Private A-380

[airplane wizard]

So this is where all of our gas money goes.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/21757606/

 

[johnsonrod]

What a complete waste. That thing will only be able to fly to 10-15 airports total. Talk about inflexible... I guess that's why he has his 747-400 (to fly into the smaller airports).

 

[Hovernut]

This is why we have to get crackin' on a hydrogen and fusion based energy program here in the US! Oh, the projects I saw started, then de-funded when I last worked a decent paying job at Los Alamos....it would make blood shoot out of your eyes. The talent we lost after SDI was tanked was a downright shame!

We have the know-how; we just need the socialist enviro-whackos and their lobby to get out of the way, really!

 

[NuGuy]

This is why we have to get crackin' on a hydrogen and fusion based energy program here in the US! Oh, the projects I saw started, then de-funded when I last worked a decent paying job at Los Alamos....it would make blood shoot out of your eyes. The talent we lost after SDI was tanked was a downright shame!

We have the know-how; we just need the socialist enviro-whackos and their lobby to get out of the way, really!

Hydrogen is a dead end unless you get some nuke plants to crack the water. Otherwise you are just pushing the pollution to one place AND making it more inefficient to boot.

Ethanol....well, ethanol is just stupid.

Fusion is a great idea, but it's a long, long way off, despite what Popular Mechanics might tell you. It's got some tremendous hurdles (containment, mostly).

But I agree that it's well worth the money to pursue. Any technology that will make the middle east, oil companies and Texans go broke is OK with me.

Nu

 

[avbug]

Despite what the article says, Waleed's money was self-made. He borrowed about forty grand from his father to stake his investments early on, and that was it. Everything else has been self made. Unlike others who profit off the oil, he doesn't.

The media-hungry public laps at their televisions and hates the Saudis and OPEC for the oil prices...but who is the biggest supplier of oil to the United States?

You guessed it. The United States is it's own biggest supplier, closely followed by Canada. Go figure.

You can't blame everything on the Arabs. That particular one is self made. He specializes in buying companies in trouble, and making them profitable, then selling them.

 

[atafan]

Purchases of private airliners has mushroomed in recent years, but most orders are in the category of a Learjet or Gulfstream -- small and cheap at $2 million to $5 million in comparison to the A380,

I agree that the Gulfstream looks cheap in comparison to the A380 but the price tag for a G550 fitted out is closer to $65 mil not $2 to $5 mil.

 

[aerobato]

I agree that the Gulfstream looks cheap in comparison to the A380 but the price tag for a G550 fitted out is closer to $65 mil not $2 to $5 mil.

Yeah, I'll take the Gulfstream for 5 mil and make a little profit on it

 

[BLUE BAYOU]

BTW the A-380 is currently approved for 60 airports around the world, not 15 as previously stated. In fact, it debutes today at MCO at 1600 local as it visits central Florida from Montreal. I guess it'll be here for 3 days but not open for public viewing-- just officials of Disney, Seaworld, Universal and political reps.

 

[CitationLover]

.....when I last worked a decent paying job at Los Alamos....

i knew it! you're wen ho lee!

 

[UALjan15]

Hydrogen is a dead end unless you get some nuke plants to crack the water. Otherwise you are just pushing the pollution to one place AND making it more inefficient to boot.

Ethanol....well, ethanol is just stupid.

Fusion is a great idea, but it's a long, long way off, despite what Popular Mechanics might tell you. It's got some tremendous hurdles (containment, mostly).

But I agree that it's well worth the money to pursue. Any technology that will make the middle east, oil companies and Texans go broke is OK with me.

Nu

It sounds like you're looking for one "silver bullet" solution, which pretty much everyone agrees is not out there. We need to be pursuing all of these technologies, and implementing the ones that fit with our infrastructure today.

Hydrogen is most certainly not dead. While it's true that today, we'd be pushing the energy bill to the power plants (many of which are inefficient), I see no reason why in a few years we can't be running cars from hydrogen made in plants powered by wind, solar, and/or biomass. And then there's the hydrogen infrastructure, which I think will be a huge hurdle.

Ethanol...stupid? Care to elaborate? Let's see...we can grow it ourselves and use it today to substitute for OPEC oil....hmmmm. I'm not saying that this is a great solution, and it's not even my top choice for what to do today, which would be---

Diesel technology. Did you know that half of all cars sold today in Europe are diesel? Maybe this is because gas costs $2/liter and diesels get up to 40% better fuel economy than gas engines. Did you know that virtually all diesel engines can run on biodiesel (or at least a blend of bio/petro)? We could ramp up production of biodiesel in the very short term (1-5 years), helping our farmers along the way. The only knock on biodiesel is cold weather performance, but you get around that by selling lower blends in the winter and higher blends in the summer. Use the extra wintertime supply to substitute for home heating oil. Diesel (petro or bio) fits right into our current fuel infrastructure, so the light here is green. Fortunately the car companies are finally starting to catch on--look for US spec diesels from M-B (just rolled out), VW (2008), BMW, Nissan and Honda. Detroit is, of course, behind the power curve. They do make nice diesels for trucks, however, and if we could start selling our huge SUVs as diesels, we'd be making a dent.

Once we're on diesel, start the next wave of hybrids with plug-in diesel hybrids. Toyota has proven that people will pay a little extra to go green. With this next wave of hybrids getting 60-100 mpg, it will make economic sense for all of us to get on board.

There are also ways to blend CNG/LPG/LNG/Hydrogen with diesel right before combustion that boost power and economy while slashing emissions at the same time. This is a commercial product available from Australia today. http://www.dieselongas.com/

If I sound like a hard-core environmentalist, I'm not. I don't own a hybrid or a diesel, and I burn 25,000 lbs of fossil fuel on my job each time I cross the country. I would just say that I have heard the wake up calls (both the environmental and oil dependence/cost alarms), and I'm not going to bury my head in the sand anymore. I've started reading up on the technology, and honestly, this will depress you. There is so much that we could be doing today, but we fail to make significant strides. It's just like the Titanic--see the iceburg a mile earlier, and an easy course correction does the job. Wait until the last minute, and it takes a huge correction...one that just might be too late.

Make your next car or truck a diesel. I know mine will be.