h a l f b a k e r y
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Here at Cloud Lines our landing gear is what you will find most different from other major airlines. Just toss out those little, hard rubber, black tires that come flopping out from the bottom of the plane just as it’s about to land on that terribly hard black top or concrete runway. We have changed
all that. Our tires are made like big powder puffs. Comprised of soft foam, our oversized, fluffy tires are also covered in a sheepskin/Velcro combination that makes the landings soft and secure.
Our runways are made of an extremely firm yet buoyant memory foam, to take the impact like a little *whoops* of a slip. Then the memory foam and Velcro runway strips act together to slow the plane down in such a fashion that no one feels anything more than a slight brushing movement and hears gentle, wooly sounds. Soft and secure like a baby’s blanket, you have just landed on a cloud.
*Added
To spur some interest in our airlines, female flight attendants' uniforms have been changed to reflect the softness we aim to achieve. They now will be wearing bikinis made of powder puffs. Males may wear them, if they so please.
How to land on a soft runway
http://www.wikihow....nd-on-a-Soft-Runway
[21 Quest, Jan 29 2007]
Dangers of landing on foam
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foam_path
[21 Quest, Jan 29 2007]
A Chinook giving a soft landing
http://www.flickr.c...ntindale/161985698/
to an Islander that didn't exactly manage a soft landing by itself some time earlier [Ian Tindale, Jan 29 2007]
It...looked just like a cloud.
http://www.flickr.c.../72057594050766169/
[2 fries shy of a happy meal, Jan 29 2007]
[link]
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Not 100% sure this would work - although I am intruiged by the image of, for example, an aeroplane flying at full speed into the cotton-wool-filled Grand Canyon. |
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Makes me think of "Little Fluffy Clouds"
song by The Orb for some reason - would
like it even more if it skidded along on a
giant ladies' powder puff when it landed + |
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Interesting link, [21], regarding taking off on soft surfaces. Ground effect, trying to keep your altitude approximately equal to your wing span. |
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< not my bone. I really don't think this will work, but I'll give you the benefit of the doubt, as you have proven quite resourceful in many previous posts. (neutral) |
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That reminds me. This lunchtime I was standing on the north side of Blackfriars Bridge, and a Chinook flew directly overhead. I shot it. With my Nikon and 50mm F/1.8 AF using Fuji 100 slide film. |
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I don't understand [21]'s link about *foam*, as this is not a spray foam, but rather a heavy duty mattress type foam. I don't know if it would work either, but this is a halfbaked idea. |
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I'm not saying it's baked, I realize there's a difference, xandram. I just don't think landing on a yielding surface is a good idea. If you didn't land *exactly* right, you'd flip the plane. I just can't help thinking there's got to be a very good reason runways are made of meters-thick reinforced concrete (sp?). |
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I suspect that one reason this wouldn't go over well is maintenance. If you've got a worn-out runway, you can just repave it. What do you do when you've got a massively expesive foam runway worn out after a few years? You'd have to replace the whole thing. |
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I think we are getting confused here, this an airline for one to imagine (that's what I think the hb is about)...not to build in the real world, but thank you for your input. |
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I'm terribly ashamed to do so, but [+] for the powder-puff bikinis (in general, and on principle, not only as airline staff attire). Airlines do tend to go for harsh, stark, rigidity - an overall softer approach would make people feel far more secure. |
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