aviation

Air India owned several A320 aircraft with double wheels. By default, all A320s are delivered with a singe-wheel setup by Airbus. Back in the early 90s, Air India wanted to operate A320s to airports in India which could not carry the weight of an A320 on the ramps and taxiways. To help distribute the weight more evenly, Air India asked Airbus to design and deliver double-wheeld A320s. Several A320s were delivered with double-wheel setup in the early 90s to Air India.

Nowadays, the infrastructure in India has vastly improved and the weight constraint is no longer in place. Air India has stored or scrapped all double-wheel A320s.

This is a post in a serie of aircraft odd-variants. If you like it: please upvote it :)

Akasa Air from India will soon start operating its first Boeing 737-8200 Max. After Ryanair, it will become the second airline to operate this very high density 737-800Max variant. Equiped with an extra after-wing emergency exit, this 737-800Max variant is certified to transport a whopping 212 passengers in a high density (crammed) setup. The extra emergency exit is added to comply with safety regulations, allowing 212 passengers opposed to the 189 of the regular 737-8max.

I am starting a small series on the "odd variants" of some aircraft types. This is the first post 🙂 Please upvote if you would like to see more ✈️

Honeywell owns a 757-200 with RR-engines. They have fitted their 757 with a small, 3rd, wing to test avionics, engines and other instruments. So far it has carried a jet engine, prop engine and instruments..

It is an early 757 from 1983: the 5th delivered 757. Delivered to the now defunct Eastern Airlines. Honeywell aquired it in 2005 as N757HW.

Picture source // aeroprints.com

On the 15th of April, a Cargolux 747-400 (LX-ECV) landed at Luxembourg runway 06 and bounced, the left wing dropped and both left engines (CF6) touched the runway surface before the crew initiated a go around.

More details and an aftermath photo: https://avherald.com/h?article=507e3a26&opt=0

TUIfly Belgium is replacing their current ERJ-190s with newer E2 models that were previously owned by Belavia, the state-owned carrier from Belarus.

In my opinion, TUI has a great livery that also gives these E2s a very nice look. What do you think?

Image source: https://www.planespotters.net/photo/1458186/ei-gyx-tui-fly-belgium-embraer-e195-e2-erj-190-400-std / Radim Koblížka

Really interesting article about airlines, independent safety inspectors ans Russia

What a gigantic ... flying sausage 🌭

Does someone know why Cathay Pacific and other airlines use different codes for airplanes than what Boeing has listed? For example they list a 777-367 which seems to be a variant of the 777-300 but I can't find any information on what makes it a 367 vs a 300. Is that just the code that CX uses for the 777-300s they own? I also notice they have odd ones like A321-251NX, A330-343X and such. So what do those non-normal model numbers mean?

Taken in Kamloops, BC. Those big props look amazing.

Got to climb around beauty the other day. It has an interesting back story - started as a US Army U-6A, then retired as a museum piece for decades, only to be restored as a Turbo-Beaver Mk3 by Viking Air. It’s now the personal transport for one of Vikings principal owners to get to and from her lake property. Very cool Machine!

The Ryan Firebee is a series of target drones developed by the Ryan Aeronautical Company beginning in 1951. It was one of the first jet-propelled drones, and remains one of the most widely used target drones ever built.

Red Eagle pilot gives the low-down on America’s MiG-21 ‘Fishbed’

Very interesting discussion from first hand experience.