PIMP my PLANE!!

Everyone knows flying sucks these days. But for all the hassles and headaches, there's one things airlines still do right -- deck out their planes with cool paint jobs.

Every once in a while an airline will slather a plane or two (and sometimes more) in a custom livery that tells a story. From cartoon characters to heavy metal mascots, here are 12 of the coolest, funniest or downright goofiest we've seen.

We've undoubtedly left out a plane you're convinced belongs on the list. Tell us in the comments.

Above:
Kulula Air

Low-cost South African airline Kulula Air got a lot of press when it rolled out Flying 101, a Boeing 737 scribbled with pithy comments and instructions for use. The airline says the paint job was designed to “demystify air travel.”

It’s not the first time Kulula has embraced humor when decorating planes. It once covered a plane in camouflage and painted "No one saw us coming" on the fuselage.


Read More http://www.wired.com/autopia/2010/10/12-awesome-airplane-paint-jobs/?pid=227#ixzz12jacWUNy

Airbus A320

History

Perhaps the most important contributor to Airbus Industrie's success as an airliner manufacturer, the four member A320 family is a significant sales success and a technological trailblazer. The 150 seat A320 is the foundation and best selling member of the family.

The A320 is perhaps best known as the first airliner to introduce a fly-by-wire flight control system - where control inputs from the pilot are transmitted to the flying surfaces by electronic signals rather than mechanical means. Apart from a small weight saving, the advantage of Airbus' fly-by-wire is that as it is computer controlled, an inbuilt flight envelope protection makes it virtually impossible to exceed certain flight parameters such as G limits and the aircraft's maximum and minimum operating speeds and angle of attack limits.

Also integral to the A320 is the advanced electronic flightdeck, with six fully integrated EFIS colour displays and innovative sidestick controllers rather than conventional control columns. The A320 also employs a relatively high percentage of composite materials compared to earlier designs. Two engines are offered, the CFM56 and IAE V2500.

The A320 program was launched in March 1982, first flight occurred on February 22 1987, while certification was awarded on February 26 1988. Launch customer Air France took delivery of its first A320 in March that year. The first V2500 engined A320 was delivered to Adria Airways in May 1989.

The initial production version was the A320-100, which was built in only small numbers before being replaced by the definitive A320-200 (certificated in November 1988) with increased max takeoff weight, greater range and winglets. The stretched A321 and shortened A319 and A318 are described separately. All four share a common pilot type rating. Mid 2000 A320 family production was at a monthly rate of 22, to be increased to 30 units a month by the end of 2002