Hello everyone, and welcome to this video!
My name is Alex Praglowski, and today I wanted to try a different style of content on this channel.
The subject of today's video is "Why Do Boeing 737-200s Still Fly in Canada?"
and is... not at all inspired by the recent success of Dj's Aviation,
what would possibly give you that idea?
So let's get started.
The Boeing 737-200 is the second iteration of Boeing's quintessential narrowbody aircraft,
and first flew in August of 1967.
It's a slightly stretched version of the original 737-100, powered by two Pratt & Whitney JT8D
turbofan engines.
The last aircraft rolled off the production line in Renton, Washington in 1988.
According to FlightGlobal's World Airliner Census, as of July 2018,
a total of 58 737-200s remain in commercial service.
Transport Canada states that 21 -200s are on the Canadian Civil Aircraft Register, and
of those, at least 17 are still in service:
One with Air North
Two with Canadian North
Two with Chrono Aviation
Two with Glencore Canada
Three with Air Inuit
...And seven with Nolinor Aviation
That's over a quarter of the world's commercial 737-200 fleet still flying today.
Now, I'm counting Glencore Canada in this list, because despite being a private operator,
their aircraft still serve a very relevant role.
So why does Canada, a fairly advanced country with the 10th largest economy, fly so many
of these older aircraft?
The answer is the 737-200's unique ability to be fitted with a gravel kit.
Each of these 17 aircraft are equipped with said gravel kit, which includes a large gravel
deflector on the nose gear
and two vortex dissipators on the engine nacelles, along with some less-visible modifications
and reinforcements to the lower fuselage.
The vortex dissipators work by using engine bleed air, which is, in very simplified terms,
compressed air that comes from the compressor stage of the engines, but normally supplies
air to the cabin.
On the -200 though, during takeoff or landing, it's used to blow gravel or other debris down
and away from the engine intakes and preventing damage from occurring.
The 737-200 is unique among most aircraft flying today, and that's due to the low bypass
ratio of its JT8D engines.
With a small fan diameter, or the approximate width of the engine intake, the vortex dissipators
are able to prevent any debris from entering the engines themselves.
But on newer aircraft, high bypass ratio engines have become the norm, with a much larger fan
diameter for improved fuel efficiency.
Consider the fan diameter of the JT8D-17, the engine used on the 737-200 Advanced, at
approximately 103 centimeters wide.
We can compare that to a brand new 737 MAX engine, a CFM LEAP-1B, with a fan diameter
of 175 centimeters -
Almost double that of the JT8D.
When you think about how much more air would be needed to keep a larger engine clear of
debris,
installing a gravel kit on a newer generation 737 becomes a lot more complicated and expensive,
if not impossible.
This allows the -200 to operate on unprepared gravel runways -
many of which can be found in Canada's North.
Canada is a vast country - the second largest in the world in terms of land area,
but with a population of just 37 million, most of which live south of the 55th parallel.
North of that, around 120,000 people live in the three territories of the Yukon, Northwest
Territories,
and Nunavut, but also in Nunavik, the northernmost third of the province of Quebec.
Side note - This isn't including the other provinces above the 55th parallel because
the vast majority of -200 gravel strip operations take place in these four regions.
For many of these Canadians, their only connection to the rest of the country is by air.
And that's where lots of different aircraft types come in - but especially the 737.
In the Canadian Airport Charts, a bimonthly publication from Nav Canada, Canada's air
service provider,
82 airports in these four regions are listed.
Of those, just 10 airports have paved runways, with the other 72 airports having gravel surfaces.
From these 72 gravel runways, 20 have a length of 5000 feet or more, the minimum needed for
a 737-200 to safely operate.
Because of this, the majority of -200s in Canada are combi aircraft,
carrying both passengers and cargo in a divided cabin.
This is necessary in the north where it might not be possible to fill an aircraft with one
or the other,
which allows people to come and go, but also for vital goods to be delivered to these remote
settlements.
However, Northern citizens aren't the only people that rely on the 737-200.
Canada's North is also home to an abundance of natural resources, and some mining sites
are especially remote,
requiring workers and equipment to be flown in.
But considering the finite nature of these resources,
it doesn't make sense to pave a runway that may end up being disused,
particularly so given the high cost of paving in such a remote location.
Looking into the future though, how long will the 737-200 continue to fly?
Well, in June 2018, Nolinor Aviation tweeted this image of a 737-200 fitted with a glass
flight deck,
as well as a press release, stating that they will invest 10 million dollars over the next
5 to 6 years to modernize the avionics of their entire 737 fleet.
While they don't state how long they'll keep their -200s for, with this kind of investment,
I can't imagine that Nolinor will retire them anytime soon!
Along with that, a 2014 article from Wings Magazine on Glencore Canada's aircraft,
states that "The company expects that its two 737s will be around for another 15 years",
so those could still be flying late into the 2020s.
But eventually, these aircraft will need to be replaced.
Another northern Canadian carrier, Summit Air, flies British Aerospace Avro RJ85s and
RJ100s on mining flights of their own in the Northwest Territories.
These aircraft have also been fitted with gravel kits, but while they're no doubt more
fuel-efficient than the -200,
it's not the perfect long-term solution as those aircraft are also out of production
and 20 years old,
with a shorter range and less capacity.
Certain turboprops such as the Dash 8 can fly into gravel strips,
but like the Avros, have less payload capacity and range than the 737.
In 2017, Nolinor Aviation even went so far as to buy two low-hour aircraft from Angola,
so for the time being, at least in Nolinor's case, the only replacement for a 737-200...
Is another -200.
Hey everyone, this was a video I've been working on for quite some time now, so do let me know
what you thought of it,
and if you'd like to see more content like this, leave that in the comments below, I do
read all of them...
For some reason.
You can find all of the sources I used in the video in the description below,
and I also wanted to say a special thank you to my good friend, Mark Brandon, for helping me
out and letting me use some of his footage and photos in this video!
So yes, I hope you enjoyed this different style of content from me, it was a lot of fun to make!
And as always, thanks for watching.