Good olde BBC today released an article on Regional Jets and their trip to the Bombardier factory in Canada.
It will be like this as we head towards Farnborough Air Show 2010, so expect more claptrap like this over the next few days.
Except some of the quotes are instant fall about laughing.
Firstly, the strapline.
Resembling a space rocket, with its pointed nose and the engines fixed to the back of the fuselage, the regional jet is perhaps the most beautiful airliner in the sky.
Excuse me? Beauty, yes is in the eye of the beholder, but a Regional Jet “BEAUTIFUL”? Oh get away…
Since then, the regional jets have grown larger, so these days they tend to seat between 70 and 110 people.
Yes – that’s the size of an Regional Jet these days.
And as their slim fuselages have been stretched ever further their appearance has become ever more elegant.
Elegant? Sigh.
“It looks like its got duct tape wrapped around the tip of the wing,” giggles one passenger as she drops her hand luggage on a small trolley.
Apparently the overhead bins are too small so only tiny bags are allowed onboard.
That’s a winglet dear. And it’s probably speedtape too. And small overhead bins? A fact of life on a CRJ-200….
The view from a cramped seat at the back of the barrel of a Bombardier CRJ is equally unimpressive.
And what did you expect? A view of The Sydney Opera House? Wilderbeasts roaming across the Savannah? The Hanging Gardens of Babylon? A small metal tube is just that – a metal tube.
From here, the windows appear small, the aisle seems too tight for the Air Canada flight attendants and the odour from the toilet is unpleasant.
Because they’ve had ages since the aircraft landed for the turnaround needed.. and probably you didn’t have the cleanest people on the planet in flight maybe?
The article goes on to talk about the economics of the Bombardier CRJ series and the upcoming C Series Regional Jets, as well as the challenges.
Not a bad article, but less of the fluff please…
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/10476908.stm
Whilst GhettoIFE won’t be at Farnborough (as some of us have jobs that won’t get us in on Trade days), I’ll be doing an end of day wrap up based on the civil aviation news floating around looking mainly at who makes what order, and if there is any interesting IFE news around.
Farnborough coverage begins Monday 19th!
