Cseries Fly-by @ CYTZ

Today, the new proudly Canadian made aircraft, Cseries, made a special and surprise fly-by over the core of Downtown Toronto, and honorably twice over the Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport for Porter employees and airport stakeholders.  Watching this amazing innovative aircraft for the second time live in person, I felt another step closer to what may seem to be questionable by the media, financial investors, and parts of the general public, a proud Canadian milestone.  Of course, I am saying this because I am bias for obvious reasons, and as mentioned throughout my entire blog, postings will be bias based on what I wish to express about my views and opinions.  I work in the aviation industry and I am extremely passionate about it; I'm also a Canadian who just simply am enthusiastic about expressing my thoughts on my blog.  

With the honour of receiving an invitation to a Hangar event, I joined the crowd of airport stakeholders by the opened hangar doors.  As usual, I was constantly tracking BBA505 throughout the entire morning.  By around 1200L, Flightradar24 showed BBA505 (FTV5/C-GWXZ) circling around the airspace of Downsview Airport.  By 1250L, BBA505 wearing its Swiss Air livery was visible to the crowd, coming from the East of Rwy 26.  It flew above the Toronto Islands and turned West towards Rwy 08, where it made a fly-by from the 08 direction.  BBA505 did a turn around and made a second fly-by from the same direction.  Both fly-bys earned cheers and excitement by the airline staff and other airport stakeholders.  

So with this noise issue that certain groups are concerned about, was there noise?  Well yes, obviously there was noise!  It is a vehicle that relies on mechanical structures and something call engines.  Was it noisy and annoying?  Based on my bias thoughts, no it does not, and it definitely did not cover the noise of one single motorcycle roaring across the street as if it was running at 400km/h while only going at 60km/h.  It also definitely did not cover the noise of a grumpy streetcar driver honking continuously at the pedestrians who are standing near the edge of their tracks or cars accidentally running into the track lanes on Queens Quay West.  To me, the noise was smooth and comfortable, but again I am bias because I love the sound of jet planes!  

Swiss Air will be taking the first delivery of the Cseries, followed by numerous airlines and aircraft leasing companies.  Current commitments on the book totals to 603 orders, including firm orders of 243, both CS100s and CS300s.  This and next year, would be just as exciting as when the A380s, B787s and A350s were certified and delivered (what I called the milestone years of aeroplanes!)  

 

First Fly-by

First Fly-by

Second Fly-by, Above the Porter Hangars

Second Fly-by, Parallel View

Farewell, and see you soon Cseries!

Celebration Cupcakes

           




























































































































































#Cseries #CS100 #CS300 #Bombardier #PorterPlans
  
 

In-flight Entertainment - Above Your Head

My recent trip on Transat to Paris was a blast!  Aside from knowing that it is a leisure and somewhat low cost carrier, I did not expect much but a casual flight out.  Service was top notch in terms of individual behaviours and friendliness.  True enough, certain things were charged on-board, but complimentary items were sufficient to make an enjoyable experience.  For a medium-haul Trans-Atlantic flight, two complimentary meal services were offered, which included wine and other beverages.  The red eye sector offered a hot meal plus a morning refreshment, while the afternoon return flight offered two hot meal services.  What impressed me the most, by surprise and with full contradiction, was the overhead entertainment screens on the A310s. 

Our return flight, CGD-YQB, was serviced by an A310.  Not to mention my excitement for my first flight on the second model ever produced by Airbus, the retro in-flight experience reminded me back in the days when traveling in the early 90s.  When I first stepped on-board, I noticed the lack of individual seat entertainment systems (unlike on the way to Pairs on their A330s).  There was a big screen at the forward cabin and multiple smaller hang-down style screens throughout the rest of the cabin.  

The mixed feeling of, my lord I am stuck with this for the next 8 hours, versus, oh wow this was how I used to travel, was contrary.  However, when the first movie was played, it felt extremely different.  A unique feeling draws back the good memories of the past when I was a little boy who was always excited to be in the cabin, and enjoyed every in-flight moment.  I plugged my headsets into the "back-in-the-days" style controllers on the side of the arm rest, where only channels and volume buttons exist.  Channels, by the way, is not meant for changing the channel on the shared screens, obviously.  It was for changing the dubbed languages of the movie, plus to the multiple radio channels, which are all controlled by the crews

Transat revamped their cabins with modern seating and mood lighting, which makes the cabin fairly modern and comfortable (the mood lighting that is).  It was a pleasant blend of retro entertainment and modern cabin.  That's right, those living in more developed countries and born post-millennium, this was traveling back in the 80s and 90s, where we looked up at the screens of entertainment.  This was how I traveled with my parents as a frequent flyer between HKG-SIN back in Primary school.   

   

NGOReview Flights & Airports: AC1175 YYZ-YVR

Once again, another quite impressive flight on Air Canada.  This time, I was fortunate enough to try the new business class cabin (forward facing business seats) on the 773ER.  The cabin was extremely comfortable and I've always been a big fan of forward facing seats (even in business or first class).  Forward facing seats makes it feels like a real plane ride, compared to several years back when numerous airlines started introducing side-angled facing business class seats.  

As a sneak peak for one of my aviation buddies, he questioned why this was only worth 90 percent while I told him it was one of the most enjoyable experiences ever, and that I was once again impressed by Air Canada.  The only reason why it did not surpass my Singapore Airline experience (see previous review on SQ861 and 856) was because I had a similar experience on those flights, but I was only in Economy Class.  Mind you, of course, the cabin and seats on SQ's economy was obviously not as comfortable, but it was the people and the smile.  Furthermore, SQ still retains a full hot meal service on ceramic plates, glassware and silverware utensils, plus a full amenity kit with a blanket and pillow, all on a short 4 hours flight that was cheaper than flying a domestic 5 hours flight within Canada.  However, don't get me wrong, this was still an extremely pleasurable experience and I would still highly recommend Air Canada.  As mentioned in the review, this flight felt just like an enjoyable experience in an elegant lounge up in the air.  

 Funny enough too, that this 777-300ER is tail numbered as 744.  

(P.S. Special thank you to my great buddy, nicked name by me, TheMetropolis.)  
 

NGOReview Flights and Airports
Flight	AC1175		Airline		Air Canada	Date	21 June 2015	Status	On Time
Origin	YYZ		Destination		YVR	Aircraft	B777-300ER	Seat	6G
Dept.	0900L		Arr.		1054L	Duration	4H 54M	Class	Business
Services				Comments					Score (Out of 5)
Quality & Friendliness		Airport		At Check-in ·     N/A – did not use traditional check-in service.  Used mobile boarding pass, no checked baggage Hold-room Boarding ·     Friendly & Professional – greeted by my last name and provided direction to the business class section (double bridge boarding)					5
		Inflight		·     FA at the boarding door greeted with a warm smile and provided direction to my seat ·     Cabin crews within the business cabin section lack smile at first, but most of them offered friendly and professional services as a conversation is being engaged ·     Cabin crews could present more smile while walking down the aisles; should avoid busy or stressed out looking expressions ·     An FA assisted me with a voucher issue; he handled the situation professionally and went above and beyond					4
Crew Announcement				·     PAs were overall of standard professional quality, moderate tempo and mostly clear.   ·     A medical situation occurred and assistance from a doctor was requested through the PA.  Twice the PAs were a bit rushed with a panic tone.  However, the phrases were short and concise, making it easy to understand.					4
Terminal Service				Maple Leaf Lounge (YYZ Domestic) ·     Friendly & professional front desk staff ·     Mainly self-service in the lounge, staff within the lounge are mostly catering and cleaning the buffet section ·     A wide variety of complimentary magazines ·     Breakfast buffet was available.  The coffee machine made exceptional quality coffee (rarely do I enjoy self-serve coffee machines).  ·     Seats were comfortable, but could have more tables that could be used for eating (instead of just side coffee tables), especially when buffet is available ·     Windows were above head level while seated, so plane spotting was barely possible					4.5
Safety				·   Safety demo video was clear and well paced, but nothing fancy or of humour.  It was a very standard and professional video. ·   Cabin crews monitored PAX while the demo video was playing, and stopped one of the PAX from trying to reach the overhead bin. ·   An FA noticed a baby seat being used in the business seats and offered to check the validity of the seat and use of it.  I wasn’t too sure what the situation was but the FA advised the PAX that she would check the operations manual to confirm.  The FA was very professional when speaking to the PAX.					5
Cabin Style				·     The new business class forward facing seats are very comfortable, though the feet rest could be extended a little longer for further comfort.    ·     Compared to CX’s business cabin on it’s 777-300ER, I find this AC journey to be much more comfortable and relaxing, possibly because of CX’s old style side facing seat configuration.  I’ve always been a fan of forward facing seats; it just feels more like flying on a plane, especially during take-off and landings.   Movement on the ground, take-off and landing were extremely quiet, and I barely felt any movement.  It could possibly be the new seating design, or better sound proof in the new business cabin, or a combination of both.  The whole journey simply felt like relaxing hours in an elegant lounge, yet, still felt like I’m having a good old plane ride!  ·     The massage function, though of minimal rolling pressure, made it even more enjoyable and relaxing! ·     The cabin walls could make use of more design and patterns instead of pure white.  ·     The blankets, or I should say, premium quality duvet was extremely comfortable.  Other amenities were quite standard such as the higher quality business class headsets and pillows. ·     The lavatory was kept clean and fresh throughout the flight.  I have to praise the Fruits and Passion liquid soap and hand lotion!					5
Inflight Food & Drinks				·     Meals were professionally served with a tablecloth and in course orders, though there was a minor brown stain on my cloth.    ·     As usual, ceramic, silver and glass wares were used in Business class ·     The fruit platter appetizer was surprisingly good, considering I’m not a big fruits fan. ·     The entrée, pancakes, was a bit disappointing.  The presentation was a mess (see photo below).  The sauce was splattered all over the edge of the plate, and the texture of the pancake went a bit soggy.  The sauce could have been served on the side in a little custard cup.  The overall taste was fair; the sauce was a little too sour.  ·     There is a saying that the best is yet to come.  Well, the most surprising moment was the final hour when nuts and drinks were served.  It was one of those “oh my god” plus a big warm smile being pushed out from my heart moments.  Despite the fact that my friend already told me about the warmed up nuts, I totally forgot about such minor matter.  I guess these little things do make a big matter after-all.  My first bite into the cashew felt like heaven because it was so unexpectedly warm; never underestimate these little gestures!  WOW!					4 + 0.5 Bonus = 4.5
Crew Uniform				·     Standard style uniform, overall neat and tidy					4
Inflight Entertainment				·     The usual enlarged business seat screens were nice and clear with no blurs.  However, it does not allow angle adjustment to prevent light reflection and adjusted seat level/angle.  The touch screen was insensitive; there were often lags and requires an extra few seconds hold on the finger to the screen.  Selections were sufficient to keep the journey entertained. (Well, at least the episodes of The Big Bang Theory kept me well entertained throughout the whole journey).  Movies and music being offered range from up-to-date releases to classics.  ·     The Enroute magazine is good enough could keep you entertained as well.					4.5
Total Out Of 45									40.5
Percentage of Satisfaction									90%

 

Menu

Menu Cover

Appetizer - Fruit Platter

Entree - Pancakes w/ Sausage (Sauce splattered on plate, soggy pancakes)

Passion Fruit Soap and Lotion

Premium Duvet - Extremely Comfy

Warmed Nuts and Wine

A 777-300ER numbered as 744 Tail

    

Note:  Review(s) completed and copyrighted by registered user of spotting-aeroplane.blogspot.ca. 
Reviews based on personal experience and does not represent other individuals' views.
When a "WOW" comment is given, likely chance there will be bonus scores added.