Tag Archives: E190

Breeze Comes to Town (But Not With the A220 Yet)

Breeze is an airline that was recently formed by the guy that started up JetBlue.  It has an initial east coast focus but is supposed to gradually expand west.  We do not have scheduled service yet but they seem to also undertake charter operations.  When the airline was announced, it was supposed to use Airbus A220s.  I guess the pandemic made aircraft availability better and they picked up a bunch of Embraer E190s.  The A220s have started to come online but the Embraers are currently the big part of the fleet.

One of them was making a trip to Boeing Field.  Not sure why it was coming but I figured this was worth a look.  I tracked the jet as it lined up for the approach but I hadn’t heard it call in.  At some point, I heard the tower call to ask if they were on frequency and no response.  At this point, it was pretty close in.  I guess, without a clearance, they decided to go around.  They climbed out over the field.  A side effect of this was to cause a Delta 737 that was on approach to SEA to have to also go missed as the Embraer was conflicting with its flight path.  I suspect they were a touch annoyed.

The Embraer then was vectored around for a second approach.  On this one, everything seemed to be a lot more normal.  I heard them call up a decent distance out and they were cleared to land which they did without incident.  The sky blue livery is quite catching and I would like to see one of the A220s at some point soon.  I wonder whether we will get service out here at some point?

Steep Decent Config On The E190

The Embraer E190 is the most common airframe to be seen flying in to LCY these days.  British Airways’ Cityflyer operation uses a bunch of them on its services.  Anything flying in to LCY needs to be approved for steep approaches.  This usually involves a modification to the controls for a steep descent mode.  As I watched the E190s descending on the approach, I could see that the spoilers were deployed all the way down.  I assume that this is a higher drag configuration that makes the descent angle needed achievable while controlling the speed.

The thing that was more impressive than the descent profile was the departures.  The runway at LCY is not long.  Watching the jets spool up for departure, I wondered how much of the runway that they would use.  As it turned out, they rotated really quickly and the climb out angle was very steep.  With the buildings of Canary Wharf ahead, they need to climb quickly but I was quite taken by just how fast they climbed.

A Quick Visit To LCY

I wanted to explore some parts of London that I haven’t been too much before so I headed east.  Before I started getting my real exploration underway, though, I took a visit to London City Airport.  I haven’t been there for years and things have changed a lot including the types that can access the airport.  I had seen some photos from the airport but I wasn’t sure about the options for photographing there.  I was also not timing it well with things being far busier in the early morning and late afternoon.  Still, it was worth a visit.

I headed to the east of the airfield where a road bridge crosses the water.  I was hoping that this would give a good view down the runway but the runway lights obscured things a little.  An offset helped a bit.  It also was a good location for some approach shots.

I then headed back towards the terminal and got some touchdown shots from alongside the runway as well as a few shots of jets taxiing out and departing.  It was quite something to see the Embraer E190s climbing out so quickly.  They got airborne very swiftly and climbed away like homesick angels.  The majority of traffic was British Airways Cityflyer Express so not that much variety but a few bizjets came through too.

Later in the day,when crossing the Thames in the Cable Car, I got a good view down towards the runway.  It would have been great if a jet had taken off while I was crossing but one took off just after I got back on the ground.  As I walked to the Excel center, I saw a high level footbridge that looked like it might have a good alignment with the runway.  I planned to check it out later but, having spent a long time with a friend and needing to get back, I completely forgot until it was too late.  If anyone knows whether this spot works, please let me know.