Odds and Ends: E-190 v Superjet v BBD in Russia; China’s aviation; WestJet’s speed dating; Crandall speaks

E-190 v Superjet v Bombardier: With the finding that the pilot of the demo flight of the Sukhoi SSJ 100 Superjet simply flew into a mountain in Indonesia, rather than there being a problem with the airplane, the cloud has been lifted from the aircraft. So the direct match-up of the SSJ vs the Embraer E-190 can now be compared and this article does so. Bombardier’s CRJ-900 and CRJ-1000 also compete.

China’s Aviation: Airbus and Boeing think China pose the greatest threat in the future, but this analyst is less enthusiastic.

WestJet of Canada: The low cost carrier took a bold step to order up to 45 Bombardier Q400s to feed itself. Now it’s using speed dating to decide where to fly the airplanes.

Crandall speaks on AA-US merger: Former American Airlines CEO Robert Crandall weighs in on the merger between American Airlines and US Airways.

10 Comments on “Odds and Ends: E-190 v Superjet v BBD in Russia; China’s aviation; WestJet’s speed dating; Crandall speaks

  1. kc135topboom :
    There are too many obsticals to the US/AA planned merger.

    I think maybe AA employees are starting to have second thoughts. The labor discord at US has been simmering for years and why would AA want any part of that? One of the brass at US said a few weeks ago that if the merger does not happen,US will be fine. Should not the same hold true for the very much larger AA?
    CEO’s for the most part have always been viewed in a bad light and many rightly so, but in these sour economic times, tough choices need to be made to keep airlines alive.
    I hope AA will thin out the ranks of management and perhaps take pay cuts along with the rank & file to show a willingness to share the pain,and that also goes for foregoing stock options and other perks.

  2. Pretty pathetic Russian article on the SS 100 vs the E190.
    Most of the AA 100 claims are more wishful thinking than fact supported, except perhaps for the selling price.
    I suspect the SS100 will be as competitive in Russia as they want it to be.
    But the bit about the Russian test pilot in the Indonesian tragedy was vintage Russian farce.
    The “seasoned” Russian test pilot asked for clearance to descend below MSA and into IFR weather, then was “distracted” by a conversation with someone who shouldn’t have been in the cockpit under such conditions, then disconnected the EGPWS to get rid of the nuisance warnings, then lost his position awareness, then bored a hole thru some cumulo-granite.
    And somehow this was at part the fault of the Indonesian ATC.
    The guy had a death wish; pity he took so many innocents with him.

    • expanded cite from article:
      decided to rely on the professionalism of an Indonesian air traffic controller and dismissed the automatic alerts. Convinced that he was heading toward a plain, the pilot simply switched the system off.

      Furthermore, the controller mistakenly registered the new Russian civilian aircraft as a military fighter jet in the airport’s tracking system: A floating prompt used the first two letters “SU” to identify it as a Sukhoi-30 fighter jet of Indonesia’s Air Force.
      Military flights that do not require heightened attention from civilian controllers are not infrequent in the Halim Airport area, so the controller allowed the plane to descend to a risky altitude of 6,000 feet. He only noticed that its mark was missing from the radar screen 17 minutes after the crash.
      :end

      Simplistic ex cathedra pronouncements tend to be wrong.

      • Not one of your “expanded cites” relieves the PIC from responsibility.
        Nor are my “simplistic ex catherdra” “pronouncements ” wrong either, my psuedo-intellectual friend.

  3. I think the chinese combat helicopters and stealth fighters that unexpectly took-off in the last few years showed we should not overestimate chinese aerospace and not underestimate it either.

    From the cold war I remember we also loved to think everything russian was either inferior or copied. Affterwards it seems we were ill informed, subjective, hopefull and incorrect.

    • I hope you are referring to their military jets … their commercial planes were dinosaurs and only flying because the Soviet government mandated the airlines fly them. Why else did they abandon the flying steel bins the moment they could? Their airplanes were made of titanium in small quantities and steel. Yes, steel. The fuel consumption was astronomical.

      Their military jets were, let’s be honest, at best as good as the jets the West had. And we definitely didn’t underestimate the Russkies as you Americans call them. Though to be honest they were on my doorstep growing up in Germany, so maybe you Yanks thought less of them, but we didn’t until the Berlin wall came down.

      As far as China’s military is concerned, in my book (thus far anyway) we have the same old Soviet playbook where they would rely on numbers rather than technology. And as the Gulf wars showed us, the old Soviet strategy is a failed proposition. Though I do agree with you that we should not overestimate or underestimate them. If anything, I sort of wish they WOULD field something to make NATO commanders’ collective jaws drop and force their governments to buying purpose-built fighter jets, rather than the swiss-army-knife the major manufacturers seem intent on building these days, complete with cost-plus-thensome pricing.

      • I can assure you, Johan, that the US Air Force and Strategic Air Command had great respect for the Soviet Air Force fighter and combat aircraft forces. We knew of their capabilities nd tactics and had to rely on our own capabilities and tactics for any defense against a Soviet fighter, should we have ever gone into combay against them. The mid 1970s defection of a pilot and his Mig-25, then the top of the line Russian fighter showed us in great detail what that aircraft was capabile of, and more improtantly, its weaknesses (all aircraft have a weakness), and how to best exploit those weaknesses. So we had to change tactics against that type of fighter. We already knew the Soviet Air Force did not always rely on GCI for finding any US aircraft, and the AA missiles were almost as good as ours, and more than capabile of taking down a B-52, KC-135, or FB-111 at moderate ranges.

  4. i’m not really sure of the criticism of the SSJ article. the article was about the plane, not about the accident. the pilot made egregious errors. ATC made egregious errors. none of them have to do with the plane.

    we have aviation analysts predicting flat prospects for Embraer’s E-Jets, and likewise western aviation analysts predicting 20% share for SSJ in the same category. Embraer is not looking impressive here. MRJ is FINALLY looking good, but their ability to produce is not proven, the AmericaWest order itself is a huge project for them to handle, so the idea of them delivering further orders doesn’t seem realistic… leaving new orders for other producers.

    …and of course, ARJ21 is crap…

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