Recently in Movie Monday Category

Pratt & Whitney Media Day is this week, which is a perfect excuse to post this excellent BBC documentary of Rolls-Royce. (Editor: Eh?) Bear with me, please.

We are not suggesting it's appropriate only due to the fact we can find no comparable documentaries on Pratt & Whitney, and not even because we are enthralled by such a revealing look inside the typically buttoned-up on Rolls-Royce (motto: "No comment. Full-stop. Forever.")

It actually is a timely peek inside Rolls-Royce on the eve of a Pratt & Whitney media day, where surely a major theme of press conferences and interviews will be the newly-sealed long-term relationship between these propulsion giants on narrowbody turbofans.

If you recall, last October Pratt & Whitney agreed to buy Rolls-Royce's stake in the International Aero Engines (IAE) consortium, which also includes MTU and Japanese Aero Engines Corp, producing V2500s for Airbus A320s. At the same time, Rolls-Royce formed a new joint venture with Pratt & Whitney to challenge another powerful joint venture -- the General Electric-Safran partnership in CFM International -- for the next-generation single-aisle turbofan market.    

Today, perhaps more than ever, the future of Pratt & Whitney and Rolls-Royce are tied closely together.

All that said, this documentary is so good any old excuse would do. Enjoy!

Today's Movie Monday is in honour of a trip to Moscow your blogger will not be making next week.

As of two weeks ago, the trip was all set up: my seat on British Airways, my room in the Aerostar Hotel, my interviews with the heads of Irkut and MiG, even my personal visit to the Monino air museum (thanks anyway, Grigory!).

Then, Jon Ostrower got a new job at the Wall Street Journal.

So much for my long-awaited, one-week tour of the Russian aerospace industry! My colleague Craig Hoyle courageously accepted that assisgnment on short notice. Meanwhile, this blogger prepared to take on the role of replacing the founder and formerly sole contributor of FlightBlogger. Luckily, I will have some help. John Croft, Flightglobal's Americas Editor, will be taking over coverage of Boeing twin-aisles. I will focus on the commercial single-aisles produced in the US, Canada and Brazil. We'll both be posting updates here, along with our European and Asian colleagues as events warrant.

We understand we inherit not just an aerospace blog, but a true labour of love by a now-former colleague whom we greatly respect.It's our goal to honour Jon's work here by preserving and continuing that legacy.

Even if it means cancelling our trip to Moscow. 

Last week, we saw switch-by-switch detail of the A320 and 737 Classic's cold-and-dark start-up procedures. This week, we join the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association for a delivery of a brand new 737-700 to Southwest Airlines. AOPA magazine editor-in-chief, Tom Haines - who you should be following on Twitter - is our guide for the handover of N967WN. This particular 737-700 first flew on September 24, 2011 and departed Boeing Field as Southwest 8700 just a few days later on October 3. Today's Movie Monday runs just under 12 minutes. Enjoy!

This week's Movie Monday takes us to Lithuania, home to Baltic Aviation Academy. BAA's social media presence is significantly larger than the overwhelming majority of pilot training centers and they've provided a look into two of the most prolific narrowbody aircraft on the planet. With our guide Pranas Drulis, an ATP student, BAA takes us through the initial procedures to take the Airbus A320 and Boeing 737 Classic family from "cold and dark" after first receiving the jet all the way through to the point just before the simulated aircraft are ready for taxi. Movie Monday doesn't quite get more in the weeds than this, but it's the most detailed look at the side-by-side similarities and differences of the systems and procedures for these two types. The two videos run a total of 34min. Enjoy!