Early last week a Qantas Airlines Airbus A330 surprised (and injured) its passengers with an inexplicable 300ft climb, followed by an even larger drop. Initial reports seemed to place blame on interference from personal electronics — something that Qantas had claimed before. After the news made the rounds the situation became muddied, with Qantas claiming that the initial news reporting misrepresented their claims and reporters backing away from the story. In any case, rest easy, Australian in-flight gadgeteers — it wasn't your fault.

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This video is a feed from the Tailcam in an A380 as the aircraft takes-off. The cam feed can be shown on the seat-back displays and gives you an almost Superman-like view of the aircraft from 24m up at the top of the tail. It's pretty amazing watching the behemoth aircraft surge slowly down the runway and into the air... and there's another vid, showing it landing in to SFO as part of the recent Emirates tour.

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This is an Airbus A380--the largest passenger aircraft in the world--eaten alive by an Antonov AN-124--the largest mass-produced cargo aeroplane in the world (which I filmed inside at Dubai's airport). Before you exclaim "Photoshop!", this is a real photo by Dmitry Avdeev. However, it's not a real A380: it's a 1/3 scale model, which makes it the biggest aircraft replica in the world. So big, in fact, that its 26.5m wingspan is a metre wider than a real Concorde. Seeing it completely built in video gives you an idea of its gigantic scale.

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See that happy-looking lady in the pic? She's standing in an Emirates A380 in-flight shower room, details of which have emerged after we first alerted you to this airborne luxury. The "shower spas" are pretty decently kitted-out, and the aircraft carries an extra 500kg of water to allow every one of the 14 first-class passengers to have a splash. As a result, the shower only runs for five minutes, and there's a traffic-light system to let you know how the time's going. And if you're planning on trying to form a new "mile-high, in the shower" club, you'd better forget it: the showers are small, "designed for single usage."

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Behold the biggest Lego aeroplane in the world, made after the largest passenger aeroplane in the world, the Airbus A380. Made at a 1:25 scale-2.9 metres long, 3.2-metre wingspan98 cms tall—the Lego A380 uses 220 pounds (100kg) of bricks. That's a mindblowing 75,000 pieces in eight colours—15 Lego Millennium Falcons. With that amount of bricks, and knowing how long my Falcon is taking, I'm not surprised that it took 600 hours for the entire team of professional Legoland model builders to assemble this beast. [Giz's Lego Trip]

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We have been following the Boeing's 787 Dreamliner for a long time. It's a beautiful aircraft, which allegedly provides with a much-better flying experience—less noise, bigger windows, more space, and better fuel efficiency—thanks to its new construction processes and technologies. However, a new delay in its LEGO-like manufacturing process shows that Boeing is having very serious difficulties with its mass production, which will put them a whooping 18 months behind their original schedule.

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If you are looking for a complete apartment makeover and a cheap private plane, head to eBay now because someone is selling the interior of a passenger aeroplane. The 19-square-foot "real Boeing aircraft model Airbus aircraft seats" includes everything but the trolley dollies: first class double seats, two fully-equipped aeroplane toilets, kitchenette, storage lockers, and onboard in-flight video equipment. Jump for more pics and the sellers' psychedelic "business ideas" for this contraption.

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Starting October 1, if you're flying first class from Dubai to New York on an Emirates Air A380, you'll have the option of grabbing a hot shower midflight. It'll cost you US$18,000, but some showers are worth it, am I right? "No!" say those party poopers in the environmental lobby.

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Remember the retired Indian Airlines engineer whose stationary airplane parked in his backyard was pulling in the punters? Well, Reuters toodled off to Delhi to clock Bahadur Chand Gupta's Airbus 300 experience for themselves, alongside a bunch of underprivileged kids who are flying for free. Anyone who scoffs at the idea, just check out the testimony of a 16-year-old passenger. "Today, my life's dream is fulfilled." Gupta's wife, who plays flight attendant, and guides the kids down the emergency chute (see? Loads better than flying for real) says of the experience, "Their happiness gives me the utmost pleasure." [LiveLeak]

According to Kansas.com, Airbus SAS plans to build a 900-seat version of its famously enormous A380 superjumbo. Currently, the A380 is intended to carry between 500-800 passengers depending on the configuration — although it has held up to 873, on at least one occasion. That could mean that a "stretch" Airbus A380 could be adjusted to hold as many as 1000 passengers depending on the carrier. Airbus will begin developing the larger version after the standard plane reaches full production in 2010. The Arab Emirates, the companies biggest client, has already shown interest saying that they would buy a new model when they become available. [Kansas via Luxist]