If Windows 98 had had anything to do with commercial aviation, we'd all be taking the train today and for the next 100 years. ;)

Oh, I didn't know that. I thought you were serious when you complained about MSFT. "Blue Screen of Death" is a good name for an E190. Or how about "Reboot the Screen of Blue" :)

That's what I was trying to say with my definition of joke. ;)

Yeah, I thought you were using some form of the new Vista on the E190. I guess its good you didn't go that route so quickly. However, does there seems to some any kind of light at the end of the tunnel to the tech problems?

This is why it was called the E180, not sure if that name will ever go away. I hope it does.

The tech problems that plagued the 190 are by and large a thing of the past. Tech Ops works hand in hand with Embraer to keep them as reliable as possible, though nothing's perfect. The 190 is a fantastic piece of equipment, and I've found that a lot of the fuss comes from folks who have never worked with a brand new type of aicraft. It's good to be the launch customer, but it does take a while to get all the kinks hammered out.

Overall, 190 reliability has increased by several orders of magnitude from where we were a year ago. Most of the problems being faced now are isolated incidents that aren't making significant impact to the operation as a whole. They may be a bit cranky on cold Northeast winter mornings, but hey, so is a good Volvo. :) Hopefully, we'll see even more improvement with reliability as they head west to some warmer weather.

The fact that we are sending the E190's out to the west coast should speak to the amount of work and increased reliablity that our tech ops crew has accomplished. The majority of my work is on the 190 and I love the plane!

I will definetly want to fly the E190 soon. But does the 2X2 seating really make up for the pitch loss from the A320?

How could it? The seats are 0.2" wider, which might help a bit. But the window seat is the same as a window on the A320 in that you still have someone on one side of you. Ditto for the aisle seat. The real difference is that you cannot be stuck in a middle seat, so it is better for a third of the passengers who would've been in middles, but if you're getting an aisle or window anyways you lose 1-4" pitch. Not the end of the world, and the 32-33" is still pretty decent, but it isn't the best in the industry any more at that level.

The 190 is an excellent aircraft! You won't really notice the pitch difference unless you just sit exclusively in the first 12 rows of the Airbus. I actually prefer to non-rev on the 190 when I can because I love the 2x2 seating and really relaxed atmosphere of the aircraft. The other reason I love it as a non-rev is because I know I won't get stuck in a middle seat. I'm going to either have a window or an aisle!