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The Miracle of Flight

The recent crash of an Air France A330 over the Atlantic Ocean reminds one what a miracle of technology aeroplanes really are.
They're truly a marvel of technology and engineering — no words can really capture how fascinating this technology is for me.
From the halting baby steps taken by Orville and Wilbur Wright in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina some 106 years ago to the transoceanic flights of today — humanity's genius and ingenuity has produced quite an extraordinary piece of equipment.
As with everything else in life, of course, we don't appreciate how astonishing this all is — we have gotten used to the fact of 400 people flying on a airplane for 15 hours non-stop and crossing continents.
These aeroplanes fly at a cruise altitude of some 35,000 feet where the atmospheric temperature is about minus 30 degrees Celsius.
These airplanes fly at a speed of some 800-900 kms.

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