Q: What are your favourite geographic features to fly over?
David Godsall, San Francisco
The Rockies, glistening with snow, is in my Top 10. In fact, seeing the mountains inspired me to take my family skiing in Whistler, B.C., during the Vancouver 2010 Paralympic Winter Games. When I flew to New Delhi, the well-lit India-Pakistan border, shining hundreds of kilometres below, was neat to see. And watching the navigation computers switch from north to south while transiting the equator is something never to forget.
Q: Why do heavier airplanes fly faster?
Chris Willson, Burlington, Ontario
The force of lift counteracts the force of weight. To produce more lift, a heavier airplane must fly faster to obtain more airflow over the wings. Hence, its takeoff, cruising and approach to landing speeds are all faster due to weight. An aircraft’s weight changes from one flight to another because of passenger load, baggage, cargo and fuel. My airplane, the Airbus, calculates its own approach speed based on weight and can fly to within a few knots of that.
Q: Why are aircraft required to follow a speed limit of 250 knots below 10,000 feet?
Mark Westbrook, Ottawa
With the onset of jet airliners in the early 1960s, the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) mandated the speed of 250 knots below 10,000 feet for better control of aircraft and safety, and today it’s the norm around the world. Everyone slows to 250 knots prior to descending below 10,000 feet, but sometimes air traffic control gives us the green light to speed up a little on departure and continue on our merry way.
Q: Do you have a favourite airplane to fly, or are all the models pretty much identical?
Lavi Zemer, Toronto
Pilots are qualified to operate one type of plane. I fly the small Airbus, which comes in three models: 319, 320 and 321. Each model flies the same, but I prefer the smaller Airbus 319, overall, for its electric seats, tray tables and climb performance. I also really enjoy the smoothness and quietness of the larger Airbus 321 during taxi and takeoff – and yes, it has tray tables and electric seats, too.
Q: Why do planes fly at around 35,000 feet?
Carole Kafato, Burlington, Ontario
Generally, the rule is “the higher the better” for jet engine performance, because the thinner air imposes less drag on the aircraft. There is a trade-off between fuel efficiency and power, and this optimum range occurs at 30,000 to 40,000 feet. For the best possible altitude, we must also consider aircraft type and weight, flight direction and duration, tailwinds, headwinds and turbulence avoidance. Plus, the higher we go, the better our chances are of flying above bad weather.
Q: Do you have a favourite airplane to fly, or are all the models pretty much identical?
Lavi Zemer, Toronto
Pilots are qualified to operate one type of plane. I fly the small Airbus, which comes in three models: 319, 320 and 321. Each model flies the same, but I prefer the smaller Airbus 319, overall, for its electric seats, tray tables and climb performance. I also really enjoy the smoothness and quietness of the larger Airbus 321 during taxi and takeoff – and yes, it has tray tables and electric seats, too.
11 comments:
Do you have a favourite airplane to fly, or are all the models pretty much identical?
Do you have a favourite airplane to fly, or are all the models pretty much identical?
But what I really want to know is do you have a favourite airplane to fly, or are all the models pretty much identical?
(Sorry, couldn't resist.)
Lavi. It looks like you are on a roll tonight.
The A319 is a favourite for climb performance and all of them come with a tray table and electric seats.
The A320 (the old ones have very loud ventilation systems). The newer ones are better but don't have a tray.
The ex-Canadian A320's have electric seats, tray table and an extra jumpseat.
The A321 has a "heavy" feel to it but it's performance is marginal in the climb. Translation: it's a dog.
The A340-500 had power, range, balls and could put out. The only glitch was it had a guzzle rate of 10,000 litres (8000kg)/hour.
The A3330 was a sports car. Two big bosom engines stuck on a sexy airframe.
And I thought I was going to keep my blog "straight and level." :)
Hi Doug,
Interesting comment re performance, or lack of, of the A321 series. I don't believe AC has IAE engines but is there much difference in performance between CFM equiped aircraft and those powered by IAE engines?
Also, I've seen an article recently - can't lay my hands on a link just now - that "EADS-Airbus" are suggesting the A321 as a replacement for B752's! My view on that is that the only viable replacement for a B752 is another B752. The only way to increase performance of the A321 is to put a bigger wing on - very expensive - and bigger engines - very, very expensive; and I don't think Airbus will take that route because it will take at least 5 years to design, test and certify a bigger wing and new , bigger engines, and intro to service will be after design of the NextGen narrow body gets going. In any case, is there a suitable available engine in the 37k - 45k lbs class? And the A321 is way down on range with a full load.
I would be interested to know your views.
I also have a question relating to LOFT from your recent post(s) on "the sim", however it refers to the wake turbulence incident involving ACA190 - Jan 2008 - so I'm not sure if it would be suitable fo a public blog. Could I e-mail you the detail for you to decide if you could answer, or not?
I've been away from the blogosphere for while so am catching up...
Kind regards...
IanH - with yet another blog handle!!
IanH. Welcome back! You pegged it, the A321 needs a bigger wing. The 319/320 and 321 all have the same wingspan (111' 10"). All of Air Canada's "small bus" fleet has CFM56s hanging on the wing. As you know, they tweaked things to make it more powerful for the 320 and 321. I dislike taking the A321 to southern destinations because of it's performance at altitude. Don't get me wrong, it is still safe but when you compare it to the feisty A319, it is sluggish. Speaking of sluggish, the A340-300 taking off out of New Delhi made for interesting rotations. It too was powered by CFMs. Unlike the gutsy A340-500 with the Trents. (I am giving the snort like Tim the Tool Man gave on his show - but maybe you haven't seen that show in the UK) :) :) :)
As far as the ACA190 incident maybe you better send it to my email. Last year A.C did a bang up job in ART (Annual Recurrent Training) about the incident. It now appears vortices not only move outward and downward from the wingtips but they converge about 5.5 miles. Just where ACA 190 intersected the wake.
Thanks for the informative comments.
Captain Doug
Thanks Doug,
Tim the Tooool Man - Moooore Power!!! Got a Binford screwdiver from DisneyWorld many years ago. It broke!
E-mail on its way Sunday.
Thanks again
IanH
IanH. You are on the money! I have a Miami turn tomorrow so I'll take a look at your email later in the day.
Doug the wannabe Tool Man. :)
Hello Doug,
That was really weird, I did not post any of those prior comments. I realized in your post that my question showed up twice with two different answers, but I never posted any of these posts above. Really weird, and a bit disturbing.
"fche", under what would be my posts said "Sorry, couldn't resist. I think this person just signed with my name. Not cool. Thanks for answering anyway, I guess.
Lavi. Even though I don't know you, I thought it was out of character for you to post three times.
I thought, okay, Lavi may have imbibed a drink or two. I thought I'd answer your question knowing full well you would post later
explaining things. Not to worry Lavi, I knew something was awry. :)
Fche, would you know anything about this? :)
Gone flying.
Captain Doug
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