Slug-fest

 We’re on the Airbus A380 today, Emirates’ go-to for most sectors. 

While some plane-spotters get all slippery over the A380, I am underwhelmed. 

Let me know if I’ve said this before. 

I call this aircraft ’the slug’, and I regard it as the ugliest aircraft in existence. No, wait. That abomination that Boeing use to fly aircraft jigsaw pieces around, I think it’s called the Baluga, is definitely uglier. 

So let me modify my previous statement. The slug is the ugliest aircraft in public transport. 

Unsurprisingly, it does not have attractive parents. Look at the nose profile of any Airbus, and compare it to the same profile of a Boeing. 

While the Boeing nose is elegant and regal, the airbus is pugilistic and blunt. 

The lines of the old B747 are aerodynamic and timeless compared to the blunt instrument that is the slug. 

You can tell my age because I look back with fondness for the old Boeing era. Even the little 737 had metal everywhere. Particularly the overhead lockers. Aluminium framing that stayed where it was put. Enter the smaller airbus with everything plastic, and the loudest noise on a flight is the lockers creaking and groaning and squeaking as the thin-skinned fuselage flexes during the flight. 

The introduction of the slug came with great fanfare about the new composite materials, giving a much quieter ride. True, much less engine noise to compete with the squeaky lockers. Good move.