CoolP, I realize we shouldn't skew the news towards against the A380, but you're skewing it against the 747 by saying worse things happen to it.

Look at the headlines: the A380 one deals with an engine failure--that's a problem with the plane (though, you could probably blame the engine manufacturer), whereas the 747 crash deals with what was likely pilot error.

Now, in all fairness (because you have a point), I'm not saying Boeing aircraft are amazing, and I'm certainly not saying that Airbus aircraft are horrible. I actually like Airbus... well, I like the planes, I'm not to fond of the company. I'll be the first to admit that the 707 had the same problems as the A380, maybe more so because it was a big jet aircraft landing on prop runways.

I mainly don't like the A380 because it was made as a "wow" plane. It puts people in awe of it. Boeing was originally going to make the 747 a double-decker, but they did not because it was unnecessary. In today's world, it is more useful, and within the next decade or two, I'm sure Boeing will at least have plans for a double-decker jetliner. Anyways, back to the A380 wowing people. As I write this, there are currently 244 Boeing 777-200 jetliners flying (more than any other aircraft, although usually the A321 is number one, which I'll get to in a bit). There are 21 A380s flying. But if I saw one of them coming in to land at LAX, which is nearby my house, I'm going to point out the A380 to somebody, whereas I'll barely notice the Triple 7.

Now, about the A321. That is a great jetliner. As far as I know it has a great track record, and as I said earlier, there are usually more of it in the sky than any other plane (I'm getting that statistic from Flight Aware, by the way). I think it's just as good as Boeing planes. But if you see one coming in for a landing, you don't say "Wow! Look at that A321! It's such a cool plane!" Also, if I'm not mistaken (though I may be), I believe it was the plane that got Airbus all those orders at Le Bourget this year. That should be the flagship of the Airbus fleet, not the A321. Boeing is guilty of this too, though not to the same extent, as they make the 747 their flagship. However, there are usually more 777s flying around at any given moment.

I just want to say that this is not a dis on Airbus, nor am I glorifying Boeing. They're both great companies (and they both have plenty of flaws, faults, and weaknesses), and I wish the comparison was between something other than the A380 and the 747. We shouldn't be fiercely defending one or the other like college sports teams. And of course, I'm not trying to insult or discredit CoolP. He does have a point, and he often has good insights like this.  :)