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The Boeing 787 At Last Debuts
"The windows are absolutely amazing. You're not confined. You've got the outside inside."
—*THROWS UP* No thanks! But hey, it's the first flight of the Boeing 787, for which Boeing made the windows 30% bigger. :( Also the bathroom has a window and a bidet. I think having a TV on the back of every seat in economy is really gross and weird! (Doesn't everyone have her own device anyway?) Anyway, here's the hour-long documentary on the mechanics, if you're an obsessed weirdo. (1.2 tons of air per second at full thrust!)
"Business class luxury" = a fridge with some white wine in it, apparently!
Hideous. Those business class seats look like plastic jails.
@awlsome THEY DO, don't they? Why does it all seem so overbuilt? This doesn't make sense to me in terms of space usage.
@awlsome: Office Space II: The Flightening.
@Choire Sicha Seats and seating arrangements don't come with the plane. They are after-market installed by the airline.
@Niko Bellic No, I know–and the terrible choices made by airlines make good design terrible. The seatguru pics for this as installed are BOTHERSOME!
Remember people, "Composite Materials" is just a fancy term for plastic.
@Tuna Surprise I have some composite materials floating in my toilet right now.
@Tuna Surprise Not to be a jerk, but no it's not. It's carbon fiber suspended in plastic, which is why it's so damn strong and light. It's already used in parts of a few new planes, this is just the first one to be entirely built out of it.
@Brooklyn Battery: Jerk.
@ejcsanfran
Thank you! When did the Awl stop being a safe space for people who are afraid to fly.
@Tuna Surprise That's what those little plastic bottles are for :)
@Tuna Surprise There IS no safe space for people who are afraid to fly, darlink. AND you never know when one of those things is going to just fall out of the sky and squash you.
This does not, however, mitigate the brilliance of my plan to make planes wear Halloween costumes.
I think Emirates has a freaking shower in first class, which I just don't understand/yuck.
@hman Ewww. I can just see some fat CEO coming down the aisle, dripping wet and wrapped in a towel. *shudders*
"(Doesn't everyone have her own device anyway?)" I am the 9– ah, fuck it.
@Matt Yeah. "Gross and weird"? Really? "Unnecessary" I could maybe see, but I don't think there's anything particularly "gross" or "weird" about this.
Crashless? Unless it's crashless, color me unimpressed. I'll sit with my goddamn knees in my mouth if they guarantee the plane won't crash.
They didn't build this plane for you, twice a year traveler. It's a huge improvement for business class folk
I have a fear of people who are afraid of flying.
I like how the seats are paired off, even in rows of four, to make single people feel even worse.
"I think having a TV on the back of every seat in economy is really gross and weird! (Doesn't everyone have her own device anyway?)"
What are you, the 1%?
@KenWheaton: No kidding, and the childless 1% at that.
I would suggest not flying one of these till they get all the v1.00 kinks worked out. Or picked off the tarmac.
I am still waiting for the "glass-bottom" airplane so that we can look down and see all that we are flying over… Now that would be awesome!
@David And would that come with earplugs, to muffle the screams of panic from liftoff to landing?
I love this space plane! Although I would be mega-pissed if they paraded me through the sweet business class cubicles before showing me to middle seat in row 52.
I bet the food still sucks, so…
If you're into planes (or just awe-inspiring man-made Spectacle in general) I highly recommend touring the Boeing plant outside of Seattle, where they build (assemble?) these things. Largest building by volume in the world!