easyJet's 75 plane order

[Dutchie]

Regarding the noise on the 73 flight deck. I know a small trick that works on the 75 to help lower the noise maybe it works on the 73 too. It is allowed in the 75 although you really have to dig it up in the handbooks.. .. .When in cruise switch pack two off for a few minutes. Then when you restart it the packs will sort out the distribution again and the noise iss much better as less air will be directed to the flightdeck. Check with your own handbooks and don't try unless supervised by a mature adult.. .. .Any 73 drivers who can check it in their books to see whether it is allowed there too. It saves a lot of noise.... .. .Back to the topic: I understand that EZ has been checking out a 320 sim in AMS.....

[Wizofoz]

Whilst all this is interesting from a pilots point of view, can anyone answer this?. .. .Has any airline without an over-riding reason (e.g fleet comonality) chosen to buy A319/20/21s ahead of 737NGs since the NGs became available? I can't think of one, so I think the companies are voting with their cheque-books!!

[akerosid]

Well, how about SAA which selected the 738 after having 320s in its fleet, then - because of general dissatisfaction with the type, changed back to 32Xs. . .. .Both aircraft are more than sufficient to do the job expected of them. Speaking as a passenger, I'd go for the 737 or 320 with pleasure anyday. As a Jersey resident, I can't tell you how pleased that BA is shifting the RJ100s to MAN; it means we'll get 737s again from July. . .. .As to EZY, my gut feeling has always been for the 73G, but Airbus knows the potential growth in the low cost sector and that it needs to get the 319 ensconced in at least one of the low cost fleets. Compared to its potential size in 5-10 years time, its fleet is small now and it may well be the time to get its foot in the door.

[regor]

I know that new EZY 73-300 pilots are able to do their 73-700 rating after 6months. They then have to fly twenty consecutive sectors on the -700 to be able to get their dual rating.. .. .I had heard that EZY had been making enquiries as to the feasibility of their pilots holding a 73 and A319 dual rating. This sounds like it would be a bit of a nightmare operationally, but is it at all feasible, or legal for that matter?

[LAVDUMP]

Note that KLM just ordered Airbuses in addition to new Boeings. This points to a trend of buying aircraft from both leading manufacturers. Why? You do that to keep the manufacturers sharp and to provide negotiating leverage. . .. .My guess is that Airbus is VERY WILLING to undercut prices in order to break into the low-fare sector - it has already brokered a great deal for JetBlue in the States - I think easyJet is the next target (besides GO) and Stelios knows it... I also read that easyJet might be looking at Airbus simulators in Amsterdam for training - I am not sure if that is true or if those simulators even exist.... .. .A 50/50 split of Boeing and Airbus aircraft would still afford huge economies of scale savings if the total fleet was large enough - say at least 60-70 aircraft for each type. With easyJet's current growth - that total number of aircraft seems likely.... If I were Stelios, I'd bargain Airbus down to a low figure and then take them to keep Boeing hungry for more orders later.... .. .Cheers

[reverserunlocked]

I've an interesting footnote to the whole issue of 'how flying a 'Bus makes you a computer operator rather than a pilot' and the implied subsequent loss of manual flying skills thereafter.. .. .I've never flowm a 'Bus. I have flown a 737 simulator many times (and I'd have a go of a 'Bus sim if I could find someone who'd let me hire one!) but that's not the point here.. .. .My comment isn't on the ergonmic aspect of the respective aircraft, but on how I was caught out by my reliance on automation in my owm profession.. .. .I'm a radio broadcaster, and in the old days we used to play records on the radio, the mixing desks were great big old things with lots of paddle switches on them and we used to fire the jingles and commercials on 'carts' which are basically glorified audio cassettes (old timers may remeber '8 tracks' - that's what they look like). We also used big professional audio tapes to record callers and competitions, etc.. .. .In those days, everything was done manually, so at the start of a show you would start off with a commercial ad log, a big pile of records and a running order on a sheet of paper. You followed the sheet item by item, playing all the commercials and songs in order until the end of the show.. .. .So as you were on the air you'd constantly be on the go. You had to 'cue' each record individually and be ready to fire it off when the preceding record started to fade out, so as not to allow any gaps of 'dead air'. . .. .Also each commercial (up to 5 in each break, 3 breaks per hour had to be fired manually. You'd stick the cart in the slot and hit 'play', put in the next one and wait for the ending. Sometimes the last few words of the commercial were written on the cart, sometimes not!. .. .Also all the hourly items had to be meticulously timed to make sure that you played all the songs in full (no fading - listeners no like..)and that you got all the commercials away in full, got any competitions in there, callers, travel news, etc etc and finished each hour on the hour so the newsreader could start reading on a clock start. . .. .A four or five hour shift could be pretty exhausting. You'd be concentrating non-stop and there was plenty of fading in and out, button pushing and head-scratching whilst you figured all the sums out.. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Confused]" src="confused.gif" /> . .. .So you can imagine my joy when automation arrived.. .No more records, no more carts! Everything on hard drive, all pretty colours on the screen.. .No more adding up - the computer program did it all for you. If you were over-running it flashed up a big red warning on the screen. You didn't have to do anything anymore. It just followed the running order, firing all the commercials one after another seamlessly, and putting all the songs together with perfect segues every time. . .. .There was no longer any concentration required - simply turn on the mic when it tells you to 'Speak now' then hit the 'Next'button and let it carry on... .. .All this was fab. The workload taken right off my shoulders. Where before I'd be flapping and sweating I was now sipping coffee with my feet up watching the computer doing my show..... .. .Until it went t*ts up last week and crashed. Not just a program error but a major gremlin that sunk the whole system for the best part of three days.. .. .What did we do in these three days?. .. .We played CD's, records, carts and went back to doing it the old way, adding it all up in the old grey matter. . .. .Could I get it right?. .. .Could I hell...After years of having a computer do all the hard work my shows had more gaps in than a Lada assembled by Stevie Wonder.. .. .So if my experience is anything to go by, I'd say that reducing the role from technical operator (which I used to be) to systems monitor (which I am now) can only be a bad thing.. .. .Whether this transgresses from my business to flying aircraft I don't know, and I defer to those who've flown both 737's and 'Buses to say whether they had a similar experiece after going from Boeing to 'Bus and then back again.. .. .(ps. don't think I'm anti-Airbus by the way, I used to fly LHR-DXB regularly with different carriers and in cattle class at least preferred to do it in a A300/310/330/340 anyday than a 767). .. .RU. . . . <small>[ 29 March 2002, 18:28: Message edited by: reverserunlocked ]</small>

[crackerjack]

Red Demon,. .. .Dual ratings for 737 and 319? I hope that's not true....... .. .Please tell me it's not. Someone??

[Hand Solo]

Wizofoz - BA have ordered approx 60 A319s and A320s in preference to the 737NG despite having 30 odd 737s already and being an almost all boeing airline. Amongst reasons cited were a good deal from Airbus and much higher resale value of the type.

Akeroskid - I wouldn't get too excited about the 737s coming back to Jersey. I'd give it two years max before you see a significant 'improvement' service with a 6 times daily embraer 145 on the route operated to London (Stansted) by BRAL. "But they said they wanted high frequency and were giving them it! Of course they're happy."