Page 39 - World Airnews Magazine May Edition 2021

FEATURE

0 Cabin systems
0 Mode S transponder with 24-bit ICAO code
0 APM
0 HF transceivers

0 Software Data Loader
0 EFB
• Integrated Standby Flight Display (ISFD) is a single flat pane

liquid display (LCD)

For Captain Wessels, the difference the new flight deck makes on

a pilot’s life is hard to describe. First off, he said, the flight deck is

quieter and this reduces fatigue, situational awareness is improved

because of the better weather display and this also allows for the

ability to scan different altitudes for weather. Beautiful NG sky interior

Other improvements include the vertical situation display that also

improves situational awareness on final approach, short field perfor-

mance enhancements that improve payload capability tremendously

on short and wet runways reducing operational payload restrictions

and last but not least - psychologically a new aircraft brings a sense
of pride and belonging because everything is working.
Interesting to note, the first new aircraft has already done 2180

hours with no defects.

Back to the actual flight, the landing in Johannesburg on runway
03R and we were soon down having done a full Autoland - ten
minutes earlier than schedule.

Delays because of pax are sometimes experienced and the problem

is with a 30 min turn-around time that make it hard to make up time.
The boarding process has been improved with bigger storage bins.

On landing - out came the laptops and all the calculations were done
via Comair’s amazing EFB and then the dual FMCs were programmed.
Good CRM (cockpit resource management)!

What was abundantly clear on this flight is that there is no cock-

pit authority gradient which so often leads to problems - the team Captain Wynand Wessels and SFO Alicia Rochart

works as a team and it was wonderful to watch this in action.
And what about the new CFM engine that powers registration

ZS ZWA-H?
Propulsion improvements include an improved high-pressure
turbine, improved primary nozzle and plug, refined aft strut fairing

heat shield.
Together with the following performance improvements the new

B737-8LD reduces fuel consumption by at least 3% on Comair’s
route structure.
My overall impression of this plane is that it’s very solidly built,
has a lot of new very advanced systems, is quieter and the experi-
ence is an extremely pleasant one.
From a passenger perspective what are the improvements?

The answer – the welcoming Sky interior that creates a dis-

tinctive and positive experience, the new cabin architecture that

provides an open look and feel, LED lighting enhances a sense
of spaciousness in the cabin, a funky designated carpet that was New CEO Glenn Orsmond chats to Glen
designed to catch the spirit of Kulula ‘fun/easy’. Warden in the Ops Centre
Must say, the Yokohama toilets are stunning and the carpets are

in a pattern of business and pleasure. The seats are a dark leather

and there is reasonable leg room in the BA configuration For the

business traveller, passengers can enjoy new pivot bins with great-

er capacity, new sculpted sidewalls, colour LED sidewall lighting
and ceiling lighting, new PSUs with LED reading lights, a speaker in

every PSU enhancing sound quality - all of which come together to
improve the experience of the passenger.

It is worth noting that the Boeing Sky interior bin is 166% bigger
than the standard bin allowing an extra four bags in each. One of

the big problems in the low-cost environment is to offload and load

190 passengers in 30 minutes. The Sky Interior bins allow passen-

gers more baggage space resulting in them settling down quicker

leading to faster turnaround times. A very big thank you to the

entire Comair team for allowing me to have a look at their front

office with them. Q Split Scimitar winglets as fitted to ZS ZWG

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World Airnews | May 2021
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