I was in Singapore about a month ago for the Singapore Airshow. Aside from getting to view in person the latest Subaru Impreza S-GT (WRX Auto) which looked like a truncated Toyota Caldina (which is pretty dull looking but not as bad as I first expected it to look) and the new Lancer Evolution 10, which in my opinion doesn't really look like it has differentiated alot from the Lancer GT/GLS that I recently drove (visually almost similiar), and in between complaining to my business partner about the ridiculously high cost of being a visitor to such an event (SGD50 for parking if we drove, SGD5 for a short 10minute busride!) I witnessed the performance of something that was as graceful as a hippopotamus wearing a tutu doing the nutcracker suite. It was the flying display of the Airbus A380. For those of you who are not aware of what an A380 is, I shall tell you that it is currently the largest passenger aircraft in the world. It is larger than the Boeing 747 Jumbo Jet and is cleaner, quieter and flies smarter due to very military spec avionics. It is the stay-puft man, pilsbury, gigantor, el-lardo of the airline industry. Maybe some larger transport aircraft may 'dwarf' it, but that's only very slightly.
Imagine looking up and seeing that hippo feeling extremely light on its feet, making turns at around 100km/h without a worry. Technology does that. It enables a tutu wearing hippo like the A380 to actually perform wonders. I was looking up and wondering how many tons of aluminium, plastic and composite material larger than Jabba the Hutt could actually be wafting by extremely slowly doing circles while the commentator was blabbering away about the A380’s specifications with classical music playing in the background. It wasn’t as spectacular as watching a Sukhoi SU-30 doing its Cobra Stance and Falling Leaf-like stall manoeuvres, but it was indeed much better than watching some F16 doing a fly-by, which is pretty common in my books as I’ve seen tons of fighter aircraft flight displays in my line of work. So I usually ignore the Red Arrows, Black Eagles, Yellow Canaries, Flying Parakeets or any of that sort of aerobatic displays as they are all alike. I’d now like to watch someone invent something that is either humongous or small and dainty that can bend space and time. Enter a worm hole at one end of the runway and out the other. After watching the Sukhoi do all those gravity defying stunts, I want all jet fighters to have variable directional nozzles, canards and fantastic avionics so that I can see UFO-like movements. Imagine at an Air Show we have Lockheed showing is an Independence Day like mothership slowly clearing the mountaintops of the Titiwangsa Range for a flyby at next year’s LIMA exhibition. Or imagine the Puddlejumper from Stargate:Atlantis doing an appearance at this year’s DSA. Appearing on one end of the runway and disappearing, then reappearing right above the crowds. That would be amazing.
I suppose being exposed to all these events and technology makes some people (like me) immune to being really surprised about technology. But it doesn’t. Again I bring you to the Airbus A380 experience. It really is a sight to behold when it is flying slow. The International House of Pancakes (or the A380) feels like its not moving due to its size when you watch it fly by you at slow speeds. Lucky there are no traffic jams in the sky. You only have delays when you wish to land due to lots of air traffic. So you may now ask what is the point of this article?
None whatsoever. We also realise that aeroplanes are much more economical if they are large humongous Airbuses and that they can carry 800-900 people at one go. However, air travel is not a personal way of travelling to 99% of all flyers as private jets are expensive. There is a vast difference when it comes to personal transport for us. We have motorcycles, bicycles and even cars. It is of this point that I state that the general public is confused when it comes to purchasing cars. I mean, if you had the money to buy a private jet like a Global Express would you buy a Boeing 747 instead because you wanted the extra legroom? You’d buy the Global Express because it’s small, nippy, fast and still luxurious over Jumbotron over there. The rationale behind buying an MPV is exactly the same thing. You will never put your money down for an oil tanker for private use over a Wellcraft Scarab cigarette boat, but why in God’s name would you take out your check book and write a down payment for a MPV when you don’t really need one except for once a year? Buy that small sports car or decent 4 door saloon. Honda City excluded.
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