We’ve known about glass-bottomed boats for a long time, but what about glass-bottomed planes? In April of this year Richard Branson announced on the Virgin Atlantic blog that he was going to be adding a new Airbus A320 to its fleet with a clear strip down the middle made from aviation-standard glass, instead of the traditional aisle.
The new plane was to assist with a new route from Stansted to Aberdeen.Of course, the timing of the announcement was crucial (check the month and think about it) but that doesn’t seem to have stopped the story from enjoying an occasional flurry on social media. At the time, the Daily Mail reported on the story and so did Chinese state media, and it’s thought they were both ‘taken in’ on it all. Nowadays it still enjoys the occasional share on Facebook or re-tweet on Twitter.
So will glass-bottomed planes on commercial aircraft ever become a reality? Well, that seems highly unlikely. Many people are nervous of flying at the best of times and it’s unlikely a glass floor will put them any more at ease. What’s more, there’s technology in place nowadays that would produce a similar end result much more cost effectively. On take-off on a recent flight back from Crete, our TV screens were replaced with footage from a camera filming the ground from the underside of the plane.
Plus then you’ve got things such as the app launched by Delta earlier this year. The ‘Fly Delta for iPad’ app comes complete with Glass Bottom Jet which they say is to “inspire you to explore the globe and experience a whole new view of the ground below”.
So, if you do truly want to experience something akin to a glass-floored flight, your best bet is going to be to save up for your own private jet and customise it as you wish. Whilst that might sound far-fetched, it’s exactly whatPrince Alwaleed Bin Talal of Saudi Arabia is said to have done with his customised Airbus A380. He has a ‘magic carpet’ room on the lower floor where there is the equivalent of a glass-bottom board – a floor that is in fact made from a giant screen that shows you where the plane is flying over at any point in time. Snag is, you’re going to need to about $500 million in spare cash if you want a jet like his.
