I like that the seat numbers are displayed on the screens for those that sit in the wrong seat assignment initially during boarding as a subtle clue, or for those that sit down and THEN ask the FA “Is this seat XYZ?”.

Canada's first weather Doppler radar from 36 years ago is currently receiving state-of-art upgrade in Radisson, Saskatchewan, doubling its severe weather detection radius for wind sheer important in aviation,
and Tornado detection since Saskatchewan gets the most tornadoes of any province, a third of all tornadoes in Canada.
The Doppler radar at Bethune, Saskatchewan is set for upgrade in 2019.

http://panow.com/article/722308/new-...y-due-february

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4685/...14ef9f5e_o.png

• Video Link

The Mcgill radar was built in 1968.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._S._...ar_Observatory
http://www.radar.mcgill.ca/imagery/radar-images.html
250km range

I love the black around the cockpit windows. It's like a bandit's mask.

Ugh on so many levels. That livery is so incredibly boring. And the 737 is an inferior plane to the Airbus family it is displacing (narrower fuselage etc).

Sadly, I completely agree with you.

The wiki info reads a little misleading, It actually says the McGill facility moved to its present site in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue in 1968, but that Doppler data wasn't begun until 1992
..nice find though

If we started a vote it would already be
Airbus 320 - 3 votes
Boeing 737 - 0 votes

What is going to happen to AC's 320's? I believe most of them are owned and not leased. Are they going to go to Rouge? I'm curious if they will become the narrow body Airbus 330's in the fleet where they don't really align with the fleet but are too valuable to sell or scrap.

AC's A320s are pretty much at end of life - they're coming up on 30 years old and have been worked pretty hard during that time. They're leased, so they'll all be returned to the lessor and probably scrapped, with the exception of a couple of the newer ones, which may be re-leased.

Their A319s will probably go to Rouge - that will fill the expansion in narrow body flying there. They've got 10+ years left in those frames.

The A321s will be around for awhile. They're relatively new (10-15 years old) and they're not worth much on the used market as airlines are snapping up A321neos. AC has experience with them, they are good planes and keeping them around won't break the bank. Like you said, they'll be the A330s of the widebody fleet.

What on earth would lead one to the conclusion that the 320 is hands-down better than the 737? As a passenger I find them practically indistinguishable... I wouldn't know which one I'm on unless I looked at the safety card. My preference tends to boil down to age, as I find the older AC 320s where all white surfaces somehow appear beige now to be less appealing than a fresh new 737. But even then it's a superficial preference, as from a comfort standpoint it's 6 of one, half dozen of the other.

There are a couple A321 that were new built for Air Canada and purchased in the last year or two.

A few of the A319 switch in and out of an all business configuration and are used to fly sports team around the continent. I think the NHL season is a big one for Air Canada charter business. When the season is over they reconfigure them back to regular passenger service. I would guess (not knowing any of the numbers) that type of operation is better suited to an older aircraft that has been long depreciated.

The A320 are slightly wider across. There is just a little more space in each seat. I notice the difference.

The new 737 have the fancy mood lighting and the bigger bins so less issues with baggage.

Yes, I like those touches. The mood lighting is great, especially when flying overnight on a 777/787.

Agreed that A320s and B737s are so similar as to make no difference to virtually the entire flying public. The minor additional cabin width of the A320 does make a difference when one is seated beside a person with broad shoulders but the far larger overhead bins of the Boeing Sky interior 737NGs and the 737MAX wins hands-down for passenger benefit in my books. The A320 also has more numerous and noisy mechanical noises when taxiing and after takeoff, while the 737NGs have moderately louder engines.

Amen. I love the new livery.:tup:

The weird winch like noise on the 320 generally sounds like something is broken. I assume it is a normal sound since most a320 make it.

Weird winch? Lol....it's unofficially called the "barking dog."

http://www.askthepilot.com/questiona...airbus-noises/

Also, add me to the list of A320 lovers. Several reasons.

Canada already had plenty of B737 operators.
A320 is fly by wire. B737 isn't.
A320 can take containers below deck. B737 cannot.

I'm glad Delta went with Airbus for their narrowbody order today.

I find both aircraft to be really similar from a passenger perspective.

The A320neo would seem to be the better choice, considering that AC already has an entire fleet of them that they're happy with. That would have saved money with retraining pilots, ground operations and maintenance.

I'd imagine that Boeing just offered them a screaming deal though, whilst Airbus has less of an incentive to do so, given their backlog of orders.

The windows of the A320 are a little higher up, meaning there's less "bending down the head" to look out the windows...and it also means that there's more natural light that enters the cabin.

Yup :tup: