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On this episode of AvTalk, Jason finally gets to fly the Bombardier C Series, we say goodbye to Monarch Airlines, get an update on the Air France A380 that suffered an engine failure over Greenland, and find out how Loon balloons might soon be helping the people of Puerto Rico recover from Hurricane Maria.
Trouble in Europe
In a sad conclusion to a once-great airline, Monarch Airlines has entered administration. The airline ceased operations at the beginning of October, leaving the UK’s CAA to arrange repatriation to the UK for thousands of Monarch’s passengers. We take a look at the repatriation effort and some of the airlines you may not have heard of. We also look into the fate of Monarch’s fleet.
Another fleet that will soon find a new home is Air Berlin’s. The airline is ceasing all operations by 28 October. Air Berlin had previously announced it was ceasing long-haul operations by 15 October.
And we look into Ryanair’s recent schedule difficulties as they cancel 18,000 flights affecting 400,000 passengers.
Air France loses (most of) an engine
On 30 September, Air France flight 66 en route from Paris to Los Angeles suffered an engine failure over Greenland, leading to a safe diversion to Goose Bay in Canada. The aircraft, an Airbus A380-861 powered by Engine Alliance GP7200 engines, suffered a failure of the number 4 engine—the outer, right engine, resulting in a large portion of the engine falling to the ground from approximately 37,000 feet. We talk about the investigation and impressive manner in which the aircraft will return to Europe.
See Captain Dave Wallsworth’s list of requirements for A380 three-engine operation
The avgeek trifecta
Jason heads to Europe to connect with Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren again for an avgeek adventure aboard the Bombardier C Series CS100 and the Avro RJ85. We put them to work testing the sound inside each aircraft. Jason also discovered this interesting quirk on the RJ85.
Speaking of curious things, these Avro RJ85 indie shades are bizarre. Never seen a split shade before. pic.twitter.com/rCszaWCmYx
— Jason Rabinowitz (@AirlineFlyer) October 13, 2017
Loons to Puerto Rico
Loons may soon be helping Puerto Rico connect after Hurricane Maria. Project Loon, which is a project inside X, the innovation lab of Alphabet (Google’s parent company), provides connectivity via large helium balloons. We talk about how the balloons work and how you can track them on Flightradar24.
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