At Beijing’s huge Capital International Airport, it looks as if disaster is about to strike. As one unsuspecting propeller plane begins its take-off, it seems completely unaware that a large jumbo jet is hurtling towards it, also ready to leave the ground.

Thankfully, the images were taken at different times, and, with some relief, we can report an incident was avoided - nevertheless, a rather disconcerting sight!

In time for the controversial Olympics this summer, the new - Norman Foster designed - Terminal 3-E has also just been completed, and holds the long winded title of the largest airport terminal building complex built in a single phase, with a floor space of almost one million m².

This image was collected when the terminal was nearing completion and, as you can see, the two main parts and the gates are not yet complete. However, Foster & Partners have lots of images showing the completed design in all its glory.

Thanks to Al Cohole.

North of the Chinese city of Hangzhou, a brand new housing development is taking shape in an unusual style. At least unusual for China anyway, as Tianducheng is designed to look like Paris, France! There are currently just 2000 residents living in the development, but its eventual capacity will be around 100,000.

Hoping to bring the ‘European Lifestyle’ to China’s growing number of wealthy residents, the 31 km² development features several reproductions of famous Parisian landmarks, including the Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triomphe. At 108 metres, Tianducheng’s Eiffel Tower is the second largest replica of the Eiffel Tower in the world¹ - roughly one third the height of its Parisian namesake.

The development has large landscaped gardens containing several ornate fountains, and from the few photographs of the development available online it would seem likely that in the next thumbnail you can see the Bassin de Latone, which is a copy of the one in the Palace of Versailles’ garden.

As we have seen, there are replicas of specific landmarks here, although much of the design seems to be an amalgam of Parisian architectual styles, so it’s really interesting to compare the two. This video shows just how much work has gone into Tianducheng, and Reuters has a great photo slideshow.

Finally, it should be pointed out that Tianducheng is not the only such European-style development - in Shanghai they’re also building Thames Town (only partial high-resolution), which is modelled on a typical English town, and apparently Italian and German versions are planned elsewhere too!

Thanks to GEforumprofr at the Google Earth Community.

Read this article in Italian

On May 29, 1953, Sir Edmund Hillary, who died on Friday, January 11 2008, became the first person, along with sherpa Tenzing Norgay, to climb Mount Everest. At 8,848m (29,029ft), it is the highest mountain in the world.

Although not perhaps the most exciting shot out there, Google Earth’s terrain feature lets you see how high it really is.

Ascending the southeast ridge from the base camp at 5,380m (17,600ft), Hillary and his sherpa finally arrived at 11:30am, and stayed at the summit for just fifteen minutes. News of his success reached the soon-to-be Elizabeth II on the day of her coronation, and New Zealander Hillary was knighted in July of that year.

Everest is fraught with danger, and 120 bodies are thought to still remain on the mountain. Even so, more than 2060 individuals have ascended it from the surprisingly busy base camp, where you can even get internet access for $1 per minute!

Read about Sir Edmund Hillary, Tenzing Norgay and Mount Everest at Wikipedia.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in; there were over 55 of you, so it would probably require a page of its own!

When the American Eisenhower interstate system was constructed it was a specific requirement that one in every five of the 46,837 miles of road had to be kept perfectly straight. The idea was that during times of war the roads could be used as emergency runways, negating the need for more airports.

Sadly, urban legend website Snopes debunks this as totally unsubstantiated codswallop.

A similar story is told in the UK, and many believe that straight sections of the M1 Motorway near London were also planned as potential runways. These claims are also easily debunked by the presence of over-bridges and large concrete central reservations, neither of which are very helpful when attempting to land on the road.

The UK version of the myth also extends to most other motorways, some of which have more truth than others. A couple of the motorways were in fact built across and on top of former runways, such as the M8 and the M62, which replaced RAF Burtonwood. Today you can still see one of the former runways intersecting the motorway at 45 degrees¹.

But still, being a former runway doesn’t qualify these roads as being of any use as a runway today!

In China, we can see a runway-to-road conversion happening, as the original Baiyun International Airport is transformed from airport in the southern (older) imagery to highway in the northern (more up to date) images.

However, it seems China have no plans to use these roads as an emergency runway.

But all is not lost - Singapore’s East Coast Parkway is finally what we’re looking for: a road that was actually designed to operate as an emergency runway!

1.25 miles of the road near to Changi Airport was constructed in a nice straight line, with no camber and a central reservation made from easily-removable pot plants.

Thanks to Cookie monster, yym_c & others.

Legend tells us that near the city of Xi’an, China, there lies a gigantic white pyramid - far larger than any Egyptian pyramid - that has remained undiscovered for millennia. The story goes that this pyramid is encased in “pure shimmering stone” and “capped with an enormous jewel”…

Despite decades of denial by archaeologists and bureaucrats, the surprising truth of the matter is that whilst no white pyramid has so far been found here - there are pyramids in China!

Believed to be the burial places of various emperors and generals, there are loads¹ of these tombs scattered all over this plain. They range in size from relatively tiny to rivaling the Great pyramid of Giza in terms of footprint (although even the largest is only around one third the height of Giza’s largest).

Surprisingly, it took until 1994 before these monuments were widely publicised, when German author Hartwig Hausdorf published his book Die Weisse Pyramide, in which he told the story of trying to find the mysterious White Pyramid for himself.

There is a short Wikipedia page on the Chinese Pyramids, but for a really thorough examination of the myth surrounding these monuments, read the report at unexplainedearth.com which includes some ground level shots.

Thanks to Christoph Hoflack and Simon Brennan.

I’m sorry to report that I don’t mean any old structure either… nope, this is honestly claimed by the Chinese to be The World’s Largest Phallus. At least I think this is it - as you can see the satellite shot isn’t vey clear. To make up however, here’s a gratuitous ground-level photo!

The 9 metre erection (30 feet), is named Sky Pillar, and has been built at the Longwan Shaman Amusement Park in Changchun city, and apparently symbolizes the “pursuit of happiness and prosperity”.

Which is pretty fitting really huh?

Thanks to kjfitz, read the full story at Ananova.

While on holiday we missed the news of a new Chinese nuclear submarine being spotted on Google Earth.

Not much is known about the new class of Ballistic Missile Submarine, which is called the Jin-class or Type 094, but the US government estimated last year that China might build 5 of them to act as a permanent sea-based deterrent.

While we’re on the subject of elusive submarines, this brown looking mini-submarine is in fact a real-life Yellow Submarine!

It was built by an enterprising chap from Brooklyn who intended to recover the treasures of the sunken Andrea Doria, which wrecked on its way to New York city in 1956. With investment from the locals he designed and built the mini-sub himself, painting it yellow because it was the cheapest paint to hand.

Unfortunately, during its launch in 1970, the submarine sank (unintentionally) and the locals weren’t prepared to continue to invest in the builder’s madcap idea. The sub was eventually scavenged itself, and its rotting shell remains abandoned in the small ship graveyard of Coney Island Creek.

The full history and pictures from the past and present of the submarine are available on Forgotten NY

Thanks: Thomas Paul

It seems that more than one person has had the idea of theming their swimming pool around aeroplanes…

Here’s a small private plane-shaped pool in Miami.

This is the Flying W Airport in New Jersey, where they have a cool plane-shaped pool with “W”s on the wings. Flying W is described as a “flying airport resort“, and whilst I’m not sure exactly what that is, there’s definitely real planes parked right next to the pool. Very odd.

Over in Cairo, Egypt, they’ve taken a quite different approach and illustrated a fighter jet on the bottom of this circular pool, which also features a very large bird of prey. Do these insignia hold some sort of significance I wonder?

Finally, in China, they’ve dispensed with swimming pools, a built an entire lake in the shape of a plane! This is right next to a decent sized airport, so maybe this is a hotel.

Whilst swimming here might not be very pleasant, if you look closely you’ll see that instead, you might be able to take a boat trip in this plane!

Thanks to 93f2, Felippo, Majoska and kjfitz.