On this trip, I had a choice. I could fly on two airlines that use contract feeders flying Embraer RJs or I could fly Southwest in their 737s. The 737s are far more comfortable for passengers and, if you want to carry on a bag, you can. The RJs have about as much room to store a bag as a Cessna 120. Maybe less.
But there is always a tradeoff, and that is is that SWA uses Midway as a hub, or, as I like to refer to it, USS Midway (CV-MDW). MDW has short runways for a jet airport, as in "really effing short". If you want to ride through a max-performance takeoff and landing in a 737, fly into MDW. When Northwest Airlines first flew jets out of MDW back in the `60s, they were so worried about the ability to stop them that they outfitted their airplanes with nosewheel brakes.
MDW is short enough that the pilots try to get as close to the end of the runway for takeoff without running off the end of the runway. I suspect that the "accelerate-stop" distances at MDW for shelling an engine on takeoff are kind of fictional. It is not unknown for westbound flights to have to depart with a planned fuel stop in some place like Omaha, because there is not enough runway for them to depart with a full load of passengers, bags and enough gas to get to their destination.
On landing, it's a max braking, max thrust-reversing and they turn off at either a thousand feet before the end or at the end.
I'm going to have limited online access for the next several days, so keep yourselves amused. Try not to break all of the furniture in the joint and please don't drink up all of my booze.
Thanks for the Dauntless!
ReplyDeleteJeez, they could have put the air brakes down, at least.
I was at the Nat'l Air & Space museum a while back. At the time they had an F4F and an SBD hanging from the ceiling in one gallery. What astonished me most about them is how tiny they seemed. It made the exploits of their pilots seem truly amazing.
ReplyDeleteTravel Safe my friend. Enjoy the sights of other places for those of us than cannot travel.
ReplyDeleteAs to the booze cupboard....You will need to resupply when you return.
I cannot vouch for the furniture.
w3ski
Enjoy the trip! Love the SBD, BTW. That's my favorite WWII aircraft. They've got a great example here at the Pensacola Naval Aviation Museum that was shot up at Pearl Harbor, patched up, flew in the Battle of Midway, was patched up again, went back to the States, wound up at the bottom of the Great Lakes while training Naval aviators, then was salvaged and completely restored. It's still got metal patches covering bullet holes.
ReplyDeleteOn the subject of short takeoffs.... We've got a pair of 7000 foot runways at our airport (KPNS). Our air carriers are 45% RJs, 35% MD-88/90/B717, 5% Boeing 737s, 5% Boeing 757s, and a daily in-and-out of a UPS A300-600.
Of all of them, the best-performing is the A300. I imagine he's flying fuel-light, because his mains are usually off the ground in under 3300 feet, and he's usually through 10,000 feet within a few miles of the field (packages don't bitch, naturally). It's quite a sight to watch him blast off at what appears to be a 30 degree angle.
Meanwhile, in the summer, we've seen RJs nearly take out the end lights on a hot summer day. We've had them request different runways, stating that they'll have to leave passengers behind if they don't get a certain runway. Even now, when the weather's cooling down, the 757s will still be lifting off with only a 1000 feet to go. The old MD birds--the 88s, 90s, and the newer 717s--don't seem to have that issue.
Embraers stink; Canadairs stink; Bombardiers stink. Damn all regional jets. They have enough hip room for a supermodel and nobody else. Gimme a DC-3; I'll put up with the longer ride and the lack of coffee as long as I have room to sit down.
ReplyDeleteBack in the day, they served coffee and box lunches on the DC-3s.
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