home

America's Regional Airlines Part of NNHS Senior Year Project

=NEW: Action Plan in the Fourth Term=

The Purpose of this Spring '10 Project is...

 * **Ascertain why 19% of 100 Newton North Students surveyed said they consider Regional Jets to appear unsafe.**
 * **Analyze happenings in the industry including the hot-button issue of pilot training and fatigue.**
 * **Follow and participate in current events revolving around airlines across the country.**
 * **Stay on top of any accidents or incidents concerning any airline in the U.S. and absorb relevant info.**
 * **The Media may be in the cross hairs, they tend to create controversy when it comes to "small planes".**

**In The News**
April 25th. 2010-An article in the Wall Street Journal praising cockpit heads up display systems neglects to mention that HUDs in Bombardier regional jets make up a large number of the units in place today. The article does however mention that at American Airlines their 737 pilots have been making landings noticibly farther down runways than before and is a possible contributing factor in a non-fatal overrun accident in Jamaica. [|WSJ Article on Safety Data Pertaining to Heads Up Displays]

May 18-20th, 2010-There are ongoing hearings at the National Transportation Safey Board covering Professioalism in Aviation reflecting events such as Colgan 3407, the Northwest overshooting its destination due to a distracted flight crew, and child heard broadcasting from the JFK control tower to assess where solutions can be reached to avoid similar lapses in professionalism at airlines and operations associated with the FAA. More information at the NTSB website

media type="youtube" key="7HJ4i5oxAvs" height="315" width="420"

For further information on where I see airlines and my experience in aviation education in a less formal format please visit my new blog. [|MEITS by Craig Cestari]

=What is a Regional Airline?= In my definition of it in the U.S. it is a part 121 scheduled commerical air carrier on either domestic or international flights utilizing aircraft of 10 to 100 seats whether propeller driven or jet powered. Regional airlines operate both as independent carriers (Great Lakes Airlines, Island Air, Mokulele Airlines) and through codeshares with larger airline brands carrying their name (Comair as Delta, PSA as US Airways, Colgan Air as Continental). Typically, the larger the aircraft, the less obvious it is to the consumer that a mainline flight they have purchased a ticket on has contracted the service to a smaller regional carrier. Most regional airlines agree to outfit their employees and equipment to bear the name of the large mainline carrier rather than crediting the company that actually flies the flight. Regional carriers have played a crucial role in the airline indutry delivering scheduled service to hundreds of towns across the country which would have no service if not for regionals, some of which routes are supported by government grants. Since the turn of the Century regional jets have become very popular with regional operators and such regional jets now account for about 4 out of 5 regional aircraft in the sky with these carriers.

Side-by-Side Comparison
//It can be seen that the Pinnacle Airlines regional jet in the foreground resembles the mainline Delta aircraft operated by Delta parked in the background.// //Photo taken 3/14/09//

Draw further comparisons by seeing some common regional aircraft I've captured in action at the Video Section.

Item of interest: Accident data for airline service in the U.S. over the last 20 years from the NTSB. Table of accident odds on airliners

LEGAL NOTE: All copyrighted corporate names, images, brands and products are the sole property of their trademark holders and any representation of these corporations does not represent the views or opinions of their respective affiliations.

Atermath
Now in the summer of 2010 I am a student intern once again at Hanscom Field in Bedford, this time doing field maintenance work where I can take my knowledge and prowess from this project to be ahead of the game working in the airport world.
 * Redirect to Senior Year Project home