It seems that aviation has gone full circle. It started with the 100 seat “RJ’s” like the DC-9-10 and 737-100/200 as John stated. Now we have manufacturer’s breaking new ground (?) with the EMB-170/190, CRJ-900 and the recent announcement by Bombardier of a 100 seat aircraft.

As for the differences, I don’t think it matters how many seats they have. Basically John, your asking what’s different between the original jet entries and those that we see now. The technology of those DC-9-10’s were the same as the DC-8’s of the era. The same tech found in the EMB-170/190 can be found in the new Boeings and Airbus’s.

– Fly-by wire
– Glass cockpits
– FMS/GPS navigation
– Numerous automatic/manual safety features (ie automatic thrust increase during an engine failure)
– Less polutants and all around quiter inside and out.

Those are just a few that I could think of off the top of my head.

Those streaks on the DutchBird A320 are caused by some sort of fluid streaking and drying. I don’t know where they fly but you see it in the US quite frequenty during the late fall, winter and early spring as a result of using de-icing fluid. A lot of times on cool mornings the de-ice fluid is used to remove the morning frost. The fluid will rundown the sides and not dry until the aircraft is airborne. The fluid will dry in patterns showing the airflow around the fuselage in flight.

I don’t know if it would be deice fluid but it’s from some sort of liquid drying. It could even be from flying a dirty aircraft through a small rain shower and as it dries you’ll see something similar to the above picture.

That’s my guess, I don’t know about the other 2.

1. A passenger boarding that must inform you that he’s a pilot and routinely flies a ___(GA)____ aircraft so he knows all about our job.

2. Passengers who assume that if you sit in the right seat that you’re not really a pilot but a seat warmer.

3. Passengers who assume flying ability or skill is based on the size of the aircraft.

4. Passengers who must ask “when are you going to fly something bigger” as if a) we all want to fly something bigger or b) it’s just that easy that one day we’ll decide we want to fly a AA 777 and sign up.

5. Passengers who bitch and moan about a flight delayed for weather especially since the sky outside is clear blue never mind that the destination is being hammered with rain. Or when they inform you that they talked to their cousin at the destination and they said it’s clear skies so we should be going.

6. Everyone assuming that every pilot is making $200,000 a year and work 10 days a month.

…..just my bias view.

Suspended? I’m sure they’ll be back flying after a slap on the wrist and a trip back through the simulator.