Here at Cloud Lines our landing gear is what you will find most different from other major airlines. Just toss out those little, hard rubber, black tires that come flopping out from the bottom of the plane just as it’s about to land on that terribly hard black top or concrete runway. We have changed all that. Our tires are made like big powder puffs. Comprised of soft foam, our oversized, fluffy tires are also covered in a sheepskin/Velcro combination that makes the landings soft and secure.
Our runways are made of an extremely firm yet buoyant memory foam, to take the impact like a little *whoops* of a slip. Then the memory foam and Velcro runway strips act together to slow the plane down in such a fashion that no one feels anything more than a slight brushing movement and hears gentle, wooly sounds. Soft and secure like a baby’s blanket, you have just landed on a cloud.
*Added To spur some interest in our airlines, female flight attendants' uniforms have been changed to reflect the softness we aim to achieve. They now will be wearing bikinis made of powder puffs. Males may wear them, if they so please.-- xandram, Jan 29 2007 It...looked just like a cloud. http://www.flickr.c.../72057594050766169/ [2 fries shy of a happy meal, Jan 30 2007] Not 100% sure this would work - although I am intruiged by the image of, for example, an aeroplane flying at full speed into the cotton-wool-filled Grand Canyon.-- hippo, Jan 29 2007 Makes me think of "Little Fluffy Clouds" song by The Orb for some reason - would like it even more if it skidded along on a giant ladies' powder puff when it landed +-- xenzag, Jan 29 2007 Interesting link, [21], regarding taking off on soft surfaces. Ground effect, trying to keep your altitude approximately equal to your wing span.-- normzone, Jan 29 2007 I don't understand [21]'s link about *foam*, as this is not a spray foam, but rather a heavy duty mattress type foam. I don't know if it would work either, but this is a halfbaked idea.-- xandram, Jan 30 2007 I think we are getting confused here, this an airline for one to imagine (that's what I think the hb is about)...not to build in the real world, but thank you for your input.-- xandram, Jan 30 2007 I'm terribly ashamed to do so, but [+] for the powder-puff bikinis (in general, and on principle, not only as airline staff attire). Airlines do tend to go for harsh, stark, rigidity - an overall softer approach would make people feel far more secure.-- zen_tom, Feb 02 2007 random, halfbakery