Before John Travolta snatches it up, there's a pretty bad-ass piece of aviation memorabilia floating around on the open market. The British-made Trident plane flew China's communist leader, Mao Zedong, around his great red country before he died in 1976.

The Trident, which resided in a Chinese aviation museum and now sits in a Zhuhai shopping mall, is now up for sale. The mall's owners decided to sell the plane to make room for additional parking, its managers say.

No word on how much this giant communist toy costs, but in theory, shouldn't they just let every citizen take a turn?

Related Stories:
· Chairman Mao's Plane for Sale [CNN]
· Florida Says John Travolta's Bird Is Too Big [Jaunted]

[Photo of another of Mao's planes, a Ilyushin Il-18: allenthepostman]]]> ced138 2008-10-07T11:30:41-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/9/16/5278/08101

Ever heard of a winglet? We thought it might be something you buy at a fast food chicken franchise but apparently it's something that goes on the end of an airplane's wing. Because it reduces drag, it helps reduce fuel consumption. And that is a Very Good Thing, right?

Apparently winglets are standard issue on most new aircraft, but some airlines are so green that they're getting them retro-fitted. Hawaiian Airlines and Air New Zealand are two of the airlines who are loudly and proudly fitting winglets on their Boeing 767s, apparently at great cost now with a view to long-term savings in fuel consumption.

Winglets are something of a miracle fixture, in fact, because they also improve take-off capabilities and reduce engine maintenance costs. So, a little disappointingly, you can't eat winglets, but they're still doing us good.

Related Stories:
· Sexy New Fuel-Saving Winglets for Air NZ [NZ Herald]
· Hawaiian Airlines Orders Blended Winglets [Asia Travel Tips]

[Photo: cbcastro]]]> amandak 2008-09-16T09:00:28-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/9/10/84044/1993

Is all not rosy on board the much-anticipated A380 with showers, of Emirates Airlines fame? After just a few weeks, Emirates stopped flying its A380 due to an electrical fault this week.

The carrier is hoping to start flying the superjumbo again by the end of the week, but even then the airline is cutting its use on the Dubai to New York route from three times to twice a week so that they'll be more time for training flights and engineering work.

Either that, or the bathrooms at Emirates HQ have hit a snag and they need the plane there more often so that staff can take showers.

Related Stories:
· Emirates Stops Flights of Its First Airbus A380 [Telegraph]
· Emirates and the In-Flight Shower [Jaunted]

[Photo: Telstar]]]> amandak 2008-09-10T09:30:25-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/8/25/165639/057

Two hours north of New York City, Rhinebeck is best-known as a retreat for holistic healing types, but it's also a chilled-out getaway with a variety of options, whether or not you're up on your yoga chants.

Rhinebeck is home to the Omega Institute, a hippie wellness center where you can take yoga and reiki classes, or, if that's way too mainstream for you, sign up for "ecstatic chant" or "touching divinity."

On the way-less-relaxed side of the spectrum, there's the Old Rhinebeck Aerodome, a museum of antique aviation that offers rides on a 1929 open-cockpit biplane.

No matter how you're getting your kicks in Rhinebeck, here's our guide to the rest of town:]]> BS 2008-08-26T14:00:17-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/7/11/132116/066

Earlier this year, we heard China would be building almost 100 new airports by 2020. But they'll be worthless without enough planes connecting them. So instead of wait on Airbus and Boeing, the Chinese ACAC Consortium is making its own new aircraft.

So what's up with these native jets and turboprops? Plans call for one of them to be tested as early as this year. The other is further down the line--but it could be flying by 2012. We're just hoping that a Shanghai-based Charles Ogilvie can stock 'em with tricked out in-flight entertainment!

Click through our slideshow for a closer look at the future of Chinese aviation.

Related Stories:
· China Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Wikimedia]]]> pbb 2008-07-11T14:00:15-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/6/17/132036/615

The past 24 hours have been filled with some pretty unhappy landings. Earlier this morning in Ormond Beach, Florida, a small passenger plane was forced to make an emergency landing on Interstate 95 after it inexplicably lost power. Southbound lanes on the highway had to be shut down to accommodate the plane just before noon.

And yesterday in Phoenix, a Southwest flight coming in from Austin, Texas caught fire on the runway at Sky Harbor Airport. All 127 passengers aboard the plane had to be evacuated after the back right landing gear burst into flames. A spokeswoman for Southwest said "another plane will be put into service as soon as possible." Good idea!

Sadly for all you pyros out there, this incident didn't result in any cool photos like the ones we saw after the infamous flaming JetBlue landing in 2005.

Related Stories:
· Wheels on Southwest Plane Catch Fire [Austin A-S]
· Plane lands on I-95 in Ormond Beach [Daytona Beach N-J]
· Dangerous Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Wikipedia, via]]]> Hunter Walker 2008-06-17T15:00:01-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/5/22/73013/4586

Finland's national airline Finnair, has got something to celebrate: 85 years in the air. That's longer than many airlines, and the carrier's come up with a neat way of celebrating.

Finnair's going retro. Not all the way back--and we're grateful for that--but back to the strangely cool 1950s. They're painting up one of their A319 aircraft to look just like an Aero Convair plane that Finnair (then Aero) flew in the 50s. Add to that crew dressing up in fifties clothing and passengers might come close to thinking they're time traveling.

We're wondering if reverting to 1950s prices would be beneficial or not. Then again, perhaps the best thing about Finnair back then was that it didn't need the fake pandas to sell seats.

Related Stories:
· Finnair Goes Retro [Boarding.no]
· Finnair's Creepy Panda [Jaunted]

[Photo: Finnair]]]> amandak 2008-05-22T09:15:01-05:00 Search Jaunted string http://www.jaunted.com/search/