One day, when I was reading the newspaper, I saw an ad requesting test people for the new Airbus A580. The A580 is a three-story high, 500-meter long jet-airplane. I am very interested in airplanes, so I called Airbus immidiately, and they said I was the 200th caller, so I got a place on the plane. I should be on Charles-de-Gaulle tomorrow at 2 p.m.

I am Henry Schoyle, and I live in Paris. I am 19 years old, and I study to be a pilot. I packed for the 3-day long trip, and the next day I gout a guest-pass for the secret Airbus terminal on CdG. I hired a taxi and got to the terminal at 1:30 p.m.

At 2 o'clock a large screen was turned on and Joseph Schoepf, the CEO of Airbus got on a stage. «We thank you all for coming to this test fliht. We hope you are going to have a great flight.» Then we got some instructions and went to the hangar. I was almost jumping of joy. When the huge hangar doors opened everybody stopped and went completely silent. It was huge! The wingspan was longer than the Empire State Building was high. Suddenly I saw people moving in to the plane, and then I realized I didn't have a tiket. I followed the queue and when I got to the plane a steward told me the guest pass was my ticket. I looked at it, «Henry Schoyle. 2nd floor, 13A. 1st class» 1st class!? I asked the steward if this was correct, and he said that the 200 first callers got first class tickets. 200? I was the 200th caller. That means I just got on first class.

I moved down one floor and I looked at the row numbering. Each row had fifteen seats. Row 51, 48, 45, 42, 39...15. I got to a door which said «First class only». I tried the door. It was locked. I looked around for another door, but that was the only entrance. A steward came to me and said that I had to put the ticket in the door lock. Then I saw a thin stripe under the, just like in hotels. I put my ticket into it, and it clicked open. The next roomk was completely empty I looked around and then I saw another door on the other side of the room which said «First class – seats». I tried the door and it went open. I was stunned.

The roomhad exactly thirteen seats. The other twelve were occupied. I sat down in seat 13 and got familiarized with it. It was as wide as a two-seat sofa, and I could adjust the length so I could sleep on it. On the right side of the sofa there was a control panel where I could adjust the sofa's height and length and the back's angle. On the other side I could control the Personal Media Center. After about 10 minutes the 42'' screens were turned on and a security video was played. Then the plane began to taxi and I could see the plane from a camera on the tail fin.

When we got to the runway we stopped for a minute and I looked out of the window. I was about 10 meters above the ground. Suddenly the motors kicked in and we were moving forward with a tremendous power. I was thrown back in my seat and I couldn't lift a finger because of the storng power. When we got to cruise altitude, a voice on the speakers announced that the restaurant was open. Restaurant? Whar restaurant? There were no other doors except the one I entered through. The others went into that room and I followed them. The empty room I went through earlier was now a restaurant. I looked at the menu. It had anything an ordinary restaurant would have. I sat down at a table and ordered roasted chicken and some coke.

After 10 minutes a voice came on the speakers and asked if anybody here was a pilot. That message could only mean that the real pilot was sick, or even worse. I contacted a steward and told him that I was studying to be a pilot and knew how to fly a jet-plane. He followed me to the cockpit and told me that the pilots had eaten some raw chicken. I sat down in the pilot seat and the steward said that our callsign was «A580 Test Heavy».

I looked at the GPS. The nearest airport we could land on was London Heathrow. I turned on their frequency and told them our situation. They said that runway 12 was cleared for us. I tried to find the autopilot. There! I turned on GPS-NAV and adjusted the GPS to EGLL-Runway 12L. After 20 minutes I got near the airport and asked for ILS landing clearance. I entered the landing information and turned on the speaker to explain the situation to the passengers.

When the landing started I checked everything again, and we landed perfectly on the runway.