US Airways Express (PSA) CRJ 200 on the taxiway followed by “Company Traffic” CRJ 700
When passion, creativity, photography and the ability to write combine with fans, I love to share their work. This is a blog written by Andrew Vane for Airline Reporter taking a close look at Bombardier’s CRJs:
Canadian company Bombardier Aerospace acquired government-owned Canadair Ltd and entered the regional jet market in the 1980’s. Today the most commonly seen and flown CRJ’s consist of the CRJ-200 (50 seats), CRJ 700 (75 seats) and CRJ900 (90 seats). CRJ’s are most popular amongst the major airline’s subsidiaries for shorter domestic flights between hubs and along spokes. Here in Charlotte (KCLT), virtually all of Terminal E is occupied by gates to serve regional jets and turboprops. Similarly, in Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Airport (KCVG), Delta dedicated a major portion of the largest terminal to their regional jet carrier Comair.
No this ain’t headed for New Orleans. It’s an Air Canada Jazz CRJ 200 bound for the Great White North.
The CRJ 200 is an upgrade to its -100 predecessor with the addition of more efficient engines coming in Extended Range (ER) and Long Range (LR) versions. Guess which one is longer? Answer: Without consulting Bombardier’s data, your guess is as good as mine. (Per the web site the range of the ER is about 1,800 miles and the LR version is 2,300 miles.) CRJ 100/200’s are most common domestically among the major airliner’s regional carriers Comair, Skywest, ASA, Air Canada, MESA, US Airways Express (PSA), Skywest and Republic.
First entering service in 2001, the CRJ 700 series provided a bit more seats and comparable range to the LR version of the CRJ 200. In profile, the easiest way to tell the difference between a -200 and -700 is the fact that the -700 is longer and the rear end is sticking up in the air. In addition to more seating, the CRJ700 features a new wing with leading edge slats and a stretched and slightly widened fuselage, with a lowered floor. CRJ 700’s are most frequently flown in the US by Air Canada Jazz, American Eagle, ASA, Comair, Horizon Air, Mesa, Skywest, and US Airways Express (PSA). A further refinement of the CRJ 700 was the CRJ 705 series, operated by Air Canada, which added 75 seats and split the aircraft into business and economy classes of 10 and 65 seats, respectively. Only sixteen 705’s were built.
ASA “Acey” CRJ 700 rolling on 18C at Charlotte-Douglas International Airport.
Eventually, this French Canadian company, who also produces the popular Dash-8 family of turboprops, expanded the CRJ fleet design to include a longer -900 version. The CRJ 900 features a “complete re-design of all of the structure and systems. In addition, an all-new wing was developed that increases the cruise speed of these aircraft while offering excellent airfield characteristics. These aircraft also feature an all new interior cabin that offers increased room for the passenger, enabled by a lowering the floor by 1” (2.54 cm) and redesigning the aircraft frame RJ900 that featured as of the original CRJ200, offering more headroom and a wider cabin. The seating and bins were completely redesigned to allow more passenger space and increased bin stowage,” says Bombardier’s web site. CRJ 900’s are currently operated by Mesa Air, Air Canada Jazz, Skywest, Comair and Pinnacle Airlines.
From my own personal experience, I was a bit disappointed with the window placing and height for my 6-foot tall frame. I ended up with a neck ache each time I sat by a window. The windows are much lower compared to Bombardier’s Brazilian competitor, Embraer.
Some airlines have planned a future full of regional jets in lieu of larger aircraft with empty seats. Smaller aircraft lower to the ground provide easier boarding in variable conditions (jetway or stairs). With over 700 CRJ’s of all versions delivered by Bombardier in the last 30 years, chances are you’ll be riding in one of these the next time you fly out of a small city.
It is guest blogger time once again. Today I am happy to have Courtney who is the co-creator of the Airplane Geeks Podcast, founder of AirlineEmpires.net, currently works for a commercial aircraft OEM, and is a self-proclaimed stud muffin (he added that last part). He takes a look at what many of us did when younger — building our own airlines. My first attempt at creating my own airline was playing Aerobiz on the Super Nintendo. It moved to pretty much every other computer came. More recently, I got obsessed with other computer airline games and started losing valuable blog time, so I had to stop. I always thought how cool it would be to create my own, but didn’t have know-how or time. Luckily for us, folks like Courtney did and he explains his path in his own words:
A special AirlineReporter.com livery I made on an Airbus A330 for an online airline game. Yes, I am a huge nerd.
It’s a prerequisite of Airplane Geekdom that you spend hours and hours drawing out the plans for your own airline at a young age. I finally succumbed to the temptation when I was 12. With my AeroTrader in one hand, and blank paper in the other, I chose 2 old Piper Navajo’s priced at about $250K each to run my Chicago Meigs-based airline. I built a schedule, had a full year’s worth of financials, and even started writing a business plan (to this day, I’m still convinced it would have worked if it weren’t for that pesky Mayor Daley). But just building the idea wasn’t enough. I wanted to know if it would work.
So, I built my first airline business simulation. It was nothing more than some rules, a 10-headed die, some paper, and a pencil. In retrospect, this is where I should have stopped, however, over the years I decided it would be so much better to automate it with a little bit of computer magic. So after failed attempts at multiple languages, I went to Barnes and Noble, bought a book on PHP and MySQL programming, and read it over the weekend. I made the browser type “hello world” a couple of times and was off and running.
And so began my obsession with Airline Empires. A project that started because I wanted a way to find out if my airline ideas worked, was soon open to the public. The simulation floundered over and over again as the user base grew to 100, then 1,000, then 10,000, and finally peaked at 50,000 virtual airline entrepreneurs. One achievement I’m very proud of is that Airline Empires was the very first airline simulation which took into account competition in real time. In a nutshell, the fortunes of players’ airlines were dictated not only on their decisions, but on the decisions of the other players in the game. Sounds simple, but the complexities of it are mind boggling.
The problem with the game is that it never really was a game; It was as realistic a simulation as I could build. As airline investors know, realistic airline simulations aren’t much fun, and as close as I tried to make my simulation to reality, the true reality was that if you had 50,000 airlines, nobody made money. So I struggled with angry players, competing spin-offs, and a lack of time. Largely, the project has cost me thousands of dollars over the past 10 years, with not much more than disappointment and frustration.
Airline Empires wasn’t a complete bust. The techniques I learned from an airline perspective have served me well as I’m now paid to create airline business models, which is more of a fluke than a direct result of Airline Empires. What I’m most proud of, however, isn’t the simulation itself, but the advertising for it. Having learned some rudimentary Flash programming, I decided to put together a bit of a trailer for the game. It was my homage to airline history, and it quickly became more popular than the game itself. And so, as a sort of eulogy to the last 10 years that was Airline Empires, here is a look back at some of the failed airlines through the years. Enjoy.
You can follow Courtney on Twitter @miller22. Airline Empires is still being actively developed by people who know what they’re doing and you can find the game at AirlineEmpires.org.
At the beginning of the 20th Century, Man began to take over the skies. Birds had dominated for millennia, but now planes started to usurp the atmosphere.
At first it didn’t seem a problem. Man and bird managed to share the airways. However, as planes became more predominant, birds became more of a hindrance to the flight of humans.
Collisions between birds and planes cause damage to the planes and on rare occasions, planes are downed. According to the FAA, twenty-three people have been killed and 209 injured by bird strikes. Not huge numbers. However the financial cost has been estimated at a total of $400 million. Of course the fatality to birds has been great. Since there are 5,000 bird strikes per year and 80% are not reported,many of our avian friends are lost. They have no chance when it comes to encountering a plane! Interestingly, the first bird strike was reported in 1905 by Orville Wright!
Since birds cannot solve this problem, it is up to Man to create a way for birds and planes to share the sky. Since the majority of strikes occur below 3,000 feet and during take-offs or landings, most of the research centers around airports, both civilian and military.
To discourage birds from hanging around airports, there have been experiments with electromagnets, ultrasonic devices, scarecrows and other predator effigies and noisemakers. None of these methods have been endorsed by the FAA. And even though there is still hope that someday there will be a ”magic box” having to do with microwave alarms, the common wisdom as of now is much more simple.
According to Matt Klope, a civilian biologist at NAS Whidbey Island, “…the best management practice is to identify the problem species… and modify/alter the airfield habitats to encourage the birds to go somewhere else.” This stategy is also echoed by other experts.
In other words, birds need a habitat that includes, food, water, shelter and a place to raise their young. Birds are attracted to airports that provide some or all of these needs. Thus, if the airport eliminates them, the birds will leave.
So, airports need to minimize water at runway ends, close landfills and other food sources.If prey birds are discouraged from airports, predators won’t have food. An additional tactic is to introduce predators and dogs to keep the much more numerous prey birds away. Gulls and pigeons are the most common birds in strikes.
Airports also continue to experiment with random explosions and fireworks as well as gas cannons. As a birder, I am encouraged with the efforts to keep my feathered friends away from those huge metal avians. And I am realistic enough to concede that human life and financial considerations trump the lowly bird who once inspired Man.
Hopefully, Man will continue to find ways to keep these two fliers apart!
One of the problems of flying Virgin America for the first time is having to compare all other domestic in-flight entertainment systems to Virgin’s RED. Last week Virgin showed off a few nifty upgrades to their already powerful system. Unfortunately I was not able to attend, but I was able to send a correspondent, Rita Harvey, to cover the event in San Fransisco. Here are her thoughts in her own words:
David asked me to fly to San Francisco (SFO) to represent him and Airline Reporter as Virgin America (VA) unveiled their new in-flight features. Having never flown VA before, I jumped at the chance. It was definitely a unique flying experience; the cool lighting as you walk on board, entertaining safety video and having more in-flight distractions than I knew what to do with at my fingertips.
After arriving at the gate in San Fransisco where their plane and employees were waiting to show off the new features, I got to board and was greeted with a glass of champagne. At this point, I knew I was in for a treat. I was escorted into the first class area and was given a one on one demo of what they’re adding [argh I haven't even been able to sit in VA first class yet -David].
One huge thing that will be new is having Sky Mall built into their entertainment system. The Red Store, as they are calling it, has over 200 products to choose from. As it states on the main screen, “ranging from little necessities to the coolest must haves”. I was pretty shocked to see a diamond encrusted iPhone for sale, only $38,000.
The next new feature that they have involves their food and beverage selection. There are going to be cocktails available that have been created specifically for their airline. I got to have one of their creations which was called a “Cocktail With Altitude” (ok, it might just be a normal drink with a fancy name, but that’s alright). Something else that they’re doing is offering food pairings. When the food ordering screen comes up, you’ll have the option to check out a whole slew of food, side, and drink combinations that complement each other. An example of this is their tapas platter, chocolate bar and either a non-alcoholic drink or an alcoholic one. Along with all of this, there will now be the option to open a tab. You can either choose to just buy that one thing or swipe your card once and leave the option to keep your tab open. Both of these will most likely entice passengers to part with their money more quickly.
The final upgrade is with their Google Maps. They’re now more accurate and now you can view the terrain. Having a map to see where your plane is and what landscape you are approaching is pretty cool.
Not only was it fun to get to experience this little jaunt down to SFO to check out Virgin’s entertainment upgrades but it was a pleasant first flight on Virgin for me, to and from the airport. I’m definitely looking forward to flying them again since they are probably one of the most enjoyable airlines to fly with.
Introduction from David: My mom has always loved birds and I have always loved planes. We have talked about the similarities a lot and she loves reminding me how birds were around before planes. I asked if she wanted to put some thoughts down for a blog on the concept of birds, planes and flight and she was more than happy. Here are her thoughts in her own words…
For eons and eons, birds had the skies to themselves. Even though there were insects and bats, birds were the dominant aviators.
Man would look up to the skies from Earth and marvel at the wonder of flight. The shepard with his flock, the fisherman at sea, the Indian on the plains would enviously wish that some day they could soar above the mountains, prairies and oceans.
For thousands of years, Man could only wish for flight, so the birds were free to tease the earth-bound. As the years progressed, humans began to study birds and how they can defy gravity. It probably began in China in about 400BC with the invention of kites.
Wings were obviously important to flight. Many early attempts at flight tried using the flapping of wings like birds. These attempts all failed because the shoulder muscles of birds are so much stronger than humans, plus the fact that birds have hollow bones, making them much lighter.
So Man floundered in his experiments with flight.
The turning point seems to have begun during the Renaissance with a man named Leonardo Da Vinci. Yes, that Da Vinci! He was a scientist and inventor as well as an artist. He was intrigued with flight and believed humans could conquer it. In 1485, Da Vinci wrote, “The bird is a machine that operates according to mathematical law. It lies within the power of man to make this instrument with all its motions”. To try to prove this statement, DaVinci produced a hundred drawings of what he called the ornithopter, and even though there is no proof that he created a model that flew, it is considered the forerunner of the helicopter.
So Man began to realize that perhaps it was possible to break the bounds of gravity and soar like an eagle!
It took another 300 years for the hot air balloon to be invented by the Montgolfier Brothers. Then during 1799-1850, Cayley invented the glider and realized the importance of a tail( birds knew that!) and the need for a power source.
Later in 1891, Lilienthal showed that a glider could fly a person and go long distance. Based on a study of birds and how they fly, he wrote a text. And this text was studied by the Wright Brothers who also through experimentation, created that historical flight at Kitty Hawk. Their first flight traveled 120 feet and lasted 12 seconds!
The rest is history! From the time of the first flight until putting a man on the moon was less than seventy years-one generation. In fact, my grandmother who was born in 1878 and died in 1973 saw during her lifetime the entire evolution of the flight of Man!
So now Man has conquered the skies and now dominates the air. Birds, who once were his inspiration are now a nuisance.
What are we doing so man and birds can coexist? Stay tuned for Part 2 early next week.
