Aircraft News Weblog

Tag: Air Canada

  • Q400 Landing Gear Collapse: Causes and Impact

    A Q400 aircraft landing at Halifax International Airport in Nova Scotia suffered a landing gear collapse after an uneventful flight. The Transportation Safety Board initial report found that the aircraft had a tire failure on takeoff. Upon landing, the tire remnants started rotating. This caused enough vibration for the main landing gear to unlock and collapse.

    When the propeller contacted the runway the blades broke off and the engine was badly damaged. The aircrew declared a Mayday and secured the aircraft for an emergency evacuation on the runway. All passengers and crew successfully left the aircraft with no serious injuries.

    As the investigation continues I would like to describe the configuration of the landing gear on the Q400. On the Down selection, the gear doors open. The main landing gear is hydraulically lowered aft from the engine nacelle. The Actuator linkage travels overcenter and locks, the landing gear doors then close again. It is held in the down position by hydraulic pressure and large springs.

    The Q400 is over 25 years old and is no longer in production. It is operated all over the world and has proven to be a reliable aircraft. The failure of the landing gear due to tire remnants vibration is not a new problem. It is unlikely the investigation will call for major modifications as a solution to this accident.

  • Air Canada Rouge

    Only a month after Westjet launch their Regional Airline in June 2013, Air Canada are starting their new vacation airline from the hubs of Toronto and Montreal. The promise is the vacation starts as soon as you board the aircraft.

    Initially starting with surplus aircraft drawn from the Air Canada fleet, the growth of Rouge is reported to be linked to the introduction of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner to Air Canada which will free up more aircraft for the Rouge fleet. The total Rouge fleet will number 50 aircraft when complete and Air Canada are not anticipating delays in fleet growth due to the electrical problems the Dreamliner is experiencing at the moment.

    The key to Rouge succeeding in a highly competitive vacation market is by cutting costs, which the unions have agreed to, by paying the crews less than crews at Air Canada. Another economy is up to 20% more seats on the aircraft to increase the profit margin of every flight.

    For more information regarding Air Canada Rouge try this link, http://www.aircanada.com/en/about/rouge.html

  • Air Canada Low Cost Carrier

    Where is Air Canada going with the new low cost carrier they are launching? I don’t mean geographically but in terms of their competition. Is there a niche for a low cost airline operating out of Canada and who are they competing against for your travel dollars? How are they going to differ from the present airline? Well, when they come into service, using 50 aircraft of the present Air Canada fleet, there will be a lot more seats on the aircraft and lower pay for the employees to make the model work.

    The natural competition will be other Canadian based carriers operating to the Caribbean, US and Europe. This means Air Canada as well but this is nothing new for them. They are supplying their regional partner Sky Regional with Embraer aircraft on the corridor route between Toronto and Montreal which competes with Air Canada Jazz.

    The theory with the new low cost airline is to attract the type of passenger that wants to pay less than an Air Canada ticket for a flight to a vacation destination. They are hoping to remove passengers from Westjet, Air Transat, Canjet and other carriers that feed the holiday market.

    An announcement coming soon from Air Canada will give more details of the new airline.