Mar 31 2009
Hotelicopter a Sign of Excess — or a Joke?
What next? My jaw dropped when I saw this thing on ABC news the other night. It’s called the Hotelicopter. What’s unclear is whether it’s a hotel first or a helicopter first; a joke; or just incredible excess for the filthy rich who have run out of things to throw their money at!
The buzz online is that this is an April Fool’s joke, and maybe that’s true. ABC news didn’t mention that it was, and their story on it aired 2-3 days ago. They reported the story as fact. Why did people assume it was a joke? Despite peak oil, despite high gas prices, despite global warming, people continue to build massive cars and other machines that run on fossil fuels. If you’ve ever seen some of the most massive SUVs, they also look like jokes.
They test flew the world’s biggest airplane last year, so I would not be terribly surprised that they would now plan to fly the world’s biggest helicopter. I see no actual evidence that this monstrosity isn’t real. People who are swimming in money have a peculiar talent for ignoring what’s going on around them in the world. People starving on the streets of America and global warming nearing tipping points? People without health care, 5 million jobs lost in the last couple of years — Who cares, let’s stay overnight in this hotelicopter and fly 700 miles for the heck of it!
Even so, I have to admit it’s kind of amazing — if it is real.
Even if it wasn’t real, it symbolizes one element of America very well. Wretched excess was never anything (some) people in the U.S. shied away from. Certainly a lot of people like me are both fascinated and horrified by an idea like the giganto-copter. It’s completely unnecessary that I can see, sort of like the front arms on a T-Rex. What is it good for? If I want a luxury hotel, I can’t imagine why I’d book a flight on this helicopter, or on any helicopter. If I want to get from Point A to Point B, I don’t know why I’d choose this ride even if I was rich.
I wrote an email to the company asking them how many miles per gallon this thing gets and what kind of and how much fuel it uses. They didn’t bother to write back, and I really doubt they will. This helicopter is supposed based on the Soviet-made Mil V-1, and then they added another floor.
After they have gotten this out of their system, I hope we can all settle down and try to get used to smaller vehicles, less air travel, less wasting fossil fuels, maybe even the end of NASCAR. Think of it — a world without the gratuitous waste of energy. They say this thing’s maiden voyage is supposedly this summer. The hotel on board would contain 18 luxury rooms. Read about what this thing supposedly will have on board . It’s hard to imagine it has room for all this stuff, but if it is being built, I’m appalled, really. Especially during a recession!
