Whether the gear was left down or retracted, the fact remains that he departed after 7pm, with maybe two hours of daylight left, in a balky single-engine airplane, intending to cross 60 miles or so of open water. Not too smart. This guy is lucky he lived to tell the tale.

(Written on 2021/07/26)(Permalink)

Link to accident description including photo of the wreck: https://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=20210716-0

(Written on 2021/07/25)(Permalink)

Wouldn’t have to be an instantaneous bang-boom explosion. JetA vapor, mixed with air in the right proportions, would when ignited burn furiously enough to pressurize a mostly empty tank beyond the capacity of vents to relieve the pressure. So, the overpressure bursts the tank, takes out critical airframe structure, and the airplane comes apart. That explanation for the TWA800 accident, as the NTSB concluded, works for me.

(Written on 2021/07/23)(Permalink)

The E195-E2 is a fine airplane for what Porter wants to do. Perhaps they got better pricing and availability of delivery positions from Embraer than they could have gotten from Airbus for the A220. Embraer was likely hungry for a North American customer.

(Written on 2021/07/12)(Permalink)

This is not Porter’s first try to expand beyond their Q400 turboprop services. In 2013 they looked to acquire up to 30 Bombardier CS100 (now Airbus A220-100) jets, conditional on government approval for jet operations at Toronto City Centre CYTZ, and government funding for a runway extension, which weren’t granted.

(Written on 2021/07/12)(Permalink)

These news articles about passengers freaking out and trying to open doors never mention that opening a door midflight is impossible. They should.

(Written on 2021/07/12)(Permalink)

United has over 500 A319s, A320s, and 737s (according to airfleets.net ). That’s a lot of frames to revamp, and the article says they expect to complete 66% of them by end of 2023. We’ll see….

(Written on 2021/07/07)(Permalink)

I’m recalling that much if not most of the flight testing of the revised MAX MCAS system was done with a 737-7 test aircraft. If I’m correct it seems that both Boeing and the FAA would be well aware of any pitch control issues specific to the -7. Since the -7 is somewhat lighter than the longer MAX versions, it’s likely fitted with a lower-thrust version of the CFM Leap-1B engine, so relatively lower pitch-up effect from going to full power.

(Written on 2021/07/02)(Permalink)

American and United have retired or will soon be retiring their 757 fleets. Ravn could look to acquire some of those frames.

(Written on 2021/07/01)(Permalink)

All 777s, regardless of engine type, are capable of staying in the air on a single engine. If not the type wouldn’t have been certified.

(Written on 2021/06/30)(Permalink)