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Watch the Biggest Boeing 747 Go for a Bath

Take a minute or two today and watch the video above. Sure, it's kinda corporate what with all the Boeing and Lufthansa bits, but in the end it should tickle the fancy of anyone born since the invention of the almighty Slip n Slide.

What's happening here is that Boeing is putting their new 747-8 freighter (to be delivered to Lufthansa) through water spray test so that, should the plane encounter any runway flooding, it can still safely land without sucking up any of the precipitation into its various engines and intakes. In order to test this, the plane gets its underside painted with a pretty pink soap wash, and then it barrels through a purposefully flooded runway at around 60 mph.

While it's not exactly a Slip n Slide since the airplane is still firmly up on its wheels, the image of that hulking machine zipping through the splash quickly brings flashbacks to our youth of those few seconds of joy, sliding down blue plastic, before the eventual grass burn at the finish.

For a real 747 waterslide experience, just head to the newish waterpark outside Portland, OR. There's a 747 on the roof!

Sigh. Is it summer yet?

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The Shiniest 747 at the Airport is Qantas' Freshly Painted Wallabies Plane

There is never a time when we are not up for watching a time-lapse video. Time-lapse is just—ugh—too entertaining and too easy for killing a few minutes away from the flow of doing actual work. Thus, when this new film of a Qantas Boeing 747 hit YouTube, the salivating began.

What Qantas has done is decorated one of their jumbo jets with the colors and name of the Australia National Rugby Union team—the Qantas Wallabies. They've even gone into detail so much that the typical red-and-white kangaroo Qantas logo on the plane's tail is now grasping a rugby ball.

Check out the full video here:

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What's the Deal with the Boeing 747 Always in the Background of BBC's 'Top Gear?'

So yesterday, while driving around the Isle of Man nearby Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson's second home, we got to wondering about one of the great mysteries of the popular UK car show: what's the deal with the unmarked Boeing 747 in the background of their test track shots?

A quick Google search revealed that it wasn't just us seeking the meaning and history of it, and some expert Wikipedia meandering revealed the real deal behind the giant laid-up behemoth:

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Last One on the Boeing 747's Waterslide is a Rotten Egg!

The summer vacation season is right around the corner, and that means a trip to the local water park is in order for many families around the country. However, this year we’re suggesting a little bit of a road trip to hit up one of the most unique water worlds, and best of all, it’s educational too!

Evergreen Wings and Waves Waterpark is attempting to live up to its promise as the country’s only aviation-themed water park when it opens up this summer. There’s ten different waterslides planned for the park, along with a wave pool that holds just shy of 100,000 gallons. It’s located right next to the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum in McMinnville, Oregon—not too far from Portland—so we’re totally jealous of any kids that are lucky enough to visit on a field trip.

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Watch a Boeing 747 Take a Bath

Why are airplanes, especially really big airplanes, so darn interesting in everything they do? Perhaps it's because they are enormous feats of engineering, huge, heavy machines that somehow fly and take us along the ride...but that's just our theory. Regardless, watching a 747 take a few quick baths is riveting stuff, as you can see in the ABC News video above.

This plane, Boeing's newest 747 Cargo aircraft—meaning it won't be carrying any passengers—underwent this "Water Spray" portion of testing this week. We guess it passed with flying colors, since even plowing through the runway pond at 60 knots (69 mph) didn't cause anything to fall off or explode.

We'll be flying on a regular 747 commercial plane later this week, and you know we won't be able to get this out of our head during takeoff. Here's hoping it's not pouring torrents of rain and hail in New York then like it did last night! Oh well, at least we know the ol' plane is up to the challenge.

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A Virgin Atlantic Virgin Flies From New York to London

It's low tourist season in London right now; the Harrod's after-Christmas sale is on, hotel prices are cheaper, the snow has melted and the sun's out. So we figured, why not hop across the pond for a week and why not finally lose our Virgin Atlantic virginity.

We left on Friday night, after a quick visit to the Clubhouse at JFK, and boarded Virgin's Flight 046 direct to London-Heathrow. We had no idea what we were in for, except for the fact that we had been upgraded to premium economy. But once we boarded the 747-400, the surprises began rolling in.

Mood lighting, an in-flight bar and a toupee, after the jump. Tips too!

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