough, I am sure you want even more examples. I am sure you have heard sometimes about the air transport of a maritime animal such as an orca or dolphins. And of course you know also that a whale can be more than two times bigger than one of these animals. Did you know then that the Airbus would be able to fit inside two whales?
Looking at this from another point of view, the two decks of the aircraft cover a total surface of 550 m2, which is the equivalent to 10 squash courts. It is a shame that those luxury rooms occupy the space because we could really have a nice flying sports field.
If you are still not convinced that the new Airbus A380 is a real giant... Well, then probably you are reading this at 3:00 a.m. and your brain has already flown away. For the other ones that read this at a decent time, let's give an applause to the new king of the sky.
Dani Alonso
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