These won’t come for another 15 years, but they represent a significant change in philosophy from current models, including that Sonic Cruiser model that looks—in technical terms—absofrikkinlutely damn cool. [Airliners via Flight Global]

Apparently, it may be Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud’s new specially retro-fitted A380. As you may remember, the arabian Prince shone his genie lamp and bought an Airbus A380—the biggest passenger plane in the world—for his personal use.

British company Design Q is now making the plans for its interior, three floors with every luxurious detail you can imagine, including a lift that goes all the way down to the runway’s tarmac and extends a red carpet so guests can get into the flying palace. I can already imagine a stunning hostess saying “Welcome, Mr Bond.”

In addition to all of the above, the full marble Turkish bath in the spa, and twenty first class seats/beds for the extra guests, the plane will be full of high tech gadgets. The boardroom, for example, will have a hologram projector and a giant touchscreen perspex table, while each suite will include a virtual prayer mat proyector, always pointing in Mecca’s direction.

Whoever bought it, I hope he invites us for a trip. And with “us” I mean “me.” I can sleep on the couch, Mr Prince Sir you. [Daily Mail]

The sad news yesterday was an A330-200 going down in the Atlantic. Here you can see an extremely detailed video showing its cockpit, with every single knob, button, indicator, and screen. Just watching it makes my head spin. [Flight Global]

The VIP Saloon is a design from Lufthansa Technik, the decorating and customisation arm of the German airline. It’s about as over-the-top as you can get, and I can’t even fathom the ballpark price for what this would be, but it’s certainly more than anyone I know can afford. And despite the recession, you know there’s at least one Saudi prince out there who’s going to hop on board. Enjoy it, you dick.

In any case, what really hits home the scope of this is the layout of both levels. Just check this shit out:

[New Launches]

The project–called Future High-Altitude High-Speed Transport 20XX (the XX standing for who-the-heck-knows-when-this-is-going-to-happen) has an initial investment $US9.68 million to work on the concepts.

The suborbital plane will be based on the glide-and-landing Phoenix, an aircraft that was designed by DLR aerospace and aeronautics giant EADS, manufacturers of the Airbus fleet. But while this one will be very similar to SpaceShipTwo, the SpaceLiner is completely different (and weird). There will be a first stage, a large booster, with the actual vehicle on top carrying 50 passengers.

The SpaceLiner will launch vertically and take 90 minutes to fly from any city in Europe to Australia, and will be reusable 150 times, needing its engines replaces every 25 flights.

Sounds crazy? I don’t care. I want a ride. [Flighglobal]

This digital reenactment drives home just how quickly the events transpired, and how quickly the crew managed to respond. Another point raised by this video, though not as much as I would have liked: while the success of this landing largely came down do raw flight skill, piloting a jet like this is as much akin to running a computer terminal as it is to flying a fighter jet.

If the simulator camera had pulled back a little more, the sheer complexity of the Airbus A320’s control panels would have been apparent. It was an acute sense of space and fantastic piloting abilities that brought the passengers down safely, yes, but also a magisterial command of the plane’s many subsystems, including the vital fuselage sealing mechanism (apparently not). To drive home just how flawless this landing was, the BBC also includes footage of what can happen when a plane is landed on water incorrectly (Hint: death). [BBC via Neatorama]

I actually get pissed off in TV shows and movies (Jerry Friggin’ Maguire comes to mind) when people in coach eavesdrop on people in first class, or vice versa, because aeroplane engine white noise is just too thick for that to realistically happen. But now, apparently, it’s all coming horrifically true: Pilots say that when they are on breaks, they can hear “every crying baby, snoring passenger and flushing toilet,” says Wired’s Autopia blog.

According to a publication called Flightglobal, the Dubai-based Emirates Air is begging Airbus for some kind of solution to the problem that would not, of course, weigh things down. Emirates SVP Capt. Ed Davidson says that pilots are complaining: “On our other aircraft, the engines drown out the cabin noise. [On the A380] the pilots sleep with earplugs, but the cabin noise goes straight through them.”

Wired also quotes Airbus nemesis Boeing on the subject:

In stories about the A380 passenger experience, we read that even seated by a window, you could hear conversations on the other side of the aeroplane, or even several rows away. In some reports, when passengers mentioned that this might be a bit disconcerting, they were told that one might have to “get used to” eavesdropping on an airplane…

Man, they didn’t even get to bodily functions and I’m already sorta kinda feeling sorry for all those billionaire oil barons who fly the Emirates’ skies. Small saving grace: When flying Singapore Airlines’s A380s, at least they won’t have to put up with assorted clumsy attempts at joining the Mile High Club. [Wired]

• Two Roll Royce Trent-like engines, capable of developing up to 95,000 lbf.
• 55,000 feet altitude ceiling.
• 505 knots cruise speed at 47,000 feet
• 208-foot long body (which in combination with the wings gives it that stylized look).
• 10,400 nautical miles range.
• 256 passengers in an all-sleeper, double-deck configuration (if only all inter-continental places were all-sleepers).

The Stratos is not made by Boeing or EADS. It has been designed by a group of former British aerospace engineers. According to them, this plane will be much more efficient and environmentally-savvy than the current fleet. However, it’s just a design for now, even if they say it could get int into service in 2028. [Flight Global]

* While there’s a power point accessible from every seat, there isn’t one assigned to every seat — a group of three seats has two points, so there is potential for arguments if you end up in a row of people all seeking to use their notebooks or charge their phones.

* The most noticeable change is in the in-flight entertainment system, which boasts a much larger screen and uses a touch-screen system to navigate between different options. I’m not sure how resilient the touch screens will be long-term, but they certainly make for a better interface than the ageing Windows CE systems found on Qantas 747s.

* Choosing TV shows and movies is also greatly improved – for TV series, you can select individual episodes, and there are more choices on offer.

* The design improvements also flow through to options such as the in-flight map, which now continuously displays the current time in your city of origin and destination and the duration of the flight — no more waiting for that information to alternate between maps and temperature information in multiple languages.

Any improvement to in-flight entertainment is welcome – I don’t have the pleasure of travelling internationally too often, but when I do, I know that having the ability to power my gadgets is a huge attraction when I select an airline. On the whole, Qantas’ A380 options sound like a big improvement – but make sure you check out Gus’ rundown over at Lifehacker for more.

[Lifehacker]

The Air Data Inertial Reference System, which supplies position and attitude information to the plane’s electronic instrumentation system, starting producing bogus data due to an internal error, not external interference. As funny as the ideas of an A330-controlling iPhone app or an Autopilot-B-Gone are, the general consensus of experts that spoke on this issue is that commercial jets are unlikely to be affected at all by personal electronics, let alone driven into the ground. [ABC AU via Slashdot]