Airbus A380 - press WTF?



  • On the dual landings for the A380's in the US... (From The Age)

    "Airbus, the French-based airline maker, ensured maximum publicity for the US debut of its new superjumbo, which dwarf's rival Boeing's 747. ....... The A380 will bring a lot of benefits to the customers," Mariani said. "It's quite fuel-efficient, less noisy and environmentally it is more friendly than aircraft of a similar size."

    WTF? - which plane are they comparing with?





  • Obviously the 747

    Length: A380: 73m vs  747 : 70.6m (upcoming 747-8 even 76.4m)

    Wingspan: A380: 79.8m vs 747 :  59.6m-68.5m

    Similar enough to compare them if you ask me, although the A380 can carry a lot more passengers.

    The real WTF is calling Airbus a "French-based airline maker", when it really is a giant moloch of factories spread out all over Europe.
     



  • And also saying, in the same sentence, "...new superjumbo, which dwarf's rival Boeing's 747..."

    So, which is it? Comparable size or dwarfism?





  • @Bob said:

    And also saying, in the same sentence, "...new superjumbo, which dwarf's rival Boeing's 747..."

    So, which is it? Comparable size or dwarfism?

    I agree, that's really bad use of language.

    If you're going to describe something this way, you're suggesting that they are not comparable.



  • The http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonov_An-225 presumably.

    But yes, it is a WTF, caused by marketeers/journalists feeling the need to play up a small size difference as 'dwarfing' for sensationalist value.



  • Go An-225!



  • Either that, or they have misunderstood the meaning of "dwarf".  It sounds to me like they are meaning that the features and benefits of the A380 dwarf those of the 747.  This is still poor wording, because we generally take dwarfing to be in a physical sense, especially when a physical comparison is being made, but it can be used to compare other attributes.  However, it is correct, because it holds many more people and is much more fuel efficient.

    Agreed, the use of "dwarfs" is an ostentatiously and poorly chosen wording.



  • I know it's been said that the A380 is actually QUIETER than the 747, despite being larger and having more powerful engines.  The Airbus rep could indeed have been talking about cargo planes like the An-225, which is LOUD my friends.

    As for the A380 dwarfing the 747... in terms of passenger capacity it certainly does (800 vs 550).  Depending on the angle you look at them, it may appear to dwarf it size-wise:

    A380 and 747

    But most likely a journalist getting a little carried away.  Still, not a WTF.



  • @Pap said:

    Still, not a WTF.

    I don't know about you, but I still find it funny when they compare the biggest plane in the world to planes of similar size.  



  • @rbowes said:

    @Pap said:

    Still, not a WTF.

    I don't know about you, but I still find it funny when they compare the biggest plane in the world to planes of similar size.  



    Why is that funny?  You'll have to spell it out for me. Please keep in mind that I work for the phone company.

    And the A380 isn't the biggest plane in the world.



  • However, I find this hilarious (remember, I work for the phone company):

    Refinance A380 superjumbo



  • I don't know if I would use the word "dwarf" these days.  I'll admit it's in the dictionary:  "v.t. 6. to cause to appear or seem small in size, extent, character, etc., as by being much larger or better:  He dwarfed all his rivals in general ability.  7. to make dwarf or dwarfish; prevent the full development of."  But it sounds a little wrong.

    Women are generally smaller than men.  "The A380 womans the Boeing 747"?  Can you just generally take a noun associated with a particular quality and use it as a transitive verb to say that A imparts that quality to B?  If the A380's emissions smell better than the 747's, can you say "The A380 skunks the 747?"  But if the 747 flies faster, does the 747 turtle the A380?

     



  • IIRC, they're probably comparing it to the 787, the aircraft that the A380 was competing with and which everyone seems to want to buy more than the A380.



  • @newfweiler said:

    I don't know if I would use the word "dwarf" these days.  I'll admit it's in the dictionary:  "v.t. 6. to cause to appear or seem small in size, extent, character, etc., as by being much larger or better:  He dwarfed all his rivals in general ability.  7. to make dwarf or dwarfish; prevent the full development of."  But it sounds a little wrong.



    Welcome to english. Languages are organic. People pick up clever mis-uses of words, and some catch on. 1984 shows how uninteresting the alternative is. From a PC-persepective, I can see your point.


    Women are generally smaller than men.  "The A380 womans the Boeing 747"?

    No, but how about "On seeing the A380 sales report, the Boeing exec bitched up a storm?" 

    Can you just generally take a noun associated with a particular quality and use it as a transitive verb to say that A imparts that quality to B?  If the A380's emissions smell better than the 747's, can you say "The A380 skunks the 747?"

    No, but if the A380 completely dominates the 747 in sales, you could say  "the A380 skunked up the 747".

    or "Airbus out-foxed Boeing with the release of the A380". 


    But if the 747 flies faster, does the 747 turtle the A380?

     No, but you could say, "The bully began kicking him, so Timmy turtled to defend himself"

     

    What good is a language, if you can't have some fun with it?



  • @Volmarias said:

    IIRC, they're probably comparing it to the 787, the aircraft that the A380 was competing with and which everyone seems to want to buy more than the A380.

    In terms of range, perhaps (each roughly 15,000 km), and maybe in terms of efficiency (I don't have numbers on that)... but passenger capacity is "only" 210-330, depending on the variant of 787 and configuration.



  • @rbowes said:

    @Pap said:

    Still, not a WTF.

    I
    don't know about you, but I still find it funny when they compare the
    biggest plane in the world to planes of similar size.  

    Maybe you'd better go and look up the word "similar" in a dictionary then, since you don't appear to know what it means. HTH.



  • @obediah said:


    But if the 747 flies faster, does the 747 turtle the A380?

     No, but you could say, "The bully began kicking him, so Timmy turtled to defend himself"

     

    What good is a language, if you can't have some fun with it?

     Verbing weirds language.
     



  • And on a separate A380-coverage-bashing topic.... in the last couple of days, I've heard a lot of media say "football-field-length wingspan", or words to that effect.

    Yet, the Airbus web site shows that its wingspan is 79.8 m ~= 87.3 yards.  Somewhat short of the 100-yard... um... "playing length" of an NFL field, not to mention total 120 yards of entire field with end zones.  And really not to mention the complete 150-yard length of a Canadian field (110-yard playing, 20 yards in each end zone).

    This behemoth of an aircraft is big enough without the exaggerations....



  • Any noun may be verbed.



  • @AssimilatedByBorg said:

    And on a separate A380-coverage-bashing topic.... in the last couple of days, I've heard a lot of media say "football-field-length wingspan", or words to that effect.

    Somewhere recently I read an article that listed a large number of standard things that other things are compared to.  Football fields are very common.  Rhode Island is often used too, usually multiplied.  A particular country or region is said to be "10 times the size of Rhode Island."  This is particularly odd.  Most people don't have much of a sense of the actual size of Rhode Island.  It's the smallest state in the U.S. but how much smaller is it than Delaware, for instance, or Hawaii?  Or is Hawaii really smaller?  Rhode Island has that big crack running up the middle so it's a lot smaller than its bounding rectangle.  How big would it be if it were pushed into a rectangular shape?  How big would Hawaii be if all eight islands were pushed into a rectangle?

    Why compare airplane wings to a football field?  If you tried to play football on them you would be seriously hurt.  Does the airplane fit entirely onto a football field or does the tail hang off the side?

     



  • @newfweiler said:

    Rhode Island is often used too, usually multiplied.  A particular country or region is said to be "10 times the size of Rhode Island."  This is particularly odd.  Most people don't have much of a sense of the actual size of Rhode Island.  It's the smallest state in the U.S. but how much smaller is it than Delaware, for instance, or Hawaii?  Or is Hawaii really smaller?  Rhode Island has that big crack running up the middle so it's a lot smaller than its bounding rectangle.  How big would it be if it were pushed into a rectangular shape?  How big would Hawaii be if all eight islands were pushed into a rectangle?


    The land area of Rhode Island is approximately 3 times the total area of New Orleans, and approximately 3 times the land area of Dallas.

    How all the islands of Hawaii rank when put together:

    US Rank | State | Land Area Sq Miles
    46 New Jersey 7,417
    47 Hawaii 6,423
    48 Connecticut 4,845
    49 Delaware 1,954
    50 Rhode Island 1,045

    I guess you could say Hawaii DWARFS Rhode Island in size!



  • My only question is Will It Blend?



  • @newfweiler said:

    Why compare airplane wings to a football field?  If you tried to play football on them you would be seriously hurt. 

    Well I guess that depends on whether the engines are running at the time.... hehe.

    Play-by-play: "Thompson receives the punt... fakes left.. goes right.. slips through one tackle... AND OH!!! Into the engine!"

    Colour commentator: "That's gonna hurt in the morning."

    @newfweiler said:

    Does the airplane fit entirely onto a football field or does the tail hang off the side?

     

    The A380 is only slightly shorter than its wingspan (73 m vs. 79.8 m), so no, it would not fit inside a football field, at least not laid parallel or perpendicular to the sidelines.  Whether it would fit diagonally is an exercise for... uh... someone else :-)  I would bet "no".



  • @Hitsuji said:

    My only question is Will It Blend?

     My KitchenAid is on the fritz and I need a new blender. I think I just found it. Thank you!



  • @Pap said:

    @newfweiler said:
    Rhode Island is often used too, usually multiplied.  A particular country or region is said to be "10 times the size of Rhode Island."  This is particularly odd.  Most people don't have much of a sense of the actual size of Rhode Island.  It's the smallest state in the U.S. but how much smaller is it than Delaware, for instance, or Hawaii?  Or is Hawaii really smaller?  Rhode Island has that big crack running up the middle so it's a lot smaller than its bounding rectangle.  How big would it be if it were pushed into a rectangular shape?  How big would Hawaii be if all eight islands were pushed into a rectangle? 


    The land area of Rhode Island is approximately 3 times the total area of New Orleans, and approximately 3 times the land area of Dallas.

    How all the islands of Hawaii rank when put together:

    US Rank | State | Land Area Sq Miles
    46 New Jersey 7,417
    47 Hawaii 6,423
    48 Connecticut 4,845
    49 Delaware 1,954
    50 Rhode Island 1,045

    I guess you could say Hawaii DWARFS Rhode Island in size!

    Or to put it another way, you could fit six Rhode Islands onto Hawaii (which is something newspapers like to do in their illustrations, putting Iraq on top of Texas or something).  Could you put one on top of each of the six biggest islands, or do you put two or three onto the big island?

    I've been to Rhode Island and it's big.  it has a lot of cities and towns and it takes about an hour to drive from Woonsocket to Westerly.  I find it hard to picture the size of a city 1/3 the size of Rhode Island -- a city big enough to swallow Providence, Cranston, Warwick, Woonsocket and everything in between.  Even if it takes only 1000 Airbuses joined nose to tail to stretch from Woonsocket to Westerly.  Or if each Airbus requires a 300 ft by 300 ft parking place, you could park 323,000 in Rhode Island and only 107,000 in New Orleans.

     


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