Swiss CS100 experience, 21/22.01.2017

On the quest to fly the Swiss Boeing 777 on one of its intra-european flighs. WAW-ZRH-HAJ-ZRH-WAW. Two flights, in and out of Warsaw on the CS100


21 January 2017
LX1343 (0945-1150) WAW-ZRH
HB-JBD Bombardier CS100

Swiss flights to Warsaw like to be delayed. So was this one, not much, 15 minutes more or less. That made my connection in Zurich even shorter, but as the next flight also caught a delay it wasn't a very big problem after all. The ground staff did their best to reduce the delay as much as possible and they've managed a little bit. We soon pushback and start our taxi to runway 29. And later up, towards Zurich. The flight goes on smoothly. The wing looks nice, clouds spread wide all over the ground. The closer we get to Zurich the denser the airspace, the more planes you can see nearby. Some fly really close :) On approach to Zurich, we hold a little bit and fly around. Sure, I'm in no rush :D let's wait. Smooth landing, rather quick taxi to the gate, and off I go for my next flight.
How would I rate the CS100 of Swiss? Good windows, nice panels, the seat (22A on this flight) has no moveable headrest (but at least it's soft) but apart of it it is rather ok, maybe slightly hard on the back. Elegant colors of the cabin. The CSeries made a good first impression on me and it won't be a plane that I would rather not fly.

Arriving at its gate in WAW from ZRH

Flying the Helvetic Airways Fokker 100

LX1343 (0935LT-1140LT)
Helvetic Airways operates on behalf of Swiss International Airlines on some routes. One of them is Zürich - Warsaw. Helvetic (2L OAW) has 6 Fokker 100 planes and 1 Airbus A319. Warsaw gets the F100, sometimes Swiss sends its own metal, an Avro or an Airbus. Luckily the plane on my flight did not change and I got to fly on HB-JVG (serial number 11478; first flight 29/09/1993; powered by two RR Tay 650-15 engines). Unfortunately the 'best' seats have been reserved by PZPN (Polish female U17 team going for a couple of friendlies in Switzerland) thus having a view into the engine was impossible and seat 10A had to do. Just in front of the leading edge of the wing. Some might say it's only 8 rows away and the sound will be similar but the truth is that it is very different, much quieter. The more up front you're seated the quieter it gets.
A short session before the flight:

SE-LRA, Saab 2000 on Apron 10 - taken before arriving at the terminal

SP-LND arriving at its gate