Word: runway
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South Florida's Everglades Jetport is a fancy name for a concrete runway in the middle of nowhere. For the past few weeks 70 Eastern Air Lines pilots have been shooting practice landings there to familiarize themselves with the A300 Airbus, a twin-engine, European-made wide-bodied jet. Eastern plans to introduce four of the 229-passenger, 600 m.p.h. planes for a six-month trial on its prime New York-Florida routes in time for the Christmas rush. If all goes well, says President Frank Borman, Eastern may buy as many as 50 Airbuses at $25 million each...
...long last, the plane rumbled down the runway, and Laker gave us the word from the cockpit: "Ladies and gentlemen, your Skytrain is in the air." The food arrived in about an hour, served by stew- ardesses in red uniforms who maneuvered in the narrow aisles between the ten-across seats: cold but moist fried chicken, a questionable salad, a soggy roll and a decent piece of chocolate cake. I ignored the movie Swashbuckler, tried unsuccessfully to sleep (my seat back would not stay put), did not eat breakfast (the sausages looked inedible) and saw dawn break over the Atlantic...
...elevator to penthouse suite; then, after a while, off to the concert, onto the stage, back to the hotel, then to the airport. Reality never intruded, except when the schedule faltered. In a 1972 documentary, Elvis on Tour, there is a quick scene of Elvis, stranded on an airport runway, waiting for the gangway of his private plane to roll out. He is caught in the glare of sunlight, and he looks up in the sky with startled curiosity, as if surveying an alien planet...
...space shuttle's historic test began at dawn, when a cherry picker lifted Pilot Fred Haise Jr., 43, a civilian, and Copilot Charles Gordon Fullerton, 40, an Air Force lieutenant colonel, aboard the craft. Two hours later, engines roaring, the 747 mother ship raced down the runway and rose into the air with the Enterprise clinging to its back like a mating insect. Accompanied by five silver T-38 chase planes that drifted around the pair like pilot fish escorting a shark, the odd couple climbed slowly to 8,100 meters (27,000 ft.). At that altitude...
CHARLES DE GAULLE. 8.2 million passengers last year. Averages 250 landings and take-offs daily. One runway, 22 airlines. Delays: minimal. Accessibility: good. Allow 40 min. to 1Y2 hr. for 20-mile ride downtown by car or cab ($10 to $12, beware plun-derous drivers). City bus ($1.75) to Gare de 1'Est every 15 min. or Air France bus ($2.50) to Porte Maillot every 20 min. Rail trip ($ 1.75) to Gare du Nord every 15 min. Flow Through: smoothly futuristic. Spacious waiting lounges. Plentiful baggage carts. Sidewalk check-ins, or passengers take escalators from entrance to check...